Submissions

Author Guidelines

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

Book 2 – Botany of the Annual of Sofia University is a peer-reviewed periodical, issued yearly in one volume, which is published on-line with an open access and in a printed version with two relevant IUSSNs. Original papers covering the entire field of scientific botany and mycology with a worldwide geographical scope are published with special encouragement to the papers of students and young scientists. Five categories of contributions are published: 1) Research articles; 2) Review articles (invited or published with the editors' consent); 3) Short communications; 4) Book reviews; 5) Information about scientific events, past or forthcoming or, preferably, overview of the topics and contributions of the scientific meetings.

Manuscripts have to be written in English and the first three categories of contributions must present new and important research findings that have not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. By submitting a manuscript the author expresses his agreement to transfer the copyright and all rights of reproduction of any kind, translations and distribution to the publisher.

Manuscripts should be submitted as electronic file/files (e-mail attachment). Text, references, tables and figure captions should be submitted as .doc/docx (Times New Roman 12). In case of tables, when necessary, the font size could be smaller. Figures should be provided in .tif or .jpg format (min 300 dpi required). Details on their formatting and presentation are described in the end of the instructions.

Incoming manuscripts are initially judged by the editor. If the manuscript is acceptable as corresponding to the scope of the journal and representing a major contribution deserving publication in an international journal, it will be forwarded to reviewers for evaluation. The editors decide on acceptance after the recomendation of international expert referees and on corrections and alterations of the manuscript thought to be advisable. After the approval of the final version by the editorial board, the manuscript will be accepted for publication. The editor reserves the right to make editorial changes. Authors agree, with the acceptance of the manuscript, that the copyright is transferred to the publisher. The editorial policy does not support any form of plagiarism and requires correct citations from the authors.

In preparing the manuscripts, the authors are kindly requested to adhere to the following instructions:

As a rule, the size of contributions should not exceed 16 printed pages. If a paper exceeds the pointed limits, the authors are requested to obtain the editors' consent in advance.

The text must be accurate and the language correct.

The title of the paper must be concise, but informative, describing the matter of the contribution as well as possible. The authors' given names must be spelled in full, while a middle name should be abbreviated: full first name(s), middle initials and surname(s). The authors' address(es) should be stated on the first page of the paper below the title and could be followed by e-mail address/adresses (the last is optional). The addresses should be as complete as possible (affiliation, street, postal code, town, country).  In case of authors from different affiliations, a number (superscript) should be put in the end of the authors name and the same number with a normal font size should be placed before the address. The postal adress and the email of the corresponding author should be indicated as a footnote on the first page (corresponding author: ........).

Example:

* corresponding author: M. P. Stoyneva – Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Faculty

of Biology, Department of Botany, 8 Blvd. Dr. Tsankov, BG-1164, Sofia, Bulgaria; mstoyneva@uni-sofia.bg

 

The proper paper text must be preceeded by an English summary („Abstract“), which should express the important new results precisely and should be limited to 300 words. Subsequently up to 6 key words (or key word combinations) suitable for information-retrieval system are to be listed (in alphabetical order). The key words should not repeat those, which already are mentioned in the title. The disposition of the paper sections should be in agreement with common use. The „Introduction“ should explain the purpose of the work and its relations to

other studies in this field. Before the material and method description, optionally, due to author‘ decission, a chapter „Studied site/s“ could be included. Descriptions of materials and methods should provide sufficient information to permit repetition of the experimental work. The origin of the material investigated, methods of preparation and the herbaria in which the vouchers are deposited, should be indicated completely. In case of work with threatened species and protected areas it is recommended to provide the permission data. SI-units are requested and slashes have to be replaced by superscript (e.g. mg l^-1  should be used instead of mg/l). The geographic names should be transliterated from the common geographic names used in the certain country

(e.g. Rodopi Mts instead of Rhodopes). The proper Bulgarian legislative documents for translation and transliteration are cited at the end of this Instruction. Not commonly used abbreviations should be explained at the end of the chapter „Material and methods“. The „Results“ preferably have to be separated from the „Discussion“. The discussion should deal

with the interpretation of the results, not only recapitulate them.

The beginning of a paragraph should be indicated by indenting the first line.

The scientific names of the taxa (genera, species and lower ones) must be quoted completely, denominating the name of the genus, species epitheton (if necessary subspecies, cultivar etc.) and the author, when mentioned for the first time in the text. Full scientific names, as a rule, should be mentioned in the summary also. The author names in the scientific names should not be formatted. The classification system used is up to the authors, but in case of different from

commonly approached, should be properly indicated.

The Acknowledgments may be inserted at the end of the text, before the literature references. Their correctness and ethics are total responsibility of the authors.

