The CL includes the following information: all the Authors agree that it should be submitted to the TSU J Biology; it is the original work of the Authors; the manuscript or research results have not been previously published; the manuscript is not under review in other journals. Please find the Form of the CL in Documents ***. 

If the manuscript contains figures or photos which should be duplicated, the files must be named as follows Smith Figure1, Smith Photo 2, etc. Illustrations (figures, tables, graphs, diagrams, etc.) of good quality are embedded in the text where they are mentioned. Figures, diagrams and photos are additionally attached as separate files, placed in the Author’s electronic folder.

For this, information about the Author is required. Information about the Author (Authors) includes full name, academic degree, academic title, affiliation, postal address, telephone and e-mail address. One Author is to be selected as the Corresponding Author. All co-Authors are to provide information about the organisation where the research has been accomplished. Registration facilitates manuscript submission procedure: all documents are attached in the Author’s profile.

Troubleshooting: Dear Authors, when registering on the site to submit your manuscript, check SPAM folder: e-mails with login and password to access your personal account can be moved to this folder. The same is true for any interactions with the Editorial Board: e-mails from the Associate Editor can get to the Authors’ SPAM folder. That is why it is necessary to submit your manuscript through the website, rather than through e-mail. 

If you experience any difficulties or problems, please contact the Associate Editor via e-mail: biotsu@mail.ru

6.6.2. Manuscript examination by the Associate Editor 

It is carried out within 10-20 working days of the manuscript submission. 

The submitted manuscript is examined by the Associate Editor for compliance with the Journal scientific area, the main publication and formatting requirements approved by the Editorial Board of the Journal (“Guidance for Authors”) (“Accepted for consideration” is displayed in the Author’s profile) and is checked for plagiarism. During this time, the manuscript is either sent to the Author (s) for completing and finalizing, or agreed with the Section Editor and Reviewers are sought. The status changes to “Under review”, in the Author’s profile on the website of the Journal, when at least one Reviewer agrees to review the manuscript. 

 If formal requirements are not met, the manuscript is not acceptable for review process and “on formal and technical grounds” and the Author is notified via e-mail and/or his profile page (“Rejected” indicating the reasons for rejection).

6.7. Manuscript formatting

Structure: Authors, Affiliations, Title, Abstract, Key words, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusion, Funding, Acknowledgments, References, Author info. 

6.7.1. The submitted manuscripts are to be concise and properly sequenced. 

6.7.2. Use Active voice. 

6.7.3. Manuscripts are to be submitted electronically via the Journal website http://journals.tsu.ru/biology/en/&journal_page=article&act=add 

6.7.4. Manuscripts are to be typed in WinWord.

6.7.5. Illustrations (figures, tables, graphs, diagrams, etc.) of good quality are embedded in the text where they are mentioned. Use Fig. 1, Tabl. 1, etc.

6.7.6. All figures should be designed in full colour or black and white. Figures should be legible, scientifically valid and of high resolution. Photos, scientificity and importance of which give rise to doubt, will not be published. The Author of the photo should be indicated under the caption. 

6.7.7. Manuscripts of Authors without scientific degree are accepted using a special procedure.

6.7.8. Page length (A4): 10-14 pages for a Review, 8-10 pages for a Research Paper, 3 pages for Brief Report.

This length comprises the Abstract, Tables, Figures and References. In exceptional cases, the manuscript length may be increased on the recommendation of the Reviewer and with the approval of the Editorial Board.

6.7.9. Text layout: the text is to be single-spaced in 10-point Times New Roman, use Microsoft Equation 3.0. for formulae, use Insert-Symbol for special symbols (°, ''). All margins have to be set at 2 sm and each paragraph is to be indented 0.5 cm. Number all pages consecutively, starting from the 1st page, at the bottom in the centre of the page (hereinafter see Sample).

6.7.10. On the first page of the manuscript, in the left upper corner, the UDC index is found. (10-point). 

6.7.11. Author names (in lower-case letters): first name, last name. (10-point, Bold).

6.7.12. Affiliation. Provide the full legal name of institution, city and country. (9-point, Italics).

6.7.13. Title of the manuscript. Provide the correct manuscript title, which should be concise (no more than 10 words) and informative, and indicate the main result of the research. (12-point, Bold). The main text should be written in low-case letters; words in Latin are shown Italics. 

