Submissions

Author Guidelines

Journal of Palaeosciences (JPS)

Author Guidelines (PDF)

1. Introduction

Journal of Palaeosciences is an international journal that has been disseminating knowledge and has served palaeobotanists, the world over, for over 60 years with diversified and enhanced quality of content. The Journal of Palaeosciences is an open-access journal, that publishes research papers on palaeoenvironmental, palaeoecological, palaeoclimatic, and palaeogeographic themes, distributed over each of the entire geological time scales right from the pre-Cambrian to the Quaternary (i.e. recent). The contemporary environmental concerns and issues such as sea-level rise, flooding, extreme weather patterns, heatwaves, and drought along with changes in biodiversity, ecosystem, and ecosystem services fall within the scope of the journal.

The journal focuses on various topical aspects in the form of Original Research articles, Review articles, short articles, Reports, interpretative inputs, and Special issues.

Submission of a paper implies that it has not been published previously, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and that if accepted it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or any other language, without the written consent of the publisher; that its publication has been approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as by the responsible authorities – tacitly or explicitly – at the institute where the work has been carried out. The publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any compensation claims. Submissions should be original and comprise previously unpublished data, interpretations, or syntheses. 

2. Article Types

Research articles: JPS publishes Research Articles of high quality and global significance that meet the criteria of being of broad interest to a diverse, international audience. They should not exceed 8000 words, 8 figures or tables with a maximum of 100 cited references.

Review articles: The purpose of a Review Article is to provide an objective assessment of a particular topic or area of research, and they are intended to be read by a wide audience. Reviews, which typically range in word length not exceeding 10000 words (10 figures, 5 tables, cited references to be limited to about 150 in number) may present new data or synthesize existing data to provide new understanding. It is essential that a Review Article represents a balanced, integrated, critical review of previous work and evaluates potentially controversial issues. Illustrations should integrate existing data into new, comprehensive figures instead of duplicating previously published work.  From time to time, authors may be approached by the Editors to contribute an Invited Review to the journal. Such invited articles are expected to be of particularly high quality and consequently tend to be well used and/or well cited.

Short articles: A Short Article research article actually emphasizes the importance of new findings, drawing more attention from the scientific community to the paper, and most likely will boost the citation and impact of the article. They should not exceed 3000 words in length, nor contain more than 3 figures, 1 table and 50 cited references.

It is important to note that a Short Article is not a publication that contains too few or preliminary data to warrant a full paper, though it often reports "urgent data" that is of importance to the scientific community prior to the completion of a full publication. Essentially, shortening the articles simplifies them, making them more concise, succinct, and objective, so they are easier to read and assimilate the scientific results.

Reports: Shorter research contributions such as preliminary results, brief descriptions of new techniques, or new applications, or simply articles serve as fast-track reports on important meetings, field reports, or book reviews in the field of Palaeosciences, having no more than 2500 words, two figures, one table, and no more than twenty references.

Comments and Corrigendum: Authors wishing to comment on a recently published JPS article should submit a ‘Discussion’ which must be brief and directed only towards the main issue(s) that are being questioned in the original article. It is not a vehicle for extensive review or for publishing the (Discussion) author's new findings and should typically be no more than 2000 words.

The original author(s) will be invited to write a Reply which must likewise be brief and directed only at the issues in question. Both parties are limited to one Comment and Reply each. These comments and replies must be submitted within six months of publication of the original article; the author of the Reply must submit it within one month of being notified of the Comment.

Occasionally the journal publishes Special Issues, usually based on Conference Proceedings, normally of 15 articles of research paper length with an introduction provided by the Guest Editors.

3. Submission checklist

You can use this list to carry out a final check of your submission before you send it to the journal for review. Please check the relevant section in this Guide for Authors for more details.

