Instructions for Authors

2011-08-15 00:53
THE JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH 2011年1期

Scope and Aim

The Journal of Biomedical Research (JBR), a peer-reviewed bimonthly biomedical publication, intends to provide international biomedical researchers with an open forum to disseminate important new information in biomedical research.JBR is covered by major abstracting and indexing services and welcomes submissions from authors worldwide.It publishes original research articles, review articles and case reports, and also accepts Letter to the Editor.JBR covers the latest developments in multidisciplinary areas of biological and biomedical sciences with focuses on mechanistic studies at the molecular level.Manuscripts with innovative ideas and/or approaches that bridge different fields are considered with priority.The main subject areas include, but are not limited to,biochemistry/biophysics, cell biology, developmental biology, genetics, immunology, microbiology, molecular biology, protein science, structural biology, and translational medicine.

General Requirements

All submitted manuscripts should contain original research that has not been previously published partly or in full in print or electronic format and are currently not under consideration for publication elsewhere.Manuscripts from any country are welcome, but must be written in English.JBR also publishes reviews which are mainly by invitation.Original articles should summarize results of a complete, rigorously designed study supported by experimental and/or clinical data.The recommended length for a full-length article is 3,000 to 5,000 words, excluding abstract, references, tables, or figures.Case reports are intended to shed light on unusual cases and promote knowledge about unknown or novel disease processes or manifestations,which help contribute to a better understanding of such diseases, or provide up-to-date knowledge about rare and uncommon diseases.Submissions should not normally exceed 2,000 words or three published pages including figures, diagrams and references.Letter to the Editor is usually written to comment on a current controversial issue or express the viewpoint of the writer, and it should be limited to 2,000 words.

Details of Submission Requirements

A cover letter from the corresponding author must accompany the manuscript and should briefly describe what is known in the field,the conceptual advances provided by and the significance of the reported findings.The authors are encouraged to suggest appropriate reviewers and are permitted to make a request for exclusion of up to three reviewers.Cover letter should state that the submitted material is original research, has not been previously published, and has not been submitted elsewhere while under review by JBR.The cover letter is confidential and will not be sent to the reviewers.The cover letter should contain the names of all the authors and their complete mailing addresses and identify the correspondence author.

Manuscript Components

Manuscript should be arranged in the following order: (a)Title section, including Title, Running Title, Authors, Author Affiliations,and Correspondence; (b)Abstract; (c)Keywords; (d)Introduction; (e)Materials and Methods, (f)Results; (g)Discussion; (h)Footnotes, including acknowledgment and abbreviations; (i)References; (j)Figure legends; (k)Tables; (l)Figures; (m)Supplemental data.

Text components of the manuscript (a-j)should be prepared using Microsoft Word in 12 pt with one point five line-space on one side of A4 (297×210 mm)sheets with all pages numbered.Tables (k)should be prepared in Microsoft Word with single space.Figures(l)should be converted to PDF format.The manuscript can be submitted through the online submission system (www.jbr-pub.org).

Research Article Format

TitleThe title should be informative and concise, and reflect the content of the article in terms understandable to a broad readership.It should be no longer than 150 characters (including spaces)and contain no non-standard acronyms or abbreviations.

Running titleA running title that describes the key meaning of the paper should be provided and kept within 60 characters(including spaces).

AuthorshipAuthor names should be spelled out in full, with the given name first and the family name last.Affiliations (including department/subunit, institution, city, province/state/region, postal code and country or region)should be provided for each author.If the authors are affiliated to different units, the affiliation sequence should follow the order of the author list, marked with superscript using a, b, and c, etc.following author names.Corresponding author’s name, full postal address, telephone and fax numbers and e-mail address should be provided.Any change in authorship after submission must be approved in writing by all authors.

An unstructured abstract consisting of a single paragraph of no more than 150 words is recommended including the purpose of the study or the reason why you intended to do the study, the main methods used in the study, and main data or outcomes, as well as a conclusion in a definite, conclusive, and short statement, but not indefinite, vague, or suggestive sentences.The abstract must be informative rather than indicative.Authors should emphasize the new and important aspects of the study.

Up to six key words, separated by commas, are allowed.They should be taken from those recommended by the Index Medicus Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)browser list at http: //www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh /meshhome.html.

IntroductionThe Introduction summarizes the rationale for the study and mainly includes the background of the research through literature citation, the questions to be addressed, the objectives of the research, and the main methods used.

Materials and Methods

Materials

Reagents:The names of the suppliers for reagent or kit used in the research should be given along with the country of the supplier(e.g., FITC-conjugated rat anti-goat IgG was purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology, USA.).

Drug Names:The Recommended International Non-proprietary Name (RINN)should be used for medicinal substances unless the specific trade name of a drug is directly relevant to the discussion.

