Submissions

Author Guidelines

Scope: The Journal of Indian Fisheries Association, published QUARTERLY by the Indian Fisheries Association (IFA), Mumbai, welcomes original contributions in the field of fisheries, aquaculture, and related sciences including social sciences. Submitted material should be unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere.

Research with Conservation Objectives: JIFA will not accept papers based on research that kills or damages any threatened/endangered species as per IUCN criteria or listed in the Red Data Book, unless the work has clear conservation objectives.

JIFA accepts following FOUR Types of Contributions:

Original Research Papers: Scientific reports of original research, not exceeding 15 typed pages of A4 size paper.

Short Research Notes: Short and focused scientific contributions without headings/subheadings, not exceeding 5 typed pages.

Review Articles: Concise articles, not exceeding 15 typed pages, on subjects of topical and contemporary relevance and new research initiatives.

Book/Film Reviews: Short but original reviews of book/films of contemporary relevance to fisheries and aquaculture, not exceeding 3 typed pages, are welcome.

Manuscript Layout Format

Page layout: Use Calibri font 12 size. Format the article in A4 size, single-column, with left, right and top margin of 2.5 cm, and the bottom margin of 4 cm; Paragraphs must be justified and separated from one another with a single space; Line spacing must be ‘Double’; Number all the pages.

Title page: Include paper title, author(s) names and affiliations, corresponding author's contact details, and a concise running title (not exceeding 15 words).

Manuscript sequence: Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods/Methodology, Results and Discussion, Acknowledgements, References. Tables and Figures shall be included at appropriate places alongside the running text in the manuscript, and NOT to be given separately at the end.

Major headings: All major headings (Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods/Methodology, Results and Discussion, Acknowledgements, References) shall be first letter capitalised (14 point bold) and ‘left aligned’; Use separate lines for headings and subheadings.

Sub-headings: Use font size of 12 point bold and italics; to be typed on a separate line and ‘left aligned’; first letter of the first word to be in upper case (capital letter) and all other letters in lowercase (small letter) e.g. Socio-economic and psychological characteristics.

Abbreviations/Acronyms: Avoid non-standard abbreviations, but if essential, define them in the abstract and main text; Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article; Spell out the acronym on its first occurrence and use the acronym subsequently. Ex. Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP).

Plagiarism: Authors must obtain permission to reproduce any copyrighted material, and include an acknowledgement of the source in their article. They should be aware that the unreferenced use of the published and unpublished ideas, writing or illustrations of others, or submission of a complete paper under new authorship in a different or the same language, is plagiarism.

Abstract: Clear, concise summary of significant findings (not exceeding 200 words).

Keywords: Provide 4-6 keywords immediately after the abstract for indexing purposes; The first letter of each keyword should be in uppercase or capital letter. As major words in the title are not used in the subject index, appropriate words from the title (or synonyms) should be listed as keywords.

Scientific Names: Italicize full scientific names for species on their first mention, abbreviate subsequent mentions (e.g., Clarias batrachus (Forsskal) → C. batrachus).

Introduction: Briefly state the problem or experiment's aim, with pertinent and recent/updated literature review.

Materials and Methods/Methodology: Describe the relevant experimental / non-experimental / survey designs and techniques followed for generating evidence, and or the date sources and usage. Cite standard references for well-established protocols. Clearly state statistical methods used.

Results and Discussion: Preferably combine these sections, may contain subheadings, and support results with brief but adequate tables/illustrations. Tables should not exceed 7.

Tables: Tables have to be placed in the appropriate place in the text itself, not separately. Tables shall be self-explanatory, and include only essential data. Number in Arabic numerals and provide brief titles/captions for each table on top of the table and number them. Only the first letter of the first word of the caption shall be in uppercase and all other letters in lowercase (small letters); Add standard abbreviations of units in parentheses in column headings, and avoid vertical lines to separate columns; include essential explanations as footnotes at the bottom.

Illustrations/Figures/Graphs/Pictures: They have to be placed in the appropriate place in the text. Sequentially number graphs, drawings, and photographs using Arabic numerals (Fig. 1, 2, etc.); Provide a descriptive legend for each figure and a complete list of legends on a separate page; Include relevant information (keys, symbols, formulae) in the legend. For photographs, mention magnification and stains used.

Units: Use System International (SI) units.

Statistics: statistics should be presented with the name of the test(s) and probability level (p>0.05, p<0.05, p<0.01 and p<0.001).

References:

• Use the Harvard system for text citations (author's name and publication year).
• List references alphabetically by authors' names, and chronologically per author.
• For two authors, use names of both the authors and the year. If reference is made in the text to a publication written by more than two authors, the name of the first author should be used followed by et al., and the year.
• Where more than one reference is cited in the text, these should be in chronological order, g. David, 1976; Jack, 1985; Jim, 1998.
• If an author’s name in the list is also mentioned with co-authors, the following order should be used: publications of the single author, arranged according to publication dates - publications of the same author with one co-author - publications of the author with more than one co-author.
• Publications by the same author(s) in the same year should be listed as 1996a, 1996b, etc.

Use the following system for listing the references:

For periodicals: Titles of periodicals mentioned in the list of references should be abbreviated following ISO 4 standard.

Janarthanan G., Vignaesh Dhanabalan, and Vinothkumar L. 2021. Characterization of Lipids from Kadal Shrimp (Metapenaeus Dobsoni, Miers, 1878) Head Waste: A Potential Source of Omega-3 Fatty Acid. Journal of Indian Fisheries Association, 25 (1&2): 153-163.

For books:

Karthykeyan, N. 2022. Shrimp culture industry in India. In: Fast, A. W. and Lester, L. J. (Eds.), Inland shrimp culture: principles and practices. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p. 700-752.

For edited symposia/special issues:

Bhat, N.M., Suvetha, E. and Regu, A. 2020. Genetic structure of Penaeus monodon in India. In: Gall, G. A. E. and Chen, H. (Eds.), Proceedings of the third international symposium on genetics in aquaculture, 25 May - 31 May 2020. Wuhan, China, p.188-193.

Technical papers/reports:

Nabi, S. 1999. Culture of Clarias batrachus for industrial production. Report of U.S. aid training Programme on freshwater aquaculture. CIFE, Mumbai, India, p. 155-159.

Submission and Review Process

• Submit concise, well-organized papers adhering to the Journal's style and format online through OJS ePubs platform here: https://epubs.icar.org.in/index.php/JIFA
• Authors shall submit/upload two versions of the manuscript as separate word files: Version 1 of the manuscript shall have complete details: title, author(s) with affiliation and email, abstract, main text with tables/graphs, acknowledgements, references, conflict of interest statement; and the Version 2 of the manuscript shall NOT contain author(s) details and the acknowledgements section.
• Inappropriate manuscripts or non-compliance with guidelines will be returned without further review.
• Accepted papers will be reviewed, using a double-blind review process, by the experts in the relevant field and facilitated by the Editor.
• IFA Membership: Both the first author and/or the corresponding author shall be Members of Indian Fisheries Association (IFA) for consideration of their manuscripts for publication in JIFA. To learn more about IFA Membership or to become a Life Member of IFA, click https://forms.gle/UKJeQimhVScZLHAM6

Reprints

Corresponding author will receive a soft copy of the article in PDF format via email.