Nepalese Journal of Zoology (NJZ) is published by the Central Department of Zoology, Tribhuvan University. The NJZ has been hosted by the Nepal Journal Online (NepJOL) platform. It has been awarded 2 stars on the Journal Publishing Practices and Standards (JPPS) framework. 
Scope and Mission
Nepalese Journal of Zoology is a peer-reviewed, double-blind, multidisciplinary, and open-access international journal. NJZ is published biannually. It invites research papers that contain interdisciplinary approaches to biological sciences. It aims to provide clear and applicable suggestions for biological research across the globe. Papers having a clear hypothesis with novel findings will get priority for publication. NJZ includes papers related to various disciplines of biology such as zoology, microbiology, parasitology, molecular biology, ecology, entomology, ichthyology, conservation biology, global environment change, bioremediation, emerging issues on public health, environment pollution, law, and policies.
The mission of the journal is to promote different facets of biological sciences by encouraging researchers across the globe to publish and share their research and scientific information in an accessible form.
Copyright and License to Publish
The Nepalese Journal of Zoology has a licensing policy that permits distribution, remixing, adaption, and building upon your work under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License. Authors retain the copyright of the contents published in NJZ and need to grant the right of first publication to the journal. It also allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., on their website) before and during the submission process (e.g., as a preprint), as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of the published work. However, authors need to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements with NJZ for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., publish it in an institutional book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
Ethical approaches and guidelines
The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal is an essential work of scientists to disseminate their research findings on a global scale. It also reflects the quality of research of the authors and their institutions. Before publishing their work, authors need to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior. The following points should be considered as ethical topics before submitting papers for publication in the Nepalese Journal of Zoology:
Authorship of the paper: Authorship of the paper should be limited to those who have significantly contributed to the conception, design, execution, or writing of the study. There should be transparency on the contributions of authors and authors need to provide author contribution statements as mentioned above.
Originality and plagiarism: The authors should ensure that they have developed entirely original works. They have to use the contents of works, part of work, and words or statements of others, that have been cited or quoted appropriately.
Acknowledgment of sources: Acknowledgment of other people’s work must always be provided.
Reporting standards: Results of the original research work of authors should provide an accurate account of the work with a clear discussion of its implications.
Conflicts of interest: The authors must disclose a potential conflict of interest for all submissions and relationships with others.
Data access and retention: Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should agree to provide public access to such data if the editorial board finds something doubtful.
Critical errors in published works: If an author finds a critical error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author's responsibility to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.
Multiple, redundant, or concurrent publications: Authors should not submit/publish the same research, idea, concept, and papers in more than one journal or primary publication. These contents include publication in the form of an abstract, publication as an academic dissertation, conference proceeding, and publication as an electronic preprint.
Use of hazards and human or animal subjects and work in restricted areas: Authors should not use hazardous chemicals or weapons or equipment to handle animals or humans at the time of data collection. They should state complications if their research work involves chemicals, procedures, or equipment that have any unusual hazards to animals or humans. Besides, authors require approval of the ethics committee, prior informed consent to study on patients, direct handling of animals, and working in restricted areas. Authors should get permission to do such works from concerned authorities/people and should declare in the cover letter to the journal at the time of submission.
Plagiarism policy
All the submissions will go for a plagiarism check before go review process. It is one of the most common types of publication misconduct when an author deliberately uses another’s work without permission, credit, or acknowledgment. It includes Ideas and Concepts, Data, Words, and Phrases. Authors should declare that their work does not have plagiarized contents or parts throughout the paper. For details of plagiarism, authors can check internet sources and published books.
Conflict of interest
All authors must disclose a conflict of interest (COI) in their contributions. The COI includes financial and personal relationships supporting organizations, employment, consultancies, ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. The authors need to provide a statement declaring the conflict of interest in the title page file.
