Submissions

Author Guidelines

OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE

Acta Botanica Mexicana accepts original and unpublished works in all areas of botany, including floristics, taxonomy, taxa new to science, ecology, ethnobotany, paleontology, evolution, conservation, etc.

From 2019 it is published continuously, without pre-established periodicity, in electronic format and without any costs.

Every article submitted for publication must be sent through the online submission system.

Acta Botanica Mexicana is a publication funded by the Instituto de Ecología, A.C. and is edited in the Centro Regional del Bajío of this institution. The journal publishes only in digital format and publishing is free of charge for the authors.

LANGUAGES

Both Spanish and English (British or American, ensuring that the use of either is consistent throughout the manuscript) contributions are welcome. The authors whose mother tongue is not one of these languages are recommended to request the support of colleagues familiar with the field of research and fluency in that language (preferably a native speaker) with language correction in the manuscript before submission. A manuscript may be returned to the author without review if the language is not of an acceptable level.

MANUSCRIPT TYPES

Types of Files for the Manuscript

Based on their length and content, four manuscript categories are considered:

1. Research article: a contribution based on an original and unpublished study, generally eight or more formatted pages.
2. Scientific note: we accept short manuscripts of less than eight already formatted pages on the following topics:
   
   • Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes.
   • Comments or additions/corrections of manuscripts previously published in Acta Botanica Mexicana.
   • Short articles converted from manuscripts submitted as research articles, but too short to qualify as such.
   • Obituaries of botanists.
3. Reviews on specific topics are also accepted, albeit limited, since Acta Botanica Mexicana focuses on publishing original studies. These manuscripts should not only consist of a literature study, but also include analysis or observations that have not been previously published, based on extensive knowledge of the authors on the subject.
4. Book reviews intended to introduce readers to new publications which are significant for botany in Mexico.

Authors interested in submitting an obituary, a review article or a book review, please contact the editor (acta.botanica@inecol.mx) before preparing your manuscript.

No work that can be integrated as one entity, but which is presented in the form of several small contributions or numbered notes, will be accepted. Preliminary or inconclusive contributions that are feasible to finish in a medium or short-term period also will not be accepted.

Acta Botanica Mexicana will not further receive submissions of articles and notes with new records for states/provinces/departments, when these species are already known from other states/provinces/departments of the same country. We will only receive new records at country level. We continue to receive manuscripts with new species and taxonomic revisions.

Types of Files for Open Data (Maximum 2 GB)

- Statistical Analyses: Recommended formats: R (.r, .r data), SPSS (.dat/.sps), STATA (.dat/.do). Not recommended (but accepted): SPSS (.por/.sav).

- Compressed Files: Recommended format: .zip. Not recommended (but accepted): .rar.

- Tabular Data: Recommended formats: comma-separated values (.csv), text files (.txt). Not recommended (but accepted): Excel (.xlsx).

- Text Data: Recommended formats: text file (.txt), OpenOffice (.odt, .ods, .odp), PDF (.pdf). Not recommended (but accepted): Word (.doc, .docx).

Refer to the research data preparation guide: https://wp.scielo.org/wp-content/uploads/Guia_preparacao_en.pdf

ETHICAL CRITERIA

The authors should observe the highest standards regarding publication ethics. Ethical misconduct cases will be resolved in accordance with the guidelines of COPE. The editor may inspect for plagiarism at any time after receiving the manuscript.

The corresponding author, by submitting a manuscript, agrees that 1) the work is original and unpublished, free of plagiarism, has not been published and is not under consideration for publication in another journal, 2) all authors agree with publication in the journal Acta Botanica Mexicana, 3) all who contributed important ideas and work have been properly recognized or included as co-authors, 4) all addresses and institutional affiliations are complete and correct, 5) all national laws concerning research have been met, 6) funding sources and conflicts of interest have been duly recognized and 7) the authors have been authorized by employers, individuals or companies that have intellectual property or copyright and financial sources, among others, to publish all parts of the manuscript. An article of which is subsequently discovered that it does not meet these criteria may be withdrawn or, at the discretion of the journal, a correction may be published.

COPYRIGHT

The corresponding author will receive, together with the page proofs of his manuscript, a document which has to be signed, authorizing Acta Botanica Mexicana to reproduce the article in all media (print, digital, social networks, etc.). In the same document, the journal allows the author(s) the use of the article content in future work, provided that their publication in this journal is duly recognized.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

All manuscripts must be submitted through the online submission system (http://abm.ojs.inecol.mx/).

Please follow the instructions in detail and check whether your manuscript has been prepared in accordance with the style and format of the journal.

