Instructions for authors

For multi-authored articles, in so far as the authors do not mention the corresponding author, it is assumed that the corresponding author is the first author of that article.

The order of the authors reflects their contribution to the creation of the article (except for the nomination of the corresponding author).

1. General
Travaux de l`Institut de Spéologie "Émile Racovitza" publishes both fundamental and applied research articles in the field of speleology, soil biology and environmental science of karst.
The journal is edited by the Institute of Speleology "Emile Racovitza" (ISER) and Romanian Academy Publishing House.

1.1 Types of papers
(i) Research papers must be original and refer to topics of fundamental or applied research. They must be concise, focused on new results and data, and preferably not exceed 14 printed pages. It is recommended that the number of figures and tables should not be more than 10. Longer manuscripts may be accepted for publishing at the discretion of the editorial office.
(ii) Research notes should concern a specific aspect or preliminary results of ongoing research. They represent a concise description of one research aim. The exigencies regarding the description of the methods and the references are those of a scientific paper. The length of Research notes, including figures and references is limited to 4 printed pages.
(iii) Review articles present the achievements on a certain research topic in a critical and exhaustive analysis based on updated and complete references. There is no page limit for review articles.

1.2 Copyright
Authors must respect the deontological rules related to research activities, especially those referring to plagiarism. It is compulsory that the manuscripts sent to the editorial office are addressed exclusively to this journal. Papers must be original and not proposed for publishing in other journals or previously published. The publishing house owns the copyright on the articles. Any republication of the articles should be authorised by the publishing house.

1.3 Submission of articles
In addition to the document (text, tables, figures, etc.) authors are requested to attach a cover letter in which they present the article and explicitly state that the manuscript was approved by all the authors. The letter should also describe the general framework of the paper and any potential conflict of interest. Articles may be submitted by e-mail (eunitu@yahoo.com) or in digital form to the following address: Institute of Speleology "Emile Racovitza", Academia Romana, Calea 13 Septembrie No. 13, sector 5, 050711, Bucharest, Romania. Typewritten manuscripts are not accepted.

1.4 Review process
The manuscripts with suitable topic and format for this journal are sent to two international reviewers. The peer review process lasts less than one month but it may be longer for review articles depending on the manuscript length. When an article is accepted, the author will receive a list of modifications required prior to publishing. Three situations might occur:
(i) the article is accepted with minor modifications;
(ii) the article is accepted with major modifications;
(iii) the article should be rewritten and resubmitted. Authors are asked to do the recommended modifications. Any complaint should be expressed in writing. A letter in which the author has considered each modification suggested by the peer reviewers should be attached to the final article. The papers considered unacceptable by peer reviewers will not be published. Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors.

2. Article structure
Manuscripts should contain the title, abstract, keywords and the body of the article. The recommended paper structure is as follows: 1. Introduction; 2. Materials and Methods; 3. Results; 4. Discussion; 5. Conclusions, followed by Acknowledgements and References.
Subchapters and paragraphs will be numbered with Arabic figures separated by dots, according to the level of heading (e.g. 1. Chapter; 1.1. Subchapter; 1.1.1.Paragraph).
The titles of subchapters will be preceded and followed by a blank line paged as follows: 1.1., 1.1.1. The latter numbering is the last accepted. If the paper has an appendix it will be placed at the end of the article and should have a distinct title. Figures and tables and their captions will be included at the end of the manuscript.

2.1 The title should be clear, concise and suggestive. Ambiguous, too long, too general or one-word titles should be avoided. Abbreviations are not accepted.

2.2 The abstract should be analytical and provide sufficient information even to a reader who is neither an expert nor familiar with the field. It should be approximately 200-300 words comprising the objectives and main conclusion of the article. The key words should express the characteristic elements of the article.

