Submissions

Author Guidelines

Preparation of Manuscripts

Manuscripts should:

• Be concise and clear.
• Be limited to 10 pages excluding the references in Times New Roman (12point font size and double space).
• Contain no more than 10 figures and 60 references as recommended by the journal.
• Use double line spacing throughout (including reference list and figure legends) and Times New Romans style
• Define all abbreviations when first mentioned.
• Be submitted in the correct file type, i.e. main document in an editable Word format.
• Be written in either UK or US English.
• Accepted file types: For article text: doc, docx; for figures: eps, tiff, jpg, pdf
• Please be aware that the combined size of your files should not exceed 40 MB.

Format: Articles must be prepared using MS-word format and double line-spaced on a standard A4 paper (212×297 mm) with margins of 25 mm. The preferred style is Times New Roman, while the font size should be 12. All submissions should follow the journal guidelines for word count, page margins and line numbering. The title page should bear the title, name(s) of the author(s), institutional affiliation(s) and location, and the name and address of the corresponding author.

All research submissions should be formatted in the following sections: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendation, Declaration of Interest, Funding and Acknowledgement and References: 

1. Title page – All submissions must have a title page stating all the relevant information.

• Title (14 words)
• All author's names and full addresses
• Corresponding author’s postal and email address
• A short title (maximum 9 words)
• A minimum of four keywords describing the manuscript should be arranged in alphabetical order after the Abstract.

2. Abstract

The abstract should be a single paragraph of not more than 300 words, clearly stating the objective of the study or review, the methods used (where applicable), and summarizing results, conclusions and recommendations.  Avoid abbreviations and references in this section. The abstract should be structured using the following headings: Background, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion. At the end of the abstract, include a maximum of 6 keywords to be used for indexing.

3. Introduction

The introduction should set the study in context by briefly reviewing relevant knowledge of the subject; follow this with a concise statement of the objectives of the study.

4. Materials and methods

Provide sufficient information for other workers to repeat the study. If well-established methods are used give a reference to the technique and provide full details of any modifications. Include the source of chemicals, reagents and hormones and give the manufacturer’s name and location (town, country) in parentheses. Give the generic name, dose and route of administration for drugs. Specify the composition of buffers, solutions and culture media. Use SI symbols, give concentrations in mol/L and define the term % as w/v or v/v for all solutions. For international units use IU (U should be used for enzyme activity).

Specify the type of equipment (microscopes/objective lenses, cameras, and detectors) used to obtain images. Specify any image acquisition software used,  and describe specialized techniques requiring large amounts of processing, such as confocal, deconvolution, 3D reconstructions, or surface and volume rendering.

5. Results and Discussions

The results should read as a narrative leading the reader through the experiments and investigations performed but the discussion should put them in the broader context and highlight the importance and novelty of the work. Referencing and mention of other studies is permitted in the Results section where necessary or helpful. Data accuracy is crucial. Authors are strongly encouraged to double-check all reported data for accuracy and to confirm that all units of measurement are correct and consistent.

Graphics – All figures and tables should be presented in a clear and informative manner with accompanying legends. When preparing tables, the title should be lowercase letters (except the first letter). Avoid horizontal and vertical lines within the tables.  All figures and tables should be within the text immediately when mentioned or referred to.

6. Conclusion and Recommendation

Final conclusive statements on the work should be stated here. Recommendations may also include suggestions for future research.

7. Declaration of interest, Funding and Acknowledgements

Declaration of interest: Actual or perceived conflicts of interest for all authors must be declared in full. Please either (a) declare that no conflict of interest could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported, or (b) fully declare any financial or other potential conflict of interest.

Conflicts of interest include but are not limited to: Employment and consultancies; Grants, fees and honoraria; Ownership of stock or shares; Royalties; Patents (pending and actual); Board membership and/or funding.

Please detail all of the sources of funding relevant to the research reported in the following format: This work was supported by the Medical Research Council (grant numbers xxxx, yyyy); the Wellcome Trust (grant number xxxx); and TETFUND (grant number xxxx), NABDA Research Fund, etc.

Where research has not been funded please state the following: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.

Acknowledgements: Please be as brief as possible.

8. References

The approved reference style for this journal is APA style (7th Edition). All references cited in the text must be included in the reference list and vice versa. However, if a reference consists of only a web address do not include it in the reference list but cite it in the text, giving the date the page was accessed.

In the text: Cite references in the text using the authors’ names and publication year. Use et al. for articles with more than two authors. Where there are several citations, list them in chronological order.

Unpublished work: Any unpublished work (personal communications, manuscripts in preparation and manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted for publication) must be referred to in the text and not listed in the references. Give the full list of authors, including their initials. For example:

(Stone, A., Brown, J and Smith, M.R., unpublished observations) (J Brown, personal communication)

Articles accepted for publication but not yet published may be listed as ‘in press’ in the reference list, using the current year as the publication year. If an ‘in press’ article is included in the Accepted Preprint service or a similar scheme, then the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) should be included; otherwise, provide a copy of the article as a supplementary file for reviewing purposes.

