For general instructions on how to submit a new manuscript, please select 'SUBMISSION' from the menu above.

Authors are required to make all data underlying their published article publicly available. For example, genetic data should be deposited in a recognized public repository, such as GenBank or EMBL-EBI. Accession numbers or DOIs of the data must be obtained before publication and included in the article. If these are not yet available at the time of initial submission, please indicate the repository where the data will be deposited. For the review process, the data must be made confidentially available to editors and reviewers upon request.

Ethical compliance: Details of animal experimentation permission, or its equivalent along with the name of the institution that granted permission for the study should be given in the paper. We also recommend that authors familiarize themselves with e.g., "Guidelines for the treatment of animals in behavioural research and teaching" (Animal Behaviour 83: 301–309), and AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals.

Revised or final versions of manuscripts

When sending a corrected/finalised version of a manuscript, use short filenames including the article ID number always ending in appropriate extensions added by the programme with which the files have been created. Do not use the article title for a filename. The article (i.e.,  text, tables, figure captions) should be sent as MSWord .doc or .rtf file. Before saving (e.g. MSWord), remove all comments and accept all track changes. See HERE for details on figure preparation and graphic file formats. As a reference, a PDF file of the entire article should also be provided.

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Use either British or American English consistently throughout the text. Change the language settings for the document accordingly. Write in a clear style and preferably avoid the use of passive voice. Instead, the pronouns I (we), me (us), and my (our) should be used thus indicating the responsibility of the author(s) towards the study. The authors bear full responsibility for the quality of the language. If English is not your first language, make sure that the manuscript is checked by a native English speaker preferably familiar with the subject and terms used in the paper. We routinely check the language of all accepted manuscripts and if we find it to be inadequate, manuscripts are returned for further corrections. Certain elements of the manuscript layout that are requested in the instructions below — but not present in the published articles — are necessary to facilitate the typesetting process.

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Tenses [top]

In scientific writing, only two tenses — present simple and past simple — are normally used. So-called 'perfect tenses' (e.g. present perfect) should be avoided. Thus, there are the following rules that should be observed:

• Established knowledge (results of previous studies) is given in the present simple tense;
• Description of methods and results in the current paper are in the past simple tense;
• Attributions (e.g. Jones (1995) reported that ...) are in the past simple tense.

Dashes [top]

• A hyphen (the shortest dash "-") is used for example in hyphenation and compound words,
• An en-dash ("–"; coded in a manuscript with two hyphens "--") is chiefly used as a minus in subtraction (5 – 2 same as five minus two; NOTE: spaces before and after the dash) or in ranges of values or dates (2–5 same as from two to five; NOTE: no spaces before and after the dash),
• An em-dash (the longest dash "—"; coded in a manuscript with three hyphens "---") is chiefly used to separate an explanatory phrase in a sentence or in references (see below).

Numbers [top]

• Always use decimal points '.', NOT commas ','.
• Always use leading zeros in decimal fractions.
• In long numerals (five and more digits), the digits should be marked off in groups of three by spaces (not commas!), starting from the left (e.g., 15 369).
• Numbers from 1 to 10 (also ordinals) in a text should be written out (not '5' but 'five').

Symbols [top]

• One-letter symbols representing variables or constants, regardless of their position (normal, in subscript or superscript), must always be italicised.
• Multi-letter symbols representing variables or constants, regardless of their position (normal, in subscript or superscript), are never italicised.
• Vectors are set in boldface italic.
• Matrices are set in boldface but not italics.
• Usage of a multiplication symbol 'x' is not recommended. If, however, its presence in an equation is required for reasons of clarity please use 'x' instead of a dot.
• Abbreviations or acronyms (e.g., 'tot' meaning 'total') are not italicised.
• Check that the same symbol does not have multiple meanings (e.g., P = phosphorus and P = significance level or N = nitrogen and N = number of samples).
• Improper typesetting of symbols may result in misinterpretations.

Italicisation [top]

• Latin names of genera and lower taxa (e.g., Salmo trutta).
• Words which are originally not English (e.g., in vitro).
• Ship (vessel) names.
• Titles of books.
• For italicisation of symbols see above.

Units [top]

• Only SI system units should be used (with some exceptions e.g., 1 μm not 10^--6 m).
• In composite units, use numbers in superscript instead of divisions (e.g., 30 m s^--1 not 30 m/s) consistently throughout the entire article (also in figures and tables).
• The above style should be used consistently throughout the entire article (also in figures and tables).
• If units follow axes titles in figures, they should be given in parentheses '()' not brackets '[]' or after a comma.

