Instructions for Authors

The Journal publishes papers of high quality in any area of biology and biological sciences. Submission to the Journal is on the understanding that the article has not been previously published in any other form and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Research Paper: There is no restriction on the length of research paper, although authors are encouraged to be concise. Supplementary materials can be published if necessary. Please include in the main paper a set of keywords and an abstract followed by Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, Conflict of Interests, and References.
Short Research Communication: It presents a concise study, or sometimes preliminary but innovative research finding that might be less substantial than a full research paper. Short Research Communication is limited to 2500 words (excluding references and abstract). It should have a set of keywords and an abstract summarizing background of the work, the results and their implications. Results and Discussion Section should be combined and followed by Conclusion. Materials and Methods will remain as a separate section. The number of references is limited to 40 and the number of figures and/or tables combined is limited to 4.
Letter: This is the place for discussing controversial and/or interdisciplinary topics, viewpoints and commentaries, description of novel finding that might not be suitable for a regular research paper or short research communication, and any other issues that might be of interest to our readers. It is limited to a maximum of 800 words. Letter can have one figure/table and a maximum of 10 references.
Review or mini-review should be authoritative and of broad interest to the readers of general biological community.

Review/Decisions

Manuscripts (other than those that are of insufficient quality or unlikely to be competitive enough for publication) will be reviewed and a decision typically returns to the authors in about one month. Manuscripts with significant results will be reviewed and published at the highest priority and speed. Possible decisions on manuscripts are: accept as is, minor revision, major revision, or reject. Revised manuscripts should be returned within 1 month in the case of minor revision, or 3 months in the case of major revision. To submit a revision please sign in here and use the submit button at the right side of page.

Submission

Authors can format their papers in any convenient style for submission and review purpose. Please embed figures and tables in the manuscript to become one single file for submission. Details for submission can be found in the submission page.

Reprints

Reprints can be ordered after copyediting and publication (in manuscript login page). Reprints are now printed on glossy paper with cover page. They are made of highest quality suitable for scientific corresponding.

Publication Charges

The Journal charges a publication fee of 1100 US dollars (890 Euro) if and when an article is accepted for publication. Published articles of the Journal are open access and full texts appear in PubMed Central. This effectively removes the barriers for timely distribution of the articles and ensures that they can be read by as many people as possible. The amount of publication fee charged is lower than many other PubMed Central journals (comparing to the fees charged by BioMedCentral and PLOS). Publication fee is required to cover the cost of the publication. Payment can be made by credit card, bank transfer, money order or check. Instruction for payment is sent during publication process. Payment instruction is also available in the manuscript login page as soon as manuscript is accepted.

Format for Publication

Upon acceptance of the manuscript, please provide a final version (in Microsoft Word file) for copyediting purpose. Figures should be of high quality and high resolution, and can be embedded in the manuscript Word file. If the figures are created using PowerPoint, Photoshop, Microsoft Excel etc, please also provide the original files from those programs.

Title Page

Include in the first page the article title, author's names, affiliations, corresponding author's phone/fax number and/or email. Abstract should not contain citations to references. Also provide 5-6 keywords.

For author's names, please put first and/or middle names before surname, e.g., Mike C. Johnson.

Citation of Tables and Figures

Tables and Figures should be numbered consecutively. Citation of tables and figures should use the format: Table 1, Figure 1, or Fig. 2, Fig. 3. Parts in a figure can be identified by a, b, c, d, ... . and cited as Figure 2a, Figure 2b, Figure 2c. The abbreviation of "Table" to "Tab." for example "Tab. 1" should be avoided.

Math Formulas and Symbols

Simple mathematical formulas should be constructed using superscript, subscript, italic, and symbols in the Microsoft Word.

Use symbols in the Fonts: (normal text) or Symbol fonts. To insert a symbol, use Insert/symbol in the Word menu.
Use / for "divide" or "over". For example, 1/7, 5/(4+6).
Use Symbol fonts for "±"; "≤" and "≥" (avoid underline).

References

References are numbered starting from 1. Avoid putting personal communications, unpublished observations, conference abstracts or conference papers as references.

Journal Paper
Please use the PubMed citation format. Journal paper should have journal name or journal abbreviation, year, volume and page numbers. Please use ":" to separate volume and first page number. Omit any "." in the journal abbreviations. It is not necessary to highlight or italicize the title, journal name, or any part of references. The sequence is as: [Author surname] [Author initials], [Other author surnames & initials]. [Article title]. [Journal name abbreviation]. [Year]; [Volume]: [First page number]-[Last page number].
- Example:
  1. Eknoyan G, Beck GJ, Cheung AK, et al. Effect of dialysis dose and membrane flux in maintenance hemodialysis. N Engl J Med. 2002; 347: 2010-9.
- Supplement example:
  2. Volk HD, Reinke P, Krausch D, et al. Monocyte deactivation-rationale for a new therapeutic strategy in sepsis. Intensive Care Med. 1996; 22 (Suppl 4):S474-S481.
- No author given example:
  3. [No authors listed]. Medicare program; criteria for Medicare coverage of adult liver transplants-HCFA. Final notice. Fed Regist. 1991; 56(71):15006-15018.
- In press example:
  4. Cheung TMT, et al. Effectiveness of non-invasive positive pressure ventilation in the treatment of acute respiratory failure in severe acute respiratory syndrome. Chest; in press.
- Epub ahead of print example:
  5. Li W, Chen Y, Cameron DJ, et al. Elovl4 haploinsufficiency does not induce early onset retinal degeneration in mice. Vision Res 2007; [Epub ahead of print].
Book
1. Kiloh LG, Smith JS, Johnson GF, et al. Physical treatment in psychiatry. Boston, USA: Blackwell Scientific Publisher; 1988.
Chapters in Edited Book
1. Beckenbough RD, Linscheid RL. Arthroplasty in the hand and wrist. In: Green DP, ed. Operative Hand Surgery, 2nd ed. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1988: 167-214.
Web Site
1. [Internet] WHO: Geneva, Switzerland. Summary of probable SARS cases with onset of illness from 1 November 2002 to 31 July 2003. Revised 26 September 2003. http://www.who.int/csr/sars/country/table2003_09_23/en/
2. [Internet] Kornberg R. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2006/press.html

Ethics Committee Approval and Patient Consent

Experimental research involving human or animals should have been approved by author's institutional review board or ethics committee. This information can be mentioned in the manuscript including the name of the board/committee that gave the approval. Investigations involving humans will have been performed in accordance with the principles of Declaration of Helsinki. And the use of animals in experiments will have observed the Interdisciplinary Principles and Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Research, Testing, and Education by the New York Academy of Sciences, Ad Hoc Animal Research Committee.

If the manuscript contains photos or parts of photos of patients, informed consent from each patient should be obtained. Patient's identities and privacy should be carefully protected in the manuscript.

Conflict of Interests

Conflict of interests that might interfere with the objective presentation of the research findings contained in the manuscript should be declared in a paragraph heading "Conflict of interests" (after Acknowledgment section and before References). Examples of conflict of interests are ownership of stock in a company, grants, board membership, etc. If there is no conflict of interests, please use the statement "The authors have declared that no conflict of interest exists".

Format for Publication

Author Biography

Authors now have the option to publish a biography together with the paper, with information such as MD/PhD degree, past and present positions, research interests, awards, etc. This increases the profile of the authors and is well received by international readers. Author biography can be added to the end of paper, in a section heading "Author biography". See a sample of author biography.

For general information about preparing biomedical manuscripts, please consult the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication", available from http://www.icmje.org/.