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Steroids

Introduction

Types of paper

Significant original research papers and pertinent reviews on all aspects of steroids will be considered for publication. Specifically, both experimental and theoretical studies dealing with the following areas of investigation are welcome: chemistry and physiochemistry; biosynthesis; metabolism; molecular biology; physiology; pharmacology; analytical techniques; comparative endocrinology; clinical research; mode of action (including that of related peptides); and the role of steroids on growth and differentiation. Relevant compounds also include non-steroidal analogs that are inhibitors or activators of steroid biosynthetic enzymes or ligands for steroid hormone receptors

Letters to the editor are welcome, for editing and publication at the discretion of the editor. Rapid Communications will be considered if material is of unusual interest and particularly timely.


Publication of Articles Describing the Isolation and Identification of New Steroids or the Synthesis of New Steroids or Steroid Derivatives

Articles reporting solely the isolation and identification of previously unknown steroids are not necessarily suitable for publication in Steroids. Among the considerations used by editors and reviewers in evaluating the significance of such manuscripts are the types of structural variations compared to known steroids, the isolation source, and the experimental methods used in structure determination. Similarly, for articles describing only the synthesis of new steroids or steroid derivatives, important considerations will be the novelty of the approach or reactions used for the preparation, and the structural novelty of the new synthetic products. With both isolated and newly synthesized compounds, additional consideration will be given to their biochemical and/or biological activities as well as the potential utility of the structural characterization and bioactivity data to other researchers. Authors should comment upon these matters in the Highlights, Abstract, Introduction, and/or Conclusions. All articles will be evaluated for appropriate English language usage, and the quality of the figures.

Submission checklist

You can use this list to carry out a final check of your submission before you send it to the journal for review. Please check the relevant section in this Guide for Authors for more details.

Ensure that the following items are present:

One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address

All necessary files have been uploaded:
Manuscript:
• Include keywords
• All figures (include relevant captions)
• All tables (including titles, description, footnotes)
• Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided
• Indicate clearly if color should be used for any figures in print
Graphical Abstracts / Highlights files (where applicable)
Supplemental files (where applicable)

Further considerations
• Manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'
• All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)
• A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare
• Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed
• Referee suggestions and contact details provided, based on journal requirements

For further information, visit our Support Center.

Before you begin

Ethics in Publishing

For information on Ethics in Publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication see https://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and https://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.

When experimental animals are used, the materials and methods section must clearly indicate that adequate measures were taken to minimize pain or discomfort, and that the experiments were conducted in accordance with international standards on animal welfare as well as being compliant with local and national regulations. Studies are expected to be compliant with minimal standards as defined by the European Communities Council Directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC) http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/aw/aw_legislation/scientific/86-609-eec_en.PDF and the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/labrats/ Full details of any anesthetic or analgesic dose and treatment must be given.

Declaration of interest

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places: 1. A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file (if double anonymized) or the manuscript file (if single anonymized). If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations of interest: none'. 2. Detailed disclosures as part of a separate Declaration of Interest form, which forms part of the journal's official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches. More information.

Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing

The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process.

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.

Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Disclosure instructions
Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

Submission declaration and verification

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify compliance, your article may be checked by Crossref Similarity Check and other originality or duplicate checking software.

Preprint Repositories
Journal Steroids accepts submissions that have been previously posted to a preprint server. Authors submitting preprints are asked to inform the editors in their cover letter and identify the site where the preprint is currently hosted. If the author's paper is accepted by Journal Steroids, the journal requires that the author update the preprint to link to the final publication in Journal Steroids For more information please visit: https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/sharing

Preprints
Please note that preprints can be shared anywhere at any time, in line with Elsevier's sharing policy. Sharing your preprints e.g. on a preprint server will not count as prior publication (see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information).

Preprint posting on SSRN

In support of Open Science, this journal offers its authors a free preprint posting service. Preprints provide early registration and dissemination of your research, which facilitates early citations and collaboration.

