Author Guidelines
Instruction for Authors
Manuscripts should follow “Instruction for Authors” as closely as possible. Manuscripts that do not conform to this guide will be returned for revision.
1. Submission
Papers must be submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or thesis) and are not currently under consideration by another journal or any other publisher.
Authors are required to submit their articles for review as electronic files in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) format with tables and figures enclosed. Please reduce the file size enough small. Separate figures or pictures in printing quality should be sent when submitting final manuscript after acceptance.
2. Authorship
Biologia Serbica does not require all authors of a research paper to sign the letter of submission, nor do impose an order on the list of authors. Submission to Biologia Serbica is taken by the journal to mean that all the listed authors have agreed all of the contents. The corresponding (submitting) author is responsible for having ensured that this agreement has been attained and for managing all communication between the journal and all co-authors, before and after publication. Any change to the authors list after submission, such as a change in the order of the authors or the deletion or addition of authors needs to be approved by a signed letter from every author.
3. Types of paper
Standard research papers (original 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 not normally exceed ten printed pages.
Short Communications: A Short Communication is suitable for recording the results of complete small investigations or giving details of new models or hypotheses, 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.
Invited Reviews and Mini Reviews: Invited Reviews (generally up to 25 printed pages) and Mini Reviews (up to 6 printed pages) are published by invitation only.
Note that with the exception of Short Communications and Invited Mini Reviews, the number of pages suggested here is a guideline: in all cases the length of an article should be appropriate to its scientific content.
4. Preparation of manuscripts
Before submission of the new manuscript authors should consider the following general rules for preparation of the manuscript. Please read these instructions carefully and follow the guidelines strictly.
We request to submit article in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx). If you are using another word processor please save final version of the manuscript (using 'Save As' option of the file menu) as a Word document. In this case please double check that the saved file can be opened in Microsoft Word. The manuscript files should be given the last name of the first author.
Manuscripts must be typed on A4 (210 × 297 mm) paper using size 12 Times New Roman, double-spaced throughout and with an approx. 25 mm margin.
All pages must be numbered consecutively. Starting with the title page as p.1, the text, which begins with p.2, is to be arranged in the following order: Summary, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements (if any), References, Figure legends, Tables. Each line of the text should also be numbered, with the top line of each page being line 1.
At the stage of submission for review the figures should be incorporated in the manuscript file at its end.
After acceptance the article file should include a list of any figure legends but exclude any figures themselves – these should be submitted separately. Please do not embed images in the article file. Instead, figures should each be allocated separate electronic files on your computer for sending with final version of the manuscript.
Formatting
Justification should be set to full (or left only, if preferred).
Automatic hyphenation should be turned off.
Use carriage returns only to end headings and paragraphs.
Artificial word breaks at the end of lines must be avoided.
Do not underline: Use italics, bold or bold italics instead.
Line spacing should be set at 2 (Double).
The beginning of each new paragraph must be clearly indicated by indentation.
Leave a line space between paragraphs and sections.
Leave a line space between section titles and text.
Leave only one space after a full stop.
Do not insert spaces before punctuation.
Title page. The first page should provide a concise and informative full title followed by the names of all authors. Where necessary, each name should be followed by an identifying superscript number (1, 2, 3 etc.) associated with the appropriate institutional address to be entered further down the page. For papers with more than one author, the corresponding author's name should be followed by a superscript asterisk*. The institutional address(es) of each author should be listed next, each address being preceded by the relevant superscript number where appropriate. E-mail address, phone and fax number of the corresponding author should also be provided.
Summary. A single paragraph of maximum 300 words or less should be self-explanatory and intelligible in itself and include the rationale for the study, objectives and topics covered, brief description of methods, results, and conclusions. Complete sentences, active verbs, and the third person should be used, and the abstract should be written in the past tense. Do not include authorities for Linnaean binomials or trinomials, footnotes, statistical probability levels, or literature references. Abbreviations should be avoided.
Keywords. The list of keywords includes those keywords appearing in the title and words or short phrases that would be useful in index retrieval systems. Choose keywords thoughtfully, as they are the sole basis of the BS annual subject index. List key words alphabetically. Most key words should be in the singular form.
Introduction. The intent of the Introduction is to place the research described in the manuscript into a broader context and, with the obvious exception of a review article, is not intended to be a comprehensive review of the field. Authors should expect the readership to have a general understanding of biology and biological terms, but should explain specialist terms or concepts. Authors should cite prior research from their own and other scientists to support their main contentions. Avoid statements and words such as important, interesting and novel that make value judgments on the work. Brevity is encouraged. The Introduction should end with a statement of the overall and specific objectives of the research, and should not recapitulate the results.
