INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS 2006

Mycologia publishes papers on all aspects of fungi, including lichens. Subjects appropriate to the journal are physiology and biochemistry, ecology, pathology, development and morphology, systematics, cell biology and ultrastructure, genetics, molecular biology, evolution, applied aspects and new techniques. Publication in Mycologia is for both members and nonmembers of the Mycological Society of America. Papers appropriate for the journal are: (i) regular articles reporting original research, (ii) notes or brief articles reporting research or new techniques, (iii) invited papers, (iv) reviews and minireviews. Authors should consult the editor before submitting a review manuscript.

Papers usually are limited to 10 printed pages, including tables and illustrations. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the editor in chief. Regular articles will be published in the approximate order of their acceptance. After a manuscript has been accepted, the author will receive page proofs and a form for publication charges. Authors will be asked to pay page charges, currently $80 per page. However, payment of page charges is not a condition of acceptance for publication.

Submitting Papers

Go to http://mycologia.allentrack.net. This page will welcome you to Mycologia's online manuscript submission and review system. The first time you use the system, you will register for an account and be assigned a login name and password; you will use your login and password every time you return to the site to check on the status of your paper or attend to a task.

You'll have two: One lets you submit a paper and the other provides guidelines for authors. (Take a look at those guidelines; they will save you time and help you make the best use of the system.) After you submit a paper, you'll have a third option that links you to information concerning your submission.

The system receives documents in up to five separate components. These are: the file for the cover letter; the article file, which includes the text, literature cited and legends; the table file (or files); the figure file (or files); and the file for supplemental documents such as alignments. Before uploading please divide your manuscript into these components.

Once your files are uploaded to the database, they are converted to PDF files that can be viewed, downloaded and printed. Most word-processing formats (e.g. MSWord, WordPerfect, text, Postscript and rich text format) are convertible. Figures can be uploaded in JPEG, TIFF, GIF, EPS, PDF or Postscript formats. Higher resolution, publication-quality figures are not required for submission and review. However, if your paper is accepted for publication, you'll be asked to deliver the final version of your figures in specific formats that ensure high-quality and accurate publication. (The minimum standard for publication-quality half-tone photos is 300–450 dots per inch; the minimum for line art and cover art is 600 dpi. Mycologia therefore recommends creating your figures with publication in mind.

The system will ask you to confirm that the files have converted correctly; check those files to ensure the system converted each element properly. (Even if you submit your manuscript as a PDF file, you still should check to ensure that the files open correctly.) Your paper will be considered officially submitted only after the system receives your confirmation.

As you go through the steps, keep an eye out for red arrows. These will indicate that you need to take action on something.

Converting most files takes 5–10 minutes, but a large file, such as one of a complex illustration, sometimes takes longer. Conversion time also depends on the speed of your connection. In any case, the time saved by the new system makes up for any delay in uploading files.

Once a manuscript is in the system, the Mycologia Editorial Office will assign a tracking number and an associate editor; the manuscript then will enter the peer-review process.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

The guidelines for preparing a manuscript are basically the same as they were when hard copies were submitted by mail. In brief, prepare your paper as follows:

1. Neatly typed, clean copy is required. Double space throughout (all parts, including title, addresses, footnotes, legends, tables, literature citations, etc.).
2. Use line-number guides (left margin) on the original version; these should be removed in the revised version.
3. Identify each page (other than the first) with the first author's name and the page number in the top right margin.
4. Leave at least a 2.5 cm margin on all sides.
5. All text must be left aligned so that the right margin is uneven (not justified).
6. Do not place page breaks between sections except for tables.
7. Paragraph indents should be consistent throughout the file. Use the tab key or paragraph indent, not multiple spaces.
8. Primary headings should be flush left.
9. Remove all extra vertical space above or below titles, headings or paragraphs. These will be produced by the typesetting codes at the press.
10. Do not use hanging indents in LITERATURE CITED. Place an extra line feed between references for improved legibility.
11. Boldface, italic, SMALL CAPS, _subscript and ^superscript commands should be used. These are normally the only word-processing commands used by the typesetter.
12. Distinguish among hyphens -, en dashes – and em dashes —. Hyphens are used join words, such as Douglas-fir. Use en dashes to indicate numerical or alphabetical ranges and as minus signs. Use em dashes in the Number 2 heading.— and to designate repeated authors' names in literature citations.
13. Never use commas within numbers, e.g. 1000 or 20 500.
14. Use small caps in the words TABLE(S), FIG(S).
15. Copies of DNA sequence alignments must be submitted. Alignments will not be published in Mycologia but must be deposited in TreeBASE or similar public database for final acceptance.
16. Microsoft Word or WordPerfect is preferred.
17. Manuscripts requiring extensive alterations by the editor will be returned to the author for correction of the computer file.

