General Information
Acta Zoologica Bulgarica is an international journal published by the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. We consider for publication contributions in all branches of zoology dealing with diversity, ecology and evolution of animals:
- systematics and phylogenetics
- zoogeography and faunistics
- terrestrial ecology
- animal behaviour
- aquatic ecology
- parasitology
- palaeozoology
- archaezoology
- zoomorphology
- developmental biology
- conservation biology
- biological invasions
- applied zoology
- ecotoxicology
The geographical scope of the journal is worldwide but a priority is given to the Bulgarian and Balkan fauna as well as the fauna of associated regions (e.g. Black Sea, Danube River Basin, South-Eastern Europe and Eastern Mediterranean). Local faunistic observations or distribution records are only considered when they contribute new data to the general knowledge for the respective species.
Descriptions of new zoological methods, short reviews of zoological books and information about scientific events are also accepted.
Manuscripts must conform strictly with the instructions to authors before being sent to the editor.
Papers should follow the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature – Fourth Edition, 1999 (https://www.iczn.org/the-code/the-code-online/).
Manuscripts are considered on the assumption that they are in agreement with the following ethical standards:
- they have not been published elsewhere
- they do not contain fabricated and manipulated data
- they are free of plagiarism
- they have not been simultaneously submitted to another journal
- all the listed co-authors have contributed in the research process and (or) in the manuscript preparation
- all the listed co-authors are informed about the submission
- ethical principles of animal research and biodiversity conservation are followed (clearly documented in the manuscript)
- authors are aware that they have to transfer the page fee (10 EUR per printed page) prior to publication
Manuscripts detected to be in conflict with the ethical standards are immediately rejected by the editors.
Evaluation Procedure
Each incoming manuscript is initially judged by the editor-in-chief and the co-editor with expertise in the field of the proposed article. If the manuscript is well-written and within the scope of the journal, it will be forwarded to reviewers (minimum two) for anonymous peer-review evaluation. After completing the first round of peer-review assessment, the manuscript is returned to the authors accompanied with the anonymous reviewers’ reports and comments by the editor; at this stage, the editorial decision includes one of the following options:
- Accept in present form
- Minor revision
- Moderate revision
- Major revision
- Reject
Revised manuscripts are either assessed by the editors or sent for a second round of peer-review procedure prior to be accepted or rejected. After the approval of the final version by the editors, the manuscript will be accepted for publication.
Manuscript preparation
The use of the following templates is mandatory, and submissions that have not followed these guidelines will be automatically rejected.
Cover letter: a letter signed by the corresponding author, which provides a summary of the study, confirms that all authors agree to the submission, and suggests potential reviewers. (download link)
Manuscript template: a template with the formatting requirements of the journal, incl. text font and alignment, reference style, positions of titles, subtitles and paragraphs. (download link)
Name your files in the following manner: Lastname-cover-letter, Lastname-manuscript, Lastname-Figure-1, with “Lastname” being the surname of the corresponding author who makes the submission.
All submissions should have the following sections: Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion. The overall length of the manuscript, including the list of references, captions to tables and figures, should not exceed 15 pages for Research Articles and 4 pages for Short Communications (length of Review Articles and Book Reviews is consulted with the Chief Editor). Tables should be typed on separate sheets and enclosed after the references. An explanatory caption, located on the top of the table, should be provided. Figures must be submitted in electronic version in TIF format in minimum 300 DPI and captions should be provided with an explanatory legend after their first mention in the manuscript. Composite figures should be sent as a single file with clear indicators for each part of the figure, and not as separate files. All tables and figures must be numbered consecutively, referred to in the text, have their place within the manuscript indicated following the provided examples, and should conform to the maximum size of the type area (16.5 x 24 cm). Extensive tables or lists should be given as supplementary files and properly referenced in the manuscript text. Each citation in the text must be accompanied by a full reference in the list of references, and each reference included in the list of references should be cited in the text following the provided examples in the manuscript template.
All submissions should be made using the Submission section of the website. Revisions should include a rebuttal letter with answers to the reviewers’ comments and two versions of the manuscript – one with all changes clearly marked (e.g., with Track changes in MS Word) and a clean version with all changes accepted.
The editor reserves the right to make editorial changes. Authors agree, with the acceptance of the manuscript, that the copyright is transferred to the publisher. Manuscripts, proofs, reviews and other correspondence concerning editorial matters should be addressed to the Editorial Office, e-mail actazoologicabulgarica@gmail.com. The corresponding author will receive only one proof for checking (PDF file). Only printing errors may be corrected. The corrected version should be sent back to the journal editor within two weeks.