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| GENOMICS |
IMPACT FACTOR 3.558, Journal Citation Reports© 2007, published by Thomson Scientific
Guide for Authors
The goal of Genomics is to promote the understanding of the structure, function, and evolution of genomes in all kingdoms of life and the application of genome sciences and technologies to challenging problems in biology and medicine. The scope of the journal is broad and we welcome original, full-length, and timely papers in all of the following areas:
• Comparative genomics analysis that yields valuable insights into conserved and divergent aspects of function, regulation, and evolution
• Bioinformatics and computational biology with particular emphasis on data mining and improvements in data annotation and integration
• Functional genomics approaches involving the use of large-scale and/or high-throughput methods to understand genome-scale function and regulation of transcriptomes and proteomes
• Identification of genes involved in disease and complex traits, including responses to drugs and other xenobiotics
• Significant advances in genetic and genomics technologies and their applications, including chemical genomics
Readers are invited to submit ideas and proposals for reviews and minireviews; they should not submit complete or finished manuscripts prior to consultation with the editor-in-chief or one of the associate editors.
Short communications are not encouraged. Single-gene reports will not be considered unless they are accompanied by significant or novel insights into their structure, evolution, and/or expression. With respect to single genes, functional assertions should be supported by experimental evidence; e.g., functional inferences based solely on routine analysis of homology are insufficient. Authors are encouraged to identify and report any discrepancies between their findings and annotations in the major genome databases.
Manuscripts are accepted for review with the understanding that no substantial portion of the study has been published nor 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. Manuscripts that do not meet the general criteria or standards for publication in Genomics will be immediately returned to the authors, without detailed review.
Submission of manuscripts
Manuscripts must be written in English. There are no submission fees or page charges.
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online via the following link http://www.ees.elsevier.com/geno. The system automatically converts source files to a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail and via the author's home page, removing the need for a hard-copy paper trail.
Each manuscript should be accompanied by a letter outlining the basic findings of the paper and their significance. Authors should suggest an appropriate associate editor (see Editorial Board for a list of names at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ygeno) and possible reviewers (up to five, with contact details) in their field.
Copyright. Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to transfer copyright (for more information on copyright, see http://authors.elsevier.com). 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.
Genomics publishes the following:
Articles. Organization should be Abstract, Introduction, Results, Discussion, Materials and methods, Acknowledgments, and References. There is a limit of 8 display items (figures plus tables) and 50 references. Manuscripts should be no more than 8 published pages. Accepted papers that are over 8 pages may be returned to the authors for additional editing. Manuscript length can be estimated by the total number of characters (spaces included), not the number of typed pages. The average number of characters per published page is approximately 7000. Count each table or figure as 2450 characters and add to the character count of your manuscript text. In other words, a regular submission should have no more than 56,000 characters (that is, 8 published pages).
Minireviews. The journal encourages the submission of concise, highly focused review articles summarizing recent progress in very active areas of research involving the analysis of genomes. Authors wishing to prepare such reviews should submit a short proposal, including an expected date of submission, to the editor.
Special features. In addition to minireviews, special reviews of research programs for mapping and sequencing, historical sketches, genomics news, etc., are published periodically.
Preparation of manuscripts
Manuscripts should be double-spaced throughout. Pages should be numbered consecutively and organized as follows:

- The title page (p. 1) should contain the article title (20 words or less), authors' names and complete affiliations, and the address for manuscript correspondence (including e-mail address and telephone and fax numbers). Affiliations should be footnoted using superscripted, lowercase Arabic letters (e.g., a, b, c, etc.).
- The Abstract (p. 2) must be a single paragraph that summarizes the main findings of the paper in less than 150 words. After the abstract a list of up to 10 keywords that will be useful for indexing or searching should be included (please use MeSH terminology; see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html). The Abstract should not be referenced.
- The Introduction should be as concise as possible, without subheadings.
- Results and Discussion may be combined and may be organized into subheadings.
- Materials and methods should be sufficiently detailed to enable the experiments to be reproduced. Names of manufacturers and their locations should be provided in parentheses.
- Acknowledgments should be brief and should precede the references. Individuals should be referred to by their full first name and surname, with their affiliation in parentheses. Titles (Dr., Professor, Mrs., etc.) are not permitted.

