Information For Authors

Authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process.

The Author Guidelines section below provides information on how your submission should be structured and formatted. For further guidance on how to structure your manuscript please refer to papers which we have already published in the relevant section.

There is no charge for publishing in Namibian Journal of Environment.

If you have queries, please contact the Editor: editor@nje.org.na.

Author Guidelines

This is a fluid set of guidelines and may get updated at short notice. Please consult the PDF copy to ensure that you have access to the most recent version.

Purpose: These Guidelines are provided to ensure the consistent high standard of the journal. They are also designed to streamline the review, editorial and publication process(es). Please follow the Guidelines carefully to speed up the editorial and review processes. Non-compliant manuscripts will be returned to the author(s).

Format

Submit your paper as a normal editable word-processing document (Open/LibreOffice or MS Word/Office). If you use another software, please save your work as OpenDocument Text (*.odt), Microsoft Document Format (*.doc, *.docx), or Rich Text Format (*.rtf). Do not submit your manuscript as a PDF.

Submit your paper via the NJE website. If this is your first submission, you will be required to register before you can log in. Please do not attempt to submit manuscripts directly to the Editor. [Note: if your paper is intended to be part of the proceedings of a conference or workshop, do NOT submit it on the NJE website. Return it to the external editor of the proceedings, i.e. the person who provided you with these instructions.]

The website will not accept single documents larger than 15 Mb, so please ensure that your image files are scaled accordingly (we will ask for high-resolution images where necessary if your manuscript is accepted for publication). For chapter-based monographs, please submit chapters separately.

Double-blind review: The Namibian Journal of Environment follows a double-blind review process, meaning that both authors’ and reviewers’ identities will be concealed during the review process. As such, we request authors to submit two documents for each paper.

The first document should contain only the manuscript title, names of authors, their contact details (working email address), and a declaration of interests. We ask all authors to disclose any potential competing interests, which can include financial, personal and/or professional relationships that might have influenced their submitted work. If no competing interests exist, please state so. Please indicate the corresponding author with an asterisk (*) after their name. All editorial correspondence will be sent to the corresponding author.

The second document should contain your entire manuscript, including title, but excluding any author/affiliation information. Make sure there is no other identifying information in the manuscript file. For Microsoft Word documents, you can remove any potentially identifying information by following these instructions.

General formatting: For the main text, use Times New Roman font size12 in black; but see the Figures and Tables section for requirements specific to these. Use a single column and set the line spacing to 1.5 throughout the document. Please include line and page numbers. Line numbers should be continuous and only run until the end of the reference list. For anything not specified below, stick to your software’s default setting(s).

Language and editing: We conform to British English conventions. Please make sure that this is consistent throughout your text. For grammar/spelling aid, your entire document should be set to English (UK, Namibia or South Africa), not English (US).

Because English is not most Namibian’s first language, please seek editorial assistance from skilled English-speakers or private editorial services before submitting your manuscript. For university affiliates, we encourage you to make use of your institution’s language departments.

Article types

Research article (Section A): Publication format for empirical research, presented according to mainstreamed scientific standards, in which research findings are reported and discussed. This can include quantitative and qualitative research, as well as meta-analyses and systematic reviews.

Short communication (Section B): Generally, shorter-format reporting of more refined or preliminary research results and field observations.

Perspective (Section C): Contributions of this type are not based on formal research findings but should provide perspective on pertinent environmental issues in Namibia. This can range from opinion pieces to reviews or syntheses. We especially welcome contributions that are likely to stimulate debate and discussion.

Monograph (Section D): Comprehensive subject treatments, which can include taxonomic monographs or in-depth reviews of a certain topic and conference proceedings, for which authors are asked to consult the journal editor before submitting.

Book review: We welcome relevant books to be reviewed. Book suggestions should be directed to editor@nje.org.na. Potential reviewers will subsequently only be invited by the journal editor.

