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JOURNAL SECTIONS

Taxonomic Notes and Checklists

This section includes nomenclatural, taxonomic, morphological-anatomical, and other notes regarding taxa or taxonomic groups, as well as nomenclatural lists. The article must include a title page, an abstract in English, and the main body of the article with sections such as introduction, materials and research methods, research results, discussion, conclusions, acknowledgments (if necessary), additional information, list of references, and appendices (if necessary).

 

Syntaxonomic Notes and Reviews

This section includes nomenclatural revisions, syntaxonomic reviews, and prodromi, as well as notes on plant communities and prodromi of plant communities, including works on the syntaxonomy of communities of bryophytes, algae, lichens, or their combinations. The article must include sections such as a title page with an English abstract, introduction, materials and research methods, research results, discussion, conclusions, acknowledgments (if necessary), list of references, and appendices (if necessary).

 

Original Papers

This category covers descriptions of botanical and mycological objects or processes, experimental results, simulations, theories, or any combination of these elements. The article must include the following sections: a title page with an abstract, introduction, materials and research methods, research results, discussion, conclusions, acknowledgments (if necessary), list of references, and appendices (if necessary).

 

Reviews and Discussion Papers

This category includes review articles on a specific scientific problem, requiring the analysis of a significant number of sources (at least 50), or a review of a monograph or an article that has generated notable scientific resonance. This section may also present the author's (or authors') own perspectives on a particular scientific issue, supported by an analysis of relevant literature. The article must include the following sections: a title page with an abstract, a general body section without further division into sub-sections, acknowledgments (if necessary), list of references, and appendices (if necessary).

 

Biography Papers

This category includes biographical accounts of botanical or mycological scientists, highlighting their life path and contributions to the development of science. An appendix may be included featuring a list of the scientist's scientific works or achievements, such as a list of published taxa or syntaxa new to science, etc. The article must include the following sections: a title page with an abstract, a general body section without further division into sub-sections, acknowledgments (if necessary), list of references, and appendices (if necessary).

 

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION FOR SUBMISSION

Article Files. The article is submitted as a single file with illustrations and their captions embedded within the text. Figures (photos, tables, graphs, etc.) and appendices must also be submitted as separate individual files alongside the final version of the materials.

Language. The journal accepts articles in Ukrainian and English. Articles written in English are highly encouraged.

Formatting. Electronic manuscripts must be prepared in MS Word using Times New Roman font, without hyphenation, and with a 1 cm paragraph indent. Articles should typically range from 5 to 30 full pages (12pt font size, single-spaced). Articles exceeding 30 pages are published by special arrangement with the Editorial Board.

Scientific Nomenclature. Latin names of species and subspecies, as well as the names of syntaxa, must be italicized in the text. Taxa above the species level should not be italicized. In all sections except "Taxonomic Notes and Checklists" and "Syntaxonomic Notes and Reviews," the authors of taxa and syntaxa are not indicated. However, the nomenclatural source used by the authors for species or syntaxa must be cited in both the Abstract and the "Materials and Methods" section. In the Taxonomic Notes and Checklists, taxon names must include the authors of the combination. Any taxon starting a paragraph in a taxonomic note, or a taxon listed as an element of a checklist, must be formatted in bold italics. Within the general text, Latin names remain in standard italics. Ukrainian or English common names for plants are not to be used. In the "Syntaxonomic Notes and Reviews" section, authors of syntaxa are provided only if necessary.

Annotated Lists. In all sections, with the exception of "Taxonomic Notes and Checklists" (where necessary), lists should be presented without division into supra-specific taxonomic ranks (family, order, class, division, etc.).

            Measurements. Measurements must be provided using English designations in the SI system or units derived from it. Dates must follow the format: 3 November 2017 (the month is written as a word, not a number). Coordinates provided in decimal degrees to five decimal places (e.g., 49.63197º N, 32.06957º E). Use the en-dash "–", the multiplication sign "×", or the plus-minus sign "±" (e.g., 11–17 × 5–6 μm or (9–)11 ± 1.5(–14) μm).

