Guidelines for authors
Acta Palaeobotanica is an international journal publishing original palaeobotanical, palynological, palaeoecological, palaeophytogeographical and archaeobotanical papers, comprehensive reviews, discussion articles and book reviews.
All manuscripts are reviewed by two referees and are processed further after favourable reports are received from the referees.
Submission of manuscript
Submission of a manuscript implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere and that all authors agree with the content of the manuscript.
To submit a manuscript please follow the site https://www.editorialsystem.com/acpa and upload all of your manuscript files following the instructions given on the screen.
If tables or figures have been reproduced from other sources, a letter from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) stating authorization to reproduce the material must be attached to the cover letter.
Manuscript preparation
Text layout
Manuscripts must be double-spaced, in 12 point font, and with left justification of the text. It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the Word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced during processing of the article. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to infra-justify text or to hyphenate words. No underlining or distinguishing types should be used except for Latin names of genera and taxa of lower rank, which should be italicized. Footnotes should be avoided. Do not import the figures into the text file; instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on the manuscript.
The manuscript should include the title of the paper, full names and addresses (including e-mail addresses) of all authors, an abstract of no longer than 500 words, and 3–7 keywords. One author should be designated as the corresponding author, with full contact details.
Nomenclature in the text should follow the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Shenzen Code, Turland et al. ed., 2018). System International (SI) should be used for all units of measurement.
Measurements and comparisons can often better be presented in the form of tables. Larger datasets – including taxonomic annotations – can be added in a smaller font as an appendix. Very large datasets cannot be printed but can be made available electronically as supplementary information on the journal's website.
References
The accuracy and completeness of references are the responsibility of the author(s). Make sure that all works cited in the text appear in the references, and that every item in the references is cited in the text. The names of periodicals should be given in full. Book titles should be followed by the publisher and the place of publication.
References should be cited in the following forms: (Worobiec, 2014), (Stuchlik, Kvavadze, 1995), (Barbacka et al., 2015). Grouped citations should be separated by semicolons and given in chronological order (Stuchlik, Kvavadze, 1995; Worobiec, 2014; Barbacka et al., 2015).
Examples of reference listings:
a) Journal articles
Worobiec, G., 2014. Late Neogene leaf assemblage from Bełchatów Lignite Mine (central Poland). Acta Palaeobotanica 54(2), 249–277.
Stuchlik, L., Kvavadze, E., 1995. On the problem of actuopalynology in the Carpathians and Caucasus. Acta Palaeobotanica 35(1), 73–83.
Barbacka, M., Popa, M.E., Mitka, J., Bodor, E., Pacyna, G. 2015. Relationships between ecosystems and plant assemblages as responses to environmental conditions in the Lower Jurassic of Hungary and Romania. Acta Palaeobotanica 55(1), 3–17.
b) Books
Taylor, T.N., Taylor, E.L., Krings, M., 2009. Paleobotany. The biology and evolution of fossil plants. New York. Academic Press. 2nd ed.
c) Single contribution in a book
Banks, H.P., 1968. The early history of land plants. In: Drake, E.T. (ed.), Evolution and environment. Yale University Press, New Haven, pp.73–107.
d) Papers in non-congress languages with summary in English, German or French.
Oszast, J., 1960. Analiza pyłkowa iłów tortońskich ze Starych Gliwic (summary: Pollen analysis of Tortonian clays from Stare Gliwice in Upper Silesia, Poland). Monographiae Botanicae 9(1), 1–48.
e) Papers in non-congress languages without summary but with title in English, German or French.
Panova, L.A., 1966. Spory i pyl’tsa iz neogenovykh otlozheny (Spores and pollen from Neogene deposits). Paleopalinologia 3, Trudy WSEGEI NS 141, 228–257 (in Russian).
f) Papers published in the Cyrillic alphabet without summary and title in congress languages should be written in English transliteration (see: Science 129(3356): 1111–1113, 1959).
