Download SJP-Instructions for authors

SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS

Please read and follow the instructions below, otherwise your manuscript should be delayed and should not be sent for peer review.

Authors who wish to publish manuscripts in the Spanish Journal of Palaeontology can submit their contributions electronically through our website (http://sepaleontologia.es/new-submission/). If you have any questions, please contact the editorial team directly at editor @ sepaleontologia.es.

Spanish Journal of Palaeontology (SJP) is the scientific journal of the Spanish Palaeontological Society. Manuscripts submitted for possible publication to the SJP must not have been previously published, nor have been sent simultaneously to other journals. All co-authors must agree with the final submission, and are responsible for the information and opinions included in the manuscript.

SJP accepts manuscripts in English and Spanish. In the former, the use of British spelling is recommended. However, the US spelling should be also accepted as long as it is used consistently throughout the manuscript. The title, abstract and keywords should be included in both English and Spanish. If the manuscript is written in Spanish, the authors must provide an extended summary in English of at least 3 single-spaced pages (c. 1,500 words) summarizing main findings of their research, as well as all the legends of tables and figures in English for the online publication.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

Manuscripts, regardless of type, should be sent in A4 single column format, double spaced and with 2.5 cm margins. Pages should be numbered in the lower right corner. The lines should be numbered consecutively, from the title to the references, including tables and figure captions. Footnotes should only be allowed in tables. The text must be written in 12-point Arial font. The main manuscript file should be sent in .doc or .txt format to facilitate the revision by the copy editor. In addition, during the submission process a pdf file containing the main text, figure and table captions and all figures should be required for the peer-review process.

As a general rule, manuscripts should be organized including the following: title, names of author(s), abstract (in Spanish and English), keywords (in Spanish and English), introduction, geological framework, material and methods, paleontological systematics, results, discussion, conclusions.In addition, supplementary information, author(s)’ contributions, competing interests, funding, author(s)’ details, and acknowledgements sections should be included before the references section. Figure and table captions should be added at the end of the manuscript for the review process.

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION ON THE FIRST PAGE

  • Title in English. Concise and informative. In lowercase, bold font and left-justified.
  • Title in Spanish. In lowercase and left-justified.
  • Names of author(s). Name (lowercase, only the initial in uppercase) and surname (in uppercase). The author responsible for the correspondence during the review process should be indicated with an asterisk, including their contact email. Numerical superscripts should be included after the author(s)’ names to indicate their respective affiliations, which should be included in the author details section at the end of the manuscript.
  • ORCID code. All authors must provide their ORCID code (https://orcid.org) that should be included in the online version.
  • Suggested header. Maximum of 60 characters, including spaces. Left-justified. Example: “Gliridae from the Late Oligocene of Teruel (Spain)”
  • Type of paper. Research Paper, Short Communication, Special Paper, Invited Paper, Review paper, Comment or Book Review.
  • Information. Include the total number of pages, figures, tables, etc., left-justified.

ABSTRACT AND KEYWORDS

The abstract must include the objectives, main results and conclusions of the work, in a single paragraph left-justified and no longer than 200 words. It should not include references, taxon authorship or abbreviations. As a general rule, keywords should complement the title, so try to use terms that do not appear in the title. Keywords must include a maximum of 6 terms separated by commas. The abstract and keywords should be included in both English and Spanish. The editorial team will provide support for the transaltion to Spanish if needed.

MAIN TEXT

Header style. First order (in introduction, geological framework, material and methods, systematic palaeontology, results, discussion, conclusions, references) with capital letters in bold font and left-justified. Second order, only the first letter of the first word in uppercase, bold font and left-justified; the text should follow on the next line. Third order, only the first letter of the first word in uppercase, in bold font, followed by a full stop; the text should follow on the next lines (no new paragraph).

