Submissions

Author Guidelines

VETERINARY IMMUNOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY (VIB) is a half-yearly journal and publishes original research papers, reviews, short communications/Technical notes. The journal covers papers on a broad area of Immunology and Biotechnology pertaining to animal science.

Papers must be written in English and must follow the uniform standard spelling (US/UK) and scientific usage throughout the manuscript. Manuscripts should be prepared double-spaced in Microsoft Word, with lines and pages numbered consecutively, using Times New Roman font at 12 points and no less than 2.54-cm (1 inch) margins all around. Special characters (e.g., Greek and symbols) should be inserted using the symbols palette available in this font. Tables and figures should be placed in separate sections at the end of the manuscript (not placed in the text).

Electronic submission of manuscripts is strongly encouraged, provided that the text, tables, and figures are included in a single Microsoft Word file.
Manuscripts submitted to VIB must not have been published or submitted previously in any scientific journal. Previous presentation at a scientific meeting does not preclude the publication of such data in VIB.

Types of articles
Three types of manuscripts may be submitted:
i. Full-length original research articles: These should describe new and carefully confirmed findings, and experimental procedures should be given in sufficient detail for others to verify the work. The length of a full paper should not exceed 12 manuscript pages or 3000 words and up to five tables, charts or figures.
ii. Short Communications / Technical Note: A Short Communication is a vehicle to report a new method, technique, procedure of interest, results of small investigations or giving details of new models or hypotheses, gene isolation and identification, innovative methods, techniques or apparatus. When typeset for publication, short communications shall not exceed 9 manuscript pages including tables and figures or 2000 words.
iii. Mini review: Submissions of mini-reviews and perspectives covering topics of current interest are welcome and encouraged. Mini-reviews should be concise and no longer than 12 to 18 manuscript pages or up to 5000 words. Mini-reviews are also peer-reviewed. The review article will only be entertained if author(s) has included his own research work in it or has been an authority in that field.

Manuscript style
Manuscripts should contain the following sections, in this order:
Cover Letter: The cover letter should include the corresponding author's full address and telephone/fax numbers. The Cover letter must include the following declaration on behalf of all authors:
“Submission of an article to VIB implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder”.
Title Page: The Title should be a brief describing the contents of the paper (no more than 15 words). The Title Page should include the authors' full names and affiliations. The details of the corresponding author are footnoted using the symbols *. Present address of corresponding author should appear as a footnote along with phone, fax and E-mail information.
Abstract: The Abstract should summarize the pertinent results in a brief but understandable form, beginning with a clear statement of the objective and ending with the conclusions The Abstract should be no more than 250 words in one paragraph. Complete sentences, active verbs, and the third person should be used, and the abstract should be written in the past tense. Standard nomenclature should be used and abbreviations should be avoided. No literature should be cited.
Following the abstract, about 4 to 6 key words that will provide indexing references to should be listed. The key words are separated by commas and no abbreviations should be used.
Introduction: This section should provide a clear statement of the problem, citing only the relevant literature on the subject, briefly justifies the research, specifies the hypotheses to be tested, and gives the objective(s).
Materials and Methods: Materials and methods should be complete enough to allow experiments to be reproduced. A clear description or specific original reference is required for all biological, analytical and statistical procedures. However, only truly new procedures should be described in detail; previously published procedures should be cited, and important modifications of published procedures should be explained. Manufacturer information must be provided at the first mention of each proprietary product used in the research (Capitalize trade names and include the manufacturer's name and address in parenthesis). Also, provide a publication reference for the methodology used in kits. Subheadings should be used. Appropriate statistical methods should be used. Statistical methods commonly used in the animal sciences need not be described in detail, but adequate references should be provided.
Results: The results should be presented with clarity and precision in the form of tables or figures when feasible. The text should explain or elaborate on the tabular data, but numbers should not be repeated within the text.
Discussion: The discussion should interpret the results clearly and concisely in terms of biological mechanisms and significance and also should integrate the research findings with the body of previously published literatures. A standalone Discussion section should not refer to any tables or figures. The discussion must be consistent with the data from the research. State the conclusions in a few sentences at the end of the paper.
Note: The Results and Discussion sections can include subheadings. For Short Communications, the Results and Discussion should be combined into one section.
The Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc should be brief.
References: In the text, a reference identified by means of an author’s name should be followed by the year of the reference in parentheses [e.g. Kumar (2014), (Kumar, 2014), Gulati and Singh (2015), (Gulati and Singh, 2017), Sharma (1993; 1995), (Sharma, 1993; 1995)]. When there are more than two authors, only the first author’s name should be mentioned, followed by ‘et al’ [e.g. Blake et al. (2003); (Raj et al., 2016)]. In the event that an author cited had two or more works published during the same year, the reference, both in the text and in the reference list, should be identified by a lower case letter like ’a‘ and ’b‘ after the year to distinguish the works [e.g. (Steddy, 2010 a; b)].

