Author Guidelines

Submission Terms
Submission of manuscripts should be made online using the website (www.inscr.co.in) or by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by one of the manuscript's authors. Only Word (.doc,.docx) files can be submitted, regardless of the source of the word-processing tool. To encourage speedy publishing and reduce administrative costs, only online contributions are allowed. If a submission is made by someone who is not one of the writers, it will be dismissed. The submitting author is responsible for the paper's processing throughout the submission and peer review procedure.

The authors are advised to ensure that the manuscripts have not been previously published anywhere and are not presently under review by any other journal or publisher. The author submitting the paper is liable to ensure that all other co-authors have given their approval for the paper to be published. Authors’ must ensure that articles published by a specific institution are submitted with the respective institution's approval. The date on which you receive an acknowledgement from the editorial office will be considered as the date of receipt. Unless otherwise specified, the author(s) will get additional correspondence and proofs prior to publication. It is a requirement of submitting a paper that the authors accept responsibility for any readability modification.

When data and resources are published, authors must make them publicly available. This includes depositing data in appropriate databases and make the necessary arrangements to be publicly available on or before the day of online publication (not beyond that).

Peer Review
Peer review is essential for all manuscripts, as they must meet academic quality standards. Submissions will be reviewed by an editor first, and if approved, the peer-reviewing process will commence. The authors will be kept out of the loop about the identities of the reviewers.

Proofs
Within seven days of receipt, proofs must be corrected and returned to the publisher. It is the publisher's job to get the manuscript out as soon as possible. As a result, it will be very much appreciated if manuscripts and figures follow the journal's style.

Copyright
All the open access publications are published such that it allows free distribution, use, and reproduction in any form as long as the original work is correctly noted/cited. The usage of trade names, generic descriptive names, trademarks, and other terms in the publication does not indicate that they are not protected by applicable laws and regulations.

If you want to utilise figures that have already been published elsewhere, you'll need permission from the copyright owner(s) for both print and web versions. If rights cannot be obtained, the publisher will not be able to reimburse any costs associated with obtaining these licences.

Submission Preparation
The submission process would require the following:

• Suggestion on four potential reviewers, as well as their organizations, email addresses and phone numbers. Kindly also mention their area of expertise along with their suitability as reviewers. Scientists from your own university or close partners from other institutions would not be contacted.
• The editors will use PubMed and other public sources to check the standing of the reviewers in their declared domains.
• A cover letter of submission (with the accompanying author's postal, fax, and email addresses) should be included under the heading ("Additional Information for the Editor in Chief"). In the covering letter, please provide the phone numbers of any suggested reviewers.
• Evidence of sequence submission to the suitable databank.
• Any personal communications should be properly cited after seeking approval. To aid quicker evaluation, any related manuscript under consideration or in press elsewhere must likewise be submitted in electronic format. Failure to comply may cause the evaluation process to be delayed.
• Supplementary material (if any).
• Manuscript should be line-numbered. If the manuscript is being resubmitted, please add a note with detailed responses to the reviewers' comments from the previous version. Times New Roman, font size 10. Headings should be bold in sentence case, sub-headings in italics. Text and Headings should follow Times New Roman, font size 10.

Title
The title should be crisp and comprehensive. In print, titles are limited to two lines. This is the equivalent of 75 characters (including spaces). Numbers, acronyms, abbreviations, and punctuation are not usually included in titles. Times New Roman, font size 15.

Authorship Information
Full author names, Full institutional mailing addresses (department, city, state, country), Email address of the corresponding author, ORCIDs (if any). Times New Roman, font size 10, bold.

Abstract
An abstract should be included in the manuscript. The abstract should be self-explanatory and devoid of any citations, with a word count of no more than 250. There should be no undefined abbreviations in the abstract. It's intended for people who aren't familiar with the subject.

The structure of the abstract should be: A brief account of the work's background and rationale; a statement of the main conclusions; and finally, description of the major findings in a general framework so that it is evident how the results mentioned in the paper have advanced a particular field.

Keywords
For indexing purposes, kindly provide 4-6 keywords. When searching using keywords, you will always get more results than if you search with phrases or sentences.

