For a PDF version of this Guide, click HERE

Please follow the below guidelines (or download the complete guidelines at the bottom of the page) in preparing your chapter manuscript for submission to the project editor or chapter coordinator.

For editorial matters not covered here, contact the project editor or Laura Hendee at the AFS Editorial Office (301/897-8616, ext 227; lhendee@ fisheries.org). Please note — Work in accordance to the schedule you have been given. Sales, distribution, and marketability of the book to which you are contributing can be adversely affected by failures to meet scheduled dates.

Preparing a Chapter Contribution

You are responsible for preparing and delivering any figures, tables, appendices, bibliography, and other materials related to your chapter.

If previously published material (either text or graphics) appears in the chapter, you must obtain copyright permission. Please contact Laura Hendee at 301-897-8616, ext. 227 or [email protected].

It is advisable to begin your requests for permission to use copyrighted material early, since they must be obtained in writing and could take some time.

Prior to submitting your manuscript, please refer to the Author Checklist for AFS Book Chapter Preparation (below).

Reviewing Page Proofs

You will be sent page proofs of your chapter. This is the last time you will see your work before publication. Please note the following requirements.

Only typographical, spelling, or other minor errors can be corrected at this time.

Substantive editorial changes will not be permitted.

Proofs must be checked and returned within one week.

Only the AFS Editorial Office staff will review second page proofs to ensure that all corrections were made.

No additional author corrections will be allowed at this point.

General

Manuscript components. Compile the manuscript in the following sequence: title page, text, acknowledgments, references, text footnotes (if any), appendices (if any), tables, figure legends, figures.

Measurement units. Use metric units of measure and include English units in parentheses where appropriate. When one unit appears in a de- nominator, use a solidus (6 mg/L); use negative exponents and product dots (26.4 g·m–3·h–1) for compound denominators.

Abbreviations. Use the standard abbreviations for temperature and metric units of measure. Spell out English units of measure. Keep acronyms to a minimum, and define each one used. Do not start a sentence with an abbreviation or acronym. A list of symbols and abbreviations that may be used without definition is provided at the end of this checklist.

Numbers. Spell out one-digit numbers unless they are used with units of measure (including time). Use numerals for numbers of two or more digits and for decimal fractions, but not to begin a sentence: for example; four fish, 23 boats, 2.3 hauls, 6 feet, 2,640 pounds, 0.63 (not .63), 4% (not four percent or 4 percent).

Time. Use the 24-hour clock: 0930 hours; 1815 hours.

Date. Use month day year: April 23, 1999.

Currency. Indicate the national currency the first time it is used in a chapter or whenever it might be ambiguous to readers: Can$60.50, US$450.

Fish names. Follow the current AFS list (Common and Scientific Names of Fishes from the United States Canada, and Mexico, for common and scientific names of fish species. Give the scientific name (Latin binomial) of any species the first time it is used, then use only the common name thereafter.

Footnotes. Number text footnotes sequentially from 1 throughout each chapter. Use letters for table footnotes, starting with “a” in each table. Type footnote numbers and letters as superscripts.

Manuscript preparation.

Leave a 2.5-cm (1-inch) margin on all sides. Avoid heavy formatting. Avoid embellish-

ments: no bold, extra large, very small, or unusual typefaces.

Use italics instead of underlining.

Number pages sequentially, beginning with the title page and including tables and figure legends.

Make sure any headers or footers will not be confused with the text.

Line numbers are not required.

Title Page

Use initial capitals and lower case (not all caps).

Give each author’s affiliation and complete mailing address.

Provide phone numbers and e-mail addresses for each author.

Text

Write efficiently but clearly and interestingly. Target to the extent possible intelligent, interested lay people as well as scientists.

Keep subheads short and appropriate. Use no more than three levels of subheads (centered, flush left, and run into text).

Do not “describe” figures and tables; rather, summarize their messages succinctly.

References Section

Literature citations in the text can take either of two forms, depending on the context:

Johnson (1995), Jones and Smith (1998, 2000), Rice et al. (2001), and Berger (in press) found Walleyes in Lake Pollock.

Walleyes occur in Lake Pollock (Johnson 1995; Jones and Smith 1998, 2000; Rice et al. 2001; Berger, in press). Multiple citations are listed chronologically.

Place full bibliographic information for cited literature in the reference list.

Type references with a hanging indent. List references in alphabetical order by first

author’s surname (and initials when there are two or more authors with the same last name), then by additional authors’ surnames. References by a single author precede multi-authored works with the same first author, regardless of date.

List works by the same author(s) chronologically, oldest first. Use a lowercase letter after the year to distinguish works with the same authorship and year of publication (1987a, 1987b, etc.); the order of letters follows the alphabetical order of the titles.

Cite “in press” only for papers that have been accepted for publication. Include the journal name (and volume number, if known) or book title, editor, and publisher.

References to papers in review, unpublished manuscripts, and abstracts are not permitted in the References section. Instead, list them as text citations with the author’s name, place of affiliation, and the phrase “unpublished manuscript” or “abstract.”

Use italics only when they are used within the titles cited. Do not use boldface anywhere. Capitalize only the first word and proper nouns in titles.

Use initials for authors’ given names, and repro- duce abbreviations that may appear in titles. Otherwise, completely spell out all bibliographic information, including serial titles and names of states and provinces.

Give the publisher (or sponsoring agency) and place of publication for all nonserial citations.

Provide an issue number (parenthetically between the volume number and colon) only for serials that begin each issue with page 1. Otherwise, just give volume number and inclusive pagination.

Sample bibliographic forms

Journal:

Reubush, K. J., and A. G. Heath. 1997. Effects of recovery water salinity on secondary stress responses of hybrid Striped Bass fingerlings. Progressive Fish-Culturist 59:188–197.

