New instructions to authors 

Authors should consult the instructions which follow before submitting manuscripts to this publication. Those which do not follow these instructions and are incorrectly prepared will be returned without any evaluation.

Manuscripts

Articles

Manuscripts will be sent as an attachment by e-mail (Word archives for text and figures) to the Editorial Secretary at the Ardeola address ardeola@seo.org. Once received by the Editor, manuscripts will be sent to a member of the Editorial Assessment Committee (Comité Asesor Editorial) who, if it is considered opportune, will in turn send it to two referees who are specialists in the subject in question. Manuscripts can be rejected by the Editor or the Assessment Committee if, in their opinion, the work does not qualify for publication because of subject or scientific quality.

All manuscripts must be accompanied by a letter of declaration to the Editor in which it must be made clear that the work is original and has not been sent or is not being evaluated by any other scientific publication. It should also be indicated that all the authors are in agreement with the version submitted and are in agreement with its publication in Ardeola.

Presentation manuscripts.­ Should be written clearly and concisely in grammatically correct English. Inadequately prepared manuscripts will be returned to the authors. Scripts should be typed, double spaced with a 12 p.i. font on one side only and with 3 cm margins. All pages should be numbered consecutively in the upper right hand corner and lines numbered on all pages to facilitate the work of the referees. The first time a species' name is cited it will be in lower case, followed by the scientific name in italics and without parentheses, e.g: barn swallow Hirundo rustica. On subsequent occasions that the name is cited only the common name will be used in lower case. Scientific names of genera will also be in italics. The master list of names recommended by SEO/BirdLife and published in previous volumes of Ardeola is available in the web page of the SEO (www.seo.org).

Length manuscripts.­ Should not exceed 20 pages, including figures and tables. Approximately 900 words per page and 160 for each figure or table are permitted. A greater length is considered to be excessive.

Title page.­ This must include (i) the title, which should short and informative and not exceed 110 characters; (ii) the full name of all authors and their addresses; (iii) the e-mail address of the contact author; (iv) not more than key words ordered alphabetically; (v) the abbreviated title, which should not exceed 50 characters and which will later figure on all the pages of the published work, and (vi) the number of words in the text, excluding the summary, bibliography, tables and figures.

Summary. ­All manuscripts must have a brief summary in both English and Spanish, preferably of less than 300 words, where brief information will be given on the objective(s) of the study, methods, results and the principal conclusions. It must be concise and informative, intelligibly explained with regard to the main text and without references.

Text.­The following sections and headings should be included: (i) Introduction. This should summarise briefly the actual state of the theme of study in the present context and the objectives. (ii) Material and methods. In this section all the methods used to carry out the investigation should be detailed, thus enabling other researchers to replicate the study and in agreement with the cited references. (iii) Results. The results obtained and which will later support the conclusions should be presented. This section should be especially rigorous, without arguments or speculations, and where the tables and figures are a complement, but avoiding repetition. (iv) Discussion. This must be well defined and separate from the previous section. It will permit the author(s) to propose and debate possible interpretations of the results to a later selection of the most probable, clearly emphasising the most relevant without speculations. (v) Acknowledgements. These should be brief and, amongst others things, give those which refer to financial support and organisms. (vi) Bibliography. Where references appear in the text these should be given as follows: Senar, 2004; Poulin and Lefevre, 1995; Pinto et al., 2005. Bibliographic references are acceptable when they apply to work published or definitively accepted for publication. If they are published only in electronic format, the DOI will appear. Those which do not fulfil these conditions should be cited in the text as pers. obs. and not included in the bibliography. The names of scientific publications will be written in full and the surname of the author(s) should be written with the first letter in capital letter, with the following in lower case, all in Versales font, as given in the following examples: 

Bernis, F. 1966. Migración en Aves. Tratado teórico y Práctico. SEO. Madrid.

Poulin, B. and Lefevre, G. 1995. Additional information on the use of emetic in determining the diet of tropical birds. Condor, 97: 897-902.

Pinto, M., Rocha, P. and Moreira, F. 2005. Long trends in great bustard (Otis tarda) populations in Portugal suggest concentration in single high quality area. Biological Conservation, 124: 415-423.

Suarez, F. 2004. Aves y agricultura en España peninsular: una revisión sobre el estado actual del conocimiento y una previsión sobre el futuro. In, J. L. Tellería (Ed.): Libro homenaje a Francisco Bernis, pp. 223-265. Editorial Complutense de Madrid.

Special care should be taken to distinguish the 1 (one) and the 1 (‘el' lower case) or the I (capital vowel), and also the number 0 (zero) and the o (capital vowel).