Ensure that the following items are present

One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:

• E-mail address
• Full postal address

All necessary files have been uploaded:

Manuscript:

• Include keywords
• All figures (include relevant captions)
• All tables (including titles, description, footnotes) Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided
• Indicate clearly if colour should be used for any figures in print

Graphical Abstracts / Highlights files (where applicable)

Supplemental files (where applicable)

Further considerations:

• The manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'
• All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)
• A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare
• Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed
• Referee suggestions and contact details provided, based on journal requirements

Cover letters should be directed to the editor and highlight the importance of the manuscript, its relevance to the field, and why it should be published in the journal. The names, addresses, and e-mail addresses of five potential reviewers you consider suitable. The reviewers must not have a conflict of interest with any of the authors or the content of the manuscript. The authors must also mention the expertise of the suggested reviewers. The names of any reviewers you would like excluded from reviewing.

For transparency, we encourage authors to submit an author statement file outlining their contributions to the paper using the relevant credit roles: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing - original draft; Writing - review & editing. Authorship statements should be formatted with the names of authors first and their role (s) following.

Requests for word or figure limit exceptions and an indication of conflicts of interest are also appropriate to include. Including a copy of the abstract is not necessary since the abstract already appears in the manuscript itself.

For further information, e-mail us at Technical Support.

4. Editorial policies

Online Submission

Please follow the hyperlink “Submit a manuscript” and upload all of your manuscript files following the instructions given on the screen. 

Peer-review policy

This journal operates a single anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper.

Declaration of competing interest

The corresponding author should disclose all financial or personal relationships with other people or organizations that may inappropriately influence (bias) their work on behalf of all other authors of any submission. Possible conflicts of interest include employment, consulting, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications and registrations, and grants or other funding. All authors, including those without competing interests to declare, should provide the relevant information to the corresponding author (which, where relevant, may specify they have nothing to declare). The corresponding authors should create a shared statement and upload it to the submission system during the Attach Files step. Do not convert the .docx template to another file type. There is no need for an author's signature.

Submission declaration and verification

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture, or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service iThenticate Software.

Use of inclusive language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability, or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to the dominant culture, and/or cultural assumptions. We advise seeking gender neutrality by using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as default/wherever possible to avoid using "he, she," or "he/she." We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability, or health condition unless they are relevant and valid. When coding terminology is used, we recommend avoiding offensive or exclusionary terms such as “master”, “slave”, “blacklist” and “whitelist”. We suggest using alternatives that are more appropriate and (self-) explanatory such as “primary”, “secondary”, “blocklist” and “allowlist”. These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive. 

Author Contributions

For transparency, we encourage authors to submit an author statement file outlining their contributions to the paper using the relevant credit roles: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing - original draft; Writing - review & editing. 

Changes to authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in the author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Suggesting reviewers

Please submit the names and institutional e-mail addresses of several potential reviewers. You should not suggest reviewers who are colleagues, or who have co-authored or collaborated with you during the last three years. Editors do not invite reviewers who have potential competing interests with the authors. Further, to provide a broad and balanced assessment of the work, and ensure scientific rigour, please suggest diverse candidate reviewers who are located in different countries/regions from the author group. Also consider other diversity attributes e.g. gender, race and ethnicity, career stage, etc. Finally, you should not include existing members of the journal's editorial team, of whom the journal is already aware.

Note: the editor decides whether or not to invite your suggested reviewers.

Copyright

Authors of the papers that are accepted will be asked to sign over the copyright to the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, India. Read the Copyright Agreement available on the website.

Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, it is recommended to state this.

5. Manuscript Outline

Use of word processing software

The document must be saved in the native format of the word processor being used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Once the article has been processed, most formatting codes will be removed and replaced. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use boldface, italics, subscripts, superscripts, etc. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. Note that source files of figures, tables, and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. To avoid unnecessary errors, you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.

Manuscripts should be prepared with numbered lines, wide margins, and double line spacing throughout, i.e. also for abstracts, footnotes, and references. Every page of the manuscript, including the title page, references, tables, etc. should be numbered.

However, in the text, no reference should be made to page numbers; if necessary, one may refer to sections.

