Information For Authors

Editorial Guidelines for the Submission of Manuscripts

The Revista Latinoamericana de Herpetología (ISSN: 2594-2158) is the main dissemination organ of the consortium of herpetology societies / associations among which are: Asociación Paraguaya de Herpetología, Asociación Red Chilena de Herpetología, Asociación Herpetológica Argentina, Sociedade Brasileira de Herpetologia, Asociación Colombiana de Herpetología, de México Asociación para la Investigación y Conservación de Anfibios y Reptiles A.C. and the Sociedad Herpetológica Mexicana A.C.  Authors interested in publishing their work in the journal do not need to be members of any of the mentioned societies. However, it is important to note that publication costs are covered with membership and subscription fees. Therefore, there is no cost in publishing in the RHL. Authors are not charged any submission or publishing fees.

We accept manuscripts of: Systematics and Taxonomy, Biogeography, General Biology (biology of reproduction, physiology, morphology, etc.), Ecology, Ethology, Evolution, Management and Conservation.

The journal publishes different types of articles:

  1. Articles in extenso, original work or reviews.
  2. Scientific notes. Natural history, ecological or behavioral notes.
  3. Short distribution notes.
  4. Perspectives, are opinion pieces with topics related to amphibians and reptiles.
  5. Editorials, articles by invitation that are of general interest.
  6. Book reviews.
  7. Obituaries.

Note that the journal will not publish abstracts of theses as such with the intention of encouraging new authors to send the results of their theses in scientific article format.

The manuscripts will be sent through the website https://herpetologia.fciencias.unam.mx/index.php/revista/about/submissions, please follow all submissions instructions specially filling the metadata (all coauthors names, institutions and emails). At the end of the submission, correspondence authors will automatically receive a number assigned to their manuscript with which they can refer in case of any doubt or question. 

Before submitting a manuscript , the correspondence author must verify that their writing was prepared in accordance with the journal's editorial regulations. Manuscripts that do not follow the editorial norms and the mentioned criteria will be returned to the authors without going through the reviewing process.

 

Important note: Authors must propose three to five reviewers when submitting their article. However, it is up to the associate editors to consider these proposals or not. This information should be provided in the cover letter, including the full name of the reviewer, institution and email address.

 

Authors should carefully fill in the metadata during submission, such as adding all authors and their institutions, keywords, correct title, and abstract. Likewise, once the manuscript has been accepted, the authors should verify that all the modifications the manuscript has undergone are reflected in the metadata. Since they CANNOT BE MODIFIED once the manuscript is published, and this information is important because it is used in the meta-tags that the reference handlers use.

 

Publication times

Given the new continuous publishing system the RLH is committed to give a first decision within a maximum period of 90 calendar days (3 months). Likewise, authors who must make revisions of their manuscripts within the maximum established periods (see below) to submit a new version of their manuscript, taking into account the comments of the reviewers. The new version of the manuscript must be accompanied by a reply letter specifying what actions were carried out for each comment. If the revised manuscript is not received during this period, or as long as there is no response from the authors, the work will be automatically withdraw from the system.

RLH times

Articles

3 months maximum time of first decision

60 calendar days for the author to respond

6 months ideal time from submission to publication

Scientific Notes

2 months maximum time of first decision

45 calendar days for the author to respond

5 months ideal time from submission to publication

Distribution Notes

45 days maximum time for first decision

30 calendar days for the author to respond

4 months ideal time from submission to publication

 

Submission Manuscript Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to verify that their submission meets all of the elements indicated below. Submissions that do not meet these guidelines will be returned to authors.

  • The manuscript has not been previously published nor it has been submitted to another journal during the evaluation time at the RLH.
  • All authors agree with the content of the manuscript to be submitted, this will be specified in the cover letter of the manuscript.
  • The text, tables and figures adhere to the editorial standards. They can be found below and in the Author's Guidelines, in the “About the journal” section.
  • The submission file must be in formats: * .doc or * .docx. Templates can be downloaded of an article, scientific note and distribution note.

  • Document with author information is attached. An example can be downloaded here.

  • A submission letter to the Editor-in-Chief specifying at least three potential reviewers is requested. Here is an example.
  • The manuscript complies with the statement of Ethics and malpractice statement of the Revista Latinoamericana de Herpetología.

