Journal of Functional Materials and Biomolecules (JFMB)

AUTHOR INSTRUCTIONS

SCOPE OF THE JOURNAL

Journal of Functional Materials and Biomolecules will primarily cover the following areas of research:

1. All classes of materials, either in bulk or as thin films, such as semiconductors, ceramic and magnetic materials, superconductors, graphene, photonic crystals, smart materials, nanostructured materials, quasicrystals, minerals, metals, liquid crystals and energy materials and their applications in diverse fields.
2. Crystal growth techniques and phenomena (including bulk growth and thin film)
3. Biomaterials and their applications in medical and biological sciences.
4. Structure determination by single crystal XRD and spectroscopic techniques.
5. Experimental, simulation and theoretical studies of the structural properties of materials.
6. Characterization techniques, such as, X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence, electron microscopy and diffraction, neutron diffraction, magnetic property measurements and ellipsometry.

GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS

1. Prepare your manuscript as per the the template provided (Please download the template from the website) in MS Word 2007.
2. The text must be in 1.5 line space.
3. Font: Times New Roman (size 12 points).
4. Page number should be in the centre at the bottom of the page.
5. Use standard abbreviations and avoid nonstandard abbreviations. Use hr for hour, min for minute, sec for seconds, yr for year, mon for month, wk for week, d for day. Do not add to create plural. (E.g., 6 yr, 4 mon). Use Fig. if singular and Figs. for plural. (e.g., Fig. 8; Figs. 9 and 10).  
6. Do not abbreviate names of months in the text.
7. Do not abbreviate the Genus and Species names.
8. Genus and species names, et al., in situ, in vitro & in vivo should be in italics font.
9. The text should be in third person only.  If the authors/editors prefer, they may use first person. However, the style decided upon should be used consistently throughout the manuscript.

The Journal publishes the following manuscript types

1. Original Research Articles
2. Review Articles
3. Short Communications
4. Case Reports

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLES

SEQUENCE FOR MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

1. Title
2. Authors name and affiliations
3. Corresponding author address.
4. Abstract
5. Introduction
6. Materials and Methods/Experimental section
7. Results and Discussion
8. Conclusions
9. Acknowledgement (if any)
10. References

Title

1. The Title must be brief, clear, comprehensive and descriptive.
2. Title should be of 14 pt bold uppercase.
3. Title should include the study theme with no abbreviations allowed.

Authors

1. The corresponding author of a paper and e-mail address must be given in the manuscript.
2. Each author must provide his/her Full name and affiliation. The order of authors should be as follows. Author(s) name(s) (initials followed by family name), complete address(es) of his/her(their) institution(s).
3. The Corresponding author of the manuscript to whom the correspondence is to be sent must be marked with an asterisk*.
4. It is the sole responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all co-authors are aware and have approved each and every part/content of the submitted manuscript.   

Abstract

1. Abstract should be placed next to the Title and affiliation.
2. The Abstract must not be more than 250 words.
3. Abstract should be informative and completely self – explanatory.
4. Abstract should be a single paragraph.
5. Please do not cite references in the Abstract.
6. All the four cateogories (Original research articles, Review articles , Short communications & Case reports ) must have an Abstract.
7. Maximum of 6 key words should be provided by the authors. The key words should by typed at the appropriate place (For more details, please refer the manuscript template).  

Introduction

1. The Introduction part should provide a clear statement of the problems, relevant literature on the subject and the proposed approach or solution.
2. Introduction must be clear and concise.
3. Authors should state the reasons for carrying out the research work, background of the study and the hypothesis.
4. Introduction should be understandable to researchers from a broad range of research disciplines and should include up to date references.

Materials and Methods

1. Materials and Methods should be written in past tense and include sufficient technical information to allow the experiments to be performed.
2. Only truly novel procedures should be described in detail; earlier published procedures should be cited, and significant changes of published procedures should be mentioned briefly.
3. The quality of the chemical should be mentioned.
4. Information on the equipment model and make should be provided.
5. Capitalize trade names and include the manufacturer's name and address.
6. The use of sub-headings with numbers to divide the text is encouraged.
7. In case of animal experiments authors must give the details of ethical approval.
8. Methods in general use need not be described in detail.

