author guidelines

Thank you for considering Mycological Spectrum, the official journal of the Association of Fungal Biologists, for the publication of your research. We appreciate your interest and invite you to carefully review the following guidelines to ensure your submission meets our formatting and content requirements.

Mycological Spectrum accepts several categories of submissions. Research Articles should present original findings, methodologies, and analyses related to any area of mycology. Review Articles provide critical evaluations of existing data, emerging trends, or thematic overviews in fungal biology. Case Studies offer in-depth analyses of specific occurrences concerning fungal diversity, ecology, or pathology. Short Communications are concise reports emphasizing key research outcomes or significant developments. Opinion or Perspective Articles present informed views on current debates, emerging topics, or novel concepts within the field. Book Reviews feature thoughtful assessments of recently published books relevant to mycological research.

There is no strict page limit for submissions, but manuscripts should remain clear, concise, and well-organized. The introduction must clearly define the research objectives and should not repeat results. Authors should structure their manuscripts into clearly labeled sections to improve readability. All submissions must be double-spaced, with continuous line numbering throughout. Pages should be numbered at the bottom right corner.

Manuscripts must be prepared using A4-sized paper (21 cm × 29.7 cm or 8.27 inches × 11.69 inches) with margins of at least 1 inch (2.54 cm) on all sides. The preferred font is Times New Roman in 12-point size. Italics should be used in place of underlining, and double quotation marks should be used for direct quotations, with single quotation marks used for quotes within quotes.

The title page should feature a clear and informative title that reflects the manuscript’s content. Full author names, institutional affiliations, and postal addresses should be included. The submitting author must be identified as the corresponding author.

The abstract should be a concise summary of up to 300 words, outlining the research objectives, primary results, and key conclusions. It should not contain references or non-standard abbreviations and must be fully self-contained.

Authors should provide five relevant keywords that do not appear in the title, aiding in indexing and discoverability.

Figures should be centered on the page with captions placed below. All figures must have a resolution of at least 300 dpi. Captions should include a title and a brief description. Avoid placing excessive text within figures. Tables should be submitted in an editable format rather than as images, and they should be numbered in the order of appearance within the text. Any notes related to tables should be placed directly below the table. Do not duplicate data in both tables and figures.

Supplementary files, including datasets, images, or audio, should be submitted as separate files in their original format. Files should be free of track changes or annotations.

The acknowledgments section should recognize individuals, institutions, or funding bodies that supported the research. Funding sources must be clearly stated, along with associated grant numbers. If no funding was received, this should be explicitly mentioned.

Authors must declare any financial or personal relationships that could be perceived as influencing their work in the Declaration of Competing Interests section.

All references must adhere to APA Style (7th Edition). In-text citations should follow these formats: for a single author, use (Sharma, 2022) or Sharma (2022) states; for two authors, use (Kumar & Patel, 2023) or Kumar and Patel (2023) found; for three or more authors, use (Verma et al., 2021) or Verma et al. (2021) suggested. Direct quotes must include a page number, for example: “Fungal diversity is crucial” (Mycological Spectrum, 2023, p. 45).

Here are sample references. For a journal article with a DOI: Sharma, R. K., & Iyer, A. (2022). Diversity of fungi in tropical forests. MycoIndia, 10(2), 123–145. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx. For a journal article without a DOI: Kumar, P., & Patel, S. (2023). Insights into fungal ecology. MycoIndia, 11(1), 45–67. Retrieved from https://www.mycoindiajournal.com/article123. For books: Verma, D. (2021). Fungal biodiversity and its applications. MycoIndia Publishing. For websites: MycoIndia. (2023). Guidelines for authors. MycoIndia Journal. Retrieved June 23, 2023, from https://www.mycoindiajournal.com/guidelines. For datasets: Singh, A., & Rao, T. (2022). Fungal dataset of Asian biomes. MycoDB. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx. For preprints: Menon, V., & Das, B. (2023). Novel approaches to fungal genomics. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx.

When citing multiple sources, use (Kumar & Patel, 2023; Sharma, 2022; Verma et al., 2021). If the same author has multiple publications in the same year, distinguish them with letters: (Sharma, 2022a, 2022b). For citing a book chapter, follow this format: Smith, J. A. (2020). Marine fungal biodiversity and its ecological roles. In D. Verma (Ed.), Advances in Mycology Research (pp. 45–67). MycoIndia Publishing.

For full APA citation style guidance, refer to the official APA guidelines available online.

Before submitting your manuscript, ensure that all required files have been uploaded, all essential manuscript components (title page, abstract, keywords, references, etc.) are included, and all citations and references are accurate and consistent. The manuscript should be thoroughly proofread for language and formatting, and all permissions for copyrighted material should be secured. Potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed, suggested reviewers may be included, and the similarity index must not exceed 10%.

For assistance or questions, please contact the editorial office at mycologicalspectrum@gmail.com.

Updated as of 16 May 2025