Author Guidelines

How To Submit

Authors from around the world are welcome to contribute to the journal. All manuscripts must be submitted via the journal’s submission site at https://journal.univpancasila.ac.id/index.php/Natural/

Manuscripts must be prepared using the official JNPDD Template (Microsoft Word format). Download the JNPDD Template here: template file.

Original and revised manuscript texts may be uploaded as an OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file, but a Word file is preferable and is required for the final manuscript text. Figures can be incorporated in the Word file, or submitted separately as high-quality PNG or JPEG files; the ChemDraw format is not accepted. These files are automatically incorporated into a single PDF that the system creates for review.

If you encounter any problems with your submission, please contact the Editorial Office at jnpdd@univpancasila.ac.id

Article Type Specifications

The Journal publishes Original Research Articles and Review Articles.

Original Research Articles present original research performed by the authors and must include new data, analyses, or information that is of significance and interest to a broad audience.

Review Articles are critical overviews of scientific discoveries in areas of the authors’ expertise. These reviews are expected to include the author’s own recent interesting and significant results.

Manuscript Preparation

Cover Letter

A cover letter must be included and should provide a brief overview of the work, its significance, and the justification for publishing it. Authors who suggest potential referees should declare any relevant former or ongoing relationships in their cover letter.

Template, Page Setup, and Fonts

Authors must use the JNPDD Template and must not change its layout or numbering style. The page and font specifications of the template are as follows:

Paper size A4 (210 mm wide × 297 mm high), with 2 cm margins on all sides; single-column layout; text justified.
Do not leave blank lines or paragraph spacing between adjacent paragraphs.
Font: Book Antiqua throughout. Manuscript title 18 pt bold; body text and section headings 10 pt; abstract, keywords, affiliations, tables, table headings, and figure captions 9 pt; footnotes 8 pt.

Preparing the Manuscript for Double-Blind Review

JNPDD uses double-blind peer review, in which the identities of the authors and the referees are concealed from each other. Authors are therefore responsible for preparing the manuscript so that their identity is not revealed to the referees:

Submit a separate title page file containing the author names, affiliations, contact information (including the corresponding author details), acknowledgements, and author contributions. This file is not sent to the referees.
In the main manuscript file (including figures, tables, and any supplementary materials intended for review), remove all author names, affiliations, and other identifying information. Refer to your own earlier work in the third person (for example, “Previous studies have shown [3]” rather than “Our previous work showed [3]”).
Remove identifying information from the properties of the electronic file.

Title, Authors, and Affiliations

The first page of the full manuscript follows the template and contains, in this order: the manuscript title; the author names and affiliations; the corresponding author’s contact line; the “Received / Accepted” line; and the Abstract with Keywords.

Title. Write the title in sentence case: capitalize only the first word and proper nouns. Keep abbreviations in the title to a minimum.

Authors. Give author names in full, with surnames. Place a superscript number after each author’s name to indicate his or her affiliation, and add an asterisk (*) to the corresponding author’s name. For example:

Deni Rahmat¹*, Yesi Desmiaty², and Syamsuddin Abdillah³

Affiliations. Give affiliations in English in the following order: Department, Faculty, University, City, Country. Do not use footnotes for the addresses. For example:

¹Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Pancasila, Jakarta, Indonesia.

²Department of Natural Product, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Pancasila, Jakarta, Indonesia.

³Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Pancasila, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Corresponding author. The e-mail address and telephone/contact number (and fax number, if available) of the corresponding author must be clearly given, marked with an asterisk, on the line below the affiliations, in the form: “*Corresponding Author: e-mail / Contact: +62xxxxxxx”.

Received / Accepted. Keep the line “Received: date / Accepted: date” as in the template; the dates are completed by the Editorial Office.

Abstract and Keywords

The Abstract (not “Summary”) is placed on the first page, directly below the author information, in the boxed layout of the template. It must not be longer than 250 words (for both research and review articles), must clearly state the purpose and the results of the study, and must not contain any reference citations. Please limit the use of abbreviations in the Abstract and the title to a minimum.

Keywords follow the Abstract and are separated by semicolons (;). Provide 3 to 6 keywords in decreasing order of importance. Because keywords are used in combination to construct a rich and comprehensive index, they should be conceptually unrelated and should not repeat words or phrases (for example, “protein”, “protein synthesis”, and “synthesis” should not be used together). Acronyms and abbreviations should not be used as keywords.

Main Text

Headings and numbering. Use the following heading styles and do not change the numbering style of the journal:

SECTION HEADING

1.1. Subheading

1.1.1. Another subheading

Do not use subheadings beyond the third order (for example, 1.1.1.1.). Only the Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion sections are numbered. The remaining headings, such as Abstract, Acknowledgements, and References, are not numbered.