2.3 The content will be written in English and structured in accordance with the following criteria.
1. Introduction. The motivation or purpose of the research should appear in the Introduction, where the authors state the questions sought to answer. Some of the historical basis for those questions should be provided.
2. Materials and methods. This chapter should present detailed information concerning the place of research, materials and methods used in order to allow the exact replication of the experimental work. This will facilitate correct interpretation of the results. A clear description of experimental design, sampling procedures, and statistical procedures is especially important in papers describing field studies, simulations, or experiments. Give the model number for equipment used. Supply complete citations, including author (or editor), title, year, publisher, and version number, for computer software mentioned in your article.
3. Results. Results should be stated concisely and without interpretation.
4. Discussion. This chapter focuses on the rigorously supported aspects of the study. The results of the study must be carefully differentiated from data obtained from other sources. They must be interpreted and related to the results of previous research. Please discuss the implications of your results or interpretations. Point out results that do not support speculations or the findings of previous research, or that are counter-intuitive.

2.4 Conclusions
This should state clearly the main conclusions of the research and give a clear explanation of their importance and relevance.

2.5 Acknowledgements
This chapter can follow the `Conclusions` chapter, mentioning those people or institutions that have facilitated the research accomplishment. This chapter receives no heading number.

2.6 References
It is important to note that all the publications quoted in the text should be included in the references. This chapter receives no heading number.
Appendix
When a thorough presentation of some research aspects (e.g. statistical methods, an important data set or an explanatory detailed table) is needed, an appendix can be inserted at the end of the article. Review articles do not follow the above mentioned structure. However, they should include: (i) an introductory part, (ii) a careful and critical presentation of the relevant aspects of the topic approached, and eventually (iii) emphasis of the aspects that are inadequately known and require further study to progress understanding in the phenomenon.

3. Electronic format requirements for accepted articles
The Microsoft Word format or its equivalents are preferred. It is recommended to use Times New Roman, size 11 for the body of the text and size 9 for tables, figures, references and abstract. The body text must be typed double-spaced. 4. Figures and tables. For optimal publication of the article, figures should be submitted separately as attachments to the Microsoft Word document or as an image (e.g. .tif or jpg) with a preferred resolution of 300 dpi. Attachments should include the name of the corresponding author (e.g. Brown.doc). Each figure will be numbered in accordance with the body of the text. Photos will be sent in digital format at a resolution of 300 dpi. It is suggested to send black and white graphics and photos provided that it does not affect the information.
The scientific names of species will be given in italics. The names of plants, animals or microorganisms will be followed by the scientific names when first used in the text along with the author of denomination e.g. Meta menardi (Latreille, 1804). Abbreviations and acronyms will be explained when first mentioned in the article.
Proper names of any kind will be written with Latin characters and diacritical signs corresponding to the original language in which they were written. Equations will be written clearly, paying attention to coefficients, exponents and possible confusions: e.g. zero `0`, figure and letter `o`, figure `1` and letter `l`. A consecutive numbering will be used in parentheses on the right side of the text. It is suggested to use the Microsoft Word equation editor or an equivalent software. The units of measurement should be those of the International System. Symbols, Greek or other characters must be defined and clearly explained. Their definition can not vary along the paper. References will be cited in the text as follows: (Bousquet, 2003), (Bousquet, 2003 a, b), (Daly & Drew, 1998). If there are more than three authors only the first one is mentioned and it is followed by `et al.`: e.g. (Smith et al., 1998). In the case of multiple references, they will be ordered alphabetically according to the names of the authors when they have the same year of publication, or chronologically, when they have distinct years of publication.

It is recommended to avoid very large tables. If they are necessary and require more than one page they will be separated, mentioning `Table X (continuation)` on each page. Any explanatory text will be given as a note above the table.

References. Examples concerning bibliographical references are given below. The titles of the articles are cited in the language in which they were written.

Tabacaru, I., Title of journal article with one author (Italics). Publication name volume (normal) (issue), volume (bold) (issue), pages, year (e.g. 10(1), 10 - 16, 2000.

Tabacaru, I., Danielopol, D., Title of journal article with one author (Italics). Publication name volume (normal) (issue), volume (bold) (issue), pages, year (e.g. 10(1), 10 - 16, 2000.

Dajoz, R., Title of book. Publisher, City, number of pages, year (e.g. 150 p., 2003).

Meyer A., Title of chapter in an edited book. In Editor(s) name(s)(ed.), Book title. Publisher, City, pages, year (e.g. pp. 80-89, 2005).

Juberthie, C., Title of the paper published in the proceedings of one scientific conference. In Editor(s) name(s) (ed.), Conference name, period, conference location. Publisher, City, pages, year (e.g. pp. 70-79, 2001).