An International Journal of Molecular and Cellular Virology
Guide for Authors
On-Line submission to the journal prior to acceptance
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.
General
It is essential to give a fax number and an e-mail address when submitting a manuscript. Articles must be written in good English.
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it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright
holder.
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. 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 (please consult
http://www.elsevier.com/permissions).
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: please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.
All authors are requested to disclose any actual
or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within
three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. See also
http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.
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 lean more about existing agreements and policies
please visit http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.
Authors' rights
As an author you (or your employer
or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to http://www.elsevier.com/authorstrights.
Types
of Articles
Research articles should generally be divided into Summary, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results,
Discussion and Acknowledgements and References.
Short communications, approximately 8 typewritten pages in total, including
a summary, illustrations and keywords but written without section headings.
Review articles on topics of current interest
in Virology will be published. While some authors will be invited to write reviews, others wishing to contribute a review article are
invited to contact Dr. B.W.J. Mahy at virology@bellsouth.net.
Book Reviews or Meeting Reports
Electronic
format requirements for accepted articles
Wordprocessor documents
It is important that the files be saved in
the native
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 also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier: 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.
Characters not available on your wordprocessor should not be left open but indicated by a unique
code (e.g., alpha, @, #, etc. for the Greek letter α). Such codes should be used consistently throughout the entire text. Please
make a list of such codes and provide a key. Do not allow your word processor to introduce word splits.
Presentation of manuscripts
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Italics are not to be used
for expressions of Latin origin, for example, in vivo, et al., per se. Use decimal points (not commas); use a space for thousands (10
000 and above).
Language Editing
Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services
pre- and post-submission please visit http://www.elsevier.com/languagepolishing or contact authorsupport@elsevier.com
for more information. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside
vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our Terms & Conditions http://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions.
Please provide the following data on the title page (in the order given):
Title
Concise and informative. Titles
are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author names and affiliations
Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g. a double name), please indicate this clearly. 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 is willing to handle
correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country
and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.
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 the 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.
Abstract
A concise and
factual abstract is required (maximum length 200 words). The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal
results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separate from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. References
should therefore be avoided, but if essential, they must be cited in full, without reference to the reference list.
Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for
example, "and", "of"). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords
will be used for indexing purposes.
Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field at their
first occurrence in the article: in the abstract but also in the main text after it. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the
article.
Arrangement of the article
Subdivision of the article
Divide your article into clearly defined
and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2,), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering).
Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to "the text". Any subsection may be given a brief heading.
Each heading should appear on its own separate line.
Introduction
State the objectives of the work and provide an
adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
Experimental/Materials and methods
Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced.
Results
Results should be clear and concise.
Discussion
This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them.
Conclusions
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion
or Results and Discussion section.
Acknowledgements
Place acknowledgements, including information on grants received,
before the references, in a separate section, and not as a footnote on the title page.
References
See separate section,
below.
Figure captions, tables, figures, schemes
Present these, in this order, at the end of the article. They are
described in more detail below. High-resolution graphics files must always be provided separate from the main text file (see Preparation
of illustrations).
Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article,
using superscript Arabic numbers. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.
Tables
Number tables consecutively
with Arabic numerals in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them
with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. All tables must have descriptive headings and possible legends below; both
headings and legends should be understandable without reference to the text. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data
presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.
Nomenclature and units
Follow internationally
accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent
in SI.
Virus nomenclature
Each virus should be identified at least once, preferably in the 'Introduction' or
'Materials and Methods' section, using formal family, genus, and species terms and where possible by using a precise strain designation
term as developed by an internationally recognized specialty group or culture collection. Please note that the word type is not used
before species designations that include a number. Formal terms used for virus families, genera, and species should be those approved
by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV):Fauquet, C.M., Mayo, M.A.,Maniloff, J., Desselberger, U., and Ball, L.A.(2005)
Virus Taxonomy, Classification and Nomenclature of Viruses. Eighth ICTV Report, Academic Press, an imprint of Elsevier. This volume also
includes standard abbreviations for species. Once formal taxonomic names have been given in a paper, vernacular terms may be used.
Formal taxonomic nomenclature
In formal taxonomic usage, the first letters of virus order, family, subfamily, genus
and species names are capitalized and the terms are printed in italics. Other words in the species names are not capitalized unless they
are proper nouns or parts of nouns, for example West Nile virus. In formal usage, the name of the taxon should precede the term
for the taxonomic unit; for example; "the family Paramyxoviridae," "the genus Morbillivirus." The following represent
examples of full formal taxonomic terminology:
1. Order Mononegavirales, family Rhabdoviridae, genus Lyssavirus,
species Rabies virus.
2. Family Poxviridae, subfamily Chordopoxvirinae, genus Orthopoxvirus,
species Vaccinia virus.
