All reviews and illustrations must be received by the deadline specified in your invitation letter, as your article will be published
as part of a themed section. Please note that your review might be published online, in advance of the cover date for the issue, depending
on date of manuscript submission and the speed of the editorial and production process. Please follow these instructions carefully, as
our editorial policy differs in important respects from that of primary research journals.
Please contact your Content Development
Manager, Raffaella Marziani (CDM) if you have any questions; email: r.marziani@elsevier.com.
The review
The aim of the manuscript is to review recent articles, with particular emphasis on those articles published in the past two years.
In addition to describing recent trends, you are encouraged to give your subjective opinion of the topics discussed, although you should
not concentrate unduly on your own research. Your review should be approximately 2000 words (not including references or reference notes),
with approximately 50 references and, as such, the review is intended to be a concise view of the field as it is at the moment, rather
than a comprehensive overview. Our audience ranges from student to professor, so articles must be accessible to a wide readership. Please
avoid jargon, but do not oversimplify: be accurate and precise throughout. Occasionally, unpublished data can be referred to, but only
when essential and should never be used to substantiate any significant point.
Please ensure that the document is typed in the following
order in a single document including tables, boxes and figure legends (12 pt, double-spaced) with numbered pages.
1. Title
The title should be short and enticing (eight words or fewer), and should not contain abbreviations. Please feel free to suggest your
own title. You should include a truncated form of the title (~4 words) that will be used at the top of each page of your article.
2. Author(s)
Please provide the names of all authors in full, including first name. No more than five authors should
be listed (only those who contributed to the actual writing of the manuscript, rather than members of the laboratory contributing to
primary work). Anyone else who contributed to the article can be thanked in the acknowledgements section.
3. Addresses
Include full addresses for all authors, including e-mail addresses, and nominate a corresponding author (usually the invited author).
4. Summary of recent advances
All reviews should be prefaced by a summary of 100-120 words. The summary is important: it should
contain sufficient information for the reader to be able to appreciate the relevance of the full article when read alone. Summaries are
used by abstracting services and many users of these services read only the summary. It should include background information and specific
examples of recent advances, rather than promises that a particular subject 'will be discussed' - the scope of the review should instead
appear at the end of the introduction. References should not be included and abbreviations should be avoided as far as possible.
5.
Introduction
The introduction should be accessible to a wide variety of scientists by avoiding the use of jargon and concepts
not familiar to non-specialists. It should outline the time period covered and the scope of the review, including the importance of and
rationale behind your article. The introduction should include only a few background references.
6. Main text of review
Use concise, logical subheadings to provide clear links between the different sections and guide the reader through your review. Please
write all abbreviations in full on first use, and use the abbreviation thereafter. Any algebra should be > 14pt, with variables in
italics and vectors in bold.
7. Conclusions
The conclusions section should summarise the topics discussed and describe
future directions, including the author's opinions, as appropriate.
8. Acknowledgements
In addition to any acknowledgement
of help in the production of the manuscript, funding bodies should also be mentioned (please give full names rather than abbreviations),
together with any relevant grant numbers.
9. Ethics in Publishing: General StatementEthics
The Editor(s)
and Publisher of this Journal believe that there are fundamental principles underlying scholarly or professional publishing. While this
may not amount to a formal 'code of conduct', these fundamental principles with respect to the authors' paper are that the paper should:
i) be the authors' own original work, which has not been previously published elsewhere, ii) reflect the authors' own research and analysis
and do so in a truthful and complete manner, iii) properly credit the meaningful contributions of co-authors and co-researchers, iv)
not be submitted to more than one journal for consideration, and v) be appropriately placed in the context of prior and existing research.
Of equal importance are ethical guidelines dealing with research methods and research funding, including issues dealing with informed
consent, research subject privacy rights, conflicts of interest, and sources of funding. While it may not be possible to draft a 'code'
that applies adequately to all instances and circumstances, we believe it useful to outline our expectations of authors and procedures
that the Journal will employ in the event of questions concerning author conduct.