During submission to Editorial Manager, you can choose to release your manuscript publicly as a preprint on the preprint server SSRN once it enters peer-review with the journal. Your choice will have no effect on the editorial process or outcome with the journal. Please note that the corresponding author is expected to seek approval from all co-authors before agreeing to release the manuscript publicly on SSRN.

You will be notified via email when your preprint is posted online and a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is assigned. Your preprint will remain globally available free to read whether the journal accepts or rejects your manuscript.

For more information about posting to SSRN, please consult the SSRN Terms of Use and FAQs.

Use of inclusive language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise to seek gender neutrality by using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as default/wherever possible to avoid using "he, she," or "he/she." We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition unless they are relevant and valid. When coding terminology is used, we recommend to avoid offensive or exclusionary terms such as "master", "slave", "blacklist" and "whitelist". We suggest using alternatives that are more appropriate and (self-) explanatory such as "primary", "secondary", "blocklist" and "allowlist". These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive.

Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses

Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth (""sex assigned at birth""), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary. Moreover, the terms ""sex"" and ""gender"" can be ambiguous—thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the resources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

Author contributions

For transparency, we require corresponding authors to provide co-author contributions to the manuscript using the relevant CRediT roles. The CRediT taxonomy includes 14 different roles describing each contributor’s specific contribution to the scholarly output. The roles are: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing - original draft; and Writing - review & editing. Note that not all roles may apply to every manuscript, and authors may have contributed through multiple roles. More details and an example.

Authorship

All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.

Changes to authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.
Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Article transfer service
This journal uses the Elsevier Article Transfer Service to find the best home for your manuscript. This means that if an editor feels your manuscript is more suitable for an alternative journal, you might be asked to consider transferring the manuscript to such a journal. The recommendation might be provided by a Journal Editor, a dedicated Scientific Managing Editor, a tool assisted recommendation, or a combination. If you agree, your manuscript will be transferred, though you will have the opportunity to make changes to the manuscript before the submission is complete. Please note that your manuscript will be independently reviewed by the new journal. More information.

Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (see more information on this). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases.

For gold open access articles: Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'License Agreement' (more information). Permitted third party reuse of gold open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license.

Author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.

Elsevier supports responsible sharing
Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, it is recommended to state this.

Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit https://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.

US National Institutes of Health (NIH) voluntary posting (" Public Access") policy.

As a service to our authors, Elsevier will deposit to PubMed Central (PMC) author manuscripts on behalf of Elsevier authors reporting NIH funded research. This service is a continuation of Elsevier's 2005 agreement with the NIH when the NIH introduced their voluntary 'Public Access Policy.'

The service will help authors comply with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) revised ''Public Access Policy,'' effective April 7, 2008. The NIH's revised policy requires that NIH-funded authors submit to PubMed Central (PMC), or have submitted on their behalf, their peer-reviewed author manuscripts, to appear on PMC no later than 12 months after final publication.

Elsevier will send to PMC the final peer-reviewed manuscript, which was accepted for publication and sent to Elsevier's production department, and that reflects any author-agreed changes made in response to peer-review comments. Elsevier will authorize the author manuscript's public access posting 12 months after final publication. Following the deposit by Elsevier, authors will receive further communications from Elsevier and NIH with respect to the submission.

Authors are also welcome to post their accepted author manuscript on their personal or institutional web site. Please note that consistent with Elsevier's author agreement, authors should not post manuscripts directly to PMC or other third party sites. Individual modifications to this general policy may apply to some Elsevier journals and society publishing partners.

As a leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical (STM) journals, Elsevier has led the industry in developing tools, programs and partnerships that provide greater access to, and understanding of, the vast global body of STM information. This service is an example of Elsevier willingness to work cooperatively to meet the needs of all participants in the STM publishing community.

Open access

Please visit our Open Access page for more information about open access publishing in this journal.

