Author Guidelines

Acta Botanica Malacitana (ABM) is an annual journal dedicated to disseminating original research and short communications in the fields of Botany and Mycology. The journal pays special attention to studies addressing topics such as systematics, geographical distribution (chorology), ecology, applied botany, and research focused on the Mediterranean region. As long as they are properly justified and in very exceptional cases, manuscripts not directly related to the general scope of the journal may be accepted.

1. Scope and Focus

• Thematic Areas: We publish works related to any field of Botany and Mycology, with a special focus on research in systematics, chorology, ecology, applied botany, and studies in the Mediterranean region.
• Publication Frequency: The journal is published annually.

2. General Guidelines for Authors

• Originality: Authors are responsible for ensuring that the data and content in their manuscripts are original and have not been previously published in any other scientific journal.
• Submission and Registration:
  • Manuscripts must be submitted exclusively through the ABM online OJS/PKP platform:
    http://www.revistas.uma.es/index.php/abm
  • Prior registration on the platform is required:
    http://www.revistas.uma.es/index.php/abm/user/register
  • The entire submission, review, and publication process is managed online, allowing authors to track the status of their manuscripts in real time.
• Section Selection: When submitting a manuscript, authors must indicate the section in which they wish to include their work:
  • Articles Section: For manuscripts that follow the standard scientific article format.
  • Notes Section: For short communications or concise studies (taxonomic, chorological, historical, ecological, phytosociological, biogeographical, etc.) that complement previous research or do not justify a full scientific article.
  • Data Papers Section: For detailed presentations of primary datasets, including comprehensive descriptions of data collection methodology, structure, format, quality control, and access conditions. This section aims to promote transparency and data reuse, enabling other researchers to utilize and validate the published datasets.

The final assignment of a manuscript to a specific section is determined by the Editorial Committee and reviewers.

3. Review Process

• Initial Review: The Editorial Committee will conduct an initial review of the manuscript to assess its relevance, presentation, and style. If any of them are not met, the manuscript will be rejected.
• Peer Review:
  • Manuscripts that pass the initial review will undergo scientific evaluation by external reviewers (who are not affiliated with the authors’ research team). Reviewers will have a maximum of 30-40 days to review notes and 60 days to review articles and data papers.
  • Authors will receive feedback with suggestions for major or minor revisions. The revised manuscript must be resubmitted within a maximum of one month for final review.
• Reviewer Suggestions: Authors may propose two external reviewers by providing the following information:
  • Full name
  • Affiliation, address, and email
  • A brief justification for their suitability

Note: Reviewers must not be members of the same research team as the authors.

4. Manuscript Structure

4.1. Articles Section

This section is intended for the submission of full-length scientific articles following a standard format.

Articles must be structured as follows: title (in two languages, one of which must be English); authors and affiliations (indicating the corresponding author); abstract (maximum 250 words; in two languages); keywords (in two languages); introduction; objectives; methodology; results; discussion; conclusions; author contributions (CRediT); conflict of interest; acknowledgments; and references.

For detailed information on the organization of this section, please refer to the Articles section at the bottom of this page.

4.2. Notes Section

This section is intended for the submission of brief articles on taxonomic, chorological, historical, or other studies that complement previous research or do not justify the publication of a full scientific article.

A title and keywords must be provided in two languages (one of which must be English), along with a brief abstract (in two languages) of fewer than 100 words, explaining the objective and main result of the note.

For detailed information on the organization of this section, please refer to the Notes section at the bottom of this page.

4.3. Data Papers Section

This section is dedicated to the publication of Data Papers, which focus on the detailed description of primary datasets.

Manuscripts in this section must include a comprehensive description of the dataset, covering aspects such as the context and methodology of data collection, data structure and format, quality control measures, and access conditions (including licenses and repository links). The aim is to promote transparency and the reuse of scientific information.

Although these papers do not present traditional scientific analyses, their purpose is to make data accessible and useful to the scientific community.

For detailed information on the organization of this section, please refer to the Data Papers section at the bottom of this page.

5. Manuscript Formatting

• Language: Manuscripts may be written in Spanish, English, or French. The title, abstract, keywords, and figure/table captions must be available in two languages, one of which must be English.
• File Format: The document must be submitted in text format (preferably Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer). PDF files will not be accepted to facilitate review and change tracking.
• Text Formatting:
  • Line spacing: Double.
  • Maximum number of pages: 20 (except in special cases).
  • Numbering: Pages and line numbers must be sequential from the first to the last page.
  • Font: Standard fonts (e.g., Arial, Times New Roman, Symbol, Helvetica, or Calibri) in size 12.
• Figures and Tables:
  • Must be cited in the text and numbered consecutively according to their order of appearance.
  • Each figure and table, along with their captions (written in the two selected languages), should be presented on separate pages at the end of the document.
  • Figures (including photographs, graphs, and maps):
    • Accepted file formats: PNG or TIFF, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
    • Text, numbers, or symbols within figures must be large enough to be legible without needing to zoom in on the image.
    • Figure files must be uploaded separately on the submission platform.
  • Tables:
    • Tables must be provided in Microsoft Word table format, numbered consecutively.
    • Each table must include a caption at the top and any notes or symbols at the bottom.

6. Phytosociological Tables and Syntaxonomic Schemes

• Phytosociological tables and syntaxonomic schemes must follow the model used in the most recent volumes of the journal.

7. Scientific Names

• Taxon names should be written in italics and followed by the author’s name upon first mention.
• Syntaxon nomenclature, at first mention, must follow the format established by Theurillat et al. (2021), i.e., the syntaxon name followed by the author's name and the year of publication.
• The following sources should be used for taxon author abbreviations:
• The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1. http://www.theplantlist.org/
• Castroviejo, S. (coord. gen.) (1986-2020). Flora iberica 1-18, 20, 21. Real Jardín Botánico, CSIC, Madrid.
• Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. (2020). AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org
• Kirk, P.M. & Ansell, A.E. (1992). Authors of Fungal Names (Index to Fungi Supplement). CAB International, Wallingford.

