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Writing Tips!

This section contains common mistakes to avoide and tips for better writing, especially for early career researchers.

 

  [A] Terrible writer..  

 

Please check if you do any of the following:

  1. Refuse to read the previous literature published in your field
  2. Take the lazy route and plagiarize
  3. Omit key article components
  4. Disrespect previous publications
  5. Overestimate your contribution
  6. Excel in ambiguity and inconsistency
  7. Apply incorrect referencing of statements
  8. Prefer subjective over objective statements
  9. Give little care to grammar, spelling, figures and tables
  10. Ignore editor and reviewer comments

Read the full article here

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    [B] Structural elements  
   

 

Read the full article here

 

 
    Article Structure  
   
 
    [C] Empirical Rules  
   

     

    Read the full article here

    • Keep It Short

    • Keep It Compact

    • Keep It Simple

    • Use the Present Tense

    • Avoid Adjectives and Adverbs

    • Focus

    • Signal Novelty and Importance

    • Be Bold

    • Show Confidence

    • Avoid Evocative Words

 
   
 
       
    References and Further Readings  
   

 

[A] Blocken B. (2017) 10 tips for writing a truly terrible journal article : Read full article

[B] Mensh B, Kording K (2017) Ten simple rules for structuring papers. PLoS Comput Biol 13(9): e1005619. Read full article

[C] Weinberger CJ, Evans JA, Allesina S (2015) Ten Simple (Empirical) Rules for Writing Science. PLoS Comput Biol 11(4): e1004205. Read full article

 

 

 

    Article preparation  

Writing


We do not impose any word limit on the different types of articles and practice the philosophy that length of an article should be as it should be. However, writing should be concise and clear. Authors can get the advantage to explain methods in detail.

Contributions should be in British or America English spellings and consistency must be maintained throughout the manuscript. Text should be double-spaced, without footnotes, and with line numbers. Type of an article is decided by the contribution to the subject but not by the length of an article. Authors are advice to consult a recent issue of JTE for general style.


Title page

 

Title should be a succinct description of the work (≤ 25 words) preferably embodying either the aim, main results or the overall conclusion. The title page should also include the full name(s) and address(es) of all authors, clearly indicating the author to whom correspondence should be addressed. telephone and e-mail contact of the corresponding author should also be provided.


Abstract

 

Abstract should be in ≤ 250 words, the aims, methods, major findings and conclusions; should be informative without reference to the text and should not contain any references or undefined abbreviations.


Structure of the body

 

The body of the article should be divided into an Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion (optional, if the conclusion section is omitted, a concluding paragraph can be included at the end of the discussion). Results and Discussion may be combined only if necessary; separate Results and Discussion sections are highly recommended. Methods and Results may have subheadings but not in Discussion. Short Communications must not have any subheadings but include all major sections as in articles. Scientific notes usually do not have an abstract, however the first few sentences of the first paragraph should summarize the content and contribution of the note. If a note is longer than usual, sections and subheading can be included for clarity.


 

Ethical publishing

 

JTE follows the COPE, WAME, ICMJE, and CRediT guidelines for ethical publishing.

COPE – Committee on Publication Ethics

WAME – World Association of Medical Editors

ICMJE – International Committee of Medical Journal Editors

CRediT – Contributor Roles Taxonomy


 

Authorships

 

JTE follow the criteria for authorships given by ICMJ and recommends that authorship be based on the following four criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work and

• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content and

• Final approval of the version to be published and

• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.


 

Author contributions

 

A statement about author contributions must be given for full length research articles and review articles. Various author contributor roles as described in CRediT taxonomy [ Conceptualization | Data Curation | Formal Analysis | Funding Acquisition | Investigation | Methodology | Project Administration | Resources | Software | Supervision | Validation | Visualization | Writing – Original Draft Preparation | Writing – Review & Editing ] are recomended.


 

Ethical treatment

 

If Animal or human test subjects involve, a statement about ethical treatment should be given. This may include the nature of the subjects (for example indexed or threatened animals according to CITES or IUCN redlists), any permission numbers, and the use of non-invasive methods on threatened species such as photography based survey instead of curated specimens or non-invasive DNA collections and release of species.

Even if ethical approval is not required for certain (unregulated/invasive/pest) organisms, authors should include a clear statement and any effort to reduce the damage where relevance (for example, use and discard of laboratory mice, non-target effect of pest control experiments)


 

Plagiarism

 

JTE does not accept Plagiarism, and if detected COPE guidelines will be followed. Plagiarism which includes, but is not limited to: Directly copying text, ideas, images, or data from other sources or using an idea from another source with slightly modified language without attribution. Reuse of text from authors’ own published work without attribution also considered plagiarism. However, an exception is given to reuse of text from the Methods section in the author’s published work, with attribution to the source, when the exact method (section) as described in the published work is used.