Article structure

Please add a title page, detailing the title, the authors and their affiliations, and the abstract of your paper to the beginning of your paper. Please use a size 12-point font and double line spacing for all parts of your manuscript, including the main text, abstract, references, and figure captions, this is an essential peer review requirement.

Submit your paper with numbered pages and with wide margins (at least 2.5 cm).

Text

Follow this order when composing manuscripts: Title, Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Main text, Acknowledgements, Appendix, References, Figure captions, Tables, and then Figures. Do not import the Figures or Tables into your text.

Introduction

State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Study area

Authors must provide adequate and detailed records on the locality or localities where the material was collected. This information has to be complemented by a location map of the studied locality combined, whenever possible, with a stratigraphic profile of the outcrop marking the position of the fossiliferous beds. Photographs of the outcrop can be added for reference, but are not strictly necessary. GPS coordinates for the locality or localities should be added in the manuscript, preferably in the captions for the location map. Fossil material of uncertain or dubious provenance will not be accepted for publication in the Journal of Palaeosciences. This includes material currently housed in museum collections that lack detailed field collecting records, and/or whose provenance cannot be definitively ascertained with certainty.

Material and methods

Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.

Results

Results should be clear and concise.

Repository of studied and illustrated material

All the figured studied material has to be adequately curated in a recognized institution, to guarantee the replicability of research. State in "Material and methods" the institutional repository of the studied material (samples, thin sections, and fossils), and in the figure captions the curatorial museum numbers of all illustrated specimens.

Experimental

Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.

Theory/calculation

A Theory section should extend, not repeat, the background to the article already dealt with in the Introduction and lay the foundation for further work. In contrast, a Calculation section represents a practical development from a theoretical basis.

Mandatory Submission of Data Sets

Authors are required to provide all the underlying data which were used to generate the study results and are shown in graphs or tables, as precisely documented files to be included as supplementary material (online publication), unless such data sets are already available online at an official data repository elsewhere, in which case a URL must be provided. Proprietary issues may be relevant in some cases. Any restrictions on the availability of data sets must be notified to the editor at the time of submission and clearly disclosed in the submitted manuscript. It will be at the editor's discretion whether the paper can then be reviewed. Exceptions will not be considered later in the review and publication process.

Discussion

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Conclusions

The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.

Glossary

Please supply, as a separate list, the definitions of field-specific terms used in your article.

Appendices

If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly, for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

Essential title page information

Title

Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible. Both the title of the manuscript and all headers within the manuscript should make use of ‘sentence capitalization’, i.e., the capitalization pattern used in a regular sentence. Do not capitalize the first letter of all words, and do not capitalize all words in full. Both patterns make it impossible to tell which words are to be capitalized (e.g., proper nouns), leading to errors in capitalization during the production stage.

Author names and affiliations

Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between parentheses in your script behind the English transliteration. Present the authors’ affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author. If available, the 16-digit ORCID of the author(s) may be made available as well. At least one email address must be provided (for the corresponding author), but the journal encourages the inclusion of an email address for each author.

Corresponding author

Indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.

Present/permanent address

If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a ‘Present address’ (or ‘Permanent address’) may be indicated as a footnote to that author’s name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

Highlights

Highlights are mandatory for this journal as they help increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any).

Highlights should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use ‘Highlights’ in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).

Abstract

A concise and factual abstract is required (up to 300 words within one paragraph). The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results, and the major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

Graphical abstract

Although a graphical abstract is optional, its use is encouraged as it draws more attention to the online article. The graphical abstract should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, PDF, or MS Office files.

Keywords

Authors should provide 4 to 6 keywords, which are separated by semi-colons (;), using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, “and”, “of”). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Main text

Manuscript organization

There is no strict organizational requirement, but all manuscripts must contain essential elements to adequately convey the study to readers. A typical sequence of subsections would include an Abstract, Introduction, Geological Background (or other types of general review material), Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, References, Acknowledgments, Tables, Figure Captions, and Figures (although not every manuscript will include all of these subsections). Results and Discussion should generally be developed as separate sections and may be combined only in exceptional cases. If an article includes any Videos and/or other Supplementary material, they should be included in the initial submission for peer review purposes.

