General

1. Palaeoworld publishes manuscripts in the following categories: original research paper, short communication, review article, letter to the editors, book review.
2. Manuscripts should be written clearly and concisely, and in general should not exceed 30 printed pages in the Palaeoworld format; in the case of longer manuscripts, please contact the Editor-in-Chief prior to submission. All manuscripts (except book reviews) are subject to peer-review. Contributions should be original and largely contain previously unreported material and a significant amount of new information; the overlap between related papers should be minimal. Review articles should contain a substantial amount of new information and/or new interpretations, and not merely be summaries of earlier work.
3. Manuscripts must be written in good English, consistently in either British or American English. Authors whose native language is not English should have their manuscripts checked by a competent linguist or native English speaker before submission.
English language help service: Upon request, Elsevier will direct authors to an agent who can check and improve the English of their paper (before submission). Please contact authorsupport@elsevier.com for further information.
4. Manuscripts that are not set out according to the house style of Palaeoworld, are poorly written and/or otherwise poorly prepared will be returned to authors for revision before they are dispatched for review.

Submission
1. Palaeoworld uses an online, electronic submission system. By accessing the website http://ees.elsevier.com/palwor you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. When submitting a manuscript to Elsevier Editorial System, authors need to provide an electronic version of their manuscript. For this purpose original source files, not PDF files, are preferred. The author may specify a category designation for the manuscript (research paper, short communication, review article, letter to the editors, book review). Once the uploading is complete, the system automatically generates an electronic (PDF) proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence, including the Editor's decision, request for revisions and author queries will be by e-mail via the online submission system.
2. For a limited period of time, Palaeoworld is going to accept non-electronic submissions as well. Contributors preferring non-electronic submission may send their manuscript to:
Prof. Jin Yugan, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, PR China; e-mail: ygjin@nigpas.ac.cn.
Please submit three hard copies of the manuscript in its final form, including high quality copies/prints of all illustrations and tables (at final reproduction size) for review purposes. Manuscripts should be submitted on good quality paper, preferably of International A4 size. All pages must be numbered consecutively. Double spacing, left-justification and wide margins on both sides (= 30 mm) are required throughout. The right-hand side should not be justified. Do not hyphenate words. All figures should be clearly marked on the front top margin with the author's name and the figure number. Include a CD/DVD-ROM with the manuscript text and, if applicable, files of electronic figures; file names should contain the name of the (first) author and the figure number. Do not submit "originals" of non-digital figures at this stage. The electronic versions must match the supplied hard copies exactly. The preferred word-processing package is Microsoft Word for Windows (DOC files). Authors using other word-processing software should submit their text in RTF format. Originals of non-electronic figures (to be submitted after the review process) must be of high quality; photocopies are unacceptable; scanned prints cannot be used as hard-copy originals.
3. Please find a submission checklist at the end of the Guide for Authors.
4. Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that all authors have seen the manuscript and approve its publication, it is approved tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the publisher.
5. Every submission has to include a cover letter containing written assurance that the manuscript (and its content) has not been and will not be published or simultaneously submitted elsewhere. Suggest at least five potential reviewers whose expertise qualifies them to review the manuscript and who have no close working relationships with the authors; provide their names, postal and e-mail addresses. While all suggestions will be considered, the final choices will be made by the editors. If relevant, authors may give reasons why the manuscript should not be assigned to specific individuals for review. Furthermore, the cover letter should indicate the scientific significance and the broad appeal to the readership of the submitted manuscript. In the case of multi-author papers please indicate the corresponding author. It is essential to give a fax number and e-mail address when submitting a manuscript.
6. When a manuscript has two or more authors, it is assumed that all listed authors participated meaningfully in the study, have read the final manuscript and agree to its submission. To ensure this, all authors have to send an author agreement.
7. Supplementary data such as lengthy tables, video clips, maps, images etc. may be archived with the accepted paper on ScienceDirect: all such material must be submitted with the original manuscript for review.
8. Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to transfer copyright (for more information on copyright see ( http://authors.elsevier.com). This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript. A form facilitating transfer of copyright will be provided.
9. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: contact ES Global Rights Department, P.O. Box 800, Oxford, OX5 1DX, UK; phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.com.


Electronic format requirements for accepted articles
1. We accept most word-processing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference and safety. Save your files using the default extension of the program used. No changes to the accepted version are permissible without the explicit approval of the Editor.
2. It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. Do not embed "graphically designed" equations or tables, but prepare these using the word processor's facility. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Author Gateway's Quickguide: http://authors.elsevier.com). Do not import the figures into the text file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text. See also the section on Preparation of electronic illustrations. To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the "spellchecker" function of your word processor.


