Author Guidelines
To ENSURE more uniformity, greater clarity and higher quality of manuscripts published, a greatly expanded “Instructions for Contributors” section appears in this issue of the Journal. These Instructions will appear in the first issue of each volume and should be carefully consulted by all authors intending to submit manuscripts. It is the author’s responsibility to make sure that their manuscripts follow the guidelines required. If extensive revisions in the form of a manuscript are required, this will delay publication.
1. SUBMISSION and CORRESPONDENCE
Manuscripts of regular papers, short communications, letters to the editor and announcements should be submitted in triplicate to Dr. M. Farid El-Asmer. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine. Ain Shams University, Tel.202/ 26741206 2/0101512278 e mail: felasmer@hotmail.com or falasmer33@yahoo.com Submission of a manuscript to the Editor, and its acceptance for review, involves the tacit assurance and understanding that the contents of the manuscript have not previously been published (except as an abstract or preliminary report), is not presently under consideration elsewhere, and will not be submitted for publication elsewhere, in any language, if the manuscript is accepted in EJB. Furthermore, all authors in a multi-authored manuscript must be aware of and in agreement with the contents of the manuscript. It is also assumed that papers submitted have received appropriate clearances and approvals as required by the Institution of origin..
Before mailing the manuscript to the Editor, please correct all errors in typing and check spelling and accuracy of references. Delay can be avoided if the manuscript adheres closely to the instructions for Contributors as herein described..
The author submitting the covering letter received with the manuscript may expect to receive confirmation of receipt of manuscript within 1-2 weeks. All manuscripts are sent to at least two referees, who are usually, but not always, members of the Editorial Council, for their reviews and recommendations. The final decision on acceptance or rejection is made by the Editor. Under usual circumstances the author can expect to hear from the Editor within 4- 8 weeks, after submission of a manuscript, as to its acceptability for publication. Authors are encouraged to submit any revisions required in the manuscript as soon as possible, so that publication is not delayed. Final manuscript should be on a CD as well as printed form .
2. Language and style:
English is the preferred language,the paper is accompanied by a 200-400 word Arabic summary. Technical Jargon, laboratory slang and words not defined in dictionaries should not be used. Webster’s New International Dictionary or the Oxford English Dictionary should be consulted for spelling of English words. Either American or British Spelling is satisfactory, as long as it is used consistently throughout the manuscript. Latin plurals should not be used if the English equivalent has become the accepted form, e.g. formulas not formulae. The Editors and members of the Editorial Council reserve the right to make alterations in style and grammar appropriate to that required for publication in EBS. The Council of Biology Editors (CBE) Style Manual published by the American Institute of Biological Sciences will be followed in details not specifically covered in this Instructions for Contributors section.
All non-English terms (if the article is in English) such as in vitro, in vivo, et al. and all Latin species names should be typewritten in italics or underlined to indicate italics.
Trade names or abbreviations of chemical names may be used only it initially preceded by their chemical or scientific name. Thereafter, trade names, common names or abbreviations may be appropriate, although the chemical or scientific name is usually to be preferred.
The International Union of Biochemistry (IUB) Enzyme Commission (EC) number must be quoted with the full names of the enzyme when it is first mentioned in the text. Subsequently the accepted trivial name should be used, e.g. full name: phosphatidate 2- acylhydrolase (EC 3.1.1.4), trivial name: phospholipase A;. This information may be obtained from Enzyme Nomenclature (1973). Recommendations of the International Union of Biochemistry, Elsevier, Amsterdam.
3. Form of submission:
EJB. has set a standard length for papers, but the Editors insist upon a clear presentation of data in as concise a form as is consistent with good reporting. The fragmentation of a report into several short papers is discouraged.
Manuscripts should be typewritten, double spaced, on one side of 8.5 x 11 in (215 x 280 mm) bond paper, and provided with 25 mm margins on all sides. An original and two Photostat copies should be submitted. All pages should be numbered consecutively starting with title page as number 1. Following the title page, the manuscript should be divided into the following major headings, typed in capitals: Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements (if any) , References. Subheadings, within these major headings, should be indicated by italics without numerical or alphabetical designation.
