Guidelines to Authors
Advanced Biotech publishes articles of relevance to any of the broad areas encompassing Biotechnology, in the following categories: Full Length Research Articles, Short Communications, Full Length Reviews and Mini Reviews. Apart from these, contributors can send in manuscripts for ‘Tools & Techniques’. Also, feedback from readers is welcome and select few will be published in the forthcoming issues as ‘Letters to the Editor’. Papers may come from any country but must be written in English. The guidelines for the various contributions are as follows:
1. Full Length Research Articles
Manuscripts should contain Title, Abstract, Key Words. A short Running Title, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements (if necessary), References and a Conclusion section are necessary. The total number of double-spaced pages of the Abstracts, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion must not exceed 16. The original typescript should be submitted electronically in MS Word format, with a word count of 5000–7000 (excluding figures, Tables and References). Section and sub-section headings should not be numbered.
Title: Should be concise and should be in ‘Title Case”.
Title Page: The Title page should contain the Author (s) names along with their current affiliations and contact details such as Full Postal Address with Telephone & Fax numbers and E-Mail address.
Abstract: Maximum word limit of250. The Abstract should be informative and give the over-all information of the manuscript and should encompass the background, materials and methods adopted, the salient results and a concluding sentence as to the findings of the manuscript in brief.Keywords: Up to 5 Keywords.
Running Title: Should be given after key words, after the abstract. It should be restricted to 50 characters in length including spaces.
Introduction: This part should define the background and significance of the study by considering the relevant literature, particularly the most recent publications. The reasons for conducting the study must be mentioned in this section.
Materials and Methods: Concise but complete information about the materials and experimental protocols along with the analytical and statistical procedures used should be presented; as clear as possible to enable other scientists to repeat the research presented. If unique chemicals or reagents are used, the source may be provided in parenthesis at appropriate places.
Results: Salient outcome of the study must be presented backed by relevant Tables and Figures. Repetition of Data as Text, Tables and Figures may be avoided.
Figures: All illustrations, whether diagrams, graphs or photographs, are referred to as Figures. Photos or drawings must have a good contrast of dark and light. Legends of figures should be brief, but complete and self- explanatory so that the reader can easily understand the results presented. Figures may be submitted as Jpeg format in separate pages duly numbered with appropriate legend. High quality Figures need to be submitted as the Cover Page Picture will be selected from one such submissions that is accepted for publication in a particular issue. Colors should be avoided if not necessary. All figures are to be submitted as separate high-resolution jpeg files. The Figures should have uniform font size and style (Times New Roman, 12) and if prepared in excel, should have sufficient clarity for the print.
Tables: Each table must be given on a separate page duly numbered with a brief but complete and self-explanatory caption so that the reader can easily understand the results presented. The Tables should have uniform font size and style (Times New Roman, 12) and if prepared in excel, should have sufficient clarity for the print.
Discussion: Discussion must be written with reference to the tables and figures and by considering previous information from the literature. Statements made in the Introduction and Results sections should not be repeated here.
Conclusion: A suitable conclusion specifying the inferences drawn from the present work and its significance along with future implications in the particular field.
Acknowledgements: If necessary, a brief Acknowledgement may be included.
References:
References should be made only to works that are published, accepted for publication (not merely 'submitted'), or available through libraries or institutions. Any other source should be qualified by a note regarding availability. Full reference should include the following pattern:
Authors: In the reference list authors' names followed by their initials separated by coma & space; but only first five authors' names with initials are allowed and rest of the authors must be set under (et al.)., followed by year of publication without brackets.
Title of Publication: Article title must be in sentence case format. Followed by Journal Title, which must be in Title case, italics and abbreviated according to International Journal abbreviation style.
Volume and Issue Number: Volume number of a journal should be in bold and (Issue number) within bracket followed by colon to separate the page numbers (first and last page numbers need to be provided).Journal Articles
Smith, J.K., Jones, Mc, Sueng Chen, Selvam, P., Nagi Reddy, et al. Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLST: a new generation of protein database search programs. Nucl.Geophys. Res., 25(2):3389–3402.Books
The same rule is applicable for Books; publishers’ name and place must be mentioned along with the date and year. Book Title should be in Title Case and in Italics (and also editors names should be in italics). Followed by Publisher: Place, pp. (page numbers – first and last page numbers need to be provided).
Book
Stacey, G.L. and Keen N.T., 1996. Plant-Microbe Interactions. Chapman & Hall: New York.
Book Chapter
Mandell, G.L. and Jr. Petri, W.A., 1996. Antimicrobial agents: penicillins, cephalosporins, and other ß-lactam antibiotics. In Goodman and Gilman`s. The pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 9th Ed., J.G. Hardman and L.E. Limbird (Eds.). McGraw-Hill: NY, pp. 1073–1101.
Conference Proceedings:
Here, proceeding title must be in italics with Title case followed by date of publication, publisher: place.
Ridout, C.J. and Brown, J.K.M., 1996. Fine-scale mapping of the avirulence gene Avra12 in the barley pathogen Erysiphe graminis f.sp. hordei. In Proceedings of the 9th European and Mediterranean Cereal Rusts and Powdery Mildews Conference, 2–6 September 1996, Lunteren: Netherlands. European and Mediterranean Cereal Rust Foundation, Wageningen.
