Journal of Biological Research

Transcription

1 Instructions for Authors Journal of Biological Research Thessaloniki (JBRT) is an international journal that covers fields of biology including morphology, anatomy, cytology, genetics, molecular biology, development & differentiation, taxonomy, microbiology, physiology, evolutionary biology, human biology, behaviour, ecology, conservation & management of ecosystems. JBRT will consider original articles, short communications, commentaries, opinions, reviews and invited reviews. JBRT will not accept purely technical, descriptive and/or confirmatory papers. Also, lack of novelty, limited interest, poor presentation and language are justifiable reasons for rejection. Reviewing process of submitted manuscript Manuscripts submitted to JBRT will be evaluated by the Editor in Chief, an Assistant Editor and at least two independent reviewers. The Editor in Chief is entitled to immediate acceptance of exceptional manuscripts. The peer reviewing followed by JBRT is a single blind process (masked review, where the reviewers names are not revealed to the author/s) and consists of the following phases: 1) Editorial evaluation: All manuscripts submitted to JBRT are subjected to Editorial evaluation by the Editorial Board of JBRT. For manuscripts that fail to pass this phase, the evaluation process is terminated with no further consideration and the authors are notified accordingly. Estimated period: 1 2 weeks. 2) Single blind reviewing process: The manuscripts that pass the Editorial evaluation phase will enter the Reviewing process. Normally, two anonymous reviewers relevant to the research field of the manuscript are appointed by the Editorial Board. The reviewers are asked to evaluate the content of the manuscript, its novelty, and its potential impact on the scientific community. Also, they have to respond whether the manuscript fulfils the following criteria: 1. Does the manuscript contain new and significant information to justify publication? 2. Do the Title and Abstract (Summary) clearly and accurately describe the content of the article? 3. Is the problem significant and concisely stated? 4. Are the methodology and data analyses reliable and comprehensively described? 5. Are the interpretations and conclusions justified by the results? 6. Is adequate reference made to other work in the field? 7. Are the presentation and English text clear and concise? 1

2 8. Please rate the priority for publishing this article. Upon completing their review, reviewers will make one of the following recommendations to the Editor: The manuscript is acceptable. The manuscript requires minor revision. The manuscript requires major revision. The manuscript is rejected. In case that the reviewers assessments are significantly diverged, a member of the Editorial Board of JBRT or a third reviewer may be appointed to evaluate the manuscript (this may extend the reviewing period). Reviewers assessments and recommendations are consultative and not binding to the Editor. Estimated period: 4 6 weeks. 3) Revision phase: After the reviewing process, the Editorial Board of JBRT will send the completed reviewers evaluation forms (as well as the annotated manuscript, if applicable) to the authors. The authors are requested to respond efficiently to ALL reviewers and editorial comments, even if they reject a number of them. The revised version of the manuscript should be received by the Editorial Board of JBRT within a month. Estimated period: 4 6 weeks. 4) Evaluation of the revised version: The revised version as well as the authors responses to the reviewers and editorial comments will be evaluated by the Editorial Board of JBRT. The final decision regarding the manuscript will be sent to the authors as soon as it is reached. At the same time, the final decision will be communicated to the reviewers. Estimated period: 1 2 weeks. Open Access Journal of Biological Research Thessaloniki (JBRT) adopted Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License for all manuscripts published in JBRT. No prior permission is required from the publisher or the authors for downloading, printing, distributing, transmitting and/or copying articles in JBRT (all content is freely available), provided that the authors and source are cited appropriately. JBRT decided to change over to Open Access publishing model (from 31 st March 2013 onwards) aiming to recover some of the costs involved in publishing (web hosting, journal production, administrative costs, etc). 2

3 Therefore, for every article accepted for publication, Article Processing Charges (APC) will be allocated (500 ). For Low Income Countries (LICs) and Lower Middle Income Countries (LMICs), a discount is eligible (LICs: 200, LMICs: 300 ). APC must be paid prior to publication. This flat charge is payable by the authors or research sponsors for each article they publish. The amount to be received by JBRT should not be reduced by any fees that are charged by the sender s bank or processor. The banking details for paying APC are as follows: For corresponding authors with Greek affiliation Payee Name: Ειδικός Λογαριασμός Κονδυλίων Έρευνας ΑΠΘ Payee Address: Κτίριο ΚΕ.ΔΕ.Α. 3 ης Σεπτεμβρίου Πανεπιστημιούπολη Payee City: Θεσσαλονίκη Payee Zip Code: GR Payee Country: Ελλάδα Bank Name: PIRAEUS BANK IBAN: GR IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please, state on the deposit the Code Number: KE89353 For corresponding authors with foreign affiliation Payee Name: Eidikos Logariasmos Kondilion Erevnas A.P.TH Payee Address: Ktirio KE.D.E.A. 3is Septemvriou Panepistimioupoli Payee City: Thessaloniki Payee Zip Code: GR Payee Country: Greece Bank Name: PIRAEUS BANK IBAN: GR IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please, state on the deposit the Code Number: KE89544 Waiver and discount policies JBRT policy dictates that authors lacking funds will have the opportunity to apply for a discount or a waiver. Authors affiliated with Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) are entitled to apply for a waiver (the production of JBRT is partially subsidized by AUTH). The application for a waiver must be requested BEFORE the submission of the manuscript and it will be granted on a case by case basis. JBRT will decide on the application for a discount or waiver within five working days. The application form should be completed and sent to Managing Editor of JBRT (Dr. Athanasios D. Baxevanis) along with the manuscript (OPTIONALLY). 3