Abbreviations and Acronyms. Terms should not be abbreviated unless they are used repeatedly and the abbreviation is helpful to the reader. At the first mention, the word or phrase must be written in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. It is recommended to define abbreviations in the "Materials and Methods" section. In Ukrainian-language articles, standard abbreviations for settlements are allowed (e.g., м. for city, с. for village), but full names must be used in the general text. Terms such as "leg." and "det." are used in both English and Ukrainian articles. For taxa, abbreviations like "s. lat.", "s. str.", "cf.", and "aff." may be used as needed.

            Symbols and Punctuation. Quotation Marks: Ukrainian texts: Use French guillemets « ». For nested quotes, use English double quotation marks: «National Nature Park "Verkhovynskyi"». English texts: Use English double quotation marks “ ”. French guillemets « » may be used as external quotes in specific cases. Synonymy: Use the "≡" symbol for homotypic synonyms. Use the "=" symbol for heterotypic synonyms. Use an en-dash for other names used by authors in historical publications that are neither homotypic nor heterotypic synonyms.

Specimen Citation. When citing specimens, the following information must be provided: country (bold), region (bold), district, village, geographical name of the object, conservation status of the object (if applicable), altitude above sea level, coordinates, substrate (if applicable, usually for algae, bryophytes, fungi, lichens), date (in the format day-month-year), collector, author of the identification, herbarium acronym, and specimen number. In the case of visual observation only, the surname of the person who made the identification is provided and indicated in parentheses as (non coll.). Cited specimens are presented in 10pt font. In the English version, the region is "Region" and the district is "District". Herbarium acronyms are not italicized.

Examples:

Specimen examined. Ukraine. Chernivtsi Region, Vyzhnytskyi District, village Sarata, Cheremosky National Nature Park, alt. 1135 m, 47.73888º N, 24.98913º E, on mosses, on limestone, 3 July 2021, leg. & det. A. Khodosovtsev (KHER 15158 sub Phaeophyscia endococcina).

Specimen examined. Ukraine. Sumy region, Sumy district, near Vakalivshchyna village, 185 m a.s.l., 51.03595º N, 34.92560º E, on the bark of Acer sp., 15 July 2020, V. Darmostuk (non coll.).

Specimen examined. Ukraine. Kirovohrad region, Novoukrainka district, north of Voinivka village, 158 m a.s.l., 48.40890º N, 31.50720º E, 19 August 2019, leg. & det. O. Shynder (KWHA).

 

Tables. Tables must be clear and informative, without overloading the article or duplicating the text or figures. Tables should be formatted in 10pt Times New Roman. Long syntaxonomic tables may be formatted in 8pt. References to tables in the text should be in parentheses, in English, and in uppercase (e.g., TABLE 1). All tables are numbered. Table titles are provided in Ukrainian and English (10pt, bold font).

Phytosociological Tables. Synoptic tables and short phytosociological tables (tables with individual relevés) are placed in the main body of the text. Long phytosociological tables (more than 25 relevés or syntaxa) are placed at the end of the article in the appendices. A reference to the appendix must be made in the text in English and in uppercase (e.g., APPENDIX 1). Optimally, phytosociological tables should contain no more than 15 relevés (for phytosociological tables) or syntaxa (for synoptic tables). Page orientation can be either landscape or portrait. The table text is formatted in 10pt or 8pt Times New Roman. Legends for the relevés are provided below the table in 10pt Times New Roman, single-spaced.

Figures. All photographs, graphs, and diagrams are considered figures. Figures must be clear, balanced, and should not duplicate information provided in the text of the article or in tables. Figure size: maximum width 16 cm, maximum height 21 cm, resolution no less than 300 dpi. Figures are submitted as separate files in .jpeg (.jpg) format. It is not permissible to submit individual figures inserted into a table, or separate, unconnected figures that share a single caption. For composite figures, individual parts are labeled with lowercase English letters in 12pt Arial Bold font in the lower-left corner (2 mm up and inward). The thickness of the white line separating the images must be 10 pixels. The scale bar is placed in the lower-right corner (2 mm up and inward) and has a thickness of 8–10 pixels. There must be an obligatory reference to the figures in the text in English and in uppercase (e.g., FIGURE 1). All figures must be numbered. Figures are also placed within the text of the article in the locations where the authors would like them to appear.

