Journal of Entomological Science Style Guide

The Journal of Entomological Science invites submission of manuscripts reporting original research with insects and related arthropods or literature reviews offering foundations to innovative directions in entomological research. Research manuscripts may be formatted as research papers or as scientific notes.

Order of Elements

Order of elements for a research paper are: title page, Abstract and key words, introduction (no heading), Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion (or combined Results and Discussion), Acknowledgments, References Cited, tables, Figure Captions, and figures. Cite tables and figures in numerical order as they appear in the text. Literature reviews and scientific notes should be formatted as described below.

Title Page

The Title Page should be left justified (no center justification) and in 12 font.

The name and email address of the Corresponding Author should be listed first.

A Running Title of <65 characters should follow. This title includes author names in all uppercase lettering and a brief descriptive title in upper and lowercase lettering. Examples are EARP AND HOLLIDAY: Mechanical Control of Dipteran Larvae; EARP ET AL.: Insecticide Resistance in Dipterans.

The Full Title follows. If the paper is submitted as a scientific note, place the word NOTE in all uppercase letters on the line above the Full Title. Use either the ESA approved common name (Common Names of Insects and Related Organisms) or the scientific name, but not both. Do not include the names of taxonomic authorities with scientific names in the Full Title. Insert taxonomic (Order: Family) immediately after the common or scientific name of the organism. The entire Full Title will be footnoted as to date of receipt of the manuscript and date of its acceptance for publication (Example: Received 01 January 2024; accepted for publication 14 February 2024).

Names of Authors should be listed below the Full Title. The name of the corresponding author should be footnoted with an appropriate email address. Authors with affiliations other than the primary affiliation for the manuscript should be footnoted accordingly.

The Primary Affiliation lists the complete name and address of the Institution or other entity and should be placed below the list of Authors.

A list of Title and Author Footnotes follows.

Abstract and Key Words

Abstract. Provide an Abstract of <250 words that succinctly states the purpose of the research and refers to results in general terms. Scientific name and taxonomic authority of organisms are provided at their first mention. Do not cite references, tables, figures, or probability levels.

Key Words. List three to five Key Words in lower case and separated by commas on a line below the Abstract.

Heading Levels

Only two heading levels are permitted. The first-level headings are centered and boldfaced on their own line. These divide the major sections of the manuscript (e.g., Materials and Methods, Results). Second-level headings are paragraph indented, boldfaced with the first letter of the first word in upper case. A period follows the heading.

Internal Style

Use the latest edition (online or hard copy) of Merriam-Webster for spelling reference. Refer to the CBE Style Manual, 5^th Edition (online https://archive.org/details/cbestylemanualgu0000cbes) for style matters not listed in this Guide. The CBE Style Manual is a useful reference especially for authors outside of the USA and Canada who wish to submit manuscripts to North American journals.

Use only Common Names of Insects and Related Arthropods as approved by the Entomological Society of America. Do not abbreviate common names of insects or arthropods (e.g., do not use FAW for fall armyworm).

Scientific names with the taxonomic authority must be provided with the first mention of the organism in the Abstract and in the text. Do not abbreviate names of authorities except for Linneaus with L. and Fabricius with F. Genus name may be abbreviated after first mention except when beginning a sentence.

In-text list designators should be enclosed in parentheses, such as (1) text, (2) text, and (3) text. A semicolon may be used as separators.

Equipment or sources of materials should follow the name of the item/product at its first mention in the text (Example: Sigma Chemical Company, St. Louis, MO). A shortened version may be used for other products from the same company or manufacturer (Example: Sigma).

Spell out months in the text, and list dates with day, month, and then year (Example: 31 October 2015).

Technical Style

Numbers. All units of measurement must be metric. Use numerals for units of time, distance, and quantity (Example: 6 wks, 1.6 ml, 156 km). Use numerals for all other descriptive uses (Example: 5 replicates, 3 bioassays, 25 insects).

Statistical analysis. All data reported (except for descriptive data) must be subjected to statistical analysis. Descriptive data should be accompanied by pertinent information such as sample size or number of replications. Experimental designs and statistical methods should be adequately described in the Materials and Methods section. In reporting results, provide an estimate of variance and the sample size with each reported mean. Results of analysis of variance or t-tests must specify the F values, degrees of freedom, and P values. These may be reported within the text within parentheses. Example: (F = 9.1; df = 6, 18; P = 0.0001). In reporting regression analyses, include the model, define the variables, and list the estimates of parameters. Provide in-text citation of statistical software used for analyses.

