Guide to Authors

Drosophila Information Service prints short research, technique, and teaching articles, descriptions of new mutations, stock lists, directory information, and other material of general interest to Drosophila researchers.  The current publication schedule for regular issues is annually, with the official publication date being December.  The annual issue will include material submitted during the calendar year.  To help us meet this target date, we request that submissions be sent by 15 December, but articles are accepted at any time.  A receipt deadline of 31 December is a firm deadline, due to printer submission schedules.  Electronic submissions are encouraged, and may be required for lengthy or complex articles.

Manuscripts, orders, and inquiries concerning the regular annual DIS issue should be sent to James Thompson, Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK  73019.  Telephone (405)-325-4821;  email  jthompson@ou.edu;  FAX (405)-325-7560.

Submission:  Articles should be submitted electronically, if possible.  Alternatively, we ask that a diskette be included with an article mailed to us.  MS Word or Rich Text Formats are preferred.  To help minimize editorial costs, proofs will not be sent to authors unless there is some question that needs to be clarified or they are specifically requested by the authors at the time of submission.  The editor reserves the right to make minor grammatical and stylistic changes if necessary to conform to DIS format.  If the article contains tables, line figures, or black and white half tones, we ask that a printed copy be mailed to us, even if the article is submitted electronically.  Sometimes differences in printer format or software releases causes misalignment errors, and a printed copy allows us to recognize these.

Citation of References:  Citation should be by name and date in the text of an article (Smith, 1989;  Jin and Brown, 1990;  Waters et al., 1990).  At the end of the article, references should be listed alphabetically by senior author, listing all authors with initials, date, journal, volume and page numbers.  Titles will not be included except for books, unpublished theses, and articles in press.  An example format is:

               Waters, R.L., J.T. Smith, and R.R. Brown 1990, J. Genet. 47: 123-134.

               Green, R.L., 1998, Heredity 121: 430-442.

Stock Lists, Specialized Bibliographies, and Long Technical Articles:  Long or complex material can generally not be accepted unless it is submitted electronically or on diskette, with a printed copy for editorial guidance.  There is no technical staff for this journal, so all set up is done in person by the editors. We encourage submission of lists and other documentary material to complement presentations in other journals that might have more restrictive space limits or costs.  That is, some have published the equivalent of an appendix in DIS, referencing the principal article in another journal.  Special justification will, however, be needed for material like bibliographic lists that are now often readily available by other means.  Inquiries about formats for this kind of submission are welcomed.

Figures and Tables:  Both line drawings and black and white half-tone illustrations will be accepted, but half-tones should be provided in high contrast black and white.  We are currently unable to publish figures in color, and color originals seldom make attractive black and white half-tones.  Tonal figures can also be submitted electronically, but resolution is often not as clear as when we are able to make professional half-tones from high contrast black and white photographs.  All tables are retyped by us to fit a uniform style, and it is critical that all numbers and symbols be clearly arranged and legible.