To expedite the review process, please send along with your manuscript a letter to the Editor using this format, in which manuscript titles in Spanish and English are indicated, whether it concerns a new manuscript or a revised version, the short title in the language in which the manuscript is written, the names of all authors in the order of appearance, their affiliations and ORCID iDs (http://orcid.org), contributions of authors and acknowledgments that include names of people and institutions, relevance and/or expected impact of the study (maximum 100 words), and the names and email addresses of possible reviewers, affiliated to an institution different from the affiliation of the authors. If it concerns a revised version, include a rebuttal letter, indicating how each comment has been addressed. You need to send your original letter to start the editorial process.

Please submit your manuscript in our submission system as the main document in step 2 of the submission process and other files, starting with the letter to the Editor, in step 4.

By submitting the manuscript to the review process of the journal, the authors agree to accept the editorial standards. The date of receipt shall be the version that meets the requirements indicated in the instructions for authors who wish to publish in Acta Botanica Mexicana. All work rejected for publication will not be accepted afterwards.

REVIEW PROCESS

At first instance, the Editorial Committee will consider the content and presentation of the received contributions, to determine whether they are appropriate for Acta Botanica Mexicana and if they meet the editorial standards. The editor will decide to which reviewers the manuscript will be sent. This journal invites minimum two reviewers for each manuscript and applies the double blind system. We ask referees to send their review within three weeks. The final decision on acceptance or rejection of a manuscript corresponds to the editor, based on the opinions of the reviewers.

Authors can track the status of their manuscript in the online submission system.

In general, we ask the authors to send their new versions in a period no longer than two weeks. A manuscript may be removed from the editorial process if the authors do not respect the delivery dates of their new versions without prior notice. Each manuscript will be submitted to a maximum of three rounds of review, where the authors have the obligation to address each of the reviewers' comments. If the opinion is not favorable or the reviewers' observations are not duly addressed, the manuscript will be refused.

For manuscripts submitted in 2017, the average time between submission by the authors and the first editorial decision was four weeks.

ENSURING A BLIND PEER REVIEW

To ensure the integrity of the blind peer-review for submission to this journal, every effort should be made to prevent the identities of the authors and reviewers from being known to each other. This involves the authors, editors, and reviewers (who upload documents as part of their review) checking to see if the following steps have been taken with regard to the text and the file properties:

1. The authors of the document have deleted their names from the text, as well as their adscriptions, author contributions (see below) and acknowledgments that include names of people and institutions. That is to say, all the information by which the reviewers could deduce who the authors are should be eliminated.
2. With Microsoft Office documents, author identification should also be removed from the properties for the file (see manual) .

• For Microsoft 2003 and previous versions, and Macintosh versions of Word:
• Under the File menu select: Save As > Tools (or Options with a Mac) > Security > Remove personal information from file properties on save > Save.
• For MacIntosh Word 2008 (and future versions)
• Under the File menu select “Properties.”
• Under the Summary tab remove all of the identifying information from all of the fields.
• Save the File.
• For Microsoft 2007 (Windows):
• Click on the office button in the upper-left hand corner of the office application.
• Select “Prepare” from the menu options.
• Select “Properties” for the “Prepare” menu options.
• Delete all of the information in the document property fields that appear under the main menu options.
• Save the document and close the document property field section.
• For Microsoft 2010 (Windows):
• Under the File menu select “Prepare for sharing.”
• Click on the “Check for issues” icon.
• Click on “inspect document” icon.
• Uncheck all of the checkboxes except “Document Properties and Personal information”.
• Run the document inspector, which will then do a search of the document properties and indicated if any document property fields contain any information.
• If the document inspector finds that some of the document properties contain information it will notify you and give you the option to “Remove all,” which you will click to remove the document properties and personal information from the document.
• For PDF files:
• With PDFs, the authors’ names should also be removed from Document Properties found under File on Adobe Acrobat’s main menu.

PRODUCTION AND PUBLICATION OF THE JOURNAL

Since 2017 Acta Botanica Mexicana publishes in digital format only and publishing articles will have no cost. Published papers can be download from the journal page whithout charge.

Galley proofs will be sent to the corresponding author as a PDF file. A fast review of these is expected, indicating the pages and lines where corrections need to be done. Substantial changes are not allowed at this stage.

Acta Botanica Mexicana is an Open Access journal, using the license Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License (CC BY-NC 4.0 International). To ensure that the articles published in this journal have a prompt and broad dissemination, authors can distribute the PDF file of their contribution in a free and responsible manner and deposit it in Open Access institutional digital repositories.

Additional information can be obtained by writing at acta.botanica@inecol.mx

GENERAL INFORMATION

All contributions must comply with the following instructions. A careful reading of them is recommended, as the editor may return the manuscript to the author if the instructions have not been applied correctly.

Classification. Authors should use the most recent classifications for different taxa.

