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Herpetological Review

Herpetological Review is a peer-reviewed quarterly that publishes, in English, articles and notes concerning the study of amphibians and reptiles, as well as book reviews, commentaries, regional and international herpetological society news, and letters from readers directed to the field of herpetology.

Issues from 1967–2015 and all Natural History Notes, Geographic Distribution Notes, and other select sections from 1967 – 2020 are now Open Access and available as PDF downloads. Complete issues from the last five years are available to SSAR members. There is also a link to a downloadable EndNote library of HR references.

Information for Contributors to Herpetological Review

Herpetological Review is a peer-reviewed quarterly that publishes, in English, articles and notes concerning the study of amphibians and reptiles, as well as book reviews, commentaries, regional and international herpetological society news, and letters from readers directed to the field of herpetology. Articles reporting the results of experimental research, descriptions of new taxa, or taxonomic revisions are not published in HR, but should be submitted to the Journal of Herpetology. Please consult SSAR’s Ethics Statement prior to submitting manuscripts to Herpetological Review.

Advertising

Herpetological Review accepts commercial advertising. For rates and ad submission details, please check here for display advertising information in our Ad Rate Sheet.

Range Extensions & Natural History Notes

Please send these directly to the appropriate Section Editor. All submissions must be via email, as attached text files in RTF or MS Word format. The following list of Section Editors is current as of October 2018.

Geographic Distribution

Natural History Notes

For details on preparation of notes for either of these sections, please click on the links below:

Geographic Distribution Notes Formatting Guidelines

Natural History Notes Formatting Guidelines

Herpetoculture

This section offers a publication outlet for manuscripts involving amphibians and reptiles in a captive environment—public or private. Subjects appropriate for this section include, but are not restricted to, the following:

  • Novel techniques for maintenance and reproduction of live herpetofauna
  • Genetic management of captive populations
  • Legal issues in herpetoculture and animal trade: laws, regulations, permits
  • Reviews of tools, equipment, technology, enclosures, etc.
  • Safety protocols for working with dangerous species
  • Policies and procedures related to preventing transmission of pathogens

Manuscripts that deal exclusively with veterinary medical subjects generally are not appropriate for this section, but consult Section Editors if in doubt.

Manuscripts, ideas, or questions should be directed to the Herpetological Husbandry Section Editors, Avi Shuter (ashuter@wcs.org) or Dustin Smith (dustin.smith@nczoo.org). All manuscripts will undergo external peer review. When reporting on captive held animals, please also consider the Guidelines for Use of Live Amphibians and Reptiles in Field Research

In addition to conventional manuscripts, we will also publish brief notes (Herpetoculture Notes) based on limited observations of captive animals. These can be considered analogous to Natural History Notes and should be formatted the same way (see link below). Subject matter examples include: breeding, courtship, clutch/litter size, gestation, growth, age at first reproduction, longevity, feeding preferences/techniques, thermal biology, unusual behaviors, and so forth. Contributions are welcome from all persons who work with captive amphibians and reptiles, including zoo biologists, private herpetoculturists, and institutional professionals. HerpCultureNotes_FormattingGuidelines

Amphibian and Reptile Diseases

This section offers a timely outlet for streamlined presentation of research exploring the geographic distribution, host range, and impact of emerging amphibian and reptile pathogens, especially fungal infections and ranaviruses. Amphibian chytrid fungi, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and B. salamandrivorans are both linked to amphibian mass mortality episodes, yet both have also been detected in amphibians without disease. Fungal infections in snakes and turtles are being detected more frequently in the last few years and may be primary or secondary infections leading to local losses. Ranaviruses also cause mass mortality, infecting both amphibians and reptiles, but have not yet been linked to large-scale declines. For each of these pathogens, we know relatively little about the global distribution, host range, or impacts on host populations. To improve our understanding of the scope of this issue, we encourage submission of studies that illuminate the geographic distribution, host ranges, and impact of these pathogens on amphibian and reptile populations, including research on individual species or groups of species, wild or captive animals, native or non-native species, live animals or museum specimens, environmental samples, and, provided there is sufficient sampling1, reports of non-detections.

