Instructions for Authors

General information

Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences Studies Series (ISSN 1818-3751): is devoted to publish original, peer-reviewed research papers on main aspects of biological diversity, and environmental sciences, and related biotechnology.

Submission process

Manuscripts must be submitted by one of the authors of the manuscript, and should not be submitted by anyone on thei behalf. The submitting author takes responsibility for the article during submission and peer review. The journal practices anonymous reviews. The journal reviewers are experts in their fields. Authors can expect their manuscripts to be reviewed fairly, in a skilled, professional manner. Reviewers are expected to present a clear decision regarding publication; support the recommendation with a detailed analysis of the quality and coherence of the study's conceptual basis, methods, results, and interpretations; and offer specific, constructive suggestions to authors. Once a submission is received, the manuscript is assigned a number and the author is advised of the number and date of receipt. The authors are informed of their paper's status within 30 days.

Editorial policies

 Any manuscript submitted to the journal must not already have been published in another journal or be under consideration by any other journal. Manuscripts that are derived from papers presented at conferences can be submitted unless they have been published as part of the conference proceedings in a peer reviewed journal. Authors are required to ensure that no material submitted as part of a manuscript infringes existing copyrights, or the rights of a third party. Submission of a manuscript to Biodiversity and Environmental Studies Series implies that all authors have read and agreed to its content.

Manuscript Actions

In making a final decision, the editor weighs four possibilities, arranged below in order from outright rejection to acceptance "as is." 

Rejection—outright: The defects that lead to this decision generally center around substantive or methodological issues. Substantive concerns include lack of theoretical grounding, confusing or unclear conceptualization or rationale of the research problem, unspecified relationships between variables, and insignificant contribution to the literature. Serious methodological problems include nonrandom samples, confounded independent variables, invalid or unreliable measures, inappropriate statistical analysis, lack of statistical power, and lack of external validity.

 Rejection with encouragement to revise and resubmit: In some cases, a manuscript may contain one or more major problems, but the reviewers and the editor may see potential for the paper. The study as presented may not warrant acceptance as is, but may warrant consideration after major revision. The editor will give the author an invitation to revise and resubmit for another round of reviews.

Acceptance—conditional: Most manuscripts, if accepted, require revision in substantive, methodological, or mechanical matters. The new version is usually sent for further review by one or both of the original readers

 Acceptance outright: In a very few cases, a manuscript may be accepted for publication on first reading, with only minor revisions required.

Preparing main manuscript text

Three features of special significance in judging the quality of a research article are considered: substance, methodology, and style.

Substantive Aspects: One feature that strongly influences a decision of acceptance or rejection is the substantive core of the paper (i.e., the research issue studied).

Methodological Aspects: The second feature on which the acceptance or rejection of a manuscript hinges is the methodology. The ideal method section is written in such a manner that another researcher can duplicate the study. This requires a sharply defined and full description of the method. Complete duplication, however, is not enough. In the submitted research, it is critical to have appropriate, valid, and correct methods of sampling, use of instruments and/or materials, procedures, and analysis.

Style: Two features stand out here. First is editorial style, the mechanics of convention laid out in Chapter 5 of the "Researcher's Guide for Preparing and Publishing of Research Work", 2nd Edition,  based on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, APA, the final judge for abbreviations, preparation of tables and figures, references, and so forth. Second is writing style, the general principles of explanatory writing that technical writers must master. Both style have bearing on the preparation of the research manuscript. exposit

Abstract: The abstract should summarize the entire document in a maximum of 120 words. A good abstract is accurate, self-contained, coherent, and readable. In addition, the abstract is designed to serve two important functions. First, once the article is published, it may be the only part of the study actually read by many researchers. Many read the abstract to decide whether to read the entire article. Second, with the growth of electronic search systems, journal readers rely more and more on abstracting services to identify relevant material.

Length: The manuscript typically should be no longer than 30 to 35 typed, double-spaced pages, including tables, figures, and references. Editors and reviewers routinely examine the length of various sections, particularly the Introduction and Discussion. As an author, you should be sensitive to balance in length among the different sections.

Tables and Figures: The tables and figures are structured according to APA style ("Researcher's Guide for Preparing and Publishing of Research Work", 2nd Edition), and should be clear and stand alone with captions, and supplement rather than duplicate information in the text.

References: Because space is at a premium, be as economical as possible. The best, most current, and most relevant sources only are listed. The references conform to APA editorial style ("Researcher's Guide for Preparing and Publishing of Research Work", 2nd Edition).

Examples:

Articles in Journals

Abdel-Hafez, A. I. I., & El-Sharouny, H. M. M. (1987). Seasonal fluctuations of fungi in Egyptian soil receiving city sewage effluents. Cryptogamia, 8, 235-249.

 Carmichael, J. W. (1962). Chrysosporium and other some aleurosporic hyphomycetes Canadian  Journal of  Botany, 40, 1137-1173.

 Diener, U. L., Morgan-Jones, G., Hagles, W. M., & Davis, N. D. (1976). Mycoflora of activated sewage sludge. Mycopatholologia, 58, 115-116.

 Dixon, D. M., Shadomy, H. J., & Shadomy, S. (1980). Dematiaceous fungal pathogens isolated from nature. Mycopathologia, 70, 153-161.

Article in an Edited Book

Day, J. H. (1996). Allergic respiratory responses to fungi. In D. H. Howard & J. D. Miller (Eds.), The Mycota, Vol. IV (pp. 173-191). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

Book

Domsch, K. H., Gams, W., & Anderson, T.  (1980). Compendium of soil fungi. London: Academic Press.

 Rippon, J. W. (1988).  Medical mycology, 3rd ed. Philadelphia: Saunders.

Article types

When submitting your manuscript, the author is required to assign one of the following types to the article: Research, or Reviews

Manuscript sections for Research articles

Manuscripts for Research articles submitted to Biodiversity and Environmental Studies Series  should be divided into the following sections: Title page; Abstract; Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion; References; Author Note; Footnotes; Tables; Figure Captions; Figures.

Download Instructions to Authors

Instructions for Authors BESSS 011  pdf file

Correspondence:

Manuscripts are sent to: Senior Editor, Biodiversity & Environmental Research Center, BERC, Til, Nablus, Palestine. Email: berctil@yahoo.com, admin@berc.ps.