Results and Discussion

1. The reproducibility and statistical significance of measurements, material or biological data, must be included wherever relevant.
2. The discussion should provide an interpretation of the results and their significance with regard to previously published work.
3. Discussion should relate the results to current understanding of the scientific problems being investigated in the field.
4. There should not be any significant repetition of the experimental procedures or reiteration of the introduction.
5. The Results and Discussion may be combined into a single section or presented separately.
6. Results and their significance should be presented clearly and concisely, preferably in the form of graphs or tables which should be self explanatory.
7. Results should be written in past tense.
8. Tables
9. Tables should be placed at the appropriate places in the manuscript.
10. A separate file containing all the tables should also be submitted as MS-word, not as PDF or embedded image or any other forms.
11. Tables should be self-explanatory without reference to the text.
12. Title for the tables is must and it should be in bold face letters.
13. Tables should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numericals (Table - 1, Table – 2, etc)
14. Footnote, if any, should be typed at the top of the table in italic.
15. The same data should not be presented in both table and graph form.

Figures

1.  Figures should be placed at the appropriate places in the manuscript.
2. All the figures including photographs should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals (Fig.1, Fig.2, etc).
3. A separate file containing all the figures should also be submitted as MS-word, not as PDF or embedded image or any other forms.
4. Figures bear a brief title in lower case bold face letters below the figure.
5. Figures should be prepared using applications capable of generating high resolution GIF, TIFF, JPEG or Powerpoint before pasting in the Microsoft Word manuscript file.

Conclusions

1. Manuscript should have relevant brief conclusion and should reflect the importance and future scope.
2. The main conclusions of the experimental work should be presented.
3. The contribution of the work to the scientific community and its economic implications should be emphasized.

Acknowledgement (if any)

In this section, the authors may thank the research institutions, funding agencies, governmental bodies and people who have contributed or financially supported the research from which the manuscript is derived.

References

1. References should be listed at the end of the paper in the order in which they appear in the manuscript.
2. Cite only those articles published or formally accepted for publication.
3. Check and include all the references mentioned in the text.
4. Include adequate information to enable the reader to access cited materials e.g., citations of Books and conference proceedings must include name and location [city and state or country of the publisher].
5. Dont abbreviate journal names.
6. Strictly adhere to the formatting style of references.

Reference style

1. Text: Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.
2. Example: '..... as demonstrated [2-5]. Verma and Kennedy [8] obtained a different result ....'
3. List: Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the list in the order in which they appear in the text. Examples:

Reference to a journal publication

1. Text: Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.
2. W. Kamini Sridharashini., E.B. John, The Elements of Style, fourth ed., Longman, New York, 2000.
3. Cancer Research UK, Cancer statistics reports for the UK. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/, 2003

REVIEW ARTICLES

1. Review articles should not be more than 30 pages and must contain comprehensive coverage of relevant literature.
2. Review articles should preferably be written by researchers who have in-depth knowledge of the topic.
3. All format requirements are similar to those applicable to Research papers.
4. Review articles need not to be divided into sections such as Materials and methods, and Results and discussion, but should definitely have an abstract and introduction.

SHORT COMMUNICATIONS

1. The Short Communication is suitable for new models, innovative methods and techniques.
2. It is similar to original research papers, but with limited data.
3. The research and technical communications section of this journal (maximum 3,000 words) is open to interesting results worthy of publication without requiring extensive introduction and discussion.
4. This section should be organized as follows: Abstract, Introduction, Materials and methods, Results and discussion (combined).
5. Not more than 10 references should be provided. Tables, figures and references are to be arranged in the same way as for research papers.

CASE REPORTS

Novel/interesting/extremely rare cases or rare presentations can be reported. Cases with clinical significance or implications will be given priority. It should be 3 - 4 pages in length.

ETHICAL APPROVAL

Studies on patients or volunteers require an ethical statement declaring that the reaserch was not carried out on humans and animals and should get the approval of the appropriate ethical committee. If such a study was not approved by the appropriate ethics committee, a statement as to why it was exempted should be included. The Method section of the manuscript should include a statement to prove that the investigation was approved and that informed consent was obtained. However, the Editors have the right to refuse publications where the required ethical approval/patient consent is not submitted.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST (MANDATORY)

A conflict of interest may exist when an author or the author's institution has financial or other affiliations with people or organizations that may inappropriately influence the author's work. A conflict can be actual or potential and full disclosure to the journal is the safest course. All submissions to this journal must include disclosure of any relationships that could be viewed as potential conflicts of interest. The journal may use such information as a basis for editorial decisions and may publish such disclosures if they are believed to be important to readers in judging the manuscript. This declaration (with the heading "Conflict of interests") should be uploaded among the files submitted.

