Style guide for Authors

The preferred standardised styles for all scientific papers presented to the Scientific Committee

 

CONTENTS

 

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Heading styles

Authors using Microsoft Word are encouraged to contact the Editorial Office for a copy of the appropriate template or to download the template directly, click HERE with your right mouse button and choose option 'Save target as..'. the file is called Journal.dot.

• The standard font type is Times New Roman
• Title - Bold, 18pt, sentence case, ranged left
• LEVEL 1 - BOLD, CAPITALS, ranged left (10pt) followed by one line space
• Level 2 - Bold, sentence case, side heading (10pt), followed by no space
• Level 3 - Italics, sentence case, side heading (10pt), followed by no space

Do not number sections unless absolutely necessary (e.g. where substantial cross-referencing occurs).

Cetacean names

Please use approved IWC common names in the text. Use the Latin name only the first time, in brackets after the common name.

Keywords

Please choose from the approved list.

Preferred spellings

'British' English spelling should be used unless the author is from the United States, in which case 'American' spellings may be used. The published version, however will use 'British' spellings.

Hyphens

These are used in compound adjectives preceding a noun;

• e.g. age-length key, length-specific method

but not where part of the compound adjective consists of a numeral;

• e.g. 3cm long earplug, a 500kW lamp

Hyphens are also omitted where a compound noun is sufficiently familiar to be printed as one word;

• e.g. ultrasonic, daytime, interspecific, overexploitation, northeastern, whalewatching

except where this would result in an awkward spelling;

• e.g. infra-red, night-time, photo-identification

Capitals

Common examples are given below:

• Area (when referring to Area I, etc.), Sector, Division, Initial Management Stock, Antarctic, South Atlantic Ocean, Northern Hemisphere, Scientific Committee, Table 1, Fig. 1, Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Bryde's whale and Hector's dolphin (i.e. where named after a person);

but,

• but, central North Pacific, sub-committee, sub-Arctic, sei whale, common dolphin, etc.

Numbers, dates, map references

(a) In the text numbers under 10 should be spelt out where used individually. Figures should be used for a sequence of quantities and in reference to percentages (where % rather than percent is used); e.g.

• six sperm whales but 6% of sperm whales;
• 1 blue whale, 3 Bryde's whales and 6 sperm whales were observed.

(b) Commas should be inserted into numbers with four or more digits; e.g. 6,789; 2,060,313.

(c) Decimal points should be indicated by full stops, not commas. Zeros should be included; e.g. 0.12.

(d) There should be no space between numbers and abbreviated units; e.g. 6m, 25kg.

(e) Dates should be in the form: 17 March 1983 not February 20, 1998.

(f) Map references should be in the form: 42º6'S, 23º42'W.

Abbreviations

(a) Where the last letter of an abbreviation is the same as the last letter of the full word then no full stop is necessary; e.g. Fig. 1 but Figs 1-7.

(b) Capital abbreviations do not require full stops; e.g. WC, USA, MSYR, 60°N, CV, SD, SE etc.

(c) Commonly used abbreviations for quantities have no full stop; e.g. 6cm, 22m, 14ft, 456kg.

(d) If a personal communication is used, abbreviate as `pers. comm.'.

Italics

These should be used for:

• references to titles of books and periodicals (e.g. Moby Dick);
• names of vessels (e.g. Shonan Maru No. 2, Moonlight Tango);
• Latin names of plants and animals (e.g. Eubalaena glacialis);
• foreign words not part of everyday English (e.g. et al. );
• trade names (e.g. Guinness).

Quotations

Use single quotation marks. Double quotation marks are only to be used for a quote within a quote.

Within a quotation, follow the style and punctuation of the original. If omitting a section, indicate by three full stops `. . . '.

If interpolating a word or phrase please use square brackets [my italics].

Equations, mathematical references

(a) Ensure that superscripts and subscripts are easily discernible.