4 It should be noticed that Assistant Editors and reviewers have no access to data regarding the ability of authors to pay the APC; decisions on submitted manuscripts are solely based on the criteria stated to Reviewing process of submitted manuscript in Instructions for Authors. Statistics On average, less than 20% of the submitted papers are accepted. Average time from receipt of a manuscript to publication is approx. 3 4 months. Preparing the manuscript for submission Manuscripts should be submitted online via ScholarOne Manuscripts ( platform. Corresponding author is advised to follow the Guidelines for ScholarOne before proceeding to the electronic submission (Get Help Now button, up right corner). Also, corresponding author should create an account (this step must be avoided in case corresponding author possess an active account). In case it is not possible to submit a manuscript through the online submission system, the corresponding author should contact Editor in Chief or Managing Editor by e mail. Authors are urged to dry out all resources provided within ScholarOne Manuscript platform eg Get Help Button. Prior to submission, the authors are kindly requested to see recently published papers so that the manuscript complies with JBRT format. Manuscripts are considered on the understanding that their contents are original, i.e. have not appeared or will not appear elsewhere in substantially the same or abbreviated form. Submitted work must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere and be approved by all co authors (if applicable). Also, it should be stressed that the author(s) is/are responsible for ensuring that the submitted manuscript and its content do not violate any copyright agreement. Authors are encouraged to suggest at least three potential referees (full names, affiliations, and e mail addresses should be provided). Manuscript Manuscript should be written in clear concise English. Authors are urged to have their manuscript checked by a native English speaker before submission. Text should be submitted in final form as a single DOC file (please, avoid.docx,.sxg,.sxw and.xlw files) and prepared in accordance with the journal s accepted practice, form, and content. MS should be on A4 format, double spaced throughout, and all margins must be at least 25 mm wide. All pages should be numbered. Text should be written using Times New Roman font 4

5 (font size 12 pt). Species names must be in italics. Use English Equation Editor when you have equations in your document. The first page (title page) should contain the full title of the paper, the full name(s) first name(s) and surname(s) of the author(s), and the address(es) of the author(s). Surname(s) of the author(s) must be written in capitals. The corresponding author must be clearly indicated and his/her contact information should be included (e mail address, fax and telephone numbers). The main text should be divided into the following sections: Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion, followed by Acknowledgements (optional) and References. Units should follow SI (metric) format. Abbreviations should be given when used for the first time [e.g. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)]. If abbreviations are extensively used throughout the text, they should be listed after the key words (along with their explanation). Abbreviations for hour, hours, minutes and seconds are hr, hrs, min and sec, respectively. A space should be left between numbers and their units (e.g. 10 mm, 5 kg) and arithmetical operators (e.g. p < 0.05, df = 2.255). No space should be left between numerals and % or o C. Level of significance should be written in italics (e.g. p). Registration of sequences Newly reported nucleotide and amino acid sequences must be deposited, prior to submission, to appropriate public databases (e.g., GenBank, EMBL, DDBJ, PDB, UniProtKB). The accession numbers of those sequences must be included in the manuscript. Abstract Abstract should be on a separate page. It should not exceed 250 words and should summarize the paper in a form that is intelligible in conjunction with the title. No reference to the literature is allowed. Up to five Key words (single or multi worded) should follow the abstract; key words should be listed alphabetically, separated by commas. Tables Each table should be typed on a separate page after References section. Tables should be numbered consecutively (and in order of appearance) in Arabic numerals, e.g. TABLE 1, TABLE 2, etc. and attached to the end of the text. Tables should be supplied with headings and referred to in the text as Table 1 etc. Footnotes can be used in order to provide essential information for the table to be understood (footnote indicators should be given as superscript). 5

