INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

SCOPE AND SUBJECT AREAS

Articles on biology, cultivation, processing, physics, chemistry, technology and socio-economic aspects of natural rubber are published in Rubber Science. Articles on all sources of natural rubber like Hevea, Guayule, Russian Dandelion etc., synthetic rubbers, reclaimed rubber and their blends are accepted. Rubber Science considers the following categories of articles.

  1. Research articles not exceeding 8000 words, reporting original research works of major significance. The articles should include an abstract (about 250 words), a brief introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion (separately or together) with illustrations, conclusion and recent references. The following format shall be followed for the same.
    • Title page shall contain
      • The full title, brief but appropriate and informative.
      • A short running title, not more than six words.
      • Name(s) of author(s) with surnames in bold.
      • Affiliation and address(es) of the author(s).
      • The name and email address of the principal author or the author to whom correspondence shall be made.
    • Abstract shall include a brief statement of the work and major findings and not to exceed 200 words.
    • Keywords shall not be more than five to eight words.
    • Introduction shall include a clear statement of the scope indicating the essential background.
    • Materials and methods/Experimental shall contain sufficient details of the materials used and techniques followed.
    • Results and discussion shall include all the results, highlighting the significance of each. Theoretical explanations for the major observations may also be provided. The last paragraph shall contain major conclusions and recommendations, if any.
    • Acknowledgement shall be brief.
    • References shall be arranged in alphabetical order of the author’s surnames and typed on a separate page. This list shall include the name(s) of author(s), year of publication, title of the paper, name of the journal in full, volume, number and pages.

      Examples:

      Krishnakumar, A. K. and Dhanakumar, V. G. (2000).An assessment of rubber producer’s societies (self-help group of small growers), in the rubber plantation sector in India. Proceeding of theInternational Planters’ Conference, 17-20 May 2000,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, pp. 491-502.

      Mathew, N. M., Thomas, K. T. and Philipose, E. (1988). Studies on ozone resistance of natural rubber-ethylene/propylene rubber blends. Indian Journal of Natural Rubber Research, 1(1): 8-17.

      Mercykutty, V. C., Marattukalam, J. G., Saraswathyamma, C. K. and Meenakumari, T. (2002).Identification ofHevea clones: A manual. Rubber Research Instituteof India, Kottayam, 103 p.

      Nair, N. U. (2000). Biochemistry and physiology of latex production. In: Natural Rubber:Agromanagement and Crop Processing (Eds. P. J.George and C. Kuruvilla Jacob). Rubber Research Institute of India, Kottayam, pp. 249-260.

      Reghu, C. P. (1983). Structural studies on tension wood of some broad-leaved trees. Ph. D. Thesis, Sardar PatelUniversity, Gujarat, India, 165 p.

      References in the text shall be indicated by the surname(s) of author(s) and year of publication. For reference with more than two authors, the surname of the first author followed by et al. and the year of publication shall be used. References to the same author or group of authors in the same year shall be distinguished with small letters (Stanford, 1984a, b).

    • Tables, drawings and photographs

      Each table shall be typed on separate page, consecutively numbered with arabicnumerals and shall have an appropriate title. Data illustrated in figures shall not be repeated in tables.

      Line drawings shall be printed bold in black ink. Each figure shall be drawn on a separate sheet and consecutively numbered in arabic numerals. Inscriptions and legends shall be relevant and legible.

      Structures and schematic representations may be printed in black on separate page.

      Photographs shall be glossy colour or black and white prints of high contrast. Photographs will be included only if essential. Magnifications must be clearly indicated in the case of photo-micrographs. Each photograph shall be consecutively numbered in arabic numerals. Colour photographs related to articles are welcome for printing on the cover page window.

      Captions to figures and photographs shall be typed on a separate page. Explanatory material shall be placed in the caption and not in the figure.

    • Scientific names:

      The full scientific name (genus, species, authority and cultivar, if appropriate) shall be used for every organism when first mentioned. Subsequently, the generic name may be abbreviated except where intervening references to other genera would cause confusion. Common names, if used, must be accompanied by the correct scientific names on first mention. Latin names shall be printed in italics. Chemical names shall conform to the IUPAC system.

    • International system of units shall be used for exact measures of physical quantities.
    • Abbreviations, formulae and schemes

      Widely accepted abbreviations may be used, but the expansion shall be given on firstmention.

    • Mathematical formulae must be carefully printed with symbols properly aligned and correctly spaced. When a manuscript contains several mathematicalequations, each major equation shall be identified by a number in parenthesis.
    • Schemes shall be prepared on separate sheets, camera ready for direct reproduction. Captions and explanations shall be typed on a separate page and not in the scheme.
  2. Review articles not exceeding 10000 words with relevant illustrations and appropriate references. The review articles should provide updated information on any specific area of rubber research, discuss historic and current developments in the area and should be well structured and organized avoiding a general text book style or pedestrian narrative of literature. The review articles should have an extended abstract (of about 500 words), introduction, relevant subtitles, summary and references.
  3. Short scientific communications should not exceed 3000 words and contain important findings that are novel and of broad interest. It should include a brief abstract (200 words) and an introductory paragraph. The text should not be broken up into sub-heads and relevant references should be given at the end.
  4. General articles not exceeding 8000 words discussing current trends in science and technology, science policy and administration, matters related to application of science and technology for human needs or the impact of science and technology on society/environment etc. that are of interest to the general readers. The articles should include an abstract (less than 250 words), introduction, brief sub-heads at appropriate places with relevant illustrations and references.
  5. Opinion papers and commentaries are shorter versions of general articles (about 5000 words) which analyze a particular issue or subject of topical relevance and come up with well thought out views, suggestions or opinions or a running commentary on the issue.

SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPT

All manuscripts, along with a covering letter should be submitted electronically to the email address: rubberscience@rubberboard.org.in or hard copies of the manuscript may be sent to the Editor-in-Chief at the address shown above. The manuscript written in English shall be typed in double space on one side, if submitting hard copies. All pages shall be numbered serially. Spelling conforming to the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English is preferred. The appropriate article category may be indicated clearly in the covering letter or email accompanying submission of the manuscript. Complete contact details, i.e. name and address of the corresponding author with pin/zip code numbers and email ID should be included in the title page of the article. Authors are advised to refer latest issues of Rubber Science to familiarize themselves with the style and scope of papers before preparing their manuscripts for submission to the journal.

When there are multiple authors, one corresponding author should be designated. It will be the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that the authorship is correct and there are no conflicts of interests among authors or between authors and the organizations they work for or any other party. Rubber Science accepts a manuscript for publishing on the assumption that the corresponding author has adhered to all ethics of publishing scientific articles that include ensuring there are no copyright violations, the work is original and accurate, the results are not already published or currently under consideration for publishing in a peer reviewed journal, the manuscript will not be submitted to another journal while under consideration of Rubber Science, all concerned have been included in the author listing, all listed authors have contributed substantially to the work and they have consented to publishing the manuscript in Rubber Science. The journal will retain the copy right of all articles published in Rubber Science.

PROOFS

Proofs will be sent to the corresponding author by email unless otherwise specified. The corrected proof shall be returned to the Editor-in-Chief within one week of receipt.

CORRESPONDENCE

The Editor-in-Chief
Rubber Science 
Rubber Research Institute of India
Kottayam – 686 009, Kerala, India
Phone +91 481 2353323
Fax: +914812353327
Email: rubberscience@rubberboard.org.in