Submit manuscripts to: The Editor in Chief, UNZA-JONAS, C/O the
Assistant Registrar Research, Directorate of Research and Graduate Studies
(DRGS), University of Zambia, P.O. Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia. A
confirmation of receipt of manuscript will be mailed or e-mailed to the
corresponding author right away or within 72 hours.
Cover letter: Submission of manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover letter that should include the corresponding author's full address and telephone/fax numbers and should be in an e-mail message attachment addressed to the Editor, with the file, whose name should begin with the first author's surname. This cover letter must be signed by the first author or corresponding author designate and must state clearly that the manuscripts are original work, have not been submitted or published elsewhere and ethical clearance, where appropriate, for the research was obtained. The authors are also free and encouraged to suggest two to four peer reviewers with contact details for the manuscript. The University of Zambia Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences will not accept overlapping or manuscripts submitted/published elsewhere.
Short Communications: A Short Communication is suitable for recording the results of complete small or preliminary/pilot investigations or giving details of new models or hypotheses, innovative methods, techniques or apparatus. The style of main sections need not conform to that of full-length papers. Short communications are 1 to 4 printed pages (about 3 to 12 manuscript pages) in length.
Reviews: Reviews and perspectives addressing and covering topics of current interest are welcome and encouraged. Typically reviews shall be invited by the journal editorial. These should be concise and not longer than 4-6 printed pages (about 12 to 18 manuscript pages). Uninvited authors of reviews should contact the editors in advance to determine whether the topic that they propose is of current potential interest to the Journal. These manuscripts should be no longer than 4000 words and include no more than four figures and tables and at least 50 references. All reviews are peer reviewed.
Letters/Correspondence to the Editor: Letters to the editor commenting or seeking clarification on work or issues published in the journal or any such related issues of the stated journal fields are welcome. These letters to the editor should have a maximum of 500 words, one table or figure and not more than six references. A summary is not necessary and headings, apart from ‘References’, are optional. Authors’ names and addresses should be listed at the end of the text, before the references.
Ng’andu A N and Simukanga S (2001) Stress analysis of mechanical components in mineral separation process plants at extremely high temperatures. Journal of Process Plants. Samuel and ST Publishing House, Lusaka, pp. 23-30.
Where possible, journal abbreviations should be used. If the abbreviation is not known, the journal title should be given in full.
Cover letter: Submission of manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover letter that should include the corresponding author's full address and telephone/fax numbers and should be in an e-mail message attachment addressed to the Editor, with the file, whose name should begin with the first author's surname. This cover letter must be signed by the first author or corresponding author designate and must state clearly that the manuscripts are original work, have not been submitted or published elsewhere and ethical clearance, where appropriate, for the research was obtained. The authors are also free and encouraged to suggest two to four peer reviewers with contact details for the manuscript. The University of Zambia Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences will not accept overlapping or manuscripts submitted/published elsewhere.
Journal Article Types
Four types of manuscripts may be submitted: Regular Original research articles: Regular original research articles must describe new and carefully confirmed research findings, and experimental procedures should be given in sufficient detail for others to verify the work. The length of a full paper should be the minimum required to describe and interpret the work clearly. Ordinarily, the length would be not more than 20 manuscript text pages (text only without figures and tables) and covers not more than 7 journal print pages.Short Communications: A Short Communication is suitable for recording the results of complete small or preliminary/pilot investigations or giving details of new models or hypotheses, innovative methods, techniques or apparatus. The style of main sections need not conform to that of full-length papers. Short communications are 1 to 4 printed pages (about 3 to 12 manuscript pages) in length.
Reviews: Reviews and perspectives addressing and covering topics of current interest are welcome and encouraged. Typically reviews shall be invited by the journal editorial. These should be concise and not longer than 4-6 printed pages (about 12 to 18 manuscript pages). Uninvited authors of reviews should contact the editors in advance to determine whether the topic that they propose is of current potential interest to the Journal. These manuscripts should be no longer than 4000 words and include no more than four figures and tables and at least 50 references. All reviews are peer reviewed.
Letters/Correspondence to the Editor: Letters to the editor commenting or seeking clarification on work or issues published in the journal or any such related issues of the stated journal fields are welcome. These letters to the editor should have a maximum of 500 words, one table or figure and not more than six references. A summary is not necessary and headings, apart from ‘References’, are optional. Authors’ names and addresses should be listed at the end of the text, before the references.
