____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Chair: Dres Urs and Christine Breitenmoser, KORA, Thunstrasse 31, 3074 Muri, Switzerland. T: +41 31 951 9020, F: 951
9040. <[email protected]>,<[email protected] >
Cat News – guidelines to authors 1
2
Christine Breitenmoser-Würsten
1
and Urs Breitenmoser
1
3
4
1
Cat Specialist Group, c/o KORA, Thunstrasse 31, CH-3074 Muri, Switzerland; 5
7
Abstract. Cat News, the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group’s biannual newsletter, covers 8
Original Contributions, Short Communications and News related to the conservation of cat 9
species across the world. In addition to the two regular spring and fall numbers, the series 10
“Cat News Special Issue”, typically realised together with partner institutions, covers specific 11
themes relevant to cat conservation or research. Original Contributions are peer reviewed. 12
Manuscript submitted to Cat News must be organised according to these Guidelines. Further 13
information related to Cat News can be found on the website of the Cat Specialist Group 14
www.catsg.org. 15
16
Type of articles 17
Cat News, the newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group, publishes short articles 18
relevant to cat conservation and research contributing to the understanding and conservation 19
of all members of the family of the Felidae. Cat News is published twice a year, in spring and 20
fall. “Special Issues” follow the same policy and rules, but may deviate from these Guidelines 21
depending on the theme. Articles published in Cat News fall into the following categories 22
(Table 1): 23
24
Original Contributions 25
Original Contributions present new findings, approaches, or concepts relevant to cat 26
conservation. This is the most data-oriented section of Cat News, typically presenting original 27
information, analysis or discussions that will be subject to peer review. Short review papers 28
on a specific topic are welcome. Original contributions should not be longer than 4 printed 29
pages in Cat News. Depending on illustrations, the length of a manuscript is 2500–3000 30
words. Original articles are exemplified by colour photos, diagrams, and maps. After 31
publication, Original Contributions are integrated into the Digital Cat Library as Portable 32
Document Format file (PDF/Adobe Acrobat). 33
34
Short Communications 35
Short Communications report mainly new discoveries regarding distribution, behaviour, or 36
ecology of cats. Length is 1, exceptionally 2 printed pages (500–750 words). Short 37
Communications are illustrated by at least one colour photo, possibly diagrams and maps. 38
They also need an abstract. New discoveries or interesting confirmations of presence of cats 39
in a specific place are described with longitude, latitude and altitude, and must provide 40
evidence for the presence of the cats (photo, genetic analysis or any other robust proof). Short 41
Communications are editor reviewed, exceptionally peer reviewed. After publication, Short 42
Communications are integrated into the Digital Cat Library as Portable Document Format file 43
(PDF/Adobe Acrobat). 44
45
Cat News – guidelines to authors 2
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Chair: Dres Urs and Christine Breitenmoser, KORA, Thunstrasse 31, 3074 Muri, Switzerland. T: +41 31 951 9020
News 1
News articles cover the following topics: (1) updates and information from partner institutions 2
or working groups of the Cat Specialist Group, (2) brief reports on events such as conferences 3
or workshops, (3) short articles covering news relevant to cat conservation from other 4
sources, and (4) reviews of new publications. News articles are generally short, 0.5–1 printed 5
page, and illustrated with colour pictures if possible and relevant. News articles are edited, but 6
not peer reviewed. 7
8
Forum 9
Letters to the editors launch discussions on important aspects in cat conservation and 10
research. If a controversial topic is addressed, the editors may invite a competent peer to write 11
a reply to be published in the same issue of Cat News. Further reactions and opinions to the 12
topic are subsequently published on the Cat Specialist Group’s website (www.catsg.org). 13
14
Preparation of manuscripts 15
Manuscripts submitted to Cat News must follow these Guidelines, which also serve as an 16
example for the format of the manuscript, including the Abstract and the format of the 17
reference list! All articles must be submitted as a MS Word file or a compatible text file 18
format (*.doc, *.docx, *.rtf). Typeface and size is Times New Roman 12 pt, left aligned 19
without word division (hyphenation), paragraphs separated by an empty line throughout the 20
manuscript. Pages and lines must be numbered. Title and chapter headings are formatted 21
boldface, subchapter titles italic. Scientific names of all species are added after the vernacular 22
name when mentioned first, without brackets, author and year – for instance Eurasian lynx 23
Lynx lynx – but are not given in the title of the article. Articles in Cat News should be 24
