Author Guidelines · Novel Research in Microbiology Journal

Guidelines for Authors

As part of the submission process to NRMJ, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and the submission will be returned to the authors if it does not adhere to these guidelines.

- The article has not been previously published, nor is it being considered for publication by another journal.
- The authors include a cover letter indicating the highlights and importance of the presented research in about 50 words.
- Full first name, surname, and email address of all authors are included during online submission.
- The submission file is in Microsoft Word file format.
- Running title and no more than five keywords are provided.
- Lines in each page are automatically numbered. The text is double-spaced; uses a Times New Roman 12-point font and employs italics rather than underlining.
- Tables are generated and are included in the manuscript file after the References section.
- Captions for the figures are included in the manuscript file after the tables.
- All illustrations and figures can be added in the text file, but must also be submitted in separate files. They should be with high resolutions.
- The English language should be revised carefully.

-Starting from Volume 9 (2025) the page numbering of the published articles will start from number (1) and proceeds sequentially up to the end of the volume.

Main text

The Main Text of the research article should use the following order:

-Title page

Title of the manuscript must be informative and not more than 30 words. Affiliations should be stated after the author’s name. The author for correspondence should be indicated by an asterisk with an E-mail address provided (one author only).

Running head: a short title of no more than 6 words

Keywords: provide up to 6 words

-Abstract

Indicates briefly the aims and how the work was done, the novel results obtained and conclusions.

-Introduction

Describes the state of the current work in the relevant field and avoids narrative sentences without benefit. Give a clear statement of the objectives and hypotheses being tested. States the novel results obtained from the current work, which were not reached in similar recent previous works.

-Materials and methods

Sufficient information must be given in this section to allow the reader to understand the new experimental design (if any), and the statistical methods used in data analysis. All assays should have adequate replication and, where relevant, should have been repeated for confirmation. Commercial equipment and products used in the assays should name the product, company and country of origin. State the analytical methods used e.g. analysis of variance (ANOVA), and ensure that the method chosen is appropriate for the data.

-Results

Results should be presented in an orderly fashion. Make use of the tables and figures, when necessary and without duplication. Data tables presenting, for example, mean values should include the appropriate standard deviation (SD).

-Discussion

The discussion is presented separately or combined with the Results, and no subheadings are allowed in this section. It should not normally exceed 5 pages in length. Focuses on the work presented, scientific interpretation of results and their relationships with the other relevant recently published works.

-Conclusions and Recommendations

In few sentences, try to stand out the new methodologies used (if any), main novel results obtained that differ from the previous recent works and thus deserve publication. Finally, state the author's future prospectus to apply the current results, to benefit the public, improve the economy, and/ or to save the environment. Starting from January 2025, Recommendations of the study should be provided with the Conclusions.

-Acknowledgments

Authors may acknowledge any grants or assistance associated with the work reported or for the development of the manuscript (if any).

-Conflict of interest

The authors should state any conflict of interest that may exist.

-Funding source

The authors must provide the name and number (i.e. project no.) of any financial funding source for their article.

-Ethical approval

The research work that involves the human or animals should provide Ethical approval from the concerned Ethical Committee of the author's institution, in addition to the patient's consents (if appropriate).

-References

References used must be recent.

Guidelines for citing in text:

Use the author-year method of citing publications. i.e., “Various investigators (Smith, 1990; Smith et al., 1988, 1995(a, b); Smith and Jones, 1994) have reported similar findings”.

-Guidelines for the reference list:

List all references in alphabetical order by authors’ surnames. Single-author works should be listed before works with multiple authors. Works by the same author(s) should be ordered chronologically. List the specific pages of books. Do not abbreviate titles of journals and write full names. Double-check the accuracy of volume, issue and page numbers, year of publication, and check that each reference is cited in the text. If a work cited is in preparation, submitted but not accepted for publication, cite the work in parentheses in the text, e.g., (J. Jones, unpublished data) or (J. Jones, personal communication), not in References list. Starting from January 2022, the DOI link of the cited References should be included, if it exists. Starting from January 2025, the formatting of the section of References list will be as below:

NB: Abbreviate titles of journals and do not write full names of the journals

Journals

Harumain, Z.A.S., Mohamad, M.A.N., Nordin, N.F.H. and Abd-Shukor, M.Y., 2023. Biodegradation of Petroleum Sludge by Methylobacterium sp. Strain ZASH. Trop. Life Sci. Res., 34(2): 197-222. https://doi.org/10.21315/tlsr2023.34.2.10

