Please read the guidelines below before inserting your photos and text. As you make your guide, refer to your favorite recent guide as a model.

Downloadable PDF for Anatomy of a Field Guide!

Supra-Title: This should include broader location information about your field guide. This may include city, state, and country.

Required Formatting: 13-15 point font size, bold.

Example: City, State, USA -- Chicago, Illinois, USA

More Examples:

Meseta del Somuncura, Provincia Río Negro, Patagonia, ARGENTINA Reserva Ecológica Cotacachi-Cayapas, Imbabura, ECUADOR

Main Title: This text should be short and describe the subject of the guide -- keywords can be emphasized in all caps, if applicable. Italicize scientific names if used in the title. The title should include the most specific location of your field guide.

Please use a title that specifies the content, i.e., not ‘Araceae of the Upper Amazon’ or ‘Araceae of Brazil’ when it is really  ‘Araceae of Reserva Bruja.'

Required Formatting: 18-20 point font size, bold.

Example: (Organisms) of (specific locality or region), Selected Native Plants of Soto Woods Forest Preserves

More Examples:

Plantas Representativas del Bosque Protector Tanlahua SELECTED VASCULAR EPIPHYTES of Western Paraná Common BUTTERFLIES of the Chicago Region

Authors & Institutions: Give serious consideration to including a photographer or a taxonomist as an author if they have made a significant contribution to the guide. Guides with multiple authors/institutions will need numbers to associate the author with the corresponding Institution - use superscript.

Required Formatting: Author, 10-point font size with bold font. Institution names, 8-10 in regular font (not bold).

Example:

Iza Redlinski^1,2 and Ellen Woodward^2,3

¹Soto Family Foundation, ²University of Natural History, and ³Field Museum

Here are examples of how to display authors' names:

a. One author, one institution (Note that superscript numbers are not necessary in this case):

Juliana Livian Lima de Abreu 

Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Coordenação de Botânica, Belém, PA.

b. Multiple institutions:

Ana Kelly Koch ^1,2

1Instituto de Botânica, Núcleo de Pesquisa Orquidário do Estado, São Paulo, SP,2 Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Coordenação de Botânica, Belém, PA.

c. Multiple authors, multiple institutions:

Juliana Livian Lima de Abreu^1,3 , Vinícuis Martins Barbacena¹, Bruno Martins De Mello¹, Ana Kelly Koch ^2,3, Jocasta Prado¹, Maria de Queiroz Carneiro-Silva³, André Luiz de Rezende Cardoso³ & Anna Luiza Ilkiu-Borges³

¹BIOTA Projetos e Consultoria Ambiental Ltda, Goiânia, GO, ²Instituto de Botânica, Núcleo de Pesquisa Orquidário do Estado, São Paulo, SP, ³Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Coordenação de Botânica, Belém, PA.

d. Multiple authors, same institution (No need to add superscript numbers) 

Ana Kelly Koch, Juliana Guimarães, Rayane Ribeiro
Instituto de Botânica, Núcleo de Pesquisa Orquidário do Estado, São Paulo, SP

This may include acknowledgments and assistance, recognition of photographers, and copyright. Copyright options are chosen in Submittable. Visit our Field Guide Permissions Page to learn about our Copyright options.

Please include

1. Appropriate acknowledgment of funding sources and other assistance

2. A permanent email address of the author(s) so that people who want to suggest corrections can contact the author first.

3. A key or legend for any abbreviations or symbols used in the text under the photos, preferably in bold.

4. Add your copyright options. Standard text is provided in the template.

Required Formatting:  8-point font size, regular (not bold). Use the following section titles: Photo: Produced by: Support: Acknowledgement: Legend: (If applicable)

Photos: Crop your photos before inserting them into the template. InDesign users can crop their photos within the program to fit the template. All images should be saved as “high-quality level 8 or 10” on your photo-editing software if applicable. To do so, crop your image and click “save as.” A JPEG Options box will pop up on your screen with quality options. A single PDF page is normally 2-4 MB in size.

Square Template - 300 pixels wide x 300 pixels heightHorizontal Template - 600 pixels wide x 400 pixels height

Large Horizontal Template - 800 pixels wide x 675 pixels height

Vertical Template - 375 pixels wide x 500 pixels height

Large Vertical Template - 675 pixels wide x 800 height

(measurements can be found on the template)

Save all photos at  Resolution: 72-250 ppi (For resolution below 250 ppi, be sure the photo is clear at 100% screen view.) Photo file size must be 150-250 kB.

Your guide is more likely to be accepted if a) your photos are of high quality, b) the species are recognizable in this small format (the characteristics that define a specific specie should be easy to see in a small photo), and c) you follow our advice on choosing, optimizing, and cropping photographs.

Taxonomy:  This text occupies a tiny space and must be very brief. It may include one or more of the following: species name, higher taxa names, common names and habits. We recommend that species names be more conspicuous than other information in this field and sort into major taxonomic groups, and within these groups sort alphabetically by FAMILY, Genus, and Species.

Please ensure that taxonomic information is free of typographic errors and follows the international code of nomenclature rules. Scientific names [or Species names] are displayed as follows:

1.Biological names are in Latin and are written in italics.

2.The first word in the name indicates the genus, while the second word denotes its specific epithet.

3.The first letter of the first word is always written in capital, while the first letter of the specific epithet, i.e., the second word, is lowercase.

Required Formatting: 8 or 9 point font size, regular (not bold).

Example:

Eryngium yuccifolium

APIACEAE