Introduction
The introduction is your chance to persuade readers and reviewers that your study topic is interesting and that your paper deserves their interest. There should be no subheadings in this section.

Materials and Methods
Authors are encouraged to provide a thorough description of the techniques utilised in their work to promote reproducibility. If numerous methods are presented, it can be separated into subsections. Already published detailed methodology should not be included in the paper, as an alternative a suitable reference should be cited, along with modifications if any.

Results and Discussion
The results and discussion sections can be presented separately or merged into one with subheadings.

Conclusions
This should clearly state the work's primary findings/conclusions, emphasising their significance and future prospects.

Acknowledgments
Acknowledgement section should be placed at the end of the manuscript but prior to the references. These can include supporting/funding grants or projects etc.

Declarations
The following sections must be included in all manuscripts under the subject 'Declarations.' Please include the headline and add 'Not applicable' for any sections that are not relevant to your manuscript.

Funding Information, Conflict of interest, Availability of data and material, Any Codes, Authors' contributions (mandatory for research articles), Additional declarations for articles that report on the findings of human and/or animal studies, Ethical approval.

References
It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that the information in each reference is correct and thorough. The references should be arranged alphabetically. In research articles, the maximum number of references is limited to 60.

Citation
Numbers in square brackets should be used to identify reference citations in the text. For example:

1. Similar findings have been obtained using zebrafish models [23, 91, 92]
2. Bdellovibriosare also found to be prevalent in intestines of human and other animals and have been reported from diverse habitats [76, 102–104]

Reference list
The list should include only those references that have been cited in the text and accepted or published. Unpublished articles and personal communications should only be mentioned in the text.
Consecutive numbers should be used for entries in the reference list. Times New Roman, font size 9
If available, kindly include DOIs as full DOI links in the reference list.

• Journal article

Sugita H, Miyajima C, Deguchi Y (1991) The vitamin B12- producing ability of the intestinal microflora of freshwater fish. Aquaculture 92:267–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/0044- 8486(91)90028-6

In reference lists, all authors should be listed unless there are more than five; in that case, just the first author should be listed, followed by ‘et al.'

Xing MX et al (2013) Taxonomic and functional metagenomic profiling of gastrointestinal tract microbiome of the farmed adult turbot (Scoph- thalmus maximus). FEMS Microbiol Ecol 86:432–443. https://doi.org/10.1111/1574-6941.12174

• Book

Nelson JS (2006) Fishes of the world, 4th edn. Wiley, Hoboken

 

• Book chapter

Brown B, Aaron M (2001) The politics of nature. In: Smith J (ed) The rise of modern genomics, 3rd edn. Wiley, New York, pp 230-257

 

• Online document

Cartwright J (2007) Big stars have weather too. IOP Publishing PhysicsWeb. http://physicsweb.org/articles/ news/11/6/16/1. Accessed 26 June 2007

 

• Dissertation

Trent JW (1975) Experimental acute renal failure. Dissertation, University of California

Please refer to the ISSN List of Title Word Abbreviations, for standard journal’s name abbreviations (see ISSN.org LTWA). In case of any doubt, mention the full journal name. TeX/LaTeX: If you composed your paper in TeX/LaTeX, we'll need to convert it to Word after it's been accepted, before it's typeset.

Figures
When submitting the manuscript, the word file must include all figures and tables (in sequential manner). Figures should also be sent separately in one of two formats: vector art (Illustrator, EPS, PowerPoint, Excel, and so on) or bitmap (Photoshop, TIFF, JPEG, etc.). Bitmap images should have a resolution of at least 300 dpi unless otherwise specified for scientific reasons. Legend: Times New Roman, font size 9

Tables
A descriptive title must be provided for each table, and if numerical measurements are required to be given, the units must be specified in the column heading itself. Times New Roman, font size 9

• Please number the tables in Arabic numerals and include a table caption (title) for each table that specifies the table's contents.
• Tables should be cited and numbered in the same order as they appear in the text.
• Table footnotes should be written beneath the table, using asterisks for significance values and other statistical data, and the original source of the content should be mentioned in the form of a citation at the end of the table caption.

