1.      General Rules

Before submission of the new manuscript authors should consider the following general rules for preparation of the manuscript. Please read these instructions carefully and follow the guidelines strictly.

• Fonts: Important – Use Times or Times New Roman 12 point size only (other sizes as specified), and Symbol font for mathematical symbols (in the text and in the figures).

Justification should be set to full (or left only, if preferred).

Do not underline: Use italics, bold or bold italics instead.

Line spacing should be set at 2 (Double).

Leave a line space between paragraphs and sections.

Leave a line space between section titles and text.

Leave only one space after a full stop.

•Manuscripts must be typed on A4 (210 × 297 mm) paper, double-spaced throughout and with ample margins of at least 2.5 cm. All pages must be numbered consecutively. Starting with the title page as p.1, the text, which begins with p.2, is to be arranged in the following order: abstract, brief introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, references, figure legends, tables.

•The first page of the full manuscript must begin with the title of the paper centered on the page in 14 point Bold Title Case (title case means first letter of each main word capitalized), the names of the authors (Initials – followed by a period each – Family Name) with the main author’s name mentioned first, the names and locations of the authors’ affiliations (Title Case), and the e-mail address of the main author. The title page must provide the title in English, a short title of not more than 45 characters (including spaces) to be used as running head, up to five topical key words in English for subject indexing, the full postal address of the corresponding author to whom proofs will be sent. The title should be brief and should indicate the species studied. Subtitles are not encouraged.

•The abstract should not exceed 250 words, should be one paragraph and should be free of references and abbreviations. It should indicate clearly the scope and main conclusions of the paper.

•The introduction should give the pertinent background to the study and should explain why the work was done.

•The materials and methods (or methodology) should give essential details, including experimental design and statistical analysis.

•The results should present the findings of the research. They should be free from discussion. Results should be written in the past tense.

•The discussion should cover, but not simply repeat the new findings and should present the author's results in broader context of other work on the subject interpreting them with a minimum of speculation.

•The acknowledgements should be as brief as possible.

File Sizes 
Manuscripts will be distributed to reviewers via the Web. However, reviewers who use telephone modems may experience unacceptable download delays if the files are too large. A number of simple tricks can be used to avoid unnecessarily large files. Do not scan pages of text. Do not scan printed Figures unless no original digital document exists. If a scanned figure is unavoidable, please use Adobe PhotoShop or a similar program to edit the file and reduce the file size (not necessarily the image size) as much as possible before submission. For example, crop the picture to exclude surrounding "white space." Do not carelessly use colour. Black and white line drawings or gray-scale figures should not be saved as color documents; this will increase file sizes without increasing the information content of the file. Do not use colour unless absolutely needed to convey information. 

2. Manuscript file format 
We request to submit article in Microsoft Word format (.DOC). If you are using another word processor please save final version of the manuscript (using 'Save As' option of the file menu) as a Word document. In this case please double check that the saved file can be opened in Microsoft Word. We cannot accept Acrobat .PDF or any other text files.

2.1. Preparing the Manuscript

2.1.1. Research Articles

Research articles present original research and address a clearly stated specific hypothesis or question. Papers should provide novel approaches and new insights into the problem addressed. Research Article should arrange in the following order: abstract, brief introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, references, figures, tables.

2.1.1.1. Template for Research Article

The template consists of essential headings along with body text explaining what to include in each section. You should overwrite (or copy and paste) the body text with the corresponding section text for your article. Obviously, you should add other headings as needed.

Title (150 characters or fewer)

The title should be specific to the study yet concise, and should allow sensitive and specific electronic retrieval of the article. It should be comprehensible to readers outside your field. Avoid specialist abbreviations if possible. Present this in title case, capitalizing all words except for prepositions, articles, and conjunctions. Titles should also include relevant information about the design of the study, e.g.: Television watching and family dysfunction in medical journal editors: a case-control study.
Authors and Affiliations

Provide the first names or initials (if used), middle names or initials (if used), surnames, and affiliations—department, university or organization, city, state/province (if applicable), and country—for all authors. One of the authors should be designated as the corresponding author. If the article has been submitted on behalf of a consortium, all author names and affiliations should be listed at the end of the article.