Title page. Numbered as page 1 of manuscript and should contain only the following: title of paper; author(s); laboratory or institute of origin including city, state and country; a running title not to exceed 40 letters and spaces; an address to which proof is to be sent. Please note that if the manuscript is based upon work carried out at more than one institution, superscript Arabic numerals should be used by author’s names and institution in order to relate each author to their correct institution.
A descriptive, clear and concise title is very important since some information retrieval services use only titles and many users of these services decide which articles to read on the basis of these titles. If a species is mentioned in the title its common name should be given and in parentheses its complete Latin name, e.g.. ..sea nettle (Chrysaora quinquecirrha).
Abstract page. Numbered as page 2 of manuscript and should contain only the following:
Author(s). Title, ll,lll-lll,20ll "An informative abstract of 100 to 300 words, it should state concisely what was done, what was observed and what was concluded. Be as specific as possible; statements such as data are presented or results are discussed; without presenting detailed information, are not suitable. Abbreviations should be avoided in the abstract.
INTRODUCTION: The reasons for carrying out the study and why the study is of interest should be summarized. Adequate references to earlier work having a direct bearing on the study should be presented. The detailed presentation of data obtained by other workers or a discussion of its relationship to the results should not be presented in this section.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sources of venoms, toxins and chemicals should be indicated, including address (city and country). Gifts of materials should be acknowledged in this section. Indication of purity, of agents used, should be given wherever appropriate. Standard methods, for which an adequate, readily available literature citation can be provided, need not be described in detail. In a sentence or two it may, however, be useful to summarize the principle of the analytical method, physiological procedure, etc. All original methods or modifications of literature procedures should be described in sufficient detail so that they can be duplicated by other workers in the field
RESULTS: Clear concise presentations of findings are essential, with extensive discussions of data reserved for Discussion section. Tables and Figures should be used only if they are the best means of presenting data which do not lend themselves to presentation in the text. All Tables and Figures should be referred to in the text and their approximate positions indicated in the margin of the manuscript.
Data should, whenever possible, be presented as means with an index of variation provided (standard deviation, standard error of the mean, range) The number of values upon which each mean is based should be indicated The statistical significance (P values) of differences from control values and the method of calculation (e.g Student’s t-test) should also be provided Lethality data, wherever possible, should be presented as LD50 values There is theoretically and statistically no such thing as a 100% lethal dose, an LD50 dose, a minimum lethal dose, a maximum tolerated dose. etc These terms and ones like them should not be used
Tables should be referred to in text consecutively by arable numerals and must not duplicate material in text or figures Each Table should be on a separate page and all Tables should be placed together at the end of the manuscript Tables should be prepared so that they can be printed horizontally Above of the Table should be the Table number and a dear concise descriptive title. Below the Table should be all information and footnotes (†, ‡, §, ║, ¶.) needed for the understanding of the Table Tables should, insofar as possible be understandable without referring to the text. Each column of the Table should have a heading, and units of measurement must be clearly indicated. Whenever possible, all data should be presented as mean values with some measure of their dispersion (standard deviation, standard error of the mean, range). An indication of the statistical significance of differences from control values should also be presented either in the body of the Table or in footnotes below the Table. The number of individual values upon which each mean is based should also be presented. Tabular presentation of masses of negative data should be avoided and replaced with a statement in the text briefly and concisely listing what was done, results obtained (including a measure Of variability), how data were analyzed and the significance of this analysis. Non-significant figures should not be listed in the Tables, e.g. 3.2 ± 0.5 not 3.1816 ± 0.4973 In the interest of economy and in order to avoid introduction of errors. Tables will be reproduced whenever possible by photo-offset means directly from the author’s typed manuscript.