Abbreviations and Symbols
Avoid any abbreviations in the title of the manuscript. Use just standard acronyms; if you use nonstandard abbreviations, your readers may become confused. The spelled-out abbreviation should be used first, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. The abbreviations for conventional units of measurement are an exception to this rule.

Supplementary Information
Along with an article, any further information in the form of electronic multimedia assets (animations, movies, and music) and other additional resources can be published online. Authors are encouraged to archive their research data in data repositories.

Disclosure Policy
When a secondary interest, such as financial gain, influences professional judgement about the validity of study, a competing interest occurs. In their submitted publications, the authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest. "The author(s) declare(s) that there are no conflicting interests for the publication of this work," the authors should specify if there are no competing interests.

MAIN TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS

Review Articles
The same peer-review and editorial process applies to review papers as it does to original research findings. In general, the text should be no more than 3500-4000 words long, with no more than three figures and tables (total), and no more than 80 references. It should be simple to comprehend, up-to-date in terms of content, and critical of a recent and important topic. It should include the most recent references and mention any research gaps that should be addressed in the future. It should include an abstract (without a heading), key words, introduction, main body, acknowledgements, and references. Refer to preceding section for more details.

Original Research
Original Articles are scientific accounts of original research findings. With an abstract, 3-4 modest display items (figures and/or tables) with brief legends, and 30-60 references, the text is limited to 2000 or 2500 words. The article should be 10-12 typed pages long (line numbered) and include the following: (a) an abstract, (b) no more than 6 key words, (c) a detailed introduction (d) material and methods, (e) results and discussion, (f) acknowledgements, funding information, Authors’ Contribution and (g) references. No headings should accompany the abstract or introduction. We recommend using a 'standard' font, 10-point Times New Roman. Use standard text or Symbol font for mathematical symbols, Greek letters, and other special characters. Only use Word Equation Editor/MathType for formulae that can't be created using regular text or the Symbol font.

• To make navigating easier, subheadings should be used to separate sections. Subheadings can be up to 40 characters in length (including spaces) and italicized.
• Remember that important but technical details might be relocated to the Methods or Supplementary Information sections.
• The word count refers to the paper's text. Total word counts do not need to include references, titles, author lists, or acknowledgements.
• For initial submissions, we advise writers to combine the manuscript text and figures into a single file to make the review process easier (Microsoft Word, up to 30 MB in size).
• If the authors believe it's vital to emphasise that two or more co-authors are on an equal footing, they might put an asterisk next to the address list and write "These authors contributed equally to this work."

Mini Reviews
Mini-reviews should be balanced, with no overwhelming emphasis on the authors' own work. Mini-reviews should be no more than 2,000 words long, with no more than two figures or tables and approximately 40 references. The abstract for the mini-review should not be longer than 150 words.

OTHER TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS

• Editorials (not exceeding 1000 words)

Editorials are opinions and commentary about an article published in that same Journal issue. They may contain a single figure or table. Unsolicited editorials are rarely considered, albeit they are almost always requested. The length of an editorial should not exceed 1000 words, with a maximum of 10 references.

• Short Communication (not exceeding 1200 words)

It's a synopsis of a recently finished small study that includes new methodologies or findings. It should be 4–5 pages long, including an abstract and key words at the end. The body of the text should be free of titles such as material and methods, results, and discussion, save for acknowledgements and references.

• Scientific Correspondence (less than 1500 words and 2 display items).

The purpose of scientific correspondence is to provide a platform for both quick, relevant reports of general scientific interest and technical discussion on recently published material of particular relevance to non-specialist audiences.

• Meeting Reports (less than 1200 words and 1 display items)

These convey to readers the significance of major discoveries by covering the highlights/technical information of a conference/Symposium/discussion-meeting, etc. Brief summaries of the themes presented should not be included in reports.

• Opinion Articles (less than 800 words)

These should present news and views/opinions on issues related to science and recent scientific breakthroughs. The length of an opinion article should not exceed 800 words, with a maximum of 8 references.

