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PROGRESS IN BIOPHYSICS & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
An International Review Journal

Guide for Authors

The purpose of the series is to present invited, informative and critical reviews of recent advances in different aspects of biophysics and molecular biology. The Editors welcome suggestions of topics and potential authors. As the scope of Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology is wide and of interest to scientists in many disciplines, authors should treat their subject matter in a manner that is authoritative yet also easily comprehensible to those who are not experts in the field. Whilst the aim of the journal is primarily to publish substantial articles reviewing progress over an extensive field, articles covering recent advances on more limited topics are also welcome.
Elsevier is able to offer one page of colour gratis for all invited reviews.

Submission of Manuscripts 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and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher.

Role of corresponding author
The corresponding author of a manuscript for Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology has the duty to ensure that all the named authors have seen and approved the original and any revised version of the paper and are in agreement with its content before it is submitted to the Editorial Office. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. The corresponding author should also ensure that all those who have contributed to the research are acknowledged appropriately either as a co-author or in the Acknowledgements. In addition, the corresponding author has the prime responsibility for ensuring the paper is correctly prepared according to the Guide for Authors. Submitted manuscripts not complying with the Guide for Authors may be returned to the authors for possible revision and resubmission.

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a "Journal Publishing Agreement" (for more information on this and copyright see External link 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 (External link http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions)

When submitting by post, three (3) hardcopies are required. Do not send a disk copy at that time. Be very careful to follow the style for headings, references, key words and other matters as seen in a recent issue of the journal. Please supply FAX and E-mail addresses if available.

All manuscripts are peer-reviewed. On receipt of the first decision letter authors should send their revised manuscript within three months in order to ensure that the scientific content of their manuscript is timely and up to date.

A copy of the manuscript on disk is required for all articles accepted for publication, whether they are submitted initially online or as hard copy. After acceptance, the author will be asked to submit a disk.

Electronic format requirements for accepted articles
Electronic manuscripts have the advantage that there is no need for rekeying of text, thereby avoiding the possibility of introducing errors and resulting in reliable and fast delivery of proofs.

Elsevier is now publishing all manuscripts using electronic production methods, and therefore needs to receive the electronic files of your article with two hard copies of the accepted version

General points
We accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. An electronic version of the text should be submitted together with the final hardcopy of the manuscript. The electronic version must match the hardcopy exactly. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference and safety. Label storage media with your name, journal title, and software used. Save your files using the default extension of the program used. No changes to the accepted version are permissible without the explicit approval of the Editor. Electronic files can be stored on 3½ inch diskette, ZIP-disk or CD (either MS-DOS or Macintosh).

Wordprocessor documents
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the wordprocessor 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 wordprocessor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. Do not embed 'graphically designed' equations or tables, but prepare these using the wordprocessor's facility. 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 External link http://www.elsevier.com/authors). Do not import the figures into the text file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on the manuscript. See also the section on Preparation of electronic illustrations. To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spellchecker' function of your wordprocessor.

Although Elsevier can process most wordprocessor file formats, should your electronic file prove to be unusable, the article will be typeset from the hardcopy printout.

Preparation of manuscripts
1. The Chief Editors request that papers submitted for publication should be written concisely and clearly. Manuscripts should be written in English. Authors whose native language is not English are strongly advised to have their manuscripts checked by an English-speaking colleague prior to submission. Either the Concise Oxford Dictionary or Webster's New International Dictionary may be used as a standard for English spelling.

Authors in Japan please note:
Upon request, Elsevier Japan will provide authors with a list of people who can check and improve the English of their paper (before submission). Please contact our Tokyo office:
Elsevier Japan
9-15, Higashi-Azabu 1-chome
Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0044
Japan
Tel. (+81) 3-5561-5032
Fax: (+81)3-5561-5045
E-mail: info@elsevier.co.jp

2. Submit the original and two copies of your manuscript. Enclose the original illustrations and two sets of photocopies (three prints of any photographs). The manuscript must be accompanied by a covering letter detailing what you are submitting (type of contribution, title, authors' names and affiliation, etc.). Please also indicate the author to whom we should address our correspondence in the case of multiple authors and include a contact address, telephone/fax numbers and e-mail address. Authors are requested to submit, with their manuscripts, the names and addresses of 2-3 potential referees.

