GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS (Updated on January 25th, 2018) CONTENTS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

About the Tropical Journal of Environmental Sciences .............................................................2 Editorial Board ....................................................................................................................2 Contact information .............................................................................................................2 General instructions ............................................................................................................2 Peer review .........................................................................................................................3 Originality ...........................................................................................................................3 Costs ..................................................................................................................................3 Responsibility ......................................................................................................................3 Intellectual Property ...........................................................................................................3 Plagiarism Policy .................................................................................................................3

GUIDELINES FOR THE PRESENTATION OF PAPERS ..................................................................3 11. Format ...............................................................................................................................3 12. Size ....................................................................................................................................3 13. Reviewer(s) ........................................................................................................................3 14. Writing ...............................................................................................................................4 15. Types of articles ..................................................................................................................4 16. Style for subtitles .................................................................................................................5 17. Footnotes ............................................................................................................................5 18. Use of italics and (exceptional) use of quotation marks (never bold or underlining) 5 19. Use of numbers and measurement units ...............................................................................5 20. Equations ............................................................................................................................5 21. Use of acronyms and abbreviations .......................................................................................6 22. Figures ...............................................................................................................................6 23. Tables .................................................................................................................... 6 24. First page ................................................................................................................. 7 24.1. Title ........................................................................................................................... 7 24.2. Author(s) information .................................................................................................. 7 24.3. Summary and abstract ................................................................................................. 8 24.4. Keywords .................................................................................................................... 8 25. References ............................................................................................................... 8 26. In text citation .......................................................................................................... 9 27. Appendixes ............................................................................................................. 10

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1.

About the Tropical Journal of Environmental Sciences

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The Tropical Journal of Environmental Sciences is an international and interdisciplinary journal created in 1980 and published biannually by the School of Environmental Sciences at the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica. Its objective is to foster and disseminate innovative, pertinent, and rigorous research in the environmental field. The target audience are professionals and advanced students involved in environmental studies. Among the core topics (scope) of the journal are: management and conservation of natural resources, biodiversity, watersheds, forests, ecosystem services, climate change, environmental management, environmental education, socioeconomics and the environment, and others related themes that attain to the better understanding, management and protection of the environment, but particularly to the solution of environmental problems in Latin America.

2. Editorial Board

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Director and Editor • Sergio A. Molina-Murillo, PhD. Universidad Nacional (UNA), Costa Rica Editorial Board • Dra. Mónica Araya-Salas. Fundación Costa Rica Limpia, Costa Rica • Dr. Arturo Sánchez-Azofeifa. Universidad de Alberta, Canadá • Dr. Luko Hilje. Centro Agrónomico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE), Costa Rica • Dr. Gerardo Ávalos-Rodríguez. The School for Field Studies (SFS), EE.UU. y Universidad de Costa Rica (CR), Costa Rica • Dr. Manuel Guariguata. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Perú Editorial Assistant • Sharon Rodríguez Brenes, Bach. Universidad Nacional (UNA), Costa Rica Librarian: • Paula Sanabria, Licda. Universidad Nacional (UNA), Costa Rica

3. Contact information

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Dr. Segio A. Molina-Murillo Director y Editor Universidad Nacional (UNA) Campus Omar Dengo Revista de Ciencias Ambientales Apdo.: 86-3000, Costa Rica Teléfono: (506) 2277-3688. Fax: (506) 2277-3289 Correo-e: [email protected]

4. General instructions

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The manuscript must be sent in Doc or Docx format to the email address [email protected] together with the Statement of Originality and Copyright License (please request it if you don’t have it). There you will acknowledge that the manuscript is of your own authorship and that every coauthor(s) agrees with publication. Also, include the name, area of specialty, institution, and email of at least three possible reviewers who are not involved in the research (mandatory) and who are not part of Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica. Send professional quality figures at a 300 dpi resolution. The manuscript must be written in Times New Roman, 12, single space (separate paragraphs by clicking on the “enter” key).

