Guidelines for Manuscript formatting
The information outlined below describes how to prepare your manuscripts for submission to the journal. We suggest you to read this in full before submitting your article.
Journal of Natural Remedies intends to publish clinical and preclinical pharmacological studies on defined herbal formulations, standardized plant extracts, fractions and isolated compounds. It also welcomes studies related to the isolation of bioactive compounds, novel phyto-analytical methods and well designed ethnopharmacological studies. Papers dealing with synthetic and semi-synthetic products cannot be accepted for publication.
1. Minimum standards for considering the submitted manuscripts for peer-reviewing
- Papers must be written in standard English
- Text files should be prepared in MS Word format
- All text should be double spaced with at least 1 cm margin all sides
- Font should be Times New Roman, 12 point
- The articles must strictly adhere to the journal guidelines
2. Criteria for consideration of the submitted manuscripts
A high quality research on herbal product showing commendable benefit for a particular disease condition may become least useful if the herbal product is inadequately defined. Also, if an inadequately defined herbal product is reported to possess potential adverse effects, then it would create unnecessary havoc among the public. Hence, samples studied should be adequately defined without any uncertainty. Following information about the sample should be present in every submitted manuscript for consideration in Journal of Natural Remedies.
- Identity of the botanical used by its correct Latin binomial including author.
- Method of identification.
- Part used.
- Form of use i.e., crude herb powder or an extract or a formulation.
- The solvent used for extraction if it is an extract.
- Yield of the extract at every stage of extraction
- Form of extract i.e., solid, semi-solid or liquid.
- Nature of extract i.e., simple extract or a standardized extract.
- Degree of concentration if it is a simple extract.
- Percentage of active constituents in case of a standardized extract.
- The method used for analyzing the active constituents.
- Dose used (appropriate as applicable for preclinical or clinical studies). Dosage form in case of a formulation (i.e., Tablet, capsule or liquid). Formula of the formulation including excipients if any.
- Other physicochemical nature of the formulation as deemed necessary for the biological effect.
- Information should be provided for each herb, if mixture of herbs is used.
- Route of administration.
- Number of times administered in a day.
- Duration of the treatment.
- Any other drugs if administered or used concomitantly in the study. Manuscripts related to anti-microbial activity will be accepted only for extracts exhibiting MIC (minimal inhibitory concentration) <100 mcg/ml or phytocompounds exhibiting MIC of < 50 mcg/ml.
- Manuscripts related to anti-oxidant activity will be accepted only for extracts and compounds with significant effect and can be published only as short communication.
3. Types of paper:
Authors can submit their work under any of the following categories:
3.1 Original research articles
3.2 Reviews – All reviews should clearly state the purpose of the review, databases used for collection of literature and criteria for selection of literatures. Reviews should ideally highlight the significant findings in the selected field along with potential problems that tends other researchers to do further research. The contributors are requested to consult the editor in advance before submitting the review article.
3.3 Short communications - These should be brief communications, preferably not exceeding two to three A4 size papers. It should be structured as abstract, introduction, material and methods, results, discussion and references.
3.4 Letters to the editor - These can be comments on previously published articles or brief original communication not exceeding 1000 words plus one figure or table.
3.5 Book reviews
4. Preparation of the manuscript:
All original research articles should be structured in the following manner.
4.1 Title
The title should be concise and reflect the entire work of the submitted manuscript. Names of all authors need to be indicated below the title. Affiliation of each author should be identified by a superscript small alphabetical letter. Corresponding author should be indicated by an asterisk. Provide full address including e-mail, fax, and telephone no of the corresponding author.
4.2 Abstract
Abstracts need not be in structured format. However, it should clearly state the purpose of the work, methods used, key findings and major conclusion drawn from the work in no more than 500 words. Use of abbreviations in abstract should be avoided however if essential should be expanded at its first appearance.
4.3 Keywords
The author should provide 3 to 6 key words, characterizing the scope of the paper, the main plant material used and the central aspect of the work. Keywords should be presented below the abstract.