The main text is organized in the following order:

Introduction

State the objectives of the work, define the scope of the paper, summarize the work relevant to the study being reported, and provide adequate background. A detailed literature survey or a summary of the results should be avoided. The Introduction should not be a review of the subject area, but should finish with a clear statement of the question being addressed, so that the reader understands the rationale and significance of the study.

Materials and Methods

2.1. Material. Names of products and manufacturers (with locations) should be supplied for all equipment, instruments, chemicals, and other materials mentioned. Brand names may be used only once in the manuscript. For example, “XYZ® tablets containing Esomeprazole (Formulation A) were generously provided by ABC Pharmaceuticals” may be written in Materials and Methods; elsewhere in the manuscript, refer to “commercial tablets containing Esomeprazole” or Formulation A, not XYZ® tablets.

2.2. Procedure. The experimental procedures should be described in sufficient detail to enable others to repeat the experiments. Declarations on human or animal experimentation (see Scientific and Editorial Policies) must be stated in this section.

Results

Results should be clear and concise. Text, tables, and figures must show minimal overlap and must be internally consistent. Tables and figures should be designed to maximize the presentation and comprehension of the experimental data. Attention should be paid to significant figures (usually no more than three). The same data should not be presented in more than one figure or in both a figure and a table. As a rule, interpretation of the results is reserved for the Discussion, but under some circumstances it may be desirable to combine Results and Discussion in a single section.

Discussion

The purpose of the Discussion is to interpret the significance of the results and relate them to existing knowledge in the field as clearly and briefly as possible. Information given elsewhere in the manuscript should not be repeated, and extensive reviews of the literature should be avoided.

Conclusion

The main conclusions of the study should be presented in a short Conclusion section, which stands alone. Explain whether the findings supported the hypothesis. Avoid using references in the Conclusion.

Acknowledgements, Author Contributions, and Conflict of Interest Statement

After the Conclusion, and before the References, provide the following unnumbered items in the boxed layout of the template:

Author contributions. State each author’s contribution using the authors’ initials and the following categories: Concept; Design; Supervision; Resources; Materials; Data Collection and/or Processing; Analysis and/or Interpretation; Literature Search; Writing; Critical Reviews. For example: “Concept – D.R., Y.D., S.A.; Design – Y.D.; Supervision – S.A.; Resources – D.R., Y.D., S.A.; Materials – Y.D.; Data Collection and/or Processing – D.R., Y.D.; Analysis and/or Interpretation – D.R., Y.D., S.A.; Literature Search – D.R., Y.D., S.A.; Writing – D.R.; Critical Reviews – D.R., Y.D., S.A.”
Conflict of interest statement. Complete this section according to the signed conflict of interest statement submitted with the article. If there is no conflict of interest to be declared by any of the authors, write: “The authors declared no conflict of interest.” (See Conflicts of Interest below.)

Tables and Figures

All tables and figures must have a caption and/or legend and be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals (for example, Table 1, Figure 2). Captions are written in sentence case, with the label in bold (Table 1., Figure 1.).
Table headings are placed above the table; figure legends are placed below the figure. A caption on a single line is centered.
Insert tables and figures in the related sections, after their first mention in the text. Where possible, place them at the top or bottom of a page.
Captions and table text use Book Antiqua 9 pt, and tables and figures must keep 1 cm from each page margin. Footnotes use Book Antiqua 8 pt. Use bold characters only when necessary.
Create tables with the “Tables” feature of Word; do not paste tables as pictures. Every table must have a caption or note, and any footnote is placed directly after the table. If a footnote is added under a figure caption, apply the same principles.
Figures may also be submitted as separate PNG or JPEG files. Please provide images of the highest possible quality.
Legends should be concise but explanatory. Use the label “Figure” (and “Table”) in captions and in the text, for example “Figure 1”; do not use labels such as Fig., Scheme, Illustration, or Graphics. Make sure that all figures and tables are cited in the text.
For figures with multiple panels, list the panels in the caption as: (a) description of the first panel; (b) description of the second panel.

Additional Information for Review

Other data necessary for peer review, including related manuscripts submitted elsewhere, should be submitted as additional information in separate documents, labeled “Additional Information”. These materials will not be published in the journal.

References

A reference is any article or chapter published in journals, books, and other outlets such as technical reports, patents, and lectures. References to any other materials or personal communications should be described in the text.

The journal uses the IEEE citation style. We recommend preparing the references with the bibliography software Mendeley using the IEEE style (see https://pitt.libguides.com/citationhelp/ieee for guidance).

