Caribbean Herpetology

This is an online-only, open-access journal. The publishing model for open-access journals is that authors usually pay all costs of publication, but for the time being we will assume those publishing costs. Currently we publish only Notes that are focused on single species, although full research articles will be considered in the near future. Information published in the journal is fully linked, by species, to the Caribherp database. That way, a discovery about a species can be submitted and published within days or weeks, and immediately be found and viewed by database users who otherwise may have missed it in the journal. This real-time link between the database and journal also functions to keep the database current.

Submission of articles

Full length articles will be considered in the near future. Instructions will be posted at that time.

Submission of notes

For a submission to be considered as a Note in Caribbean Herpetology, it should be noteworthy and represent an increase in knowledge. It is up to the author, not the editors, to do the background research required to determine the identity of a species (specimen or image) and whether the record is significant. Evidence of the record (e.g., species identification) must be provided, preferably as a museum specimen accession number or a museum image accession number. Alternatively, or as an addition, a high quality image or video (but not both) is acceptable, but the species must be clearly identifiable. Images must be cropped so that the animal fills the view. A sound file may be submitted, additionally, if the record involves vocalization. Also, unless you are a professional herpetologist or graduate student, you must have your record (i.e., specimen or image) verified by an authority before submitting it, and the name of that person must be mentioned in the submission. The first sentence of the Note should state why the record is noteworthy. Literature references and acknowledgements are permitted, but not necessary (refer to previous Sightings for format). A character limit on the main text (which includes literature and acknowledgements) is imposed (currently 1500 characters), and therefore writing must be succinct. All submissions are reviewed, and (if accepted) the text may be edited prior to publication.

Submit your note by locating the species in Caribherp and clicking on Caribbean Herpetology Articles to access the web form. Alternatively, simply use the format of a recent published note. All submissions will be reviewed, and accepted articles will be published rapidly. The new record can relate to behavior (e.g., feeding), conservation (e.g., a threat), distribution (e.g., a range extension or new locality), morphology (e.g., a color or pattern variant, large or small size, unusual appearance), or reproduction (e.g., observed mating, eggs being laid, eggs hatching). Clicking on the Caribbean Herpetology Articles button in a species account will also bring up all previous publications in this journal, for that species, if any. The most recent articles and notes are listed on the narrow right panel of Caribherp, and all articles and notes are displayed on the main journal page. The GPS coordinates, in decimal degrees, are presented for each article if they were part of the submission. Clicking on the displayed coordinates of an article will automatically pull up a Google Map showing the location. Location data entered in another widely used format (degrees + decimal minutes) in the web form will be converted automatically into decimal degrees. A single image (JPEG, 1800 x 1800 pixels) or short video clip may be submitted separately, to accompany an article. Send image files less than 10 Mb by attached email to info @ caribherp.com. For larger files, including videos, use a file transfer service such as Yousendit. However, by submitting images you acknowledge that the editor accepts no responsibility if someone steals that image or video from the site, despite efforts to prevent that from occurring. Notes will typically have single authors, but multiple authors are permitted; however, more than three authors for a Notes is discouraged. Some policy and formatting changes may occur in coming months which may affect posted Articles and Notes.