Northwest Science - Author Guidelines

Information for Authors and Instructions for Formatting a Manuscript

A pdf version of this guidance is available for download. Click here to submit a manuscript.

Both Northwest Science and its publisher, the Northwest Scientific Association (NWSA), were founded in the 1920s. Issues since 2007 are available online through BioOne and are free to NWSA members. It is the only peer-reviewed journal that focuses on natural sciences in the region including Alaska, western Canada (British Columbia, Yukon, Alberta, and Northwest Territories), and the northwestern United States (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and northern California). A Word template is available, to assist with manuscript preparation. Also, please see pg. 6 of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines for more information on author ethics. Please see our Costs Page for current rates on page charge and article processing fees.

Northwest Science publishes original research articles and notes, commentaries, review papers, special topic collections, forums, and book reviews. Details on select contribution types:

• Research Article- Generally 8–20 journal pages long, presents original research.
• Research Note - Generally less than eight journal pages long, presents a limited investigation.
• Comment and reply - Comment on a Northwest Sciencearticle or note published within the previous 12 months. Author(s) of that article or note are invited to publish an accompanying reply; this must be submitted within four weeks of invitation to guarantee simultaneous publication with the comment. Comments and replies are limited to three printed pages or less, and will be published open access free of charge; if authors exceed this three-page limit, there will be page charges (non-open access) or article processing charges (open access) to publish the paper. Both the comment and the reply will be peer-reviewed and acceptance is at the discretion of the Chief Editor. A reply to the reply will not be published.

Northwest Science receives and tracks manuscripts using PeerTrack, an online editorial management software. First-time authors will have to register and then follow instructions about uploading manuscript files. The Chief Editor conducts an initial review of manuscripts; manuscripts that fit within the journal scope and are scientifically sound are advanced for more in-depth reviews by an Associate Editor and at least two anonymous reviewers. The final publication decision for all manuscripts is made by the Chief Editor. The Managing Editor helps edit the manuscript to meet journal formatting requirements. Once accepted, abstracts are posted to the Northwest Science website and authors can opt to have a full, watermarked preprint and graphical abstract posted as well. Authors are allowed to freely share the accepted (non-copy-edited) manuscript.

Upload text as a single Word file with 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced throughout, one-inch margins, and page numbers and line numbers in single, continuous series starting on the title page (first page). Follow title page with opening summaries (abstract, bulleted key points, keywords), body of text, references cited, tables, and figure captions, in that order (an optional Word template is available). Research articles rarely exceed 10,000 words including references and captions; notes are 3,500 words or less.

Findings and their implications made clear in three formats: (1) a technical abstract as a single paragraph of 250 words or less; (2) as many as three bulleted key points, each within 140 characters, using plain-language, and containing no abbreviations; (3) up to five keywords or phrases, alphabetized, that are not included in the paper title.

• Headings - First rank bold, left-justified. Second rank non-bold, left-justified. Third rank italics and followed by em dash (—). All headings have all primary words capitalized (e.g., References Cited). 
• Text - In-text references to figures and tables capitalized and spelled out (Figure 2, Table 1) and numbered chronologically as referenced in the text. Single space after periods. As applicable, include animal care methods and permits.
• Numbers, Statistics, Units - Numbers up to nine spelled out except in mixed series (25 samples, 3 analyses per sample) or before an abbreviated unit (5 g). Leading zero for numbers less than one (0.01). Use a comma for numbers greater than 999. Italicized statistical symbols (F, n, P, Z), SI units, and 24-hour clock (0600, 2230). Space after less-than, greater-than, and equals symbols and between numbers and units (< 2 m, n = 5). En dash (–) in ranges of numbers and dates (325–927). 
• In-text References - Personal communication is cited parenthetically in the text. When citing sources that are longer than ten pages, authors can choose to reference a specific page or page range in the in-text citation. When directly quoting, always cite specific pages. When citing multiple references, list them chronologically from oldest to newest, separated by commas (e.g., Smith et al. 2002, Jones and Blake 2010, Anderson 2017). 
• Animal Care and Use - If applicable, provide information for permits and Animal Care Committee compliance in the Methods section.

• Acknowledgements - If applicable, provide details of all funding sources, including grant numbers. 
• Conflicts of Interest - The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
• Data Availability Statement - Please provide a statement about data availability. Example: The datasets used in this study can be found in the XZY repository (link) (examples of acceptable repositories include Figshare, Dryad, GenBank, and GitHub). The link(s) to available data will need to be provided by the time of proof preparation.
• Supplementary Materials - Supplementary materials, if cited in the text and accepted through peer review, can be hosted online with the published article on BioOne (link provided by BioOne).
• Author Contributions - Statement describing author contributions to the manuscript; refer to individual authors by their initials. Example roles can be found here. 

A full collection of examples of properly formatted Northwest Science references can be found in our Reference Guide. The journal encourages authors to also provide digital object identifiers (DOIs) when available for the reader’s convenience in accessing online publications. Users of bibliographic software may adopt or adapt the Citation Style Language file on the Northwest Science website.

Group captions after References Cited. Each caption begins with "Figure" spelled out (Figure 1).

Provide each table on its own manuscript page or pages. No grid lines except three horizontal ones—two that bound column headings, the other after the final row; if using subheadings, additional horizontal lines are permitted. Headings should be non-bold; shading is allowed for emphasis elsewhere. Explanatory footnotes follow the final row. Caption above each table.

Upload as individual pdf or jpg files at intended publication size and scale. The printable area of a page in Northwest Science is 14 by 20 cm, and one column is 6.6 cm wide. Bitmaps 300–600 dpi; line width 0.5–1.0 point; fonts 7–9 point. If you would like to have online figures in color but printed figures in grayscale, please follow these guidelines. Generally, the combined total of figures and tables within the manuscript should not exceed eight; if more figures and tables are needed, we recommend that they be placed in the Supplementary Materials.

At the end of the manuscript submission process, you will be asked to suggest up to three potential reviewers; providing this information greatly helps speed the review process.