Figures should be referred to in the text consecutively by Arabic numerals and must not duplicate material contained in text or Tables. Each Figure should be on a separate page and all Figures should be placed together at the end of the manuscript. Legends for all Figures should be placed together on page headed ‘Legends for Figures’ which should immediately precede the Figures. Legends should have sufficient experimental detail so that the Figures are intelligible without reference to text. Figures should be submitted in triplicate and their numbers kept to a minimum. Only one original set of Figures need be of a quality suitable for reproduction, i.e. high quality India ink drawings on thick white paper or glossy photographic prints. The other two sets of Figures must, however, be of adequate clarity for refereeing purposes. Several Figures, if related, can be grouped together to form a plate on one page, and given a single number with alphabetical subdivisions such as Fig. 1 a, 1 b, band ld. For good reproduction, Figures should be of an adequate size to ensure clarity, avoiding excessive white space, and approximately twice the final size which will appear in EJB, and in any case no smaller than 10 x 13 cm nor larger than 21 x 28 cm. Points of actual observations, on line graphs, should be shown, and should be large enough to be visible even If the size of the Figure is reduced. Letters and numbers should be at least 4 mm in height. Both the x and axis of each Figure must be labeled. Line and bar graphs should show means and indicate a measure of dispersion (standard error of the mean, standard deviation or range) by vertical lines If more than two replicates were performed for each point. The numbers of experiments should be indicated in the legend. Statistical significance of the differences from the control values should be shown either in the Figure or in the legend beneath the Figure. The actual points of observation should be shown if the data is based upon one or two determinations. The following standard symbols should be used on line drawings. lâ Ä J Ã
All micrographs (optical or electron) or other photographs in which a unit of length has to be indicated should have a bar scale (p.m, mm, etc.) directly on the Figure. The use of terms in the legend such as x 20,000 are not acceptable since the size of the Figure as ultimately published may be different from that which was submitted by the author.
On the back of each Figure there must be written its number, the author(s) names, ‘EJB’, and along the appropriate edge of the Figure, Top. The writing on the back must be done lightly and carefully so as not to produce indentations visible on the front side.
DISCUSSION: Your data should be discussed in detail including, but not necessarily limited to: sources of error, significance, relationship to data obtained by other workers and possible reasons for or significance of differences. Needless detailed racapitulation of the Results should be avoided. Unsupported hypotheses and speculation should be omitted.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: A simple brief statement of thanks to individuals for services or advice is appropriate. Grants or fellowships may also be noted in this section.
REFERENCES: References should not be listed unless they have been read and the correctness of the citation verified. References should be given in name and date form in text. with the term et al. being used if there are more than two authors. Examples of citations are: (JONES, 1976); (JONES and SMITH, 1975); JONES and WEINBERG, 1960; JONES et at., 1976). as reported by JONES and SMITH (1975); as described by JONES et at. (1976). References should be listed alphabetically on a separate page at the end of the manuscript. If there is more than one reference to the same author in papers having only one author, the references are arranged chronologically. If there is more than one reference to the same first author in papers having two or more authors, the references are first arranged alphabetically by the second author if there are two authors and then chronologically if there are three or more authors, regardless of the second and third authors names, if there is more than one reference with the same author(s) and the same year of publication, the reference should be differentiated by a, b, etc . (e.g. 1 964a, b). The titles of the journals should accordance with the World list of Scientific Periodicals .
References should be typed in the following manner Journal reference: Minton. S.A. JR (1968): Preliminary observations on the venom of Waglers pit viper (Trimeresurus wagleri). Toxicon 6, 93.
Textbook reference: SMITH, D.S., GAYER, M.L. RUSSELL, F.E. and RUBIN, R.W. (1978) Fine structure of stingray spine epidermis with special reference to a unique microtubular component of venom secreting cells. In: Toxins: Animal, Plant, and Microbial, pp. 565 (ROSENBERG, P., Ed.). Oxford: Pergamon press.
References to articles which have been accepted but not yet published may be listed in the reference list, with the words ‘in press’ added . after the journal or book citation. Unpublished observations, personal communications and references to graduate theses may be cited in text where referred to but should not appear in the reference list.
For more information for the criteria please consult uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals. ( http://www.icmje.org)