 

Conflict of interest

 

"A conflict of interest is a set of circumstances that creates a risk that professional judgement or actions regarding a primary interest will be unduly influenced by a secondary interest." Wikipeadia

"A conflict of interest in research exists when the individual has interests in the outcome of the research that may lead to a personal advantage and that might therefore, in actuality or appearance compromise the integrity of the research." NAS, Integrity in Scientific Research.

A conflict of interest is not intrinsically a wrong thing and authors must declare if any exist.


 

Acknowledgements

 

Any research grants should be acknowledged here. Whose contribution is not enough to have co-authorships should be mentioned. Acknowledgements should not be unnecessarily long.


 
 
     
     

    Article formatting  
   

Measurements

 

Measurements must be stated in SI units. If other unites are used values in SI unites should accompany.


Figures and illustrations

 

Figures and illustrations are encouraged where they are a real contribution to the article. Figure legends should contain enough information to make the figure self-explanatory without reference to the text. Images in a composite figure should be numbered using simple English letters; if a composite figure or plate consist several sections, should be numbered using roman numbers and then the simple English letters (Figure 1. IV. c – f). All figures should be cited in the text as, Figure 1 or (see Figure 1. a – c) or (Figure 1. d) etc. not as shortened Fig.

Composite figures or plates should be prepared using dedicated photo editing or illustrator programs (such as GIMP, Photoshop, CorelDraw etc.). Must not use Office software such as MS word for making composite figures.
Authors are advised to keep all the figures used to prepare composite figures or figure plates and provide if journal requested. Authors may be requested to provide the data from which Figures are generated.

Figures must be submitted in PDF, JPG or TIFF file formats in higher resolutions. Authors are highly encouraged to submit figures for cover photograph that are related to the submitting article.


Maps

 

Maps should be prepared using dedicated software for cartography or GIS. Maps should only includ essential detail with minimum formatting.


Tables

 

Tables are Each on a separate page, with captions that are comprehensible without reference to the text. Vertical lines are not permitted and horizontal lines are used only in the heading and at the bottom of the table.


 

Supplementary material

 

Supplementary material to accompany the online version of the article due to its nature does not lend itself to print media (examples- full data sets, movie or sounds files etc.) can be submitted after discuss with the editor.


 

Citations and References

 

Cited Cited in the text as, for example, Hardcastle and Wilson (1996) or (Leadbeater, 1996)
Examples: Single author: (Faleiro, 2006) Two authors: (Reddy and Bhaskaran, 2006) Three authors or more: (Kasina et al., 2006) Multiple citations: (Ajayi, 1990; Nwanze and Harris, 1992; El-Banhawy et al., 2006).

Reference list (in alphabetical order of author name, if more than one publication in same year, with a, b, c, etc.  Only articles that have been published or are 'in press' should be included. (Note that ‘in press’ is used only if the paper has been accepted for publication.)

Examples:

Journal articles:
With full journal titles in italic, volume number in bold, and issue number within brackets.

Sinclair B.J., Vernon P., Klok C.J and Chown S.L. (2003) Insects at low temperatures: an ecological perspective. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18 (5): 257–262.

In press:
The title of the journal/book must be stated in the reference list as well as the expected year of publication.

Omoogun G. A. (1994) Design and construction of the Nitse trap. Insect Science and Its Application (In press).

Books:

Include the publisher's name, city of publication and page numbers.


Mengech A. N., Saxena K. N. and Gopalan H. N. B. (Eds) (1995) Integrated Pest Management in the Tropics: Current Status and Future Prospects. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, New York, Brisbane, Toronto, Singapore. 172 pp.

Web resources


IUCN (2008) IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. Http://www.iucnredlist.org [accessed 24 July 2010].


    Editorial, review, and publishing policies  
   

Review

 

All articles except editorials and book reviews are peer-reviewed. Members of international editorial board evaluate articles based on reviewer reports, advice in decision making and/or act as reviewers. Decision made by the editor-in-chief is the final decision.


Blind

 

JTE uses single blind peer review by default where author information is revealed to reviewers. However, authors can select double-blind review if they prefer. Reviewers may sign the review reports if they wish to reveal their identity to authors.


Decisions

 

Editors make every effort to accept technically sound/scientifically valid articles with significant contribution to the knowledge of the subject. However, based on editors’/reviewers’ comments, one of the following decisions are made.

- Reject before send for review
- Reject after first review.  
- Reject with resubmission option.
- Accept without modifications,
- Accept with minor revisions
- Major revisions (subject for further review).

Some of the articles that are not suitable for full length articles can be considered as short-communications or scientific notes based the amount of contribution and length. 


Publishing

 

Aim of JTE is to accumulate the knowledge on tropical and sub-tropical insects, which is made available for free. JTE maintain the values of traditional publishing systems while embrace the advantage of modern digital publishing methods. The journal practice pure open access with CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 creative commons license. Journal published on a continuous publication model where papers are published as soon as they are accepted and ready. Articles are included in volumes and issues with article and page numbers. Currently JTE depends on the funds from its founder and NO article processing charges or any other fee applied to authors or readers.