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Molecular Immunology publishes Review articles, Research Reports, Short Communications and Brief Structural Data Reports. Nucleotide Sequence papers may also be submitted, but see below regarding prior submission of sequence data to the EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database.

The preferred medium of submission is online submission (see Online submission of papers) or, if that is not possible, on disk with accompanying manuscript (see "Electronic Submission")

Online submission of papers
Authors are requested to submit their manuscripts electronically, by using the EESubmit submission tool at http://ees.elsevier.com/mimm/. After registration, authors will be asked to upload their article and associated artwork. The submission tool will generate a PDF file to be used for the reviewing process. The submission tool generates an automatic reply which incorporates the manuscript number for future correspondence.Full instructions on how to use the online submission tool are available at the above web address. For those authors who cannot submit via EES, please refer to the appropriate Editor as he/she may be able to assist with the (technical) submission problem.
Submission of Papers
Submission of a paper implies that it has not been published previously, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and that if accepted it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the publisher. Publication shall not imply the concurrence of the Editors or Publishers with the authors'interpretation, conclusions or validity of data.

Authors must include a cover letter that contains the title, authors, a brief outline of the work's originality, desired section of publication, corresponding author's name, address, telephone and fax numbers (including country and city codes), and e-mail address. All categories of submission should be submitted with a covering letter of transmittal stating the category or section of preference in the Journal. The letter should also give the name and address of the person to whom all subsequent correspondence should be directed.

Manuscript Preparation
General: Manuscripts must be submitted in English and be typewritten, double-spaced with wide margins on one side of white paper. Good quality printouts with a font size of 12 or 10 pt are required. The corresponding author should be identified (include a Fax number and E-mail address). Full postal addresses must be given for all co-authors. Authors should consult a recent issue of the journal for style if possible. An electronic copy of the paper should accompany the final version. The Editors reserve the right to adjust style to certain standards of uniformity. Authors should retain a copy of their manuscript since we cannot accept responsibility for damage or loss of papers. Original manuscripts are discarded one month after publication unless the Publisher is asked to return original material after use. It is important to all concerned that a manuscript be carefully read for errors and clarity before sending it to an Editor. Presentation of data in duplicate form should be avoided and manuscripts will be scanned for excessive length.

It is strongly recommended that authors follow the IMGT Scientific chart (numbering and nomenclatrure) of immunoglobulin and T cell receptor sequences of human and other vertebrate species. These rules and sequences are available at IMGT, the international ImMunoGeneTics information system ttp://imgt.cines.fr

Abstracts: All papers must have an accompanying abstract in English.

Text: Follow this order when typing manuscripts: Title, Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Main text, Acknowledgements, Appendix, References, Figure Captions and then Tables. Manuscripts dealing with experimental work should be divided into major sections such as: Introduction (optional), Experimental (with Materials, Methods and Results) followed by Discussion, Conclusions and References. Do not import the Figures or Tables into your text. The corresponding author should be identified with an asterisk and footnote. All other footnotes (except for table footnotes) should be identified with superscript Arabic numbers. Footnotes should be typed at the bottom of the page on which they appear. If a large number of abbreviations are used e.g. sRNA, EA, Ag, EEM etc., it is advisable to include a glossary defining such terms.

Instructions regarding GenBank/DNA sequence linking.
DNA sequences and GenBank Accession numbers
Many Elsevier 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 database at the National Center for Biotechnical Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine. Elsevier 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 capitalised. (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 leukema (GenBank accession no. BE675048), and a T-cell lymphoma (GenBank accession no. AA361117)".

References: All publications cited in the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript. In the text refer to the author's name (without initials) and year of publication (e.g. "Since Peterson (1993) has shown that?" or "This is in the agreement with results obtained later (Kramer, 1994)"). For three or more authors use the first author followed by "et al.", in the text. The list of references should be arranged alphabetically by authors' names. The manuscript should be carefully checked to ensure that the spelling of authors' names and dates are exactly the same in the text as in the reference list.

References should be given in the following form:

Nadel, B., Tang, A., Feeney, A.J., 1998. VH replacement is unlikely to contribute significantly to receptor editing due to an ineffectual recombination of signal sequence. Mol. Immunol. 35, 227-232.

Varmus, H.E., Brown, P.O., 1989. Retroviruses. In: Berg, D.E., Howe, M.M. (Eds.), Mobile DNA. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, pp. 253-272.

Strunk Jr.,W., White, E.B., 1979. The elements of style, 3rd Edition. Macmillan, New York.

