Instructions for Authors

Aim

The Marine Turtle Newsletter (MTN) provides current information on marine turtle research, biology, conservation and status, in an open-access format. A wide range of material will be considered for publication in the MTN including editorials, articles, notes, letters and announcements. Research articles, notes and editorials published in the MTN are subject to peer-review, with an emphasis on ensuring clarity and transparency of information that is accessible to individuals from a variety of disciplines and organizations world-wide.

Scope of the Marine Turtle Newsletter

Material in the MTN may include any aspect of the biology or conservation of sea turtles. Subject areas include, but are not limited to nesting biology, physiology, behavior, sensory biology, population trends, conservation biology, management techniques, policy, human dimensions, stories, poetry, etc.

Readership

Material published in the MTN is of interest to researchers, conservationists, academics, teachers, naturalists, volunteers, policy makers, planners, resource managers and media professionals.

Editorial Policy

The MTN publishes submitted and commissioned articles, debates and discussions, editorials, book reviews, comments and notes, and reader feedback. The MTN is published four times a year in PDF and HTML formats, available at seaturtle.org/MTN

All manuscripts submitted to the MTN are processed using a single blind reviewer system, although occasionally reviewers will sign their comments. The editors will work with authors to revise manuscripts as needed to make them publishable in the MTN.

Submission

All manuscripts and supporting material must be submitted electronically to mtn@seaturtle.org.

Document Formats

Text should be submitted as document files (Microsoft Word .doc and .docx format). Photographs/figures, line drawings and graphs should be submitted as separate files. Photographs should be submitted as 300 dpi, 3 × 4 inches, JPEG format (.jpg). Line drawings should be submitted as 300-600 dpi, 3 × 4 inches, PNG/TIFF format (.png or .tif). Graphs should be submitted as 300-600 dpi, 3 × 4 inches, PNG/TIFF format (.png or .tif), and also as separate excel files (.xls or .xlsx)

Ethics

The editors and publisher of the MTN accept the following fundamental principles of scholarly or professional publishing:

• Each manuscript submitted and published should be the authors' own original work, which has not been previously published elsewhere.
• Each manuscript submitted and published should correspond to the authors' own research and analysis, in a truthful and complete manner.
• Each manuscript submitted and published should provide proper credit to co-authors and co-researchers involved in the research.
• Each manuscript submitted and published should not be submitted to more than one journal at a time for consideration of publication.
• Each manuscript submitted and published should include appropriate context for existing publications related to the subject material.

Equally important is the responsibility of the author(s) to ensure that the proper permit(s) and/or authorization(s) have been arranged for the research in question. This includes the appropriate institutional, local, state, provincial, federal and international permits, including CITES (for international transport of whole or parts of protected species) and Institutional Review Board (IRB, particularly for research involving people, such as questionnaires or surveys). The author(s) should make reference to the appropriate permits/authorizations in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript.

Word Limits

The word limits are for body of the text, including title, author information in-text quotations, references, appendices, tables, and figures (including captions).

Research Articles: 5,000 words maximum

Reviews: 8,000 words maximum

Editorials: 4,000 words maximum

Comments or Letters to the Editors: 1,500 words maximum

Book Reviews: 2,000 words maximum

Perspectives, Debates & Essays: Specified by the editors

Organization of Manuscripts

The paper should be organized as follows:

Title: 10-12 words

Author(s)

Author Affiliation(s): including current affiliation and affiliation where the work was primarily carried out

E-mail address(es) (in order of authors)

Main body of manuscript

Acknowledgements

Literature Cited

Tables (including table legends)

Figures (including figure legends)

Research Articles: NOTE that research articles in the MTN do not feature Abstracts or Keywords, and they do not contain traditional subheadings of Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, etc. This relaxed format should facilitate the dissemination of information to all readers, including those less familiar with scientific literature. Research articles should still begin with introductory material that succinctly states the purpose and motivation behind the research and a brief background of the topic. Articles should also include a description of the design of the study and sampling, statistical procedures, descriptions of study sites, sources of information and so on. The methods should be given in sufficient detail so as to enable replication of the work. Research articles should also report the results of the research, with relevant references to figures or tables and with interpretation of the results of the study, including comparisons to previous studies, the possible inferences one may gain from the results and reasonable speculations based on the results can be accommodated in the discussion.

Reviews: Review articles provide an overview of a particular subject or several related subjects, and do not feature Abstracts or Keywords, and they do not contain traditional subheadings of Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, etc. Authors of review articles are encouraged to provide constructive criticism, both positive and negative, of the subject material, rather than providing only one perspective.

