Scottish Birds advice to contributors

Authors should bear in mind that only a small proportion of the Scottish Birds readership are scientists, and should aim to present their material concisely, interestingly and clearly. Unfamiliar technical terms and symbols should be avoided wherever possible and, if deemed essential, should be explained. Supporting statistics should be kept to a minimum. All papers and short notes are accepted on the understanding that they have not been offered for publication elsewhere and that they will be subject to editing. Papers will be acknowledged on receipt and are normally reviewed by at least two members of the editorial panel and, in most cases, also by an independent referee. They will normally be published in order of acceptance of fully revised manuscripts. The editor will be happy to advise authors on the preparation of papers.

Reference should be made to the most recent issues of Scottish Birds for guidance on style of presentation, use of capitals, form of references, etc. Papers should be typed on one side of the paper only, double spaced and with wide margins and of good quality; two copies are required and the author should also retain one. We are happy to accept papers on computer discs; however, please state the type of word processing programme used. Telephone or email the SOC if you would like more information.

Headings should not be underlined, nor typed entirely in capitals. Scientific names in italics should normally follow the first text reference to each species unless all can be incorporated into a table. Names of birds should follow the official Scottish list (Scottish Birds 1994 Vol 17: 146-159). Only single quotation marks should be used throughout. Numbers should be written as numerals except for one and the start of sentences. Avoid hyphens except where essential e.g. in bird names. Dates should be written:...on 5 August 1991......but not on the 5th (if the name of the month does not follow). Please do not use headers, footers and page numbers.

Please note that papers shorter than c700 words will be treated as short notes, where all references should be incorporated into the text, and not listed at the end, as in full papers.

Tables, maps and diagrams should be designed to fit either a single column or the full page width. Tables should be self explanatory and headings should be kept as simple as possible, with footnotes used to provide extra details where necessary. Each table should be on a separate sheet. Maps and diagrams should be either good quality computer print outs in black and white (please do not use greyscale shading) or in black ink and be camera ready, but drawn so as to permit reduction from their original size.