The African Journal of Biotechnology (AJB) (ISSN
1684-5315) provides rapid publication of papers on biotechnology and applied
molecular biology. The Journal welcomes the submission of manuscripts that meet
the general criteria of significance and scientific excellence. Papers will be
published approximately one to two months after acceptance.
Electronic submission of manuscripts is strongly
encouraged, provided that the text, tables, and figures are included in a
single Microsoft Word file (preferably in Arial font).
Submit manuscripts as e-mail attachment to the
Editorial Office at: [email protected]
or [email protected]
The cover letter should include the corresponding
author's full address and telephone/fax numbers and should be in an e-mail
message sent to the Editor, with the file, whose name should begin with the
first author's surname, as an attachment. The authors may also suggest two to
four reviewers for the manuscript (AJB may designate other reviewers). A
manuscript number will be mailed to the corresponding author.
Starting from May 2003, the African Journal of
Biotechnology will only accept manuscripts submitted as e-mail attachments.
All other correspondence that cannot be sent by e-mail
should be mailed to:
African Journal of Biotechnology
Academic Journals
P.O. Box 5170-00200
Nairobi, Kenya
or
African Journal of Biotechnology
Academic Journals
P.O. Box 73023
Victoria Island
Lagos, Nigeria
Fax: 1-831-303-2546
Article Types
Three types of manuscripts may be submitted:
Regular articles: These should describe new and
carefully confirmed findings, and experimental procedures should be given in
sufficient detail for others to verify the work. The length of a full paper
should be the minimum required to describe and interpret the work clearly.
Short Communications: A Short Communication is
suitable for recording the results of complete small investigations or giving
details of new models or hypotheses, gene isolation and identification,
innovative methods, techniques or apparatus. The style of main sections need
not conform to that of full-length papers. Short communications are 2 to 4
printed pages (about 6 to 12 manuscript pages) in length.
Minireview: Submissions of mini-reviews and
perspectives covering topics of current interest are welcome and encouraged.
Mini-reviews should be concise and no longer than 4-6 printed pages (about 12
to 18 manuscript pages). Mini-reviews are also peer-reviewed.
Review Process
All manuscripts are reviewed by an editor and members of the
Editorial Board or qualified outside reviewers. Decisions will be made as
rapidly as possible, and the journal strives to return reviewers’ comments to
authors within 3 weeks. The editorial board will re-review manuscripts that are
accepted pending revision. It is the goal of the AJB to publish manuscripts
within 8 weeks after submission.
Regular articles
All portions of the manuscript must be typed double-spaced
and all pages numbered starting from the title page.
The Title should be a brief phrase describing the
contents of the paper. The Title Page should include the authors' full names
and affiliations, the name of the corresponding author along with phone, fax
and E-mail information. Present addresses of authors should appear as a
footnote.
The Abstract should be informative and completely
self-explanatory, briefly present the topic, state the scope of the
experiments, indicate significant data, and point out major findings and
conclusions. The Abstract should be 100 to 200 words in length.. Complete
sentences, active verbs, and the third person should be used, and the abstract
should be written in the past tense. Standard nomenclature should be used and
abbreviations should be avoided. No literature should be cited.
Following the abstract, about 3 to 10 key words that
will provide indexing references to should be listed.
A list of non-standard Abbreviations should be added.
In general, non-standard abbreviations should be used only when the full term
is very long and used often. Each abbreviation should be spelled out and
introduced in parentheses the first time it is used in the text. Only recommended
SI units should be used. Authors should use the solidus presentation (mg/ml).
Standard abbreviations (such as ATP and DNA) need not be defined. Use the same
abbreviations as the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The Introduction should provide a clear statement of
the problem, the relevant literature on the subject, and the proposed approach
or solution. It should be understandable to colleagues from a broad range of
scientific disciplines.
Materials and methods should be complete enough to
allow experiments to be reproduced. However, only truly new procedures should
be described in detail; previously published procedures should be cited, and
important modifications of published procedures should be mentioned briefly.
Capitalize trade names and include the manufacturer's name and address.
Subheadings should be used. Methods in general use need not be described in
detail.
Results should be presented with clarity and
precision. The results should be written in the past tense when describing
findings in the authors' experiments. Previously published findings should be
written in the present tense. Results should be explained, but largely without
referring to the literature. Discussion, speculation and detailed
interpretation of data should not be included in the Results but should be put
into the Discussion section.
The Discussion should interpret the findings in view
of the results obtained in this and in past studies on this topic. State the
conclusions in a few sentences at the end of the paper. The Results and
Discussion sections can include subheadings, and when appropriate, both
sections can be combined.
The Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc
should be brief.