Authors should follow the suggestions in the latest edition of the CBE Style Manual and are urged to have one or more colleagues read and criticize the manuscript before submitting it. When in doubt about style, abbreviations or punctuation, refer to recent issues of Mycologia.

Articles include these items, in this order: short title for running head, title, author(s) name(s) and address(es), abstract, key words, text (with desired headings), acknowledgments, literature cited, legends, footnotes and tables. Notes or articles of less than four printed pages, including illustrations, ordinarily will be published as brief articles. The manuscript format should be similar to regular articles, except that no primary headings are used other than to designate LITERATURE CITED. Secondary headings may be used and are encouraged for clarity of organization.

The Mycological Society of America’s policy is to ask all authors, except authors of invited papers, to pay page charges. Payment of such charges is not a requirement for publication, however page charges are US$80 per typeset page; a partial page counts as a full page. Additional charges may apply for papers with color illustrations. Authors are charged a flat rate of US$800 per color plate. Charges for one color plate per article may be waived for MSA members with approval from the Editor-in-Chief. Authors otherwise are responsible for publication costs for illustrations printed in color.

Color illustrations are considered for publication if the color adds essential information to the figure that cannot be conveyed in grayscale. For example, color is required when illustrating more than one fluorescent stain in a cell; on the other hand, dots on a graph are unnecessary in color because the same information can be conveyed with hatchings in black and white. Inclusion of color illustrations requires the approval of the Editor-in-Chief. Articles with color illustrations also may be subject to additional publication charges.

DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS

An idea expressed by 3–5 words is recommended.

Make title short but informative; inclusion of a verb to communicate a complete idea is highly recommended (e.g. Cytoplasmic dynein is involved in nuclear migration in Aspergillus nidulans, not Cytoplasmic dynein and nuclear migration in Aspergillus nidulans). Omit names of authors of taxa. Omit higher taxonomic categories (phylum, order, family); place these in the abstract or key words. Do not abbreviate. Capitalize only the first word and proper nouns; the rest is lowercase.

Place each author's name on a separate line, followed by the address on a new line. Addresses are italicized and typed as one paragraph. Authors in sequence with the same address have the address after the last author in the sequence. Provide the e-mail address of the corresponding author in a footnote after the figure legends.

Include an abstract (before the text) in all articles. Abstract begins in bold italic at the left margin with the text immediately following on the same line. The abstract should be written as a single paragraph, presenting the salient points of the article. It must stand alone and be informative without the need for reference to the text.

Each article must be accompanied by a listing of several key words as an aid to abstracting journals and retrieval. Key words should supplement the title and not duplicate title words. Insert the key words in alphabetical order immediately after the abstract on a separate indented line beginning with the designation Key words: in bold.

Primary headings should begin at the left margin. Usual primary headings are INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS, DISCUSSION, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS and LITERATURE CITED. Make separate RESULTS and DISCUSSION sections; do not combine into one section. Other headings, such as TAXONOMY and/or taxonomic names, may be used to suit the purposes of the paper. Start second-level headings at left margin; use only as necessary for clarity; italicize (except scientific names) followed by a period and an en dash. Third-level headings also are italicized but indented and followed by a period only.

Numbered lists in paragraphs should use lowercase roman numerals in parentheses, such as (i), (ii), (iii), etc. They should be run in a continuous paragraph, not set off as separate paragraphs; see next paragraph.

