Guide to Authors
Guide for Authors
Original papers on Biotechnology and Biomedicine interest are published in the International Journal of Biotechnology and Biomedicine. The journal is a quarterly publication. In a year 4 issues of the journal in January, April, July, and October would be published. The manuscript, written in English, should not exceed 16 pages in length and be typed in double spacing throughout A-4 or American quarto paper with Times New Roman and Font Size: 12 and not more than 15% similarity index. The research should be novel and has not been published previously or under consideration by another journal. Ethical approval or informed consent must be obtained and submitted along with the paper in the case of work on animals and/or humans.
All pages should be numbered. Abbreviations should be defined the first time that they are used in the manuscript and a list of abbreviations used should also be provided.
Format of the Manuscript:
Before submission: The manuscript file is provided as a Microsoft Word file. A cover letter is included. Three or more suggested reviewers are provided (including affiliation and professional email address), at least two of which are from a different country than the Authors, and none from the same institution.
Types of article
• Research article: The number of words and of figures/tables is within limits: 7500 words, 6 tables and figures combined.
• Review article: 10 000 words, 6 tables and figures combined.
• Short communication: 3000 words, 6 tables and figures combined.
Before submission:
Manuscript file is provided as a Microsoft Word file. A cover letter is included. Three or more suggested reviewers are provided (including affiliation and professional email address), at least two of which are from a different country than the Authors and none from the same institution.
Ethics in publishing:
Studies in humans and animals: If the work involves the use of human subjects, the author should ensure that the work described has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans. The manuscript should be in line with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and aim for the inclusion of representative human populations (sex, age and ethnicity) as per those recommendations. The terms sex and gender should be used correctly.
By definition, sensory evaluation by trained or naive panelists and other sensory-consumer research involve humans and requires an ethical statement. If ethical approval is not required by national laws, authors must state that an exemption from ethics committee approval was obtained (with a relevant reference number) or, if no human ethics committee or formal documentation process is available, the statement should explain this and confirm that the appropriate protocols for protecting the rights and privacy of all participants were utilized during the execution of the research, e.g. no coercion to participate, full disclosure of study requirements and risks, written or verbal consent of participants, no release of participant data without their knowledge, ability to withdraw from the study at any time. If vulnerable populations (e.g. children, individuals with diminished physical or intellectual capacity, the socially or economically vulnerable or institutionalized individuals) are used in the research, evidence of permission for them to participate from parents or guardians must be obtained. Publication of photographs that reveal a participant's identity must be accompanied by a release signed by the participant.
Other Publication Ethics
• All the work reported in the manuscript must be original and free from any kind of plagiarism.
• The work should not have been published elsewhere or submitted to any other journal(s) at the same time.
• Any potential conflict of interest must be clearly acknowledged.
• Proper acknowledgments for other work reported (individual/company/institution) must be given. Permission must be obtained from any content used from other sources.
• Only those who have made any substantial contribution to the interpretation or composition of the submitted work should be listed as ‘Authors’. While other contributors should be mentioned as ‘co-authors’.
• The addition or change of authors is not accepted after evaluation.
• If any allegation of plagiarism or self-plagiarism is founded, we will reject the submission and may also choose not to accept future submissions.
For non-interventional studies (e.g., surveys, questionnaires...), all participants must be fully informed why the research is being conducted, how their data will be used, and if there are any risks associated with it. Some cases (for example social media research, etc.) might not require full
disclosure, e.g. if de-identified data are obtained or if subject blinding to the manipulation or the purpose of the study is required. In the latter case, such details should be explained in the Ethical Statement and de-briefing of participants should be conducted. All relevant privacy protections related to the disclosure of subject identities must be strictly maintained.
Article structure
Follow this order when typing manuscripts: Title, Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Main text (Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Conclusion), Acknowledgments, Appendix, and References. The corresponding author should be identified with an asterisk and footnote. All other footnotes (except for table footnotes) should be identified with superscript Arabic numbers. The title of the paper should unambiguously reflect its contents.
Title page
The title page contains the title, author names, affiliations, and corresponding author telephone. Email addresses are required for ALL authors. Authors must provide and use a unique, individual e-mail address and not one that is shared with another author registered in the submission system.
Abstract
The abstract should not exceed 200 words and it should condense the essential features of the article.
Keywords
Authors must supply up to six to eight keywords below the Abstract.
Subdivision - numbered sections
Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text'. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.
Introduction
State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature
survey or a summary of the results. It should then go on to discuss the salient features of recent developments. The authors should avoid presenting material, which has already been published in any previous review.
Material and methods
Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.
Results
Results should be clear and concise.
Discussion
This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.
Conclusions
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.
Appendices
If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly, for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.
References:
The references should appear in brackets in the text and then be listed in alphabetical order. Only cited references should be listed and vice-versa.
Tables and Figures:
• The tables should be numbered consecutively, must be titled, and placed within the text. The tables should not contain vertical rules and should be editable.
• Figures should be referred to as (Figure 1), (Figure 2) etc. in the text with the Figure numbers given in bold. Each figure should be accompanied by a caption that should describe briefly the important features displayed in the Figure.
• Colored illustrations and plates can be published from 35 mm color slides. Figures should be 70 mm or 180 mm wide wherever possible. Photographs of Biomedicine systems should be provided with a scale bar, where required. For color plates, the authors will be charged as per the cost of printing.