References. References to literary and electronic sources in the text must be provided in parentheses, for example: (Khodosovtsev 1999). If a work has two authors, the "&" symbol is placed between their surnames, for example: (Boiko & Khodosovtsev 2006). Multiple references are listed in chronological order: (Boiko 2013, 2014, 2015a, b). If a work has three or more authors, the reference cites the first author followed by the note "et al." in italics: (Boiko et al. 2013). No comma is placed after the author's surname or after the "et al." note. Citations of conference materials are allowed only when strictly necessary. When citing identification keys, monographs, or handbooks with uncertainty regarding the sequence of authors, the responsible editor(s) should be cited. When citing articles, the journal title is provided in full (no abbreviations) and in italics. Literary sources without authorship may only consist of state documents when strictly necessary (see the "hyperlinks" subsection). The "Materials and Methods" section may include links to relevant database websites or methodologies, for example:

  1. the nomenclature follows Index Fungorum (www.indexfungorum.org);
  2. the article uses materials from other researchers collected through the iNaturalist electronic resource (https://www.inaturalist.org).

For publications originally published in Cyrillic, the English translation of the title as provided in the summary must be used. If the publication lacks a summary, an English translation is provided. The title of the work is provided only in Latin script (English, German, French, etc.) according to the summary of the cited work. Only if such a summary is absent is the title transliterated. At the end of the reference, the language in which the article is written is indicated (if the language of the reference differs from the language of the article itself). At the end of the manuscript in the References section, the entire list of citations is placed in alphabetical order in 10pt font.

 

Examples of bibliographic references:

When citing articles from journals and bulletins, it is mandatory to provide the bibliographic description in the following order: surnames and initials of all authors, year of publication, article title and full journal title (journal title in italics), volume, issue (number), first and last pages of the article, and the DOI index (without underlining, in the format https://doi.org/).

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 referencing books and monographs, the following details must be provided: authors' surnames and initials, year of publication, title, city, publisher, total number of pages, and the 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 chapter or section of a book or monograph, the entry must include: authors' surnames and initials (in small caps), year of publication, title of the chapter/part, the prefix "In:", title of the complete work, the page range of the cited section, city of publication, 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.

При цитуванні дисертації слід вказати: прізвище та ініціали автора (малі прописні), рік, назву дисертації, примітку PhD thesis або DSc thesis, місто та установу, в якій відбувався захист.

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)

 

For electronic resources, the citation must include: the title of the resource and the web link with the date of access.

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

 

When citing articles from conference proceedings, abstracts, or other collections, the following sequence must be followed: authors' surnames and initials, year of publication, titles of the article and the volume, full name of the conference, volume (issue), place of publication (or conference venue), dates of the conference, first and last pages of the article, and the 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 II International research and practice conference, Sheffield, UK, October 30 – November 7, 2015: 63–70. (in Ukrainian)

 

Hyperlinks. Each reference to a literary source in the text will have a hyperlink to its bibliographic description in the reference list. However, authors may also create hyperlinks (without underlining) to biodiversity databases, such as UkrBin or iNaturalist. Hyperlinks can be created within the main text, as well as in tables and appendices. Hyperlinks are also permitted when citing official government 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).

This approach is significantly more meaningful than the traditional one, where it was believed that to create a nature conservation area, it was necessary to identify at least one species listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine on the site (Art. 11 of the Law of Ukraine "About the Red Data Book of Ukraine").

