Author Guidelines

i. One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details: 

E-mail address

Full postal address

ii. Manuscript:

Include keywords All figures (include relevant captions)

All tables (including titles, description, footnotes) 

Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided

 iii. Highlights file

iv. Graphical Abstracts (where applicable)

v. Supplemental files (where applicable)

vi. Further considerations

Manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'

All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa 

Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet) 

A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare

Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed

Referee suggestions and contact details provided

Please ensure that any included maps are scientifically relevant and focus only on the region relevant to the article

After receiving comments from the reviewers, the reviewers' comments will be sent to the corresponding author for revising the manuscript.

Revision requirement: The authors are requested to submit a marked and clean version of their submissions.

Additionally, a separate document giving Answers one by one to Reviewers' Comments must be prepared and sent along with the revised manuscript.

Marked Manuscript: The Marked Manuscript should be a version of your revised manuscript in which all of the ways in which it is different from the original manuscript are indicated for the sake of the Editor. Please use the method of indicating changes is Microsoft Word's Track Changes feature, colored fonts, or highlighted text parts. As in the original manuscript, figures and tables should be placed in their proper places within the body text. No changes to the original manuscript must be made other than as replies to the reviewers' comments and suggestions. It's the responsibility of the corresponding author to get the consent of all authors of the manuscript for the revisions made, before sending it to the editor-in-chief/associate editor. This will then be copyedited by the editors, prior to sending it back to the authors for final proof reading. The marked version will not be used for typesetting. It is only for review purpose.

Clean Manuscript: The final version of the submission with all the revisions included.

Manuscripts must be typed using Times New Roman, font size 12 in double space throughout Title page, Abstract, Text, References and Tables. All abbreviations should be spelt out at first mention in the abstract as well as in the text body. Thereafter, only these abbreviations are to be used.

Full length original research papers should include the following: Title page, Highlights, Graphical Abstract (if applicable), Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Theory/Calculation (if applicable), Results and Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgement of sources of funding, Statement of Conflict of Interest, Author Contribution, References, Tables and Figures. The maximum number of words for a research article is limited to 10,000, including figures, tables and references. Longer articles will be considered by the Editorial Board only under exceptional circumstances, based on the scientific merit.

Review papers should include an Abstract, an Introduction that outlines the main points, text under brief sub-headings and References. Review papers are generally limited to a maximum of 20,000 words including figures tables and references.

Short communications should contain novel findings written in the form of a concise, independent report representing a significant contribution to the field of study. It should be written under the subheadings as in a research paper but should include only few key references. It may include a 1-2 tables or figures and the word count should be confined to a maximum of 3,500. Each article should carry an authors' statement of any conflicts of interest and acknowledgement of sources of funding for the research. The authors must provide the ORCiD numbers of the corresponding author of the manuscript at the time of article submission. When submitting a regular research paper, authors should make sure to arrange the documents in the following order. 

10.1 Title page 

Title page should be a separate document giving the Article type, Title, name(s) of authors(s) and complete postal address of the institution(s) where the work was carried out. Surname(s) of the author(s) with initials should be provided. Title should be concise, informative and typed in 'sentence case' bold letters. Author affiliations should be given in separate lines, while the email address, telephone number and the ORCiD number of the corresponding author must also be provided.

 10.2 Highlights 

Highlights consist of short sentences of 3 to 5 bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any). They increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. Each bullet point must be limited to a maximum of 85 characters, including spaces.

10.3 Graphical abstract

A Graphical Abstract is a pictorial and visual summary of the main findings of the article. This could either be a figure that is especially designed to convey the main findings of the article, or one of the important figures from the article. It should capture the content of the article for readers at a single glance. 

10.4 Main manuscript 

The lines and pages of the main manuscript must be numbered. The main manuscript should contain the following; 

Title: Title should be concise, informative and typed in 'sentence case' with bold letters. Authors' names and affiliations should not be given in the main document. 

Abstract and Keywords: Abstract for regular research papers and review papers must not be more than 250 words and for short communications not more than 100 words. It should be presented as a single paragraph and state clearly the main findings of the research and their relevance. The abstract should be followed by a list of 3 - 5 keywords, separated by a semicolon (;).

Introduction: This section should first provide an adequate background and an analysis of the state of the art identifying the existing shortcomings of the subject matter being addressed. On this basis, the description of the objectives should give a clear view of the originality of the manuscript. A summary of the paper content or a repetition of results should be avoided.

