ATTENTION. Message from the Field Museum Field Guides Team: We are happy to share that we have received an astonishing number of guides in 2020 and 2021. Due to this high volume of submissions, our team is taking longer to review and edit field guides and can no longer offer a timeline for publication. Authors will receive communications about the progress of their guides when entering the final review/editing phase. Please use Submittable for all communications regarding your field guide. We thank authors and partners for their patience as we work tirelessly to support your scientific contribution!
The Most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
If you do not find the answer to your questions, please contact us at: fieldguides@fieldmuseum.org
GENERAL QUESTIONS
1. What is a Field Museum field guide?
A Field Museum Field Guide is a free and accessible online resource that abounds with beautiful scientific images (and related information) to help a broad audience engage with the diversity of nature and culture on our planet.
2. What is necessary to produce a guide?
Materials:
A. High Quality Photos: Your guide is more likely to be accepted if a) your photos are of high quality, b) the species are recognizable in this small format (the characteristics that define a specific specie should be easy to see in a small photo), and c) you follow our advice on choosing, optimizing, and cropping photographs.
B. Accurate Scientific Identification: Authors are responsible for having an expert review all scientific identifications and information.
C. Other Visuals: Authors may use other visual assets such as diagrams, maps, infographics, environment /landscape photos. Authors are responsible for providing all supplemental visuals. Cite the source when necessary.
D. Templates: Authors may use one of the templates found on our website. Authors may modify our templates. If you need assistance or feedback about template modifications, please contact us.
Formatting and Layout:
A. Use an 8 1/2 by 11 inch document format.
B. Keep the layout in a vertical orientation. (i.e. 8 1/2 by 11 inches, not 11 by 8 1/2 inches)
C. Apply only one font to your field guide. Please choose one from the following: Arial, New Times Roman, or Times.
D. Apply even spacing between photos.
If you have already prepared a guide and want to see it published on our web page, submit it through our online platform, called Submittable.
3. I found an incorrectly identified photo of a species in a guide on The Field Museum Field Guides page. Whom should I contact?
There are two ways to inform us of an error:
-Send an email directly to the author of the guide (the address can be found in the guide itself), with a copy to our email: fieldguides@fieldmuseum.org
-Send an email to our team at: fieldguides@fieldmuseum.org
4. How much does it cost to publish on your website?
Publishing on our website is free for all authors.
5. How do I obtain a field guide copy?
1. Go to fieldguides.fieldmuseum.org
2. Search with the filtering menu. Click on the desired guide and you will be directed to the guide’s page.
3. The direct link will have a preview image of the guide. Next to the preview image, you will find information about the guide. Click on the green guide title and you will be directed to a download page.
4. You are able to download your guide from this page at no cost. Simply download and print at home or office.
CREATE A FIELD GUIDE
6. If I send my photos, can you set up a guide for me?
Due to capacity, we are unable to develop guides at this moment.
7. Why do my photos not fit in the Word table?
Your photos should be cut to a standard size specified in our instructions in the "Make a guide" section, Field Guide Instructions
8. Is it possible to include photos of habitats, maps, or other graphics in the guide? Can I incorporate an institutional logo in my guide?
Yes, these are welcomed and encouraged. However, maps, graphics, and other visual assets must be produced by the authors. Contact us if you are having difficulty with our original template. We can make modifications to fit your visual needs.
Guides can include logos if the authors desire it or if the institution that is financing your project requires it. Please place your logos on the upper right-side side of the page, near the title. Please put all logos together. Please note: Our team may slightly change the size or placement of the logo or ask for a higher-quality logo file.
9. Can I build my guide using PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop, or other creative software/platforms?
Yes. You can build your guide on whatever platform or software, as long as you send us the final version in PDF.
10. What is the limit of authors per guide?
There is no limit. If you have a long list of authors that do not fit in the space for authors, a member of our team will contact you to discuss the best way to include them in the guide.
11. Who should be cited as the author of a guide: the photographers or those who identified the species? Can the organizer of a guide be cited as the only author even if they have not contributed with photos and/or identification?
We recommend that those who contributed most or all of the photos and those who helped with identifications receive the privilege of sharing the authorship of the guide with the person chosen by the group to organize it. The decision about who deserves to be an author is up to the group involved in its production.
12. Who should I include in “the acknowledgments” and in “with the support of” sections in the credits?
Authors may add individuals and institutions who have helped directly and/or indirectly in developing the guide. For example, sponsorships (financial support), community consent, plant species identification, or special archival permission.
