Guide for Authors

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

 Aims and Scope

The Caspian Journal of Environmental Sciences (CJES) is an open-access peer-reviewed international quarterly journal devoted to all fields of environmental sciences, published by the University of Guilan and is scientifically sponsored by the Association of Universities of the Caspian Region States. It is an interdisciplinary journal devoted to the publication of original research articles, review articles, etc., considering the research ethics and academic rules and regulations. It aims to introduce new research achievements, to report research developments and advanced experiences, to strengthen academic exchanges, to promote cooperation in science and technology, and to make contributions to the progress of environmental sciences and sustainable development.

Papers in any of the following fields will be considered: environmental law and politics, environmental economics, terrestrial and aquatic environment pollution, waste management, biodegradation and bioremediation, general ecology, agricultural and forest ecosystems, plant and animal biodiversity, environmental physiology, sociobiology, marine bioecology, hydrology, pest management, insecticide toxicology, geosciences, and sustainable development. Reviews, Mini-reviews, Short Communications are also published. Short forms of Reports and Opinions in selected areas are published from time to time. Manuscripts may be volunteered, invited, or coordinated as a symposium. Book reviews may be invited by the editor-in-chief.

 

Editorial Review and Acceptance

The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to our readership. Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts will be peer-reviewed by two anonymous reviewers and the Editor. Final decision will be determined by the Editorial Board, who reserves the right to refuse any material considered not to meet the requirements for publication.

Manuscripts should be written in a clear, concise, direct style so that they are intelligible to any reader who may not be a specialist in the particular field. If alterations are required, the manuscript will be returned to the author.

Submission of Manuscripts

    All manuscripts should be submitted through our Journal online submission system (Register and Login). Using this system, authors can upload manuscript files directly to our office and check on the status of their manuscripts during the review process. Failure to conform to the requirements above may result in the return of the manuscript or possible delay in publication. Papers are accepted for publication on the understanding that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium.

Required files to be uploaded: Five essential files must be submitted through the manuscript submission system: 1. The main file of the manuscript (without the names of the authors), 2. Title page in the mentioned format, 3. Authorship form (must include the title of the article and the name and surname of all authors and be signed by all authors), 4. Conflicts of Interest form (must be signed by the Corresponding Author and uploaded with the article file), and 5. Cover letter.

 

Style of the Manuscript

 Spelling

 The Journal uses US/UK/Australian spelling and authors should therefore follow the latest edition of the Merriam–Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary/Concise Oxford Dictionary/ Macquarie Dictionary.

Units

 All measurements must be given in SI or SI-derived units.

 

Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be used sparingly; only when they ease the reader’s task by reducing repetition of long and technical terms. Initially use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis. Thereafter use the abbreviation only.  Where applicable, follow the abbreviations prescribed in the Swinburne Harvard Complete Guide.

Zoological nomenclature

All papers must conform to the latest edition of The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Upon its first use in the title, abstract, and text, the common name of a species should be followed by the scientific name (genus, species, and authority) in parentheses. Genus names should not be abbreviated at the beginning of the paragraphs.

 

Parts of the Manuscript

Full-length article

Manuscripts should be presented in the following order: 1) title page,  2) abstract and keywords,

3) text, 4) acknowledgments, 5) references, 6) appendices, 7) figure legends, 8) tables (each table should be completed with title and footnotes), and  9) figures. Footnotes to the text are not allowed and any such material should be incorporated into the text as parenthetical information.

 

Title page

As articles are double-blind reviewed, material that might identify authorship of the paper should be placed on a cover sheet; this will be detached before the paper is sent to referees. The title page should contain: 1) the title of the paper, 2) the full names of the authors, 3) the addresses of the institutions at which the work was carried out, 4) the full postal and email addresses, 5) facsimile and telephone numbers of the corresponding author. The present address of any author, if different from where the work was carried out, should be supplied in a footnote. The title should be short, informative, and contain the major keywords. Do not use abbreviations in the title. A running head, followed by a colon (:) and a short title (less than 40 characters) should also be provided.  However, from the Abstract until the end of the paper, the words running head should be omitted and only the short title should appear.  For those using the old version of Word, a header and footer may be used; for those using the new version, use “insert page number” and then type the running head and the short title.    There should be exactly five spaces between the running head and the page number.

Abstract and keywords

The abstract must be written in a comprehensible language and follow coherent, persuasive prose.  Key terms must be clearly explained. It should permit the reader to grasp the fundamental information about the manuscript without requiring them to read the actual paper.  Abbreviations and References may be used in the Introduction but they are discouraged in the Abstract.  Abstract of not more than 300 words should state the following: background (a sentence or two saying why this study was chosen); methods and material (say what was done in one or two sentences); results (in one or two sentences, the findings are declared); discussion and conclusion (the most important consequence of the work is indicated); and, recommendation. Six keywords (for indexing) should be supplied below the abstract in alphabetical order.  The keywords should be indented.

Text

Authors should use the following subheadings to divide the sections of their manuscript: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion.  Use the font Times Roman No. 12, and type double-spaced to facilitate editing.

