Please note that this journal is no longer published by NISC Guide for Authors (Elsevier) Instructions to Authors A highly qualified Editorial Board, in collaboration with dedicated referees, ensures peer-reviewing of all manuscripts and the maintenance of international scientific standards. All submitted papers are refereed by a member of the Editorial Board and at least two independent referees. The Editor-in-Chief may, however, decide not to submit a manuscript for review if it is judged to be of poor quality, failing to meet the standards of SAJB with respect to science, language expression, presentation and/or required style. Types of Contribution Reviews, Mini-reviews, Research papers, Short Communications and Research Notes will be considered. 1.Reviews: Review articles will be by Editor invitation only, but suggestions for Review topics may be forwarded to the Editor for consideration. 2. Mini-Reviews: are short reviews updating the scientific community on important advances in the plant sciences. They are not longer than 6 printed pages with no more than 40 references. 3. Original Research Papers: should report the results of original research. The material should not have been previously published elsewhere, except in a preliminary form. 4. Short Communications: similar to original papers but with limited data. 5. Research Notes: these will not exceed two printed pages and include only one table or one figure. Submission of manuscripts Submission of manuscripts to this journal proceeds entirely on-line. Papers for consideration should be submitted to the Elsevier Editorial System which can be accessed via the homepage of this journal ( http://www.elsevier.com/journals). Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher. Biodiversity rights - Each country has its own rights on its biodiversity. Consequently for studying plants one needs to follow the international, national and institutional rules concerning the biodiversity rights. Animal and clinical studies - Investigations using experimental animals or products derived from animals must state in the Methods section that the research was conducted in accordance with the internationally accepted principles for laboratory animal use and care as found in for example the European Community guidelines (EEC Directive of 1986; 86/609/EEC) or the US guidelines (NIH publication #85-23, revised in 1985). Investigations with human subjects will not be published by the South African Journal of Botany. The Editors will reject papers if there is any doubt about the suitability of the animal procedures used. (1)Journal Publishing Agreement and Permissions Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail (or letter) will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement. Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions). If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions. Manuscripts, in English, should be subdivided into sections: abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion. Authors' full names, academic or professional affiliations and addresses should be included on the first page. The name and e-mail address of the corresponding author should be clearly indicated on the first page. Proofs will be sent to this author. Authors should consult papers in a recent issue for details of style that are not printed below. Authors are responsible for submitting well-written manuscripts in proper style that have been carefully read and corrected to eliminate errors. Authors who are not fluent in English should have their manuscripts read by English-speaking colleagues to ensure that the submitted paper is free from grammatical errors. Failure to meet these standards may cause serious delay in the handling of manuscripts; manuscripts with serious deficiencies will be returned to the authors for rewriting before they are considered further. For help, prior to submission, please make use of the English language help service. A maximum of six keywords (or short phrases) should be included with the submitted manuscript following the abstract. English language help service: Upon request, Elsevier will direct Authors to an agent who can check and improve the English of their paper (before submission). Please contact www.elsevier.com/locate/elsevierpublishing for further information. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our Terms and Conditions http://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions. General presentation: All manuscripts submitted should contain line numbers throughout the text and tables. Print the entire manuscript on one side of the paper only, using double spacing and wide (3 cm) margins. (Avoid full justification, i.e., do not use a constant right-hand margin.) Ensure that each new paragraph is clearly indicated. Present tables and figure captions on separate pages at the end of the manuscript. If possible, consult a recent issue of the journal to become familiar with layout and conventions. Number all pages consecutively. Preparation of manuscripts, using the following format Abstract: The article should start with an abstract. This must be a concise statement of the scope of the work and the principal findings. It must not exceed 5% of the manuscript. Keywords: A maximum of six keywords (or short phrases) should be included with the submitted manuscript. These will be used in the compilation of the subject index and for any subsequent retrieval. Introduction: This should argue the case for the study, giving the reader a brief outline of the subject in general. A detailed review of the literature is usually inappropriate. Material and methods: Give full scientific name(s) of plant(s) used, as well as cultivar (cv.) or variety (var.) where applicable. All growth conditions should be properly described. Sufficient detail of the techniques used should be provided to allow easy repetition. Results: Do not include material appropriate to the Discussion. Discussion: This should highlight the significance of the results and place them in the context of other work. Do not be over-speculative or reiterate the results. If desired the Results and Discussion sections may be amalgamated. Acknowledgements: These should be brief and to the point. References: References should be listed in alphabetical sequence according to first author. References should be cited in full in the reference list, including all authors, year of publication, title, journal name in full (not italics), volume number and the first and last page numbers. In the reference list, periodicals [1], books [2], and chapters in books [3] should accord with the following examples: [1] Briat, J.F., Dron, M., Mache, R. 1971. Is transcription of higher plant chloroplast ribosomal operons regulated by premature termination? South African Journal of Botany 163, 1-5. [2] Bengochea, T., Dodds, J.H. 2005. Plant Protoplasts. Chapman & Hall, London, New York, pp. 1-90. [3] Bohnert, H.J., Crouse, E.J., Schmitt, J.M. 1999. Organization and expression of plastid genomes. In: Parthier, B., Boulter, D. (Eds.), Encyclopaedia of Plant Physiology, New Series, Vol. 14B, Springer-Verlag, pp. 475-530. Tables: Tables should bear a short descriptive title and should be submitted on separate sheets. Illustrations: Illustrations should be numbered according to their sequence in the text. References should be made in the text to each illustration. Preparation of electronic illustrations: A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website: http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here. Formats: Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please "save as" or convert the images to one of the following formats (Note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below.): EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as "graphics". TIFF: Colour or greyscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi. TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi. TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (colour or greyscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required. DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office applications please supply "as is". Please do not: • Supply embedded graphics in your text document; • Supply files that are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low; • Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content. Colour Reproduction: Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. Please indicate your preference for colour on the web (free of charge) or in print and on the web (charged) when submitting your article. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Supplementary data: Elsevier now accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data is provided in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Proofs: One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post). Elsevier now sends PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 (or higher) available free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win. If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or by post. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received. Offprints: 1.Twenty-five offprints for regular papers will be supplied free of charge. 2.One hundred free offprints will be supplied to the first author of a review article. 3.Additional offprints can be ordered on an offprint order form, which is included with the proofs. 4.UNESCO coupons are acceptable in payment of extra offprints. The South African Journal of Botany does not have page charges. Information about The South African Journal of Botany is available on the World Wide Web at the following address: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/sajb Updated: 8 January 2008
South African Journal of Botany
