ISSN 2074-8647
versión online

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Sending of manuscripts

Biotecnología Vegetal is a scientific journal, peer-reviewed, open-access that publishes original and unpublished articles in Spanish and English on a quarterly basis. Founded and edited since 2000 by Instituto de Biotecnología de las Plantas of Universidad Central Marta Abreu de Las Villas, at Santa Clara, Cuba.

Mission: to publish original scientific results related to the use of agrobiotechnologies in basic and applied research, innovations and the training of professionals in this field.

Short title: Biot. Veg.

Audience: the content of the journal is aimed to scientist, students, specialists and professionals in general that work in thematics related with the agrobiotechnologies.

Authorship

All authors are responsible for the content of the manuscript and they will be represented by the author indicated for the exchange of correspondence. The approval of the co-authors should be sent through a letter addressed to the Editorial Board.

Types of manuscripts

Manuscripts submitted to Biotecnología Vegetal must be original and unpublished and not have been sent to another publication simultaneously. It should be made explicit in a letter addressed to the Editorial Board that the manuscript have not been published with priority (except as summaries of events, reviews, theses and conferences).

The Editorial Board verifies through Google and Google Scholar that the manuscripts sent do not contain textual information of previous articles of the authors themselves (self-plagiarism) or others (plagiarism). In addition, authors should not incur in other bad behaviors such as manipulation or falsification of data and citations. The manuscripts with such ethical problems will be denied.

Received manuscripts are subject to a double-blind peer review process by members of the Editorial Board or other external reviewers. Biotecnología Vegetal publish original articles, short communications and review article.

Original articles

It communicate original results of an investigation. Also within this section can be published research protocols and technical notes.

Short communications

This section is dedicated to short papers addressing a concise original results of an investigation with impact in the field of agrobiotechnology. Its extension is less than the one of a scientific article and the format can be abbreviated. Publication of preliminary results should be avoided in this format.

Review articles

The review articles should be offer a critical evaluation of the works previously published on a given topic. Whenever originals figures or tables from previous articles are included, it must have permission to reproduce and the source must be cite. It is recommended that at least 50% of references be from the last 10 years.

The publication is free of charge for all types of manuscripts.

Ethical conduct

Biotecnología Vegetal invites authors to respect and maintain appropriate ethical conduct in scientific research and in the publication of its results with Good Practices such as the following:

Manuscripts must be written in Spanish or English with Verdana 10, a space and medium, on A4 paper (21.0 x 29.7cm) with 2.5 cm margins (including tables, figures and references). Pages must be numbered. The first page will contain title, authors, affiliation, abstract and keywords. In the second page authors and affiliation will be omitted.

All the manuscript will include the following sections: Title, abstract and keywords in Spanish and English, Introduction, Conclusions and References. In addition, Acknowledgments to the organizations that finance or support the research (if applicable).

The original articles are subdivided into Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion (together or separately), Conclusions and References. In the case of protocols will include: Introduction, Materials, Precautions and safety measures, Procedures, Conclusions and References. The format of short communications and technical notes can be abbreviated.

The language should be clear and precise. Authors should ensure that the writing in Spanish or English is in accordance with the grammatical norms of each of these languages.

Title

It should be short and informative (no more than 15 words). It must not contain both scientific and common name of the mentioned organisms. It will not include abbreviations or acronyms, except those that the whole audience knows. Avoid phrases such as: Aspects of, Comments on, Investigations, Studies, Preliminary studies on, Notes about, Observations about, as well as ambiguities, dates, localisms and formulas.

Then appear the full name of the authors, filiation and address. Please, include the electronic address for correspondence author. The use of acronyms in the name of institutions should be avoided. If the authors come from different institutions they will be identified with a numerical superscript (Example: Juan García¹).

It is suggested that authors use bibliographic name that can be indexed in the same way.

Abstract

It will be limited to 250 words and it will be written in a single paragraph. It must be understood by itself without referring to the text of the work. It will contain the full scientific name of the biological species object of study. The use of abbreviations will be avoided. Should not use bibliographical references. There must be correspondence between the abstract in Spanish and English.

Keywords

Abbreviations and units

The abbreviations will appear explicit the first time they are mentioned in the text. It can also be grouped after the keywords. The International Units System will be used. Is preferred mg l^-1 to mg/l.

Numbers

For numbers of more than three digits it must be separated into groups of three. The separator must be a space, not commas or another brand. Ex: 100 000. The decimals numbers should be separated with points, not commas, Ex. 0.8 mg l^-1. Please, indicate the scientific notation as 3x10⁵.