Abstract

The abstract succinctly introduces the paper. We advise that it should not exceed 250–300 words. The abstract is conceptually divided into three sections. Background: include here a statement of the main research question. Methodology/Principal Findings. include here the techniques used without going into methodological detail, together with a summary of  the most important findings with key numerical results given, with measures of error and not just p values. Conclusions/Significance: concisely summarize the study’s implications. Please do not include any citations in the abstract. Avoid specialist abbreviations if possible. 

Introduction

The introduction should put the focus of the manuscript into a broader context. As you compose the introduction, think of readers who are not experts in this field. Include a brief review of the key literature. If there are relevant controversies or disagreements in the field, they should be mentioned so that a non-expert reader can delve into these issues further. The introduction should conclude with a brief statement of the overall aim of the experiments and a comment about whether that aim was achieved.

Materials and Methods

This section should provide enough detail to allow full replication of the study by suitably skilled investigators. Protocols for new methods should be included, but well-established protocols may simply be referenced. We encourage authors to submit, as separate supporting information files, detailed protocols for newer or less well-established methods. These are published online only, but are linked to the article and are fully searchable.

Results

The results section should provide details of all of the experiments that are required to support the conclusions of the paper. There is no specific word limit for this section. The section may be divided into subsections, each with a concise subheading. Large datasets, including raw data, should be submitted as supporting information files; these are published online alongside the accepted article. We advise that the results section be written in past tense.

Discussion

The discussion should spell out the major conclusions of the work along with some explanation or speculation on the significance of these conclusions. How do the conclusions affect the existing assumptions and models in the field? How can future research build on these observations? What are the key experiments that must be done? The discussion should be concise and tightly argued. Conclusions firmly established by the presented data, hypotheses supported by the presented data, and speculations suggested by the presented data should be clearly identified as such. The results and discussion may be combined into one section, if desired.

Acknowledgments

People who contributed to the work but do not fit criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments, alongwith their contributions. It is the authors’ responsibility to ensure that anyone named in the acknowledgments agrees to being so named. Details of the funding sources that have supported the work should be confined to the funding declaration provided on submission. Do not include them in the acknowledgments.

References

Only published or accepted manuscripts should be included in the reference list. Meetings abstracts, conference talks, or papers that have been submitted but not yet accepted should not be cited. Limited citation of unpublished work should be included in the body of the text only.  Because all references will be linked electronically as much as possible to the papers they cite, proper formatting of the references is crucial. Please read guide to authors carefully to prepare a list of references.

Figure Legends

The aim of the figure legend should be to describe the key messages of the figure, but the figure should also be discussed in the text. An enlarged version of the figure and its full legend will often be viewed in a separate window online, and it should be possible for a reader to understand the figure without switching back and forth between this window and the relevant parts of the text. Each legend should have a concise title of no more than 15 words. The legend itself should be succinct, while still explaining all symbols and abbreviations. Avoid lengthy descriptions of methods.

Tables

The table title should be concise, no more than one sentence. The rest of the table legend and any footnotes should be placed below the table. Footnotes can be used to explain abbreviations.
Tables must be cell-based, such as would be produced in a spreadsheet program or in Microsoft Word. Do not provide tables as graphic objects. Tables must be no larger than one printed page (7inches x 9.5inches). Larger tables can be published as online supporting information. Bold and italics formatting will be preserved in the published version; however, more extensive formatting will be lost.  Do not include color, shading, lines, rules, text boxes, tabs, returns, or pictures within the table.

2.1.2. Reviews/Mini-Reviews

Review articles are an attempt by one or more authors to sum up the current state of the research on a particular topic. Ideally, the author searches for everything relevant to the topic, and then sorts it all out into a coherent view of the “state of the art” as it now stands. Review Articles should inform about:

        •  the main researchers working in a field

        •  recent major advances and discoveries

        •  significant gaps in the research

        •  current debates

        •  future directions

Only review articles from the experts in relevant field will be considered for publication.

2.1.2.1. Template for Review Article

The template consists of essential headings along with body text explaining what to include in each section. You should overwrite (or copy and paste) the body text with the corresponding section text for your article. Obviously, you should add other headings as needed.