Preparation of text
1. Please write your text in good English. American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these.
2. Authors should consult recently published issues of Palaeoworld and construct their papers in accordance with both the general format and the "house style".
3. Italics are not to be used for expressions of Latin origin, for example in vivo, et al., per se. Use decimal points (not commas); use a space for thousands (10 000 and above).
4. Provide the following data on the title page (in the order given):
Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g. a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name, and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who is willing to handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.
Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a "Present address" (or "Permanent address") may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
Abstract. A concise and factual abstract is required. It should summarise the main results and conclusions drawn rather than the contents of the paper. It must mention all new systematic names. In general, it is not to exceed 250 words. An abstract is often presented separate from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. References should therefore be avoided, but if essential, they must be cited in full, without reference to the reference list. Non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
Keywords. Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, "and", "of"). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.
(Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise.)
5. Structure the main part of the article as follows:
Subdivision of the article. Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections (1., 2. etc.). Subsections should be numbered 1.1. (then 1.1.1., 1.1.2. etc.), 1.2., etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to "the text". Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.
a. Introduction. State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
b. Geological setting.
c. Materials and methods. Provide sufficient detail on methods to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.
d. Results. This should highlight the key results (and not repeat material already in figures or tables) and summarise the direct implications of these results.
e. Discussion.
f. Conclusions. The short Conclusions section should summarise the conclusions of the study that have been firmly established. It should not duplicate either the Abstract or the Discussion.
g. Acknowledgements. Place acknowledgements, including information on grants received, before the references, in a separate section. Acknowledgements should be as brief and direct as possible. Do not use Dr., Prof., Mrs., Mr. etc.; provide the first names of all acknowledged persons, and city and country names in parentheses.
h. Appendices. If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B etc.
i. References. See separate section below.
j. Figure legends, tables, figures. Present these, in this order, at the end of the article. They are described in more detail below. High-resolution graphics files must always be provided separate from the main text file (see Preparation of illustrations).
6. Mathematical formulae should be presented as simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line, e.g. X/Y. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separate from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).
7. Footnotes should be avoided. Number them consecutively throughout the article, using superscript Arabic numbers. Many word processors build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves on a separate sheet at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the reference list.
8. Tables are to be numbered consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.
9. Nomenclature and units. Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI. Use IUGS terminology.
10. Preparation of supplementary data. Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data is provided in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit our Author Gateway at http://authors.elsevier.com