organised like any other scientific paper – abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion 25
– but it is not mandatory to use these terms as chapter headings. 26
27
Tables and illustrations 28
Tables are organised and formatted as presented in Table 1. The width of a table should not 29
exceed the page width of Cat News (see Marker et al. 2008 for an example). Tables are 30
headed and consecutively numbered. In a submitted manuscript, tables are inserted after the 31
text, before captions to figures. 32
Illustrations are line drawings, maps or photographs, referred to in the text as Fig. 1, Fig. 2, 33
etc. Captions are mandatory for all illustrations and must be added in chronological order at 34
the end of the manuscript. Photo credits are mentioned in the caption, but not integrated into 35
picture. All photos and colour figures have to be submitted as Joint Photographic Experts 36
Group (*.jpg) files, size 15 x ~10 cm and a resolution of 300 dpi (1772 x 1350 pixel). For MS 37
Excel figures, the original files (*.xls or *.xlsx) must be submitted. Filenames must indicate 38
the number of the illustration as used in the manuscript. 39
40
Tables and figures are mentioned in the text in consecutive order. 41
42
Citations of references 43
at News articles are fully referenced. References can be journal articles of one, two or several 44
authors cited in the text as follows: Karanth (2003), Wegge & Stooras (2009), Perovic et al. 45
(2003). The full reference is given in the reference list in alphabetic order at the end of the 46
text. For the correct citations of books or book chapters (Malbrant & Maclatchy 1949, 47
Hamilton 1988) see reference list of this manuscript. Authors are requested to prepare the 48
reference list very carefully and to refer to these Guidelines or any recent issue of Cat News 49
for citations and preparation of the reference list. 50
51
Cat News – guidelines to authors 3
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Chair: Dres Urs and Christine Breitenmoser, KORA, Thunstrasse 31, 3074 Muri, Switzerland. T: +41 31 951 9020
Taxonomy 1
In Cat News we use the taxonomy according to Nowell & Jackson (1996) with the two 2
exceptions Panthera uncia and Neofelis diardi. Any changes to this will be announced. 3
4
Supporting Online Material 5
Extended tables, appendices, additional graphs and photographs can be submitted as 6
Supporting Online Material which is available in the Cat News section of the Cat SG website. 7
8
Submission, review and revision process 9
Authors are invited to submit articles for any of the four categories to Cat News. Manuscripts 10
including tables and captions to figures should be submitted in electronic form to Christine 11
([email protected]). The editors (authors of these guidelines) decide whether an 12
article is suited for publication in Cat News. Manuscripts of Original Contributions and 13
exceptionally Short Communications prepared according to these Guidelines will be 14
submitted to a peer review process. Considering the judgement of the reviewers, the editors 15
then decide whether a paper is refused or accepted with or without revision. Forum papers are 16
only editor reviewed. Depending on the topic, the editors may invite another author to 17
respond to the letter or to present an alternative view. 18
19
References 20
Hamilton A. C. 1988. Guenon evolution and forest history. In A Primate Radiation: 21
Evolutionary Biology of the African Guenons. Gautier-Hion A., Bourliere F., Gantier J. P. 22
and Kingdon J. (Eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, pp. 13-34. 23
24
Karanth K. U. 2003. Debating conservation as if reality matters. Conservation and Society 1, 25
65-68. 26
27
Malbrant R. & Maclatchy A. 1949. Faune de l’Equateur Africain Francais. Tome II. 28
Mammifères. Paul Lechevalier, Paris. 320 pp. 29
30
Marker L. L., Fabiano E. & Nghikembua M. 2008. The use of remote camera traps to estimate 31
density of free-ranging cheetahs in north-central Namibia. Cat News 49, 22-24. 32
33
Perovic P., Walker S. & Novaro A. 2003. New records of the endangered Andean mountain 34
cat in northern Argentina. Oryx 37, 374-377. 35
36
Wegge P. & Storaas T. 2009. Sampling tiger ungulate prey by the distance method: lessons 37
learned in Bardia National Park, Nepal. Animal Conservation 12, 78-84. 38
39
40
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Cat News – guidelines to authors 4
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Chair: Dres Urs and Christine Breitenmoser, KORA, Thunstrasse 31, 3074 Muri, Switzerland. T: +41 31 951 9020
Tables 1
2
3
Table 1. Types and length of articles submitted for publication to Cat News. 4
Type of article
Maximum length
Review process
Printed
pages
Words
Characters
w. space
Original contribution
4
3,000
20,000
Peer reviewed
Short Communication
1
750
5,000
Editor or peer reviewed
News
1
750
5,000
Editor reviewed
Forum
1-2
1,500
10,000
Editor reviewed / respond
5
6
7
Captions to figures 8
9
[Add here captions to figures (photos, diagrams or maps) in chronological order.] 10
11
