Writer’s Guidelines to REPTILIA (January 2008)
Reptilia is an international bimonthly magazine covering diverse aspects of herpetofauna. We strive to educate and entertain our readers with current, scientifically sound information, eye-catching photography and illustrations, and exciting design.
Our aim is to provide reliable and easily understood information — for amateurs and professionals alike — to foster educated appreciation of reptiles, amphibians, and arthropods, and to encourage and facilitate their protection in the wild and responsible care and breeding in captivity. Article themes include natural history, terrarium keeping, veterinary care, conservation, and legislation.
To see the kinds of articles we publish, check recent issues of our magazine, or the sample articles posted online at www.reptilia.net.
What we are looking for
Reptilia welcomes original nonfiction articles on reptiles, amphibians, arthropods, and related topics. Please do not send us articles that have been published or submitted elsewhere.
If you are interested in writing for us, it is best to check with us first to make sure we have not recently published a very similar article, and do not have one by a different author forthcoming. You can get an idea about recently published articles by checking our back issues online (www.reptilia.net).
Articles must be attractively illustrated with good photographs, and, if necessary, maps, illustrations, and diagrams. Articles lacking a sufficient number of suitable photos may not be able to be published.
Reptilia is not a technical scientific journal. We prefer articles that appeal to, and are easily understood by a wide range of readers. The general language of the article should not be too technical. If technical terms are used they should be explained when they first appear in the text, or in a glossary at the end of the article.
We prefer articles describing personal experience rather than collections of citations from other authors. Some citations are acceptable, and indeed necessary in some cases, but we don’t have the room for lengthy lists at the end of your article.
Acknowledgments are nice for those receiving them, but they do not benefit our readers and take up valuable space that could otherwise be used for text/photos.
We publish the basic types of articles:
Feature articles (,000–2,500 words). These articles should be well organized and complete. Articles on captive care should include information on natural history (e.g., habitat, diet, activity patterns, adult size, and lifespan) in addition to full coverage of enclosure setup and maintenance (e.g., enclosure type and size, substrate, furnishing, lighting, temperature, humidity, cleaning, etc.) and care of the animal (feeding, handling, behavior and temperament in captivity, health, etc.).
Feature articles on breeding should cover all aspects of preparing the animals (e.g., hibernation), courtship and mating, gestation, nesting, incubation, and care of offspring.
Feature articles may also cover the herpetofauna of particular locations or regions, specific aspects of terrarium keeping (e.g., lighting, substrates, etc.), conservation, and other topics. Discussions of controversial issues are acceptable as long as they are well documented and fairly presented.
Notes (900–1,000 words). This type of article allows for sharing personal experiences with herps, especially captive breeding experiences, in a briefer format than feature articles. Notes should nonetheless be written out as short articles.
Photoreports (about 900 words). These are short texts to accompany galleries of photographs. One photoreport is published each issue, corresponding with the cover theme, and must be coordinated with us first. Contact reptilia@reptilia.net.
Article preparation
Text. Articles may be written in Spanish, German, English, Italian, French, Catalan, or Portuguese. Please write in your native language if possible. We have translators.
Include your contact information as part of the text document — name, e-mail address, telephone number, and mailing address. This is for our internal use only. We do not publish author contact information.
Please help us by being careful with spelling, grammar, and typing. Writing style should favor clarity. Format should be simple. Do not try to create a layout design with tabulations, extra spaces, underlining, or various fonts, type sizes, or type styles. These will not correspond with our format, and only complicate our job.
The only format elements that will help us, and are requested, are the following. Scientific genus and species names should be in italics. Reference citations in the text and bibliographies at the end of the article should follow our format (refer to recently published articles for examples).
If common names are used for animals and plants, they should always be accompanied by the scientific names on first appearance.
Our editors may make minor changes and corrections without sending a manuscript back to the author for review.
Tables and charts. If tables or charts are useful, they should be numbered and named and self-explanatory.
Photographs. Reptilia is renowned for impressive photography. Photos should be in sharp focus, with good lighting, and there should be a variety of interesting views. Please provide variety in captions, not just the name of the animal repeated on each photo.
If photos are submitted digitally they should be in jpg format, and of high quality with low compression. A minimum image size 15 x 20 centimeters at 300 dpi should occupy about 15M (equivalent to the resolution of a digital camera of 5 megapixels). All photos must be numbered and accompanied by corresponding photo captions, preferably included at the end of the manuscript in the text document.
Article submission
Manuscripts must be submitted as Word documents or compatible. We prefer that articles be sent by e-mail.
We try to confirm article arrival, but we may not get back to you immediately. Although we are always willing to consider a submission, the acceptance of an article for review in no way constitutes a contract for publication.
Our editors may reject an article for reasons of content or form.
Payment
Payment is made upon publication, during the month of the issue in which the work appears. Each article is paid once, even though it is published in several language editions of Reptilia (English, Spanish, Italian, and possibly German). Pay rates are as follows:
Feature articles with 5-6 photos, 187.50 euros.
Short notes with 4-5 photos, 90 euros.
Photoreports with at least 18-30 photos, 225 euros.
Authors are sent copies of the magazine issues in which their articles appear. Authors will be sent one copy each of the English, Spanish and Italian editions. Additional complimentary issues may be provided upon request.
For further questions, please contact:
Mercè Viader
merce@reptilia.net
REPTILIA
Bisbe Urquinaona 34
08860 Castelldefels
Spain
Tel.: 0034 - 93 205 01 20
Fax: 0034 - 93 280 64 94