Home » Instructions

Language editing

Types of articles

Summary of submission processes

Cover letter

Preparing the article file

Preparing Figures, Tables and Supplementary material

The Review Process

Submitting a revised paper

Publication and printing process

Misconduct

Language editing

If English is not your first language, it is strongly recommended to have your manuscript edited for language before submission. This is not a mandatory step, but may help to ensure that the academic content of your paper is fully understood by journal editors and reviewers. Language editing does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted for publication. Authors are liable for all costs associated with such services.

Types of articles

Original Articles

Reviews

Viewpoints

Methods

Short Communications

Summary of submission processes

Submission management and evaluation of submitted manuscripts will involve the Journal’s online manuscript submission system. The manuscript text should be prepared in English (see Preparing the article file below for details) and submitted online (http://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/abb-scielo). Figures, tables and other types of content should be organized into separate files for submission (see Preparing Tables, Figures and Supplementary material below for details). If you are using the online submission system for the first time please go to the login page and generate a login name and password after clicking on the “New user – register here” link. If you are already registered but need to be reminded of your login name or password please go to the login page and inform your email in “password help”. Please never create a new account if you are already registered.

If you are unable to access our web-based submission system, please contact the Editorial Office ([email protected])

Cover letter

All manuscripts must be submitted with a cover letter, which should summarize the scientific strengths of the paper that the authors believe qualify it for consideration by Acta Botanica Brasilica. The cover letter should also include a statement declaring that the manuscript reports unpublished work that it is not under active consideration for publication elsewhere, nor been accepted for publication, nor been published in full or in part (except in abstract form). Please also provide a statement that the authors have the rights to publish all images included in the manuscript.

Preparing the article file

(Please consult a last issue of Acta Botanica Brasilica for layout and style)

All manuscripts must follow these guidelines: the text should be in Times New Roman font, size 12, double-spaced throughout and with 25 mm margins; the paper size should be set to A4 (210 x 297 mm). All pages should be numbered sequentially. Each line of the text should also be numbered, with the top line of each page being line 1. For text files .doc, .docx and .rtf are the only acceptable formats. Files in Adobe® PDF format (.pdf files) will not be accepted. When appropriate, the article file should include a list of figure legends and table heads at the end. This article file should not include any illustrations or tables, all of which should be submitted in separate files. Do not include field code either.

The first page should state the type of article (Original Article, Review, Viewpoint, Method or Short communication) and provide a concise and informative full title followed by the names of all authors. Each name should be followed by the Orcid number and an identifying superscript number (1, 2, 3 etc.) associated with the appropriate institutional address to be entered further down the page. Only one corresponding author should be indicated with an asterisk and should always be the submitting author. The institutional address(es) of each author should be listed next, each address being preceded by the superscript number where appropriate. The address must be synthetic and in English with institution, postal code, city, state and country. Do not translate laboratory, department and university. Titles and positions should not be mentioned. This information is followed by the e-mail address of the corresponding author.

The second page should contain a structured Abstract not exceeding 200 words in a single paragraph without references. The Abstract should outline the essential content of the manuscript, especially the results and discussion, highlighting the relevance of main findings.

The Abstract should be followed by between five and ten Keywords. Note that essential words in the title should be repeated in the key words.

Original articles should be divided into sections presented in the following order:

Title page
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and methods
Results
Discussion
Acknowledgements
References
Tables and Figures legends
Supplementary Data (if applicable)

Materials and methods and Results should be clear and concise. The Discussion section should avoid extensive repetition of the results and must finish with some conclusions. This section can be combined with results (Results and Discussion), however, we recommend authors consult the Editoral Board for a previous evaluation.

Plant names must be written out in full in the abstract and again in the main text for every organism at first mention but the genus is only needed for the first species in a list within the same genus (e.g. Hymenaea stigonocarpa e H. stilbocarpa). The authority (e.g., L., Mill., Benth.) is required only in Materials and methods section. Use The International Plant Names Index (www.ipni.org) for correct plants names. Cultivars or varieties should be added to the scientific name (e.g. Solanum lycopersicum ‘Jumbo’). Authors must include in Materials and methods a reference to voucher specimen(s) and voucher number(s) of the plants or other material examined.