Conflicts of Interest
The
Publisher now requires authors to declare any conflicts of interest that relate to papers accepted for publication in this Journal. A
conflict of interest may exist when an author or the author's institution has a financial or other relationship with other people or
organizations that may inappropriately influence the author's work. A conflict can be actual or potential and full disclosure to the
Journal is the safest course. All submissions to the Journal must include disclosure of all relationships that could be viewed as presenting
a potential conflict of interest. The Journal may use such information as a basis for editorial decisions and may publish such disclosures
if they are believed to be important to readers in judging the manuscript. A decision may be made by the Journal not to publish on the
basis of the declared conflict. For more information, please refer to:
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors/conflictsofinterest
10. References and annotations
The reference list should not be exhaustive - simply alert the reader to the 50 most
innovative recent papers and key reviews. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited in the text,
followed by those that are only cited in the figure legends or tables. Please ensure that each item in the reference list has its own
number, avoiding joint references (for example, references [32a,32b] should be listed and cited as [32,33] and subsequent references
numbered accordingly). Papers accepted as 'in press' can be included (but see below). It is possible that the review will be published
in advance of the cover date. Please contact your CDM for exact dates if you are concerned about the timing of the publication.
Style The format for Current Opinion journals is available in Endnote 4.0. Each reference should be typed EXACTLY as shown in
the following examples:
JOURNAL
de Alba E, Antoro J, Rico MA, Jimenez MA: De novo design of a monomeric three-stranded
anti-parallel ?-sheet. Protein Sci 1999, 8:854-865.
BOOK
Archer MD, Barber J (Eds): Molecular to Global Photosynthesis.
Imperial College Press; 2004.
CHAPTER IN BOOK
Barber J, Kuhlbrandt W: Photosynthesis and photoconversion. In Molecular
to Global Photosynthesis. Edited by Archer M, Barber J. Imperial College Press; 2004:3-89.
Number of authors
If more than
eleven authors are credited for an article, please list only the first ten, then add et al. Please DO NOT shorten the list of authors
before the cut-off of ten. Journal names should be abbreviated in accordance with Index Medicus.
Online journal references When
citing online journal references, please adhere to the convention described above, inserting the digital object identifier (DOI) after
the year.
In-text citation When citing references in the text, please use [square brackets] rather than (parentheses) or superscript1,2
to denote the citations. Please also ensure the citations are numbered and NOT Harvard referencing style (i.e. [Moore 1965; Myrdal 1957]).
Annotations
The majority of the references (please aim to cite approximately 50) should come from the period under review (i.e.
the past two years) and, in general, at least 10% of these should be selected and annotated as being papers of special interest (") or
outstanding interest (""). Annotated references MUST be from the past two years, and the annotation should provide a brief description
of the major findings and the importance of the study. This is an essential part of each review and is very popular with our readers.
For example:
""30. Wong FS, Karttunen J, Dumont C, Wen L, Visintin I, Pilip IM, Shastri N, Pamer EG, Janeway CA Jr: Identification
of an MHC class I-restricted autoantigen in type 1 diabetes by screening an organ-specific cDNA library. Nat Med 1999, 5:1026-1031.
Using class I tetramers, the authors demonstrate that insulin-specific CD8+ T cells account for a large proportion of infiltrated
T cells in the islets of prediabetic NOD mice. This is the first study to use peptide multimers to decipher the mechanism of autoimmunity.
Exclude from reference list
Unpublished data (including papers in preparation, papers submitted for publication and personal communications),
conference abstracts, PhD theses, websites/URLs and computer programs/databases should not be mentioned in the reference list.
If you feel that the citation is crucial to the review, please mention it in the text only (see below). Please keep in mind that citations
should be restricted to sources freely available to most readers. (If a submitted paper is accepted for publication before we go to
press, then this information can be added in an 'Update' section). These references should be presented in the text as follows (please
list the first author only, including initials and surname):
Personal communications: (SW Churchill et al., personal communication
[or unpublished if referring to the authors' own work])
Submitted papers/unpublished data: (IMN Author et al., unpublished)
Abstracts (give full information but not title): (A Early et al., abstract 54, 3rd International Meeting of Cellular Immunology,
Washington DC, September 1998) or (A Early, abstract in Soc Neurosci Abstr 1998, 4:154).
