Instruction to Authors
Checklist
Before submitting for publication, please check that your manuscript has been prepared in accordance to the step-by-step instructions for submitting a manuscript to our online submission system. Submissions may be returned to authors if they do not adhere to the following guidelines:
• The submission has not been published before, and it is not being considered by another journal.
• The submission file is in Microsoft Word document file format. PDF submissions are not acceptable.
• Full author names, affiliations, and email addresses must be represented
• All information in a manuscript is the sole responsibility of the authors, including the accuracy of the data and the resulting conclusion.
• The reference list is complete and in proper order
• All figures and tables are cited in text
• There is no limit to the number of words
• Figures have high resolution
• Obtain an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) for each author or at least the corresponding author if you do not already have one. Register here; https://info.orcid.org/researchers/
Preparation of Manuscript
1. Contributions should be made in Standard English. Manuscripts should be submitted in soft copies, including all illustrations, figures, tables, photographs, images and any other accompanying documentation.
2. The entire manuscript must be word-processed, two columns, single spaced, on one side of A4 paper with all margins at least 1 cm wide. All pages should be numbered including the tables and figure legends and should be close to where they are first cited. All figures and tables obtained from other sources must be properly cited and acknowledged.
3. The title of the paper font type Ebrima and font size 16, the names of the author is font type Ebrima and font size 12, the affiliation of the authors font type Ebrima and font size 8, the abstract and the keywords font type Ebrima and font size 10. Correspondence email address, copyrights and competing interest font type Ebrima and font size 8. The main text of the paper should be in Calibri Light font, size 11, with single line spacing, formatted in two columns.
4. All figures and tables obtained from other sources must be properly cited. Each figure/table photograph/plates etc. should be numbered consecutively and should be cited in the text. Each author should ensure that all figures and tables are clear, and all axes clearly labelled to allow reproduction by other researchers elsewhere. Photographs should be of excellent quality to avoid loss of contrast during printing. the legends/labels of all figures should be in black; the lettering should be legible (bearing in mind that these may be reduced in size for the final layout). Table titles, each containing all the general information about the table, should be typed on top of the table. However, for all figures, titles should be placed below the individual figures and should communicate adequately what the figure is all about using brief statements.
5. The international system of units (SI) must be used throughout; abbreviations and acronyms should be identified where they first appear; mathematical symbols and formulas should be used only when necessary, and if used, should be clearly defined in the text. Scientific names of organisms must be italized and are to be given on first mention with full author citation.
6. A complete manuscript must include the following parts: title page, abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion and conclusion, acknowledgements, references, and illustrations (tables, figures and figure legends, if applicable); in that order.
7. Author/s must ensure that the manuscripts have been checked for plagiarism using a reliable plagiarism checker. The editorial team upon receipt of the manuscript shall subject it to a plagiarism check for conformance to the journal’s regulation. Plagiarism level above 10% shall be returned to the author for corrections and above 40% shall be automatically rejected.