Submissions

Author Guidelines

1. The preparation and presentation of manuscripts
Manuscripts should be drafted as concisely as possible. By submission of a manuscript to the journal, all authors warrant that they have the authority to publish the material and that the paper, or one substantially the same, has neither been published previously, nor is being considered for publication elsewhere.

2. Format of papers
The manuscript must be typed double-spaced on A4 size white paper with Times New Roman font, size of 12 points (In hard printing-Book Antiqua). Individual papers have a limit of approximately 4000 words, including figures and tables. The pages should be numbered consecutively beginning with the title page. The first page should show: (a) the title; (b) name(s) of author(s) and place(s) where the work was done; (c) an abbreviated running headline not exceeding 35 letters and spaces; (d) the name, complete mailing address, email address, telephone and fax numbers of the author to whom all correspondence should be addressed and who will check the proofs. English language used in the manuscript should be of a publishable standard.

3. Submissions
Authors are advised to submit their manuscripts through e-mails (cdm1990@microbiotu.edu.np, manita_aryal11@yahoo.com, upendrats@gmail.com or adhikarinaba2004@yahoo.com) or electronic copy and three hard copies of the manuscript to the Research Management Cell, Central Department of Microbiology at Kirtipur. A signed cover letter mentioning that the article has not been submitted elsewhere for publication should be submitted with the manuscript.

Copyright of the articles is transferred to the Central Department of Microbiology, Tribhuvan University.

Fees
Authors do not have to pay for submission, processing or publication of articles in TUJM.

3. 1 Full-length papers
The paper should have new concepts or the recording of facts. The manuscript should be prepared for a wide readership. As far as possible, the paper should present the results of an original scientific research. The paper will have the following sections:

(a) ABSTRACT: A brief summary of about 150- 200 words, should give the major findings of the investigation under the following headings: Objectives; Methods; Results; Conclusion. A list of between four and six keywords should be added.

(b) INTRODUCTION: A balance should be maintained between the pure and applied aspects of the subject.

(c) MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ensure that the work can be repeated according to the details provided. By submission of a manuscript, the authors consent that biological material, including plasmids, viruses and microbial strains, unobtainable from national collections will be made available to members of the scientific community for non-commercial purposes subject to national and international regulations governing the supply of biological material. In the case of a new diagnostic PCR, you should consider the need for an internal amplification control. Ethical approval letter Reg no. form authorised institution should be given if applicable.

(d) RESULTS: Well-prepared tables and figures must be a feature of the ‘Results’ section because they convey the major observations to readers. Information provided in tables and figures should not be repeated in the text, but attention on the importance of the principal findings of the study should be focused.

(e) DISCUSSION: This must not recapitulate the results and should explain the meaning of results.

(f) CONCLUSION:

(g) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

(h) REFERENCES: Citation of references having three or more names should be cited in the text as Jones et al. (1992) at the first and Green and Smith (1992) would have to be quoted in full. A series of references should be given in ascending date order (Green and Smith 1946; Jones et al. 1956). Different publications having the same author(s) and year will be distinguished by, for example, 1992a, 1992b. This also applies to the Bibliography. Papers or other publications having no obvious author(s) should usually be cited as ‘Anonymous’ with the year in the text and bibliography. Web sites should be quoted in the text with an access date.

Layout of references
The Harvard system should be used. Names with the prefixes de, do van, von, etc. will be placed in alphabetical order of the first letter of the prefix, e.g. von Braun would appear under ‘V’. Where italics are intended, words must either be typed in roman and underlined or printed in italics from a word processor. Abbreviate journal titles according to Index Medicus (). The following is an example of order and style to be used in the manuscript:

Examples:
Laverick MA, Wyn-Jones AP and Carter MJ (2004) Quantitative RT-PCR for the enumeration of noroviruses (Norwalk-like viruses) in water and sewage. Lett Appl Microbiol 39: 127-135.

Garner JS and Favero MS (1985) Guidelines for Handwashing and Hospital Environment Control. US Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control HHS Washington DC: Government Printing Office No. 99-117.

