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| BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS |
Guide for Authors
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications (BBRC) is devoted to the rapid dissemination of timely and significant observations in the diverse fields of modern experimental biology. Articles submitted should be written to emphasize clearly the novel aspects of the information reported.
Submission of Manuscripts
It is a condition of publication that all manuscripts must be written in clear and grammatical English and be submitted to the BBRC Web site at http://ees.elsevier.com/bbrc. Authors are requested to transmit the text and art of the manuscript in electronic form to this address. No exceptions will be allowed; manuscripts submitted via any other method will be returned. Each manuscript must also be accompanied by a cover letter outlining the basic findings of the paper and its significance. Complete instructions, including instructions for proper artwork format, are available at the submission Web site. Authors who have questions regarding the electronic submission process should contact the Editorial Office prior to submission (e-mail: bbrc@elsevier.com; telephone: (619) 699-6359; or fax: (619) 699-6859).
There are no submission fees or page charges.
Peer Review Policy
The practice of peer review is to ensure that good science is published. It is an objective process at the heart of good scholarly publishing and is carried out on all reputable scientific journals. Our Editorial Board therefore plays a vital role in maintaining the high standards of BBRC while ensuring that it retains the speed of publication necessary for a rapid communication journal.
Type of Peer Review
BBRC is a rapid communications journal. As such, the decision to publish an article rests entirely with the handling Editor. Manuscripts are assigned to members of the Editorial Board based on expertise. This Editor may accept the manuscript as it is, send it to a colleague for review, or reject it. Requests for revisions are rare. Should the Editor request revisions, the manuscript will be treated as a new submission.
How long does the review process take?
Authors of manuscripts can expect an accept or reject decision normally within 2 weeks of receipt. Publication will then take place immediately unless the author has, upon submission, requested an embargo.
Manuscripts are accepted for review with the understanding that no substantial portion of the study has been published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere and that its submission for publication has been approved by all of the authors and by the institution where the work was carried out. Redundant or duplicate publication in another peer-reviewed primary research journal of the same paper (or substantially similar paper) reporting the same results arising from the same research work does not serve the research or library community well, and any such publication will be subject to review by the editor and to the retraction and removal policies of the journal. Manuscripts that do not meet the general criteria or standards for publication in BBRC will be immediately returned to the authors, without detailed review.
Any manuscript rejected by one editor may not be resubmitted to a different editor; any revised version should be sent to the original editor. Note that all revisions will be processed as new submissions.
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to transfer copyright (for more information on copyright, see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. A letter will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript. A form facilitating transfer of copyright will be provided after acceptance.
If material from other copyrighted works is 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: contact Elsevier Global Rights Department, P.O. Box 800, Oxford OX5 1DX, UK; phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.com.
Minireviews
This section includes minireviews, commentaries, and views on relevant subject matter, not simply short papers. Authors submitting a manuscript for this section should, in a cover letter, indicate that they are "submitting a manuscript for the Minireviews section." Minireviews generally are invited; however, authors may inquire about potential interest in a minireview. Manuscripts for the Minireviews section should be indicated as for the attention of William J. Lennarz. Articles should not exceed 9 to 10 double-spaced, typewritten pages (including tables, figures, and references). One page of figures in articles in Minireviews can be published in color, free of charge. The authors of minireviews may, if they wish, include a limited number of annotated references. Two hypothetical examples follow:
[1] J.Y. Smith, S.S. Doe, A novel retinoid-response gene set in vascular smooth muscle cells, J. Biol. 280 (2000) 5-8. [A very concise review of recent findings.]
[2] J.Y. Black, R.J. Blue, Magnetic field exposure induces DNA degradation, Biol. Acta 120 (2001) 20-29. [The first study presenting detailed information on the enzyme activity.]
Preparation of Manuscript
Manuscripts must be written in clear, concise, grammatical English. Authors unfamiliar with English usage are encouraged to seek the help of English-speaking colleagues in preparing their manuscripts or to use the services described below.
Language Editing: English language and copyediting services for authors who want to publish in scientific, technical and medical journals and need assistance before they submit their article or, before it is accepted for publication should visit http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors/languagepolishing. For more information about language editing services, please contact authorsupport@elsevier.com who will be happy to deal with any questions. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our terms and conditions ( http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/termsconditions.cws_home/termsconditions).
Manuscript length: Manuscripts should be double-spaced throughout, with a minimum of 1-inch margins. The length of the article when published will not exceed 6 printed journal pages, including all figures and tables. To achieve this the submitted article length must be no greater than 4,200 words (or 19,000 characters with spaces, whichever is the greater) and 4 figures (n.b. any figure larger than half a page will be counted as two figures). For information on article length for Breakthroughs and Views, refer to the Minireview paragraph. Pages should be numbered consecutively and organized as follows:
The Title Page (p. 1) should contain an article title of less than 75 characters, the authors' names and complete affiliations, any footnotes to the title, and the name and address for manuscript correspondence (including e-mail address and fax numbers). Note that the title should not contain any jargon or nonstandard abbreviations. The corresponding author must confirm that the correspondence address in the manuscript agrees with the address in the accompanying letter.