Species nomenclature: The scientific name [genus, species (in italics)and authority]for all microorganisms and animals should be given.Simple chemical names may be used in certain places, for example, CO2.

Experimental subjects: The grade of the animals used should be indicated and the certificate number of the animal breeder provided.Rats and mice of at least Grade II can be reported.The sex, age, and body weights of tested animals or humans should be expressed as mean, standard deviation, and total range.

Ethical considerations: When reporting experiments on human subjects or animals, authors should include an ethical statement in the Materials and Methods section.Authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national)and with the Helsinki Declaration.Human experiments may be performed only in accordance with the ethical standards provided by the responsible committee of the institution at which the work was carried out and in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in Edinburgh 2000), available at http: //www.wma.net/.If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review board explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.The patients’ names, initials, or hospital names or any information that may lead to the identification of the patients should be omitted.Animal experiments should follow the guidelines for the care and use of animals established by the authors’ affiliated institution (s).For enrolled subjects, each should voluntarily sign an informed consent based on the full understanding of the research.When researches were conducted on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

Methodsshould be described in sufficient detail so that other laboratories can reproduce the results and verify the claims.Generally,standard procedures should be referenced, but significant modifications should be described.Appropriate experimental design and statistical methods should be supplied and described wherever necessary for proper interpretation of data and verification of claims.All novel materials and procedures should be described in sufficient detail to allow their reproduction (e.g., DNA constructs, genetic stocks, enzyme preparations, and analytical softwares).

UnitsPlease use the metric system for the expression of length, height, weight, mass, area and volume.Temperatures are to be given in degrees Celsius (°C).Use of Systeme International (SI)units is preferred for all hematological and clinical chemistry measurements.

Quantities,units,and numerical values(see ISO 31-0: 1992)

SI units (Système International d’Unités)should be used.For example: 25.4 mm (not 1 inch), mol/L (not M or N).When an Arabic number precedes a SI unit, the unit symbol should be used rather than the full name of the unit, for example, 1 s (one second), 2 min (two minutes), 3 h (three hours), 4 d (four days), d 4 (the fourth day), 5 y (5 years), y 5 (the fifth y).The symbol ‰ ("per mill"or per thousand)should be avoided.Abbreviations such as ppm and ppb should not be used.No unit is required for relative molecular mass.A solidus ( /)should not be followed by a multiplication sign or a division sign unless parentheses are inserted to avoid any ambiguity.In complicated cases, negative powers or parentheses should be used, for example,mol/(L·s), not mol/L/s.Multiple prefixes (e.g., mμg)should not be used.

Dosage is expressed as per kg except in mice.Concentration in solution is expressed as per L, not per mL.Values for rpm should be converted into gravity (×g).Absorbance (A)values are preferred to optical density (OD)values.

Symbols are not pluralized (e.g., 7 kg, not kgs).The numerical value such as the ratio of the quantity to the unit (e.g., λ /nm=589)should be indicated.This is particularly useful in graphs and in the headings of columns in tables.

Use 12.4 mm (not 0.0124 m), 5 μmol(not 5×10-6mol), 3-8 g, 3%-8%, 3 m×8 m×2 m, 8±3 g, and (8±3)nmol/L.

Do not include more digits than are justified by the accuracy of the determinations.For example: a dog weighs 9 kg (not 9000 g,which implies an accuracy of 1 g).In a sample, the number of significant figures are determined by the variation within the sample,that is, one-third of the standard deviation.For example: 8.6±2.9 kg (not 8619±2930 g, nor 9±3 kg).

The sign for multiplication of numbers is a cross (×)or a raised dot (·).Leave a space between the numerical value and the unit symbol, e.g., 56°C.Calendar dates may be written in the following format: 5 June, 2006.

For isotopically labelled compounds, use a square bracket directly attached to the front of the name (word)or formula.Examples:[14C]urea, [α-32P]ATP (not AT32P), sodium [14C]formate.However, both [131I]iodoalbumin and 131I-albumin are correct.

ResultsEmphasize or summarize only important observations.Simple data may be set forth in the text with no need for tables or figures.Results can be described using text, tables and figures.The text should complement the materials given in the Tables and /or Figures, and should not be simple, direct repetition of the information in the Tables and/or Figures.Please provide full details of statistical analysis either in the text or in the Tables and/or Figure legends.Please include the type of test, the precise data to which it was applied, the value of the relevant statistics, the sample size and/or degrees of freedom, and the probability level.

DiscussionThe main purpose of the Discussion is to comment on the significance of the results and set them in the context of previous work.Emphasize any new and important findings and relate your results to other studies.Discuss the limitations of your experiments.Hypothesis should be rational and evidence-based.Please avoid repeating information in the Results section.

AbbreviationsAny abbreviations should be defined on first usage in the text.Use SI units only.However, some common names, such as GTP, RNA and PCR, may not be defined.All nomenclature, including gene names and symbols, should be used in a scientifically accurate manner following the nomenclature conventions adopted by the scientific community.

