Submissions

Author Guidelines

Borneo Journal of Marine Science and Aquaculture

Author Guidelines

Please read the instructions below carefully before submitting the manuscript.

Types of Manuscripts Accepted

Original articles: The Journal accepts original articles that are generally based upon hypothesis-driven research and offer solutions to problems through new knowledge.  Papers containing descriptive studies are also considered provided they offer innovative information and scholarly insights that contribute to advancement of the state of information on a given scientific topic.

Short communications: These are articles not exceeding 1500 words, without conventional sections except the abstract. A short communication must report important findings of significant interest that warrant rapid publication before detailed studies are complete to fill knowledge gaps in solution-oriented research.  When submitting short communication, authors should state that their work is to be treated as such.

Review articles: BJoMSA publishes review articles that are invited by the Editor-in-Chief. They should contain not only an up-to-date review of scientific literature but also significant scholarly interpretation of data leading to synthesis and advancement of knowledge with problem-solving outcomes.

Editorial Policy, Procedures and Manuscript Specifications

Authorship: Authors submitting a paper do so on the understanding that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors and that all of them agree to the submission of the manuscript to the Journal. ALL the named authors must have made an active contribution to the conception and design and/or analysis and interpretation of the data and/or the drafting of the paper and ALL must have critically reviewed its content and have approved the final version submitted for publication.

Ethical issues: It is assumed that the authors have met the requirements of their institutions regarding the ethical treatment of animals used in the experiments. The Journal would like to inform the authors of its support to the ethical issues in research investigations consistent with the Helsinki Declaration as revised in 1975. Authors may be requested to explain the treatment procedure should there be specific concerns by the editorial board or reviewers.

Permissions: If all or parts of previously published tables or figures are used, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder concerned. It is the authors responsibility to obtain these in writing and provide the same to the Journal.

Plagiarism checking: Authors are advised to get their manuscripts checked for plagiarism. By submitting your manuscript to this journal we assume that you accept your manuscript may be screened by our plagiarism detection system.

Language: The language of publication is English. Authors not well versed with English must get their manuscript professionally edited by someone who is before submission to make sure the English is of high quality. Manuscripts written in poor English will make the review difficult and will have to be returned to authors without review.

Manuscript template: We have prepared a template to help authors when submitting a manuscript to our Journal.

Style and format: Manuscripts must be prepared according to the Journals style and format. Manuscript with a significant portion will not be returned without going through the review process.

Manuscripts should be submitted as Word (.doc or .docx). Figure in JPEG format should be submitted as separate files. Only high-resolution figures will be suitable for publication. Text in figures, graphs or SmartArt must be of the font size that is readable when reduced to size suitable for the Journals page.

The papers text file must contain the entire manuscript including title page, abstract, text, references, tables and figure legends, but no embedded figures.  Title page should contain title of the paper, names and complete institutional addresses of all the authors (if more than one), their email addresses and telephone numbers.  The next page should also contain the title of the paper and other contents in sequence but not the author name(s) and address (es).

Manuscript should be typed on A4 paper size, double-spaced and with 3 cm margins. Times New Roman font size of 12pt should be used. Line numbering should be included, with numbering to continue from the first line to the end of the text (reference list).  Line numbers should be continuous throughout the manuscript and not start with each separate page.

Units and spelling: International System of Units, abbreviated as (SI) that is the modern form of the metric system of measurement should be used. For example, the dissolved oxygen of seawater should be given as mg L^-1, not as mg/L. If other units are used, these should be defined on first appearance in terms of SI units. Spelling should conform to that used in the Concise Oxford Dictionary. Abbreviations of chemical and other names should be defined when first mentioned in the text unless they are commonly used and internationally known and accepted.

Scientific Names: Complete scientific names, preferably including the authority with correct taxonomic disposition. Mentioning authorities correctly is necessary for taxonomic papers.  After first appearance in the text and in tables, figures and key words, the scientific names of animals may be abbreviated for genus when mentioned subsequently. For example, Epinephelus lanceolatus (first mention) and E. lanceolatus later on in the manuscript. Scientific names are typed in italics.

