Normas editoriales

Editorial guidelines

The Boletín del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural (hereafter Boletín MNHN) is an internationally circulated journal that publishes original work on the natural sciences, including botany, behaviour, conservation, ecology, entomology, geology, palaeontology, systematics, taxonomy and zoology. The journal accepts research articles, reviews and scientific notes.

Online manuscript submission

All manuscripts must be submitted through the online platform at https://boletinmnhn.cl. Register on the platform as an author, log in and open the author option in your personal area. Select «New submission» and follow the steps indicated by the system. In step three, «Enter metadata», provide the requested details for every author of the manuscript. Metadata and the manuscript title must be in sentence case: capitalise only the first word and proper nouns.

The manuscript must not have been published previously or be under consideration by another journal. Before uploading it, read these guidelines carefully and follow them in full.

To keep review times short and avoid postal delays, manuscripts must be submitted via the «Article submission» option at https://boletinmnhn.cl. If you have difficulties submitting online, contact the General Editor at editor@mnhn.gob.cl or through the platform.

Cover letter

In a cover letter, authors must state whether the manuscript is a research article, a review or a scientific note, and whether it has been partially or fully submitted elsewhere. The lead author and all co-authors must also state explicitly that they authorise the Boletín MNHN to publish the work should it be accepted.

In addition, each author must provide a signed letter consenting to participate as lead author or co-author, and to the use of the data. These letters must be uploaded to the platform with the manuscript. Manuscripts submitted without this documentation will not enter the review process.

Evaluation process

The process has three phases: pre-check, preliminary review and peer review.

The pre-check verifies compliance with these guidelines and with the journal's general style, and confirms that all the information requested on the platform is complete. If the manuscript does not follow the journal's format, the corresponding author will receive an email listing the editorial observations and will be asked to correct them.

The preliminary review is an initial academic evaluation by the General Editor. It acts as a first filter that assesses the manuscript's quality and its fit with the journal's scope. The number assigned by the platform is the internal key used to track the review process; please include it in the subject line of every email.

Peer review is managed by an associate editor in the relevant subject area. Manuscripts undergo double-blind review: the authors' names, addresses, emails, acknowledgements, headers and footers are removed. Keeping the identities of authors and reviewers anonymous strengthens the quality of the evaluation. The associate editor will send the manuscript to at least three recognised national or international reviewers. Once two reviews reach the same verdict, the associate editor will either notify the corresponding author directly or wait for the third review.

Authors must address the reviewers' recommendations or, if they disagree, may exercise their right of reply. The corrected manuscript is returned to the associate editor, who may send it back to the reviewers depending on the extent of the changes requested. The associate editor may return the manuscript to the authors as many times as necessary until all deficiencies have been addressed. During this process, the corresponding author may receive reminders to submit the corrected manuscript, to speed up the review.

When the associate editor considers the manuscript ready for publication, it is forwarded with their recommendation to the General Editor. The General Editor makes the final decision and oversees final review, editing, formatting and publication.

The evaluation guidelines for research articles, scientific notes and reviews are available here. The editors check every manuscript for originality to prevent plagiarism.

Publication time

The time from receipt of the manuscript to online publication is approximately three months.

Language

The Boletín MNHN publishes articles in Spanish and English. Authors are encouraged to have the language edited before submission. If English is not your first language, we recommend consulting a fluent speaker; this greatly improves readability. Either British or American spelling may be used, but it must be consistent throughout the manuscript.

Types of manuscript

Three types of original scientific manuscript may be submitted: research articles, reviews and scientific notes. The type of contribution must be specified when submitting through the platform. Articles and reviews must include the following sections: Abstract/Resumen, Introduction/Introducción, Methods/Métodos, Results/Resultados, Discussion and conclusions/Discusión y conclusiones, Acknowledgements/Agradecimientos and Literature cited/Literatura citada.

Articles and reviews are in-depth scientific papers. Articles must not exceed 10 single-spaced pages and reviews must be at least 11 single-spaced pages, excluding literature cited. Scientific notes must not exceed 3 pages, also excluding literature cited.

