Authors’ guidelines

Cranium is a journal published by the Dutch Association for the Study of Pleistocene Mammals (WPZ). The magazine is published twice a year (around May/June and November/December) and aims to appeal and inform both the beginning and experienced (amateur) palaeontologists. The content varies from scientific research and background information, to new finds, museum and book reviews, and WPZ news items. An overview of past publications and the editorial board can be found on this website.
Membership with the WPZ or a Cranium subscription is available at € 30 per year.

Contributions or questions about Cranium can be sent to the editorial board at craniumredactie@pleistocenemammals.com.
Our deadlines are:
15 February – summer edition
15 August – winter edition

Below are the authors’ guidelines regarding the Procedure, Topics, Language & Usage, Style, Categories, Submission Requirements, and References.

Procedure

  • Notify the editorial board when you intend to write an article for Cranium, so they can take it into account during planning
  • Send your manuscript to craniumredactie@pleistocenemammals.com, according to the specifics below
  • You will receive a confirmation of receipt form the editors
  • The first reviewer/editor will keep the author(s) informed about the process, expected date of publication, and will discuss any editorial remarks before finalising the article
  • After reviewing and confirmation from the author(s), the final version will be forward to the layout, after which the author(s) will receive a proof (PDF) to confirm printing
  • After publication the (first) author is offered a category-specified number of copies, to share in the case of any co-authors. The maximum number of copies are as follows: Science articles 5 copies; Underground 3 copies; the remaining categories are distributed upon request and after consultation.

topics

Cranium accepts manuscripts about Pleistocene mammals from all continents, and will make exceptions every now and then for related topics (such as Pleistocene birds and fishes, or Pliocene fossils from the Netherlands). Priority however, is given to papers written in Dutch, by our members. When in doubt about the relevance for publication in our magazine, please contact us at craniumredactie@pleistocenemammals.com.

Cranium accepts manuscripts with topics such as:

  • New research on Pleistocene mammals
  • Overviews of (research on) Pleistocene mammal species or groups
  • Sites with Pleistocene mammal material
  • Collections of Pleistocene mammal material
  • Pleistocene ecology
  • Museology
  • Preparation/Conservation
  • Taphonomy
  • Ichnology/Trace fossils
  • Relevant meetings, symposia and conferences
  • Relevant publications and exhibitions
  • WPZ activities and news

language & usage

The articles are primarily in Dutch with English abstracts and captions. Exceptions can be made for other languages, providing Dutch abstracts and captions. The editors can certainly help out with the Dutch translations. Non-Dutch manuscripts, mainly English, German or French, will in principle only be accepted from non-Dutch speaking authors. Again, exceptions can be made, depending on the case. The non-Dutch manuscripts are to be (co-)written, or checked, by a native speaker, before submission to Cranium.

  • Avoid the use of the personal (I) view, especially in scientific papers
  • The use of foot- and endnotes is prohibited
  • Latin names for species and genus are written in italics. The complete scientific name (including author and year) are given when the species is part of the title and/or summary, and at the first mention in the text
  • Geological names (in English) are written with capitals and without hyphen
  • Titles of books, magazines, articles, exhibitions, etc. should be written in Sentence case and italics
  • Names and titles are written in their original languages, never translated
  • Loanwords from other languages (when necessary) are written in the same style as the rest of the text. When likely to be unknown by our readers, only the first occurrence in the text should be between single quotation marks and provided with a short explanation
  • Quotations are written in italics and “between quotation marks”
  • Numbers are written in full where possible (first, twentieth, etc.)
  • We retain the orthography of Maasvlakte 2 (not MV2 or Tweede/Second Maasvlakte) for this specific site, and 14C (not Carbon-14) for this dating technique
  • Abbreviations such as kg and cm are written without the dot
  • Dates are ka or ma BP, or ka or ma ago (never ka years BP or ago)

style

Papers can take the form of:

  • Descriptions
  • Independent (case)studies
  • Reports (such as survey and excavation reports)
  • Headline news
  • Symposia, workshops etc., and their proceedings
  • Short communications

categories

Cranium uses several categories to distinguish the different types of articles:

  • Oud&Nieuws (Old&News): news items and short communications, mainly about or related to the association
  • Wetenschap (Science): results of new (scientific) research
  • Ondergrond (Underground): background information about geological periods, sites, research methods or Pleistocene ecology
  • Boeken (Books): overview and reviews about new and relevant publications
  • Collectie (Collection): visiting a remarkable collection of a WPZ-member
  • Excursie (Excursion): report of a WPZ-organised field trip
  • Interview (Interview): interview with an interesting WPZ-member
  • Museum (Museum): review about a museum or relevant exhibition
  • Oproep (Call): call for attention on a specific site or (group of) fossil(s)
  • Paleokunst (Paleoart): small exhibition of paleoart made by a member
  • Reconstructie (Reconstruction): report of the reconstruction of an extinct animal or environment
  • Topvondst (Top find): description of a special fossil find or a remarkable story

