Instruction for Authors

The Editorial Board of the Mikrobiolohichnyi Zhurnal / Microbiological Journal accepts original articles on fundamental problems in microbiology, virology and microbial biotechnology. Completed, previously unpublished experimental works, review articles, short and discussion posts, book reviews, articles on the history of science and biographical portraits of outstanding scientists, as well as scientific chronicles can be accepted for publication.
The editorial board accepts articles in English since March 1, 2020.

Submit an Article

  • Submission Procedure +

    The correspondence author submits the manuscript in two hard copies, accompanied by the official direction of the institution and the executed license agreement (one license agreement for all authors). Printed materials should be mailed to the Editorial Office. The license agreement form is available on the journal site – Download (PDF). The license agreement comes into force only after the article has been accepted for publication.
    The manuscript in electronic format should be sent by e-mail in the attached files.
    Address of Editorial Board: Editorial board of Microbiological Journal, Zabolotny Institute of Microbiology and Virology, NAS of Ukraine, 154 Acad. Zabolotny Str., Kyiv, 03143, Ukraine.
    Phone for information: +380 (44) 526 11 79
    E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    The manuscript on paper should contain summary in two languages (English and Ukrainian), text of the article, tables, figures and their legends, list of references and should be numbered from the first to the last page and signed on the last page by all authors.
    The manuscript in electronic format in MS Word (doc, docx or rtf) must be in full compliance with the manuscript on paper. The file name should consist from the name of the first author, such as bondarenko.doc. All illustrations in one of the standard graphic formats – xls, tif, bmp, wmf, gif, jpg, eps, ppt or pdf (for example, fig1_bondarenko.ppt, fig2_bondarenko.xls) should be provided in separate files.
    The separate file should contain information about all authors in two languages (English and Ukrainian): full name of the author and postal addresses of the institutions where the work was performed; contact phones and e-mail of the correspondence author.
    The date of the manuscript receipt is the date of paper incoming to the Editorial Board. In case of receiving a manuscript made in violation of these rules, the Editorial Board will not to accept it, and authors will be notified about it.

  • Manuscript Preparation +

    The full volume of the experimental article, including text, tables, and figures with their legends, list of references, extended summary in two languages with keywords, should not exceed 20 pages (40 thousand printed characters), the review article – 30 pages (60 thousand printed characters), the short message – 6 pages (12 thousand printed characters).
    The text of the manuscript and summary should be on A4-size pages in book orientation, Times New Roman, size 14, with 1.5 line spacing.
    The number of illustrations in the manuscript text should not exceed six in the experimental articles and reviews, and four in the short messages. Tables should have a title and order number that should be inserted using the standard “insert links, title” option. In the case of absence of automatic formatting access, the word “Table” should be written on the left, indicating the number and title. The notes should be placed directly below the table. Figures must have order number and title. Photo prints should have indication of their top.