 

Acknowledgments

The source of financial grants and other funding must be acknowledged including a frank declaration of the authors’ industrial links and affiliations. The contribution of colleagues or institutions should also be acknowledged. Personal thanks and thanks to anonymous reviewers are considered inappropriate.

 

In-text Citation

In the text, mention the author’s name followed by the year in parentheses: Smith (2000). If there are two authors use ‘and’: Smith and Jones (2001); but if cited within parentheses use an ampersand (&): (Smith & Jones 2001). When an in-text reference is made to a work by four or more authors, the first name followed by et al. should be used: MacDonald et al. (2002). If papers by the same authors in the same year are cited, they should be distinguished by the letters a, b, c, etc.

All citations mentioned in the text, tables, or figures must be listed in the Reference list. Names of journals should be abbreviated according to the Serial Sources for the Biosis Data Base, available in most libraries or from http://www.biosis.org. For more information about in-text citation and Referencing, please refer to the Harvard AGPS Referencing Guide (University of Southern Queensland) or Swinburne Harvard Complete Guide.

References

The Harvard (author, date) system of referencing is required in this journal.  Harvard referencing does not use a period (full stop) after the initials of the names, and does not employ hanging indents either.   The reference list should be in alphabetical order. The examples provided below, the most commonly used sources, were taken from the Harvard AGPS Referencing Guide and Swinburne Harvard Complete Guide. For references not given herein, please refer to the sources mentioned above.

 

Books

One Author

Dawkins, R 2012, The magic of reality, Black Swan, London.

 

Two or three authors

Flexer, RW, Baer, RM, Luft, P & Simmons, TJ 2008, Transition planning for secondary students with disabilities, 3rd ed, Pearson, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

 

The same authors

Lyon, H & Lyon, R 2002a, The circus, Elton Publications, Wembley Downs, Western Australia.

Lyon, H & Lyon, R 2002b, Clowns, Elton Publications, Wembley Downs, Western Australia.

  

Chapters in edited books

Shachar, A  2010, 'State, religion, and the family: the new dilemmas of multicultural accommodation', in R Ahdar & N Aroney (eds), Shari'a in the West, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

 

Anonymous (no author or editor given)

Trump, A 1986, 'Power play', Proceedings of the third annual conference, International Society of Power Engineers, Houston, Texas, pp. 40-51.

  

Organization as author

International Chamber of Commerce 2010, Incoterms 2010: ICC rules for the use of domestic and international trade terms, ICC Services, Paris.

 

Journal article

Argibay-losada, P, Suarez-Gonzalez, A, Lopez-Garcia, C & Fernandez-Veiga, M 2010, 'Flow splitting for end-to-end proportional QoS in OBS networks', IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 257-269.

 

Journal article (no author)

'World's oldest pills treated sore eyes' 2013, New Scientist, vol. 217, no. 2899, p. 15.

 

Article on the Internet

Hamlyn-Harris, JH 2013, 'Ten ways you can avoid being caught in the PRISM net', The Conversation, 2 July, viewed 13 August 2013, <http://theconversation.com/ten-ways-you-can-avoid-being-caught-in-the-prism-net-15696>.

 

Tables

Tables should have self-contained and complete, but not duplicate, information included in the text. Number the tables consecutively in the text in English numerals. Type tables on a separate sheet with the legend above. Legends should be concise but comprehensive. The table, legend, and footnotes must be understandable without reference to the text. Vertical lines should not be used to separate columns. Column headings should be brief, with units of measurement in parentheses; all abbreviations must be defined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: †, ‡, §, ¶, should be used (in that order) and *, **, *** should be reserved for P-values. Statistical measures such as SD or SEM should be identified in the headings.

Figures

All illustrations (line drawings and photographs) should be classified as figures which should be cited in consecutive order in the text. Each figure should be labeled on the back in soft black pencil, indicating the name of the author(s), figure number, and orientation. Do not use adhesive labels as this prohibits electronic scanning. Figures should be sized to fit within the column (80 mm), intermediate (120 mm), or the full-text width (169 mm). If supplied electronically, graphics must be supplied as high-resolution (at least 300 d.p.i.) files, saved as eps or tif. A high-resolution printout must also be provided. Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the figure and its legend must be understandable without reference to the text. Include definitions of any symbols used and define/explain all abbreviations and units of measurement.

Short Communications and Reports & Opinions

These types of manuscripts present brief observations that do not warrant full-length articles. They should be 15 or fewer typed pages in double-spaced 12-point type including literature cited. They should include an Abstract no longer than five percent of the paper’s length and no further subdivision with the introduction, material and methods, results, and discussion in a single section. Up to two tables and two figures may be submitted. The title page and reference sections' format are the same as that of full-length articles.

 

Proofs

It is essential that corresponding authors supply an email address to which proofs can be emailed. Full instructions on how the manuscript can be corrected will be attached to the email.

Offprints

 A PDF file of the final version of the paper will be provided free of charge. The PDF file is for authors’ personal or professional use. Paper offprints are available for a fee and should be ordered at the proof stage.