ISSN 1852-6233
online version
ISSN 1666-0390
printed version

Instructions to authors

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Sending of manuscripts

BAG. Journal Of Basic And Applied Genetics (formerly MENDELIANA) is published by SAG, Sociedad Argentina De Genética. It is a journal devoted to the publication of original articles covering all the research areas of the Genetic Science in a wide sense.

Review articles, full reports, brief communications, DNA sequences and books reviews will be included in BAG. Maximum length of these articles will be: 30 pages for reviews, 20 for full articles, 5 for brief communications, and 2 pages for report of sequences and book reviews.

Articles in BAG are published either in Spanish or in English, but submission of articles in English is strongly recommended in order to make possible the access to non Spanish speaking peer reviewers.

BAG is part of ‘Núcleo Básico de Revistas Científicas y Tecnológicas Argentinas’ (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, CONICET Resolution Nº 1071/07).

Peer review process

Every article will be examined by at least two reviewers, one of them not a member of SAG. Also foreign reviews are often requested.

Frequency of the publication
BAG presently publishes one volume a year with two issues. Although the minimum expected frequency is two issues every year, a recent increase in demand from authors is opening the possibility of issuing tree numbers a year.

Every article will be both, electronically issued and, published on a print version.

Open Access policy

Parts of the manuscript

They have to be arranged as follows:

a.- Title, author(s) and institutional affiliation(s)
b.- Abstract and key words in English
c.- Abstract and key words in Spanish
d.- Main Text
e.- Titles of tables and legends of figures
f.- Tables y figures

The text has to be written in Times New Roman size 12, double spaced, numbering lines (in Office Word, click in “file”, “configure page”, “design”) and pages.

Sending editorjbag.envio@gmail.com is composed of

1.- Note(s) to the General Editor
2.- Electronic file of the manuscript (a, b, c, d, e) in .doc, .rtf  or .odt. format.
3.-If it corresponds, electronic file(s) of table(s) and/or figure(s) numbered(s) in Arabic numbers (f).

The files have to be labeled with the first author´s last name, followed by a low dash and the corresponding part, for example: Pérez_main text, Pérez_note1, Pérez_note2, Pérez_fig1, and so on.

First page

It has to contain title, author(s), institutional affiliation(s) and abbreviated title.
 
a.- Title
Written in bold capital letters and centered, not exceeding 200 characters with spaces included.

b.- Authors
Complete last name and name initial(s) of each author, according to the order of authorpship when there is more than one author, in capital letters and centered, indicating with superscript(s) the institutional affiliation(s) written in italics.

c.- Abbreviated title
Not exceeding 50 characters , with spaces included.

Second Page

d.- Abstract in English
It has to include the same sections of the abstract in Spanish.
e.- Key words in English
They have to be equivalent to the key words in Spanish

f.- Abstract in Spanish*
It has to be clear and concise, and include introduction, objectives, materials and methods, main results and conclusion, in a maximum of 250 words.

g.- Key words in Sapnish*
From three to five; preferably not included in the main title

*Note: the author for correspondence can request the translation of the abstract and key words in English to Spanish to the General Editor, if Spanish is not his/her native tongue.

Following pages

Main text

It has to be written in a clear and concise manner, and be easily understandable by a wide audience. Sentences do not have to start with abbrevations or numbers. One-digit numbers have to be written in letters except when they refer to results of statistical analyses or are followed by units of measure (e.g., 2 ml).

In original research contributions, the following sections have to be included. INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS, DISCUSSION, BIBLIOGRAPHY and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (if it corresponds), in bold capital letters, on the left. Subtitles have to be written in italics (not bold), on the left, using capital letters only for the first letter.

Reviews can contain subtitles (not numbered) replacing the sections, on the left, in bold.

Referentes cited in the main text

They have to include only last name(s) of the author(s) and year of publication, and be cited in the BIBLIOGRAPHY section.

Examples:

(Dimitri, 1978) or Dimitri (1978)
(Jacob and Monod, 1961) or Jacob and Monod (1961)
(Morgan et al., 1915) or Morgan et al. (1915)

Personal communications have to be cited only in the main text, e.g. Rodríguez (com. pers.) if it is written in Spanish, and Rodríguez (comm. pers.) if it is written in English.

Abbreviations

The first time they are used, abbreviated words have to be written in full, with the abbreviation in parenthesis. Common abbreviations, e.g., hour (h) or kilometer (km) can be used without any explanation.

Footnotes
When possible, they should be avoided.

Physical units, symbols and abbreviations

They have to follow the International System of Units. Units used along a text have to be uniform.

Scientif names of organims

They have to be written in italics, as has any other word in a language different from the one in use. Scientific names mentioned for the first time in each section have to be written in a complete form (genus- species- author-cultivar, botanical variety o subspecies, as it may correspond). Following, generic names can be abbreviated but taking special care to avoid confusion if the name of two or more genera begin with the same letter.

Common names of organisms
They have to be accompanied by the corresponding scientific names when mentioned for the first time. For some genera, it could be useful to give, in addition, the name of the family and/or higher taxonomic category.

Reagents
Generic and common names of chemical reagents have to be written in lower case letters.

Genes
Gene designations have to be written in italics, using upper case letters for the wild type and lower case letters for the mutant type; protein designations should be written in normal, upper case letters.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

It has to contain all references cited in the main text,except personal communications

Examples:

a.- Periodical Journal

Last name and initials of the author (if there are various authors, separated with commas), year of publication in parenthesis, title of contribution, abbreviated name of the journal, volumen, initial and final pages.

