Author Guidelines

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1. INFORMATION TO CONTRIBUTORS
2. GENERAL

Momona Ethiopian Journal of Sciences (MEJS) publishes high quality solicited and unsolicited papers from different science disciplines. The unpublished papers having scientific value and fulfilling the objectives of MEJS will be accepted for publication after peer review. Acceptance of the manuscript for publication will depend on the recommendations by at least two of the editors. The editor-in-chief reserves the right to reject any manuscript submitted, whether on invitation or otherwise, and to make suggestions and modifications before peer review. The journal, apart from research articles (maximum 20 pages) also publishes review articles (maximum 20 pages), short communications (maximum 10 pages), book reviews (maximum 2 pages), and comments (maximum 3 pages) related to the current scientific debates or the published articles. Except in special cases, the maximum number of pages will remain the same for each category as mentioned above. MEJS will be available in both electronic (Ejournal) and printed versions with independent ISSN numbers. Articles of all categories should strictly follow MEJS format and the editorial board will have all the rights to edit the manuscript for its clarity, space and format; and also to decide on editorial matters. The results, content, statements, ideas and opinions expressed in the article/ published in the journal are those of the authors not the editorial board of the journal (MEJS).

1. COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE POLICY

The Momona Ethiopian Journal of Science accepts the manuscripts for consideration with the understanding that the manuscript has not been published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Only original articles will be considered for publication if they have been published previously as abstracts, but not if they have been published previously as extended abstract (>1000 words). This applies to both electronic and print versions of the journal. The authors should assign copyright ownership to the Editorial Office of MEJS in the event that the manuscript is accepted for publication in the Momona Ethiopian Journal of Science. All accepted manuscripts must be accompanied by a copyright statement signed by all authors. A copy of the copyright form will be supplied along with the final reviewed version of the manuscript that is sent for final proof- reading. Authors may make multiple copies of the form if necessary and send to the Editorial Office with author’s signature(s) even individually.

All articles published by Momona Ethiopian Journal of Science (MEJS) are Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Under this license, authors retain ownership of the copyright for their content, and anyone can copy, distribute, or reuse articles as long as the author and original source are properly cited. In all these cases for re-use, the authors will be given proper credit to the original publication in MEJS.

III. AUTHORSHIP POLICY

The journal has a policy on authorship for manuscripts submitted to Momona Ethiopian Journal of Science. The policy is that authorship credit should be based only on the below mentioned conditions:

 Substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data

 Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content and

 Final approval of the version to be published

 Acquisition of funding, collection of data or general supervision of the research group, by themselves does not justify the authorship. Each author in the case of multiple-authored manuscripts that are accepted for publication in MEJS will be required to confirm in writing, prior to publishing of the manuscript, that he or she satisfies the journal criteria for authorship. Authors have to submit statement of authorship to the Editorial Office of MEJS.

1. GUIDELINES AND INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS
2. NATURE OF THE MANUSCRIPT
3. The manuscript should be written in English.
4. It should be as concise as possible, less than 21 printed pages including the abstract. Longer manuscripts can only be accepted in exceptional cases. Shorter manuscripts will be given priority when space is limited.

 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP BE SUBMITTED WITH THE MANUSCRIPT

Momona Ethiopian Journal of Science requires a signed confirmation by all the Authors stating that:

1. i) the research work submitted for publication in MEJS is original, not published or accepted for publication or being considered for publication elsewhere, either in whole or in part;
2. ii) the work conforms to the legal requirements of the country in which it was carried out, including those relating to conservation and welfare;

iii) all authors and relevant institutions have read the submitted version of the manuscript and approve its submission; and

1. iv) all the persons entitled to authorship have been included.

 III. SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPT

All the manuscripts should be submitted in both soft and hard copies together with duly signed authorship confirmation letter.

Electronic submission

In the case of electronic form which is preferred, the manuscript should be in single file (inclusive of text, tables and figures) either in Microsoft Word format or LaTex without any password control and sent to mejsmu@gmail.com.

Portable Document Format (PDF) or Postscript (PC) or Encapsulated Postscript (EPS) files can also be submitted along with the LaTex files but they alone are not eligible for submission. The manuscript must be submitted ready for the printer, i.e. typewritten, double-spaced on one side of the A4 paper with margins of 1 inch on all sides and all the pages should be numbered.

Text marking

Italics should be used for all scientific names from the level of the genus downward.

The manuscript presented as a paper in any proceeding, or submitted to other journal for publication needs clearance before it is considered for publication in MEJS.