In the text, cite references with numbers in square brackets, for example [1], in order of first appearance. This also applies to citations in tables and legends. Multiple citations are written as [1], [3] or as a range [2]–[5].
When authors are named in the text, give a maximum of two names (“Jones and Smith [4]”); for three or more authors, give only the last name of the first author followed by et al. (“Jones et al. [4]”).
The reference list is placed at the end of the manuscript under the unnumbered heading REFERENCES. It is organized numerically in order of citation, not alphabetically, and each reference is listed individually.

Examples:

Journal article

[1] S. Ozgen, O. K. Kilinc, and Z. Selamoglu, “Antioxidant activity of quercetin: A mechanistic review,” Turkish Journal of Agriculture - Food Science and Technology, vol. 4, no. 12, pp. 1134–1138, 2016.

Book

[2] D. Sarunyagate, Ed., Lasers. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.

Conference proceeding

[3] T. J. van Weert and R. K. Munro, Eds., Informatics and the Digital Society: Social, ethical and cognitive issues: IFIP TC3/WG3.1&3.2 Open Conference on Social, Ethical and Cognitive Issues of Informatics and ICT, July 22-26, 2002, Dortmund, Germany. Boston: Kluwer Academic, 2003.

Thesis or dissertation

[4] J. O. Williams, “Narrow-band analyzer,” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. Elect. Eng., Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, 1993.

e-journal (from the internet)

[5] A. Altun, “Understanding hypertext in the context of reading on the web: Language learners’ experience,” Current Issues in Education, vol. 6, no. 12, July, 2005. [Online serial]. Available: http://cie.ed.asu.edu/volume6/number12/. [Accessed Dec. 2, 2007].

Scientific Policies

Nomenclature

The nomenclature used for chemical compounds must be in accordance with IUPAC’s published guidelines. Alternatively, naming may conform to the nomenclature in the index of Chemical Abstracts or the Ring Index. The nomenclature style must be internally consistent within the manuscript.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations must be spelled out in full and followed by the abbreviation in parentheses when first used in the Abstract and in the main text. Thereafter, the abbreviation only should be used. Please limit to a minimum the use of abbreviations in the Abstract and the title.

Note that the following common abbreviations do not need to be defined:

Abbreviation	Meaning
ADP	adenosine 5′-diphosphate
AIDS	acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
AMP	adenosine 5′-monophosphate or adenylic acid
ANOVA	analysis of variance
ATP	adenosine 5′-triphosphate
cAMP	adenosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate
cDNA	complementary DNA
CoA	coenzyme A
CYP	cytochrome P450
DNA	deoxyribonucleic acid
ED50	50% effective dose
ESR	electron spin resonance
FAB-MS	fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry
FAD	flavin adenine dinucleotide
GC-MS	gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
GLC	gas-liquid chromatography
GMP	guanosine 5′-monophosphate
HPLC	high-performance liquid chromatography, high-pressure liquid chromatography
IC50	inhibitory concentration, 50%
IR	infrared
LC	liquid chromatography
LC/MS	liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry
LD50	50% lethal dose
mRNA	messenger RNA
MS	mass spectrum
NMR	nuclear magnetic resonance
OTC	over the counter
PCR	polymerase chain reaction
QOL	quality of life
RNA	ribonucleic acid
RT-PCR	reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction
TLC	thin-layer chromatography
tRNA	transfer RNA
UV	ultraviolet
WHO	World Health Organization

Units

The following units should be used:

Quantity	Units
length	m, cm, mm, μm, nm, Å
volume	L, mL, μL
time	s, min, h, d
temperature	°C, K
radiation	Bq, dpm, Gy, Sv
concentration	M, mM, mol/L, mmol/L, mg/mL, μg/mL, %, % (v/v), % (w/v), ppm, ppb

General and Editorial Policies

Authors should carefully read the journal policies below, as submission to the Journal of Natural Product for Degenerative Diseases implies that all authors have read and approved these policies.

Authors are encouraged to consult commonly accepted policy standards, which the journal supports, such as those presented by the Council of Science Editors or the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Submission to the Journal of Natural Product for Degenerative Diseases also implies that all authors have seen and approved the manuscript, agree to its submission, and have the right to publish the work and that it is not defamatory or libelous. All authors also undertake that the manuscript is original and has not been published elsewhere in any language, nor is it otherwise under consideration at another journal. Authors must inform the editors if any related publications have been submitted or are in press elsewhere.