The chemical structures must be prepared using ChemDraw (any version) and should be provided as a separate file and submitted both on disk and in printed formats. The structures should fit into a width of 8 cm (for structures to be inserted within single column widths) or a width of 18 cm (for structures or schemes to be inserted in double column widths).
Abbreviation:
Authors are asked to explain each scientific abbreviation at its first occurrence in their paper. For example, Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT). SI (Systems Internationals) symbols should be used.
Only papers closely related to the author’s work should be mentioned. References should be cited in the text, in the case of one author e.g., Zaki (1999) or (Zaki, 1999); in the case of two authors e.g., Hague and Gowen, (1987) or (Hague and Gowen, 1987); or more than two authors e.g., Shaukat et al., (2002) or (Shaukat et al., 2002). References will appear in alphabetic order and should follow the following style:
Reference format:
Shaukat, S.S., Siddiqui, I.A., Khan, G.H. and Zaki, M.J. (2002). Nematicidal and allelopathic potential of Argemone mexicana, a tropical weed. Plant and Soil, 245: 239-247.
Khan, D., Ahmad, R. and Channa, M.Q. (2003). A Phytosociological study of the vegetation of some highly saline and waterlogged sites of Hyderabad District, Sindh, Pakistan. Hamdard Medicus, 46 (1): 51 – 68.
References to books and monographs should include (1) author (s) or editor (s) (2) year of publication (3) title (4) edition (5) place of publication and publisher (6) beginning and final page numbers.
Hague, N.M.H. and Gowen, S.R. (1987). Chemical control of nematodes. In: Principles and Practices of Nematode Control in Crops. (R.H. Brown and B.R. Kerry Eds.). Academic Press, Sydney, pp.131-178.
Rahman, A.U. and Shah, Z. (1993). Stereoselective Synthesis in Organic Chemistry. Spring-Verlag, New York.
Abstracts, unpublished data, and personal communications (which can only be included if permission has been obtained) should not be given in the reference section but they may be mentioned in the text with details provided as footnotes.
Proofs
Authors are sent page proofs. To avoid delays in publication, proofs should be checked immediately for typographical errors and returned within 48 hours. Major changes are not acceptable at the proof stage.
Copyright
It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to this journal have not been published and will not be simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere. By submitting a manuscript the authors agree that the copyright of their article is transferred to the publishers if and when the article is accepted for publication.
Reviewing and Publication
All papers submitted for publication will be immediately subjected to editorial scrutiny, usually in consultation with members of the International Advisory Board. Every effort will be made to assess the papers quickly. The papers will be typeset and the proofs dispatched to the authors normally within 4 weeks of their acceptance.
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments should be kept to a minimum.
Authorship Criteria
All individuals listed as authors must have made a substantial contribution to the design, performance, analysis, or reporting of the work. For transparency, we encourage authors to submit an author statement file outlining their individual contributions to the paper using the relevant CRediT roles: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing - original draft; Writing - review & editing. Authorship statements should be formatted with the names of authors first and CRediT role(s) following.
Authorship Declaration
All contributing authors are required to sign a copyright letter, mentioning complete details, including full name, affiliation, email address, ORCID ID, and their role in the article. After the successful electronic submission of a manuscript, a system-generated acknowledgment will be sent to all authors at their provided email addresses.
Authors and Institutional Affiliations
The Corresponding Author must provide a final list of authors at the time of submission, ensuring the correct sequence of the names of authors, which will not be considered for any addition, deletion, or rearrangement after the final submission of the manuscript. The email address of the principal author should be provided with an asterisk. However, the complete address, business telephone numbers, fax numbers, and e-mail address of the corresponding author must be stated to receive correspondence and galley proofs. All contributors must regularly update their profiles on SCOPUS/ORCID and other databases.
The corresponding author must have the approval of all other listed authors for the submission and publication of all versions of the manuscript.
Author Identification
Authors are strongly recommended to use their ORCID ID when submitting an article for consideration. Alternatively, they can acquire an ORCID ID via the submission process. For more information about ORCID IDs, visit here.
Changes to Authorship
At the time of initial submission, the finalized list of authors in the correct sequence should be provided, which will not be changed once the publication process has started.
If any change is essential, then it can only be done after the approval of the Editor-in-Chief upon receiving the following details from the corresponding author:
The reason for the change in the author list and/or their sequence
- A proper justification should be provided for changes in authorship.
- Correction of existing names should be accompanied by a notice to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.
Written confirmation from all the co-authors is a prerequisite for any amendment or removal
Any amendment to the authors’ list will only be considered and approved by the Editor-in-Chief after complete verification. Publication of the manuscript will be withheld during the consideration of the request. However, if the manuscript has already been published online, requests approved thereafter by the Editor-in-Chief will result in an erratum or corrigendum. The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining permission from all co-authors for any changes in the authorship.
Non-Author Contributors
Activities such as the acquisition of funding, general supervision of a research group or general administrative support, writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading alone do not qualify any contributor for authorship. Such contributors may be acknowledged individually or together as a group in the acknowledgment section. Further details for writing acknowledgments are available here. Persons not meeting authorship criteria can be acknowledged in the acknowledgment section of the article rather than being enlisted as authors.
Guest or Honorary Authorship
All contributing authors should contribute substantially to the article and sign the copyright letter. Authorship based solely on position (e.g., a research supervisor or a departmental head) is discouraged.
