Guide for Authors

Process Biochemistry is an application-orientated research journal devoted to reporting advances with originality and novelty, in the science and technology of the processes involving bioactive molecules or elements, and living organisms ("Cell factory" concept). These processes concern the production of useful metabolites or materials, or the removal of toxic compounds. Within the segment "from the raw material(s) to the product(s)", it integrates tools and methods of current biology and engineering. Its main areas of interest are the food, drink, healthcare, energy and environmental industries and their underlying biological and engineering principles. Main topics covered include, with most of possible aspects and domains of application: fermentation, biochemical and bioreactor engineering; biotechnology processes and their life science aspects; biocatalysis, enzyme engineering and biotransformation; downstream processing; modeling, optimization and control techniques.

Submission of manuscripts
Authors are requested to submit their manuscripts electronically, by using the EES online submission tool at http://ees.elsevier.com/prbi/. After registration, authors will be asked to upload their article, an extra copy of the abstract, 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 and a manuscript number will be generated for future correspondence.

A cover letter should be submitted on line by authors together with the manuscript, which includes the following points: 1) all authors agree to submit the work to PRBI, 2) the work has not been published/submitted or being submitted to another journal, 3) the novelty and significant contribution of the submitted work are briefly described.

In their on-line submission, authors are required to suggest at least two independent referees (up to five, outside their own institution) with their email addresses. But, the selection of the referees is up to the Editors. All submissions will be reviewed by two referees. Manuscripts will be pre-screened for suitability and may be returned to the authors without peer review if they do not meet the criteria for originality and novelty or cause misunderstanding.

When a manuscript is rejected by one editor, generally it should not be resubmitted to another editor in its original version, and should be, unless specific problem, resubmitted after appropriate modifications, to the same editor. It is up to the discretion of the editors to reconsider such revised manuscripts as new submissions. Please include a letter of transmittal explaining why a revised manuscript should be reconsidered by the editors, a detailed response to the issues raised by the reviewers and the editor for the original version, and a concise outline of the revisions. Any corresponding author or co-author of one manuscript which has been rejected (without resubmission encouragement) must not resubmit a similar manuscript. If so, these authors will have a punishment of two years of prohibition to submit.

It is highly recommended to validate the pertinent and main data of the manuscripts by reproducibility assays, that is to say to give in the corresponding (parts of the) Tables their mean values and standard deviations, and in the corresponding (parts of the) Figures their error bars. These data should be then obtained with a minimum of triplicate assays.

Moreover the authors must give a list of all related manuscripts/papers, whether in submission or in press.

Format and type of manuscripts
Process BiochemistryProcess Biochemistry accepts three types of manuscripts: Full length articles, Short communications and Reviews. The texts should be double-spaced with all lines numbered and be as concise as possible. All manuscripts must be submitted in the following format: the first page includes the title, the authors' first and last names [with the corresponding author indicated by an asterisk*], addresses [with a superscript letter to indicate a different address], and corresponding author's fax and email; the second page includes the abstract and six key words; subsequent pages include the Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgement(s), and References. Tables and figures are included after References with a separate page for each. For experimental design results, as they are scientifically non exploitable, 3D figures are generally discouraged. Indicate then only the pertinent data in 2D diagrammes. Works and data using response surface methodology (RSM) which are mainly descriptive, without any physiological or systemic explanation or correlations are generally rejected without review. Page numeration starts from the first page. The Results and Discussion sections may be combined but be thorough in the discussion about the novelty and impact of the submitted work. Articles without sufficient discussion will be systematically rejected. Legends for tables and figures should be complete and concise: one figure or one table should be perfectly understandable with its own legend, and incomplete legends will not be accepted.

Full length articles (FLA) should not generally exceed 25 double-spaced pages of text (not including the references) and should not contain more than 15 figures and/or tables.

Short communications (SCO) should not exceed 10 double-spaced pages of text (not including the references) and no more than 5 figures and/or tables.

Reviews (REV) should not generally exceed 20 double-spaced pages of text (not including the references) and should not contain more than 10 figures and/or tables.

Accelerated publications can sometimes be taken into consideration. The authors should then clearly motivate the reasons of the accelerated way in the cover letter.

Each paper should be provided with an abstract of 100-150 words for Short Communications and 150-200 words for Full Length Articles and Reviews, reporting concisely on the purposes and results of the paper, and also six keywords.The title of the paper should unambiguously reflect its contents. Where the title exceeds 70 characters a suggestion for an abbreviated running title should be given.