Angiosperms: Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. 2016. An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 181: 1-20. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/boj.12385

Gymnosperms: Christenhusz, M. J. M., J. L. Reveal, A. Farjon, M. F. Gardner, R. R. Mill y M. W. Chase. 2011. A new classification and linear sequence of extant gymnosperms. Phytotaxa 19: 55-70.

http://mapress.com/phytotaxa/content/2011/f/pt00019p070.pdf

Ferns and lycophytes: PPG I. 2016. A community-derived classification for extant lycophytes and ferns. Journal of Systematics and Evolution 54(6): 563-603. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.12229

Mosses: http://bryology.uconn.edu/classification/

Anthocerotophyta: http://bryology.uconn.edu/classification-hornworts/

Algae: www.algaebase.org

Fungi: http://www.speciesfungorum.org/names/fundic.asp

Italics. It is mandatory to use italics for generic names and all ranges below this level, as well as the names and numbers of collectors of the specimens examined. Italics is not used for names of taxa above generic level.

Identification. It is important to identify all taxa studied to species level. In a list of species of many orders and families it is acceptable to have a small percentage of taxa identified only to genus level, enumerating those belonging to the same genus as sp. 1, sp. 2. It is not acceptable to identify to family level only.

Taxon author names. The names of the authors of taxa strictly follow IPNI, including abbreviations. It must be ensured that, in case of new authors, there is no duplication of names that have been used by other authors. The names of the authors of a taxon are mentioned only once in the text, where the taxon names appear for the first time. If the manuscript includes tables, figures or appendices with scientific names, author names should also be mentioned there.

Exclamation mark “!” is used after the herbarium acronym to indicate that this specimen was seen by the author.

Multiplication sign “×” should not be confused with the letter x. It should always be used in hybrid taxa (e.g. Arbutus mollis × A. tessellata), and length and width measurements (e.g. of leaves or petals: “leaves 6-12.7 × 2.3-4.5 cm”).

Symbols. Special symbols can be used, but the author needs to carefully review them in the galley proofs, as they may be altered due to the incompatibility of files.

Equations. Equations can be inserted with symbols directly in the document, in Mathtype or as image. The meaning of the terms used in equations should be explained when they first appear.

Abbreviations. Certain words are standardized, e.g., ca. = circa, m = meter, cm = centimeter, dbh = diameter at breast height, sp. nov. = new species, comb. nov. = new combination, gen. nov. = new genus, subsp. = subspecies, sect. = section, pers. comm. = personal communication, etc. Herbarium acronyms follow Index Herbariorum. Abbreviations of generic names and personal names should never be used at the beginning of a sentence.

Numbers. Numbers up to and including ten should be written with letters, unless they are measurements. All numbers above ten should be written with numerals except at the start of a sentence.

Metric units. It is mandatory to use metric units.

Equipment and machines. In addition to its name and brand, mention the company as well as the city and country in which it is located.

Identification keys. The identification keys have to be dichotomous, with opposed pairs in order to facilitate distinguishing between taxa. Taxon authorities are included. Present the keys as follows, using the letter tabs between the number and the text of the key, and use a space between it and the points at the end:

 

1a. Climbing shrubs, or less often erect or hemicryptophytic shrubs; stipules minute to foliaceous; tendrils paired at base of inflorescence rachis ...... Juncus nodosus L.

1b. Trees or erect shrubs; stipules and tendrils wanting ...... 2

2a. Leaves pinnately compound ...... Juncus chiapasensis Balslev

2b. Leaves trifoliolate, unifoliolate or simple ...... Juncus debilis A. Gray

 

Depositing herbarium specimens, GenBank and MycoBank numbers, collection permits. It is required that authors of new taxa deposit type specimens in national or foreign public herbaria, preferably those mentioned in Index Herbariorum. Some countries (e.g., Brazil, Peru) request that the holotype is deposited in collections in the country of origin; the authors are advised to take this into consideration.

It is suggested to apply for registration numbers for sequences deposited in GenBankin advance of the manuscript submission to avoid unnecessary delays in publication. MycoBank numbers should be provided for fungi.

New names of fungi. For a manuscript with new scientific names of fungi (including lichens), it is recommended that authors deposit their names in one of the repositories recognized by the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi (e.g., MycoBank) and obtain an identifier for each new name (that is, the name of a new taxon, new combination, new name in a different taxonomic rank or replacement name). These indicators must be inserted in the final version immediately after the name.

PRESENTATION OF THE MANUSCRIPT

To expedite the review process, please submit your manuscript in Times New Roman in .doc format compatible with Microsoft Word, with page and line numbers and double line spacing, as follows.

Starting with the introduction, the first line of each paragraph starts with an indent of 1.25.

On the first page: title, authors and affiliations, and short title. The title is written in two languages, Spanish and English. The short title is presented in the language in which the manuscript is written and must contain essential information about the study (e.g., taxon or region studied, state, country).

Title

The title should be concise and informative, and reflect the content of the article. In the case of scientific names of species, these must be in italics. It does not contain the names of taxon authors. The names of botanical families should always be included. Higher taxa treated in the manuscript are presented in between brackets, e.g.: Brongniartia herbacea (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae), a new species of Michoacán, Mexico.

