Authors' Guidance

Zusammenfassung & Abstract

Precede the main text with an abstract in German (Zusammenfassung) and an abstract in English of 1000 to 1400 characters each.

It is meant to be an independent text in which the most important information and findings are briefly formulated and contextualised in the scientific discourse. It is not, for example, a summary of the introduction or the final chapter and should therefore not contain any abbreviations or references. The editor-in-chief retains the right to return manuscripts due to poor abstracts and to ask for rewording.

If you are fluent in German, we would be pleased to receive the title and abstract in English and German. Otherwise, the editorial staff will take care of the technical translation.

Text structure

Full papers and review articles should be written as scientific texts in the typical structure, whereby the terms are not to be understood as a guideline for the headings:

Introduction - Methodology - Results - Discussion - Conclusion.

The introduction should explain the motivationk, the scientific background, the aim (the research question) and the structure of the article.

Reports from practice and research contain an introduction and reflective text sections.

Articles and reports may contain a maximum of three levels of headings. Please use headings that are as short and concise as possible. For opinion papers, columns and book reviews, there is no provision for structuring the text using headings.

Text formatting

Manuscripts must be submitted in either Open Document Format (odt) or proprietary Microsoft format (doc or docx). A freely licensed basic font (e.g. Times New Roman) must be used for the texts and the pages must be numbered. No other field functions are desired. The headings with a maximum of three structure levels are to be formatted as heading1 to 3.

Technical abbreviations should be introduced the first time they are used, e.g. Environmental Impact Assessment Act (UVPG). In the text that follows, only the abbreviation is used. When citing sources, the abbreviation can be used in the body text.

Figures

The figures (graphics, maps and photos) must be numbered consecutively and provided with a heading in the text. The source must be stated at the end of the figure heading, unless it is the author's own illustration. In the case of copyrighted material, the authors must obtain and provide proof of the publication rights for the large-scale citation; in the case of freely accessible material, the open access licence must be stated.

All figures must be supplied as separate files and must not be embedded in the text. Images must have a resolution of at least 600 dpi. The following file formats are preferred:

PDF, TIFF, JPEG for halftone images (e.g. photos)
PDF, SVG for vector graphics (e.g. maps)

Tables and boxes

Tables and boxes are to be created using the table function of the word processor in standard text format, not using links to the spreadsheet software (such as Calc or MS Excel).

The tables and boxes must be numbered consecutively and provided with a heading in the text. The source must be stated at the end of the heading, unless it is your own presentation. In the case of copyrighted material, the authors must obtain and provide proof of the publication rights for the large-scale citation; in the case of freely accessible material, the open access licence must be stated. Data sources must also be clearly named. Table footnotes are added directly below the table.

Citation and References

The Harvard citation style is used in the UVP-report. This means that short references are used in the text and full references are listed alphabetically in a subsequent list of references.

The list of references must be complete, i.e. contain all sources referred to in the text and in the footnotes, and each reference must contain all data as required below. The use of a reference management program can be helpful, but is not mandatory. The editor-in chief retains the right to return texts due to inadequate and, above all, incomplete references and to request rectification. This will result in a delay in the publication process.

References in the text

References in the text are made according to the following pattern.

(author year: page if necessary)

If the author or authorship is named in the text, this can be omitted from the reference. This applies to both direct and indirect quotations. In the case of literal quotations, the page must be indicated; this is helpful in the case of indirect quotations from more extensive sources.

Example: According to Curie & Einstein (2017) are... .

Abbreviations such as “ibid.”, “op. cit.”, and similar are not to be used. Small caps or capital letters are not used for names.

Examples: One author (Bauer 2010), two authors (Curie & Einstein 2017), several authors (Darwin et al. 2000) several sources (Bauer 2010; Curie & Einstein 2017), direct quotation: “Marie Curie is great” (Darwin et al. 2000: 23).

List of references

The list of references is added directly after the main text and headed “References”. All authors of a title are listed, separated by a semicolon. The institution that commissioned and then published a report, for example, is no more the author of a publication than the commissioning institute or office, unless it adopts the content of the text as its own after it has been revised by a member of its staff. If no author can be found, the publishing institution and “(ed.)” are stated. There is a period at the end of each entry in the list of references. If there is a DOI for the source, this is stated.

The list is sorted alphabetically. Names with suffixes such as “von” or “du”/“de la” are listed under the first letter of the name without the suffix. Names consisting of several words (e.g. “van der Maarel” or “de Groot”) are filed under the first word of the name. In the case of several titles by one author from one year, these are distinguished from each other by adding “a”, “b” etc. to the year. In the case of contributions in anthologies edited by the author, the anthology is marked with “a” and the editor's contributions with “b” etc.

Monographs: Surname, first letter of first name (year): Title. Subtitle if applicable, Place (if applicable series, volume number). DOI: DOI if applicable.
Example: Balla, S.; Wulfert, K. & Peters, H.-J. (2009): Leitfaden zur Strategischen Umweltprüfung (SUP), Dessau-Roßlau (UBA-Texte, 08-09).
Contributions to edited volumes: Surname, first letter of first name (year): Title. In: Surname, first letter of first name (ed.): Title. Subtitle if applicable, Place, page number-page number. DOI: DOI if applicable.
Example: Hildebrandt, S.; Roth, M.; Schwarz-von Raumer, H.-G. & Roser, F. (2021): Bundesweite empirie- und modellgestützte Bewertung von Vielfalt, Eigenart und Schönheit des Landschaftsbildes. In: Walsh, C.; Kangler, G. & Schaffert, M. (eds.): Landschaftsbilder und Landschaftsverständnisse in Politik und Praxis, Wiesbaden, 119-140 (RaumFragen: Stadt – Region – Landschaft). DOI: 10.1007/978-3-658-30959-6
Journal articles: Surname, first letter of first name (year): Title. Journal name volume (issue number): page number-page number. DOI: DOI if applicable.
Example: Sybertz, J., Hanusch, M. & Grotehusmann, D. (2019): Fachbeitrag Wasserrahmenrichtlinie im Straßenbau – Inhalte, Ablauf und Methoden der Prüfung. UVP-report 33 (2): 111-120. DOI: 10.17442/uvp-report.033.13
Laws and ordinances: Abbreviation – Title as of Date. Reference, last amended on Date. Reference
Example: UVPG – Gesetz über die Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung as of 24 February 2010. Bundesgesetzblatt I: 94, last amended on 3. December 2020. Bundesgesetzblatt I: 2694.

Fair language

The UVP-report supports the use of fair language in all articles and texts. We expect all authors to consider the following principles of fair and inclusive language and to apply these principles:

Use gender-neutral terms where possible (e.g. person, professional, member).
If a gender-neutral term or formulation is not possible, use the full couple form (e.g. he or she).