Submissions

Author Guidelines

Types of Papers

Research articles

Substantial, original research contributions on any aspect of coenology and plant ecology. The main body of the text (excluding tables and references) should not exceed 6000 words, and eight figures and tables.

Notes

Short papers, including for examples preliminary reports on new findings of significant results that do not require a full-length paper. The main body of the text (excluding tables and references) should not exceed 3000 words, and four figures and tables.

All manuscripts must be written in English, and should conform to standard rules of English grammar and style. Text should be written in MS Word, double-spaced with settings for A4 (210 x 297 mm) paper with wide margins. Use Times New Roman font, pt-size 12 (symbol palette for additional characters). Lines and pages should be consecutively numbered. Please organize your manuscript in a single file, as follows:

• First page

• Abstract

• Keywords

• Main Text

• Acknowledgements

• References

• Tables

• Figure captions

• Figures

First page: includes a concise and informative title, a running head (shortened title), authors and full addresses. Where authors have different addresses, use numbered superscripts to refer to each address provided. State the author for correspondence and include their telephone and e-mail details.

Abstract: up to 200 words. It should include (1) aims, (2) methods, (3) key results and (4) the main conclusion, including key points of discussion. It should not contain citations of other papers.

Keywords: five to eight keywords must be given at the end of the Abstract.

Main text: Concise, well-organized submissions are strongly encouraged. Wordiness, ambiguity, vagueness, run-on sentences and passive voices should be avoided. Please note the correct use of periods and commas for presentation of numbers and dates. Latin and Greek words or expressions are italicized. All taxonomic names should be subjected to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. In phytosociological manuscripts, all names of syntaxonomical units should be subjected to the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature (www.iavs.org/ResourcesClassification.aspx). Syntaxonomical schemes, reporting Author’s names for each unit, should be included after the Coclusions. Avoid footnotes. The first line of text in each section is NOT indented. Arrange the papers under the headings: Introduction (including a clear statement of objectives), Materials and Methods (including study area), Results, Discussion (Results and Discussion sections should be presented separately), Conclusions (summarizing the main achievements of the paper). Headings and Sub-heading hierarchy: Level one, headers typed in bold font, small capitals letters, lowercase except for first letter of first word, left justified, followed by one blank line; Level two, headers typed in bold font, lowercase except for the first letter of the first word, left justified, followed by one blank line. Do NOT number headings and subheadings.

Acknowledgements: Brief list of individuals who provided help during the research. References to research projects/funds can be quoted here.

References: citations in the text should take the following format: Single author: (Manes, 2007); two-author (Smith & Jones, 2008); and three or more authors (Spada et al., 2007). Where different references would appear identical when cited in this manner, use letters after the date in the citations and reference list (Rossi et al., 2008a,b). Order lists of references in date order (oldest first) and alphabetically when of the same date: (Thompson et al., 2003; Larcher et al., 2007; Loreto et al., 2007). Cite references 'in press' only if accepted by a named journal. Personal communications must be cited in the text as follows: (S. Pignatti, pers. comm.).

All publications cited in the text must be in the Roman alphabet, and listed alphabetically by the surname of the first authors, in the APA form from Google Scholar. For example:

• ApOSTOLovA, I. V. A., & MESHINEV, T. (2006). Classification of semi-natural grasslands in north-eastern Bulgaria. Annali di Botanica, 6, 29-52.
• Manes, F., De Santis, F., Giannini, M. A., Vazzana, C., Capogna, F., & Allegrini, I. (2003). Integrated ambient ozone evaluation by passive samplers and clover biomonitoring mini-stations. Science of the Total Environment, 308(1-3), 133-141.
• Pignatti, S. (1982). Reprint 1997. Flora d’Italia. Edagricole, Bologna (IT), 3Vols.
• Barbour, M. G., & Billings, W. D. (Eds.). (2000). North American terrestrial vegetation. Cambridge University Press.
• Bennett, K.D., (2005). Documentation for psimpoll 4.25 and pscomb 1.03: C programs for plotting pollen diagrams and analysing pollen data. Retrieved from http://chrono.qub.ac.uk/psimpoll/psimpoll.html

Tables: should be cited consecutively in the text, should be self-explanatory, each presented on a separate page, and included in the file after the references, in A4 format. Following a concise, informative heading, each table should be fully understandable through column headings.

Figure captions: all illustrations (including diagrams, photographs and maps) are classified as figures and they should be numbered consecutively as first cited in the text. Figure captions should be inserted at the end of the paper. Figure captions should make the material completely understandable and abbreviations should be defined. Panels should be labelled (a), (b), (c), etc. and referred to in the text as, for example, Fig. 1a. Abbreviations: The SI system should be used for all scientific data. All non-standard abbreviations must first appear in parentheses following their meaning written in full at first mention. Avoid abbreviations if possible in the title, headings and Abstract.

Figures: figures should be sent as separate files (in TIFF format at 300 dpi) only after article acceptance. No illustration (including caption) will be given more space than 224 mm x 177 mm, that is the text area of the journal page. Where possible, the figures should be drawn to fit either the page width or a column width (84.5 mm). Along with photographs, include any scale bars on the picture. On maps, scale information should be provided, preferably as a scale bar within the figure. Maps should also include adequate geo-referencing information. Colour figures will be accepted only if necessary, and the printing of colour figures will be subjected to the Editor decision.

Suggested Reviewers: Submit at least 3 names and contacts of suggested reviewers in a separate document