Line numbers

Manuscripts must contain line numbers. Line numbers should begin with the title page and be continuous throughout the text, reference list, and figure captions of the manuscript. Do not restart line numbers on each page of the manuscript. Supplementary materials should be separately line numbered. The purpose of line numbering is to facilitate references to specific items in the manuscript during review and editorial handling.

Headers 

All subsections of the manuscript must have a header given on a separate line. The first section is typically “Introduction”, and the last section is “Conclusions”. The headings should be marked in bold and the subsections should be shown in italics.

Study site locations

The exact locations of all study sites should be given using international latitude-longitude coordinates (give degrees, minutes, and seconds; or degrees to at least 3 decimal places). Local coordinates can optionally be given in addition to international coordinates. If there are a limited number of study sites (<10), provide this information in the text, if a larger number provide this information as a supplemental file or table. If any study site is protected for cultural, environmental, or scientific reasons, then a generalized site location will suffice but add the statement “Study site is protected but the exact location information will be shared with qualified researchers upon request.”

Time units

About units of time, JPS follows the “dual units” approach. Absolute ages are given in units of “Ga”, “Ma”, and “ka”, which are read as “billions of years ago”, “millions of years ago”, and “thousands of years ago”, respectively. For example, “The Permian-Triassic boundary has been dated to ~252 Ma.” Durations of time, including rates and fluxes, are given in units of “Gyr”, “Myr”, and “kyr”, which are read as “billions of years”, “millions of years”, and “thousands of years”, respectively. For example, “The Induan Stage of the Early Triassic lasted ~1 Myr” or “Sedimentation rates in the study units ranged from 12 to 16 m Myr-1”. For Quaternary studies, note that “ka B.P.” is redundant because “ka” is equivalent to “thousands of years ago”, but “kyr B.P.” is fine. Note that “cal B.P.” alone is not acceptable, but “cal yr B.P.” or “cal kyr B.P.” is fine. By analogy, “a” stands for “years ago”, so “a B.P.” is also redundant. However, “B.C.” and “A.D.” (or “C.E.” for “Christian Era”) may be used for recent dates.

Abbreviations

Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Formatting of funding sources

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

Example-Funding: This work was supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi, India [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi, India [grant number zzzz]; and partial funding from NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program [grant number aaaa].

Nomenclature

Botanical nomenclature 

The mandatory provisions of, and recommendations in, the current editions of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and International Code of Zoological Nomenclature must be followed unless there is good reason to do otherwise, in which case this should be justified. The repository for all types and figured specimens should be indicated.

The generic name must be given in full at the first mention of a species. It may be abbreviated subsequently to the initial capital letter followed by a full stop unless confusion with another genus is likely.

The authorship of generic and specific names should be given at least once, either at the first mention or preferably, if there are more than just a few, in a list of all taxa mentioned in the paper with author attributions and dates. Shortlists of taxa within the text should usually be arranged alphabetically according to genus, and the species referred to each. Depending on their purpose, longer lists may be incorporated in the body of the text as a table or consigned to an appendix, which is placed after the references. They may include hierarchical classifications if these are appropriate to the context of the paper.

Standard abbreviations of names of authors attributed to extant taxa are acceptable but all those pertaining to fossils should be spelled in full. In the case of authors with the same surname, add their initials (e.g., B. Sahni, M.R. Sahni); where initials and surnames are identical, give the distinguishing forenames (e.g., Donald E. Green; David E. Green).

The following may be applied to fossil names in the roman (not italic) font: gen. nov., sp. nov., cf., aff., ex gr., var., and similar notations; e.g Glossopteris sp. cf. G. angustifolia.

Stratigraphic nomenclature 

Authors should follow standard procedures and general principles. The system, series, stage, biozone, group, formation, member, and the bed should have an initial capital letter when used formally, as in Raniganj Formation of the Damuda Group, but begin with a lower case letter in the plural form; e.g., Barakar and Raniganj formations. The following abbreviations and contractions may be used on figures: Gp (Group), Fm (Formation), Mbr (Member), Sst (Sandstone), Slst (Siltstone), Mdst (Mudstone), Sh (Shale), Congl (Conglomerate), and Lst (Limestone).

