Significant original research papers and pertinent reviews on all aspects of steroids will be considered
for publication. Specifically, both experimental and theoretical studies dealing with the following areas of investigation are welcome:
chemistry and physiochemistry; biosynthesis; metabolism; molecular biology; physiology; pharmacology; analytical techniques; comparative
endocrinology; clinical research; mode of action (including that of related peptides); and the role of steroids on growth and differentiation.
Relevant compounds also include non-steroidal analogs that are inhibitors or activators of steroid biosynthetic enzymes or ligands for
steroid hormone receptors
Submission of an article implies that the work 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that if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent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.
Manuscripts are reviewed by Editorial Board members and/or ad hoc reviewers. Authors must suggest, at the time
of submission, at least 4 suitable reviewers. A manuscript that is not returned within six months after being sent to the author for
revision will be treated as a new manuscript.
Letters to the editor are welcome, for editing and publication at the discretion of
the editor. Rapid Communications will be considered if material is of unusual interest and particularly timely.
Editing
Steroids offers a language editing service for non-English speaking authors. Manuscripts that are accepted and noted by our reviewers
to require serious attention to English usage before the article is ready for publication will be sent to a special copy-editor at no
charge. The edited manuscript will then be sent back to the authors to approve the changes. This service is not a substitute for producing
a well crafted manuscript; manuscripts that are deemed to be carelessly written or are not understandable will be returned to the authors
for further editing, in some cases prior to review. With ever-increasing standards of excellence in publishing today, an article needs
to be in its best possible form when it is submitted for publication - that includes spelling, grammar and style, as well as factual,
accurate data. The following link shows a list of companies which provide language and copy editing services to authors who wish to
publish in scientific, technical and medical peer-reviewed journals and need assistance before they submit an article for peer review.http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors/languagepolishing
Online Submission
Submission to this journal is online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your
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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. Although manuscript source files are converted to a PDF at the time of submission
(for the review process) the 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 Journal's web site.
There are no submission
fees, page charges, or obligatory reprint orders (see Reprints).
The above represents a very brief outline of this form of submission.
The details are presented below in "Guide for Authors."
Conflict of interest policy
Authors must disclose commercial or
similar relationships to products or companies mentioned in or related to the subject matter of the article being submitted. Sources
of funding for the article should be acknowledged in a footnote on the title page. Affiliations of authors should include corporate appointments
relating to products or companies mentioned in the article, or otherwise bearing on the subject matter thereof. Other pertinent financial
relationships, such as consultancies, stock ownership or other equity interests or patent-licensing arrangements, should be disclosed
at the time of submission. Such information will be held in confidence during the review process. If the article is accepted for publication,
the means of disclosure will be discussed with the author, although Elsevier reserves the right to make final decisions on the issue.
Questions about this policy should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief.
Ethical Statement
When human subjects are used,
manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and written consent of each
subject, with the approval of the appropriate local ethics committee, and in compliance with national legislation and the Code of Ethical
Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) [http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm].
When experimental animals are used, the materials and methods section must clearly indicate that adequate measures were taken to
minimize pain or discomfort, and that the experiments were conducted in accordance with international standards on animal welfare as
well as being compliant with local and national regulations. Studies are expected to be compliant with minimal standards as defined by
the European Communities Council Directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC) [http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/aw/aw_legislation/scientific/86-609-eec_en.PDF ] and the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals [http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/labrats/].
Full details of any anesthetic or analgesic dose and treatment must be given.
All manuscripts are expected to comply with contemporary
standards of ethical practice in scientific publication, regarding such matters as study design and ethical approval, data probity and
fabrication, authorship, declaration of conflict of interest, plagiarism and redundant publication.
Manuscripts
Arrange
the manuscript in the following order: title page, abstract, keywords, text, acknowledgments, references, footnotes, tables, figure legends,
and figures. Number the pages in sequence, with the title page as page 1, the abstract as page 2, etc.
Text: Arrange the body of
the manuscript in the following order:
Introduction, Experimental, Results, Discussion.
Guide for Authors
Title
page
Give full title of paper. Do not use asterisks or other extraneous symbols in title. Give the first name, middle initial,
and last name of all authors. List each author's institutional affiliation(s). Show the address of each author at the time of the study
as well as the present address if it differs.
