Matrix Biology

Your Paper Your Way

We now differentiate between the requirements for new and revised submissions. You may choose to submit your manuscript as a single Word or PDF file to be used in the refereeing process. Only when your paper is at the revision stage, will you be requested to put your paper in to a 'correct format' for acceptance and provide the items required for the publication of your article.
To find out more, please visit the Preparation section below.

Introduction

Matrix Biology publishes Regular Research Papers, Brief Reports, Mini Reviews, Landmark Essays, Full Length Reviews and Announcements. The section Types of Papers describes the conditions each of these submission types should meet.

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.

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 If we do not receive your revision within 120 days, your paper will be withdrawn and removed from the system.

Types of papers

Regular Research Papers
are studies utilizing most scientific technologies including molecular biology, cell biology, immunochemistry, structural biology, computational biology, theoretical biology, and macromolecular chemistry where the subject is extracellular matrix or is substantially related to matrix and its biological role. The journal will publish articles that are scientifically rigorous, complete within a logical framework, and, most importantly, address molecular or cellular mechanisms that are timely and represent above average significance.

Brief Reports
are short papers that meet the same standards of quality and field of interest as regular papers, but have a narrower scope and a more focused interest. Brief reports should present new information of exceptional novelty, importance and interest to the broad readership of the journal. Reports should have a maximum of 3 figures, and no longer than 30,000 characters, including spaces.

Commentaries
are brief reviews that present a sharply focused view of a rapidly advancing area of research. Authorship is normally by invitation. Generally, commentaries include a manuscript of 6-10 double-spaced pages with 1-2 schematics. References are limited to 20-30.

Mini Reviews
are timely and original analyses of current topics of high interest. The mini-reviews should summarize the general concepts in the field, provide a brief summary of the new information and define unresolved questions about currently available data. The mini reviews must contain up to 3 original graphics of high quality or equivalent images, and a manuscript containing 12-15 double-spaced pages. We do not accept previously-published graphics or images.

Full Length Reviews
are comprehensive and critical analyses of topics that have been under investigation for some time. Most of them are invited reviews from experts in the relevant topic. The reviews must contain up to five high-quality, original graphics or equivalent images, and a manuscript containing 20-40 double-spaced pages. We do not accept previously-published graphics or images.

Announcements
Announcements of national or international meetings may be published in Matrix Biology.

Matrix in Medicine Reviews
The goal of this review series is to highlight specific diseases and explicitly and centrally address the role(s) of the ECM in the pathogenesis of this human disease. Submissions to the Matrix in Medicine series should be of interest to both clinicians and basic scientists. The reviews, should include a discussion of the clinical aspects of a particular human disease, supported by a review of the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the disease pathogenesis with a focus on ECM and/or cell-ECM interactions. Submissions should follow the general guidelines for Full Length Reviews delineated in the "Types of Papers" section.

Contact details for submission

Manuscripts for Matrix Biology should be submitted via the journal's online submission page at https://www.editorialmanager.com/matbio/default.aspx.

For all technical queries please consult our help site at https://service.elsevier.com/. Here you will be able to learn more about the online submission system via interactive tutorials, explore a range of online submission solutions via our knowledgebase, and find answers to frequently asked questions. You will also find our 24/7 support contact details should you need any assistance from one of our customer service representatives.

Submission checklist

You can use this list to carry out a final check of your submission before you send it to the journal for review. Please check the relevant section in this Guide for Authors for more details.

Ensure that the following items are present:

One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address

All necessary files have been uploaded:
Manuscript:
• Include keywords
• All figures (include relevant captions)
• All tables (including titles, description, footnotes)
• Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided
• Indicate clearly if color should be used for any figures in print
Graphical Abstracts / Highlights files (where applicable)
Supplemental files (where applicable)

Further considerations
• Manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'
• 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 Internet)
• A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare
• Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed
• Referee suggestions and contact details provided, based on journal requirements

For further information, visit our Support Center.

