General Information

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES ON SPARROWS is a journal publishing publications on general ornithology but with preference for papers about granivorous.

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES ON SPARROWS accepts only papers written in English. Submission of a manuscript implies that the paper has not been published before (except in abstract form or incorporated into reviews and lectures etc.) and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. A cover letter verifying these points must accompany the manuscript. The Author is also asked to give his postal address (in English) and e-mail address for further correspondence. Approximately three months following manuscript submission, the Author will receive comments and remarks of anonymous reviewer and editors. At that time, authors will also be informed of the Editor’s decision concerning publication of the manuscript. If publication is recommended the Author will receive specific instructions for correcting and improving the manuscript. The revised manuscript should be returned to the Editor within three months of the time of receipt

Galley proofs are sent directly to Author and he is responsible for detecting all errors. No changes in text content and illustrations are allowed at this stage. The corrected galley proofs are to be returned immediately to the Editor. Authors receive the paper in pdf format. Copyright permission must be obtained for any table, diagram or illustration already published elsewhere and aimed to be reproduced in the Author’s paper in exactly the same or slightly modified form.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Manuscripts should contain 30 lines per page and wide left margins. Right margin should leave unjustified. Small print is unacceptable. Regular research papers, including illustrations and references etc., should not exceed 30 pages. Notes or short research contributions should be limited to 3-4 and 5-8 pages respectively. Comments should not exceed 6 pages. Text and tables should be edited in Word for Windows (7.0 or higher) and figures should be edited in Corel Draw. The papers sent only in an electronic form will be accepted!

Regular research papers should be arranged according to the following manner:

• Author name(s) and surname(s)
• Institution(s) and the postal address
• Title of the paper − should be an accurate indicator of the contents of the paper and should stimulate interest in the reader. It is recommended that titles be composed of two parts (separated by a colon). Part 1 should indicate the general problem, process, or method and Part 2 should indicate specific topic of the paper e.g. case studies, application of results etc.
• Abstract − should be informative and concise, not longer than 1 page. For most papers it functions as the summary. One or two sentences should describe the general context of research and the Authors aim and hypothesis. Two sentences should describe methods, study area etc., and the final sentences should present the main results and conclusions referring to the hypothesis. It is desirable to include selected data. Long, purely descriptive sentences should be omitted.
• Key words − no more than 5-7 characterising the paper as to the problem, environment and object considered.
• Running page headline − should be suggested by Author (no more than 50 characters).
• Introduction − should present the general ecological context of the Author’s research, then his hypothesis and aim of the studies should be presented and related to previous literature. Cited literature should include the most recent papers. Introductions based only on old (60s and 70s) and/or local literature will be not accepted.
• Study area − geographical names of localities (for instance to indicate the study sites) should be omitted. Names of regions, mountains, lakes and districts should be given together with their geographical coordinates. Copies of topographical maps are not acceptable. Maps should be professionally drawn and should contain only these geographical names which are cited in the text and are necessary to understand the paper. A country outline with the study area marked with a point is desirable.
• Material and methods − all indices, coefficients, etc., used to describe the material should be fully explained here, including also symbols, components, units, etc. Statistical procedures adopted in the paper should be explained. Units should follow the International System of Units (SI).
• Tables and figures − should be set out on separate sheets with titles, numbered by Arabic numerals and signed with Author name. The numbers of tables and figures should be minimized. Figures should not contain data already given in tables. The total number of illustrations should not exceed 40% of total paper length. Tables should contain no more than 5 columns and 8 lines and be fit to one typed page. The width of figures (base) should be adjusted to 7 cm (one column wide) or 14.5 cm (double column wide); other dimensions planned accordingly. Thickness of lines at least – 0.3 mm, coordinates – 0.2 mm, descriptions (numerals, letters, symbols etc.) at least – 10 points. Please remember that the captions in tables and figures should be self-explanatory. In other words, the reader should not have to read the manuscript text in order to understand the figures content!
• Results − should be described according to appearance of tables and figures in the text. Please indicate in the manuscript margin the place to insert the relevant table or figure. Reported data should include no more significant digits than the precision of the used methods warrants! Species names are to be typed with italics. Author’s name of species must be given at the first citing of the species.
• Discussion and Conclusions − could be presented in one section or separate sections. The discussion of results and conclusions should be arranged in the context of the aims of the study and the hypotheses presented in the Introduction. Additionally, the results of the study may be discussed in the context of recent knowledge presented in the literature. Clear statements about what new ideas, data, methods etc. have resulted from the Author’s studies are highly desirable!
• Summary − is not necessary (see Abstract) except for longer papers. It should be limited to two pages and should refer to all tables and figures.
• References − should be listed in alphabetic order. Tittles of papers written in Latin alphabet should be given in their original version. Papers in Cyrillic alphabet should be translated into Latin according to international rules (ISO Recommendations). The titles of papers or books written originally Cyrillic alphabet, in Polish, Slovakian etc. should be translated into English and given in brackets. Titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the Word List of Scientific Periodicals. References should be in following form:

1. Barkowska M., Pinowski J., Pinowska B. 2003 – The effect of trends in ambient temperature on egg volume in the Tree Sparrows Passer montanus – Acta Ornithol., 38:5-13.
2. Radkiewicz J. 1989 – (Distribution and number of the White Stork in Zielona Góra Provinnce in 1985) – Przyr. Środk. Nadodrza 1: 47-66 (in Polish).
3. Anderson T.R. 2006 – Biology of the ubiquitous House Sparrow from genes to population – Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, New York.
4. Indykiewicz P. 2006 – House Sparrow Passer domesticus, Starling Sturnus vulgaris, Tree Sparrow Passer montanus and other residents of nests of the White Stork Ciconia ciconia – In: The White Stork in Poland: studies in biology, ecology and conservation, Eds. P. Tryjanowski, T.H. Sparks, L. Jerzak, – Bogucki Wyd. Naukowe, Poznań.

Items 1 and 2 refer to journals, items 3, 4 to books. References should not contain unpublished papers (which should be cited in the text only as: A.M. Davis − unpublished). If the paper is in press then the Authors surname should be followed by: in press − title of paper − title of journal − volume. Papers of the same author published in the same year should be distinguished by adding the suffixes a, b etc. to the year, e.g. Lusk S. 1968a, Lusk S. 1968b. All references should be quoted in the text as: Golley (1961) or (Golley 1961). Where more than two authors are refered to: Grodziński et al. (1978). When citing more than one paper − a chronological order should be observed

Short research contributions, research notes and comments should have title, authors name and address, a short abstract (composed as above) and the main text with tables and/or figures as well as references. Contributions, Notes and Comments can be typed without division into sections, but they should follow the logical progression described above.

Authors are obliged to prepare the final version of their text, illustrations and references after all corrections required by reviewers and editors. Text and tables should be prepared in Word for Windows. Figures should be prepared in Corel Draw (cdr); formats: Tiff and Jpg (resolution 300-600 DPI). Please, save the text and figures as separate files.

Dobre praktyki w procedurach recenzyjnych w nauce

The papers as well as all correspondence should be mailed on the address:

o.ciebiera@wnb.uz.zgora.pl