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Contributors' Guidelines
GENERAL RuLES
Acta Naturae publishes experimental articles and reviews, as well as articles on problems in science, mini reviews, and short communications devoted to the most pressing questions of fundamental and applied life sciences and biotechnology. The editors of Acta Naturae request that authors follow the guidelines listed below. Articles submitted without following these rules will be returned to the authors without consideration.
The article should not exceed 20 A4-sized pages. This includes text, table, bibliography, and figure captions. There should be no more than six figures and tables. Larger articles are accepted only with prior agreement from the editors. Short communications should not exceed eight A4-sized pages, including text, tables, bibliography (no more than 12 sources), and figures, the number of which should not exceed four, including designations. Each figure should be accompanied by captions, irrespective of whether or not it is described in the text.
The manuscript should be sent in one file in agreement with the requirements below. It should be signed by all authors and sent to the editors in an electronic version.
If the file is large, use a .ZIP archiver. A CD-ROM can also be used.
FORMATING THE MANuSCRIPTS
The manuscript should be constructed in the following way:
• The UDC should be in the left top corner, usually with a font size of 12.
• The title: Header font, semiboldface. The title should neither be too long nor too short and uninformative. It should reflect the most important result, the essence of the article, and any breakthroughs or discoveries.
• The initials and last names of the authors. The author responsible for correspondence with the editors, including the corrector, is indicated by a footnote in the bottom of the first page, including his or her e-mail address.
• The full name of the scientific organization and its department and affiliation.
• The summary (Abstract). The structure of the Abstract should be extremely precise and reflect the following specificities of work performed by authors:
Statement of the problem and rationale for choosing the object under investigation, as well as the rationale for choosing the methodical approach and research strategy; the results achieved with precise instructions for discoveries in comparison with those already known;
The consequences of these results (a new hypothesis, the refutation of an already-known hypothesis, the opportunity for practical applications, the possibility of stating new problems, etc.). The summary is on average 20 lines. Its size depends on the degree of new results described in the article. Abbreviations are not allowed in the summary.
• Keywords. These should reflect the subject under investigation, method, subject, and characteristics of the work.
• Experimental.
• Results.
• Discussion and Conclusions.
• In the Acknowledgments section, the names of the organizations that financed the work are noted with grant numbers in brackets.
• References listed on a separate page. References to quoted literature in the text are shown in square brackets, for example [1].
RECOMMENDATIONS ON SETTING AND FORMATTING TExT
• Microsoft Word 2003 for Windows is recommended.
• Macros is not recommended.
• The recommended font is Times New Roman. Standard font size is 12.
• It is uneconomical to use more than one space between words.
• Use the standard MS Word instead of MathType for mathematical notation.
• When typing, don't use automatic formatting for footnotes, automatic hyphening or automatic hyphen removal, automatic list creation, automatic spacing, etc.
• When creating a table, it is recommended to use the possibilities of Word (Table --> Add Table) or MS Excel. Tables typed manually (by using large number of spaces instead of a cell) cannot be used.
• Lines in paragraphs should not be divided by the carriage return symbol (usually the Enter key). Texts whose lines are divided inside the paragraph by a symbol of carriage return cannot be used.
• There is always one space between a person's initials and last name: A.A. Ivanov (except for the list of authors in the title of the article, where spaces are put between initials as well: A. A. Ivanov).
• In the text, except for date of receipt, all dates are formatted as date.month.year in the following way: 02.05.1991, 26.12.1874, etc.
• There is no period after the UDC, title, authors, addresses, headings and subtitles, names of tables, abbreviations of dimensions, etc. (s for second, g for gram, min for minute etc.).
• There is a period after footnotes (including in tables), table notations, figure captions, the brief summary, and after abbreviations that could be confused with words (no. for number, in. for inches, etc.).
• Use a decimal point in numbers, not a comma (0.25 instead of 0,25).
• The "—" sign (dash) should be proceeded and followed by spaces; however, minus signs, an interval between two numbers, or a chemical bond should not be surrounded by spaces.
• Simply an "x" is used for multiplication. An "x" sign is used only if there is a number to the right of it. The "•" symbol is used in complex connections in chemical formulas, as well as noncovalent complexes (DNA • RNA, etc.).
