Trends in Current Biology

Scope:
The journal covers a broad spectrum of sub-disciplines of biology, including but not limited to:
Biology is a vast and diverse field of science that encompasses the study of living organisms and their interactions with the environment. Within biology, there are several sub-disciplines or sub-sections, each focusing on specific aspects of living organisms. Some of the main sub-sections of biology include:

1. Molecular Biology: Studies the structure, function, and interactions of biomolecules such as DNA, RNA, proteins, and other cellular components.

2. Cell Biology: Focuses on the study of cells, their structure, function, and processes. It includes areas like cell organelles, cell signaling, and cell division.

3. Genetics: Investigates inheritance, variation, and the role of genes in living organisms. It includes the study of heredity, gene expression, and genetic engineering.

4. Evolutionary Biology: Explores the processes and mechanisms of evolution, including natural selection, adaptation, and speciation.

5. Ecology: Examines the interactions between living organisms and their environment, including the study of ecosystems, populations, and communities.

6. Physiology: Studies the functions and activities of living organisms and their parts, including organ systems, tissues, and cellular functions.

7. Anatomy: Focuses on the structure and organization of living organisms, including their internal and external body parts.

8. Taxonomy: Involves the classification and categorization of living organisms based on their evolutionary relationships and shared characteristics.

9. Botany: Concentrates on the study of plants, including their structure, growth, reproduction, and ecological roles.

10. Zoology: Focuses on the study of animals, including their behavior, physiology, and evolutionary history.

11. Microbiology: Deals with the study of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists.

12. Immunology: Investigates the immune system and its role in protecting the body from infections and diseases.

13. Neuroscience: Examines the structure and function of the nervous system and the brain, including areas like neurobiology and neurophysiology.

14. Marine Biology: Concentrates on the study of marine organisms and their interactions with the marine environment.

15. Biochemistry: Intersects biology and chemistry, focusing on the chemical processes and substances involved in living organisms.

These sub-sections of biology represent just a fraction of the diverse range of specialized areas within the field. Many other branches and interdisciplinary fields also contribute to the overall understanding of life and its complexities.

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Peer Review Process:
To ensure the highest quality of published research, "Trends in Current Biology" will employ a rigorous double-blind peer review process. This process will involve renowned experts in the respective fields who will evaluate the manuscripts' originality, significance, methodology, and overall scientific rigor. By maintaining the highest standards of peer review, the journal aims to provide readers with reliable and impactful research.

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Open Access:
The journal will adopt an open-access model, making all published articles freely accessible to researchers, academics, and the general public worldwide. This approach is intended to foster knowledge dissemination, democratize access to information, and facilitate global collaboration among academicians and scholars.

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Timeline and Launch:
The editorial team is working diligently to finalize the platform and systems for submissions and peer review. It is projected that the journal will be open for submissions in the coming weeks, with the first issue expected to be published in the near future. As the launch date approaches, more details will be announced here and various scientific communities.

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Categories of Manuscripts:

1. Review Article: Review articles are expected to survey and discuss current developments in a field. They should be well focused and organized, and avoid a general ‘textbook’ style. There are no page/word limits. However, limit number of references to 100.

2. Research Article: Research articles report research results of major significance. They should include an abstract, an introductory paragraph, and brief subheads. There are no page/word limits. However, limit number of references to 50.

3. Research communication: Research communications contain important new findings that are novel and of fairly broad interest. They should include a brief abstract and an introductory paragraph. Text should may or may not be broken up under subheads. Limit number of references to 20.

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Author Guidelines:

• The manuscript should be prepared in English using "MS Word" or similar word processing software. “Times New Roman” or similar font (size 12) should be used; single line spacing may be used.

• Authors whose native language is not English are encouraged to ask colleagues familiar with the field of research and fluent in English (preferably a native speaker) to correct the language in the manuscript before submission. An article may be returned to the author without review if the language is not of an acceptable standard.

• The author is also responsible for the correct usage of other languages, be it a Latin diagnosis or an abstract in a foreign language. The grammar of texts in foreign languages needs to be checked by the author before submission, and again after review if the English from which it is translated has changed. Latin scholars who are consulted for the correcting of diagnoses should be acknowledged.

• Metric measures should be used. Special symbols can be used but need to be carefully checked by the author at proof stage, because they may be altered due to incompatibility of files.

• Hyphens ‘-’ are used to link words such as personal names, topographical names, some prefixes and compound adjectives.

• En-dash ‘–’ (a dash the length of the letter ‘n’) should be used for ranges or spans. In the context of PST, it is mainly used for ranges of numbers, most frequently size ranges, elevation ranges, dates and page numbers.