Title (150 characters or fewer)

The title should be specific to the study yet concise, and should allow sensitive and specific electronic retrieval of the article. It should be comprehensible to readers outside your field. Avoid specialist abbreviations if possible. Present this in title case, capitalizing all words except for prepositions, articles, and conjunctions. Titles should also include relevant information about the design of the study, e.g.: Television watching and family dysfunction in medical journal editors: a case-control study.
Authors and Affiliations

Provide the first names or initials (if used), middle names or initials (if used), surnames, and affiliations—department, university or organization, city, state/province (if applicable), and country—for all authors. One of the authors should be designated as the corresponding author. If the article has been submitted on behalf of a consortium, all author names and affiliations should be listed at the end of the article.

Abstract

The abstract succinctly introduces the paper. We advise that it should not exceed 250–300 words. The abstract is conceptually divided into three sections. Background: include here a statement of the main research question. Methodology/Principal Findings. include here the techniques used without going into methodological detail, together with a summary of  the most important findings with key numerical results given, with measures of error and not just p values. Conclusions/Significance: concisely summarize the study’s implications. Please do not include any citations in the abstract. Avoid specialist abbreviations if possible. 

Introduction

The introduction should put the focus of the manuscript into a broader context. As you compose the introduction, think of readers who are not experts in this field. Include a brief review of the key literature. If there are relevant controversies or disagreements in the field, they should be mentioned so that a non-expert reader can delve into these issues further. The introduction should conclude with a brief statement of the overall aim of the experiments and a comment about whether that aim was achieved.

Rest of the Review Article

The required format for review articles is similar to that used for research articles, with the exception that headings such as "Methodolgy," "Results and Discussion," and "Conclusions" should be replaced with more appropriate headings, consistent with the contents of the article.

2.1.3. Short Communications

Short communication is for a concise, but independent report representing a significant contribution in the field. Short communication is not intended to publish preliminary results. But if these results are of exceptional interest and are particularly topical and relevant will be considered for publication. It should be no more than 2500 words, and could include two figures or tables. It should have at least 8 references. Short communications will also send for peer review.

2.1.3.1. Template for Short Communication

The template consists of essential headings along with body text explaining what to include in each section. You should overwrite (or copy and paste) the body text with the corresponding section text for your article. Obviously, you should add other headings as needed.

Short Communication should be no more than 2500 words, and could include two figures or tables. It should have at least 8 references.

Short communications must report completed work, not preliminary findings: they are an alternative format for describing smaller pieces of work.

Title (150 characters or fewer)

The title should be specific to the study yet concise, and should allow sensitive and specific electronic retrieval of the article. It should be comprehensible to readers outside your field. Avoid specialist abbreviations if possible. Present this in title case, capitalizing all words except for prepositions, articles, and conjunctions. Titles should also include relevant information about the design of the study, e.g.: Television watching and family dysfunction in medical journal editors: a case-control study.
Authors and Affiliations

Provide the first names or initials (if used), middle names or initials (if used), surnames, and affiliations—department, university or organization, city, state/province (if applicable), and country—for all authors. One of the authors should be designated as the corresponding author. If the article has been submitted on behalf of a consortium, all author names and affiliations should be listed at the end of the article.

Abstract

The abstract succinctly introduces the paper. We advise that it should not exceed 250–300 words. The abstract is conceptually divided into three sections. Background: include here a statement of the main research question. Methodology/Principal Findings. include here the techniques used without going into methodological detail, together with a summary of  the most important findings with key numerical results given, with measures of error and not just p values. Conclusions/Significance: concisely summarize the study’s implications. Please do not include any citations in the abstract. Avoid specialist abbreviations if possible. 

Key words:

Introduction

The introduction should put the focus of the manuscript into a broader context. As you compose the introduction, think of readers who are not experts in this field. Include a brief review of the key literature. If there are relevant controversies or disagreements in the field, they should be mentioned so that a non-expert reader can delve into these issues further. The introduction should conclude with a brief statement of the overall aim of the experiments and a comment about whether that aim was achieved.

Materials and Methods

This section should provide enough detail to allow full replication of the study by suitably skilled investigators. Protocols for new methods should be included, but well-established protocols may simply be referenced. We encourage authors to submit, as separate supporting information files, detailed protocols for newer or less well-established methods. These are published online only, but are linked to the article and are fully searchable.