Dates [top]

• Dates should be written according to the following format: day.month.year (e.g., 12 Dec. 1972 or 12 December 1972 or 12.XII.1972, not December 12, 1972).
• Months should be written in full (e.g., January), abbreviated (e.g., Jan.) or expressed with roman numerals (January "I", February "II" and so on).
• Years should never be abbreviated (eg. 2003 not 03).

Time [top]

• The 24-hour system should exclusively be used. The day begins at midnight (00:00) and ends at 23:59.

Abbreviations and acronyms [top]

• Each abbreviated word should end in a full stop (e.g., Professor = Prof., Volume = Vol.).
• There is no punctuation used in acronyms unless the English grammar rules dictate otherwise.

Geographic nomenclature [top]

• Always use internationally recognised and existing names. In questionable cases, refer to the Times Atlas of the World or Merriam-Webster's Geographic Dictionary to make sure that a name you intend to use is listed in their indexes, and its spelling is correct. Use of coordinates (latitude and longitude) is strongly recommended.

Text [top]

• Use exclusively your word processor's NORMAL style settings for the entire manuscript (default font Times New Roman, size 12 points, no indentation, no boldface, no capitalisation, left justified, without multiple spaces or tabulators, or other unusual formatting).
• Insert a blank line before each element of the text (headings, subheadings, paragraphs, tables and so on)
• Remove section and page breaks from the text.
• Number chapter headings as follows:
  • Chapter headings (Introduction, Material and methods, Results, Discussion and other headings) are numbered decimally starting with "1.". Abstract, References and Acknowledgements, are not numbered.
  • Sub-chapter headings should be numbered e.g.: "1.1.", "1.1.1.", and so on, depending on how many levels of sub-chapters you have in your article.
  • Numbering of chapters is for editorial purposes only and will not appear in published papers, hence DO NOT REFER TO PARTS OF YOUR OWN ARTICLE USING CHAPTER NUMBERS.
• Graphics (except for equations) should not be placed within the text file.
• Refer to tables and figures parenthetically.
• Title: Not capitalised or in boldface, not centred; short version of the title. The title of an article descibing a new species should include the new species Latin name.
• Author: For all authors, first name in full followed by initials (if any) and surname (James T. Brown, not J. T. Brown) should be given. Authors should be arranged according to the degree of their contributions to the research and writing of the paper with the first contributing the most and the last, the least. The authors' order should not be changed after submission. Please note that there can be only one corresponding author.
• Address: As complete as possible (including e-mail). Each author's affiliation should be identified with numbers in superscript. Please note that an institutional affiliation is not only an address for correspondence, but also indicates the institution (1) where the actual research work was done and (2) which financed (in full or in part) the research. If those two conditions are not fulfilled, a private not institutional address should be provided.
• Abstract: Should consist of only one paragraph of up to 150 words. References to literature are not allowed in abstracts.
• Conclusions should conclude the paper, not be a subsection of Discussion. Keep in mind that the most readers have read the paper, when they read the conclusions, hence avoid statements like "we have shown this and that by using this and that method" because this is what the read has just read. Proper conclusions should tell the reader what can be done with the newly acquired knowledge. Answer the question "So what?".
• Appendixes:  They should present data that are helpful but not essential to comprehending the research and its results. If there is only one appendix, it can be referred to in the text as 'Appendix' without the number; otherwise, appendices should be numbered. All supplementary material (tables and figures) should be presented in appendixes.
• Footnotes: They are allowed only in tables (rarely in the text).
• Equations: Each equation occupies a separate line. Place an equation's number on the right-hand side e.g.: N = 0.3Wln(a + b) (1). Equations should be referred to as "Eq.", followed by an equation number. Please remember that there is only limited space for equations (column width); therefore, if equation is unusually long, it should be split in two or more parts connected with operators. Equations embedded in the text should preferably be written with either MSEquation Editor of MathType.

Tables [top]

• Prepare tables with your word processing programme (NOT e.g., Excel). Do not insert line breaks (¶) and/or preceding/trailing spaces inside table cells (i.e. there can be only one line of text within a cell; an example (.rtf file) is available HERE).
• Table should fit a B5-sized page in portrait orientation.
• Table with its caption should be comprehensible without reference to the main text.
• Place the the tables at end of the text file, after references.
• A table should not be divided into parts or sections identified with letters.
• All tables should be referred to in the text in the numerical order (i.e., the first reference to Table 1 precedes the first reference to Table 2, etc.).
• Refer to tables parenthetically; e.g. '...the species differ by several characters (Table 1)'. 'Table 1 shows...' type statements should be avoided.
• If you refer to tables published elsewhere, the reference should be followed by 'table' (e.g., 'Nieminen 1988: table 1').