References to the works cited are given in the text by the name of the author and the year of publication, e.g. Ivanov (1971), or (Ivanov 1971) and Ivanov & Petrov (1942) or (Ivanov & Petrov 1942), respectively. When more authors have to be cited in brackets semicolons between them should be used and works should be listed in chronological (not in alphabetical!) order, e.g. (Ivanov & Petrov 1942; Ivanov 1971; Babov 1987). In case of unchanged citation certain pages of a paper referenced should be indicated as follows: Ivanov 2013: 149–151, or Ivanov 2013: 169. The abbreviated citation et al. should be used in the text only in cases where three and more authors are involved, e.g. Ivanov et al. (1971), or (Ivanov et al. 1971). In case of editor/editors, they have to be indicated only in the reference list, but not in the text of the paper (e.g. Petrov (2013) in the text and Petrov I. A. (Ed.) 2013....in the references). In the same way, in the references, but not in the text, the Editor in chief is abbreviated as Ed-in-Chief and Compiler/Compilers are abbreviated as Comp. and Comps respectively (e.g. Petrov I. P. (Ed-in-Chief) 2013; Petrov A. V. (Comp.) 2015; Petrov A. V. & Draganov I. P. (Comps) 2017).

References to the cited works (and only those) are to be arranged alphabetically at the end of the paper, the papers of the same author(s) should be listed in chronological order and according to the number of co-authors. The well-known journals should be enlisted with their common abbreviations; the other journals should be written in full titles. The form of citations should conform to general use, as the following examples, organized for one, two and three or more authors (please note that after a punctuation mark an interval should be used):

Journals:

Ivanov I. P. 2013. Photosynthetic CO2-fixation pathways. – Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. 21 (2): 141–263.

Ivanov I. P. & Petrov P. I. 2013. Photosynthetic CO2-fixation pathways. – Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. 21 (2): 141–263.

Ivanov I. P., Petrov P. I. & Dimitrov V. N. 2013. Photosynthetic CO2-fixation pathways. – Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. 21 (2): 141–263.

Alternatively, we accept full text citations of journal titles. However, the reference list must be consistent in this regard.

 

For a book citation is as follows:

Dimitrov D. G. & Ivanov A. N. 2017. Biodiveristy of the seashores of Bulgaria. Springer, Heidelberg, 405 pp.

Ivanov W. H., Stoyanov H. M. & Petrov F. B. (Eds). 2000. Water ecosystems. Elsevier, New York, 265 pp.

 

Book chapters:

Petrov F. K. 2000. Grazing in water ecosystems. – In: Ivanov W. J., Stoyanov H. P. & Petrov F. B. (Eds), Water ecosystems, Elsevier, New York, 59–105.

When the cited paper/chapter occupies only one page, it should be written as follows:

Petrov F. K. 2000. Padina pavonica. – In: Ivanov W. J., Stoyanov H. P. & Petrov F. B. (Eds), Water ecosystems, Elsevier, New York, p. 49.

 

Conference papers (or abstracts if they provide essential information):

Bogdanov D. M. 2017. Danube Delta. - In: Somov N. P. & Karakudis F. E. (Eds), Proceedings of the First European Symposium Conservation and management of biodiversity in the European seashores, Melnik, Bulgaria, 8-12 May 2017, 36-46.

Bogdan D. M. 2017. Biosphere reserves and special legislation for environmental protection. - In: Venev N. (Ed-in-Chief), Book of Abstracts, First European Symposium Conservation and management of biodiversity in the European seashores, Primorsko, Bulgaria, 8-12 May 2017, p. 36.

Or, alternatively, depending on the order of date and place in the original title of the Proceedings/Abstract books:

Bogdan D. M. 2017. Biosphere reserves and special legislation for environmental protection. - In: Venev N. (Ed-in-Chief), Book of Abstracts First European Symposium Conservation and management of biodiversity in the European seashores, 8-12 May 2017, Primorsko, Bulgaria, p. 36.

 

Electronic publications should be cited with their author or title in the references with indication of the date of retrievement or of the last access of their full web address:

Geneva M. M. 2011. Cortinarius caperatus. – In: Penev D. (Ed.), Red Data Book of the Republic of Bulgaria. Vol. 1. Fungi. Retrieved from http://eclab. bas.bg/rdb/en/vol1/ on 14.11.2014.

Index Fungorum. Retrieved from http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp on

19.11.2017.

Or, alternatively

Index Fungorum. http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/Names.asp (Last accessed on

19.11.2017).

 

References to manuscripts in preparation should not be included in the text and in the reference list, except for extremely significant data. Other data should be cited as unpublished (unpubl. or unpubl. data) or as manuscripts (diploma works, etc.), personal communications (pers. comm.) or written documents (in litt.) in the text, but not in the references.