Results

The results section should provide details of all of the experiments that are required to support the conclusions of the paper. There is no specific word limit for this section. The section may be divided into subsections, each with a concise subheading. Large datasets, including raw data, should be submitted as supporting information files; these are published online alongside the accepted article. We advise that the results section be written in past tense.

Discussion

The discussion should spell out the major conclusions of the work along with some explanation or speculation on the significance of these conclusions. How do the conclusions affect the existing assumptions and models in the field? How can future research build on these observations? What are the key experiments that must be done? The discussion should be concise and tightly argued. Conclusions firmly established by the presented data, hypotheses supported by the presented data, and speculations suggested by the presented data should be clearly identified as such. The results and discussion may be combined into one section, if desired.

Acknowledgments

People who contributed to the work but do not fit criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments, along with their contributions. It is the authors’ responsibility to ensure that anyone named in the acknowledgments agrees to being so named. Details of the funding sources that have supported the work should be confined to the funding declaration provided on submission. Do not include them in the acknowledgments.

References

Only published or accepted manuscripts should be included in the reference list. Meetings abstracts, conference talks, or papers that have been submitted but not yet accepted should not be cited. Limited citation of unpublished work should be included in the body of the text only.  Because all references will be linked electronically as much as possible to the papers they cite, proper formatting of the references is crucial. Please read guide to authors carefully to prepare a list of references.

Figure Legends

The aim of the figure legend should be to describe the key messages of the figure, but the figure should also be discussed in the text. An enlarged version of the figure and its full legend will often be viewed in a separate window online, and it should be possible for a reader to understand the figure without switching back and forth between this window and the relevant parts of the text. Each legend should have a concise title of no more than 15 words. The legend itself should be succinct, while still explaining all symbols and abbreviations. Avoid lengthy descriptions of methods.

Tables

The table title should be concise, no more than one sentence. The rest of the table legend and any footnotes should be placed below the table. Footnotes can be used to explain abbreviations.
Tables must be cell-based, such as would be produced in a spreadsheet program or in Microsoft Word. Do not provide tables as graphic objects. Tables must be no larger than one printed page (7inches x 9.5inches). Larger tables can be published as online supporting information. Bold and italics formatting will be preserved in the published version; however, more extensive formatting will be lost.  Do not include color, shading, lines, rules, text boxes, tabs, returns, or pictures within the table.

2.1.4. Research Note

A technical note is an article giving a brief description of a technique or procedure. It may also refer to the modification of a technique, procedure or equipment of interest to the journal. It should be no more than 2500 words, and could include two figures or tables. It should have at least 8 references. Technical notes will also send for peer review

2.1.4.1. Template for Technical Notes

Technical Notes are concise but complete descriptions of a limited investigation, which will not be included in a later paper, describing some innovative technical aspects of methods related to the topic of the selected journal. Technical Notes should be as completely documented as an Original Research Paper, with special attention to the description of experimental procedures employed.

The template consists of essential headings along with body text explaining what to include in each section. You should overwrite (or copy and paste) the body text with the corresponding section text for your article. Obviously, you should add other headings as needed.

Title (150 characters or fewer)

The title should be specific to the study yet concise, and should allow sensitive and specific electronic retrieval of the article. It should be comprehensible to readers outside your field. Avoid specialist abbreviations if possible. Present this in title case, capitalizing all words except for prepositions, articles, and conjunctions. Titles should also include relevant information about the design of the study, e.g.: Television watching and family dysfunction in medical journal editors: a case-control study.
Authors and Affiliations

Provide the first names or initials (if used), middle names or initials (if used), surnames, and affiliations—department, university or organization, city, state/province (if applicable), and country—for all authors. One of the authors should be designated as the corresponding author. If the article has been submitted on behalf of a consortium, all author names and affiliations should be listed at the end of the article.

