Information For Authors

Zoodiversity publishes original papers in all fields of zoology (except for strictly applied fields): fauna and systematics, ecology, ethology, descriptive and comparative morphology, physiology, zoological aspects of nature conservancy, and paleozoology. The journal also includes sections such as Information and Chronicle, Book Reviews, and Field Notes.

Why Submit to Zoodiversity?

  • All submissions are peer-reviewed.
  • Language improvement is provided for English articles.
  • There are no page charges for publishing.
  • Authors receive a free e-print upon publication.
  • Abstracts and excerpts of all papers are available free online.
  • Colour illustrations are provided free of charge in the e-reprints.

MANUSCRIPTS

General Information

The journal does not have article processing charges (APCs) or article submission charges. Manuscripts should be submitted to Zoodiversity via the online submission system: ojs.akademperiodyka.org.ua/index.php/Zoodiversity/about/submissions. In case of technical problems, manuscripts can be sent directly to the Editorial Office: Galina Gorodiska (zoodiversity@izan.kiev.ua).

Manuscripts must be original contributions. The length should not exceed 40,000 characters; short communications should be up to 3,500 characters. The publication language is British English. Spelling and grammar should consistently follow British English conventions. All manuscripts will be reviewed by at least two appropriate referees. The editors reserve the right to make textual corrections that do not alter the author's meaning. The metric system (SI) should be used.

Manuscript Structure and Formatting

Manuscripts must be organized in the following order. Submissions that do not adhere to this structure, especially the title block format and illustration requirements, will be returned to the authors for correction before being sent for peer review.

1. Title Block (Header)

This section must be formatted precisely as follows:

  • DOI and UDC: These will be added by the editorial office.
  • Title: The title of the article must be centered.
  • Author(s) Name(s): Formatted as Initials Last Name (e.g., A. M. Johnson).
  • Affiliation(s): Provide the full official name of the institution, postal address (street, city, postal code, country) for each author.
  • E-mail: Provide the e-mail address for the corresponding author.
  • ORCID iD: Provide the full ORCID iD URL for each author in the format: https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000.
  • ZooBank LSID (if applicable): For taxonomic papers describing new taxa, provide the ZooBank registration LSID for the publication. This registration can be done either by the author prior to submission or by the editorial office during the publication process. The format is: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:....
  • Summary (Abstract): This section must follow a strict format. It begins with the full Title of the Article (in sentence case), followed by the Author(s) Last Name, Initials. (note the comma and period after the last name), an em-dash (—), and then the main text of the abstract (not exceeding 300 words), which should provide a succinct account of the subject, methods, results, and conclusions.
  • Key words: Provide 5–7 relevant keywords. Key words should not repeat words used in the article's title.

2. Main Text

  • Introduction: A brief overview of the problem and the objectives of the study.
  • Material and Methods: A detailed description of the material studied, methods, and techniques used.
  • Results: The main findings of the study. For taxonomic papers, this section is titled "Taxonomic Account".
  • Discussion: An interpretation of the results and comparison with existing literature.
  • Conclusions: A summary of the main conclusions.
  • Acknowledgements: Acknowledge any support received.

3. References

4. Figure Captions

5. Tables

Formatting Style

For acceptable style, format, and layout, please examine recent issues of the journal.

  • General Style: Do not hyphenate words or justify the right-hand margin. No sentences, headings, or surnames should be in all caps or small caps.
  • Scientific Names: Latin names of genera and species should be italicised. The first mention of any organism must include the full scientific name with the author and the year of publication.
  • Symbols: Please use the standard Unicode symbols for male (♂) and female (♀).
  • Transliteration: Geographic and other names in languages using non-Latin characters (e.g., Ukrainian, Russian) should be given in transliteration.
  • Nomenclature: Authors must strictly follow the requirements of the current edition of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.

Units and Symbols

To ensure consistency and adherence to international scientific standards, please use standard Unicode symbols and follow these spacing conventions:

  • Units of Measurement: A space must be placed between a number and its corresponding unit of measurement (e.g., 5 mm, 12.5 cm, 30 °C). The only exception is for angular degrees, minutes, and seconds (e.g., 90°).
  • Male (♂) and Female (♀) Symbols: A space is required between a number and the male (♂) or female (♀) symbols (e.g., 2 ♂, 1 ♀).
  • Percent Sign (%): A space should be placed between a number and the percent sign (e.g., 25 %).

Material Citations

The material used should be listed in the following order: type material, followed by non-type material. Organize material by country, then province, either alphabetically or geographically.