Elsevier Researcher Academy
Researcher Academy is a free e-learning platform designed to support early and mid-career researchers throughout their research journey. The "Learn" environment at Researcher Academy offers several interactive modules, webinars, downloadable guides and resources to guide you through the process of writing for research and going through peer review. Feel free to use these free resources to improve your submission and navigate the publication process with ease.

Language (usage and editing services)
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the Language Editing service available from Elsevier's Language Services.

Submission

Submission to this journal proceeds totally online. Visit the submission site of the journal at https://www.editorialmanager.com/steroids You will be guided through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts source files to a single PDF file of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF files at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail.

Referees

Please submit, with the manuscript, the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of 4 potential referees. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.

Special Issues and Article Collections
All Special Issues and Article Collections are peer reviewed. Submitted contributions are initially assessed by the Editor-in-Chief to ensure their suitability for the special Issue and the journal. The Editor-in-Chief oversees the peer review process of all Special Issues and Articles Collections submissions to ensure that Elsevier's high standards of publishing ethics and responsiveness are respected.
Submissions which pass the initial editorial assessment are assigned to an external Guest Editor. All Guest Editors receive training on conducting peer review. Guest Editors are responsible for ensuring that each manuscript assigned to them receives a minimum of two independent expert reviews which further assess the scientific rigor and quality of the manuscript. Once two or more reviews are complete the Guest Editor submits their decision recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for rendering the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles.
Each Guest Editor is allowed to submit a maximum of one manuscript for which they are an author per special issue under their care. Guest Editors are expressly prohibited from involvement in the review and decision process for manuscripts which they are an author; Guest Editors are also prohibited from involvement with the editorial process of manuscripts which are authored by family members, colleagues, or which propose conflicts of interest. Each submission which involves any such conflicts is subject to all the journal's usual procedures and the peer review process is handled independently of the relevant editors and their research groups.
Steroids occasionally publishes joint article collections in collaboration with other Elsevier journals. This is most often the case when several journals are covering one conference, and/or are publishing novel articles around a specific and unified topic.

Preparation

Queries

For questions about the editorial process (including the status of manuscripts under review) or for technical support on submissions, please visit our Support Center.

Peer review

This journal operates a single anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal's usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups. More information on types of peer review.

Use of word processing software
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). Note that source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.

Article structure

Manuscripts Arrange the manuscript in the following order: title page, abstract, keywords, text, acknowledgments, references, footnotes, tables, figure legends, and figures. Number the pages in sequence, with the title page as page 1, the abstract as page 2, etc. Text: Arrange the body of the manuscript in the following order:
Introduction, Experimental, Results, Discussion.
Title page

Give the full title of paper. Do not use asterisks or other extraneous symbols in the title. Give the first name, middle initial, and last name of all authors. List each author's institutional affiliation(s). Show the address of each author at the time of the study as well as the present address if it differs.

Provide the name and address of the corresponding author to whom questions and reprint requests should be sent. Give the name and address of the institution from which the work originated.

Text
Arrange the text in the following order:

  • Introduction: The rationale for the study. Provide a brief account of the nature, approach and importance of the study to be presented.
  • Experimental: A clear and precise description of the experimental procedures. Identify all drugs and chemicals used, dosages, and routes of administration. All methods must be referenced and/or described in sufficient detail to enable a reader to repeat the experiment. For animal and human studies, the experimental protocol must be humane and ethical. In all manuscripts reporting the results of human studies, a statement must appear in the Experimental section indicating that approval was obtained from the institutional review board and that all human subjects signed written informed consent.
  • Results: A factual account of the study's findings. Present these as logically appropriate in text, tables, or figures; do not repeat in the text what is demonstrated in a table or figure.
  • Discussion: Place the results of the study in present and historical context and denote its importance to the field. Ensure that all conclusions are justified by the results of the study.

Key Resources Table
To enable reproducibility of the research, we encourage authors to submit a Key Resources Table, which helps make the resources clear to readers. The Key Resources Table highlights the genetically modified organisms and strains, cell lines, reagents and other resources essential to reproduce the results presented in a paper. More information is available here https://www.elsevier.com/authors/author-resources/key-resources-table

Appendices
If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

Essential title page information

Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

Highlights

Highlights are mandatory for this journal as they help increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any). Please have a look at the example Highlights.