3. Manuscripts should be typewritten using a readable, uniform font, on one side of the paper, with wide margins and line spacing of 1.5 throughout, i.e. also for abstracts, footnotes and references. Other than the cover page, every page of the manuscript, including the title page, references, tables, etc., should be numbered. However, in the text no reference should be made to page numbers; if necessary, one may refer to sections. Underline words that should be in italics, and do not underline any other words. Avoid excessive usage of italics to emphasize part of the text.

4. Authors should provide a separate cover page including:
Type of contribution
Date of preparation, number of text pages, number of tables, figures etc.
Title (should be clear, descriptive and not too long)
Names of authors
Complete postal address(es) or affiliations
Full telephone, Fax No. and E-mail address of the corresponding author
Present addresses of authors if applicable
Complete correspondence address to which the proofs should be sent as a footnote indicated with an asterisk
Special instructions to the printer such as: (a) magnification of photographs, (b) layout of figures, (c) unusual positioning of Figures and Tables in relation to text; (d) if the submitted paper is one of a series of papers to be published in the journal the order in which the papers are to appear should be indicated.

5. In typing the manuscript, titles and subtitles should not be run within the text. They should be typed on a separate line, without indentation. Use lower-case letter type. First and second order headings should be numbered.

6. SI units should be used, but authors may include conversions for unfamiliar units (1 bar=0.1 MPa). Do not include periods. Note the following conventions: e.g. not eg., rev min-1 not rpm, mg kg-1 or l-1 not ppm, 1 bar equals 0.1 MPa, round off units to eliminate unnecessary decimal places, e.g. 124 μ not 0.124 mm (note space between number and unit), l not L for litre, kg not Kg, s not sec, min not mins, h not hr, d for day, y not yr, 25 t ha-1 not 25 tonnes/ha, 3 mg cm-3 not three mg per cubic cm, 23°C and 23% (no spaces), (Keating et al., 1996) not (Keating et al, 1996), al. is an abbreviation of alii (others - Latin). Molar concentrations should appear in small caps.

7. Abbreviations may be used for unwieldy names which occur frequently and such abbreviations must be defined the first time they occur in the text. Conventional abbreviations, e.g. EDTA, ATP, 2,4-D should be used in preference to freshly coined ones.

8. If a special instruction to the copy editor or typesetter is written on the copy, it should be encircled. The typesetter will then know that the enclosed matter is not to be set in type. When a typewritten character may have more than one meaning (e.g., the lower case letter l may be confused with the numeral 1), a note should be inserted in a circle in the margin to make the meaning clear to the typesetter. If Greek letters or uncommon symbols are used in the manuscript, they should be written very clearly, and if necessary a note such as "Greek lower-case chi" should be put in the margin and encircled.

9. Elsevier reserves the privilege of returning to the author for revision accepted manuscripts and illustrations which are not in the proper form given in this guide. On arrival at the Editorial Office, papers will be checked to determine if they conform to the style and format for Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology. Papers that do not comply may be returned to the corresponding author with a check list detailing faults and omissions.

10. Avoid new or uncommon acronyms. Use single letters (Greek, Roman, italic) for variables with subscripts as appropriate.

Title
This should be clear, descriptive and brief. Avoid non-specific phrases such as "A study of..." or "The effects of...". Do not give the title a numbered subtitle or series number.

Abstract
The abstract should not be longer than 250 words. It should succinctly summarise the content, scope and applications of the review.

Keywords
Keywords are index terms or descriptions for information retrieval systems. Words selected should reflect the essential topics of the article and may be taken from both the title and the text. Up to 5 relevant keywords should be incorporated.

Tables
1. Authors should take notice of the limitations set by the size and lay-out of the journal. Large tables should be avoided. Reversing columns and rows will often reduce the dimensions of a table.

2. If many data are to be presented, an attempt should be made to divide them over two or more tables.

3. Drawn tables, from which blocks need to be made, should not be folded.

4. Tables should be numbered according to their sequence in the text. The text should include references to all tables.

5. Each table should be typewritten on a separate page of the manuscript. Tables should never be included in the text.

6. Tables and their footnotes should be typed using a readable uniform font of the same size as that used in the text. Each text should have a brief and self-explanatory title.

7. Column headings should be brief, but sufficiently explanatory. Standard abbreviations of units of measurement should be added between parentheses.