1. STANDARD FORMAT

The papers submitted to MEJS should follow a standard format. It may be divided into ABSTRACT, INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGY, RESULTS, DISCUSSION, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS and REFERENCE sections in the same order.

The paper should be submitted preferably as a single file including tables, figures, appendices etc.

1. Title page

This should include the title, name(s) of author(s), addresses (name of the institute or laboratory and postal address of the author(s)) and fax number, phone number, e-mail, ID of the author responsible for correspondence. It should also contain keywords, not more than six, which should be relevant for literature searching.

2. Abstract

It should be brief, concise and provide a statement of the scope of the work and its principal findings and be fully intelligible without reference to the main text (it must contain background, objective, methods, results and conclusion). It should be limited to 3% of the length of the text, and in any case, not more than 300 words.

3. Introduction

This should contain a clear statement of the reason for doing the work, outlining essential background information but should not include either the results or conclusions.

4. Methodology

This should be concise but provide sufficient details to allow the work to be repeated. Product and manufacturer names: Where materials/products with specific names mentioned in the text or

specific equipment used (including software packages) in the work, should be identified by their manufacturer and manufacturer's details e.g. town, state, country etc., or a source reference should be given if a standard or replicated procedure is being followed or used.

5. Results

This should not include material appropriate to the discussion. Pertinent results should be reported using text, table and figures. Restrict tables and figures to those that are necessary. Do not duplicate data in tables and figures and, where possible, avoid repeating data presented in tables or figures in the text. All tables and figures should be referred in the text. In general, the emphasis should be on the size of effects rather than their statistical significance.

6. Discussion

This should highlight the significance of the results and place them in the context of other work. A combined results and discussion section is allowed. New and important findings should be emphasized but, as a rule, data previously presented in the method and result sections should not be repeated. Implications and limitations of the findings and their practical application should be discussed. The length of the discussion should be commensurate with the number of important findings. Usually the discussion can be less than 750 words in length. It is generally not necessary to restate the conclusion at the end of the discussion. Merging result and discussion is also possible.

7. Acknowledgments
8. References

All references in the text should be listed in the reference section. References should not appear in the reference list if they are not quoted in the text. References should be listed in alphabetical order and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. The following usage should be confirmed.

1. a) Reference to a Journal Publication:

Mergeay, J., Declerck, S., Verschuren, D & De Meester, L. 2006. Daphnia community analysis in shallow Kenyan lakes and ponds using dormant eggs in surface sediments. Freshwater Biology, 51: 399-411.

      b) Reference to a Book:

Moss, B. 1998. Ecology of fresh waters, man and medium. Blackwell Scientific Publications, London, 557 pp.

Moss, B. 1998. Ecology of fresh waters, man and medium. Blackwell Scientific Publications, London, pp. 455-460.

      C) Reference to a Chapter in an Edited Book or Articles of Monographs (Symposia etc):

Tudorancea, C., Zinabu Gebremariam & Dadebo, E. 1999. Limnology in Ethiopia. In: Wetzel, R. G. & Gopal, B. (eds.), Limnology in Developing Countries, 2: 63-118.

In the text, references should be cited chronologically, author’s surname should be followed by year of publication: (Finlay et al., 1988; Koschel, 1995; Koschel and Adams, 2003).

If several contributions by the same author were published in the same year, a distinction of these should be made by adding a, b, or c, e.g. (Koschel, 1981a; Meyer and Huss, 1999a, b).

Ethiopian names should be in direct order, that is, the full first name followed by the father’s name; Gebremariam Hailu et al. 2001, but not G. mariam, H. et al. 2001.

Titles of journals should not be abbreviated. Unpublished material, except for Ph.D theses, should not be included among the references, but should be cited as (Kebede Tesema et al., 2005 unpubl. data) in the text.

9. Tables

Each table should be typed on a separate page and should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals and attached to the end of the text after the references. They should be supplied with headings and kept as simple as possible and should be referred to in the text as “Table 1”, etc.

10. Figures

Figures should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals with proper legends. Legend for figures (incl. photographs) should be listed consecutively on a separate page after tables. Total number of figures and tables must not exceed 7.

 V. OTHER COLUMNS

1. Review Article

These are aimed at giving an overview of a particular subject suitable for a wider audience that includes recent advances in any particular branch in which the author has been actively engaged.

2. Book Reviews

A critical evaluation of recently published books in any discipline of science can be published.

       3. Short Communication

It must report completed work, not preliminary findings. They are an alternative formats for describing smaller piece of work. The report should not be more than five pages and should not contain more than two figures, tables or combinations.