SYSTEMATIC PALAEONTOLOGY

When defining a new taxon, the standards nomenclature of the current editions of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) and the International Code for Nomenclature of algae, fungi and plants (ICN) must be followed. If a new taxonomic name is described, the manuscript and all new zoological taxa must be registered in ZooBank (http://zoobank.org/) and the Unique Universal Identifier (UUID) of the manuscript must be provided to be included in the manuscript in the Supplementary Information section at the end of the document. All letters in the UUID must be lowercase. See ZooBank Guide for more information. Once the manuscript is registered, each new taxon can be registered in association with it, with no limit on the number of registered taxa. Each taxon should receive its own UUID, but only the publication’s UUID must be included in the manuscript. The registration of the new names should be done immediately after the work is accepted for publication.

All specimens, extant or fossil, including the types, must be hosted in a recognized museum or collection in order to allow free access to other researchers in perpetuity. All the specimens figured must have a unique catalogue number. The status of additional material used must be also recorded in the manuscript. Museum or catalogue numbers should be indicated in the Holotype and Material sections and in the figure captions.

The Systematic Palaeontology s section should begin with a first order title. All the taxa named in this section must be followed by the AUTHOR and YEAR of publication, at least the first time it is named in the text, a rule that is recommended to be extended to the rest of the manuscript. The authorship of all taxa should be appropriately included in the reference list. All genera must indicate their type species with their original combination and, in addition, include stratigraphic and geographical ranges. All the species described must be figured.

The synonymy list, when necessary, should be included in a separate line and justified to the left. In this case, only the relevant references should be included. You must use the symbols included in Matthews (1973; Palaeontology, 16 (4), 713–719).

Example for new species:

SYSTEMATIC PALAEONTOLOGY

Phylum BRYOZOA Ehrenberg, 1983

Class STENOLAEMATA Borg, 1926

Order FENESTRATA Elias & Condra, 1957

Family SEMICOSCINIIDAE Morozova, 1987

Genus Bigeyina Suárez-Andrés & McKinney, 2010

Type species: Bigeyina winteri (Bornemann, 1884). Middle Devonian, Germany.

Bigeyina cantabrica n. sp.

Figure 6

1884 Cyclopelta winteri; Bornemann, p. 864–865, Pl. 31.

1953 Cyclopelta winteri; Kräusel, p. 45–62, Pls. 1–3, Text-figs. 1–7.

Then, the following sections should be added as third-order headings without a bold font: Derivatio nominis, Holotype, Type locality, Type horizon, Material, Diagnosis, Description, Observations, and Geographical and stratigraphic distribution.

Example for previously described species:

SYSTEMATIC PALAEONTOLOGY

PhylumBRYOZOA Ehrenberg, 1983

Class STENOLAEMATA Borg, 1926

Order FENESTRATA Elias & Condra, 1957

Family SEMICOSCINIIDAE Morozova, 1987

Genus Bigeyina Suárez-Andrés & McKinney, 2010

Type species: Bigeyina winteri (Bornemann, 1884). Middle Devonian, Germany.

Bigeyina ibera Ernst, 2012

Figures 3–5

Similar to the description of a new species, the following section should include, as third-order headings without bold font: Material, Description, Observations, and Geographical and stratigraphic distribution.

CITATION OF FIGURES AND TABLES IN THE TEXT

Each figure and table must be referenced in the text, in order of appearance, spelled in its entirety or abbreviated when it is indicated in brackets and always with the first letter in uppercase. The terms in singular or plural should be used when referring to sections within the same figure (e.g., Fig. 2C, 2F, 2M) or referring to multiple figures (e.g,. Figs. 2C, 3D, 5F), respectively. A en-dash should be used to indicate an inclusive range (e.g., Fig. 2C–F). When the referred figures belong to another publication, they should be cited with the first letter in lowercase as figure 1 or table 1 (fig. 1 or tab. 1).

CITATION OF REFERENCES

References should be cited in the text using the author’s last name and the year of publication in brackets. Within brackets, author(s) and year should be separated by a comma. In the case of two authors, they should be separated by an “&” (in a narrative form, you must use “and” if the text is writing in English, and “y” if it is in Spanish), and in the case of three or more authors, the last name of the first author should be indicated followed by et al. (always in italics). When including a list of references, a semicolon must be used to separate each one. In that case, the citations must follow a chronological order (from the oldest to the most modern). When several citations from the same year are included, they must be included in alphabetical order.

