Author Guidelines
Submission of Manuscripts
Original research papers, discussion papers, short reports, review papers, and rapid communications are welcomed. Articles are to be submitted in three (3) hard copies, accompanied by a soft copy on CD-ROM. In cases where reviewers recommend minor corrections, the version on CD-ROM will be edited accordingly for publication. In cases requiring moderate to major corrections, another set of three (3) hard copies and a soft copy version must be re-submitted. All articles in the stated procedures should be submitted to:
Prof. N. G. Obaje, Editor-in-Chief, LAJOST, C/o Faculty of Applied Sciences, IBB University, Lapai, Niger State, Nigeria. lajost2013@gmail.com; nobaje@yahoo.com; nobaje@ibbu.edu.ng .
Fees Chargeable
A processing fee, to be determined from time to time by the Editorial Board, will be charged along with submission of manuscript. Articles accepted for publication will be processed further free of charge and shall be published under the TETFUND sponsorship programme for University-based journals.
Article Review
Submitted manuscripts shall be reviewed by three reviewers to be chosen on the advice of the Editorial Board. Authors, however, can fast-track the review process by submitting maximum four names of potential reviewers. Such submissions or nominations by the authors are not binding on the Editorial Board.
Article Structure
Papers should be written in most concise form. Occasionally long papers are accepted, particularly those of a review nature. Short reports and rapid communications are encouraged.
Heading/Title of Paper
The title of the paper should be written in upper case (capital) letters, bold (as in ‘a’ below), except where it includes a botanical or zoological taxonomic nomenclature which should be in lower case italicized (see ‘b’). examples:
- GEOPHYSICAL AEROMAGNETIC EVALUATION OF THE CRETACEOUS BIDA BASIN IN NORTH-CENTRAL NIGERIA
- STRATIGRAPHIC IMPLICATIONS OF A NEW SPECIES OF FORAMINIFERA Globigerinodes nigeriaensis IN THE BENUE TROUGH OF NIGERIA
Subdivision/Sections/Subsections
Articles should be divided into clearly defined sections, but not numbered. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. Headings of all sections and subsection shall be in upper case letters, bold; but should also be differentiated in hierarchical order into subsections in lower case letters. Example:
INTRODUCTION OF SUBJECT
Physical Parameters
Swelling
In addition to any other matter that may be subject-specific, all articles should be structured in the following format: ABSTRACT; INTRODUCTION; LITERATURE REVIEW / PREVIOUS WORK/GENERAL REVIEW; METHODOLOGY / MATERIALS AND METHODS; RESULTS AND DISCUSSION; CONCLUSION; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; REFERENCES.
Provision of keywords is not optional
Author names and affiliations: Author names should be written with surname first (e.g. Obaje, Nuhu G.) or surname followed by initials (e.g. Obaje, N. G.). Present authors’ affiliation address should be written below the names. Indicate all affiliations with lower-case letters immediately after the author(s)’s name(s). Provide the full postal address of each affiliation.
Corresponding Author: Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of reviewing and publication, also post-publication. Email address and the telephone number(s) of the corresponding author should be stated.
Figure and Table captions
Ensure that each illustration has caption in lower case letters, bold. Supply captions separately or attached to the figure, but should be editable. A caption should comprise a brief title and a description of the illustration.
REFERENCES
Citation in text
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is listed in the reference list (and vise versa). Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list, they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either ‘Unpublished results’ or ‘Personal communication; Citation of a reference as ‘in press’ implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
Reference style
Text: All citations in the text should refer to:
- Single author: the author’s name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication; e.g. (Obaje, 1994) or according to Obaje (1994)
- Two authors: both authors’ names and the year of publication; e.g. (Obaje and Hamza, 2000) or according to Obaje and Hamza (2000)
- Three or more authors: first author’s name followed by ‘et al.’ followed by year of publication. E.g. (Obaje et al., 2011) or according to Obaje et al. (2011).
List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by letters ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, etc., placed after the year of publication.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
Vandebrucke, J., Hanraads, J. A. J., Lupton, R.A. (2000). The art of writing a scientific artcle. Journal of Scientific Communication, 163:51-59
Reference to a book:
Shrank, W. R. and White, E. B. (1979). The Elements of Style, third ed. Macmillan, New York, p 350
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Mettan, G. R. and Adams, L. B. (1999). How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in Jones, B. S., Smith, R. Z. (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age. Willey & Sons, New York, pp 281-304
Off-prints
The corresponding author shall be supplied with one complete volume of the booklet containing all the publications in that volume and in which the author(s) paper appeared. Request for additional copies of article or the volume containing the article shall be surcharged.