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Linee guida per gli autori

Following carefully the instructions here reported will greatly speed up manuscript processing and consequently the publication schedule. Significant discrepancies with the following guidelines may oblige the Editorial Staff to return the manuscript unprocessed to the author(s).

GENERAL INFORMATION

Acceptance for publication is subject to the approval of the Editorial Board. 

Editors may issue a desk rejection if they deem an article to be of low quality or unsuitable for the journal, even before the peer review process. This decision is made fairly and impartially within 21 days of submission, and the criteria are clearly communicated to the author. The decision to reject a submission is based solely on its academic content and is not influenced by the authors' identity or their institutional affiliation.

Institutional address of author(s) must be reported along with e-mail address in the accompanying letter; in case of joint-authored papers the e-mail address of the corresponding author should be reported.

Submission is online. Our online submission system guides you stepwise through the process of entering your article details and uploading your files.

The system does not combine both text and figures in a single pdf file, so the Authors are kindly invited to prepare it before submission. 

Editable files (e.g., Word) are required to typeset your article for final publication. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, is sent by e-mail.

The format and program used must be for PC and not for Macintosh. All files sent as Mac files will be sent back unprocessed to the author(s) for conversion. 
Drawings and photos may be sent as .tiff or .jpg files with the highest possible resolution (possibly 600 dpi).

If there are problems with the electronic submission, contact the Editorial Office at rips@unimi.it

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Text

The text must be organized as follows: 1) Title page, containing the title of the
paper, name(s) of the author(s) (first name not abbreviated), affiliation including full address and e-mail. 2) Key words, abstract in English, body of the text, acknowledgements, references, 3) captions of the figures, tables and plates.

The text must be 1.5 line spaced and not justified on the right side.
Pages must be numbered. International SI system must be used throughout the paper.
All acronyms or abbreviations must be explained when used for the first time or in a special section at the beginning of the text. Figures and plates belonging to the paper must be quoted as Fig., Tab. and Pl.; figures in Plates are to be quoted as Pl., fig.; when referring to figures belonging to other papers use fig., tab. and pl., respectively.

Key words

The key words should be at least four, adding information, not repeating the words used in the title.

Abstract

The abstract should not exceed 250 words and must be informative with facts, ideas and conclusions, without references. All the new palaeontological taxa should be reported.

Headings

Use a maximum of three kinds of headings, hierarchically arranged in the following way:

1. First order headings. Bold, beginning at the left margin. The text begins on the following line
2. Second order headings. Normal type, left margin. Text beginning on the following line.
3. Third order headings (to be used as less as possible): italic, left margin. Text
following on the same line.

Footnotes

No footnotes are allowed. All must be explained in the body of the text.

Quotations

They must be as follows: (Smith 1989); Smith (1989: 23-27) Smith (1989) stated that ...; (Smith & Ross 1981); (Smith et al. 1983). Do not italicize words other than generic and specific names, latin words of common use like et al., sensu, etc. must be typed in normal character.

Systematic palaeontology

The taxonomic descriptions should include the systematic categories concerning the adopted classification (conventional or cladistic), followed by the name of the author(s), year of publication, reference to illustrations, and synonimy as follows:

1879 Ostrea tenuiplicata Seguenza, p.123, pl.12, fig. 1a,b.
1886 Dymia tenuiplicata - Dale, p.231, pl. 3, fig. 3-5.

The text should follow with the list of the examined material (with repository numbers), diagnosis (if required), description, discussion, range and distribution of the species and the provenance of the material.

If a new genus is described, the section should be headed with the name of the new genus as follows:

Emiliomya gen. n.
followed by origin of the name, diagnosis, comparisons with related genera, type species and range.

If a new species is described, the paragraph should be headed as follows:

Emiliomya malnatensis n. sp.
followed by references to illustrations, origin of the name, type specimens (holotype and paratypes), type horizon, type locality, repository (with catalogue numbers), diagnosis, description, comparisons with related species and range of the new species.

Stratigraphic sections 

When describing stratigraphic sections, the author(s) is(are) asked to follow this scheme:

(top to bottom):
4) black cherty limestone...(9 m);
3) grey dark limestone... (30 m);

References

Only the cited papers must be reported in the reference list, in alphabetical order, according to the following examples.