Before you begin

General Guidelines

A. General Guidelines>

Ethical Standards
To increase confidence in the data contained in submitted manuscripts, provided data must adhere to rigorous standards. Specific requirements for different types of data can be found in the appropriate sections below. Reviewers and editors will consider adherence to these guidelines as part of the evaluation process.
All manuscripts submitted to Matrix Biology and Matrix Biology Plus are evaluated for possible ethical violations, whether inadvertent or deliberate. Manuscripts are evaluated for similarity to other published works, including other published materials from the authors, to avoid instances of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, or duplicate submission of substantial parts of a manuscript. If warranted, figures will be evaluated for duplication and/or manipulation. Falsification or fabrication of data is strictly prohibited. Manuscripts found to be in violation of ethical principles will NOT be considered for publication and authors might be subject to restrictions on future submissions to the journal.
Author contributions should be indicated in a separate section of the manuscript and all authors must have reviewed and approved of the submitted version of manuscript and agree with being listed as an author.
Authors must use email addresses associated with their institutional affiliation or provide a convincing explanation for use of an alternate email address (e.g., gmail). Authors are also encouraged to establish a complete ORCID profile. All animal or human subject studies must report in the manuscript the official name of the review body and institutional approval number of the specific protocol. See additional details in the sections on Animal and Human Studies and materials.

Animal studies
Provide information on vendor source, including catalog number, age at start and end of studies, sex of animals, and any special diet or husbandry conditions. Genetic strain must be indicated for both parental and any derived transgenic animals. Indicate whether the animal facilities perform routine surveillance for pathogens. Provide the institutional animal protocol approval number for this specific project. The authors are encouraged to follow the ARRIVE (Animal Research Reporting: In Vivo Experiments) reporting guidelines (https://arriveguidelines.org/).

Human studies and use of human materials
Studies using human subjects or materials derived from human subjects must provide details regarding the human subjects' approval for this specific protocol, indicating the name of the review board (institution name) and the protocol approval number. Authors should state that the studies are in accord with the Declaration of Helsinki principles. If there is identifying information concerning human subjects, a copy of the approved consent form should be uploaded as supplemental information

B. Specific Guidelines for Data reporting

Description of Biological Materials
Sufficient information must be provided to enable other researchers to evaluate and/or attempt to replicate studies. Examples of required information include:

Chemical and biological reagents: Manufacturer, catalog number, lot number if appropriate, using standard identifiers/accession numbers or RRIDs and standard nomenclatures should be used to unambiguously identify a biomolecule and its species. Information for specific classes of biomolecules are as follows:
Proteins: The authors should provide UniProtKB accession numbers, and the exact sequence they used (first and last amino acid residues, mutations and deletions if any), and the isoforms where applicable.

Glycans: the authors should use the Symbol Nomenclature For Glycans for drawing (glycosamino) glycan structures (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/glycans/snfg.html)

Antibodies: Manufacturer, catalog number, lot number, RRID number if appropriate (https://www.rrids.org/), target antigen or epitope, dilution and concentration used, animal source of antibody and species reactivity, immunoglobulin isoform, purification (crude serum, immunoglobulin fraction or affinity purified), fluorochrome or label, if appropriate. If the antibody is not commercially available, include data (if original report) or reference if previously reported showing target validation of the antibody with positive and negative controls.

Cell lines/tissues: Describe in detail the cell/tissue source and how cell identity was authenticated (for primary cell isolates, indicate what cell-specific biomarkers were evaluated). If from a commercial cell/tissue repository, provide name of repository and specific genetic designation and catalog number. If obtained from human donors or a human cell bank or tissue repository, provide the specific human subjects protocol approval. Indicate whether donors have personal identifiable information linked to the cells/tissue samples or whether personal identity has been dissociated from the particular cell or tissue isolates. For all cells, indicate passages used for experiments and provide details on growth, maintenance, and experimental condition media. Indicate whether cells have been evaluated for mycoplasma and/or other relevant infectious contaminants.

Quantitative data: Formatting of graphs and use of statistics

Graphical representation of data must include depiction of all data points and the mean ? standard deviation/standard error of the mean. Simple bar graphs are not permitted.

For quantitative experiments, the experimental design should be clear. For example, blinding/masking, randomization, whether the design was prospective or retrospective, should be defined. Authors should state whether sample size/power analysis was calculated as part of study design. Samples sizes, technical (experimental), and biological replicates should be clearly indicated in the Methods and in also in Figure legends. Inclusion and exclusion criteria should be provided where applicable and if outliers or data subsets were removed or imputation was used to estimate missing values, this should be explicitly stated and specified.