We ask authors to: 1) restrict the Introduction of their paper to a maximum of one paragraph to highlight the context of their study; 2) briefly include both field and laboratory Methods; 3) present Results in a Table, although a map might also be useful, and limited text; and 4) have a short discussion of a maximum of three paragraphs to touch upon key findings. Please include the following information in submissions as appropriate: coordinates and description of sampling areas (or please note if locations are extremely sensitive to reveal, and provide general area instead); species name(s) and life history stages examined, as well as other species present; whether samples were collected randomly or just from dead or moribund animals; date of specimen collection; evidence of unusual mortality; numbers of positive and negative samples; disposition of voucher specimens; name of collaborative laboratory or researcher conducting histological sections or PCR analyses; and names of cooperative land owners or land management agencies. We encourage researchers to conduct post-mortem examinations when possible to identify the cause of death when reporting mortalities. We aim to expedite the review and publication process! Please e-mail submissions directly to Associate Editor, Dr. Dede Olson.

Upon publication, we encourage authors to import their data to online disease reporting portals for rapid communication with researchers and natural resource managers. The Global Bd Mapping Project is available at: Bd-maps.net. The Global Ranavirus Reporting System is available at: https://mantle.io/grrs. The Bsal online portal is under construction at AmphibiaWeb.org.

1If a sample of 30 individuals of a particular life history stage of a particular species yields no positive results, and the diagnostic test is highly sensitive, one can conclude that the prevalence of infection is less than 10% with 95% confidence. With a sample of 10 an infection in one of four individuals could go undetected. We encourage researchers to collect sufficient samples so that negative results are meaningful.

Standard Manuscripts (including Articles, Techniques, Herpetological History, Points of View, Letters to the Editor)

Please send these directly to the Editor (Drew Davis; editor.herpreview@gmail.com). Electronic submission is strongly encouraged to expedite reviews and reduce costs to the society. Manuscript files should be sent as e-mail attachments in RTF or MS Word files. If file sizes are large (i.e., greater than 10 MB), please use a standard compression utility (e.g., zip) to reduce file size before sending via email. Questions about any of this should be directed to the Editor.

Style and Formatting

  1. Double-space the entire ms., including the lit cites.
  2. Do NOT include an abstract, as HR does not publish these.
  3. Do pay careful attention to proper lit cite format, as this is typically the biggest problem area and only results in publication delays and aggravated editors.
  4. If English is not your primary language and you think your manuscript could benefit from a pre-review process, please check this link to SSAR’s Presubmission Manuscript Review service.
  5. Illustrations should be discussed in the text and numbered sequentially with Arabic numbers. References to illustrations should be placed in parentheses at the end of sentences. (Also, please read “Graphics Materials/Art Files” below for details concerning how to send figures).

Editorial Conventions

  1. For legends, use Fig. 1, Table 3 (no bolding, small caps, and Fig. rather than Figure).
  2. 0800 h and 24 h (note spacing).
  3. Temperatures as 24°C (note spacing).
  4. Sample size use upper case N (not italicized), and N = 7 (note spacing).
  5. Literature citation for HR is Herpetol. Rev.
  6. Spacing items: 78 ± 2.6; P = 0.56; 6-20%; mid-April; 0.5 m
  7. References in a citation string should be sequenced chronologically, separated by a semi-colon: (Parker 1972; Aaronson et al. 1981; Jordan and Johnson 2016)
  8. Spell out all state/province names (e.g., Arizona, not AZ).
  9. Include country in all postal addresses (e.g., Berkeley, California 94720, USA).
  10. Avoid use of personal/professional titles in Acknowledgments (e.g., We thank John W. Jones rather than Dr. John W. Jones).
  11. A period should be followed by a single space.
  12. Regarding proper use of dashes:Use a single dash (-) for hyphens.
    Use a n-dash to indicate a range (such as page numbers, or specimen series; e.g., pp. 21–25)
    Use a m-dash to show a break in a sentence, or to set off sections of a manuscript. Example: Methods.—
  13. For GPS coordinates, preferred format is decimal degrees (e.g., XX.XXXX°N, XXX.XXXX°W). Note spacing and punctuation.
  14. Examples of proper literature citation formats:

For an article in a journal or serial publication.