Fricker CR (1995) Detection of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in water. In Protozoan Parasites in Water Eds

Betts WB, Casemore D, Fricker CR, Smith HV and Watkins J London: The Royal Society of Chemistry pp 91-96.

Personal communications should be cited in the text with initials and family name of all individuals.

The Editorial Process
The manuscript will be reviewed with the understanding that it has not been submitted to other journal at a time or has not been published or accepted for publication elsewhere. Manuscripts are reviewed for originality, scientific and technical ideas, and significant message. The poor articles with insufficient originality, serious scientific and technical mistakes and lack of significant message will be rejected. Manuscripts are sent to expert reviewers without revealing the identity of the authors to the reviewers. Each manuscript is then reviewed by the TUJM editor based on the comments of the reviewers and make the final decision for publication or rejection of the manuscript.

Abbreviations and units
The Journal uses SI units: g/l; d, h, min, s (time units) but week and year in full; probability is p; centrifugation conditions relative to gravity (g or rpm). Please refer to the Biochemical Journal ‘Instructions to Authors’.

Microbial nomenclature
The Latin binomial name of micro-organisms, plants and animals (other than farm animals) must be given at first mention in the text; thereafter the generic name will be abbreviated in such a way that confusion is avoided when dealing with several genera all beginning with the same letter, viz. Pseudomonas, Proteus, Pediococcus, etc. (see list of abbreviations below). Subspecies are italicized (Corynebacterium diphtheria subsp. mitis; groups and types are printed in Roman and designated by capital letters or Arabic figures (e.g. Staphylococcus aureus group A).

Common names will not have an initial capital letter nor will they be underlined in the manuscript, viz. pseudomonad, salmonellas. The specific name will be given in full in the captions to tables and figures. Major ranks are written in Roman with an initial capital (e.g. Enterobacteriaceae).

At the first citation of a serotype the genus name is given followed by the word ‘serotype’ and then the serotype name. Names of serotypes should be in Roman type with the first letter capitalized (for example Salmonella serotype Typhimurium). Subsequently the name should by written with the genus (abbreviated) followed directly by the serotype name (for example S. Typhimurium).

Nucleotide sequences

1. Nucleotide sequence data should be deposited in the EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ Nucleotide Sequence Data Libraries and the accession number referenced in the manuscript.
2. Sequence data should only be included if they are new (unpublished), complete (no unidentified nucleotides included) and if the sequence information itself provides important new biological in sights of direct relevance to the question addressed in the manuscript. Generally, sequences should not be submitted if the same gene has been reported in another species unless a comparison with related sequences contributes important new information.
3. Presentation of nucleotide sequences should include clear indications of nucleotide numbers and points of interest, e.g. promoter sequences, ribosome binding sites, mutations, insertions, probe sequences, etc. In the case of comparisons, nucleotides which differ between the sequences should be readily visible to the reader, e.g. by the use of bold face, shading, boxing or by the use of a dash to represent identical nucleotides. The font size used in the manuscript should facilitate appropriate reduction of the figure.

Statistics
Tests must be presented clearly to allow a reader with access to the data to repeat them. It is not necessary to describe every statistical test fully, as long as it is clear from the context what was done. In particular, null hypotheses should be clearly stated. Authors are urged to give consideration to the assumptions underlying any statistical tests used and to assure the reader that the assumptions are at least plausible. Authors should be prepared to use nonparametric tests if the assumptions do not seem to hold.

Tables
Tables must be prepared using the same word processing package as the manuscript text. They should not be embedded but be placed immediately following the main text. Do not submit tables separately. Tables must not include ruled vertical or horizontal lines with the exception of headers and a footer. The use of explanatory footnotes is permissible and they should be marked by the following (shown in order of preference): *, †, ‡, §, ,**, †† etc.

Figures
Figures may be line drawings or photographs. They may be uploaded to the online submission site as separate files or included within the manuscript following the text and any tables. Do not embed figures in the text. All graphs, charts and diagrams must be submitted in a finished form and at their intended publication size. Authors are advised that poor quality figures may delay the publication of their paper. Symbols or keys representing data series in graphs and charts must not be shown on the figure itself but be included in the legend typed on a separate sheet.