  • Example: Material. Holotype Adapsilia griseipennis ♀: China: "Shin Kai Si / Mt Omei / Szechuen China / 4400 ft", "July 1-30 / 1921", "DCGraham / Collector" (USNM). Non-type. Moldova: Chisinău [46.9663N 28.8820E], 12.09.1987, 1 ♂ (V. Korneyev) (SIZK).

Formatting rules:

  • Dates should be formatted as day.month.year, using Arabic numerals for the month (e.g., 12.09.1987).
  • Coordinates should preferably be given in decimal format. They should be rounded to four decimal places unless a higher degree of precision is specifically required.

The derivation of new names for any new taxa described must be explained in a separate paragraph titled Etymology.

Tables and Illustrations (Figures)

General Submission Requirements

  • All illustrations and tables must be uploaded as separate files along with the manuscript.
  • To facilitate the peer-review process, authors may embed low-resolution versions of figures directly into the manuscript text. It is also acceptable to provide a single, supplementary PDF file containing the manuscript with embedded, low-resolution figures and captions.
  • It is recommended to indicate the preferred position for each figure and table in the manuscript text, for example: <Insert Fig. 1 here>.

Illustrations (Figures)

  • File Formats and Quality:
  • Raster images: TIFF (with LZW compression) or JPG (with low compression, e.g., quality level 11–12 in Photoshop). Resolution must be between 300 and 600 dpi.
  • Vector images: EPS, AI, or SVG are preferred. PDF is also acceptable.
  • Image Quality: Authors are responsible for the quality of their illustrations. It is recommended to check and correct colour balance, levels, brightness, and contrast before submission. Poor-quality illustrations may be grounds for returning the manuscript for revision.
  • Specific Requirements:
  • Micrographs: For photos produced by microscopy, a scale bar with the appropriate unit (e.g., μm, nm) must be included directly on the image.
  • Maps: Maps must include latitude and longitude markings, a scale bar, and a north arrow where appropriate.
  • Composition and Numbering (Plates):
  • It is highly recommended that authors assemble individual figures into composite plates. Plate dimensions must be between 12–13 cm in width and no more than 19 cm in height.
  • Plates are numbered with Arabic numerals (Fig. 1, Fig. 2). Individual illustrations within a plate are labeled with lowercase Latin letters (a, b, c, etc.).
  • References in the text should be formatted as follows: (Fig. 1, a), (Fig. 1, a, c; 2, b).
  • Figure Captions: A list of all figure captions (legends) must be provided on a separate page at the end of the manuscript, after the References. Do not embed captions in the figure image files.

Tables

  • Format: Tables must be submitted in an editable format, created using the table function in a word processor (e.g., MS Word) or as a spreadsheet (e.g., MS Excel), not as fixed images.
  • Layout and Style:
  • Tables must not contain vertical lines.
  • Use only three horizontal lines: one at the top, one below the column headings, and one at the bottom.
  • In column and row headings, capitalize only the first word and proper nouns.
  • Footnotes: Footnotes to tables should be indicated with lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.).
  • Placement: Tables should be placed at the very end of the manuscript, each on a separate page.

Supplementary Materials

We strongly recommend that large tables (including the lists of GenBank accession numbers and excessively large lists of examined non-type material in taxonomic revisions) or extensive primary datasets be submitted as Supplementary Files.

  • These files should be hosted on a permanent third-party repository, such as Zenodo, Figshare, or a similar platform.
  • It is advisable to upload these materials before submitting the article and to include a link (URL or DOI) to the dataset in the "Material and Methods" section of the manuscript.
  • In exceptional cases, supplementary files may be hosted by the journal, at the discretion of the editorial office.

References

We use a modified Harvard style. References in the text should be cited as (Author, Year) or Author (Year). For three or more authors, use (Author et al., Year).

  • Journal Article: Heran, J. 1979. A contribution to the problem of relative size in vertebrate morphology. Věstník Československé společnosti zoologické, 43(1), 22–29.
  • Book: De Lattin, G. 1967. Grundriss der Zoogeographie. Gustav Fischer Vlg., Stuttgart, 1–602.
  • Chapter in Book: Wei, L. M. 2007. Sarcophagidae. In: Li, Z. Z, Yang M. F., & Jin, D. C., eds. Insects from Leigongshan Landscape. Guizhou Science & Technology Press, Guiyang, 526–539.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of citations. Papers not conforming to the above requirements are liable to be returned.