Submissions

Author Guidelines

Bonplandia is a journal published by the Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste (CONICET- UNNE) since its foundation in 1960. It is a biannual journal, with issues published in the half February and August, covering the period from February to July and August to January. The journal welcomes original articles on topics such as taxonomy, anatomy, morphology, physiology, genetics, cytogenetics, applied biotechnology, functional genomics, ethnobotany, palynology, floristics, ecology, and other areas of plant biology. Contributions may address all plants groups and related organisms (cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, and lichens), both extant and fossil. Articles in Bonplandia focus on these disciplines across the American continent.

The editorial process includes several stages: an initial evaluation of the manuscript (originality, subject matter, quality, and presentation) by the editor-in-chief and the editorial team; followed by single-blind online peer review, in which the content is assessed by two external reviewers. Once the editor-in-chief receives the reviewers’ reports, the decision is communicated to the author without revealing the reviewers’ identities. The assistant editor then ensures that the manuscript complies with the journal’s style guidelines; galley proofs are reviewed by both the author and the journal’s editors; and the final decision is then made by the editor-in-chief. It should be noted that although reviewers evaluate the work of their peers, the ultimate responsibility for the decision rests with the journal’s editor-in-chief.

 Open Access Statement

• All journal content is freely and openly available online prior to print publication.

Article Types

Bonplandia accepts the following types of articles: original articles, reviews with discussion, nomenclatural notes, new country records, short communications, and invited articles.

Bonplandia will not publish manuscripts that merely report an extension of the known range of vascular plant taxa within Argentina or in another country adjacent the taxon’s known distribution, unless they propose specific distribution patterns or include complementary studies (e.g., morphometric analysis, conservation status, etc.). Manuscripts must include a map showing the updated distribution, as well as an identification key distinguishing the newly recorded taxon from closely related taxa of the same rank.

 General guidelines

• Manuscripts may be written in Spanish, English, or Portuguese.
• Manuscripts should not exceed 30 pages. Authors whose submissions exceed this limit must contact the Editorial Committee before submitting.
• Manuscripts should be prepared on A4-sized pages, using 12-point Times New Roman font with double spacing, and 3 cm margins. All pages must be numbered. A word processor compatible with Microsoft Word should be used.

Style

• All text, including titles, must be left-aligned, without indentation, tabs, or justification. Use a single space between words and a single paragraph break (Enter) at the end of each paragraph.
• Diacritical marks specific to each language (e.g., diaeresis, accents) must be preserved, even in uppercase letters.
• It is recommended that paragraphs do not begin with abbreviations or gerunds.
• All figures and tables must be cited in the text. (e.g., Fig. 1A, Table 1).
• Numbers should be written using Arabic numerals, except for one to nine, which should be spelled unless they begin a sentence.
• Common names and words or phrases in foreign languages should be enclosed in quotation marks.
• Italics should only be used for Latin expressions (e.g., 'sensu lato', 'in vitro', 'loc. cit.') and for the scientific names of genera and infrageneric categories. Names of families and higher taxonomic ranks should be written in regular font.
• Author names cited in the text should not be abbreviated.
• Footnotes should be numbered consecutively, using Arabic numerals in superscript.
• Non-taxonomic papers must include a list of voucher specimens in the Materials and Methods section, ordered alphabetically by category, with complete data (collection site and date, collector, and herbarium where deposited).
• The manuscript should be divided into the following sections: 1) Title and authors (respecting capitalization); 2) Abstract and Summary with Palabras clave and Keywords, respectively; 3) Main text (see structure below).
• The main style guidelines for each section are summarized below. In case of doubt, authors are advised to follow the style of the most recent volume of Bonplandia.

 Title of the work and authors

• Title (in English for manuscripts written in Spanish or Portuguese). The title should clearly and concisely reflect the content of the work. It must be written in sentence case (with only the first letter capitalized and the rest in lowercase), and must not be underlined or have a final full stop.
• If the title includes the name of a specific or generic taxon, the higher taxonomic category must be added in parentheses, without including author names.
• Author names should be written with the full first name followed by the surname, placed below the title. All names should be written in sentence case (first letter capitalized, the rest in lowercase). If there is more than one author, their names should appear on the same line. The corresponding author's email address must be provided.
• In order for a manuscript to be considered, all authors must include their ORCID digital identifier upon initial submission (https://orcid.org).
• Affiliation details, including workplace, address, email address, institutional role, etc., should be provided in the footnotes.
• An abbreviated title (“running head”) should be included in the header of odd-numbered pages.