The SI system should be used for all scientific and laboratory data: if, in certain instances, it is necessary to quote other units, these should be added in parentheses. Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius. The unit 'billion' (109 in America, 1012 in Europe) is ambiguous and should not be used.

Abbreviations for units should follow the suggestions of the British Standards publication BS 1991. The full stop should not be included in abbreviations, e.g. m (not m.), ppm (not p.p.m.), % and / should be used in preference to 'per cent' and 'per'. Where abbreviations are likely to cause ambiguity or may not be readily understood by an international readership, units should be put in full.

Footnotes should be avoided especially if they contain information which could equally well be included in the text. The use of proprietary names should be avoided. Papers essentially of an advertising nature will not be accepted.

Colour illustrations in the print version are reproduced at the author's expense. The publisher will provide the author with a cost estimate upon receipt of the accepted paper. Colour illustrations in the online version are always at no cost to the authors.

References: References should be cited at the appropriate point in the text by a number in square brackets. A list of references, in numerical order, should appear at the end of the paper. All references in this list should be indicated at some point in the text and vice versa. Unpublished data or private communications AND WEBSITE ADDRESSES should not appear in the list. Examples of layout of references are given below.

[1] Hsieh C, Hsu TH, Yang FC. Production of polysaccharides of Ganoderma lucidum (CCRC36021) by reusing thin stillage. Process Biochem 2005;40:909-916.

[2] Stephanopoulos GN, Aristidou AA, Nielsen JE. Metabolic engineering: principles and methodologies. New York: Academic Press; 1998. p. 494

[3] Zhong JJ, Yoshida T. Rheological chracteristics of suspended cultures of Perilla frutescens and their implications in bioreactor operation for anthocyanin production. In: Ryu DDY, Furusaki S editors. Advances in Plant Biotechnology. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science; 1994. p. 255-279.

[4] Lima R, Salcedo, RL. An optimized strategy for equation-oriented global optimization. In: Grievink J, Schijndel JV. editors. 10th European Symposium on Computer Aided Chemical Engineering. New York: Academic Press; 2002. p. 913-918.

[5] Curtin CD. Towards molecular bioprocessing as a tool to enhance production of anthocyanins in Vitis vinifera L. cell suspension culture. Australia: Flinders University; Ph.D. thesis; 2004. p.250.

[6] Snow-Brand-Milk-Prod. Lysozyme purification by affinity chromatorgraphy on crosslink chitosan sulfate. Jpn. Patent. JP 05260-966. 92.03.24.

[7] Enfors SO, editor. Physiological stress responses in bioprocesses. Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology. vol. 89. Berlin: Springer; 2004. p. 244.

[8] Schweder T, Hecker M. Monitoring of stress response, In: Enfors SO, editor. Physiological stress responses in bioprocesses. Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology vol. 89. Berlin: Springer; 2004. p. 47-71.

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US National Institutes of Health (NIH) voluntary posting (" Public Access") policy Elsevier facilitates author posting in connection with the voluntary posting request of the NIH (referred to as the NIH "Public Access Policy", see http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm) by posting the peer-reviewed author's manuscript directly to PubMed Central on request from the author, after formal publication. Upon notification from Elsevier of acceptance, we will ask you to confirm via e-mail (by e-mailing us at NIHauthorrequest@elsevier.com) that your work ha received NIH funding (with the NIH award number, as well as the name and e-mail address of the Prime Investigator) and that you intend to respond to the NIH request. Upon such confirmation, Elsevier will submit to PubMed Central on your behalf a version of your manuscript that will include peer-review comments, for posting 12 months after the formal publication date. This will ensure that you will have responded fully to the NIH request policy. There will be no need for you to post your manuscript directly to PubMed Central, and any such posting is prohibited. Individual modifications to this general policy may apply to some Elsevier journals and its society publishing partners.

Proofreading
One set of proofs, as an e-mail PDF, will be sent to the corresponding author as given on the title page of the manuscript. Only typesetter's errors may be corrected; no changes in, or additions to, the edited manuscript will be allowed. 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 sent back to us in one communication. Subsequent corrections are not possible, so please ensure your first sending is complete.

Offprints
Twenty-five offprints of each paper will be provided free of charge. Additional copies may be ordered at the prices shown on the price list which will be sent by the publisher to the author together with the offprint order form upon receipt of the accepted manuscript.

Author enquiries
For enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit the journal homepage at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/prbi. The journal homepage also provides the facility to track accepted articles and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed, as well as detailed artwork guidelines, copyright information, frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.

Online manuscript tracking
Authors can keep a track on 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. For more information, visit http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle. Process Biochemistry has no page charges