Authors Guidelines

 

Pakistan Journal of Zoological Sciences (PJZS) Authors Guide

About the Journal

Pakistan Journal of Zoological Sciences (PJZS) is the official, peer-reviewed journal of IJSMART Publishing Company®. It is an open-access, quarterly publication that follows a double-blind peer-review process. PJZS serves as a platform for disseminating original scientific research across all branches of zoology.

Journal Scope

PJZS aims to promote significant advancements in the field of zoology. PJZS is the first open-access zoology journal in Pakistan dedicated to combining diverse disciplines that study animal life from various perspectives. Our goal is to provide a platform for a comprehensive understanding of zoological phenomena at all levels—molecular, cellular, organismal, ecological, and evolutionary. We welcome original research articles and systematic reviews, in the following areas:

  • Animal Biology & Behavior
  • Ecology and Environmental Zoology
  • Animal Physiology and Anatomy
  • Entomology
  • Evolutionary Zoology and Systematics
  • Zoological Genetics and Genomics
  • Zoological Toxicology and Wildlife Health
  • Applied Zoology and Conservation
  • Invertebrate and Vertebrate Zoology
  • Aquaculture and Fisheries Zoology
  • Parasitology and Zoonotic Zoology
  • Developmental and Cell Zoology
  • Comparative Zoology: Anatomy and Physiology
  • Paleozoology and Zoological Biogeography
  • Ethnozoology and Human-Animal Interactions

Our editorial board and expert peer reviewers rigorously evaluate all submissions to ensure the highest standards of scientific integrity, clarity, and novelty.

Submission Preparation Checklist

Authors must confirm compliance with each of the following items as part of the submission process. Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines may be returned for revision:

  • The manuscript has not been previously published and is not under consideration elsewhere (or an explanation has been provided in the Comments to the Editor).
  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx).
    Where applicable, URLs or DOIs are provided for references.
  • All figures, tables, and images are placed within the text at appropriate locations, not at the end.
  • The manuscript adheres to the journal’s formatting, style, and citation guidelines.

Please follow this link to submit your paper.

Authors Guidelines

Manuscript type-specific submission format

The Pakistan Journal of Zoological Sciences (PJZS) welcomes the submission of original research articles and systematic reviews in a broad range of zoological disciplines. These include Animal Biology and Behavior, Ecology and Environmental Zoology, Animal Physiology and Anatomy, Evolutionary Zoology and Systematics, Zoological Genetics and Genomics, Zoological Toxicology and Wildlife Health, Applied Zoology and Conservation, Invertebrate and Vertebrate Zoology, Aquaculture and Fisheries Zoology, Parasitology and Zoonotic Zoology, Developmental and Cell Zoology, Comparative Zoology focusing on Anatomy and Physiology, Paleozoology and Zoological Biogeography, as well as Ethnozoology and Human-Animal Interactions. All submissions to PJZS must be made online through the journal’s official website. From the time of submission through the peer-review process, the manuscript remains under the control of the corresponding or principal author. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that the submitted version has been read and approved by all co-authors. Authors are required to create an account and log in to the PJZS submission system to proceed with their submission.

Peer Review 

All manuscripts submitted to the Pakistan Journal of Zoological Sciences (PJZS) undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review process.

  1. Initial screening: A manuscript is sent for peer review after passing the initial screening.
  2. Double-blind: We employ a review procedure in which the identities of the reviewers and writers are kept secret. We typically distribute the article to 2–3 reviewers.
  3. Once every reviewer has sent a thorough report to the journal with their critiques and suggestions for improvement, the peer review process is considered to be finished. Within three to four weeks, we ask the reviewers to finish their work.
  4. Final judgment: The journal editor or editorial board makes a decision after taking into account the suggestions made by the peer reviewers. The decisions that are made most frequently are as follows:
  • Accept without revisions (acceptance): The paper will be published in its entirety by the journal.
  • Accept with minor changes (acceptance): The journal will publish the article and requests minor changes from the author.
  • Accept with major revisions (conditional acceptance): The journal will publish the article if the authors follow the editing or reviewers' suggestions for changes.
  • Revision and resubmission (conditional rejection): The journal is willing to reconsider the paper after the authors make significant revisions.
  • Reject the work (outright): Even if the authors make significant changes, the journal will still not publish or take the paper under consideration.
  • The first choice, which is to accept everything as is, is uncommon. The ideal result for authors is often the second choice (accept with minor modifications). Authors are recommended not to resubmit to the same journal after an outright rejection by that journal. The journal would have given the paper a conditional rejection if they had wanted to reconsider it. Even after extensive modifications, the journal may still not believe the work will fit its publication requirements or interests.

5. Appeal Procedure: PJZS relies on an experienced editorial board to make these choices and to give writers feedback. If you want to contest the rejection of an article you submitted to the PJZS, get in touch with the journal's Editor-in-Chief (Eic) first.