Abstract and Summary

• Each abstract must contain a maximum of 200 words and be written as a single paragraph.
• In a separate paragraph, include “Palabras clave” and “Keywords”. Keywords should be separated by commas and listed in alphabetical order (maximum of six). Efforts should be made to include terms that are not already included in the title. Proper names and taxonomic categories should be written in sentence case (with only the first letter capitalized).

 Main Text

• It is recommended that the text is organized under the following headings: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Author Contributions, Acknowledgments, and References. For taxonomic studies involving numerous species, it is suggested to include an Index of Scientific Names and an Index of Collectors.
• Up to two levels of subheadings may be used within each section. First-level subheadings should be left-aligned and in italics, without a full stop, and should be followed by a new paragraph. Second-level subheadings should also be left-aligned and in italics, but should end with a period and continue on the same line.
• In taxonomic papers, headings that include additional information (e.g., Geographic Distribution, Common Names, Phenology) should be italicized and followed by a colon (:).
• When citing multiple bibliographic sources, list them in chronological order, arranging those within the same year alphabetically.
• Units of measurement and cardinal directions should be abbreviated according to the International System of Units (SI), for example: m, cm, g, ml, µm, etc.; N, S, E, W, NE, NW, etc. For coordinates, use "W" for west. Altitude should be indicated as "m" in the text and may appear as "m" or "m a.s.l." in material citations. Do not use abbreviations such as "s.m." or "elev." Acronyms should be written in full uppercase letters without periods (e.g., FAA, DNA).
• Guidelines for numerical expressions: n = 10, 2n, 30 °C, 100%.

Text in Taxonomic Studies

• Genera and species should be numbered consecutively within each family or genus using Arabic numerals. Intraspecific taxa should be identified within each species using lowercase letters.
• Identification keys must be dichotomous and left-aligned, without indentation. Keys should include couplets with distinctive traits or characters for each taxon, which must match the provided morphological description. Couplets sharing the same number must present clearly contrasting characters. The following model is recommended:

1.Pubescent corolla; ovary with a ring of bristles around the base.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….………… Bacopa serpyllifolia

1’.  Glabrous corolla; ovary without a ring of bristles around the base

………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………….2

2. Stem hispid-villous. Style entire. …………………………………………………………… Bacopa salzmannii

2'. Stem strigose or subglabrous. Style bifid…………………………………………………………………………..3

• The scientific name should be followed by a reference to the figure(s) on the next line: Fig. 1
• For previously described taxa, type data should be placed immediately after the corresponding bibliographic citation. Examined material should be indicated with an exclamation mark following the herbarium acronym.
• For new species, the taxon name should be followed by the abbreviation sp. nov. and the herbarium acronym. It is recommended to illustrate these taxa. Example: Arachis woodiiSeijo, Atahuachi & Krapov., sp. nov. Typus: BOLIVIA. Santa Cruz, Germán Busch, road from El Carmen to Rincón del Tigre, 18º23’52”S, 58º20’W, 460 m, 5-XII-2007, M. Atahuachi et al. 1469(holotypus BOLV, isotypus CTES). Figs. 1; 2A, C, E.
• The text should start with the diagnosis. The description in Spanish should then continue on the following line.
• Additional material should be listed under the heading “Additional Material Studied”, following the same format used for previously described taxa.
• In the taxon description, the length and width measurements of a character may be indicated as follows: 8–13 × 4–5 mm or 8–13 mm long., 4–5 mm wide. Less frequent, minimum, and maximum measurements may be included in parentheses: (5–)8 × 10(–12) mm.
• After the description of previously described taxa, any remaining material should be listed under the subtitle “Material Studied”.
• Information on common names (“in quotation marks”), chromosome number, phenology, geographic distribution, and ecology must be included before the Material Studied section. Geographic Distribution and Material Studied must always appear consecutively.
• Finally, Notes and Observations (Obs.) should be included, numbered with Arabic numerals only if there is more than one.
• In the index of scientific names, valid names should appear in bold.
• In the index of collectors, collection numbers should be listed in ascending order. Punctuation must follow the example provided:
• Author abbreviations for taxa should follow the guidelines set out in The International Plant Names Index (https://www.ipni.org/index.html). They should only be cited the first time they appear in the text. • Journal names should only be cited in full in the References section.
• Taxon author abbreviations must be written with only the initial letter capitalized. They should only be included the first time the taxonomic categories are mentioned in the text.
• In herbarium specimen citations, the country name must always be written in uppercase and bold. The next political division (State, Province, Department, etc.) should be written in title case (first letter capitalized) and in bold. Its name should not be preceded by an abbreviation (e.g., St., Prov., Dept.). Smaller political divisions may be preceded by their corresponding abbreviations (e.g., Mun., Dept., Pdo., Prov.). If part of a previous citation is repeated, the word idem may be used.
• Specimens should be cited in alphabetical order by country, province, etc., following the specified punctuation format:

Material studied: ARGENTINA. Corrientes: Dep. San Miguel, Ea. Santa Julia, chacra Tres Camba, 28°06'17"S, 57°28'24"W, 67 m, 11-XI-2012, Medina & Aparicio 268 (CTES). MÉXICO. Guerrero: Mun. La Unión, 8 km N of La Unión, along the dirt road to Coahuayutla de Guerrero, 13-XI-1983, fl, fr, Koch et al. 83121 (BM, CTES, TEX). Jalisco: Coastal plain near the highway to Autlán, 5 miles north of Bahía Navidad, 9-XI-1960, fl, fr, McVaugh 20882 (CTES, MICH).

• When citing type material, all label data must be transcribed verbatim, including the names of all collectors and their initials.

Author Contributions

This section should be included when there are two or more authors. The contribution of each author (using their initials) must be briefly and clearly stated, covering aspects such as: research design and execution; data analysis, collection, or interpretation; figure preparation; and manuscript writing. The use of the CRediT taxonomy is recommended (available at https://credit.niso.org).

Example 1: AMP and VD designed and carried out the research. DB collected field material and consulted herbaria. All authors contributed to writing the manuscript.

Example 2: All authors participated equally in data collection, interpretation, and writing the manuscript.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments should be written as a single paragraph. It is customary to mention individuals who contributed to the work, either academically or technically. Names should be cited without professional titles. Funding sources that supported the research must also be included.

References

• In-text citations and references must follow the 7th edition of the APA guidelines,  which can be accessed via the following link: https://normasapa.com/como-referenciar-articulos-cientificos/
• Examples: (Rossow, 1993), according to Rossow (1993); (Arriaga & Sánchez, 1981) or (Grosso et al., 1994) in the case of three or more authors.
• The reference list should only include works cited in the text and be arranged alphabetically by author, and chronologically when citing multiple works by the same author.
• When an author has multiple works published in the same year, these should be distinguished by lowercase letters following the year (a, b, c, etc.).
• In taxonomic papers, references accompanying Latin names of species or genera should not be repeated in the reference list unless they are cited in the main text.
• For books, include the publisher and place of publication.
• If the work has a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), it must be included at the end of the citation.

An example of the required format is shown below:

Botta, S. M., Múlgura De Romero, M. E. & Martínez, S. (1995). Proposal to conserve the name Junellia Moldenke. Taxon 44: 639-640. https://doi.org/10.2307/1223514

En el caso de que la cita bibliográfica incluya más de siete autores se citará como el siguiente ejemplo:

Ulloa Ulloa, C., Acevedo-Rodríguez, P., Beck, S., Belgrano,M. J., Bernal, R., Berry, P. E., Brako, L., … et al. (2017). An integrated assessment of the vascular plant species of the Americas. Science (New York, N.Y.) 358: 1614-1617. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao0398

Harley, R. M. (2008). Lamiaceae. En Zuloaga, F. O., O. Morrone & M. J. Belgrano (eds.), Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares del Cono Sur (Argentina, Sur de Brasil, Chile, Paraguay y Uruguay). Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 107: 2362-2392.

Ferrucci, M. S., Cáceres Moral, S. A. & Galvany Casals, M. (2002). Las plantas trepadoras. En Arbo, M. M. & S. G. Tressens (eds.), Flora del Iberá, pp. 111-153. EUDENE, Corrientes.

Bartoli, A. & Tortosa, R. D. (1998). Estudios taxonómicos en Grindelia (Asteraceae). XXVI Jornadas Argentinas de Botánica, Río Cuarto, Córdoba, 22 al 27 de noviembre de 1998, p. 230.

Solís, S. M. (2011). Estudios morfo-anatómicos y ontogenéticos en flores de Paullinieae y su significado evolutivo. Tesis Doctoral, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina. 184 pp.

POWO (2022). Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/ (Consulta 01/12/2022).

Thiers, B. Index Herbariorum: a global directory of public herbaria and associated staff. New York Botanical Garden's Virtual Herbarium, http://sweetgum.nybg.org/ih

Whittaker, R. H. (1972). Evolution and measurement of species diversity. Taxon 21: 213-251. https://doi. org/10.2307/1218190.

