Submissions

Author Guidelines

General Instructions

MANUSCRIPT FILE:

Submit a single document with the manuscript text, tables, and figures integrated. At BIC, we maintain the opinion that the document to be submitted for review should have the simplest possible format. We suggest following the standard structure of a scientific article. The figures should be integrated into the text and placed immediately after being cited in the text (not at the end or as separate files). Figures should be at 300 dpi or high resolution. If your manuscript is accepted, you may be asked to provide the figures as different files in high resolution. It is important to maintain a homogeneous format in the figures: if they have integrated text, please always use the same font and size.

Manuscripts can be submitted in Spanish or English, although authors are encouraged to submit their manuscripts in English. All pages and lines of the manuscript must be numbered consecutively. The font used should be Arial 12-point throughout the text, with 1.5 line spacing.

The nomenclature must comply with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (4th edition 1999), which came into force on January 1, 2000, and the International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, fungi, and Plants (in force since 2018).

Scientific names should always be written in italics and only the first time they are cited should they be written in full. Subsequently, the generic epithet should be abbreviated, except when it appears at the beginning of a sentence. Authorities and dates will be included exclusively in articles focused on taxonomy or systematics. When a new taxon is proposed, the first time it is named it should be in italics and bold; the same should be done for new name combinations and/or new synonyms. Authors are advised to deposit type specimens in national or international collections. Authors are also recommended to request registration numbers for deposited material before acceptance of the documents to avoid unnecessary delays in publication.

Original articles and reviews should not exceed a length of 10 000 words, including references (figures and tables are excluded).

Short communications should not exceed 6 000 words including references (figures and tables are excluded).

The manuscript:

The title should be easily understandable and related to the content (maximum 20 words). Studies that mention scientific names of plants include the Family. In studies about animals, include Order: Family. Do not include taxonomic authorities, such as L. or Linn., in the title. Do not use local or traditional names for organisms.

Only for taxonomy papers: include the full genus, author, and year only the first time each taxon is mentioned in each section of the article.

The correspondence address should be brief but complete; if there are several addresses, number them.

Include valid affiliations and email addresses for all co-authors. Highlight the corresponding author with an asterisk.

The abstract (250-300 words) should include the objectives of the work, describe the materials and methods used very briefly, report the main results, and briefly mention the conclusions. In all categories handled by the journal, an abstract in Spanish and English should be included.

Include 5-7 keywords, for the Spanish and English version, that does not appear in the title.

Manuscript characteristics

The manuscript should be a review, research article, or short communication that meets the requirements established by the journal. Please consider our Aims and Scope to determine if the journal is the appropriate space for your work.

Abstract and keywords

It should be written in a single paragraph and contain the study's objectives and importance, as well as information related to materials and methods, main results, and conclusions. Do not include abbreviations or bibliographic citations. The abstract length should not exceed 300 words for original and review articles and 100 words for short communications. Regardless of the original language of the manuscript, an abstract in both Spanish and English should be included.

Include 5-7 keywords in both versions (Spanish and English) that do not appear in the title.

Introduction

Include an introduction that summarizes recent findings in chronological order, the current state of knowledge on the subject, and finally, the hypothesis (if any) and the study objectives. In works where no hypothesis is proposed, the relevance of the study must be made very clear implicitly.

Materials and methods

Present the information as explicitly as required for your research to be replicable. For methods previously published, a brief description and reference are sufficient. If voucher specimens were collected, including museum data. Only include the model and manufacturer of equipment when they can have an impact on the results.

The statistical programs used for the analyses must be correctly cited.

For chemicals, only include the name of the manufacturer. Include a description of each component for mathematical formulas.

We use the International System of Units and its abbreviations. When no units follow, write the numbers from zero to ten in words (one, two, three, etc., not 1, 2, 3, etc.).

In studies that use DNA sequences, accession numbers must be declared at all times. WORKS THAT DO NOT DEPOSIT THEIR SEQUENCES IN DATABASES SUCH AS GENBANK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Results

The section should present the main findings and conclusions derived from the study. The results should be written concisely and without speculation and should be well organized so that readers can easily understand them and the implications of the study. The information contained in tables or figures should not be repeated in the text.

Discussion

Provide a critical interpretation of the results and their importance for the field. It is important that this section is clear and well-organized so that readers can easily understand the implications of the study and its relationship to the previous literature. Do not include tables or figures here. Avoid repeating the results.

Tables and Figures

The information presented in tables and figures should not be redundant with each other or with the text. Small tables or simple figures whose information can be easily expressed in the body of the text should be avoided. Tables and figures should be included in the same body of the document where they are cited. If necessary for document layout, original formats will be requested later. Include all symbols and scales within the figure (not in the figure legend).

Use short table headers and write all symbols and abbreviations in footnotes below the table. Avoid words written entirely in uppercase or bold. Avoid very long or very short tables (tables from half to one page are a good size), without vertical and horizontal lines.

Tables should be made in the same Word format (.doc or .rtf), never as images or objects embedded in a document. They should have a simple grid auto format, without shading or dividing lines. They should be editable and cell-based, not as text separated by spaces or tabs. They should not contain merged cells. While not part of the results, larger tables may be included as supplementary material. They should not be included in text boxes or contain nested images or tables.

Acknowledgments

Mention the people who provided significant assistance. Avoid using titles such as "Dr.", "Prof.", and "Mrs.", among others. Names are more than enough to recognize collaboration. Mention institutions that helped generate the information.

Author contributions

To enhance transparency, we request that authors include an author statement file in their submission, outlining their contributions to the paper using the relevant CRediT roles. These roles include Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Roles/Writing - original draft, and Writing - review & editing. When providing authorship statements, please list the authors' names first and their corresponding CRediT role(s) thereafter, in a formatted style.

Formatting of funding sources
List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance with the funder's requirements:

Funding: This study was supported by the CONACYT scholarship program 2018-000012-01NACF-11846.

If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

References and Citations

Present the list of references and citations within the text in APA Edition 7 format. We recommend the use of free reference managers such as zotero.org and mendeley.com. Only cited publications appear in References and vice versa. Avoid including unpublished articles in the text and references.

Within the text, use the following formats to cite: (Cruz, 2022); (Cruz & Arellano, 2022), or (Cruz et al., 2022).

Format examples:

Journal paper

Suzuki, Y., & Tatsuta, H. (2022). Two New Species of Ground Spiders (Araneae: Gnaphosidae) from Okinawa Islands, Japan. Species Diversity, 27(2), 319-328.

Book

Guarneri, A., & Lorenzo, M. (Eds.). (2021). Triatominae-The biology of chagas disease vectors (pp. 345-386). Springer.

Book chapter

Pavan, M. G., Lazoski, C., & Monteiro, F. A. (2021). Speciation Processes in Triatominae. In Triatominae-The Biology of Chagas Disease Vectors (pp. 39-64). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Journal abbreviations source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.

Attach files

Upload the following files individually:

1. Text file (single column) with your manuscript, figures (high quality), and integrated tables. The lines of text should be numbered continuously. Do not include names or affiliations in this manuscript. All this information must be correctly included during the submission process in the metadata.

2. Ethical and legal requirements form signed by all co-authors (an electronic or digital signature is accepted).

3. File with authors' contribution information following the CRediT format.

4. Supplementary material.

5. A Graphical abstract.