(b) Show all symbols clearly and, by hand in the margin, spell out Greek letters the first time they occur.

Clearly distinguish between: the letter l and the number 1 (e.g. by underlining the letter); and the letter O and the number 0.

Use italics for letters indicating parameters, e.g. y = mx + 66c + vz

Miscellaneous

Do not use a comma prior to `and' in a list (e.g. green, white and orange).

Data are NOT data is.

If a colon is used prior to a list of points, the points should not begin with a capital letter and should be separated by semi-colons.

References

(a) In the text:

1. Where more than two co-authors are involved use: O'Flaherty et al. (1983).

2. If more than one reference is made then a semi-colon is used; e.g. Irving, 1982; James, 1881; Watterson, 1987.
3. In references to the Scientific Committee or other International Whaling Commission reports, IWC is used; e.g. `It was agreed last year (IWC, 1983) that . . .'
4. Where an author has more than one paper in the same year use 1981a, 1981b, etc.

References

(b) In the reference list:

1. All the authors' names are written irrespective of the numbers of authors.
2. Surnames always precede initials; e.g. Bannister, J.L., Best, P.B. and Cawthorn, M.W., except for editors of books in example (v) below.
3. If the reference is to an article in a journal then the title of the paper (in lower case except for words which would normally have initial capitals), the title of the journal (in italics and abbreviated using the FAO World List of Scientific Periodicals except for certain preferred modifications, e.g. Rep. int. Whal. Commn. ), the volume number and the page numbers of the article must be given; e.g.

   Mayo, C.A. and Marx, M.K. 1990. Surface foraging behaviour of the North Atlantic right whale, Eubalaena glacialis, and associated zooplankton characteristics. Can. J. Zool. 68:2214-20.

    

4. If the reference is to a whole book, then the title of the book (in italics, and with initial capitals for major words in the title), the name of the publisher, the city of publication and the total number of pages must be given; e.g.

   Martin, A.R. (ed.). 1990. Whales and Dolphins. Salamander Books, London, New York. 192pp.

    

5. If the reference is to an article or chapter within a book, then the title and page numbers of the article, the editor's name, the title of the book (in italics), the name of the publisher, the city of publication and the total number of pages of the book must be given; e.g.

   Mitchell, E.D. 1974. Present status of northwest Atlantic fin and other whale stocks. pp. 108-69. In: W.E. Schevill (ed.) The Whale Problem: A Status Report. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. i-viii+419pp.

    

6. If the reference is to an unpublished paper from the IWC Scientific Committee or any other meeting, then the title of the paper, the number/reference of the paper, the title and date of the meeting, and the number of pages should be given along with an e-mail address or other method by which the paper can be obtained; e.g.

   Braham, H.W. 1982. Comments on the world stocks of bowhead whales and estimating total population abundance in the western Arctic. Paper SC/34/PS13 presented to the IWC Scientific Committee, June 1982 (unpublished). 12pp. [Available from the Office of this Journal]

    

7. The reference list should be arranged in alphabetical order by author and, within this, by date of publication. A hypothetical list is given below.

Top

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Example reference list

REFERENCES

Bannister, J.L. and Mitchell, E. 1980. North Pacific sperm whale stock identity: distributional evidence from Maury and Townsend charts. Rep. int. Whal. Commn. (special issue) 2:219-30.

Best, P.B. 1979. Social organization in sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus. pp. 277-89. In: H.E. Winn and B.L. Olla (eds.) Behavior of Marine Animals. Vol. 3. Cetaceans. Plenum Press, New York and London. i-xix+438pp.

Best, P.B. 1987. Estimates of the landed catch of right (and other whalebone) whales in the American fishery, 1805-1909. Fish. Bull., US 85(3):403-18.

Cawthorn, M.W. 1988. Recent observations of Hector‘s dolphin, Cephalorhynchus hectori, in New Zealand. Rep. int. Whal. Commn. (special issue) 9:303-14.