The title is included in both languages (Spanish and English), first in the original language, on the next line in the other language. Both titles should be in bold type, font size 14, centered.

Names and author affiliations

The full name of the author(s), aligned to the left, each in a separate paragraph and font size 12, followed by your ORCID registration number. In case of more than one author with a superscript indicating the number corresponding to each address.

The affiliation(s) must be placed below the group of authors. Each must be in a separate paragraph and font size 12. At the beginning of each affiliation must be a superscript number that relates to one or more authors. In case of having two directions, first mention the institution where the research was conducted. The rules of the institutions where the authors work must be followed.

The corresponding author is specified with the last number in superscript and email with the caption “Author for correspondence:” This information should be aligned to the left, font size 12.

Attention: please only mention this information in the manuscript once it will not be sent to review anymore, so certainly not in the first version.

Abstract/Resumen

The abstract is presented first in English and then in Spanish (Resumen) if the text is in English or vice versa if the manuscript is written in Spanish. The content of both abstracts should match completely. The words “Abstract:” / “Resumen:” should be in bold, followed by a colon, aligned to the left, font size 12. The abstract text should begin in the next paragraph, font size 12 and justified. The Spanish abstract must be corrected for changes in the English one during the review process. The abstract should cover the content of the document concisely, be clear and informative and contain a maximum of 300 words.

Both texts should be structured and include the following information in this order: objective(s), design / methodology / approach, results / findings, limitations / implications, originality / value, findings / conclusions in the following paragraphs:

“Background and Aims:” / “Antecedentes y Objetivos:” – “Methods:” / “Métodos:” – Key results:” / “Resultados clave:” – “Conclusions:” / “Conclusiones:”. Each section title should be in bold, followed by a colon. The text of each summary section should be placed in different paragraphs.

The total number of new names and nomenclatural decisions proposed in the article should be mentioned. Taxon authors nor references are included. Information not present in the text should not be mentioned.

Check numerical data to ensure that they coincide with what is presented in tables and figures and the results paragraph.

Key words/Palabras clave

A maximum of six key words are indicated (these may be compound words) for abstracts in both English and Spanish. It is recommended not to include words that are already in the title, they are sorted alphabetically and separated by commas, ending with a full stop. The Key words should be placed after the Abstract and the “Palabras clave” following the “Resumen”, all in font size 12. The text “Key words:” and “Palabras clave:” should be in bold followed by a colon.

The Key words / Palabras clave allow for classification of the manuscript in indexes of scientific literature and locating it with search engines on the internet.

Introduction

The introduction should place the study in a broader context and must provide recent or historical relevant background. In addition, the importance of the subject is defined, the research is justified and the hypothesis is supported. The introduction ends with the enumeration of the objectives of the study.

Materials and Methods

The author should provide full information about materials and methods used to ensure the study is replicable and, where appropriate, data about variables and statistical analysis in a concise way. Herbaria consulted should be listed here. A description of the study area can also be mentioned here. Fieldwork should be highlighted. Floras and other taxonomic works consulted to identify plant material that has been collected during the study should also be cited.

Results

This section should only present the results of the study. Do not mix with the discussion. Combining the results and discussion sections is only acceptable in short articles and taxonomic contributions without analysis. Present the results in accordance with the objectives. Avoid repeating information in the text of this paragraph with the one presented in tables and figures. This section should include the taxonomic part in such studies (see below).

Discussion

Discuss your results and place them in the context of the introduction, hypothesis, previous studies, etc. At the end the scientific contribution should be indicated (What can we learn from this study and how may the results help understand the questions posed in the introduction?). It is useful for other researchers to indicate which additional studies may be needed in the future. If the discussion is long, it is desirable to place the text where the scientific contribution is summarized and possible future studies are outlined in a separate section at the end, named conclusions.

Style of sections, subsections and text body

Section titles: font size 16, centered, in bold, with the first letter capitalized.

Titles of subsections: font size 14, centered, in bold, with the first letter capitalized. When there are subsections of subsection, font size 13, bold and centered.

Body text: font size 12, justified.

Taxonomy

This section is mentioned in the case of taxonomic contributions. Start with the name of each taxon in bold and italics, followed by the abbreviated name of the author (according to IPNI), ending with the title of publication, issue number, page and year. Mention taxa in alphabetical order. In case of new taxa and new nomenclatural statuses, the correct name and designation follow after the taxon name, e.g., comb. nov., nom. nov., spec. nov., stat. nov., etc. In both cases, the relevant figures are referred to at the end.

Examples:

Brongniartia herbacea R. Grether & Rzed., sp. nov. Fig. 1.

Paspalum alcalinum Mez, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 15: 75. 1917. Fig. 1A.