Document format

The submission file must be in Microsoft Word or RTF format and smaller than 1.8 MB. Figures embedded in the text should therefore be kept small, but clearly visible and legible for review. Higher-resolution images may be requested after acceptance.

Use 12-point Times New Roman, double spacing and left alignment, with 2.5 cm margins on all sides so that reviewers can add their comments. Leave two spaces after every full stop.

Line numbering: number all pages and lines consecutively from the first page.

Tables, figure legends and figures must be placed on separate pages at the end of the text. Tables must not be inserted as images. Graphs must be inserted as editable objects or, failing that, as RGB images at 300 dpi or greyscale images at 450 dpi.

The manuscript must include the following sections, in this order: cover page, abstracts, key words, main text, acknowledgements, literature cited, appendices (only if necessary), list of figures, tables and figures. Each section is described below.

Cover page

The first page must contain:

1. A centred running head: a shortened title of fewer than 30 characters.
2. On a new line, the title in English and, on the line below, the title in Spanish. Both must be in bold, left-aligned, in sentence case (capitalising only the first word, scientific names and proper nouns) and without a final full stop.
3. On a new line, the authors: first name(s) followed by surname(s), in bold, separated by commas, with «and» before the last author. Do not use all capitals; align left.
4. If the authors belong to different institutions, indicate each affiliation with a superscript number after the author's surname. Mark the corresponding author with a bold superscript asterisk after the number.
5. On a new line, the affiliations of all authors: full name of the area, department and institution, separated by commas and ending with a full stop. Each affiliation is preceded by its superscript number.
6. After the full stop, the correspondence address: street and number (without the # sign), postal code, city. Country. Email: email@address, followed by the author's initials in parentheses. Include the email of every author.
7. The corresponding author's landline or mobile number is required for emergency contact only and will not be published.
8. On a new line, a superscript asterisk followed immediately by «Corresponding author», without a full stop.

Abstract

Articles, reviews and scientific notes must include two extended abstracts, one in English and one in Spanish, of no more than 500 words each. Each must include the following sections:

• Introduction/Introducción (50–200 words): state the objective(s), working hypothesis and research question(s). Cite only essential references; this is an extended abstract.
• Methods/Métodos (50–100 words).
• Results/Resultados (50–100 words): refer to the tables and figures.
• Discussion and conclusions/Discusión y conclusiones (50–250 words): give the answers or conclusions to the objective(s), working hypothesis and research question(s).

The abstracts must be on a separate page and must not contain undefined abbreviations or unspecified references. The words «Abstract» and «Resumen» must be in bold, followed by a full stop. Subheadings are written in the language of each abstract.

Key words and Palabras clave

Provide 5–10 key words, in alphabetical order for each language and separated by semicolons. They follow the Abstract (Key words:) and the Resumen (Palabras clave:). Avoid repeating words from the title.

Body of the manuscript

Articles, reviews and scientific notes must include the following sections: Introduction (without subheadings), Methods, Results, and Discussion and conclusions. Headings must be centred, in sentence case and without a final full stop. Second-level subheadings may be used; these must be in capitals and aligned left.

For scientific notes, the title must not exceed 20 words, the abstract 80 words and the acknowledgements 30 words.

The text must be left-aligned. The first paragraph of each section is not indented; subsequent paragraphs are indented by 1 cm. Start each new paragraph on the following line, without extra space between paragraphs.

The Introduction should summarise the state of the art and justify the objective of the study. It must state the objective(s), working hypothesis and research question(s), with the citations needed to support the hypothesis.

The Methods section describes all the procedures used to obtain the results. Its first paragraph should describe the study area.

The Results section presents the data obtained with those procedures and should cite all tables and figures.

The Discussion and conclusions section should explain the results and answer the research questions posed in the Introduction, with the citations needed to support the argument.

