Online Submission

All authors are encouraged to submit their work online at http://ees.elsevier.com/ceca for consideration by the Editors-in-Chief.

Professor A. Verkhratsky - University of Manchester, School of Biological Sciences, 1-124 Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9DT, UK Tel: +44 (0) 161 275 5414; Fax: +44 (0) 161 275 5363 Email: alex.verkhratsky@man.ac.uk

Professor S. Muallem - Department of Physiology, Room ND12.300G, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd. Dallas, TX 75390-9040, USA Tel: +1 214 645 6008; Fax: +1 214 645 6054 Email: shmuel.muallem@utsouthwestern.edu

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and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher.

Articles that contain the results of human and/or animal studies will only be accepted for publication unless it it is made clear that a high standard of ethics was applied in carrying out the investigations. In the case of invasive studies in humans, articles should include a statement that the research protocol was approved by a local ethical committee.

The Editor reserves the right to make editorial and literary corrections. Any opinions expressed or policies advocated do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor.

These instructions are in accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. (BMJ 1991;296: 401-405).

Papers should be submitted in journal style. Failure to do so may lead to significant delays in publication. Spelling may be British or American.

Conflict of interest statement

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work, all within 3 years of beginning the work submitted. If there are no conflicts of interest, authors should state that there are none.

Electronic Submissions

Manuscripts should be submitted via the online editorial system at http://ees.elsevier.com/ceca. Text should be prepared using Microsoft Word and figures should be prepared using a graphics application capable of exporting TIFF format. Files preferably should be converted to pdf using Adobe Acrobat software. Ideally, the manuscript should be attached as a single pdf file with text and all figures included.

Alternatively, manuscripts may be submitted as a Word file and separate figures in TIFF format. Ensure that each attached file is not greater than 2MB in size.

Accepted Papers

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. 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 Preparation of electronic illustrations.

To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spellchecker' function of your wordprocessor.

Papers should be set out as follows: title page, summary, text, acknowledgements, references, tables, captions to illustrations.

Title Page: The title page should give the following information: (1) title of the article, (2) name of each author, (3) name and address of the department or institution to which the work should be attributed, (4) name, address, telephone, fax number and email address (if available) of the author responsible for correspondence and to whom requests for offprints should be sent.

Summary: This should consist of not more than 200 words summarising the contents of the article.

Text: Headings should be appropriate to the nature of the paper. In general, those for experimental papers should follow the usual conventions. Other papers can be subdivided as the author desires; the use of headings enhances readability. Normally only two categories of headings should be used: number main headings as 1., 2., 3., etc and subheadings as 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, etc. A line space should be left above and below each heading.

Acknowledgements: Sources of support in the form of grants gratitude to colleagues etc. should be given under this heading.

Reference Format

The accuracy of references is the responsibility of the author. References should be entered consecutively by Arabic numerals in square brackets in the text. The reference list should be listed in numerical order on a separate sheet in double spacing. References to journal articles should include the author's name and initials (list all authors when six or fewer; when seven or more, list only the first three and add et al.), full title of paper, journal title abbreviated using Index Medicus abbreviations, volume number, year of publication, first and last page numbers. For example:

1. S.J. McGarry, A.J. Williams, Digoxin activates sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-release channels: a possible role in cardiac inotropy, Br J Pharmacol. 108 (1993) 1043-1050.

2. M. Mayrleitner, A.P. Timerman, G. Wiederracht, S. Fleischer, The calcium release channel of sarcoplasmic reticulum is modulated by FK-506 binding protein: effect of FKBP-12 on single channel activity of the skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor, Cell Calcium. 15 (1994) 99-108.

3. J.W. Daly, Mechanism of action of caffeine, In: S. Garrattini (Ed.), Caffeine, Coffee and Health, New York, Raven Press, 1993: pp. 97-150.

Figures

Line illustrations: All line illustrations should present a crisp black image on an even white background and should not be larger than 15 X 21 cm (A5 page). Laser printouts are acceptable but not xerox copies. The lines must not be too fine, or they will 'break-up' on production.

Photographic illustrations and radiographs: These should be submitted as clear, highly contrasted black and white prints (unmounted), sizes as above. Photomicrographs should have the magnification and details of staining techniques shown. X-ray films should be submitted as photographic prints, carefully made to bring out the detail to be illustrated, with an overlay indicating the area of importance. Figure tables should be submitted appropriately lettered in capitals. The size of the letters should be appropriate to that of the illustration, taking into account the necessary size reduction to fit one or two columns in the journal.

All illustrations should be clearly marked (by a label pasted on the back or a soft crayon) with figure number and the author's name, and the TOP of figure should be clearly indicated by an arrow. Never use ink of any kind. Do not use paper clips as these can scratch or mark the illustrations. Illustrations in colour cannot be accepted unless the cost of origination and publication is paid for by the author. The prices are Euro 485 for the first page of colour and Euro 236 for subsequent pages of colour.

Electronic figures: These may be *.TIFF or *.EPS files. For detailed instructions on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://ees.elsevier.com/ceca. It is the author's responsibility to ensure that back-up copies are kept.

Colourful E-Products: Submit colour illustrations as original photographs, high-quality computer prints or transparencies, close to the size expected in publication, or as 35 mm slides. Polaroid colour prints are not suitable. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://ees.elsevier.com/ceca.

Figure captions: These short descriptive titles should be listed on a separate page at the end of the manuscript.

Tables

These should appear double spaced on separate sheets and contain only 3 horizontal rules. Do not submit tables as photographs. A short descriptive title should appear above each table and any footnotes, suitably identified, below. Care must be taken to ensure that all units are included. Ensure that each table is cited in the text.

Preparation of Supplementary Data

Elsevier now 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 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 http://ees.elsevier.com/ceca.

Files can be stored on 3 1/2 inch diskette, ZIP-disk or CD (either MS-DOS or Macintosh).

Units & Abbreviations

Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. All unusual abbreviations should be fully explained at their first occurrence in the text. All measurements should be expressed in SI units. For more detailed recommendations, authors may consult the Royal Society of Medicine publication entitled Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: a Guide for Biological and Medical Editors and Authors.

Proprietary names of drugs, instruments etc. should be indicated by the use of initial capital letters.

Copyright Information

In order for us to ensure maximum dissemination and copyright protection of material published in the journal, copyright must be explicitly transferred from author to publisher.

The copyright transfer agreement will be sent to the corresponding author on receipt of the article at the publishers. It must be signed by the principal author before the paper is published.

We assure you that no limitation will be put on your personal freedom to use material contained in the paper without requesting permission, provided acknowledgement is made to the journal as the original source of publication.

Proofs

Page proofs are sent as a pdf file by email to the author for checking. The proofs, with any minor essential corrections clearly marked, must be returned by email or fax to the email address or fax number as given on the accompanying letter within 48 hours of receipt.

Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as possible. In order to do this we need your help. When you receive the (PDF) proof of your article for correction, 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. Note that this does not mean you have any less time to make your corrections, just that only one set of corrections will be accepted.

Offprints

Authors who submit material on disk will receive 25 free offprints.

An offprint order form will be sent to the author with the page proofs.

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