All new taxa must be accompanied by a short diagnosis in English or Latin. If you prefer Latin, make sure the language is used correctly. Reviewers generally do not correct diagnosis in Latin.

A specimen should be designated as a nomenclatural type in the case of new taxa (following the latest edition of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants) and the holotype must have been revised by the author (or authors) of the species. It is suggested that, whenever possible, the holotype is deposited in the country of origin and that two or more isotypes are distributed to major herbaria where copies will be available for public study. The type information is mentioned immediately after the diagnosis.

When it is mentioned where a lectotype was designated, please write only author and date, the bibliographical reference should be in the literature cited.

In the information of types, lectotypes, etc. the acronym of the herbarium should be followed by a hyphen without spaces and an exclamation mark at the end, if this is the case. Example: P-P00679623!

The order of the information is: TYPE: COUNTRY. State, municipality, locality, altitude, coordinates (if they are available), habitat, date of collection [day.month in roman numerals.year], collectors[initials of the first name(s) and full last name(s)] and collection number (holotype: [acronym of the herbarium where it is deposited], isotypes: [preferably acronyms of the herbaria where they are deposited, or if not possible “to be distributed”]). The here proposed punctuation should be strictly followed.

Example:

TYPE: MEXICO. Oaxaca, district of Juxtlahuaca, municipality of Coicoyán, Nami Ndoso Itia, SW of Coicoyán, humid forest near waterfall, 2400 m, 17°15'N, 98°18'W, 16.III.1988, A. de Ávila Blomberg 228 (holotype: MEXU!, isotype: NY!).

In taxonomic revisions, it is necessary to mention the same information after the general information of each taxon.

Example:

Paspalum malacophyllum Trin., Sp. Gram. 3(23): f. 271. 1836. Fig. 1U.

TYPE: BRASIL. Cuiabá, Chapada, 1829, G. H. von Langsdorff s.n. (holotype: LE!, isotypes: K!, LE!, SI, US-2764383).

In the case of synonyms, it is necessary to distinguish between homotypic and heterotypic synonyms with the symbols ≡ and =, respectively and in chronological order.

Example:

Paspalum subg. anachyris Chase, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 24: 435. 1927. TYPE: Paspalum malacophyllum Trin.

= Anachyris Nees, Hooker’s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 2: 103. 1850. TYPE: A. paspaloides Nees.

≡ Paspalum subsect. Anachyris (Nees) Benth., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 19: 36. 1881; Benth. & Hook., Gen. Pl. 3: 1097. 1883.

≡ Paspalum sect. Anachyris (Nees) Pilger, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 26: 229. 1929.

≡ Paspalum grupo Malacophylla Chase, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 28: 228. 1929.

Consult databases like Tropicos or IPNI and the The Plant List to avoid the use of synonyms as valid names, especially in the case of floristic lists.

Morphological descriptions should be organized describing the plants from the base to the top up and from the outer to the inner parts. If descriptions of taxa belonging to the same group are provided, it is important that they are homogeneous and contain exactly the same information and units of measurement. Example: Species A. obovate petals, 7-10 cm long, Species B. oblong petals, 11-15 cm long; or, Species A. obovate petals, 0.7-0.1 mm long, Species B. Petals oblong, 0.11-0.15 mm long. Within the descriptions the parts of the units of each structure are separated by commas and each structure by a semicolon. There is only one full stop. Remove the preposition "from" before the measurements. Example: shrubs, hermaphrodites, from 1.5 m high; brown stems; leaves with petioles, from 4-6 cm long .... Reduce the use of articles in taxonomic descriptions (from, to, the) to the necessary minimum.

Additional data such as distribution, ecology, etymology, uses, taxonomic notes, conservation, etc. are presented in separate sections following the description.

The vegetation types should be written in lowercase. Example: mountain mesophile forest, although BMM is abbreviated. Types of vegetation and altitude: Forests of Quercus, Pinus, Pinus-Quercus, tropical deciduous and secondary vegetation; 200-1550 m altitude.

After two points, unless it is a proper name, words are always lowercase. Example: Phenology: blooms and fructifies from August to November.

The additional material examined is mentioned in a separate paragraph with the same kind of information as the type. Specimens should be ordered according to states and municipalities to reduce the length of this section. If there is more than one collection in the same municipality, they are sorted by the last name of collector (in alphabetical order if there are more than one number by the same collector), using a semicolon between collections and a full stop after the last collection of the municipality. Each collection number must have its acronym of the herbarium.

When coordinates are available, use the correct symbols, e.g.: 17°12'41.52"N, 92°57'50.61"W. Coordinates in decimal format may also be used. You must use the same format of coordinates within a single manuscript.

Author contributions

This section is mandatory for all manuscripts, including those of individual authors, and is located immediately after the main text of the manuscript.