8. Vertical lines should not be used to separate columns. Leave some extra space between the columns instead.

9. Any explanation essential to the understanding of the table should be given as a footnote at the bottom of the table.

10. Zero results must be represented by 0 and no determination by ND; the dash sign (-) is ambiguous. Report data in such a way that readers can assess the degree of experimental variation and estimate the variability or precision of the findings. Use the standard deviation SD and the mean to summarise data and to show the variability among individuals. Use the standard error of the mean SEM to show the precision of the sample mean. Always state the number of measurements on which means are based. In tables and figures use asterisks to indicate probability values (P). In footnotes or text show the degree of significance of P, e.g. P <0.05*.

Illustrations
1. All illustrations (line drawings and photographs) should be submitted separately, unmounted and not folded. They should be camera ready. Proportion figure and tables to fit 75-mm or 160-mm column widths.
Note that all invited reviews may have two gratis pages of colour artwork.

2. Illustrations should be numbered according to their sequence in the text. References should be made in the text to each illustration.

3. Each illustration should be identified on the reverse side (or - in the case of line drawings - on the lower front side) by its number and the name of the author. An indication of the top of the illustrations is required in photographs of profiles, thin sections, and other cases where doubt can arise.

4. Illustrations should be designed with the format of the page of the journal in mind. Illustrations should be of such a size as to allow a reduction of 50%.

5. Lettering should be in black ink or by printed labels. Make sure that the size of the lettering is big enough to allow a reduction of 50% without becoming illegible. The lettering should be in English. Use the same kind of lettering throughout in a sans serif typeface (e.g. Helvetica, Arial, Univers, Swiss etc.)

6. If a scale should be given, use bar scales on all illustrations instead of numerical scales that must be changed with reduction.

7. Each illustration should have a caption. The captions to all illustrations should be typed in sequence on a separate sheet of the manuscript.

8. Explanations should be given in the typewritten legend. Drawn text in the illustrations should be kept to a minimum.

9. Photographs are only acceptable if they have good contrast and intensity. Sharp and glossy copies are required. Reproductions of photographs already printed cannot be accepted.

Preparation of electronic illustrations Submitting your artwork in an electronic format helps us to produce your work to the best possible standards, ensuring accuracy, clarity and a high level of detail.

• Always supply high-quality printouts of your artwork, in case conversion of the electronic artwork is problematic.
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
• Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files, and supply a separate listing of the files and the software used.
• Provide all illustrations as separate files and as hardcopy printouts on separate sheets.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.

Files can be stored on 3½ inch diskette, ZIP-disk or CD (either MS-DOS or Macintosh).

For in-depth information about submitting electronic artwork visit External link http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.

Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, 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: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as "graphics".
TIFF: Colour or greyscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (colour or greyscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office applications please supply "as is".

Please do not:
• Supply embedded graphics in your wordprocessor (spreadsheet, presentation) document;
• Supply files that are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Colour Reproduction

Submit colour illustrations as original photographs, high-quality computer prints or transparencies, close to the size expected in publication, or as 35 mm slides. 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, authors will be allowed a maximum of two colour figures free of charge at the discretion of the Editors. Additional colour figures will be charged at standard Elsevier rates.

For in-depth information about submitting electronic artwork visit External link http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

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.

References
Note: Authors are strongly encouraged to check the accuracy of each reference against its original source.

1. All publications cited in the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript. The manuscript should be carefully checked to ensure that the spelling of author's names and dates are exactly the same in the text as in the reference list.
2. In the text refer to the author's name (without initial) and year of publication, followed - if necessary - by a short reference to appropriate pages. Examples: "Since Peterson (1988) has shown that..." "This is in agreement with results obtained later (Kramer,1989, pp. 12-16)".
3. If reference is made in the text to a publication written by more than two authors the name of the first author should be used followed by "et al.". This indication, however, should never be used in the list of references. In this list names of first author and co-authors should be mentioned.
4. References cited together in the text should be arranged chronologically. The list of references should be arranged alphabetically on authors' names, and chronologically per author. If an author's name in the list is also mentioned with co-authors the following order should be used: publications of the single author, arranged according to publication dates -- publications of the same author with one co-author -- publications of the author with more than one co-author. Publications by the same author(s) in the same year should be listed as 1974a, 1974b, etc.
5. Use the following system for arranging your references, please note the proper position of the punctuation:

a. For periodicals
Zelles, L., Bai, Q.Y., Beck, T., Beese, F., 1992. Signature fatty acids in phospholipids and lipoolysaccharides as indicators of microbial biomass and community structure in agricultural soils. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 24, 317-323.

b. For edited symposia, special issues, etc., published in a periodical
Rice, K., 1992. Theory and conceptual issues. In: Gall, G.A.E., Staton, M. (Eds.), Integrating Conservation Biology and Agricultural Production. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 42, 9-26.

c. For books
Gaugh, Jr., H.G., 1992. Statistical Analysis of Regional Field Trials. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 278 pp.

d. For multi-author books
DeLacy, I.H., Cooper, M., Lawrence, P.K., 1990. Pattern analysis over years of regional variety trials: relationship among sites. In: Kang, M.S. (Ed.), Genotype by Environment Interaction and Plant Breeding. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, pp. 189-213.

