Types of papers
The journal will publish full-length articles describing original, high quality research. Brief reports, Invited
Full length and Invited Mini-Reviews, will also feature in the journal. Matrix Biology may also publish the abstracts of national
and international meetings. Regarding brief reports, mini-reviews, meeting abstracts and announcements, please see the text at the bottom
of the Instructions to Authors.
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 • 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) • Colour figures are clearly marked as being intended for colour reproduction on the Web (free
of charge) and in print or to be reproduced in colour on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print • If only
colour on the Web is required, black and white versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes
Language Editing:
International Science Editing and Asia Science Editing can provide English language and copyediting services to authors who want to publish
in scientific, technical and medical journals and need assistance before they submit their article or, before it is
accepted for publication. Authors can contact these services directly: International Science Editing (http://www.internationalscienceediting.com) and Asia Science Editing (http://www.asiascienceediting.com) or, for more information about language editing services,
please contact authorsupport@elsevier.com who will be happy to deal with any questions.
Articles in Special Issues:
Please ensure that the words this issue are added (in the list and text) to any references to other articles in this Special
Issue.
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 and conditions (http://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions).
Full length articles
Submission of papers
Submission to Matrix Biology proceeds totally
online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via (http://www.elsevier.com/authors ) you will be guided
stepwise through 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. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted
to PDF 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 revisions, will be by e-mail and via the Author's homepage, removing
the need for a hard-copy paper trail.
Submission of papers to this journal is understood to imply that the data contained therein
have not previously been published (except in abstract form) nor are being considered for publication elsewhere, and that they have been
tacitly or explicitly approved by the responsible authorities in the laboratories where the work was carried out. Manuscripts submitted
under multiple authorship are reviewed on the assumption that all listed authors concur with the submission and have approved the final
manuscript. If accepted, the paper shall not be published either whole or in part elsewhere in the same or any other language without
the consent of the Publisher. Submission also implies the transfer of the copyright from the author to the Publisher. Only submissions
in English will be considered. Papers that do not conform to the general criteria for publication in Matrix Biology will be
returned immediately to authors to avoid unnecessary delay in submission elsewhere. The decision of the Editor is final; the Editor cannot
enter into correspondence about a paper that is considered unsuitable for publication.
Revisions should be submitted within 90 days.
If we do not receive your revision within 120 days, your paper will be withdrawn and removed from the system.
Editor-in-Chief:
Matrix Biology Office, Bjorn R. Olsen, Editor-in-Chief, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Department of Oral and Developmental Biology,
188 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA, Tel: (+1) 617 432 2359, Fax: (+1) 617 432 0638, e-mail: bolsen@hms.harvard.edu Review
Editor:Renato Iozzo, Department of Pathology, Anatomy & Cell Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, 249 Jefferson Alumni Hall,
1020 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA, USA, Fax:(+1)215 923 7969, e-mail: Renato.Iozzo@mail.tju.edu
Organization of the manuscript
The general organization of the sections, nomenclature, reference system, etc., are the same as those adopted by the major cell biology
journals (e.g., Cell, The EMBO Journal).
Manuscripts should be typewritten/printed double-spaced with wide margins throughout; those
produced with dot-matrix printers are not acceptable. Words to be printed in italics are to be underlined. Title page, abstract, tables,
legends to figures and reference list should each be provided on separate sheets of paper. The title page should include: the title,
the name(s) and affiliation(s) of the author(s), an address for correspondence, and telephone/telefax numbers for editorial queries.
All articles should include an Abstract (a single paragraph) of no more than 250 words and 3-6 key words for abstracting and indexing
purposes. The text should be ordered under the following headings: Introduction, Results, Discussion (may be combined with Results),
Experimental Procedures, Acknowledgements (when appropriate), References.
Preparation of 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 and as hardcopy printouts on separate sheets. • Provide captions to illustrations
separately. • Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
Your 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 at "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 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.
Colour figures
The cost of colour reproduction
will be charged to the author at EUR350 for the first page and EUR175 for subsequent pages. Prices may change slightly due to conversion
rate changes.
Tables
All tables must be cited in the text and have titles. Number them consecutively with Arabic numerals.
Table titles should be complete but brief. Information other than that defining the data should be presented as footnotes. Only horizontal
rules should be included, and kept to a minimum.
References
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references.