Samylina, V.A., 1961. Novye dannye o nizhnemelovoy flore Yuzhnovo Primorya. Botanicheskii Zhurnal 46(5), 634–645.
g) Unpublished papers
Szynkiewicz, A., 1994 (unpubl.). Sytuacja geologiczna miejsc opróbowania flor liściowych
w odkrywce KWB Bełchatów. Archives W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków.
h) Online sources
Johnson, F.L., Hoagland, B.W., 1999. Catalog of the woody plants of Oklahoma: descriptions and range maps. Oklahoma Biological Survey and the University of Oklahoma. Available from: http://www.biosurvey.ou.edu/shrub/argit8. htm. Accessed September 2008.
If the article/book has a DOI number, the author should include it in the references.
Tables
Do not embed graphically designed equations or tables, but prepare these using the word processor's facility or spreadsheets. Tables, consecutively numbered (Arabic numerals), should be cited in the text as follows: (Tab. 1, Tabs 1, 2).
Figures
Make sure that figures are in acceptable formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones and line/halftone combinations given below):
CDR, EPS: Vector drawings.
JPG, TIFF: Color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
JPG, TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
JPG, TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
XLS: Graphs
Use Arial typeface on figures.
Do not supply embedded graphics in your word processor (spreadsheet, presentation) document, files that are too low in resolution, or graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
The number of drawings, graphs, single photographs, and pollen diagrams should be kept to the minimum. Information should not be presented twice graphically (e.g. in both a diagram and a table). Figures should be one column (8.0 cm) or two columns (16.5 cm) wide, maximum height 24 cm. Intermediate-width dimensions should be avoided but any height not exceeding 240 mm is acceptable. All graphic elements in the figure (lines, letters, numbers, etc.) should be clearly legible after reduction.
Originals of large diagrams (e.g. pollen diagrams) may not exceed 41 cm in height, including the caption; any length is acceptable (up to 100 cm). Figure captions should be listed on a separate sheet. They should be numbered consecutively and consist of “Fig.” followed by the corresponding Arabic numeral, title and legend. Figures should be cited in the text as follows: (Fig. 1; Figs 1, 2; Fig. 1a,b,c; etc.).
Plates
Photographs should have good contrast and be of good quality. Authors are requested to use the entire page (16.5 × 24 cm) rather than making several half-page plates; number them separately using Arabic numerals. The individual photographs of plates should be numbered consecutively from left to right and from top to bottom. Use a clear, sans serif typeface (Arial) of font size between 9 point and 12 point, preferably on a contrasting white or black background in the lower left corner; do not use bold typeface. Individual photographs on a plate should be separated by horizontal and/or vertical lines of equal thickness, not less than 2 mm and not more than 4 mm thick. Do not cut photographs in polygonal shapes except in rare justified cases. Each photograph should have a scale bar not more than 1.5 mm thick, if possible in the lower right corner. Follow the same style of scale along all plates and figures.
Plate captions should be listed in separate sheet. They should consist of “Plate” followed by the corresponding Arabic numeral and the legends for the particular photographs. Example:
Plate 1. 1. Fagus sp. Cupule fragment, KRAM-P No 121/55, 9; 2. Fagus sp. etc.
Plates should be cited in the text in the following form: (Pl. 1, fig. 2, Pl. 2, figs 5–7).
If the paper contains a small number of photographs that do not form a whole plate, they should be treated as figures; in the publication they will be incorporated into the text.
The file names of tables, figures or plates should contain the author’s name and the number of the plate, figure or table.
Supplementary material
Supplementary material can support and enhance the presentation of your results. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, high-resolution images, background datasets, and more. The supplementary material will be made available electronically on the journal’s website.
Submission of final version of manuscript
After revision and correction, the resubmitted paper should contain the corrected version with all corrections indicated (for visibility of changes, please use the change-tracking option), and a letter with responses to all referee comments. Make sure that you uploaded the proper files.
Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
Copyright
All articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits the Authors unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Authors grant also W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences right to produce printed volumes of the journal for sale.
Print
The journal does not impose article-processing charges or article-submission charges, except when authors of papers wish to have colour illustrations in the printed version of their work. In that case they are requested to cover the cost of printing those illustrations. Colour illustrations published only as PDF files are free of charge.
The corresponding author will, at no cost, receive a high-resolution pdf file. For an extra charge, hard copies of offprints or full issues can be ordered once the article is accepted for publication. The costs of those offprints and full issues will be calculated individually.