Instructions to Authors

Submission of Manuscripts

Manuscript Submissions

Manuscripts must conform to the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” http://www.icmje.org/. Contributions and Manuscripts must be written in English and submitted exclusively to Phcog Res. Manuscripts must be typewritten (double-spaced) with liberal margins and space at the top and bottom of the page.

All manuscripts must be submitted on-line through the submission website. First time users will have to register at this site. Registration is free but mandatory. Registered authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their user name and password. If you experience any problems, please contact the editorial office by e-mail at editor.phcogres@phcog.net 

Covering Letter

Disclose all possible conflicts of interest (e.g., funding sources for consultancies or studies of products). A brief indication of the importance of the paper to the field of Pharmacy is helpful in gaining appropriate peer review.

Copyright Form

The contributors' / copyright transfer form (template provided below) has to be submitted in original with the signatures of all the contributors within two weeks of submission via fax or email (journals AT phcog DOT com) as a scanned image. High resolution images (up to 5 MB each) can be sent by email onjournals AT phcog DOT com), or submitted online via the submission portal. 

Phcog.Net Journals follows Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals as per ICMJE

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Authorship Criteria

Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the three components mentioned below: 

  1. Concept and design of study or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data;
  2. Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
  3. Final approval of the version to be published.

Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship. Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript. The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing the manuscript. Once submitted the order cannot be changed without written consent of all the contributors. The journal prescribes a maximum number of authors for manuscripts depending upon the type of manuscript, its scope and number of institutions involved (vide infra). The authors should provide a justification, if the number of authors exceeds these limits.

Contribution Details

Contributors should provide a description of contributions made by each of them towards the manuscript. Description should be divided in following categories, as applicable: concept, design, definition of intellectual content, literature search, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing and manuscript review. One or more author should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to published article and should be designated as 'guarantor'.

Conflicts of Interest/ Competing Interests

All authors of must disclose any and all conflicts of interest they may have with publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflict of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript. 

Author-Suggested Reviewers. (Optional)

This field gives you the chance to suggest individuals who specialize in the topic(s) your paper covers to be used as reviewers for your paper. It is not necessary to suggest reviewers when you submit a paper, as the Journal maintains a large pool of reviewers drawn from all specialties in the arena of medicinal plants. However, the editors welcome your suggestions if you have some people in mind. You may submit up to 2 suggested reviewers, but all must be submitted with a valid email address. The Journal does not guarantee that the editors will choose to utilize all or even part of any suggested reviewer/s.

Copyright Form

All manuscripts are considered to be the property of Phcog.Net from the time of submission. If Phcog.Net is not publishing the paper, Phcog.net releases its rights therein at the time the manuscript is rejected following editorial/peer review or retracted by the authors. Manuscripts published in Phcog Res. become the sole property of, with all rights in copyright reserved to Phcog.net. The corresponding author, on behalf of all authors, signs a copyright transfer form. Download Copyright Form – http://www.phcog.net/downloads/

Preparation of Manuscript

Your Manuscript should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized – paper (8.5" x 11") with 1" margins on all sides. You should use 12 pt Times New Roman font. Authors should take care over the fonts which are used in the document, including fonts within graphics. Fonts should be restricted to Times New Roman, Symbol and Zapf Dingbats.

Title : Should be in Title Case ; The first character in each word in the title have to be capitalized.

A research paper typically should include in the following order

  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • Introduction
  • Materials and Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements (If any)
  • References
  • Tables and/or Figures
  • Appendixes (if necessary)
  • Abbreviations (if necessary)

Abstract – Limit of 250 Words

A brief summary of the research. The abstract should be in structured format include a brief introduction, a description of the hypothesis tested, the approach used to test the hypothesis, the results seen and the conclusions of the work.

Example

Background: Sophora flavescens Aiton is an important medicinal plant in China. Early in vitro researches of S. flavescens were focused on callus induction and cell suspension culture, only a few were concerned with in vitro multiplication. Objective: To establish and optimize the rapid propagation technology of S. flavescens and to generate and characterize polyploid plants of S. flavescensMaterials and Methods: The different concentrations of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and kinetin (KT) were used to establish and screen the optimal rapid propagation technology of S. flavescens by orthogonal test; 0.2% colchicine solution was used to induce polyploid plants and the induced buds were identified by root-tip chromosome determination and stomatal apparatus observation. Results: A large number of buds could be induced directly from epicotyl and hypocotyl explants on the Murashige and Skoog medium (MS; 1962) supplemented with 1.4–1.6 mg/l 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 0.3 mg/l indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). More than 50 lines of autotetraploid plants were obtained. The chromosome number of the autotetraploid plantlet was 2n = 4x = 36. All tetraploid plants showed typical polyploid characteristics. Conclusion: Obtained autotetraploid lines will be of important genetic and breeding value and can be used for further selection and plant breeding.

