Instructions to Authors

“International Journal of Applied and Experimental Biology” (With abbreviation - Intl. J. Appl. Exp. Biol.; IJAaEB) publishes research and review papers on all aspects of Life Sciences, including Biology, Genetics, Botany, Zoology, Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics, and Medical, Veterinary, and Agricultural Sciences. It aims to serve as a forum for life and medical scientists and agricultural professionals.

 Manuscript Types

“International Journal of Applied and Experimental Biology” accepts manuscripts of the following types:

  1. Full-length original research articles
  2. Comprehensive Review articles
  3. Brief Notes, Technical Research Notes, or Short Communications

 Language
All manuscripts submitted to IJAaEB must be written in English. Authors whose primary language is not English are encouraged to seek linguistic support or an appropriate online English language tool, with proper acknowledgment in the manuscript, before submission.

Title page

The title page should provide the following information:
A short but highly informative title
Full name(s) of all contributing author(s)
The institutional affiliation(s) and postal address(es) of the author(s), along with the e-mail addresses.
Contact details such as e-mail and telephone number of the corresponding author

Title
It should be brief and informative. Titles serve as important means for multiple information-retrieval systems; thus, avoid using formulae and abbreviations. Use both common and complete scientific names along with citations of organisms.

Abstract
A clear and informative abstract highlighting the promising results is required. For example, it should start by briefly describing the primary purpose of the study, the principal findings, and the major conclusions drawn. References are usually avoided to cite in the abstract, but if necessary, then they could be cited by mentioning only the name(s) of author(s) and publication year(s). Avoid using unnecessary, uncommon, or non-standard abbreviations, but if necessary, they must be defined upon first appearance within the abstract.

Keywords
The number of keywords should not exceed six, and they should be placed soon after the abstract. Do not use abbreviations in the keywords. Avoid repeating the words/terms already used in the title.

Abbreviations
All abbreviations should be written in full at the first mention of the manuscript. Abbreviations should generally be avoided in the abstract; however, when their use is essential, only standard forms should be employed, and they must be applied consistently throughout the manuscript.

Introduction
Describe the background of the research undertaken by extrapolating appropriate literature. Try to include both classical and the latest literature, highlighting the gaps in previous research.  Devise a pertinent hypothesis or hypotheses addressing different aspects of your research question(s). Provide adequate objectives, primary and secondary, based on the hypothesis or research questions.

Material and Methods
Provide ample detail of all different types of materials/organisms used. Methods/protocols should be reproducible by other researchers. Methods already published or amended can be briefly described. Provide complete details of the scientific instruments used in the study, including model and manufacturer, with their complete addresses.

Results
Results are always written in simple, objective, and unbiased language, avoiding subjective terms and over-interpretation. Present your findings systematically by addressing the primary research question first, and then the secondary ones, clearly outlining the results for each. Describe statistical tests and their outcomes without providing raw data. Present both positive and negative findings, ensuring each hypothesis is addressed separately. Visual illustrations should be referenced in the text but not described redundantly.  All data tables and figures must be properly cited.

Discussion
In this section, authors are advised to present the major findings, explain their significance, relate them to existing research, outline the study’s strengths and limitations, consider broader implications, and propose directions for future work. The focus should remain on interpreting the results rather than repeating the data or methods. This section should interpret the findings and their significance by critically analyzing the promising results and relating them to appropriate literature. Avoid over-usage of citations and unnecessary, lengthy discussion of previously published work. Begin with a summary of the key outcomes, then use subsequent paragraphs to analyze each finding in depth, link it with previous studies, and acknowledge any constraints such as sample size or potential biases. Conclude by emphasizing the study’s overall importance and suggesting avenues for future investigation.

Acknowledgements
This section should appear immediately before the reference list. All individuals involved in the research work (e.g., planning of study, execution of research, help in improving the language of the manuscript, assistance in manuscript writing or manuscript proofreading, etc.) should be properly acknowledged.