  • Manuscript Structure +

    Title of the article;
    Full names of all the authors. If authors work in different institutions, the Arabic numerals (indexes at the top) at the end of the authors’ names should indicate the institutions in which they work;
    The name(s) and mailing address(es) of the institution where the work was performed;
    E-mail of the correspondence author. Correspondence should only be made with one author listed as correspondence;
    Extended summary in English and Ukrainian. The volume of the summary in Ukrainian should be fixed and should be 2 A4 pages. For experimental work, the summary should be structured and must include: Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusions, Keywords. Summary cannot contain abbreviations, footnotes, or references. The Objective section should briefly state (1-2 sentences) the scientific problem that the research concerns.
    Text of the experimental article in sections:
    Introduction (untitled). It should be structured and indicate solution to the problem and the current state of the issue with reference to the sources of literature, the purpose of the study should be justifies.
    Materials and methods. All experiments presented in the section according to the described conditions, methods and reagents should be reproducible. For well-known methods it is enough to give references to a literary source. Specify the types and number of study objects, and indicate the names of the firms and manufacturers of the reagents, materials, and hardware used in the experiments.
    If specific microorganisms were used in the studies, the first mention of the microorganisms in the text should indicate the full species name in Latin (italics) according to modern taxonomy. In the case of subsequent mention of this microorganism, the genus name shall be abbreviated by one capital letter and the species name shall be entered in full. When microorganisms with unknown species are used in the study, the genus name shall not be reduced, for example, Bacillus spp.
    The probability of differences in indicators of the obtained data should be justified by statistical analysis with references to specific methods and indication the computer program that were used for statistical analysis of the obtained results.
    Results. This section should avoid direct repetition in the text of the data given in the tables and graphic material. Authors should not duplicate the same data in tables and figures. The numerical results should be rounded according to the established rules, taking into account the average error of the experiment, the confidence interval or the distribution of values.
    Discussion. The discussion should be based on an interpretation of the research findings. The most important scientific facts, including preliminary data and analysis according to the literature on the current state of the problem, should be involved in the consideration.
    Conclusions (untitled).
    Acknowledgements.
    Funding. Make sure the grant title and grant number are included in the grant references.
    References (untitled). The list is compiled exclusively in English in the order of citation. The links should be indicated in the text by an Arabic numeral in square brackets. Due to further referencing articles in international bases, we suggest to use Vancouver Style, described in detail at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html Authors are solely responsible for the accuracy of the cited links.

    Examples of references articles in journals:
    O’Connor С, Fitzgibbon M, Powell J, Barron D, O’Mahony J, Power L, et al. A Commentary on the Role of Molecular Technology and Automation in Clinical Diagnostics. Bioengineered. 2014; 5(3):155–60.
    non-English articles:
    Gudsenko OV, Varbanets LD. [Component composition of Cryptococcus albidus and Eupenicillium erubescens α-L-rhamnosidases]. Mikrobiol Z. 2014; 76(5):8–14. Ukrainian.
    or with transliteration:
    Gudsenko OV, Varbanets LD. Komponentnyi sklad α-L-ramnozydaz Cryptococcus albidus i Eupenicillium erubescens. Mikrobiol Z. 2014; 76(5):8–14. Ukrainian.
    monographs, articles in the digest:
    Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical Microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.
    or
    Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome Alterations in Human Solid Tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The Genetic Basis of Human Cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93–113.
    conference abstracts and materials:
    Bogatyrov V, Galaburda M, Zaichenko O, Tsyganenko K. Antifungal Activity of the Silica Composites Doped with Nanoparticles of Ag, Cu, Zn Compounds. In: Proceedings of the 12th Conference on Calorimetry and Thermal Analysis; 2015 Sep 6–10; Zakopane, Poland. Lublin: Maria Curie-Składowska University Press, 2015. p. 261–2.

  • Editorial Policy +

    The manuscript submitted to the journal is subject to single blind peer review by two independent experts in the field appointed by the head of the section. If necessary, a copy of the manuscript with reviewer comments can be sent to the corresponding author for revision. The manuscript corrected by the author, agreed with the reviewers, is considered as final; it must be signed by the authors and reviewers, after which the replacement of text, figures, tables, etc. is impossible.
    The editors reserve the right to correct misprints and make other corrections to the final text (without changing its content) in order to improve the perception of the text of the article without additional agreement with the authors.
    For final approval, the editorial board sends an e-mail with article layout to the corresponding author, which must be read immediately and report about all detected errors (or their absence) in the reply e-mail not later than three consecutive days. If errors are found, the edits are made in the layout pdf-file sent by the editorial board. Edits are adding by highlighting the text (color change) that needs editing and adding a footnote describing the content of the edit. If the author does not respond in time, the editorial board reserves the right to delay the publication of the article. In case of article rejection by the reviewers, the editorial board sends an email to the corresponding author.
    In case of article rejection by the reviewers, the editorial board sends an e-mail to the corresponding author.

