Guide for Authors

THE MICROSCOPE
The Microscope publishes accounts of original, previously unpublished, work from the microscopical community and also serves as the proceedings for the annual Inter/Micro conference held in Chicago. These papers are published quarterly as they are accepted. Papers in which the use of the microscope is incidental or routine should be submitted to other journals concerning pathology, mineralogy, metallography, etc. Papers covering instrumentation, methods, and unique applications of the microscope in any biological or physical science are appropriate for submission. Sufficient details of method and equipment should be given to enable another worker to repeat the work, but generally known details that can be easily found in a cited paper should be omitted. Write in the active voice rather than the passive voice. Use first person, not third, and do not use first person plural when first person singular is meant. All papers will be published in English. Letters to the Editor are welcome. The manuscript should be double-spaced on one side only. One copy of each figure suitable for reproduction and one recognizable copy should be submitted. A 100–200 word abstract and a list of keywords must be provided. The paper should be divided into sections and subsections with appropriate titles for each.
PHOTOGRAPHS AND PHOTOMICROGRAPHS
Photographs must have good contrast. Color illustrations will often be justified with the author’s financial cooperation. Photomicrographs should bear appropriate fiducial markings so that the final magnification of prints can be quickly and accurately determined.
TABLES AND LINE DRAWINGS
Line drawings must be of good quality, Do not letter figure captions or legend on the figures. Metric units should be used throughout the text and figures. Unusual units (denier, for example) should be defined. All illustrations should be identified on the with the author’s name and the figure number. Figure captions for illustrations must be provided and each figure should be noted and described in the text.
REFERENCES
References to earlier work should be cited and listed in numerical sequence. An Arabic numeral superscript should appear in the text at the proper point. The use of reference management software is recommended; submit as a separate file in BibTeX, RIS, Zotero RDF, etc. DOI’s should be included together with references, when available. The references should be submitted in a separate file, in sequence, and in the format below. Use the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication. Book: Moellring, F.K. Microscopy from the Very Beginning, Carl Zeiss: Oberkochen, Germany, 1966. Journal: Merisier, O. and Diaczuk, P. “The Effects of Over-Lubrication of a Firearm on Discharged Cartridge Cases,” The Microscope, 72:2, pp. 64–70, 2025; https://doi.org/10.59082/WYHP5984.Chapter: Gaudette, B.D. “The Forensic Aspects of Textile Fiber Examination,” in Forensic Science Handbook, R. Saferstein, Ed. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Chapter 2, pp. 209–272, 1988.
PEER REVIEW
Acceptance of a submitted manuscript for publication is the responsibility of the publications committee of The Microscope and the editor(s) and occurs only after review of the paper in accordance with the operating rules of the publications committee. Review of submitted manuscripts may be expected to be completed within 90 days.
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION
Authors may submit their manuscripts as multiple electronic files. Please provide a separate file for each of the following: 1. Text — Title, author(s), ORCID iDs, affiliation, corresponding author mailing address, abstract, keywords, main text body, acknowledgements, and references.2. Figures — Submit each in a separate file at least 300 dpi. Each figure should include the figure number and figure number in file name.3. Tables— Submit each in a separate file at least 300 dpi. Each table should include the table title and table number in file name.
Please submit as much of the publication in electronic format as possible. Hand drawn figures can be digitally reproduced at no additional cost. The list below indicates the accepted formats for text and graphics. If your computer system does not match any of these formats, the text should be saved as RTF (rich text format):
Accepted Text Formats: Microsoft Word, Rich Text Accepted Image Formats: JPEG (non-lossy), TIFF Any questions about formats should be directed to the editors at themicroscope@mcri.org.
DISCLAIMER
The author(s) of each article appearing in The Microscope journal is/are solely responsible for the content thereof; McCrone Research Institute, Inc., Microscope Publications, and the editors cannot be held responsible for opinions, errors, or for any consequences arising from the use of information contained in this journal. By submitting a manuscript to The Microscope, the author(s) warrant/warrants that the article is original or that the author(s) has/have written permission to use copyrighted material published elsewhere. While the contents of this journal are believed to be accurate at press time, neither the McCrone Research Institute, Inc., the editors, nor the authors can accept legal responsibility for errors or omissions. The appearance of advertising in The Microscope does not constitute an endorsement or approval by McCrone Research Institute, Inc. of any claims or information found in the advertisements.