The Catalan Journal of Ornithology (RCO) publishes original research articles on any ornithological topic, but special emphasis is placed on papers using ringing. Reviews or theoretical articles will also be considered, with the aim of promoting discussions about methodology, techniques and other related subjects. Papers on new records of species or abnormalities (e.g. albinism, malformations, etc.) will be accepted if they include a comprehensive review of the species and/or have additional biological implications. Papers containing descriptions of experiments with birds will be accepted only if the procedures used are clearly described and designed according to ethical norms and fulfil all existing legal requirements. In addition, referees are invited to express any ethical concerns regarding animal experimentation. No manuscript submitted to the RCO can be submitted to any other journal until the editor has given the author(s) a decision.

Manuscripts will be submitted as electronic files to: rco@ornitologia.org, The preferred format is a document in RTF or DOC, including all text, tables and figures in a single file.

Once received, the submitted manuscript will be assigned to an editor. All the manuscripts will be peer-reviewed by experts, and authors may suggest potential reviewers. Once reviewed, manuscripts will be given back to the authors along with commentaries and questions arisen by the reviewers. Manuscripts that are accepted on condition of revision must be returned to the editor along with a reply letter, in which the authors must explain in detail all changes carried out in the manuscript. Once accepted, authors will receive print proofs of their articles to correct any error. Published material cannot be reproduced elsewhere without quoting its origin. A free electronic copy of the article in PDF format will be supplied to the authors. The articles will be open-access in the journal webpage. There are no fees for the authors.


GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

The text should be written concisely and clearly. They may be written in English, Catalan or Spanish. Authors are encouraged to send their contributions in English. The RCO provides a free service of English editing by a professional native speaker specialized in scientific publications in the accepted articles.

All sections, excluding the introduction, must be preceded by a heading in bold. Second-level headings will be in italics. Pages and lines must be numbered.

When referring to a species for the first time, be it in the abstract or the main text, both common and scientific names must be given (e.g. the Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava). In subsequent citations only the common name should be used. All common names of birds should have initial capital letters, whereas those of any other organisms should be named entirely in lower case. Subspecific identity should not be given unless pertinent. Place names should either be in their local form or in the language of the manuscript, and the same criterion must be followed throughout the work. Numbers one to ten should be written in full in the text except for measurements (e.g. five birds, 3 km, 5 cm). Footnotes should always be avoided. Please use the following dating form: 25 January 2001; 1-20 July 1999; 25 May to 15 June. Please use the 24-hour clock: 12:00 h; 14:15 h; 12:15-13:25. The International System of Units should be used throughout.

Please avoid the citation of unpublished reports or manuscripts. References must be presented in accordance with the following examples:

“... according to Arcos (2001) ...”
“... has been defined by Margalida & Bertran (2000) ...”
“... the studies that have been carried out (Carrera 1986, Oro et al. 1997b, Herrando 1998, Carrera 2000, 2001) ...”

Manuscripts should be organized and sent in the following order: (1) Title page, (2) Text, (3) Tables, and (4) Figures.

1. TITLE PAGE

The title page should be composed by:

Title. The title must be concise, but should clearly indicate the contents of the study.

Short Title. Add a short title covering the subject that you are dealing with in your article (no more than 40 characters including spaces). This short title will be used on the page headings in the published version of your article.

Authors. Write the full name of each author as it is to appear in the journal, with each author separated by a comma.

Affiliation. Provide the institution/s along their address/es where all the author/s were affiliated during the execution of the study. Each different affiliation will be coded by correlative numbers. Those authors without affiliation should provide their home address.

Contact address. Provide an e-mail address for the corresponding author.

Abstract. This must be in English, no longer than 250 type-written words, and summarise the contents of the article in a clear and concise way. It cannot include references.

Key words. Up to six words.


2. TEXT

The main text has the next sections:

Introduction. The introduction should convey an idea of the historical background of the subject, as well as the aims of the work. This section has no heading.

Material and methods. This section should include relevant information on the species studied, the materials used, the methods for collecting and analysing data, and the study area, in order that the significance of the results can be suitably interpreted and replicated.

Results. Only those results obtained from the work that have not previously been published should be presented.

Discussion. The results and their comparison with related works are to be discussed. Suggestions for future research may be offered at the end of this section.

Acknowledgements. These may include persons or organizations that have collaborated, in any way, in the study.

Catalan/Spanish summaries. All articles should have an abstract in both Catalan and Spanish. This abstract will be a translation of the English version. They will be headed by the translated title of the article. For authors not familiar with Catalan and/or Spanish, the editors will translate the summary into both languages.

References. They must be set out in alphabetical order of author, and chronologically for each author, adding the letters a, b, c... as appropriate, when dealing with different works by the same author from the same year. References should be listed following these models:

Journal titles should be abbreviated according to international standards. If in doubt, please give the title in full.


3. TABLES

The same type-size should be as in the main text. Vertical lines should not be used. Tables must be isolated from the text on separate pages, and they should be numbered and referred to according to their sequence in the text. Captions of tables must be clear, concise, and written both in English and Catalan (in italics). If necessary, this translation will be done by the editors.


4. FIGURES

Figures (graphs or drawings) must be presented on separate pages and must be numbered and referred to according to the order of their appearance in the text. Figures will be published exactly as presented by the authors, so they should be submitted in a high resolution. Figure width may be 6.6 cm (one column), or 15.6 cm (two columns). Exceptionally, the journal may publish photographs; they should be submitted on high-resolution (min. 300 ppi) EPS, JPG or TIF format.
Figure legends should be clear and concise, and must be written both in English and Catalan (in italics); if necessary, translation to Catalan will be done by the editors.


SHORT NOTES

These manuscripts follow the same procedure as articles. Short Notes include manuscripts of less than 1000 words of text (excluding summaries and references). The text will not have sections. Short notes may include one figure or table. The abstract should be of a maximum of 150 words.


FOCUS

This section of the journal is designed to stimulate scientific debate and can include literature reviews, reviews based on historical data, reports and papers offering critical discussion, new points of view, ideas, and hypotheses or unconventional perspectives of current issues in ornithology. Papers explaining analytical techniques, designs of laboratory and field equipment, or computer software are also welcome.

Proposals of papers for this section should be discussed with the Editor-in-Chief. Authors interested should first send a proposal (less than 400 words) to the Editor, who will determine its suitability. If suitable, the Editor will invite the authors to submit a complete draft, which will be submitted to peer-review.

This section will include also the Letters to the Editor. These letters may explain, expand, or provide new analyses, comments or criticisms on previously published papers in the RCO journal. These letters will be transmitted to the author of the published work, with an invitation to respond. The letter and its response will be published simultaneously. The decision to publish submitted letters rests entirely with the Editor-in-Chief, who judges the appropriateness of the subject and its possible interest for readers.