Neurobiology of Aging

Neurobiology of Aging publishes the results of studies in behavior, biochemistry, cell biology, endocrinology, molecular biology, morphology, neurology, neuropathology, pharmacology, physiology and protein chemistry in which the primary emphasis involves mechanisms of nervous system changes with age or diseases associated with age. Only original articles will be accepted. Reviews and primary research articles are included, occasionally accompanied by open peer commentary. Letters to the Editor and brief communications are also acceptable. Brief reports of highly time-sensitive material are usually treated as rapid communications in which case editorial review is completed within six weeks and publication scheduled for the next available issue. Negative Results will be published as one journal page (3 doublespaced typed manuscript pages), with supplementary material to be posted at the journal web site.

The accepted abbreviation for Neurobiology of Aging for bibliographic citation is Neurobiol. Aging.

All new manuscripts must be submitted through theNeurobiology of Aging online submission and review web site ( http://ees.elsevier.com/nba/ ). Authors are requested to submit all required material in electronic form to this web site. Detailed instructions and a step by step guide are provided at the web site.

Authors are referred to the following published editorial policy statements: Coleman, P.D. How old is old? Neurobiol. Aging 25:1;2004. Coleman, P.D.; Finch, C.E.; Joseph, J. The need for multiple time points in aging studies. Neurobiol. Aging 25:3-4;2004. Finch, C.E. Middle-age: An evolving frontier in gerontology. Neurobiol. Aging 12:1-2;1991. West, M.J. New stereological methods for counting neurons. Neurobiol. Aging 14:275-285;1993. West, M.J.; Coleman, P.D. How to count. Neurobiol. Aging 17:503;1996.

Articles will be published in English. International authors who are not fluent in the English language should seek help in the preparation of their manuscripts. Such assistance will enhance the review process and greatly reduce the time to publication, if the article is accepted.

GUIDELINES



Genetic Analysis of Disease in the Era of Whole Genome Analysis and Public Databases. Over the past 5 years genetic analysis has changed almost beyond recognition. We now have the technology to assess association between any phenotype and alleles across the genome in a single analysis. Furthermore, these data are stored in publicly available databases such as dbGAP ( www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gap) and Alzgene ( www.alzgene.org) where they are accessible and can be used in ongoing meta-analyses. In this environment, researchers should consider carefully the extent to which analyses they report substantively contribute to the literature.

In the future, we will expect authors of any manuscripts submitted to access these databases before submission. While there are circumstances when limited analyses are appropriate, in general, clearly whole genome analyses are the way forward and there is no doubt that findings which come out of such studies are more reliable than those which come from candidate gene analyses. Additionally, we caution against the overinterpretation of analyses of secondary phenotypes (such as age of onset, or rate of cognitive decline).

In studies where whole genome analyses are reported, we will always expect full summary statistics to be made available alongside the publication.

We note that for many major phenotypes, there remain no whole genome reports. Clear examples include Alzheimer’s disease in populations outside of Europeans. We would welcome such studies.

Genetic Reports. It is our wish to provide rapid review of high quality-genetic studies for traits and conditions related to normal and diseased aging brain, whether these are positive or negative in outcome.

Genetic analysis and technologies have moved on and we want the studies we publish to be definitive. With this in mind, we suggest the following should be considered when you are submitting to Neurobiology of Aging:

(1) Does the study assess the whole gene? We would suggest that any analysis should include a haplotypic analysis of the whole gene of interest rather than single SNPs unless the SNP tested is believed to be the functional SNP.

(2) How is your study powered? This question should be addressed whether the study is positive or negative. In general, for dichotomous traits one should aim at reasonable numbers (cases and controls each of 500 is a good rule of thumb). These numbers can usually be achieved through collaboration.

(3) Is your study a hypothesis-generating or a hypothesis-testing study? Does it inform as to mechanism? In general, reviewers and editors are very wary of effects that purport to be only present in young onset cases, or in males etc. A clear negative study has value. Digging around in data to generate positive findings does the field a disservice.

(4) Have your sample series been used in other studies? Clearly these should always be referenced so the audience can assess how much risk may have been reported to have been found in any sample series.

