Reef Encounter – Notes For Contributors

The editors of Reef Encounter welcome the submission of Scientific Articles, News Items, Announcements, Conference Reports and Book and Product Reviews, relevant to the coral reef researchers and managers. We especially welcome contributions by young researchers with a fresh perspective and seasoned reef scientists able to integrate a lifetime of experience. However, for scientific articles, priority is normally given to authors who are members of ISRS.

Colour pictures or other illustrations (normally 2 – 5 according to article length) are welcome to accompany an item. Cartoons and stand alone pictures of special note may also be submitted. Different types of item should be sent directly (preferably by email) to the relevant section editors (see inside front cover – page 2 – for details).

TYPES OF ARTICLE

Reef Encounter accepts relevant ANNOUNCEMENTS, NEWS ITEMS, CONFERENCE REPORTS, BOOK and PRODUCT REVIEWS, PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS, OBITUARIES and three distinct type of “Scientific Article”.

The REEF PERSPECTIVES section takes 2-4 page articles which express a fact-based opinion about a scientific or management issue. Our goal is to encourage thoughtful and stimulating discussion within and across disciplines and generations. Authors thinking of offering an opinion-type item are encouraged to consult the editor. Readers are encouraged to respond by writing to letters to the CORRESPONDENCE section, but such responses should be well reasoned and respectful (in contrast to the faster-paced open discussion characteristic of coral-list).

REEF CURRENTS takes 1-5 page articles which overview a topic or a programme with which the author is familiar or has become acquainted. Priority will be given to articles focusing on subjects which are relative new or poorly known or often misunderstood.

REEF EDGE takes short scientific notes or papers (scientific letters) of three-quarters of a page to two and a half pages in length. The intention is to provide a forum for recording observations of scientific or management value that may be too limited in scope to form the basis of a full scientific paper in a quality journal (such as Coral Reefs). It is especially intended that this section provide a useful vehicle for young scientists or those whose first language is not English. Nevertheless submissions must be based on adequate data and appropriate analysis.

For any of the above type of article no standardised division into sections is required; rather authors can propose section headings as best suited to their material. Similarly abstracts will not be used. However articles should be properly referenced, with typically 3 -12 publications cited in a reference section at the end. All types of article will be subject to refereeing by one or more suitably experienced referees.

Style and Language

Contributions should be clearly written and divided into paragraphs in a logical manner. They should normally be in English, but editorial policy is to accept one article per issue written in French or Spanish, but with an abstract in English.

Format

It is helpful if authors can submit their item in Word, with formatting as described below.

Pages are set with margins as follows: Top 1 cm; Bottom 1.5 cm; Sides 1.3 cm

Reef Currents articles are set as a single column across the page. Reef Perspectives and Reef Edge (and also Reef News) items are set as double columns with the gap between columns = 1 cm

The standard font is: Calibri size 11, with section headings in Calibri 11 Bold. Sub-headings are also in Calibri 11 bold, but set into the beginning of the paragraph. References are in Calibri font size 10, and footnotes in Calibri font size 8.

Paragraph settings are: line spacing = single with a 10 pt line space after a return or at the end of a paragraph, but no additional line spacing before. There is no indentation on either side, except when lists or bullet points are inserted.

Figures & Pictures should have a resolution of at least 350 dpi and be of a size suitable to the format. Each should have an explanatory caption either below or alongside it. Captions should be reasonably full, but not too long. Leave a single line between a figure and a caption below it. Use “Fig.” (i.e. abbreviated) in the text, but “Figure” (e.g. Figure 1) to start a caption.

Tables may be single column or page width, but large tables are not normally being suitable for publication in Reef Encounter. Each should have an explanatory caption either below or alongside it. Leave a single line between a table and a caption below it.

References

The style of References follows that used by Coral Reefs with no points or stops after initials or abbreviations, but with parentheses / brackets around dates, e.g. for journal papers and books:

Matsuura H, Sugimoto T, Nakai M, Tsuji S (1997) Oceanographic conditions near the spawning ground of southern bluefin tuna; northeastern Indian Ocean. J Oceanogr 53: 421-433

Klimley AP, Anderson SD (1996) Residency patterns of white sharks at the South Farallon Islands, California. In: Klimley AP & Ainley DG (eds) Great white sharks: ecology and behaviour. Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 365–374

Each reference should have a hanging first line with subsequent lines indented by 0.5 cm. A full list of abbreviations can be found and downloaded from the Springer website at http://www.springer.com/life +sciences/ecology/journal/338