Preparation of manuscripts for submission

Authors should read JEB's editorial policies and publishing ethics before preparing their manuscripts.

Click here for further information on specific article types.

JEB requires authors to submit their articles online.

For new submissions, we recommend that you submit your paper as a single PDF file that contains all the necessary text, figures and tables. However, if your manuscript contains figures that you wish reviewers to view at high resolution, please submit individual text and figure files (see our figure preparation guidelines for more information).

For revised submissions and accepted manuscripts, you are required to provide all source text and figure files. Please note that revised manuscripts will be treated as a new submission if they are not submitted within 3 months of the date of the initial decision.

File formats

For manuscript text and tables, our preferred file format is Microsoft Word. We also accept Pages (rtf format) and LaTeX.

If you are submitting a LaTeX file, please include any component files, such as the following, in your file submission:

.st (style file)
.cls (class file)
.bib (bibliography file)

For mathematical equations, we accept Equation Editor (MS Word), MathType and LaTex files.

General information

(1) Prepare manuscripts in English.
(2) Supply a short title of not more than 40 characters and at least three keywords for indexing.
(3) Do not insert any figures into the manuscript document.
(4) Do not use picture boxes in text to create special characters.
(5) Fonts: use Times for normal characters and Symbol for Greek characters.
(6) Please give Latin names and taxonomic authority (e.g. Linnaeus) for the experimental species.
(7) Please provide names and locations (town, state, country) of ALL equipment suppliers.
(8) Please provide a list of symbols/abbreviations used.
(9) Please provide information on all financial and material support of your research (including grant funding) in a seperate section entitled Funding.

Manuscript length

The following table shows the maximum word count of the main text (excluding title page, summary, references and figure captions) for different article types.

Articles exceeding the maximum word count will be returned to authors at submission unless justification for the increased manuscript length has been included in the cover letter.

Summary

Provide a brief summary of no more than 250 words. Do not include references.

Preparing the text

(1) Use 1.5 line spacing for all text and include line numbers.
(2) Italicize Latin words.
(3) Use SI units only.
(4) Abbreviations should be defined the first time they are used in text – uppercase should be typed without stops (USA, UK); lowercase with stops (u.v.)
(5) Type a space between a digit and a unit e.g. 1 mm (except 1%, 4°C).
(6) Use relative molecular mass (M_r) and not MW. M_r is dimensionless and should be expressed as x10³.
(7) kDa is acceptable for molecular mass.
(8) Use s.e.m. and s.d. for standard errors, etc.
(9) Ions – use Ca²⁺, etc.
(10) Isotopically labelled compounds – if isotope is of an element in the compound then place symbol for the isotope in square brackets, as in [³H]thymidine: if compound does not normally contain the isotopically labelled element then use either ¹³¹I-labelled albumin or ¹³¹I-albumin.
(11) Cite each figure and table in the text in numerical order.
(12) Use Fig. 6A,B or Figs 8, 9.
(13) Do not include units in equations but define them in the text.

Preparing mathematical equations

Please number all display equations, consecutively. They should take the form:

   (1),

and should be created using Equation Editor (Ms Word), MathType or LaTex.

Appendices

Prepare following normal journal style.

All figures, tables and equations should be numbered separately from the main text as Fig. A1, Table A1, Eqn A1, etc.

References

References in text

Each reference cited in the text must be listed in the References and vice versa: please check these carefully.

Literature citations in text are as follows.
(1) One author – (Jones, 1995) or (Jones, 1995; Smith, 1996).
(2) Two authors – (Jones and Kane, 1994) or (Jones and Kane, 1994; Smith, 1996).
(3) More than two authors – (Jones et al., 1995) or (Jones et al., 1995a; Jones et al., 1995b; Smith et al., 1994; Smith et al., 1995).
(4) Avoid any additional text within the brackets; this format is necessary for on-line literature searches.
(5) Manuscripts accepted for publication but not yet published – list in References as (in press).
(6) Citation of unpublished work:
(a) Your own unpublished observations and results submitted for publication should be cited in text only and not in the reference list. Use the format (S. P. Jones, unpublished).
(b) Personal communications, i.e. the unpublished observations of other scientists, will only be published when substantiated by written permission.