Special issues: We welcome proposals for specials issues or sections. This can include a call for subject-/theme-specific submissions to the journal or the publication of conference proceedings. Please contact the journal editor with a proposal.

Uncertainty over which section your submission falls into, should not discourage you from submitting. Otherwise, please contact the journal editor for clarity.

Manuscript structure

Structure your paper using conventional section headings. The following should be used as a guideline, noting that not all components would be appropriate for or applicable to all submissions (depending on article type). The following is a generic template for research articles (Section A):

Abstract: Compulsory for all papers. The abstract should be a short summary of the most important points of the paper. It should follow the flow and structure of the paper but should not be copied directly from the main text. Abstracts should not exceed 300 words.

Introduction: Compulsory for all papers but can vary in length. This is where you introduce the subject matter and contextualise your work or thinking. Introductions may also vary in structure and can be divided into different sections (with subheadings) for clarity.

Methods: Compulsory for Section A, optional, but essential for all submitted work that is based on primary or secondary data. This section should detail the study area, data collection, processing and analyses. We encourage authors to include as much detail as possible here, to allow for more in-depth scrutiny and potential replication.  

Results: This section is compulsory, but its title and structure may vary depending on the context or subject. Present and describe the data you have gathered and analysed. Results may be divided into different (sub)sections, if it improves logical flow and clarity.

Discussion: Most papers will have some version of this, sometimes spread across several (sub)sections. Interpret and contextualise your findings and offer recommendations for action or further research. This section should also include a closing paragraph with concluding remarks.

Acknowledgements: We encourage authors to acknowledge contributions to their work, where applicable.

References: Compulsory. See section below for its specific formatting.

Appendices: Optional. Any essential but bulky information, data or calculations that only the most involved readers will ever need to see, or that is too large or awkward to include in the main body of text, can be relegated to one or more Appendices. These appendices should appear at the very end of the main document and should be appropriately labelled (e.g., Appendix A, Appendix B, etc.) and cited in the text. Print-unfriendly items like gene sequences or Braun-Blanquet charts can also be made available as separate downloadable files alongside the published paper. If applicable, submit them as separate files alongside the main manuscript.

Conventions

Figures: All charts, drawings, graphs, maps and photos should be numbered consecutively (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.) and should be cited in that order in the text. Figures can be inserted directly in the text and their placement needs to align with the flow of the text. Figure captions should appear below the figure. Figures and their captions should be sufficiently detailed, so that each figure can be interpreted without having to refer to the text. For in-figure text, the font should preferably be Arial or a similar sans-serif font in a size equivalent to 8-10 pt when the figure is at the final size.

Tables: Create tables as text in your word processor. Images of tables created in other software are not acceptable. Tables should be numbered consecutively (Table 1, Table 2, etc.) and can be inserted directly in the text. Table captions should appear above the table. Tables, like figures, need to be cited in sequence in the text and the caption should be detailed enough to allow the table and its caption to stand alone.

Names of organisms: Authors may choose to use either scientific or common names for their study organisms but should then remain consistent throughout. Where common names are used, the scientific name must be given (in brackets and italicised) in the title and at the first mention in the text, e.g., ‘lions (Panthera leo)’. Likewise, where scientific names are used, a common name can be given in brackets or between commas. For taxa that have no common name, this can be replaced by an indication of the higher grouping they belong to. Common names are not compulsory in taxonomic papers or checklists.

Scientific names of species should be typed out in full upon first mention. Thereafter genera may be abbreviated with the first letter of the genus name (e.g., P. leo), except when the paper treats more than one genus with the same initial letter, or when the genus name is used to start a sentence. It is not necessary to give authority names for any taxa, except in taxonomic papers, where authorities with dates are compulsory for genera and all lower taxa. Taxonomic orders above genus are not written in italics.