Highlights should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).

Abstract

A concise and factual abstract is required (maximum length 250 words). The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results, and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. References should be avoided but, if essential, they must be cited in full. Avoid non-standard or uncommon abbreviations; if they must be used, define them at their first mention in the abstract itself.

Graphical abstract
Although a graphical abstract is optional, its use is encouraged as it draws more attention to the online article. The graphical abstract should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files. You can view Example Graphical Abstracts on our information site.

Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of six keywords, avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, "and", "of"). Be sparing with abbreviations; only firmly established ones should be used.

Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Acknowledgements
Acknowledge grants, sponsors, funding sources, and individuals who provided significant assistance. Include the affiliations of individuals being thanked. It is the author's responsibility to obtain permission from all those mentioned by name, because readers may infer their endorsement.

Formatting of funding sources
List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Units of measure
Standard metric units are preferred. SI units are optional, except that the use of Bq (becquerel) is not acceptable; use Ci (curie) or dpm (disintegrations per minute). Centrifugation should be described in terms of force (_g), not as rpm.

Nomenclature and units
Refer to drugs by their approved generic names. If trade names are used, the generic equivalent should be given parenthetically at the first use. Identify compounds by their formal chemical name at first use; thereafter the trivial name may be used. All names should be in accordance with the most recent IUPAC-IUB rules on the nomenclature of steroids published in Pure and Applied Chemistry 61, 1783-1822, 1989. Substituted steroids should be named so that only one functional group is designated as a suffix and all other substituents are listed as X steroids 71 (2006) IX-XI prefixes. If the first letter of the suffix is a vowel, the terminal 'e' of the name of the hydrocarbon should be dropped (e.g., etiocholan-17-one). Unsaturation should be indicated by writing the locant number for the double bond(s) before the suffix (e.g., 3-hydroxyandrost-5-en-17-one). Trivial names may be modified by prefixes indicating substituents (e.g., 17-hydroxyprogesterone) but must not be more cumbersome than the systematic names they replace. Chemically impossible trivial names (e.g., 20-hydroxyprogesterone) are not acceptable. Alcohols are named as ols or hydroxy derivatives, not as dihydroketones. Isotope location should be designated by a prefix bracket placed directly before the part of the name to which it applies (i.e., without a space or hyphen): e.g., 3,20-dihydroxy-[4-14C]pregnan-7-one; [3-3H]methoxyandrostan-17-one, 11?,21-dihydroxy-[1,2-3H; 4-14C]pregnane-3,20-dione. Iodinated compounds, in which iodine is part of the structure, are to be labeled in the same manner; e.g., [16?-125I]iodoestradiol; 3-hydroxy-[21-125I]iodopregn-5-en-20-one.

Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI. You are urged to consult IUPAC: Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry:http://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/1989/pdf/6110x1783.pdf for further information.

Guidelines Concerning Identification, Characterization, and Purity of Compounds
Compound identity and purity

Evidence must be presented establishing the identity and purity of all new compounds, and of all compounds subjected to biochemical or biological assays. High quality reproductions of 1H and 13C NMR spectra must accompany the manuscript, in a Supporting Information Section, which will not appear in the journal, but will used by reviewers and be available on the web (see below). A structure drawing and structure number should be placed on each NMR spectrum, along with the solvent and field strength. The contents of the Supporting Information Section should be summarized in a brief statement at the end of the manuscript, and a complete Table of Contents should appear at the beginning of the Supporting Information Section. When single-crystal X-ray diffraction structures are reported, CIF files need to be furnished as separate supporting information files, even if text tables of crystallographic data are included, and even if the data have been deposited in a crystallographic database.