3. Family Picornaviridae, genus Enterovirus, species Poliovirus.
4. Family Bunyaviridae, genus Tospovirus, species Tomato spotted wilt virus.
Vernacular Taxonomic
Nomenclature
In formal vernacular usage, virus order, family, subfamily, genus and species names are written in lower case Roman
script: they are not capitalized, nor are they printed in italics or underlined. In informal usage, the name of the taxon should not
include the formal suffix, and the name of the taxon should follow the term for the taxonomic unit; for example "the picornavirus family,
the enterovirus genus." One particular source of ambiguity in vernacular nomenclature lies in the common use of the same root terms in
formal family, genus or species names. Imprecision stems from not being able to easily identify in vernacular usage which hierarchical
level is being cited. For example, the vernacular name "paramyxovirus" might refer to the family Paramyxoviridae, or
one species in the genus Respirovirus, such as Human parainfluenza virus 1. The solution in vernacular usage is to
avoid "jumping" hierarchical levels and to add taxon identification wherever needed. For example, when citing the taxonomic placement
of Human parainfluenza virus 1, taxon identification should always be added: Human Parainfluenza virus 1 is a species
in the genus Respirovirus, family Paramyxoviridae. In this example, as is usually the case, adding the information
that this virus is also a member of the subfamily Paramyxovirinaeand the order Mononegavirales is unnecessary.
It should be stressed that italics and capital initial letters need be used only if the species name refers to the taxonomic category.
When the name refers to viral objects such as virions present in a preparation or seen in an electron micrograph, italics and capital
initial letters are not needed and the names are written in lower case Roman script. This also applies when the names are used in adjectival
form, for instance tobacco mosaic virus polymerase. The use of italics when referring to the name of a species as a taxonomic entity
signals that it has the status of an officially recognized species. The 8th ICTV Report (Fauquet, C.M. et al., 2005, Academic Press,
an imprint of Elsevier) should be consulted to ascertain which names have been approved as official species names. When the taxonomic
status of a new putative species is uncertain or its position within an established genus has not been clarified, it is considered a
tentative species and its name is not written in italics although its initial letter is capitalized.
Origins of bioreagents
- The origins of bioreagents should be described adequately, including citation of culture collections, companies, or colleagues from
whom the bioreagents were obtained. If viruses were collected from nature, the collecting site and procedure should also be properly
described. Bioreagents include but are not necessarily limited to virus strains and species, antibodies, and cell lines.
GenBank/DNA
sequence linking
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 databases 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 below). This combination of letters and format will enable Elsevier's typesetters to
recognise the relevant texts as accession numbers and add the required link to GenBank's sequences. Example: "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. 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.
Preparation of supplementary data.
Elsevier now
accepts electronic supplementary material (e-components) 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: 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.
Citations in the 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. Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that the item has been accepted for publication and
a copy of the title page of the relevant article must be submitted.
Citing and listing of Web references
As a minimum,
the full URL should 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.
Text:
All citations in the text should refer to:
1. Single Author:
the Author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication;
2. Two Authors: both Authors'
names and the year of publication;
3. Three or more Authors: first Author's name followed by "et al." and the year of publication.
Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.
Examples: "as demonstrated (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995). Kramer et al. (2000) have recently shown ...."
List:
References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from
the same Author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J., Lupton, R.A., 2000. The art of writing a scientific
article. J. Sci. Commun. 163, 51-59.
Reference to a book:
Strunk Jr., W., White, E.B., 1979. The Elements of Style, third ed.
Macmillan, New York.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Mettam, G.R., Adams, L.B., 1999. How to prepare an electronic
version of your article, in: Jones, B.S., Smith, R.Z. (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age. E-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281-304.
Journal names should be abbreviated according to:
List of serial title word abbreviations http://www.issn.org/lstwa.html
Use of the Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
The digital object identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic
documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial
electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles
in press' because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information.
The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows
(example taken from a document in the journal Physics Letters B):
doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2003.10.071
When you use the
DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, they are guaranteed never to change.
Colour
Illustrations
Please make sure that artwork files are in an accepted format (TIFF, EPS, or MS Office files) and with the correct
resolution). 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) in addition to colour reproduction in print.
Author Proofs
When your manuscript is received by 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. The Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated.
Return corrections within 2 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
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively,
25 free paper offprints. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover
image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use. Additional paper offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order
form with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.
Captions Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply
captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description
of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.
Line
drawings The lettering and symbols, as well as other details, should have proportionate dimensions, so as not to become illegible
or unclear after possible reduction; in general, the figures should be designed for a reduction factor of two to three. The degree of
reduction will be determined by the Publisher. Illustrations will not be enlarged. Consider the page format of the journal when designing
the illustrations. Do not use any type of shading on computer-generated illustrations.
Photographs (halftones) Remove
non-essential areas of a photograph. Do not mount photographs unless they form part of a composite figure. Where necessary, insert a
scale bar in the illustration (not below it), as opposed to giving a magnification factor in the caption. Note that photocopies
of photographs are not acceptable.
Colour Illustrations Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format
(TIFF, EPS, or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution). 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) in addition to colour reproduction in print. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
When your manuscript is received by 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 copyeditor 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 2 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
Twenty-five (25) offprints will be provided free of charge. Additional reprints may be purchased at the proof stage.
