INSTRUCTION FOR AUTHORS

 

1. Introduction

The Asia-Pacific Journal of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (APJMBB) aims to promote research in all relevant areas of molecular and cellular biology, as well as biotechnology within the Asia-Pacific region through the publication of both basic and applied research articles. Papers must be written in English.

We welcome submissions of standard papers, research notes and review articles. Submission of a manuscript implies that it reports unpublished work that is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that all authors have agreed to its submission, and that, if accepted, it will not be published again in the same form in any language without the consent of the Malaysian Society for Molecular Biology & Biotechnology.

It is the Journal's policy that copyright be assigned to the Malaysian Society for Molecular Biology & Biotechnology for of all papers accepted for publication. Statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communications are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor(s) or the publisher. No responsibility can be accepted for any inaccuracies or omissions, and no guarantee is made regarding the content.

The Journal will publish the following types of papers:

a) Original Research Article

Research findings in Biotechnology (Agriculture, Environmental, Food, Industrial, and Medical Biotechnology) and Molecular Biology (Methods – short, detailed notes on experimental protocols). Supplemental materials can be published if necessary.

b) Short Research Communication

A concise research study that is less substantial than a full research paper. The word count should be less than 2,500 (excluding references and figure legends) and the number of references is limited to 30.

c) Review / Mini Review Articles (Invited and Submitted)

An authoritative article on the respective field of study and of high interest to the readership. The total word count should be 5,000-8,000 (Review) and 3,000-5,000 (Mini Review), excluding references and figure legends. A minimum of two figures or tables should be included.

d) Letters to the Editor

A descriptive write-up on a research finding that is insufficient to be published as a research paper or short research communication. The word count should be less than 500 words with a maximum of two figures or tables. The total number of references should be limited to 5.

e) Commentary

A write-up to share your thoughts and comments on the progress in molecular biology and biotechnology and how it is bringing change to our society. The word count should be less than 1,000 words with a maximum of one figure/table and 10 references. 

 
2. Submission Process

a) Manuscript Format: All submissions must be in Microsoft Word, using Garamond font, size 12, unless indicated otherwise.

b) Submission System: Manuscripts should be submitted through our online submission system HERE.

c) Cover Letter: A cover letter should accompany the manuscript, briefly explaining the significance of the work and declaring that it has not been published or submitted elsewhere. Please find the template of the cover letter [HERE]. When submitting a manuscript, authors must provide a cover letter which include the names, full addresses, and corresponding emails of three suggested reviewers in the respective field, with no or potential conflict of interest. The reviewers should not be your colleagues, collaborators, or anyone from the same university. The final choice of reviewers will be at the discretion of the Chief Editor and the Academic Editors.

 
3. Manuscript Preparation:

Use the templates provided below (by downloading the documents onto your devices) to prepare your manuscript: 

 

COVER LETTER TEMPLATE 

RESEARCH PAPER/ SHORT RESEARCH COMMUNICATION TEMPLATE

REVIEW/ MINI REVIEW TEMPLATE

 

The title, abstract and keywords should be prepared based on the following criteria:

Title: The title should not exceed 20 words in length.

Abstract: The abstract should provide a concise summary of the manuscript (maximum 250 words), highlighting the background, problem statement, hypothesis, methodology, findings, and conclusion of the study in a single paragraph. Please do not include subheadings and any references in your abstract.

Keywords: A maximum of 6 keywords relevant to the manuscript can be provided in alphabetical order for indexing purposes.