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5. Peer review

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6. Originality

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All original manuscripts presented will be blind peer reviewed. Reviewers are bound to confidentiality and non-disclosure.

Papers published in the journal must be original; that is, they must not have been published in any other means or be in the process of being reviewed elsewhere. The corresponding author must also submit the statement of originality and copyright license.

7. Costs

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The authors will not incur in any costs for the processing, reviewing, delivering, or publication of papers.

8. Responsibility

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The content of the paper published or to be published is the sole responsibility of the author. The ideas, opinions, and statements raised in the paper are not necessarily shared by the journal.

9. Intellectual Property

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Papers published follow Creative Commons - 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 International), which implies readers can freely download, store, copy, and distribute the final approved and published version (post print) of the paper as long as it is not done so for commercial purposes, no derivative work is created, and the source and author of the article are mentioned.

10.

Plagiarism Policy

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The journal will make sure both the editorial team, reviewers, and authors meet ethical requirements regarding reviewing and publication of a paper through a transparent and plagiarism-free process. For more information, it is recommended to read the International Standards for Editors and Authors from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Check the following link: http://publicationethics.org/about. For plagiarism, the journal uses Dupli Checker and Plagiarism Checker.

GUIDELINES FOR THE PRESENTATION OF PAPERS 11. Format

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12. Size

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13. Reviewer(s)

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You must present the manuscript in Doc or Docx format with numbered pages. Send figures in high resolution (300 dpi) and clear images (see details below). Manuscript must be written in Times New Roman, 12 (for tables, font number is 11), single space, and all 4 margins at 2.5 cm. To separate paragraphs do not indent; instead, click on the “enter” key.

Papers must not exceed 7 000 words. Technical notes must not exceed 3 000 words. Words included in figures, bibliographical references, and appendixes do not count.

Together with the manuscript, send full name, specialty, institution, and email of at least three possible external reviewers that are not involved in any way with the research and who do not work for Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica.

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14. Writing

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It is recommended to use first person. The manuscript must respect guidelines on writing, grammar and spelling of the language chosen (e.g., Spanish or English). In cases of limitations, it is advisable to consult a proofreader before sending the manuscript for reviewing. Also, inclusive language must be used both for the text and graphics (regarding gender, age, ethnicity, race, nationality, sexual preference, political views, disability, etc.).

15. Types of articles

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The journal publishes the following types of writing: • Articles: o Original articles product research work. o Methodological articles: present new or significantly improved methodologies. o Theoretical reviews: analyze the theory in order to explain the state of the art on a specific area; it includes a meta-analysis. • Technical notes: short descriptions on current research of issues that need urgent publication. By invitation only: • • •

Biographies: Contributions of great scientists, especially pioneers who serve as models of life and source of inspiration for those who take their first steps in careers related to the environmental field. Experiencies: broad articles, where specialists in different fields of environmental work compile and synthesize both successes and failures programs, projects or methodologies in particular thematic areas. Forum: conceptual articles on global, Latin American or national issues of the environmental field.

General content to be included:

Articles

Technical Biographies Experiencies Notes

✓ ✓ Abstract and Resumen --✓ ✓ ✓ Keywords and Palabras clave ✓ ✓ ✓ Introduction ✓ Literature review a Optional --✓ ✓ Metholology --✓ ✓ Results b --✓ ✓ Discussion b --✓ ✓ Conclusions --Acknowledgments Optional Optional Optional References Up to 30 Up to 20 Optional Appendices Optional Optional Optional Maximum total words c 7 000 3 000 4 000 a The theoretical framework can be incorporated in the Introduction. b Write the Results and Discussion sections separately. c

Words in figures, references and appendixes do not count towards total word count.

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✓ ✓ ✓ Optional Optional ✓ ✓ ✓ Optional Up to 30 Optional 7 000

Forum ✓ ✓ ✓ Optional Optional Optional ✓ ✓ Optional Optional --4 000

16. Style for subtitles

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All subtitles must be written in bold and lower caps, except for the first word and proper names. Use the same font type and size than in the rest of the document. The different levels for subtitles should be clearly recognized, as follows:

1. 1.1 1.1.1 2. 2.1 2.1.2 and so on (notice the use of periods). 17. Footnotes

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Footnotes can be used in exceptional cases only. According to APA, sources for personal communications are included inside the text and not as footnotes.