For stratigraphic units that contain a taxonomic name, quote both genus and species in full and in italics at first mention, as in Deshayesi forbesi Zone. Subsequently, the generic name can usually be abbreviated to a single upper case letter followed by a full stop or dropped altogether as in forbesi Zone. Make a clear distinction between biozones and chronozones.

There is often confusion in the literature over the use of lower, upper, early, and late.

As a rule, lower/middle/upper should refer to rocks or chronostratigraphic (time-rock) units. It is a more appropriate use when you are referring to geological material, stratigraphic position of rock units (STAGES), a particular geographic region/ sedimentary basin, or lithostratigraphic units (formations/members).

Use early/middle/late for all time (geochronological) units (AGES); hence early Cenomanian, earliest Turonian, late Maastrichtian. Statements such as "these sediments were deposited during the lower Valanginian" should be avoided; write "...during the early Valanginian" instead. Subdivisions of Ages/Stages of the Cretaceous (i.e., late/upper Aptian, early/lower Albian, middle Albian, etc.) and Epochs/Series of the Paleogene (e.g., early/lower Paleocene, etc.) and Neogene are informal and thus should not be capitalized. See also the current official geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy at http://www.stratigraphy.org. Capitalized words pertaining to time may, however, be used if they are applied precisely to formally defined divisions.

In addition, the use of local (informal) substage and stage names, which are not recognized internationally, should be avoided, but can be secondarily referred to in studies of local importance; adopt the current nomenclature from the International Chronostratigraphic Chart/Time Scale (please see http://www.stratigraphy.org).

Do not use “sediments”, which apply only to unconsolidated material. Use “deposits”, “sedimentary rocks”, “rocks”, and “strata”. Use “sediments” only in a historical sense. 

Radiocarbon ages

If several radiocarbon ages are used as the basis of the chronological framework, the dates (with standard deviation) and relevant additional information (e.g. depth, dated material, δ13C, lab number, calibrated ages, see e.g. Stuiver & Polach 1977) should be given in a table. In the text, it should also be clearly stated whether the ages are expressed as conventional (conventional 14C years BP) or calibrated radiocarbon years (cal. BP, in both cases BP referring to AD 1950). Moreover, calibrated dates should be reported using the latest available international calibration curve (explicitly state which INTCAL version was used) and the calibration software (and its version number) must be stated when reporting calibrated ages. The author(s) should use one consistent chronological framework, i.e. mixing of conventional and calibrated ages in text and figures should be avoided. Moreover, calibrated radiocarbon ages should be given in cal. years BP rather than in years BC. For historical dates, the notion "AD" can be used (e.g. AD 1250).

Units

International Standard units (SI) should be used in all calculations, but some non-standard measurements such as centimetres may be acceptable. If other units are mentioned, please provide the SI equivalents.

If the original measurements were made in Imperial units, conversion figures should be inserted in parentheses in the text, and a double scale with both types of units added to maps and sections. The following abbreviations of length measurements are used in the singular number without a full stop: km, m, cm, mm, ft, yd.

All fractions are written out (one-quarter, three-fifths). Use 57% (not percent), 45°C (not degrees C), K-Ar techniques, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ratios; spell out first, sixth, etc. Greater than and less than signs (> and <) may only accompany scaled measurements (e.g., >40%).

Math formulae

Please submit math equations as editable text and not as images. Present simple formulae in line with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics.

Subscripts and superscripts should be clear.

The use of fractional powers instead of root signs is recommended. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

Greek letters and other non-Roman or handwritten symbols should be explained in the margin where they are first used. Take special care to show clearly the difference between zero (0) and the letter O, and between one (1) and the letter I.

In chemical formulae, the valence of ions should be given as, e.g., Ca²⁺, not as Ca⁺⁺. Isotope numbers should precede the symbols, e.g., ¹⁸O.