In-text citations

Cite references by the author's surname followed by the year. For works with more than two authors, give only the first author's surname followed by et al. in italics. If an author has two or more works from the same year, distinguish them with lowercase letters (a, b) after the year, both in the text and in the literature cited. Cite two or more references in chronological order, separated by semicolons. Examples: López and Arroyo (1986, 1998); (López and Arroyo 1986, 1998; Winograd 1986a, b).

For publications by organisations or institutions, give the full name followed by the acronym at the first citation, and only the acronym thereafter. Example: International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Species Survival Commission (IUCN 2021).

Nomenclature

Use correct taxonomic names, in accordance with the international codes of nomenclature, in italics (not underlined). Descriptions of new taxa must state the repository where the type material is or will be deposited, with its catalogue number.

Abbreviations of Latin origin must be italicised. For example:

• c., ca. or cca. (circa): «around» or «about».
• e.g. (exempli gratia): «for example».
• inc. sed. (incertae sedis): used in taxonomy when a taxon (e.g. a species or genus) cannot be placed precisely within the classification.
• s. a. or s. ampl. (sensu amplo): «in a broad sense».
• s. l. (sensu lato or lato sensu): «in a broad sense»; equivalent to sensu amplo and opposite to sensu stricto.
• s. s. or s. str. (sensu stricto or stricto sensu): «in a strict» or «restricted sense».
• sp.: one species; spp.: more than one species.
• ssp.: one subspecies; sspp.: more than one subspecies.
• v. gr. (verbi gratia): literally «for the sake of a word»; equivalent to «for example» and widely used for didactic purposes.

The sample size symbol n must always be italicised. The probability symbol P must always be an italic capital.

Use of symbols

Symbols such as >, <, =, –, ±, π and % must be separated from numbers and letters by a space. Examples: «P > 0.05», «50 – 60», «200 ± 0», «85.5 %».

Italicise statistical symbols and abbreviations: SD, SE, d. f., R², t, U, V, W, z, etc. In running text, write out the name of the statistic.

Use numerals for all quantities, including numbers below 10. Spell out numbers (one, first, second, etc.) only in running text, for example «on the one hand» or «the first experiment consisted of…».

Acknowledgements

Acknowledge the individuals, funding agencies and organisations that contributed to the work, where applicable. Place the acknowledgements in a separate paragraph before the literature cited. Do not use academic titles. Give each person's first name followed by surname(s) and, where applicable, affiliation (e.g. Daniela Ponce Herrera).

Literature cited

Please avoid citing theses, conference presentations and technical reports. Authors' names are set in small caps in all references.

Journal articles. Surname, comma, initials (each followed by a full stop); before the last author, «and» or «y» according to the language of the manuscript, followed by that author's initials and surname. Full stop and two spaces, year of publication, full stop and two spaces, title, full stop and two spaces, full name of the journal, volume (without issue), colon (without a following space) and page range separated by an en dash.

Baker, R.J. and D. Bradley. 2006. Speciation in mammals and the Genetic Species Concept. Journal of Mammalogy 87:643–662.

Books. State the city and the country (use USA for the United States of America).

Hall, R.E. 1981. The Mammals of North America. John Wiley and Sons. New York, USA.

Edited books (do not include the chapter number).

Wilson, D.E. and D.M. Reeder (eds.). 2005. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, third edition. Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore, USA. 533 pp.

Book chapters.

Williams, D.F., H.H. Genoways and J.K. Braun. 1993. Taxonomy and systematics. Pp. 38–197 in Biology of the Heteromyidae (Genoways, H.H. and J.H. Brown, eds.). Special Publication No. 10, American Society of Mammalogists. Lawrence, USA.

Mammalian Species.

Best, T.L. and H.H. Thomas. 1991. Dipodomys insularis. Mammalian Species 374:1–3.

Software.

Ronquist, F. and J.P. Huelsenbeck. 2003. MRBAYES 3: Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models. Bioinformatics 19:1572–1574.