6.7.14. Abstract. Each paper should be provided with a concise and factual abstract of about 250-300 words. The Abstract should be written clearly and concisely and include the principal results and major conclusions (not descriptive generalisations and broad terms). The Abstract is an autonomous part of the manuscript and is often presented separately from the paper that is why abbreviations and conventional symbols introduced here should be either deciphered here, or not used. The Abstract should be presented in italics and separated from the text by a blank line. (9-point, Italics). 

6.7.15. Key words (5-7) should be separated by a semicolon. (9-point, Italics). Key words should not be abstract and vague, but precise and relevant to the research; they should not repeat words from the paper title. 

6.7.16. Introduction. (10-point). It provides and justifies the relevance, novelty, aim and significance of the manuscript and presents a brief overview of the problem. All references cited in the text should be given in numerical order [starting from 1] in square brackets. If several sources are cited at once, the references should be listed in chronological order. The aim of the research should be stated at the end of the introduction.

6.7.17. Materials and methods. (10-point). This section contains information about the research object (indicating the Russian and Latin names), conditions of producing and conserving micro-organisms, higher plants and animals (including the origin of the culture and samples for the research), the sequence of operations during the experiment and devices and reagents used in the research. When mentioning devices and equipment, provide the trade name in the original language (“in quotes”) and the country name (in brackets). 

 If the method is little known or greatly modified, its brief and clear description should be given besides reference to a respective publication. 

At the end of this section (additionally in table and figure captions), it is necessary to give statistical data on the presented results.

For manuscripts in soil science it is mandatory: 
If the names of soils are given, it is important to indicate which classification systems was used for their determination; if there are any Author modifications, they should be specified. 

6.7.18. Modern statistical data analysis is required, indicating the used criteria and statistical significance of the results. Presenting data in the form of figures and graphs is the most informative. Figures should also specify the data presentation form, such as “arithmetic mean with confidence intervals”. Be sure to indicate the program used for material processing and graphing, e.g. “StatSoft STATISTICA for Windows 10.0 was used for statistical data processing and graphing”.

When indicating “data statistically differ” in the text, specify the significance in brackets, e.g. (p<0.05). 

6.7.19. Results and discussions should contain description of the obtained experimental data with tables and figures which are not duplicative. The results should display the identified consistent patterns, but not a mechanical retelling of the content of tables and graphs. It is recommended to use past tense to describe the results. We ask you to start this section with a small introduction (1-2 sentences) before presenting your data. The discussion should not repeat the investigation results and implies comparing your own findings with those already published and known, showing in what the novelty of your information is. 

At the end of this section, it is recommended to formulate the main conclusions containing the answer to the question posed in the Introduction. (10-point).

6.7.20. The final section is Conclusions (clear and short sentences under 1), 2), 3), etc.). This part is a short and specific result of the research: no links to tables, references or schemes are given, but only 3-5 clear sentences describing what the Authors have done (proved) in this research. (10-point).

6.7.21. When biological objects are described for the first time, provide the full name in Latin (in italics) with Author names, who described or redescribed the species, considering the current state of systematics (in the absence of a specific epithet use sp.); when mentioned again, the generic name is presented by one letter and the specific and subspecific names are given in full and in lower-case letters. In the absence of a specific epithet the generic name is not abbreviated. In the titles of tables and figures, Latin names are written in full.

6.7.22. Tables. (10-point). Tables are placed in the text where they are mentioned. The information presented in the Table should be autonomous: clear without referring back to the text of the manuscript. For this, the table title should be as informative as possible. The columns should be entitled or there should be clear explanation under the Table. 

In table titles, Latin names are given in full.  
Under the Table, all abbreviations, contractions, etc. should be deciphered.

6.7.23. Figures. (10-point). Figures are placed in the text where they are mentioned. Figures should be clear (translucent vertical or horizontal shading is acceptable). For axes and symbols, use a 10-14 point font size Times NR, depending on legibility. In graphic illustrations on curves (except theoretical constructions or reproduction of continuous recording) there should be experimental dots and bars. 

Figures should contain all necessary designations of coordinate axes, curves and other details. On the axes only the measured value and its dimension should be indicated. All explanations should appear in the title of the figure or its caption. 

In figure titles, Latin names are written in full.

6.7.24. References. (9-point). 

No less than 50% of references to the published material in leading scientific journals in the last 5-10 years. 
No less than 25-50% of references to international studies in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals (not Authors’ own papers and regional collection of papers, information on which is not available).  
No more than 20% of self-citation. 