 

ARTICLE FORMATTING

Title Page

The title page must include the following:

Core Information:

  • Article title in English
  • Authors in English (full first name, middle initial only, surname in full in small caps)
  • Article title in Ukrainian
  • Authors in Ukrainian (full first name, middle initial only, surname in full in small caps)
  • Affiliations – specify the authors' affiliations (institution, city, country) in English only
  • Correspondence – specify the corresponding author (in English) including their email address
  • Funding information (brief information in English) – provide the name of the fund and the grant registration number that partially or fully supported the research of any author. If no funding was provided, state "not supported".
  • ORCID of the authors
  • Acknowledgments – provide acknowledgments (in the language of the main text) to individuals who contributed to the completion of the research in full or in part.
  • Data Availability – authors must state where and under what conditions the datasets can be accessed (e.g., in open repositories or upon request to the corresponding author). If third-party databases were used, the sources and conditions for access must be specified.

 

Abstract

The abstract must be prepared in English. It 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 subdivisions: Question(s): One or more sentences in the form of a question highlighting the primary goal of the study (i.e., which questions you intend to address in the presented article). Location(s): The geographical or administrative attribution of the study area, including the name of the country. Methods: Names of the methods used to conduct the research. If necessary, references to methods detailed in the "Materials and Methods" section and listed in the references may be included. Nomenclature: Mandatory citation of nomenclatural sources, databases, or checklists according to which the authors provide the Latin names of taxa and syntaxa. Results: Highlights of the primary research findings. Conclusions: A brief summary of the main conclusions in a few sentences. Keywords: Up to ten keywords that do not repeat words found in the article title. Citations: Attributes in this part are assigned during the layout process.

For the sections "Taxonomic Notes and Checklists" and "Syntaxonomic Notes and Reviews", the subdivisions Question(s), Locations, and Conclusions are not mandatory in the Abstract block.

For the Review and Forum Papers and Biography Papers sections, the Abstract is not divided into parts.

 

Introduction

Highlights the relevance of the topic and outlines the problem the authors are attempting to solve. The introduction should present existing published data on the stated subject, reflect the history of research, and show various approaches to resolving the issue. It must represent publications on the stated topic as fully as possible and state the purpose of the work in a free form. This section is not explicitly separated in the "Reviews and Discussion Papers" and "Biographical Articles" categories.

 

Materials and Research Methods

This section explains the methodology used to obtain the factual data, as well as the specifics of its processing and analysis, in sufficient detail to allow for the replication of the study. The section may include hyperlinks to databases, checklists, or websites with methodologies, which are not repeatedly cited in the list of references. This section is not required for articles in the "Reviews and Discussion Papers" and "Biographical Articles" categories.

 

Research Results

This section presents the actual research findings. If necessary, it can be divided into several separate subsections. This section is not required for articles in the "Reviews and Discussion Papers" and "Biographical Articles" categories. The "Taxonomic Notes and Checklists" and "Syntaxonomic Notes and Reviews" sections may feature a combined Results and Discussion section.

 

Discussion

This section discusses the research results, specifically providing comparisons with existing analogues, expressing ideas and opinions, confirming hypotheses, or proposing new ones. It may contain several subsections. This section is not required for articles in the "Reviews and Discussion Papers" and "Biographical Articles" categories. The "Taxonomic Notes and Checklists" and "Syntaxonomic Notes and Reviews" sections may feature a combined Results and Discussion section.

 

Conclusions

There may be one or several conclusions. A conclusion consists of one or more sentences containing a final thought regarding the answers to the questions posed—a logical summary based on the research results, reasoning, or consideration of specific facts. This section may be omitted for articles in the "Taxonomic Notes and Checklists," "Syntaxonomic Notes and Reviews," "Reviews and Discussion Papers," and "Biographical Articles" categories. However, conclusions or final remarks in these sections may be presented as a separate concluding paragraph.

 

Additional Information

Conflict of Interest

A statement from the authors regarding the absence of any conflict of interest.

Example: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

 

Ethical Statement

A statement confirming that no ethical standards were violated.

Example: The authors declare that no ethical standards were violated.

 

Use of AI

Example: Artificial intelligence was not used in this article.

Or: AI was used in this article for grammar and stylistic corrections.

 

Funding (Expanded information in the language of the main text)

Example: This research was financially supported by….

 

Author Contributions

Indicate the contribution of each author (first name and surname initials only) according to the CRediT system.

