Cymbella is the official journal of the Mexican Society of Phycology, A.C.
It is an electronic journal available online.
It includes and has a flexible format, with sections reserved for: original papers, opinions, review articles, research notes, methodological proposals, book reviews, dissertation abstracts, dissemination articles, translations of important texts (with publishing permissions), information sections (Ficoweb, new publications, etc.)
The subject areas covered are:
Floristics (lists of species and new records for regions or countries). Taxonomy, phylogeny, systematics and genomics. Biogeography and distribution. Cell biology and biochemistry. Physiology and ecophysiology. Toxic algae and HABs. Population ecology and algal communities. Applied Phycology and biotechnology. New or adapted methods for specific conditions. Nomenclature.
The texts will be in Spanish, English or Portuguese. All manuscripts will have the translation of the title and a summary in English or if the text is in English or Portuguese, the translation will be the Spanish.
The journal is quarterly and is published in Mexico City, with free e-mail distribution to members of the SMF and to anyone who requests it. Its website will be hosted in http://cymbella.mx with open access. Also, on that site it is the repository of back issues and additional material from 2015. The journal is organized by annual volumes with its own numbering in each volume and continuous pagination for the volume. The previous numbers are on the site of the SMF Bulletin
Justification
The Mexican Society of Phycology requires a forum to publish and disseminate original scientific information, academic discussions and views on topics of interest to phycologists.
Objective
To publicize information on Mexican and Latin American algae mainly, but not exclusively; in a digital format, accessible to a wider audience. It is a means to encourage students and young phycologists to publish results and support all in disseminating their work.
It is the first national publication dedicated formally to algae in a broad sense and replaces the Bulletin of the Mexican Society of Phycology which in the beginning served a dual role of publishing news and original articles.
It is edited by an Editorial Committee Responsible composed by Eberto Novelo (UNAM), Abel Sentíes (UAM-I) and Juan Manuel Lopez-Bautista (UA-USA). It has a Thematic Editorial Committee composed of phycologists recognized for their academic career and their commitment in training young students. It has also, a group of reviewers and correctors of summited papers, named by the Editorial Committee. All participants are mentioned in the articles.
Our publication aims to be the first formal journal on research, communication and dissemination on Mexican and Latin American algae. We want to turn the journal in an appropriate forum for the dissemination and publication of original material. It is about to build and disseminate scientific knowledge on algae from Mexico, Latin American or elsewhere and to achieve this we have to maintain the standards of quality, originality and timeliness of any scientific journal. Also, we intend to make it a scientific publication (registered in bibliometric indices) without leaving its communication character, seeking at long-term, to be considered in the bibliographic indexes of scientific journals.
It is a non-profit journal, do not charge or pay for the contributions. The costs of the publication and the site are not charged to the members and all appointments are honorary. There is no page limit, no papers are rejected (but corrections indicated by reviewers must be attended as a collaborative work). All manuscripts must be original (full or partial information not previously published) and will be electronically analyzed to avoid plagiarism. It's only electronic format (web and pdf view). It is open (open access) use without copyright restrictions except those imposed by the Mexican copyright law. For original articles the format is traditional, as in other scientific journals, and not so strict for opinion articles or any other type. The deadline for submission of material accepted is a month before the corresponding number (first days of April, August and December) appears. With no space limitation no waiting time for the publication if authors correct promptly in such case. Each item has entry, revision and acceptance dates. The distribution is immediate and all SOMFICO members are notified by electronic means (web and email).
About the name
Cymbella is the name of a genus of diatoms (Bacillariophyta, Bacillariophycidae, Cymbellales, Cymbellaceae) which was described by C. A. Agardh in 1830 in the following terms: “Frustulla elliptica, libera vel muco amorpho involuta, binatim conjuncta”. Its name refers to the form of small boat (cymba, cymbae).
Have been described more than 1422 names of species and infraspecific taxa, some 313 valid species are currently recognized. It has marine and freshwater representatives and, overall, are present throughout the world. For America have been described the following species with geographical names: C. alaskana, C. americana, C. antartica, C. artica, C. australica, C. brasiliana, C. charrua, C. mexicana, C. neuquina, C. patagonica, C. terrafuegiana and C. venezuelana, however, the number of species described for the region is very high, only in Mexico are 44 species of freshwater. It is a taxonomic entity in which many morphological variations and environmental conditions are included. We have selected this name as a good representative of a project that brings together many ideas, projects and approaches to algae, also for its sound in Spanish that refers more to the beauty (“bella”) than of the idea of a ship; besides being a beautiful name, you can identify the intention of multiplicity that involves working with algae.