Instructions for Authors

The Archives of Biological Sciences, Belgrade (ABS) is published by the Serbian

Biological Society. The ABS is a multidisciplinary journal that covers original research in a
wide range of subjects in life science, including biology, ecology, human biology and
biomedical research. The ABS features articles in genetics, botany and zoology (including
higher and lower terrestrial and aquatic plants and animals, prokaryote biology, algology,
mycology, entomology, etc.); biological systematics; evolution; biochemistry, molecular and
cell biology, including all aspects of normal cell functioning, from embryonic to
differentiated tissues and in different pathological states; physiology, including
chronobiology, thermal biology, cryobiology; radiobiology; neurobiology; immunology,
including human immunology; human biology, including the biological basis of specific
human pathologies and disease management; systems biology and mathematical biology.
Manuscripts diverging from basic research in biological sciences, such as case studies,
clinical studies, clinical therapies, descriptions of technological processes and solutions and
instrumentation, articles in pedagogy and teaching, psychology, sociology and geography
will not be considered for publication.
The ABS is published quarterly in open access electronic format.

When preparing your manuscript for submission, please carefully follow these
guidelines. A submission that does not meet the basic format and manuscript
organization requirements of the Archives of Biological Sciences, Belgrade will
not be taken into consideration.

Articles are subjected to a three-tier pass-process: articles that meet the basic format and
manuscript organization requirements will be subjected to plagiarism screening to identify
misused text. Only articles that pass these two steps will be forwarded for peer review to
independent referees from the area of research of the submitted manuscript. The authors can
also suggest the names of three referees with email addresses, briefly explaining why they
think the suggested scientists would be good referees.
Submitted articles should be original contributions presenting original research. Review
articles and papers describing new techniques and methods in life science will be considered
as well. Submitted articles must be written in English. While there is no restriction to the

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number of words and figures, the Archives of Biological Sciences, Belgrade, encourage a
concise writing style.
Submission of a manuscript to the Editor implies that it has not been previously published,
that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and that, if accepted, it will not be
published elsewhere in the same form without the written consent of the Editor.

Format Requirements
Manuscripts should be double-spaced in Unicode Times New Roman, normal font spacing;
font size 12 pts; normal margin page layout, and submitted as a MS Word RTF file. Section
headings and subheadings should be centered, with subheadings italicized. Bold fonts,
numbered paragraphs/sections, bullet points must not be used within the text. Paragraphs
should be indented (left-indent, 1.27 cm), without spaces between them.
Footnotes can only be used to explain abbreviations. Standard abbreviations can be used
without explanation. For specialized abbreviations, the name should be given first in full,
with the abbreviation in parentheses. Latin names of species and genera should be italicized.

Manuscript Organization
Manuscripts should be divided into the following ordered sections:
Cover Page
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusions (optional)
Acknowledgments
Authors’ contributions
Conflict of interest
References
Figure Legends
Tables

Figures should not be included in the main manuscript file but submitted as
individual files.

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The manuscript Cover Page should only contain the
 Title
 Authors
 Affiliations
 Keywords
 Short title
The Title must not exceed 250 characters (with spaces). Abbreviations should be
avoided in the title if possible.
All Authors’ Names must be listed in the following order: first name, middle name
initials (if applicable), family name(s).
Affiliations: Each author must list an associated department, university,
organizational affiliation, address, city and country. One author, designated as the
Corresponding Author must provide her/his e-mail address and other contact
information that will be published if the article is accepted.
The Short Title must not exceed 50 characters (with spaces) and should state the
theme of the paper.

The Abstract must not exceed 250 words. The abstract should not contain citations and
should avoid abbreviations as much as possible.

Five Keywords should be provided after the Abstract.

The Introduction should provide a clear, concise and informative overview of selected
recent literature relevant to the topic of the manuscript, a description of the problem
addressed in the manuscript and the aim of the work.