Manuscript should consist of the following sections:

Title page:

-      Full title of the paper

-      Full names of all the authors

-     Name and address of the institution where the work was carried out (the present address of the authors, if different from the above, should appear in a footnote).

-      Co-author(s), if any, should also provide this information.

-      Name, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the author to whom all correspondence and proofs should be sent

-      Running title of not more than 50 characters, including spaces

-      Four to six keywords for indexing purposes

Main text:

(1)  Abstract in about 150-250 words, (2) Introduction, (3) Materials and Methods, (4) Results, (5) Discussion, (6) Acknowledgments, (7) References, (8) Figure legends, (9) Tables, (10) Figures.

Results and Discussion sections may be combined if that is required to better articulate the information in the paper, and contain subheadings. Materials and Methods section should contain details to convince the reviewers and the readers that the methodology followed can be reproduced. Trade names of equipment should be mentioned where necessary together with the manufacturers name and location (town, state/county, country).  Under Acknowledgements please specify contributors to the article other than the authors accredited. Please also include specifications of the source of funding for the study. 

All pages must be numbered consecutively starting from the title page until the end. Figure legends that should be submitted on separate sheets following the main text are not included in the page number sequence of the main text.  The preferred position of tables and figures in the text should be indicated in the left-hand margin.

References:  References should be cited in the text in chronological order, by author and date. More than one paper from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters a, b, c, etc. placed after the year of publication. For example: (Shaleh et al., 2020, 2024; Shapawi et al., 2012; Ransangan & Lal, 2013a, 2013b).

At the end of the paper, references should be listed alphabetically according to the first named author. The full titles of papers, chapters and books should be given, with the first and last page numbers. Follow APA Citation Format. An example is given below:

Book:

Last, P.R., White, W.T., Caira, J.N., et al. (2010). Sharks and Rays of Borneo. CSIRO Publishing, 304 pp. CSIRO Publishing, VIC 3066, Australia

Book chapter:

Kawamura, G., Bagarinao, T.U. & Seng, L.L. (2015). Fish behavior and aquaculture. In: Aquaculture Ecosystems: Adaptability and Sustainability (S. Mustafa & R. Shapawi, eds.), pp 68-106. Wiley Blackwell, Oxford, UK

Journal article:

Shapawi, R., Ebi, I., Kian, A.Y.S.K. et al. (2014). Optimizing the growth performance of brown-marbled grouper, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus (Forskal) by varying the proportion of dietary protein and lipid levels. Animal Feed Science and Technology 191, 98-105.

Technical report:

Mustafa, S., Shapawi, R., Ransangan, J. et al. (2014). Sustainability and quality of grouper aquaculture production. Special Technical Report. Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their references. References should only be cited as 'in press' if they have been accepted for publication. Manuscripts in preparation, unpublished reports and reports not readily available should not be cited. Personal communications should be cited as such in the text.  It is the authors' responsibility to obtain permission from colleagues to include their work as a personal communication. A letter of permission should accompany the manuscript.

It is recommend that citation of online published papers and other material should be done via a DOI (digital object identifier), which all reputable online published material should have  see www.doi.org/ for more information. If an author cites work that does not have a DOI it will be difficult to trace it.

Use of a tool such as EndNote or Reference Manager for reference management and formatting will be helpful.

Authors can search for EndNote reference styles here:

www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp

Reference Manager can be searched for here:

www.refman.com/support/rmstyles.asp

Tables, figures and figure legends: Tables should be self-explanatory and include only essential data. Each table must be typewritten on a separate sheet and should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals, e.g. Table 1, and given a short caption. No vertical rules should be used. Units should appear in parentheses in the column headings and not in the body of the table. All abbreviations should be defined in a footnote.

Illustrations should be referred to in the text as figures using Arabic numbers, e.g. Figure 1, Figure 2 etc. in order of appearance.