The list of references should be scientific and relevant; it is essential to cite significant works, whose source can be found and related to the research. 

The accepted number of references: for Brief Report – 10-15; for a Research Paper - 20-40; for a Review - 60-80. 

It is better to avoid enormous numbers of references, giving preference to overviews and recent works. It is highly recommended not to refer to patents, theses and abstracts, as well as papers from sources that are not peer-reviewed, from unknown conferences, or the materials from the conferences and sources which only the Author of the published paper has. 

Indicate the DOI for each reference (number+ hyperlink).

It should follow the standard reference style of the journal (see Sample). The references are cited numerically in square brackets according to their order of appearance. All the Authors are indicated. All imprint data are indicated: if it is a collection of papers: editor (editors), date and place of the event, city and publishing house. Authors’ names are not italicized.

If the original full version of the manuscript is not in English, indicate the original language, e.g. In Russian, In German, etc. If the manuscript has a structured summary, specify, e.g. In Russian, English Summary.

References to unpublished works are not accepted.

If the source is not in English and does not have the original Author’s translation into English, it is obligatory to transliterate the reference. The Journal has adopted BGN romanization system, which should be used for Russian. 

For example: 
Book: 
Zaicev GN. Matematicheskiy analiz biologicheskikh dannykh [Mathematical analysis of biological data]. Moscow: Nauka Publ.; 1991. 184 p. In Russian 
Larher B. Plant ecology. New York: Wiley; 1978. 384 p.  
Paper: 
Rodriques-Lado L, Martinez-Cortizas A. Modelling and mapping organic carbon content of topsoil in an Atlantic area of southwestern Europe (Galicia, NW-Spain). Geoderma. 2015;245-246:65-73. doi: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2015.01.015 
Conference Paper: 
Vaishlia OB, Agafonova NN, Komleva EV. A study of Homobasidiomycetidae diversity in south taiga of Western Siberia using molecular genetic techniques. In: Molecular genetic approaches in taxonomy and ecology. Int. Sci. Conf. (Rostov-on-Don, Russia, 25-29 March, 2013). Matishov DG, editor. Rostov-on-Don: SSC RAS Publ.; 2013. p. 22. In Russian 
Electronic Resource:  
Kreshchenok I, Nesterova S. Genome сonservation for rare and ornamental species of Russian Far East ferns by cryopreservation. In: III Global Botanic Gardens Congress, China, Wuhan, 2007 [Electronic resource]. Available at: http://www.bgci.org/wuhan/posters (accessed 29.08.2011).

For example:  
Author info:
Lupashin Vladimir V, Professor, PhD (Biol.), Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 West Markham Street Little Rock, 72205 Arkansas, USA.  
E-mail: ***@**.com 

6.7.26. Summary (for manuscripts in Russian only): extended version of the summary in Russian 

It is submitted in Russian and in English. The Summary in Russian is not published and is needed for verifying the correctness of presenting and writing the English version of the Summary. The Summary should be informative and clearly and succinctly outline the concept of the manuscript and the research results on the whole (not general terms from encyclopaedias). The Summary in Russian (700-1000 words): font size is 9pt, Author’s full name, organization and the title of the work. English version of the Summary includes Author’s full name, affiliation, work title and the text of the Summary; information about the number of figures, tables and references; key words (separated by a semicolon); acknowledgments (indicate financial support, if any) (see Sample).

It has to be taken into account that the summary in English in a Russian-language Journal is the main for foreign scientists and experts and, as a rule, the only source of information about the content of the paper and research results that it presents. 

The Summary should be: 
- informative (not to contain broad terms and generalized descriptions); 
-original; 
- meaningful (to reflect the main content of the manuscript and the research results); 
- structured (to follow the logic of describing the results in the manuscript); 
-in well-written English.

The Summary is divided in 3 paragraphs: relevance and aim, methods (geographic coordinates of the studied region, main methods briefly, uthorship and year), results and conclusions. The presentation of the results should take no less than 50% of the summary volume. It is desirable to draw the attention of the reader to the results or studied regions, indicating the following sentences: See Tables or See Figures. Quite often such material is high-volume and is fully illustrated, therefore indicating such information will attract the attention of a foreign specialist and bilingual presentation will allow to understand the main material. 

The Summary should not contain tables, figures, formulae, abbreviations and references. Use points instead of decimal commas and hyphens instead of dashes. 

