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MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES

Taxonomical Notes and Checklists

This category includes nomenclatural, taxonomic, morphological-anatomical, and other notes on taxa or taxonomic groups and nomenclatural lists. The article should contain sections such as a title page with an English abstract , an Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgments (if necessary), a list of references, and appendices (if necessary).

Syntaxonomical Notes and Surveys

This category includes nomenclatural, syntaxonomic, and other notes on plant communities, including independent syntaxonomic works on bryophyte, algae, lichen communities, or their combinations. The article should have sections such as a title page with an English abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusions, acknowledgments (if necessary), a list of references, and appendices (if necessary).

Original papers

This category encompasses descriptions of botanical or mycological objects or processes, experiments, simulations, theories, or any combination of these elements. The article should include sections such as a title page with an abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusions, acknowledgments (if necessary), a list of references, and appendices (if necessary).

Review and forum papers

This category contains a review of a specific scientific problem, including an analysis of a significant number (no less than 50) of literature sources or a review of a monographic work or an article that has caused a certain scientific resonance. In this section, the author's own views, which are prompted by the analysis of specific literature sources, may also be published. It should have sections such as a title page with an abstract, a general section without division into subsections, acknowledgments (if necessary), a list of references, and appendices (if necessary).

Biography papers

This category includes a biographical description of a botanist or mycologist, highlighting their life path and significant contribution to the development of science. Additionally, a list of the scientist's scientific works or achievements in the form of a list of published new taxa, syntaxa, etc., may be included. It should have sections such as a title page with an abstract, a general section without division into subsections, acknowledgments (if necessary), a list of references, and appendices (if necessary).

 

PREPARING THE SUBMISSION

Parts of the manuscript. The article is submitted as a separate file with illustrations inserted into the text with captions. The file size should not exceed 15 MB. Figures and appendices are submitted as separate files.

Language. The journal accepts articles in Ukrainian and English languages. Articles written in English are preferred.

Formatting. The electronic version of the manuscript should be typed on a computer in a text editor MS Word, font Times New Roman, with line spacing 1.0 (standard), without hyphenation. Articles can have a length of 5 to 30 full pages (12-point font size).

Latin. Latin names of taxa and syntaxa are written in italics. In all sections except Taxonomical Notes and Checklists, authors of taxa and syntaxa are not mentioned. However, the nomenclatural source cited by the authors for taxa and syntaxa must be indicated in both the abstract and the Materials and Methods section. In the Taxonomical Notes and Checklists section, taxa names must be provided with author combinations. Each taxon, from which a paragraph on taxonomic notes begins or a taxon as an element of the checklist, should be highlighted not only in italics but also in bold font. Latin names are written in italics within the text. Ukrainian or English plant and fungi names are not used.

Annotated lists. In all sections, except for the Taxonomical Notes and Checklists, lists are submitted without a breakdown on taxa of over the species level (family, order, class ets.).

Measurements. Measurements should be provided in the SI system or those allowed for use together with SI units and their derivatives using English abbreviations. Dates should be in the format: 3 November 2017. Coordinates should be given in degrees with precision to the fifth digit, for example, 49.63197º N, 32.06957º E. When measuring structures, use the dash "–" and the symbol "×" or the plus-minus sign "±", for example: 11–17 × 5–6 μm or (9–)11 ± 1.5(–14) μm.

Abbreviations. Terms should not be abbreviated unless they are used repeatedly and the abbreviation is useful for the reader. Use the full word first, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. It is recommended to fully explain the abbreviation in the Material and Methods section. In Specimen citations, Latin abbreviations such as "leg." and "det." are used in both English and Ukrainian language articles. In taxonomic terms, "s. lat.", "s. str.", "cf.", "aff.", etc., can be used as needed.

Symbols. In Ukrainian-language articles, we use French quotation marks «» (according to the Ukrainian orthography since 2015), or in specific cases, English double quotation marks as inner quotes. In English-language parts of the text, we use English double quotation marks “”, and in specific cases as outer quotes – French quotation marks «». For homotypic synonyms, we use the symbol "≡", for heterotypic synonyms, we use the symbol "=", and for other names, we use a dash "–", which were used by the authors in historical publications and are not homotypic or heterotypic synonyms.

Specimen examined. When citing specimens, the country (in bold), region (in bold), district, village, geographical feature name, nature reserve (if applicable), altitude above sea level, coordinates, substrate (if available, typically for algae, mosses, fungi, lichens), date (in the format day-month-year), collector, determiner, herbarium acronym, and specimen number are provided. In cases of only visual inspection, the author's surname of identification is provided and indicated in parentheses (non coll.). Quoted specimens are presented in 10-point font. In the English version, "область" is translated as "Region" and "район" as "District".