This statement should describe the contributions of individual authors and, in doing so, all authors agree to be responsible for the content of the work. Please list two or three initials of each author, without points, but separated by commas (e.g., JC, JSA). In the case of two authors with the same initials, please use the initial of their middle name to differentiate between them (e.g., JAHH, JMHH).

In determining the authorship of the manuscript, please observe the following criteria:

• Substantial contributions to conception and design of the study; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data for the study; AND
• Drafting of work or critical review of its intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be responsible for all aspects of the work to ensure that issues relating to the accuracy or completeness of any of the work are properly investigated and resolved.

Cooperation partners who do not meet all the criteria defined for authorship should not appear as authors, but must be recognized in the acknowledgements.

Example:

AB, CD and EF conceived and designed the study. AB performed the analyzes. CD, EF, GH and IJ contributed to data acquisition and interpretation. AB wrote the manuscript with the help of CD and EF. All authors contributed to the discussion, review and approval of the final manuscript.

Funding

Details of all funding sources of the study should be given in a separate section that appears after the author contributions section and before the acknowledgements.

The following rules should be followed:

The sentence begins with the words: “This study was supported by ...”.

The full official name of the funding agency should be given, e.g., National Council of Science and Technology.

Numbers of scholarships and projects must be complete and accurate and provided in brackets as follows: “(scholarship / project number XXXXXXX)”, separating different numbers with a comma: “(scholarship / project numbers XXXXXXX, YYYYYYY) “.

If you need to specify to whom projects or scholarships were awarded, this should be placed after the agency or the number in question “to [initials of the author]”.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements should be placed after the funding section. It is recommended to mention collection permits, herbarium curators, field assistants, etc. It is not necessary to indicate the degree of people.

Data Availability Statement

The dataset supporting the results of this study was submitted to SciELO Data and can be accessed at (DOI).

Literature cited

Acta Botanica Mexicana follows the Harvard citation system. It is recommended to use the existing tools and / or citation programs in the databases and national and international indexes to ensure the correspondence of citations vs references as well as their correct writing.

All literature cited in the text should be included here and all references mentioned in this section must be present in the text. Please check this carefully before submitting the manuscript because these errors are common.

References should be in alphabetical order without paragraph break, aligned left, in font size 12.

The references in the text consist of the author’s surname and the year separated by a comma. If several references are cited, each one is separated by a semicolon and they are arranged in chronological order. When authors with the same year are inserted followed by other authors, commas are used to separate the years and semicolons to separate the authors. When authors with a different year are inserted and there are not followed by other authors, a semicolon is used to separate the authors.

Examples:

(González-Medrano, 1996, 2004; Huerta-Martínez and García-Moya, 2004; Rankin et al., 2007)

(Abd, 2000; Gallego, 2003; Rankin et al., 2007)

(Briones y Villarreal, 2001; Alanís et al., 2008; Ugalde et al., 2008; Canizales et al., 2009; Jiménez-Pérez et al., 2009; Jiménez-Pérez et al., 2013)

Watson, 1887, 1923; Rose, 1897, 1905; Hochreutiner, 1914; Lay, 1949, 1950 / Watson, 1887; 1923

Please include the DOI number for publications that have it. This facilitates linking to documents with online versions.

Institutions and organizations

For authors who are institutions or organizations, their abbreviated name is considered as author.

Some cases:

Abbreviated name of the institution. Year of publication. Map type. Scale. Code. Publishing institution. Country. Date consulted if it concerns a web page.

Abbreviated name of the institution. Year of publication. Document title. publishing institution. Country. Total number of pages or pages consulted. Date consulted if it concerns a web page, followed by the internet address.

Examples:

INEGI. 1991. Carta topográfica. 1:50000. Zacualtipán FI4D62. Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática. México.

SEMARNAT. 1998. Estadística de autorizaciones y evolución del volumen y valor de la producción forestal (1990-1997) municipios de La Paz y Comondú. Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Pesca (SEMARNAT) Baja California Sur. México. 9 pp.

Official rules (Mexico)

These should be cited as specified by the following web page: http://www.dof.gob.mx/index.php except the following frequent reference:

SEMARNAT. 2010. NORMA Oficial Mexicana NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010. Protección ambiental-Especies nativas de México de flora y fauna silvestres-Categorías de riesgo y especificaciones para su inclusión, exclusión o cambio- Lista de especies en riesgo. Secretaría del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales. Diario Oficial de la Federación. Cd. Mx., México. http://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?cod igo=5173091&fecha=30/12/2010.

 

Articles in periodic and non-periodic serial publications (including floras)

• One author

Last name(s), initials of the first name(s). Year. Article title. Name of the journal. Volume(number): pages.

Example:

Suárez-Ramos, A. R. 1982. Resin canals in the bark of Bursera copallifera and Bursera grandifolia. Boletín de la Sociedad Botánica de México 42: 41-54.