Citations

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list, they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either ‘Unpublished results’ or ‘Personal communication’. Citation of a reference as ‘in press’ implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Citations of published papers should follow the following format when used in the text of a manuscript: “Smith (2001)” for single authors, “Smith and Johnson (2002)” for pairs of authors, and “Smith et al. (2003)” for three or more authors in constructions such as “Smith (2001) showed that?”. When the citation is parenthetical, the correct forms are “(Smith, 2001)”, “(Smith & Johnson, 2002)”, and “(Smith et al., 2003)”. More than one reference by the same author(s) in the same year must be distinguished by the letters ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, etc., placed after the year of publication in both the text citation and the reference list. Groups of references should be listed chronologically, e.g., “(Smith, 2001; Anderson et al., 2010; Jones & Johnson, 2014)”, and separated by a comma for papers by the same author but separated by a semi-colon for papers by different authors, e.g., “(Smith, 2001a, 2001b, 2013; Anderson et al., 2010)”. Papers by different authors with the same last name and same publication year need to be distinguished by adding the initials of the first author, e.g., “(Wang-C et al., 2010)” versus “(Wang-HY et al., 2010)”.

Articles accepted for publication may be included but not the manuscripts under review process, e.g., “(Sahni, in press)”. Mention year for unpublished data set received in by way of Communication, e.g., “(Sahni, personal commun, 1939)”. “(Zhang in Zhang & Walter, 1992)”, This citation identifies a portion of text written by Zhang. “(Glaessner cited in Mathur, 1988)”, This citation identifies a communication to Mathur by Glaessner.

Footnotes

Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors can build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

Figures

Organization and labelling

Figures should be organized in a logical order within a manuscript. Figures that provide context to the study (e.g., location maps, general stratigraphic columns) should come first, followed by methods figures (if any), results’ figures (e.g., showing raw data), interpretative figures (e.g., modelling or data-based), and summary figures (e.g., linking study data to other published data, or showing general relationships summarizing the findings of a study).

Ensure that each illustration has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Figures and figure captions must be grouped together at the end of the manuscript (after References and Tables) these should be high-resolution (600 dpi), publication-ready versions; in addition, authors can also (optionally) include figures within the text near the place of the first mention.

Electronic artwork 

General points

• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork. 
• Preferred fonts: Times New Roman (or Times), Arial (or Helvetica), Symbol, Courier. 
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text. 
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files. 
• Indicate per figure if it is a single, 1.5, or 2-column fitting image. 
• For Word submissions only, you may still provide figures and their captions, and tables within a single file at the revision stage. 
• Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be provided in separate source files.

Formats

Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please ‘save as’ or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below): 

EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.

TIFF (or JPG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), always use a minimum of 300 dpi. 

TIFF (or JPG): Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi. 

TIFF (or JPG): Combinations of bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.

Please do not: 

• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low. 
• Supply files that are too low in resolution. 
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content. 

Color artwork 

Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG) or MS Office files and with the correct resolution. 

Further information on the preparation of electronic artwork. 

Photo plates

The maximum area of illustration is that of the printed page in the journal, 17.5 x 23.0 cm (175 x 230 mm). The single photograph should normally use the full width of a printed page or column of text 8.5 cm (85 mm) and may be submitted unmounted.

Composite plates reproduce well only if the tones and contrasts of the prints are equally matched. These should be mounted on a clean white card sheet at the final intended size. Description of photo plates should include specimen description, catalog number, magnification, etc. Use only Arabic numerals for the individual figures of the plate such as 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc. Photographs should be mounted preferably on a white card sheet, in occasional cases black mounting card sheet may be used. The lighting arrangement should be preferably from the upper right-hand corner.

Authors are requested to use the entire page, rather than making several half-page sized plates. Palynomorphs should be illustrated at an adequate magnification, clearly showing all essential features. Individual spores, pollen grains, and other palynomorphs should not be cut out along their periphery.

Scale bars 

Because figures may be resized in the course of production please use scale bars and not magnification factors. Authors must add scale bars to all figured specimens, and place their magnification sizes and provenance (sample number) in the figure captions. 