Examples:

Specimen examined. Ukraine. Chernivtsi Region, Vyzhnytskyi District, village Sarata, Cheremosky National Nature Park, alt. 1135 m, 47.738880º N, 24.98913º E, on mosses, on limestone, 3 July 2021, leg. & det. O. Khodosovtsev (KHER 15158 with Phaeophyscia endococcina).

Tables. Tables should be clear and informative, without overloading the article or duplicating the textual part. Typically, tables should be formatted in 10-point Times New Roman font. Long syntaxonomic tables may be formatted in 8-point font. References in the text to a table should be in parentheses and written in English using small caps (e.g., Table 1). All tables are numbered. Tables are captioned in Ukrainian and English (10-point font, semi-bold).

Phytocoenotic tables. Synopsis tables and brief phytocoenotic tables (tables with individual relevés) are inserted in the main body of the text. Long phytocoenotic or synoptic tables (more than 25 relevés or syntaxa) are inserted at the end of the manuscipt in the appendices.  should containea reference to the appendix in English in small caps (Appendix 1). Optimally, phytocoenotic tables should contain up to 15 relevés (for phytocoenotic tables) or syntaxa (for synoptic tables). Page orientation can be either landscape or portrait. The text of the table itself is formatted in 10 or 8-point Times New Roman font. Headers for relevés are provided below the table in 10-point Times New Roman font with single spacing.

Figures. All photographs, graphs, and diagrams are considered figures. Figures should be clear, well-balanced, and have a resolution of at least 300 dpi. Figures should be submitted as separate files in .jpeg (.jpg) format. Submission of individual figures inserted into a table or separate figures with the same caption is not permitted. In composite figures, individual parts should be labeled with lowercase English letters corresponding to 16-point font size when inserted into the textual part. Figures must be referenced in the text in English using small caps (Figure 1). All figures must be numbered. Figures should also be inserted in the text of the manuscript where the authors wish them to appear.

References. References to literary and electronic sources in the text should be enclosed in round brackets, for example: (Khodosovtsev 1999, Boiko & Khodosovtsev 2006, Boiko 2013, 2014, 2015a, b). Multiple references are arranged in chronological order. In the case of articles with three or more authors, only the first author is specified with the note " et al." in italics (Boiko et al. 2013). Citation of conference materials is allowed only when necessary. When citing field guides, monographs, or handbooks with uncertainty about the sequence of authors, the editor(s) should be provided. The journal name is provided in italics without abbreviations. Literary sources without authorship can only be in the form of legilative documents when necessary (see Hyperlinks subsection). In the Materials and Methods section, references to relevant websites with databases or specific methodologies may be provided, for example:

1) the nomenclature follows Index Fungorum (www.indexfungorum.org);

2) the article utilized materials from other researchers collected through the electronic resource iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org) and verified by the authors of this article (https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/download/0234344-220831081235567).

For references written in Cyrillic, an English translation is provided. It is recommended to use the titles given in the English summaries of the original article. If the publication does not have an abstract, an English translation is provided. The title of the article is given only in Latin characters (English, German, French, etc.) according to the abstract of the cited work. Only if such an abstract is absent, the title of the work is transliterated. At the end of the citation, the language in which the article is written is indicated (if the language of the citation does not match the language of the article itself). At the end of the manuscript, in the References section, the entire list of citations is arranged alphabetically in 10-point font.

Examples of formatting references for journal articles are as follows:

When citing articles from journals and periodicals, it is essential to provide the bibliographic description in the following order: last names and initials of all authors, year of publication, title of the article, and full title of the journal (italicized), volume number, issue number, first and last page numbers of the article, and the DOI index.

Khodosovtsev, A.Ye. (2012). An annotated list of lichenized and lichenicolous fungi of Black Sea Biosphere Reserve. Chornomorski Botanical journal 8 (4): 393–400. (in Ukrainian) https://doi.org/10.14255/2308-9628/12.84/6

Khodosovtsev, A.Ye., Darmostuk V.V., Didukh Y.P. & Pylypenko, I.O. (2019). Verrucario viridulae-Staurotheletum hymenogoniae, a new calcicolous lichen community as a component of petrophytic grassland habitats in the Northern Black Sea region. Mediterranean Botany 40 (1): 21–32. https://doi.org/10.5209/MBOT.62891

Gromakova, A.B. & Kondratyuk, S.Ya. (2017). Involucropyrenium breussii (Verrucariaceae, lichen-forming Ascomycota), a new lichen species from chalk soil of Eastern Ukrainian Steppes. Acta Botanica Hungarica 59 (3–4): 335–342. https://doi.org/10.1556/034.59.2017.3-4.4

When citing books and monographs, you should include the authors' surnames and initials, the year, the title, the city, the publisher, the total number of pages, and the digital object identifier (DOI).