Identification of structure: Sufficient spectroscopic information must be presented to establish the structural identity of all new compounds, whether isolated as naturally occurring steroids or newly synthesized ones. These data should appear in the Experimental Section and be adequate for unambiguous structure elucidation. A list of proton or 1H and 13C NMR peaks is generally sufficient, but if structural identification was based on NMR data, peak assignments should also be given. Chemical shift data should be given only to two decimal places. Infrared absorptions, diagnostic for key functional groups, are also helpful, and high resolution mass spectroscopic data can provide an additional criterion of compound identity. When a series of closely related compounds is reported, spectroscopic data can be presented in a table, or full spectroscopic data for a representative member can be presented, with comments made on the spectral features unique to other members of the series. For known compounds, the source or literature reference(s) to the previous isolation or to the previous method of preparation and characterization must be provided.

For known compounds, indicate the observed and literature melting points for crystalline solids, and/or the observed and literature optical rotations, in the following formats: mp xx oC (lit [ref] xx oC) and/or [α]DºC ± xxo (c, xx g/100 mL; solvent) (lit [ref] [α]D ºC ± xxo (c, xx g/100 mL; solvent). Provide comments (either in general or for individual compounds) comparing the observed 1H and 13C NMR data of known compounds with the literature values, e.g., “The 1H and 13C NMR data (xx MHz, solvent) agreed well with the literature values [ref].” It is not necessary to report complete data sets for known compounds. However, significantly different or improved data (e.g., different chemical shifts, data in different solvents, data taken at higher field, improved coupling analyses, etc.) should be reported in the Experimental Section or in a Table of NMR data and assignments.


Many naturally occurring steroids are isolated as glycoside derivatives. In such cases, the structures and absolute configuration of the individual sugar residues should be determined after hydrolysis. The absolute configuration of an individual sugar can be determined by comparing its optical rotation with the literature value for sugars of well-established absolute configuration. Another approach is direct comparison with authentic samples of the D and L sugars, or their derivatives, by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) or by gas chromatography (GC) on columns containing suitable chiral adsorbents, provided it is demonstrated that the enantiomeric compounds give separate peaks on the chiral columns.

Criteria for the purity of all compounds and of compounds with biological data: All new compounds need to be pure. Evidence of high purity is essential where biochemical or biological assay data are presented and related to compound structures; these compounds are termed "SAR compounds." The purity of SAR compounds should be more than 98 percent; the purity of other compounds should be more than 95 percent. Any questions regarding the purity of SAR compounds should appear in the Results.
The methods used to establish the purity of steroids subjected to biochemical or biological assays must be described in the Experimental Section. Most steroids obtained in pure form will be crystalline. Thus, there should be an attempt to purify and crystallize all products of chemical reactions or compounds isolated from plant extracts. Melting points should be recorded and reported for all crystalline compounds. It is strongly recommended that optical rotations be reported for new compounds. The weights and % yields should be reported for products isolated from chemical transformations.

Evidence for purity can take many forms: Combustion analyses for carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen are adequate. These data should appear in the Experimental Section and should agree with the calculated data within 0.4 percent. A recommended form for presentation is: C18H23NO4: calcd. C, 68.12; H, 7.30; N, 4.41. Found. C, 68.50; H, 7.18; N, 4.26. When satisfactory combustion analyses are not available, evidence of purity should be provided by HPLC chromatograms run in two divergent solvent systems (typically normal and reversed phase) or by high quality proton NMR spectra obtained at high signal-to-noise. These chromatograms or spectra should be included as supplementary data.

Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors can build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Otherwise, please indicate the position of footnotes in the text and list the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

Artwork

Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.
• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or use fonts that look similar.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version.
• Submit each illustration as a separate file.
• Ensure that color images are accessible to all, including those with impaired color vision.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available.
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is' in the native document format.
Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please 'Save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.
TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Color artwork

Figures
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS, or MS Office files) and with good resolution, please see https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Colour figures
If together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures, then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions [Please note: Because of technical complications that can arise in converting colour figures to "grey scale" (for the printed version should you not opt for colour in print), please submit in addition usable black-and-white files corresponding to all the colour illustrations].