 

EDITORIAL NORMS

FROM THE FIRST OF JANUARY 2022 THE REVISTA CHANGED TO DOUBLE BLIND SO THE FOLLOWING RULES MUST BE CAREFULLY FOLLOWED:

The submission must contain:

  1. Cover letter
  2. Personal data document
  3. Main manuscript

 

PERSONAL DATA DOCUMENT

  1. Cornice or page header. At the beginning of the first page, write the last name of the authors (use et al. for more than 2 authors) and a short title of the study, which should not exceed 60 characters, including spaces.

Example: 

Rodríguez-Hernández et al. — Genus Barisia in Mexico

2. Title. It should be short and informative and written in capital letters, centered and bold at the top of page 1 after the ledge. Scientific names must appear in uppercase, lowercase and italics. In Spanish the capital letters are accentuated.

Example:

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCTIVITY ON THE PHYSICAL ROBUSTNESS OF Sceloporus grammicus IN AN ARID ENVIRONMENT

 3. Names and affiliation of the authors. Complete names separated by a comma and indicating with a superscript the corresponding institution or institutions and with an asterisk the corresponding author. The full postal addresses of the authors must appear immediately. Numbers (superscripts) should be used to associate the address or addresses corresponding to each author in italics. The author's email address for correspondence must be indicated in a separate line.

Example:

Salvador Santana Riveray1* & Paul R. Smith2

1Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, México 04510, D. F., México.

2Departmenot of Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.

*Correspondence: ssriv@ecol.edu.mx

 4. Acknowledgments. Must be concise. Authors should include the full names of the people they thank, as well as the organizations or sources of financial support of the study. The permit numbers for the scientific collection must also be included in this section.

Ethical aspects and in accordance with the laws of each country. The authors must include in the acknowledgments the collecting permits from competent organizations for each country involved in the study, regarding the collection of specimens, this must be fulfilled in all publication formats (articles and notes). Likewise, in the event that the manuscript refers to manipulation of organisms (e.g. experiments), the authors must state that they followed the ethical standards of their respective institutions and countries.

The main manuscript

Manuscripts will be submitted for review only in .doc or * .docx format; no other format will be accepted. The manuscript must contain all the necessary information in a single file. Tables, figures and appendices must be included in the manuscript after the literature cited in the order listed. IT MUST NOT HAVE ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION.

— The whole manuscript, including cited literature, tables and figure captions, must be double-spaced.

—The font must be 12-point Times New Roman.

—The active voice should be used.

—The manuscripts must be edited on a letter size page (US letter 25.59 x 27.94 cm), with margins of 2.54 cm.

—Indents will not be included in the manuscripts, the texts must be justified only on the left side.

—The words will not be separated into syllables at the end of the line.

—No extra space will be left between paragraphs. This is only between sections.

—Manuscripts should have page numbering (lower right) and lines to facilitate the revision process.

—Foot notes are not allowed.

 

Main manuscripts structure:

Title. It should be short and informative and written in capital letters, centered and bold at the top of page 1 after the ledge. Scientific names must appear in uppercase, lowercase and italics. In Spanish the capital letters are accentuated.

Example:

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCTIVITY ON THE PHYSICAL ROBUSTNESS OF Sceloporus grammicus IN AN ARID ENVIRONMENT 

Abstract should describe clearly and concisely the main points of the manuscript, without references to the text and without citations from the literature. They must have a maximum length of 300 words for articles and 150 words for the rest. The submission of one abstract in Spanish or Portuguese and one in English is mandatory. The words "Resumen or resumo" and "Abstract" should appear indented, in bold and followed by a long dash or em dash (—). The abstract should begin after the authors' addresses, and the abstract should appear immediately after the keywords. If you have any doubts please check the last published number.

Key words. Four to six words separated by commas must be included in alphabetical order. They should not repeat words found in the title. These shoul be in Spanish or Portuguese and English. They will appear after the summary and the abstract respectively. The terms "Keywords" and "Palabras clave" or “Palavras chave” should appear indented, in bold and followed by a long or em dash.

Text. Articles will typically contain the following sections in bold and verses: Introduction (without heading), Material and methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions and Cited literature. Review articles, scientific notes and perspectives do not need to follow this structure. There may be subtitles in each section if necessary, specified in a separate line with italics. Sections should be separated by a blank line, but there should be no space between paragraphs inside the section. 