Authors and Contribution

Authors are strongly encouraged to include a statement in the end notes to specify the actual contribution of each coauthor to the completed work. Science Alert allows two coauthors to be specified as having contributed equally to the work being described. Author contribution statement should be clear like the following example:

Example

S.C.W., P.R.J.B., P.V.W. and I.K.T developed the concept and designed experiments. S.C.W. and S.G. performed P. infestans transformations and plant inoculations. P.C.B. carried out confocal microscopy and advised on cell biology. S.C.W. performed GUS assays and light microscopy. A.O.A. and J.G.M. quantified gene expression. Antibody detection of tagged transformants was performed by I.H. and S.C. L.M., J.G.M., E.M.G. and M.R.A. carried out experiments with P. atrosepticum. L.P. conducted all bioinformatics analyses.

Abstract

The abstract succinctly introduces the paper. We advise that it should not exceed 250–300 words. The abstract is conceptually divided into three sections. Background: include here a statement of the main research question. Methodology/Principal Findings. include here the techniques used without going into methodological detail, together with a summary of  the most important findings with key numerical results given, with measures of error and not just p values. Conclusions/Significance: concisely summarize the study’s implications. Please do not include any citations in the abstract. Avoid specialist abbreviations if possible. 

Introduction

The introduction should put the focus of the manuscript into a broader context. As you compose the introduction, think of readers who are not experts in this field. Include a brief review of the key literature. If there are relevant controversies or disagreements in the field, they should be mentioned so that a non-expert reader can delve into these issues further. The introduction should conclude with a brief statement of the overall aim of the experiments and a comment about whether that aim was achieved.

Materials and Methods

This section should provide enough detail to allow full replication of the study by suitably skilled investigators. Protocols for new methods should be included, but well-established protocols may simply be referenced. We encourage authors to submit, as separate supporting information files, detailed protocols for newer or less well-established methods. These are published online only, but are linked to the article and are fully searchable.

Results

The results section should provide details of all of the experiments that are required to support the conclusions of the paper. There is no specific word limit for this section. The section may be divided into subsections, each with a concise subheading. Large datasets, including raw data, should be submitted as supporting information files; these are published online alongside the accepted article. We advise that the results section be written in past tense.

Discussion

The discussion should spell out the major conclusions of the work along with some explanation or speculation on the significance of these conclusions. How do the conclusions affect the existing assumptions and models in the field? How can future research build on these observations? What are the key experiments that must be done? The discussion should be concise and tightly argued. Conclusions firmly established by the presented data, hypotheses supported by the presented data, and speculations suggested by the presented data should be clearly identified as such. The results and discussion may be combined into one section, if desired.

Acknowledgments

People who contributed to the work but do not fit criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments, along with their contributions. It is the authors’ responsibility to ensure that anyone named in the acknowledgments agrees to being so named. Details of the funding sources that have supported the work should be confined to the funding declaration provided on submission. Do not include them in the acknowledgments.

References

Only published or accepted manuscripts should be included in the reference list. Meetings abstracts, conference talks, or papers that have been submitted but not yet accepted should not be cited. Limited citation of unpublished work should be included in the body of the text only.  Because all references will be linked electronically as much as possible to the papers they cite, proper formatting of the references is crucial. Please read guide to authors carefully to prepare a list of references.

Figure Legends

The aim of the figure legend should be to describe the key messages of the figure, but the figure should also be discussed in the text. An enlarged version of the figure and its full legend will often be viewed in a separate window online, and it should be possible for a reader to understand the figure without switching back and forth between this window and the relevant parts of the text. Each legend should have a concise title of no more than 15 words. The legend itself should be succinct, while still explaining all symbols and abbreviations. Avoid lengthy descriptions of methods.

Tables

The table title should be concise, no more than one sentence. The rest of the table legend and any footnotes should be placed below the table. Footnotes can be used to explain abbreviations.

Tables must be cell-based, such as would be produced in a spreadsheet program or in Microsoft Word. Do not provide tables as graphic objects. Tables must be no larger than one printed page (7inches x 9.5inches). Larger tables can be published as online supporting information. Bold and italics formatting will be preserved in the published version; however, more extensive formatting will be lost.  Do not include color, shading, lines, rules, text boxes, tabs, returns, or pictures within the table.

2.1.5. Letters to the Editor

This section is for discussion of topical scientific matters, including those published in the journal and for miscellaneous contributions.

The letter should be submitted via online submission system.

A galley proof will be provided to the author before the scientific letter is available for all audiences.