Author Guidelines

Phytoprotection is an international research journal edited by the Québec Society for the Protection of Plants (QSPP). The journal offers the possibility of publishing the results of research conducted in the fields of forestry and agriculture, and dealing with all aspects of plant protection: plant pathology, including abiotic factors and stress, entomology, weed science and nematology; etiology, molecular and population biology, biotechnology and innovative development in research methods; integrated disease and pest management, such as genetic resistance and cultural, chemical or biological control. Results of multidisciplinary approaches are of special interest. Phytoprotection publishes original hypothesis-based scientific articles, short communications and reviews, or minireviews.

Manuscripts may be submitted in French or English. Each manuscript must include a cover letter by the corresponding author. The cover letter must warrant that the manuscript has not been concomitantly submitted to or accepted by any other refereed or government publication, nor published in full or in part in any such publication. The corresponding author should indicate any conflict of interest that may arise during the peer review process. Failure to disclose such conflicts may lead to the manuscript being rejected. The authors should obtain permission to reproduce material from other published sources and include all documents granting permission with the manuscript. A resubmitted manuscript (previously rejected or withdrawn) is treated as a new article. In this case, the corresponding author must indicate the previous manuscript's number and outline the changes made in light of the comments received.

All correspondence is done by E-mail. The text and tables should be provided both in a word-processing format (e.g. Microsoft Word) compatible with Windows or Macintosh and in PDF format. Graphics and illustrations may be included in the main manuscript file or presented in separate files. However, once the manuscript is accepted for publication, graphics and illustrations must be provided in a graphics format such as Excel (.xls), .jpg, .gif, .tif, etc. Following technical editing of the manuscript, the corresponding author will be asked to provide the final electronic version of the text in both word-processing and PDF formats.

The corresponding author is required to complete a copyright license form authorizing Phytoprotection and the Québec Society for the Protection of Plants to publish the manuscript. Most authors must sign the copyright license form, which is available through this link (Assignment_of_copyright.pdf).

Page charges
Authors member of the society will have no publication fees. Non-member will be charged CAN $30 per printed page, including tables, figures, and black and white illustrations and photographs. The additional costs involved in printing colour photographs will be charged to the authors. Further details on prices are available from the Editor. The authors must submit both a French and English version of their abstract. The Editorial Board can have the abstract translated for CAN $50 (short communications) or CAN $75 (articles) at the authors’ expense.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

Use a recent issue of Phytoprotection as an example for the format to be used. Manuscripts must meet the outlined requirements; otherwise, the evaluation and publication processes may be delayed. Manuscripts should be double-spaced on Letter format, with lines numbered consecutively throughout the manuscript, including tables, figure legends and literature cited. Page numbers should appear in the upper right-hand corner of every page. Leave at least a 2.5 cm margin on all sides and one line between paragraphs. Avoid hyphens or dashes at the end of lines. Use a standard font and a 12 pt font size. The first paragraph of every section should be aligned to the left and all other paragraphs should start with a 5 mm indent. Abbreviations should be written out at the first mention, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.

Units of measurement
All units and symbols, along with their accepted abbreviations, must conform to the International System of Units (SI System), or SI equivalents should be given. This system is described in the Metric Practice Guide, CAN/CSAZ234.1-00, published by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) (5060 Spectrum Way, Suite 100, Mississauga, ON L4W 5N6, Canada). In the text, tables and figures sections use the following abbreviations without explanation: h, min, s, yr, mo, wk, d and diam. Number and symbols are separated by a space, except for the degree and percent symbols. Separate multiple units with a negative exponent value (e.g. 10 kg ha-1). In a series of measurements, place the SI unit at the end, except when indicating dimensions (e.g. 18-22°C; 20 cm x 40 cm).

Numbers
Write out numbers one (1) to nine (9), except when the number is followed by a measuring unit. Use numerals for numbers greater than nine. Separate thousands by a space rather than a comma. Use the following format to present dates in the text: 2005-2008, 24 January 2009; in tables: 2009-01-24.



MANUSCRIPT

Title page
Title
The complete title of the manuscript should be brief and include the common or Latin name of the organism studied. Do not include authority names but do include the order and family name in square brackets for insects. A short running title (maximum of 60 characters including spaces) should be provided.

Identification of authors
Use a recent issue of Phytoprotection as a reference for the format to be used for the authors’ names and addresses (to be listed in the order in which they are to appear in the heading of the article). Indicate in a footnote current affiliations and addresses (including E-mail address), and the telephone and fax numbers of the corresponding author. The given name of each author should be written out in full.

Abstract
The abstract must be presented as one paragraph in English and one in French. Do not use abbreviations or references. Be concise (maximum of 200 words for articles; maximum of 100 words for short communications). Include a brief description of the objectives, materials and methods, results, and significance of the results. Vernacular names of relevant organisms along with their Latin name in parentheses should be included in the abstract. Contents of the English and French versions of the abstract should be identical.

