Authors' Information

Reports of the National Center for Science Education (RNCSE) welcomes contributions from its readers and from anyone interested in issues related to evolution as the foundation for the biological sciences, to the place of evolution in the science curriculum, or to the public perception of scientific method and practice. These contributions may be submitted in one of two forms.

News, commentaries, and features describe events or experiences that we wish to relate to our readers and members. These may include reports of school-board elections or local organizing by parent and teacher groups, political or governmental decisions and policies, first-person accounts of experiences with anti-evolutionist speakers, curricula, or organizations, other reports of information related to our primary concerns of promoting good science in education and public life, and, of course, humor related to creation/evolution issues.

Articles include book reviews, scholarly articles, and formal essays. These may explore specific arguments raised by anti-evolutionist scholars, relate new information that may be helpful in promoting evolution, or present original research related to the public understanding of evolution. We also welcome case reports and classroom action research that assess the outcome(s) of strategies for strengthening the understanding of evolution in educational practice.

All articles should be written for a general audience, and authors should provide definitions or descriptions for technical terms and concepts that might not be understood by a nonspecialist. All article manuscripts are submitted to reviewers for comments on their technical content and suitability for a general audience. Acceptance for publication does not take into account the author's formal academic background or profession. We encourage query letters from any prospective author.

1. Manuscripts must be typed double-spaced, including inset quotations and references. Margins must be adequate for editorial notation.
2. Manuscripts should not exceed 20 double-spaced typewritten pages and must be accompanied by a brief biographical statement identifying the author(s) and giving an address where interested readers may contact the author(s).
3. A printed original and two copies should be supplied by the author(s). Names of the author(s) should appear only on the cover page if blind review is desired. Manuscripts submitted electronically will greatly expedite the editing and publication process. Acceptable electronic formats include WordPerfect 5.1, MS-Word, Rich-Text (RTF), or ASCII formats in DOS/Windows or Macintosh versions. Manuscripts and other notes submitted by electronic mail should be in plain text format. Please contact the editorial office for information about other word processing and diskette formats that might be acceptable.
4. Citations within text referring to reference section should be limited to author, date and (when appropriate) page, for example (Smith 1982: 21). Multiple references within text appear in chronological order, for example, (Thomas, Peters, and others 1925; Smith 1943, 1947; Smith and Jones 1983a, 1983b, 1984). Citations of electronic resources should include author(s) and date accessed. References to internet locations should be enclosed in angle brackets, for example, <http://www.ncseweb.org>.
5. Reference sections are alphabetical and should conform to the citation-sequence format in Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 6th ed., illustrated in the following examples:
   
   

   Kehoe AB. 1985. Modern anti-evolutionism: The scientific creationists. In: Godfrey LR, ed. What Darwin Began. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. p 165-85.

   Kuban GJ. 1997. Sea-monster or shark? An analysis of a supposed plesiosaur carcass netted in 1977. Available from <http://members.aol.com/paluxy2/ plesios.htm>. Last accessed March 28, 1997.

   Smith FZ. 1985. Geocentrism re-examined. Journal of Nice Things; 21 (3): 19-35.

   Waters IC, Rivers HI, and others. 2995. Swept away in a flood of enthusiasm [editorial]. Reports of the National Center for Science Education 1015 (1): 22-9.

   Zubrow E. 1985. Archaeoastronomy. Orlando (FL): Academic Press.

   Do not abbreviate names of publications. Include location of book publishers, and use the abbreviation "nd" for undated material. Multiple entries by the same author are listed in the bibliography in chronological order and those in same year are listed as: 1982a, 1982b, and so on.
6. Material formatted as footnotes or endnotes should be incorporated into the text or deleted.
7. Text abbreviations based on non-English terms should be translated into the appropriate English equivalent. For example, e.g. should be rendered as for example.
8. All measurements reported in scholarly and scientific articles are to be expressed in SI or "metric" units.
9. Figures, plates, or diagrams should be submitted in camera-ready form or provided in that form upon acceptance. Submission of these materials and of quotations by writers presumes that authors have obtained permission to use these potentially copyrighted materials. Photographs should be glossy prints and should be accompanied by permissions when appropriate.
10. Authors should retain copies of all manuscripts, photographs, and figures submitted; NCSE assumes no responsibility for materials submitted.
11. All submissions are subject to editorial correction of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and consistency as per Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 6th ed. All manuscripts are edited prior to publication.
12. Manuscripts cannot be returned unless accompanied by stamped, return-addressed envelopes.