Instructions to Contributors
Phytomorphology
is a quarterly published by the International Society of Plant Morphologists
(ISPM).
The Journal publishes original research articles in all areas of plant
sciences with special emphasis on morphology in its widest sense.
However, repetitive/additive type of research (eg. merely because the
taxon's embryology had not been studied so far or merely reporting in vitro
induction of callus/somatic embryos/shoot buds in a taxon) is not necessarily
acceptable.
Manuscripts
are considered from only the Members of ISPM.
Authors may send their MS to the Editor in Delhi or to a Member of
the Editorial Board who represents the author's broad research area.
The
maximal length of the article is restricted to 10 printed pages of Phytomorphology
including no more than three plates of illustrations; 1 page of Phytomorphology
accommodates nearly 600 words.
Additional pages will be charged to authors.
Reviews
on significant topics and research articles from specialists are invited
from time to time.
Manuscripts
be
typed in
English and
double
spaced
throughout
on
ca 21 cm
wide x 28 cm long (8½" x 11") paper leaving at least 2.5 cm
(1") margin on all sides.
Original and one copy should be submitted.
Only refereed, revised/accepted MS should accompany a computer floppy (3½")
of the MS in WordPerfect (5.1), or WordStar (3.3), or Microsoft Word.
The
following shall be the layout for the manuscripts :
Page 1 is Title Page. It should carry
(i) a concise title which indicates the important aspects of the research
(ii) author's affiliations, e-mail address, and Fax No.
(iii) an abridged running title comprising no more than 30 characters
(iv) names and full postal addresses of two or three referees (optional)
(v) footnote No. 1 which reads MS received : 00 month's name and year
(vi) footnote No. 2 to denote the Author for correspondence, and
(vii)
any acknowledgement as an unnumbered footnote.
Page
2 shall contain in sequence the title, but not the names of authors and their
affiliations (to facilitate a more objective refereeing); abstract,
keywords, and abbreviations.
The
Abstract
shall be just one paragraph in English (not exceeding 500 words) and should give
the most salient points of observations and discussion.
To merely state that ... has been studied or ... method has been used is
not acceptable.
No abbreviations be used in the abstract.
Three
or four Keywords
be listed in strict alphabetical order.
No term from the title be repeated as a keyword.
The
Abbreviations
used in the text be listed in strict alphabetical order.
The abbreviation and its corresponding expansion be separated by an en
dash with one space on either side.
No period is inserted between the letters in most of the abbreviations.
e.g. BA - 6-benzyladenine, Kn - kinetin.
Introduction
should be direct and clearly justify why the research was undertaken.
`There has been no earlier work on taxon x, and hence the present
work' is not an acceptable justification.
Materials
and Methods : Methods used should be so explicit that they could be
repeated without errors.
Taxonomic names of the materials studied should be italicized; the
taxonomic authority be appended to the name.
Observations
: The style for headings, subheadings, tables, footnotes, legends and literature
citation should strictly conform to the format in the latest issue of Phytomorphology.
SI units of measurements should be used.
Some common abbreviations used: hr for hour(s), min for minute(s), sec
for second(s), yr for year, mo for month(s), wk for week(s), DNA, RNA.
Numbers one to nine should be spelt out (except when referring to units
of measurement and range of values) and those beyond nine should be in numerals
(eg. 10, 11, 12 and so on), but
spelt
out at
the
beginning of a sentence.
Latin terms (eg. ab initio, et al., ex situ, in vitro) in vogue in
English are not italicized.
Concentrations of chemical substances should preferably be in molarity.
Quantitative
data should be tabulated, and data that can be read from the table
should not be repeated in the text and vice versa.
Multiple
references cited within parentheses shall be chronological, and separated by
commas only.
discussion
should point out the significance of the most important findings in relation to
contemporary knowledge, and not merely repeat the observations.
literature
cited :
References be listed in strict alphabetical order of the surnames of the first
authors, and then of the second authors, and so on.