Figure captions

Figure legends
Provide a concise legend for each figure that is sufficiently clear so that the figure can be understood without reference to the text. Legends to figures should be presented on a separate page. Identify and explain all abbreviations, symbols, and figure parts. The use of symbols in legends is restricted to standard ones that can be typeset; it is usually preferable to place the key symbols directly on the art.

Tables
Provide a title for each table. If a table must be continued to a second page, repeat all headings.

References

Citation in text

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full in the abstract itself. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication" Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Reference links
Increased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such as Scopus, Crossref and PubMed, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Please note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is highly encouraged.

A DOI is guaranteed never to change, so you can use it as a permanent link to any electronic article. An example of a citation using DOI for an article not yet in an issue is: VanDecar J.C., Russo R.M., James D.E., Ambeh W.B., Franke M. (2003). Aseismic continuation of the Lesser Antilles slab beneath northeastern Venezuela. Journal of Geophysical Research, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JB000884. Please note the format of such citations should be in the same style as all other references in the paper.

Web references
As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

Data references
This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.

References in a special issue
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.

Reference management software
Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles, such as Mendeley. Using citation plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide. If you use reference management software, please ensure that you remove all field codes before submitting the electronic manuscript. More information on how to remove field codes from different reference management software.

Reference formatting
There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the article number or pagination must be present. Use of DOI is highly encouraged. The reference style used by the journal will be applied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage. Note that missing data will be highlighted at proof stage for the author to correct. If you do wish to format the references yourself they should be arranged according to the following examples:

Reference style
Text: Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.
Example: '..... as demonstrated [3,6]. Barnaby and Jones [8] obtained a different result ....'
List: Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
[1] J. van der Geer, J.A.J. Hanraads, R.A. Lupton, The art of writing a scientific article, J. Sci. Commun. 163 (2010) 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.Sc.2010.00372.
Reference to a journal publication with an article number:
[2] J. van der Geer, J.A.J. Hanraads, R.A. Lupton, 2018. The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon. 19, e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00205.
Reference to a book:
[3] W. Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, fourth ed., Longman, New York, 2000.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
[4] G.R. Mettam, L.B. Adams, How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: B.S. Jones, R.Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc., New York, 2009, pp. 281–304.
Reference to a website:
[5] Cancer Research UK, Cancer statistics reports for the UK. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/, 2003 (accessed 13 March 2003).
Reference to a dataset:
[dataset] [6] M. Oguro, S. Imahiro, S. Saito, T. Nakashizuka, Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions, Mendeley Data, v1, 2015. https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.
Reference to software:
[7] E. Coon, M. Berndt, A. Jan, D. Svyatsky, A. Atchley, E. Kikinzon, D. Harp, G. Manzini, E. Shelef, K. Lipnikov, R. Garimella, C. Xu, D. Moulton, S. Karra, S. Painter, E. Jafarov, S. Molins, Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) v0.88 (Version 0.88), Zenodo, March 25, 2020. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3727209.

Journal abbreviations source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.

Video data
Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. To ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the files in one of our recommended file formats with a maximum size of 30 MB and running time of 5 minutes. Video and animation files will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: https://www.sciencedirect.com. Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages at https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.

Supplementary data
Preparation of supplementary data
Elsevier accepts supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: https://www.sciencedirect.com. To ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data is provided in one of our recommended file formats: TIFF, EPS or PDF. MS Office files (Word, Powerpoint, Excel). Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions."

Research data

This journal encourages and enables you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate, and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings, which may also include software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project.

Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article or make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. If you are sharing data in one of these ways, you are encouraged to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. Please refer to the "References" section for more information about data citation. For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the research data page.

Data linking
If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described.

There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. For more information, visit the database linking page.

For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect.

In addition, you can link to relevant data or entities through identifiers within the text of your manuscript, using the following format: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).

Research Elements

This journal enables you to publish research objects related to your original research – such as data, methods, protocols, software and hardware – as an additional paper in a Research Elements journal.