Reference list

(1) References are listed in alphabetical order according to surname and initials of first author. Within a group of papers with the same first author, list single author papers first, then papers with two authors, then et al. papers. If more than one reference exists for each type, arrange in date order. Use a and b for papers published in the same year.
(2) 'In press' citations must have been accepted for publication and the name of the journal or publisher included.
(3) Initials should follow all surnames in the list of authors; insert a full stop and space after each initial and parentheses round the date followed by a full stop. Use bold for authors' names.
(4) Use USA National Standard abbreviations for journals.
(5) Use the following style:

Rochlin, M. W., Itoh, K., Adelstein, R. S. and Bridgman, P. C. (1995). Localization of myosin IIA and B isoforms in cultured neurons. J. Cell Sci.108, 3661-3670.

Matlin, K. S. and Caplan, M. J. (1992). Epithelial cell structure and polarity. In The Kidney: Physiology and Pathophysiology (ed. D. W. Seldin and G. Giebisch), pp. 447-473. New York: Raven Press Ltd.

If there are more than 10 authors, use 'et al.' after the 10th author.

Endnote users

Please download the Endnote Styles to format your MS. Also available is a Journal Terms list (MedlineTerms.txt), which contains 3372 Medline journal abbreviations that can be used in conjunction with these styles.

Please refer to your Endnote manual for instructions on how to import the Terms List and add the journal output styles.

styles.zip
Med_Abbr.zip

Macintosh

styles.hqx
Med_Abbr.hqx

Please submit a copy of your document without field codes, as described in the Endnote Help system: 'Removing Field Codes'.

Funding

Details of all funding sources should be given in a separate section entitled 'Funding'. This should appear immediately after the Acknowledgments section. Please provide the full official funding agency name, i.e. 'National Institutes of Health', not 'NIH'. Grant numbers should be given in square brackets as follows: [grant number xxxx]. Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma as follows: [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]. Agencies should be separated by a semi-colon (plus 'and' before the last funding agency). Where individuals need to be specified for certain sources of funding, please add 'to initials' after the relevant agency or grant number. e.g. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [AA123456 to C.S., BB765432 to M.H.]; and the Alcohol & Education Research Council [hfygr667789].

It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to provide the relevant grant information from All authors.

Where no specific funding has been provided for the research, please use the following sentence: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Author contributions

An author is someone who has made significant and substantial contributions to a study. This should include conception, design, execution and interpretation of the findings being published, and drafting and revising the article. Papers must be submitted with the agreement of all authors, and all authors should give final approval of the version to be published.

Those who have made other contributions to the work, such as by providing reagents or assisting with the writing, should be listed in the Acknowledgements and their role or involvement outlined.

Author competing interests

Please declare any competing interests (as defined in our publishing ethics) in the cover letter that you submit with your manuscript.

Disclaimer

Responsibility for (1) the accuracy of statements of fact, (2) the authenticity of scientific findings or observations, (3) expressions of scientific or other opinion and (4) any other material published in the journal rests solely with the author(s) of the article in which such statements, etc., appear. No responsibility for such matters is assumed by the journal or its owners, publishers, reviewers or staff.

Genetic nomenclature

Gene names should be in italic type, but the protein product of a gene should be in Roman type. Genetic nomenclature should be in accordance with established conventions and should be approved by the relevant nomenclature curator if applicable.

Arabidopsis: http://www.arabidopsis.org/portals/nomenclature/guidelines.jsp
Caenorhabditis elegans: http://www.wormbase.org
Drosophila: http://flybase.bio.indiana.edu/docs/nomenclature/lk/nomenclature.html
Human: http://www.genenames.org/aboutHGNC.html
Maize: http://www.maizegdb.org/maize_nomenclature.php
Mouse: http://www.informatics.jax.org/mgihome/nomen/index.shtml
Zebrafish: http://zfin.org/zf_info/nomen.html

Taxonomic nomenclature

The Latin name and taxonomic authority (e.g. Linnaeus) should be given for all experimental species.