4.4 Introduction
State the background and mention clearly the objective of the present work.
4.5 Materials and Methods
All methods used should be clearly mentioned to allow other researchers reproduce your work. All plant materials/extracts/fractions/formulations used should be adequately defined as mentioned under “Criteria for consideration of the submitted manuscripts”. Previously reported methods can be cited and need not be explained in detail unless it is modified. All manuscripts must mention the location and voucher specimen number of the authenticated plant materials used for the research. The plant materials used in the experiment should not violate the biodiversity law in the country of origin. Phytoanalytical methods used should be sound and reproducible. All pharmacological experimental procedures should be accompanied with data for positive controls and other appropriate controls as required. All animal experiments should be humane, in accordance with the NIH guidelines (NIH publication No. 80-23; revised 1978) and they should have got approval from the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee without which the paper will not be considered for review. Wherever required, give correct formula used for calculation of the results.
4.6 Results
Results obtained in the study should be subjected to appropriate statistical methods and presented clearly. For in vitro studies, only results as IC50, EC50, MIC, MBC etc. are accepted and the result obtained at a single concentration. The findings should never be discussed in this section.
4.7 Discussion
It should comprise rationale and relevance of the present study along with the existing literature. Discuss the lacuna in the area and to how much extent the present study answered the research question and give future directions for further research. Please avoid repeating the Results of your studies under this section.
4.8 Conclusion
Give the major conclusion from the present study. This section may stand alone or clubbed together with discussion.
4.9 Acknowledgements
Acknowledge those persons who helped in the present by providing facilities, personal assistance and funding if any.
4.10 References
Journal of Natural Remedies follows the Vancouver style of referencing.
4.10.1 In Text Referencing
References in your text should be presented by numbers in brackets (see example below). The number originally assigned to a reference should be re-used if that reference is cited again later in the text. In case of multiple references, separate the numbers with a hyphen. E.g. 2-5, or commas in case of non-inclusive numbers (E.g. 3, 9, 14). As a general rule, reference numbers should be placed outside of full-stops and commas, and inside of colons and semicolons
- Referencing journal articles
- Elements of the Citation: Author(s) – Family name and initials. Title of article. Title of journal – abbreviated. Publication year, month, day (month & day only if available);volume(issue):pages
E.g. 10. Halpern HD, Yadav GA, Caplan KL. Treatment of human brucellosis: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ. 2005 Mar 24;336(7646):701-4.
- Referencing Books
Elements of the Citation: Author(s) – Family name and initials, Multiple authors separated by a comma. Title of book. Place of Publication: Publisher Name; Year of Publication.
E.g. McKenna DJ, Jones K, Hughes K. Social care practice in rural communities. New York: Oxford University Press; 2000.
- For edited books
E.g. Rowlands TE, Haine LS. Acute limb ischaemia. In: Donnelly R, London NJM, editors. ABC of arterial and venous disease. 2nd ed. West Sussex. Blackwell Publishing; 2009.
4.10.3 Tables
Tables should be numbered consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. They should be embedded in appropriate locations as per the text along with the captions. Place footnotes for tables below the table body and indicate them with lowercase letters in superscript. Avoid vertical rulesand ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article…
4.10.4 Figures
These must be numbered and cited in the text. Mark clearly in the margin of the manuscript where the figure is to be inserted and do not embed in the text. All figures should be in TIFF. Do not supply figures of low resolution. Supply figure captions separately and not attached to the figure. The legends should be provided along with the figures.
5. Submission process
All manuscripts must be submitted online through www.jnronline.com after registering in the journal website as an author. To register as an author please click here. Follow the instructions in the online submission system. In case of any queries regarding the submission process, please contact us by email.
6. Review process
All submitted manuscripts are subjected to peer-review by at least two independent reviewers. Peer reviews are done by double blinding method where both the author and reviewer are unaware of each other. Final decision of accepting the article rests with the editor.
7. After acceptance of articles
Accepted articles are published online at free of cost.