Format and style instructions for the Journal of the Marine Biological Association (U.K.)
Editorial Policy
The JMBA publishes papers on all aspects of marine biology and oceanography. Papers should report the results of original research and must not have been published, or be under consideration for publication, elsewhere.
General
Papers should be written in English and should be as clear and succinct as possible. If there is a particular reason why rapid publication is desirable this should be stated with the submission. If acronyms are used they must be specified in full on their first occurrence. SI units should be used. Sentences must not start with an abbreviation. Only the scientific names of species should be italicized, and their first mention should be followed by the authority except where reference is made to a work in which the authority appears. Footnotes must not be used.
Tables and legends for illustrations should be typed separately at the end of the manuscript. All pages should be numbered serially (title, main text, acknowledgements, references, figure legends, tables).
Title
Each paper must have a unique title and not be one of a numbered series. The title should be kept as short as possible (maximum 18 words), and if specific names are included the authority should be omitted. A running head of not more than 43 characters should be suggested.
Abstract
Each paper (including short communications) must start with a brief abstract summarizing the main results and conclusions of the work, and such other information as makes it suitable for publication without change in abstracting journals. No references should be given in the abstract. If the title includes specific names, the abstract must include the taxonomic group to which the species belongs (e.g. Pholoe minuta (Annelida: Polychaeta)). The abstract must be intelligible to a reader who is not a specialist in the subject of the paper.
Introduction
Here you should explain the background of the study, the reason for doing it and the hypothesis or hypotheses you are testing. Remember to describe both the experimental subject (organism or habitat) and methodology that you have used so that the reader will fully grasp the study that you have performed.
Methods
State clearly and precisely what was done. Well established methods may simply be cited rather than a full explanation. However, others should be explained so that the reader could repeat the experiment to verify your results. Do not refer to any statistical methods here.
Results
State your results with any statistical analysis. Remember in this section to not explain what the data might mean. You need only state what they are. This does mean however, that you should process any replicates that you have (why did you perform replicate experiments?).
Discussion
Here, you should discuss the implications of your results and how your data fit into the big picture. You should discuss all possible interpretations of your results with an evaluation of the likelihood of each interpretation being the correct one. It is conventional to place the most likely interpretation of the data last. Then, compare your data, and your most likely interpretation of it, to similar published data collected from different subjects (organisms/ habitats) and similar data collected using different methodologies. Finally, you should finish with a concluding paragraph of the importance of your experiment. N.B. Errors may be discussed, but should not be a major component of the discussion.
References
References should be kept to an essential minimum and must be listed alphabetically at the end of the paper. Care should be taken to ensure that all those quoted in the text are included, but no others. The full title of the paper and all the authors must be given. Where a volume appears in parts the part need be specified only where each has separate pagination. Titles of journals are given in full and references to books should include the place of publication and publisher. Citations in the text to be given as 'Smith & Jones (1964)', or '(Smith & Jones, 1964)', or 'Smith et al. (1964)' if there are more than two authors, except where this is ambiguous.
Examples:
Goldberg, E.D., 1965. Minor elements in sea water. In Chemical oceanography, vol. 1 (ed. J.P. Riley and G. Skirrow), pp. 163-196. New York: Academic Press.
Marshall, S.M., Nicholls, A.G. & Orr, A.P., 1939. On the growth and feeding of young herring in the Clyde. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 23, 427-455.
Russell, F.S. & Yonge, C.M., 1928. The seas. London: Frederick Warne.
Figures
Figures should be in black ink on white paper no larger than letter, and must be suitable for reproduction. Figures will normally be reduced as much as possible to save space (to one-third of a page on average), and the lines and lettering should be of a suitable size and thickness. After reduction the maximum size for a figure or photograph is 134 x 200 mm, including legend. Lettering, numerals etc. should conform to JMBA style (Helvetica 8 point after reduction). Symbols should be kept to a minimum and must be clearly explained in the legend.
Half-tone photographs will be reproduced in the text pages and should be supplied as glossy prints with suitable labeling on the originals. Sizes should be indicated by a scale line on the print (parallel to the side or bottom) and not by a magnification factor in the legend. Three sets of glossy prints are required.
Legends for figures must be typed all together on a separate sheet. All illustrations, including photographs, are numbered in Arabic numerals and referred to in the text as 'Figure 1', etc. Where a figure comprises two or more distinct components they must be given a single Figure number and be distinguished by capital letters (e.g. Figure 1A).
Please ensure that multiple diagrams are lined up correctly, with as little space between parts as possible, and labeled 'A', 'B', etc. If graphs have been plotted using a computer package the scales must be labeled in sensible intervals.
Colored illustrations can be included but only at the author's expense.
Tables
Tables should be numbered in Arabic numerals, and given a concise heading.
Authors are requested to see that their manuscripts are in finished form and completely ready for publication so that corrections may be reduced to a minimum. Alterations to the text at the proof stage will be charged to the author.