Author Guidelines
1. Editorial policy. The African Journal of Tropical Hydrobiology and Fisheries is open to original manuscripts that are relevant to the African aquatic environment. All materials submitted must be original. Unpublished work and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Topics will include: fish and fisheries, freshwater and marine biology, limnology, parasitology, fisheries economics, fish processing, aquatic weeds, rural fishing development, fishing gear technology and development, and other fields in the aquatic sciences. Short notes, reviews of hydrobiological and fisheries conferences, and book reviews are also solicited. Brief communications (see 11, overleaf) will be considered.
2. Submission of manuscripts. All manuscripts are to be in English should be submitted, in triplicate, to the Chief Editor, Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization, P. O. Box 1625, Jinja, Uganda. All manuscripts must be in English or French. French papers must be accompanied by an English summary: French summaries for English papers are encouraged.
3. Preparation of typescripts. Typescripts should be on one side only of A4 paper. Typing should be double-spaced throughout the text. Including tables, figure legends, footnotes and references lists. With a margin of at least 3 cm on each side. The manuscript is to be accompanied by both an abstract (approximately 200 words on a separate page).
The first page should bear the title, name(s) and academic address(es) of author(s). If the present address of any author is different it should be added as a footnote. Telephone and facsimile numbers and email address for the corresponding author should also be provided as a footnote. A concise running headline of not more than 35 characters inclusive of spaces should also be given on this page.
Full papers should generally be arranged in the following sequence: Abstract; Key Words; Introduction; Materials and Methods; Results; Discussion; Acknowledgements: References; Tables; Figures. Within sections, subdivision should not normally exceed three grades; decimal number classification of headings and subheadings should not be used. Alphabet, Arabic and roman numerals should be used. All pages should be numbered. Footnotes should be used only if essential. Names of fish should be given in full, i.e. common name and Latin name with authority. Italics are required for species names that are written in full the first time they appear in the text (e.g. Labeo victorianus B.) but abbreviated at subsequent mention (e.g. L. victorianus). Spellings should be in English (as distinct from American) throughout except in quotations and references.
Information in tables should not be duplicated in figures, and vice-versa. Repetition of table headings and figure legends in the text should be avoided.
Authors may find it helpful to consult recent issues of Journal of Tropical Hydrobiology and Fisheries for details of style and presentation.
4. Abstracts. An abstract that should be concise and summarise the significant findings of the paper should accompany each manuscript. It should be followed by a list of not more than six key words.
5. Figures. Figures should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals, in order of their mention in the text. Line drawings (originals, clean photocopies or computer drawings) should be submitted in duplicate. Photographs should be selected only to illustrate something that cannot adequately be displayed in any other manner: they should be original enlargements, in the form of glossy black and white prints, two prints and a calendar photocopy of each photograph are required. Magnification should be given in actual terms and all stains used should be given in full. Colour photographs can be included at the author’s expense. Three copies of a fully descriptive legend should be provided for every figure to be typed on separate sheets; each figure with its legend should be selfexplanatory. Each figure should be clearly identified, in pencil, on the reverse, by the name(s) of the author(s), its number and, if necessary, an indication of its top. Wherever possible, keys should be included in the legends and not in the figures. The minimum reduction for the figures may be indicted. Photographs and line drawings will not be returned to authors unless requested.
6. Tables. These should be numbered in Roman numerals in the order of their mention in the text. A brief title should be typed directly above each table. Footnotes to tables should be indicated by superscripts and typed at the bottom of the tables.
7. Units and symbols. Metric units should be used. Physical measurements should be in accordance with the System International d’Unités (SI), e.g., mm, mm3, s.g. ìg.m s-1.gl-1. The style manual for Biological journals (2nd ed., American Institute of Biological Science, 2000 PSt. N.W., Washington, DC, USA) is followed for details of style. In mathematical expressions, please use single letters for variables, qualifying them with subscripts if required, e.g. length L. fork length L1, standard length Ls, index I, gonadosomatic index IG, hepatosomatic index l11, etc. The 24-hour clock should be used for time of day, e.g., 1645 hours, not 4.45 p.m. Calendar dates should be as e.g., 18 April 1957. In the text, onedigit numbers should be spelt out unless they are used with units of measure. E.g. five boxes; 5 cm. Numerals should be used for all number of two or more digits e.g. 34 boxes.