Figure captions

Ensure that each illustration has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Tables 

Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.

End matter

Conclusions

All papers must have a Conclusions section. The Conclusions section should be written as one or (at most) two paragraphs of no more than 30 lines total, providing a concise summary of the main findings of the study. The Conclusions section should not contain citations to published literature or figures. If such citations are needed, then this material belongs in the Discussion section.

Acknowledgements

Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proofreading the article, etc.).

Data availability

If the study data are hosted in any external, publicly accessible repository, provide a statement to this effect and give the URL(s) where the data can be accessed.

References

This section should be labelled "References" and include all published sources cited in the manuscript text, figures, and tables (cross-check citations versus the reference list carefully to make sure that both are complete). Do not cite abstracts (except for ? extended abstracts?) or papers in review or preparation. Note that missing data will be highlighted at the proof stage for the author to correct.

Reference formatting

All citations in the text should refer to 

1. Single author: the author's name (there is no space between initials) and the year of publication followed by a full stop; 
2. Two authors or more authors: all authors' names (there is no space between initials) separated by a comma and the year of publication followed by a full stop.

The complete title of the paper and the Journal are given followed only by the number of the volume and page numbers with a colon in between. Use of DOI is highly encouraged.

Examples of commonly cited material follow:

Articles in Journal

Sangode SJ, Sinha R, Phartiyal B, Chauhan OS, Mazari RK, Bagati TN, Suresh N, Mishra S, Kumar R & Bhattacharjee P 2007. Environmental magnetic studies on some Quaternary sediments of varied depositional settings in the Indian subcontinent. Quaternary International 159: 102–118.

 

Bansal M, Morley RJ, Nagaraju SK, Dutta S, Mishra AK, Selveraj J, Kumar S, Niyolia D, Harish SM, Abdelrahim OB & Hasan S 2022. Southeast Asian Dipterocarp origin and diversification driven by Africa-India floristic interchange. Science 375(6579): 455-460.

Issue number is used only if each issue in a volume is paginated separately.

Article in an edited book

Phartiyal B, Singh R & Nag D 2018. Trans and Tethyan–Himalayan rivers–in reference to Ladakh and Lahaul Spiti, NW Himalaya, India. In: Singh DS(Editor)–The Indian Rivers: An Introduction for Science and Society. Springer Hydrogeology: 367–382.

Book, single author

Sinha AK 1989. Geology of Higher Central Himalaya. Wiley Interscience Publication, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, England, 236 p.

Pant DD 1962. Cycas and the Cycadales. Central Book Depot, Allahabad, 255 p.

Surange KR 1966. Indian fossil Pteridophytes. Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, New Delhi, 209 p.

Book, multiple authors

Furley PA & Newey WW 1983. Geography of the biosphere. Butterworth & Co. Ltd., London, 413 p.

Sinha AK, Sassi FP & Papanikolaou, D (Editors) 1997. Geodynamic domains in the Alpine - Himalayan Tethys. A.A. Balkema/Rotterdam/Brookfield, 441 p.

Paper in Edited Memoir

Sahni A, Venkatachala BS, Kar RK, Rajanikanth A, Prakash T, Prasad GVR & Singh RY 1996. New palynological data from the Deccan inter-trappean: implications for the latest record of dinosaurs and synchronous initiation of volcanic activity in India, p. 267-284. In: Sahni A (Editor), Cretaceous Stratigraphy and Palaeoenvironment. Memoir Geological Society of India-37.

Strother PK, Wood GD, Taylor WA & Beck JH 2004. Middle Cambrian cryptospores and the origin of land plants. In: Laurie JR & Foster CB (Editors) ‒ Palynological and micropalaeontological studies in honour of Geoffrey Playford. Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, Canberra (Memoir 29): 99–113.

Field guide

Kale VS, Patil-Pillai S, Jayaprakash AV, Pandit SA & Sawakar RH 1999. Integrated evaluation of the Kaladgi & Bhima basins. Field Guide, Geological Society of India, Bangalore 74 p.

