The Brazilian Journal of Biology® is a scientific journal devoted to publishing original articles in all fields of the Biological Sciences, i.e., General Biology, Cell Biology, Evolution, Biological Oceanography, Taxonomy, Geographic Distribution, Limnology, Aquatic Biology, Botany, Zoology, Genetics, and Ecology. Priority is given to papers presenting results of research in the Neotropical region. Material published includes research papers, review papers (upon approval of the Editorial Board), notes, book reviews, and comments.

The Journal, which issues four numbers a year (February, May, August, and November), publishes papers only in English with an included abstract in Portuguese. Original manuscripts should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief or any of the Editorial Board members. Those submitted and authored by more than one author should present the agreement of the co-authors.

Papers should comply with the instructions listed below.

(Otherwise they will be sent back to the authors for reformulation.) After being checked for presentation and style, they will then be evaluated by the advisors, i.e., specialists analyzing for originality, scientific quality, and relevance. Approved papers are sent to outside referees. The Editorial Board decides for acceptance or rejection on the basis of critiques submitted by the referees. The Brazilian Journal of Biology® strives to publish the papers within 6-8 months after acceptance, so that prompt return of proofs by the authors and revised papers by the referees is urged.
Rejected originals will not be returned to the authors.

Articles accepted for publication become property of the journal.

Intellectual property
All content of the journal, except where identified, is licensed under a Creative Commons attribution-type CC-BY.

They should be typewritten, neat, and free of errors or with clear handwritten corrections. They should be double-spaced, source: Time New Roman, size 12 with a margin of 3 cm and 2 cm left to right, justified alignment and typed on one side of A4 paper (white and of good quality).

The contents of the manuscript should be organized in the following sequence on the front page: Title, Name(s) of author(s), Institution with address, Number of figures, and Running title. The second page must contain: Abstract with Keywords (maximum, 5) and the Resumo in Portuguese with Palavras-chave (5). The items on subsequent pages are: Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Acknowledgments. References should be listed, starting on a separate page, after the conclusion of the manuscript. The paper should be as free as possible of footnotes.

ATTENTION: ALL AUTHORS SHOULD REPORT THE ORCID, INCLUDE THEM IN THE ARCHIVE FILE.

The following information should accompany all species cited in the article:

• for zoology, the author’s name and the publication date of the original description should be given the first time the species is cited in the work;
• for botany and ecology, only the name of the author who made the description should be given the first time the species is cited in the work.

Manuscripts can be submitted on-line to the following address: www.scielo.br/bjb

Tables should be numbered by Arabic numerals; descriptive legend should appear at the top. Figures should be numbered in the preceding way. Figure captions should be grouped on a separate sheet of paper. Do not type captions on the figures themselves.

Tables and Figures must be presented individually on separate sheets of white paper.

Original figures should be submitted on good quality paper with drawings in black ink and clear lettering, designed as to remain readable after reduction, on scales and graphs. References in the text to figures and tables should be indicated as in these two examples: (see Figure 1) or (as shown in Table 2). Photo- and electron micrographs should have scales.

Color photographs will not be accepted, unless the author agrees to pay for additional cost.

Only standard international units are acceptable. Authors are urged to comply with the rules for biological nomenclature.

1. In-text citation: Use the name and year of publication, e.g., Reis (1980); (Reis, 1980); (Zaluar and Rocha, 2000); Zaluar and Rocha (2000). Use “et al.” for more than two authors.
2. Citations in the reference list shall be in compliance with the ISO 690/2010 norm.

In the text, the author-date system shall be used for citations (only what is strictly necessary), using “and” for the case of two authors. References, which should be typed on a separate sheet, must appear in alphabetical order. References to journal articles shall include the name(s) and initial(s) of the author(s), year, title in full, journal name (in full and in italics), volume, number, and first and last pages. References to books and monographs shall include the publisher and, depending on the citation, refer to the book chapter. The name(s) of the organizer(s) of the collection shall also be mentioned; for example:

Book:
LOMINADZE, D.G., 1981. Cyclotron waves in plasma. 2nd ed. Oxford: Pergamon Press. 206 p. International series in natural philosophy, no. 3.

Book chapter:
WRIGLEY, E.A., 1968. Parish registers and the historian. In: D. J. STEEL, ed. National index of parish registers. London: Society of Genealogists, pp. 15-167.

Journal article:
CYRINO, J.E. and MULVANEY, D.R., 1999. Mitogenic activity of fetal bovine serum, fish fry extract, insulin-like growth factor-I, and fibroblast growth factor on brown bullhead catfish cells–BB line. Revista Brasileira de Biologia = Brazilian Journal of Biology, vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 517-525. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-71081999000300017. PMid: 10765463.

Dissertation or thesis:
LIMA, P.R.S., 2004. Dinâmica populacional da Serra Scomberomorus brasiliensis (Osteichthyes; Scombridae), no litoral ocidental do Maranhã-Brasil. Recife: Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, 45 p. Dissertação de Mestrado em Recursos Pesqueiros e Aquicultura.

Work presented at an event:
RANDALL, D.J., HUNG, C.Y. and POON, W.L., 2004. Response of aquatic vertebrates to hypoxia. In: Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Fish Physiology, Toxicology and Water Quality, October 12-14, Chongqing, China. Athens, Georgia, USA: EPA, 2006, pp. 1-10.

Available online reference:
AGÊNCIA NACIONAL DE ÁGUAS – ANA, 2013 [viewed 4 February 2013]. Hidro Web: Sistema de Informações hidrológicas [online]. Available from: http://hidroweb.ana.gov.br/

Papers should not exceed 25 typewritten pages including figures, tables, and references. Figures and Tables should be kept to the minimum necessary, and have a maximum of 30 cm in height by 25 cm in width. Each table or figure should appear on a separate sheet. Before sending a manuscript to the Brazilian Journal of Biology®, proofread the final version very thoroughly and correct any remaining errors.

Notes and Comments should not exceed 4 typewritten pages including figures, tables, and references.