• Two authors

Last name(s) of the first author, initials of the first name(s) of the first author. and Initials of the first name(s) of the second author. Last name(s) of the second author. Year. Article title. Name of the journal. Volume(number): pages.

Example:

Huerta-Martínez, F. and E. García-Moya. 2004. Diversidad de especies perennes y su relación con el ambiente en un área semiárida del centro de México: implicaciones para la conservación. Interciencia 29: 435-444.

• More than two authors

Last name(s) of the first author, initials of the first name(s) of the first author., Initials of the first name(s) of the second author. Last name(s) of the second author. and Initials of the first name(s) of the third author. Last name(s) of the third author. Year. Article title. Name of the journal. Volume(number): pages.

Examples:

Suárez-Ramos, G., E. M. Engleman and V. M. Toledo. 1982. Resin canals in the bark of Bursera copallifera and Bursera grandifolia. Boletín de la Sociedad Botánica de México 42: 41-54.

Jiménez-Pérez, J., E. Alanís, M. A. González, O. A. Aguirre and E. J. Treviño. 2013. Characterizing woody species regeneration in areas with different land history tenure in the Tamaulipan thornscrub, Mexico. Southwestern Naturalist 58(3): 299-304.

The conjunction that separates the last author from the previous must be in the language of the article that quotes it, not in the language of the reference. So that if an article is in English even if the reference is in Spanish "and" must be used in the text.

The country in the case of non-recurrent publications should be in the language of the reference and not in the language of the article that cites it. So that if an article is written in Spanish but the reference is in English the country should be written in English (example: UK and not Inglaterra).

Book chapter

• One author

Last name of the chapter author, Initials of the first name(s) of the chapter author. Year. Chapter title. In: Last name(s) of the editor, Initials of the first name(s) of the editor. (ed.). Book title. Publisher. City, Country. Pp. x-x.

Example:

Jeffrey, C. 1990. Cucurbitaceae. In: Murillo, G. (ed.). Flora de Venezuela. Fondo Editorial Acta Científica Venezolana. Caracas, Venezuela. Pp. 449-463.

• Two or more authors/ two or more editors

Last name of the chapter first author, Initials of the first name(s) of the chapter first author. and Last name of the chapter second author, Initials of the first name(s) of the chapter second author. Year. Chapter title. In: Last name(s) of the first editor, Initials of the first name(s) of the first editor. And Last name(s) of the second editor, Initials of the first name(s) of the second editor. (eds.). Book title. Publisher. City, Country. Pp. x-x.

Examples:

Jeffrey, C. and B. Trujillo. 1990. Cucurbitaceae. In: Murillo, G. and C. Jeffrey (eds.). Flora de Venezuela. Fondo Editorial Acta Científica Venezolana. Caracas, Venezuela. Pp. 449-463.

Melillo, J. M. I. B. Prentice, G. D. Farquhar, E. D. Schulze and O. E. Sala. 1995. Terrestrial biotic responses to environmental change and feedbacks to climate. In: Houghton, J. T., L. G. Meira Filho, B. A. Callander, N. Harris, A. Kattenberg and K. Maskell (eds.). Climate Change 1995: The science of climate change. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, Inglaterra. Pp. 445-482.

Book

Last name, Initials of the first name. Year. Book title. Publisher house. City, Country. Number of pages.

Examples:

Rzedowski, J. 1978. Vegetación de México. Ed. Limusa. México, D.F., México. 432 pp.

Melillo, J. M., I. B. Prentice, G. D. Farquhar, E. D. Schulze and O. E. Sala. 1995. Climate Change: The science of climate change. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK. Pp. 445-482.

International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants:

Turland, N. J., J. H. Wiersema, F. R. Barrie, W. Greuter, D. L. Hawksworth, P. S. Herendee, S. Knapp, W.-H. Kusber, D.-Z. Li, K. Marhold, T. W. May, J. McNeill, A. M. Monro, J. Prado, M. J.  Price and G. F. Smith (eds.). 2018. International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Shenzhen Code) adopted by the Nineteenth International Botanical Congress Shenzhen, China, July 2017. Regnum Vegetabile 159. Glashütten: Koeltz Botanical Books. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12705/Code.2018

Theses, minutes and proceedings of non-periodic conferences and symposia are cited as books.

Theses, minutes and proceedings

Last name, Initials of the first name. Year. Thesis title. Grade of the thesis. School or Faculty, University. City, Country. Number of pages.

Example:

Campos, M. A. 1997. Limnología física del lago de Zirahuén, Michoacán, México. Tesis de licenciatura. Facultad de Biología, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo. Morelia, Michoacán, México. 97 pp.

Floras

The works consulted in Floras can be cited as book chapters (mentioning the names of editors, publisher and city) or a periodical publication. We prefer the periodical publication format.

Examples as book chapter:

Carranza, E. 2015. Ephedraceae. In: Rzedowski, J. and G. Calderón de Rzedowski (eds.). Flora del Bajío y de regiones adyacentes 188. Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Pátzcuaro, México. 7 pp.

