Instructions to Authors

The Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia publishes on-line, open-access, peer-reviewed articles dealing with research in all aspects of the natural and physical sciences of relevance to the western part of the Australian continent. Articles become available online shortly after the proofs are accepted. Manuscripts should be submitted via the JRSWA Scholastica portal.

Correspondence should be via: journal@RSWA.org.au

Published articles may be of the following types:

(1) Research papers presenting original findings and interpretations (normally less than 10,000 words). For example, see https://www.rswa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/RSWA-105-p57-73-Johnstone-et-al.pdf

(2) Papers based on unpublished supplementary files to major articles published elsewhere. These require the permission of the publisher of the original article. For purposes of reviewing and acceptance, each paper will be treated as a new “research paper”. For example, see https://www.rswa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Haig_etal_2024.pdf

(3) Review articles that review a substantial amount of literature related to a topic of relevance to the western part of the Australian continent (normally about 10,000 words). For example, see https://www.rswa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/BRADLEY-ET-AL-FINAL-.pdf

(4) Research notes that, for example, present a new observation or a preliminary aspect of a broader project (limit of 2,000 words and no more than three illustrations). For example, see
https://www.rswa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/RSWA-104-p1-3-Grose-and-Panegyres.pdf

(5) Discussions/comments in relation to an article published in the Journal during the last six months (limit of 1000 words). For example, see https://www.rswa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/RSWA-103-p119-124-Smith-et-al.pdf

Submitted manuscript must follow this format:

Manuscripts in Word, double-spaced, with line numbers on left-hand side.
Include: Title, Abstract (< 500 words), Keywords (about 6), Running page caption (abbreviated caption), Text (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions), References, Captions for figures, tables and appendices.
Submit each figure, table and appendix as a separate file (see below for design advice).

Heading hierarchy in text:

Up to four levels of headings may be used and should be left justified in text:
FIRST-ORDER HEADING
Second-order heading
THIRD-ORDER HEADING
Fourth-order heading

Reference format:

In text, cite references as, for example, Balme & O’Connor (2014) or (Balme & O’Connor 2014), and Collins et al. (2011) or (Collins et al. 2014).

In the “REFERENCES” the references should be cited as in the following examples.

Paper:
Collins LB, Testa V, Zhao J & Qu D. 2011. Holocene growth history and evolution of the Scott Reef carbonate platform and coral reef. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 94, 239–250.

Book:
Harper JL 1977. Population biology of plants. Academic Press, London.
Dennell R & Porr M (editors) 2014. East of Africa: Southern Asia, Australia and human origins. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Chapter or contribution in a book:
Balme J & O’Connor S 2014. Early modern humans in Island Southeast Asia and Sahul: Adaptive and creative societies with simple lithic industries. Pages 164–174 in R Denne & M Porr, editors. East of Africa: Southern Asia, Australia and human origins. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
[Note: (i) use en dash (–) to denote range in page numbers; (ii) for each primary author, place single author citations first, then double author citations, followed by references with the same first author and two or more co-authors, cited with “et al.” in the text, in order of date of publication.]

Scientific Terminology and research material repository:

The metric system must be used.
Follow the latest version of the International Chronostratigraphic Chart (www.stratigraphy.org) for terminology related to the geological time scale.
Follow the most recent lithostratigraphic nomenclature in the Australian Stratigraphic Units Database (https://asud.ga.gov.au).
For zoological nomenclature follow the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (https://www.iczn.org/the-code/the-code-online/)
For botanical nomenclature follow the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (https://www.iapt-taxon.org/nomen/main.php)
All necessary permits relevant for the collection and study of research materials must have been obtained and cited in acknowledgements or elsewhere in the paper.
All research materials must be placed in a recognized scientific repository and collection numbers/vouchers must be included in the text or tables.

Illustrations:

Illustrations are to be included as Figures and numbered sequentially as they appear in the text. Where appropriate, each illustration should have a metric bar scale.
Submit each Figure as a separate file.

Illustrations should be formatted as follows:

column width — 81 mm
half-page — 115 mm
page — 170 mm
use sans serif lettering (Helvetica or Arial), preferably 9 pt or 8 pt, not over 12 pt.
composite figures should have parts numbered a, b, c etc. in a consistent position in the figure (e.g. top LH corner).
all images should be flattened; colour images at least 300 dpi; black and white images and line drawings at 600 dpi.
maps should have latitude/longitude co-ordinates and a bar scale in km.

Tables:

Each Table should be submitted separately and formatted in Word, Times New Roman, 10 pt to 8 pt font.
Borders around each cell of the table should not be used.
A single line should be placed below headings at top of table, and at the bottom of the table.

Appendices:

Each Appendix should be submitted separately and formatted in the journal format for text, illustrations and/or tables.