Editorials: One objective of the MTN is to provide a platform for discussion of particular viewpoints or ideas related to sea turtle conservation. The Editors welcome the submission of Editorials for publication in the MTN, on a wide variety of subjects. Every effort will be made to allow authors to state their own opinions, although personal (ad hominem) comments and the like should be avoided. The Editors will seek reviews of submitted Editorials, primarily to ensure readability. The Editors may seek other Editorials to respond or follow on from the originally submitted Editorial.

Comments or Letters to the Editors: These should be brief and focus on something previously published in the MTN. The Editors may invite authors of the original publication to respond to the submitted Comment or Letter to the Editor, so they appear together in a future issue.

Book Reviews: These are generally invited reviews, and authors will receive a free copy of the book to be reviewed. The Editors will review the submission, primarily for clarity and focus. The Editors welcome suggestions for Book Reviews, or requests to write a Book Review.

STYLE GUIDE

All text - including tables, references, figure and table legends - should be in Times New Roman, size 12, double-spaced.

There should be a line space between paragraphs. Do not use tabs, alignments or justification.

All pages - beginning from the title page to the last page of the appendices - should be numbered consecutively, even if they are submitted in different files.

Language and Spellings

Manuscripts must be written in American English and use American spelling conventions. e.g., 'organization' instead of 'organisation'; 'organize' instead of 'organise'; 'program' not 'programme'; 'labor' not 'labour. '

Headings

There are no headings used in Research Articles published in the MTN. e.g., no Abstract, no Introduction, no Materials & Methods, etc.

Quotation marks

Use straight double quotation marks for highlighting. e.g., "warana"

Use straight single quotation marks only for quoted words within a quotation. Ensure that the spellings are reproduced exactly as in the source. All quotations of 45 words or more should be set apart from the text and indented. Please obtain permission to reproduce any quotation beyond the limits of 'fair dealing'.

Hyphenation

Pay attention to consistency in the hyphenation of words. e.g., do not alternate between 'macro-economic' and 'macroeconomic'

A distinction is made, however, between noun and attributive adjective. e.g., 'the middle class' but 'middle-class ethics'

Do not hyphenate adverbs ending with 'ly,' e.g., 'strongly swimming turtles' not 'strongly-swimming turtles'

Hyphens can be used after adjectives ending in 'ly, ' e.g., heavenly-sounding music

Abbreviations, Acronyms and Contractions

Short forms likely to be unfamiliar to the reader should be spelled out in full the first time they occur. e.g., Marine Turtle Research Group (MTRG)

Use a final full stop / period for abbreviations (words shortened by omitting the end). e.g., h., m., p., vol., ed., eds.

No full stops / periods for acronyms. e.g., CPI, INTUC, MP

No full stops / periods for contractions (words shortened by omitting the middle). e.g., Mr and Dr

Numbers and Symbols

For exact measurements, quantities and percentages, use Arabic numerals (not words). e.g., 3%, 5 ml, 3 km, 5 years

In more general descriptions, numbers below 10 should be spelled out in words; numbers 10 and greater should be expressed in Arabic numerals.

Use the International System of Units (SI) for measurements.

Use thousands, millions, billions (not crores and lakhs).

%, °C and ° closed up to the number. e.g., 3%, 50°C, 55°

Use degree symbol ° (not superscript letter o )

Date: '22 December 1999' (not December 22nd 1999)

Decade: '1990s' (not '1990's, ' '90s', or '90's')

Century: '19th century' (not 'nineteenth century')

Figures and Tables

Limit the number of figures and tables to only those providing essential information (no more than a total of 5 tables and/or figures, unless given permission by the Editors). Figures and tables should supplement (not duplicate) the data in the text.

Figures should not contain logos or emblems.

Distinguish between figures and tables (statistical material); use Arabic numerals to number figures and tables. e.g., 'Table 3,' 'Figure 2'

In the text of the manuscript, each figure should be referred to as Fig. X, while each table should be referred to as Table Y.

All figures and tables should have a brief and descriptive legend. All figures and tables should be as self-explanatory as possible. Figure and table legends should include descriptions of abbreviations (if used).

After References, following the List of Figures and Tables, begin each table on a new page.

Tables should be submitted in MS Excel format (.xls or .xlsx files). If a single Excel file is submitted with multiple tables, be sure to put each individual table in a separate workbook tab, with each table carefully labeled.

Figures (photographs, maps, line drawings, graphs, etc.) should be submitted as separate files.

Photographs/figures, line drawings and graphs should be submitted as separate files. Photographs should be submitted as 300 dpi, 3 × 4 inches, JPEG format (.jpg). Line drawings should be submitted as 300-600 dpi, 3 × 4 inches, PNG/TIFF format (.png or .tif). Graphs should be submitted as 300-600 dpi, 3 × 4 inches, PNG/TIFF format (.png or .tif), and also as separate excel files (.xls or .xlsx).