• Exclamation mark ‘!’ is used to indicate after the herbarium acronym to indicate that this voucher specimen has been seen by the author.

• Multiplication ‘×’. The multiplication sign × is not to be confused with the letter x.

• Title: Centered, Bold font.

• Names of Author(s): Centered. Author affiliation needs to be given below author names in order of appearance. The relation between author listing and affiliation needs to be indicated as superscripted numbers to the right of name in author listing and to the left in affiliation. Corresponding author should be highlighted using '*' along with contact email .  Short biographies of each authors along with their email ids and ORCIDs should be given at the very end of the manuscript.

• Abstract: Justified, not less than 200 and maximum 250 words.

• Keywords: 4–6 keywords, separated by semicolon (;) should be written after the abstract, which can identify the most important subject of the manuscript. 

• TEXT: The manuscript text may be divided into:

  • Introduction: A brief and clear description of the purpose of the investigation relating the previous research and essential arguments should be mentioned.

  • Materials and Methods: This section should be written well defined to understand the steps of investigation done which allows other researchers to reproduce the result.

  • Results: The findings of the manuscripts should be presented with appropriate evidence in a single heading or may be presented in separate headings depending on the requirement and need of author(s).

  • Discussion: The findings of the manuscripts should be discussed in a single heading or may be presented in separate headings depending on the requirement and need of author(s).

  • Conclusion: Mention conclusion of the study in few sentences.

• References: The journal uses the Vancouver reference style which is a citation style that uses numbers within the text that refer to numbered entries in the reference list. Your reference list should appear at the end of the manuscript with the entries listed in roman numbers and in the same order that they were cited in the text. Number of references: Limited to maximum of 100 for review articles and 50 for other types of articles. NOTE:- References within the text should start from 1. They should be cited under the References section in the order you have cited them in the text (ie. no need to sort the reference list alphabetically).

• Tables and Figures: Tables need to have a title above the table and figures need to have title below the figure. Tables are numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals and submitted separately from the text. They have a title and a footnote explaining any abbreviation used in that table. Footnotes to tables should be indicated by superscript lower-case letters. Double documentation of the same points in figures and tables is not acceptable. Important: Obtain permission and include the acknowledgment required by the copyright holder if a figure is being reproduced from another source.

• Save colour illustrations as RGB at max. 300 dpi (JPG or PNG preferred) which should be inserted in the manuscript file during submission and may be submitted separately after the manuscript is accepted for publication. All figures (photographs, illustrations or graphs) should be cited in the text, and numbered consecutively throughout (Fig. 1, etc.) and must be referred to in the text. Figure parts should be identified by upper-case roman letters (A, B, etc.), "I" or "O" are not used. Scale bars are included on illustrations with measurement. Figure legends must be brief, self-sufficient explanations of the illustrations. The legends (if any) should be placed at the end of the text.

• All taxa newly described in the manuscript should be accompanied by a good quality line drawing. All lines and symbols should be of uniform thickness, and professional quality and proper dimensions (approx. 2 mm high after reproduction). All line drawings are scanned and submitted as 1200 dpi TIFF files.

• Place Tables and Figures after References in the manuscript file itself (all text, tables and figures in one file).

• Equations need to be left aligned; equation numbers should be right aligned; equations quoted in the manuscript need to conform to this form.  (Eqn. 1)

• Competing Interests: Journal requires authors to declare all competing interests in relation to their work. All submitted manuscripts must accompany ‘competing interests’ statement listing all competing interests. Where authors have no competing interests, the statement should read “The author(s) declare(s) that they have no competing interests.

• Declarations to be made regarding ethical issues: Manuscripts that deal with clinical findings should be enclosed with a statement on informed consent of the patients under study. If humans and animals are the subjects of a clinical study, it is essential for the study to have been carried out in accordance with the ethical standards of the country/countries where the research described in the article has been conducted. A declaration to that effect must accompany the manuscript.

• Authors' contributions: Please include an Authors' contributions section before the Acknowledgements. For the Authors' contributions' we suggest the following kind of format (please use initials to refer to each author's contribution): AB carried out the molecular genetic studies, participated in the sequence alignment and drafted the manuscript. JY carried out the immunoassays. MT participated in the sequence alignment. ES participated in the design of the study and performed the statistical analysis. FG conceived of the study and participated in its design and coordination. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

• An "author" is generally considered to be someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a published study. To qualify as an author one should 1) have made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) have been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) have given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, alone, does not justify authorship.

• All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support.

• Acknowledgements: All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an ‘acknowledgements’ section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support.

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Reference Style Guide:

We follow the reference style given at https://libguides.murdoch.edu.au/Vancouver

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Article Processing Charges (APC):

US$40 or equivalent

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