Materials and Methods: Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.

Theory/Calculation: A Theory section should extend, not repeat, the background to the article already dealt with in the Introduction and lay the foundation for further work. In contrast, a Calculation section represents a practical development from a theoretical basis.

Results and Discussion: Results should be clear, concise, and written in the past tense. Figures, Graphs, Photographs and Tables can be used as appropriate. These should be placed by the authors in the appropriate place in the Manuscript. Discussion should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them, and be written in the present tense. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and lengthy discussions of published literature.

Conclusion(s): Conclusion(s) should stand alone as a separate section, and the main conclusions of the study must be presented. The progress with respect to the available research and the critical elements of the proposed investigation should also be discussed.

Acknowledgement(s): Authors should acknowledge source(s) of funding in the following format;

Funding: This work was supported by the National Research Council [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the ABC Foundation, Colombo, Sri Lanka [grant number zzzz]; and the Department of Wildlife [grant number aaaa].

Note: It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding. If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Declaration of Competing Interest: Authors should state either "The authors declare no competing interests" OR "The authors declare the existence of a financial/non-financial competing interest" in the manuscript at the end.

Author Contributions: An author statement file outlining their individual contributions to the paper, using the relevant CRediT roles (before the References list).

Appendices: If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly, for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

Figures, Graphs and Photographs: These items must be properly numbered and submitted separately. A colourful Graphical Abstract must accompany the article on a separate page.

Please ensure that all captions are placed at the end of the main manuscript.

All illustrations (maps, graphs, drawings and photographs) are considered as figures, and should be numbered in consecutive order in Arabic numerals as Fig. 1, Fig. 2 etc. Captions for figures should be concise, self explanatory and have sufficient information to make it intelligible without reference to the text.

Graphs must be of high standard and good quality, and the minimum resolution of line drawings should be 600 dots per inch (dpi). Where applicable, a metric scale should be indicated in each graph.

All photographs should be of high resolution (600 dpi), should be trimmed to show only the essential features, and forwarded only in the forms of 'tiff' or 'png' images.

Tables: All Tables should be numbered in Arabic numerals as Table 1, Table 2 etc. The number of tables should be limited, and must not repeat data available elsewhere in the manuscript. They should carry the caption (above the Table) and footnotes (if applicable) to the table (below the table).

Equations and Units: Authors are strongly encouraged to use equation editor to write mathematical equations. All measurements should be reported only in International System of Units (SI).

References 

Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic citations lies entirely with the authors.

Citation in text: Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list, they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication". Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Reference links: Increased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such as Scopus and CrossRef, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is highly encouraged. A DOI is guaranteed never to change, so you can use it as a permanent link to any electronic article.

Web references: As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (eg. DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (eg. after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

10.5 Reference Style 

Text: All citations in the text should refer to: 

1. Single author: the author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication; 

2. Two authors: both authors' names and the year of publication; 

3. Three or more authors: first author's name followed by "et al." and the year of publication. Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically. For notes containing more than one citation, references should be separated by a semi-colon. 

Examples: "as demonstrated (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995). Kramer et al. (2000) have recently shown ...." 

List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication. 

Examples: 

Reference to a journal publication: 

Where the article doesn't have an issue number 

Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J., Lupton, R.A., 2000. The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Science Communication. 163, 51-59. 

Where the article has an issue number 

Bornmann, L., Daniel, H. D., 2008. Selecting manuscripts for a high-impact journal through peer review: A citation analysis of communications that were accepted by Angewandte Chemie International Edition, or rejected but published elsewhere. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. 59(11), 1841-1852. 

Reference to a book: 

Strunk Jr., W., White, E.B., 1979. The Elements of Style, third ed. Macmillan, New York. 

Reference to a chapter in an edited book: 

Mettam, G.R., Adams, L.B., 1999. How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: Jones, B.S., Smith , R.Z. (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age. E-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281-304. 

Proceedings of Symposia 

Shi, Y., Eberhart, R., 1998. A modified particle swarm optimizer. In: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Evolutionary Computation. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Piscataway, New Jersey. 

Internet resources 

Author (2020). Title of website, database or other resources, Publisher name and location (if indicated), number of pages (if known). Available from: http://xxx.xxx.xxx/ (Date of access).