Submissions

Author Guidelines

Submission of papers

All submissions to Journal of Commercial Biotechnology should be made online at https://www.commercialbiotechnology.com/index.php/jcb/submissions (you will need to register as an author and log in). Please read the instructions given on the web submission site carefully before commencing your submission.

We welcome short questions or inquiries about the appropriateness of manuscripts for Journal of Commercial Biotechnology. Please send inquiries to the Journal's Chief Editor Art Boni at boni@commercialbiotechnology.com.

Charges

There are no page or submission charges.

Format of submissions

Papers should be in excess of 2,500 words and ideally in excess of 4,000 (but shorter papers will be considered).

Submissions should be typewritten, single-spaced, on a US letter of A4 page size and supplied electronically, preferably in Word for Windows format.

Abstract and keywords

All papers should be accompanied by a brief abstract of up to 200 words setting out the aims and scope of the paper and summarizing the skills/knowledge the reader will take away from it.

All papers should be accompanied by 4-6 keywords which summarize the key themes of the paper.

Description of author(s)

Papers should be accompanied by a short (up to 100 words) description of the author(s), job titles and, if appropriate, the organization of which he or she is a member. 

General guidelines

Authors should not seek to use the Journal as a vehicle for marketing any specific product or service.

Papers should be written in the third person and authors should avoid the use of personal pronouns, slang and any other language which is not in keeping with the professional and academic style of the Journal.

Authors should avoid using the term 'biotech' where at all possible and instead should use the full term 'biotechnology' throughout.

All acronyms (such as titles of organisations etc) should be written out first in full and thereafter in their initials.

Authors must ensure that references to named people and/or organisations are accurate, not racist or sexist and without libelous implications.

With appropriate exceptions, eg pints and gallons, measurements should be in metric units.

References

References in the text

The citations should follow the Vancouver system, marked by a superscript number, closed up to the preceding text, but outside any punctuation that is part of the surrounding sentence. Pairs of citations should be separated with an unspaced comma^1,2 and ranges of citations with an en dash.^3–5

Personal communications should be listed as such where they are cited in the text, and not listed in the references.

Example:
Results have been reported (Don Graham, 1989, personal communication).

Articles not yet published should show ‘forthcoming’ in place of the year (in both the reference and the citation). ‘In press’ should be used in place of the volume, issue and page range details.

Example:
Sharp Parker, A.M. (forthcoming) Cyberterrorism: An examination of the preparedness of the North Carolina local law enforcement. Security Journal, in press.

List of References

References are placed in a consecutive numerical list at the end of the paper. The sequence follows the order of first-citation in the text. References cited only in tables or captions are placed in the sequence according to the first reference in the text to that table or figure. When a work is cited more than once, the number of the original reference should be repeated (not new numbers generating extra items in the reference list cross-referring back to the original).

Examples of correct forms of references for numerical style:

Book

1. Slovic, P. (2000) The Perception of Risk. London: Earthscan Publications.

Edited volume

2. Nye Jr, J.S., Zelikow, P.D. and King D.C. (eds.) (1997) Why People Don’t Trust Government. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Chapter in book

3. Flora, P. and Alber, J. (1981) Modernization, democratization, and the development of the welfare state. In: P. Flora and A.J. Heidenheimer (eds.) The Development of Welfare States in Europe and America. New Brunswick and London: Transaction Books, pp. 17–34.

Article in journal

4. Thompson, K., Griffith, E. and Leaf, P. (1990) A historical review of the Madison model of community care. Hospital and Community Psychiatry 41(6): 21–35.

Article in newspaper

5. Webster, B. (2008) Record bonus for Network Rail chief, despite Christmas chaos. The Times, 6 June: p1.

Newspaper or magazine article (without a named author)

14. Economist (2005) The mountain man and the surgeon. 24 December, pp. 24–26.

Article online

6. Gardener, T. and Moffatt, J. (2007) Changing behaviours in defence acquisition: a game theory approach. Journal of the Operational Research Society, advance online publication 28 November, doi: 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602476.

Other online resource

7. Green Party. (2005) Greens call for attack on asylum ‘push factors’. Green Party report, 4 March, http://www.greenparty.org.uk/index.php?nav=new&n=1838, accessed 9 March 2005.