Common names of species should be written in lowercase, except when the name includes the name of a person or place (e.g., Anchieta’s python or Kaoko corkwood). This convention does not apply to birds though. Common bird species names should be capitalised (e.g., White-fronted Bee-eater). We also encourage the use and normalisation of common indigenous names. To aid the normalisation process, indigenous names should be accompanied by the English common name, be italicised and come with a language designation, e.g., omumborombonga (Otjiherero), upon first mention. Any non-English characters or symbols, particularly those used in Khoe languages, should be entered as proper Unicode characters, not vaguely similar keyboard shortcuts. Use Character Map (MS Windows) or gucharmap/kcharselect (Linux) or refer to this list of Unicode characters and these input guidelines.

Spelling of both common and scientific names should be checked very carefully by authors prior to submission, because spell checkers do not know these names and will usually suggest changes that are incorrect. Any checklist or field guide for the group concerned, by a reputable institution or author, can be used as a baseline. You may also consider using the Namibia Biodiversity Database: a search on any correct species or common name will display that species, but if the name is misspelled, the search will suggest possible correct names.

Submissions should comply with the provisions of the appropriate codes of nomenclature. If Zoobank registration is required, put a place holder at the appropriate place in the text. Once the paper has been accepted for publication, we will ask you to obtain and provide the required identifiers for both the overall publication and each nomenclatural act in it.

Conventions for special words:

• The full name should be spelled out the first time it is used in the text, with the acronym in parentheses, e.g. Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) – thereafter the acronym is sufficient.
• Except for entrenched language elements (like e.g., i.e., etc.), units of measurement and some genera (see above), write words out in full whenever possible. Newly created acronyms or abbreviations are acceptable only if they significantly enhance the paper’s readability, are defined at first use, and are used consistently.
• Do not use `&’, use ‘and’. The only acceptable use of the ampersand is in literature citations.
• Use a decimal point, not a comma. Separate thousands with a space and no comma. Spell out numbers from one to ten; figures for numbers 11 and more.
• Only metric units should be used.
• Where a direct quote or a specimen label includes non-metric units, add a metric conversion in square brackets, e.g. ‘5 miles [8 km] north of Windhoek’. Keep the degree of accuracy of the conversion similar to that of the original.
• Abbreviations of metric units, e.g. km, are not followed by a full stop.
• There is a space between a number and a unit of measurement, e.g. 10 km, not 10km. There is no space between a number and a sign that is not a unit, e.g. 90°, 100%.
• Temperature degrees are units of measurement, while geographical or angular degrees are not. Temperature measurements therefore get a space, e.g. 36.7 °C (not 36.7° C), but ‘90° angle’ does not get a space.
• Date and time. Dates are written as day, month and year, e.g. 1 August 2010. Time is given in 24-hour format, e.g. 16h45.
• Indicate ranges with a hyphen and no spaces, e.g. ‘the years 1985-2001’.
• Mathematical operators. With the exception of '+' and '-' when used as a qualifier to denote positive or negative, there are always spaces on both sides of all mathematical operators, e.g. 1 + 1 = 2, 100 × 100 m = 1 ha, n = 99, p < 0.01, but: 1985 - 2001 = -16. Use Unicode (see above) for non-keyboard mathematical symbols.
• Use decimal degrees (23.2075°S, 18.4338°E) consistently, except in taxonomic papers when directly quoting specimen labels using other notations.
• The first word of a sentence is always written out in full; it may not be an abbreviation, nor a number expressed in figures.
• For any elements not specified above, the printing rules defined in Section 7 of the ISO 80000-1:2009 standard apply.

Referencing format: Authors are strongly encouraged to use citation management software to manage in-text citations and bibliographies. This greatly expedites the editorial and reviewing process. We recommend and support Zotero, a free open-source industry-standard citation manager with plug-ins for all major word processors, but the choice of citation manager is ultimately yours. It is important that your output conforms to NJE citation style.