13. Can I submit a field guide displaying the cultural uses of plants?
Yes, you can submit a guide emphasizing traditional or historical uses of plants. If accepted, you are required to add the following disclaimer to your guide:
This Field Guide contains information about communities’ traditional or historical uses of plants for medicinal purposes; this information is provided for scholarly and educational use only. Neither the Field Museum nor any other contributor makes any representation about the efficacy of such use for any medical condition. Do not use this information as a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professionals with regard to any question you may have about your health or treatment for a medical condition.
14. I am developing a bird field guide. What classification system is accepted?
We prefer and highly recommend South American authors use the American Ornithological Society's standard classification created by the South American Classification Committee (SACC) and North American Classification Committee (NACC) for USA authors.
Authors can use other classification standards. However, they must add the classification and common name's reference/source to their guides. All bird guides must have FAMILY listed under each photo. If all the birds belong to one FAMILY, please add the FAMILY name to the guide's title.
PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL
15. What is the minimum number of photos needed to make a guide?
It depends on the following: What are you aiming to display in your guide? What kind of organisms will be displayed? We have several templates that offer different photo sizes and photo quantity per page. Please explore our templates. There is no maximum number of photos for guides.
15. How many photos of the same species should be used in a guide?
We recommend representing each species with 2 or 3 images (one of the whole plant and a close-up shot to show more details: flower, leaf, etc.) for plant guides. Photos with flowers and fruits facilitate the identification of species. While one photo is sufficient to identify some animals, many guides include photos of males, females, juveniles, eggs, larvae, etc.
16. Most of my photo identifications have not been confirmed by an expert. Can you confirm their identification?
No, we cannot identify your photos. There are groups on Facebook involving specialists that can help you identify some photos (for example, FacePlant). For the verification of spelling and current usage, we recommend online services like the Global Name Resolver for animals (http://resolver.globalnames.org). And the Taxonomic Name Resolution Service for plants http://tnrs.iplantcollaborative.org
17. How do I give credit to the photographers who permitted me to use their photos?
Authors working with photographers can give proper credit on our credit section below the title and provide initials below scientific information.
18. I would like to have my photos published on the Field Museum’s Live Plant Photos website. How do I do this?
Please send an email to nlp@fieldmuseum.org. All photos submitted for Live Plant Photos must be legally owned by the person submitting the photos.
19. What is the Live Plant Photos of the Field Museum?
Live Plant Photo is a searchable digital gallery of selected and curated plant photos. We provide this resource as a way to review many images of different families and genera. In this way, one gradually learns distinctive groups, especially if combined with other information obtained from books, herbarium work, or field observations. This resource is linked to our herbarium specimen page.
Learn More: https://plantidtools.fieldmuseum.org/en/nlp
PUBLICATION / CREDITS
20. What copyright options do you offer for my field guide?
To publish your work on our website, we need to archive it in the Field Museum’s collections management system. By archiving it there, your work and your role in creating it will be preserved long term. You have three copyright options:
- I want to release this work into the public domain (CC0 waiver). What this means: By placing your work in the public domain, you waive all rights to the material--any person may use it for any purpose without restriction or your permission. See the Creative Commons CC0 Waiver page for more information: https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/
- I am happy to transfer the copyright to the Field Museum to make my work accessible for research. What this means: The Museum commits to releasing your material to the public under a Creative Commons license that allows anyone to use the material for non-commercial purposes (CC BY-NC 4.0). Your name will be included in the materials database record as its creator. This allows the museum to add your material to its collections management system and make it available to the public under our Data Norms. The public (and you) will be able to use the material for any non-commercial purpose without further permission from you or the Museum (people will have to contact the Museum for permission for other uses). We will always acknowledge you as the creator of the materials when practical, and will only use the materials for non-commercial, museum- and research-related purposes.
- I’m releasing this material under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license myself. What this means: This still allows the museum to add your material to its collections management system, and make it available to the public under the CC BY-NC license. If our Data Norms evolve in a more open direction, we may need to remove your content from our collection management system without notice. The public (and the Museum) will be able to use the material for any non-commercial purpose without your further permission (people will have to contact you for permission for other uses). We will use the credit line: (c) [your name] CC BY-NC.
The copyright options are for the field guide, solely. Not for individual photos. The author(s) is responsible to obtain the photographers' authorization for the use of their material in the author's guide.