Citations:
References should be cited in the text by the last name(s) of the author(s) and year of publication, for example, (Chakravarthy, 2006) or (Chakravarthy and Shah, 1999). If the citation is the subject of the sentence, then only the date should be given in parentheses, for example, According to Shah (1984) or as suggested by Shah and Chakravarthy (1984). For citation of references with three or more authors, only the first author`s name followed by et al. should be used, for example, (Shah et al., 1988) or as shown by Shah et al. (1988) and the word `et al.’ should be in italics- font. If there is more than one reference in the same year for the same author(s), then add the letters ‘a’, ‘b’, etc. to the year, for example, (Shah, 1970a, 1970b). References should be listed alphabetically at the end of the text without numbering. Each authors citation should be separated by another and year with semi-colon; for example, (Chakravarthy, 2006; Shah, et al., 1970).
2. Short Communications: Manuscripts under this category will present Original Research Findings in a concise manner with a word limit of 2000 – 3000 words. Figures, Tables and references need to be limited to highlight the most relevant details. The manuscript preparation details remain the same as for the Full Length Research Articles.
3. Full Length Reviews: A Review is a comprehensive, authoritative, scholarly survey of recent advances in any area of biotechnology- research, technologies, products or protocols. It can range from 5,000 to 6,000 words or less. It should be broadly applicable to varied biotechnology sub-sectors. All reviews are subject to full peer-review process. Mere compilation of available data should not be submitted but preferably, the author (s) contribution to the over-all understanding of the topic need to be highlighted with their own relevant research inputs to the topic reviewed.
The format is the same as that for Full Length Research Articles.
4. Mini Reviews: This section will contain short review articles expressing scientific views and questions on topics and trends in the field of biotechnology. It can contain 2,000-3,000 words and the manuscript format remains the same as for Full Length Reviews.
5. Tools and Techniques: This section showcases novel developments in either tools or techniques for application in biotechnology related areas. Authors can submit either adaptations or new applications of current tools, technologies, and methods, or new procedures and products of broader interest, which is (are) a result of their original research. The manuscript should give a detailed description of the protocols or products developed with suitable evidence (for e.g., as figures) in a manner that is easy to understand and reproduce by other researchers with similar areas of interest.
The contributions in the category are expected to provide a means for rapid dissemination with the aim of enabling subsequent possible collaboration between academia and industry or promoting scientific dialogue. Sufficient data should be provided to bring out the strength of a particular technique. They can be between 1,000 and 2,000 words. Abstracts are not required. Acronyms should be used and explained as appropriate. Other than these specifications, details given under original articles apply.
7. Letters to The Editor
Readers and other contributors to ‘Advanced Biotech’ are encouraged to send in their feedback or their view on either the previous published issue of the journal or on a current topic of interest to a general reader. Selected such communications will be published in the forthcoming issues based on an editorial review and decision.
8. Video Articles
Research findings and methodology are accepted as video articles, which will be hosted/published through the journal website web site. The videos can be as a supplement for an article being published as the print version or a separate complete article. The videos should be submitted as high-resolution files (minimum of 10 Frames per Second) in any off the video formats compatible with Quick time player or moviemaker. The videos should be limited to 10 minutes and should have streaming, continuous author affiliations, article title and sub headings through out the entire duration in the sub-title format. Authors are encouraged to submit audio commentary along with the video files.
Authors submitting video articles should submit an Abstract of 250-500 words which will be included in the print issue for the wider reach and also as an information for readers/subscribers of the print issues.
Submission of Manuscripts
Print articles:
Manuscripts must be submitted as E-mail attachments to submit@advancedbiotech.in
For bigger files, authors must submit the entire manuscript as a CD.
Video articles:
By DVD and the abstract, consent forms, etc as E-mail attachments to submit@advancedbiotech.in
Other Communications:
As E-mail to editor@advancedbiotech.in
Formal conditions of acceptance
Papers will only be published in English. Each submission must be accompanied by a ‘Declaration from Authors’ giving a statement that it has not been submitted for publication elsewhere Also, the Declaration from the Corresponding Author should clearly mention towards the originality of the work submitted and that all the co-authors have equally contributed to the work along with a brief profile of the corresponding author. Previous conference presentations of a submitted manuscript should be disclosed.
Manuscripts, which have been accepted, become the property of the publisher and it is not the publisher’s prerogative to check for the authenticity of either the author’s affiliations or their original contributions to the submissions. The editorial decisions will purely be based on the suitability of the submissions to ‘Advanced Biotech’ and need not necessarily reflect on the quality of the submission.
Manuscripts are subject for peer review with a few exceptions for solicited submissions.
The reviewers’ recommendations are considered for accepting/not accepting; subject to revision and resubmission and the final publication of the manuscript. All corresponding authors will be informed by E-mails about the status of their submission based on the editorial decisions.
The Guidelines to Authors will be available on-line in the Journal Web-Site and also will be published at regular intervals in print.
Reprints: The corresponding author is entitled to one copy of the print issue where his / her manuscript is published. Authors can obtain electronic reprints as pdf files and also extra print versions of the entire issue as required for a charge of Rs. 1500.00 (Rupees One Thousand Five Hundred only) and Rs. 100.00 (Rupees One Hundred only) respectively. The pdf reprints will include the cover page of the particular issue and this is as a value addition and as an encouragement for the authors to showcase their work as cover images.
Video article reprints including the supplementary videos can be obtained as high-resolution movie files with the publication details for a reasonable charge.
Also, non-authors can obtain an electronic (pdf) reprint of any article published in ‘Advanced Biotech’ and also the print issues as mentioned above.