Abbreviations follow the CBE Style Manual. Commonly used abbreviations are: (i) time— y, mo, wk, d, h, min, s; names of months by first three letters— Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul (ii) volume— L, mL, µL; (iii) length— km, m, cm, mm, µm, nm; (iv) concentration in molarity— M, mM, µM, nM, pM— differs from molecular amounts— mol, mmol, µmol, pmol; (v) distinguish g (grams) from g (force of gravity) by italics for the latter; (vi) temperature— C as 28 C, not 28ºC, use º only for angular measures, latitude and longitude; (vii) P = probability (uppercase italics). Notice that singular and plural forms are identical and periods are not used for standard abbreviations. Exceptions are FIG., FIGS. Do not abbreviate state or province names, e.g. California, not CA; Ontario, not ON.

Parentheses enclose brackets ([]). Use the prime symbol ′, as in 5′ or 3′ in sequences; don’t use an apostrophe ’, an accent ´, or a single close quotation mark ’. The single prime denotes minutes and double prime denotes seconds in latitude and longitude. Use the times symbol × in equations; don’t use x.

Italicize only generic, infrageneric (subgenus, section), specific and infraspecific taxa. Citation of nomenclatural authorities for taxa is optional except for taxonomic papers. When cited, authors of all specific and infraspecific taxa, except forma specialis, should be given but only when first used in the text or in a table. If authors for taxa are cited in a table, do not repeat in the text. For abbreviation of authors’ names, see Kirk P.M. and Ansell A.E. 1992. Authors of Fungal Names. Index of Fungi supplement, also available online at: http://www.indexfungorum.org/AuthorsOfFungalNames.htm.

Place names of new taxa flush with left margin in boldface, not italics, followed by author(s) and status (e.g. sp. nov., stat. nov.) in lightface roman. Follow with brief but descriptive Latin diagnosis (required for all new taxa except fossil forms and bacteria) in paragraph form. After the English description, designate the type specimen and place of deposit. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the Latin diagnosis; consult a Latin scholar; the editor does not check diagnoses. An English description, in paragraph form, follows the Latin. Record measurements as length by width (or diam); place exceptional dimensions in parentheses: (10–)12–15(–16.5) × 5–6.2 mm. Note spacing, en dashes and multiplication symbol. Dates preferably should be cited as (example) 10 Aug 1995 or 10-VIII-1995, not 8/10/95. Authors are urged to deposit voucher specimens and to cite those specimens appropriately. Failure to do so might delay the review and publication.

Type titles of keys in all capitals as a primary heading. Keys must be dichotomous, the couplets numbered and block indented. Leads of first couplet begin at left margin, as do those of third, fifth, etc. Leads of second (fourth, sixth, etc.) are tab indented equal to five spaces. Turnover lines should be justified at left with the preceding line. Normally, keys with four or fewer couplets will be set in one column, while keys of five or more couplets will be set across two columns.

This standard format should be used:
Specimens examined. COUNTRY. STATE/PROVINCE: city/town, locality, map coordinates, elevation. Substrate, date (e.g. 10 Aug 1995 or 10-VIII-1995), collector number (italicize or underline collector and collector number) (HOLOTYPE, ISOTYPE, etc. designations go here when applicable. HERBARIUM). Use the standard recommended abbreviations for herbaria (Holmgren et al 1990. Index Herbariorum, 8th ed. Regnum Vegetabile, vol. 120). The word HERBARIUM is omitted.

Authors are urged to deposit voucher specimens and cultures in public herbaria and culture collections, citing these in the paper. Molecular sequence data must be deposited in a molecular sequence repository. Mycologia will not publish nucleic acid sequences or sequence alignments other than short or unique sequences. Hard copies or electronic copies on disk should be provided for review. Authors must deposit sequence alignments in TreeBASE at http://herbaria.harvard.edu/treebase/ or in a similar public database and cite accession numbers. New sequences must be submitted to GenBank or a similar public database and accession numbers cited.

Consult The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers 6th ed. for style. Cite references in the text by author-date (name-year system). All references must be cited in the text and any extras deleted. Journal citations and abbreviations must follow the rules for abbreviating titles in The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers 6th ed., p 743–746. When in doubt, provide the unabbreviated title. Do not include personal communications, unpublished data, Webpage URLs, manuscripts or partial page numbers from books and theses in LITERATURE CITED; place such references in the text. Manuscripts must have been accepted formally for publication before they may be cited as “in press.” A copy of the letter of acceptance is required. Cite the journal name and volume number. Type references flush left with no hanging indent. Use an em dash to replace repeated author(s) name(s). Use an en dash to indicate page ranges.