Examples: Crusafont (1952), Rodríguez and Ramírez (1987), Braga et al. (2006), (Röhl et al., 2000, 2007a, 2007b; Martínez-Chacón & Rivas, 2009).

REFERENCE LIST

The reference list must include all the references mentioned in the text, figures and tables, including all the works cited in the “Systematic Paleontology” section. It is recommended to avoid citations of conference abstracts or unpublished PhD Theses. Unpublished or submitted works cannot be included as references. The DOI (Digital Object Identifier) must be included in all the references that have it, including those works that are in press, even if they do not have page numbers or volume assigned yet.

Use the en-dash (–) and not hyphen (-) for page ranges. Hanging indent should be used in the list of references.

Works in non-latin languages ​​must be transliterated (e.g., in the case of Arabic or Cyrillic languages) and translated between square brackets. References must be formatted in APA style (7th edition). Please visit https://apastyle.apa.org/ for more information. This style can be generated automatically with many word processors or online applications.

References should be arranged in alphabetical order, according to the first author of the work, as the main criterion. When there are references that share the same first author, they must be ordered according to the following criteria:

  • When there is only one author, the references must be ordered chronologically, from oldest to most modern, if there is more than one reference to the same author and year, a letter (a, b, c) should be included after the year, according to the order of appearance at the main text:

Seilacher, A. (1991a)

Seilacher, A. (1991b)

Seilacher, A. (2007)

  • When there are two authors, the references must be arranged alphabetically according to the last name of the second author. If there are citations with the same order and number of authors, they should be ordered chronologically, or as in the previous case, including a letter and in order of appearance in the text:

Kidwell, S. M., & Bosence, D. W. J. (1991)

Kidwell, S. M., & Flessa, K. W. (2003)

Kidwell, S. M., & Holland, S. M. (1991)

Kidwell, S. M., & Holland, S. M. (1997a)

Kidwell, S. M., & Holland, S. M. (1997b)

  • When there are three or more authors, the references must be arranged alphabetically according to the last name of the second author; and later, chronologically by year, following the same criteria already described.

REFERENCE EXAMPLES

JOURNALS

Alekseeva, R. E., Mendbajar, B., & Erlanger, O. A. (1981). Brakhiopody i biostratigrafiya Nichnego Devona Mongolii [Brachiopods and biostratigraphy of the Lower Devonian of Mongolia]. Sovmestnaya Sovetsko-Mongol’skaya Paleontologicheskaya Ekspeditsiya (SSMPE), Trudy, 16, 1–176.

Consorti, L., Calonge, A., & Caus, E. (2016). Pseudorhapydionininae of the Iberian Ranges (Cenomanian, Iberian Peninsula). Spanish Journal of Palaeontology, 31(2), 271–282. doi: 10.7203/sjp.31.2.17154

Miguez-Salas, O., Rodríguez-Tovar, F. J., & Duarte, L. V. (2018). Ichnological analysis at the Fonte Coberta section (Lusitanian Basin, Portugal): Approaching depositional environment during the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event (T-OAE). Spanish Journal of Palaeontology, 33(2), 261–276. doi: 10.7203/sjp.33.2.13602

Nesbitt, S., & Desojo, J. B. (2017). The osteology and phylogenetic position of Luperosuchusfractus (Archosauria: Loricata) from the latest Middle Triassic or earliest Late Triassic of Argentina. Ameghiniana, 54(3), 261–283.

Newell, N. D., & Boyd, D. W. (1985). Permian scallops of the pectinacean family Streblochondriidae. American Museum Novitates, 2831, 1–13.