Provide the name and address of the corresponding author to whom questions and reprint
requests should be sent. Give the name and address of the institution from which the work originated.
Abstract
A concise
and factual abstract is required (maximum length 250 words). The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal
results, and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. References
should be avoided but, if essential, they must be cited in full. Avoid non-standard or uncommon abbreviations; if they must be used,
define them at their first mention in the abstract itself.
Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum
of six keywords, avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, "and", "of"). Be sparing with abbreviations;
only firmly established ones should be used.
Text
Arrange the text in the following order: •Introduction: The
rationale for the study. Provide a brief account of the nature, approach and importance of the study to be presented. •Experimental:
A clear and precise description of the experimental procedures. Identify all drugs and chemicals used, dosages, and routes of administration.
All methods must be referenced and/or described in sufficient detail to enable a reader to repeat the experiment. For animal and human
studies, the experimental protocol must be humane and ethical. In all manuscripts reporting the results of human studies, a statement
must appear in the Experimental section indicating that approval was obtained from the institutional review board and that all human
subjects signed written informed consent. •Results: A factual account of the study's findings. Present these as logically appropriate
in text, tables, or figures; do not repeat in the text what is demonstrated in a table or figure. •Discussion: Place the results
of the study in present and historical context and denote its importance to the field. Ensure that all conclusions are justified by the
results of the study.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledge grants, sponsors, funding sources, and individuals who provided significant
assistance. Include the affiliations of individuals being thanked. It is the author's responsibility to obtain permission from all those
mentioned by name, because readers may infer their endorsement.
References
Citations in the text: Every reference cited
in the text must also be present in the reference list (and vice versa). References cited in the abstract must be given in full (e.g.
provide the entire reference). Unpublished results and personal communications should not be 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 publication. Indicate references by number(s)
in square brackets in line with the text. Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the reference 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.
STEROIDS uses a 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). Refer to the
current Index Medicus for style of abbreviations (single-word titles are not abbreviated). List all authors. Include the
title of article or chapter and inclusive pagination.
Tables
Provide a title for each table. If a table must be continued
to a second page, repeat all headings.
Figure legends
Provide a concise legend for each figure that is sufficiently clear
so that the figure can be understood without reference to the text. Legends to figures should be presented on a separate page. Identify
and explain all abbreviations, symbols, and figure parts. The use of symbols in legends is restricted to standard ones that can be typeset;
it is usually preferable to place the key symbols directly on the art.
Figures
Please make sure that artwork files are
in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS, or MS Office files) and with good resolution, please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
If you submit color figures then Elsevier will ensure that, at no additional charge, these figures will appear in color on the Web (e.g.,
ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For color
reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please
indicate your preference for color in print or on the Web only. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please
see http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork: If you choose not to have color in the printed version, please submit black and
white versions of all the color illustrations. This is necessary because of technical complications which may arise in converting color
figures to "grey scale." Calibration bars should be included on all micrographs.
Units of measure
Standard metric units
are preferred. SI units are optional, except that the use of Bq (becquerel) is not acceptable; use Ci (curie) or dpm (disintegrations
per minute). Centrifugation should be described in terms of force (_g), not as rpm.
Nomenclature
Refer to drugs by their
approved generic names. If trade names are used, the generic equivalent should be given parenthetically at the first use. Identify compounds
by their formal chemical name at first use; thereafter the trivial name may be used. All names should be in accordance with the most
recent IUPAC-IUB rules on the nomenclature of steroids published in Pure and Applied Chemistry61, 1783-1822, 1989. Substituted
steroids should be named so that only one functional group is designated as a suffix and all other substituents are listed as X
steroids 71 (2006) IX-XI prefixes. If the first letter of the suffix is a vowel, the terminal 'e' of the name of the hydrocarbon should
be dropped (e.g., etiocholan-17-one). Unsaturation should be indicated by writing the locant number for the double bond(s) before
the suffix (e.g., 3-hydroxyandrost-5-en-17-one). Trivial names may be modified by prefixes indicating substituents (e.g.,
17-hydroxyprogesterone) but must not be more cumbersome than the systematic names they replace. Chemically impossible trivial names (e.g.,
20-hydroxyprogesterone) are not acceptable. Alcohols are named as ols or hydroxy derivatives, not as dihydroketones. Isotope location
should be designated by a prefix bracket placed directly before the part of the name to which it applies (i.e., without a space or hyphen): e.g., 3,20-dihydroxy-[4-14C]pregnan-7-one; [3-3H]methoxyandrostan-17-one, 11β,21-dihydroxy-[1,2-3H; 4-14C]pregnane-3,20-dione.
