South African Journal of Science

The South African Journal of Science accepts articles from any source on the understanding that they are the original work of the authors named, and that they are being offered only to the South African Journal of Science.

Since the Journal serves a multidisciplinary readership, articles should serve multidisciplinary or multi-institutional areas of interest, and authors are requested to write their papers and reports in a manner and style that is intelligible to specialists and nonspecialists alike. Articles are judged by referees at the discretion of the Editor.

Various kinds and categories of article are welcome. (Please consult a recent issue of the Journal for examples.) Research communications are of three kinds: Research Letters, Research Articles, and Review Articles. Research Letters are shorter reports (normally no longer than 1 500–2 000 words of text), and should be up-to-date accounts of interesting and noteworthy scientific developments. Although these reports may be concerned with very particular advances, they should be of wider than specialist interest. Research Articles are longer papers (normally no more than 6 000 words in length). Here the criteria of intelligibility and wider interest are strictly applied. Review Articles (up to 6 000 words long) should be up-to-date surveys of important current developments in science. Preference is given to concise, reader-friendly submissions.

Enquiries: Potential contributors are invited, before formal submission, to enquire (preferably by e-mail) whether or not a particular article would be of interest, or to obtain advice about the way in which a manuscript should be prepared for submission.

Covering letter: When submitting a manuscript, authors should furnish a separate covering letter with the following information: the name(s) and title(s) of the author(s); the position, affiliation, and contact details of each author; and the author to whom all correspondence should be addressed. In addition, authors are encouraged to provide the names and full contact details (including e-mail addresses) of 2 or 3 potential referees to evaluate the work. The covering letter should also indicate briefly the significance of the work being reported. It should include a declaration that the research material in the paper submitted to the Journal has neither been published elsewhere nor is being considered elsewhere for publication. It should also include a paragraph summarising briefly the nature of the contribution made by each of the authors listed, along the lines of the following example:

Authors' contributions: J.K. was the project leader. L.M.N. and A.B. were responsible for experimental and project design. L.M.N. performed most of the experiments. P.R. made conceptual contributions and S.T., U.V. and C.D. performed some of the experiments. S.M. and V.C. prepared the samples and calculations were performed by C.S. J.K. and U.V. wrote the manuscript.

Finally, the corresponding author should confirm that each named author has read and approved the manuscript submitted for consideration.

Electronic format: Manuscripts for consideration should be submitted in Microsoft Word electronic format (as an e-mail attachment) to sajs@assaf.org.za.

Manuscripts should use double spacing, and Arial/Swiss/Helvetica or Times Roman fonts, with each page clearly numbered. (Contributors should keep presentation consistent and simple, and avoid using a range of type styles and sizes, special fonts, or elaborate formatting.) The first line of each paragraph should be indented. Tables and figures should be presented on a separate page at the end, and captions should be presented together (on one or more pages) separate from other material. Tables and figures (including photographs) should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals.

The opening paragraph of each research paper should make clear the purpose and main conclusions of the work being reported. All submissions should be concise and reader-friendly, take proper account of previous relevant literature, and avoid undue repetition of facts or experimental methods already in the public record. A short abstract (up to 200 words), written concisely in simple words and phrases, must accompany each research article and letter.

Authors submitting a paper for consideration should consult the notes below as well as a recent issue of the Journal, and note and follow the house style of presentation.

Abbreviations should be used sparingly, and should be defined at their first use unless they are very familiar (e.g. DNA, E. coli). The significance of statistical tests should be written in the form P < 0.001, or ‘n.s.’ for ‘not significant’. ‘Degrees of freedom’ is abbreviated as ‘d.f.’; ‘standard error’ is abbreviated as ‘s.e.’ (and ‘standard error of the mean’ as ‘s.e.m.’); ‘coefficient of variation’ is abbreviated as ‘CV’.

Units should conform to the SI convention and be abbreviated accordingly. Metric units and their international symbols are used throughout, as is the decimal point (not the decimal comma), and the 24-hour clock (e.g. 08:00; 17:25). When radiocarbon dates are quoted they should be accompanied by a laboratory index number and a statement of probable error. Prefixes for mass numbers should precede the symbols of the elements (e.g. ¹⁴C).

Spacing and punctuation: There should be one space (not two) between sentences; one space before unit terms (e.g. 5 kg, 5 cm, 5 mmol, 5 days); no space before % or ° (e.g. 5%, 23°C, 26°10’S). Thousands/millions are marked with a space, not a comma (e.g. 1 000, 1 000 000). Ranges are expressed with an extended hyphen, not with a short hyphen (e.g. 3–5 km).

