Ontogeny, Phylogeny, Aging
The Official Journal of the International Society of Developmental and Comparative Immunology



Submission of Manuscripts
Online submission of papers:: Submission to this journal proceeds totally online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via the homepage of this journal ( http://www.elsevier.com/journals) you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. The system automatically converts source files to a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF 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 and via the author's homepage, removing the need for a hard-copy paper trail.The above represents a very brief outline of this form of submission. It can be advantageous to print this "Guide for Authors" section from the site for reference in the subsequent stages of article preparation. 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 contact the appropriate Editor as he/she may be able to assist with the (technical) problem.


It is requested that all manuscripts dealing with studies of immunity in invertebrate animals be submitted to Kenneth Söderhäll. Manuscripts dealing with immunity in vertebrate animals may be submitted to Gregory Warr.

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), 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and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher. It also implies that the research has been carried out in conformity with the applicable guidelines for studies involving human and animal subjects and recombinant DNA.

Types of Contributions
Full-length research articles
Short Communications, which should be short, preliminary reports of timely and significant research, which will be considered for expedited publication.
Mini-review articles, which will typically be invited by the Editors but may be submitted directly; they should be no more than 4-6 pp long.
Invited full-length Review articles
"IMGT Locus in Focus" are regular reports aimed to give the more updated and extensive overview of the IMGT Repertoire and of the current status of the different IG, TR and MHC genes in IMGT. Standardization of gene nomenclature, functionality, and polymorphism is according to the IMGT rules of the IMGT Scientific chart and to IMGT-ONTOLOGY.
Letters to the Editor, dealing with published articles or matters of interest to DCI readers. Letters should be no more that 400 words, typed double spaced and include references where appropriate. Where a published article is involved the original author(s) will be invited to submit a response.
Editorials, at the discretion of the Editors
Announcements, of meeting, conferences or other events. All such items are welcome and will be listed (free of charge) and continually updated.
Short Book Reviews

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
General: Manuscripts must 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. Add the page number in the upper right-hand corner of each page. 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.
Paper Length: Letters to the Editor must be no more than 400 words.
Short Communications: These are short, preliminary reports of timely and significant research, which will be considered for expedited publication. Short Communications will occupy no more than 4 printed pages in the journal and contain a total of no more than 2 illustrations (Figures and Tables). Supplementary on-line material may be submitted with Short Communications. The Results and Discussion sections may be combined.
Title Page: Page one should include: the title of the article, the authors' names (first name, middle initial(s), surname); the authors' affiliations (the name of the department, institution, city and state or country); the name , address, phone and fax numbers and E-mail address of the corresponding author to whom offprint requests are to be sent; and abbreviations and symbols used.
Abstracts and Keywords: Page two should include the title of the article, followed by the abstract which should be no more than 150 words. The abstract should state the purpose of the study, basic procedures, most important findings and principal conclusions.
Following the abstract up to eight keywords or phrases should be listed. Keywords are critical for the identification of your published article in literature searches conducted at sites such as PubMed, Medline and Scopus. Thus, keywords should be selected to most accurately identify the subject and content of the manuscript. Redundancy or duplication between keywords and the article title (which is also searched) is best avoided.
Text: The order of the manuscripts should be: Title, Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Main text, Acknowledgements, Appendix, References, Vitae, Figure Captions and then Tables. 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.


Microarray Submission Requirements
Authors submitting papers dealing with microarrays should ensure that the submissions conform to the MIAME requirements (Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment) by consulting the appropriate checklist that may be found at http://www.mged.org/Workgroups/MIAME/miame.html

Mathematical Symbols: All mathematical symbols should be typed in an unambiguous fashion. Symbols and Greek letters must be identified in the margin. Distinction should be made between capital and lower case letters; between the letter O and zero; between the letter l and the number one; between k and kappa. Boldface and italic print should be clearly marked.
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 references by a number in square brackets on the line (e.g. Since Robert [1]) The full reference should be given in a numerical list at the end of the paper.
References should be given in the following form:
[1] Robert J, Cohen N. Ontology of CTX expression in Xenopus. Devel Comp Immunol 1998; 22(5-6):605–612.
[2] Hildemann WH, Clark EA, Raison RL. Comprehensive immunogenetics. New York: Elsevier North Holland, 1981.
[3] Warr GW, Cohen N, editors. The phylogenesis of immune functions. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1991.
[4] Dunn PE. Insect antibacterial proteins. In: Warr GW, Cohen N, editors. The phylogenesis of immune functions. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1991. p. 19-44.
Illustrations: All illustrations should be provided in camera-ready form, suitable for reproduction (which may include reduction) without retouching. 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.
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.
Photographs: 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 wishing to use colour illustrations should contact the Editors, and will be asked to meet the costs of colour reproduction.
Colour illustrations for journals with colorful e-product:
Submit colour illustrations as original photographs, high-quality computer prints or transparencies, close to the size 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., Science Direct 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.
[Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by 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 prints corresponding to all the colour illustrations.]
Tables: Tables should be numbered consecutively and given a suitable caption and each table typed on a separate sheet. 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 be completely intelligible without reference to the text.

PROOFS
One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post). Elsevier now sends PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 available free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win. If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or by post. 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. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your 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. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.

OFFPRINTS
Twenty-five (25) offprints will be supplied free of charge. Additional offprints and copies of the issue an author's article appears in 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
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a "Journal Publishing Agreement" (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail (or letter) 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. 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: contact Elsevier s Rights Department, Oxford, UK: phone (+44) 1865 843830, fax (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail permissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).

AUTHOR ENQUIRIES
For enquiries relating to the submission for articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit this journal s homepage at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/devcompimmun. You can track accepted articles at http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changes, as well as copyright information, frequently asked questions and more.