Barbarych, A.I. (1977). Geobotanical zoning of Ukrainian SSR. Kyiv: Naukova dumka, 284 p. (in Ukrainian)

Mosyakin S.L. & Fedoronchuk, M.M. (1999). Vascular Plants of Ukraine. A nomenclature Checklist. Kiev, 34 p.

Didukh, Ya. P. (ed.). (2009). Red data book of Ukraine. Plant kingdom. Kyiv: Globalkonsalting, 912 р. (in Ukrainian)

When citing a part of a book or a monograph, you should include the authors' surnames and initials (in lowercase), the year, the title of the part, a note ("In:"), the title of the work, the page numbers of the part being cited, the city, and the publisher.

Hafellner, J. (2004). Rosellinula. In: Lichen flora of the Geater Sonoran Desert Region, Vol. 2: 688–689. Tempe: Lichens Unlimited, Arizona State University.

When citing a dissertation, you should include the author's surname and initials (in lowercase), the year, the title of the dissertation, a note indicating "PhD thesis" or "DSc thesis," and the city and institution where the defense took place.

Boiko, T.O. (2013). The lichen biota of Elanetsko-Inguletskiy region. PhD thesis. Kyiv: M.H. Kholodny Institute of Botany. (in Ukrainian)

Khodosovtsev, A.Ye. 2004). The lichens of the Crimean peninsula stone outcrops. DSc thesis. Kyiv: M.H. Kholodny Institute of Botany. (in Ukrainian)

When citing electronic resources, it is important to include the title of the resource and the date of the web link.

Lawrey, J.D. & Diederich, P. (2018). Lichenicolous fungi – worldwide checklist, including isolated cultures and sequences available. http://www.lichenicolous.net  [1/3/2018].

Nadyeina, O., Khodosovtsev, A. & Vasylyuk, O. (2023). Threatened terricolous lichens with arid ecology from Ukraine. Version 1.5. Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group (NGO). https://doi.org/10.15468/dc8rcb [1/3/2018]  

When citing articles from proceedings, book of abstracts etc., the data should be provided in the following order: authors' surnames and initials, year, titles of articles and publications, full title of the conference, volume (issue), place of publication (venue for conferences), date of the event, first and last page of the article, digital object identifier (DOI).

Baik, O.L. Kyyak, N.Ya. & Baik, O.L. (2015). Photosynthetic activity of the mosses on the devastated territories of sulphur extraction. Fundamental and applied science – 2015: proceeding of XII International research and practice conference, Sheffield, UK, October 30 – November 7, 2015: 63–70. (in Ukrainian)

Hyperlinks. Each reference will be formatted as a hyperlink during the layout of the article. However, authors may create hyperlinks without underlining biodiversity databases, including UkrBin or iNaturalist. Hyperlinks can be created both in the text and in tables and appendices. Hyperlinks are also allowed when citing legislative documents.

Examples:

Kherson region, Kamianska Sich National Nature Park, alt. 23 m, 47.08635º N, 33.64871º E, on Robinia, 1 December 2022, leg. & det. A. Khodosovtsev (KHER 15224).

Such an approach is much more thoughtful than the traditional one, which assumed that to establish a nature reserve area, it was necessary to identify at least one species listed in the Red Book of Ukraine (Article 11 "Red Book of Ukraine").

 

SECTIONS OF ARTICLES

Title page

The title page is formatted in English and consists of two blocks:

The first block is informational, containing the title of the article, authors (full first name, only the first letter of the patronymic, surname in small caps), ORCID of the author(s). After the word "Affiliations," the authors' affiliations are listed (institution, city, country). After the word "Correspondence," the corresponding author is indicated along with his/her email address. Following the words "Funding information," the funding agency and grant registration number that partially or fully supported the research conducted by any author of the article are provided. If there is no funding support, it is indicated as "not support."

The second block is the Abstract, which should contain no fewer than 1800 and no more than 2300 characters (excluding spaces). For articles in the Original Papers section, it consists of the following sections:

Question(-s): This section briefly outlines the main research objectives formulated in one or more sentences in the form of questions, indicating what questions the article aims to address. Location(-s): This section specifies the geographic or administrative territory of the research, including the country.

Methods: This section describes the methods used in the research. If necessary, references to methods reflected in the "Materials and Methods" section and presented in the list of references may be included.

Nomenclature: References to nomenclatural sources, databases, checklists, etc., according to which the authors provide the Latin names of taxa and syntaxa, are obligatory.

Results: The main research results are presented in this section.

Conclusions: This section concisely summarizes the main conclusions in a few sentences. Keywords: Up to ten keywords, not repeating words from the title of the article.