Figures (photographs, computer-generated images and scanned drawings) [top]

Detailed instruction as to how figures should be prepared and saved are available HERE. Other requirements to be considered are:

• Photographs for publishing purposes should be taken with a high quality DSLR or compact camera. If needed, they should be processed with an appropriate software. True resolution of a photograph or a figure comprising several photographs should not be lower than 300 dpi. Preferred file formats ar  TIF or JPG format
• Computer-generated images (graphs, drawings and the like) should be submitted as vector graphics. File formats supporting vector graphics are EPS, PDF, WMF, EMF or SVG (please note that those file formats can also hold bitmaps, thus even if a figure is saved in a correct format it does not automatically mean that it is vector graphics).  File formats such as JPG, TIF, PNG, BMP or GIF cannot be used to submit computer-generated images.
• Scanned drawings should be submitted in TIF or JPG format.
• Preferred figure widths (max. height 21 cm) are as follows: 7 cm (colums width), 10.5 cm and 15 cm (page width). Figures exceeding those widths must withstand size reduction.
• Figures with their captions should be comprehensible without reference to the text.
• Figures of any type must always be referred to as "Fig.", followed by a number.
• Refer to figures parenthetically; e.g. '... (Fig. 1)'. 'Fig. 1 shows ...' type statements should always be avoided when referring to figures presenting results.
• All figures should be referred to in the text in numerical  order (e.g., the first reference to Fig. 2 cannot precede the first reference to Fig. 1).
• IF YOU REFER TO FIGURES PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE, THE REFERENCE SHOULD BE FOLLOWED BY 'fig.' (note the lowercase 'f') e.g.: Turchin et al. 2003: fig. 3.
• All figure captions should be placed at the end of the article (after references).
• Avoid fancy designs (especially 3-D).
• Avoid presenting data in pie-charts; present these data in tables or bar charts.
• Use solid (colour or shades of grey) not pattern fillings in computer-generated figures.
• Use the same font in all figures and within a figure. Arial is recommended. Freehand lettering is unacceptable.
• The axes in graphs should always be named and units, if needed, should be given in parentheses.
• Axes titles should be placed parallel to the respecive axis.
• Explain all graphic symbols (e.g. squares, triangles and so on) within the figure, not in the caption. A legend should be placed under the figure not next to it.
• If a figure contains scale bars to indicate dimensions of object presented in the figure, the scale-bar lengths should be proportional to sizes of the respective objects.
• Relate the size of letters, the thickness of lines (preferably uniform for all figure items), and the size of other parts of a figure, to the size of the figure itself.
• Identify parts of a composite figure with capital letters, not numbers, preferably placed in the upper left corner of each part. In the figure itself, letters identifying panels (parts) of a composite figure should NOT be placed in parentheses. In photographs, letters, numbers and scale bars with numbers and units (if present) should be placed on the background, not on the object depicted in the image.
• In the figure caption, the letter identifying a panel in a composite figure should be placed in parentheses, e.g. (A), before the text describing the content of that panel (figure part) not after it.

References [top]

The references should be verified by the author(s) against the original documents. If an article has not been read by the author(s) but its conclusions found in another publication (secondary source), it may be cited in the text only as follows: e.g. Miller's (1972) results as cited in Ashworth (1996) .... In the reference list, however, only the secondary source (i.e. Ashworth 1996) can be given.