Book:

Tave, D. 1986. Genetics for fish hatchery managers. AVI Publishing Company, Westport, Connecticut.

Book chapter:

Cottrell, K. D., S. Stuewe, and A. Brandenburg.

Incorporating the stock concept and conservation genetics in an Illinois stocking program. Pages 244–248 in H. L. Schramm and R. G. Piper, editors. Uses and effects of cultured fishes in aquatic ecosystems. American Fisheries Society, Symposium 15, Bethesda, Maryland.

Thesis:

Wismer, D. A. 1982. The impact of thermal effluents on Smallmouth Bass reproductive suc-

cess at Baie du Dore, Lake Huron. Master’s thesis. University of Toronto, Toronto.

Online citation format:

Use the following format for citing references accessed online when a citation format is not given:

[Author name(s)]. [Year]. [Title]. [Publication or Web name]. Available: [Web URL]. (Month Year of access).

Software packages should be cited only in the text.

Text Footnotes

Collect numbered text footnotes, single-spaced, on a page after the bibliography. Use text foot- notes sparingly, if at all.

Appendices

Place appendices after the footnotes or after the bibliography if there are no footnotes. Appendices are not encouraged, but they can be used to document such things as chronologies of events, archival sources of basic information, or data series that are important to record but that are peripheral to the chapter’s narrative or argument (or that would severely disrupt the text if placed there).

Tables

Start each table on a new page.

When creating a table, convert the table to text, using tabs, not spaces, as the column delimiters. (This text version is what can be used by our page layout software.)

Keep tables simple. Use no more than five data columns or two “word” columns, in addition to the stub (side) heads. (Long or more complex tables, if essential, may be considered for an appendix.)

Use horizontal rules to separate the caption from the column heads, as straddle rules across related column heads, to separate column heads from the table body, and to close the table. Do not use horizontal rules within the table’s body. Do not use vertical rules anywhere in the table.

Make sure every column—including the stub head column—has a column head.

Capitalize only the first word and proper nouns in column and stub heads and within table entries.

Designate table footnotes by lowercase super- script letters, starting (in each table) with “a.”

Place footnote explanations below the closing horizontal rule.

If nonstandard abbreviations are necessary, define them in the caption or a footnote.

Figure Captions

Bring figure captions together on one or more pages. Do not type captions on final versions of figures.

Use the captions to define nonstandard symbols, abbreviations, or acronyms that may be on the figures.

Figures

Refer to AFS Figures Style Guide for instructions in preparing charts and graphs and submitting digital graphics files

Do not send figures embedded in a Word processing text file. Rather, send individual TIFF, EPS, or EMF files. We get very poor results cutting and pasting embedded graphics. PowerPoint slides and figures created in Excel are also acceptable.

Symbols and Abbreviations

☐ The following symbols and abbreviations may be used in the book without definition.

A	ampere	m	meter (as a suffix or by itself);
AC	alternating current		milli (, as a prefix)
Bq	becquerel	mi	mile (1.61 km)
C	coulomb	min	minute
	degrees Celsius	mol	mole
cal	calorie	N	normal (for chemistry); north (for
cd	candela		geography); newton
cm	centimeter	N	sample size
Co.	Company	NS	not significant
Corp.	Corporation	n	ploidy; nanno ( as a prefix)
cov	covariance	o	ortho (as a chemical prefix)
DC	direct current; District of Columbia	oz	ounce (28.4 g)
D	dextro (as a prefix)	P	probability
d	day	p	para (as a chemical prefix)
d	dextrorotatory	p	pico (, as a prefix)
df	degrees of freedom	Pa	pascal
dL	deciliter	pH	negative log of hydrogen ion activity
E	east	ppm	parts per million
E	expected value	qt	quart (0.946 L)
e	base of natural logarithm (2.71828…)	R	multiple correlation or regression
e.g.	(exempli gratia) for example		coefficient
eq	equivalent	r	simple correlation or regression
et al.	(et alii) and others		coefficient
etc.	et cetera	rad	radian
eV	electron volt	S	siemens (for electricalconductance);
F	filial generation; Farad		south (for geography)
	degrees Fahrenheit	SD	standard deviation
fc	footcandle (0.0929 lx)	SE	standard error
ft	foot (30.5 cm)	s	second
ft3/s	cubic feet per second (0.0283 m3/s)	T	tesla
g	gram	tris	tris(hydroxymethyl)-aminomethane
G	giga (109, as a prefix)		(a buffer)
gal	gallon (3.79 L)	UK	United Kingdom
Gy	gray	U.S.	United States (adjective)
h	hour	USA	United States of America (noun)
ha	hectare (2.47 acres)	V	volt
hp	horsepower (746 W)	V, Var	variance (population)
Hz	hertz	var	variance (sample)
in	inch (2.54 cm)	W	watt (for power); west (for geography)
Inc.	Incorporated	Wb	weber
i.e.	(id est) that is	yd	yard (0.914 m, 91.4 cm)
IU	international unit	α	probability of type I error (false rejection of null hypothesis
J	joule	β	probability of type II error (false acceptance of null hypothesis)
K	Kelvin (degrees above absolute zero)	Ω	ohm
k	kilo (103, as a prefix)	µ	micro (10-6, as a prefix)
kg	kilogram	‘	minute (angular)
km	kilometer	“	second (angular)
l	levorotatory	°	degree (temperature as a prefix)
L	levo (as a prefix)	%	per cent (per hundred)
L	liter (0.264 gal, 1.06 qt)		per mille (per thousand)
lb	pound (0.454 kg, 454g)
lm	lumen

Ltd.	Limited
M	mega (106, as a prefix); molar (as a suffix or by itself)