  • Publishing Ethics +

    The Editorial Board of Mikrobiolohichnyi Zurnal / Microbiologycal Journal in its work is guided by ethics of international scientific publications, including the concepts of integrity, confidentiality, oversight of publications and prevention of possible conflicts of interest and so on.
    Editors, in turn, is follows the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics, and, in particular, the Publishing Ethics Resource Kit by publisher Elsevier, and based on the experience of reputable international publishers. Compliance with the rules of publications ethics of the all parties of the publishing process helps to ensure the intellectual property rights of creators, improvement of publication quality and prevention of possible misuse of copyrighted material for the benefit of individuals.
    This Regulation meets the policy of the journal and is one of the main components of article review and journal publishing.

    Duties of authors
    The authors are personally responsible for submitted to the journal manuscript and must observe the following principles:
    1. Provide reliable results of the conducted research. False or fraudulent statements are equal to unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
    2. At the request of the Editorial Board provide baseline data for editor review. Authors must provide free access to such data and store this data for a reasonable time after their publication.
    3. Ensure that research results contained in the manuscript, are an independent and original work. When using fragments of others’ work and/or borrowing statements of other authors, the article should have appropriate references with the obligatory indication of the author and the source. Excessive borrowing and plagiarism in any form, including incomplete references, paraphrasing or appropriation of rights to the results of others’ research is unethical and unacceptable. Articles which are a compilation of material published by other authors without own creative processing and author thinking are not accepted by the editorial.
    4. Realize that the author(s) is (are) responsible for the initial novelty and reliability of the results of scientific research.
    5. Recognize the contribution of all persons who influenced in any way the course of the study or determined the nature of the presented scientific research. In particular, the article should have references to publications that had some significance for the study.
    6. Present in the journal only the original manuscript. Do not submit to the journal articles that have been sent to another journal and are now pending review, as well as articles published previously in another journal. Failure to observe this principle is regarded as gross misconduct of publication ethics and gives reason for removing the article from the review. If elements of the manuscript were previously published in another article, the authors are obliged to refer to their earlier work and specify how the new work is significantly different from the previous one. Verbatim copying of own work and its paraphrasing is unacceptable, it can only be used as a basis for new conclusions.
    7. Ensure the correct composition of the list of co-authors. The co-authors of the article should include all the persons who have made a significant intellectual contribution to its concept, structure and in the conduct or interpretation of results of the presented work. Other persons (or organizations) who participated in some aspect of the work must be expressed gratitude. The author must also ensure that all co-authors are familiar with the final version of the article, approve it and agree to its submission for publication. All of the authors of the article have to bear public responsibility for the content of the article. If the article is a multidisciplinary work, co-authors are responsible each for their own contribution, leaving a collective responsibility for the overall result. It is unacceptable to include persons in co-authors who were not involved in the research.
    8. In the event of emergence of significant errors or inaccuracies in the article at the stage of its review or immediately following its publication notify the editorial of the magazine and make a joint decision to recognize errors and/or correct them as soon as possible. If the journal becomes aware that a published work contains a significant error, the author is obliged to prepare for publication in the journal a report on the relevant error correction or submit proof of correctness of the information they provided.
    9. The author should clearly indicate situations in their work where research is related to chemicals, physical and chemical processes or equipment, during which there is a risk to human or animal health. If the research involves the use of animals or humans as subjects, the author must ensure that all procedures were conducted according to the relevant laws and institutional principles, as well as the fact that the relevant government agencies have given their approval.
    10. Specify in their manuscripts all sources of financial support for the project, information about the employer, patent applications/registrations, grants and other types of funding.
    11. Disclose in their works about any information about significant conflicts of interest that could affect the results of the study or their interpretation. All potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed at the earliest stage possible.