18. Use of italics and (exceptional) use of quotation marks (never bold or underlining) [Go to top]

Neither ittalics, nor bold nor underlining, will be used to emphasize concepts. Here few exceptions: The use of terms in other languages will be italized, for example scientific names of species (e.g., Cassia grandis); use bold only for titles or for the terms: “Figure”, “Table”, “Equation”, “Appendix”.

19. Use of numbers and measurement units

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Use units and their abbreviations following the International System. Measurement units, in case of abbreviations, must be written in singular and lower caps. Example: “... the 100 kg beast covered 90 m before falling...”. Inside the text, write the numbers with numbers instead of letters (e.g., 8 % instead of eight percent, 23 %, 3 in 10, 17 acres of 3 trees, 5 containers of 20 l). Notice the percentage symbol is separated form the number (e.g., 8.5 %). A space must be used to separate the 3-digit groups in the whole part of the number, and for any amount that includes decimals, between them and the units, a period is used (for example: US$1 000 000. 50). This also applies for tables and figures. An exception is years which do not require space (e.g., during 2013). All numbers below zero must be preceded by a zero (e.g., 0.05). It is not necessary to repeat symbols or measurement units in a series (e.g., 70, 80 and 90 mm respectively). For equations, use Word, either manually or through the equation design tool. Do not include equations as images.

20. Equations

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All equations must be written in full and referenced using a number in parenthesis to its right. Do not use other terms such as function or formula when referring to equations. For example:

Commercial volume with bark was estimated using Equation 1: VolCOM = (DAP/100)2*0.7854*hCOM*0.65 Where:

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(1)

DAP: Diameter at breast height, measured to 1.3 m in each tree using a girth band HCOM: commercial height estimated from the amount of commercial logs of 2.5 m long in each tree.

21. Use of acronyms and abbreviations

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22. Figures

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Lexicalized acronyms (e.g., UNESCO and MINAE) are written in capital letters. Lexicalized acronyms that are common names (e.g., ufo and mipymes) are written in lower case. Abbreviations that are read saying each letter separately (e.g., FAO and FMI) are written in capital letters. General guidelines. To see some examples, please read the document: Guidelines for the design of Figures. Figures are numbered consecutively but separately from tables (there is numbering for tables and for figures). Figures must have semantic self-sufficiency (it is not necessary to read the text in order to understand the figure). They must have a title at the bottom. Their full description must appear in the text and they are cited using their number; for example, (Figure 1); it is redundant to indicate figure N.° 1. Figures (e.g., graphs, diagrams, maps, photographs) in the article must be sent at their best quality following these aspects: • Resolution (300 dpi minimum in psd, jpg or tiff format). • Send them separately from the text in a file in the original format. If the figures were created using Excel or PowerPoint, send them in their original format. • Clearly indicate the page number where they appear. • Include a note to indicate source only if it is not the creation of the author. Do not write: own creation. • Include permits for the use of figures not created by the author or not in the public domain. Some recommendations for the creation of figures: • Don’t overdo the figures. • Choose types of graphics with simple formats. • Choose two-dimensional graphics or figures. • Order categories from highest to lowest when there is no natural order. • Use only one graphic when they have a common axis. • Use moderate and legible font. • Use histograms instead of pie tables. • Name the “x” and “y” axis. • Do not use horizontal lines of additional titles. Remember that the title is located under the figure. • Do not use boxes or frames in the figures. • Concerning color, use one single color (solid black). If you want a contrast, use white. If you need more colors, use the gray scale or sober colors.

