Author Guidelines

Nigerian Journal of Microbiology (NJM) — published by the Nigerian Society for Microbiology (NSM)

The Nigerian Journal of Microbiology (NJM) is a peer-reviewed, disciplinary and professional journal publishing outstanding scientific research across Medical, Environmental, Industrial, Agricultural, Food, Petroleum, Public Health, Mycology and other aspects of Microbiology. NJM welcomes original research papers, critical review articles, case studies, technical reports and short communications that have not been published, and are not under consideration for publication, elsewhere. In line with international indexing standards, including the Scopus content policy, the journal maintains rigorous editorial, ethical and quality requirements. Authors are asked to read these guidelines carefully before submitting.

1. Scope and Article Types

NJM considers the following submissions, all of which must present original and readable content relevant to an international audience:

• Original research papers — complete studies with new findings.
• Critical review articles — authoritative, balanced syntheses of a topic.
• Case studies — well-documented reports of significance to the field.
• Technical reports — methodological or applied contributions.
• Short communications — concise reports of novel, timely findings.

2. Ethical and Publication Policy

NJM upholds the publication ethics and malpractice standards expected of indexed journals. The prevention of publication malpractice is the shared responsibility of authors, editors, reviewers and the publisher. By submitting, authors confirm that:

• The work is original, has not been published previously, and is not under review elsewhere.
• All listed authors have contributed materially and approved the final manuscript.
• All sources of data, ideas and words are properly cited and referenced.
• Any conflicts of interest and sources of funding are fully disclosed.
• Studies involving humans, animals or clinical/microbial samples were conducted with appropriate ethical approval, which must be stated in the manuscript.

The journal follows the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Cases of fabrication, falsification, redundant publication or authorship disputes will be handled in accordance with COPE guidance and may result in rejection or retraction.

3. Plagiarism Policy

All manuscripts undergo a similarity (plagiarism) check before review.

• The maximum acceptable Similarity Index (SI) is 12%.
• Manuscripts with an SI of 13%–30% will be returned to the author(s) for revision to bring the SI to 12% or below.
• Manuscripts with an SI of 30% and above will be rejected outright.

Authors are encouraged to self-check their manuscripts using recognised software such as Turnitin, iThenticate or Drillbit prior to submission.

4. Use of Generative AI

Authors must disclose any use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools in the preparation of the manuscript, stating the tool used and how it was applied. AI tools must not be listed as an author. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, integrity and originality of all content.

5. Peer Review

All submissions are subject to editorial screening followed by independent peer review. Manuscripts are assessed on originality, scientific soundness, clarity, relevance to the journal’s scope, and contribution to the field. Authors should respond to reviewer comments point by point when revising.

6. Document Formatting Guide

To ensure a smooth review, manuscripts must comply with the following format requirements.

General layout

• File format: Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx).
• Page: A4, with margins of 2.5 cm on all sides.
• Font: Times New Roman, 12 pt for body text.
• Spacing: Double-spaced throughout, including references.
• Alignment: Left-aligned (not justified); do not hyphenate line ends.
• Line and page numbers: Continuous line numbers and page numbers must be included.
• Language: English (British or American, used consistently).

Manuscript structure

Research papers should be organised in the following order:

1. Title page — concise title; full names and affiliations of all authors; corresponding author’s email and phone number.
2. Abstract — a single paragraph of not more than 250 words, in English, summarising the aim, methods, key results and conclusion. No references or abbreviations.
3. Keywords — 4 to 6 keywords, separated by commas.
4. Introduction
5. Materials and Methods
6. Results
7. Discussion (Results and Discussion may be combined)
8. Conclusion
9. Acknowledgements (including funding sources)
10. Conflict of Interest statement
11. References

Short communications and case studies may use a condensed structure but must retain an abstract, keywords and references.

Headings

Use no more than three levels of headings. Main headings in bold, sub-headings in bold italics. Do not number the headings.

Tables and figures

• Number tables and figures consecutively in the order cited in the text (Table 1, Figure 1…).
• Each must have a short descriptive caption; table captions appear above the table, figure captions below.
• Figures should be clear, at least 300 dpi, and supplied in an editable or high-resolution format.
• Do not duplicate data between tables, figures and text.

Units, nomenclature and abbreviations

• Use SI units throughout.
• Italicise scientific names of organisms (e.g. Escherichia coli); write the genus in full at first mention, then abbreviate.
• Define all abbreviations at first use.

References

Cite references in the text by author and year (e.g. Adeyemi, 2023; Okafor and Bello, 2024). List all references alphabetically at the end. Follow a consistent style, for example:

Okafor, C. N. and Bello, A. S. (2024). Antimicrobial resistance patterns of clinical isolates in Northern Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Microbiology, 38(1), 112–120.

Include DOIs where available. Ensure every in-text citation appears in the reference list and vice versa.

7. Submission

Manuscripts should be registered and submitted online via the journal’s portal at https://nsmjournal.org.ng/. Accepted papers are published in the next available edition of the journal.

8. Charges

Authors are required to pay the following charges as part of the submission and publication process:

• Article Processing Fee — NGN 6,000.00, payable on submission.
• Publication Fee — NGN 35,000.00, payable on acceptance.

All payments are made online through the journal’s secure payment gateway. The Article Processing Fee is non-refundable and does not guarantee acceptance. The Publication Fee applies only to manuscripts accepted for publication after peer review.

By submitting to NJM, authors agree to comply with the journal’s editorial, ethical and formatting requirements as set out above.