Submissions

Author Guidelines

Instructions to Authors

Tanzania Journal of Science (Tanz. J. Sci.) (Print ISSN 0856-1761 and Online ISSN 2507-7961)    is an international journal published by the College of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam. The journal was established in 1975; formerly known as "University Science Journal" in 1975 to 1984. High quality contributions on original work are accepted in the fields of pure and applied sciences as full research papers and short communications. Comprehensive reviews will be accepted at the discretion of the Chief Editor. Authors are strongly advised to strictly follow the instructions described below. Manuscripts not complying with the journal requirements will be returned to the authors or rejected.

Publication fee: Currently, there are no article processing charges. Online publication in this journal is free of charge. Charges may apply for printing of the issue.

Submission

The paper/manuscript and a covering/submission letter (with details on originality and potential reviewers) should be submitted electronically via the online system. The manuscript should be in editable format (Microsoft Word). Submission of a paper implies that it has not been published previously (except in the form of abstract, lecture or thesis), it has been approved by all the authors, is not simultaneously under consideration for publication elsewhere and the paper does not contain anything unlawful or defamatory or anything that would constitute a breach of contract or copyright issues.

Contact addresses: The Chief Editor, Tanzania Journal of Science, University of Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box   35065, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. E-mail: tjs@udsm.ac.tz

Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts should be double spaced and with margins of at least 2.5 cm on the top and left side of the papers. Ensure the manuscript has page numbers and add (enable) continuous line numbering in the text of the paper. Use font Times New Roman 12 points.

Length of manuscript: Research paper maximum 20 pages of A4 size including illustrations (e.g., figures, maps, photographs, diagrams and tables) and references. Maximum length for short communications is 15 pages.

Language: Write your text in good English (British or American, but not a mixture of these, e.g., colour vs color, favour vs favor, behaviour vs behavior, analyse vs analyze, catalyse vs catalyze, hydrolyse vs hydrolyze, centre vs center, fibre vs fiber, labelled vs labeled, etc.). The manuscript must be spell-checked and grammar-checked before submission. The language in the manuscript should be checked and edited by a professional language editor or native English colleague to eliminate grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English. Poor language in a manuscript will lead to rejection.

Figures and Tables

Figures and tables should appear in numerical order and must be described/cited in the body of the text. All the labels in the Figures must be readable and of appropriate font size to allow reduction for final layout. Check consistency/uniformity in lettering and sizing of the labels in the figures. Tables should be in normal editable format and should have no visible internal vertical or horizontal lines.

Units, Nomenclature, Math Equations, Symbols and Formulae

The International System of Units (SI units) must be used throughout. Equivalent units may be given in parentheses after the SI unit. Always leave a space between number and unit (e.g., 6.4 mg/L, 25 °C, 20 g), before and after the following symbols: ±, = > and <  (e.g. 5.2 ± 0.5, p = 0.004, p < 0.05); however, no space before the % and / signs (e.g., 95%, mg/kg). Insert correct symbols and do not use zero or letter o for the degree symbol). Use the international systems and rules for writing the scientific names for various substances such as organisms or formulae of chemical substances. Math equations should be inserted as editable text and not as images. Ranges should be expressed with an extended hyphen without space (e.g. 2018 €“2021).

Manuscript Content

Manuscripts should contain the following parts:

Title page information

Title: The title must be short and precise. Abbreviations should not be used, except if necessary. The title of the paper should be in bold title case (capitalize all major words) with font size larger than the text (2 points greater than the font size of the text).

Author information: The title will be followed by the author(s) ' name(s), institutional affiliations(s), postal and e-mail addresses. Indicate the affiliations with a superscript number immediately after the author's name and in front of the respective address. Clearly indicate the corresponding author and provide telephone number(s). The names of author(s) should be in the following order: First Name Initials Surname. Example: Victoria JM Serikali.

Abstract

This should be a brief summary of what was done, the main findings and the conclusions drawn.   The abstract should not exceed 200 words. All papers must have abstracts. The abstract should not be italicized, except for scientific names and other items that are necessarily required to be italicized.

Keywords: Provide a maximum of 5 keywords below the abstract.

Introduction

This should contain a brief survey of the relevant literature and the objectives of the work. It should also state knowledge gaps that were filled. Provide background information to support the motivation for the study, and state the study objectives or hypotheses.

Materials and Methods

Sufficient information should be given, including relevant references, so that the study can be repeated by someone else.

Results

Provide clear and concise descriptions of all findings. Present all results on which study conclusions or inferences are based (in whole or in part). Report the results in the main text and in tables or figures as appropriate. All illustrations must bear full captions, and must be specifically mentioned in the text, e.g., "Potassium ions enhanced stomata opening (Figure 5)". The same data should not be presented both in the form of a graph and a table. Short tables or graphs should be combined to save space.

Discussion

This should emphasize the significance of the results and their relationship with other published work, and with the original objectives of the investigation. The section on results and that on discussion may be combined to give one section on "Results and Discussion." The "Results and Discussion" section can be organized in appropriate subheadings.