Illustrations: All illustrations should be provided in camera-ready form, suitable for reproduction (which may include reduction) without retouching. A complete set of labelled figures and illustrations should accompany each copy of the manuscript. Photographs, charts and diagrams are all to be referred to as "Figure(s)" and should be numbered consecutively in the order to which they are referred. They should accompany the manuscript, but should not be included within the text. All illustrations should be clearly marked on the back with the figure number and the author's name. All figures are to have a caption. Captions should be supplied on a separate sheet. Particular attention should be given to the size of the lettering to avoid unduly small letters in the Published version.

Immunoelectrophoretic patterns and other optical patterns should normally be provided in the form of photographic reproductions of the actual pattern, not as line drawings. Optical patterns (gel diffusion, immunoelectrophoresis, Ouchterlony) should be labelled with symbols which are descriptive of the materials employed and which do not require reference to the legend for their identification. The position of figures or illustrations should be indicated on the manuscript.

Line drawings: Good quality printouts on white paper produced in black ink are required. All lettering, graph lines and points on graphs should be sufficiently large and bold to permit reproduction when the diagram has been reduced to a size suitable for inclusion in the journal. Dye-line prints or photocopies are not suitable for reproduction. Do not use any type of shading on computer-generated illustrations. The following standard symbols should be used on line diagrams: + × [] [] ˘ ˘ ˘ ˘

Photographs: Two original photographs must be supplied as they are to be reproduced (e.g. black and white or colour). If necessary, a scale should be marked on the photograph. Please note that photocopies of photographs are not acceptable.

Colour: Authors will be charged for colour at current printing costs.

Colour illustrations for Journals with Colourful e-Product
Submit colour illustrations as original photographs, high-quality computer prints or transparencies, close to the expected in publication, or as 35 mm slides. Please make sure the artwork is in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS, or MS Office files) and is at the correct resolution. Polaroid colour prints are not suitable. 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 or not 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 http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork.

Tables: Tables should each be typed on a separate page, numbered consecutively, and each given a suitable, concise caption which should clearly present the subject matter. Footnotes to tables should be typed below the table and should be referred to by superscript lowercase letters. No vertical rules should be used. Tables should not duplicate results presented elsewhere in the manuscript (e.g. in graphs), and should be intelligible without reference to the text.
Nucleotide Sequences. All DNA and amino acid sequence data must be submitted, prior to publication, to the EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database. Instructions on how to submit data, plus Sequence Data Submission Forms can be obtained from the following address:

EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Submissions
European Bioinformatics Institut
Hinxton Hall, Hinxton
Cambridge, CB10 1RQ, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 494401
Fax: +44 (0) 1223 494472
E-mail: DATASUBS@EBI.AC.UK

Authors will be required to provide confirmation of submission of their data (accession number) when returning their proofs.

Proofs
Proofs will be sent to the author (first-named author if no corresponding author of a multi-authored paper is identified) by PDF wherever possible and should be returned within 48 hours of receipt, preferably by e-mail. Corrections should be restricted to typesetting errors; any other amendments made may be charged to the author. Any queries should be answered in full. Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as possible. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are returned to us in one all-inclusive e-mail or fax. Subsequent additional corrections will not be possible, so please ensure that your first communication is complete. Should you choose to mail your corrections, please return them to: Log-in Department, Elsevier, Stover Court, Bampfylde Street, Exeter, Devon EX1 2AH, UK.

Offprints
Twentyfive (25) free offprints will be supplied to the corresponding author of each article. Additional offprints and copies of the issue can be ordered at a specially reduced rate using the order form sent to the corresponding author after the manuscript has been accepted. Orders for reprints (produced after publication of an article) will incur a 50% surcharge.

Copyright
All authors must sign the "Transfer of Copyright" agreement before the article can be published. This transfer agreement enables Elsevier Ltd to protect the copyrighted material for the authors, without the author relinquishing his/her proprietary rights. The copyright transfer covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article, including reprints, photographic reproductions, microfilm or any other reproductions of a similar nature, and translations. It also includes the right to adapt the article for use in conjunction with computer systems and programs, including reproduction or publication in machine-readable form and incorporation in retrieval systems. Authors are responsible for obtaining from the copyright holder permission to reproduce any material for which copyright already exists.

Author Services
For queries relating to the general submission of manuscripts (including electronic text and artwork) and the status of accepted manuscripts, please contact Author Services, Log-in Department, Elsevier, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK. E-mail: authors@elsevier.co.uk, Fax: (+44)1865 843905, Tel: (+44)1865 843900.
Authors can also keep track of the progress of their accepted article, and set up e-mail alerts informing them of changes to their manuscript's status, by using the "Track a Paper" feature on http://www.elsevier.com/authors.