Collet, A. 1981. Biologie du dauphin commun Delphinus delphis L. en Atlantique Nord-Est. Doctoral Thesis, L’Université de Poitiers. 156pp. [In French].

Collet, A. and Duguy, R. 1981. Lagenorhynchus albirostris (Cetacea, Odontoceti): espèce nouvelle pour la faune de France. Mammalia 45(3):387-8. [In French].

Craig, A.W. 1977. Whales and the Nantucket Whaling Museum. 1st Edn. Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, Mass. USA. III+26pp.

Donovan, G.P. 1987. The International Whaling Commission‘s Comprehensive Assessment of whale stocks: comprehensive or incomprehensible? Paper presented at the Seventh Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Miami, Florida, December 1987 (unpublished). 4pp. [Available from the author].

Donovan, G.P. 1991. A review of IWC stock boundaries. Rep. int. Whal. Commn. (special issue) 13:39-68.

International Whaling Commission. 1991a. Chairman‘s Report of the Forty-Second Meeting. Rep. int. Whal. Commn. 41:11-50.

International Whaling Commission. 1991b. Report of the Scientific Committee. Rep. int. Whal. Commn. 41:51-219.

International Whaling Commission. 1991c. Report of the Workshop on the Genetic Analysis of Cetacean Populations. Rep. int. Whal. Commn. (special issue) 13:3-21.

International Whaling Commission. 2000. Report of the Scientific Committee. Annex N. The Revised Management Procedure (RMP) for Baleen Whales. J. Cetacean Res. Manage.(Suppl.) 1:251-8.

Jensen, J. and Donovan, G.P. 1998. Proposal for further co-operation and development of a new trial structure to take into account migration to new stock area. Unpublished report submitted by Beannacht agus TaGraAgamTu plc, June 1998. 220pp. [Available from the author].

Larsen, F. 1989. Denmark. Progress report on cetacean research June 1987 to May 1988. Part 1. Greenland and Denmark. Rep. int. Whal. Commn. 39:176-7.

Larsen, F., Clapham, P.J. and Hammond, P.S. 1989. Humpback whales off West Greenland, 1988. Paper SC/41/PS12 presented to the IWC Scientific Committee, May 1989 (unpublished). 7pp. [Available from the Office of this Journal].

Lockyer, C. 1981. Growth and energy budgets of large baleen whales from the Southern Hemisphere. FAO Fish. Ser. (5) [Mammals in the Seas] 3:397-487.

Martin, A.R. (ed.). 1990. Whales and Dolphins. Salamander Books, London, New York. 192pp.

Mayo, C.A. and Marx, M.K. 1990. Surface foraging behaviour of the North Atlantic right whale, Eubalaena glacialis, and associated zooplankton characteristics. Can. J. Zool. 68:2214-20.

Mitchell, E. 1965. Evidence for mass strandings of the false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) in the eastern North Pacific Ocean. Norsk Hvalfangsttid. 54:172-7.

Mitchell, E.D. 1974. Present status of northwest Atlantic fin and other whale stocks. pp. 108-69. In: W.E. Schevill (ed.) The Whale Problem: A Status Report. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. i-viii+419pp.

Palka, D. 1995. Abundance estimate of the Gulf of Maine harbour porpoise. Rep. int. Whal. Commn. (special issue) 16:27-50.

Reeves, R.R. 1980. Spitsbergen bowhead stock: a short review. Mar. Fish. Rev. 42(9-10):65-9.

Tomilin, A.G. 1957. Zveri SSSR I Prilezhasfchikh Stran. Zveri Vostochnoi Evropy I Severnoi Azii. Vol. IX. Kitoobraznye. Izdatel’stvo Akademi Nauk SSSR, Moscow. 756pp. [Translated in 1967 as Mammals of the USSR and Adjacent Countries. Mammals of Eastern Europe and Adjacent Countries. Vol. IX. Cetacea by the Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem, 717pp.].