Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

AL-Qadisiyah Journal of Biotechnology (QJBT)

Published by the College of Biotechnology, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Iraq  •  qjbt.qu.edu.iq

AL-Qadisiyah Journal of Biotechnology (QJBT) publishes original, previously unpublished work in all areas of biotechnology, including medical, agricultural, environmental, and industrial biotechnology, as well as genetic engineering, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. Manuscripts must be submitted in English.

QJBT accepts the following article types:

Article type	Typical length	Description
Original Research Article	3,000–6,000 words	Full reports of original experimental, field, or computational research with a complete Methods and Results section
Review Article	4,000–8,000 words	Comprehensive, critical synthesis of an established or emerging area of biotechnology
Short Communication	up to 2,500 words	Concise reports of significant preliminary findings or novel methods
Case Report	up to 2,000 words	Notable applied or clinical biotechnology cases with clear scientific relevance
Letter to the Editor	up to 1,000 words	Commentary on articles previously published in QJBT, or brief scientific observations

1.      The manuscript has not been published previously and is not under consideration by another journal (or an explanation has been provided in the cover letter).

2.      The submission file is in Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or RTF document format.

3.      All authors listed have read and approved the final manuscript and agree to be accountable for its content.

4.      Authorship is limited to individuals who made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the work; all others should be acknowledged, not listed as authors.

5.      Any research involving human participants, human data, or animals has received prior approval from an appropriate institutional or national ethics committee, and this is stated in the manuscript.

6.      All authors have disclosed any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest relevant to the submitted work.

7.      Permission has been obtained to reproduce any previously published material (figures, tables, extended data).

8.      The manuscript strictly follows the formatting instructions in Section 3 and the reference style in Section 4.

3.1 File format and layout

•     Microsoft Word (.doc/.docx) file, A4 page size, 2.5 cm margins on all sides.

•     Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt, 1.5 line spacing throughout the main text.

•     Continuous line numbering and page numbering for the review version of the manuscript.

•     All pages after the title page should not identify the authors, to support double-blind peer review.

3.2 Title page (submitted as a separate file from the blinded manuscript)

•     Full article title — concise, specific, and free of abbreviations.

•     Full names of all authors, with affiliations (department, institution, city, country) linked by superscript numbers.

•     ORCID iD for each author, where available.

•     Name, postal address, and email of the corresponding author.

•     A short running title (maximum 60 characters).

3.3 Abstract and keywords

•     A single-paragraph, unstructured abstract of 200–300 words summarizing the objective, methods, key results, and conclusion.

•     The abstract must not contain citations, undefined abbreviations, or footnotes.

•     3 to 6 keywords, listed alphabetically and separated by semicolons, avoiding words already in the title where possible.

3.4 Structure of the main text

Original Research Articles should follow the IMRaD structure. Other article types may adapt the structure as appropriate, noted in brackets below.

Section	Content
Introduction	Background, rationale, and clearly stated objective(s) or hypothesis of the study
Materials and Methods	Sufficient detail (including strains, reagents, instruments, statistical methods, and ethical approvals) to allow replication
Results	Findings presented clearly and objectively, supported by tables and figures; no interpretation
Discussion	Interpretation of results in the context of existing literature, limitations, and implications
Conclusion	Brief statement of the main findings and their significance; may be combined with the Discussion
Author Contributions	Each author's role, using a standard taxonomy (e.g., conceptualization, methodology, writing)
Acknowledgments	Non-author contributors, funding bodies, and technical or administrative support
Conflict of Interest	A clear statement of any competing interests, or “The authors declare no conflict of interest”
Funding	Grant numbers and funding agencies, or “This research received no external funding”
References	Formatted per Section 4, numbered in order of first citation

3.5 Tables and figures

•     Numbered consecutively (Table 1, Table 2… / Figure 1, Figure 2…) in the order cited in the text, each with a concise, self-explanatory caption.

•     Tables should be editable (not embedded as images) and built using the word processor's table tool.

•     Figures should be supplied as separate high-resolution files (minimum 300 dpi; TIFF, PNG, or JPEG) in addition to being embedded in the manuscript for review.

•     Any figure or table reproduced or adapted from another source must credit the original source and include evidence that permission was granted.