References should be cited in the text in numerical order (1, 2, 3,..., n). Reference numbers should be enclosed in brackets (for example, "Jones and colleagues [3] found that...") and should precede figure callouts. Arrange the reference list in numerical order as the references occur in the text, followed by those in the figure legends and tables. For references with 6 or more authors, please list only the first author followed by et al. Only articles that have been published or are in press should be included in the references. Unpublished results or personal communications should be cited as such in the text. Personal communications must include the date and the affiliation of the person communicating the material. Submitted manuscripts should not be cited in the reference list, but instead inserted in the text as follows: (J. Smith and R. Davis, manuscript submitted). The names of journals should be abbreviated according to the most recent edition of the List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus ( http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html). Please note the following examples.
(Book)
[1] N. Hagag, M.V. Viola, Chromosome Microdissection and Cloning: A Practical Guide, Academic Press, San Diego, 1993.
(Book Chapter)
[2] U. Reichert, S. Michel, R. Schmidt, The cornified envelope: a key structure of terminally differentiating keratinocytes, in: M. Darmon, M. Blumenberg (Eds.), Molecular Biology of the Skin: The Keratinocyte, Academic Press, San Diego, 1993, pp. 107–150.
(Journal)
[3] M.A. Curran, S.M. Kaiser, P.L. Achacoso, G.P. Nolan, Efficient transduction of nondividing cells by optimized feline immunodeficiency virus vectors, Mol. Ther. 1 (2000) 31–38.
Nomenclature, abbreviations, and symbols. Authors must use approved nomenclature for all genes, and all manuscripts will undergo a nomenclature check prior to publication. All unapproved symbols must be replaced with approved symbols (throughout the text and figures). To avoid delays to your manuscript please obtain approval for any new gene symbols prior to submitting your manuscript. Copies of emails documenting the approval of any new symbols should accompany all submissions. Approved human gene symbols may be obtained before submission from the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC: contact Dr Elspeth Bruford, EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire CB10 1SD, UK); e-mail: hgnc@genenames.org; http://www.genenames.org/. Approved mouse nomenclature may be obtained before submission from L. J. Maltais, The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME 04609-0800, USA; telephone: (207) 288-6429; fax: (207) 288-6132; e-mail: ljm@informatics.jax.org; http://www.informatics.jax.org/nomen/. In mouse, mutant strains and transgenic alleles also require approved symbols; see http://www.informatics.jax.org/. Use of unapproved gene symbols will likely delay publication.
Human and mouse protein symbols should be denoted in all capital letters (for example, FGF8). Use of "h" and "m" prefixes to distinguish between human and mouse proteins is not permitted. Instead, "mouse" or "human" should be inserted before the relevant protein symbol in cases where it is necessary to distinguish between human and mouse proteins. (This protocol extends to proteins of all other organisms.)
Authors must use SI units and follow the guidelines for abbreviations and symbols of the IUPAC-IUBMB Joint Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature ( http://www.chem.qmw.ac.uk/iupac/jcbn/).
DNA sequences and GenBank accession numbers. 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 link 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.
Figures. In the interest of quality and accuracy, we prefer to use author-supplied electronic artwork for all figures and complex tables. Each individual figure or graphic must be supplied as a separate, stand-alone file. Figure and table files must be named with their respective numbers and graphic types such as SmithFig1.tif, SmithFig2a.tif, SmithTable1.eps, etc. Long file names are acceptable.
Use EPS or TIFF file formats; TIFF is preferred. Artwork submitted in TIFF should adhere to the following resolution settings: halftones (color/grayscale): 300 dpi; line art (black and white) and mixed images (halftones with text or line art): 600 to 1200 dpi. If it is necessary to import graphics from a vector-based drawing program (e.g., Adobe Illustrator) into a raster-based program (e.g., Adobe PhotoShop) in order to produce a TIFF file, a resolution of at least 600 dpi is required for quality reproduction.
When creating your figures, use font sizes and line weights that will reproduce clearly and accurately when figures are sized to the appropriate column width. The minimum line weight is 1/2 point (thinner lines will not reproduce well). Eliminate all excess white space from the borders of each figure. Do not include figure legends or other extraneous text in a graphic file; figure legends should be provided as text, placed after the reference section in the main manuscript file. Number figures consecutively with Arabic numerals.
Color figures. One piece of color art per article will be published free of charge, provided color is deemed scientifically necessary by the reviewers and the editor. Additional color figures in print will be charged to the author, unless color is required by the editor. However, 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 on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork.