Conclusion

The main conclusions of the study should be presented in summary. Recommendations are also normally given.

Acknowledgements

This should be very brief, about one to two sentences.

References

All references in the text and list must follow the standard reference style of the journal, including the use of appropriate punctuation marks, cases and other styles. Make sure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the list of references, and all references listed must be cited in the text. Ensure that the citation details in every reference in the text and list are correct.

Citation in text

Single author: Use surname of author and year of publication, (e.g., Mushi 2020) or according to Mushi (2020).

Two authors: Surnames and year, (e.g. Mahugija and Njale 2018) or according to Mahugija and Njale (2018).

Three or more authors: First author's surname followed by the abbreviation "et al." and the year of publication should be used in the text (but not in the list of references), for example, Mahugija et al. (2020), or see typical examples in the current issue.

Different references cited together should be in date order, for example:... (Ahmed 2010, Green  2018, Mahugija et al. 2020).

List of references

References should be listed alphabetically at the end of the paper. Only the literature actually cited in the text should be listed here. The names of periodicals (e.g., journals or magazines) should be in title case and italicized. Use correct standard abbreviations for the titles of the journals. References by the same author(s) should be arranged chronologically. References by the same author(s) published in the same year should be cited using a, b, c, etc., after the year of publication in the text and list. Ensure that all the details provided in the references are correct. Verify the correctness of the citation information such as authors ' names, year, title, journal/book titles, volume, pages, etc). Authors ' names must be listed starting with surnames.

Journals reference style:

In the case of journals, authors ' surnames followed by initials, the year of publication, the title of the article, the name of the journal, the volume and the first and last pages of the article should be given in that order. The titles of the journal articles in the references list should be in sentence case. For example:

Arias HR, Jin X, Feuerbach D and Drenan RM 2017 Selectivity of coronaridine congeners at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and inhibitory activity on mouse medial habenula. Int. J. Biochem. Cell Biol. 92: 202-209.

Mahugija JAM and Njale E 2018 Levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in smoked and sun-dried fish samples from areas in Lake Victoria in Mwanza, Tanzania. J. Food Compos. Anal. 73: 39-46.

The books reference styles

(a) Standard book:

Schlegel HG 1993 General Microbiology. 7^th ed, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

(b) Article in a book:

Boyton WV 1984 Cosmochemistry of the rare earth elements: meteorite studies. In: Henderson P (ed) Developments in Geochemistry vol. 2 (pp. 63-114), Elsevier, Amsterdam.

(c) Thesis/dissertation:

Magufuli JPJ 2009 The potential of anacardic acid self-assembled monolayers from cashew nut shell liquid as corrosion protection coatings. PhD thesis, University of Dar es Salaam.

Headings

Indicate the section headings in the article as follows:

First-level headings (e.g., Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgements and References) should be in bold title case.

Second-level headings should be in bold sentence case, with an initial capital letter for proper nouns.

Use applicable rules for writing scientific names.

Do not number the section headings.

Ethical Guidelines

Ethical standards for publication must be observed to ensure high-quality scientific publications, public trust in scientific findings, respect for human and animal rights, intellectual and property rights and that people receive credit for their ideas.

Studies on human or animal subjects must provide statements clearly showing that the responsible Ethical Committee(s) approved the experiments and which should be in accordance with the international standards, e.g., Declaration of Helsinki (1964).

Authors must avoid unethical conducts such as data fabrication and falsification, plagiarism, multiple submissions, redundant publications, etc.

Declaration of Interest

Authors should declare the potential competing or conflicting interest(s) regarding publication of the work (if any).

Peer Review

This journal operates a blind review process. Authors are required to provide full contact details (including institutions, email addresses and telephone numbers) of four (4) potential reviewers. At least two of the suggested reviewers should not be from the same country as the author. All manuscripts go through at least one round of review, usually two to three, although sometimes can be more than three. Each manuscript is initially evaluated by the Chief Editor or subject editor for checking suitability of the content for the journal. That paper judged by the editors to be of insufficient scientific interest or generally unsuitable is rejected promptly without formal review. The paper deemed suitable is then sent to at least two expert reviewers (typically two to six reviewers) to assess the scientific quality of the paper. Quality reports from at least two reviewers are required to  make a reliable decision. Editors and reviewers should treat the articles they handle with confidentiality and should not use knowledge of the work before its publication to advance their own interests. Reviewers will remain anonymous. In conclusions of their reports, the reviewers/referees are required to recommend one of the following options: (i) Accept without revision, (ii) Accept after minor revisions, (iii) Accept after the major revisions/changes suggested, (iv) Reject but may be revised and resubmitted for re-evaluation, or (v) Reject. The revised manuscripts and author(s) ' responses to the reviewers ' comments are evaluated by the subject editors and Chief Editor. Manuscripts recommended major revisions are sent back to the reviewers for re-evaluation. The Chief Editor is responsible for the final decision concerning acceptance or rejection of papers.

Submission Checklist

Ensure that the items described in the Submission Preparation Checklist are present or accomplished prior to sending your article to the journal for review.