Writing and formatting

File Format

Submit your manuscript in the format of DOC or DOCX together with supplementary files;

  • The submission of the manuscript to Pakistan Journal of Zoological Sciences (PJZS)  requires the use of the MS Word template provided.
  • All authors' names should be deposited in the metadata file (step 3). Please provide all authors' names in the article complete with their affiliations including country (example: Department of Mechatronic Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia) and ORCID ID for indexing purposes
  • A cover letter which describes the FOCUS AND SCOPE (which must be the right fit with the journal's focus and scope), NEW FINDING or NOVELTY STATEMENT,
  • Author contribution statements (download the MS Word file here), and
  • List of potential referees (at least 5 reviewers) with their research backgrounds and current institution email addresses. Please note that the reviewer must obtain a Ph.D. degree, and have published over 5 papers in related fields in past 5 years. Meanwhile, they must come from different institutions and have no conflicts of interest with all authors.

Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.

Format paper

(1) The article can be in simple word format or in the Pakistan Journal of Zoological Sciences (PJZS) template which can be found here (DOCX).
(2) The main manuscript has to be in the range between 3500-9000 words without references and abstract with font size 9, Arial.
(3) The corresponding author should provide an official institution email address in the manuscript.

Manuscript's title

Title page information includes the full title of the manuscript, the names of all authors and their affiliations, the department or institution to which the work is related, the address for correspondence, phone numbers, cell phone numbers, ORCID Email addresses, a brief running title for the article, the funding source, and the total number of words.

Abstract:

A structured abstract of no more than 250 words is required for all original research articles. The abstract must clearly and concisely summarize the objective, methodology, principal findings, and conclusions of the study. It should highlight the novel and significant aspects of the research and accurately reflect the content of the article.

The abstract should be written in a way that it can stand alone, as it is often presented separately from the full article. Therefore, references should generally be avoided; if absolutely necessary, they must be fully cited within the abstract without relying on the reference list. Avoid using non-standard or uncommon abbreviations; if essential, they must be clearly defined at their first mention.

Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 5 keywords, avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, "and," "of"). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. Use comma (",") to separate the keywords. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Article structure: Divide your article into clearly defined sections. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.

Acknowledgements

A brief acknowledgment of not more than 50 words should be included at the end of the manuscripts, before the list of references. Acknowledgement could be made to the funding body, institution/universities/organization or individual/person. Example:

  • Acknowledgement to the funding body (Grant number) : This work was supported by the Trust [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Natural Environment Research Council [grant number zzzz]; and the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number aaaa].
  • Acknowledgement to institution/universities/organization: We would like to thank XYZ University for their helpful feedback and support.
  • Acknowledgement to individual/person: We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our supervisor, Professor John Doe, for his valuable guidance and support throughout the research process. His expertise and insights were invaluable in shaping our research and helping us to overcome challenges.

Reference style

The Pakistan Journal of Zoological Sciences (PJZS) follows the Vancouver reference style. All references must be numbered in the order they appear in the text and listed numerically at the end of the manuscript.

  • Reference numbers should be placed in square brackets in the text, e.g., [1], [2], [3], etc.
  • Use the ISI Journal Title Abbreviations (available at: http://www.efm.leeds.ac.uk/~mark/ISIabbr/A_abrvjt.html).
  • Include all authors' names (do not use et al.).
  • Be consistent in formatting across all references.
  • DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) must be included for all references where available.

If formatting references manually, follow the structure and examples below:

  • Journal Article (with DOI):
     [1] Hataka M, Hattori H, Imai T. Catalytic behavior of iron-based materials in ammonia synthesis. Appl Catal A. 1995;121:1. doi:10.1016/0926-860X(94)00317-X
  • Book:
     [2] Bragg W. An Investigation on Promoted Iron Catalysts for the Synthesis of Ammonia. Copenhagen: Jul. Giellerups Forlag; 1968. p. 72.
  • Book Chapter:
     [3] Sargent MV, Albert FM. In: Katrizky AR, Rees CW, editors. Comprehensive Heterocyclic Chemistry. Oxford: Pergamon Press; 1977. p. 599.
  • Conference Proceedings:
     [4] Lucas FE, Karger M, Probst F, Schutter B. In: Jena P, Satterthwaite CB, editors. Electronic Structure and Properties of Hydrogen in Metals. Proc. NATO Int. Symp.; 1982 Mar 4–6; Richmond, VA. New York: Plenum; 1983. p. 581.
    Patent:
     [5] Santiesteban J. US Patent 3,972,983. 1986. Assigned to Mobil Oil Corporation.
  • Magazine Article:
     [6] Begley S, Murr A. Which of these is not causing global warming? Newsweek. 2007 Jul 2;150(2):48–50.
  • Newspaper Article:
     [7] Landler M. Bush’s greenhouse gas plan throws Europe. New York Times. 2007 Jun 2;Sect. A:7.

Important: Always include the DOI at the end of the reference, when available. References without DOIs should be carefully checked for accuracy and completeness.

Figure and table

Please refer to the template (DOCX). All images must have a caption.