Systematic palaeontology
1. Systematic work is always introduced by the first-order heading above. Care is necessary to ensure that diagnoses, descriptions and remarks are kept distinct.
2. The mandatory provisions of, and recommendations in, the current editions of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICZB) and International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) must be followed unless there is good reason to do otherwise, in which case this should be justified.
3. In accordance with the recommendations of the ICBN and ICZN, all fossils that are described and illustrated must be registered and deposited in an appropriate permanent and publicly accessible institution, with staff and facilities capable of ensuring their conservation and availability for future reference in perpetuity. The registered numbers must be given in the paper, commonly within the systematic palaeontology section and figure captions. Repository (e.g. museum) letter codes prefix a specimen number.
4. Authorship names and dates of all taxa, regardless of rank, mentioned in taxonomic context (i.e. at least those mentioned in the systematic palaeontology section) must be given after the first usage of the taxon, and the respective citations must be included in the references section. All author names (of extant as well as fossil taxa) should be spelt out in full, and the authorship of taxa should be given in full as well (no "et al."). Format: Hongshanosaurus houi You, Xu and Wang, 2003.
5. Generic names must be given in full at the first mention of a species. They may be abbreviated subsequently to the initial capital letter followed by a full stop unless confusion with another genus is likely. Spell out generic names at the beginning of sentences and when used with "sp.". Do not abbreviate specific and subspecific names.
6. Authors are encouraged to annotate synonymies using the symbols listed in Matthews (1973) (Matthews, S.C., 1973. Notes on open nomenclature and on synonymy lists. Palaeontology 16: 713-719). Additional information at the end of synonym entries is enclosed in brackets. It is necessary to note only the first page of a reference in the synonymy list, but all plates and figures should be included. The original designation of the taxon has to be included. Format: 1987 Agenus aspecies Meyer, 1857 - Miller p. 17, text-fig. 2, pl. 1, fig. 6. // pars 1995 Agenus aspecies Meyer, 1857 - Wang, p. 134, text-fig. 4, pl. 2, figs. 3-4; non text-fig. 5, pl. 3, figs. 1-3 (= Bgenus bspecies Smith, 1983).
7. Open nomenclature: The guidelines provided by Matthews (1973) and Bengtson (1988) (Bengtson, P., 1988. Open nomenclature. Palaeontology 31: 223-227.) should be followed. Format: Luciniola cf. pumila (Goldfuss, 1840), not Luciniola cf. L. pumila (Goldfuss, 1840); Luciniola? sp., not ?Luciniola sp. or Luciniola ? sp.
8. Headings in the systematic palaeontology section are usually in the format "Description: " and arranged as follows:
For a new genus:
Genus name followed by "n. gen.".
Figures (provide only when formal descriptions of species are not included).
Synonymy list (including plate and figure citations), optional.
Etymology, required.
Type species, required, with type of designation (original designation or subsequent designation by Author (year, p. xx)).
Other species (if incomplete) or Included species (if complete), recommended, if applicable (otherwise indicate "by monotypy" under "Type species").
Diagnosis, required, in telegraphic style and in a standard sequence; authors should ensure that diagnoses distinguish the taxon in question from all morphologically similar taxa.
Description, recommended, in telegraphic style and in a standard sequence (not necessarily the same as the diagnosis).
Remarks, recommended.
Occurrence, recommended.
For a new species:
Species name followed by "n. sp.".
Figures, required.
Synonymy list (including page and plate citations), required, if applicable.
Etymology, required.
Types, required; type designations, repository acronyms and catalogue numbers must be provided, followed by information on the stratigraphical formation and geological age of the type stratum and the geographical location of the type locality (if applicable, present data for holotype and paratypes separately); measurements of types should follow in a separate heading called "Measurements" after the description.
Other material examined, required, if applicable; repository acronyms and catalogue numbers must be provided for all type, figured and described specimens.
Diagnosis, required; in telegraphic style and in a standard sequence; authors should ensure that diagnoses distinguish the taxon in question from all morphologically similar taxa.
Description, required; in telegraphic style and in a standard sequence (not necessarily the same as the diagnosis); in the case of vertebrate or plants, this section may be split into separate headings for different anatomical parts if desired.
Measurements, at least measurements of the type specimens should be provided.
Remarks, recommended.
Occurrence, required.
In the case of already known taxa, an abbreviated treatment is acceptable.

References
1. All references cited in the text and in the figures and tables, including those pertaining to the authorship of all taxa (except for taxa mentioned in a non-taxonomic context), are to be listed at the end of the paper. Papers and books to which no reference is made should not be included. The manuscript should be carefully checked to ensure that the spellings of authors' names and publication years are exactly the same in the text as in the reference list. Do not type author's and editor's names in capitals.
2. In the text refer to the author's name (without initials) and year of publication, followed - if necessary - by a short reference to appropriate pages. Examples: "Because Peterson (1994) has shown that...". "This is in agreement with results obtained later (Kramer and Jones, 1996, pp. 12-16; Martin et al. 1998, p. 13, text-fig. 3, pl. 4, figs. 3-7)".
3. If reference is made in the text to publications written by more than two authors the name of the first author should be used, followed by "et al.". This indication, however, should never be used in the list of references. In this list names of authors and all co-authors must be given in full.
4. References in the text should be arranged chronologically. The list of references should be arranged alphabetically by authors' names, and chronologically per author. If an author's name in the list is also mentioned with co-authors, the following order should be used: Publications of the single author, arranged according to publication year - publications of the same author with one co-author, arranged according to publication year - publications of the author with more than one co-author, arranged according to publication year.
5. In the case of publications in any language other than English, the original title is to be retained. Titles of publications in non-Latin alphabets should be transliterated, followed by translations within square brackets, and a note such as "(in Russian)" or "(in Chinese, with English abstr.)" should be added at the end of the reference.
6. The following system should be used for arranging references:
a. Journal papers: Names and initials of all authors, year. Title of paper. Journal name (given in full or abbreviated using the International List of Periodical Title Word Abbreviations), volume number (issue number): first and last page numbers of the paper.
Example:
Allasinaz, A., 1972. Revisione dei Pettinidi triassici. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 78 (2): 189-429.
Wu X.W., Deng S.H., Zhang Y.L., 2002. Chaoshui Pendi Zhuluoji zhiwu huashi [Fossil plants from the Jurassic of Chaoshui Basin, Northwest China]. Palaeoworld 14: 136-201 (in Chinese, with English abstr.).
b. Monographs: Names and initials of all authors, year. Title of the monograph. Publisher, location of publisher.
Example:
Yang Z.Y., Zhang S.X., Yang J.D., Zhou H.Q., Cao H.S. (Eds.), 2000. Zhongguo Dicengdian. Sandiexi [Stratigraphy of China. Triassic]. Geological Publishing House, Beijing (in Chinese).
c. Edited volume papers: Names and initials of all authors, year. Title of paper. Names and initials of the volume editors, title of the edited volume. Publisher, location of publisher, first and last page numbers of the paper.
Example:
Simms, M.J., 1999. Systematics, phylogeny and evolutionary history. In: Hess, H., Ausich, W.I., Brett, C.E., Simms, M.J. (Eds.), Fossil Crinoids. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 31-40.
d. Conference proceedings papers: Names and initials of all authors, year. Title of paper. Name of the conference. Publisher, location of publisher, first and last page numbers of the paper.
Example:
Smith, M.W., 1988. The significance of climatic change for the permafrost environment. Final Proc. Int. Conf. Permafrost. Tapir, Trondheim, Norway, pp. 18-23.
e. Unpublished theses, reports, etc.: Names and initials of all authors, year. Title of item. All other relevant information needed to identify the item (e.g. technical report, Ph.D. thesis, institute, etc.).
Example:
ROUX, M., 1978. Ontogénèse et évolution des crinoïdes pédonculés depuis le Trias. Implications océanographiques. Ph.D. thesis, Université Paris XI, no. 2082, France.


