Information for Authors

Table of Contents

Instructions to Authors

About the Journal ↑

Asian Journal of Biological and Life Sciences (AJBLS) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal, devoted to publishing scientific and technical information in the field of Biological and Life Sciences. With 3 issues per year, the Journal aims to provide the most complete and reliable source of information on current developments in the respective fields. The emphasis will be on publishing high quality articles and providing free access to researchers worldwide through online publication. The Journal publishes research articles, reviews, short communications, etc. containing original research works of good standards.

The journal brings together material from a wide range of disciplines and sectors, including:

• Life Sciences
• Biological Sciences
• Molecular Biology
• Chemical Sciences
• Biotechnology
• Pharmacology
• Pharmacognosy
• Agriculture
• Zoology

Scope of the Journal ↑

The Journal is devoted to publishing scientific and technical information in the field of Biological and Life Sciences. With 3 issues per year, the Journal aims to provide the most complete and reliable source of information on current developments in the respective fields. The emphasis will be on publishing high quality articles and providing free access to researchers worldwide through online publication.

↑ Back to Table of Contents

Authorship Criteria ↑

Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the three components mentioned below:

1. Concept and design of study or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data;
2. Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
3. Final approval of the version to be published.

Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship. Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript. The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing of the manuscript. Once submitted, the order cannot be changed without written consent of all the contributors. The journal prescribes a maximum number of authors for manuscripts depending upon the type of manuscript, its scope and number of institutions involved. The authors should provide a justification if the number of authors exceeds these limits.

Contribution Details ↑

Contributors should provide a description of the contributions made by each of them towards the manuscript. Description should be divided into the following categories, as applicable: concept, design, definition of intellectual content, literature search, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing and manuscript review. Authors' contributions may be printed along with the article. One or more authors should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to published article and should be designated as the guarantor.

Conflicts of Interest / Competing Interests ↑

All authors must disclose any and all conflicts of interest they may have with the publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflicts of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

Submission of Manuscripts ↑

Manuscripts must conform to the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” (http://www.icmje.org/). Contributions and manuscripts must be written in English and submitted exclusively to AJBLS. Manuscripts must be typewritten (double-spaced) with liberal margins and space at the top and bottom of the page.

All manuscripts must be submitted online via the link provided on the journal website.

Covering Letter ↑

The covering letter should disclose all possible conflicts of interest (e.g., funding sources for consultancies or studies of products). A brief indication of the importance of the paper to the field of Pharmacy or Biological and Life Sciences is helpful in gaining appropriate peer review.

Preparation of Manuscript ↑

Your manuscript should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5" × 11") with 1" margins on all sides. You should use 12 pt Times New Roman font. Authors should take care over the fonts used in the document, including fonts within graphics.

Title: Should be in Title Case; the first character in each word in the title has to be capitalized.

Abstract – Limit of 250 Words ↑

A brief summary of the research. The abstract should include a brief introduction, a description of the hypothesis tested, the approach used to test the hypothesis, the results seen and the conclusions of the work.

Key words ↑

Please write no more than four keywords. Write specific keywords. They should be written left aligned, arranged alphabetically in 12 pt Times New Roman, and the line must begin with the word Keywords boldfaced. A 12 pt space should separate the keywords from the affiliations.

Introduction ↑

Description of the research area, pertinent background information, and the hypotheses tested in the study should be included under this section. The introduction should provide sufficient background information such that a scientifically literate reader can understand and appreciate the experiments to be described. The introduction must include in-text citations, including references to pertinent reviews and primary scientific literature. The specific aims of the project should be identified along with a rationale for the specific experiments and other work performed.

Materials and Methods ↑

Materials and/or subjects utilized in the study as well as the procedures undertaken to complete the work should be described in this section. The methods should be described in sufficient detail such that they could be repeated by a competent researcher. Please include the company sources for all uncommon reagents (kits, drugs, etc.). Illustrations and/or tables may be helpful in describing complex equipment or elaborate procedures. The statistical tool used to analyze the data should be mentioned. All procedures involving experimental animals or human subjects must be accompanied with a statement on necessary ethical approval from the appropriate ethics committee.

Results ↑

Data acquired from the research with appropriate statistical analysis described in the methods section should be included in this section. The results section should describe the rationale for each experiment, the results obtained and their significance. Results should be organized into figures and tables with descriptive captions. The captions, although brief, should tell the reader the method used, explain any abbreviations included in the figure, and should end with a statement as to the conclusion of the figure. Qualitative as well as quantitative results should be included if applicable.

Discussion/Conclusion ↑

This section should relate the results section to current understanding of the scientific problems being investigated in the field. Description of relevant references to other work(s) in the field should be included here. This section also allows you to discuss the significance of your results – i.e., does the data support the hypotheses you set out to test? This section should end with new answers/questions that arise as a result of your work.

Tables and Figures ↑

Tables

Each table must start on a separate sheet. They should be numbered with Roman numerals according to their sequence in the text, and have a short self-explanatory heading. Use SI units. Tables should include vertical rules, but horizontal rules should separate column headings from the content. Authors should keep in mind the page layout of the journal when designing tables. Tables that fit onto one printed page are preferred. Detailed explanations of symbols, units, and abbreviations should follow below the table.

Table and Figure Captions

Figure and table captions should be included at the end of the manuscript. Figure captions/legends should include a statement at the end of each caption/legend about reproduction size (e.g., at full page width, at column width). They should be double spaced and typed in the journal format. Explanations should be brief and authors should keep in mind that captions/legends will be placed below figures.

Acknowledgements – Limit of 100 Words ↑

This is a brief section crediting the people who have helped make your manuscript possible and who aided you in your work but are not part of the authorship. Please mention all applicable grants and other funding that supported your work.

Review Articles ↑

It is expected that review articles would be written by individuals who have done substantial work on the subject or are considered experts in the field. A short summary of the work done by the contributor(s) in the field of review should accompany the manuscript.

The prescribed word count is up to 3000 words excluding tables, references and abstract. The manuscript may have about 90 references. The manuscript should have an unstructured abstract (250 words) representing an accurate summary of the article. The section titles would depend upon the topic reviewed.

Authors submitting review articles should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.

The journal expects the contributors to give post-publication updates on the subject of review. The update should be brief, covering the advances in the field after the publication of the article and should be sent as a letter to the editor, as and when major developments occur in the field.

References (APA Style) ↑

References should be prepared according to the APA (American Psychological Association) style. In-text citations should use the author’s last name and publication year. All references cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and every entry in the reference list must be cited in the text.

Journal titles should generally be written in full, with the journal name and volume number in italics. Authors are advised to consult the latest APA guidelines for detailed formatting rules.

Checklist Before Submitting Manuscript ↑

Ensure that the following items are ready before final submission:

• Covering letter
• Copyright forms (scanned, duly signed as required)
• Manuscript (as per formatting guidelines)
• Illustrations / figures (if any), in acceptable formats