Below the number of figures, tables and references is indicated. The paper contains*** Figures, ***Tables, *** References. 

Next come Key words (See Sample). 

After the Summary indicate Funding (if any) and Acknowledgments (if any). 

The Author is not permitted to take “chunks” of the English version of already published, even his own, papers and transform them into a Summary, this being considered plagiarism. 

6.7.27. Author info (for manuscripts in Russian) (finalized after accepting the manuscript for publication and inserted into the final manuscript file): information about the Authors in English (See Sample). Font size is 8 pt. 

6.7.28. References (for manuscripts in Russian): BGN romanization system for Russian should be used. The list of references is finalized after accepting the manuscript for publication and is inserted in the final manuscript file): Author info in English (See Sample). Font size is 9 pt. Detailed rules and examples of presentation and transliteration can be found in References. 

6.7.29. While presenting the material, use standard abbreviations. If there are a great number of non-standard abbreviations, they should be given as line-by-line footnotes on the first page. The names of amino-acid residues, sugars and nucleic acid bases should be given, as a rule, in Russian transcription. If amino-acid residues are indicated by one letter, the Roman alphabet is used. 

6.7.30. Only one type of quotes: «» for Russian part and “” for English version should be used in the text. 

6.7.31. It is necessary to distinguish between hyphen and dash (See Sample). In the English part of the manuscript only hyphen is used. 

6.7.32. Decimal points should be used to separate tenths and hundredths (4.35, 2.049).

6.7.33. Use Insert-Symbol for geographic coordinates, e.g. 56°28'10"N, 84°56'51"E. 

6.7.34. % and numbers are written together, e.g. 34%.

6.7.35. Once you have been registered and your manuscript has been submitted to the journal, the Author can track its status (its progress, review results etc.) in your personal profile on the web site of the journal. How to access: 
1) enter your username and password; 
2) click "My publications" (in the upper right hand corner); 
3) click the name of the publication that you are interested in.

6.7.36. Once you have modified the text of the manuscript on the site of the journal and/or attached its revised version, you should notify the Editorial Board via e-mail: biotsu@mail.ru (sometimes there can be failures in the system of the site). 

6.7.37. When publishing manuscripts, the Editors are guided by the date of their final submission: manuscript accepted for reviewing. The Editorial Board can make an exception for commissioned works and manuscripts that they consider of higher priority. 

6.8. Manuscript resubmission guidelines (after revision considering the recommendations of Reviewers)

Time for the manuscript revision after reviewing is 30 days. 

When the manuscript is resubmitted after revision, it is required to attach the revised manuscript in the Personal Profile: highlight the corrections considering the comments of the Reviewers and give a detailed and polite reply to the comments in a separate letter (indicating the comments, but without indicating the information about the Authors) and relabel the folder and files, e.g. Smith revised. It is possible to indicate the date in the folder name, especially, if it is not for the first time that the manuscript is revised. In total, there should be 2 similar manuscript files, but: one should contain the information about the Authors, the other one should not; corrections should be highlighted in both files and a file with an answer to the Reviewers should be also attached. 

This being done, the manuscript is resent for review to the same Reviewers, and, sometimes to additional Reviewers, for approval. 

6.9. Accepting the manuscript for publication

Once the manuscript has been approved by the Reviewers and recommended by the Editorial Board for publication, the Author should (see Sample, published papers in the latest issue). 

1. Use 9 pt font size for References.  
2. Combine the following files into a single manuscript (see Sample): 
Manuscript
Summary In English+ Summary in Russian 
References 
Author info

Following that, the Editorial Board decides on sending the manuscript to the Publishing House: technical corrector converts it into the Journal format (A5) and the Editor proofreads it. During editing preparation the Editor reserves the right to modify the text (scientific editing), but the Author is sure to receive a preprint for familiarizing and approving. Only after proofreading and approving the manuscript is published. 

After publication, the Author receives a PDF copy of the paper and the paper is available on the site of the Journal and the Russian Scientific Electronic Library eLIBRARY.RU.

The journal reserves the right to reject manuscripts not complying with any requirements (including improper manuscript preparation).

Dear Authors, for any inquiries relating to submission, status and publication of manuscripts, please, contact the Associate Editor of the Journal via the e-mail of the Editorial Board biotsu@mail.ru. For this, indicate the full name of the first Author and the manuscript title in the letter.