REPORTING GUIDELINES
To maximise transparency and reproducibility, authors are strongly encouraged to follow relevant regulatory standards when preparing and submitting articles. Editors and reviewers are also encouraged to follow these during the review process.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES

Research Ethics
The following ethical criteria must be followed in any study that involves human or animal subjects. All human experiments must be carried out in conformity with the World Health Organization's rules, which are outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki (2013 seventh revision). If the article includes experimental work on human subjects who may be at risk of harm, it must include a declaration that the experiment was carried out with the consent and knowledge of the human participants. This should be supported by a statement from the appropriate Ethical Committee stating the studies were approved. In the case of animal experiments, the authors should include a detailed description of any anaesthetics or surgical procedures utilised, as well as verification that all reasonable precautions were followed to prevent animal suffering during the experiment.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
Authors should avoid falsifying study results, as this could harm the journal's reputation, scientific authorship's professionalism, and, ultimately, the entire scientific endeavour. Following the guidelines for good scientific practise is advised for maintaining research integrity:

• The manuscript should not be sent to more than one journal at the same time for evaluation.
• Unless the present work is a continuation of a previous study, the submitted work must be original and should not have been previously published in any form or language (in part or in whole). Please make the re-use of material explicit to eliminate any concerns about self-plagiarism.
• To enhance the number of publications, a single study should not be divided into many parts (to different journals or to a single journal over time). If specific requirements are met, concurrent or secondary publication may be justified. Translations or a manuscript written for a new audience are examples of this.
• For data collection, selection, and processing, discipline-specific norms should be followed. There should be no fabrication, falsification, or data/image manipulation, and the results should be reported in simple language and honestly.
• Plagiarism is when someone else's facts, text, or hypotheses are presented as if they were the author's own. For verbatim copying of information, summarization, and/or paraphrasing, proper acknowledgements to other works must be given. Quote marks must be used to denote phrases taken from another source, and permissions must be secured for content that is paraphrased.

IMPORTANT: The journal screens the submissions for plagiarism.

• Authors should seek appropriate permits (where required) before using questionnaires/(web) surveys, etc. in their studies.
• In opinion articles, reviews, and other types of writing, the author's point of view must be substantiated with relevant material. Self-citation by several writers in excess, as well as collective self-citation by multiple authors, is not permissible.
• Personal attacks or accusations against a person or a company must be avoided at all costs. 
• Any study that could be construed to endanger public health or national security is unacceptable and should be openly addressed in the article. Such instances include the production of hazardous biological agents or toxins, the deterioration of vaccine immunity, the distinct dangers of chemical use, and the weaponization of research/technology (amongst others).

Authors are strongly advised to double-check the authorship details before submitting. Except in exceptional situations, adding and/or deleting authors during the revision process is usually not permitted. The reasons for the changes in authorship should be explained in detail. Please bear in mind that you will not be able to change the authorship once your work has been accepted

Writers should be prepared to offer suitable evidence or data upon request in order to authenticate the legitimacy of the results reported. Raw data, samples, or recordings, among other things, could be used to do this. If there is a suspicion of impropriety or fraud, the Journal and/or Publisher will conduct an investigation in accordance with the journal's regulations. If any questions arise as a consequence of the investigation, the affected author(s) will be notified via email and given the opportunity to fix the issue.

• If the manuscript is still being considered, it may be rejected and returned to the author
• If the article has already been published online, it may be retracted, and the author's institution may be notified.
• In the bibliographic record of the author and paper, a notification of potential ethical standards violations in the peer review system may be included.

ANTI-PLAGIARISM POLICY
Plagiarism is considered a serious violation by Microsphere. Plagiarism is described as the unintentional use of someone else's work as if it were your own. Evidence of plagiarism, duplication, and data manipulation will be the responsibility of the authors.
All contributions are verified for plagiarism using free web tools such as iThenticate.

Any suspicion of wrongdoing will result in an immediate rejection.