Textbook series

Radhakrishna BP, & Vaidyanadhan K 1994. Geology of Karnataka. Geological Society of India, Bangalore, 298 p.

Geological Survey of India publications

Valdiya KS 1980. Lesser Himalayan stromatolites- their biostratigraphic implications. Geological Survey of India Miscellaneous Publications-44: 117-127.

Mathur AK, Mishra VP & Mehra S 1996. Systematic Study of plant fossils from Dagshai, Kasauli and Dharmsala formations of Himachal Pradesh. Geological Survey of India, Palaeontologia Indica, New Series 50: 121 p.

Podoinitsin VG 1978. UNESCO and the Earth Sciences. Record of the Geological Survey of India-110(2): 117-124.

Rajarajan K 1978. Geology of Sagar district and western part of Damoh District, Madhya Pradesh. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, 109: 1-99.

Papers presented at meeting/symposium/conference

Baruah RM, Datta K & Murthy MS 1996. Biofacies, lithofacies and depositional environment of sub-surface Surma sediments in Cachar area, Assam. In: Pandey J, Azmi RJ & Dave A (Editors) Contributions to XV Indian Colloquium on Micropalaeontology and Stratigraphy, Dehra Dun, 305-316.

Du R, Tian L & Hu H 1996. The characteristics and evolution of algal megafossils from the Proterozoic of China. Abstracts 30th International Geological Congress, Beijing, 1: 20.

Srinivasan TN & Gowda SS 1970. Fossil acritarchs from Bhima Series of the Gulbarga District, Mysore State, and their geological significance. In: Lakshmanan S & West WD (Editors), Proceedings of the Symposium on the Purana formations of peninsular India, Sagar, India, 149-159.

Gallego OF, Gnaedinger S, Labandeira CC, Martins Neto R & Kirsten O 2004. Permian and Triassic insect traces on fossil leaves from Uruguay and Chile. International Congress on Ichnology. Ichnia Abstract Book 1: 35.

Dissertation or thesis

Chaudhary V 1999. Dendroclimatological studies from the eastern Himalayan region. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, 123 p.

Articles in press

Currano ED, Azevedo–Schmidt LE, Maccracken SA & Swain A (in press). Scars on fossil leaves: An exploration of ecological patterns in plant-insect herbivore associations during the age of angiosperms. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

Paper(s) in preparation or under review process should not be cited in the text.

Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology

Okulitch VJ 1955. Archaeocyatha, p E1-E20. In: Moore RC (Editor), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part E, Archaeocyatha & Porifera. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.

Foreign languages articles

Provide translation or transliteration of non-Roman alphabet titles and mark the language in parenthesis.

Komar VA, Raaben ME & Semikhatov MA 1965. Konofitony Rifeya SSSR i ikh stratigraficheskoe znachenie. Tr. Geol. Inst. Akad. Nauk SSSR. 131: 72 p (in Russian).

Publications issued irregularly

Lakhanpal RN, Maheshwari HK & Awasthi N 1976. A Catalogue of Indian fossil plants. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, 318 p.

Web references

As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

Data references

This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

References in a special issue

Please ensure that the words ‘this issue’ are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material such as applications, images, and sound clips, can be published with your article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make changes to supplementary material during any stage of the process, please make sure to provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the ‘Track Changes’ option in Microsoft Office files as these will appear in the published version.

6. After Acceptance

Proofs

To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask the authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. Corresponding authors will receive an update with a submission link to our online journal system, regarding all the instructions for proofing the manuscript. The proofs must be returned as quickly as possible. It is the responsibility of the authors to read the proofs carefully and correct all errors, orientation and placement of the figures and plates. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately.

Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables, and figures. Major corrections, addition, or rewriting will not be accepted. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as the inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed.

The article will be published online after receipt of the corrected proofs. 

7. Author Inquiries

Contact the JPS Technical Support (techsupport.jps@bsip.res.in) for any queries. You can also check the status of your submitted article by logging in to JPS online portal anytime.