submission requirements

  • We prefer to receive your manuscript as plain text document (Word.doc(x)), preferably without blank lines, indentation and bold or underlined parts
  • Every manuscript in every category has to carry the name of the author, but other than that the specifics slightly differ per category.
    • Science: at least one (e-mail)address of one author, abstracts and captions in English and Dutch, and figures are numbered with references in the text and copyright
    • Underground / Top find / Collection / Reconstruction / Excursion / Call: English  and Dutch abstracts and captions (allowed without numbers/text reference, but should hold copyright), and a teaser (catchy, abstractive opener)
    • Museum: details of the museum (name, opening hours, entrance fees, address and website), captions in English and Dutch (allowed without numbers/text reference, but should hold copyright)
    • Paleoart: a short biography of the artist
    • Interview: name of interviewee in the title, teaser (catchy, abstractive opener), captions in English and Dutch (allowed without numbers/text reference, but should hold copyright)
    • Books: title, author(s)/editor(s), publisher, year of publication, hardcover or paperback, number of pages, ISBN
  • There are no restrictions as regards length of the manuscript or number of figures and/or tables. However, we do ask our authors to contact the editorial board when a manuscript reaches 4000 words or more and/or contains more than 20 figures and/or tables
  • Figures and tables are to be submitted as separate files
  • Imagery preferably has a minimum resolution of 300 dpi, and drawings minimum 600 dpi, and are preferably submitted as JPG or TIFF
  • The figures are provided with captions and sources (the author is responsible for  gaining permission of publication)
  • To submit large files, we suggest to use WeTransfer, Dropbox or Google Drive
  • Optional framed contexts in the manuscript have to be indicated with *box start* at the beginning, and *box end* at the end of the text
  • All manuscripts will be reviewed by two of our editors

Literature

Citations in the text

Citations are preferably placed at the end of a sentence and between brackets, for example: (De Vos 2012), (De Vos & Mol 2012) and (De Vos et al. 2012) for multiple authors.
Distinctions between citations of the same author and year of publication are made with a simple letter added to the year (De Vos 2012a, De Vos 2012b).
Multiple citations are written in chronological order before alphabetical order, and separated by a comma.
Multiple authors with the same last name are distinguished by their initials (De Vos, J. 2012, De Vos, A. 2013).
Web citations (to online articles) get the same treatment as regular citations, with the name of an author (or ‘anoniem’) and year.
Citations for quotes need the addition of a page number (De Vos 2012: p123).

Below the text

Literature is without numbers, and by author in alphabetical order before chronological order.
Titles of magazines have to be written in full, no abbreviations, and in Sentence case.

Papers
Last name, Initial(s), Initial(s) Last name & Initial(s) Last name (year) Title. Title magazine number, pages.

Examples:
Bate, D.M.A. (1907) On elephant remains from Crete, with description of Elephas creticus sp. n. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 77-2, 238-250.
Van den Berg, R., P. de Bruijn, I. de Bruijn & B. Langeveld (2022) Voorlopige resultaten van een inventarisatie van Nederlandse strandvondsten van Trogontherium cuvieri Fischer, 1809 (Castoridae). Cranium 39-1, 59-65.

Books
Last name, Initial(s) & Initial(s) Last name (year) Title. Place: Publisher.

Examples:
Weesie, P.D.M. (1987) The Quaternary avifauna of Crete, Greece. Dissertation, University of Utrecht: Utrecht.
Van der Geer, A.A.E., G. Lyras & J. de Vos (2021) Evolution of island mammals: Adaptation and extinction of placental mammals on islands. New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.

Compilations
Last name, Initial(s), Initial(s) Last name & Initial(s) Last name (year) Title. In Title compilation. Last name, Initial(s), Initial(s) Last name & Initial(s) Last name (ed./eds.) Place: Publisher, pages.

Examples:
De Vos, J. (1996) Taxonomy, ancestry and speciation of the endemic Pleistocene deer of Crete compared with the taxonomy, ancestry and speciation of Darwin’s finches. In Pleistocene and Holocene fauna of Crete and its first settlers. Monographs in World Archaeology 28. Reese, D.S. (ed.) Prehistory Press: Wisconsin, 111-124.
Mol, D., K. Post, J.W.F. Reumer, J. de Vos & C. Laban (2003) Het Gat: Preliminary note on a Bavelian fauna from the North Sea with possible two mammoth species. In Advances in mammoth research; Proceedings of the second international mammoth conference, Rotterdam, 16-20 May 1999. Deinsea 9. Reumer, J.W.F., J. de Vos & D. Mol (eds.) Rotterdam: Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam, 253-266.

Website
Avoid website references as much as possible.
Last name, Initial(s), Initial(s) Last name en/and* Initial(s) Last name (year) Title article. website address (visited on [dd-mm-yyyy]).
*No author? = Anoniem, meaning anonymous in Dutch
*No date? = (z.j.), meaning without year in Dutch
*No title? = Description of the source between square brackets []

Examples:
Van der Lee, E. (2022) Nu te koop: Cranium 39-2. https://www.pleistocenemammals.com/nu-te-koop-cranium-39-2/ (visited on 31-12-2022).
Anoniem (z.j.) [Hoe zoeken op Google werkt]. https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/ (visited on 31-12-2022).

When in doubt, please contact the editorial board or add a note with the submission.