The Materials and Methods should be divided into appropriate subsections. This section
should provide enough detail to allow full replication of experiments. While detailed
description of novel protocols is encouraged, well-established methods can be cited as articles
where the protocols are described in detail. The International System (SI) of Units and the
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) rules for naming organic and
inorganic compounds should be adhered to. Decimal points are periods/full stops, never a
comma. Numbers between −1 and +1 require a leading zero (0.01, not .01). The percent

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symbol % is written without a space (10% not 10 %). The litre may be written using either an
uppercase "L" or a lowercase "l"; we recommend the use of "L" rather than "l". Seconds are
written as “s”, hours are written as “h”.

The Results should clearly and concisely present the researchers’ findings. This section
can be divided into subsections, each with a concise subheading, as appropriate.

The Discussion should provide an interpretation of the results. This section can optionally
be divided into appropriate subsections, each with a concise subheading. Authors are urged to
avoid overloading this section with excessive citations and lengthy reinterpretations of related
literature and are urged to focus on their findings. Authors should avoid conclusions for
which they have not provided sufficient experimental data. Exceptionally, the Results and
Discussion of the manuscript can be combined in a single section labeled Results and
Discussion.

The Conclusions section is not obligatory. It should provide a general, brief and
appropriate summary, never more than a page long, of the presented findings. This section
must not merely repeat parts of the abstract.

Acknowledgments. Funding sources and persons who contributed to the work but do not
fit authorship criteria should be included in the acknowledgments.

Authors’ contributions. This should include a statement of the different responsibilities

that specifies the contribution of every author.

 Conflict of interest disclosure.

References: The ABS uses the Vancouver Citation Style as outlined in the International
Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) sample references. References must be listed
at the end of the manuscript and numbered in the order that they appear in the text. In the
text, citations should be indicated by the reference number in brackets. Authors may not cite
unavailable and unpublished work, including manuscripts that have been submitted but not
yet accepted (e.g., “unpublished work,” “data not shown”). If an article is submitted to a
journal and also publicly available as a pre-print, the pre-print may be cited. Journal name

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abbreviations should be those found in the NCBI databases. References for accepted articles
may be included as “in press” after the authors, title of the work and journal are provided.
Authors should limit the number of cited references by referring to the most relevant papers.

Reference formatting

Published papers
1. Božić I, Savić D, Laketa D, Bjelobaba I, Milenković I, Peković S, Nedeljković N,
Lavrnja I. Benfotiamine Attenuates Inflammatory Response in LPS Stimulated
BV-2 Microglia. PLoS One. 2015;10(2):e0118372.

1. Bataveljić D, Petrović J, Lazić K, Šaponjić J, Anđus P. Glial response in the rat

models of functionally distinct cholinergic neuronal denervations. J Neurosci Res.
2015;93(2):244–52.

Accepted, unpublished papers

1. Ċosiċ T, Motyka V, Raspor M, Savić J, Cingel A, Vinterhalter B, Vinterhalter D,
Trávníčková A, Dobrev PI, Bohanec B, Ninković S. In vitro shoot organogenesis
and comparative analysis of endogenous phytohormones in kohlrabi (Brassica
oleracea var. gongylodes): effects of genotype, explant type and applied
cytokinins. Plant Cell, Tissue Organ Cult. 2015; “in press”.

Websites or online articles

1. Huynen MMTE, Martens P, Hilderlink HBM. The health impacts of globalisation:
a conceptual framework. Global Health. 2005;1: 14. Available:
http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/1/1/14.

Books
1. Bates B. Bargaining for life: A social history of tuberculosis. 1st ed. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press; 1992.

Book chapters
1. Mitrović M, Đurđević L, Pavlović P. Trees physiological and biochemical
processes. In: Narwal S, Pavlović P, Jacob J, editors. Research methods in plant

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 science Vol 2, Forestry and agroforestry. Houston: Studim Press LLC; 2011. p.
159–86.

Doctoral dissertations
1. Jarić S. Non-native plant species in the natural and anthropogenically-disturbed
phytocoenoses of Srem. [dissertation]. [Belgrade]: Faculty of Agriculture,
University of Belgrade. 2009. 243 p.