It is important that you obtain permission to reproduce any figures that are not your own.

For Maps, ensure that latitude and longitude are marked on the axes, and that all text labels in the Map are legible. An excellent free online tool for making maps is www.seaturtle.org/maptool

Place names

Spellings of place names should correspond to the usage in standard modern atlases.

However, the spellings of names in quotations should not be changed.

Diacriticals (accent marks)

Use of diacriticals is optional but must be consistent throughout the article. Where diacriticals are not used, the word should be spelled phonetically, unless used in a quotation where the original spellings should be retained. e.g., 'bhut' not 'bhoot'

Italics

Italic type should be used only for titles of books and journals referred to in the text and notes, Latin names of species and for less familiar foreign words.

Footnotes

These are not commonly used in published works in the MTN. Generally, if the information in the footnote is important, it probably should be included in the main body of the text, not in a footnote. However, in cases where footnotes are needed, follow these guidelines:

Use footnotes only in the main body of the text; not in the title or the abstract.

Use footnotes (not endnotes), i.e., should be listed at the bottom of the column on the page they appear (not at the end of the article).

Use the footnotes option in MS Word; do not manually insert numbers in superscript.

Use Arabic numerals to number footnotes.

Footnotes should contain more than a mere reference.

Acknowledgements

This section comes at the end of the manuscript and before the references, and is the appropriate place to thank donors, supporters, and others as appropriate. References to appropriate permits or authorizations should appear here, as should disclaimers (if needed).

References

Avoid excessive citations. All references that have been cited in the text should be listed at the end of the work and vice versa. Put a dot at the end of each reference in the list.

Citing References In Text - Chronological

Two authors to be separated by '&,' not 'and', e.g., as Rai & Sahu 2001.

More than 2 authors: first author et al. (et al. in italics), e.g., Roy et al. 2004.

References should be cited in chronological order, separated by a semicolon, e.g., Zade 1995; Mathew 1996a,b, 1998; Sharma et al. 2004; Forman & Gordon 2005, 2007.

Multiple publications for the same author(s) in the same year, the reference in the text should be distinguished using lower case letters separated by commas, e.g., Sharma 1960a,b (not 1960a, 1960b).

References that are long and/or have acronyms: Only acronym in text, e.g., NOAA-NMFS 2008.

Do not list Personal communication in references; strictly shift to text in parentheses (pers. comm.), to provide name & year e.g., (Wyneken pers. comm. 2011).

Unpublished / Undated references: use the appropriate case in place of year of publication: In press, Forthcoming, In review, etc.

Reference list - Alphabetical

An EndNote Style specific for the MTN is available at https://seaturtle.org/mtn/mtn.ens - download and save mtn.ens file to the Styles folder in the Endnote Application on your computer.

Special thanks to Lee Strasburger, Duke University, for creating the style file.

The reference list, beginning on a new page at the end of the article, should be in alphabetical order.

Do not use a line space between references. Do not use numbering, and tabs, alignments or justification.

All titles in Sentence case; do not capitalize the first word after colon in Sentence case.

No space between initials.

Page numbers ranges separated by a hyphen. e.g., 1-9.

Journal name in full (even well known journals like PNAS, PLoS Biology, etc.), no full stop after journal name

Book name: each word in book name is capitalized. e.g., Conserving Sea Turtles

Use complete page ranges. e.g., 371-379 (not 371-9); 227-235 (not 227-35).

Acronyms USA, UK, DC; no full stops between capitals: e.g., USA, UK, DC

Alphabetical order in reference list on the basis of last name of all authors (irrespective of initials or number of authors) e.g., a, aa, aab, ab, aba, abb, abc, ac, aca, acb, acc, etc.

Foreign language references need to be in the same format as English titles.

References that are long and/or have acronyms: Acronym followed by full name in parenthesis in reference list, e.g., NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). 2008.

Listing multiple places of publication, i.e., if a book has been published by more than one publisher/in more than one place by only one publisher, e.g., Hanoi: Quang Nam Forest Department and WWF Indochina or Gland and Cambridge: IUCN or Hanoi: Quang Nam Forest Department and WWF Indochina; Gland and Cambridge: IUCN, FAO, WHO, UNDP, MIT Press, OUP.

Abbreviation for well-known publisher names, e.g., IUCN, NMFS-SEFSC, FWS, UNDP, MIT Press, OUP, etc. do not need to be spelled out.

Unpublished / Undated references: use the appropriate case in place of year of publication: In press, Forthcoming, In review, etc.