Click here for statement of conflict of interest form.

REFEREES

Please submit the names and institutional e-mail addresses of atleast three potential referees. This file should be uploaded among the files submitted.

COPYRIGHT

Submission of the manuscript represent that the manuscript has not been published previously and is not considered for publication elsewhere. Authors would be required to sign a CTA form (Copy Right Transfer Agreement) once the manuscript is accepted which would be sent to the corresponding author’s email. The corresponding author can download the form from the website, fill the details, affix his signature and scan the document and finally it can be uploaded from the login.

Click here for copyright form.

REVIEW PROCESS

All articles are reviewed by an editor/member of the Editorial Board or any external reviewers. Decisions will be made as quickly as possible, and the journal try hard to return reviewers’ evaluations/comments to authors within two weeks.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

All manuscripts should be submitted via the login by providing username and password details.

Click here for registration

Click here for template for manuscript submission.

GALLERY PROOFS AND REPRINTS

Electronic proofs will be sent (E.mail attachment) to the corresponding author as a PDF file and returned within 3 days. Page proofs are considered to be the final version of the article. With the exception of typographical errors, no changes will be made in the manuscript at the proof stage. All the articles will be published online to attract wide audience and authors will have free electronic access to the full text (PDF) of their articles. Authors can freely download the PDF file from which they can print unlimited copies of their articles.

Submission checklist

The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review. Ensure that the following items are present in the manuscript.

One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:

1. E-mail address
2. Full postal address
3. All necessary files have been uploaded and contain:
4. Keywords
5. All figure captions
6. All tables (including title, description and footnotes)
7. Suggested reviewers

Cover Letter

A cover letter explaining novel features of the manuscript should be submitted as a separate word file along with the manuscript file (Template for manuscript submission can be downloaded from the website). In this letter, the corresponding author should state clearly that the contents of the manuscript are original and that the manuscript, completely or partly, has not been published previously in any form and will not be published in any journal.

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is not acceptable in submissions. Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, images, or data from another source, even from your own publications, without giving any credit to the original source. Reuse of text that is copied from another source must be cited. If a study's design or the manuscript's structure or language has been inspired by previous works, these works must be explicitly cited. If plagiarism is detected during the initial checks/peer review process, the manuscript may be rejected. If plagiarism is detected after publication, we may publish a correction or retract the paper.

EDITORIAL PROCEDURES AND PEER-REVIEW

INITIAL CHECKS

In the interest of fast and efficient refereeing and publication process, please make sure that your manuscript is prepared according to the template and guidelines given above. Manuscripts that are clearly inappropriate for the journal can be rejected without consulting referees. Manuscripts written in bad English are also likely to be rejected. All submitted manuscripts will be checked to determine whether it is properly prepared and whether the manuscript follows the ethical policies of the journal. Manuscripts that do not fit the journal’s ethical policy will be rejected before peer-review. Manuscripts that are not properly prepared will be returned to the authors for revision and resubmission. All the papers submitted to this journal will undergo a plagiarism check by a plagiarism checker software before it can be passed to the referees for peer-review.

After these checks, the Editor-in-chief will consult the journals’ Editors to determine whether the manuscript fits the scope of the journal and whether it is scientifically sound. No judgment on the significance or potential impact of the work will be made at this stage. Reject decisions at this stage will be verified by the Editor-in-Chief.

PEER-REVIEW

Once a manuscript passes the initial technical checks, the Editor-in-chief will identify and contact at least two independent reviewers who are acknowledged experts in the field for peer-review. These experts may also include Editorial Board members and Associate Editors of the journal. All the papers submitted to this journal will undergo a single-blind review where authors' identities are not known to reviewers. In the case of a special issue, an Associate Editor will advise in the selection of reviewers.

EDITORIAL DECISION AND REVISION

Based on the reviewer’s comments, the Editor-in-Chief will make a decision to accept, reject, or to ask authors to revise the manuscript. For Minor Revisions, the authors will have one week to resubmit their revised manuscript. For Major Revisions , the authors will have two weeks/one month to resubmit their revised manuscript. However, authors should contact the editorial office if extended revision time is anticipated.