 
4. Manuscript Structure

a) Introduction: Introduce the research topic, providing background, research problems and stating the objectives.

b) Materials and Methods: Detail the methodology, including materials, procedures, and statistical analysis. Provide an ethics statement if the study involves human/animal subjects by including the name of the granting organisation and the approval reference numbers. If an approval reference number is not provided, a written approval must be attached during manuscript submission.

c) Results or Results and Discussion: Present the results (and discussion, if combined) of the study with appropriate tables and figures.

d) Discussion (If separated from Results): Provide your discussion and interpretation of the results, discussing their implications and limitations.

e) Conclusion: Summarize the main findings and suggest future research directions.

f) Acknowledgements: Provide your acknowledgements. Otherwise, state the following: None.

g) Conflict of Interest: Competing interests that might interfere with the objective presentation of the research findings contained in the manuscript should be declared. Competing interests can be financial or non-financial in nature. Examples of conflict of interest include ownership of stock in a company, commercial grants, board membership, patents held or pending by the authors, royalties paid to the authors or their institutions, etc. If there are none, state the following: The authors have declared that no conflict of interest exists that may appear to influence the work reported in the paper.

h) Funding: Provide your funding details here. Otherwise, state the following: None.

i) Ethics Statement: Experimental research involving humans or animals should have been approved by the author's institutional review board or ethics committee. If the manuscript contains photos or parts of photos of patients, informed consent from each patient should be obtained. Patient's identities and privacy should be carefully protected in the manuscript. If the study involves an experiment on humans and animals; then the name of the authorizing body should be stated. Otherwise, state the following: Not applicable.

j) References: The journal follows the APA 7th edition reference style:

 

 In-text citations:

  • For two or fewer authors, list all author names (e.g. Smith & Raju, 2025). For three or more, abbreviate with ‘first author’ et al. (e.g. Smith et al., 2025).
  • References by the same author in the same year should be differentiated by letters (Smith, 2001a; Smith, 2001b).

 

Journal Article:

  • Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy
  • Example: Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185
  • Example (more than twenty authors): Pegion, K., Kirtman, B. P., Becker, E., Collins, D. C., LaJoie, E., Burgman, R., Bell, R., DelSole, R., Min, D., Zhu, Y., Li, W., Sinsky, E., Guan, H., Gottschalck, J., Metzger, E. J., Barton, N. P., Achuthavarier, D., Marshak, J., Koster, R., . . .  Kim, H. (2019). The subseasonal experiment (SubX): A multimodel subseasonal prediction experiment. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 100(10), 2043-2061. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0270.1

 

Book:

  • Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy (if available)
  • Example: Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books.

 

Book Chapter:

  • Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of book: Capital letter also for subtitle (pp. pages of chapter). Publisher. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy (if available)
  • Example: Armstrong, D. (2019). Malory and character. In M. G. Leitch & C. J. Rushton (Eds.), A new companion to Malory (pp. 144-163). D. S. Brewer.

 

Published Thesis/Dissertations:

  • Author, A. A. (Year). Title of thesis or dissertation (Publication No. xxxxxxx) [Degree type thesis or dissertation, Name of Institution]. Database Name. URL
  • Example: Kabir, J. M. (2016). Factors influencing customer satisfaction at a fast food hamburger chain: The relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Publication No. 10169573) [Doctoral dissertation, Wilmington University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

 

Unpublished Thesis/Dissertation:

  • Author, A. A. (Year). Title of thesis or dissertation [Unpublished Degree type thesis or dissertation]. Name of Institution.
  • Example: Smith, J. A. (2020). Exploring the impact of social media on mental health [Unpublished master's thesis]. University of California.

 

Webpage with an Individual Author:

  • Author, A. A. (Year, Month Date). Title of webpage. Website Name. URL
  • Example: Bologna, C. (2019, October 31). Why some people with anxiety love watching horror movies. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anxiety-love-watching-horror-movies_l_5d277587e4b02a5a5d57b59e

 

Webpage with a Group Author:

  • Author, A. A. (Year, Month Date). Title of webpage. Website Name. URL
  • Example: Bologna, C. (2019, October 31). Why some people with anxiety love watching horror movies. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anxiety-love-watching-horror-movies_l_5d277587e4b02a5a5d57b59e

 

Abstract from a Journal Article:

  • Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), page range. Abstract. URL
  • Example: Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. Abstract. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

 

Abstract of a Conference Presentation:

  • Author, A. A. (Year, Month Date). Title of abstract [Conference presentation abstract]. Name of Conference, Location. URL (if available)
  • Example: Cacioppo, S. (2019, April 25–28). Evolutionary theory of social connections: Past, present, and future [Conference presentation abstract]. Ninety-ninth annual convention of the Western Psychological Association, Pasadena, CA, United States. https://westernpsych.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/WPA-Program-2019-Final-2.pdf

 

The citation style presets can be download at EndNote, Mendeley or Zotero. 