Changes to authorship
At the time of submission, authors need to provide the list and order of authors without any conflict. Further addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names and order in the author's list should be requested journal editor just before the manuscript has been accepted. For such change, the corresponding author should send written confirmation letters from all authors to the editor explaining the reason for the change including the consent of all authors. This would be possible only in exceptional circumstances and the Editor considers the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of authors' names and order after the manuscript has been accepted. Before that, the manuscript will be suspended from publication.
Review process
Reviewers are the honorary volunteers who play a pivotal role in publishing standards. The review process involves the following steps:
- Double-blind peer-review
- Initial assessment by the editor for suitability and standard for the journal
- Checking for: Plagiarism and Ethical standard
- If the paper is deemed suitable for publication, it is assigned to the handling subject editor
- Send to at least two independent subject expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper
- The handling editor submits the report of review including the authors' response to the reviewer’s comments and based on the reports, the chief editor is responsible for the final decision of revisions required, acceptance, or rejection of papers. The chief editor’s decision is final. Also, check the editorial process for details
Editorial process
NJZ follows a double-blind peer-review process. Author names are concealed. Editors and reviewers are expected to handle the manuscripts confidentially and must not disclose any details to anyone outside of the review process. Reviewers also have the right to confidentiality and their names are not revealed to authors unless they sign their review. Further, peer review comments should remain confidential even after a manuscript receives a final decision. Manuscripts are normally reviewed by at least three independent experts in the relevant subjects. All correspondence between an author, editor, and peer reviewer should remain in confidence unless explicit consent has been given by all parties, including the journal, or unless there are exceptional ethical or legal circumstances that require identities or details of the correspondence to be revealed. Reviewers are acknowledged by publishing a list of contributing reviewers for each year on the journal website.
Types of editorial decisions:
Immediate reject: the paper does not follow the guidelines of the journal and is unrelated to the scope and standard of the journal.
Reject: the paper is not acceptable for publication in the journal and re-submission will not be considered.
Decline without prejudice: the paper is rejected but with the option to submit, for further review, a completely new version of the paper that has undergone considerable changes.
Major Revision: the paper requires major changes and needs to go through the review process again, with no guarantee of acceptance.
Minor Revision: the paper requires minor changes. Further review is occasionally required. There is no guarantee of acceptance.
Final acceptance: after a final editorial check, acceptance is confirmed and the manuscript files along with the obtained forms are sent to the publisher.
Production Process
- License to publish: The Nepalese Journal of Zoology has a licensing policy that permits distribution, remixing, adaption, and building upon your work under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License. Authors retain the copyright of the contents published in NJZ and need to grant the right of first publication to the journal. It also allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., on their website) before and during the submission process (e.g., as a preprint), as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of the published work. However, authors need to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements with NJZ for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., publish it in an institutional book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Colour figures: Colour figures may be published online free of charge; however, the journal charges for publishing figures in color in printed form. If the author supplies color figures, at Early View publication they will be invited to complete a color charge agreement. The author will have the option of paying immediately with a credit or debit card, or they can request an invoice. If the author chooses not to purchase color printing, the figures will be converted to black and white for the print issue of the journal.
- Accepted papers: After a paper has been accepted for publication, authors will receive galley proof of the manuscript within one week. After receiving corrections from the authors, the manuscript will be corrected and then it will be uploaded online within one week. Any final, minor corrections can still be made to the article at the following proofing stage.
- Offprints: A PDF offprint is available to authors via an automated system integrated with NJZ Author Services. The authors will be directed to retrieve the final PDF file of their article online. A copy of the Publisher's Terms and Conditions for the use of the PDF file will accompany the PDF offprint and the file can only be distributed by these requirements.
Sponsorship / Publication Charge
All the articles published in the NJZ are freely available to the readers. Presently, the journal is supported by the Central Department of Zoology, Institute of Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal for any cost associated with the handling, publishing, and technical things. The journal does not charge authors for submission, processing and publication of the manuscript.