Databases and repositories (Figshare, arXiv)

1. Roberts SB. QPX Genome Browser Feature Tracks; 2013. Database: figshare
[Internet]. Accessed:
http://figshare.com/articles/QPX_Genome_Browser_Feature_Tracks/701214.

For the complete guide to the Vancouver Style, please consult this online book: Citing
Medicine, 2nd ed.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=citmed.TOC&depth=2.

Tables should have a clear, self-explanatory title. Tables should be numbered

consecutively in Arabic numerals in the order in which they are referred to in the text. We
need to have full control over tables and graphs, that is, to be able to click inside the tables
(or graphs) to edit the font of the words written inside the tables (or graphs) to match the
journal style and correct the spelling. Authors should keep in mind that tables or graphs saved
in jpg, bmp, png, or tif format are automatically uneditable. Therefore, all tables and
graphs/charts must be submitted as word.doc files. The table legends should provide
information on the applied statistical procedures.

Figure Legends must provide description of the image, making it comprehensible without
reference to the text. Figures should have a clear, self-explanatory title. Figure legends must
be presented at the end of the manuscript (after the References).

Illustrations, as well as Table and Figure titles, should accompany the manuscript and
should not be inserted in the text. Illustrations should be labeled as “Fig.” (use of terms
such as “Plate” “Photograph”, “Diagram”, “Map”, etc. must be avoided), and numbered

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consecutively in Arabic numerals in the order in which they are referred to in the text.
Illustrations should be supplied in TIFF format. File resolution should not be less than 240
ppc/300 ppi at 170 mm wide, preferably at 300 dpi. Lettering to appear on the illustrations
should be of sufficient size to allow for reduction in size. While figures presented online will
be in color, the printed version of the journal will contain only black-and-white plates. We
therefore suggest that authors provide black-and-white line drawings for the printed
version.

Article Withdrawal
The editor is responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal will be
published. The editor is guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained
by legal requirements in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.
Articles that have been published shall remain extant, exact and unaltered as long as it is
possible. However, very occasionally, circumstances may arise where an article is published
that must later be retracted. The main reason for withdrawal or retraction is to correct the
mistake while preserving the integrity of science; it is not to punish the author.

Article Withdrawal: Only used for OnLine First articles, which are early versions of articles
and sometimes contain errors, or may have been accidentally submitted twice. Occasionally,
but less frequently, the articles may represent infringements of professional ethical codes,
such as multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data.

Article Retraction: Legal limitations of the publisher, copyright holder or author(s),

infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submission, bogus claims of
authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data or the like require retraction of an article.
Occasionally a retraction can be used to correct errors in submission or publication.

Standards for dealing with retractions have been developed by a number of library and
scholarly bodies, and this practice has been adopted for article retraction by the Archives of
Biological Sciences:

In the electronic version of the retraction note, a link is made to the original article. In the
electronic version of the original article, a link is made to the retraction note where it is
clearly stated that the article has been retracted. The original article is retained unchanged,
save for a watermark on the PDF indicating on each page that it is “retracted.”

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Self-archiving Policy
The Archives of Biological Sciences allows authors to deposit Author's Pre-print, Author's
Post-print (accepted version) and Publisher's version/PDF in an institutional repository and
non-commercial subject-based repositories, such as PubMed Central, Europe PMC or arXiv,
or to publish it on author's personal website and departmental website, at any time after
publication. Publisher copyright and source must be acknowledged for deposit of Author's
Post-print or Publisher's version/PDF, and a link must be made to the article's DOI.

Copyright
Articles published in the Archives of Biological Sciences will be Open-Access articles
distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
International License.

Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the
stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any
other party.

Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted as email attachments or download links to:
Dr. Goran Poznanović, Editor-in-Chief, Archives of Biological Sciences, Department of
Molecular Biology, Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković”, Bulevar despota
Stefana 142, 11060 Belgrade, Serbia
E-mail: abs@ibiss.bg.ac.rs

The Archives of Biological Sciences does not charge manuscript processing

and/or publishing.