INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS

TYPES OF PAPERS

There are several categories of papers:

1. Standard Research Papers presenting results of original research. They should convey cutting-edge information that is important to be made available as rapidly as possible. The length of Standard research papers will vary depending on the information that needs to be communicated. Figures and tables should be limited in number to the minimum necessary to convey the critical points of the article.
2. Review Papers are intended to be well-argued, preferably controversial reviews of topical subjects. The length of review papers will vary depending on the information that needs to be communicated.
3. Letters to the Editor present original research findings of high current interest that should be made known to other researchers as quickly as possible. These type of papers will be evaluated by reviewers within one week of receipt and, if accepted, will be published in the next available issue. The length of these papers must be as short as possible.

PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPTS

Manuscripts should be on A4 paper, double-spaced and with ample margins. It is preferable to prepare an electronic version of paper in the Microsoft Word (2000, 2003) word-processing package for PC system computers. Footnotes to the text should not be used. Please try to use symbols within the standard character set (normal or ASCII) or the symbols within the "Symbol" font. Also, if you are familiar with the program "Character Map" in Windows, please use these for adding additional symbols to your manuscript. If the symbol you wish to use cannot be found using the above criteria, please spell out the symbol (e.g., beta for ß) or your symbol might not appear on the Web properly.

Manuscripts should consist of the following sections:

Title Page - This should contain the title of the article, a shortened version (no more than 50 characters including spaces) for the running head, the authors (first name, middle initial and last name), affiliations (please do not use superscript or subscript characters to denote affiliations), and the full mailing address, telephone, fax and E-mail addresses of an author to whom correspondence can be addressed. The type of paper should be listed on the Title Page.

Summary - This should be on a separate page, and as short as possible. It should state concisely and specifically what was done, what was found, and what conclusions were reached.

Key Words - Summary should be followed by up to seven key words.

Main Text - This should start on a separate folio, and include:

• An Introduction - This should describe the objectives of the research; they should be placed in perspective to previous work in the area.
• Methods - This section should describe how the research was carried out.
• Results - This should present clearly, but succinctly, the experimental findings of the study.
• Discussion - This section should include a brief statement of the principal findings followed by a discussion of the validity of the observations and their relation to other published work.

The suggested points of insertions of figures and tables, etc., should be indicated.

References - These should be in the Harvard style, i.e. using the names of the authors in alphabetical order (where there are more than two authors, use the first author only, followed by "et al.", not italicized.), followed by the year of publication. Unpublished works should only be cited in the text. References should be listed in the reference list at the end of the article. They should consist of only published and "in press" articles. Abbreviations of journal titles should follow those listed in Index Medicus.
(see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/jbrowser.tm)

References in the text should be cited as follows:
"The methods used have been described elsewhere (Sparhok, 1999)," or "Our observations are in agreement with those of Sparhok and Kurtz (1956) and of Kurtz et al. (1964)," or with multiple references, in chronological order: "Our researches (Sparhok and Kurtz, 1990, 1992; Kurtz, et al. 1993; Sparhok, 1994, 1995)..."

Here are examples of references:
Journal Article: Rambert, F., Pessonnier, J. and Duteil, J. Modafinil, amphetamin, and methylphenidate-induced hyperactivities in mice involve different mechanisms. Eur. J. Pharm., 1990, 183: 455-456.
Book: Kleitman, N. Sleep and Wakefulness. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1963 (second edition).
Chapter in a Book: Webb, W. B. Theories about sleep and some clinical implications. In: R. Drucker-Colin, M. Shkurovich and M. B. Sterman (Eds) The Functions of Sleep. Academic Press, New York, 1979: 19-36.

Acknowledgments - These should be brief and must include references to sources of financial and logistical support.

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES

Figures and Tables - Figures may be in color or black-and-white; they should include an explanatory title and sufficient detail in the legend so as to be intelligible without reference to the text. Figure legends should be grouped separately at the end of the article. Figures and Tables should be referred to in the text using Arabic numbers (i.e., Figure 1, Table 1, etc.) in order of appearance and their approximate position should be indicated in the article (i.e., "Place Table 1 about here"). For hard copy submission, each Figure and/or Table should be marked on the back with its appropriate number, together with the name(s) of the author(s) and the title of the article. Photographs and photomicrographs should be unmounted glossy prints and should not be retouched.

Units - Unit Measurements should be expressed using the metric system for all volumes, lengths, weights, etc. Temperatures should be measured in degrees celsius (centigrade). Units should conform to the International System of Units (SI).

Drugs - Use generic names in referring to drugs. Trade names may be given in parentheses after the first mention, but the generic name should be used thereafter.

Abbreviations - They should be spelled out at their first occurrence, and then introduced by placing the abbreviation in parentheses after the abbreviated term.

SUBMISSION PROCEDURES

By E-mail
You can transfer your files via the E-mail directly to us:

1. Name your article file as the last name of the first author plus the file format of your document (e.g., Smith.doc).
2. If possible, tables should be created using your word processor's table function.
3. Save figures separately as TIFF files. Do not embed the figures in your document. (If you are not able to save your figures electronically, please send a printed copy by snail-mail to the address below).
4. Create the zip archive file by using WinZip or other archiver program which supports ZIP file format. Name this file as the last name of the first author (e. g., Smith.zip) and add all corresponding files to this archive file (article file and figure files).
5. Send E-mail (nswc@neurobiology.ge) to us and attach this ZIP file to your message.

By Printed Copy
If you are unable to submit your article in electronic form, you may send a printed copy of the article and unmounted glossy print(s) of any table(s) and/or figure(s) to:

Niko Oniani
Ilia State University
Kakutsa Cholokashvili Ave 3/5,
Tbilisi, 0162, Georgia