Materials and methods. The Materials and methods section should provide sufficient detail to permit a skilled and knowledgeable researcher to repeat the work. 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. Methods in general use need not be described in detail. The section should include precise information on the statistical analyses performed.
Results. The main purpose of the Results section, written in the past tense (except for taxonomic papers), is to provide narrative support for the Figures and Tables in which the actual results of the experiments are reported. Do not repeat in the Text all the data appearing in the Figures and Tables. Results not displayed in a figure or table also arepresented in narrative style. Literature citations are rare in the Results section, and neither materials and methods nor discussion should be included. The combination of Results and Discussion is permitted and is encouraged for short articles.
Discussion. The Discussion should provide the authors interpretation of the data, in context with the state of the art of the field presented in the Introduction, and also in light of the objectives listed in the Introduction. Authors should arrive at some conclusions and not merely repeat what was stated in the Results; the Discussion should ordinarily not refer to figures or tables, except perhaps to present a model or hypothesis. The points emphasized in the Discussion should be in accordance with the title of the article. Discussion of previous observations must be related to the present findings and speculations must rest upon these findings. Authors are encouraged to be brief, to not over-interpret their findings, and to make clear when views expressed are opinion or conjecture.
Acknowledgments. All acknowledgments (if any) should be included at the very end of the paper before the references and may include supporting grants, presentations, and so forth.
References. Authors have an ethical responsibility to fairly and correctly attribute previous work by citation. In most cases, it is preferable to cite the primary literature instead of a review. Authors should make every effort to cite only articles that are readily available.
References in text. In the body of the manuscript, publications are cited using the name-year system, e.g., (Johns 1996). In some instances, such as at the start of a sentence, or if the intent is to particularly stress the cited author’s contribution, only the date is in parentheses: e.g., “Johns (1996) showed that…” However, authors are encouraged to limit their use of this form of citation. To cite a publication with two authors, list both: e.g., (Johns and Milford 2003). If both authors have the same surname, add their initials (Brown GP and Brown UA 1999). Papers with three or more authors should be cited by the first author’s last name followed by the abbreviation “et al.” (e.g.: Lee et al. 2000). When multiple citations are listed in parentheses, they are listed in chronological order from oldest to most recent and separated by semicolons. For example, (Power 1980; Clark 1996). If two or more cited papers are from the same year, list the papers from that year alphabetically: e.g., (Clark 2003; Clark and Brown 2003; Clark and Power 2003; Clark et al. 2003). For two or more articles by the same author(s) in the same year use letters: e.g., (Houser 1992a, 1992b). The same applies if two multiple-author citations are from the same year: e.g., (Clark et al. 2003a, 2003b). Citing two works published in the same year by different authors with the same last name: (Rhodes D. 2000; Rhodes E. 2000). Some manuscripts are published by consortia and do not list individual authors. In those cases, the name of the consortium should be considered to be the author’s name, e.g., (C. elegans Sequencing Consortium 1998).
Manuscripts that are in preparation or have been submitted for publication but not yet accepted should not be cited as references, either in the text or in the References. If authors wish to mention such information, it can be listed parenthetically in the text as unpublished data (abbreviated as “unpub. data”). Making reference to unpublished material from sources other than the authors requires documented permission from the source, which must accompany the manuscript; an e-mail from the source of the information would normally suffice. Such personal communications should be listed parenthetically in the text with the initials, last name and affiliation of the communicator, e.g., (N. B. Clark, NCSU, pers. com.).
Reference list. All citations in the text should appear in the list of references. Authors are responsible for ensuring that the information in each reference is complete and accurate.
Manuscripts that have been accepted for publication but not yet released should be included in the Reference section by indicating “in press” in parentheses after the journal name of the journal in which it will be published.
References should be listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name. If there is more than one reference for an author or a group of authors, the references should be listed chronologically, with the earliest publication first. Papers published in the same year should be distinguished by the letters a, b, c as for example 1999a, 1999b, 1999c, etc. In two-author papers with the same first author, the order must be alphabetical by the second author’s last name. When three or more authors are listed, the order will be chronological according to the first author only (disregarding the order of subsequent authors’ names), as these references will be cited in the text by the principal author only, followed by the abbreviation “et al.” Each reference cited in the text (including figure legends, etc.) must be in the References; the converse also must apply. Each citation should be checked against the original publication. Authors must pay precise attention to spelling, spacing, capitalization, indentation, and format in their literature citations.
Names of periodicals must be spelled out in full, e.g. Annals of Botany. 108:279–290.
References are listed as follows.