Photographs
These must be of good quality and high contrast. The magnification must be indicated by adding a bar representing a stated length. Composite photographs can reduce the numbers that require publication. The Journal will not accept figures illustrating SDS-PAGE and agarose gels, with multiple lanes, where lane order has been rearranged using digital imaging software. The figure should also show sufficient of the gel to reveal reference markers (e.g. the sample origin and a tracker dye, or a lane of molecular mass markers). Captions should be set out in the same manner as that used for figures.

Supporting data
Data that is integral to the paper must be made available in such a way as to enable readers to replicate, verify and build upon the conclusions published in the paper. Any restriction on the availability of this data must be disclosed at the time of submission. Data may be included as part of the main article where practical. We recommend that data for which public repositories are widely used, and are accessible to all, should be deposited in such a repository prior to publication. The appropriate linking details and identifier(s) should then be included in the publication and where possible the repository, to facilitate linking between the journal article and the data. If such a repository does not exist, data should be included as supporting information to the published paper or authors should agree to make their data available upon reasonable request.

Footnotes
Not permitted other than on the first page of a manuscript where they are used to show the author’s change of address and the address for correspondence.

Experimental hazards
Chemical or microbiological hazards that may be involved in the experiments must be explained. Authors should provide a description of the relevant safety precautions adopted or cite an accepted ‘Code of Practice’.

Supporting information
Authors wishing to submit supporting information material (such as multimedia adjuncts, large data sets, extra colour illustrations, bibliographies or any other material for which there is in sufficient space in the print edition of the Journal) must do so at the time of first submission. This supporting information is an integral part of the article and will be reviewed accordingly. The availability of supporting information should be indicated in the main manuscript by a paragraph, to appear after the References, headed ‘Supporting information’ and providing titles of figures and tables.

Letter of Conflict of Interest (If applicable)

3.2 Review Articles Preparation of manuscript
The review manuscript should not be simply a review of past work or be concentrated largely on unpublished results from the laboratory. There should be a distillation of early and present work within the field to show progress and explain the present interest and relevance. It is essential at the planning stage to realize that there is a limit to the number of pages available. The final manuscript must not exceed 4000 words with double-spaced typing, including references. The Tables and Figures must be considered as part of the text and the pages available for text reduced accordingly. References can make a heavy demand on the pages available to you, and it is suggested that you select key references only.

Manuscript presentation
The headings in these review articles are of the author’s choice. The first page of the manuscript must give only (a) the title; (b) name(s) of author(s) and address; (c) an abbreviated title to be used for the running title not exceeding 35 letters and spaces; (d) the name, postal and e-mail address of the author to whom all correspondence should be addressed and who will check the proofs. A short SUMMARY of 150-200 words must be included, as well as an INTRODUCTION, DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION (possibly referring to future prospects) sections. References must be chosen carefully as their number is limited by the size limitation of the review article.

3.3 Letters to the editor
The Chief Editor will consider letters which will provide further debate on a particular topic arising from the publication of a paper. Author(s) of the paper will be sent an edited copy of the letter and they will have the right of reply. Both letters will be published in the Journal.

3.4 Notes to the editor
The Chief Editor will consider notes which will provide further confirmatory information on a particular topic, or a novel aspect of a methodology (e.g. detection) or a microorganism (e.g. virulence factor) for which results are preliminary but the impact for Microbiology deemed to be important and requires rapid publishing. Notes should be concise (2000 words; including references), with no headings and present results in 1 table or 1 figure only. The abstract should be a brief summary of the work under the following four headings: Objectives; Methods and Results; Conclusion; Significance and Impact of the Study.

Disclaimer
Whilst every effort is made by the Publishers and Editorial Board to see that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement appears in this Journal, they wish to make it clear that the data and opinions appearing in the articles and advertisements herein are the sole responsibility of the contributor or advertiser concerned. Accordingly, the Publishers and Editors and their respective employees, officers and agents accept no responsibility or liability what so ever for the consequences of any such inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement.