 Instructions for Authors

Instructions for Authors

Microbial Ecology lies at the heart of functioning for almost every ecosystem on the planet, from the deep-
sea vents and subsurface systems, to human and animal well-being; from pristine marine and terrestrial
environments to industrial bioreactor functioning. The journal Microbial Ecology provides a dedicated
international forum for the presentation of high - quality scientific investigations of how microorganisms
interact with their biotic and abiotic environments, with each other as well as with their neighbors and
hosts, to carry out their diverse functions. Microbial Ecology now features articles of original research in full
paper and note formats, as well as brief reviews and topical position papers.

The Editors encourage submissions in the following areas:

- ecology of microorganisms in natural and engineered environments

- genomic and molecular advances in the understanding of microbial interactions and phylogeny

- microbial drivers of biogeochemical processes

- inter- and intraspecific microbial communication

- ecological studies pertaining to animal, plant and insect microbiology and disease

- microbial processes and interactions in extreme or unusual environments

- microbial population and community ecology

- microbial processes and interactions associated with environmental pollution

- technical and theoretical advances in microbial ecology

The journal invites its readers to submit related artwork for consideration and publication as a cover
design. If you have photographs appropriate for Microbial Ecology, please send your artwork directly to the
Editor for consideration and possible reproduction as a cover of a future issue. Readers will be notified if
their artwork has been accepted for use as a cover design.

Electronic Submissions

We are pleased to announce that Microbial Ecology has moved to an online system of manuscript tracking
called Manuscript Central. This will allow even quicker and more efficient processing of your manuscript.
Please log directly onto the site:

http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/meco

You may and upload your manuscripts following the instructions given on the screen.

Please note: if you have submitted to Microbial Ecology before, please hit the "check for existing account"
button. You will then receive an automatic e-mail with your user ID and password. Otherwise please create
a new account and then follow the instructions given on the screen.
 The Editors will inspect the submission online and assign reviewer(s). Those reviewers will have access to
the electronic manuscript that the author uploads and many weeks of time will be saved in the reviewing
process.

System requirements

o Netscape 4.x or MS Internet Explorer 4.x/5.x

o Adobe Acrobat browser plug-in
o Electronic files of their article text
o Electronic files of their article graphics (scanned or exported)

Author Accounts

Authors entering the journal's Manuscript Central site can either create a new account or use an existing
one. When you have an existing account, use it for all your submissions and you can track their status on
the same page.

Getting Started

Once you have logged into your account, Manuscript Central will lead you through the submission process
in a step-by-step orderly process. If you cannot finish your submission in one visit, you can save a draft
and re-enter the process at the same point for that manuscript.

While submitting your electronic manuscript, you will be required to enter data about your manuscript in
the system. These include title, subtitle, author names and affiliations, and so forth. Support for special
characters is available. At any point during this process, there are Help buttons available to see common
questions and a support link to ask a specific question via email.

Uploading Files

Electronic files can be uploaded as PDF, PostScript, or RTF. RTF (Rich Text Format) is a common export
property of most popular word processors. Check your word processor to see if it can export or "SaveAs"
your file in RTF format. MS Word and WordPerfect both contain this function. After uploading the RTF for
text, you will be prompted for uploading graphics. (please see the “Guidelines for Electronically Produced
Illustrations” below for information regarding accepted formats). After uploading the parts of the article in
this manner, the system will convert the files to PDF. You will see the result of the conversion with the
Acrobat plug-in in your browser. Keep copies of your word-processing and graphics files. You may want to
revise the manuscript during the review process and you will need the original files if your manuscript is
accepted. At any point during this process, there are Help buttons available to see common questions and
a support link to ask a specific question via email.

You will also be notified by email that your submission was successful.

Keeping Track

After submission, you may return periodically and monitor the progress of your submission through the
review process.

Preparation of manuscripts
All manuscript should contain the following sections:

Title page: To include the title of the paper, author's name, institution, city, country and other contact
information including phone and e-mail. As separate items include the complete name and address of the
author to whom page proofs and correspondence should be sent, the date submitted, and a short version
of the title for use as a running head.

Abstract: A concise but informative abstract should be placed on a separate page immediately after the
title page.

Text: The text should be organized into an introductory section, conveying the background and purpose of
the report, and then into sections titled "Methods," "Results," and "Discussion." Please use line numbers
on each page, to facilitate the review process.

Acknowledgments: Acknowledgments of collaboration or preparation may be included at the end of the

text. Grant support should also be indicated here.

References: Only essential references that are also cited in the text should be listed. These should be
arranged in alphabetical order under the first author's name and numbered. In the text, references should
be cited by number only. Names of journals should be abbreviated according to the Bibliographical Guide
for Editors & Authors (American Chemical Society, 1974). References to unpublished data, personal
communications, theses, and abstracts should not be in the reference list, but should be inserted in the
text enclosed by parentheses.

Examples of references:

Ducklow HW, Clausen K, Mitchell R (1981) Ecology of bacterial communities in the Schistosomiasis vector
snail Biomphalaria glabrata. Microb Ecol 7:253-274

Macnab RM (1980) Sensing the environment: bacterial chemotaxis. In: Goldberger R (ed) Biological
regulation and development, vol. 2, Plenum Press, New York, pp 377-412

Tables: Each table should be typed on a separate page. The data should be arranged so that columns of
similar material read down, not across. Tables should be numbered consecutively with appropriate
legends at the top. All tables must be cited in the text.

Figures: Please see “Guidelines for Electronically Produced Illustrations for Print” below.

Color Figures: Color will be printed at the author' s expense: US$1150 per article. Please contact the
Editorial Office if color is essential but funding is unavailable.

Cover images: The journal invites its readers to submit related artwork for consideration and publication as
a cover design. If you have photographs appropriate for Microbial Ecology, please send your artwork
directly to the Editor for consideration and possible reproduction as a cover of a future issue. Readers will
be notified if their artwork has been accepted for use as a cover design.

Legends: Legends for illustrations should be typed double spaced on a separate sheet, and numbered
consecutively in correspondence with the figures. All figures must be cited in the text.

Nomenclature and Style: The style of the journal essentially conforms to the CBE Style Manual (5th ed.,
1983). The Handbook of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (3rd ed., Fasman, G.D., ed., CRC Press,
 Inc.) should be consulted for biochemical abbreviations and names. Unusual abbreviations should be
defined and introduced parenthetically the first time they appear in the text. Enzyme activity should be
stated in terms of international units (Enzyme Nomenclature, Elsevier Publishing Co., 1965) and the EC
number should be given parenthetically at the first use in the text. For microorganisms, the correct name
conforming with international rules of nomenclature, must be given.

Page Charges: There are no page charges. However, the cost of authors’ alterations in excess of 10% of
the original composition cost is charged to the authors.

Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before (except in the
form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review or thesis); that it is not under consideration for
publication elsewhere; that its publication has been approved by all coauthors, if any, as well as by the
responsible authorities at the institute where the work has been carried out; that, if and when the
manuscript is accepted for publication, the authors agree to automatic transfer of the copyright to the
publisher; that the manuscript will not be published elsewhere in any language without the consent of the
copyright holders; that written permission of the copyright holder is obtained by the authors for material
used from other copyrighted sources; and that any costs associated with obtaining this permission are the
author’s responsibility.

Guidelines for Electronically Produced Illustrations for Print

General

Send illustrations separately from the text (i.e. files should not be integrated with the text files). Always
send printouts of all illustrations.

Vector (line) Graphics

o Vector graphics exported from a drawing program should be stored in EPS

format.
o Suitable drawing program: Adobe Illustrator. For simple line art the following
drawing programs are also acceptable: Corel Draw, Freehand, Canvas.
o No rules narrower than .25 pt.
o No gray screens paler than 15% or darker than 60%.
o Screens meant to be differentiated from one another must differ by at least
15%.

Spreadsheet/Presentation Graphics

o Most presentation programs (Excel, PowerPoint, Freelance) produce data that

cannot be stored in an EPS format. Therefore graphics produced by these programs cannot be
used for print.

Halftone Illustrations

o Black & white and color illustrations should be saved in TIFF format.
o Illustrations should be created using Adobe Photoshop whenever possible.

Scans*
o Scanned reproductions of black and white photographs should be provided as
300 ppi TIFF files.
o Scanned color illustrations should be provided as TIFF files scanned at a
minimum of 300 ppi with a 24-bit color depth.
o Line art should be provided as TIFF files at 600 ppi.
o PLEASE NOTE: Scanned illustrations may not be of sufficient quality for our
purposes. Please be prepared to send original hard copies if requested, as our printers have
drum scanners which allow for better reproduction of halftones.

Graphics from Videos

Separate files should be prepared for frames from a video that are to be printed in the journal. When
preparing these files you should follow the same rules as listed under Halftone Illustrations.

Guidelines for Electronically Produced Illustrations for ONLINE

Video

Quicktime (.mov) is the preferred format, but .rm, .avi, .mpg, etc. are acceptable.

No video file should be larger than 2MB. To decrease the size of your file, consider changing one or more
of the following variables: frame speed, number of colors/greys, viewing size (in pixels), or compression.
Video is subject to Editorial review and approval.

Appendices and Supplementary Material

The Journal strongly encourages authors to submit their original data as supplementary material that can
be used in the review process. Authors who wish to publish electronic supplementary material to their
article (Excel files, images, audio/video files) are requested to submit their manuscript via our online
submission system, with a note in the author comments box that supplementary material will be submitted
separately by email. This email, containing the supplementary material, should be sent to the Production
Editor. In the email, the title of the submitted manuscript as well as the name of the corresponding author
should be given.