23. Tables

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Tables display numeric values or textual information, and they have rows and columns. Tables are included in the same file as the text using Word and not as images. Every table must have semantic self-sufficiency (no text is required to understand the table). They must have a title written in the upper side but the explanation must appear in the text, where it is cited using a number. For example, (Table 1); it is redundant to say table N.° 1. Tables are numbered consecutively but separately from the figures (there is one numbering for tables and another one for figures). Tables must be single-spaced and font size 11. Lines in table must be horizontal and generally no more than three: in the title, headlines, and at the end of the table. Using more lines is only allowed for clarity. Vertical lines are not recommended.

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Tables and figures created by the author do not require source since all the document is the creation of the author. Below in Table 2 we show an example:

Table 2. Average annual concentration of PM10 (μg/m3) particles in the metropolitan area of Costa Rica, 2012 Sample place * SJ-01 SJ-02 SJ-03 SJ-04 SJ-05 ES-01 HE-01 BE-01 SA-01 AL-01 CA-01 MO-01 SD-01 * Sampling

Annual average (μg/m3) 27 29 27 29 22 23 42 32 22 22 25 15 18

Standard deviation (μg/m3) 15 12 7 8 6 6 15 12 7 6 8 7 6

Maximum value registered in 24 hours 117 124 45 50 38 38 84 86 43 36 56 37 39

Note that the table has no shading and that only horizontal lines are used in the upper and lower parts of the first line and in the lower part of the last line. The font size in the table is 11 and in the footnotes it is 10, Times New Roman. The table was created using Word and it is not an image.

sites are referred according to the map shown in Figure 1.

24. First page

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The first page of every paper should include: • The title of the document (in English and Spanish). • Contact information for the authors. • Abstract in English followed by 5 keywords separated each with semi colon (;). • Abstract in Spanish and keywords in Spanish separated each with semi colon (;). • Total word count for the paper (not including figures, references, and appendixes).

24.1.

Title

24.2.

Author(s) information

The title is the first thing readers see, so it should be appealing, clear and concise; it should also reflect the contents of the study, the time and location where it was conducted. Whenever possible, it should not exceed 15 words. Include the title in English and Spanish.

For each of the authors include the following information: First and last name (use a hyphen is optional when using two last names (For example: Ana RodríguezCastro), Workplace, Email, We recommend you include your ORCID. In order to create a short biography of each author, include also title or academic level (PhD., Master, Licenciado), area of specialization, and position within the institution. For example: Robert Rosales-Morales, PhD., biologist specializing in wildlife management, Works as Director of the Institute for Plant Research at the International University of France, [email protected].

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About coauthors: according to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship is based on the following 4 criteria: • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND • Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND • Final approval of the version to be published; AND • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

24.3.

Summary and abstract

Abstract should not exceed 250 words in one paragraph. It should not contain additional information besides a summary of all the parts (minus references). The summary does not include bibliographical references nor abbreviations. The Resumen should be the translation of the Abstract into Spanish.

24.4. Keywords Below the abstract, there should be five keywords separated each with a semi colon (;) to let the reader know the main topics developed in the document (in alphabetical order). Do not repeat words already used in the title. The Palabras clave should be the translation of the keywords into Spanish. For more sucessful bibliographic searchers by users we recomed the use of keywords included in thesaurus such UNESCO or FAO.

25. References

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Do not include footnotes for references. The list of references must be arranged alphabetically using hanging indentation. It is recommended to refrain from the excessive use of references (30 maximun), and to select them according to their relevance and relation with the topic. Use the most curren version of APA as the guide for reference style. We recommend the use of open source software for bibliography management (like www.Zotero.org). According to APA guidelines, it is necessary to include DOI for all articles who have one. For APA format, see the following websites: • www.apastyle.com In Spanish: • http://www.arecibo.inter.edu/biblioteca/pdf/apa6.pdf • http://fuentes14.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/introduccion-a-apa-6ta-edicion/ • http://www.revistas.una.ac.cr/descargas/educare/pdfs/GUIA_DE_REFERENCIACION_Y_CITACION_C ON_APA.pdf Here are some examples of references following current APA guidelines: • Print book Author’s last name, initial of name. (year). Title in italics. Country: publishing house. Example: Tacconi, L., and Seymour, F. (2008). Illegal Logging: Law Enforcement, Livelihoods and the Timber Trade. Routledge. • Article in print magazine Author’s last name, initial of name followed by period. (month, year). Title of article. Name of magazine in italics, volume in italics (number in parenthesis), page numbers Example:

