Rapid publication is a priority; hence, authors are requested to pay close attention to the following instructions for the submission of manuscripts to the journal of Molecular Biology Research Communications.
General Policy:
Manuscripts, or the essence of their content, must be previously unpublished and should not be under simultaneous consideration by another Journal. By virtue of the submitted manuscript, the corresponding author acknowledges that all the co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript. The corresponding author should provide all co-authors with information regarding the manuscript, and obtain their approval before submitting any revisions. Manuscripts are only accepted for publication on the understanding that the authors will permit editorial amendments, though proofs will always be submitted to the corresponding author before being sent finally to press. Prior to the initial submission of a new manuscript, please carefully consider that all authors’ names are included as no change to authors’ details will be permitted after the initial submission.
Ethical consent:
All manuscripts reporting the results of experimental investigations involving human subjects should include a statement confirming the informed consent was obtained from each subject or subject’s guardian. All animal or human studies should be used after approval of the experimental protocol by a local ethics committee.
Conflict of interest:
A conflict of interest is a situation occurring when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation. All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.
Authorship criteria:
Molecular Biology Research Communications follows the Uniform Guidelines for Biomedical Journals Requirements of the ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) for determining authorship (http://www.icmje.org). Individuals should be listed as authors only if they 1) made a substantial contribution to conception and design of the study, the acquisition of data used in the study, or analysis and interpretation of that data; 2) were involved in drafting or revising the manuscript critically for important intellectual content; and 3) will have an opportunity to approve subsequent revisions of the manuscript, including the version to be published. Each individual listed as an author must have participated sufficiently to take public responsibility for the work. Acquisition of funding, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship.
The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
Duplicate Publication:
The papers already published to other scientific journals or periodicals are not considered for publication. The published paper to this journal should not be submitted to other scientific journal.
Editorial Policy:
Editorial board members, as well as a large group of external reviewers who have broad expertise in research areas of Molecular Biology, will fairly and thoroughly evaluate manuscripts submitted to "Molecular Biology Research Communications". Submitted manuscripts will be reviewed anonymously by at least two referees. Should a revised manuscript be required by the editors, the authors are requested to resubmit their revised manuscript to the journal within 3 months time. Studies on humans submitted to the journal must comply with the principles laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki (Br Med J 1964; 2: 177-178). The editor retain the right to reject papers on the grounds that, in their opinion, the ethical justification is questionable.
Manuscripts that are not resubmitted in revised form will be destroyed within 1 year of the date of submission.
Privacy Statement:
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
Instructions for Authors:
Submission of a manuscript implies the work described has not been published before and it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else. Also its publication should be approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as by the responsible authorities-tacitly or explicitly-at the institute where the work has been carried out. The publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation.
Language: The manuscripts should be written in proper English, typed double-spaced with 2.5 cm margins and an unjustified right margin.
Title of paper: Only the first letter of the first word in title begins with a capital letter.
Abstract: The Abstract should be up to 250 words for full-length articles and 150 words for brief reports, summarizing the reason for the study, the methods used, the results and the major conclusions. The abstract should not contain any undefined abbreviations or unspecified references.
Keywords: Please provide 4 to 6 keywords which can be used for indexing purposes. Note that the keywords should not duplicate all words used in the title of the article, which will be automatically indexed.
Title Page: The title page should include:
- The name(s) of the author(s).
- A concise and informative title.
- The affiliation(s) and address (es) of the author(s).
- The e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers of the corresponding author.
Text:
Although exceptions will be considered, manuscripts should not exceed 5000 words. Each article should contain the following major headings: Introduction (preceded by Arabic number 1.), Materials and Methods (preceded by number 2.), Results (preceded by number 3.), Discussion (preceded by number 4.), and Acknowledgment (optional section following the discussion, which should not be preceded by a numeral), and References (should not be preceded by a numeral).
Short Communications should not exceed 1500 words, including 150-word abstract, 3-6 keywords, text, and references plus 2 tables or 2 figures or one table and one figure. In Brief reports Results and Discussion sections may be presented together.
Letters to the Editor are substantiated comments or criticism arising from recent articles published in the journal. Word count: up to 500 words, Tables/Illustrations: 1, References: up to 5.
Introduction
The introduction should be brief and explain the purpose of the study; an extensive review of the literature should be avoided, but directly relevant articles by other investigators, as well as by the authors themselves, must be cited. If the paper includes subjects who have been included in previous reports, references should be provided and the number of subjects whose data have been included elsewhere should be specified. Abbreviations should be defined at first mention and used consistently thereafter.
Materials and Methods
The novel methods used in manuscript should contain sufficient details and information to make possible the reproducibility of data.
Results
The results should be clear and concise; they must summarize the most important data and statistical correlations as well. Tabular data should not be duplicated and important points and trends should be pointed out. The final sentences have to emphasize the importance attached to the observations. Study group variability must be reported as the standard deviation, not the standard error. In addition to the probability value, be sure to specify full details of the statistical analysis performed (e.g., name of statistical test used, test value, one-tailed or two-tailed test used, degrees of freedom or number of subjects, and probability level). Authors must also explicitly state what hypothesis is being tested. Probability values should be presented as uppercased, italicized P; r, t, F, df, and n should also be italicized.
Tables should be typed with double spacing to be uploaded separately, numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals, and should contain horizontal lines only. A short descriptive heading should be provided above with any footnotes and/or explanations below.
Figures and photographs of good quality should be submitted online as a separate file. Please use a lettering that remains clearly readable even after reduction to about 66% (lettering should be no smaller than 2 mm after reduction). For every figure or photograph, a legend should be provided.
Discussion
A combined section for Results and Discussion is often appropriate. The discussion should relate directly to the study being reported and give perspective to the adequacy of the materials and methods for the purpose of the study. This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. Any discrepancies with previously published results should be explained. The paper should be concluded with a brief statement regarding the significance of the study.
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section before the reference list. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.
Conflict of interest
Authors must indicate whether or not they have a financial relationship with the organization that sponsored the research.
References
Reference citations in the text should be identified by numbers in square brackets. The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished works should only be mentioned in the text. The entries in the list should be numbered consecutively.
- Journal article
The names of all authors should be provided. Always use the standard abbreviation of a journal’s name according to the ISSN List of Title Word Abbreviations.
Gamelin FX, Baquet G, Berthoin S, Thevenet D, Nourry C, Nottin S, Bosquet L. Effect of high intensity intermittent training on heart rate variability in prepubescent children. Eur J Appl Physiol 2009;105:731-738.
Tables and Figures
- All tables and figures are to be numbered using Arabic numerals.
- Tables and figures should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order.
- For each table and figures, please supply a table caption (title) explaining the components of the table.
- Footnotes to tables and figures should be indicated by superscript lower-case letters (or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data) and included beneath body of the table.
Text Formatting
Manuscripts should be submitted in Word.
- Use a normal, plain font (e.g., 12-point Times Roman) for text.
- Use the automatic page numbering function to number the pages.
- Do not use field functions.
- Use the table function, not spreadsheets, to make tables.
- Use the equation editor or Math Type for equations.
Note: If you use Word 2007, do not create the equations with the default equation editor but use the Microsoft equation editor or Math Type instead.
- Save your file in doc format. Do not submit docx files.
Correction of Errata:
The journal will publish an erratum when a factual error in a published item has been documented.
Proofs:
Proofs will be sent to the corresponding author to be checked for typesetting error. No changes or additions to the accepted manuscript will be allowed at this stage. Corrected proofs should be returned to the publisher within 48 hours of receipt. No page charges are levied on authors or their institutions except for colour pages.