8. Statistics. Statistics should be presented as follows: name of test, number of observations or degree of freedom, and probability level. Values of text statistics are not required.
9. Acknowledgement of copyright. Authors should obtain permission from the copyright owner (usually this is the publisher) to use any figure, table or extended quotation from material that has previously been published. Acknowledgement, however should cite the author:; “Reproduced with permission from Kambira (1968).
10. References
The list of the references should be arranged alphabetically according the surname of the first author and set out as follows:
Moriarty, D.J.W. and C.M. Moriarty.(1973). The assimilation of carbon from phytoplankton by two herbivorous fishes: Tilapia nilotica and Haplochromis nigripinnis. J. Zool. London. 171:41-55.
BOOK: Sterling, T.D. and S.V. Pollack. (1965). Computers and the life sciences. Columbia University Press, New York and London, 342 pp.
CHAPTER: Bradley, W.H. (1966). Paleolimnology, p621-652. In Limnology in North America. Frey, D.G. (Ed.).The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Milwaukee and London.
Otubusin, S.O. (1985). Preliminary studies in bamboo floating cage and net enclosure fish culture. In Kainji Lake Basin. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON) Lagos, Nigeria, 26-29.
The order in the list should be:
Where more than one reference is given for a single author the publications should be listed chronologically.
Where more than two authors are cited the citation should appear like this in the text: Kong et al, (1996) and in the reference list it should appear like this; Kong, Z., Vanrollleghem, P., Willems, P. and Verstaete, W. (1996).Simultaneous determination of inhibition kinetics of carbon oxidation and nitrification with a respirometer. Water Research. 30 (40), 825-836.
If more than one reference by the same authors(s) published in the same year is cited, see a.b etc., after the year in both text and list. e.g. (1963)a). Text citations can be given in either of two ways: (a) with date in parentheses. “as demonstrated by Mbikilwa (1964 b)’’; or with names and date in parentheses “according to recent findings (Mbikilwa, 1964b)”. Where more than one reference is cited in the text, this should be in chronological order, e.g., “Mlindwa, 1972”; “Mlindwa 1985”. Journal titles should be given in full. The full title of the paper, the volume number and the page numbers should be given. Authors should check that all citations in the text are in the list of references and vice versa, and that their dates match. Journal titles, book titles and any other material within the reference list that will be italicised in print should be underlined in the manuscript.
11. Brief communication. A brief communication may be concerned with any subject within the scope of the African Journal of Tropical Hydrobiology and Fisheries but should be confined to a single point or issue of progress, such as an unusual occurrence, an interesting observation, or a topical and timely finding. To qualify for inclusion as a Brief Communication a paper must be short (no more than three printed pages of the African Journal of Tropical Hydrobiology and Fisheries, including reference, illustrations and tables). An abstract of not more than three lines is required. No subheadings or subdivisions are necessary; in other respects submitted manuscripts should comply with the instructions given above.
12. Acceptance of papers. Papers will normally be critically reviewed by one or more outside experts in the relevant discipline and evaluated for publication by the Editor; however the Editor may return to authors without review any manuscripts deemed to be of inadequate quality or inappropriate for The African Journal of Tropical Hydrobiology and Fisheries.
13. Proofs and reprints
Galley proofs will be sent to the author. The corrected proofs should be sent directly back to the Editor as soon as possible. Authors will be emailed a PDF copy of the volume of the journal with their contribution. The journal will be accessed on LVFO Website – www.lvfo.org., and on ‘African Journals Online (AJOL)’ Website, but printing copies will require registering as per instructions given on the LVFO website.