Green, P.N. and Ardley, J.K., 2018. Review of the genus Methylobacterium and closely related organisms: A proposal that some Methylobacterium species be reclassified into a new genus, Methylorubrum gen. nov. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol., 68(9): 2727-2748. https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.002856

Rahayu, G., 2020. Isolation and identification of hydrocarbon degradation bacteria and phosphate solubilizing bacteria in oil contaminated soil in Bojonegoro, East Java, Indonesia. Indones. J. Sci. Technol., 4(1): 134-147. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijost.v4i1.11223

Book

Munir, M. 2002. Mononegaviruses of veterinary importance. Volume I: Pathobiology and molecular diagnosis. 1st edn. CABI, UK.

Narwal, S.S. 2004. Allelopathy in crop production.Scientific Publishers, Jodhapur, India. pp.12-15.

Chapter in Edited Book

Gnanadurai, C.W. Lyon, D.C. Jackson, A.C. and Fu, Z.F. 2014. Rabies Virus. In: Mononegaviruses of veterinary importance (ed. Munir, M). CABI, UK. p. 209-221.

PhD thesis

Author, A. 2003. Thesis title with lower case initials to all words. PhD thesis, University, Town, Country.

Web Page

Pakistan Tea Assoc. 2010-11. Import statistics. Business Plaza Mumtaz Hussain Road, Karachi, Pakistan (www.pakistanteaassociation.com).

Software

-Roman script references

Titles of books and articles in Roman script should be recorded in their original language. If this language is deemed by the author of the article but is highly inaccessible to most readers, they should be followed at the author’s discretion by an English translation in parentheses. When the publisher of the book or journal provides the title or contents in English, in addition to the original language, we prefer the translation unless it contains glaring mistakes. The entire reference will be followed by the language in parentheses, i.e. (Hebrew), (Russian), (Norwegian), etc.

-Tables

Self-explanatory tables should be provided with an appropriate legend, and without abbreviations. Identify tables using a number, e.g. Table 2. Mention tables in the text in numerical order (Table 1, and then Table 2 etc.). Use superscript lower case letters for footnotes, e.g. a, b and c. Save the file in an editable format, e.g. DOCX, not embedded in the manuscript as an image.

-Figures

Identify the figures using a number, e.g. Fig. 2, number in a separate series from the Tables. Mention figures in the text in numerical order (Fig. 1, and then Fig. 2 etc.). Subdivisions within figures should be labeled with lowercase letters, e.g. (a), (b) and (c). Colored figures should be used when details cannot be adequately observed on black and white photographs. Legends should be included at the end of the main document, self-explanatory and without abbreviations.

-Supplementary materials

Supplementary materials such as files and/ or images can be published with the article on the journal's website for improvement. These supplementary items will be published online exactly the same format as they were submitted (i.e., Excel or PowerPoint files). The corresponding author may submit each supplementary material with the manuscript; accompanied with a concise footnote or caption. The author can make changes to the submitted supplementary material(s) during reviewing of his/ her manuscript; however, an updated file(s) must be provided.

Starting from 1st July, 2023; the following two files should be provided by the corresponding author upon submission of the manuscript:

-Submission declaration and verification

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously; is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, its publication has been approved by all the contributing authors, and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible institutions where the work was carried out. Moreover, if the manuscript is accepted; it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or other language, without the written consent of the copyright holder.

-Author's contributions

The authors are encouraged to submit an author individual statement file, which outlines their individual contributions to the submitted manuscript, including their CRediT roles; mainly Conceptualization; Data curation, Funding acquisition, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Software, Resources, Supervision, Visualization, Validation, Roles/Writing - original draft, Writing; reviewing, and editing. The authorship statement should be formatted using the initials of the author's names first followed by their contribution roles. This information will be included in the published article.

-Novelty statement
Starting from January 2025, a novelty statement should be provided.

Plagiarism Check

NRMJ uses iThenticate software to screen manuscripts for unoriginal material (Plagiarism). By submitting your manuscript to NRMJ, you are agreeing to undergo any necessary originality checks for your manuscript before the peer-review process.

Additional Information:

- Starting from February, (2020), Cross-references (Hyperlink citations) are being made in the PDFs of the published articles.

- Starting from June, (2021), the Copyright Policy will be included on the first page of the PDF of the published articles.

- Starting from November, (2021), the accepted article becomes published online within 24-48 of approving the Galley Proof by the corresponding author, without necessarily waiting till a single defined date for online release.