Example:

Materials and Methods

Monitoring of behavior patterns. Description begins here ...

Statistics analyses. They should be brief and clear.

All figures and tables must be referred to in the text. If they are explicitly cited, figure X or table X will be used, otherwise they will be cited in parentheses (Fig. X). If it is more than one figure, the plural will be used and following the punctuation rules (Figs. 1, 2 and 4 or Figs. 1a and 1c). Symbols, abbreviations and acronyms must be defined the first time they are used. Only italic letters should be used for species scientific names.

References in the text. References to published articles will be cited with the surname of the author or authors, and year of publication in parentheses. In the event that the article has more than two authors, the surname of the first author will be cited and “et al.” will be used (without italics) to refer to the rest of the authors. When there are several citations, they will be ordered in chronological order first, and alphabetically after. For work in process of publication, the expression “in press”, in parentheses, will be used to replace the date of publication. All references mentioned in the text must be in the Literature Cited and vice versa.

Examples:

“Brodie and Campbell (1993) and Tinkle et al. (1995) demonstrated that ...”

Two or more references by the same author and year of publication must be designated in lowercase letters; for example, “Best (1978 a, b)”.

The citations are made up of the author and date (Best, 1978), in case of multiple citations, use a semicolon between them (Best, 1978a, b; Campbell, 1993; Brodie, 2000; Flores-Villela et al., 2001; Guzmán & Pérez, 2011).

Cited Literature. The list of bibliographic references will be incorporated at the end of the manuscript and before the tables, figures or appendices. Only list the references mentioned in the text. References will be listed in alphabetical order of the first author followed by chronological order. In the event that there are several references with the same first author and same year of publication, these will be listed according to the alphabetical order of the second author, and so on. In all cases French indent and short dash between page numbers. Please note that the RHL citation style is available in Endnote and Mendeley.

Articles

Fraser, D.F. 1976a. Coexistence of salamanders of the genus Plethodon: a variation of the Santa Rosalia theme. Ecology 57:238-251.

Hartmann, P.A. & O.A. Marquez. 2005. Diet and habitat use of two sympatric species of Phylodryas (Colubridae), in South Brazil. Amphibia-Reptilia 26:25-31.

Holycross, A.T., C.W. Painter, D.B. Prival, D.E. Swann, M.J. Schroff, T. Edwards & C. Schwalbe. 2002. Diet of Crotalus lepidus klauberi (Banded Rock Rattlesnake). Journal of Herpetology 36:589-597.

Kolby, J.E., K.M. Smith, L. Berger, W.B. Karesh, A. Preston, A.P. Pessier & L.F. Skerratt. 2014. First evidence of amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) and ranavirus in Hong Kong amphibian trade. PloS one, 9(3), e90750.

Wiens, J.J., C.A. Kuczynski, S. Arif & T.W. Reeder. 2010. Phylogenetic relationships of phrynosomatid lizards based on nuclear and mitochondrial data, and revised phylogeny for Sceloporus. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54:150-161.

Smith, H.M. & E.H. Taylor. 1950. An annotated checklist and key to the Reptiles of Mexico exclusive of the snakes. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 199:1-253.

Books

Siegel, S. 1956. Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. McGraw-Hill, New York, New York, USA.

Vitt, L.J. & J.P. Caldwell. 2003. Herpetology. An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles, 3rd Edition. Academic Press. San Diego, California, USA.

Huey, R.B., E.R. Pianka, & T.W. Schoener (Eds.). 1983. Lizard Ecology. Studies of a Model Organism. Hervard University Press, Cambridge, Massachussetts, USA.

Grismer, L.L. 2002. Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California, including its Pacific Islands and the Islands in the Sea of Cortes. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. USA.

Book Chapters

Krebs, J.R. 1978. Optimal foraging: decision rules for predators. Pp. 243-254. In J. R. Krebs & N. B. Davies (Eds.), Behavioural Ecology: An Evolutionary Approach. Sinauer, Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA.

Arvea, R.C. 1990. Alfredo Dugès: Pionero de la herpetología en México. Pp. 85-99. In E. Beltrán, A. Jáuregui de Cervantes & R. C. Arvea (Eds.). Alfredo Dugès. Ediciones La Rana, Guanajuato, México.