Vitón, Í., Comas-Rengifo, M. J., & Paredes, R. (2020). Early Jurassic (Sinemurian) gastropods from the Lusitanian Basin (west of Portugal). Spanish Journal of Palaeontology, 35(2), 147–166. doi: 10.7203/sjp.35.2.1847

Waller, T. R. (2006). Phylogeny of families in the Pectinoidea (Mollusca: Bivalvia): importance of the fossil record. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 148(3), 313–342. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2006.00258.x

BOOKS, BOOK CHAPTERS AND PUBLICATIONS IN SPECIAL VOLUMES

Damborenea, S. E. (1998). The bipolar bivalve Kolymonectes in South America and the Diversity of Propeamussiidae in Mesozoic Times. In P. Johnston, & J. W. Haggart (Eds.), Bivalves: An Eon of Evolution – Paleobiological Studies Honoring Norman D. Newell (pp. 143–155). University of Calgary Press.

Eldredge, N., & Gould, S. J. (1972). Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism. In T. J. M. Schopf (Ed.), Models in Paleobiology (pp. 82-115). Freeman, Cooper & Company.

Hallam, A. (1996). Recovery of the marine fauna in Europe after the end-Triassic and early Toarcian mass extinctions. In M.B. Hart (Ed.), Biotic Recovery from Mass Extinction Events. Geological Society Special Publication, 102, 231–236.

Hallam, A., & Miller, A. I. (1988). Extinction and survival in the Bivalvia. In G. P. Larwood, (Ed.), Extinction and Suvival in the Fossil Record. Systematics Association Special Volume, 34, 121–138.

Raup, D. M. (1991). Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck? W.W. Norton & Company.

Simpson, G. G. (1949). The Meaning of Evolution. A Study of the History of Life and of its Significance for Man. Yale University Press.

ABSTRACTS IN CONFERENCES

Rodríguez-Tovar, F. J., Löwemark, L., & Pardo-Igúzquiza, E. (2008). Zoophycos distribution as a potential proxy to approach different scale palaeoceanographic cyclical oscillations. The Second International Congress on Ichnology, Abstract Book (pp. 111). Nuy Vallen.

Escaso, F., Gasulla, J. M., Narváez, I., Sanz, J. L., & Ortega, F. (2019). Nueva información anatómica del ornitópodo estiracosterno Morelladon beltrani del Barremiense superior de la Formación Arcillas de Morella (Castellón, España). Libro de Resúmenes de las XXXV Jornadas de Paleontología (pp. 105–106). Baza.

DOCTORAL THESES

Nouri, J. (2007). La paléoichnologie des empreintes de pas des dinosauriens imprimées dans les couches du Jurassique du Haut-Atlas Central. (PhD Thesis, University Mohammed V, Rabat). Available in [add link if available]

Peñalver, E. (2002). Los insectos dípteros del Mioceno del Este de la Península Ibérica; Rubielos de Mora, Ribesalbes y Bicorp. Tafonomía y sistemática. (PhD thesis, University of Valencia, Valencia). Available in [add link if available]

ELECTRONIC PUBLICATIONS

Uitenbroek, D. G. (1997). SISA-Binomial. http://www. quantitativeskills.com/sisa/ distributions/binomial.htm [Jan 2015]

Be, J. L. (1996). Coniferae. In D. Maddison & W. Maddison (Eds.), Tree of life. http://www.nmnh.org [Jun 2019]

EXPLANATIONS OF FIGURES AND TABLES

These should be included after the list of references. All abbreviations and symbols used in the figures and tables must be explained in the figure or table captions, and marked in bold font, at the end of the text. The different parts of the figures must be indicated in the figure caption with bold capital letters separated by a semicolon, for example, A, xxxxx; B, xxxxx; etc. Generic and/or specific names must be in italics. It is recommended to indicate the value of the graphic scale in the figure caption, avoiding the inclusion of this information in the image itself.

Examples:

Figure 3. A–B, Stegacanthia bowsheri, FCMP 1200, composite mold; A, ventral view; B, dorsal view; C–J, Martinezchaconia luisae; C, FCMP 1201, holotype, ventral internal mold; D, FCMP 1209, dorsal internal mold; E, FCMP 1207, dorsal external mold; F, FCMP 1205, dorsal external mold; G, FCMP 1208, dorsal internal mold; H, FCMP 1202, ventral external mold; I, FCMP 1206, dorsal external mold; J, FCMP 1204, dorsal external mold; K, Undaria sp. FCMP 1210, ventral valve. L, length; W, width; Min, minimum; Max, maximum. Scale bar = 1.0 cm.