 
5. Figures, Tables and Supplementary Documents

 

Figures: Provide all illustrations and photographs of high quality and their captions at the end of the template (Refer to the image below). Do not include any image borders to your images. Any text or icons added to the image should be embedded into the image and not overlaid.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Figure 1: Figure caption

 

Tables: Include tables at the end of the template, each on a separate page. Tables should be numbered consecutively (Table 1, Table 2, etc). Each tables should have an appropriate caption, contain only horizontal rules (one above and one below column headings), and all abbreviations should be clearly explained in the footnote.

 

 Table 1. Table title

 

 

Supplementary Documents: Supplementary figures can be saved in a separate file in Word/PDF format.

 
6. Symbols, SI Units, Abbreviations, Super/Subscripts and Equations

a) Symbols: Ensure that all symbols are in Garamond Font, size 12.

b) SI Units and Abbreviations: Authors must follow the SI system of units. Non-standard abbreviations should be used only when they are used multiple times and should be defined on their first appearance in both the main body of the text and the abstract.

c) Super/Subscripts: The numbers in chemical compounds should be formatted using super/subscripts only. For example: H20 or Fe3+. Do not use equations or a different font for this function.

d) Equations: Equations should be provided using the “Equation” function in Word. By default, the font for equations should be Cambria Math (font size: 11). Include the equation in the text in the paragraph directly after it is first mentioned.

 
7. Authorship, Plagiarism, Copyright Policy

a) Authorship: Ensure that all listed authors meet the criteria for authorship and have approved the final manuscript.

b) Plagiarism: The journal exercises zero-tolerance towards plagiarism (including self-plagiarism). Manuscripts are screened for plagiarism throughout the process and will be rejected if detected. If a paper is already published in our journal and plagiarism is detected, it will be retracted, and the authors’ institutions and department heads will be notified to take action. The journal has set a maximum threshold of 20% similarity with published articles, screened using Turnitin. Authors are advised to ensure that this limit is not exceeded.

c) Copyright Policy: The Asia-Pacific Journal of Molecular Biology & Biotechnology requires the corresponding author to sign a copyright transfer agreement and a letter of undertaking on behalf of all authors. These documents are sent to the corresponding author when the manuscript is accepted and scheduled for publication. These documents must be signed by the corresponding author to enable the publication of the manuscript.

 
8. Review Process

The journal follows a single-blind peer review process. Manuscripts sent out for review will include author names and affiliations. Submitted manuscripts will generally be reviewed by two or more experts who will be asked to evaluate whether the manuscript is scientifically sound and coherent, whether it duplicates already published work, and whether it is sufficiently clear for publication. The Academic Editors will reach a decision based on these reports and, where necessary, consult with members of the Editorial Board.

The corresponding author will be notified, generally within 3 months after submission, of the reviewers’ decision to accept, reject, or require modifications. If a manuscript is returned to the corresponding author for modifications, it should be resubmitted within 2 weeks. Failure to do so will result in the manuscript being considered withdrawn.

 
9. Formatting by Authors Upon Acceptance

Upon acceptance for publication, authors are advised to provide a final version of the manuscript in Microsoft Word, in accordance with the journal formatting guidelines. Please ensure that all figures are high resolution with 300 dpi. If graphs or charts are prepared using Microsoft Excel, please provide a soft copy of the Excel file.

 
10. Article Processing Charges (Effective 1 January 2025 onwards)


 
11. Contact Information: For any queries regarding manuscript submission, please contact our editorial office at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.