ISSN 0122-9761
printed version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Sending of manuscripts

Potential contributors to the Bulletin of Marine and Coastal Research should follow the subsequent instructions: authors must submit original articles; that means those that have significant unpublished results, nor being considered for another journal. The Bulletin also accepts manuscripts on critical revisions that compile and analyze studies in particular fields and propose accurate research lines. We suggest the authors in any case, to check the presentation style in the last Bulletin’s issue to follow the exact structure.

Manuscripts are first reviewed by three experts in the relevant discipline. No longer than three months later, the editorial board will decide and notify if the article can be accepted to be published, if it is acceptable but need some corrections or if it is rejected. If it needs some corrections, the authors have to write a new version and send it no longer than two months later.

Author's Guide

Potential contributors to the Bulletin of Marine and Coastal Research should follow the subsequent instructions: only original articles should be submitted; that means those having significant unpublished results and not under consideration by another journal. The Bulletin also accepts critical revision manuscripts that compile and analyze studies in particular fields and propose research lines. We suggest that authors, in any case, check the presentation style in the last Bulletin issue to follow the same structure.

The Bulletin is an Open Access journal, hence authors do not pay for submitting or publishing a manuscript, except color prints as mentioned in this guide.

Languages: Spanish and English (American). The Bulletin receive manuscripts in both languages and give to authors, free of charge, translation service Spanish-English or English-Spanish until Volume 47. Authors cannot remove a manuscript one it is accepted and translated. Abstract and Notes must be originally submitted in both languages, Spanish and English.

Presentation: For submissions, please attach complete text and complementary files (submission letter and figures) in the web page www.invemar.org.co/boletin

For submissions, register a username and password here. If you have one, please just login.

FORMAT:

Type of font: Times New Roman, size 11 and double spaced.

Margins: Left and upper, 3 cm; right and lower, 2 cm.

All titles must be written in boldface type. Manuscript title must be written in uppercase and lowercase, main titles must be written in capital letters, both centered (even scientific names) and must be one space before the first line of the text. Subtitles must be also centered but as lowercase letters and there, third titles must be written on the left side of the paper, as lower-case letter, and also with no space.

All pages must be numbered consecutively.

Text: Manuscripts submitted as Articles must have maximum 6000 words including tables and figures but excluded Literature Cited, only exceptional cases we will accept papers longer than that.  Text must be structured as follows: Title, Author (s), Author's address, Abstract, Abstract in Spanish (Resumen), Introduction, Study area, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion (optional), Acknowledgements and Literature Cited. This format can be modified depending on the type of work. Those institutions or companies that have a registered English name can use that English version.

Manuscripts submitted as Notes format must be maximum 1500 words or shorter (excluding Literature Cited), without divisions and subtitles like the long manuscripts. Notes, must be submitted in two languages: Spanish and English (American) and divided only in: Abstract, Spanish Resumen, Acknowledgements and Literature Cited.

Abstract and “Resumen” must be one paragraph and should not exceed 30 lines. Spanish Resumen should be an exact translation of the abstract, both must include at the end a maximum of five key words, which have to start with capital letters. The title of the manuscript should be given in both languages too.

Tables: Must be processed using the "table" tool as text file, vertical lines should be avoided, one table per page. Table legends must be placed on top, in lowercase letters, and present clearly the content. Tables must be numerated consecutively, cited and included in the text. Information included in tables should not be repeated in figures.

Figures: Figures include illustrations such as maps, pictures, plates, and schemes. They must be numbered and included in the text.

Drawings: letters and symbols on drawings should have a suitable size, so that if they get reduced they will not lose their shape and details.

Photographs: the journal covers the costs for publishing black and white photographs. If there are color images in the manuscript, the authors will have to afford color page fees*. Photographs and image files should be saved as TIF files, with at least 360 dpi resolution and colors should correspond to CMYK scale. We suggest sending images for first version in 72 dpi resolution, in RGB scale, so that files are not too heavy to charge in the platform.

*Color page fees must be quoted at acceptation time for publication.

Abbreviations: Abbreviations may be used and also common symbols, such as m, km, g, mg, %, or ºC, as long as they are next to numbers. Do not use period marks after symbols or abbreviations. All decimal numbers have to be separated by periods.

Citation Style: In the text please reference the bibliography as follows, avoiding use of op.cit:

"The species lives in rocky and coral substrates (Pérez, 1980; Darwin and Scott, 1991), although following García (1992), it prefers gravel substrate." When the reference includes more than two authors, it has to be quoted as: Castro et al. (1965) or (Castro et al., 1965), with "et al." always written in italics. Personal communications should not be used but they may be accepted by the editor depending on the specific case. If they are included they should be presented as: Complete name. Institution. City, Country. Year. Pers. Comm. Please avoid indirect references like: Pérez 2007 (In: Fernández, 2008).

