INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

 

About the Journal

The mission of Fountain Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences (FUJNAS), the official journal of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences, Fountain University, Osogbo, Nigeria is to publish high quality, peer-reviewed, hypothesis-driven, original research in all areas of natural and applied sciences. The journal welcomes submission from all fields of pure and applied sciences.

FUJNAS started publication in the year 2012 and is indexed in CABI, Chemical Abstract (CAS) Google Scholar and currently being considered for inclusion in DOI, Scopus, AJOL, DOAJ and PUBMED.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Authors retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to Fountain Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences.  Articles in FUJNAS are published on the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0).

Publication Schedule

FUJNAS publishes two issues per year and ensures thats manuscript are made available  online as soon as they are accepted.

Editorial Policy

Authors must prepare their manuscripts in accordance to the Instructions for Authors of the journal. Manuscripts which do not follow the format and style of the Journal, may be returned to the authors for revision or rejected. The Journal reserves the right to make any further formal changes and language corrections necessary in a manuscript accepted for publication. Manuscripts are accepted with the understanding that the authors have not violated the ethics of research and publishing during the conduct of the experiment and writing of the manuscript.

General Requirements

All submitted manuscripts should contain original research written in English Language, not previously published and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Manuscripts may be submitted for consideration as original papers (research articles describing original experimental results) and short communications. The Journal also publishes mini-reviews, which are by invitation. However, authors willing to submit a review article may write a proposal to the Editor-in-Chief.

Manuscript Preparation

The manuscript (including references, tables and boxes, and legends) must be typed in 12 point Times New Roman, double-spaced on A4 paper with margins of 1 inch, or 4.5 cm on all sides. All pages in the manuscript should be page numbered.

Cover letter

The cover letter must show clearly the full contact details with postal address (es), phone numbers and e-mail address (es) of the corresponding author. The relevance of the study should also be indicated. The cover letter must also disclose all possible conflicts of interest (e.g. funding sources for consultancies or studies of products). A minimum of Three (3) potential reviewers with their email addresses and instsitution that are familiar with the subject matter should be suggested. However, the use of the reviewers is at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

Title page

The title page should contain the title of the manuscript, authors’ names, affiliations and email addresses. One of the authors should be designated as the corresponding author.

Title

This should be in title case and should be devoid of syntax problem. The title should be concise and represent the scope and content of the study.

Abstract

Abstract should not be more than 300 words, containing a concise summary of the objective and scope, general methods, results, conclusion and significance of the research.

Keywords

The journal welcomes a maximum of six keywords which should be words that can be used to retrieve the paper and not any general words. Words appearing in the title should not be given as keywords. The keywords must correspond with those in Medical Subject Heading (MESH).

Introduction

The Introduction should provide sufficient background on the study. It should also give the statement of the problem and the rationale for conducting the research. The aim should also be clearly defined. The contribution to the area of study should be identified. All these must be presented in logical manner.

Materials and Methods

This section must provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by reference and only relevant modifications should be described. Newly developed methods should also be described in details. The sources of all major instruments, chemicals, reagents, assay kits and drugs must be given. The type of statistical tool(s) used to analyze the data should be mentioned and justified. All procedures involving experimental animals or human subjects must be accompanied by a statement on ethical approval from appropriate ethics committee.

Results

A clear and concise Results Section should highlight the important results obtained. Data should be organized into Figures and Tables. The same results should not be repeated in Figures and Tables. All Tables and Figures should be appropriately referred to within the text. Values already contained in the Tables need not be repeated in the Results Section. Qualitative as well as quantitative results should be included if applicable.

Discussion

This section should relate the Results Section to current understanding of the scientific problems being investigated in the field. This section apart from adducing scientific reason(s) to the results obtained must also present the theoretical implications and practical applications of the findings. The authors should also identify where their findings agree and/or contrast with previously published studies. Reasons for such differences must also be advanced. This section must also be devoid of speculations that are not supported with findings in their present study. Results and Discussion may also be merged into a single Section.

Conclusion

The conclusion must reflect the judgment or decision reached by reasoning after the discussion on the manuscript. This section should be seen as a summing up the arguments about what you have been writing about.

Acknowledgements

Major contributors that did not qualify as authors should be acknowledged accordingly. Funding sources should also be acknowledged appropriately.