References should be listed at the end of the paper in alphabetical order. Journal names are abbreviated according to Chemical Abstracts. Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy of the references.
Examples:
Chohan KR (2003) Meiotic competence of bovine fetal oocytes following in vitro maturation. Anim Reprod Sci 76: 43–51.
Diaz E, Prieto MA (2000) Bacterial promoters triggering biodegradation of aromatic pollutants. Curr Opin Biotech 11: 467-475.
Krishnan LM, Kumar VG, Ravindra JP, Ramesha KP (2005) Total protein concentration of ovarian follicular fluid in buffalo ovaries. Karnataka J Agric Sci 18: 777-779.
Ginther OJ. Producing color-flow images. In: Ginther OJ, editor. Ultrasonic Imaging and Animal Reproduction: Color-Doppler Ultrasonography. Book 4. 1st ed. Cross Plains: Equiservices Publishing, Wisconsin; 2007. pp. 39–60.
Satheshkumar S, Asokan SA, Brindha K, Kathiresan D, Kumanan K. Angiogenic characterization of follicular and luteal structures in crossbred cattle using colour Doppler imaging ultrasonography. In: Proceedings of the National Symposium: Addressing animal reproductive stresses through biotechnological tools. Khanapara, Assam, India; 2012. pp. 248.
• NON PUBLISHED WORK: Should be mentioned only in the text and not in the list of references.
• VERBAL INFORMATION: References concerning unpublished data and “personal communications” should not be cited in the reference list but should be mentioned in the text. After the information, the author must put the expression “verbal information" or "personal communication")
• CD-ROM: Tams, T. Upper GI Endoscopy [CD-ROM]. Guelph, Ontario: Lifelearn, 2000.
• JOURNAL ARTICLE ON THE INTERNET:
Taylor, D . The appropriate use of references in a scientific research paper. Emerg Med Aust 2002;14:166–170. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/ j.1442-2026.2002.00312.x/full Last accessed December 18, 2012.
Tables and Figures: Tables and figures must be prepared so they stand alone. Author-defined abbreviations must be defined (or redefined) in each table and figure.
Tables should be kept to a minimum and be designed to be as simple as possible. Tables are created using the table feature in MS Word (double-spaced throughout, including headings and footnotes). Each table should have a heading and numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Tables should be self-explanatory without reference to the text. The same data should not be presented in both table and graph form or repeated in the text. To indicate significant differences among means within a row or column, superscript lowercase letters are used; the preferred statement in the footnotes is: “Within a row (or column), means without a common superscript differ (P < 0.05).”
Figures should be placed at the end of the manuscript and identified with the figure number. Figure captions should be typed double spaced. All figures should also be sent separately (other than manuscript word file) in JPEG / TIFF format at 600 dpi.
Additional Usage Notes

Abbreviations: Abbreviations in the text that are not standard abbreviations must be defined at first use in the abstract and the body of the paper. Once defined, author defined abbreviations should always be used, except to begin a sentence. Authors should avoid excessive use of author-defined abbreviations.
Gene and Protein Names: Because there is no universally accepted style for gene and protein names that applies to all species, the VIB asks authors to assume the responsibility of using the convention appropriate for the particular species.