Arriaga, L. 2010. Sierra de la Trinidad, Baja California Sur. Pp. 397-399. In G. Ceballos, L. Martínez, A. García, E. Espinoza, J. Bezaury-Creel & R. Dirzo (Eds.). Diversidad, Amenazas y Áreas Prioritarias para la Conservación de las Selvas Secas del Pacífico de México. Fondo de Cultura Económica-CONABIO, México.

Krebs, J.R. 1978. Optimal foraging: decision rules for predators. Pp. 243-254. In J. R. Krebs & N. B. Davies (Eds.), Behavioural Ecology: An Evolutionary Approach. Sinauer, Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA.

Scientific reports

Graves, B.M. & S.H. Anderson. 1987. Habitat suitability index models: Snapping Turtle. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Report 82 (10.141). USA.

Thesis

Hernández-Salinas, U. 2009. Estudio herpetofaunístico del estado de Hidalgo, México. Tesis de Maestría. Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo. México.

Gergits, W.F. & R.G. Jaeger. 1982. Interference competition and territoriality between the terrestrial salamaders Plethodon cinereus and Plethodon shenandoah. M.S. Thesis. State University of New York, Albany, New York, USA.

Electronic references

Hammerson, G., G. Parra-Olea & D. Wake 2004. Ensatina eschscholtzii, in: IUCN 2014. IUCN Red List of threatened species. Versión 2014.2. http://www.iucnredlist.org [Accessed in November 2014]

Uetz, P. & J. Hosek (Eds.). 2015. The Reptile Database. http://www.reptile-database.org, [Accessed in June 2015]

Frost, D.R. 2016. Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.html. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. [Accessed in February 2017]

Note: if the electronic reference involves a country, it must be included. 

Note that the journal titles are not abbreviated, that there are no spaces between the authors' initials, and that the electronic references are dated when the page was last consulted. 

For references that are in the process of being published, "In press" should be cited instead of the page numbers, but the full journal name should be given. Citing references in preparation will not be admitted. It is not admitted to cite manuscripts submitted without positive resolution of acceptance, unpublished reports and summaries of conferences whose resource is not available. However, if it is considered pertinent to cite them, the expression “unpublished data” or “personal communication” must be included in parentheses and their respective references will not be included in the Cited Literature. 

Tables. They must go after the Literature Cited, and each table must have its corresponding explanatory heading. Within the Table, only the initial letter of the first word will be capitalized (e.g. "Weighted average"). Lines within boxes should be avoided except when they clarify separate groups of columns. Figure footings (indicated by asterisks in superscripts) may be used after the table when detailed information needs to be given (such as levels of statistical significance).

Description of the tables must be in English and Spanish or Portuguese as the case may be.

Figures. Will be placed after the Tables if any, if not after the Literature Cited. A page will be added where the figure feet of all the figures are specified, later one figure per page will be included, listing them as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc., regardless of whether it is graphics, photographs, maps or other graphic material. The dimensions of the figures should not exceed 21.5 x 28 cm, at 300 dpi. The figures should be planned for a reduction to a final width of one or two columns in the RLH. A size or distance scale should be included when appropriate. If a figure includes more than one image, each one must be marked with a capital letter (A, B, C).

Once the article is accepted, the figures will be sent in separate files at a resolution of 300 dpi. The format of the figures must be JPG, JPEG, TIFF or EPS. It is important that, regardless of their resolution, all elements of the image can be clearly displayed.

Figure captions must be in English and Spanish or Portuguese as the case may be. 

Numbers. Numbers with two or more digits must be written with Arabic numerals (e.g. 10, 15) except at the beginning of a sentence. One-digit numbers must be written in letters unless they precede measurement units (e.g. 4 m), serve to designate something (e.g. Experiment 2), or are separated by a hyphen (e.g. 2-3 scales).

Numerical expressions written with figures must be represented avoiding the separation of thousands, millions, etc., by means of a point, and as follows: dates and in general thousand units without space (e.g. 1967, 3000 m); tens of thousands onwards must be separated every three positions by a comma (e.g. 27,000 kg; 3,276,000 ha). The period must be used, instead of the comma, to separate the integer part of the decimal place and the number of decimal values ​​will be limited to a maximum of 3 positions (e.g. 0.426 mm). This rule must be applied both in the bulk of the text and in the tables and legends of attached figures.