Examples of plagiarism

• Using your own name in another person's article or project without proper citation.
• Using exact language from someone else's text without properly citing it.
• Using another person's photo, image, tables, sounds, or thoughts without due citation.
• Using your own words to present research without citing sources.
• Organizing your thoughts in the same order as your research source.
• Passing off another person's text as your own

Author(s) affirm that by submitting a work for publication in the ‘Microsphere' journal:

• They are aware that plagiarism is unethical, and that plagiarism is defined as using someone else's idea or published work as one's own.
• They certify that any contribution to their project that is based on the work of others, whether published or unpublished, has been recognised and the source of information has been referenced.
• They attest that they are completely accountable for any missing or incorrect references in their work.

Anti-plagiarism declaration by the author:
I have read and understand the Microsphere’s plagiarism policies, and I hereby certify that this manuscript is the outcome of my own independent scientific endeavour, and that all content from everyone else' work (in books, articles, essays, dissertations, and on the internet) is acknowledged with evident quotations and paraphrases.

INFORMED CONSENT
When authors submit articles for review, they entrust editors with the results of their scientific research and creative work, and their reputation and career could be on the stake. The revealing of confidential details during the evaluation of an author's manuscript may be a violation of their rights. Reviewers have the right to remain anonymous, which the editor must respect. If there is a suspicion of dishonesty or fraud, confidentiality may have to be broken, but otherwise it must be respected. Editors are banned from releasing article information to anybody other than the authors and reviewers (including their receipt, contents, status in the reviewing process, reviewer critique, or ultimate fate). This category includes requests to use the material in legal proceedings.

SUBMISSION PREPARATION CHECKLIST
Authors must check out that their submission complies with all of the following things as part of the submission procedure, and entries that do not comply with these rules may be returned to the authors.

1. This submission has never been published before, and no other publisher is currently considering it (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
2. Microsoft Word is only acceptable document file format of submission.
3. Where available, the DOI for the references have been provided.
4. The typeface is 10-point, and all photos, figures, and tables are contained in the text rather than at the end. Instead of underlining, italics are used (save for URL addresses).
5. The text follows the Author Guidelines in terms of style and bibliographic requirements.

On submission, checklists should be included as additional files. Read the Submission Preparation section carefully before making the submission.

Repository Policy

Our recommendation for authors is to share their paper on their personal or institutional websites during the submission process and beyond. After publication, authors can immediately upload the final PDF version. This will result in faster and more significant citations for their published work. Under the Journal's Open Access Policy and the CC BY license, authors have the right to make their papers accessible to the public on various domains and repositories. When sharing or archiving their work, authors must attribute the journal as the original source and provide accurate citation details. Therefore, authors must deposit the unique URL/DOI of their published article and the Version of Record in any repository. We encourage authors to self-archive and submit their papers without embargo to institutional repositories or their websites.

Allegations of Misconduct

The term research misconduct encompasses various activities that compromise the accuracy of research, including misrepresentation of data, fabrication of information, citation manipulation, and plagiarism. The responsibility of ensuring the accuracy and integrity of the scientific record falls on the editors when authors engage in research misconduct or other serious irregularities related to articles published in this journal.

Editors and the Editorial Board will follow Microsphere's best practices to address any complaints and allegations of misconduct in a fair manner. If research misconduct is found in a submitted manuscript, it will be rejected, and if it is discovered in a published paper, a retraction will be issued, linked to the original article.

The first step is to evaluate the credibility of the allegation and determine if it meets the criteria for research misconduct. Conflicts of interest with the complainants must also be taken into account. The corresponding author is notified, and all co-authors are requested to provide a detailed response if there is a possibility of scientific misconduct. Additional scrutiny may involve consulting experts, and in cases where misconduct is unlikely, a correction notice or clarification may suffice.

Institutions are responsible for conducting comprehensive investigations into allegations of scientific misconduct. Authors, journals, and institutions must ensure the accuracy of the scientific record. By appropriately addressing complaints of scientific misconduct and taking necessary action based on the analysis of those complaints, such as corrections, retractions, or retractions with replacements, Microsphere will fulfill its obligations.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

The following terms apply to authors who publish in this journal:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal first publication rights.
2. Authors are permitted to deposit both their pre- and post-prints in Open-Access institutional repositories or archives, and are encouraged to do so. The primary advantage of self-archiving before and after publication is that it allows you to reach a wider audience, increasing the visibility and influence of your research.

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