Ortiz-Rodríguez, A., V. Sosa and E. Ruiz-Sánchez. 2015. Annonaceae. In: Rzedowski, J. and G. Calderón de Rzedowski (Eds.). Flora del Bajío y de regiones adyacentes 191. Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Pátzcuaro, México. 14 pp.

Examples as periodical publications:

Carranza, E. 2005. Ephedraceae. Flora del Bajío y de regiones adyacentes 188: 1-7.

Ortiz-Rodríguez, A., V. Sosa and E. Ruiz-Sánchez. 2015. Annonaceae. Flora del Bajío y de regiones adyacentes 191: 1-14.

Software programs

The information contained in each software varies; however, it is desirable that the citation contains sufficient information to unequivocally access the program.

Example:

Nylander, J. A. A. 2004. MrModeltest, version 2. Program distributed by the author. Evolutionary Biology Centre. Uppsala University, Sweden. http://www.abc.se/~nylander/mrmodeltest2/mrmodeltest2

Internet sources

Last name(s), initials of the first name. Year. Title of the web page, database, etc. url of the page in the following format http://xxx.xxx.xxx/(date accessed (month, year).

Example:

Index fungorum. Year. An international project to index all formal names in the Fungi Kingdom. http://www.indexfungorum.org/ (consulted month, year).

IUCN. 2010. The IUCN red list of threatened species, version 2015.4. http://www.iucnredlist.org/(consulted month, year).

R Core Team. 2017. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org/ (consulted month, year).

TPL. 2018. The Plant List, Version 1.1. http://www.theplantlist.org/ (consulted month, year).

TROPICOS. 2015. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. http://www.tropicos.org (consulted January, 2015).

Citing Open Data

Each dataset should be cited independently. Citations of the data used should be included in the Literature cited section of the manuscript to which they are linked. References for these data are constructed following the Harvard system with modifications, just as references are handled in the body of the manuscript.

Example:

Authors. Year. Title. Resource Type (Dataset). Version Date. Repository. Unique and Persistent Identifier.

Example:

Mayoral Loera, P. and I. Zavala. 2024. How to Cite Open Data in an Article for *Acta Botanica Mexicana*. (Dataset). Version of August 12, 2024. Dataverse SciELO. DOI: xx.

Tables, table and figure captions

Captions of tables, charts and figures are inserted in this order after the literature cited in the same file. Tables and figures should be mentioned in the text and be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited. The figure mention within the text must follow a sequential order. Example: p. 10, Fig. 1 and paragraphs later to Figs. 2A-C. Later Fig. 3, etc. Avoid calls like Figs. 2A, 4 and paragraphs ahead Figs. 3A-C; 4A. Avoid repeating information in tables and figures presented in the text.

The captions begin with “Table” or “Figure” followed by their number. Write Fig. in the text and Figure in the corresponding legend. Font size 12, centered and in bold, separated by a colon from the description, also font size 12. Mention at the end the names of illustrators and photographers, if the illustrator is not one of the authors this person must be recognized in the acknowledgements.

Use the table function in your word processor to prepare tables so that the cells, rows and columns remain aligned when the size and width of the source table are changed. Do not use the tab key or space bar for preparing tables.

Figures

Prepare the figures in the desired final size. It is important to take into account the figure caption. In the text, when referring to more than two figures write them separated by comma, semicolon or hyphen, as the case may be. Example: (Figs. 1A, J) or (Figs. 1A-E) or (Figs. 4B, H, 5D). Each figure should be uploaded separately through our online submission system.

Image resolution

Line art (drawings and illustrations of species: 500-600 dpi. Use bitmap mode.

Phylogenetic trees, diagrams, maps, etc. (images with lines and text), use vector format.

Halftone / grayscale (shades of gray images, such as photographs in black and white): 150-300 dpi. Use grayscale mode.

Color (color graphics or photos): at least 300 dpi, unchanged in color mode.

Combined (color plates and black and white): at least 300 dpi, with no changes in the color mode.

Format and style

Use a consistent style that is equal in all figures, font and font size (10 pt is recommended), applying common fonts (Arial, Times New Roman).

For figures with multiple elements (photos, drawings or graphics), group the elements with a rectangle or square and label the top left corner of each element with a capital letter (e.g., A, B). Keep the elements together for better use of space.

The scale of photos must be clear and well-defined, in the lower right corner. In the case of composite figures of several photographs each image must have the relevant scale.

File types

Files in the following formats are received: JPEG, TIF, PSD, EPS and PDF. Graphs and maps generated by statistical analysis programs or geographic information systems must be submitted in EPS or PDF (vector) formats; if you include Excel charts, the file from which it was generated must be included and presented in the same format as this program.

Appendices

Lists of considerable size and figures or other information will be published within the same document as the manuscript.