Guide for Authors

Rostaniha (Botanical Journal of Iran) aims at publishing original full-length and short articles, monographs and book reviews in systematics and biodiversity of fungi and plants in its broader sense. Short articles and short reports (including text, figures and tables) must not exceed 5 and 2 printed pages, respectively.

1. Articles must be original and not already published or simultaneously submitted to other journals.

2. Articles can be either in Persian or in English. Persian articles should have an English summary and English articles should have a Persian summary (for Persian articles see Persian guidelines).

3. Text (excluding figures and table) should be sent with a title, names of authors and their addresses, emails, telephone numbers, affiliations and academic ranks should be submitted on A4 pages with 1.5 line spacing, using font: Times New Roman-10. All submitted materials must be digitized and submitted online (http://rostaniha.areo.ir) electronically, with the manuscript ideally in Microsoft Word 2003/2007. Illustrations [line-drawings (bitmap, 1200 dpi or higher) and half tone pictures (300 dpi or higher)] should be submitted as Adobe files (layers left unflattened, to allow lettering to be added to figures during layout) and NEVER embedded in MSWord or as PowerPoint files. Phylogenetic trees will only be accepted when submitted as PowerPoint or Adobe files.

4. The corresponding author should confirm that: (a) all named authors have agreed to publication of the work; and (b) the manuscript does not infringe any personal or other copyright or property rights.

5. Papers cited as "In Press" should be provided for the benefit of the referees.

6. The content should be structured as follows: Main Title, Author's name(s) with scientific position & address, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results or Taxonomic Part, Discussion, Acknowledgments, and References. Keywords (minimum five words) and a Running Head should also be provided. Abstract should not exceed 200 words (for English) and 250 words (for Persian).

7. English spelling is required, and should follow The Cobuild English Dictionary (Harper Collins Publishers, London).

8. Words of non-English origin, like et al., in vitro, in situ, sensu lato  etc., should be placed in italic. All Latin names (species and higher levels/taxonomic ranks) are to be placed in italic.

9. Common abbreviations are as follows: h, min, s, mL, μL, mg/L, °C, mm, cm, km, d, wk, Fig. but also ITS, RAPD, RFLPs, rDNA, 18S etc.

10. Authorities of taxonomic names should only be written for the first time in the main/general text. Authorities for taxa should follow the list of authors’ names; see http://www.speciesfungorum.org/AuthorsOfFungalNames.htm and http://www.mycobank.org (for Fungi) and http://www.ipni.org/index.html (for Plants). Journal abbreviations
in the text (species synonymies, descriptions, etc.) should follow the International Plant Name Index
(see http://www.ipni.org/index.html).

11. Experimental procedures must be reproducible and must follow Good Cultural Practice (Mycological Research 106: 1378–1379), with sequences lodged at GenBank, alignments in TreeBase, voucher specimens in a registered herbarium (IRAN), or another recognized on-line herbarium (Index Herbariorum or World Directory of Collections and Cultures of Microorganisms acronym, with accession numbers where allocated, and accompanying ex-type and other cultures in IRAN, CBS or other culture collections. For new fungal taxa or names a MycoBank number is required (see www.MycoBank.org.).

12. Collections must be cited as:

Specimen(s) examined: COUNTRY, location, substratum, altitude, date (e.g. 10 Dec. 2010), collector(e.g. 

D. Ershad), Herbarium number (acronym according to Index Herbariorum), holotype, culture ex-type IRAN xxx. (thus only country in small caps and specimen collector + number italics; everything else in Roman type).

13. Reference citation in text: References in the text should be chronological, and given in the following form: ‘Smith & Jones (1965) have shown ...’, or, ‘some authors (Ellis 1960, Taylor & Palmer 1970, Zabetta 1970) consider that ...’. The names of collaborating authors are joined by an ampersand (&). Where there are three or more authors, names should be cited by the first name only, adding ‘et al.’, e.g. ‘Bowie, Black & White (1964)’ are given as ‘Bowie et al. (1964)’ or ‘(Bowie et al. 1964)’. Where authors have published more than one work in a year, to which reference is made, they should be distinguished by placing a, b, etc. immediately after the date, e.g. ‘Dylan (1965a, b)’. Reference citations in text should be in ascending order of year first, followed by authors’ names. In the References section, citations should be strictly alphabetical, with papers having the same authors arranged according to date. Each reference should include the full title of the paper and journal, volume number, and the final as well as the first page number. In the case of chapters in books, the names of editors, first and last page numbers of the articles, publisher and place of publication are needed.

Examples:

Fritsch, R.M. 1996. The Iranian species of Allium subg. Melanocrommyum sect. Megaloprason (Alliaceae). Nordic Journal of Botany 16: 9–17.

Carlile, M.J. & Watkinson, S.C. 1994. The Fungi. Academic Press, London. 482 pp.

Gams, W. & Zare, R. 2003. A taxonomic review of the clavicipitaceous anamorphs parasitizing nematodes and other microinvertebrates. pp. 17–73. In: Clavicipitalean Fungi. Evolutionary Biology, Chemistry, Biocontrol, and Cultural Impacts (White, J.F., Bacon, C.W., Hywel-Jones, N.L. & Spatafora, J.W., eds). Marcel-Dekker, New York.

White, D.A. 2001. Dissertation title. PhD thesis, Department, University, Country.

Mirabolfathi, M., Hasanpoor, A. & Karami-Osboo, R. 2010. Study on Fusarium species associated with fig fruits in Fars province. Proceedings of 19th Iranian Plant Protection Congress, 31 Jul.–3 Aug., Tehran, Iran: 336.

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- Postal address of Rostaniha secretariat:

Rostaniha (Botanical Journal of Iran), Department of Botany, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, 

P.O. Box 19395-1454, Tehran 1985813111, Iran (http://rostaniha.areo.ir).

Conflict of Interest: Authors must declare any potential conflict of interest (professional or financial) which could be held to arise with respect to the article both in the main body of the manuscript and in the covering letter. Administration of the journal disclaims any dispute if occurs.

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