Figures.­These should be self-explanatory in order to be understood without the need to consult the main text. They should be cited consecutively in the text and be printed in high quality in order to ensure their perfect reproduction. The numeration should be Arabic (figure 1, figure 2, etc.). They should be presented on separate pages at the end of the text and with each figure on a separate sheet. The legend for all the figures should be together on a separate sheet. The figures should be sufficiently large to permit a reduction of at least 75 %. Each figure should bear the name of the first author and the abbreviated title of the work on the lower part of the page. Photographs should be sent in black and white, or on glossy paper, at 300 d.p.i. in tif format and low compression.

Tables.­Authors should endeavour to simplify tables as much as much as possible, avoiding vertical lines. Tables should be numbered using Arabic numerals (table 1, table 2, etc.) and cited in consecutive order in the text. Each table should include its legend in the upper part of the same sheet and with space left before the table itself. The rows and columns should be perfectly aligned and legible and not separate din to two or more parts. In the legends, the symbols used must be shown (*, +, γ, €) in the order used in the tables. There must be only one table per sheet. Use of graphics and table edition programmes should be avoided. Tables should not offer more information that is presented in the results.

Statistics.­ Mean and standard error and typical deviation will be expressed as follows: for mean and standard error: mean ± SE. For example, 31.3 ± 2.14. For the median, intercuartile ranges and confidence limits the same norm will be followed. The sample size will be shown for each statistical information given in the text, for example,

media ± SE, 31.2 ± 2.14, N = 357. For the statistical significance of the tests the name of the test should be given and its value, the degrees of freedom (d.f.) or the sample size and the P value. The different parts of the statistics should be separated by a comma. If the statistic is a conventional one (ANOVA, Chi squared, t-student), express the degrees of freedom (d.f.) as subindices of the statistical test. For example, Variance analyis, ANOVA: F_{1, 22} = 7.95, P > 0.01. Kruskal-Wallis test: H₉ = 364.8, P < .001. Chi squared: χ²₄ = 0.23, NS. Test t-student: t₂₅ = 0.5, P < 0.05. When the test is conventional, with sample sizes, these should be followed by the statistical value of the test, for example, Spearman Correlation: r_s = 0.75, N = 13, P < 0.01. Wilcoxon Test: T = 29, N = 2, P < 0.01. Mann-Whitney U test: U = 56, N₁ = N₂ = 24, P < 0.03. P values should figure as < when the significant value is less than 0.05, 0.01 ó 0.001 or with its exact probability value. Non-significant values should be expressed as NS, or as the exact probability value and not as P > 0.05. Decimals should not be expressed with empty decimal points, such as .01, but as the correct 0.01. When values have been transformed for parametric tests, the nature and reason for the transformation should be given (e.g. log, χ2, arcsine).

Manuscripts which do not adjust to these norms will be returned without revision.

Short notes

These manuscripts will be sent by e-mail to the Secretary (ardeola@seo.org) and following the same procedure as articles for their evaluations. They should be composed of (i) Title in Spanish and English. (ii) Text (without sections). (iii) Summary (in Spanish and English). (iv) Acknowledgements. (v) Bibliography. The summary should be of a maximum of 100 words and the text not more than 10 pages. The norms of edition are the same as those given for articles with regard to the letter to the editor, title pages, manuscripts and evaluation process.

Forum

The main objective is to facilitate the discussion and constructive of work or actual lines of investigation which have been published in Ardeola or other publications, as well as stimulating the presentation of new ideas and revision of actual ornithological themes. The norms for publication are the same as for articles.

Ornithological News and Rarities Committee

News for inclusion of species not on the rarities list should be sent to D. Blas Molina (bmolina@seo.org) if from the Peninsula or Balearic Islands, and for the Canary Islands to D. Juan Antonio Lorenzo (jalorenzo@seo.org). Records of rare birds which must be submitted for homologation should be sent to D. José Ignacio Dies (rarezas@seo.org).

Summary of doctoral theses

The authors of doctoral theses which have been defended in Spain may send a summary for inclusion to the editor of the section, Dr. Francisco Valera (pvalera@eeza.csic.es). The summary should be of a one paragraph only, without sub sections and not exceed 900 words. The title of the thesis should be given, the university where it was defended, the complete name of the candidate and of the director(s), as well as the academic year when it was read. The editor of this section will acknowledge receipt of the summary and, when it is considered opportune, will contact the author for corrections or adjustments to the text.

Proofs and abstracts

Authors of articles, short notes and the forum will receive the printer's proofs of their work and these must be returned to the Secretary within a maximum of five days after receipt. If these are not corrected and returned within the stipulated time, publication of the work will be put back until the next number. The only errors which will be accepted as such are typographical ones. Changes in the text which do not correspond with the original will incur costs which will be charged to the author.

An electronic version of each published work will be sent to the authors in PDF format. Publication in web pages will require the authorisation of the editor of Ardeola, which is the owner of reproduction rights of the article.