The Journal of Biological Chemistry: Editorial Policies and Practices and Instructions to Authors

Editorial Policies and Practices

The Journal of Biological Chemistry is owned and published by the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. Its editorial policies are the responsibility of the Editor, the Associate Editors, and the Editorial Board under the general authority of the Publications Committee and the Council. The JOURNAL publishes papers based on original research that are judged after editorial review to make a substantial contribution to the understanding of any area of biochemistry or molecular biology. Two types of papers may be submitted, full length papers and Communications. Authors are urged to keep the length of papers below six printed pages (24 typed pages of manuscript in double spacing including figures and tables). Communications can be no longer than four printed pages. The JOURNAL also publishes Minireviews, but only after invitation by the Editor.

Communications are intended to present new ideas, new data of special interest and importance, or novel insights into biochemical phenomena that are judged to be of special interest to readers of The JOURNAL. They are not designed to be short versions of a regular paper. Because of the special nature of Communications, the Editors will try to decide very quickly on their suitability for publication. An Associate Editor decides whether a Communication is suitable for further review. If it is unsuitable the authors may request that it be considered as a regular paper.

There is a charge per page for all published manuscripts. Authors unable to pay page charges may apply at the time of submission for waiver of page charges. Applications must be endorsed by a senior institutional official.

As a condition of publication, all authors must transfer copyright to the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Authors of papers published in The JOURNAL are obligated to honor any reasonable request by qualified investigators for unique propagative materials, such as cell lines, hybridomas, and DNA clones, that are described in the paper.

All manuscripts submitted to The JOURNAL are reviewed critically, and it is the responsibility of the Editor, the Associate Editors, and the Editorial Board to determine their suitability for publication. After receipt of a manuscript by the Editor, it is sent to an Associate Editor who usually assigns it to a member of the Editorial Board. The Board member then makes a definitive recommendation for acceptance, revision, or declination based on the scientific merit and technical quality of the studies reported. Referees may be consulted when additional expertise is required. All Board members and referees who review a manuscript remain unknown to the authors. Every manuscript is treated by the reviewers as a privileged communication, and they exclude themselves from review of any manuscript that might involve a conflict of interest or the appearance thereof. On submission of a manuscript, authors may request disqualification of up to two potential reviewers, but not an Associate Editor. Authors cannot make extensive or blanket disqualification of a group of possible reviewers, e.g. potential competitors in one or more industrial laboratories or academic departments. However, authors are urged to suggest potential reviewers who have not seen the manuscript before submission, especially members of the Editorial Board.

The primary criterion for judging the acceptability of a manuscript is its originality and scientific importance. Manuscripts that are judged lacking in these respects will be declined, even if the experimental work appears technically sound. This policy permits declination of a manuscript solely on the judgment of the Editors that the studies reported are insufficiently original and important to merit publication in The JOURNAL. If there are a number of serious concerns raised in the initial review by a member of the Editorial Board and a manuscript is not recommended by the Board member for publication, the Associate Editor can decline it without further review. The Associate Editor may also seek a second opinion from another Editorial Board member or an expert referee, but is not obligated to do so.

Instructions to Authors

Where to Submit

All manuscripts are submitted in triplicate to: EDITOR, THE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 9650 ROCKVILLE PIKE BETHESDA, MD 20814. USA

They may come from any country but must be written in English. A letter must be included indicating the address and telephone, fax and e-mail numbers of the submitting author. All submissions must be accompanied by copies of the authors' manuscripts on related subjects that are in press or currently under editorial review. Reprints of related published papers by the authors may also be helpful to the reviewers. All submitted manuscripts should contain original research that has not been published previously and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Manuscripts need not be submitted on electronic diskettes, but after acceptance of a manuscript authors are required to submit a diskette containing the final version of the manuscript. The label on the diskette should indicate the date, journal name, manuscript number, senior author's name, manuscript title, type of hardware, software program and version number used.