Examples:
Journal article
Format:
Author AA, Author BB. Date. Article title. Journal title. Volume(issue):Pages.
In References:
Adams BJ. 1998. Species concepts and the evolutionary paradigm in modern nematology. Journal of Nematology. 30(1):1–21.
Cabanillas E, Barker KR, Daykin ME. 1988. Histology of the interactions of Paecilomyces lilacinus with Meloidogyne incognita on tomato. Journal of Nematology. 20(3):362–365.
Note: When there are 2 to 10 authors, list them all…; if there are more than 10 authors, list the first 10 followed by et al.
Book (single author)
Format:
Author AA. Date. Title. Edition (if applicable). Place of publication: Publisher.
In References:
Singh VP. 2006. Gymnosperm (naked seeds plant): structure and development. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons.
Moore J. 2006. An introduction to the invertebrates. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Book (with more than one author)
Format:
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Date. Title. Edition (if applicable). Place of publication: Publisher.
In References:
Margulis L, Chapman MJ. 2009. Kingdoms & domains: an illustrated guide to the phyla of life on Earth. 4th ed. Amsterdam: Academic Press.
Book with editors
Format:
Editor AA, editor. Date. Title. Edition (if applicable). Place of publication: Publisher.
Note: Follow the last-named editor by a comma and the word “editor” or “editors”.
In References:
Atkinson CT, Thomas NJ, Hunter DB, editors. 2008. Parasitic diseases of wild birds. Singapore: Wiley-Blackwell.
Book chapter
Format:
Author(s) of chapter. Date. Chapter title. In: Author(s) or editor(s) of book. Title of book. Edition (if applicable). Place of publication: Publisher. Pagination of chapter.
In References:
Kinsella JM, Forrester DJ. 2008. Tetrameridosis. In: Atkinson CT, Thomas NJ, Hunter DB, editors. Parasitic diseases of wild birds. Singapore: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 376–383.
Online Journal Articles
Format:
Author(s). Date. Article title. Journal title. [updated Day Month Year; accessed Day Month Year];Volume(issue):pages. Notes.
In References:
Simeski S, Utuk AE, Balkaya I. 2011. Molecular differentiation of Turkey cattle isolates of Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica. Helminthologica. [accessed 5 Aug 2011];48(1):3–7. http://www.springerlink.com/content/x736282142271r04/fulltext.pdf. doi:10.2478/s11687-011-0001-y.
Witmer GW, Fuller PL. 2011. Vertebrate species introduction in the United States and its territories. Current Zoology. [accessed 1 Dec 2011];57(5):559–567. http://www.currentzoology.org/temp/%7B99CD9C02-779E-4BB9-81B1-5C6DD4C303EA%7D.pdf.
Articles and books published in non-English language (Roman alphabet)
Keep the original language. Whenever possible, follow a non-English title with a translation. Place all translated titles within a square brackets.
Format (journal):
Author AA, Author BB. Date. Article title [Article title in English]. Journal title. Volume(Issue):Pages. Language.
Format (book):
Author AA. Date. Title [Title in English]. Edition (if applicable). Place of publication: Publisher. Language.
Articles and books published in non-English language (Cyrillic alphabet)
Author(s), title of article, journal title, book title, place of publication and publisher should be transliterated. Whenever possible, follow a non-English title with a translation. Place all translated titles within a square brackets.
Journal article
Format:
Author AA, Author BB. Date. Article title [Article title in English]. Journal title. Volume(Issue):Pages. Language.
In References:
Komar GA. 1967. O prirodye nizhnyey zavyazi kryzhovkoykh (Grossulariaceae) [On the nature of the inferior ovary of Grossulariaceae]. Botanichyeskiy zhurnal. 52(11):1611–1629. Russian.
Book
Format:
Author AA. Date. Title [Title in English]. Edition (if applicable). Place of publication: Publisher. Language.
In References:
Eliava I, Krall E, Eliashvili T. 1980. Opryedelitel rodov nematode otryadov Dorylaimida i Tylenchida [Key to the genera of nematodes orders Dorylaimida and Tylenchida]. Tbilisi: Metsniyeryeba. Russian.
Links to help transliteration:
Russian
http://www.russki-mat.net/trans.htm
http://www.russki-mat.net/trans2.html
Bulgarian
http://tools.forret.com/translit/bulgarian.php
Macedonian
http://www.mjms.ukim.edu.mk/MJMS_Transliteration.htm
Serbian
http://www.translitteration.com/transliteration/en/serbian/national/
Figures and Tables
Figures and tables should be cited consecutively in the text. They should be numbered sequentially in Arabic numerals, e.g., Fig. 1, Fig. 2, or Table 1, in the order that they appear in the text. Do not place figures or tables in the main body of the text, but at the end of the manuscript. Place every table and every figure in separate pages. References to figures in the main body of the text: Fig. 1, (Fig. 1), (Fig. 1A, B), (Figs 1, 2) or full Figure (if the reference to figure begins a sentence), and to tables: (Table 1), (Tables 3, 4) or Table 5.