Research Elements is a suite of peer-reviewed, open access journals which make your research objects findable, accessible and reusable. Articles place research objects into context by providing detailed descriptions of objects and their application, and linking to the associated original research articles. Research Elements articles can be prepared by you, or by one of your collaborators.

During submission, you will be alerted to the opportunity to prepare and submit a manuscript to one of the Research Elements journals.

More information can be found on the Research Elements page.

Data statement
To foster transparency, we encourage you to state the availability of your data in your submission. This may be a requirement of your funding body or institution. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you will have the opportunity to indicate why during the submission process, for example by stating that the research data is confidential. The statement will appear with your published article on ScienceDirect. For more information, visit the Data Statement page.

DNA sequences and GenBank Accession numbers

Many journals cite ''gene accession numbers'' in their running text and footnotes. Gene accession numbers refer to genes or DNA sequences about which further information can be found in the databases at the National Center for Biotechnical Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine. Authors wishing to enable other scientists to use the accession numbers cited in their papers via links to these sources should type this information in the following manner: For each and every accession number cited in an article, authors should type the accession number in bold, underlined text. Letters in the accession number should always be capitalized. (See Example 1 below). This combination of letters and format will enable Elsevier's typesetters to recognize the relevant texts as accession numbers and add the required link to GenBank's sequences.

Example 1: ''(GenBank accession nos. AI631510, AI631511,AI632198, and BF223228), a B-cell tumor from a chronic lymphatic leukemia (GenBank accession no. BE675048), and a T cell lymphoma (GenBank accession no. AA361117)''. Authors are encouraged to check accession numbers used very carefully. An error in a letter or number can result in a dead link. In the final version of the printed article, the accession number text will not appear bold or underlined (see Example 2 below).

Example 2: ''(GenBank accession nos. AI631510, AI631511, AI632198, and BF223228), a B-cell tumor from a chronic lymphatic leukemia (GenBank accession no. BE675048), and a T-cell lymphoma (GenBank accession no. AA361117)''. In the final version of the electronic copy, the accession number text will be linked to the appropriate source in the NCBI databases, enabling readers to go directly to that source from the article (see Example 3 below).

Example 3: ''(GenBank accession nos. AI631510, AI631511, AI632198, and BF223228), a B-cell tumor from a chronic lymphatic leukemia (GenBank accession no. BE675048), and a T-cell lymphoma (GenBank accession no. AA361117)''.

Style
Note that Steroids uses the serial comma, e.g., Jones, Smith, and Brown (comma before 'and' in a series of three or more items). American-style spelling is required. For example: color, not colour; hydrolyze, not hydrolyse; estrogen, not oestrogen; labeled, not labelled. End-of-line hyphenation should be according to American-style word division (based on pronunciation, not word derivation). Leave a space between number and unit (50 mg, 3.5 M). For solvent proportions use the following style: ethanol/methanol (70:30 v/v) or ethyl acetate/isooctane (1:1).


Letters to the Editor
There is no specific format but there should be a short abstract of no more than 2 sentences; and no more than 5 references. There is word limit of 2, 500 words, not to exceed 2 -3 published pages including figures , tables, abstract and references. A maximum of any combination of 2 tables or figures is allowed.

After acceptance

Online proof correction

To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. Corresponding authors will receive an e-mail with a link to our online proofing system, allowing annotation and correction of proofs online. The environment is similar to MS Word: in addition to editing text, you can also comment on figures/tables and answer questions from the Copy Editor. Web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing you to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.
If preferred, you can still choose to annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version. All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail we send to authors, including alternative methods to the online version and PDF.
We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

Offprints

The corresponding author will, at no cost, receive a customized Share Link providing 50 days free access to the final published version of the article on ScienceDirect. The Share Link can be used for sharing the article via any communication channel, including email and social media. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Corresponding authors who have published their article gold open access do not receive a Share Link as their final published version of the article is available open access on ScienceDirect and can be shared through the article DOI link.

Author inquiries



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