(5) Are there online data sources in which you can also assess your SNPs? There are now online resources of case control series for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and brain gene expression. The number of these resources is increasing all the time: any association studies for which there is already data should reference and include these data, perhaps as secondary sample series.

These are not rules, but guidelines.

NB: The full text of Genetic Reports manuscripts submitted after November 30th 2010, if accepted, will be published as e-pub only . The full text of such manuscripts will appear online within 40-50 days of acceptance, with the abstract appearing in the next available print edition as well. The abstract in print will contain appropriate reference to the complete e-pub manuscript.

Biomarker Reports. As a journal devoted to aging and neurobiology, Neurobiology of Aging uses certain criteria for evaluating priority for publishing work on biomarkers. These include more than one of the following criteria:
(1) Novelty of the biomarker and relationship to disease mechanisms.
(2) The potential of the marker (based on evidence in the literature or in the manuscript) for directly revealing insight into disease mechanisms.
(3) The clinical potential of the marker for differential diagnosis or prediction of disease progression (based on data in the manuscript).
(4) The reliability of the supporting data based on size of the sample studied and statistical validation.

STYLE OF MANUSCRIPT

General form. (1) Manuscripts should be typed doublespaced with wide margins. Pages should be numbered. Computer generated illustrations must be of the high quality of professional line drawings or they will not be accepted. (2) The title page should contain: title of paper; author(s); laboratory or institution of origin with city, state, zip code, and country; complete address for mailing proofs; telephone, fax number, and e-mail address (when available, the e-mail address will appear in the correspondence footnote of the published article). (3) References, footnotes, and legends for illustrations should be typed on separate pages, double spaced. (4) Illustrations should be identified with figure number and author(s) name; when necessary the top should be clearly marked. (5) Each table should be typed on a separate page and double spaced. (6) All dimensions and measurements must be specified in the metric system. Standard nomenclature, abbreviations and symbols, as specified by Royal Society Conference of Editors. Metrication in Scientific Journals, Am. Scient. 56:159-164;1968, should be used throughout. (7) Italics should not be used for the purpose of emphasis.

Length of paper. The Editors insist upon clear, concise statements of facts and conclusions. Regular manuscripts should be no longer that 10 printed journal pages (30 doubled-spaced pages, including references, figures and tables) and should include only the most essential figures and tables. Brief Communications should be restricted to eight double-spaced pages (including references, figures and tables) and should not present more than one figure and one table, or two figures, or two tables. Fragmentation of material into numerous short reports is discouraged.

Negative Results. Negative Results will be published as one journal page (3 double-spaced typed manuscript pages), with supplementary material to be posted at the journal web site. The 3 double-spaced pages should include a brief abstract, a brief introduction, a few sentences of methods, core data and discussion of the data. If room allows, an abbreviated reference list with the most critical references should also be included in these 3 double-spaces pages.

Supplementary material for the web site should include a more detailed introduction, more details of the methods, the complete reference list and any additional data. The supplementary material should be sufficient to convince the interested reader of the validity and reliability of the results. It should be made clear which material is for printing in the journal and which is supplementary material for the web site. Since the net effect of a Negative Result is to discourage repetition, the standards for acceptance as a Negative Result will be highly demanding (see Announcement "Negative results can be valuable", Neurobiol. Aging 25(10):iii;2004).

Title. The title should not be longer than 85 characters, including spaces between words. Only the first word of the title should be capitalized.

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 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. Each paper submitted must be accompanied by an abstract, which does not exceed 170 words and must be suitable for use by abstracting journals. References should therefore be avoided, but if essential, they must be cited in full, without reference to the reference list.

A list of from 3—12 (or more) keywords or short phrases suitable for indexing terms should be typed at the bottom of the abstract page accompanying the manuscript. These terms will be printed with the paper following the abstract.

Drugs. Proprietary (trademarked) names should be capitalized. The chemical name should precede the trade, popular name, or abbreviation of a drug the first time it occurs.

Headings. All headings should be numbered, for example, 1. Introduction, 2. Methods, 2.1. Study population, etc. Capitalize the first word only for all headings.