Dates, italics, and spelling: Dates are written in the following style: 13 July 1973. Phrases within the text that are not English (for example, et al.) should be italicised. The British (not the American) spelling convention is followed.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, layout, and presentation of their references, and for compiling the typescript in the Journal's house style. Footnotes and acknowledgements should not be included among the references. ‘Personal communication’, ‘unpublished observations’, and ‘manuscript in preparation’ should be incorporated in the text. Papers accepted for publication in a (named) journal may be cited, but not those merely submitted for publication.

References to the literature must be indicated by numeric superscripts within the text, and listed at the end of the manuscript in order of citation. References should not be set as footnotes or endnotes as defined in MS Word.

Articles in periodicals are cited by full title and inclusive pagination. Titles of periodicals are abbreviated in accordance with the World List of Scientific Periodicals. References provided in manuscript submissions should be presented, formatted, and punctuated in the style of the following example:

1. Freiman M.T., D'Abreton P.C. and Piketh S.J. (1998). Regional airflow over the southern Drakensberg mountains of South Africa. S. Afr. J. Sci. 94, 561-565.

References to quotations, chapters or articles in books should follow the style of the following examples:

2. Lovegrove B. (1999). In The Living Deserts of Southern Africa, chap. 1, pp. 40-41. Fernwood Press, Cape Town.

3. Mason S.J. and Tyson P.D. (1999). The occurrence and predictability of droughts over southern Africa. In Drought, a Global Assessment, vol. 1, ed. D.A. Wilhite, pp. 113-134. Routledge, London.

4. De Villiers C. and Visser W. (1998). Survey of Environmental Reporting in SA, 5th edn, p. 93. KPMG, Cape Town.

References to published conference papers should provide details as follows:

5. Moll E.J. (1994). The origin and distribution of fairy rings in Namibia. In Proc. 13th Plenary Meeting AETFAT, Zomba, Malawi, eds J.H. Seyani and A.C. Chikuni, pp. 1203-1209. National Herbarium and Botanic Gardens of Malawi, Zomba.

6. Singo N.M. (1996). A survey of the indigenous relishes of the Vhavenda and their agricultural potential, pp. 25-26. M.Sc. thesis, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

7. Kirk P. (2001). New AIDS battle looms. Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg), 11-17 May, 4.

8.Department of Trade and Industry (2007). National Industrial Policy Framework. Pretoria. Online at: www.thedti.gov.za/nipf/NIPF_r2.pdf

9. Statistics South Africa (2007). Gross Domestic Product; First Quarter 2007. Statistical Release P0441, Pretoria. Online from: www.statssa.gov.za

New printing technology requires updated specifications for preparing diagrams, tables, graphs, and other visual material for reproduction in the Journal. Authors should pay special attention to the details below (and to enquire about special needs as necessary).

Artwork may be supplied in electronic format. Corel-DRAW (version 8, 9, or 10) is ideal for printing purposes (but line thickness should be set by the operator, as defaults are often too fine for reduction). If Excel diagrams are submitted, each must be placed on a separate page in Microsoft Word. Black-and-white line drawings should ideally be supplied at 1 200 dpi (but no less than 600 dpi). Authors must specify in which programme diagrams have been drawn.
Photographs and artwork in colour must be supplied at high resolution (at least 300 dpi) for good quality reproduction, as separate files, in TIF (preferably) or JPEG format.
No illustrations saved in the native formats of specialised statistical packages should be submitted.
No specialised fonts should be used in labelling. Use Arial or Helvetica. (If a specialised font is unavoidable in material sent electronically, supply the font itself as well, in TrueType or in PostScript Type 1 format.)

If an author is unable to supply artwork in the appropriate form, and additional Journal time is needed to modify diagrams for publication, that time will be charged to the author (fees are available on enquiry).

Colour reproduction: Colour printing is expensive and should be used only when essential. The additional cost involved will be charged to the author (details available on enquiry).

Final accepted and updated manuscripts must be submitted in Microsoft Word. Figure captions and tables should not be incorporated in the main text but set out on separate pages. A covering letter must confirm that the final manuscript has been approved by all the cited authors.

Authors will receive provisional page proofs electronically as PDF files; these must be returned promptly to the Editor (within 48h) to avoid delays in publication. Substantial changes made at proof stage will be charged to the author.

Strict adherence to these guidelines and authorial conformity to the Journal’s house style streamline the processing of manuscripts, expedite publication, and enable the South African Journal of Science to continue publishing research papers without charging page fees.

This set of guidelines is available on www.sajs.co.za or from the Editor (on request).

Electronic submissions to be sent by e-mail to sajs@assaf.org.za . Manuscripts for consideration also can be sent by post to the Editor, South African Journal of Science, P.O. Box 72135, Lynnwood Ridge, 0040, South Africa.