INSTRUCTION FOR AUTHORS

The Journal aims to promote research in all relevant areas of molecular & cellular biology and biotechnology in the Asia Pacific region through publication of research articles, both basic and applied. Papers must be written in English. Standard papers, research notes and review articles will be considered for publication. Submission of a manuscript will be taken to imply that it reports unpublished work that is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that all authors have agreed to its submission and that, if accepted, it will not be published again in the same form in any language without the consent of the Malaysian Society for Molecular Biology & Biotechnology. It is the Journal's policy that copyright be assigned to the Malaysian Society for Molecular Biology & Biotechnology in respect of all papers accepted for publication. Statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communications herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Editor(s) or the publisher. No responsibility can be accepted for any inaccuracies or omissions, and no guarantee is made in respect to the contents.

Submissions: The Journal will publish the following types of papers: Review / Mini Review articles (invited and submitted), Research Notes (brief reports less than 12 A-4 size pages), Methods (short, detailed notes on current experimental protocols), Book Review, Diary of Events in the region. Authors are required to send three copies of the manuscript to:

Ms. Adriya Dzulkurnain (Technical Manager),
Genetics and Molecular Biology Division,
Institute of Biological Sciences,
Faculty of Science, University of Malaya,
50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: 603-79675817 Fax: 603-79675908.
E-mail: apjmbb@um.edu.my

Acceptability: Each manuscript is assigned to an Associate Editor. After preliminary examination to establish that it appears within the scope of the Journal, the manuscript will be sent to two independent referees from the Asia Pacific region. The referees will review the manuscript for originality and significance of the work described and recommend its acceptability for publication. The Chief Editor and the Associate Editors will make the final decision as to the acceptability of the manuscript.

Review Process: Authors are encouraged to provide names and full addresses of 3 suggested reviewers when submitting manuscripts. The final choice of reviewers will be at the discretion of the Chief Editor and the Associate Editors. The corresponding author is notified, generally within 1 month after submission, of the reviewers’ decision to accept, reject or require modification. When a manuscript is returned to the corresponding author for modification, it should be returned within 2 weeks, failing which the manuscript is considered withdrawn.

Galley-proofs: Upon acceptability, the manuscript will be type-set and sent to the corresponding author for proof-reading. The corresponding author is required to return the manuscript with corrections, if any, within 2-5 working days. Failing which, the manuscript may be published in a later issue. Payment for page charges MUST be sent together with the corrected manuscripts.

Copyright Policy: The Asia Pacific Journal of Molecular Biology & Biotechnology requires the corresponding author to sign a copyright transfer agreement and a letter of undertaking on behalf of all authors. These documents are sent to the corresponding author when the manuscript is accepted and scheduled for publication. These documents must be signed by the corresponding author to enable publication of the manuscript.

Page charges: Authors are required to pay for page charges. The page charges for articles from Malaysia are RM 20.00 per page in black-and-white and RM 30.00 per coloured page. For articles from outside of Malaysia, the page charges are USD 10.00 per page in black-and-white and USD 15.00 per coloured page. A bill for page charges will be sent with the galley-proofs to the corresponding author. Method of payment is by cheque, postal order, money order or bank draft. Payment made payable to ‘APJMBB’.

Typescript: Papers should be typed double-spaced on one side of A-4 paper with wide margins (2cm / 1inch) and the sheets numbered consecutively. Figures and tables should be grouped together at the back of the manuscript on separate sheets. Manuscripts should be organized into Abstract (150-200 words), Introduction, Materials & Methods, results, Discussion, Acknowledgements and References. Research Notes should not exceed 12 typed pages (excluding Tables and Figure Legends) and written as one continuous article without sub-headings, except for Abstract and References.

Title Page: Title page should contain: (1) Title of paper; (2) Names of all authors given in full; (3) Institutional affiliations of authors; (4) Name and address of corresponding author; (5) Short running title (no more than 45 characters); (6) key words (maximum of 6 in alphabetical order, suitable for indexing). The corresponding author is also required to supply full postal address, telephone and fax numbers and email address (if available).

References: Article and journal titles should be cited in full. References should be listed in alphabetical order according to the surname of the first author and expressed as indicated below:

Journal citation: Chan, T.K., Herlina, S. and Ruangsap, B. 1993. Cloning of promoter sequences from Escherida coli. Journal of Molecular Biology 45: 567-575.

Book Chapter: Chan, T.K. 1992 Plasmids of enterobacteria. In Pathogenesis of bacterial infections, ed. A. Ramirez and S. Aquino, pp 235-243. Kuala Lumpur: Protea Press.

Book: Herlina, S. and Tan, F.H. 1992. Molecular aspects of typhoid fever. Kuala Lumpur: Protea Press.

Personal Communications: These should be mentioned in the text in the following form: (U. Laopinkarn, pers.comm.)

Units / Abbreviations: Authors should follow the SI system of units. Non-standard abbreviations should be employed only where multiple use is made, and should be defined on their first appearance in both the main body of the text and in the Abstract.

Tables: Tables should be numbered consecutively (Table 1, Table 2, etc) and typed double-spaced on a separate sheet. Tables should bear an appropriate caption, contain horizontal rules only, (one above and one below column headings) and all abbreviations clearly explained in the footnote.

Figures and Photos: Illustrations of high quality and glossy print photographs with good contrast should be submitted in triplicates. Legends should be typed double-spaced on separate sheets of paper. Figure numbers must be clearly labelled on the reverse. Colour photographs are accepted, but charged according to the coloured page charges.