The following are examples of the format :
Corner
EJH 1953
The Durian theory extended - I, Phytomorphology 3 465-476
Fisher
DB & Wang N 1993
A kinetic and autoradiographic analysis of [14C] sucrose
import by
developing wheat grains, Pl. Physiol. 101 391-398
Kobayashi
S, Ohgawara T, Fujiwara K & Oiyama I 1991
Analysis of cytoplasmic genomes in somatic
hybrids between navel orange (Citrus sinensis Osb.) and "Murcott"
tangor, Theor. Appl. Genet.
82 6-10
Mani
MS 1973
Plant Galls of India (MacMillan : New Delhi, India)
Rowley
JR 1964
Formation of the pore in pollen of Poa annua, In Pollen
Physiology and Fertilization
pp. 59-69 ed HF Linskens (North Holland Publ. Co. : Amsterdam, The
Netherlands)
Abbreviations
of titles of journals should conform to those in the latest edition of the World
List of Scientific Periodicals
eds P Brown & GB Stratton (Butterworths, London).
tables
must be numbered in Arabic numerals followed by an en dash (-) and a concise
caption in capital letters.
Each table must have a top line and a bottom line; all abbreviations/
symbols, and notations used in the Table be explained as unnumbered
footnotes within the table.
Each table be typed on a separate page numbered in continuation with the
text. No vertical lines be used.
footnotes
: Footnotes in the text should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals, and
typed on separate pages which are numbered in continuation with the text.
illustrations
: Individual photographs, graphs, and line drawings should be presented as
closely assembled plates, and
the plates are numbered consecutively as Fig. 1,2,3 and are referred so
in the text and legend, and not as Plate 1,2,3 ...; individual figures in each
plate should be labelled as A,B,C (omit alphabets I, 1 and O) in the right
hand lower corner.
Both in the text and in the legend the figures shall
be referred to as Fig. 1A,B or 2A-C, or Figs 1A, 2E, 3C.
Descriptive
labels in individual figures should be preferably not abbreviated and be done in
lower case in a size
appropriate for
final
reduction to page size (width 15 cm and length 19.5 cm).
All labelling should be done leaving 5 mm space from the contiguous
margins of the figure.
Lettering should be done with stencils or Letteraset of appropriate size
to withstand reduction during reproduction.
For magnification a scale bar should be inscribed preferably in the left
lower corner of each figure in the plate, or if all the figures in the plate are
of the same magnification, only one scale bar be inscribed in a suitable
location on the plate.
No label or scale bar be affixed on the figure.
Line
drawings, histograms and graphs drawn in black indelible ink (inkjet drawings
tend to suffer reproduction) should be mounted close to one another for page
width (15 cm) reproduction, leaving enough space for printing the legends at the
bottom of the plate.
halftone
plates
: Only sharp, high contrast prints from original negatives,
suitable for reproduction by scanning should be submitted.
In assembling the figures into a plate, no space or only a hair space be
left between adjacent figures; irregularly trimmed and mounted photographs shall
not be accepted.
Unless
the authors specify on the reverse of the plate that colour reproduction is
required, coloured halftones will be reproduced in black and white only.
The authors shall defray the charges for colour reproduction.
Two
sets of all illustrations should be submitted with the MS.
The
legends
(explanation to figures) should be concise and typed on a separate page numbered
in continuation of the text.
For format the latest issue of Phytomorphology be consulted.
To
facilitate a speedy processing of the manuscripts the authors are urged to
follow the format in every detail.
Upon receipt, the editorial office will scrutinize the manuscript for
format; if the manuscript falls short of the prescribed format, the authors will
be asked to prepare their MS according to the format of Phytomorphology and
resubmit.
Page
proofs without Figures will be mailed to authors; corrected page proofs must
be returned to the Editor within 48 hr from receipt, by the fastest service.
Changes involving resetting are not allowed, unless the authors
agree to pay extra charge.
offprints
: No gratis reprints shall be supplied.
Reprint requirement, in multiples of 50, should be specified while
returning the corrected pageproof to the Editor.