Journal/Newsletter:

AUTHOR, A.B, B.C. AUTHOR & C.D. AUTHOR. Year. Article title [Sentence case]. Journal/Newsletter Name Volume: Page range. e.g.,

GODLEY, B.J., A.C. BRODERICK & G.C. HAYS. 2001. Nesting of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) at Ascension Island, South Atlantic. Biological Conservation 97: 151-158.

PHILLOTT, A.D. In press. A novel fungus found exclusively on marine turtle eggs. Mycology.

Sea Turtle Symposium Abstracts:

AUTHOR, A.B, B.C. AUTHOR & C.D. AUTHOR. Year. Abstract title [Sentence case]. In: Author, A. & B. Author (Comps.). Proceedings Name [Capitalized]. NOAA Tech Memo NMFS-SEFSC-XXXX. pp. xx-yy., e.g.,

JONES, T.T., M.D. HASTINGS & D.R. JONES. 2008. Rearing leatherbacks in captivity: protocols, health and research. In: Rees, A.F., M. Frick, A. Panagopoulou & K. Williams (Comps.). Proceedings of the 27th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. NOAA Tech Memo NMFS-SEFSC-569. pp.19-20

Books:

AUTHOR, A.B, B.C. AUTHOR & C.D. AUTHOR. Year. Book Name [Each Word Capitalized]. City: Publisher. ppPages. e.g.,

MROSOVSKY, N. 1983. Conserving Sea Turtles. British Herpetological Society, London. 176pp.

MUSICK, J.A. & P.L. LUTZ (Eds.). The Biology of Sea Turtles. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. 432pp.

Chapter in an edited book:

AUTHOR, A.B, B.C. AUTHOR & C.D. AUTHOR. Year. Chapter title [Sentence case]. In: Author, A. & B. Author (Eds.). Book Name [Capitalized] 'nth' edition. Volume n. City: Publisher. pp. xx-yy.. e.g.,

LIEW, H.-C. 2011. Tragedy of the Malaysian leatherback population. What went wrong. In: Dutton, P., D. Squires & M. Ahmed (Eds.). Conservation of Pacific Sea Turtles. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. pp. 97-107.

HEPPELL, S.S., M.L. SNOVER & L.B. CROWDER. 2003. Sea turtle population ecology. In: Lutz, P.L., J.A. Musick & J. Wyneken (Eds.). Biology of Sea Turtles. Volume 2. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. pp. 275-307.

PhD / MSc Thesis: degrees follow same format. e.g., MSc, MPhil, PhD, MTech, etc.

AUTHOR A. Year. Article title [Sentence case]. Ph.D. / M.Sc. thesis. University, City, Country. pp. xx. e.g.,

MILLER, J.D. 1982. Embryology of marine turtles. Ph.D. thesis. University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. pp. 461

Other Conference papers:

AUTHOR, A.B, B.C. AUTHOR & C.D. AUTHOR. Year. Chapter title [Sentence case]. In: Author, A. & B. Author (Eds.) or (Comps.). Conference Name [Capitalized]. Publisher: City. DD Month YYYY. pp. xx-yy., e.g.,

PRITCHARD, P.C.H. 1978. Marine turtles of the U.S. Pacific Trust Territories (Micronesia). In: Henderson, G.E. (Ed.). Proceedings of the Florida and Interregional Conference on Sea Turtles. Jensen Beach, Florida: Florida Department of Natural Resources. 24-25 July 1976. pp. 62-64.

For online reference/ URL:

If you wish to cite a website only, please give URL in parentheses directly in main text of the article. The URL should not be listed in the cited references section at the end of the article.

For online reports with year of publication, cite the author and date in the body of the text as for other publications, then list in references section at the end of the report.

AUTHOR, A. Year. Title [Sentence case]. URL. Accessed on DD Month YYYY. e.g.,

SEMINOFF, J.A. 2004. Chelonia mydas. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed on 21 August 2013.

Working papers, Manuscripts in preparation, Unpublished data:

These should be cited in the body of the article as (Author, A.B., unpubl. data). e.g., (Smith, L.L.B., unpubl. data).

For personal communications, use (Author, A.B., pers. comm.). e.g., (Rees, A.F., pers. comm.)

Same author(s), same year, multiple publications: Distinguish using lower case alphabets. e.g., CARR, A. 1987a. New perspectives on the pelagic stage of sea turtle development. Conservation Biology 1: 103-121.

CARR, A. 1987b. Impact of nondegradable marine debris and the ecology and survival outlook of sea turtles. Marine Pollution Bulletin 18: 352-356.

Submit a Book for Review

If you would like to submit a particular book for which a review would be of interest to our readers, please check with the Editors. We do not publish unsolicited book reviews.

Correspondence

All queries regarding manuscript submissions should be addressed to MTN Editors:
Email: mtn@seaturtle.org