The statistical test, software package or website used and the exact p value for significance should be provided. A justification should be provided for the chosen statistical tests. Comparison or more than two groups from the same datasets should use ANOVA and the specific post-hoc analysis should be provided. These requirements extend to data illustrated in both the main figures and supplemental figures.

Images (gels/western blots/microscopy) and quantification:

While it is accepted that authors sometimes need to adjust image parameters for clarity, manipulation for purposes of deception or fraud will be considered abuse of scientific ethics.

Gels and blots

• Cropped images can be used in figures but avoid overly cropping bands of interest. It is important to show the region of the gel or blot above and below the band of interest, at a minimum, this should include indication of the migration of the molecular weight markers above and below the band of interest. "

• In addition, full images of the uncut blot or gel must be provided in Supplementary Information. Hand-written annotation of these gels or blot images is allowed but should not obscure the bands.

•Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable as long as they are applied to the entire image and do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g. changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend and the use justified.

• Molecular weight markers, or the position of molecular weight markers, should be shown on all gels and blots. Molecular weight markers should be shown on uncut gels.

• If lanes are spliced, this needs to be obvious in the figure and clearly indicated by spacing between spliced lanes. The original blot/gel should be documented in supplemental data. Do not straighten bands, for example, using image manipulation software. Alterations in pixel resolution to blur an image is not acceptable.

• If blots or gels are quantitatively analyzed, explain how the data were collected, and how signal intensity was normalized, and the number of replicates.

• When estimating protein content in a band, normalize to total protein loaded if possible. 'Housekeeping' proteins should not be used for normalization without evidence that the experimental manipulations do not affect expression: appropriate controls must be shown. For example, certain "housekeeping genes" are regulated by glucose or are under control of the circadian clock. If recording data to film or other recording medium, ensure that the recording medium or detector is recording in the linear range.

• In labeling gels and blots, make sure to use the protein name and not the gene name e.g. 1(I) (protein) and not COL1A1 (gene) for the alpha 1 chain of type I collagen.

Image data

File formats/size/resolution

• Requirements for file formats and acceptable minimal resolution are delineated in the "Artwork" section of the Author Information Pack. Preferred formats are TIFF or EPS.

• Color figures need to be in RGB color mode. Avoid image color combinations that would be difficult to discern if color blind.

• No specific region of an image should be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed or introduced. Blemishes, stray marks and bright spots (e.g. produced by a permanently 'on' pixel') are part of everyday data collection and should not be removed.

• Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable as long as they are applied to the entire image and do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g. changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend. Pixel resolution to blur an image is not acceptable

Figure basics

• Include a scale bar. Indicating "times magnification" is not sufficient.

• Images that are composites of separate images should have the borders of the original images clearly marked e.g. with a white border.

• Authors should be able to provide the following information in the methods:

a. Make and model of microscope

b. Imaging medium

c. Fluorochromes

d. Acquisition software

e. Software used for image processing of data acquired, and include details of 3D reconstructions, deconvolution, volume rendering etc.

f. If exporting files, use consistent formats e.g. 8 bit, 16 bit etc.

Image data analysis:

• Criteria for image selection and analysis should be clearly explained, and data should include numbers of replicates and appropriate statistical analyses to determine significance.

• Image software used for analyses should be specified in the methods.

• Co-localization of two or more signals from different fluorophores or stains should be supported by merged images from the channels at a resolution sufficient to distinguish the features of interest.

• Fluorescence images should show signals from individual channels in gray scale to reveal the full dynamic range of intensities, and to allow color-blind individuals to appreciate your data. Merged images should be presented in color, with distinct colors for individual channels.

• Quantitative statements regarding the cellular distribution of molecules or changes in their levels should be supported by quantification of corresponding regions.

• When quantifying, make sure the exposure used leads to a signal that is within the linear range afforded by that method.

• In the case of immunofluorescence/immunohistochemistry, using primary antibody and secondary antibody combinations, controls such as a non-immune antibody, omission of the primary antibody, and absence of antigen may be necessary to demonstrate specificity.