3.6 Units, nomenclature, and abbreviations

•     Use SI units throughout. Gene, protein, and species nomenclature should follow the relevant international standard (e.g., italicized gene symbols, binomial nomenclature for organisms).

•     Define each abbreviation at first use in the abstract and again at first use in the main text; avoid non-standard abbreviations in the title.

 

 

QJBT uses the Vancouver (numbered) reference style, commonly used in biomedical and life-science journals.

•     Cite references in the text using sequential numbers in square brackets, e.g., “…as previously reported [3,7].”

•     List references in the Reference section in the order they are first cited, not alphabetically.

•     Journal titles may be abbreviated per the NLM Catalog / ISO 4 standard.

•     List up to six authors before using “et al.” for additional authors.

Examples

Journal article:

1. Ahmed SR, Hassan MK, Ali TH. Optimization of bacterial cellulase production from agricultural waste. J Biotechnol Res. 2024;12(3):145-153.

Book:

2. Madigan MT, Bender KS, Buckley DH. Brock Biology of Microorganisms. 16th ed. New York: Pearson; 2021.

Book chapter:

3. Khalil A, Rahman F. Plant tissue culture techniques. In: Biotechnology Applications in Agriculture. 2nd ed. Berlin: Springer; 2022. p. 88-104.

Conference paper:

4. Hussein N, Karim R. Novel biosensors for pathogen detection. Proceedings of the International Conference on Applied Biotechnology; 2023 May 10-12; Baghdad, Iraq.

Website/online source:

5. World Health Organization. Antimicrobial resistance [Internet]. Geneva: WHO; 2023 [cited 2026 Aug 10]. Available from: https://www.who.int/health-topics/antimicrobial-resistance

•     QJBT adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices.

•     Studies involving human participants must confirm approval by an institutional review board / ethics committee and, where applicable, that informed consent was obtained; the committee name and approval number must be stated in the Methods section.

•     Studies involving animals must confirm compliance with institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals, with the approving body and protocol number stated.

•     Studies involving genetically modified organisms, pathogens, or other biosafety-regulated material must confirm compliance with applicable biosafety and biosecurity regulations.

•     Authors must disclose the use of any generative AI tools in the preparation of the manuscript, specifying which tool was used and for what purpose (e.g., language editing); AI tools cannot be listed as authors.

•     All submissions are screened for plagiarism using [similarity-detection tool, e.g., Turnitin/iThenticate]. A similarity index above [X]% will result in the manuscript being returned to the authors or rejected.

•     Data fabrication, falsification, duplicate submission, and undisclosed conflicts of interest are treated as serious ethical violations and may result in rejection or retraction, and notification to the authors' institution.

9.      Initial editorial screening for scope, originality, formatting compliance, and plagiarism (typically [1–2 weeks]).

10.   Assignment to at least two independent reviewers with relevant subject expertise under a double-blind review process.

11.   Reviewers assess originality, methodological soundness, significance of findings, and clarity of presentation.

12.   The Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision — accept, minor revision, major revision, or reject — based on reviewer recommendations.

13.   Authors are typically given [2–4 weeks] to submit a revised manuscript with a point-by-point response to reviewer comments.

14.   Total time from submission to first decision is typically [X weeks].

•     QJBT is a fully open access journal. Authors retain copyright of their published work.

•     Accepted articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), permitting free reuse with appropriate credit to the original authors and source.

•     Article Processing Charges: [state amount, or “QJBT currently charges no article processing fee.”]

Before submitting, please confirm the following:

•     Cover letter explaining the significance of the work and confirming it is original and unpublished

•     Title page (with author details) submitted as a separate file from the blinded manuscript

•     Abstract (200–300 words) and 3–6 keywords included

•     Manuscript follows the IMRaD structure and formatting rules in Section 3

•     All tables and figures are numbered, captioned, and cited in the text

•     References formatted in Vancouver style and complete

•     Ethics approval statement included where applicable (human, animal, or biosafety-regulated research)

•     Conflict of interest and funding statements included

•     Permissions obtained for any reproduced material

Manuscripts must be submitted online through the QJBT OJS portal at qjbt.qu.edu.iq (Login or Register required). For questions about the submission process, contact the editorial office at [journal email address] or the Principal Contact, Dr. Omar Harran.