Key words
Please, write no more than six keywords. Write specific keywords. They should be written left aligned, arranged alphabetically in 12pt Times Roman, and the line must begin with the words Keywords boldfaced. A 12pt space should separate the keywords from the affiliations.

Introduction

Description of the research area, pertinent background information, and the hypotheses tested in the study should be included under this section. The introduction should provide sufficient background information such that a scientifically literate reader can understand and appreciate the experiments to be described. The introduction MUST include in-text citations including references to pertinent reviews and primary scientific literature. The specific aims of the project should be identified along with a rationale for the specific experiments and other work performed.

Materials and Methods

Materials and/or subjects utilized in the study as well as the procedures undertaken to complete the work. The methods should be described in sufficient detail such that they could be repeated by a competent researcher. Please include the company sources for all uncommon reagents (kits, drugs, etc). Illustrations and/or tables may be helpful in describing complex equipment or elaborate procedures. The statistical tool used to analyze the data should be mentioned. All procedures involving experimental animals or human subjects must accompany with statement on necessary ethical approval from appropriate ethics committee.

Results

Data acquired from the research with appropriate statistical analysis described in the methods section should be included in this section. The results section should describe the rational for each experiment, the results obtained and its significance. Results should be organized into figures and tables with descriptive captions. The captions, although brief, should tell the reader the method used, explain any abbreviations included in the figure, and should end with a statement as to the conclusion of the figure. Qualitative as well as quantitative results should be included if applicable.

Discussion/Conclusion

This section should relate the results section to current understanding of the scientific problems being investigated in the field. Description of relevant references to other work/s in the field should be included here. This section also allows you to discuss the significance of your results - i.e. does the data support the hypotheses you set out to test? This section should end with new answers/questions that arise as a result of your work.

Tables and Figures
Tables

Each table must start on a separate sheet and it should be included in manuscript file. They should be numbered with Roman numerals according to their sequence in the text, and have a short self-explanatory heading. Use SI units. Tables should include vertical rules, but horizontal rules should separate column headings from the content. Authors should keep in mind the page layout of the journal when designing tables. Tables that fit onto one printed page are preferred. Detailed explanations of symbols, units, and abbreviations should follow below the table.

Illustrations

Figures for final production should be submitted as electronic files and hard copy so that the editorial office can ensure that the output of electronic files matches the hardcopy. Please pay particular attention to the guidelines below. The editorial office cannot undertake preparation of manuscripts and illustrations not conforming to journal style. Manuscripts of insufficient quality will be returned immediately without refereeing. A high standard of illustration (both line and photo) is an editorial priority. All illustrations should be prepared for printing to fit 80 x 240 mm (column width) or 169 mm by up to 240 mm (full page) size. It is preferred that the full-page length is not used and that authors keep in mind that the caption will be placed underneath the figure. In the event that full-page length is necessary for plates, captions will have to appear on adjacent pages. Figure(s) must be numbered consecutively in the text. Compound figures with more than one micrograph or photo should be referred by a single figure reference (e.g. Figure 1), and individual parts should be labeled with capitalized letters in the lower left-hand corner. Lettering should be of a sans-serif type (i.e. fonts without serifs such as Arial) with a minimum published size of 4.2 mm (12 pt). Descriptive labeling in the figures should be clearly readable, and all lettering should have a minimum published size of 6 pt (2.1 mm) for labeling items on photographs or in line art is recommended and a maximum size of 10 pt is suggested. Use a scale bar to indicate magnifications and place in the lower right corner if possible. Computer prepared photographic images must be at a minimum of 350 dpi at the final publication size. Lower resolution will result in pixilation and poor quality images. These should be submitted as JPEG, TIFF or PPT files, but encapsulated postscript (EPS) format is also acceptable.