Gene expression and genetic manipulation

CRISPR/Cas

Appropriate controls for CRISPR/Cas experiments should be included. For example, results from two or more guides and two or more independent clones should be shown. Experiments in cells, including induced pluripotent stem cells, should include an isogenic control with cells that retain a wild-type allele. CRISPR/Cas-mediated insertion/deletions should be verified by sequencing and show loss of the protein by immunoblotting or changes in RNA expression if antibodies are not available.

RNAi

For RNA interference (RNAi) experiments, include at least two different siRNAs complementary to different regions of the target gene, as well as control siRNAs. Depletion of target gene expression should be demonstrated either at the level of protein or mRNA.

Gene expression

To demonstrate the functional consequence of changes in gene expression from RNA data (e.g., RNA-seq, microarrays, QT-PCR) supporting evidence should also be provided. The authors are encouraged to follow the MIQE guidelines (Minimum Information for publication of Quantitative real-time PCR experiments (https://rdml.org/miqe.html).

FACS Data

Experimental protocols and data reporting should follow the guidelines as outlined in https://doi.org/10.1002/eji.202170126. Provide name/model of instrument used, including quality control and calibration assurances. Describe the specific parameters evaluated, indicating specific antibodies and titers (see Antibody section), their fluorophores and potential optical overlaps if multicolor analyses are performed. Describe optical filters used. Describe gating parameters and controls for cell viability, auto-fluorescence, and non-specific binding. Indicate number of viable cells evaluated.

Transcriptomics datasets

Datasets should be made publicly available using the standards discussed in Data Sharing section by submitting them to repositories such as:

• Array Express (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/arrayexpress), which accepts all functional genomics data generated from microarray or next-generation sequencing platforms.

• or Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo). GEO is a public functional genomics data repository supporting MIAME-compliant data submissions. Array- and sequence-based data are accepted.

The authors are encouraged to comply with the following standards:

• MIAME is the Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment (https://www.fged.org/projects/miame)

• MINSEQE (Minimum Information About a Next-generation Sequencing Experiment (https://www.fged.org/projects/minseqe)

Proteomics data

The following paragraphs are from the guide for authors of the Journal of Proteomics (see Guide for authors, Experimental design data analysis for 2-D PAGE and MS-based experiments).

The experimental design must be provided and must include details of the number of biological and analytical replicates. Use of only one biological/analytical replicate will not be acceptable. In clinical studies, it is highly desirable that a power analysis predicting the appropriate sample size for subsequent statistical analysis of the data is carried out.

For expression analysis studies, summary statistics (mean, standard deviation) must be provided and results of statistical analysis must be shown. Reporting fold differences alone is not acceptable. For comparative proteomics, multivariant analysis of the variance should be used.

Proper terminology should be used. "Protein species" or "Gene product" are preferred terms when referring to "isoforms" and "allelic variants", respectively, (please consult Jungblut et al. The speciation of the proteome. Chemistry Central Journal 2008; 2: 16, and Schluter et al. Finding one's way in proteomics: a protein species nomenclature. Chemistry Central Journal 2009; 3: 11). Terms such as "differences in protein expression" and "induction/repression" should be avoided, since this terminology relates to gene regulation, and quantitative proteomics deals with the measure of differential abundances of spots (2DE) or peptide ions (LC-MS/MS).

Authors must report the following: methods of data normalization, transformation, missing value handling, the statistical tests used, the degrees of freedom and the statistical package or program used. The method(s) used to generate the mass spectrometry data must be described. The name and version of the program used for database searching, the values of critical search parameters (e.g. the mass over charge (m/z) and the charge (z) of the precursor ion, fragment mass tolerance, cleavage rules used, allowance for number of missed cleavages and modifications) and the name and version of the database(s) searched must be provided. For each protein identified, measures of certainty (e.g. p values) must be provided. For MS/MS, the number of peptides used to identify a protein must be given as well as the sequence and charge state of each peptide. If new software or bioinformatic tool are employed or described, these should be made available (free or shareware) at least for reviewing purposes. Identification of proteins based solely on mass fingerprinting will be considered only if the sequence of the genome of the organism under study is known. For peptide mass fingerprinting, the number of peptides that match the sequence, the number of unmatched peaks, and the total percent of sequence coverage must be stated.