Please ensure that all authors are properly listed and identified. No additions or deletions to the author line will be permitted after the initial submission of the paper.
The Abstract (p. 2) must be a single paragraph that summarizes the main findings of the paper in fewer than 150 words. After the abstract a list of up to 10 keywords that will be useful for indexing or searching should be included.
The Introduction should be as concise as possible, without subheadings.
Materials and methods should be sufficiently detailed to enable the experiments to be reproduced.
Results and Discussion may be combined and may be organized into subheadings.
Acknowledgments should be brief and should precede the references.
References to the literature should be cited by numbers in square brackets in the text and listed in numerical order with full article titles included. Use the most recent edition of the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index for abbreviations of journal titles.
Reference to a journal publication: [1] A.G. Mueller, H.G. Joost, A. Schurmann, Mouse ARF-related protein 1: genomic organization and analysis of its promoter, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 292 (2002) 113-120.
Reference to a book: [2] W. Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, third ed., Macmillan, New York, 1979.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book: [3] O.R. Mettam, L.B. Adams, How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: E.S. Jones, R.Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc., New York, 1999, pp. 281-304.
Figures
Number figures consecutively with Arabic numerals. Please visit our Web site at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions for detailed instructions on preparing electronic artwork.
Color illustrations should be sized close to the size expected in publication. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable files of color figures, Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether 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.
Note: Because of technical complications that may arise in converting color figures to gray scale, for the printed version should you not opt for color in print, please submit in addition usable black-and-white files corresponding to all the color illustration files.
Tables
Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in order of appearance in the text. Type each table double-spaced on a separate page with a short descriptive title typed directly above and with essential footnotes below.
Protein or Gene Databases
The Editors encourage the use of databases as repositories for detailed data on protein structure (e.g., X-ray crystallographic coordinates) and on DNA sequences and mapping assignments. Verification of submission and, when available, pertinent accession numbers should be provided with the manuscripts. Authors wishing to enable other scientists to use the accession numbers cited in their papers via links to these sources, should type this information in the following manner:
For each and every accession number cited in an article, authors should type the accession number in bold, underlined text. Letters in the accession number should always be capitalized. (See example below.) This combination of letters and format will enable the typesetter to recognize the relevant texts as accession numbers and add the required links to GenBank sequences.
Example: "GenBank accession nos. AI631510 , AI631511 , AI632198 , and BF223228 ), a B-cell tumor from a chronic lymphatic leukemia (GenBank accession no. BE675048 ), and a T-cell lymphoma (GenBank accession no. AA361117 )."
Authors are encouraged to check accession numbers used very carefully. An error in a letter or number can result in a dead link. In the final version of the printed article, the accession number text will not appear bold or underlined. In the final version of the electronic copy, the accession number text will be linked to the appropriate source in the NCBI databases, enabling readers to go directly to that source from the article.
Chemical or Biological Hazards
Chemical or biological hazards, if any, in carrying out the experiments described should be clearly noted in the Materials and Methods section. Any relevant safety precautions should be described. If an accepted code of practice has been followed, a reference to the relevant standards should be given.
Ethics
When conducting scientific research using human tissue and which is intended for publication in BBRC, authors should follow procedures that are in accordance with ethical standards as formulated in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (revised 1983). When conducting experiments on animals, authors should adhere to the local or national requirements for the care and use of laboratory animals.
Preparation of Supplementary Material
Elsevier now accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer additional possibilities for publishing supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips, and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect ( http://www.sciencedirect.com). To ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please provide the data in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. Please note, however, that supplementary material will not appear in the printed journal. For more details, please see http://ees.elsevier.com/bbrc.
Proofs
Corresponding authors will receive proofs by e-mail (PDF proofs). Because of the rapid publication schedule of BBRC, authors must check the proofs and return any corrections within 48 hours. Corrections should be restricted to typesetting errors, and all queries should be answered. Please proofread the manuscript carefully before initial submission.
Distribution of Material
Authors who publish a research article in BBRC must be prepared to freely distribute to academic researchers for their own use any cell lines, DNA clones, monoclonal antibodies, or genetically engineered mice described in the article.
Author Inquiries
Visit http://www.elsevier.com/authors for the facility to track accepted articles and set up e-mail alerts to inform you when an article's status has changed. The Elsevier site also provides detailed artwork guidelines, copyright information, frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.
March 2007 version

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