21. Once they are published in a guide, can I use my photos in other types of publications?
Yes. All of the photos published in field guides can be used in other publications, such as articles, magazines, theses, etc. If the author does not legally own the guide’s photos, it is the author's responsibility to seek out the photographers' authorization for the use of their photos for purposes other than the field guide.
22. The photos published in my guide are part of an article that I published. Can I include a link from the guide to my published article?
Yes. Once our team approves your guide for publication, you can send us the link to the article for inclusion in the notes section of your field guide. You can also add a link to the pdf document. Use our website link to your field guide, which allows us to track usage and downloads of the guide. (example, https://fieldguides.fieldmuseum.org/guides/guide/1305)
SUBMITTING YOUR GUIDE FOR REVIEW AND PUBLICATION
23. I am done making my field guide. How do I submit my guide for review and publication?
Authors are asked to submit their guides in Submittable, our online submissions platform.
Follow these steps:
1. Create a Submittable account: https://fieldmuseum.submittable.com/submit
2. Once an account is created, please choose the submission form in your native language. Choosing the submission form in your native language ensures efficient communication and help from our team.
3. Choose a copyright option for your guide. We offer 3 different options.
4. Fill out all the necessary sections on the form.
5.You have the option to share your photos with Live Plant Photos. If you chose to share your (Plant only) photos with Live Plant Photo, upload the photos. Only share photos you own.
6. Submit your form. You will receive an email confirming it was received.
7. Check your email for Submittable messages. Please respond to all communication through Submittable.
24. Can I make one submission for several guides?
If you are submitting multiple guides, submit them individually.
25. What does the review process consist of?
STEP 1 Submission Received:
Once the guide is made, the author submits his/her field guide via Submittable, our online submissions platform.
STEP 2 Field Guides Team Review:
The Field Guides Team reviews the guide. We ask ourselves several questions: Does it have high-quality images? Does it have all the required scientific information? During this time, we also address formatting issues, enhance photos, and communicate with the author to obtain other information and visual assets, if necessary.
STEP 3 An Expert Review:
After edits are made by both the author and the Field Guides Team, we focus on quality control.
a. We ask all our authors to have an expert review their guides before submitting them.
b. We ask a second expert to review on our end.
STEP 4 : Final edits
We present a final version to the author.
STEP 5: Ready to Publish
We get the publication approval, publish the guide on our website, and share it with the world!
Please note: this process may vary depending on each guide’s specific needs. Due to ever-changing staff capacity and submissions received, we cannot give you an exact timeline.
26. How will the progress of my guide be communicated to me?
We will send you messages through Submittable at different stages of your guide. You can keep track of guide status through the labels found on your submissions tab in Submittable. Below is a breakdown of tabs and corresponding emails that inform about guide status.
Email Titles/Tabs
What does this mean?
Active/In-Progress
Your guide is received and assigned to a staff member. It is in the process of review at the moment. We will email you whether your field guide has been accepted or declined. During this process we may contact you for additional information and to provide updates.
Accept
Your guide is accepted for publication. It will be available on our website within 2 months of your acceptance date. Once published, we will email you the direct link to your published field guide. Please make sure your content is in an accurate and final form. Once your work is accepted for publication, we will not be able to modify content in an immediate fashion, unless there are substantive scientific reasons.
Decline
Your guide is not accepted for publication at the moment. We will advise you to make changes to your field guide and resubmit an updated version in the near future.
Complete
Your guide is published! We will inform you by Submittable email that your field guide is available on the Field Museum's field guide website. The email will include a direct link.
Open Editing
Your guide is being edited. This phase can take a great amount of time as our production team is addressing minor to major edits to your field guide. During this process, we may contact you for additional information or questions regarding your field guide.
Withdraw
Authors may choose to withdraw their field guide if they no longer want to publish their guide on our website.
27. I have a new version of the field guide that I submitted via Submittable. Should I withdraw my current submission and create a new one with the updated version?
No, do not withdraw your current submission if you have updated the submitted guide. Please send us a message informing us about the updated version and the new updated file as an attachment.
28. I have an updated version of my guide, which was already published. How can I republish an updated guide on your website?
To update an already published guide, go to Submittable and fill out the “Republish a Field Guide” form. Please use the form available in your native language. Within this form, you will upload your new version.
29. How long will it take for my field guide to be reviewed and published?
Typically, a guide will be reviewed and published within 6 months from its submission. However, this is subject to change based on staff capacity and fluctuating demand.