Supplementary material

We encourage the use of supplementary materials such as applications, images and sound clips to enhance research. Some guidelines:

  • Supplementary material should be accurate and relevant to the research.
  • Cite all supplementary files in the manuscript text.
  • Submit supplementary materials at the same time as your article. Be aware that all supplementary materials provided will appear online in the exact same file type as received. These files will not be formatted or typeset by the production team.
  • Include a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file describing its content.
  • Provide updated files if at any stage of the publication process you wish to make changes to submitted supplementary materials.
  • Do not make annotations or corrections to a previous version of a supplementary file.
  • Switch off the option to track changes in Microsoft Office files. If tracked changes are left on, they will appear in your published version.

Appendices

We ask you to use the following format for appendices:

  • Identify individual appendices within your article using the format: A, B, etc.
  • Give separate numbering to formulae and equations within appendices using formats such as Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc. and in subsequent appendices, Eq. (B.1), Eq. (B. 2) etc. In a similar way, give separate numbering to tables and figures using formats such as Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

 

Revision manuscript

Revised manuscripts should be returned including revision notes. The revision notes should address the issues raised in the referee report and clearly state per page (indicate paragraph and line) which changes have been made. Additional materials may be requested at the discretion of the editor.

Detail format

(1) Title (please refer to the template)
(2) Abstract (please refer to the template)
(3) Keywords: 3-5 words
(4) Content: 3500-9000 words without references and abstract
(5) References (please refer to the template)
(6) To insert graphics within the text or as a figure, chart, scheme, or table, create a new line and insert the graphic where desired. If your graphic is not visible, ensure that the Word Style is “Normal” with an automatic height adjustment. If the size of the artwork needs to be adjusted, re-size the artwork in your graphics program and re-paste the artwork into the template (maximum width for single-column artwork, 3.3 in. (8.5 cm); maximum width for double-column artwork, 7 in. (17.8 cm). 

Research Article with Explanation Video

In line with the incorporation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) in our life, starting in Vol 15, No 2 (2019), if the author(s) is interested,  Pakistan Journal of Zoological Sciences (PJZS)  is now accepting submission of the manuscript together with a short explanation video. The manuscript and video must be submitted at the same time. 

We will accept the following video file formats: MOV, MP4, MPG, AVI. The video must have a representative introduction, results and discussion sections, and must have voice-over describing the results being shown. The video must have a concluding statement after the results section. This section must have both audio and video. The video must have a title card at the beginning and should include the authors' names and their affiliations. Explanation videos are short and very straightforward (no longer than 5 minutes on average).  

The video will not be published until meeting our guidelines. The video will appear in  Pakistan Journal of Zoological Sciences (PJZS) youtube channel.

Copyright Notice

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Copyright on any research article in a journal published by Pakistan Journal of Zoological Sciences (PJZS) is retained by the author(s) Authors grant Pakistan Journal of Zoological Sciences (PJZS)  a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher.

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.

Research Ethics Approval

A study that requires participants must have ethics permission from the entity in charge of those subjects.

Policies

Plagiarism Screening Policy

Turnitin is used to check the similarity index of all submitted manuscripts. A similarity value of 20% or above will cause manuscripts to be immediately rejected and returned to the authors.

Allegation of Misconduct

Individuals discovered to have engaged in publishing misconduct or who have been proven guilty may be blacklisted. The study's financing source needs to be made very transparent. It is possible to blacklist and prevent future submissions from authors who have engaged in scientific misconduct.

PROCESSING AND PUBLICATION CHARGES

All manuscripts submitted from Pakistan and other countries are welcome without any initial processing fees. However, a publication fee will be applicable only upon acceptance of the manuscript after the peer-review and editorial decision process:

  • For authors in Pakistan: PKR 10,000
  • For students from China: RMB 300
  • For international (overseas) authors: USD 100

These charges support the cost of DOI, digital archiving, online hosting, and long-term accessibility of published content.

WAIVER POLICY

The journal offers a waiver policy to encourage submissions from underrepresented groups and early-career researchers. Waiver eligibility is subject to the following terms:

  • No waivers will be granted for funded research. If the research has received institutional, governmental, or grant-based funding, the full publication fee applies.
  • Undergraduate students may request a full or partial waiver, provided the research is self-conducted or part of academic coursework, the student is the first or corresponding author, and valid student ID or institutional verification is submitted.
  • Manuscripts submitted through journal editors may also be considered for a waiver, subject to editorial recommendation and final approval by the editorial board.

All waiver requests must be submitted at the time of manuscript submission. Requests made after the peer-review process will not be considered.

Open access Policy

The Pakistan Journal of Zoological Sciences (PJZS) follows an open access publishing model, which means that all articles are freely available to readers immediately upon publication. There are no subscription or access fees, allowing unrestricted access to the full content of the journal. This model promotes the global exchange of scientific knowledge and ensures that research published in PJZS reaches the widest possible audience. Authors retain the copyright to their work and are encouraged to share and distribute their articles, provided proper citation of the original publication is maintained.