Biotechnology Research and Reviews

Enzyme and Microbial Technology is an international, peer-reviewed journal publishing original research and reviews on basic and applied aspects of the use of enzymes and microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa, viruses, animal cells and plant cells.

Submission of Manuscripts
Authors are requested to submit their manuscripts electronically, by using the EES online submission tool at http://ees.elsevier.com/enzmictec.
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 must be submitted on line by authors together with the manuscript. The cover letter must address the following points: 1) all authors agree to submit the work to EMT, 2) the work has not been published/submitted or being submitted to another journal, 3) the novelty and significant contribution of the submitted work must be briefly described, 4) the transfer of copyright from the author to the publisher, 5) suggestions for reviewers.
The primary criteria for judging the acceptability of a manuscript are its scientific and biotechnological significance and its novelty. Upon receipt, submissions are initially screened by the Editors and the Advisory Board, and manuscripts lacking in these respects will be declined, even if the experimental work appears to be technically sound. After initial screening, all submissions are reviewed by referees whose names are not normally disclosed to authors. On acceptance for publication papers are subject to editorial amendment.
Authors are invited to provide the names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of up to six potential reviewers. It is not appropriate to nominate individuals that have had any input into the manuscripts submitted or any recent collaboration with the authors. The Editors may or may not take these suggestions into account during the reviewing process.
Manuscripts which report isolation, purification, immobilization or utilization of organisms or enzymes which are already well-described in the literature are not suitable for publication in EMT, unless their primary purpose is to report significant new findings or approaches which are of broad biotechnological importance. Similarly, manuscripts which report optimization studies on well-established processes are inappropriate. EMT does not accept papers dealing with mathematical modeling unless they report significant, new experimental data.

Format and type of manuscripts
Contributions are classified as Research Papers, Rapid Communications or Reviews.
Research Papers should be a record of significant, original research and should not normally exceed 6000 words in length.
Rapid Communications should be short accounts of research of unusual urgency and significance and should not exceed a total of eight manuscript pages, including tables and figures. A letter stating the reasons for wishing the submission to be considered as a Rapid Communication must accompany the manuscript. At the discretion of the Editors, manuscripts in this category will receive accelerated handling. Authors are urged to ensure careful adherence to the guidelines for the preparation of manuscripts set out below since manuscripts requiring extensive editing or modification cannot be considered for expedited handling.
Reviews are normally invited by the Editors but unsolicited review articles of up to 10,000 words are welcome. Authors should send a brief outline to one of the Editors before the manuscript is drafted.
The manuscript must be accompanied by copies of all relevant papers published elsewhere by the authors and by copies of relevant manuscripts that are in press or under editorial consideration. If any tables or illustrations have been published elsewhere the editorial office must be informed so that permission to reproduce can be obtained from the original publishers.
Manuscripts should be typed in double spacing throughout with a margin of 30mm at the top and bottom on both sides. Papers must be arranged in the following order of presentation: title of paper; names of the authors; address of the place at which the work was carried out; an abbreviated title for use as a running headline; a self-contained synopsis of the paper (100-200 words in length); body of the manuscript; tables, each on a separate page; captions to figures; figures, each on a separate page. Submissions not conforming to these guidelines may be returned to the authors.

Language Polishing
Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre-and post-submission please visit http://www.elsevier.com/locate/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.

Illustrations
It is the author's responsibility to provide artwork for all illustrations, both line and halftone.
If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures than 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 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://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 figures corresponding to all the colour illustrations.
Each figure must be accompanied by a caption, which consists of the title of the figure and sufficient explanatory details to make the figure easily understood.

Tables
Tables should be submitted on separate sheets together with a suitable caption at the top of each table. Column headings should be kept as brief as possible, and units of measure indicated in parentheses. Footnotes to tables should be placed at the bottom of the table to which they refer.

References
Number all references to the literature in a single sequence in the order in which they appear in the text, using Arabic numerals. Full citation should be given for all authors. Titles of articles, as well as titles of chapters in books, should be included. Abbreviate journal titles in accordance with Bibliographic Guide for Editors and Authors (American Chemical Society). References should take the following form:

1. Rijken DC, Hoylaerts J, Collen D. Fibrinolytic properties of one-chain and two-chain human extrinsic (tissuetype) plasminogen activator. J Biol Chem 1982;257:2920-2925

2. Thomas K, Gimenez-Gallego G, DiSalvo J, Linemeyer D, Kelly L, Menke J, Mellin T, Gusch R. Structure and activities of acidic fibroblast growth factor. In: Angiogenesis Mechanisms and Pathobiology Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 1987, 9-12

Units, Abbreviations and Nomenclature
Si units should be used: the foot-pound-second (fps) or other equivalent should be given in parentheses afterwards if necessary. On graphs, if values are recorded in non-Si units then additional scales in SI units should be used. If a large number of symbols is used, it is helpful if authors submit a list of these symbols and their meanings. Biochemical nomenclature should conform to that recommended by the IUPAC-IUB Commission, and enzymes should be given their EC numbers and systematic names.

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. Unpublished results and personal communications are not allowed in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that the item has been accepted for (at least on-line) publication.
Citing and listing of Web references. As a minimum, the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also 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.

: Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.

List: Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.

Examples:

Reference to a journal publication:

[1] Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun 2000;163:51-9.

Reference to a book:

[2] Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of style. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan; 1979.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

[3] Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In: Jones BS, Smith RZ, editors. Introduction to the electronic age, New York: E-Publishing Inc; 1999, p. 281-304

Note shortened form for last page number. e.g., 51-9, and that for more than 6 authors the first 6 should be listed followed by "et al." For further details you are referred to "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals" (J Am Med Assoc 1997;277:927-934) (see also http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/terms_cond.html

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.
Authors can 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 of Elsevier's Author Gateway.

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 http://www.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 in 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 mailto: NIHauthorrequest@elsevier.com.

Reprints
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.

Page charges are not levied by the journal.