Units and abbreviations. For weights and measurements, the units of the International System of Units should be used. Such units should be used in the text, tables and figures. Common abbreviations are: "n" (sample size), "Nº." (number), “SVL” (snout-vent length, but define the first time it is used), “P” (probability), “gl” (degrees of freedom), “DE” and “EE” (standard deviation and standard error, respectively), “l” (liters), “g” (grams), “m” (meters), “cm” (centimeters), “mm” (millimeters) and “ºC” (degrees centigrade). Note that "n" and "P" should be written in italics, as well as all statistical symbols for values ​​(e.g. Student t test, Mann-Whitney U). Greek letters (e.g. β) should not be written in italics. No dates, or undefined terms should be abbreviated. Geographical coordinates must be provided in decimal degrees: 32.33851° N, 116.25645° W. Time: use a 24-hour clock and not AM and PM.

Personal communication will be abbreviated as “pers. com." in italics. There must be a space between the = sign and the numbers (e.g. p = 0.01). These standards must be applied both in the bulk of the text, as in the tables and figure legends attached.

Appendices. Detailed non-essential information in the text (e.g. list of specimens examined) may be located in an Appendix. These should appear after the figures and have headings: Appendix 1, 2, etc, which must to be cited in the text. 

Ethical aspects and in accordance with the laws of each country. The authors must include in the text or in the acknowledgments the collection permits from competent organizations for each country, regarding the collection of specimens, this must be fulfilled in all publication formats (articles and notes). Likewise, in the event that the manuscript refers to manipulation of organisms (e.g. experiments), the authors must state that they followed the ethical standards of their respective institutions and countries.

STRUCTURE OF MANUSCRIPTS

Scientific articles

Scientific articles must be written in Spanish/Portugues and English; in both cases, they must include a summary in Spanish and another in English (abstract). There is no limit of words and / or figures. Manuscripts must contain the following sections, those marked with an asterisk are optional:

Introduction

Materials and methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusions

*Appendix

Scientific Notes

These must include abstract and key words. The format is the same as that of the articles, except that only the heading for the Literature Cited should be used.

Distribution Notes

These are short contributions. In the case of the title, it is suggested that this is shot too. The content will include Country, State, Municipality, Locality (coordinates in decimal degrees; datum; elevation). Collection / observation date. Record details (e.g. how many km from the known distribution, if it is the first record for the state or municipality, etc.), citations on the closest reference record. Brief description of the event (time, age of the specimen, habitat, etc.). Collector(s), scientific collection/museum where the voucher was deposited (including the name of the collection, institution, catalog number, and city where the museum is located).

The above may be replaced by reference photos deposited in a photographic collection, including catalog numbers. Species verifier name (preferably a curator or species expert). In a separate line include the cited literature.

Natural history notes

These notes have the same format as the articles and should include abstract and key words. In the case of the title, the scientific name and the family to which the species belongs will be included in parentheses.

"PREDATION OF THE LIZARD Aspidoscelis communis (Teiidae) BY THE BEJUQUILLO SNAKE Oxybelis microphtalmus (Colubridae) IN MICHOACÁN, MEXICO"

The content will include a brief introduction and background on the type of observation being reported. Results should include: date of collection / observation, locality (coordinates in decimal degrees; datum; elevation), municipality, state and country. Brief description of the methodology used (if applicable). Brief description of the event (e.g. diet, mortality, habitat use, malformations, etc.). Include time, age of the specimen, habitat, etc. Brief discussion. In case the specimen has been collected, include the name (s) of the collector (s), scientific museum where the specimen (s) was deposited, or reference photos. In subsequent lines the cited literature. Reference images of the observed event may also be included.

Book Reviews

Book Reviews will not be divided into sections. Authors are encouraged to be thorough in their reviews, including chapter-specific comments. Likewise, they are asked to attach a photograph of the cover of the reviewed book.

 Perspectives

The perspectives will not be divided into sections. Authors are encouraged to be thorough in the literature to support their comments. They are also asked to attach images that may be supportive of the perspective.

 Obituaries

Obituaries will not be divided into sections. Authors are urged to make manuscripts short. Likewise, they are asked to attach at least a photograph of the person referred.

Cover photos. Authors may submit their best photographs of the species that the manuscript is about. These will be selected and published on the cover of the journal. Send the images in JPEG format in high resolution (300 dpi).

Last update: November 2023