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Herrera, J. (diciembre, 2014). Inventario de emisiones de contaminantes criterio de Costa Rica en 2011. Revista de Ciencias Ambientales, (48), 5-19. •

Articles in digital magazines with DOI or link

DOI:

Author’s last name, initial of name followed by period (month, year). Title of article. Name of magazine in italics, volume in italics (number in parenthesis), page numbers. doi: document’s DOI. Example: Molina-Murillo, S., Perez Castillo, J.P. and Herrera Ugalde, M.E. (febrero, 2014). Assessment of environmental payments on indigenous territories: The case of Cabecar-Talamanca, Costa Rica. Journal of Ecosystems Services, (8), 35-43. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2014.02.003

Electronic link:

Author’s last name, initial of name followed by period (month, year). Title of article. Name of magazine in italics, volume in italics (number in parenthesis), page numbers. Retrieved from link. Example: Molina-Murillo, S. A., & Clifton, J. T. S. 2014. Perceptions of institutions and development in rural Costa Rica. The Journal of Rural and Community Development, 9(4): 80-101. Retrieved from http://www.jrcd.ca/viewarticle.php?id=1021&layout=abstract. • Document with institutions as authors: Example (see below for correct citation): Ministerio de Ambiente, Energía y Telecomunicaciones (MINAET) y Ministerio de Salud (MS). 2011. Guía para la elaboración de Programas de Gestión Ambiental Institucional. San José, Costa Rica. CR. Retrieved from http://www.digeca.go.cr/documentos/ambientalizacion/Guia%20elaboracion%20Programas%2 0Gestion%20Ambiental%20Institucional.pdf

26. In text citation

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All references must appear in the text with their corresponding source. Here are some examples: Example 1: In a study about... (Romero, 2013) pointed out that… Or as follows: author’s last name (year of publication): Example 2: According to Romero (2013), work affects... Example 3: In 2013, Romero studied the relationship between... In the case of a textual citation, it must be written in quotation marks and the citation must add the number(s) of page(s). for textual citations over 40 words check APA. Example 4, for 1 page: “textual citation in quotation marks” (Romero 2013, p. 318) Example 5, for several pages: “textual citation in quotation marks” (Romero 2013, pp. 318-320) In the case of an author who is an Institution and its abreviation or acronym is known worldwide, the abbreviation or acronym must be used since the very first time it appears in the text. Example 6, FIRST TIME: According to data from UNESCO (2015)… Example 7, from SECOND TIME on: Nevertheless, UNESCO (2015) also reported that… In the case of Institutional authors, when the abbreviation or acronym is not recognized worldwide, the first time it is necessary to include the whole name next to its acronym or abbreviation, and from the second time on, just the acronym or abbreviation.

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Example 8, FIRST TIME: According to data from Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía de Costa Rica [MINAE] (2015)… Example 9, from SECOND TIME on: Nevertheless, MINAE (2015) also reported… When there are several sources in the same parenthesis: • The authors from the same source are separated by commas (,) and the different sources are separated by semi colon (;). • Different sources must be arranged alphabetically just as they appear in the reference list. Sources from the same author are arranged chronologically from the oldest to the most recent. Example 10: This species has already been identified (Ogar, Smith y Alice, 2012; Rojas et al., 2015; Twok, 2008, 2013).

27. Appendixes

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Appendixes are materials additional to the document. There is no distinction here between appendixes and annexes. They could be figures, graphs, diagrams or tables, but they are always titled and cited as appendixes. The numbering in appendixes in the text is independent of the numbering of figures and tables (e.g., Appendix 1, Appendix 2, etc.).

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