Submissions

Author Guidelines

Interested in submitting to this journal? We recommend that you review the Journal Overview page for the journal's section policies, as well as the Submission Checklist. Details about Author Guidelines for manuscript preparation is presented below. Authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process.

Submission of Manuscript

Authors submitting a paper do so on the understanding that the work has not been submitted before and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. Submission of manuscripts by author(s) means that the author(s) automatically agree to assign exclusive copyright to the society if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. Manuscripts should be well written in good, clear lucid English Language (not: American), typed in Times New Romans, font size 12, double spacing with at least 2.5 cm margin on A4 paper.

Potential Reviewers: Authors need to provide the names and full contact information of up to three (3) potential reviewers who have the expertise in the area of their manuscript but have no conflict of interest in reviewing the manuscript. The contact information should include the reviewer’s full affiliation address, telephone number, and email address. This will increase the chance that the manuscript will get quality reviews. The Editorial Board reserves the right not to use the suggested reviewers. These details should be included in the cover letter during submission.

Presentation of Manuscript

The manuscript should be prepared and submitted 2 documents namely, 1. Title page and 2. Main manuscript The entire paper should be structured into headed sections as follows:

Title page: This is the first page of the manuscript and should contain the title (which must reflect the scope and content of the study) of the manuscript, name(s) of all the authors should be in full and in the natural order. The affiliations of each author including their e-mail addresses should be provided. Where the authors are more than one, the corresponding author should be indicated by means of asterisk. The title page should be prepared as a separate document. [Authors' contribution section should be excluded from the main manuscript, but included as part of the title page]

Running Title: A short title of not more than 8 words (at most 90 characters including spaces is required).

List of Contributors: The names and email addresses of all the authors/co-authors listed on the manuscript MUST be recorded on the journal submission portal. Manuscript submitted without the names of the authors on the manuscript will be declined at desk submission.

Name Order: First name should come first, follow by middle intial and then the Surname comes last. ("First name"  "Middle initial" "Surname")

Main Manuscript Body: The main body of the manuscript should begin with the manuscript topic and without authors details, then the abstract. To ensure the integrity of anonymous perr-review, every effort should be made to prevent the identities of the authors and reviewers from being known to each other. Check here for more details on how to anonymized files

Abstract: An abstract (of not more than 250 words) should be included as part of the main manuscript file. This should adequately summarize the aim, methodology or the approach, results (pertinent findings of the paper) and conclusion. In the abstract, abbreviations, diagrams, and reference to the text should not be used. Abstract should be devoid of references.

Keywords: The abstract should be followed by a maximum of six keywords. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes. Avoid abbreviations as keywords.

Introduction: The introduction should contain sufficient background information of the study and those already done, its significance, justification or rationale for the study and the aims of the present study. All these must be presented in clear, lucid and logical manner. It is also important to include latest/recent references except where it is not possible.

Materials and Methods: Sources of reagents, culture media and equipment (company, city, state, country) should be mentioned in the text. Names that are registered trademarks should be so indicated. The authors should provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. In all studies of plants or animals, specific identification should be made as to the materials used, such as by citation of voucher specimen in herbarium or other collections, quoting name of collector, collection number (or date), place of collection, etc. If the research involves the use of human subjects, including collection of human blood or other human specimens, an Institutional ethical clearance with the manuscript. Alternatively, a clear statement should be made in the materials and methods section indicating that informed consent of the experimental subject and/or appropriate ethical committee has been obtained. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described. Repetition of details of procedures which have already been published elsewhere should be avoided. If a published method is modified, such modification(s) must be described in the paper. Subheading often makes this section easier to read and understand. The details of statistical tests used and the level of significance should be stated. 

Results: This is the presentation of data generated as contained in the Tables, Figures and Plates in a clear, lucid and logical manner without repeating the data contained in the Tables, Figures and Plates in this section. The same data should not be presented in both tabular and graphic forms. The result section should be separated from the Discussion and on no account must they be lumped together. Avoid presenting any element of discussion and conclusion in the result section.

Discussion: This section should give interpretation(s) to the results without recapitulating the result. The author should present the theoretical implications and practical applications of their finding. When comparing their findings with previously published works, the author should emphasize on new and significant observations with reference to the previous work. Avoid making unethical statements and those not supported by the data. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature. Information presented already under Introduction and Result sections must be avoided.

Conclusion: should be made in line with the data and must correlate with the stated objective(s) of the study.

Acknowledgements: This should be made only to person(s) or institution(s) that have contributed to the work and also to the source of funds, grants etc.

Conflicts of Interest: Authors must identify and declare any personal circumstances or interest that may be perceived as influencing the representation or interpretation of reported research results. If there is no conflict of interest, please state "The authors declare no conflict of interest."

Author Contributions: Each author is expected to have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work; or have drafted the work or substantively revised it; AND has approved the submitted version. Authorship must include and be limited to those who have contributed substantially to the work. [During initial submission, the authors' contribution section should be excluded from the main manuscript, but included as part of the title page]

Referencing: The journal adopts APA style of referencing 7^th edition. Citation in the text is by author and year of publication. When the paper cited has more than two authors, the ‘et al‘ in italics should be used. The journal title is to be italicized and written in full. Please download the Sample 1 and Sample 2 for examples of APA 7 referencing style.