 

Titles of the papers in cyrillic should be translated (or their relevant German, French or English titles provided by authors in abstracts should be used with indicating of the original language (see the example below). The title of the journal and/or publishing house should be transliterrated in case that there is no accepted international journal abbreviation:

Journal:

Petkov N. H. 1915. La flore algologique du mont Pirin-planina.- Sbornik na Bulgarskata Akademiya na Naukite 20: 1–128 (In Bulgarian, French summ.).

Book:

Valkanov D. E., Draganova P. M. & Tsvetkova B. B. 1978. Flora of Bulgaria. Algae. Izd. Narodna Prosveta, Sofia, 642 pp. (In Bulgarian).

 

In case of other slavic languages, double titles could be provided (optional):

Hindák F. 1996. Klúč na určovanie nerozkonárených vláknitých zelených rias (Ulotrichineae, Ulotrichales, Chlorophyceae) [Key to unbranched filamentous green algae (Ulotrichineae, Ulotrichales, Chlorophyceae)].- Bull. Slov. Bot. Spol., Bratislava, Suppl. 1: 1–77 (in Slovakian).

 

Footnotes should be avoided.

 

Transliteration should follow the Bulgarian legislative documents (State Gazette 19/13.03.2009, 77/01.10.2010, 77/09.10.2012, 68/02.08.2013 - http://lex. bg/en/laws/ldoc/2135623667). The geographic names should be fully transliterated except the cases of titles of published works.

 

The required type-setting is as follows: author's names (except those in the Latin names) in the text to be set in Small Capitals (e.g. Ivanov), scientific names of plant genera, species, varieties, forms (but not the names of plant communities), to be set in Italics in accordance with the rules of the International Code for Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants (Melbourne Code 2011), e.g. Closterium Nitzsch ex Ralfs, or Closterium monilferum (Bory) Ehr. ex Ralfs. The literature references are to be treated in the same manner. The Latin abbreviations in the text like e.g., etc. should be written in Italic.

In the case of taxonomic keys and floras the author name and title can be combined in the text (e.g., Rothmalers Exkursionsflora and Reynolds Flora Iranica) but titles without authors are not admissible (e.g. Flora Europaea).

The number of both tables and illustrations must be restricted to the indispensable amount. Repeated presentation of the same fact by tables and figures will not be accepted. In case of doubt, figures (line drawings) should be preferred.

Figures should be placed in a consecutive order and abbreviated in the text – Fig. 1, or Figs. 3–6. Figures must be original, or supplied by permission for publication (in case of photos or unchanged drawings, pictures or schemes). Figures should be of high quality with sharp lines in drawings and well contrasted in the case of photos. If applicable, figures should be mounted to groups adapted to the type area of 13 x 18 cm. In papers with geographical components an outline map of the region of interest should be included. In case of maps or other figures and photos retrived from Internet, authors are responsible for correct keeping of the copyright laws and for the quality of the figures. Low print quality figures will be not accepted. The authors are strongly requested, to check the legibility of the figures at the final size within the type area of 13 x 18 cm and to take into account the effect of the reduction of the figures to this size. Magnifications or reductions should be indicated preferably by a scale bar in the figure. The indication of magnification or reduction factors in the legend is less appropriate.

The colour photos and figures will appear in the on-line edition, but have to be prepared in a way to be readable in the black-and-white paper copy.

Brief legends to the figures (line drawings as well as photographs) should be listed separately after the references with the proper Figure captions. Please, add the figures and tables separate from the text document, naming them as in the examples given (Fig. 1 – PetrovEtAl.jpg, or Table 1– Petrov&Ivanov.docx).

 

Authors are kindly invited together with the submitted paper to provide a Declaration for lack of conflict of interests. They will get the exact form of such declarations from the Assistant Editor by e-mail and have to sign and return it to the Assistant Editor in paper and electronic version.

The Editorial Board strongly supports and recommends addition of Author Contributions part, in which the exact participation of each author is declared. This part is optional and has its place after the Conflict of Interest statement.

The corresponding author will receive only one proof for checking (PDF file). Only printer errors /misprints may be corrected. The authors are requested to correct the galley proofs carefully and to return them within maximum two weeks to the editors.

The authors will receive a pdf-file of their paper.

 

Manuscripts, proofs and any correspondence concerning the editoral matter should be directed to the Editorial Board and/or to the Editor-in-Chief Prof. Maya P. Stoyneva-Gärtner on the following e-mail address: AnnSofUniv2Botany@gmail.com. Please, note that manuscripts which do not fit to the Instructions to the authors of this journal, will be not accepted for further processing and reviewing process. The same is valid for the papers and reviews, send to the personal addresses of the Editor-in-Chied, Editorial Secretary or members of the Editorial Board. It is strongly recommended before submitting to check the outfit of newest published papers and in case of hesitation to send a request to the Editorial e-mail.