Computer drawn figures are accepted provided they are of high quality. Please note that graphs produced by many statistic packages are rarely adequate. In particular, letter quality on axes and captions are often poor. Such figures should be exported into an accepted graphics package and lettering rendered using a text function. Authors should note that .dot, .bmp, and .pat fills should be avoided. Do not use postscript fill patterns as these are often based on bit map patterns that result in screening patterns during final reproduction. When filling illustrations, use fills such as lines, tints or solids. Line width minimum is 0.25 pt (0.09 mm). Also avoid the use of bitmap scans to render text and detail. Text should be saved as text at a minimum text size of 6 pt (2.1 mm). Please submit line art as Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator, or EPS files. These must be at a minimum resolution of 800 DPI at publication size. High resolution may be necessary where fine line detail is present.

For graphs Excel graphs are also acceptable. Note that vertical axes must all be at the same scale especially where the paper compares between them. Otherwise they should be produced as separate figures. Avoid 3D plots when presenting 2D data. Where electronic figures are submitted, please submit a hard copy also at final acceptance stage so that it can be checked against the electronic files during proof preparation.

Table and Figure captions
Figure and table captions should be included at the end of the manuscript. Figure captions/legends should include a statement at the end of each caption/legends about reproduction size (e.g. at full page width, at column width). They should be double spaced and typed in the journal format. Explanations should be brief and authors should keep in mind that captions/legends will be placed below figures.

Acknowledgements – Limit of 100 Words
This is a brief section crediting the people who have helped make your manuscript possible and who aided you in your work but are not part of the authorship. Please mention all applicable grants and other funding that supported your work.

Review Articles:
Review articles related to Natural Products are being considered for publication in Pharmacognosy Reviews. For more details, visit www.phcogrev.com

 

All text should be fully justified. Please put all primary section titles in UPPER CASE letters and subheading in both Upper and Lower Case letters. Do not number your titles (for example, 1.0 Introduction; 2.0 Background). Do not use the tab key to indent blocks of text such as paragraphs of quotes or lists because the page layout program overrides your left margin with its own, and the tabs end up in mid-sentence.

Reference List: Author/Authors

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (not in alphabetic order). Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript with square bracket after the punctuation marks. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure. Use the style of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the NLM in Index Medicus. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Use complete name of the journal for non-indexed journals. Avoid using abstracts as references. Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with written permission from the source. Avoid citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text. The commonly cited types of references are shown here, for other types of references such as newspaper items please refer to ICMJE Guidelines (http://www.icmje.org or http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).

Manuscript Submissions

References
In-text citation Examples

Correct / Acceptable Format

Natural products have proven to be a great source of new biologically active compounds. Thus, in an effort to discover new lead anti-malarial compounds, several research group screen plant extracts to detect secondary metabolites with relevant biological activities that could served as templates for the development of new drugs. Flavonoids have been isolated and characterized from many medicinal plants used in malaria endemic areas.[10] However, controversial data have been obtained regarding their antiplasmodial activity, probably because of their structural diversity.[11-13] More recently, several flavonoids have been isolated from Artemisia afra [14,16] and Artemisia indica, [17-20] two plants related to Artemisia annua, the famous traditional Chinese medicinal plant from which artemisinin is isolated.

JOURNAL REFERENCES [Vancouver Style]

1. Single/Multiple Authors

Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002 Jul 25;347(4): 284-7.

2.More than six authors

Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002; 935(1-2): 40-6.

3. Organization as Author

Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002; 40(5): 679-86.

4. Unknown Author

21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ. 2002; 325(7357): 184-5.

5. Journal article on the Internet

Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12]; 102(6): [about 3 p.]. Available from:

http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm

Note: Plant/Micro organisms, in-vivo, in-vitro should be in italics.

6. Personal author(s)

Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.

7. Editor(s), compiler(s) as author

Gilstrap LC 3rd, Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002.

8. Author(s) and editor(s)

Breedlove GK, Schorfheide AM. Adolescent pregnancy. 2nd ed. Wieczorek RR, editor. White Plains (NY): March of Dimes Education Services; 2001.

9. Organization(s) as author

Royal Adelaide Hospital; University of Adelaide, Department of Clinical Nursing. Compendium of nursing research and practice development, 1999-2000. Adelaide (Australia): Adelaide University; 2001.

10. Chapter in a book

Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

11. Conference proceedings

Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference; 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

12. Thesis

N. Khoshakhlagh. The compositions of volatile fractions of Peganum harmala seeds and its smoke. Pharm. D. Thesis, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. (2002).

13. WEBSITES

Website information

Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000-01 [updated 2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org/.

Acknowledgements

All messages and reviews sent electronically will be acknowledged electronically upon receipt.

Manuscript Submissions