Publication and scope. All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor, and, if found suitable for further consideration, to peer review by independent, anonymous expert referees. All peer review is single blind. The journal emphasizes high quality and informative illustration, in both line drawings and photographs. Additional data files, such as raw data, documents, animations, 3D reconstruction, data for 3D reconstructions and so forth, can be presented as online supplementary material. Alternatively they can be deposited in permanent repositories and linked from the text.
The journal is published 4 issues per year, including original research articles, reviews, correspondences, editorials, news, perspectives, obituaries on interdisciplinary Mesozoic research topics. The editorial office is located at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Editoral office. The editoral office is located at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Manuscript preparation. The format is the same as another journal of Magnolia Press (Zootaxa). The text should be single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables should be placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end. High resolution images can be submitted after acceptance. For large manuscripts with many images, these images can be submitted as supplementary files following the submission of the text part of the manuscript (We also offer an in-house proofreading and editing service here: https://store.mapress.com/author-service/93-copy-editing.html).
The arrangement of the main text varies with different types of papers (a taxonomic revision, description of new species, an analysis of characters and phylogeny, a catalogue etc.), but should usually start with an introduction and end with a list of references. References should be cited in the text as Smith (1999), Smith & Smith (2000) or Smith et al. (2001) (3 or more authors), or alternatively in a parenthesis (Smith 1999; Smith & Smith 2000; Smith et al. 2001). All literature cited in the text must be listed in the references in the following format (see a sample page here in PDF).
A) Journal paper:
Smith, A. (1999) Title of the paper. Title of the journal in full, volume number, page range.
B) Book chapter:
Smith, A. & Smith, B. (2000) Title of the Chapter. In: Smith, A, Smith, B. & Smith, C. (Eds), Title of Book. Publisher name and location, pp. x–y.
C) Book:
Smith, A., Smith, B. & Smith, C. (2001) Title of Book. Publisher name and location, xyz pp.
D) Internet resources
Author (2002) Title of website, database or other resources, Publisher name and location (if indicated), number of pages (if known). Available from: http://xxx.xxx.xxx/ (Date of access).
Dissertations resulting from graduate studies and non-serial proceedings of conferences/symposia are to be treated as books and cited as such. Papers not cited must not be listed in the references.
Please note that:
(1) journal titles must be written in full (not abbreviated)
(2) journal titles and volume numbers are followed by a ","
(3) page ranges are connected by "n dash", not hyphen "-", which is used to connect two words.
For websites, it is important to include the last date when you see that site, as it can be moved or deleted from that address in the future.
Grant support details should be included in the Acknowledgement section before the Reference section.
On the use of dashes: (1) Hyphens are used to link words such as personal names, some prefixes and compound adjectives (the last of which vary depending on the style manual in use). (2) En-dash or en-rule (the length of an ‘n’) is used to link spans. In the context of our journal that means numerals mainly, most frequently sizes, dates and page numbers (e.g. 1977–1981; figs 5–7) and also geographic or name associations (Murray–Darling River; a Federal–State agreement). (3) Em-dash or em-rule (the length of an ‘m’) are used far more infrequently, and are used for breaks in the text or subject, often used much as we used parentheses. In contrast to parentheses an em-dash can be used alone; e.g. What could these results mean—that Niel had discovered the meaning of life? En-dashes and em-dashes should not be spaced.
Copy-editing. We offer a proofreading and editing service that corrects for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors, and improves flow, clarity, and readability in a natural English tone. Your paper will also be checked for in-text citations consistent with the reference list. Whether you are a native English speaker or not, an alternate pair of eyes always helps!
Order our copy-editing service here: https://store.mapress.com/author-service/93-copy-editing.html
Submission. To submit a manuscript, follow these steps:
1) Register as author (not just reader or reviewer; if you originally registered as a reviewer, then go to profile page to add the role for authors)
2) Select which section (article, review …) for your submission
3) Confirm that items in the submission checklist are followed
4) Enter comments to editor (e.g. suggesting reviewers …)
5) Upload the main text file (this is the file for review and ideally should include low quality images and tables as well); if there are too many images, then upload text with tables and figure legends and upload figures as supplementary files in step 4 later. (Please provide all the authors' names, emails and orcids. (https://orcid.org/)
6) Enter metadata for each author and article
7) Upload figure files if your main text does not include them
8) Confirm submission
Publication Ethics. We endorse the ethics guidelines recommended by the Commission on Publication Ethics (COPE). We are firmly against any form of falsification or fabrication of data and plagiarism (including self plagiarism without proper attribution) and will treat any breach of ethics standards seriously in accordance with the COPE guidelines. Our detailed ethics guidelines for authors, reviewers and editors can be found in the "Publication ethics" section
More detailed ethical guidelines for authors, reviewers and editors can be found here: https://www.mapress.com/mz/about
Review process. When a manuscript is received, the editor will have it reviewed by at least two peers qualified to evaluate the manuscript and he/she normally asks the reviewers to complete the review in one month. However, the reviewing process will normally take longer, depending on the length of the manuscript and reviewer's responses.
Page charge and colour plates. There is no page charge for publishing with Mesozoic. Publication of colour figures/photographs in online edition is also free of charge (print version in black and white). If colour plates in the print edition are desired, authors will be asked to contribute towards the full cost. Current rates: 100 USD for 1 colour page; 25% off for 2 or more colour pages.
Order colour plates here: https://store.mapress.com/author-service/65-colour-plates.html
Open access. This is a platinum open access journal (no fees for readers to access online papers and no fees for authors).
All open access papers are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NC 4.0 Unported License.
Reprints. Each author will be given a free e-reprint (PDF) for personal use (printing a copy for own use or exchange with other researchers, but not for deposition in a library/website/ftp-site for public access).
Printed copies of each paper/monograph in the form of the regular reprint can also be produced by the Publisher for purchase by authors at cost to authors, with a discount based on the number of copies ordered.
Order reprints here: https://store.mapress.com/author-service/66-reprints.html
Order hard copies here: https://store.mapress.com/hard-copies/67-hard-copy.html
A designated cover image will appear as the online issue cover image or printed volume cover image when published. If you would like your image to be used as the front cover, please visit:
Order Designate cover image at: https://store.mapress.com/author-service/68-244-designated-cover.html
