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Guidelines for Submitting, Publishing and Reviewing in Biophysical Journal
http://www.biophysj.org/misc/guidelines.pdf
Online Submission
http://submit.biophysj.org/
Online Digital Artwork Preparation Instructions
http://submit.biophysj.org/journals/biophysj/forms/checklist.pdf
Click here for the complete online Style Guide to the Biophysical Journal.
BPS policy on NIH Repository
LATEX STYLE SHEETS(for Regular Papers)
biophysj.bst
bj_bibtex_template.bib
bj_latex_template.pdf
bj_latex_template.tex
Biophysical Journal publishes original articles, letters, and reviews and perspectives on the most important developments in modern biophysics. Experimental studies of a purely phenomenological nature, with no theoretical or mechanistic underpinning, are not appropriate for publication in the Journal. Theoretical studies should make strong contact to the areas of experimental studies found in the Journal and/or of the members of the Biophysical Society. Papers describing very significant methodological advances are also suitable for publication in BJ.
The following categories of articles are regular features:
Regular Articles: Regular articles should be prepared according to the directions provided below.
Biophysical Letters: The Biophysical Letters section of the Journal is for the rapid publication of unusually important and unusually timely short articles in diverse areas of biophysics. The criteria for acceptance of a Biophysical Letter are more stringent than for regular articles, and most submitted manuscripts will be returned without a full review after screening by members of the Editorial Board. Biophysical Letters must be submitted in a formatted template (found on the manuscript submission site). Accepted Letters will be published online before print upon acceptance and subsequently appear in the print version of BJ. Letters rejected by Biophysical Journal may not be resubmitted.
Visit http://www.biophysics.org/publications/letters-instruct.pdf for more information, and visit our online submission system at http://submit.biophysj.org to download the Letters template.
Minireviews: Minireviews are brief (no more than 5 printed pages) and cover topics of current interest in biophysics intended to provide a general overview of recent research. These articles are typically written by authorities in the field being
reviewed, and are directed to a broad range of scientists who wish to
keep abreast of the best current research. All minireviews are invited and are solicited by the Editor in Chief and Associate Editors, but nominations by outside the Editorial Board are welcomed. These suggestions will then be considered by the Editor in Chief, and if accepted, an invitation will be sent to the proposed author to submit a minireview. There are no page charges associated with an accepted minireview. Please submit nominations via the Journal's submission web page
http://submit.biophysj.org/.
Comments to the Editor: These are short commentaries on a paper published earlier in Biophysical Journal. These are NOT short original articles. In order for a submission to qualify as a comment, it must not contain unpublished data and must be entirely free of polemic. Comments to the Editor may be rebutted by the authors of the previously published article. Comments and any rebuttals are subject to review.
New and Notable: These commentaries, which highlight papers appearing in the same issue of Biophysical Journal, are generally solicited.
All contributions should be prepared and submitted online to http://submit.biophysj.org/. Instructions for online submission can be found at http://www.biophysics.org/authors.htm. If submitting by mail, contact the Journal office at bj{at}biophysics.org.
By submitting a paper, the corresponding author agrees to all terms and agrees that all authors on the paper have been notified of submission to Biophysical Journal.
An acknowledgement message is sent to all contribuing authors via e-mail upon receipt of a manuscript. Please contact the Editorial Office if your manuscript is not acknowledged. Papers will be printed as soon as practical after acceptance, but not necessarily in the order in which they are received. Questions about submissions should be directed to the Editorial Office.
Telephone: (301) 634-7255; Fax: (301) 634-7267;
E-mail: bj{at}biophysics.org
Referees: All articles in the Journal are refereed. Each regular article is normally read by at least two referees or one referee in the case of a Biophysical Letters submission. Contributors are required to suggest at least four names of possible referees as well as the name of an Editorial Board member qualified to appropriately handle their manuscript. An electronic list of research areas of the Editorial Board Members and their research areas can be obtained from http://www.biophysj.org/misc/edboard.shtml.
