Quaternary Australasia welcomes a variety of submission types, including but not limited to: research articles (max 6000 words, peer reviewed), workshop and field trip reports, news and announcements, notification of recent publications, opinion pieces and letters to the Editor, book reviews, notification of upcoming meetings, interesting photos, and recently completed thesis abstracts. You can explore the QA archive for inspiration and examples of previous submission types published in Quaternary Australasia. Please follow the instructions below for preparing and submitting your manuscript.

Preparation of the text

    • The manuscript should be prepared using a word processor, with double spacing, wide margins and text in 12 point Arial font, and preferably as a Word document. If you are submitting a research article, the maximum word limit of the manuscript is 6000 words; shorter papers are welcome.
    • Please include at the start of the manuscript the title of the paper and author details: the name(s) of the author(s), and their affiliations. In the case of more than one author, please indicate to whom the correspondence should be addressed and provide an email address.
    • Present table and figure captions on a separate page at the END of the manuscript. Do NOT embed figures and tables in the document; attach figures and tables as separate files with your submission.
    • If your submission is a research article, please provide an abstract of no more than 200 words.
    • We encourage authors to use dual place names where possible (e.g., Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre), to acknowledge Country where the work was undertaken, and to acknowledge any Traditional Owner groups involved in the work.
    • There is no mandatory structure for most submission types excluding research articles, and subheadings can be included in any type. If your submission is a research article, structure the article as you would any scientific paper, including introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusion sections.

References

    • Please ensure that the references cited in the text are consistent with those in the reference list. It is preferable not to refer to references within the abstract, where applicable. Unpublished results and personal communications should be acknowledged in the text but not in the reference list. References cited as “in press” imply that the paper has been accepted for publication.
    • Citations in the text should consist of the surname of the author(s) followed by a comma then the year of the publication in parentheses. eg. (Quaternarist, 2000) (Quaternarist and Palynology, 2000) (Quaternarist et al., 2000). Do not use italics.
    • The reference list should contain all authors of a paper, the year of publication, the title of the article/chapter, the full name of the journal or book (if relevant) italicised, the editors of any books, volume and page numbers. See examples below.

Quaternarist, A.B. (2000). The top twenty field sites in Australia. Journal of Field Studies, 62(2), 191-200.

Quaternarist, A.B. & Palynologist, C.D. (2000). The top twenty field sites in Australia. In A.N. Smith (Ed.), A Guide to Happy Quaternary Studies (pp. 109-146). Fun Book Company.

Quaternarist, A.B., Palynologist, C.D. & Geomorphologist, E.F. (2000). A Guide to Happy Quaternary Studies. Fun Book Company.

Tables and figures

    • Tables and figures should be submitted as separate files and file names should reflect their intended sequence in the text.
    • Figures should be constructed taking into account the possible need for reduction. Use uniform lettering in a sans-serif font. Please submit figures as TIFF files with a minimum of 300dpi where possible.
    • Tables should be sent as separate word files.

Use of artificial intelligence (AI)

    • As part of our commitment to transparency and ethical publishing, we kindly request that all authors submitting articles to Quaternary Australasia declare whether they have used AI tools during the preparation of their work by including the following statement at the end of their contribution:
    • During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

Submission of manuscript

    • If your submission is a research article, authors are requested to provide the names and email addresses of two potential referees. This is not required for other submission types.
    • All manuscripts should be submitted to the editor as an email with attachments to editor@aqua.org.au.
    • Submission of an article is understood to imply that the article is original and unpublished and is not being considered for publication elsewhere.