References
Note: Authors are advised to follow the “Journal Instructions to Authors” for listing all references cited in the text. The accuracy of each reference must be checked.

  1. All research articles cited in the manuscript should be listed in the reference list provided at the end of the text of the manuscript. Authors should verify that the spellings of names and the year of publication correspond precisely with those presented in the reference list.
  2. Within the text, cite references by using the last name of author(s) (without initials) and year of publication. Examples: "Bradshaw (2021) has exhibited that..." "This is similar to what has been reported elsewhere (Morgan, 1989)".
  3. For in-text citations of a manuscript authored by more than two individuals, include only the surname of the first author followed by "et al.". However, this should not be applied in the reference list, where the full names of the first five authors must be provided.
  4. Multiple citations appearing together in the text should be arranged chronologically. However, the reference list should be arranged alphabetically. If an author's name in the list is also mentioned with co-authors, list the entries in the following sequence:  single-author publications ordered by year, followed by works authored with one collaborator, and then works involving multiple co-authors. When the same author(s) have multiple publications from the same year, distinguish them using letter suffixes (e.g., 1999a, 1999b).
  5. In the reference list, references should be arranged and formatted using the following guidelines, ensuring that punctuation, spacing, and sequencing are accurately followed.

For periodicals

Romero-Aranda, M.R., González-Fernández, P., Pérez-Tienda, J.R., López-Diaz, M.R., Espinosa, J. et al. (2020). Na+ transporter HKT1;2 reduces flower Na+ content and considerably mitigates the decline in tomato fruit yields under saline conditions. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 154:341-352. (Note: If the number of authors exceeds five, “et al.” must be used after listing the first five authors).

For edited symposia, special issues, etc., published in a periodical

Munns, R. (2009). Strategies for crop improvement in saline soils. In "Salinity and Water Stress: Improving Crop Efficiency" (M. Ashraf, M. Ozturk, H.R. Athar, eds.), Vol. 44, pp. 99-110. Springer, The Netherlands.

Golkar-Narenji, A., Petitte, J.N., Mozdziak, P.E. (2020).  Transgenic chicken/poultry birds: serving us for survival; Chapter 9.  In "Genomics and Biotechnological Advances in Veterinary, Poultry, and Fisheries" (Y.S. Malik, D. Barh, V. Azevedo, S.M.P. Khurana, eds.). pp. 211-221. Academic Press.

For books
Abdelly, C. (2008). "Biosaline Agriculture and High Salinity Tolerance," Birkhäuser; Springer Distributor, Basel.

 For multi-author books
Bewley, J.D., Bradford, K., Hilhorst, H., Nonogaki, H. (2013). "Seeds: Physiology of Development, Germination and Dormancy," 3rd Edition. Springer Science & Business Media, New York.

For thesis/dissertation
Bradshaw, A.D. (2020).  “Genetic Variation for Metal Tolerance in Indigenous Grasses”. PhD Thesis. University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.

Web references
At a minimum, the full URL and the date of last access should be given for online sources. Web references may either be integrated into the main reference list or can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading, depending on the author’s preference.

 References from special issues
Please ensure that the words 'Special Issue' are added to the pertinent reference(s) in the list.

Unpublished data
Zafar, A.C., Athar, A. (2025). Proline-induced stress tolerance in wheat cultivars of different origins. Institute of Botany, BZ University, Multan, Pakistan (manuscript in preparation; to be submitted).
Brown, A.L. (2025). The role of AI in genomic studies. Nature Biotechnology (submitted; accepted; in press).
Ibrahim, M.A.B. (2025). Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Lahore, Pakistan (Personal communication; Private communication; Unpublished work; etc.).

Nomenclature and Units
Authors must adhere to internationally recognized standards for units and measurements, with preference given to the International System of Units (SI). When non-SI units are used, their SI equivalents should be provided for clarity.

Authors must follow biological nomenclature, as laid down in the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria, and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.

All organisms (crops, plants, insects, birds, mammals, etc.) should be mentioned by their scientific names.