The literature cited must include all and just the references cited in the text, in alphabetical order and in chronological order when there is more than one article by the same author (s). The symbol "&", frequently used, should be changed for the word "and". The citation style can be checked in any article in the last issue of the Bulletin and its accuracy is the author's responsibility. Unpublished data or manuscripts are not supposed to be cited.

If a manuscript in press has to be cited, it should include information about issue, year, and title of the journal of the future publication.

Journals must be cited in the next format:

Author (point) Year (point) Title (point) Jorunal´s title (coma) Volumen (two points) Page rank (point). Eg: Blanco, J.A., J.C. Nárvaez y E.A. Viloria. 2007. ENSO and the rise and fall of a tilapia fishery in northern Colombia. Fish. Res., 88: 100-108.

When the reference included all pages of journal, must be cited in next format: Author (point) Year (point) Title (point) Journal´s title (coma) Volume (coma) total pages (point). Eg: Pang, R.K. 1973. The systematics of some Jamaican excavating sponges. Postilla, 161, 75 p.

Use the abbreviations when the journal´s title has two or more words. Check the information presented in www.abreviations.com. For no listed journals, use complete title.

For books, must follow next format:

Author (point) Year (point) Title (point) Publishing house (coma) City (point) Total pages number (point). Eg: Dahl, G. 1971. Los peces del norte de Colombia. Inderena, Bogotá. 391 p.

The chapter of books must be cited:

Author (point) Year (punto) Chapter name (point) Page rank (point). Publishing house (point) Title of the book (point) Publishing house (coma) City (point) Total pages (point). Eg: Álvarez-León, R. y J. Blanco. 1985. Composición de las comunidades ictiofaunísticas de los complejos lagunares estuarinos de la bahía de Cartagena, ciénaga de Tesca y Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta, Caribe colombiano. 535-555. En: Yáñez-Arancibia, A. (Ed.). Fish community ecology in estuaries and coastal lagoons. UNAM, México D.F. 653 p.

Meeting transactions and unpublished documents (thesis) could be cited at editor´s discretion. All thesis are cited as books.

Electronic resources: Web documents vary constantly. Therefore, they should be avoided as references in the manuscripts if it is not really necessary. In special cases, it will be the editor's decision to accept it or not. These citations should follow the next format: Author. Date. Title. Complete URL. Eg: Hammer, O., D.A.T. Harper and P.D. Ryan. 2008. PAST - Palaentological Statistics, ver. 1.81.  http://folk.uio.no/ohammer/past/past.pdf. 08/06/2008.

Others:

-Use of footnotes in the text is strongly discouraged.

-Scientific names of genera and species must be written in italics type or underlined.

-Taxonomic reports have to be written following the international nomenclature code. Bulletin office have some examples that may asked for if needed.

-Measurements have to be marked using metric system. Salinity values have to be presented without symbols or units.

-You should suggest the names of at least two potential reviewers for the manuscript, including their contact information.

-The manuscripts published since this number, are going to have the DOI, in electronic and printed version, therefore it must be referenced.

-Since now, the authors must add the OrcID number. If you do not have it yet, find in this web page, all instructions: https://orcid.org/ 

Procedure:

1. The authors submit the manuscript in the Bulletin page www.invemar.org.co/boletinRegister a username and password only once, and whenever they want, the authors could verify the state of manuscript.
2. With the article or note, please charge complementary files: submission letter in PDF. Remember that the figures and tables must be included in the text.
3. When the manuscript is charged, begins editorial cycle and it is assigned to editorial board.
4. The editorial board will decide and notify if the manuscript is acceptable to go forward, if it´s not, the authors have to make all corrections needed. Then, if it´s acceptable, is submitted to blind peer review, experts in the relevant discipline.
5. After the evaluation from peer review, editorial board decide and notify if the article is acceptable for publication. Then, adjust the format for print.
6. Publication.

Important: Any time of process, authors could visualize the manuscript state, logging in the platform.

The tables, figures and text should be (initially) in the same word document. The cover letter should be in PDF format. If the manuscript is acceptable for publication, we will ask to authors about high quality figures. Therefore, when submitting your article you should send the following files:

-Text (figures and tables included)

The manuscripts, digital files and communications should be sent to: Comité Editorial, Boletín de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras, INVEMAR, Cerro Punta de Betín, Santa Marta, Colombia (e-mail: boletin@invemar.org.co). Communications about results and correction suggestions should be preferably sent by email, so that it doesn’t take too long to process the final version.