Review Process
All manuscripts submitted to UNZA-JONAS will be reviewed by at least one of the editorial board members and three qualified reviewers outside the editorial board. Decisions will be made as rapidly as possible, and the journal endeavours to return reviewers’ comments to authors within 4 weeks of manuscripts submission. It is the aim of UNZA-JONAS to publish manuscripts within 8 weeks after submission.Manuscript Preparation
General Format
The UNZA-JONAS requires that all manuscripts be submitted in a singlecolumn and justified format following the following guidelines: The manuscript text should be double-spaced with 25 mm margins on both sides using 12-point type in Times New Roman font. Page numbers must be inserted consecutively from the title page onwards All tables and figures must be placed separately after the text (MUST NOT BE INSERTED IN THE TEXT) and must be labelled. Submitted manuscripts must be complete, including the title page, abstract, Manuscript text (introduction/background; Materials and Methods; Results; Discussion, Conclusion), Acknowledgements, References, figures, and tables. Manuscripts submitted without following this format will not be processed until the manuscripts are resubmitted in the correct and JONAS format.Regular Original research articles:
The Regular original research article manuscript submitted to UNZA-JONAS must be formatted with subsections of Title; Abstract; introduction/background; Materials and Methods; Results; Discussion; Conclusion; Acknowledgements; and References as detailed below. All portions of the manuscript must be typed double-spaced and all pages numbered starting from the title page.The title page
The title page should include the following: i) The Title that should be a brief phrase describing the contents of the paper, ii) the list of authors, including their full names, and their respective institutional affiliations (Authors must be restricted only to those who have made material contributions to the research and who contributed to the writing and review of the manuscript), iii) the name, address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address of the author who should be contacted regarding reprint requests or other correspondence received in the Editorial Office regarding the manuscript.The Abstract
The Abstract should be informative and completely self-explanatory, briefly present the topic, state the scope of the work, indicate significant data, and point out major findings and conclusions. The Abstract should not exceed 500 words in length. Complete sentences, active verbs, and the third Person should be used, and the abstract should be written in the past tense. Standard nomenclature should be used and abbreviations should be avoided. No literature should be cited.Key Words
Following the abstract, about 3 to 5 key words that will provide indexing references should be listed.Abbreviations
A list of non-standard Abbreviations should be added. In general, nonstandard abbreviations should be used only when the full term is very long and used often. Each abbreviation should be spelled out and introduced in parentheses the first time it is used in the text. Only recommended SI units should be used. Authors should use the solidus presentation (mg/ml). Standard abbreviations(such as ATP and DNA) need not be defined.Introduction/Background
The introduction should provide a clear statement of the problem, the relevant literature on the subject, and the proposed approach or solution. It should be understandable to colleagues from a broad range of scientific disciplines.Materials and Methods
Materials and methods should be complete enough to allow experiments to be reproduced. However, only truly new procedures should be described in detail; previously published procedures should be cited, and important modifications of published procedures should be mentioned briefly. Capitalize trade names and include the manufacturer's name and address. Subheadings should be used. Methods in general use need not be described in detail.Results
Results should be presented with clarity and precision. The results should be written in the past tense when describing findings in the authors' experiments. Previously published findings should be written in the present tense. Results should be explained, but largely without referring to the literature. Discussion, speculation and detailed interpretation of data should not be included in the Results but should be put into the Discussion section.Discussion
The Discussion should interpret the findings in view of the results obtained in this and in past studies on this topic. The Results and Discussion sections can include subheadings, and when appropriate, both sections can be combined.Conclusion
The Conclusion should summarise the overall findings, preferably in itemised form. State the conclusions in a few sentences at the end of the paper.Acknowledgements
The Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc should be brief.References
The Harvard system should be used. References in the text should be quoted in the following manner: Alexander (2000) or (Simate and Mtonga, 1997) or if there are more than two authors, James et al (1990). References should be collected at the end of the paper in alphabetical order by the first author’s surname. If references to the same author have the year, they must be differentiated by using 1995a and 1995b etc. References should be complete (examples are given below) and verified at source by the author(s). Inclusion of confidential and restricted material or internal reports not readily accessible to readers should be avoided wherever possible, as should personal communication. Examples of references:Journals
Garry P and Phiri Z (1950) Cost implications of industrial waste discharges. The Zambian Engineer, Vol. II (4), pp. 326-340.Ng’andu A N and Simukanga S (2001) Stress analysis of mechanical components in mineral separation process plants at extremely high temperatures. Journal of Process Plants. Samuel and ST Publishing House, Lusaka, pp. 23-30.
Where possible, journal abbreviations should be used. If the abbreviation is not known, the journal title should be given in full.