Tables should be kept to a minimum and be designed to
be as simple as possible. Tables are to be typed double-spaced throughout,
including headings and footnotes. Each table should be on a separate page,
numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals and supplied with a heading and a
legend. Tables should be self-explanatory without reference to the text. The
details of the methods used in the experiments should preferably be described
in the legend instead of in the text. The same data should not be presented in
both table and graph form or repeated in the text.
Figure legends should be typed in numerical order on
a separate sheet. Graphics should be prepared using applications capable of
generating high resolution GIF, TIFF, JPEG or Powerpoint before pasting in the
Microsoft Word manuscript file. Tables should be prepared in Microsoft Word.
Use Arabic numerals to designate figures and upper case letters for their parts
(Fig 1). Begin each legend with a title and include sufficient description so
that the figure is understandable without reading the text of the manuscript.
Information given in legends should not be repeated in the text.
References: In the text, a reference identified by
means of an author‘s name should be followed by the date of the reference in
parentheses. When there are more than two authors, only the first author‘s name
should be mentioned, followed by ‘et al’. In the event that an author cited has
had two or more works published during the same year, the reference, both in
the text and in the reference list, should be identified by a lower case letter
like ‘a’ and ‘b’ after the date to distinguish the works.
Examples:
Abayomi (2000), (Kelebeni, 1983), (Usman and Smith, 1992),
(Chege, 1998; Chukwura, 1987a,b; Tijani 1993,1995), (Kumasi et al., 2001)
References should be listed at the end of the paper in
alphabetical order. Articles in preparation or articles submitted for
publication, unpublished observations, personal communications, etc. should not
be included in the reference list but should only be mentioned in the article
text (e.g., A. Kingori, University of Nairobi, Kenya, personal communication).
Journal names are abbreviated according to Chemical Abstracts. Authors are
fully responsible for the accuracy of the references.
Examples:
Ogunseitan OA (1998). Protein method for investigating
mercuric reductase gene expression in aquatic environments. Appl. Environ.
Microbiol. 64:695–702.
Gueye M, Ndoye I, Dianda M, Danso SKA, Dreyfus B (1997).
Active N2 fixation in several Faidherbia albida provenances.
Ar. Soil Res. Rehabil. 11:63-70.
Charnley AK (1992). Mechanisms of fungal pathogenesis in
insects with particular reference to locusts. In: Lomer CJ, Prior C (eds)
Biological Controls of Locusts and Grasshoppers: Proceedings of an
international workshop held at Cotonou, Benin. Oxford: CAB International, pp 181-190.
Mundree SG, Farrant JM (2000). Some physiological and
molecular insights into the mechanisms of desiccation tolerance in the
resurrection plant Xerophyta viscasa Baker. In Cherry et al. (eds) Plant
tolerance to abiotic stresses in Agriculture: Role of Genetic Engineering,
Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands, pp 201-222.
Babalola OO (2002). Interactions between Striga
hermonthica (Del.) Benth. and fluorescent rhizosphere bacteria of Zea
mays, L. and Sorghum bicolor L. Moench for Striga suicidal
germination In Vigna unguiculata . PhD dissertation, University of
Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Short Communications
Short Communications are limited to a maximum of two figures
and one table. They should present a complete study that is more limited in scope
than is found in full-length papers. The items of manuscript preparation listed
above apply to Short Communications with the following differences: (1)
Abstracts are limited to 100 words; (2) instead of a separate Materials and
Methods section, experimental procedures may be incorporated into Figure
Legends and Table footnotes; (3) Results and Discussion should be combined into
a single section.
Proofs and Reprints: Electronic proofs will be sent
(e-mail attachment) to the corresponding author as a PDF file. Page proofs are
considered to be the final version of the manuscript. With the exception of
typographical or minor clerical errors, no changes will be made in the
manuscript at the proof stage. Because AJB will be published freely online only
for the first year (to attract a wide audience), authors will have free
electronic access to the full text (in both HTML and PDF) of the article.
Authors can freely download the PDF file from which they can print unlimited
copies of their articles.
Copyright: Submission of a manuscript implies: that
the work described has not been published before (except in the form of an
abstract or as part of a published lecture, or thesis) that it is not under
consideration for publication elsewhere; that if and when the manuscript is
accepted for publication, the authors agree to automatic transfer of the
copyright to the publisher.
Fees and Charges: There are no page charges or extra
charges for color photographs. Starting with papers accepted for the May 2003
issue of the African Journal of Biotechnology, authors will now be charged a
$250 handling fee. Publication of an article in the African Journal of
Biotechnology is not contingent upon the author's ability to pay the charges.
Neither is acceptance to pay the handling fee a guarantee that the paper will
be accepted for publication. Authors may still request (in advance) that the
editorial board waive some of the handling fee under special circumstances..