Author Guidelines

Boletín Científico del Centro de Museos of Universidad de Caldas, its publishing institution,  is a specialized journal, whose purpose is to disclose research results in natural History related to similar biological sciences. The journal is published twice a year with the following topics: Main articles (up to 30 printed pages) related to Mammal zoology, Ornithology, Herpetology, Entomology, Botany, and Conservation. Systematics, taxonomy, biogeography, species inventories, ethology and preservation in the diverse habitats in the country are mainly studied in each of these topics.

The Bulletin invokes work aimed at the scientific community specializing in these fields and at conservationists in general.

Articles are also aimed at the conservation of biological collections or at diverse aspects of Museology in Natural History.

Short communications such as book reviews, acknowledgements of professional trajectory, course and event announcements related to Natural History are included.

Without exceptions, all articles submitted to this journal should be original and they should not have been published in another journal or electronic media.

To achieve its print edition and Web version, the Journal receives support from the Research and Graduate Studies Vice-rector´s Office, the Projection Vice-rector´s Office and the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Universidad de Caldas.

General Guidelines

The authors responsible for the research work to be submitted must be experts in the scientific fields the Journal deals with, and must have a graduate degree or have an undergraduate degree as coauthors. They should also emphasize that there is no conflict of interest for the individual opinions and ideas expressed in each individual contribution sent.

The original articles should  be the result of research, review, reflection or short communication and can be written in Spanish or English, or exceptionally in a third language,  and will be published in their original language. However, articles that have been published in other journals will not be accepted. Where possible the article must be delivered in its latest version fully established and major last-minute changes must not be made.

The texts will be revised by at least two specialists through a review format specially designed for this purpose and they will be able to consult with the director regarding the article´s acceptance or rejection. The articles that strictly follow the instructions indicated here will be favored for they publication.

The original and two letter size, 12 or 14 font, with 3 cm margins on all sides and doubled spaced (including title, key words, abstract, texts, tables and bibliography) copies of the text must be sent.

In addition the material must be submitted on magnetic media (Compact Disc) or directly sent in digital format, saved in MS-Word file. All manuscripts should have a title, an analytical abstract including objectives, scope, methodology and conclusions and key words in Spanish (also must include its English version), except in those of recognition. It is not essential that the pages are numbered.

When referring to conserved or deposited material from the Museum of Natural History of the Universidad de Caldas, the institution should be cited using the abbreviation (MHN-UC), which differentiates it from the material found at the Museum of Natural History, Universidad del Cauca (MHN-UCC), to clear up the confusion, since they have been used interchangeably in previous volumes of the journal.

Abbreviations and Style

The scientific names of the species should be written in italics. It is advisable to write the complete name the first time it appears in the text, but from then on it should be abbreviated.

Words should not be divided anywhere in the text. The metric system and its abbreviations must be used for all measurements, separating the decimal numbers with periods.

Bibliography

The name of the authors consulted in the bibliography and that are mentioned in the text, should be cited in capital letters and under the following specifications:

MARTINEZ (2000), if the author’s name is part of the sentence, and (MARTINEZ, 2000) if not.

(MUÑOZ, 1999, 2000) for two articles of the same author cited simultaneously.

(MUÑOZ, 1999a, 1999b) for two articles of the same author from the same year.

(ALBERICO et al., 2000; BERTH et al., 2001; CALLEJAS et al., 2002; JORDAN et al., 2003; SALAZAR et al., 2003), for two or more publications of different authors. They should be cited in alphabetical order, first, and then in chronological order. The diverse authors should be separated by semicolons.

When the reference corresponds to a citation of two authors, the last names should be connect by the “&” symbol, and if the publications belong to more than two authors, the last name of the first author goes in capital letters followed by “et al”: (MUÑOZ, et al., 2001).

Unpublished information, personal communications, electronic mails, and recently accepted articles can be mentioned. In the last case, the acceptance letter should be sent to the director for its verification.

The bibliographical list mentioned a the end of the article should be in alphabetical order according to the last name of the authors, always in capital letters and then in chronological order, as in the following examples:

Journal article

PECK, S.B. & FORSYTH, A., 1982.-Composition, structure and competitive behavior in a guild of Ecuadorian rain forest dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Canadian J. Zool., 60 (7):1624-1634.

Book chapter

LÓPEZ, H. & MONTENEGRO, O., 1993-Non—flying mammals of Carpanta: 165187 (in) ANDRADE, G.I. (ed.) Carpanta: Selva Nublada y Páramo. Fundación Natura, Bogotá.

Book

HILTY, S.L. & BROWN, W.L., 1986-A Guide to the Bird of Colombia. Princeton Un. Press.

Thesis

ÁLVAREZ, J.A., 1993-Butterfly (lepidoptera, Rhopalocera) inventory, with ecological notes for two zones of the department of Risaralda, Colombia: Thesis, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Science Faculty, Bogotá.

Whenever possible the name of the cited journals should be abbreviated and written in italics, additionally, the book titles should be written completely, without any abbreviations. When citing the Boletín Científico Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad de Caldas should be abbreviated as follows: “Bol. Cient. Mus. Hist. Nat. U de Caldas”.

Short Communications

These include novelties in Natural History, Bibliographical Revisions, Bibliographical Tributes, which can be written without subtitles (introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion).

Charts

They must be mentioned in the text, identified and enumerated consecutively with Arabic numbers. The heading must be concise and descriptive and must be placed above the charts. The abbreviations or symbols must be explained below the chart. The charts must be saved as part of the text and be separated on different pages after the bibliographical references. They must explained themselves, and not repeat what was mentioned in the text. It is essential that they are created with the Word menu “Insert Chart”, with different cells (charts with values separated by the ENTER key or as figures will not be accepted).

Figures

They include graphs and photographs, which must be mentioned appropriately in the text. They must be identified and enumerated consecutively, using Arabic numbers. The title of the figure must be concise and descriptive and it should be placed underneath the figure.

It is important to make sure that each graph or figure is mentioned in the text. If figures, published or unpublished data originating from another source were used, they must contain the original source, and it must be referenced.

The units, letters, numbers and symbols must be clear and uniform in all the illustrations and of a size big enough for their legibility, even after the necessary reduction made for their publication. The titles and detailed explanations must be included underneath, and not in the illustrations themselves.

The points of the curves in statistical graphs should be represented with contrasting markers such as circles, squares, triangles or rhombuses (filled or empty). Additionally, the curves should be clearly identified, so that the excess of information does not jeopardize the understanding of the graph.

In the case of bar graphs, different filling effects must be used (dotted or horizontal, vertical, diagonal lines, etc.).  The gray colors should be avoided since they hinder the visualization of the printed form, and bold letters should not be used in the figures.

In order to send the figures in digital form, they should be scanned in a resolution of minimum 300 dpi, or whenever possible, digitized by means of a camera.

Correspondence

Materials can be sent to: Comité Editorial Boletín Científico Museo de Historia Natural Centro de Museos, Universidad de Caldas A. A. 275, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia, Carrera 23 # 58-65 Sede Palogrande Telefax: 8851374 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The texts that do not follow the indicated norms will be returned to their authors with the appropriate comments for its publication.

Each author whose article is published will receive a copy of the Boletín Científico del Museo de Historia Natural Journal, corresponding to the number in which it is included.

The Boletín Científico Journal is indexed in the following international abstracts:

Biosis: Biological Abstract and Zoological Record. Bibliography of Neotropical Butterflies (Association for Tropical Lepidoptera)-Abstracts. Icom: Conseil International des Musées- Publication Abstract.