8. Herbarium Material

• Citation of Material: Examined specimens must be cited, specifying the herbarium(s) where the studied vouchers are deposited.
• Abbreviations: Herbarium abbreviations should follow Index Herbariorum.
• Example: Thiers, B. [continuously updated]. Index Herbariorum: A global directory of public herbaria and associated staff. New York Botanical Garden's Virtual Herbarium. http://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/ih/
• Chorological novelties: A voucher specimen must be deposited in an internationally recognized herbarium, preferably linked to a publicly accessible institution.

• New Taxa: For the publication of new taxa:
• A type specimen must be submitted to the MGC Herbarium, and its reference number will be required for the final version of the article. To complete this process, authors should contact the herbarium curator via email: herbariomgc@uma.es
• The submission of the type specimen may be omitted in duly justified cases.

9. Coplementary material

We encourage the use of complementary materials such as applications and images to enhance research. Some guidelines:

• Complementary material should be accurate and relevant to the research.
• They will be accepted or not according to the editor's decision.
• Cite all complementary files in the manuscript text.
• Submit complementary materials at the same time as your article. Be aware that all complementary materials provided will appear online in the exact same file type as accepted. These files will not be formatted or typeset by the production team.
• Include a concise, descriptive caption for each complementary file describing its content.
• Provide updated files if at any stage of the publication process you wish to make changes to submitted complementary materials.
  

10. References

• Criteria: Only published works, in-press papers, or doctoral theses may be cited. Unpublished works or manuscripts submitted to journals without an acceptance letter will not be accepted.
• In-Text Citations: The following format should be followed based on the number of authors:
  • Examples:
    • Aedo (2018) or (Aedo, 2018)
    • Invernón & Devesa (2013) or (Invernón & Devesa, 2013)
    • Tyberghein et al. (1991) or (Tyberghein et al., 1991)
    • (Ramírez et al., 1991; Tyberghein et al., 2012)
  • Format and Ordering:
    • The reference list must be arranged alphabetically.
    • The APA format, 7th edition (2019) must be used.
    • The “&” symbol must be used instead of “and” before the last author’s name in all references.
  • Examples of References
    • Journal Articles:
      • Aedo, C. (2018). Ajustes nomenclaturales en Geranium (Geraniaceae). Acta Botanica Malacitana, 42(2), 297-298. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.24310/abm.v42i2.2750
      • Invernón, V. & Devesa, J. (2013). Revisión taxonómica de Centaurea Seridia (Juss.) DC. (Asteraceae) en la Península Ibérica e Islas Baleares. Acta Botanica Malacitana, 38, 49-102. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.24310/abm.v38i0.2629
      • Tyberghein, L., Verbruggen, H., Pauly, K., Troupin, C., Mineur, F. & De Clerck, O. (2012). Bio-ORACLE: a global environmental dataset for marine species distribution modelling. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 21(2), 272–281. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-8238.2011.00656
    • Books:
      • Finney, J. (1970). Time and again. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
    • Book Chapters:
      • Hemingway, E. (1999). The killers. In J. Updike & K. Kenison (Eds.), The best American short stories of the century (pp. 78-80). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
    • Online Resources: Online references will only be accepted from reputable websites or scientific databases. The resource name, URL, and access date must be included. Examples:
      • CSIC-Real Jardín Botánico (2019). CSIC-Real Jardín Botánico-Colección de Plantas Vasculares (MA). https://doi.org/10.15468/mug7kr. Accessed (via GBIF.org) on 14 February 2022.
      • Anthos (2024). Sistema de información de las plantas de España. Real Jardín Botánico, CSIC - Fundación Biodiversidad. anthos.es. Accessed on 15 March 2024.
      • Hassler, M. (2020). World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World (version Nov 2018). In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, 4 May 2021, (Roskov, Y., Ower, G., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P.M., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., Nieukerken, E. van & Penev, L., Eds.) catalogueoflife.org/col. Species 2000: Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands. ISSN 2405-8858.

10. CRediT authorship contribution

For the CRediT authorship contribution, the following terms and the initial letters of the names and surnames of the authors wil be used:

• Conceptualization: Ideas; formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims.
• Data Curation: Management activities to annotate (produce metadata), scrub data and maintain research data (including software code, where it is necessary for interpreting the data itself) for initial use and later re-use.
• Formal Analysis: Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyse or synthesize study data.
• Funding Acquisition: Acquisition of the financial support for the project leading to this publication.
• Investigation: Conducting a research and investigation process, specifically performing the experiments, or data/evidence collection.
• Methodology: Development or design of methodology; creation of models.
• Project Administration: Management and coordination responsibility for the research activity planning and execution.
• Resources: Provision of study materials, reagents, materials, patients, laboratory samples, animals, instrumentation, computing resources, or other analysis tools.
• Software: Programming, software development; designing computer programs; implementation of the computer code and supporting algorithms; testing of existing code components.
• Supervision: Oversight and leadership responsibility for the research activity planning and execution, including mentorship external to the core team.
• Validation: Verification, whether as a part of the activity or separate, of the overall replication/reproducibility of results/experiments and other research outputs.
• Visualization: Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work, specifically visualization/data presentation.
• Writing – Original Draft Preparation: Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work, specifically writing the initial draft (including substantive translation).
• Writing – Review & Editing: Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work by those from the original research group, specifically critical review, commentary or revision – including pre- or post-publication stages.