Klingenberg, C.P. 2011. MorphoJ: an integrated software package for geometric morphometrics. Molecular Ecology Resources 11:353–357. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2010.02924.x

Web pages (IUCN). Author. Year. Species name. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Year. DOI. Accessed on day month year.

Pitman, R.L. and B.L. Taylor. 2020. Mesoplodon peruvianus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T13251A50367335.en. Accessed on 8 November 2021.

Literature that is difficult to access. Some older journals are no longer published or have changed their names but contain information relevant to the manuscript. In these cases, indicate where or from whom the material can be obtained, as follows:

Burt, W.H. 1932. Descriptions of heretofore unknown mammals from islands in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 16:161–182. Available from email@address of the corresponding author.

Appendices

Supplementary material must be grouped in one or more appendices, placed after the literature cited and numbered with Arabic numerals.

Figures

All photographs, graphs and diagrams must be submitted as «Figures» (do not abbreviate) and numbered consecutively (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.). In multi-panel figures, each panel must be labelled with the figure number and a capital letter (Figure 1A, 1B, etc.). Insert scale bars directly into the figures. Where possible, explain symbols in the figure legend rather than in a key within the figure. Use Arial for all text within figures (e.g. 1A). Avoid very small text and large variations in font size, as figures are often reduced.

Each figure requires a detailed, self-explanatory legend without abbreviations. Cite all figures consecutively in the text. Place the figure legends on a separate page headed «List of figures», after the literature cited.

Figures will be resized to fit the journal's type area, so check line weights and text size at the final publication size. Two sizes are possible: a) full width, 18 cm wide and up to 24 cm high; and b) half width, 6.6 cm wide and up to 24 cm high.

Once the article is accepted, each figure must be sent as a separate file in an editable format (e.g. SVG, PSD, TIFF or Excel files). Bear this in mind when preparing the original manuscript.

Colour figures

Colour illustrations can be reproduced in the Boletín MNHN.

Tables

Number tables consecutively (Table 1, Table 2, etc.). Avoid vertical lines and colour; use horizontal lines only where strictly necessary. Prefer footnotes to long explanations in the title or body of the table; mark them with superscript letters and place them immediately below the table. Give each table a title without abbreviations. Place the tables after the list of figures.

Galley proofs

Galley proofs will be sent to the corresponding author. Corrected proofs must be returned by email to the General Editor, together with the original manuscript, within three days.

Offprints

As an electronic journal, the Boletín MNHN does not provide offprints.

Costs

The Boletín MNHN provides free, immediate and open access to its content, on the principle that making knowledge freely available fosters global dialogue. We charge no submission or article processing charges (APCs), and there are no page or colour charges.

Copyright

Every article published in the Boletín MNHN is protected by copyright law. The corresponding author is responsible for informing the co-authors of the submission and for obtaining written permission to use material, data, sequences or specimens that do not belong to them.

Permissions

Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from the relevant author(s) to cite unpublished material, including material in theses and internal reports.

Submission preparation checklist

As part of the submission process, authors must confirm that their submission meets all the following requirements. Submissions that do not meet them will be returned to the authors.

• The submission has not been published previously and is not under consideration by another journal (or an explanation has been given in Comments to the Editor).
• The Author Guidelines have been read and are followed in full.
• The submission file is in Microsoft Word or RTF format.
• The text is double-spaced and uses a 12-point font; italics are used instead of underlining (except for URLs); and all illustrations, figures and tables are placed at the end of the text.
• The text meets the stylistic and bibliographic requirements set out in the Author Guidelines, under About the Journal.
• All authors are aware of the final version of the manuscript and fully agree with the text and its submission to the Boletín MNHN.

Copyright notice

Under its open-access policy, the Boletín MNHN allows its full content to be downloaded free of charge in digital format. Authors may post the published version of their article on their personal website or in an open-access repository, distribute electronic or printed copies to whomever they wish, and reuse part or all of the article in future articles or books, with appropriate credit. Content is published under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND licence.

Once final review, acceptance and layout are complete, the manuscript is published online.