Introduction

It will contain the main and most recent reports of the subject under study. The scientific problem to be solved and the objective of the work must be included explicitly. It is necessary to justify why their work is novel and has merit for be publishing.

Materials and methods

The materials, methods and techniques used in the research must be specified. The methods can be described through references unless that are unusual or novel. Protocols should be described in the form that it can be repeated. Include the number of replicas and repetitions used. It is useful to cite the quality of the reagents used in the appropriate cases. Describe the statistical methods in sufficient detail to allow their results to be verified. Specify the design of the experiments, mention the statistical tests and the computer program used for data processing. In Spanish writing, anglicisms should be avoided (Ex. culture medium supplemented with ...) or the misuse of gerunds.

Results and discussion

It can be included as a single section or separated. Present them in the most concise possible form, in text, tables or figures. It should be discussed taking into account the results that appear in the scientific literature on the subject under study and highlight the research findings. Do not reiterate the aspects dealt with in the introduction or repeat the materials and methods. The scientific literature cited must be easy access. Authors are asked to avoid the use of references on works scientists presented at meetings and scientific events as well as those results contained in research reports and web pages without peer-review process. Also, avoid the self-citations.

References

Priority should be given to the use of references directly linked to content of work to avoid an excessive number of references. In the text, it will be indicated as: the last name(s) of the author and the year of publication, all in parentheses, for example: (Villalobos, 1985) or (Villalobos and Rodríguez, 1987). For papers with more than two authors the Last name of the first will follow by et al. and the year, for example: (Gómez et al., 1998 ) or Gómez et al. (1998).

When several references are cited, it should be separated with a semicolon and placed in chronological order, Ex.: (Martínez et al., 2002; García et al., 2013).

For several references of an author in the same year use letters after the year of publication, Ex.: (Martínez, 2014a).

The use of personal communications, papers presented at scientific events without a peer review process, undergraduate thesis, internal reports from institutions or unpublished data should be avoided. Do not abbreviate the name of serial publications unless you use the one officially accepted by the publication.

In the References section it will be sorted alphabetically and only those cited in the text will be included. Use the references in the original language, do not translate the titles. It will not be preceded by numbers or symbols. For the format of the references the ISO 690 standard modified should be used, as described below.

- Journal article

Last name name initials, Last name name initials,...Last name name initials (year) Title. Journal volume (number): initial page - final page; doi: (if applicable)

Example:

Rebetzke G, Pantalone VR, Burton J, Carver BF, Wilson RF (1996) Phenotypic variation for saturated fatty acid content in soybean. Euphytica 91 (7): 289-295; doi:10.1007/BF00033090

-Book:

Last name name initials (year) Title. Editorial, city; doi: or ISBN:

Example:

Shepherd K (1999) Cytogenetics of the genus Musa. INIBAP, Montpellier; ISBN:2-910810-25-9

-Book section:

Last name name initials, Last name name initials, ...Last name name initials (year) Chapter Title. In: Last name name initials, Last name name initials...(ed) (eds). Book Title, pp. page initial-page final, Editorial, city; doi: or ISBN:

Examples:

Gómez R (1998) Embriogénesis somática. En: Pérez Ponce JN (ed). Propagación y mejora genética de plantas por biotecnología, pp. 57-77. IBP, Santa Clara; ISBN:959-7122-02-2

- Edited book

-Conference proceeding

-Online database

Title (year) Editorial. URL. Accessed day/month/year

-Patent

Inventor (year) Title. Country Patent number, issue date

-Thesis

Last name initial del name (year) Title. Thesis type, University, city, country

-Web page

Tables and Figures

All the tables and figures must be mentioned in the text and it will be numbered consecutively in the order in which it appear. Arabic numbers will be used. The text will be cited as: table 1 or (Table 1) and figure 1 or (Figure 1). The titles must explain their content with enough information so that it can be interpreted without consulting the text. For the tables it will be written in the upper part and for the figures in the botton. Avoid the use of landscape tables.

Tables

The tables should not contain data that appear repeated in the text or in figures. For its format only horizontal lines will be used. The legends or notes will be indicated with numbers.

Figures

The figures must be elaborated with sufficient quality that allows the reproduction without distortions. The very small figures should be avoided taking into account that many timonth it is necessary to reduce them and details could be lost. It is recommended not to use shading or third dimension (3D) in the graphics. Include the figures in a format that can be modified in the editorial work, not as images. The magnitudes and units used must be specified on the axes. Each figure must be accompanied by a title that explains for its own the content. The photografies must have a resolution of at least 600 dpi. The images should not be manipulated.

Taxonomy and scientific name

Financing and conflict of interests

Manuscripts can be sent directly to the Editorial Board