Footnotes. If more than one author, the corresponding author should be indicated with an asterisk. If there is more than one affiliation, use a superior letter for each one. Use superior numbers for any other footnotes to authors' names, such as a current address. Text footnotes should not be used; the material should be incorporated into the text. Table footnotes: see Tables (b).

Acknowledgements. Place acknowledgements and source of funding, including information on grants received, before the references, in a separate section, and not as a footnote on the title page.

Disclosure statement for authors. At the end of the Acknowledgements, under a subheading "Disclosure Statement", all authors must: (a) Disclose any actual or potential conlficts of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the work submitted that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest which should be disclosed include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/ registrations, and grants or other funding. If there are no actual or potential conflicts of interest, please state this. Should a significant conflict of interest be present, the Editors reserve the right to reject the article on that basis. Sources of funding should be noted in acknowledgements. (b) When applicable, provide statements verifying that appropriate approval and procedures were used concerning human subjects and animals.

References:

Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic citations lies entirely with the Authors.

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.

Citations in the text. All citations in the text should be referred to using Author(s) surname(s) and the year of publication:

1. Single Author: the Author's surname (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication;
2. Two Authors: both Author's surnames and the year of publication;
3. Three or more Authors: first Author's surname 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..."

Reference list. References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. Include the names of all authors. 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. The order of information should be name, year, title, journal, volume, pages.

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.

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 journalPhysics 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.

Citing and listing of Web references. As a minimum, the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (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.

Illustrations. (a) Prepare for use in a single column width whenever possible. (b) All drawings for reduction to a given size should be drawn and lettered to the same scale. (c) All illustrations should be referred to as figures and numbered in Arabic numerals. (d) Lettering should be proportionate to the size of the illustrations if it is to be legible after reduction. Lettering should be sized so that its smallest elements (subscripts or superscripts) will be readable when reduced. (e) When possible all lettering should be within the framework of the illustration; likewise the key to symbols should be on the face of the chart. The following standard symbols should be used as they are easily available to the printer: (f) Actual magnification of all photomicrographs should be given. Dimension scale should be indicated. (g) Illustrations should be submitted in black and white unless color reproduction is requested.

Color 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 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. The 2006 price for color figures is US$650 for the first figure and US$100 for each additional figure. 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 .

Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting color figures to "grey 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. (a) Each table should have a brief heading; explanatory matter should be in footnotes, not as part of the title. (b) Table footnotes should be indicated in the body of the table in order of their appearance with superscript lowercase letters. Statistical measures should be indicated with symbols: *, **, etc. (c) Tables must not duplicate material in text or illustrations. (d) Vertical rules should be omitted. (e) Short or abbreviated column heads should be used. (f) Statistical measures of variation, SD, SE, etc., should be identified.

Formulas and equations. Structural chemical formulas, process flow-diagrams, and complicated mathematical expressions should be kept to a minimum. Usually chemical formulas and flow-diagrams should be provided for reproduction as line cuts.

All subscripts, superscripts, Greek letters, and unusual characters must be clearly identified. 168 Instructions to Authors/Neurobiology of Aging 28 (2007) 166-69

Anesthesia. In describing surgical procedures on animals, the type and dosage of the anesthetic agent should be specified. Curarizing agents are not anesthetics; if these were used, evidence must be provided that anesthesia of suitable grade and duration was employed.

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, total array data, 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. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at the Author Gateway at http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork . This journal requires electronic submission and supplementary data files can be uploaded via the Author Gateway page of this journal via http://authors.elsevier.com .

Proofs. Corrections to the proofs must be restricted to printer's errors only. 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 will not be possible, so please ensure your first sending is complete.

The Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated. Return corrections within 48 hours (2 days) of receipt of the proofs. Should there be no corrections, please confirm this.

Reprints. Each author will receive with his galley proofs a reprint order form which must be completed and returned with the proofs.

Copyright. Publications are copyrighted for the protection of the authors and the publisher. A Transfer of Copyright Agreement will be sent to the author who submits the manuscript. The form must be completed and returned to the publisher before the article can be published.

AUTHOR ENQUIRIES

For enquiries relating to the submission of articles please visit Elsevier's Author Gateway at http://authors.elsevier . com . The Author Gateway 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.



Updated Novermber 2010