Iodinated compounds, in which iodine is part of the structure, are to be labeled in the same manner; e.g., [16α-125I]iodoestradiol;
3-hydroxy-[21-125I]iodopregn-5-en-20-one.
Compound Identity and Purity
Naturally Occurring Compounds
Authors
must include copies of key spectra for the characterization of new compounds. This material should be submitted separately as "Supporting
Information" which will not appear in the journal, but will used by reviewers and be available on the web (see below).
Synthetic
Compounds Identification of Structure: Sufficient spectroscopic information needs to be presented to establish the structural
identity of all new compounds described. These data should appear in the Experimental Section and be adequate for unambiguous comparisons
to be made between the reported compound and the same compound prepared independently. A list of proton or carbon-13 NMR peaks is generally
sufficient, but if structural identification was based on NMR data, peaks assignments should also be given. Chemical shift data should
be given only to two decimal places. Infrared absorptions diagnostic for key functional groups are also helpful, and high resolution
mass spectroscopic data can provide an additional criterion of compound identity. When a series of closely related compounds is reported,
spectroscopic data can be presented in a table, or full spectroscopic data for a representative member can be presented, with comments
made on the spectral features unique to other members of the series. For known compounds, the source or literature reference to the
method of preparation and characterization must be provided. Graphic images of spectra and additional information related to structure
identification may be presented as Supporting Information, which will not appear in the journal but will be available on the web.
Criteria
for the Purity of All Compounds and of Compounds with Biological Data: All new compounds reported need to be pure. Evidence of high
purity is essential where biochemical or biological assay data are presented and related to compound structures; these compounds are
termed "SAR compounds". The purity of SAR compounds should be >98%; the purity of other compounds should be >95%. Any questions
related to the purity of SAR compounds should be presented in the Results section of the manuscript.
Evidence for purity can take
many forms: Combustion analyses for carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen is adequate. These data should appear in the Experimental Section and
should agree with the calculated data within 0.4%; a recommended form for presentation is: C18H23NO4: calcd. C, 68.12; H, 7.30; N, 4.41.
Found. C, 68.50; H, 7.18; N, 4.26.
When satisfactory combustion analyses are not available, evidence of purity should be provided
by HPLC chromatograms run in two divergent solvent systems (typically normal and reversed phase solvent systems) or by high quality proton
NMR spectra obtained at high signal-to-noise. These chromatograms or spectra should be included as supplementary data.
Preparation
of supplementary data Elsevier accepts 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: 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: TIFF, EPS or PDF.
MS Office files (Word, Powerpoint, Excel). 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 our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions."
DNA sequences and GenBank Accession numbers
Many 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. 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 capitalized. (See Example 1 below). This combination of letters and format will enable Elsevier's
typesetters to recognize the relevant texts as accession numbers and add the required link to GenBank's sequences.
Example 1:
''(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 (see Example 2 below).
Example
2: ''(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)''.
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 (see Example 3 below).
Example 3: ''(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)''.
Style
Note that Steroids uses the serial comma, e.g., Jones, Smith, and Brown (comma
before 'and' in a series of three or more items). American-style spelling is required. For example: color, not colour; hydrolyze, not
hydrolyse; estrogen, not oestrogen; labeled, not labelled. End-of-line hyphenation should be according to American-style word division
(based on pronunciation, not word derivation). Leave a space between number and unit (50 mg, 3.5 M). For solvent proportions use the
following style: ethanol/methanol (70:30 v/v) or ethyl acetate/isooctane (1:1).
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Proofs
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Reprints
The corresponding author will, at no cost, be provided with a PDF
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