Only published articles and those in press (the journal should be stated) may be included; unpublished results and personal communications
should be cited as such in the text. In the text a reference should be cited by author and date; where there are more than two authors,
state first author's name followed by 'et al.' References should be listed alphabetically at the end of the paper and include, in the
following order: all authors (surnames followed by initials), year in parentheses, the full title of the article, journal title (abbreviated
according to the International List of Periodical Title Word Abbreviations), volume number and inclusive page numbers. For books, the
editors' names, book title, publisher and publisher's location should appear before volume and page numbers. See the following examples
of listing a journal article, monograph and chapter in a book, respectively:
Catala, M., Teillet, M.-A., Le Douarin, N.M. 1995.
Organization and development of the tail bud analyzed with the quail-chick chimaera system. Mech. Dev. 51, 51-65.
Tijssen, P., 1993
Hybridization with Nucleic Acid Probes. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Laboratory Techniques in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Vol. 24, pp.
554.
McConnell, S.K., 1995. Plasticity and commitment in the developing cerebral cortex. In Yu, A.C.H. et al. (Eds.), Gene Expression
in the Central Nervous System, Elsevier, Amsterdam. Progress in Brain Research Vol. 105, pp. 129-143.
Recheck references in the
text against the reference list after revision of your manuscript.
Amino acid and nuclei acid sequences
Sequences should be computer printed using a monospace font and high quality printer. They should be assembled as a camera-ready figure, not a table,
so that alignment can be maintained.
Abbreviations
Non standard abbreviations should be listed in a foot-note.
Ethics
of experimentation
Authors describing investigations in animals or on human tissue must specify that the research conformed
to the stipulations of the appropriate institutional review body and ethics committee.
Proofs
One set of proofs will
be supplied to the author to check for type-setting accuracy: no changes to the original manuscript will be allowed at this stage. In
the interests of publication time, authors should respond as quickly as possible, preferably by FAX or e-mail
Free reprints
25 free reprints are supplied per contribution: an additional number may be ordered at the prices quoted on the order form sent to the
corresponding author.
Matrix Biology has no page charges.
Brief Reports
The procedures to follow and the
format are the same as for regular papers except as follows: the abstract should have no more than 120 words. The introduction, materials
and methods, results and discussion should contain no more than 1200 words. Sections may be merged but should contain the same information.
There should be no more than 12 references and a total of two figures and tables. Incomplete studies, negative reports, and confirmatory
data will not be accepted.
Mini Reviews Each mini-review will be no more than 5-10 printed pages together with no more
than 50 references.
Full length Reviews For length of such reviews, please contact Review Editor.
Author Enquiries For
enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit http://www.elsevier.com/authors
This site 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.
Announcements
Persons wishing to utilize this service should contact the Editor-in-Chief or an Associate Editor.
US
National Institutes of Health (NIH) voluntary posting ("Public Access") policy.
Elsevier facilitates author response to the NIH
voluntary posting request (referred to as the NIH "Public Access Policy"; see http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm
) by posting the author's peer-reviewed manuscript directly to PubMed Central on request from the author, 12 months after formal publication.
Upon notification from Elsevier of acceptance, we will ask you to confirm via e-mail (by e-mailing us at NIHauthorrequest@elsevier.com
that your work has received NIH funding and that you intend to respond to the NIH policy request, along with your NIH award number to
facilitate processing. Upon such confirmation, Elsevier will submit to PubMed Central on your behalf a version of your manuscript that
will include peer-review comments, for posting 12 months after formal publication. This will ensure that you will have responded fully
to the NIH request policy. There will be no need for you to post your manuscript directly with PubMed Central, and any such posting is
prohibited.
Authors' rights:
As an author you (or your employer or institution) may do the following: • make copies
(print or electronic) of the article for your own personal use, including for your own classroom teaching use • make copies
and distribute such copies (including through e-mail) of the article to research colleagues, for the personal use by such colleagues
(but not commercially or systematically, e.g., via an e-mail list or list server) • post a pre-print version of the article
on Internet websites including electronic pre-print servers, and to retain indefinitely such version on such servers of sites •
post a revised personal version of the final text of the article (to reflect changes made in the peer review and editing process) on
your personal or institutional website or server, with a link to the journal homepage (on Elsevier.com) • present the article
at a meeting or conference and to distribute copies of the article to the delegates attending such a meeting • for your employer,
if the articles is a 'work for hire', made within the scope of your employment, your employer may use all or part of the information
in the article for other intra-company use (e.g., training) • retain patent and trademark rights and rights to any processes
or procedure described in the article • include the article in full or in part in a thesis or dissertation (provided that this
is not to be published commercially) • use the article or any part thereof in a printed compilation of your works, such as collected
writings or lecture notes (subsequent to publication of your article in the journal) • prepare other derivative works, to extend
the article into book-length form, or to otherwise re-use portions or excerpts in other works, with full acknowledgement of its original
publication in the journal.