Biophysical Journal Open Access Policy
Upon acceptance, all authors are asked to submit a final manuscript, which is then placed online as a BioFAST paper. This paper appears online and is accessible to all Biophys J. readers. Authors are also given the option to submit a fee to make their final, copyedited papers available online as soon as they are published. This option is at the author's discretion and will be charged in addition to all page and color charges. Authors are given this option upon acceptance of a paper. The article will then show up on Biophys J. online tagged as an Open Access paper. Biophysical Society will take responsibility for depositing these papers in PMC. and these papers will be made available from PMC at the time of publication.
Papers will be made available under the CC-BY-NC licence located at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
BioFAST vs. Open Access
BioFAST: Once a paper is accepted and an author’s final manuscript is received, the unedited version of the manuscript is placed online. This is at no cost to the author, and the corresponding author of each paper must agree through the submission system to have the manuscript appear online, as well as supply a final version of the manuscript.
Open Access: Open Access is a voluntary option for every author. Once a paper is accepted, the corresponding author has the option of choosing to have the edited, published version of the paper appear online to be accessed by all as soon as the paper is published. The cost to the author for this option is $1000 per paper, in addition to page and color charges.
Preparation of Manuscripts intended as Regular Articles, Minireviews, Comments to the Editor, New and Notables, and Comments to the Editor.
Manuscripts should be formatted in a single-column, single-spaced format, and should be justified. Side margins should be 1". Font size should be 12, and fonts used should be Times New Roman for regular text, and Symbol for Greek and mathematical symbols. Figures MUST be labeled with numbers when submitting files online (Ex: Jones_figure1, Jones_figure2, etc). Figures should fit on one page, and should appear embedded at the end of the manuscript. Because space in Biophysical Journal is limited, authors should avoid non-essential mathematical expressions and should plan illustrations as indicated below. Authors are strongly encouraged to convert their manuscripts to PDF before submission, using Acrobat Distiller. Follow submission guidelines at http://www.biophysics.org/authors.htm.
Conciseness is required for Minireviews. The size of these articles will typically be in 5 printed journal pages (including references, tables, and figures). Minireviews that exceed the length requirements will be returned to the authors for shortening prior to review. Clarity of presentation is markedly helped by division of the manuscript into sections with definitive headings and by the liberal use of “summary-type” figures and/or tables. If possible, the number of references should be 50 or fewer.
Upon acceptance of all papers, authors will be required to place the following statement on the first page of the accepted manuscript, ABOVE THE TITLE OF THE PAPER: "This un-edited manuscript has been accepted for publication in Biophysical Journal and is freely available on BioFast at www.biophysj.org. The final copyedited version of the paper may be found at www.biophysj.org."
For a list of editors who may be hired to help authors with English usage, visit
http://www.biophysics.org/editing.htm
Style
Papers are to follow the conventions of the Council of Biology Editors Style Manual. Additional information can be obtained at
http://www.biophysj.org/misc/style.shtml.
Title
The title of each manuscript should identify the content of the article; clarity and conciseness are essential for indexing, abstracting, and retrieval. Not more than 100 characters and spaces should be used. A condensed running title of no more than 40 characters and spaces must be provided on the title page.
Keywords
Up to six keywords or phrases not in the title must be provided. These will be used for indexing and for selecting reviewers.
Abstracts
Each manuscript must be accompanied by an informative abstract of no more than 200 words. Abstracts should describe the substance of the paper in language non-specialists can understand, and must make clear the paper's biological significance. Abstracts will be electronically posted (pending author permission upon acceptance) prior to publication.
Appendices
Appendices are formatted the same as the other major sections of the
article (Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion etc. for regular articles and appropriate section headings for reviews/perspectives)with one
exception being that instead of subheadings, the sections are broken
down as Appendix A, Appendix B, and so forth, although subheadings
within those aforementioned main "A" and "B" headings are permissible.