In your chosen manager, select the style for 'Namibian Journal of Environment' if available. Alternatively, download and then import the NJE citation style format file. In Zotero this is done by going to Edit, Preferences, Cite, Styles, clicking on '+' and navigating to the file. (Endnote users: this does not work because of your proprietary style format. Please use a broadly similar Endnote journal style, like that for Mammal Review, and fine-tune it by hand.)

The NJE style format should take care of everything else, but in case this information is needed for refining, final reference formatting should resemble the following (items in square brackets are optional):

• Book: Author AB, Author C, Author DEF (Year) Title of book, [Edition]. [Volume]. Publisher, Place. [Online: URL]
• Book section: Author AB (Year) Chapter title. In: Editor AB (ed) Book title, [Edition]. [Volume:] Pages. Publisher, Place. [Online: URL]
• Journal article: Author AB (Year) Article title. Journal title Volume[(part)]: Pages. [Online: DOI/URL]
• Report (unpublished): Author AB (Year) Report title. Unpublished report: [Institution/company], [Place]. pp. Number of pages. [Online: URL]
• Thesis: Author AB (Year) Thesis title. Degree, University, [Place]. [pp. Number of pages]. [Online: URL]
• Web page: [Author (Year)] Web page title. Online: URL. [Accessed: date].

Even a functional style sheet will display incorrect or incomplete references if it is fed incorrect information. It is the author's responsibility to ensure that references conform to the style above. Submissions with references problems will be sent back to the authors for correction before publication. Common causes are a reference that is assigned to an inappropriate item type (e.g.  for references not being formatted correctly is that they have been entered as a incorrect type (e.g. journal article for a thesis), or that the minimum information required (i.e. the items that are not in square brackets above) has not been entered. The correct data items that should be filled in to achieve the results above, are:

• Book: Title. Author(s). [Volume]. [Edition]. Place. Publisher. Date. [URL].
• Book section: Section/chapter Title. Section Author(s). Book Editor(s). Book Title. [Volume]. [Edition]. Place. Publisher. Date. Pages. [URL].
• Journal Article: Article Title. Author(s). Publication/journal. Volume. [Issue/part/section]. Pages. Date. [DOI/URL].
• Report (unpublished): Report Title. Author(s). [Place]. [Institution/company]. Date. Pages. [URL].
• Thesis: Thesis Title. Author. Thesis Type. University. [Place]. Date. [Pages]. [URL].
• Web page: Page Title. [Author]. [Date]. URL. Date accessed.

In-text citation: Reference must be made to the source of any information that was not recorded during the undertaken research. The style format default is to put this at the end of a phrase or sentence, e.g. `Namibia is experiencing more frequent droughts (Jones 2017), which compounds other issues (Shikongo et al. 2005, Smith 1914a, 1914b)’. If the citation instead needs to be part of the sentence e.g. ‘Jones (2017) found that…’, insert the citation as usual and use the Edit function of your citation manager to change the default. Verbal and other informal communications resemble citations e.g. ‘Jones (pers. com. 2017) said ...’ or ‘(Jones pers. com. 2017)’ but they are not citations. They are inserted manually, they are not included in reference lists, and instead the person cited, and their affiliation should be included in the Acknowledgements section.

After acceptance

Once a manuscript is accepted, you will be requested to submit all images as separate high-resolution files, in *.jpg or *.png format. They should be at a standard size and resolution (300 dpi recommended) which is suitable for publication, clear and of high quality. Hand-drawn illustrations should be scanned and saved at 300 dpi. If spreadsheet-based charts form part of the document, the spreadsheets will need to be submitted separately as *.xls or *.ods files; this is just for our use to simplify re-formatting of charts, your spreadsheets will not become publicly available. Although not needed at submission, consider these requirements before submission and make sure that you will be able to comply later. Once all the necessary files have been received and the manuscript has been processed by the editorial team, you will receive a version for proofreading before the final publication goes online.

Enquiries

All enquiries can be directed to the Editor via editor@nje.org.na. [In the case of conference proceedings, do not contact the NJE Editor, but the external editor of the proceedings instead.]