The Official Journal of the International Society for Developmental Neuroscience

GENERAL

The International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience is devoted to the prompt publication of the results of original research on any aspect of the scientific study of the nervous system. The type of paper most suitable for publication is that in which new observations are clearly and succinctly reported and in which an attempt is made to make the purpose and outcome of the study meaningful to scientists of other disciplines.
Detailed and/or very specialized papers will only be considered for publication if the authors have followed the latter suggestion. Since one of the chief aims is to promote communication between neuroscientists, the journal will also include occasional commentaries on specific areas of neuroscience.


The International Editorial Board, which is appointed by the Chief Editor in consultation with the Publications Committee of the International Society for Developmental Neuroscience, consists of specialists in all major branches of neuroscience. Each paper is read by at least two Editors or referees. Further opinions are sought if necessary.
Papers reporting original research are considered for publication provided that they describe significant, new and carefully confirmed findings and that adequate experimental details are given. Preliminary communications are not accepted. No distinction is made between short and long papers. Accelerated publication of Brief Communications (under 2000 words in length) will be reserved for very novel findings. All papers must be prepared according to the instructions given in Section II.
Commentaries or review articles on a specific topic in neuroscience will normally be published after an invitation to the author from the Chief Editor or an Associate Editor. Other prospective authors should obtain the agreement of the Chief Editor before submitting a manuscript. Commentaries are not exhaustive reviews but short articles (3000-10,000 words in length) intended either to draw attention to developments in a specific field for workers in other scientific disciplines, or to bring together observations over a wide area that seem to point in a new direction. Authors should always endeavour to make their commentary understandable to neuroscientists of other disciplines.
Submission of a paper for International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience will be held to imply that it represents original research not previously published (except in the form of an abstract), and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere in similar form.


SUBMISSION
All manuscripts should be submitted through International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience's online submission and peer review website (http://ees.elsevier.com/dn). Authors are requested to submit the text, tables and artwork in electronic form. In a Cover letter, authors should state that the manuscript, or parts of it, have not been and will not be submitted elsewhere for publication.


MANUSCRIPT REQUIREMENTS


Form
Manuscripts should be typewritten with double or triple spacing throughout and wide margins at least 2.5 cm wide. If possible, A4 size (206 x 294 mm) paper should be used. Each manuscript must have a title page which includes only the title, the authors' names, the laboratory or origin, the name and address of the person to whom proofs should be mailed and any necessary footnotes. Original manuscripts and diagrams are discarded 1 month after publication unless the Publisher is requested to return original material to the author.
Corrections to the proof should be restricted to printer's errors. Substantial alterations may be charged to the author.
The title should be as short as is consistent with clarity. Papers should not be numbered in series, but subtitles are accepted. A list of abbreviations used in the text should be put at the bottom of the title page (see 2a and 6).
A running title, not to exceed 56 letter spaces, should be included on a separate sheet.
Pages should be numbered in succession, the title page being page 1.
Tables and figures should be on separate pages placed at the end of the manuscript. Their desired approximate locations should be indicated in the margin of the text.
Footnotes to the text should be used sparingly; where they must be used their locations should be indicated by the symbols *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, in that order.
Greek characters should be clearly indicated.
Isotopic specifications should conform to the IUPAC system [Biochem. J. (1975) 145, 1-20].
Drug names should be the official or approved names; trade names or common names may be given in parentheses where the drug is first mentioned. The manufacturer's name must be given. The doses of the drugs should be given as unit weight/unit body weight, e.g. mmol/kg or mg/kg. Concentrations should be given in terms of molarity, e.g. μM or M, or as unit weight/unit volume solution, stating whether the weight refers to the salt or the active component of the drug. The molecular weight, inclusive of water crystallizations, should be stated if doses are given as unit weight.


Style

Manuscripts should be concisely written in English in a readily understandable style. Authors who need assistantce before they submit their article for peer review or before it is accepted for publication may find the language editing companies listed here http://authors.elsevier.com/LanguageEditing.html useful.


Technical jargon, 'laboratory slang' or words not defined in dictionaries should not be used. Abbreviations should be avoided unless they conform to the instructions under sub-section 6. They must not be used as a short form for experimental procedures or for concepts. Redundant words, phrases, and sentences should not be used. For example, the captions of Tables and Figures, with or without paraphrasing, should not be repeated in the text.


The Editor reserves the right to revise the wording of manuscripts accepted for publication in International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience.