References In Text

Scientific papers. Use author-year format with no commas separating author and the year of publication (Example: Earp 2015). List both authors if the reference has two authors (Example: Earp and Holliday 2015). Use et al. (not italicized) with the first author’s name for those citations with three or more authors (Example: Earp et al. 2015). If multiple references are listed in the same parenthesis, list those in alphabetical order and then chronological. Commas (not semicolons) should separate the citations (Example: Earp 2013, Earp 2015, Holliday and Earp 2025). It is acceptable to cite URLs in the text without including an entry in the References Cited section. All cited URLs must have the date the URL was last accessed [Example: https:///www.Earp.publications/pdf (Last accessed 31 December 2024)].

Scientific notes. Only shortened in-text references are used in Notes with no References Cited section at the end of the manuscript text. For these citations, list author last name, date of publication, journal or book citation, and volume and page ranges (i.e., Harp et al. 2015, J. Entomol. Sci. 50:1201-1205).

Figure and Table Citations In Text

Figures and Tables may be cited either within the text or within parenthesis. Abbreviate Figure to Fig.

References Cited

In the References Cited section, those references cited in the text or tables should be listed in alphabetical order by the first author’s surname (family name or last name). All authors for each citation must be included in the reference. Usage of et al. is not allowed. Use initials for the first and/or middle names of each author. Within each citation, the first author’s surname is listed first followed by initials of the first and/or middle names. A comma separates the surname from the initials of the first and middle names. No space should separate the initials. All other authors’ names should appear in order as appears in the original publication with the initials of the first and/or middle names listed first and then followed by the surname. Commas are used to separate the authors’ names within the citation. The authors’ names and the year of the publication of the citation should be in boldface print. The title of the publication follows the year with the source of the citation. Use Biosis (https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu.bioscience-journal-abbreviations) as provided by Berkeley Library (University of California) as a resource for journal abbreviations.

Example of citation format with one author:

Doe, J.A. 2020. Low temperatures limit the spread of invasive stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) pests. J. Entomol. Sci. 120: 1161-1165.

Example of citation format with two authors:

Doe, J.A. and A. Smith. 2021. Cold tolerance of invasive stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). J. Entomol. Sci. 121: 120-130.

Example of citation format with more than two authors:

Doe, J.A., A. Smith, B.A. Jones and W.M. Hart. 2022. Comparative genetic analysis of world-wide populations of an invasive stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). J. Entomol. Sci. 122: 445-559.

Example of format for a book citation:

Hart, W.M. (ed.). 2023. Communication among invasive stink bugs (Pentatomidae). CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA.

Example of format for book chapter citation:

Jones, B.A. and W.M. Hart. 2023. Potential of use of semiochemicals in the management of an invasive stink bug (Pentatomidae), Pg. 293-331. In: Hart, W.M. (ed.), Communication among invasive stink bugs (Pentatomidae). CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA.

Example of format for URL citation:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2017. Pesticide Industry Sales and Usage 2009-2012 Market Estimates. https://nepis.epa.gov.Exe/ZyPURL.cgi?Dockey=P1017Q54.txt (Last accessed 31 December 2024).

Other examples of use of proper formatting for citations can be seen in published papers in JES.

Table and Captions

Tables

Place tables on separate pages after the References Cited section. Create tables in MS Word Table formats. Column headings should be centered, and bold upper and lower case letters. Entries within columns should be left justified and not bold. All footnotes are left justified after the table and are designated with *, **, †, ‡, etc.

Figures

Figures and Tables should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text.

Figure and Table captions should be in boldface print. Table captions should be placed at the top of each Table and left justified. All Figure captions are listed on a single page following the last Table and preceding the Figures in the manuscript. No Figure captions are to be placed directly on the individual Figures. Figure captions begin with an abbreviation for figure (Example: Fig. 1). Figure and Table captions end with a period.

Tables should begin on separate pages and placed in the manuscript followed References Cited. Create tables in MS Word Table formats. Column headings should be left justified, in boldface print using upper and lowercase letters. Entries within columns should be justified and not in boldface. All footnotes are left justified after the table and designated with *, **, †, ‡, and so forth.

Each Figure should begin on a separate page immediately following the List of Figure Captions. Information on the preparation of images, graphs, and digital photography can be found at Guide to Digital Art Specifications. If using files in submitting figures, place the figures in individual files. If footnotes are required for a Figure, use the same footnote designations as used with Tables.

Literature Reviews and Scientific Notes

Literature Reviews are popular means of assimilating published information on topics of interest. The format of these reviews may differ from those of scientific papers or scientific notes. Sections and subsections with the review will largely be left to the discretion of the authors of the review, but it must include an Abstract, Key Words, and an appropriate introduction. References should be cited in the text and in the References Cited section as described for scientific papers.

Notes are designed to share original research and observations that may not have been sufficiently replicated as those studies in scientific papers. These are short communications with none to few tables or figures. Notes do not contain an Abstract or separate text sections (e.g., introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion). References are cited with the text by placement of the authors’ last names, year of publication, and journal or book citation with parenthesis.