Guide for Authors
Structure, Function and Interactions
Please follow these instructions carefully to ensure that the review and publication
of your paper is as swift and efficient as possible. These notes may be copied freely.
The
International Journal of Biological
Macromolecules is an established international journal of research into the structure of natural macromolecules. It presents the
latest findings of studies on the molecular structure of proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids. The scope includes biological interactions,
molecular associations, and functional properties as well as related model systems, conformational studies, new techniques, and theoretical
developments.
All contributions are read by two or more referees to ensure both accuracy and relevance, and revisions to the script
may thus be required. On acceptance, contributions are subject to editorial amendment to suit house style.
When a manuscript is returned
for revision prior to final acceptance, the revised version must be submitted as soon as possible after the author's receipt of the referee's
reports. Revised manuscripts returned after four months will be considered as new submissions subject to full re-review.
Types of paper
Contributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication:
•
Original high-quality research papers (preferably no more than 20 double-line-spaced manuscript pages, including tables and illustrations)
• Short communications, for rapid publication (no more than 10 double-line-spaced manuscript pages including tables and figures)
International Journal of Biological Macromolecules also publishes book reviews, conference reports and a calendar of forthcoming
events.
Contact details for submission
Articles should be submitted to
http://ees.elsevier.com/ijbiomac/. For queries, please refer to our support page at
http://epsupport.elsevier.com.
Ethics in Publishing
For information
on Ethics in Publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication see
http://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and
http://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.
Policy and ethics
The
work described in your article must have been carried out in accordance with
The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association
(Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm;
EC Directive 86/609/EEC
for animal experiments http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/legislation_en.htm;
Uniform Requirements
for manuscripts submitted to Biomedical journals http://www.icmje.org. This must be stated at an appropriate point
in the article.
Conflict of interest
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.
Submission declaration
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.
Results submitted for publication should refer to their previous findings in the same way as they would refer
to results from a different group. This applies not only to figures or tables, or parts of them, but has to be understood in a wider
sense.
Contributors
Each author is required to declare his or her individual
contribution to the article: all authors must have materially participated in the research and/or article preparation, so roles for all
authors should be described. The statement that all authors have approved the final article should be true and included in the disclosure.
Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to justify authorship. This participation must
include: (a) critically important intellectual contribution to the conception, design, and/or analysis and interpretation; (b) drafting
the manuscript or critically reading it; and (c) thorough reading and final approval of the version to be published. Participation solely
in the collection of data or provision of funds, space or equipment does not justify authorship. All authors take public responsibility
for the paper as a whole, i.e., conception and design, data, analysis, and interpretation. The acknowledgement section should list (a)
other contributors for whom authorship is not justified, e.g. technical help; (b) financial and material support.
Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete 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 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.
Retained author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details
you are referred to:
http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.
Role of the
funding source
You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation
of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation
of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such
involvement then this should be stated. Please see
http://www.elsevier.com/funding.
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 learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit
http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.
Language and language services
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted,
but not a mixture of these). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission
please visit
http://www.elsevier.com/languagepolishing or our customer support site at
http://epsupport.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.
Patient details
Unless you have written permission from the patient (or, where applicable, the next
of kin), the personal details of any patient included in any part of the article and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations
and videos) must be removed before submission. For further information see
http://www.elsevier.com/patientphotographs.
Submission
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the
creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts source files to a single PDF file of the article, which is used
in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF files 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 removing the need for a paper trail.
Referees
Authors are requested to submit at least four names (with full addresses, including phone, fax and e-mail) of
appropriate reviewers for their manuscripts. The editors will consider these nominations even though they are not constrained to follow
them.
Use
of wordprocessing software
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/guidepublication).
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 Electronic illustrations.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the
"spell-check" and "grammar-check" functions of your wordprocessor.
Article Structure
You should arrange your contribution in the following order:
1. The paper title should be short, specific and informative.
All author's names and affiliations should be clearly indicated. Please also indicate which author will deal with correspondence and
supply full postal address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address.
2. Self contained abstract of approximately 100 words,
outlining in a single paragraph the aims, scope and conclusions of the paper.
3. Three keywords, for indexing purposes;
4.
The text suitably divided under headings.
5.
Acknowledgments (if any).
6.
References (double spaced,
and following the journal style).
7.
Appendices (if any).
8.
Tables (each on a separate sheet).
9.
Captions
to illustrations (grouped on a separate sheet or sheets).
10.
Illustrations, each on a separate sheet containing no text,
and clearly labelled with the journal title, author's name and illustration number.
Subdivision
- numbered sections
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.
Essential title page information
•
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 will 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 that 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. 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. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard
or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using American spelling and 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.
Math formulae
Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal
line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently
denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the
text).
Figures (to be uploaded as separate file(s), see below) and tables
should be numbered in Arabic numerals. In the text they should be referred to as Fig. 1, Table 2, e.g. 3 etc. (not as fig. 1, figure
1; tab. 2, table 2). A calibration bar should be given on all micrographs.
Artwork
Electronic artwork
General points
• 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, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according
to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations
separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit each figure as a separate file.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
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: color or grayscale 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 (color or grayscale): 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.
Color artwork
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 color figures then Elsevier will ensure,
at no additional charge, that 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://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting color figures to "gray scale" (for the printed version
should you not opt for color in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the color illustrations.
Tables
Number tables consecutively 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. Be sparing in the use of tables and
ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.
References
Citation in 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 recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the
text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should
include a substitution of the publication date with either "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication" Citation of a reference
as "in press" implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
References
in a special issue
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations
in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.
Reference style
Text: 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.
Example: "..... as demonstrated [3,6]. Barnaby and Jones [8] obtained a different
result ...."
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] J. van der Geer, J.A.J. Hanraads, R.A. Lupton, The art of
writing a scientific article, J. Sci. Commun. 163 (2000) 51-59.
Reference to a book:
[2] W. Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements
of Style, third ed., Macmillan, New York, 1979.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
[3] G.R. Mettam, L.B. Adams, How to
prepare an electronic version of your article, in: B.S. Jones, R.Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc.,
New York, 1999, pp. 281-304.
Supplementary material
Elsevier 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:
http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data
are 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. Video files: please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame
from the video or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your supplementary
information. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Submission checklist
It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior
to sending it to the journal's Editor for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure
that the following items are present:
One Author designated as corresponding Author:
• E-mail address
• Full
postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded
• Keywords
• All figure
captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been "spellchecked"
and "grammar-checked"
• References are in the correct format for this journal
• All references mentioned in the Reference
list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources
(including the Web)
• Color figures are clearly marked as being intended for color reproduction on the Web (free of charge)
and in print or to be reproduced in color on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print
• If only color on the
Web is required, black and white versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes
For any further information please
visit our customer support site at
http://epsupport.elsevier.com.
Use of the Digital Object Identifier
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.
Proofs
One set of page proofs (as PDF files) 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) or, a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download
the files themselves. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe
Reader version 7 (or higher) available free from
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how
to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). 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 them 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.
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.
For inquiries relating to the
submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit this journal's homepage. You can track accepted
articles at
http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has
changed. Also accessible from here is information on copyright, frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions arising
after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, will be provided by the publisher.
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