References, which should be more than 30 for original research, must be numbered consecutively in the order of appearance in the text, and listed in numerical order in the reference list.Each reference citation within the main body of the text should be indicated by a superscript Arabic number in square brackets.Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and correct citation in the text.Please pay particular attention to the content, year, volume, page and so on.Journal titles should be abbreviated in accordance with the Index Medicus (www.nlm.nih.gov).The names of all the authors are listed if six or fewer, followed by their initials, and, if there are more than six authors, only the first six authors are listed followed by et al.References published within the past five years are preferred.Do not cite uncompleted work or work that has not yet been accepted for publication as references.All references should be presented using the following format:

Journal articles in English:

[1]Manabe YC,Clark DP,Moore RD, Lumadue JA,Dahlman HR,Belitsos PC,et al.Cryptosporidiosis in patients with AIDS:correlates of disease and surival.Clin Infect Dis 1998;27:536-42.

[2]Moisan M, Barbeau J, Moreau S, Pelletier J.Low-temperature sterilization using gas plasmas: a review of the experiments and an analysis of the inactivation mechanisms.Int J Pharm 2001;226:1-21.

[3]Steube KG, Meyer C, Drexler HG.Constitutive protein expression of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1)by myelomonocytic cell lines and regulation of the secretion by anti-and proinflammatory stimuli.Leuk Res 1999;23:843-9.

Articles not in English:

[1]Chachin M,Ohmura T,Hayashi N,Nishimura Y,Satoh H.Pharmacological and clinical profile of telmisartan, a selective angiotensin II type-1 receptor blocker.Nippon Yakurigaku Zasshi(in Japanese)2004;124:31-9.

Volume with supplement:

Avis NE, Deimling GT.Cancer survivorship and aging.Cancer 2008; 113(S12):3519-29.

Volume with parts:

Ozben T, Nacitarhan S, Tuncer N.Plasma and urine sialic acid in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.Ann Clin Biochem 1995;32(Pt 3):303-6.

Books:

Levinsky NG.Fluid and electrolytes.In: Thorn GW, Adams RD, Braunwald E, Editors.Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine,8th edition.New York: McGraw-Hill, 1977:364-75.

TablesTables should be a three-line graph and cited consecutively in the text.All numbers should be written in the same decimal place.Not applicable data should be represented by a "-".Pay attention to the difference between "zero"and "not done"as an entry in the table.Tables also should be practically self-contained and self-explanatory.All tables should be cited in the text and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals.Ensure that all symbols or abbreviations are explained.Label each table at the top with an Arabic numeral followed by the table title.Insert explanatory material and footnotes below the table.Designate footnotes using lowercase superscript letters (a, b, c)reading horizontally across the table.Abbreviations that are used in a table should be defined in the footnotes.Please prepare the tables in MS Word with a single-space format.Do not embed tables as graphic files, document objects,or pictures.

FiguresFigures (graphs, charts, photographs, and illustrations)should be practically self-explanatory and labeled professionally.Dimensional drawings and diagrams should include only the essential details with as little lettering as possible.The magnification for micrograph should be indicated by scale bars, inscriptions should be legible, and the symbols and letters should be consistent among the panels.Figures should be explained in the text, and should appear in the order cited.Each table/figure should occupy a single page.Please label the figure number on the top left-hand corner of each page.Photographs must be of the highest quality with good contrast.Color photographs are welcome.Photomicrographs should be cropped to show only the essential parts and an inset at higher magnification is usually more informative than a single large one.Scale bars (e.g., 1 μm)should be put inside the photomicrographs.For initial submission, PDF format is preferred.Adequate figure resolution is essential to a high-quality print of your paper.Raster line art should carry an absolute minimum resolution of 600 dpi, and for grey scale and color artworks, a minimum resolution of 300 dpi is required.

Figure legendsThe legends should be typed below the reference of the manuscript.Staining methods and magnification should be indicated for a graph of tissue sections.Every figure should contain a title, and the figure legend should follow the title closely and provide enough information to make the figures understandable without frequently referring to the text.Do not describe methods in figure legends unless they are necessary for interpreting the results conveyed by the figure.All symbols and abbreviations that are used in the figure should be defined in the legends.

Supplemental MaterialsSupplemental materials that are directly related to the conclusion are welcomed.However, unrelated data may be removed by editors.Depending on the nature of supplemental data, they can be in plain text, MS Word, MS Excel, JPEG,TIFF, and video.We encourage authors to submit supplemental documents in PDF format if applicable.

Potential Conflicts of Interest

Authors are responsible for disclosing all financial and personal relationships that might bias their work.Authors should state explicitly whether potential conflicts do or do not exist in the manuscript on a conflict-of-interest notification page that follows the title page, providing additional detail, if necessary, in a cover letter that accompanies the manuscript.