For single author: Easton, B. (2008). Does poverty affect health? In K. Dew & A. Matheson (Eds.), Understanding health inequalities in Aotearoa New Zealand (pp. 97–106). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.

One author, multiple works published in the same year:

Rush, E., McLennan, S., Obolonkin, V., Cooper, R. and Hamlin, M. (2015a). Beyond the randomised controlled trial and BMI--evaluation of effectiveness of through-school nutrition and physical activity programmes. Public Health Nutrition, 18(9), 1578–1581. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980014003322

Rush, E. C., Obolonkin, V., Battin, M., Wouldes, T. and Rowan, J. (2015b). Body composition in offspring of New Zealand women: Ethnic and gender differences at age 1–3 years in 2005–2009. Annals Of Human Biology, 42(5), 492–497.

For two authors (a journal article with doi): Li, S. and Seale, C. (2007). Learning to do qualitative data analysis: An observational study of doctoral work. Qualitative Health Research, 17(10), 1442-1452. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732307306924 

Three authors: Use "and" before the final author.

Barnard, R., de Luca, R. and Li, J. (2015). First-year undergraduate students’ perceptions of lecturer and peer feedback: A New Zealand action research project. Studies In Higher Education, 40(5), 933–944. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2014.881343

Four to seven authors: List all authors in the reference entry

Szcz, Ę., Sna, A., Nowak, A., Grabiec, P., Paszkuta, M., Tajstra, M. and Wojciechowska, M. (2017).Survey of wearable multi-modal vital parameters measurement systems.Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 526. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47154-9_37

More than seven authors: list first 6 authors ... last author. followed by date and other information.

Kasabov, N., Scott, N. M., Tu, E., Marks, S., Sengupta, N., Capecci, E., . . . Yang, J. (2016). Evolving spatio-temporal data machines based on the NeuCube neuromorphic framework: Design methodology and selected applications. Neural Networks, 78, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neunet.2015.09.011.

9. Ethical compliance –Authors using experimental animals and human subjects in their investigation must seek approval from the appropriate Ethical Committee in accordance with "Principles of Laboratory Animal Care" (NIH publication no. 85-23, revised 1985) and/or the declaration of Helsinki promulgated in 1964 as amended in 1996. The method section must include a statement to prove that the investigation was approved and that informed consent was obtained. Ensure you have included all relevant ethical approval statements.
10. Charges – Journal is committed to keeping costs to authors to a minimum, however some charges may apply. Authors are responsible for familiarising themselves with these prior to submission. NJBR requires authors to pay Article Publishing Charges (APCs) upon acceptance of the paper to cover the costs of peer editorial management, professional production of articles in PDF and other formats, extra plagiarism checks and dissemination of published papers. APCs cover the charges incurred during the publication process. The current APC is N20, 000 or 25USD (international submission) per article and submitting authors are responsible for the payment of the APC. Researchers/Academics from marginalized groups/communities as well as low-income countries can apply for a 40% discount from the APCs provided an application letter is sent to the journal's Editor-in-Chief. All applications will be given due consideration by the editorial board and authors will be promptly communicated the outcome of their decision.

Before submitting

Approval – Ensure all authors have seen and approved the final version of the article prior to submission. All authors must also approve the journal you are submitting to.

Changes within revised manuscripts should be highlighted using the highlighter function or coloured text, and should be accompanied by a full response letter to editor and reviewer comments.

Authors should carefully go through the following check list. Non-compliance with NJBR manuscript formatting requirements will result in the manuscript being returned to the corresponding author for reformatting or rejection.

[ ] Is my manuscript typed double-spaced on A4 (MS Word 2003 or earlier version) including the Abstract and References sections? Note that PDF is not acceptable.

[  ] Are the Title and Abstract each on separate pages?

[ ] Is the Abstract (except for review manuscripts) subdivided into the prescribed subsections of Purpose, Methods, Results and Conclusion, and also within the 300-word limit?

[  ] Is my manuscript within the limit of 10 pages typed double-spaced on A4 (excluding references) for research papers or 15 pages typed double-spaced on A4 for review papers?

[  ] Are Results and Discussion separated into two sections of Results and Discussion?

[  ] Is there a Conclusion section?

[ ] Have you provided the Declarations including (1) Acknowledgement, (2) Conflict of Interest and (3) Ethical compliance?

[ ] Is the reference numbering style within text using the authors’ names and publication year in parentheses?

[  ] Did the References list adhere strictly to NJBR format, including the correct punctuations and with space after semi-colon, colon and comma?

[  ] Is the total number of Figures and Tables within the limit of 10 allowed?

 [  ] Is there a legend/caption at the bottom of each Figure and at the top of each Table?

 [ ] Are Figures and Tables inserted at appropriate points in the manuscript nearest to where references were made to them?

[  ] Are Figures and Tables referred to independently, i.e., you have not referred to more than one Table in text?