Identification of proteins from organisms with unknown genome sequence will be accepted only if MS/MS-derived peptide sequence data have been used for database searching or BLAST analysis. The score for the highest ranked hit to a homologous, orthologous, or paralogous protein should be indicated.

For experiments with large MS/MS data sets, estimates of the false positive rates are required (e.g. through searching randomized or reversed sequence databases). This information should be provided as supporting information. Where post-translational modifications are reported, the methods used to discover the modification must be described. The modification should be mapped to amino acid(s) by fragmentation analysis, but reported as ambiguous if mapping to a single amino acid is not possible. For isobaric modifications, evidence for assigning a specific modification must be provided and the spectra included as supporting information. Where protein sequence isoforms are reported, the peptide sequence that matches the unique amino acid sequence of a particular isoform must be provided. Fragmentation analysis of the appropriate peptides should be described.

Interaction data

The authors are encouraged to comply with the MIMix stan

Enrichment analyses of omics datasets

The authors must provide the following information:
• Software and tools used for the analyses including the web site URL, the reference of the article describing the tool or the software, the version number and the parameters used for the analyses
• The species of the proteome used as a reference for the analyses
• The lists of proteins (UniProtKB accession numbers) or genes (gene name) used for the analyses as supplementary tables
• The lists of enriched annotations/terms and the annotated proteins/genes should be provided as supplementary tables with the p-value, the False Discovery Rate and the fold-enrichment when appropriate

Reporting of Biophysical data

The following information should be included for each following type of experimental study:

Circular dichroism experiments
• Biomolecule concentration and buffer
• Experimental setup and conditions, measurement temperature, cell pathlength
• Number of averaged sample and baseline spectra
• The net (averaged sample minus averaged baseline) spectrum
• Deconvolution algorithms and reference set used where appropriate
• Authors are encouraged to deposit data in The Protein Circular Dichroism Data Bank (PCDDB, https://pcddb.cryst.bbk.ac.uk).

Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) experiments
• Synchrotron(s) and beamline(s) where the The lists of enriched annotations were performed
• Experimental setup (SAXS, SEC-SAXS) and conditions (sample concentration, buffer including additives, column size/type/resin, injection volume and flow rate)
• Data Processing Software used
• Authors are encouraged to deposit data in Small Angle Scattering Biological Data Bank (SASDB).
• See publication guidelines for structural modelling of small-angle scattering data in Trewhella J, et al, 2017 publication guidelines for structural modelling of small- angle scattering data from biomolecules in solution: an update. Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol. 2017 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28876235/

Structural data

The atomic coordinates and related experimental data for structures of biological macromolecules must be deposited in the PDB before submission and the accession code included in the manuscript. Authors must also submit the annotated PDB Summary Validation Report for review at the time of submission. For NMR structures, chemical shifts for backbone and side chain assignments (as well as methyl group chemical shift assignments) must also be deposited in the BMRB.

For structures determined by electron microscopy, 3D maps must be deposited in EM Data Bank (EMDB) and models fitted to EM maps must also be deposited in the PDB with the correspondence between the map and structure clearly stated. For electron tomography data, one or more representative tomograms should be deposited in EMDB.

For model structures determined by computational methods, authors should include the coordinates as supplementary information.

C. Data sharing policies Authors are required to deposit data into repositories and include links in the manuscript to enable access to these data per the stated guidelines Sharing Research Data for Journal Authors (https://www.elsevier.com/authors/tools-and-resources/research-data). To facilitate reviewer access to information during manuscript evaluation, authors are required to make data available, including access information (accession number/password) at the initial submission. Information on linking raw data to databases can be found at the following link: https://www.elsevier.com/authors/tools-and-resources/research-data/data-base-linking.

Ethics in publishing

Please see our information on Ethics in publishing.

Declaration of interest

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places: 1. A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file (if double anonymized) or the manuscript file (if single anonymized). If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations of interest: none'. 2. Detailed disclosures as part of a separate Declaration of Interest form, which forms part of the journal's official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches. More information.

Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing

The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process.

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.

Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Disclosure instructions
Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

Submission declaration and verification

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), 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, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify compliance, your article may be checked by Crossref Similarity Check and other originality or duplicate checking software.

Use of inclusive language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise to seek gender neutrality by using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as default/wherever possible to avoid using "he, she," or "he/she." We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition unless they are relevant and valid. When coding terminology is used, we recommend to avoid offensive or exclusionary terms such as "master", "slave", "blacklist" and "whitelist". We suggest using alternatives that are more appropriate and (self-) explanatory such as "primary", "secondary", "blocklist" and "allowlist". These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive.

Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses

Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth (""sex assigned at birth""), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary. Moreover, the terms ""sex"" and ""gender"" can be ambiguous—thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the resources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

Author contributions

For transparency, we require corresponding authors to provide co-author contributions to the manuscript using the relevant CRediT roles. The CRediT taxonomy includes 14 different roles describing each contributor’s specific contribution to the scholarly output. The roles are: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing - original draft; and Writing - review & editing. Note that not all roles may apply to every manuscript, and authors may have contributed through multiple roles. More details and an example.

Changes to authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.
Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Article transfer service
This journal uses the Elsevier Article Transfer Service to find the best home for your manuscript. This means that if an editor feels your manuscript is more suitable for an alternative journal, you might be asked to consider transferring the manuscript to such a journal. The recommendation might be provided by a Journal Editor, a dedicated Scientific Managing Editor, a tool assisted recommendation, or a combination. If you agree, your manuscript will be transferred, though you will have the opportunity to make changes to the manuscript before the submission is complete. Please note that your manuscript will be independently reviewed by the new journal. More information.

Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (see more information on this). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. 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 preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases.

For gold open access articles: Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'License Agreement' (more information). Permitted third party reuse of gold open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license.

Author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.

Elsevier supports responsible sharing
Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, it is recommended to state this.

Open access

Please visit our Open Access page for more information about open access publishing in this journal.

Language (usage and editing services)
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the Language Editing service available from Elsevier's Language Services.

Submission

Our online submission system guides you stepwise through the process of entering your article details and uploading your files. The system converts your article files to a single PDF file used in the peer-review process. Editable files (e.g., Word, LaTeX) are required to typeset your article for final publication. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, is sent by e-mail.

Suggesting reviewers
Please submit the names and institutional e-mail addresses of several potential reviewers.

You should not suggest reviewers who are colleagues, or who have co-authored or collaborated with you during the last three years. Editors do not invite reviewers who have potential competing interests with the authors. Further, in order to provide a broad and balanced assessment of the work, and ensure scientific rigor, please suggest diverse candidate reviewers who are located in different countries/regions from the author group. Also consider other diversity attributes e.g. gender, race and ethnicity, career stage, etc. Finally, you should not include existing members of the journal's editorial team, of whom the journal are already aware.

Note: the editor decides whether or not to invite your suggested reviewers.

Preparation

Queries

For questions about the editorial process (including the status of manuscripts under review) or for technical support on submissions, please visit our Support Center.

NEW SUBMISSIONS

Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts your files to a single PDF file, which is used in the peer-review process.
As part of the Your Paper Your Way service, you may choose to submit your manuscript as a single file to be used in the refereeing process. This can be a PDF file or a Word document, in any format or lay-out that can be used by referees to evaluate your manuscript. It should contain high enough quality figures for refereeing. If you prefer to do so, you may still provide all or some of the source files at the initial submission. Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be uploaded separately.

Figures and tables embedded in text
Please ensure the figures and the tables included in the single file are placed next to the relevant text in the manuscript, rather than at the bottom or the top of the file. The corresponding caption should be placed directly below the figure or table.

Peer review

This journal operates a single anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal's usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups. More information on types of peer review.

REVISED SUBMISSIONS

Use of word processing software
Regardless of the file format of the original submission, at revision you must provide us with an editable file of the entire article. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). See also the section on Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.

Article structure

Abstract

A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

Introduction
State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Results
Results should be clear and concise.

Discussion
This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Experimental procedures
Be detailed with all the various techniques.

Essential title page information

• Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration. 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 will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• 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.

Highlights

Highlights are optional yet highly encouraged for this journal, as they increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any). Please have a look at the example Highlights.