For chemical nomenclature, the Conventions of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the official recommendations of the IUPAC-IUB Combined Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature should be followed.

Math formulae/equations

  • Present simple formulae in the text where possible. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics.
  • Subscripts and superscripts should be clear.
  • Greek letters and other non-Roman symbols should be explained. Take special care to show clearly the difference between zero (0) and the letter O, and between one (1) and the letter l.
  • Different levels of statistical significance are: *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001.
  • Ions should be presented as, e.g., Mg2+, not as Mg++.
  • Isotopes should be presented accurately in the text or tables/figures, and isotope number should precede the symbols, e.g., 15N.

Footnotes

Avoid using footnotes, but if essential, then number them consecutively using superscript Arabic numbers throughout the manuscript.

Table footnotes

Footnotes in a table should be used with a superscript lowercase letter.

Electronic artwork

General points
Lettering and sizing of self-drawn artwork should be uniform

  • Only use “Times New Roman” font in your illustrations
  • Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text
  • Provide captions/legends to illustrations separately
  • Produce images near the desired size of the printed version

Color artwork 

Artwork files should be in an acceptable format (MS Office, TIFF, or EPS files) and with high resolution.

Figure captions - Ensure that each illustration has a caption/legend. Supply captions/legends separately, not attached to the figure. A caption/legend should contain a brief title and a description of the figure/illustration. Explain all abbreviations and symbols used.

Tables – Numbering of tables in the text should be according to their sequential appearance in the text. Ensure that the data presented in tables should not be repeatedly presented elsewhere in the form of a table or a figure within the article.

Copyright permissions for published data
Permission must be obtained from the copyright owner(s) for any figures or data that have been previously published. This applies to both print and electronic formats. Authors are responsible for any costs associated with obtaining such permissions.

 Authors’ contribution statement
It is necessary to provide a statement for the contribution(s) made by all authors. This statement must be given in the style given below by selecting one of the listed activities. At least one of the authors must be designated as the scientist involved in “Conduct of experiment”. Any activity or style other than those listed below is not acceptable.

  • Research superior(s): NAA.
  • Member(s) of advisory group: GHR.
  • Conceptualization and designing the study: KNT, EVS, MPL, TMK.
  • Conduct of experiment: RH, IS.
  • Moderation of laboratory activities: FDA.
  • Resource availability: MOA
  • Instrumentation and analysis: TRW.
  • Data collection, visualization, and interpretation: KNT, EVS, MPL, TMK.
  • Graphical representation/visualization: AA.
  • Formal statistical analysis: GHT.
  • Preparation of initial draft: AP.
  • Review of initial draft: PG.
  • Intellectual contribution: MO and VA.
  • Proofreading and approval of the final version: KNT, EVS, MPL, TMK, MO, VA.
  • Revisions and corrections: TGH.

 Supplementary material
Additional materials may be uploaded as “Supplementary Files” during manuscript submission. These files will be accessible to the reviewers as part of the peer-review process. Although any file format may be submitted, the use of common, non-proprietary formats is strongly recommended. Citations and references included in the supplementary files are allowed, but they must also be listed in the main manuscript’s reference section.

Accession numbers
In Bioinformatics, accession numbers are unique identifiers assigned to nucleotide and protein sequences to track different versions of a sequence record in a data repository. Authors should clearly specify the type of accession number, along with the actual number, considering that an error in a letter or number can result in a dead link in the online version of the article. Please use the following format: accession number type ID: xxxx (e.g., MMDB ID: 12345; PDB ID: 1TUP).

Submission of newly generated sequences and expression data
All newly generated sequence and expression data must be deposited in an appropriate public repository before manuscript submission, and the resulting accession numbers must be included in the manuscript. Publication will not proceed without these accession numbers. Nucleic acid sequences should be submitted to a single repository such as GenBank, EMBL, or DDBJ. High-throughput sequencing datasets (e.g., RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, degradome data) must be deposited in GEO or the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA). Microarray data must be deposited in GEO or ArrayExpress in accordance with MIAME guidelines. Newly obtained protein sequences must be uploaded to UniProt using the SPIN tool, and annotated protein structures should be submitted to the RCSB Protein Data Bank. All sequence names and corresponding accession numbers must be clearly reported in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript.