PhD theses: (R Arthur Goode, PhD thesis,
University of Hawaii, 1988)
Computer program/database: (Actin database, University of Harvard).
(unless the program/database details have been published,
in which case cite as a normal reference. For example, Nicholls A, Bharadwaj R, Honig B: GRASP: a graphical representation and analysis
of surface properties. Biophys J 1993, 64:166-170.)
Note that personal communications must be authorised by those
involved. You are responsible for obtaining permission to use personal communications.
11. Figures
Please think
carefully about how to illustrate your article; you are encouraged to include up to four additional elements in your review (i.e. a combination
of Figures, Tables and Boxes). You should include at least one figure to summarise the main concepts discussed, and all figures should
help to explain the concepts discussed in the text. All illustrations should be labelled as figures, and figures should be cited in
the main text of the review in numerical order. The figure should have a title, and the legend should describe the figure in full, without
further reference to the main text. All abbreviations used in the figure and not in the main text should be defined at the end of the
figure legend. More detailed figure submission instructions are found on page 4.
Please note that it is the responsibility of the authors
to obtain permission to reproduce copyrighted material (figures that have been published before) from the original authors and publishers
(see also SUBMISSION).
12. Tables and boxes
You can include up to four additional elements to enhance your review
(i.e. a combination of Figures, Tables and Boxes). Tables should be used to tabulate data discussed in further detail in the review.
Boxes should be used for additional explanatory material that, although essential, interrupts the flow of the text. In addition, you
can include a glossary box to describe/define terms or abbreviations used in your review. Tables and boxes should always be referred
to in the main text of the article and should have an appropriate title. Please use the template in MS Word to create your tables. All
such text boxes will be included in the main text word count, and must be cited in the text in numerical order.
13. Supplementary
material
We have the facility to include additional or supplementary information (e.g. tables/figures/videos/audio) with articles.
This supplementary material will be published online only and will not appear in the print issue. The supplementary material should appear
as a 'stand alone' document. Therefore, please supply a word file containing all of the relevant information (i.e. the text, tables and
references should be in one document). For lengthy tables, excel files can be accepted. For more details, please contact the Journal
Manager: Basil Nyaku (JM) E-mail: COSTBI@elsevier.com
SUBMISSION
When you are invited to submit
an article for this journal you will be sent a formal invitation which explains how to submit you article using Elsevier's online Editorial
System (EES). Should you have problems uploading your article or have any questions, please contact the Journal Manager. The Journal
Manager will oversee the progress of your article up to publication.
It is essential to give a fax number and 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 Publisher.
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/wps/find/authorsview.authors/authorsrights.
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.
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 pre -printed forms for use by authors in these cases: contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Oxford, UK: phone (+44) 1865 843830,
fax (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage
(http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).
What happens next?
Once you have submitted your article
using EES, it will be checked for completeness by the Journal Manager and then passed on to the Section Editor. Your article will be
reviewed by the appointed Section Editor(s). Section Editors are responsible for determining the scope, balance and scientific accuracy
of all articles in their section and they will determine if your article is ready for publication or if revisions are required. If major
changes are suggested, you might be required to resubmit the review.
As soon as the Section Editor has approved your article for
publication the Journal Manager will arrange for the figures to be adjusted to meet our house style and for typesetting. A PDF file of
your typeset article will be e-mailed to you for proof correction. You are requested to return the corrected proof as quickly as possible
(preferably within 48 hours) to ensure speed of publication.
PREPARATION OF ELECTRONIC ILLUSTRATIONS
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, Helvetica, Times, Symbol
Number
the illustrations according to their sequence in the text
Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files
Provide all illustrations as separate files
Provide captions to illustrations separately
Produce images near
to the desired size of the printed version
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: Colour or greyscale 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 (colour or greyscale): 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 word-processor (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
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.
Colour illustrations
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS
Office files) and with the correct resolution. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
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.
ELECTRONIC OFFPRINTS (e-offprints)
The corresponding author, at no cost, will
be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. 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.