Acceptance Criteria

The Instructions to Authors refer to various basic acceptance criteria, including that manuscripts must fall within the journal’s scope, as well as requirements for ethical behavior, compliance with human or animal experimentation policies, data policies, various technical requirements, English standards, copyright provisions, and so forth. In addition, articles in the journal must also be:

scientifically rigorous
novel, innovative, and/or original
important, or potentially important, to the progress of the field and the researchers within it
constructed, written, and/or placed in an appropriate context so as to be of the highest possible interest to a broad international audience.

Authorship

Contributors to the Journal of Natural Product for Degenerative Diseases should meet the following criteria for authorship. All authors must:

agree to be held accountable for all aspects of the work
have made a substantial contribution to the work’s conception or design, or in the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data
have written the manuscript or critically revised it for vital intellectual content
have approved the final version of the manuscript for publication.

By submitting to the journal, the authors undertake that they have agreed to the author list and its order. Any changes to the author list (such as author order, or adding or removing authors) after peer review will rarely be approved by the journal. If requests are made, they must have strong justification and be approved by all the listed authors.

Human/Animal Experimentation

For submissions that include investigations with human subjects and/or human tissues, the authors must declare that the work was performed in accordance with the ethical principles for medical research outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki 1964 and per subsequent revisions (https://www.wma.net/). In addition, relevant manuscripts must contain a statement confirming that approval was received prior to the study’s commencement from the appropriate ethics committees. The declaration should be clearly stated in Materials and Methods.

For submissions that include animal experimentation, the authors must declare within the manuscript that the work was performed in accordance with the experimental animal guidelines of the authors’ institutions. In addition, appropriate government guidelines should be followed and these should be cited in the declaration. (The previous text cited the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as an example; replace with the national or institutional standard preferred by JNPDD.) The declaration should be clearly stated in Materials and Methods.

Unoriginal Material

Authors warrant that their submissions are original works. The journal uses iThenticate software to screen submitted manuscripts for unoriginal material, and submission to the journal implies that authors agree to this process. The journal reserves the right to return a manuscript for no further consideration if it is found to contain an unacceptable amount of unoriginal material. Resubmitted manuscripts will be considered only if the unoriginal material has been removed.

Image Integrity

The journal conforms to high standards in the presentation of images. Digital manipulation or processing of images is permitted, but all figures must accurately reflect the underlying data. The editors may request original data and images from the authors either before or after publication, as necessary.

Use of Copyrighted Material

Use of any figures or other previously published material for which the authors do not own or have rights is only possible if the authors obtain permission from the copyright owner and provide relevant documentation stating this upon submission of the manuscript.

Data and Materials Availability

The journal supports initiatives that improve the undertaking and outcomes of research. By submitting to the journal, authors agree to make their submission’s materials, data, and any protocols available in response to reasonable requests for it.

The journal supports the use of Supplementary Materials for data and relevant materials, or the use of relevant and accepted public repositories. (The previous text referred readers to a “Supplementary Materials section” that does not exist on this page; add a short section on the format of supplementary files if the journal accepts them.) Please also refer to the relevant parts of the Scientific Policies section within this document.

Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when someone has financial or personal relationships that could inappropriately influence (bias) the consideration or publication of a submitted manuscript. The journal has strong policies for conflicts of interest among editors, referees, editorial board members and staff, and authors.

Authors should refer to and comply with the Council of Science Editors’ policies, which cover personal, financial, and non-financial conflicts of interest. Further, any relevant financial relationship of any author with any company or institution that might benefit from the publication of the manuscript must be disclosed.

Authors should consider the following as a guide for financial disclosures:

Research funding from a for-profit (commercial) organization
Consulting fees/honoraria
Patent royalties/licensing fees
Employment/leadership positions or advisory roles
Other (travel fees, gift, etc.)

A disclosure must be included in the main text of the manuscript in the Conflict of interest statement, completed according to the signed conflict of interest statement submitted with the article. If the authors have no conflict of interest, they must state as much:

“The authors declared no conflict of interest.”

If one or more authors have a conflict of interest, it must be stated, for example:

A (author name) received a research grant from O (entire company, institute, or personal name); B received non-financial support from P; C serves as a consultant to Q; D received honoraria for writing promotional material for R; E has a patent (No. 12345) licensed to S; F is President of T; G has been reimbursed by U for attending conferences; H and I are employees of X; J has no conflict of interest.

Confidentiality

All manuscripts that are under consideration, or have been returned to authors, are kept confidential. Authors agree to keep in confidence all correspondence about their submission from the journal, editors, and Editorial Office.

The journal undertakes double-blind peer review: the identities of the authors and the referees are concealed from each other throughout the review process. Referees agree to maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts as part of their agreement to review articles for the journal.