Organization

Each paper must begin with a brief Abstract. It should not exceed 5% of the length of the paper. The first paragraph of the abstract should summarize the results obtained, the final paragraph should summarize the major conclusions in such a way that a reader not familiar with the techniques used can see any implications for his area of neuroscience. Abbreviations must not be used in the Abstract.

The remaining text of all papers, however short, should be organized in the following four main sections:

(1) An introductory statement should first set 'the scene' for a non-specialist and then continue with the specific reasons for undertaking the investigation. Exhaustive reviews of the literature should be avoided and no attempt should be made to indicate the results obtained. The heading 'Introduction' should be avoided.

(2) Experimental procedures. Procedures used should be given in sufficient detail to permit the repetition of the work by others. However, published procedures should only be briefly summarized and only described in detail if they have been substantially modified. Special chemicals, drugs, etc. with their sources of supply should be grouped under a separate sub-headings Materials.

(3) Results. In this section findings should be described without discussion of their significance. Sub-sections should be used to clarify the expression of the results.

(4) Discussion. In this section the authors' interpretations of their findings should be accompanied by an assessment of their significance in relation to previous work. Repetition of material given under 'Results' should be avoided. Sub-sections should be used wherever possible and sub-sections dealing with technical or highly specialized matter should be clearly separated from the result of the text so that they can be printed in small type.

Presentation of data in Tables or Figures

In general, Tables and Figures should be so constructed what they, together with their captions and legends, will be intelligible with minimal reference to the text.

Each figure must be accompanied by a caption and explanatory legend typed on a separate sheet.

Care should be taken to present data in a precise manner. For example, histographs should not be used when the data can equally well be given in a Table.

Figures

For full guidelines on the preparation and submission of your artwork please refer to http://www.authors.elsevier.com/artwork. The use of colour plates is encouraged when appropriate. A charge for one full page of ca. $1000 is made for reproducing colour photographs. The exact cost will be given on request.

References

In the text, cite references by name and date (Harvard system). For more than two authors, use the first surname and et al. In the final list, they should be in alphabetical order, including the complete title of the article cited, and names of all authors. In the following examples notice the punctuation; do not use all capitals, do not underline.

The reference list should be typed on a separate sheet(s) of paper at the end of the manuscript, in alphabetical order and arragned as follows: author's name and initials, year, title of the article, abbreviated title of the journal, volume, first and last page numbers. Journal titles should be:

Journal Articles
Vogt M. and Wilson G., (1972) Concentration of 5-hydroxytryptamine and its acid metabolite in ventricle-near regions of the rat brain. Journal of Neurochemistry 19, 1599-1600.

References to books should include the authors' name and initials, year, title of book, volume, publisher and place of publication. Where relevant, the title of a paper within a book, and the editor's name, should be given. For example:

Book Chapters
Baker, P.F. (1972). The sodium pump in animal tissues and its role in the control of cellular metabolism and function. In Metabolic Pathways, Academic Press, New York, Vol. 6, pp. 243-268.

Unpublished experiments may be mentioned only in the text; they must not be included in the list of References; initials as well as surnames must be given for authors whose unpublished experiments are quoted.

A paper which has been accepted for publication but which has not appeared may be cited in References with the abbreviated name of the Journal followed by the words 'In press'. The date of acceptance of each such paper should be indicated when the manuscript is submitted to IJDN.

Personal communications may be used only when written authorization from the communicator is submitted with the original manuscript: they may be mentioned only in the text.

Abbreviations

Symbols for physical units should be restricted to the Systeme Internationale (S.I.) Units. Examples of commonly used symbols can be found in Biochem. J. (1975) 145, 1-20 and more detailed descriptions, in Quantities, Units and Symbols (1971) The Royal Society, London.

The excessive use of abbreviations in the text is strongly discouraged. In particular, awkward and unfamiliar abbreviations and those intended to express concepts or experimental techniques will not be permitted. In order to aid communication between scientists of different disciplines, authors should only use abbreviations sparingly and should always define the abbreviation when first used by placing it in parentheses after the full term, e.g. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE). A list of abbreviations used in the text should be put on the bottom of the title page.

Chemical and biochemical nomenclature

As far as possible authors should follow the conventions used in the The Biochemical Journal, See Biochem. J. (1975) 145, 1-20. Author enquiries
For enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit this journal's homepage at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijdevneu. 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, as well as copyright information, frequently asked questions and more.

Contact details for questiosn arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.