Submissions

Author Guidelines

Authors are invited to make a submission to this journal. All submissions will be assessed by an editor to determine whether they meet the aims and scope of this journal. Those considered to be a good fit will be sent for peer review before determining whether they will be accepted or rejected.

Before making a submission, authors are responsible for obtaining permission to publish any material included with the submission, such as photos, documents and datasets. All authors identified on the submission must consent to be identified as an author. Where appropriate, research should be approved by an appropriate ethics committee in accordance with the legal requirements of the study's country.

An editor may desk reject a submission if it does not meet minimum standards of quality. Before submitting, please ensure that the study design and research argument are structured and articulated properly. The title should be concise and the abstract should be able to stand on its own. This will increase the likelihood of reviewers agreeing to review the paper. When you're satisfied that your submission meets this standard, please follow the checklist below to prepare your submission.

FORMAT FOR MANUSCRIPT

Types:

• Original articles: see details below
• Review articles: up to 4000 words are accepted with short summary (150 words), 3-5 keywords, introduction, related subheadings, discussion, conclusion, references and acknowledgement.
• Medical Memoranda: Issues on health care delivery and management, population, biomedical trainings, medical researches. These should not exceed 4000 word each.
• Letters to the Editor: communication on a previously published article. This should not exceed 500 words with expression of one’s view or experience.
• Case reports: Not more than 2000 words comprising unusual and dramatic presentation with a summary of not more than 150 words. Not more than 2 illustrations or tables and ten references.
• Book review: Of new and relevant books in 150 words.
• Conference/Seminar/Workshop Reports/ Communique.

JECA endorses the Scientific Style and Format of the Council of Science Editors (the CSE manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 8th Edition, 2014). Once a manuscript is accepted for publication, it becomes a property of JECA.

Manuscripts should be typewritten with Microsoft Word Doc on one side of A4 paper. Font type-Times New Roman, font size: 12; line spacing: double-spaced for the body of the article, single-spaced for abstract; alignment: justified. Titles and headings: bold; body: unbold. Manuscripts should be organized in the following sequence:

• Title Page: Title must be concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible. Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) as initials and family name(s) of each author in full and check that all names are accurately spelled (initials followed by surname. Eg. VC Ezeuko). Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name. Corresponding author: Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• Abstract and keywords: Font type-Times New Roman, font size: 12; line spacing: single-spaced; alignment: justified. Abstract must be brief with maximum of 250 words. It should concisely state the purpose, procedure applied, main findings and conclusion and should not contain abbreviations and references. Below the abstract, supply not more than four keywords related to the article are required for the purpose of indexing.
• Pagination and line numbers: Only manuscripts with page and line numbers will be reviewed.
• Introduction: Provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results. State the objectives of the work. No results of the study should be described in this section.
• Material and methods: Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described. This section should contain some subsections common for almost all studies: Plant names and parts used (requirements see above) Study medication, herbal extracts, Chemical compounds, Statistical analysis, Assays, Animal studies, Study design.
• Results: Results should be clear and concise.
• Discussion: This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.
• Acknowledgement: any source of financial aid for the work should be stated, otherwise state the non-existence of financial aid for the work.
• References: References should be made only to materials that are already published or in press. In the final bibliographic citation, references must be arranged alphabetically. Journal abbreviations are as stipulated for CSE style. Use the National Library of Medicine search at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals to look up journal title and choose NLM abbreviation option. Single word titles are not abbreviated. In-text references consist of surname(s) of the author(s) (in case of one or two authors) or surname of first author followed by et al., (in case of more than two authors) and year of publication enclosed in parentheses. Eg (Martini, 2008); (Martini and Martini, 2008); (Martini et al., 2008). Works without an identifiable author and no editor should be started with organization or title, then date. An editor assumes place of the author if no author can be determined. If authors are named, then editor name is optional. For Bibliographic references, see examples below:

Book:

Voet D, Voet JG (1990). Biochemistry. New York: J Wiley; p 619.

Book chapter, or section with its own author:

Kuret JA, Murad F (1990). Adenohypophyseal hormones and related substances. In: Gilman AG, Rall TW, Nies AS, Taylor P, editors. The pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 8th ed. New York: Pergamon; p1334-35.

Journal or magazine article:

Johnson DL, Lynch WE (1992). Panfish use of and angler success at evergreen tree, brush, and stake-bed structures. N Am J Fish Manage 12(1):222-9.

Organization as author:

Scandinavian Society for Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Physiology, Committee on Enzymes (1976). Recommended method for the determination of y-glutamyltransferase in blood. Scand J Clin Lab Invest 36:119-25.

Electronic journal or magazine article:

Slater PJB, Jones AE (1990). Timing of songs and distance call learning in zebra finches. Anim Behav [serial online]. [cited 2003 Nov 15]; 49(2):123-248. Available from: Ebsco Academic Search Premier.

Electronic newspaper article: Newspaper titles are never abbreviated.

Futterman MA (2016 Nov 18). Game Changer for Diagnosing Concussions in the NFL. Wall Street Journal - Online Edition. [cited 2018 Oct 12]. p 1. Available from: Ebsco Academic Search Complete.

Conference publication:

Meyer B, Hermanns K (1985). Formaldehyde release from pressed wood products. In: Turoski V. editor. Formaldehyde: analytical chemistry and toxicology. Proceedings of the symposium at the 187th meeting of the American Chemical Society; 1984 Apr 8-13; St. Louis, MO. Washington: American Chemical Society. p 101-6.

Electronic Book:

Griffiths AJF, Miller JH, Suzuki DT, Lewontin RC, Gelbart WM (2000). Introduction to genetic analysis.  [Internet]. 7 ed. New York (NY); W. H. Freeman & Co.; [cited 2005 May 30]. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books

Tables: Tables should be embedded in appropriate sections within the text. They should be concise, clear and self-explanatory. They should be complemented by (not duplicated in) the text.  Tables should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Each table should have a clear title above it. Lines should not be used to separate columns. Column and row headings should be concise with units of measurements in parenthesis. All abbreviations must be clearly outlined in the footnote. Statistical tools used must be clearly stated. All information associated with a table must be clearly understood without reference to the text.

Figures: All illustrations (line drawings, infographs, charts, photomicrographs etc) that appear in an article are categorized as figures. Figures must be colored and should be embedded in the appropriate sections with the text. The images must be clear and well labelled without obstructing them. Each figure should have a clear title below it. Magnifications for photomicrographs are mandatory stating the Objective lens magnification and scale bar (eg Objective lens: 10X; scale bar = 25 µm). Reference areas on the image must be clear. Figure legends must be self-explanatory and should incorporate all symbols and abbreviations used. All information associated with a figure must be clearly understood without reference to the text. Authors must provide copyright authorization for any reproduced image from another source.

Manuscript Submission: Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out. And that, if accepted , it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without written consent of the copyright holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service Crossref Similarity Check.

Manuscripts are submitted through Journal's online submission platform, jecajournal.com

New authors are required to register before they can sign in. Previously registered authors can sign in with their username and password.

Manuscript review process

Page Charges: Upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication, authors are required to publication charge of N35,000.00 to the Journal’s account.

Proofs: following corrections of reviewed articles, proofs will be sent via e-mail as PDF file to the corresponding author for proof-reading and minor corrections if any. Proof-read articles must be returned within seven days. Alterations to the text and figures (other than correction of errors in typesetting and grammar) are not acceptable at this stage.