Preparation of illustrations
1. Submitting your final artwork in an electronic format helps us to produce your work to the best possible standards, ensuring accuracy, clarity and a high level of detail. A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website: http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork. You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
2. Formats. Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please "save as" or convert the images to one of the following formats (Note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones and line/halftone combinations given below.):
EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as "graphics".
TIFF: Colour or greyscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (colour or greyscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office applications please supply "as is".
3. Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
4. Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
5. Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Times, Symbol.
6. Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
7. Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files, and supply a separate listing of the files and the software used.
8. All illustrations, charts, diagrams, photographs and photographic composites are referred to as figures and should be submitted at final publication size (strongly recommended) or at least near to the desired size of the printed version.
9. Figures should be prepared so that they will fit within, and make full use of, the page or a column of text; full page: 165 x 218 mm, column width: 78 mm.
10. Large figures and tables should be prepared to fit consecutive pages.
11. Individual parts of figures are lettered (A, B etc.), rather than numbered.
12. Magnifications of individual figures should be standardised as far as possible, preferably as whole numbers and multiples of each other for ease of comparison, e.g. x 5, x 10, x 20 etc. (not x 4.8, x 5.3 etc.), and indicated by scale bars on the figures.
13. Provide figure captions separately. Captions should be brief, in a standard format, and include explanations to all letter and other symbols used, specimen number and repository identification, locality, stratigraphical and time identification, and magnifications.
14. Please indicate clearly in the text where each figure/table should be positioned.
15. Please do not:
Supply embedded graphics in your word processor (spreadsheet, presentation) document when submitting the final accepted article;
Supply files that are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
Supply files that are too low in resolution;
Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
16. Colour illustrations in print will be charged to the author. Colour illustrations on the web (ScienceDirect) are free of charge. If you want a colour illustration on the web and the same illustration in black and white in the print version of the journal, please note that you will then have to submit two different illustration files, one colour and one black and white version. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the web (e.g. ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version.

Proofs
1. When your manuscript is received by the Publisher it is considered to be in its final form. Proofs are not to be regarded as "drafts".
2. One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author, to be checked for typesetting/editing. No changes in, or additions to, the accepted (and subsequently edited) manuscript will be allowed at this stage. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.
3. A form with queries from the copyeditor may accompany your proofs. Please answer all queries and make any corrections or additions required.
4. The Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated. Return corrections within 2 days of receipt of the proofs. Should there be no corrections, please confirm this.
5. Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as possible. In order to do this we need your help. When you receive the (PDF) proof of your article for correction, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Subsequent corrections will not be possible, so please ensure your first sending is complete. Note that this does not mean you have any less time to make yourt of corrections will be accepted.

Offprints 25 free paper offprints are provided.

Submission checklist
It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal office for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are present:
1. One author designated as corresponding author:
E-mail address
Full postal address
Telephone and fax numbers
2. Keywords
3. All figures and figure captions
4. All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations:
1. Article has been read and approved by all co-authors
2. Manuscript has been "spellchecked"
3. References are in the correct format for this journal
4. All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
5. Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)
For any further information please contact the Author Support Department at authorsupport@elsevier.com