ORIENTAL INSECTS is published as an annual hard-bound volume of about 400-450 pages, one volume per year. The trim size of the journal is 7 x 10 inches and the printed matter size on the page is 5.2 x 8.5 inches. Line drawings and half-tones are usually grouped on separate pages at the end of the paper. 

The printing of ORIENTAL INSECTS is done by photo-offset method from camera-ready pages prepared here from the paper submitted by the author on a computer diskette. The type font used is Century Schoolbook (same as this).  The matter size on 8.5 x 11 inch paper is 6 x 9.7 inches (15 x 24.5 cm). These pages are reduced to 87% at the time of printing giving a printed area of 5.2 x 8.5 inches on the 7 x 10 inch trim size of the journal. 
Prospective authors should write to the Editor about the title and contents of their paper enclosing an abstract. The Editor can then advise them if their paper is suitable and falls within the scope of the journal or not.  They may then submit the paper, prepared strictly according to our style (detailed below). The paper will be sent for review and the reviewer’s and the editor’s comments will be communicated to the author. 

If the paper is acceptable, then the author should revise the paper taking into consideration the comments and submit the revised paper on a 3.5 inch floppy disk + a hard copy and all original artwork, etc. The manuscript will be processed here and the camera-ready pages prepared, which will be sent to the author for checking and making minor additions/corrections before they are finally printed. 

It is important that the Journal Style is followed rather strictly. The guidelines are given below. Keep a copy of the journal by your side while processing the manuscript for ready reference. Pay particular attention to the requirements of punctuation, spacing, indentation, and use of capital letters at appropriate places. 

Title:  In CAPITAL LETTERS. The title of the paper should be short and clear for easy indexing.  Avoid lengthy and repetitive titles. The higher categories, e.g., (HYMENOPTERA: ICHNEUMONIDAE) should be included in the title as indicated above (higher to lower category with : interposed). The author’s name of family, genus, and species group names may be omitted as they do not form part of a zoological name. The Editor reserves the right to shorten the title if necessary. 

Author’s name:  In CAPITAL LETTERS.  Also capitalize author’s names under References or Bibliography at the end of the paper but do not capitalize them in the body of the paper. Citation of authors in the text should be (Cameron, 1901) and not (Cameron 1901). 
Author’s affiliation and address: Give full address below author’s name in regular type (not CAPS). If two authors, use & and not “and”. 

Abstract: An abstract of the paper is required. This should be informative, i.e., names of new taxa should be mentioned rather than stating “a number of new species are described”. The abstract should tell what the significant findings are. 
 

Key words:  Provide key words that may be used by indexing agencies to catalogue the paper. 
Chapter headings and subheadings:  Headings and subheadings should be boldfaced, in lower case letters  with first letter of each word capitalized. Do not underline them. Headings should be centered while subheadings should be flush with the left-hand margin. Names of taxa (genus, species, subspecies, etc.) should be in boldface italics, numbered, and aligned to left-hand margin. 

Measurements:   Use metric system. 

Taxa: In taxonomic papers all taxa are to be numbered serially and aligned to the left-hand margin. Scientific names must be given with their author’s names in full when first cited, but the author’s name may be dropped subsequently. The terms, “gen. nov., sp. nov., comb. nov., syn. nov.” should be used to designate a new genus, new species, new combination, or new synonymy, respectively.  A comma ( , ) should be interposed between the name of the species and the above terms. One specimen of the new taxa should be designated as a Holotype and the type depository should be mentioned with the holotype designation.  The rest of the specimens shuld be designated as Paratypes. Allotype designation will be accepted.  The naming and description of new genera should be accompanied with the designation of type species. 
All types examined by the author shuld be indicated, with their location, either in the synonymy or in the elucidation of Specimens examined. Misidentifications cited in synonymy should be mentioned as “Chopra, 1938, not Srivastava, 1952” instead of using the term nec. 

