Occasional Papers
Read the Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science
Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University
The Occasional Papers of the LSU Museum of Natural Science was founded in May 4, 1938 with the publication of the first issue. The journal was founded by George Lowery, Jr. just two years after he founded the LSU MNS. This journal was closely modeled after the Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan series and continues to follow the tradition of that journal and other museum publications such as the American Museum Novitates.
About the Journal
This journal is open access, and available on-line for free. It is free to publish in the journal and all manuscripts have been reviewed externally.
Read past Occasional Papers.
Manuscript topics cover all aspects of natural history including: ecology, population genetics, taxonomy, and phylogenetics. Final acceptance is at the discretion of the editor.
Submitting a Manuscript: Instructions for Authors
To submit a manuscript, please contact:
Editor: Prosanta Chakrabarty prosanta@lsu.edu
Associate Editor: Irene Martí Gil imart23@lsu.edu
Scope: The Occasional Papers will consider submissions dealing with any aspect of natural history authored by MNS staff, students, and associates. Staff time is limited, so your careful efforts to format according to these guidelines will be appreciated.
Formatting:
- Follow the general format of recent issues
- Always use the Oxford comma
- Use of Latin abbreviations should not be italicized. For example, use “e.g.,” and “i.e.,” and “et al.”. Note the comma with the first two, but not with the last.
- Section headers are all caps and bold.
- Subsection titles are indented, italicized, sentence case, and followed by an en-dash.
- Include a running head ≤ 60 characters (including spaces) on the title page.
- Use standard U.S. spelling (i.e., Acknowledgments, not Acknowledgements).
Literature Cited: Cite references in text as follows:
Loricariid species-richness is matched by the incredible diversity of habitats these fishes occur in, and the remarkable body shape variation they exhibit (Covain and Fisch-Muller 2007; Lujan and Armbruster 2012; Lujan et al. 2015).
Note that in-text citations are (1) sorted temporally, (2) separated by a semi-colon, (3) nothing is italicized, (4) no commas separate author names from year, and (5) the ampersand is forbidden.
Angulo, A., Garita-Alvarado, C.A., Bussing, W.A. & López, M.I. 2013. Annotated checklist of the freshwater fishes of continental and insular Costa Rica: additions and nomenclatural revisions. Check List 9: 987-1019. dx.doi.org/10.15560/9.5.987
ARMBRUSTER, J.W. 2004. Pseudancistrus sidereus, a new species from southern Venezuela (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) with a redescription of Pseudancistrus. Zootaxa 628: 1-15. dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.628.1
Figures: Figures should be submitted as separate files in an appropriate file type (i.e., vector graphics should not be converted to raster). Raster graphics should be submitted as .tiff or .jpg, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. Vector graphics should be submitted as .pdf or .eps. Graphics should be submitted at a size appropriate for publication. All labels need to be legible at this size. Include figure legends at the end of the manuscript text.
Tables: Submit tables as separate files, preferably as .doc or .docx. Column and row labels are bold, sentence case. Format the table with alternating grey rows. Do not reduce the typeface size for tables. Include table legends in the table file, above the table.
Submitting a Manuscript Instructions for Authors PDF
Special Publications
"Se Jeter al L'eau Avec les Poissons de la Louisiane" Chakrabarty, Warny, Stampley. 2023. A Student Guide to Louisiana Fishes in French. ISBN #979-8-3507-1285-8
“Making a Big Splash With Louisiana Fishes” Chakrabarty, Warny, Derouen. 2014. A Student Guide to Louisiana Fishes. ISBN # 978-1-4951-2077-0
“Manual for Ageing and Sexing Birds of Bosque Fray Jorge National Park and Northcentral Chile, with Notes on Range and Breeding Seasonality” Pyle, Engilis Jr., Kelt.2015. ISBN # 978-1-4951-3624-5
“Manual para la Estimación de la Sexo y Edad de Aves Terrestres del Parque Nacional Bosque Fray Jorge y Chile Central, con Notas sobre Rangos de Distribución y Estación Reproductiva” Pyle, Engilis Jr., Kelt.2015. ISBN#978-1-4951-5327-3
Special Thanks
Special thanks to Stephen M. Smith for his efforts in digitizing and improving the quality of many of these papers.
Contact Us
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