Gelvin S.B. (1998) The introduction and expression of transgenes in plants. Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 9: 227-232.

Johnston S.A., den Nijs T.M., Peloquin S.J., Hanneman Jr. R.E. (1980) The significance of genic balance to endosperm development in interspecific crosses. Theor. Appl. Genet. 57: 5–9.

b.- Book
Last name and initials of the author (if there are various authors, separated with commas), year of publication in parenthesis, title of book, publisher and place of publication.
 
Baselga I.M., Blasco M.A. (1989) Mejora genética del conejo de producción de carne. Editorial Mundi-Prensa, Madrid, España.

c.- Book chapter
Last name and initials of the author (if there are various authors, separated with commas), year of publication in parenthesis, title of chapter, last name and initials of the book editor(s), title of the book, editorial and place of edition.

Lenz L.W., Wimber D.E. (1959) Hybridization and inheritance in orchids. In: Withner C.L. (Ed.) The orchids, a scientific survey. Malabar Krieger, Florida, pp. 261-314.

d.- Dissertations

Last name and initials of the author, year of publication in parenthesis, title of dissertation, type of dissertation, University, place of publication

Neal K.C. (1998) Characterization of the organization and paramutagenicity of the maize R-marbled allele. M.S. thesis, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.

e.- Communications in scientific events (only if strictly necessary)

Lerner S.E., Arrigoni A., Rogers W.J. ¿Cuál es el rol de la variabilidad genética en la sustentabilidad del sistema trigo? Comunicaciones Libres XXXVII Congreso Argentino de Genética, 21-24 setiembre 2008, Tandil, Buenos Aires; p. 33.

f.- Web pages
Aphis (2010) http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/ph_permits.html (accessed February 2010).

Note: additional or unsolicited information does not have to be included.

Tables

They have to be prepared in separated pages, numbered with Arabic numbers, and cited as such (not included) in the main text.

The title has to be placed above the table, written in lower case letter, with the first word begining with upper case letter; they have to be understandable by themselves, without suggesting interpretations of the data.

Units and statistical parameters have to be clearly explained either in the main body of the table or in the footnotes.

In each table, the number of lines has to be reduced to a minimum; its is usually enough to have three horizontal lines: one in the upper part below the title and above column headings, the second below column headings, and the third along the last row and above any type of table footnote. Use of vertical lines has to be avoided, except if it is strictly necessary.

Footnotes to the table have to be indicated with lower case superscripts

All tables in one work have to be (if feasible) uniform in format. Tables have to be numbered independendently of figures.

Figures
They include drawings, photographs and graphics. They have to be presented in separate pages, numbered with Arabic numbers and cited as such (not included) in the main text. Legends have to be self-explicative and located outside the figure, in the lower side, followed by the descriptions (if any).

Graphs have to represent the data in a simple and easily understandable form, and be used to summarize data in a more effective way than words.
 
For microphotographs, the magnification has to be indicated on them, with a bar scale; the size of the bar scale, in turn, has to be indicated in the figure legend and not in the microphotographs themselves.When the same magnification is used for several images that form one figure, it is advisable to use only one scale bar.
 
Figures can occupy, in width, one or both columns of a page (either 7.5 or 15.0 cm, respectively).

Preparation of figures files
Figures have to be sent in individual files in any of the preferred file formats: Encapsulated Post-Script (EPS) or Tagged Image Format (TIF). It is suggested that graphs and black and white line drawing be saved as EPS files using, for example, Corel Draw, because their eventual size manipulation does not compromise quality.

Alternatively, graphs can be saved as PDF files with a 600 ppi (pixels per inch) resolution or, better, in their final size. Half-tone or photographic works have to be saved as TIF files with a minimum resolution of 300 ppi in their final size. It is recommended that combinations of figures or artistic works containing photographs and text be saved as EPS files, PDF files with 600 ppi resolution or, better, in their final size.

Manuscripts should be sent to editorjbag.envio@gmail.com.
 
Accompanying the manuscript, the author for correspondence has to address a note to the Editor requesting the consideration of the contribution for publication. In that note,  the author can, also, concisely explain the objective of the contribution and why it could be of interest for the average reader of BAG, propose an associate editor and up to four potential referees fom Argentina or foreign countries and the names of preferred and non-preferred referees (the latter with clear fundamentation).

For studies of experimental nature o involving human beings, the author for correspondence has to send a second note to the general editor stating (as it may correspond) that the rights of humans and/or animals have been obliged in their development, with adjustment to universal ethical norms, and that no negative environmental impact has been generated.

The editor by him(her)self  or after consulting the Editorial Board decides if the contribution falls within the scope of the journal and if it is formally acceptable (it contains all sections, the instructions to authors have been closely followed, it is written in good English or Spanish, as it may correspond, among others)

If the contribution has formal problems, it will be returned to the author for correspondence to solve them before the editorial process is started. If it has no formal problems, the Editor will contact the Associate Editor that he/she considers the best for handling that particular contribution and with no conflicts of interest. The Associate Editor, in time, will contact two referees (minimum) and, on the basis of their evaluations, will give the General Editor one of the following recommendations regarding the contribution:

1. Acceptable in its actual version
2. Acceptable with minor corrections
3. Reconsiderable after major corrections
4. Not acceptable.

For (3), the reviewers will be consulted about their disposition to evaluate the revised version. If the answer is negative, the revised version will be sent to other reviewers.

The final decision on the acceptance of a manuscript is the sole responsability of the General Editor.