 Note

• The DOI should be included on a separate line below the bibliographic reference whenever available. It can be obtained by registering with Crossref and uploading your reference list using the available service (register for citation matching, verify via your email address, and accept the terms. The service allows you to search up to 5,000 references per month): https://apps.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery.

 Tables

• Tables must be formatted to fit the journal’s layout dimensions: 15 cm × 21.5 cm, or the width of a single column (7.2 cm).
• Each table should be submitted as an Excel file.
• Tables must be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals.
• The caption should appear at the top of the table page.
• Footnotes should be indicated using lowercase letters.

Figures

• All illustrations (drawings, photographs, maps, graphs) are considered figures.
• Figures must be designed to fit the journal’s layout dimensions (15 cm × 21.5 cm). Whenever possible, include the caption within this area.
• Figures should be numbered consecutively in the text using Arabic numerals. They should be cited in the text using the following format: Fig. 1, Fig. 1B, Figs. 1A–F, 3A–C.
• Figures containing multiple images must include uppercase internal letters (A, B, C, etc.) as references. These should be placed, when possible, at the bottom right of each drawing or photo, following a horizontal left-to-right and vertical top-to-bottom arrangement. Letter size must be such that, when reduced to fit the journal’s layout, the font height is no less than 3 mm.
• All figures must be submitted digitally in .TIFF format with a minimum resolution of 600 dpi. Ink drawings should be scanned in black-and-white mode (not greyscale). For color figures, use RGB mode. Accessibility should also be considered when designing figures, ensuring they are understandable to readers with color blindness or visual impairments, and suitable for black-and-white print versions.
• Do NOT embed images within the text file. Name each file according to its figure number (e.g., Figure1.tiff, Figure2.tiff, etc.).
• Maps must be enclosed within a frame. Include orientation (compass rose indicating north), at least two latitude and longitude markers, and a scale in kilometers.

 Figure Captions

• Captions should be written on a separate sheet and attached to the manuscript text, in Spanish (or the original language), as shown in the example.
• The caption for a taxon illustration should include information about the specimen(s) used to create the drawing, as well as details of the plate.
• Author abbreviations for the taxa should not be included in the captions.

Fig. 1. Galianthe longisepala. A: Planta. B: Vaina estipular con lacinias. C-E: Flor longistila. C: Flor. D: Hipanto, cáliz, estilo y estigma. E: Interior de la corola desplegada. F-H: Flor brevistila. F: Alabastro. G: Flor. H: Hipanto, cáliz, estilo y estigma. I: Interior de la corola desplegada. J: Fruto. K-L: Semilla. K: Cara dorsal. L: Cara ventral. A-D, J-L, Irwin 13307 (CTES); F-I, Irwin 25504 (SI).

 Brief Communication

This presents original information that should be shared quickly with the scientific community. It is a short article that must not exceed four printed pages, including tables and figures (approximately 600 words per printed page). The manuscript may be organized as follows: Title, Authors, Affiliations, Keywords, Key Words, Abstract, Short Text, Acknowledgments, References, Figure Captions.

Visual Abstract

Once the manuscript has been accepted, the author(s) must submit a Visual Abstract for use in promoting the article on social media. This should be a specially designed image that captures the essence of the study in a visually appealing way. Images from the manuscript or original visuals by the authors may be used. The visual abstract should not include a caption and must contain as little text as possible. The format must meet the following specifications: 800 × 800 pixels, high resolution (300 dpi), JPG format, RGB color mode, Arial font size 14 (scientific names at genus rank or lower should be italicized). The visual abstract will be shared on the Bonplandia journal website and on social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X.

Manuscript Submission

Manuscripts and their accompanying files may be submitted in two ways:

• By email to the following address: Journal Director, Dr. Myriam Carolina Peichoto – mcpeichoto@gmail.com
• Online submission: https://revistas.unne.edu.ar/index.php/bon/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions
• As part of the submission process, authors must include a cover letter proposing three potential reviewers for their manuscript. These reviewers should be specialists in the subject matter and possess the necessary expertise to provide a critical evaluation. The following information must be provided for each suggested reviewer: full name, institutional or personal email address, and a brief justification for their selection. The journal will consider these suggestions but reserves the right to choose the reviewers it deems most appropriate to ensure an objective and high-quality evaluation.

 Page Proofs

• Proofs are sent by email in PDF format. Authors can mark corrections directly on the PDF and return it within 72 business hours.

 Publication Fees

• Bonplandia does not charge authors any fees for submission or processing manuscript.

 Contact Information

For any inquiries, please contact the Journal Director, Dr. Myriam Carolina Peichoto.