• Numerical material is presented in the form of tables.
• In formulas, use Latin and Greek alphabets.
• Latin names of genus and species of the animal world are written in italics; taxis of higher ranks
are written in regular font. The names of viruses and bacteriophages in a Latin transcription are written in regular text.
• The names of genes (except for designations of yeast genes) are written in lower case italics; names of fibers are written in regular font.
• The names of nucleotides (A, T, G, C, and U), amino-acid residues (Arg, Ile, Val, etc.), and phosphates (ATP, AMP, etc.) are written in Latin transcription in regular font.
• Numbering of nitrogenous bases and amino acids are written without a hyphen (T34, Ala89).
• When choosing units of measurement, it is necessary to adhere to the international SI system.
• Molecular weight is expressed in daltons (Da, kDa, MDa).
• The quantity of nucleotide pairs is designated in abbreviations (p.n., t.p.n.).
• Biochemical terms (in particular, the names of enzymes) are written according to the international rules of IUPAC.
• Abbreviating terms and names in the text should be kept to a minimum.
• Repeating the same data in the text, tables, and schedules is inadmissible.
requirements for illustrations
• Figures should be sent in separate files.
• Illustrations should be given in two versions: color and black-and-white
• Illustrations should have resolutions no smaller than 250 dpi for color and half-tone pictures and 600 dpi for black-and-white illustrations
• Keeping unused clipping path edits and additional channels (Path and Alpha Channel) is inadmissible, as is using additional layers.
• File formats: Adobe Photoshop up to 6.0., including TIFF, EPS, DCS 1.0, DCS 2.0 (without additional channels), and PSD (text layers should be screened out)
FORMATTING THE REFERENCES
• The list of quoted literature is printed with the last names and initials of all authors as a separate section of the manuscript.
• Initials are put after the surnames of authors and editors, and they are not divided by spaces: Ivanov A.A., Petrov V.V.
• Year, volume, journal number, etc., are, divided between themselves and are separated from corresponding figures with commas: 1992, T.29, № 2, C.213. Or 1992, V.29, № 2, P.213.
• For designating Russian and foreign issues, use "№." Abbreviate journal as j.
reviews, preparing the manuscript for PRINTING, AND WAITING LIST FOR PuBLICATION
Articles are published in the order they are received. The order of publication is established by the date that the article was accepted for printing. Associate editors have the right to recommend the accelerated publication for an article that has been labeled by the editorial board as high priority and received appraisal from reviewers.
Articles which have been sent to us go through the scrutiny of expert associate editors and, if necessary, are sent out for external reviewing. The choice for review is made by the editorial board. The manuscript is sent to experts in the given research area, and the results of the reviewing editorial board define the further destiny of the manuscript:
(1) The article is accepted for publication in its present state, (2) necessary changes must be made, or (3) it is turned down.
The editorial board can reject a manuscript if it does not satisfy the above-noted requirements.
The manuscript, once the authors have made any changes deemed necessary by the reviewers and editors, is reviewed again, and the editorial board decides whether it is acceptable for publication. At the beginning of the published article, the dates that the manuscript was received initially and after final completion are noted.
If the manuscript is returned to the authors for completion, it does not mean that it has been accepted for printing. After it is received, the modified manuscript is again considered by the editorial board. The modified text should be sent with a copy of the initial article, as well as replies to all of the remarks made by the reviewers and editors. The date that this is received is considered the date that the final edition of the article is received.
The reworked manuscript should be returned to the editors within 12 weeks after the authors received feedback; otherwise the manuscript has to be completely reviewed again from the beginning.
A manuscript which has received insufficiently high appraisal upon reviewing is considered inadequate for the publishing standards of our magazine.
The editors and reviewers use email to communicate with the authors; therefore, the authors should be very attentive in specifying their e-mail address in the manuscript, and they should inform the editors and reviewers in due time about any changes they make.
One month after the last issue has been sent to imposition, the editorial board sends the authors an email for proofreading the article in the form of a PDF file with a cover letter with instructions on proof-reading.
At the proof-reading stage, changing text figures or tables is not allowed. If absolutely necessary, a final decision is made by the editorial board; as a last resort, the article is removed from the issue.
