Author Guidelines
Aims and Scope: Botanica Orientalis (BOTOR) is a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal published by the Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University on annual basis. The journal publishes original articles covering all areas of Plant Science. However, articles having the potentiality to improve our understanding of Himalayan biodiversity from ecological, taxonomic, biogeographical, evolutionary and ethnobotanical perspectives and with implications for their sustainable management are highly appreciated. Botanica Orientalis welcomes the submission of original research articles (4000-8000 words), short communications (<2000 words), subject reviews (max. 8000 words) and book reviews (max. 500 words).
Submissions: One copy of the manuscripts should be sent by e-mail to the Editor (see back cover page for the email addresses). Manuscript can be submitted throughout the year and will be prioritized as first-come-first-basis. Electronic Word (.doc, .docx, .rtf) files can be submitted. During submission, the Corresponding Author must confirm that: (1) the manuscript has not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a thesis), or submitted for publication elsewhere, (2) all authors have read the manuscript and agreed to its submission, (3) the manuscript is written in standard English and is free from spelling and grammatical errors, and (4) the articles originating from a particular institution are submitted with the approval of the institution.
General terms of publication:
- All submitted works are subject to peer review and revision at the discretion of the editors.
- The authors have followed Instructions for Contributors.
- Editorial board reserves the ultimate right to accept or reject the article(s).
- Manuscripts reporting on research done ten or more years ago will not be accepted for publication.
- Illustrations and text reproduced from other sources must be credited. The author(s) will be fully responsible to obtain permission for the use of such references.
Peer Review: Any contribution fulfilling the scope of the journal and meeting all the preconditions will be forwarded for rigorous peer review. Submitted manuscripts are therefore expected to meet standards of academic excellence. Reviewers will be selected as recommended by the editorial board. After acceptance, manuscripts may be edited for style and clarity. Proofs are sent to authors as a PDF file attached to an e-mail.
Organization of manuscripts: The first (title) page must include: a concise and informative title, an abbreviated running title (up to 50 characters including spaces), full name(s) of author(s), name and address of the institution(s) where the work was done, full mailing address, telephone number and email address of the corresponding author. The second page should contain an abstract (<250 words) which should be self-contained and citation-free (which, independently of the main text, succinctly expresses the purpose, methods, results and implications of the study); and six keyword entries (words, arranged in an alphabetical order, other than those mentioned in the title).
Research papers (normally 4000-8000 words) will further comprise such sections as: introduction (this section should be succinct, with no subheadings), materials and methods (details of study area, analyses, sources of data), results, discussion, acknowledgments, and references. Figure legends, figures, and tables must be included separately at the end after reference section.
Short communications (<2000 words) should normally follow the above format, though results and discussion sections can be combined if preferred.
Review Articles (<8,000 words) are typically solicited by the editors, but can be submitted after an initial contact with the editor. Reviews will be concise reports on an area of interest and they should include the title page and abstract as described above and other sections as required.
PRESENTATION
Typescript: Manuscripts must be double-spaced (page format: A4; font: Times New Roman, 12 pt) with wide margins, in good English and must be submitted electronically, together with one set of originals of any illustrations (in high resolution). All pages must be numbered.
Units of Measurement: Units of measurement should be presented simply and concisely using System International (SI) units.
Figures: Figures may be line drawings, photographs, or free-hand drawing. Each figure should be supplied in a separate electronic file (preferably JPEG, BMP, TIFF). Bitmap images should be of 300 dpi resolution at least. Figures should be simple, clear and noticeable. All figures should be cited in the paper in a consecutive order. Numbering should be clear according to the sequence, such as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. both in caption and text.
Tables: Table(s) must be printed in their final size without reduction. Tables should be cited consecutively in the text. If table is cited more than once, it should be referred as Table 1, Table 2 and so on. Every table must have a descriptive title and if numerical measurements are given, the units should be included in the column heading.
References: References should be limited to published work, work in press, theses and dissertations, or technical reports. Unpublished studies and personal communications should be referred to in the text only, using the author's initials and surname. References should be indicated in the text by surname of the author(s) with the year of publication as shown below. For works with two authors, cite as Briggs and Walters (1997) or (Briggs and Walters 1997); where there are more than two authors, cite as Bhattarai et al. (2006) or (Bhattarai et al. 2006). Two or more references are separated by semicolons and appear in chronological order (e.g., Briggs and Walters 1997; Klimeš et al. 1997; van Kleunen 2007). Internet-based materials should be limited to the information available on an official web site.
All sources cited in the text should be included in the reference section listed at the end of the paper. In this section, all authors and the full title of paper or book must be given. Reference must be arranged first alphabetically under author(s) name and then in chronological orders if several papers or books by the same authors are cited. References to more than one publication by an author in the same year should be distinguished by the letters a, b, c, etc., in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. Book titles should be followed by the editor(s) (where appropriate), publisher and place of publication. Journal titles should be given in full together with volume number, and first and last pages of the article.Do not use such terms as Op. cit. or Ibid.
References should be set out as follows:
Book:
Briggs D. and Walters S.M. 1997. Plant Variation and Evolution. Cambridge University Press, London, UK.
Article in edited book:
Klimeš L., Klimešová J., Hendriks R. and van Groenendael J. 1997. Clonal plant architecture: a comparative analysis of form and function. In: The Ecology and Evolution of Clonal Plants (H. de Kroon and J. van Groenendael, eds.), pp. 1-29. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Thesis/Dissertation:
Pandit B.H. 2003. Prospects of Promoting Non-timber Forest Products in the Mountains of Nepal. Ph.D. Thesis, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand.
Technical report:
ANSAB, 1997. Forest Products Market/Enterprise Option Study. Final Report. Asia Network for Small Scale Agricultural Bioresources (ANSAB), Kathmandu, Nepal.
Journal article:
van Kleunen M. 2007. Adaptive genetic differentiation in lifehistory traits between populations of Mimulus guttatus with annual and perennial life-cycles. Evolutionary Ecology 21: 185–199.
Open access journal:
Bhattarai S., Chaudhary R.P. and Taylor R.S.L. 2006. Ethnomedicinal plants used by the people of Manang district, Central Nepal. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2:41 [online] URL: http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/2/ 1/41.
Other web-based literature: ICIMOD 2005. Issues in Sustainable Mountain Development. [online] URL: http://www.icimod.org.np/focus/focusmenu.html. (assessed 19 Dec. 2008).