Please note: Because of technical complications that can 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 illustrations.
Cover art. Authors submitting a manuscript for consideration may also submit color figures for exclusive use as cover illustrations. These figures do not need to relate to the manuscript being submitted, but should relate to the larger scope and focus of Genomics. Submit art in electronic form (TIFF and EPS files only). A short (one-line) legend should accompany each photograph.
Tables. Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) in the order in which they are referred to in the text. Type each table (double-spaced) on a separate page (not embedded in the text) with a short descriptive title typed directly above and with essential footnotes below. Table footnotes should be denoted using superscript lowercase Arabic letters (a, b, c, etc.), not symbols. Authors must submit tables in Microsoft Word format.
Preparation of supplementary material
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 detailed instructions, please visit http://www.authors.elsevier.com/artwork.
Proofs
PDF proofs will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author. Upon acceptance, the manuscript will be edited according to the style of the journal, and proofs should be reviewed carefully. Please be sure to answer all author queries. To avoid delay in publication, only necessary changes should be made, and proof corrections should be returned within 2 business days. Failure to do so will result in publication delays.
Sharing information and materials
It is expected that all new biological or other reagents described in papers published in Genomics will be made available freely to all qualified members of the scientific community upon written request. If delays in strain or vector distribution are anticipated, or if these are available from sources other than the author(s), this must be indicated and, if the editor thinks it necessary, explained.
Submission of data to databases
The editorial policy of Genomics is to require the use of databases. Deposit of data in the appropriate database(s) is a condition of publication. New nucleotide data must be submitted and deposited in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases and an accession number obtained before the paper can be accepted for publication. Submission to any one of the three collaborating databanks is sufficient to ensure data entry in all. The accession number should be included in the manuscript as a footnote on the title page: "Sequence data from this article have been deposited with the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank Data Libraries under Accession No. ...." If requested, the database will withhold release of data until publication. The most convenient method for submitting sequence data is by the World Wide Web:
DDBJ via SAKURA, http://sakura.ddbj.nig.ac.jp/
EMBL via WEBIN, http://www.ebi.ac.uk/embl/Submission/webin.html
GenBank via BankIt, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BankIt/
Stand-alone submission tool Sequin, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Sequin/
Mouse Genome Informatics, http://www.informatics.jax.org/mgihome/
For special types of submissions (for example, genomes, bulk submissions), additional submission protocols are available from the above sites. Database contact information:
DDBJ:
Center for Information Biology and DNA Data Bank of Japan
National Institute of Genetics
1111 Yata
Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan
Telephone: 81 55981 6853; Fax: 81 55981 6849
E-mail: ddbj@ddbj.nig.ac.jp
Web URL: http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp/
EMBL
EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Submissions
European Bioinformatics Institute
Wellcome Trust Genome Campus
Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK
Telephone: 44 1223 494499; Fax: 44 1223 494472
E-mail: datasubs@ebi.ac.uk
Web URL: http://www.ebi.ac.uk
GenBank
National Center for Biotechnology Information
National Library of Medicine
Building 38A, Room 8N-802
Bethesda, MD 20894, USA
Telephone: (301) 496-2475; Fax: (301) 480-9241
E-mail: info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Web URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
US National Institutes of Health (NIH) voluntary posting (" Public Access") policy
Elsevier facilitates author response to the NIH voluntary posting request (referred to as the NIH "Public Access Policy"; see http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm) by posting the peer-reviewed author's manuscript directly to PubMed Central on request from the author, 12 months after formal publication. Upon notification from Elsevier of acceptance, we will ask you to confirm via e-mail (by e-mailing us at NIHauthorrequest@elsevier.com) that your work has received NIH funding and that you intend to respond to the NIH policy request, along with your NIH award number to facilitate processing. Upon such confirmation, Elsevier will submit to PubMed Central on your behalf a version of your manuscript that will include peer-review comments, for posting 12 months after formal publication. This will ensure that you will have responded fully to the NIH request policy. There will be no need for you to post your manuscript directly with PubMed Central, and any such posting is prohibited.
Author inquiries
Authors can also keep track of the progress of their accepted articles and set up e-mail alerts informing them of changes to their manuscript status by using Elsevier's article tracking service at http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided when an article is accepted for publication.
Sponsored Articles:
Genomics offers authors or their institutions the option to sponsor non-subscriber access to their articles on Elsevier's electronic publishing platforms. For more information please click here.

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