Author Guidelines

The Journal publishes original research papers, review articles and short communications including viewpoints and perspectives.  

Length of the manuscripts

  • Research article
    Abstract <250 words,
    Word Count (maximum 6500 excluding tables and figures), minimum 25references, maximum 6 tables & figures combined)
  • Review article
    Abstract: ≤ 300 words
    Word count: ≤ 7500 (incl. abstract & references; excl. tables & figure legends) Total Figures &Tables: ≤ 08, Number of references: ≤ 60
  • Short communication
    (3000 words, 20 references, 3 tables & figures combined)
    Any additional tables and figures as supplementary material

Headings and subheadings are used to organize the manuscript. The section headings should be pertinent to both the study itself and your field. Your document may contain up to five heading levels (i.e.: 3.2.2.1.2 Heading Title).For Original Research articles, it is recommended to organize your manuscript in the following sections or their equivalents for your field.

Layout and style:

The journal’s system of refereeing is single blind and protects the identity of reviewers. The full name and address of the institution where the research was done should be stated. Change of address may be given as a footnote. Indicate the name and address of corresponding author with “*” to which proofs should be sent and the e-mail address. Only SI units will be accepted in the manuscript.

Font type: Times New Roman

Font size: 12

Line space: 1.5

Line Numbers: Continuous line numbers from start of article to end of the document is compulsory.

Main Text

Title Page

Please make sure your title page contains the following information;

Title

The title should be concise and informative.

Author information

  • The name(s) of the author(s)
  • The affiliation(s) of the author(s), i.e. institution, (department), city, (state), country
  • A clear indication and an active e-mail address of the corresponding author
  • If available, the 16-digit ORCID of the author(s)

Abstract

Please provide an abstract of <250 words. The abstract should not contain any undefined abbreviations or unspecified references.

Keywords

Please provide 4 to 6 keywords that can be used for indexing purposes.

Introduction

The reader should be introduced to the significance of the study in the Introduction. The study's objectives and the body of existing literature should be integrated, and the study's justification should be made explicit. Provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results. Avoid subheadings.

It is important to be concise and clear when explaining the aim or justification of the research being presented, as well as its importance, originality, or contribution to new understanding in the field. Do not summarize the most recent findings.

Materials and Methods

The sources of all significant materials used must be mentioned. Brief descriptions of the essential methods will be provided, along with citations. New methods or substantially modified methods may be described in sufficient detail. The statistical method should be clearly stated.

Results

This section must include a summary of any findings that have been presented in tabular or graphical form. Subheadings may be used to split this section. The level of significance should be stated after statistical analysis of the data. Data that is not statistically significant need only to be mentioned in the text – no illustration is necessary. To make all tables and figures self-explanatory, they must have a title or caption as well as a legend.

The interpretation of the results and how they relate to the present understanding of the issue should be discussed.

Discussion

Avoiding unsupported hypothesis is advised. It should also include the possibilities that the research suggests should be investigated further.

It should also cover the main findings of the study and include a discussion of any prior research on the topic to place the novelty of the discovery in the correct context, potential shortcomings and limitations on their interpretations.

Conclusion

Authors are recommended to describe their conclusions in relation to the study's objectives in a concise manner.

Acknowledgements
Acknowledgment will include the acknowledgment of the research team or any funding agency which has provided help during the work.

Conflicts of Interests

Authors are required to disclose financial or non-financial interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication.

References

In the text, a reference should be quoted by the author's name and date in parentheses, in date order, e.g. (Jarvis, 1994; Edmondson, 1998). Where there are three or more authors, the first name followed by et al. should be used.

A list of references should be given at the end of the text listing, in APA style and alphabetical order, surname of authors and initials (in capitals), year of publication (in parentheses), title of paper, name of journal abbreviated, volume, and first and last pages of the reference; the place of publication and publisher (and Editor(s) if appropriate) for books and conferences should be included. Examples;

In text:

Jarvis (1994); Jarvis (1994a,b); Scott and Jaggard (1993); Ferris et al. (1990); (Ferris et al., 1990); M.J. Jaskani(personal communication); (M.J. Jaskani, personal communication).

In reference list:

  • Article in journal, magazine and serial publication:
    Altaf, S., M.M. Khan, M.J. Jaskani, I.A. Khan, M. Usman, B. Sadia, F.S. Awan, A. Ali and I.A. Khan. 2014. Morphogenetic characterization of seeded and seedless varieties of Kinnow mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco). Aust. J. Crop Sci. 8:1542-1549.
    Aslam, M., M. Ismat, R.H. Qureshi, S. Nawaz and I.A. Mehmood. 1994. Paddy yield affected by planting techniques in a salt-affected soil. Pak. J. Agri. Sci. 31:401-405.
  • Books (including bulletins, reports, multi-volume works, series):
    Steel, R.G.D. and J.H. Torrie. 1980. Principles and Procedures of Statistics: A biometrical approach, 2nd Ed. McGraw Hill Book Co., New York.
  • Chapter in a book:
    Jaskani, M.J., M. Omura and I.A. Khan. 2007. Cytogenetics. In: I.A. Khan (ed.), Citrus Genetics, Breeding and Biotechnology. CAB International, UK. pp.151-166.
    Wiseman, J. 1990. Variability in the nutritive value of fats and non-ruminants. In: J. Wiseman and J.A. Cole (eds.), Feedstuffs Evaluation. Butterworths, London. pp.232-234.
  • Conference, symposium or workshop proceedings:
    Khan, I.A., M.J. Jaskani, M.M. Khan and B. Fatima. 2002. Breeding for triploid seedless citrus fruits-A biotechnology approach. In: Y.A. Al-Shayji, J.S. Sidhu, M. Saleem and K. Guerinik (eds.), Biotechnology Applications for the Arid Regions. Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait. pp.229-234.
    Jaskani, M.J. and I.A. Khan. 2000. Characterization of interploid hybrids of Kinnow mandarin. Proc. Int. Soc. Citriculture 1:165-166. Muhammad, S. and A. Ghafoor. 1986. Reclamation of two saline-sodic soil series through subsoiling and gypsum application using marginal water for leaching. In: R. Ahmad and A.S. Pietro (eds.), Prospects for Biosaline Research. Proc. US-Pak Biosaline Res. Workshop; Sept. 22-26, 1985. University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan. p.221-223.
  • Dissertation or thesis:
    Mehmood, A. 2013. Physical, biochemical and moecular profiling of guava (Psidium guajava L.) germplasm. Ph.D. diss., Inst. Hort. Sci., Univ. Agric., Faisalabad, Pakistan.
    Kirkegaard, J.A. 1990. Effect of compaction on the growth of pigeon pea on clay soils. Ph.D. diss., Dept. Soil Sci., Univ. Queensland, St Lucia, Australia.

Authors should check that all references in the text appear at the end of the paper and vice versa, and that the names and dates correspond in the two places. The accuracy of presentation of each reference in the list should be carefully checked.

Tables 

Tables must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited in the text. Numerical results should be displayed as means with their relevant standard errors and degrees of freedom. Normally a mean should be rounded to one-hundredth of its standard error and the standard error given to two places of decimals. The title should fully describe the contents of the Table and explain any abbreviations used in it.

Figures should be restricted to the display of results where a large number of values are presented and interpretation would be more difficult in a Table. Figures may not reproduce the same data as Tables and must be cited in the text. Figures must be saved as separate files, preferably as TIFF or JPEG files at approximately the size of reproduction. All files to be clearly named.