Figures and tables should be designed to fit and to be clearly visible in the printed page. Figures in printing quality are not necessary at review process. We strongly suggest reduce the file size for reviewing and send optimal full quality figures at final manuscript submission. Heading and captions should be self-explanatory.
Preparation of Figures. All images (e.g. line diagrams, drawings, graphs, photographs, plates, maps) are considered to be ‘Figures’. Upon submission of an article for review, authors are supposed to include all figures in the Word (.doc) file of the manuscript. Figures should not be submitted in separate files. If the article is accepted, authors will be asked to provide the source files of the figures. The preferred method to submit illustrations is in digitalized format and sent attached to an e-mail. Line illustrations should be supplied as TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) files at 600 dpi resolution, grayscale/colour photographs as TIFF at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. Scale bars on each figure or photograph should be included to indicate magnification/reduction.
Grouping of related graphics (photographs, drawings, etc.) into a single figure is strongly encouraged. When a block of illustrative material consists of several parts, each part should be labelled A, B, C, etc. and not treated as separate figures (in-text reference: Fig. 1A, B, etc.).
Each figure should be submitted in a separate file and the name of these files should include the corresponding author’s last name as well as the corresponding figure number (i.e., Johns_Fig1.tiff).
Histograms composed of different bars (solid, open, stippled, hatched, crosshatched, horizontally striped, vertically striped) must be explained in the legends, which should also indicate whether superior vertical lines represent SDs or SEMs. If the number of observations is the same for all groups, it may be so indicated in an inset (n = ##). In the event of different numbers for groups, they should be indicated at the bottom or top of the bars.
For graphs where curves are fitted, the legends should indicate whether the fit line was adjusted by sight, calculated from a certain equation, or constructed by a specific computer program.
Photomicrographs should be prepared with letters, arrows, and asterisks that contrast with the background and highlighted with a contrasting shadow if necessary. Length scales on photomicrographs are preferable to indications of enlargements on the legends.
Authors who wish to compose their photomicrographs to the final size of reproductions should consider that the figures themselves should be 8 cm wide for a single column and 17 cm wide for a double column. Height should not surpass 20 cm.
When previously published illustrations are used, authors must obtain written permission from the copyright holder (author, journal, society, or publisher), which must then be submitted to the editor of Biologia Serbica along with the manuscript. The manuscript must include the appropriate credit line with the corresponding figure legend, as well as mention in the Acknowledgements section.
Preparation of Tables. Tables constructed using the MS Word Table tool are preferred. Each table must include a brief title and sufficient experimental detail to be intelligible without reference to the text. Column headings must clearly express their respective contents and units of measurement. Furthermore, data that remain the same should not be repeated on each line of the table, but rather should appear as footnotes under each table. Mean values and dispersion measures (standard deviation, range) are preferred to individual observations, but the number of individuals contributing to the statistics must be included. The significance of differences between tabulated values may be indicated by asterisks, specifying their levels at the footnote to the table, along with the probability test used (e.g.: paired Student’s t-test: *p < 0.005; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001). Vertical rules should not be used.
Units and numeric values
Use International System units (km, m, kg, g, etc.).
The symbols h, min and s must be used for hours, minutes and seconds.
Use spaces between the quantity and the units (e.g. 2 m, 3 kg, 7 g, 15 °C). Exceptions: latitude or longitude units and % (e.g. 41°N, 1°17’E and 10%).
Do not include spaces between the following symbols and numeric values: >, < (e.g. >7, <7).
Use a dot "." as a decimal marker.
Do not use any symbol to separate thousands (e.g. 5200 or 10300).
Last revised on 27 January 2015
Submission Preparation Checklist
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
- The submission has not been previously published elsewhere, is original and has been written by the stated authors.
- The article is not currently being considered for publication by any other journal and will not be submitted for such review while under review by Biologia Serbica.
- The submission file is in Microsoft Word document file format (.doc or .docx).
- The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point Times New Roman font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed at the end.
- The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Instruction for Authors.
- Please provide email addresses and affiliation(s) of at least three potential reviewers! (Please enter this information into the "Comments for the Editor" box in the online journal system when you are submitting your manuscript).
- All authors have read the manuscript and agree to publish it.
- Spell and grammar checks have been performed.
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