Consult a recent issue of Mycologia for citation style. Examples of the most common forms of citation are below (note spacing and punctuation). Hanging indents should not be used; the press will set these. To increase readability for editors and typesetters, place an extra line feed (paragraph mark) between references. These are easily removed from the computer file.

Bennett JW, Arnold J. 2001. Genomics for Fungi. In: Howard R, Gow N. eds. Biology of the Fungal Cell. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag: The Mycota XIII:268–297.

Fallah PM. 1999. Ascomycetes from north temperature lakes in Wisconsin [Doctoral dissertation]. Urbana-Champaign: Univ. Illinois. 190 p.

Klich, MA. 2002. Biogeography of Aspergillus species in soil and litter. Mycologia 94(1):21–27.

Ridgway R. 1912. Color standards and color nomenclature. Washington, DC: Publ. by the author. 43 p., 53 pl.

Xiang X, Beckwith SM, Morris NR. 1994. Cytoplasmic dynein is involved in nuclear migration in Aspergillus nidulans. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91:2100–2104.

—, Morris N. 1999. Hyphal tip growth and nuclear migration. Curr Opin Microbiol 2:636–640.

Designate all illustrations (photographs, graphs, line drawings) as figures (abbreviate FIG., spell out FIGURE at beginning of sentence) and number consecutively in Arabic numerals. A plate of drawings or photographs may be treated as one figure with letters for each element or as several figures with each figure numbered consecutively. Do not place numbers on single figures that stand alone. Type figure captions consecutively, in paragraph form after LITERATURE CITED. See recent issue of Mycologia for format. Plates and figures should be planned so that the figures are numbered consecutively in the order that they are referenced in the text to allow proper placement of the figures in the published paper.

Figures must be designed to fit a maximum of 8.2 cm (3.25 inches, one column) or 17.1 cm (6.75 inches, two columns) width by 23.4 cm (9.25 inches) height, including space for the legend after reduction. Plan figures to use the full one- or two-column width. Figures should be less than the maximum height to permit insertion of the legend beneath. Individual graphs usually will be reduced to one-column width. Maximum size of plate submitted, including margins, may not exceed 30 × 43 cm (12 × 17 inches).

Number or letter your figures by using a lettering instrument or printed graphic arts aid. Bars affixed to the figures are preferable to indicate magnifications. The bar scale is given in the legend, not on the figure. If magnifications are inserted in the text, any reduction or enlargement to fit the printed page space must be calculated for accurate presentation in the figure legend. Write magnifications as 1200×, or 45 100×, for example. Graphs or line drawings should be grouped consistent with ease of reading after reduction to the maximum plate size.

Numbers and letters for figures, graphs and drawings should be approximately the same style and size as those in the text of Mycologia, i.e. 12 point type (about 2.5 mm tall). Times New Roman or Helvetica are preferred. Use uppercase and lowercase, not all capitals. Reduction or enlargement of numbers and letters should be taken into account when planning figures, graphs and drawings if they will not be reproduced at the original size. Preferably, graphs and photographs should be at actual size for printing.

Avoid footnotes in the text. If used, number them consecutively and place at the end of the article after the figure legends. Do not use your word processor footnote or endnote command. Do not include acknowledgments, except required institutional statements, in footnotes. Lengthy descriptions of tabular material should not be in footnotes to tables but incorporated into the text. Footnotes to the text use ^{superscript numbers}. Footnotes to tables use ^{superscript lowercase letters}.

Keep them to a minimum. Before constructing a table, determine whether the data might be better treated in narrative form in the text. Almost all short tables can be put in such form. Each table begins on a separate page. Tables are numbered in Roman numerals, and the word TABLE with its number begins at the left margin. The title follows in paragraph form, double-spaced. Titles must be brief. Keep footnotes to a minimum, using ^{superscript lowercase letters} (not Arabic numerals or other symbols). Omit vertical lines. See Mycologia for use of horizontal separation lines.