Submission Guidelines

Manuscript

• Use A4-sized paper with margins of at least 20 mm on all sides.

• Use Times New Roman; 12-point size.

• Maximum 6,000 words including references, and up to 6 figures/tables per submission.

• The text should be written horizontally and double-spaced.

• Page numbers should be placed at the center of the bottom margin on all pages.

• Line numbers should be placed in the left margin of the main text, excluding figures and tables.

Main Text

First Page

List the following information in order:

1. Type of paper

2. Title of the paper

3. Author names

4. Affiliations and addresses

5. Corresponding author

6. Running title

Title of the Paper: The title should accurately and concisely reflect the content.

Author Names: When listing multiple authors, use commas; "and" should be placed before the last author's name.

Affiliations and Addresses: Provide the official institutional names in English. If authors have different affiliations, use superscript numbers (e.g., "1)", "2)") to indicate them. If the current affiliation needs to be included, add another superscript number separated by a comma. Affiliations and addresses (and Orcid numbers if applicable) should be listed on the next line following the author names, prefixed by their respective superscript numbers.

Corresponding Author: The corresponding author should be indicated with an asterisk (*) following the affiliation superscript number. The superscript number and the asterisk should not be separated by a comma. Leave one blank line after the affiliation and then provide the initials of the corresponding author and their email address.

Running Title (Shortened Title): The running title should be within 40 characters and should concisely represent the content.

Second Page

Include an Abstract and Keywords in English. The abstract should be approximately 200 words. Leave one blank line after the abstract and list up to five keywords.

From the Third Page Onward

The main text should follow this structure:

1. Introduction

2. Materials and Methods

3. Results

4. Discussion

5. Summary (if necessary)

6. References

7. Figure Legends

8. Tables

9. Figures

Acknowledgments, if needed, should be placed before the references. The headings for Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and References should be left-aligned and in bold.

Figures and Tables

Figures and tables should be prepared separately from the main text, each on a separate sheet.

• Titles, explanations, and contents of figures and tables should be provided in the last of the manuscript.

• The approximate insertion location should be indicated in the right margin of the manuscript.

Tables:

• Keep the use of ruling lines to a minimum; vertical lines should generally not be used.

• Provide a concise title and explanation above the table.

Figures:

• Each figure should be drawn on a separate sheet, with the figure number indicated in the top right corner.

• Titles and explanations should be compiled separately as a bulleted list.

• The resolution for figures should be:

  • 1200 dpi for monochrome line drawings

  • 600 dpi for grayscale images

  • 300 dpi for color images

• Photographs should have clear contrast.

References

Citations in the text should follow this format:

• For a single author: (Yamai, 1962)

• For two authors: (Underwood and Cromkamp, 1999)

• For three or more authors: use the first author’s last name followed by "et al." (e.g., Kimura et al., 2000; MacIntyre et al., 1996)

• Unpublished works (e.g., theses, abstracts from conference) should not be included in the reference list but may be cited in the text as "(unpublished)."

• Newspaper articles should include the source (newspaper name, date, and page) in parentheses within the text.

• References should be listed in alphabetical order at the end of the text.

Examples of Reference Formatting:

• Journal Articles:

  • Begum, R. A., T. Yamaguchi and S. Watabe (2004). Molecular phylogeny of thoracian barnacles based on the mitochondrial 12S and 16S rRNA genes. Sessile Organisms, 21, 47-54.

• Books:

  • Fusetani, N. and A. S. Clare (2006). Antifouling Compounds. Springer, Heidelberg, 239 pp.

• Book Chapters:

  • Doi, W., S. Watanabe and J. T. Carlton (2011). Alien marine crustaceans of Japan: a preliminary assessment. In: In the Wrong Place - Alien Marine Crustaceans: Distribution, Biology and Impacts, eds. B. S. Galil, P. F. Clark and J. T. Carlton, Springer, Dordrecht, 716 pp.

• Reports, Software, Online Sources, Dissertations, and Patents should follow the respective formats indicated below;

o   Wilkinson, L. (1985). SYSTAT: The system for statistics. Systat, Inc., Evanston, IL. Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry (2013). AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org, searched on 11 September 2013.

o   Masterson, J. (2007). Web report of the Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce. https://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Megabalanus_coccopoma.htm, page last updated: December 1, 2007.

o   Anil, A. C. (1990). Studies on macrofouling ecology of cirripedes in Hamana Bay (Japan). Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 220 pp.

Others

Terminology

• The scientific name should be used, but a common name may be included.

• Scientific names should not be abbreviated on first mention.

• Compound names should follow IUPAC nomenclature, but common names may be used if widely recognized.

Gene Loci

Gene and locus nomenclature should follow Gene Nomenclature for Protein-Coding Loci in Fish (Shaklee et al., 1990, Trans. Am. Fish. Soc., 119, 2-15).

Enzymes

Use common enzyme names. If necessary, also provide the Enzyme Commission (EC) number and systematic name as per Enzyme Nomenclature 1992 (Academic Press).

Nucleotide Sequences

New nucleotide and amino acid sequence data should be registered with GenBank, EMBL, or DDBJ, and accession numbers should be cited in the manuscript if necessary.

Units

• Use the SI unit system.

• Avoid using multiplication signs for composite units.

• Use a single slash ("/") for division within a single composite unit.

Formatting of Characters

• Superscripts, subscripts, and Greek letters should be clearly indicated.

• Variables (e.g., x, y, n), parameters (e.g., α, β), and statistical values (e.g., p, r, t-test) should be italicized.

Submission of material to the editors

Papers should be submitted to Masato Hirose (iba2025japan(at)gmail.com) at the start of the conference on 18 August 2025. 

- Please submit both electronic files and hard copies.

- Electronic files should be send by Wetransfer.com or some other file transfer scheme.

- Please bring 3 hard copies at start of meeting.

- Submit MS Word file, pdf file, and Figures as separate .tiff or .eps files.

- Don't insert images into MS Word document.  

- Name the Word and pdf files in the following style:

    ‘Masato Hirose et al text' and the images according to figure number i.e. 'Masato Hirose et al Fig.1'.

Papers will be sent out digitally for review, and editorial and reviewer comments will be returned to authors as soon as possible.  Revised accepted papers should be returned to Masato by 1 November 2025.