Citations: Citation of the article, consisting of the authors' surnames and initials, the title of the article, and the full name of the journal.

Other attributes in this part are inserted during layout.

For the Taxonomical Notes and Checklists and Syntaxonomical Notes and Surveys sections, Question(-s), Locations and Conclusions are not mandatory in the Abstracts block.

For the Review and forum papers and Biography papers sections, the Abstracts block is not divided into parts.

Introduction

The Introduction emphasizes the importance of the topic and describes the problem that the authors aim to tackle in the article. It's essential to include existing published data on the topic, discuss the history of research, showcase different approaches to addressing the issue, etc. The Introduction should thoroughly review publications related to the topic and clarify the purpose of the work in a suitable manner. Note that this section is not included in articles categorized under Review and Forum papers, or Biography papers.

Material and methods

This section explains the methodology used to collect factual data, details how the data were processed, and describes the analyses conducted in sufficient detail to enable replication of the research presented. It may include hyperlinks to databases, checklists, methodological websites, etc., which do not need to be cited again in the references. Note that this section is not included in articles categorized under Review and Forum papers, or Biography papers.

Results

This section presents the factual research results, which may be divided into several parts if needed. Note that this section is not included in articles categorized under Review and Forum papers, or Biography papers. Sections such as Taxonomical Notes and Checklists, Syntaxonomical Notes and Surveys may combine the Results and Discussion into a single section.

Discussion

This section discusses the research results, including comparisons with existing studies, expressions of ideas, confirmation of hypotheses, introduction of new concepts, etc. It may consist of several subsections. Note that this section is not included in articles categorized under Review and Forum papers, or Biography papers. Sections such as Taxonomical Notes and Checklists, Syntaxonomical Notes, and Surveys may combine the Results and Discussion into a single section.

Conclusions

Conclusions, if included, consist of one or several sentences offering the final opinion on the research questions, a logical summary based on the results, considerations, or reflections on certain facts. This section may not be present in articles categorized under Taxonomical Notes and Checklists, Syntaxonomical Notes and Surveys, Review and Forum papers, or Biography papers. However, in these sections, closing remarks or conclusions may be presented as a separate concluding paragraph of the article.

Acknowledgments

The acknowledgment section recognizes individuals and funding sources that have fully or partially supported the research.

References

The list of references is formed in Latin script (English, German, French, etc.).

Abstract

Includes citation of the article in Ukrainian: authors (surname, initials of authors, title of the article, and the full journal title in italics. Other attributes are inserted during layout. The abstract should be between 1800 and 2300 characters in length.

Appendixes

Appendix titles are written in both Ukrainian and English (ДОДАТОК 1. APPENDIX 1.). Appendices may be presented in the form of tables, figures, bibliographic lists, etc.

Submission of publication

The completed article, in one or several files, is sent to the official email address of the Editorial Board at chornomorski.bot.j@gmail.com . The corresponding author must confirm that: (a) all named authors have agreed to the publication of the manuscript; and (b) the manuscript does not infringe upon any personal or other copyrights, including property rights.

Within 5 days of submission, the Editor-in-Chief appoints an editorial coordinator from the Editorial Board. The article is then sent for peer review. The responsible editor notifies the author(s) that the article is under review. Ideally, the review process is completed within 30 days from the submission for review.

 

PUBLICATION PROCESS

Peer Review

During peer review, authors address reviewers' comments or provide reasoned responses to the editorial coordinator. The editorial coordinator and Editor-in-Chief may suggest editorial changes. Prepared articles are distributed in PDF format to Editorial Board members for revisions or comments. If no comments are received within 5 days to the journal's email, the articles are considered accepted. If most board members object to publishing an article, it undergoes refinement. .

Proofreading

Once the accepted article is prepared for publication by the Editorial Board in collaboration with the publisher, the corresponding author or Editor-in-Chief will receive the proofreading in PDF format. They are requested to make corrections within 48 hours of receipt.

Accepted articles

Accepted articles are published online on the website of the Chornomorski Botanical Journal within a few days in PDF format. Each article is assigned a digital object identifier (DOI)for citation and tracking purposes. The DOI is activated within 48 hours of being posted on the website. . The title page includes three dates: the date of submission, the date of acceptance for publication, and the date of effective publication.

 

POST PUBLICATION

Access and Sharing

Once the article is published online, the author receives an email notification and can share the article link on social media. Authors have free access to their published article. They are also invited to write a blog post on the journal's official Facebook page. Authors are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity as blog posts can effectively promote and disseminate their research.

Hard copy

Upon request from authors or interested organizations, hard copies of the journal can be purchased by arranging with the publisher, Publishing House Helvetika, through their website at Helvetica Publishing Group.