Style of synonymy:  This is important and should conform to the practice followed in the Journal. Make special note of punctuation and indentation. (See example below). The subsequent user of a scientific name should be mentioned after the name of the species and separated by a colon ( : ).  Authors’ names are not capitalized in synonymy. Details of types, type locality, and type depository should be mentioned in synonymical references. For example: 
 

1.  Charops brachypterum (Cameron) (Figs. 1-6)     Anomalon brachypterum Cameron, 1897. Mem. Proc. Manchester        Lit. Phil. Soc., 41 (4): 25.  m.  Type: m, Sri Lanka: Trincomalee (HEC,        OXFORD); Morley, 1913. Fauna of British India, Hymenoptera, 3 (1):        41.  m, f.  key, des., fig.      Charops brachypterum:  Townes, Townes & Gupta, 1961. Mem. Amer.        Ent. Inst., 1: 227. cat.; Gupta & Maheshwary, 1971. Oriental Ins., 4: 468.        key, des., fig.  India, Sri Lanka.

Specimens examined:  The elucidation of Specimens examined should be complete and cited as given below. The sequence of locality citation should begin with the name of the country, state, and then larger to smaller locality units (each separated by a colon : ), followed by altitude, number of specimens examined, date of collection, name of collector, and the location of the specimens. The term “Coll.” should precede the name of the collector. If it succeeds the name of the collector, it will be taken to imply “collection”. For new species the paragraph should begin with holotype citation. The metric system should be used for height and measurements. 

Examples are: 
 
 

For new species: 
 

Keys:  Keys should be in couplet form. Only the first item of each couplet should be numbered and subsequent lines of the same couplet indented. In the case of a single couplet, the number may be omitted.  For easy reference in longer papers, the taxa in the key should be numbered to correspond with the numbering of the taxa in the body of the paper. The distribution of the species may also be mentioned in the key. Align the key to the right hand margin. 

References:  Capitalize authors’ names. Insert a coma ( , ) between authors’ initials and year, a ( , ) between journal name and volume number, and a colon ( : ) between volume number and page numbers. Do not underline journal name or volume number. All journal abbreviations should start with a capital letter, e.g.,   Ent. (not ent.), Nat. (not nat.), Natl. (not natl.). Spell out fully place names, like Bombay, Boston, London, Washington, etc. in journal citations. The style, therefore, is: 
 

AUTHOR, A., 1900. Title of the paper. Journal name (all individual words 
    starting with a capital letter, but no underlining), Volume number (part 
    number in parenthesis): pages 000-000. 

Examples of references: 

RAMAKRISHNAN, USHA & RAMDAS MENON, M. G., 1972. Studies 
    on Indian Typhlocybinae (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Oriental Insects, 
    6 (2): 183-192. 
GUPTA, VIRENDRA K., 1987. The Ichneumonidae of the Indo-Australian 
    Area (Hymenoptera). Mem. Amer. Ent. Inst., 41: 1-1210. 

For books, Chapters in books, etc. 

WAAGE, J. & GREATHEAD, D. (Eds.), 1986. Insect Parasitoids. Academic 
    Press, London. 398 pages. 
GAULD, I. D., 1986. Taxonomy, its limitations and its role in understanding 
    parasitoid biology. In Waage & Greathead (eds.): Insect Parasitoids, pp. 1-22. Academic Press, London.

Legends to figures:  Follow the following example: 

    Figs. 4-11. 4-7, Cantao ocellatus:  4, female genitalia, ventral view; 5, spermatheca; 6, pygophore; 7, aedeagus, 10x.   8-11, Cantao variabilis: …. 
    Please pay attention to punctuation:  A colon ( : ) after the name of the taxon, a coma ( , ) after figure number, and a semicolon ( ; ) after the explanation of the figure and before the next number. Terms following figure numbers to start with a lower case letter. 

The page specifications given on page 1 should be kept in mind when preparing and submitting line drawings and half-tone plates. Length/width ratio is important to suitably incorporate the plates on camera ready pages with folio line on the top and legends to figures at the bottom. Use thin cardboard only, particularly for half-tones. Line drawings may be used as such if they are no more than 6 inches wide, so use only standard paper to paste individual drawings. 
 

The ideal size  for plates, both half-tone and line drawings is 6 x 8 inches (15 x 20 cm). For other sizes, take care of the length/width ratio, e. g., 7.75”x 10” (19.5 x 25 cm) or 9” x 12” (23 x 30 cm). 

The line drawing plates of larger size will be reduced to fit the width of the camera ready page (6 inches) and should have room for the folio line and legends. The half-tone plates will be reduced by the printer and spliced at appropriate places. Odd sizes involves extra work and expense and may be returned to the author for redoing them. This will delay the processing.