ARABEL

Société Arachnologique de Belgique

Directives pour auteurs

01/02/2022

Guidelines for authors

Journal of the Belgian Arachnological Society is a publication of Arachnologia Belgica (ARABEL), The Belgian Arachnological Society, and aims to publish research on all orders of the Arachnida from Belgium and across the world. The journal is published twice a year on the 1 st of June (summer issue) and the 1st of December (winter issue). Deadline for submission is 1st of April and 1st of October. All articles will be peer-reviewed by at least two reviewers.

There are four types of contributions that can be submitted to Journal of the Belgian Arachnological Society: Research article, Scientific report, Short note and Announcement.

  • Research articles are articles describing original research in a “classical” way. This type of manuscript always consists of Introduction, Material and methods, Results and Discussion. Also review articles are published under this category. Abstract can contain max. 300 words.
  • Scientific reports are generally longer articles describing the results of arachnological inventories. This can for example be the result of the arachnological part of a pitfall trap research or the description of the arachnofauna of a certain area using different methods. The content can be more detailed, compared to research articles and can describe local distribution of different individual species. The abstract can contain max. 500 words.
  • Short note can maximally be three pages long, including references, figures, tables, etc. It can be a continuous text without the classical subdivisions of a research article. Abstract can contain max. 100 words and should only be written in English regardless of the language in which the short note is written. For example, a short note written in Dutch should only have an English abstract, not a Dutch one. Author names and affiliation should be placed at the end of the note and authors can use only one affiliation.
  • Announcement can be a text or flyer (figure) announcing an event or research project. This can also be a call for specific observations or a collaboration request for a certain project. If the announcement is provided as text, it should have a title and be followed by a correspondence (e-mail) address. An announcement has a length of maximum one page.
  • Arachnological contributions is an online journal that is published under the same ISSN-number as Journal of the Arachnological Society. An issue of Arachnological contributions is always published as supplement to an issue of Journal of the Arachnological Society. Arachnological contributions has the goal to publish long articles from intensive fieldwork (such as species catalogs) or very extensive review articles. Please contact the editors of Journal of the Belgian Arachnological Society before submitting.

Upon submission, the authors should indicate to which article type they want to submit. In addition to the guidelines below, we encourage authors to use the format of an article in a recent issue.

General guidelines

  • Manuscripts can be written in three different languages; English, Dutch or French. Abstracts should be written in the three languages mentioned above (except for Short notes, see further). Abstracts are concise and factual.
  • Manuscripts are written in Calibri font size 11.
  • Subsections are not numbered and a maximum of three title levels is allowed.
  • Add a reference list at the end of the manuscript. This is not a bibliography. Species lists are added as a table in the appendix after the references and not as Online appendix (see below). The species list will be published together with the article.
  • Nomenclature should follow the latest version of the World Spider Catalog https://wsc.nmbe.ch/. In the species list, species are mentioned followed by the author that first described the species. Per species, numbers of males and females are given if data is available. Only the first time a species is mentioned in the text, the author of the original description should be added.
  • Authors mention their affiliation(s) and e-mail address. The corresponding author should be indicated if this is not the first author. Only the e-mail address of the corresponding author will be published.

References

Citations within the text

Before submitting the manuscript, please check each citation in the text against the References and vice-versa to ensure that they match exactly. The last names of authors in the text and in the reference list are written in small caps.

  • One author: SMITH (1990) or (SMITH 1990)
  • Two authors: BROCK & GUNDERSON (2001) or (BROCK & GUNDERSON 2001)
  • Three or more authors: SMITH et al. (1998) or (SMITH et al. 1998)

When citing more than one source, in-text citations should be ordered by the year of publication, starting with the earliest one: (SMITH et al. 1998, 2000, 2016; BROCK and GUNDERSON 2001; FELT 2006).

Reference list

  • Journal article:

JACOBS J, ARTOIS T, JANSSEN M (2021) First observation of Cryptachaea blattea (Urqhart, 1886) on a green roof in Antwerp, Belgium (Araneae, Theridiidae). Journal of the Belgian Arachnological Society 36: 4954.

  • Book:

ROBERTS MJ (1998) Tirion spinnengids. Tirion, Baarn. 397 pp.

  • Book chapter:

ELMQVIST T, ZIPPERER W, GÜNERALP B (2016) Urbanisation, habitat loss, biodiversity decline: Solution pathways to break the cycle. In SETA K, SOLECKI WD, GRIFFITH CA (eds) Routledge handbook of urbanisation and global environmental change, pp. 139–151. Routledge, London, UK.

  • Report:

VRIENS L, BOSCH H, DE KNIJF G, DE SAEGER S, GUELINCKX R, OOSTERLYNCK P, VAN HOVE M, PAELINCKX D (2011) De Biologische Waarderingskaart. Biotopen en hun verspreiding in Vlaanderen en het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest. Mededelingen van het Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek. INBO.M.2011.1, Brussel. 416 pp.

  • Web ref:

BRITISH SPIDERS (2021) Spider and Harvestman Recording Scheme website the national recording schemes for spiders and harvestmen in Britain. Summary for Zodarion italicum (Araneae). http://srs.britishspiders.org.uk/portal.php/p/Summary/s/Zodarion+italicum (2021-04-10).

Figures

Figures should be uniform to the written text. Every figure should be referred to in the text. Every figure needs a caption below the figure that should be in Calibri font 9 and italic. Figure title should be in the caption and not in the figure itself. Photographs preferably have a resolution of 300 dpi.

Tables

Tables should be submitted as edible text and not as images. Every table needs a caption above the table that should be in Calibri font 9 and italic. Avoid using vertical lines and shading in tables. Keep the use of horizontal lines to a minimum.

Online appendix

The online appendix can be used for large amounts of pictures from e.g. pitfall trap locations or characteristic habitats. Also, species lists per sublocation can be added here. This is also the place for movies or presentation slides. The online appendix should be formatted by the authors following the same guidelines as for research articles.

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