Abbreviations must be avoid except for usual cases (see recent issues) and all terms must be written out in full when used to start a sentence. Non-conventional abbreviations should be spelled out at first mention.

Units of Measurement. Acta bot. bras. adopts the Systéme International d’Unités (SI). For volume, use the cubic metre (e.g. 1 × 10–5 m3) or the litre (e.g. 5 μL, 5 mL, 5 L). For concentrations, use μM, μmol L–1 or mg L–1. For size and distance use meters (cm, mm, um, etc) and be consistent in the manuscript.

Numbers up to nine should be written out unless they are measurements. All numbers above ten should be in numerals unless they are starting sentences.

Citations in the text should take the form of Silva (2012) or Ribeiro & Furr (1975) or (Mayer & Wu 1987a; b; Gonzalez 2014; Sirano 2014) and be ordered chronologically. Papers by three or more authors, even on first mention, should be abbreviated to the name of the first author followed by et al. (e.g. Simmons et al. 2014). If two different authors have the same last name, and the article have the same year of publication, give their initials (e.g. JS Santos 2003). Only refer to papers as ‘in press’ if they have been accepted for publication in a named journal, otherwise use the terms ‘unpubl. res.’, giving the initials and last name of the person concerned (e.g., RA Santos unpubl. res.).

References should be arranged alphabetically based on the surname of the author(s). Where the same author(s) has two or more papers listed, these papers should be grouped in year order. Letters ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, etc., should be added to the date of papers with the same citation in the text. Please provide DOI of ‘in press’ papers whenever possible.

For papers with six authors or fewer, please give the names of all the authors. For papers with seven authors or more, please give the names of the first three authors only, followed by et al.

Please follow the styles:

Books

Smith GM. 1938. Cryptogamic botany. Vol. II Bryophytes and Pteridophytes. 2nd. edn. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Chapters in books

Schupp EW, Feener DH. 1991. Phylogeny, lifeform, and habitat dependence of ant-defended plants in a Panamanian forest. In: Huxley CR, Cutler DC. (eds.) Ant-plant interactions. Oxford, Oxford University Press. p. 175-197.

Research papers

Alves MF, Duarte MO, Oliveira PEAM, Sampaio DS. 2013. Self-sterility in the hexaploid Handroanthus serratifolius (Bignoniaceae), the national flower of Brazil. Acta Botanica Brasilica 27: 714-722.

Papers in press (ahead of print)

Alves JJ, Sampaio MTY. 2015. Structure and evolution of flowers. Acta Botanica Brasilica (in press). doi: 10.1590/0102-33062015abb3339.

Online-only journals

Wolkovich EM, Cleland EE. 2014. Phenological niches and the future of invaded ecosystems with climate change. AoB Plants 6: plu013 doi:10.1093/aobpla/plu013

Thesis (citation should be avoided)

Souza D. 2014. Plant growth regulators. PhD or MSc Thesis, University, City.

Websites and other sources (citation should be avoided)

Anonymous. 2011. Title of booklet, leaflet, report, etc. City, Publisher or other source, Country.

References to websites should be structured as: author(s) name author(s) initial(s). year. Full title of article. Full URL. 21 Oct. 2014 (Date of last successful access).

Acknowledgements should be in fewer than 80 words. Be concise: “we thank…” is preferable to “The present authors would like to express their thanks to…”. Funding information should be included in this section.

The following example should be followed:

We acknowledge the Center of Microscopy (UFMG) for providing the equipment and technical support for experiments involving electron microscopy. We also thank J.S. Santos for assistance with the statistical analyses. This work was supported through a research grant from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq (ID number).

For SHORT COMMUNICATIONS note that the editorial guidelines applying to original papers must also applying here. In general, the difference between original papers and short communications is the lack of subsections in the text and limited space for illustrations in the latter. Figures and tables can be present, assuming that the overall size of the manuscript does not exceed the five printed page limit (supplementary material can be added). The abstract (as described for original articles) must be followed by a “running text” (a single section, without subheadings), followed by the acknowledgments and references.