    Ethical principles of the reviewer
    The reviewer provides scientific expertise of copyrighted material in order to objectively evaluate the quality of the submitted article and determine the level of its compliance with scientific, literary and ethical standards. In assessing the article the reviewer should be impartial and observe the following principles:
    1. Expert evaluation should help the author improve the quality of the text and the editor-in-chief to decide on publication.
    2. The reviewer who does not consider themselves an expert in the subject of the article or know that they cannot submit a timely review of the article should notify the editor-in-chief and decline to review.
    3. The reviewer cannot be the author or co-author of the work presented for review. This also applies to supervisors of candidates to a scientific degree and/or staff of the department in which the author works.
    4. Any manuscripts received by an expert from the editors for review shall be a confidential document. It cannot be discussed with other individuals except the aforementioned persons.
    5. The reviewer must be objective. It is unacceptable to make personal remarks towards the author in the review. The reviewer should express their views clearly and reasonably.
    6. The reviewer must identify published articles related to the reviewed articles, not cited by the author. Any statement in the review that some observations, conclusions or arguments in the reviewed article have previously appeared in literature should be accompanied by an accurate bibliographic reference to the source. The reviewer should also draw the attention of the chief editor to significant overlap or similarity of a reviewed article with any other previously published.
    7. In the event of a reviewer suspecting plagiarism, authorship or falsification of data, they must contact the editorial board with a proposal for collective consideration of the author's article.
    8. The reviewer should provide an objective opinion on the adequacy of citation of published articles in the literature on the given subject.
    9. The reviewer should not use the information and ideas presented for review in the article for personal gain, following the principle of confidentiality.
    10. The reviewer shall not accept for review manuscripts in cases of a conflict of interest caused by competition, cooperation, or other relationship with any authors or institutions associated with the article.

    Principles of professional ethics in the work of the editorial board
    Members of the editorial board are responsible for the publication of the provided manuscript following such fundamental principles:
    1. When deciding on the publication the chief editor of the scientific journal is guided by authenticity of the submitted data and the scientific significance of the reviewed work.
    2. The chief editor should not have their own interests in relation to the articles they reject or accept.
    3. The chief editor is responsible for decisions about which of the presented articles will be accepted for publication, and which will be rejected. They are guided by the policy of the journal and adhere to the principles of law, preventing copyright infringement and plagiarism.
    4. The chief editor evaluates the submitted article solely by its scientific content, regardless of the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious convictions, ethnicity, nationality, origin, social status or political views.
    5. The chief editor, the editorial and publishing staff and the members of the editorial board should not report information presented in the journal article to anyone except the author(s), assigned and potential reviewers, other editorial staff and (if necessary) the publisher.
    6. Unpublished data from manuscripts submitted for consideration should not be used by the chief editor, the editorial staff, members of the editorial and publishing groups or the editorial board for personal purposes or transfer to third parties.
    7. The chief editor should not allow for publication a submitted article if there is sufficient reason to believe that it is plagiarism.
    8. The chief editor together with the publisher should not leave unanswered claims relating to the reviewed manuscripts or published materials. In case of a conflict situation they should take all necessary measures to restore infringed rights, and in case of detected errors - to promote the publication of corrections or refutations.
    9. The chief editor, the staff of the editorial or the journal publishing and editorial group must ensure the confidentiality of the names and other information relating to reviewers. If it is necessary, when deciding on assigning new reviewer, the latter may be informed of the names of previous reviewers.

    Principles of professional ethics in publisher activity
    The publisher is responsible for the publication of works following these basic principles and procedures:
    1. Facilitate implementation of ethical responsibilities of editors, editorial and publishing group, editorial board, reviewers and authors in accordance with these requirements.
    2. Support the journal in reviewing claims to the ethical aspects of published materials and help interact with other journals and/or publishers if it facilitates the duties of editors.
    3. Observe the position that the activity of the journal is not commercial and does not intend to obtain profit.
    4. Facilitate the process of publishing corrections, explanations, refutations and apologies when needed.
    5. Provide the journal an opportunity to recall publications containing plagiarism and inaccurate data.
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