The numbering of equations can either continue sequentially from the
main text (34, 35, 36, ...) or can be numbered within the context of the
Appendix itself (A1, A2, A3, ...).
The numbering of reference citations continues sequentially (very important).
Placement of the Appendix is immediately after the main text, i.e.,
before Supplementary Material, Acknowledgments, and References.
Footnotes
The only footnotes should be on the first (title)
page. All others should be listed at the point of reference
parenthetically. Footnotes should be placed in the following sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ¶, ||, **, ††, ‡‡, §§, ¶¶, || ||, etc.
Materials and Methods
Capitalize trade names and give manufacturers' full names and addresses (city and state).
Equations
Equations are to be typewritten. Handwritten equations will not be accepted. Clearly indicate capital and lower case letters. Label Greek and unusual symbols the first time they appear. Use fractional exponents instead of root signs. The solidus (/) for fractions will save vertical space. Equation numbers should be cited in the text without parentheses: e.g., Eq. 9, Eq. 10. Do not cite equations numerically only, but be sure to ad the "Eq.". Do not cite equations in abstract.
References
References are cited in numerical order in the text and are designated by that reference number in parentheses. The numbers, in parentheses, can be repeated at each citation of the referenced material. References appearing solely in figure legends and tables follow those in the text.
Following is an example of numbered citations:
“Membrane channels with large aqueous pores are traditionally regarded as "molecular sieves" that discriminate between different molecules based on their size (1,2). This simplified view, however, contradicts emerging experimental evidence that permeation through these structures involves intimate molecular interactions (3–5). Metabolite-specific channels exhibit affinity to their metabolites; permeating molecules do not just slip through the pore, but feel strong attraction to the pore-lining residues. The now classical example is bacterial porin LamB (6), where the existence of an extended binding zone for oligosaccharides is firmly established. More recent examples include ATP interactions with VDAC (3) and penicillin antibiotic interactions with the general bacterial porin OmpF (4,6,7,8).”
If references are added in the proof stage, they and their corresponding citations must be inserted per their proper numerical order and the rest of the citations/references renumbered accordingly.
References deleted in the proof stage will read, e.g., : “3. Reference deleted in proof.” Their corresponding numbers will remain in the text.
For references, include all authors' names (do not use "et al."), year, complete article titles, and inclusive page numbers. Abbreviate the names of journals as in the Serial Sources for the Biosis Data Base (published annually by BioSciences Information Service of Biological Abstracts, Philadelphia, PA 19103); spell out the names of unlisted journals.
Citations such as "unpublished data" and "personal communication" should be included parenthetically in the text, with all authors’ initials and last names, and MUST NOT APPEAR IN THE REFERENCE SECTION. For personal communications, include cited author's institutional affiliation and written permission to use material cited.
For the reference list, follow the style of the examples listed here, noting that each reference is numbered according to the number in which it appears in the text.
Journal articles
1. Benditt, E. P., N. Ericksen, and R. H. Hanson. 1979. Amyloid protein SAA is an apoprotein of mouse plasma high density lipoprotein. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 76:4092–4096.
2. Brown, W., and A. Nelson. 1989. Phosphorus content of lipids. J. Lipid Res. In press.
3. Reference deleted in proof.
4. Yalow, R. S., and S. A. Berson. 1960. Immunoassay of endogenous plasma insulin in man. J. Clin. Invest. 39:1157-1175.
Articles in Books
5. Innerarity, T. L., D. Y. Hui, and R. W. Mahley. 1982. Hepatic apoprotein E (remnant) receptor. In Lipoproteins and Coronary Atherosclerosis. G. Noseda, C. Fragiacomo, R. Fumagalli, and R. Paoletti, editors. Elsevier/North Holland, Amsterdam. 173–181.