Text
Do not use footnotes. At the first mention of an organism, provide the Latin name with the authority name in parentheses. Include the order and family of insects in square brackets after the Latin name authority. Refer to international codes of nomenclature for accepted names. For text that is to be set in italics, use an italic font (do not underline). At the first mention of a pesticide, use its common name followed by its chemical name in parentheses. Use the lastest version of The Agrochemicals Handbook or The Pesticide Manual for accepted pesticide nomenclature. The nomenclature used should be ISO- or BSI-approved. Dosage must be given in active ingredient (e.g. 1.5 kg a.i. ha-1).

Use only three levels of section headings in the text.

Primary headings: MATERIALS AND METHODS (capital letters, bold font)

Secondary headings: Determination of infectivity parameters (capitalize only the first letter of the first word, bold font)

Tertiary headings: Statistical analysis (capitalize only the first letter of the first word, in italics)

Every figure and table must be cited in the text. Figures and tables must be presented in numerical order, in the sequence of first reference in the text. The experimental design should always be clearly stated. Summary statistics should be followed by estimates of variability.

References
Each reference must be cited in the text and listed in the reference section. The author is responsible for checking the spelling and details of each reference against the original publication. Use a recent issue of Phytoprotection for examples of reference format. Include all authors names in the reference section. In the text, references within the same parentheses must be cited in alphabetical order and separated by a semicolon.

Abbreviate all serials titles using the latest edition of Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI), (Chemical Abstracts Service, 2540 Olentangy River Road, P.O. Box 3012, Columbus, OH 43210-0012, USA) or the latest edition of Serial Sources for the BIOSIS Previews® Database (BIOSIS®, 2100 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-1399, USA). In doubtful cases, authors should write out the serial's title in full. Authors names and the year of publication are in bold font. The first line of each reference is leftaligned and all subsequent lines are indented (5 mm). Separate authors names by commas; the last author's name is preceded by a comma and the preposition “and”. Insert a period after each initial of an author's name; do not leave a space between initials. Articles in English, French, Spanish and German may be cited in their original language. For other languages, put the translated title in square brackets. Always leave a space before and after the colon following the volume number and preceding the page numbers.

Cite references in alphabetical order by first author's name. Single-author references precede those with several authors for the same first author, regardless of the date of publication. References with two authors for the same first author are listed alphabetically by second author's name, and chronologically thereafter. Single-author references and references with three or more authors are listed chronologically only.

Tables
Present each table on a separate page. Tables are numbered with Arabic numerals followed by a period. Use the same font and lettering size as in the text. Do not use vertical lines or borders. A recent issue of the journal should be consulted for presentation. Indicate footnotes by lowercase superscript letters in alphabetical order rather than symbols. The use of asterisks is limited to indicating statistically significant values. Give units of measurement in parentheses on the last line of column headings. Align data within the columns on the decimal points. Data that are not available or not applicable are indicated by a double hyphen. Tables should be constructed using the word processor's “Table” function, not using the space bar.

Figures and illustrations
Figures are black and white half-tone (or coloured) photographs, illustrations or graphs. Figures with several parts created using the same software application should be assembled into one file rather than submitted as several files. High resolution should be used when submitting bitmap (pixel) artwork. All figures and illustrations should be submitted at the final publishing size of the journal. Figures submitted in sizes larger than the following maximum final size will be reduced: one-column figure, 80 mm width x 230 mm height; two-column figure, 172 mm width x 230 mm height.

Legends
Group all figure legends on a separate page according to figure numerical arrangements. Figures must be numbered using Arabic numerals in the order they are cited in the text. If many symbols appear on a figure, include a section entitled “Abbreviations:” at the end of the legend.

Graphs
Use the same font size throughout the figure or group of figures. Letters should have a minimum height of 2 mm when reduced to final publishing size. Use only capital letters, except for Latin names. Line drawings for curves, bars, etc., should be thicker than those for axis lines.

Figures
Composite figures must be grouped into one plate without space between adjacent figures, leaving margins of at least 2.5 cm on all sides. Each element within a composite figure or plate should be identified by a capital letter. Illustrations, aerial photographs and micrographs must include a scale bar directly on the figure or in the legend.

Format and organization of text
All manuscripts should contain, in the following order: Title page (Title; Names of authors; Authors' affiliations and addresses) (p. 1); Abstract in English (p. 2) and French (p. 3); Text of the manuscript (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion); Acknowledgements; References; Tables; Legends of Figures; Figures; Running Title. Do not include a conclusion or summary section. Short communications do not have section headings and must be assembled in the same order as a manuscript.