• Papers from journals:
Sun Dong-Li (1993) - On the Permian biogeographic boundary between Gondwana and Eurasia in Tibet, China as the eastern section of the Tethys. Palaegeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 100: 59-77.

Minelli L., Billi A., Faccenna C., Gervasi A., Guerra I., Orecchio B. & Speranza G. (2013) - Discovery of a gliding salt-detached megaslide, Calabria, Ionian Sea, Italy. Geophysical Research Letters, 40: 4220-4224.

• Volumes:
Rudwick M.J.S.(1970) - Living and Fossil brachiopods. Hutchinson University Library, London, 199 pp.

• Articles in volumes:
Poole F.G.& Wardlaw B.R. (1978) - Candelaria (Triassic) and Diablo (Permian) formations in Southern Torquina Range (Central Nevada). In: Howell D.G. & Mc Dougall K.A.(Eds) - Mesozoic Palaeogeography Symposium 2: 271-276. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Los Angeles.

ILLUSTRATIONS

All figures must be numbered in the same order as quoted in the text. Composite text figure should contain references for each single figure (number or letter in the low right corner). Originals of the text figures should be ready for publishing, avoiding as much as possible empty spaces. Please note that
the size of lettering should be compatible with final reduction.
The maximum size for drawings and photos is 17.5x25 cm. Final width for drawings may be 8.4 cm (one column) or 12 cm or 17.5 cm.
The size of the plates is 17.5x25 cm. If the plate is composite, please try to obtain the same intensity in each picture. 
The author(s) should carefully consider the format and reduction rate; graphic scales are preferred.

Please, make sure that each figure does not exceed 20 megabytes, before uploading: the system does not accept larger files.

EDITING THE TEXT

When editing the text, please follow these instructions:
1. Do not justify the text on the right side.
2. Times, Arial or Helvetica are the preferred fonts. Do not use different fonts for the headings and the text.
3. Names of genera and species must be italicized, NOT underlined.
4. Do not indent the beginning any line in the reference list.

REVIEW PROCESS

All submitted papers will be reviewed at least by two referees. Names of two-four potential referees should be suggested by the authors; the final choice however, is made by the Editor.
If paper is accepted, the corresponding Author is requested to send the final version in Word, and illustrations in tiff. Illustrations in .pdf are not accepted

PROOF

The author (the corresponding author in case of joint authored papers) will receive the proof in .pdf format, that should be checked and sent back to the Editorial Office within a week from receipt. Delay in returning the proof may cause shifting in the publication schedule. Changes in proof not related to printer errors are not allowed.

DESK REJECTION

Editors can perform a desk rejection if they consider an article to be of poor quality or unsuitable for the journal, even before the peer review process. This decision is made fairly and impartially, within 21 days of receiving the submission, and the criteria are explicitly communicated to the Author. The decision to reject a submission is based solely on its academic content and is not influenced by the authors' background or their institutional affiliation.

RETRACTIONS

Editors could consider retracting a publication if:
•They have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of major error (eg, miscalculation or experimental error), or as a result of fabrication (eg, of data) or falsification (eg, image manipulation)
•It constitutes plagiarism
•The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper attribution to previous sources or disclosure to the editor, permission to republish, or justification (ie, cases of redundant publication)
•It contains material or data without authorisation for use
•Copyright has been infringed or there is some other serious legal issue (eg, libel, privacy)
•It reports unethical research
•It has been published solely on the basis of a compromised or manipulated peer review process
•The author(s) failed to disclose a major competing interest (a.k.a. conflict of interest) that, in the view of the editor, would have unduly affected interpretations of the work or recommendations by editors and peer reviewers.

Depending on the nature of the error, different actions are taken:

ERRATA: A minor portion of the content requires correction. This may stem from research-related errors, such as in methodology or analysis, or from editorial mistakes.

RETRACTION: A previously published article is withdrawn due to a serious error, such as irreproducible research, scientific misconduct (e.g., plagiarism or undisclosed use of artificial intelligence tools or unethical research methods), or duplicate publication.

EXPRESSIONS OF CONCERN: A note from the editor highlighting potential issues that are yet to be confirmed and do not currently warrant a retraction.

FINAL OUTPUT

Author will receive a high quality .pdf copy of their paper.

Print-on-demand service is available. Costs are on charge of the authors.

For further information, contact Ledizioni: g.vadala@internationalbookseller.com