6. Myant, N. B. 1981. The Biology of Cholesterol and Related Steroids. Heinemann Medical Books, London.
Coordinate Files
References to any atomic coordinate set for a macromolecule obtained from public repositories must include a citation to the paper or papers in which the structure in question was first presented, as well as its database serial number.
Citing Abstracts
CD version
Meeting Abstracts should be cited as follows:
Smith, R., S.E. Jones, T.J. Smith, (2006) Histone phosphorylation in DNA damage. 2006 Biophysical Society Meeting Abstracts. Biophysical Journal, Supplement, Abstract.
Print version
Smith, R., S.E. Jones, T.J. Smith, (2006) Histone phosphorylation in DNA damage. 2006 Biophysical Society Meeting Abstracts. Biophysical Journal, Supplement, 20a, Abstract, 814-Pos.
Complete books
1. Myant, N. B. 1981. The Biology of Cholesterol and Related Steroids. Heinemann Medical Books, London.
Commercial software
All commercial software and products should provide the name and location of the manufacturer.
1. MATLAB (The MathWorks, Natick, MA).
Articles in books
1. Innerarity, T. L., D. Y. Hui, and R. W. Mahley. 1982. Hepatic apoprotein E (remnant) receptor. In Lipoproteins and Coronary Atherosclerosis. G. Noseda, C. Fragiacomo, R. Fumagalli, and R. Paoletti, editors. Elsevier/North Holland, Amsterdam. 173-181.
Websites
Web references should be treated no differently than other references, and should appear as shown below.
1. Biophysical Society 48th Annual Meeting. 2004. http://www.biophysics.org/.
Tables
All tables should be typed double-spaced and carry a title. Do not use vertical rules. Footnotes should be placed in the following sequence *,
†,
‡,
¶,
§,
||,
**,
††,
‡‡,
¶¶,
§§,
|| ||, etc.
Illustrations
Each figure should fit on one page and should be embedded in the submitted paper after the references. Use the guidelines supplied on the digital artwork checklist at http://submit.biophysj.org/journals/biophysj/forms/checklist.pdf or visit http://www.dartmouthjournals.com/digart.html. All color figures must be submitted in their original RGB format.
When submitting figures as PowerPoint files, each figure MUST be saved as an individual file. All figures should not be saved in one file as an entire PowerPoint presentation.
Figure size: Figures should be designed to extend the full width of a page (7 inches). Multipart figures may appear on more than one page (one part per page). Figures should be embedded in the manuscript file, and should appear at the end of the manuscript.
Figure legends: Figure legends should be included in your manuscript file, and should be single-spaced beginning on a separate page following the references and tables.
Preparation of Manuscripts intended as a Biophysical Letter:
A Biophysical Letters manuscript must be submitted as formatted by a template that can be downloaded on the Journal's submission website. Papers can not be reviewed unless submitted in the proper format. The entire manuscript is to be no more than 3 formatted pages long, including figures and tables. References are numbered in the order of appearance within the text, and the numbered citation list placed at the end of the text. Figures and captions should appear within the text, as soon after citation as possible. Supplementary material for publication online is allowed but strictly restricted to experimental/computational details and other factual material. More discussion and conclusions are not permitted and will be grounds for rejection. Author must choose an Associate Editor/Area when submitting, or the paper will be returned to author. Rejected Letters may not be resubmitted.
Cover figure submissions: The editorial office chooses color figures for the Journal, based on the grades received during the review process. Once chosen, the author will be contacted to provide an electronic copy, and a caption.
Diskettes: If submitting a hard copy of your paper to the editorial office, follow instructions for electronic submission when preparing your files, and save all files to a disk. A disk must be included with your submission, along with a hard copy of the manuscript and figures. Online digital artwork submission guidelines can be found at
http://submit.biophysj.org/journals/biophysj/forms/checklist.pdf.