6. In the case of publications in any language other than English, the original title is to be retained. However, the titles of publications in non-Roman alphabets should be transliterated, and a notation such as "(in Russian)" or "(in Greek, with English abstract)" should be added.

7. Work accepted for publication but not yet published should be referred to as "in press". Authors should provide evidence (such as a copy of the letter of acceptance).

8. References concerning unpublished data, theses, and "personal communications" should not be cited in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text.

Formulae
1. Formulae should be typewritten, if possible. Leave ample space around the formulae.

2. Subscripts and superscripts should be clear.

3. Greek letters and other non-Roman or handwritten symbols should be explained in the margin where they are first used. Take special care to show clearly the difference between zero (0) and the letter O, and between one (1) and the letter l.

4. Give the meaning of all symbols immediately after the equation in which they are first used.

5. For simple fractions use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line.

6. Equations should be numbered serially at the right-hand side in parentheses. In general only equations explicitly referred to in the text need be numbered.

7. The use of fractional powers instead of root signs is recommended. Also powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp.

8. Levels of statistical significance which can be mentioned without further explanation are *P <0.05, **P<0.01 and ***P <0.001.

9. In chemical formulae, valence of ions should be given as, e.g., Ca2+, not as Ca++.

10. Isotope numbers should precede the symbols, e.g., 18O.

Footnotes
Footnotes should only be used to provide addresses of authors or to provide explanations essential to the understanding of Tables.

Nomenclature
1. Authors and editors are, by general agreement, obliged to accept the rules governing biological nomenclature, as laid down in the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria, and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.

2. All organisms should be identified by their scientific names when the English term is first used, with the exception of common domestic animals. The authority of a species should only be given in the Materials and Methods section.

3. All biocides and other organic compounds must be identified by their Geneva names when first used in the text. Active ingredients of all formulations should be likewise identified.

4. For chemical nomenclature, the conventions of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the official recommendations of the IUPAC-IUB Combined Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature should be followed.

Supplementary data

Elsevier now accepts electronic 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: External link http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data is provided in one of our recommended file formats. 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 External link http://www.elsevier.com/authors.

Enquiries

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

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

Special Subject Repositories
Certain repositories such as PubMed Central ("PMC") are authorized under special arrangement with Elsevier to process and post certain articles such as those funded by the National Institutes of Health under its Public Access policy (see elsevier.com for more detail on our policy).
Articles accepted for publication in an Elsevier journal from authors who have indicated that the underlying research reported in their articles was supported by an NIH grant will be sent by Elsevier to PMC for public access posting 12 months after final publication. The version of the article provided by Elsevier will include peer-review comments incorporated by the author into the article. Because the NIH 'Public Access' policy is voluntary, authors may elect not to deposit such articles in PMC. If you wish to 'opt out' and not deposit to PMC, you may indicate this by sending an e-mail to NIHauthorrequest@elsevier.com

Proofs
When your manuscript is received at the Publisher it is considered to be in its final form. Proofs are not to be regarded as 'drafts'.

One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author, to be checked for typesetting/editing. No changes in, or additions to, the accepted (and subsequently edited) manuscript will be allowed at this stage. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

A form with queries from the copy editor may accompany your proofs. Please answer all queries and make any corrections or additions required.

The Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated. Return corrections within two working days of receipt of the proofs. Should there be no corrections, please confirm this.

Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as possible. In order to do this we need your help. When you receive the (PDF) proof of your article for correction, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Subsequent corrections will not be possible, so please ensure your first sending is complete. Note that this does not mean you have any less time to make your corrections, just that only one set of corrections will be accepted.

Offprints
1. Twenty-five offprints for regular papers will be supplied free of charge.
2. Additional offprints can be ordered on an offprint order form, which is included with the proofs.
3. UNESCO coupons are acceptable in payment of extra offprints.

Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology does not have page charges

Information about Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology is available on the World Wide Web at the following addresses:
External link http://www.elsevier.com/locate/pbiomolbio

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