- Starting from January 2025, Full Text HTML will be provided to the articles.
- Starting from January 2025, the ORCID link will be placed above the contributing author(s) name in the article (If it exists).
- Currently (2026), the Article Usage Metrics (Statistics) is under technical fixing and will be processed soon.

- Starting from October 2026, the following titles should be considered in the author's submitted manuscripts to NRMJ.

Researcher and Resource Identifiers

Authors are encouraged to provide:

• ORCID links
• Genome or sequence accession numbers
• Culture collection accession numbers
• Voucher specimen numbers
• Dataset DOIs
• Software repository identifiers
• Protocol identifiers

Persistent identifiers improve traceability and reproducibility.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine-Assisted Tools

The Novel Research in Microbiology Journal permits responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-assisted tools, provided their use is transparent and does not compromise scientific integrity, confidentiality, or authorship. AI systems cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, originality, and accountability of a scientific publication. Human authors remain responsible for all submitted material. The permissible AI% by NRMJ does not exceed 20%.

Permitted uses

Examples may include:

• Grammar and language improvement
• Translation assistance
• Formatting assistance
• Coding assistance
• Exploratory analysis
• Image-processing assistance where scientifically appropriate

Authors remain responsible for checking all AI-assisted output.

Disclosure

Authors must disclose substantive AI use during manuscript preparation or research.

AI Use Disclosure: Generative artificial intelligence was used to assist with language editing of portions of the manuscript. The authors reviewed and verified all AI-assisted content and remain fully responsible for the final manuscript.

If AI contributed to data analysis, code generation, image generation, classification, annotation, or another research activity, the authors should describe:

• Tool name
• Version, where available
• Purpose
• Relevant parameters or prompts where necessary for reproducibility
• How the output was validated?

Prohibited or unacceptable use

Authors must not:
• Submit AI-generated material without appropriate human verification
• Fabricate citations through AI systems
• Present AI-generated data as experimental observations
• Use AI to conceal plagiarism
• Use AI-generated images that falsely represent experimental evidence
• Identify AI as an author
• Upload confidential unpublished manuscripts or proprietary data to external AI systems without appropriate authorization

Data Availability

The Novel Research in Microbiology Journal strongly supports open and reproducible research. Authors should make underlying data available whenever ethically, legally, and practically possible.

A Data Availability Statement is required for all research articles.

Examples include:

The datasets generated during this study are available from the [repository] under accession number [identifier].

or:

All data supporting the findings of this study are included within the article and its supplementary files.

or:

Data are not publicly available because of [specific ethical, legal, privacy, biodiversity, or other restriction]. Qualified researchers may request access from [responsible institution or repository].

Where datasets are deposited in public repositories, authors should provide persistent identifiers such as DOIs or accession numbers.

Code and Computational Reproducibility

Computational analyses should be documented sufficiently to permit independent evaluation and, where feasible, reproduction.

Where applicable, authors should provide:

• Source code
• Analysis scripts
• Workflow definitions
• Software versions
• Package versions
• Parameters
• Configuration files
• Reference databases
• Computational environment information

Code should preferably be deposited in an appropriate archival repository and assigned a persistent identifier. If code cannot be publicly released, authors should explain the reason and describe how qualified researchers may obtain access.

Genomic, Sequence and Molecular Data

Sequence-based manuscripts should provide appropriate accession numbers for deposited data. Depending on the study, this may include:

• DNA/RNA sequences
• Genome assemblies
• Transcriptomes
• Metagenomic datasets
• Raw sequencing reads
• Protein sequences
• Structural data
• Metabolomic datasets

Authors should use recognized public repositories appropriate to the data type. Accession numbers should be included in the manuscript before final publication whenever possible. For fungal isolates and cultures, authors should provide culture collection identifiers where relevant.

Preprints

Novel Research in Microbiology Journal does not support responsible dissemination of research through recognized preprint platforms.

Researcher Responsibilities After Publication

Authors should promptly notify the journal if they discover a material error in their published work.
Depending on the nature of the error, the journal may publish:

• A correction
• An updated supplementary file
• An editorial note
• An expression of concern
• A retraction

Authors should cooperate with reasonable post-publication investigations.

Contact and Editorial Queries

Questions concerning manuscript suitability, submission requirements, ethical documentation, or publication procedures should be directed to the journal's official editorial office. Authors should include the manuscript identification number in correspondence after submission.

- License

This work is licensed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).