Smith, J. W. 1988. Distributional notes on amphibians of eastern Texas. Texas J. Sci. 42:12-14.

For a book or monograph.

Conant, R., and J. T. Collins. 1991. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Massachusetts. 450 pp.

For an article or chapter within a book.

Auffenberg, W. L., and W. W. Milstead. 1965. Reptiles in the Quaternary of North America. In H. E. Wright, Jr., and D. G. Frey (eds.), The Quaternary of the United States, pp. 557-568. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

For further guidelines, authors should consult Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (6th edition, 1994, Council of Biology Editors, Inc., 11 South LaSalle Street, Suite 1400, Chicago, Illinois 60603, USA. ISBN 978-0521471541).

Animal Care and Permits

The Society feels strongly that all animals used in research be treated humanely and ethically. The Society has published a guide (jointly issued by ASIH and HL) for appropriate treatment of amphibians and reptiles used in field research, and all contributors to HR are expected to comply with these guidelines. In addition, HR requires a statement indicating that authors have complied with all applicable institutional Animal Care guidelines,
and that all required state and federal permits have been obtained. This statement should be included with your manuscript submission cover letter and should also be referenced in the ms. “Acknowledgments.”

Graphics Materials/Art Files

Illustrative material (e.g., photographs, diagrams, graphs, etc.) should be sent with initial manuscript submissions as low-resolution digital files (as PDFs or JPEGs) or imbedded as figures within the ms. text file. If your manuscript is accepted for publication, you will be asked to send these materials electronically in a high-resolution format. Download “Guidelines for Submission of Digital Art Files” in (PDF) or (HTML) for
specific digital file requirements. HR is now published in full color, and there are no page or color charges for authors. Therefore, authors encouraged to prepare figures in color as appropriate.

Book Reviews

Review copies of books should be sent directly to the Book Review Editor (Justin Bernstein, 2709 Golden Creek Lane Apartment 1107 Arlington, TX, USA 76006, USA, e-mail: jmbernst223@gmail.com).

News Items, Meeting Listings

Please send meeting announcements, news items, and related materials to the Editor (Drew Davis; editor.herpreview@gmail.com) well in advance of the desired publication date (e.g., by 1 January for the March issue).

Reprints

High-resolution electronic (pdf) reprints of articles are provided at no charge to the primary/corresponding author as a benefit of SSAR membership. Reprint files will normally be sent prior to the issue mailing date from the printer. Authors who are not current SSAR members may purchase pdf reprints from the SSAR Publications Office for a modest cost. All other material (geographic distribution notes, natural history notes, book reviews, etc.) is OPEN ACCESS and may be downloaded from SSAR Publications shortly after publication.

Missing or Damaged Issue?

If your issue of H.R. or J. Herp is missing or if the issue arrived in damaged condition, please notify: Christy Classi (e-mail: cclassi@ssarherps.org) for a replacement.

Herp Review Staff

Editor

Drew R. Davis: editor.herpreview@gmail.com
Editor, Herpetological Review
Eastern New Mexico University
Portales, NM 88130, USA

Managing Editor

Haley Moniz: haley.a.moniz@gmail.com
Managing Editor, Herpetological Review
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA

Associate Editors

Section Editors:

Index Editor

  • Larry Kamees

Taxonomic Index Editor

  • Paul Freed

Copy Editors

  • Eli Haines-Eitzen
  • Benjamin Genter
  • Craig Hassapakis
  • Peter Miller
  • Griffin Nicholson
  • Jennifer Terry
  • Vicki Thill

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