Conflict(s) of Interests

Authors are required to disclose financial interests (e.g. employment, significant share ownership, patent rights, consultancy, research funding, etc.) in any company or institution that might benefit from their publication. All authors must provide details of any other potential competing interests of a personal nature that readers or editors might consider relevant to their publication. To prevent ambiguity, authors must state explicitly whether potential conflicts do or do not exist. The statement should be placed in the text of the submitted manuscript directly following the Acknowledgements.

References

All references should be given at the end of the paper. Authors should be responsible for the correctness of the references. References must be complete, including initials of author(s), full title of the paper, volume number, year of publication and first and last page numbers as given in the following examples:

For article in a journal

Salau, A.K., Yakubu, M.T. & Oladiji, A.T. (2016). Effects of Anogeissus leiocarpus and Terminalia avicennioides root barks on redox and haematological parameters of diethylnitrosamine-administered rats. Iranian Journal of Toxicology 10(1), 21-29.

Journal article – electronic version with DOI

Yakubu, M.T. & Atoyebi, A.R. (2018). Brysocarpus coccineus (Schum & Thorn) root reinstates sexual competence and testicular function in paroxetine-induced sexual dysfunction in male Wistar rats. Andrologia https://doi.org/10.1111/and.12980 (epub ahead of print). Published by John Wiley & Sons Inc., http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/and.12980/abstract

 

For a paper in a contributed volume or edited book

Samovar, L. A. & Porter, R. E. (Eds.). (1997). Intercultural communication: A reader (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Helber, L. E. (1995). Redeveloping mature resorts for new markets. In M. V. Conlin & T. Baum (Eds.), Island tourism: Management principles and practice (pp. 105-113). Chichester, England: Wiley.

For thesis

Yakubu, M. T. (2006). Aphrodisiac and toxicological implications of aqueous extract of Fadogia agrestis stem, unpublished doctoral thesis submitted to the Department of Biochemistry, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. Retrieved from www.unilorin.edu.ng on 7^th July, 2018.

All references cited in the text must be accounted for in the list of references.

Citation in text

Authors must ensure that every reference cited in the text is also accounted for in the reference list (and vice versa). It should be presented in any of the following formats:

Single author

Single author citation at the end of a sentence should be the author’s surname and year separated by a comma in parenthesis. e.g. (Bolarinwa, 2018). For citation that begins or occurs in the middle of a sentence, it should be written as author’s surname with only the year in parenthesis. e.g. Bolarinwa (2018).

Two authors

For citation of two authors at the end of a sentence, the authors’ surnames connected by ampersand sign and separated from the year by a comma, all in parenthesis. e.g.  (Bolarinwa & Salau, 2018). Citation of two authors that begins a sentence is similar to that described earlier but it is only the year that will be in parenthesis. e.g. Bolarinwa & Salau (2018).

More than two authors

For citation involving more than two authors at the end of a sentence, the surname of the first author followed by et al. (in italics) and the year separated by a comma, all in parenthesis. e.g.  (Ajiboye et al., 2018). For citation involving more than two authors that begins a sentence, it is similar to the one just described except that it is only the year of publication that will be in parenthesis. e.g. Ajiboye et al. (2018). 

Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text only when necessary. If these references are included in the reference list, they should follow the standard reference style of the journal with the publication date substituted with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication. Letter of acceptance of such publication must accompany the submission of the manuscript.

Submission

This should be done ONLY online at www.fountainjournals.com. Submission of manuscript through any other means will not be processed.

Assessment

Each manuscript will be subjected to both plagiarism check and preliminary editorial review before it can be sent for double blind peer review. Manuscripts will only be accepted after satisfactory recommendations must have been received from the independent reviewers. Acceptance of manuscripts for publication in FUJNAS will be based on originality of the research and contribution to scientific knowledge, without neglecting technical quality.

Publication Fees

Article publication fee of Twenty Thousand Naira only (N20, 000: 00) or One Hundred Dollars (100 USD) will be charged on any article accepted for publication in Fountain Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences (FUNJAS). All payments should be made to: Fountain Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences, Sterling Bank 0500758138. Evidence of payment should be forwarded to fujnas@fountainjournals.com, fujnas@yahoo.com or fujnas@gmail.com.

Subscription and Advertisements

All subscription and advert requests should be directed to the Business Manager at busm_fujnas@fountainjournals.com or via mail to fujnas@fountainjournals.com. Postage rates apply.