 

Example: O.D.: conceptualization, research, resources, formal analysis, visualization, preparation of the initial manuscript draft; Kh.E.: research, resources, review and editing; P.R.F.: research, formal analysis, review and editing; M.K.: research, resources, review and editing; A.F.: research, resources, review and editing. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

 

Data Availability

Indicate the location of the data used in the article.

Example: All data supporting the conclusions of this study are contained within the main text of the work.

 

References

The list of literary sources is formed using the Latin alphabet (English, German, French, etc.).

 

Summary (Abstract in Ukrainian)

The text must be presented in Ukrainian; the volume should be from 1800 to 2300 characters including spaces. The authors' surnames, initials, and the article title are not added to the summary text. All necessary identification attributes will be added during the technical layout of the publication.

 

Appendices

Titles of appendices are written in Ukrainian and English (ДОДАТОК 1. APPENDIX 1.). Appendices may be presented in the form of tables, figures, bibliographic lists, etc. The placement of supplementary materials in open-access repositories (e.g., Zenodo, Figshare, OSF, etc.) is encouraged, with the mandatory inclusion of a link or DOI index in the manuscript text.

 

SUBMISSION OF PUBLICATION

The prepared manuscript, in the form of one or more files, should be sent to the official address of the editorial board: chornomorski.bot.j@gmail.com. The corresponding author must confirm that: (a) all named authors have consented to the publication of the manuscript; and (b) the manuscript does not infringe upon any personal or other copyrights or property rights. The Executive Secretary registers the article (date of receipt).

Within 5 days of submission, the Editor-in-Chief makes a decision to appoint a Corresponding Editor from among the members of the editorial board. The article is then sent for review. The Executive Editor informs the author(s) that the article has been sent for peer review. Optimally, the review process takes place within 30 days after the article is sent for review.

 

PUBLICATION PREPARATION PROCESS

Peer Review

During the review process, the author considers the comments provided by the reviewers and provides reasoned responses regarding the incorporation of their remarks and suggestions. The Corresponding Editor and the Editor-in-Chief may also propose relevant editorial changes and comments during the preparation of the article for printing. The article is accepted for publication after coordination with the reviewers, the Corresponding Editor, and the Editor-in-Chief (date of completion of review).

 

Articles Accepted for Publication

The prepared articles for the current issue are distributed in .pdf format to the members of the editorial board. They may make necessary corrections or express their comments regarding the current issue. If no comments are received from the members of the editorial board via the journal's official email within 5 days, the articles in the current issue are considered accepted for publication. The official date of acceptance for publication is the date of the meeting of the Academic Council of Kherson State University, which grants the institutional stamp to the current issue. If the majority of the editorial board members vote against the publication of an article in the issue, the article is sent back for revision.

 

Proofreading

Once the article is accepted for publication, the corresponding author will receive proofs in .pdf format with a request to make only technical corrections within three days of receipt.

 

Effective Publication

After proofreading, the article (along with other articles in the issue) is published online on the "Chornomorski Botanical Journal" website in .pdf format (this is the date of effective publication). The article receives a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which facilitates its citation and tracking. Activation of the identifier occurs immediately after the material is posted on the website. Four dates are indicated on the title page: the date the article was received, the date the review was completed, the date of acceptance for publication, and the date of effective publication on the website.

 

AFTER PUBLICATION

Access and Distribution

Once the article is published online, the author will receive an email notification. They may post links to the published article on social media. The author will have free access to the article. Following the publication of the manuscript, authors are invited to write a post on the journal's official Facebook blog and upload the electronic version of the article to ResearchGate. We encourage authors to consider this opportunity, as blog posts are an effective additional way to promote and distribute published research. Posting information about the published article on other social networks (X, BlueSky, LinkedIn, etc.) is also welcomed.

 

Payment

Peer review, preparation for publication, and the publication of the electronic version of the article on the journal's website in open access are free of charge for all categories of authors. At the request of the author or interested organizations, hard copies of the journal may be purchased by arrangement with the publishing house "Helvetica Publishing House" (https://helvetica.ua).