Organization of the Manuscript

Manuscripts must be typed on 8.5 × 11 high-quality paper in double or triple spacing throughout with at least one-inch margins on all sides. The text must be typed in a font size of at least ten points. The manuscript is to be arranged in the following order: (a) title, author(s), and complete name(s) of institution(s); (b) running title; (c) summary; (d) introduction; (e) experimental procedures; (f) results; (g) discussion; (h) references; (i) footnotes; (j) figure legends; (k) tables; and (l) figures. Number all pages with the title page as page 1. Begin each section on a new page. Indicate by marginal notes the suggested location in the text of each figure and table.

The Title of the manuscript should be as short and informative as possible. It should not contain non-standard acronyms or abbreviations nor exceed two printed lines. The title page should also give the names of all authors and their complete mailing addresses. The title page should also include the name and the telephone and fax numbers of the author to whom all correspondence about the manuscript, including proofs, will be sent.

The Running Title to be printed at the top of each page of a published paper, cannot exceed 60 characters and spaces.

The Summary should succinctly and clearly describe the major findings reported in the manuscript. It must not exceed 200 words nor contain abbreviations or specialized terms. It should be understandable in itself, since it is frequently used as an abstract.

The Introduction should present the purpose of the studies reported and their relationship to earlier work in the field. It should not be an extensive review of the literature nor, in general, exceed two typed pages.

The Experimental Procedures should be as brief as possible but sufficiently descriptive to permit a qualified reader to repeat the experiments reported. Only truly new procedures should be described in detail; previously published procedures should be cited in references. Modifications of previously published procedures need be given in detail only when this is necessary to repeat the work.

The Results of experiments should be presented in figures and tables, although some results that do not require documentation can be given solely in the text. Extensive discussion should not be given in the Results section, and should be limited to an explanation of why subsequent experiments were performed.

The Discussion should be concise (usually less than four typed pages) and focused on the interpretation of the results, rather than a repetition of the Results section.

Notes added in proof can be added to a manuscript only with the consent of the Editor.

Errors in a published paper should be corrected in The JOURNAL in “Additions and Corrections.”

The References should be cited by number rather than author and date. References should be numbered consecutively in the order of appearance in the manuscript. References for journals and books should be in the following styles:

1. MacDonald, G. M., Steenhuis, J. J., and Barry, B. A. (1995) J. Biol. Chem.270, 8420-8428

2. Sambrook, J., Fritsch, E. F., and Maniatis, T.(1989) Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 2nd Ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY

Journal names are abbreviated according to Chemical Abstracts. Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy of the references.

Footnotes are used to cite manuscripts in preparation, unpublished observations, and personal communications. Authors are responsible for obtaining written approval for all personal communications and sending a copy of the manuscript to those cited. The Editor may request proof of such approval.

All abbreviations used in the text must be defined in a single footnote inserted in the text immediately after the first abbreviation is cited. The abbreviations of some important biochemical compounds, e.g. ATP, NADH, DNA and amino acids in proteins, need not be defined. Phrases such as “central nervous system” or “red blood cells” should not be abbreviated. Names of enzymes are usually not abbreviated except in terms of the substrates for which there are accepted abbreviations, e.g. ATPase and RNase.

The trivial and systematic names of enzymes should be those recommended by the Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) in “Enzyme Nomenclature, Recommendations, 1992 (1992, Academic Press).

Tables and Figures

The number of tables and figures used to present data essential to illustrate or prove a point should be kept to a minimum. Very complex or large tables and figures should be submitted in “camera ready” format typed or drawn in single space. For example, amino acid or nucleic acid sequences should always be prepared for direct photographic reproduction to avoid errors.

Tables should have titles and sufficient experimental detail in a legend immediately following the title to be understandable without reference to the text. Each column in a table must have a heading, and abbreviations, when necessary, should be defined in the legend.

