Submission of Manuscripts

Submission of Manuscripts

Sending files

Only electronic submission is accepted. Manuscripts should be submitted by e-mail to the Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Journal of Biology Education (ajbe_edit@aabe.sakura.ne.jp), accompanied by a completed Submission Form, which can be downloaded from here. While MS Word document files are preferred, submissions in MS Excel spreadsheet format or as Acrobat PDF files are also acceptable. Authors must ensure that the manuscript adheres to the formatting and style guidelines outlined below. They are also requested to specify the appropriate category for their submission from among the six designated types. There is no strict word limit for articles submitted to AJBE. However, most published articles fall within the following general ranges: 3,000 to 7,000 words for Research Papers and Practical Reports; 1,500 to 3,000 words for Research Notes and Practical Notes; and approximately 4,000 words for articles in the Biological Resource category. Authors are strongly encouraged to present their work clearly and concisely, avoiding unnecessary length.

Submission Form

Presentation of manuscripts

All contributions must be in English and be as succinct as possible. They should not be under consideration by any other journal. Plagiarism of another person’s thesis even only in part is strictly prohibited. Reprinting of data from the authors’ past publications and quotations from any publication should be at a minimum.

Authors should emphasize the educational setting and the relevance to biology education. Papers should contain a clear description of the context to which they relate and should show the relevance of the results and insights in both their specific setting and in any general setting to which they may also relate.

Page format

Manuscripts should be prepared on A4-sized paper. The page settings should be as follows: top and bottom margins of 3.0 cm, and left and right margins of 2.5 cm. The recommended font is 11-point Times New Roman, with approximately 40 characters per line and 42 lines per page. Pages should be numbered consecutively.

The first page layout

The first page should include only the following:

  • A title that clearly reflects the content of the manuscript;
  • A running title (or running head) of 50 characters or fewer, including spaces;
  • Up to seven keywords listed in alphabetical order.

Author information and other required details should be entered in the Submission Form.

The second page

The second page should contain only the title of the paper and an abstract (preferably no more than 250 words) with keywords. This is not applicable to the manuscripts which do not include an abstract. In order to ensure anonymous and fair refereeing, the name(s) or affiliation(s) of the author(s) should not be indicated on the second and following pages.

Footnotes and appendices

Footnotes are discouraged and all material should be placed in the main body of the text. If notes are required, they should be numbered sequentially and placed at the end of the paper. Appendices may be used if they are essential to understand the article.

Units, symbols, abbreviations, and nomenclature

The International System of Units (SI) should be used throughout. Full stops are not used after units. All symbols or abbreviations, except those mentioned on page 31 in AJBE Vol. 13, should be defined when first used. For biological nomenclature, the use of scientific names is recommended. If desired, the common name of the organism should be shown in parentheses after the recommended name. For chemical nomenclature, the rules of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) should be followed.

Tables

Tables should be numbered consecutively. Each table with its number, heading and any footnotes should be embedded in the text where it should most naturally occur. The table caption or heading should be self-explanatory. The width of a table should be less than 16 cm.

Figures

Graphs, line drawings and photographs should be numbered consecutively. Each figure with its number and caption should be embedded in the text where it should most naturally occur. The journal will accept color pictures. The width of a figure should be less than 16 cm.

Graphs and drawings must be presented to a high professional standard. It is desirable to prepare each figure in one cluster.

Photographs must be clear, good quality black and white or color pictures, and JPEG-formatted. The vertical/transverse proportion should not be changed from the original. Any lettering required should be printed directly on the photograph by the author. The insertion of a scale on the photograph is preferable to a statement of magnification in the caption.

Because of the requirements of editorial treatment, every table and figure should be prepared to be edited easily by the Microsoft Office software (e.g., Word, Excel, or Picture Manager). If the author has any queries, please consult with the Editor-in-Chief.

References and Websites

References must be selected thoughtfully by considering whether it is indispensable for the paper. It is expected that the references will be easily accessible to a wide range of educators. Therefore, inaccessible materials, such as unpublished manuscripts, unpublished documents, and newspaper articles, are not appropriate for the references. All references cited in the text should be listed in the Reference section at the end of the paper. All references in the list should be cited in the text, too.

References in the text should be given as follows:

Wallis and Katayama (2022) or (Wallis and Katayama, 2022). Papers with three or more authors should be cited as Kharatmal et al. (2022). When an author has published two or more papers in one year, the references should be distinguished by referring to Hedde et al. (2007a) and Hedde et al. (2007b), etc. Where more than one reference is given at the same point in the text, they should be listed chronologically.

The reference list should be arranged in alphabetical order by the family names of the first authors and should include the author’s initials and the full title of the paper. Titles of journals must be given in full, followed by the volume number, and the first and last page numbers in full:

Kharatmal, M., Gikwad, M., Mule, A. and Advani, J. (2022) Exploring college biology students’ understanding of experimental design. Asian Journal of Biology Education 14: 2-7.

References to books and monographs should include in the order as follows: author or editor, year of publication, title of book, edition, chapter, and/or page reference (if desired), publisher and the place of publication. For example:

Alberts, B., Heald, R., Johnson, A., Morgan, D., Raff, M., Roberts, K. and Walter, P. (2022) Molecular Biology of the Cell, 7th ed. W. W. Norton & Co. Inc., NY. U.S.A.

Waterman, M. (2012) Actions and opportunities: a North American perspective on undergraduate biological education for social and sustainable development. In: Kim, M. and Diong, C. H. (eds.) Biology Education for Social and Sustainable Development, pp. 29-39. Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Web-based resources are included in the reference list or separately shown in the Website list. Articles or documents, which are available on a website as document files, should be treated as references. For example:

Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Melbourne, Victoria (2020) Victoria’s Bushfire Emergency: Biodiversity Response and Recovery, Version 2. https://www.wildlife.vic.gov.au/__data/as sets/pdf_file/0030/484743/Victorias-bush fire-emergency-Biodiversity-response-a nd-recovery-Version-2-1.pdf <accessed on May 20, 2023>

Glover, B. (2023) Investigating how plants use colour to attract pollinators: Introducing STEM Careers – Teaching, Learning and Technician Notes | Resource 846, version 1.1, revised 2023. Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS). <downloaded on May 20, 2023, from https://www.saps.org.uk/teaching-resources/resources/846/investigating-how-plants-use-colour-to-attract-pollinators-introducing-stem-careers/>.

When citing an article from a webpage itself, not as document files, the website information should encompass the site’s name, the relevant webpage, its address (URL), and the access or retrieval date:

Science and Plants for Schools (SAPS). Investigating how plants use colour to attract pollinators: Introducing STEM Careers. https://www.saps.org.uk/teaching-resou rces/resources/846/investigating-how-pl ants-use-colour-to-attract-pollinators-int roducing-stem-careers/ <accessed: May 20, 2023>.

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. About the Endangered Species Protection Program. https://www.epa.gov/endangered-specie s/about-endangered-species-protectionprogram. https://www.epa.gov/endangered-species/about-endangered-species-protection-program <retrieved: 20/05/2023>

Prior to the submission, authors should confirm whether each Website can be accessed through the Internet using the provided URL, as readers may sometimes encounter difficulties accessing the corresponding Webpage with the indicated URL.