6 Figures Figures (for photographs, see below) should be numbered consecutively (and in order of appearance) in Arabic numerals, e.g. Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc. and attached to the text after the tables. Graphs and diagrams should be large enough to permit reduction. Legends for figures (incl. photographs) should be listed consecutively on a separate page (at the end of the manuscript). Line drawings, maps, and graphics should be submitted as TIFF or EPS files with a minimum 600 dpi resolution. Photographs should be sharp, wellcontrasted, and of high resolution (minimum 300 dpi). They should be submitted as TIFF files. The magnification should be indicated by a scale bar. Inscriptions, marks and scale bars should preferably be neatly placed on the illustrations. When several pictures are used to produce a single plate, please ensure that they fit each other in size, are of equal contrast, and correspond to the caption in number and description. Figures should be constructed to fit to a column width of 8.0 cm or a page width of 16.5 cm. Figures may be combined to a plate with maximum size of 16.5 cm x 22.5 cm. References In the text cite references in the following forms: Smith (1998) said or (Brown, 2000) when giving reference simply as authority for a statement. In the text, names of two authors are connected by & (e.g. Paula & Hartnoll, 1989). When papers are by three or more authors use et al. (e.g. Coll et al., 2010). Two or more references cited within the same parenthesis should be separated by ; and be listed in chronological order (e.g. Sala et al., 1998; Sala, 2004; Rainieri & Savini, 2010; Yildirim et al., 2010). The list of references must include all publications cited in the text but only these. Several papers by the same author (or the same co authors) published in the same year should be differentiated in the text and in the list of references, by a,b,c, following the year of publication. References should be listed alphabetically. Listings of several works by the same author should be grouped in chronological order. In the list of references, titles of journals must be given in full, not abbreviated. For books, give the title, name of publisher, place of publication, and indication of edition (if not the first). References should conform to the following styles: Sax A, Hoi H, Birkhead TR, Copulation rate and sperm use by female bearded tits, Panurus biarmicus. Animal Behavior, 56: Gould SJ, Wonderful life: the Burgess Shale and the nature of history. W.W. Norton, New York. Avise JC, Protein variation and phylogenetic reconstruction. In: Oxford GS, Rollinson D, eds. Protein 6

7 polymorphism: Adaptive and taxonomic significance. Academic Press, London: Nicholas J, The biology of reproduction in two British pulmonate slugs. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Wales. Other citations, such as papers in press, may appear in the list but not papers submitted or in preparation. Restricted number of personal communications may be cited in the text but not in the reference list. References of internet pages should be cited in text only (not given in reference list) in the following form (HOMEPAGE name, accessed on MM/YYYY). Supplementary material Authors are encouraged to submit any additional information that may help the reader to appreciate their effort as a supplementary material (such as detailed lists, raw data, etc). Supplementary material is subjected to the reviewing process and will appear only online upon acceptance of the manuscript (although it will be advertised in the printed version of the manuscript). Colour figures Figures submitted in colour by the authors will appear as such within the online version of the manuscript. In the printed issue, colour reproduction depends on journal policy and whether or not the authors agree to bear the associated costs. Changes to authorship Requests for addition, removal, or rearrangement of author names must be directed via e mail to the Managing Editor strictly by the corresponding author of the manuscript. Requests must be sent at a reasonable time prior to publication and not after the receipt of corrected proofs by JBRT. They must include a sound justification for the addition, removal, or rearrangement of author names as well as written confirmation (e mail AND fax or letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this also includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Decisions for any such requests are the sole responsibility of the Editorial Board. Please note that the above procedure may significantly delay publication of the accepted manuscript. No changes to authorship are allowed after the manuscript is published online. Proofs Corresponding author will receive a PDF file as an attachment via an e mail sent by Managing Editor along 7

8 with the Transfer of Copyright Agreement form (ToCA). ToCA should be completed and signed and returned by fax (or as an e mail scanned attachment). The signed ToCA is a prerequisite for publication of an article. At this stage, the authors should check carefully the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor in Chief. Normally, the corrected proofs should be returned to the Editorial Office of JBRT within 3 working days. Offprints Journal of Biological Research Thessaloniki offers free access to all published articles (including supplementary material) through its site. All articles are available in pdf format. As standard, no paper offprints are offered by JBRT. In case that the contributing authors wish to order paper offprints, there is the option of ordering a certain number of offrprints, prior to the publication of their article. After publication of the article, no order of paper offprints will be accepted. The corresponding author is the only responsible for compiling all requests from contributing authors into a single order. Three ordering schemes are offered by JBRT: 25 offprints for 180, 50 offprints for 250 and 100 offprints for 350. If more paper offprints are needed, please, contact the Managing Editor of JBRΤ. Offprints are supplied without cover in the regular size and format of JBRT. After the order is placed in JBRT, please, allow days for delivery of paper offprints (the period is indicative and is dependent on local postal services). Orders of paper offprints should be send to the Managing Editor via e mail. At this stage, instructions regarding payment and delivery details will be communicated to the corresponding author. 8