Highlights should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).

Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Acknowledgements
Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).

Formatting of funding sources
List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Math formulae
Please submit math equations as editable text and not as images. Present simple formulae in line with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article.

Artwork

Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Preferred fonts: Arial (or Helvetica), Times New Roman (or Times), Symbol, Courier.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Indicate per figure if it is a single, 1.5 or 2-column fitting image.
• For Word submissions only, you may still provide figures and their captions, and tables within a single file at the revision stage.
• Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be provided in separate source files.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available.
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 finalized, 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 (or PDF): Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as 'graphics'.
TIFF (or JPG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF (or JPG): Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., 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.

Color artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF), 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 online (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for color: in print or online only. Further information on the preparation of electronic artwork.

Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. 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.

Tables

Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.

References

Citation in text
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). 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 and a copy of the title page of the relevant article must be submitted.

Web references
As a minimum, the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Reference to material which is available on the Internet but has not been published elsewhere should be made in the text only and should not be included in the reference list.

Data references
This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.

References in a special issue
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.

Reference management software
Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles, such as Mendeley. Using citation plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide. If you use reference management software, please ensure that you remove all field codes before submitting the electronic manuscript. More information on how to remove field codes from different reference management software.

Reference style
References should be listed at the end of the manuscript. They should be listed in the order in which they appear in the text, tables, and figure legends and numbered sequentially. When cited in the text, reference numbers should be in brackets. Only papers that have been published or accepted should be cited in the reference list. The title of the article, the volume number, and first and last pages should be cited. Journal titles should be abbreviated, e.g.,

1. Sanger, F. & Coulson, A. R. (1975). A rapid method for determining sequences in DNA by the primed synthesis with DNA polymerase. J. Mol. Biol. 94, 441-448.

2. Goto, Y., Calciano, L. J. & Fink, A. F. (1990). Acid-induced folding of proteins. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87, 573-577. Articles in books should include the title of the article, the name of the book, editor(s), edition number, first and last page numbers, the name and the location of the publisher, e.g.,

3. Hanks, S. K. & Hunter, T. (1995). The eukaryotic protein kinase superfamily. In The Protein Kinase FactsBook: Protein-Serine Kinases (Hardie, G. & Hanks, S., eds), pp. 747, Academic Press, London.

Journal abbreviations source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.

Video

Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the file in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB per file, 1 GB in total. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect. Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages. Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material such as applications, images and sound clips, can be published with your article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make changes to supplementary material during any stage of the process, please make sure to provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the 'Track Changes' option in Microsoft Office files as these will appear in the published version.

Data linking
If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described.

There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. For more information, visit the database linking page.

For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect.

In addition, you can link to relevant data or entities through identifiers within the text of your manuscript, using the following format: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).

Research Elements

This journal enables you to publish research objects related to your original research – such as data, methods, protocols, software and hardware – as an additional paper in a Research Elements journal.

Research Elements is a suite of peer-reviewed, open access journals which make your research objects findable, accessible and reusable. Articles place research objects into context by providing detailed descriptions of objects and their application, and linking to the associated original research articles. Research Elements articles can be prepared by you, or by one of your collaborators.

During submission, you will be alerted to the opportunity to prepare and submit a manuscript to one of the Research Elements journals.

More information can be found on the Research Elements page.

Amino acid and nuclei 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 the alignment can be maintained.

After acceptance

Online proof correction

To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. Corresponding authors will receive an e-mail with a link to our online proofing system, allowing annotation and correction of proofs online. The environment is similar to MS Word: in addition to editing text, you can also comment on figures/tables and answer questions from the Copy Editor. Web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing you to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.
If preferred, you can still choose to annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version. All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail we send to authors, including alternative methods to the online version and PDF.
We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. 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. It is important to ensure that all 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.

Offprints

The corresponding author will, at no cost, receive a customized Share Link providing 50 days free access to the final published version of the article on ScienceDirect. The Share Link can be used for sharing the article via any communication channel, including email and social media. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Corresponding authors who have published their article gold open access do not receive a Share Link as their final published version of the article is available open access on ScienceDirect and can be shared through the article DOI link.

Author inquiries

Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch.
You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.