Editorial and Peer Review Process

Manuscripts are first screened by the Editorial Office and the editor(s) for conformity with the journal’s scope, these Author Guidelines, and the acceptance criteria. Manuscripts clearly not conforming to the basic requirements or acceptance criteria will be returned to the authors without peer review.

Manuscripts that pass the initial screening are sent to two or more referees, who provide feedback and their opinion about the suitability of the manuscript for publication. Referees are selected on the basis of their expertise, reputation, and previous experience as peer reviewers, and are provided with a Guide to Referees that includes the journal’s acceptance criteria. Further details are given on the Peer Review Process page of the journal.

The handling editor uses the referees’ reports as the basis of the initial decision, which can be minor revision, major revision, or rejection. In the former two cases, authors are invited to re-submit a revised version together with a point-by-point response to the comments of the referees and the editor; for some manuscripts, a round of re-review may be deemed necessary. After revision, articles that are deemed to fulfill the journal’s requirements are accepted for publication.

Revised manuscripts must be re-submitted no later than two months from the date of notification of manuscript revision by the editor. Manuscripts that are not re-submitted within two months may be rejected and have to be re-submitted as new manuscripts. Authors should contact the journal if they are unable to re-submit within the required deadline.

Referee Suggestions

Authors may suggest potentially suitable referees during submission. Suggestions are welcome, but the final decision on the selection of referees rests solely with the handling editor, who verifies the suitability of every suggested referee and is under no obligation to use the suggestions or to give reasons. Authors must declare any ongoing or former relationships with suggested referees in the cover letter. Authors can also request that potential referees be excluded; the journal may consider these requests but is under no obligation to honor them. If authors suggest referees, the following conditions apply:

A maximum of five names may be suggested.
At least two-thirds of the suggested referees must be non-Indonesian citizens or researchers affiliated with institutions outside Indonesia.
Each suggested referee must have a Scopus ID with a minimum h-index of 5, and an active publication record in Scopus- or Web of Science-indexed journals, including relevant publications within the last three years.
Suggested referees must be willing to volunteer their time, as the journal does not pay for peer review, and must permit their name to be displayed on the journal’s website should the journal acknowledge its reviewers.
Authors must provide the full name, current affiliation, and official institutional e-mail address of each suggested referee; personal e-mail addresses (for example, Gmail or Yahoo) are not acceptable.
Suggested referees must not have close professional or personal connections to the authors that could lead to a biased review.

The conditions above are taken from the journal’s Peer Review Process page; confirm that they should be repeated here.

Appeals

The journal will consider appeals that provide specific evidence of misunderstanding, mistake, or error by a referee or editor. An appeal is considered by the relevant editors, whose decision is final.

Errata and Retractions

The journal supports the maintenance of an accurate record of science and hence will correct any significant errors in the journal. If authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published article, they should promptly notify the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief will also assess any third-party advice independently received and, in both cases, determine whether an Erratum or a Retraction is appropriate.

Errata describe errors that significantly affect the scientific integrity of an article or the reputation of the journal or authors. Retractions are used when the results or conclusions are found to be invalid or misleading, or when there is sufficient evidence of breaches in research or publication ethics. Minor errors that are the result of the authors’ actions will not be amended.

If the authors, or some co-authors, do not agree to a correction being published, the journal reserves the right to publish an Erratum or Retraction that will separately list the dissenting co-authors. The journal’s decision in these matters is final.

English Standard

Only manuscripts written in clear, concise English will be accepted for peer review. Authors who are not native English speakers should have their manuscripts checked and edited by a native English speaker who possesses sufficient scientific knowledge. If the English standard of an accepted manuscript is judged to be inadequate by the journal, authors may utilize a trusted service provider and provide a certificate of editing. The Editorial Office coordinates this process upon acceptance of a manuscript.

Publishing Model

The journal is freely available to anyone with an internet connection and is able to be used and re-used under standard copyright provisions. Permission for re-use must be sought from the journal by contacting the Editorial Office (see the Copyright section for more details).

Publication Fees

The Journal of Natural Product for Degenerative Diseases does not charge any fees to authors for submission or publication of articles. The journal is a platinum open-access journal: the full text is immediately available after publication, and no author-side fee is charged at any stage, from submission and peer review to final publication. See the Article Processing Charges page for details.

Post-Acceptance Process

Authors notified of the acceptance of their manuscript will be provided with information and forms that facilitate its publication. After an average of approximately 30 days after acceptance, authors will be provided with proof of their typeset article. No additions or revisions are allowed, except to correct typographical errors introduced during the production process.

Once published, articles are freely available online at the journal’s site at https://journal.univpancasila.ac.id/index.php/Natural/