SUBMISSION. All submissions should be made online at Alcheringa's Manuscript Central site. New users should first create an account. Once a user is logged onto the site submissions should be made via the Author Centre.

The text should be preferably supplied in Word. Indicate in red text where the illustrations should be placed. The Editor will inform author(s) of the acceptance of a manuscript after the revised MS material is received in acceptable form. One set of page proofs will be sent to the corresponding author, and should be returned within 72 hours to the Editor.

FORMAT. Papers are to be written in concise, simple English and, in most cases, should be illustrated. Double spacing should be used throughout the MS for the title, abstract, text, references and explanations for illustrations. Leave 30 mm L and R margins; number all pages. Manuscripts must follow Alcheringa format throughout, and submissions must include:

a. a brief title, with only proper names capitalised; if possible begin the title with a word suitable for indexing or information retrieval;

b. author's name (or authors' names);

c. full reference to the paper;

d. a short abstract (400 words) describing the results of the work;

e. names and full addresses of all authors, including postcode, country and e-mail address, all in italics;

f. three to seven key words of the author's selection.

In the main text, capitalise the first word of the introductory paragraph (do not use the heading 'Introduction'); begin other sections with not more than three grades of headings typed as follows: Subheading, Grade two heading, Grade three heading; references are to be cited in the text as Walter (1972), (Walter 1972), or Walter (1972, p. 60); illustrations in the paper are cited as 'Figs or Fig.', and as 'figs or fig.' for cited papers; all measurements are to be in S.I. units; footnotes are not allowed; concise acknowledgments should be located at the end of the text. At the first mention after the abstract of a species or genus of taxonomic relevance in the MS, the author and date must be given, along with the full reference in the List of References.

References should conform to examples given below; give the full title of the publication with words in their original order, with author and editor names in SMALL CAPS. Do not use abbreviations; transliterate Russian titles using the system adopted by the International Geological Review; list, where necessary, the original language in brackets after translated or transliterated titles. Captions for illustrations should be provided on a separate sheet or sheets but not as separate electronic files.

ILLUSTRATIONS. All figures should be submitted in digital format, at no less than 300 dpi; they must be supplied as either EPS files (for illustrations compiled in FreeHand or Illustrator) or TIFF files (for illustrations compiled in Photoshop). Please indicate the software package and version used for all illustrations on an accompanying letter. Illustrator files must have fonts embedded but not the images or pictures as size alteration is difficult. Illustrations compiled in programs such as Word, PowerPoint and Coreldraw are not recommended.

Illustrations should be grouped economically into Figures of one (67 mm) or two (140 mm) column width, or full page size (140 x 200 mm). Attempt to restrict each figure to one theme and to group photographs of similar tone. Line drawings may be combined with photographs, as long as they are in electronic format, and authors are encouraged to use arrows or other devices to identify important features. The components of figures must be designated by 14pt Arabic upper case lettering (A-Z); the use of bar scales is encouraged; keep all lettering inside figure boundaries. Captions will normally be printed below figures and tables. Alcheringa will not print foldouts or double page spreads; no diagram is to extend over more than one page. Tables may be at one or two column width (67 mm or 140 mm), and digital versions must be supplied. Costs for the printing of colour figures will be charged to the author(s). Colour figures can be included in the online pdf copy of the paper at no charge. Authors who compile colour figures for the online version of their paper should ensure that such figures differ in no other way from the B/W figures in the printed copy.

REFERENCES
ALBERT, V., BACKLUND, A. & BREMER, K. 1994. DNA characters and cladistics: The optimization of functional history. In Models in Phylogeny Reconstruction, R.W. SCOTLAND & D. J. SIEBERT, eds, Systematics Association Special Volume 52, Clarendon Press, London, 249–272.

CAMPBELL, K.S.W. & McKELLAR, R.G., 1969. Eastern Australian Carboniferous invertebrates. In Stratigraphy and palaeontology: Essays in honour of Dorothy Hill, K.S.W. CAMPBELL, ed., Australian National University Press, Canberra, 77-119.

POPOV, Yu. N., 1957. Nekotorye permiskie peletsipody, gastropody i ammonity Verkhoyan'ya (Some Permian pelecypods, gastropods and ammonoids of Verkhoyansk). Nauchissledovatel'nyy Instituti Geologii Arktiki, Sbornik Stratigrafii, Paleontologii i Biostratigrafii 1, 45-60 (Russian).

STREHLOW, T.G.H., 1971. Songs of central Australia. Angus & Robertson, Sydney, liv + 755 pp.

WALTER, M.R., 1972. Stromatolites and the biostratigraphy of the Australian Precambrian and Cambrian. Special Papers in Palaeontology 11, i-x + 190 pp., 33 pl.

WELSH, A., 1990. Applied Mesozoic biostratigraphy in the western Papuan Basin. In Petroleum Exploration in Papua New Guinea, G.J. Carman, & Z. Carman, eds, Proceedings of the First PNG Petroleum Convention, Port Moresby, 12-14th February 1990, 369-379.