Memoirs of the Queensland Museum | Nature

For Authors

Submit Manuscript

Article types

Memoirs | Nature aims to publish scholarly, peer-reviewed articles in the natural sciences, with a focus on original research pertaining to biodiversity, taxonomy, systematics, natural history or biological collections. Article types are not prescribed, and submissions can include review articles, original research articles, shorter communications +/- authoritative lists, among others. If authors are unsure of the suitability of their manuscript for submission to the journal, they are encouraged to contact the Submissions Editor or relevant member of the Editorial Board.

Submission requirements

Manuscript Format

  • No maximum word count
  • Font size and style is not prescriptive – choose an easy-to-read sans serif font, minimum size 10pt
  • For ease of reading, please include all figures and tables in the article manuscript (at a lower but interpretable resolution), together with their captions. These can either be spread throughout the manuscript or grouped together at the end, as per the author’s preference. All figures and tables should also be supplied as individual files, preferably as JPEGs at the highest resolution available (figures and illustrations), or in an editable format (tables). This will assist with typesetting your paper.
  • Peer review is not anonymised for authors by default. However, if you wish to remain anonymous from reviewers, please ensure your manuscript does not include identifying details (author names or institutions). This information can be supplied as part of the submission metadata.

Additional required files
Authors are not required to submit a cover letter or author bio with their paper. They should, however, disclose any potential or actual conflicts of interest.

The submission to publication process

Submission: As of 2025, all submissions to Memoirs | Nature will be via the online Scholastica portal. Please complete the required metadata fields and upload your manuscript as a single Word document (including any figures). Authors will receive email confirmation of their submission.
Peer review: Articles will proceed to peer review following a brief quality check by the Editor-in-Chief and/or relevant member of the Editorial Board. An Editorial Board member and Submissions Editor jointly assess feedback from reviewers and notify the author regarding whether the article is accepted as is, accepted with minor or major revisions, or rejected. Authors will be provided with a list of any changes that may be required and invited to submit a revised manuscript. Once the resubmitted manuscript has been checked against reviewer feedback, authors will receive email notification that the article is accepted.

Please allow approximately 4–6 weeks for articles to progress through peer review.

Editing: After a manuscript has gone through peer review and been accepted for publication, the Submissions Editor copyedits the article, marks up any suggested changes and forwards these to the author. Authors review edits and either accept or reject edits or make any final changes.
Typesetting: The final copyedited text and any figures will then be typeset and a proof supplied to the Editor-in-Chief and author. One round of changes will be accepted at proof stage, and a final version sent to the author for sign off (at which point no other changes will be made other than introduced errors).

The timeframe for editing and typesetting will depend on the current volume of submissions to the journal, as well as the volume of other editorial work for Queensland Museum. Authors will be given an indication of the approximate publication schedule at the time their article is accepted.

Publication: Once articles have been edited and typeset, they will be published open access on the Queensland Museum website. Each article will be assigned a DOI. Authors will be notified when their article has been published.

Authors retain copyright over their individual work. Queensland Museum retains copyright over any published volumes of Memoirs | Nature as a whole. Articles are licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 unless otherwise agreed with the Editor-in-Chief.

Image licensing

Permission to reproduce any third-party image material (including photographs, illustrations and maps) should be cleared with the copyright holder prior to submitting your manuscript to the journal. Please attach written evidence of permission (e.g. a non-exclusive licence and/or email correspondence) with your submission. If you are including material that is covered by a Creative Commons licence, please ensure you include the licence type and source of the material in the figure caption.

Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP)

Authors conducting research on any aspect of First Nations cultural heritage should do so with the full, free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous community (or communities) that the scholarship relates to. For taxonomic research, this includes securing permission to use words from First Nations languages for naming new species, unless those words are place names formally recognised in the Gazetteer of Australia, the database of Australia’s land place names. Where permission has been granted by Traditional Owners to use words from their language, we recommend authors include a note to this effect with any acknowledgements following their article.

Queensland Museum recognises the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples to protect, maintain, own, control and benefit from their cultural heritage and acknowledges that communities should be empowered in decision-making processes within projects that affect their cultural heritage. In research involving First Nations communities, Australian policy and law (including copyright law) should be used to recognise and protect ICIP rights. These issues can be covered in contracts, protocols and policies for better recognition.

For more information on ICIP and best practice for respecting Indigenous knowledge and culture, please refer to the True Tracks® framework developed by Terri Janke.

Janke T (2021) True Tracks: Respecting Indigenous knowledge and culture, University of New South Wales Press.