Photographs and photomicrographs should be unmounted glossy prints and should not be retouched. Labeling, including scale bars if necessary, should be clearly indicated. Magnifications should be included in the legend.

Line drawings should be on separate sheets of paper; lettering should be on an overlay or photocopy and should be no less than 4 mm high for a 50% reduction. This is to ensure that the size reduction in illustrations and lettering does not cause loss of clarity and legibility. It is recommended that authors try to do the 50% reduction to see for themselves the results before submission of the manuscript. Please note, each figure should have a separate legend; these should be grouped on a separate page at the end of the manuscript. All symbols and abbreviations should be clearly explained.

Print publication requires high quality images to prevent the final product being blurred or fuzzy. Submit EPS (line art) or TIFF (halftone/photographs) files. In some cases MS PowerPoint is acceptable for artwork but may not be used in text. Scans (TIFF only) should have a resolution of at least 300 dpi (halftone) or 600 to 1200 dpi (line drawings) in relation to the reproduction size (see below). EPS files should be saved with fonts embedded (and with a TIFF preview if possible). For scanned images, the scanning resolution (at final image size) should be as follows to ensure good reproduction: line art:  >600 dpi; halftones (including gel photographs): >300 dpi; figures containing both halftone and line images: >600 dpi.

Authors will be contacted for their cooperation if there are technical problems in reproducing the artwork.

In the full-text online edition of the Journal, figure legends may be truncated in abbreviated links to the full-screen version for technical convenience, if necessary.

Manuscript submission: Manuscripts should be submitted to the Editorial Office by Online Submission System. 

 Review process: All manuscripts submitted to Borneo Journal of Marine Science and Aquaculture will be subjected to first review by the in-house editorial committee. If suitable, the manuscript will be reviewed by one or two experts in the field. The Journal uses single-blinded review. Names of the reviewers will not be disclosed to the author(s) of the paper.

Suggest reviewers: In order to facilitate the review, authors are requested to suggest names and current e-mail addresses of 3 potential international reviewers who are active in the subject area and expected to provide critical and unbiased assessment of the suitability of the paper for publication.

Confirmation of Submission: Authors will receive an e-mail to confirm receipt of their manuscript. If there is any delay beyond 48 hours, authors can contact the editorial office of the Journal and check with their IT department. Errors in communication are often caused by the spam-filtering software on the e-mail server that the technical staff should be able to resolve.

Manuscript acceptance and revision: The Journal will inform you by email once a decision has been made regarding the paper’s suitability for publication. If reviewers recommend revision of the manuscript, you will receive their comments. Revised manuscripts must be resubmitted within 3 months of being notified of conditional acceptance pending satisfactory revision. Final acceptance of the papers for publication is at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. The decision on a paper is final and cannot be appealed.

After acceptance: Upon acceptance of a paper for publication, the manuscript will be forwarded to the UMS Press for typesetting and preparation of proof. The corresponding author will receive the proof as a PDF (Portable Document Format) file through email and/or notification from the online journal system. Acrobat Reader will be required in order to read this file. This software can be downloaded (free of charge) from the following website: www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html . This will enable the file to be opened, read on screen, and printed out in order for any corrections to be added. Further instructions will be sent with the proof.

Proofs must be returned to the Journal within three days of receipt.

As changes to proofs are costly, we ask that you only correct typesetting errors.

Please note that the author is responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made by the copy editor.

Articles published online are complete and final. No changes can be made after online publication.

Offprints: After online publication, PDF offprint of your article will be available to the corresponding author upon request and any costs incurred will be chargeable to author.

Copyright assignment: Authors submitting a paper do so on the understanding that the work and its essential substance have not been published before and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. The submission of the manuscript by the authors means that the authors automatically agree to assign exclusive license to the publisher if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. The work shall not be published elsewhere in any language without the written consent of the publisher. The articles published in this Journal are protected by copyright, which covers translation rights and the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute all of the articles printed in the Journal. No material published in the Journal may be stored on microfilm or videocassettes, in electronic databases and the like, or reproduced photographically without the prior written permission of the publisher.