Conference proceedings

8. Sapin, A. (ed.) (1985) Health and the Environment. Proceedings of the Conference on Biological Monitoring Methods for Industrial Chemicals; 30–31 March 1984, Chicago, IL. Chicago: American Toxological Association.

Conference paper

9. Harley, N.H. (1981) Radon risk models. In: A.R. Knight and B. Harrad, (eds.) Indoor Air and Human Health. Proceedings of the Seventh Life Sciences Symposium; 29–31 October, Knoxville, TN. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp.69–78.

Papers/talks presented at a conference but not published

10. Martin, S. (2003) An exploration of factors which have an impact on the vocal performance and vocal effectiveness of newly qualified teachers and lecturers. Paper presented at the Pan European Voice Conference; 31 August, Graz, Austria.

Dissertation/thesis

11. Young, W.R. (1981) Effects of different tree species on soil properties in central New York. MSc thesis, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

Research papers/reports/working papers

12. Bloom., G. et al (2005) Poverty Reduction During Democratic Transition: The Malawi Social Action Fund 1996-2001. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies. IDS Research Report no. 56.

Mimeo

13.Bond, S. A., Hwang, S., Lin, Z. and Vandell, K. (2005) Marketing Period Risk in a Portfolio Context: Theory and Empirical Estimates from the UK Commercial Real Estate Market. Cambridge, UK: Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge (mimeo).

Speech

15. Blair, A. (2003) Britain in the World. Speech to FCO Leadership Conference. London, 7 January.

Photographs, figures and graphics

Photographs and illustrations supporting papers should be submitted where appropriate.

The journal is printed in full color, so you may supply your figures with color.

Tables and graphs

Tables and graphs should be submitted in their original Word/Excel format. PowerPoint slides and screen grabs should be avoided, as they are often of insufficient resolution for printing. An electronic copy of the original data must also be included.

Review procedure

All papers submitted for publication will be subject to a double-blind refereeing procedure. Authors should be aware that papers submitted to the Journal should not be simultaneously submitted for review to any other publications.

Accuracy of content

Contributions, whether published pseudonymously or not, are accepted on the strict understanding that the author is responsible for the accuracy of all opinion, technical comment, factual report, data, figures, illustrations and photographs. Publication does not necessarily imply that these are the opinions of the Editorial Board, Editors or the Publisher, nor do the Board, Editors or Publishers accept any liability for the accuracy of such comment, report and other technical and factual information. The Publisher will, however, strive to ensure that all opinion, comments, reports, data, figures, illustrations and photographs are accurate, insofar as it is within its abilities to do so.

Copyright

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing through any medium of communication those illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. Add your acknowledgements to the typescript, preferably in the form of an "Acknowledgements" section at the end of the paper. Credit the source and copyright of photographs or figures in the accompanying captions.

The journal's policy is to own copyright in all contributions. Before publication, authors assign copyright to the Publishers, but retain their rights to republish this material in other works written or edited by themselves, subject to full acknowledgement of the original source of publication.

The journal mandates the Copyright Clearance Center in the USA and the Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK to offer centralised licensing arrangements for photocopying in their respective territories.

No contribution will be accepted which has been published elsewhere, unless it is expressly invited or agreed by the Publisher. Papers and contributions published become the copyright of the Publisher, unless otherwise agreed.

Proofs

Proofs are sent as PDF attachments to an email to only the first (or nominated) author of a multi-authored article. Please print the PDF attachment, correct your proofs within the time period indicated and return your proofs as directed. Please make no revisions to the final, edited text, except where the copy editor has requested clarification.

Accuracy of reproduction

All reasonable efforts are made to ensure accurate reproduction of text, photographs and illustrations. The Publisher does not accept responsibility for mistakes, be they editorial or typographical, nor for consequences resulting from them.

The Publisher reserves the right to edit, abridge or omit material submitted for publication.

Offprints and free copies

Authors will be given the opportunity to purchase offprints of their paper once typesetting has been finalised.

Corresponding authors will receive a PDF of their article. This PDF offprint is provided for personal use. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to pass the PDF offprint onto co-authors (if relevant) and ensure that they are aware of the conditions pertaining to its use.

The PDF must not be placed on a publicly-available website for general viewing, or otherwise distributed without seeking our permission, as this would contravene our copyright policy and potentially damage the journal's circulation.

Publication ethics

We take an active interest in issues and developments relating to publication ethics, such as plagiarism, falsification of data, fabrication of results and other areas of ethical misconduct.