• Referring to literature in the text [top]
  • Publication with one author only: Hänninen (1990) or (Hänninen 1990).
  • Publication with two authors: Kurtén and Anderson (1980) or (Kurtén & Anderson 1980).
  • Publication with more than two authors: Mihok et al. (1985) or (Mihok et al. 1985).
  • If you wish to indicate specific pages that contain information used in the paper, please give these page numbers after the reference (e.g. Hänninen 1990: 160).
  • When referring to more than one publication, arrange them as follows (numbered in order of precedence):
• Year of publication (ascending),
• Alphabetical order for the same year of publication.
• The reference list [to download the EndNote template click HERE] [top]
  • Arrange the references as follows (numbered in order of precedence):
    • Alphabetical order and number of authors (ascending) for publications in which the first author is the same.
    • Year of publication for publications by the same author or authors.
  • In the references, with few exceptions (e.g., PLoS), journals' names should be given in full and italicised.
  • Article in a printed journal (DOI can be added at the end if available):
    • one author: Adams, D. C. 2014: A generalized K statistic for estimating phylogenetic signal from shape and other high-dimensional multivariate data. ---  Systematic Biology 63: 685--697.
    • two authors (note no comma before '&'): Martins, E. P. & Hansen, T. F. 1997: Phylogenies and the comparative method: a general approach to incorporating phylogenetic information into the analysis of interspecific data --- American Naturalist 149: 646--667.
    • more than two authors (note that all auhors should be given regardless of their numbers; in other words, there should be no 'et al.' in author's listing): Pagono, A. M., Cutting, A., Nicassio-Hiskey, N., Hash, A. & Williams, T. M. 2019: Energetic costs of aquatic locomotion in a subadult polar bear. ---  Marine Mammal Science 35: 649--659.
    • article in a foreign language with English summary or abstract: Hytönen, J. & Wall, A. 1997: Metsitettyjen turvepeltojen ja viereisten suometsien ravinnemäärät [Nutrient amounts of afforested peat fields and neighbouring peatland forests]. --- Suo 48: 33--42. [In Finnish with English summary].
  • Article in an online-only journal (printed version does not exist; if DOI is not available, URL should be given instead): Kumar, V., Lammers, F., Bidon, T., Pfenninger, M., Kolter, L., Nilsson, M. A. & Janke, A. 2017: The evolutionary history of bears is characterized by gene flow across species. --- Scientific Reports 7, 46487, https://doi.org/10.1038/srep46487.
  • Chapter in a book (book's title italicised; all the authors and editors, regardless of their number, should always be listed; publisher's name and location should be given).
    • Hänninen, H. 1990: Modelling dormancy release in trees from cool and temperate regions. --- In: Dixon, R. K., Melhdahl, R. S., Ruak, G. A. & Warren, W. G. (eds.), Process modelling of forest growth responses to environmental stress: 159--165. Timber Press Portland.
    • Please note that page numbers are those of the first and last pages of the chapter that is refrerred to. If you wish to indicate specific pages that contain information used in the paper, please give these page numbers after the reference (e.g. Hänninen, H. 1990: 160).
  • Book (book's title italicised; all the authors or editors, regardless of their number, should always be listed; publisher's name and location should be given).
    • Anderson, R. M. & May, R. M. 1982: Population biology of infectious diseases. --- Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
    • Finnish Meteorol. Inst. 1989: Climatological data 1988. --- Meteorol. Yearb. Finland 88.
  • Referring to websites: URL (link) should be placed in the text where appropriate not in the reference list.
  • Article or book printed entirely in Cyrillic: Give the authors' names both transliterated and [in brackets] in Cyrillic: Only English translation of the title should be given in brackets. If the title translation is not given in the publication please provide your own. Do not transliterate the title. Give the transliterated book publisher's name and place, or journal's title e.g.:
    • Abramov, A. L. & Abramov, I. I. [Абрамов А.Л. & Абрамов И.И.] 1956: [Mnium immarginatum (Lindb.) Broth. from Mongolia]. --- Bot. Zh. 41: 89- -91. [In Russian].
  • Article or book printed entirely in non-Roman scripts other than Cyrillic (e.g. Arabic, Chinese, Japanese): Give the transliterated authors' names. Only English translation of the title should be given in brackets. If the title translation is not given in the publication please provide your own. Do not transliterate the title. Give the transliterated book publisher's name and place, or journal's title e.g.:
    • Ho, T. N. 1985: [A study on the genus Gentiana of China, IV]. --- Bulletin of Botanical Research 5(4): 1--22. [In Chinese].
  • Article or book printed in non-Roman scripts but with English summary or abstract: Give the transliterated authors' names. Only English translation of the title should be given. If the title translation is not given in the publication please provide your own. Do not transliterate the title. Give the transliterated book publisher's name and place, or journal's title e.g.:
    • Korbut, V. V. 1989: Nest building of hooded crows. 1. Utilisation of different substrata. --- Zool. Zh. 68: 88--95. [In Russian with English summary].
• An article in press may be included in the references list. The name of the journal and the publication year (possibly also the volume number) must, however, be given. "[In press]" should be added at the end of the reference.
• Material in preparation, unpublished or submitted cannot be included in the reference list, and can only be referred to in the text using author's initial(s) and name followed by "unpubl. data" or "pers. comm.".

Proofs [top]

The corresponding author will receive by e-mail proofs (PDF file) of the article. Errors caused by editorial or linguistic alterations will be corrected free of charge. Other errors, especially if their correction affects the layout, may be corrected for a fee. We do not assume responsibility for misinterpretation of illegibly marked corrections. Annotated PDF file should be returned to the Editorial Office exclusively by e-mail within 48 hours of their arrival. Errors found after the proofs had been returned may not be corrected.