1. One author: (Sodipo, 2019)
2. Two authors: (Auwal and John, 2020)
3. More than two authors: (Umar et al., 2021)
4. More than one paper by same set of authors: (Sodipo et al., 2009a, b)
5. For multiple citations, the references will be listed in order of years and not alphabetical: (Njoku et al., 2001; Oloyede et al., 2013; Yakubu and Ibiyo, 2013)
6. The list of references should be cited as follows:
   
   

Journal:

Njoku, O. U., Jaja, I., Ononogbu, I. C. and Ezeanyika, L. U. S. (2001). Hypocholesterolemic effects of rubber seed cake diet on rats. Applied Natural Science Research, 1(3): 36-39.

Yakubu, M. T., Quadri, A. L. and Akanji, M. A. (2011). Phytochemical constituents and haematological profile of male rats following oral administration of aqueous extract of Garcinia kola (Heckel) seeds. Nigerian Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 26(1): 23-28.

In press: Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that the manuscript has been accepted for publication. The "in press" must be written after the volume if available.

Book Chapter:

Brodulius, P. (1983) Immobilized plant cells. In: immobilized Cell and Organelles. Vol. 1 (b. Mattiason, ed.), pp 27 – 55. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.

Book:

Tietz, N.W. (1995). Clinical Guide to Laboratory Tests, 3rd edition. W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, USA. p. 120-121.

Electronic Materials:

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2002). Guidance Notes for Analysis and Evaluation of Chronic Toxicity and Carcinogenicity Studies. (OECD Guidelines for the testing of chemicals: Series on Testing and Assessment, No. 35). Final Consultant’s Proposal. Retrieved August 8, from http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2002doc.nsf/LinkTo/env-jm-mono(2002).

Tables, Figures and Photomicrographs:

1. All Tables, Figures and Photomicrographs should be numbered using arabic numerals and should be placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
2. All Tables, Figures and Plates must be of high quality and mentioned in the text.
3. The Tables, Figures and Plates must carry short descriptive title with that of Table appearing above it while that of Figures and Plates below them.
4. Coloured photographs or photomicrographs attract extra charges from the authors.
5. Necessary footnotes must clearly state what it is meant for and all units must be included. Figures and Plates should be completely and clearly labelled.
6. The corresponding author will receive an e-copy of the galley proof in pdf format, which should be read carefully for errors. The corrected galley or corrections must be returned within 48 hours from the sent date.

Use of Brand Names in Submitted Manuscripts

We require that non-proprietary names are used in submissions. When proprietary brands are used in research, use the non-proprietary name throughout the text. You may include the proprietary name(s) with the non-proprietary name(s) in parentheses immediately after the first mention then use only the non-proprietary name thereafter (once in the Abstract and once in the body of the manuscript is acceptable.

Article Publishing Charges

Open Access provides free and instant online access to the published articles for anyone in the world to read, distribute and reuse. NJBMB as an Open Access publisher, offsets all the costs associated with the high-quality publishing service through Article Publishing Charge (APC) and Article Processing Charge (APC): articles that are accepted for publication by our review editors after a rigorous double blind peer review incur a publishing/processing fee charged to authors. 

For new submission effective 1st April, 2022, the authors of any accepted paper are expected to pay the APCs which is N25,000:00 ($65.00) only. Authors will also be required to defray the expense of any major alteration to the proofs which are departures from the original manuscript and mail a scanned copy of the evidence of payment to the journal’s email address. All payments shall be made to the Society Account as follows:

Account Name: Nigerian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Account Number: 1011557956

Bank Name: Zenith Bank, Nigeria.

Upon publication, e-copy of the journal containing the author’s article will be mailed to the corresponding author. However, hard copies of the journal are for sale to individuals and institutions and can be purchased from the Business Editorial Manager.

Policy on Withdrawal of Manuscript: Authors who decide to withdraw their manuscript after it has been accepted will be made to pay charges for service incurred.

Policy on Plagiarism: Plagiarism, data fabrication and image manipulation are not tolerated. Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, images, or data from another source, even from your own publications, without giving any credit to the original source.

Open Access Support

The Society is committed to assisting authors overcome financial barriers to publication in NJBMB. Author may be eligible for 20% discount on the open access fee support via NSBMB membership. To access this opportunity, the corresponding author is expected to make an independent application to the Publication Fees Support Team. Each fee support request is treated individually.

Application for fee support will be treated independently to the peer review process. Discounts cannot be influenced or disclosed to the editors or reviewers. On submission of your manuscript, please complete the online application for Fee Support on the same day through this link: Open Access Support Request

Enquiries: Any questions regarding contributions to Nigerian Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology should be directed to:

The Editorial Office,

Nigerian Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,

C/o Department of Biochemistry,

Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria;

Telephone: +234 909-470-6535;

E-mail: editor@nsbmb.org.ng, njbmbonline@gmail.com