Figures should have titles and explanatory legends that contain sufficient detail to make the figure easily understood. All legends should be typed consecutively in a separate section of the manuscript. All figures will be printed in a single column (8.4 cm in width) or less. Thus, numbers, letters, and symbols should be drawn so that after reduction and printing they are between 1.5 to 3.0 mm high. The abscissa and ordinate should be clearly labeled, and the units of measurement given. Scales for plotting the data should be marked by short index lines, but every index line need not be numbered. Use standard symbols, if possible, in the following order of preference: •, ○, ×, , □, , ▵, , , , . The symbols and curves can be identified in the legend or in the figure.

On submission of the manuscript, a complete set of figures on paper about the same size as the manuscript pages should be included with each copy of the manuscript. Indicate on the back of each figure its TOP, the authors' names, and the figure number. Only one set of top quality figures as line drawings is needed for the printer; other copies may be photographic prints or photocopies, except for electron micrographs or halftone figures where good quality prints must be supplied with each copy of the manuscript.

There will be a charge for publication of halftone illustrations, electron micrographs, color plates, some stereoscopic figures, and special illustrations. Stereoscopic illustrations must be submitted in the exact size they are to appear in The JOURNAL.

Chemical and Mathematical Usage

Table 1 lists the abbreviations for units of measurement and certain physical and chemical quantities used by The JOURNAL without definition. Also listed are the prefixes that can be added to names of units and the multipliers indicated by each prefix.

Chemical equations, structural formulas, and mathematical equations should be placed between successive lines of text. They should also be prepared the same way as figures for direct photographic reproduction and included at the end of the manuscript. In general, the rules and recommendations of the IUBMB and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) will be used for abbreviation of chemical names, nomenclature of chemical compounds, enzyme nomenclature, isotopic compounds, optically active isomers, and spectroscopic data. Table 2 lists references to publications of the rules and recommendations of the International Scientific Unions that may be consulted for detailed information.

Protein and Nucleic Acid Sequences

Authors of accepted papers containing nucleotide sequences should submit the sequence data, preferably in computer-readable form or by electronic mail, and a copy of the paper to either GenBank: GenBank Submissions, National Center for Biotechnology Information, 8600 Rockville Pike, Building 38A, Room 8N-805, Bethesda, MD 20894. Tel.: (301) 496-2475; Electronic mail (submissions) gbsub{at}ncbi.nlm.nih.gov; Electronic mail (information) info{at}ncbi.nlm.nih.gov; or EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Library: Postfach 10.2209, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 6900 Heidelberg, Germany 6221-387-258/ Tel.: +49(6221) 387258; Electronic mail datasubs{at}embl-heidelberg.de. An accession number must be obtained before the manuscript is sent to the printer. A footnote will be included in the paper indicating that such a deposit has been made. Submission to either data bank is sufficient to ensure entry in both. When nucleotide probes are used, the ends of the probes should be explicitly identified by reference to published nucleotide number or restriction maps, or, if unpublished, the information should be included in the Experimental Procedures section.

Crystallographic Studies

Authors of papers describing new structure determinations must submit to the Protein Data Bank at Brookhaven National Laboratory all structural data required to validate the discussion, including both x-ray amplitudes and phases and the derived atomic coordinates. For NMR structures, data deposited should include resonance assignments and all restraints used in structure determination (NOEs, spin-spin coupling constants, amide exchange rates, etc.), and the derived atomic coordinates for both an individual structure and for a family of acceptable structures. A footnote will be inserted in the manuscript saying that the necessary data have been deposited. If the paper discusses a protein structure only at the level of the main chain α-carbon atoms, only α-carbon coordinates need be deposited. If the discussion involves higher resolution data, for example, all atoms in the active site of an enzyme, the full set of x-ray data, and the coordinate list must be deposited. After completion of the editorial process, the manuscript will not be accepted until confirmation has been received from the author, if not initially supplied, that the required information has been sent to the Protein Data Bank.