Databases
To establish public access to the results of x-ray diffraction and NMR studies on biological macromolecules, authors of papers describing new structures must submit to the Protein Data Bank or the Nucleic Acid Data Base, and all of the data required to validate their paper, including atomic coordinates. If the paper discusses a protein structure only at the level of the main chain alpha carbon atoms, then only alpha carbon coordinates need be deposited. If the discussion involves higher resolution data then a full coordinate list must be deposited. The Editor of the Journal should be informed no later than the completion of the editorial process that the necessary information has been sent to the appropriate data bank.
In keeping with generally accepted standards, coordinate files must be released by the date of publication.
We encourage submission of lipid phase transition and miscibility data to LIPIDAT (M. Caffrey, The Ohio State University,
http://www.lipidat.chemistry.ohio-state.edu/update.stm.
In keeping with generally accepted standards, coordinate files must be released by the date of publication.
We encourage submission of lipid phase transition and miscibility data to LIPIDAT (M. Caffrey, The Ohio State University).
Web Policies
It is increasingly common practice for authors to use the worldwide web to make their manuscripts publicly available, before submitting them to regular journals. Like all other journals, Biophysical Journal does not accept manuscripts that have been published elsewhere. However, it takes the view that manuscripts made public on the web have not been published, unless their posting on the site where they appear depended on successful completion of a review process. Thus, Biophysical Journal will consider for publication manuscripts that have been posted informally on a private web site, but it will not accept manuscripts that have been posted on "virtual journal" web sites, following review.
Information gained from other peoples' web postings should be referenced in manuscripts as personal communications, and the names of the authors and the URL where the information is posted must be supplied. Those making reference to information of their own that appears on the web should reference it as "unpublished data," and again give the URL where it may be found.
Charges To Author
Page Charges-Regular Manuscripts: Effective July 1, 2007, a manuscript whose corresponding author is a member of the Biophysical Society at the time of original submission is subject to page charges for members as follows: Members: $75 per printed page; Non-members: $95 per printed page
Beginning with all NEW PAPERS SUBMITTED January 1, 2008 and after, Color figures will be charged as follows:
Members: One free color (selected by the editor and only if deemed scientifically necessary), additional figures are $400 each; Non-members: $500 per figure.
All authors are expected to pay the page and color charges for articles published in Biophysical Journal. Failure to honor page charge obligations may affect future manuscript submissions. Approximately three double-spaced manuscript pages equal one printed page.
Page Proofs: Authors will be granted up to an average of two corrections per page at no cost. Corrections made to the proofs which exceed two per page will be charged to the author at a rate of $4.00 per correction. Figures that are replaced through no fault of the journal office or the printer will also be charged to the author.
Reprints: Reprints are available at a cost indicated on the reprint order form that accompanies galley proofs. Questions or comments can be sent to biophysj{at}dartmouthjournals.com.
Page Charges-Biophysical Letters: A flat charge of $500 is made to all authors, regardless of society membership and regardless of length. Length of Letter must not exceed three pages, and author must use provided template to submit a Letter. To apply for Society Membership, visit http://www.biophysics.org/members/memapp.pdf
Page Charges-Reviews/Perspecives: Reviews invited by the Editor in Chief do not incur page charges. All other Reviews are subject to regular page and color charges.
Color prints-Regular manuscripts:
Beginning with all NEW PAPERS SUBMITTED January 1, 2008 and after, Color figures will be charged as follows: Members: One free color (selected by the editor and only if deemed scientifically necessary), additional figures are $400 each; Non-members: $500 per figure.
To be considered for a free color figure, the figure must be estimated by the Editorial Board to be deemed essential to convey the science of the article.
In general, color is not necessary for simple line drawings, x-y plots, bar graphs, or simple spectra.
To be considered for free color benefits, the corresponding author of a paper must be a member at the time of first submission of the paper.
Color prints-Biophysical Letters: No additional charge is made for color figures.
Color prints-Reviews/Perspectives: Color figures that, in the estimation of the Editorial Board with the advice of the referees, are deemed essential to convey the science of the article will be printed free of charge to its authors.
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