FIGURES

Once the paper is accepted the figures must be sent as independent files from the text, in .tif or .eps formats, named as Fig. X_first_author_surname (example: Fig. 1_González-Peréz). The subfigures, as in the figure captions, should be named sequentially with bold capital letters in alphabetical order, from left to right and from top to the bottom. 10-point Arial font should preferably be used for any text in the figures, but in any case never smaller than 8-point. A scale bar must be included for all specimens photographed. Figures must be prepared to fit in one or two columns (widths of 8.8 cm and 18.3 cm, respectively), with maximum printed dimensions of 18.3 x 24.2 cm. The resolution should be at least 600 dpi and must be submitted at their final publication size. The figures should be published in colour in both the online and printed versions at no additional cost. Maps should always include a North arrow and, when necessary, a scale in m or km. It is recommended, but not mandatory, to indicate latitude and longitude information.

TABLES

Tables must be sent as independent text files, in .doc format, named as Tab. X_first_author_name (example: Tab. 1_González-Peréz). Arial font should be used with a size between 8- and 12-point. Column headings must be centered, in bold font, separated from the rest of the table by a line, and the data in the first column left-justified. No vertical or horizontal separation lines must be included. Generic and/or specific names must be in italics.

Example:

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

We encorage the authots to include all Supplementary data (measurement records, image files, scan data, character lists, matrices, etc.) at online repositories such as Zenodo, a free and open platform, including in the manuscript the corresponding digital object identifier (doi). Alternatively, small Supplementary files can be hosted on the website of the Spanish Society of Paleontology after consultation with the editorial team. The information provided should be included in the Supplemental Information section, immediately before the References section with details of the repository used and, ideally, information that could allows a reviewer to access to the unpublished data. This section should also include the declaration of the registration of new taxa in ZooBank, using, for example, the following formula: New taxonomic names proposed in this paper, and the nomenclatural acts it contains, have been registered in ZooBank, the online registration system for the ICZN: http://zoobank.org/References/XXXXXXXXX

NOMENCLATURE AND UNITS

Spanish Journal of Palaeontology uses the International System of Units (SI) for measurement units, the International Stratigraphic Guide for biostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic units, and the Time Scales and Geological Names used by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). The series and epochs of the time scale should be written with the initial in capital letter, if they are recognized by the International Chronostratigraphic Table, otherwise they must start with a lowercase letter (e.g., Upper Cretaceous, but lower Paleocene). The same criteria should be applied to biozones or formations. However, when referring to multiple biozones or formations simultaneously, these should be always written with an initial lowercase letter, regardless of whether or not they are formally described (e.g., linearis Biozone, but linearis and tenuis biozones; Formation, but formations).

STYLE AND ABBREVIATIONS

The en-dash (–) should be used for stratigraphic boundaries (e.g., Triassic – Jurassic). A dot should be used to indicate decimal separation in metric numbers (e.g., 0.5). Metric units should always be abbreviated as mm, cm, m, km, etc. (without a period at the end). A space must be included between the numbers and their corresponding units (5 mm, not 5mm), but not in the percentages 25%, not 25 %).

In the case of abbreviating time units, use “y” for values ​​less than one thousand years, “ky” for thousands of years, “My” for millions of years, and “Gy” for billions of years. Use the abbreviation c. (circa) to indicate approximations of time and measurements (not ca. or ~). Latin words must be written in italics, including abbreviations such as e.g., i.e., or et al., except those related to taxa (e.g., cf. or aff.). The comma that follows is never italicized. Other abbreviations, whether institutional, anatomical or of any other type, must be introduced in the Introduction, Material and Methods, or in the figure and table captions, always in bold font the first time they are mentioned. Variables, constants and mathematical probabilities (e.g,. p = 0.5) should be written in italics. The sexagesimal coordinates should be indicated as follows: 57° 9′ 45.01″ N, 6° 6′ 15.56″ W. The abbreviations s.s. and s.l. should be used for sensu stricto and sensu lato respectively.