Preparing Figures, Tables and Supplementary material

All figures (photographs, maps, drawings, graphs, diagrams, etc.) and tables must be cited in the text, in ascending order. Citations of figures in the text should appear in an abbreviated, capitalized form (e.g., Fig. 1, Fig. 2A-D, Fig. 3A, Figs. 3A, 4C, Tab.1).

The maximum dimensions of individual figures should be 170 × 240 mm. The width of an individual component can be 170 mm or 85 mm, without exception, whereas the height can be ≤ 240 mm. For continuous tone images (e.g., photographs), please supply TIFF files at 300 dpi. More complex drawings, such as detailed botanical illustrations will not be redrawn and should be supplied as 600 dpi TIFF files.

Grouping of related graphics or images into a single figure (a plate) is strongly encouraged. When a block of illustrative material consists of several parts, each part should be labelled with sequential capital letters, in the order of their citation in the text (A, B, C, etc.). The letters that identify individual images should be inserted within white circles in the lower right-hand corner. For separate the grouped images, authors should insert white bars (1mm thickness).

Individual images (not grouped as a plate) should be identified with sequential Arabic numerals, in the order of their citation in the text (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3, etc.), presented in the same manner as the letters identifying individual images (described above).

The number that identifies a grouped figure (e.g., Fig. 2) should not be inserted into the plate but should rather be referenced only in the figure caption and the text (e.g., Fig. 2A-C).

Scale bars, when required, should be positioned in the lower right-hand corner of the figure. The scale bar units should be given either at the end of the figure caption or, when a figure contains multiple scale bars with different units, above each bar.
Details within a figure can be indicated with arrows, letters or symbols, as appropriate.

Tables should be preceded by titles, indicated with sequential Arabic numerals (Table 1, 2, 3, etc.; do not abbreviate). Tables should be created using the Table function of Microsoft Word™. Columns and rows should be visible, although no dark lines should be used to separate them. Horizontal rules should be used only at the top (below the title) and bottom (below the final row) of the table. Do not use fills, shading or colors in the tables.

When appropriate, excess (but important) data can be submitted as Supplementary Files, which will be published online and will be made available as links. This might include additional figures, tables, or other materials that are necessary to fully document the research contained in the paper or to facilitate the readers’ ability to understand the work.

Supplementary Materials are linked from the main article webpage. They can be cited using the same DOI as the paper.

Supplementary Materials should be presented in appropriate .doc file for text and tables and .tiff file at 300dpi for figures and graphics. The full title of the paper and author names should be included in the header. All supplementary figures and tables should be referred in the manuscript body as “Table S1” and/or “Figure S1”.

Acta bot. bras. intends to maintain archives of Supplementary Materials but does not guarantee their permanent availability. Acta bot. bras. reserves the right to remove Supplementary Materials from a published article in the future.

The Review Process

All authors will receive an email acknowledging the submission of the manuscript, with its correspondent reference number. The Editor-in-Chief will evaluate manuscript adherence to instructions, quality and novelty and will decide on the suitability for peer reviewing. Manuscripts failing to adhere to the format will be returned to the authors. Manuscripts are sent to at least two anonymous referees that are given 21 days to return their reports.

Submitting a revised paper

After peer review, go to “click here to submit a revision” and upload the new manuscript version. Remember to delete the documents in duplicate.

Publication and printing process

After acceptance, a PDF proof will be sent to corresponding authors as an e-mail attachment. Corrected proofs should be returned within 72 h. It is the sole responsibility of the corresponding author to check for errors in the proof.

Each article is identified by a unique DOI (Digital Object Identifier), a code used in bibliographic referencing and searching.

The dates of submission and acceptance will be printed on each paper.

The corresponding author will receive a free PDF or URL that gives access to the article online and to a downloadable PDF.

The corresponding author is responsible for distributing this PDF or URL to any co-authors.

Misconduct

Misconduct on submitted manuscripts will lead to immediate rejection. Duplicate publication, plagiarism, figure manipulation, dual-submission, and any other fraudulent method will not be tolerated.

If misconduct is detected after the manuscript publication, the article will be retracted and a retraction note will be published.

Submitted manuscripts can be scanned to detect plagiarism and verify the papers’ originality.