Proteomics methods must be described in detail. All raw mass spectrometry data should be deposited in a public repository (e.g., ProteomeXchange, PRIDE, or jPOST), and submission details—including repository link, dataset identifier, and any access credentials—must be provided in the Materials and Methods section.

Certificate of Ethical Approval
All submitted manuscripts are required to comply with the Publication Ethics and Research Ethics Policies. According to Section 4 of the Publication Ethics Policy, the authors of studies involving testing/experimentation on human/animal subjects are required to provide a certificate of approval from the Institutional Ethical Review Board/Committee (IERB/C). The board must certify that all human/animal subjects were handled according to the guidelines set by the relevant IERB/C or equivalent body on the format prescribed for Certificate of Ethical Approval.

Conflict of intrest:
All authors must disclose any relationships or interests that could bias their work, including financial (e.g., employment, consultancies, stocks, grants, honoraria) or non-financial (e.g., personal or professional relationships, affiliations, beliefs) interests. Disclosures should be made via the online submission system, and the corresponding author must include a “Conflicts of Interest” section in the manuscript before the References section. If none exist, state: Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Plagiarism check
Before uploading to the journal e-system, the manuscript should be subjected by the authors to “Turnitin” software or any of the other similar tools for checking the similarity index. Overall, the similarity index should be well below 15%. The authors are advised to strictly follow the guidelines for plagiarism check outlined by several international publishers. The advanced version of “Turnitin” also indicates the percentage of AI-generated content in a manuscript.

 The Use of AI in Manuscript Writing
AI is undoubtedly reshaping academic publishing by supporting idea generation, literature review, writing, editing, and data analysis. However, strict transparency is essential. For further information, please refer to the detailed policy document provided separately under “Policies.”

Copyright and License Transfer
Soon after acceptance of a manuscript, the IJAaEB Editorial Office sends a 'Copyright form' to the corresponding author for completing and signing it properly. The document can be signed by the corresponding author on behalf of all authors of the manuscript. Please see the “Open Access, Licensing & Distribution Policy” of IJAaEB for guidelines.

Article Processing Charges (APC)
Starting from 1st January 2025, the articles published in IJAaEB are subject to payment of APC as decided by the journal’s Advisory Board. All authors must pay USD 200 for an International and Rs. 25000 for a local contribution. The payment of APC is subject to the following terms and conditions:

  • APCs are to be paid soon after acceptance of manuscripts and before the manuscripts are transferred to the Journal Production Section for publication.
  • APCs are decided based on the affiliation of the first author and/or corresponding author.
    • If any of the authors has a foreign address, the manuscript will be treated as an international contribution.
    • In case of dual affiliations of authors with one as a foreign institution, the manuscript will be treated as an international contribution.
  • No claim of refund will be accepted once the manuscripts are assigned to “In Press” or a regular issue.
  • In case of a manuscript withdrawal request by authors after acceptance, the APC will be returned after deduction of 50% of the total APC as Article Handling Charges (AHC) and any transaction fee incurred on funds transfer.
  • No refund claim will be accepted in case of retraction of articles arising from plagiarism, conflict of interest, or any type of action(s) taken by the journal advisory board.
  • No article handling charges (AHCs) or any other hidden charges are applied to the submitted manuscripts.

APC payment method
Currently, we accept APCs only through bank transfer to the following account: 
Acc title: The Galaxy of Eminent Biological
Acc No 0410-0112990164
Bank: Meezan Bank, Sargodha Road, Faisalabad

APC Waiver
Authors’ requests for APC waivers are considered on a case-by-case basis by the IJAaEB Editorial Board and are permitted in cases of financial hardship.  Requests for APC waivers will be considered only when made at the stage of manuscript submission, and those made during the review process or after manuscript acceptance are not considered