Guidelines for Authors

Editorial Policy

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Peer Review

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Open Access Policy

Communicative & Integrative Biology is an open access journal that is available exclusively online. All papers will be open access immediately upon publication and formatted journal articles will be uploaded to PubMed Central. Authors agree to pay an open access fee of US$1,000 in order to publish with CIB.

Manuscript Submission

Pre-Submission Inquiries

Pre-submission inquiries are encouraged. These may include either an abstract or a full length manuscript as an email attachment (Microsoft Word). Pre-submission inquiries may be emailed to the Editor-in-Chief, František Baluška.

General Submission

Communicative & Integrative Biology utilizes an online submission and tracking system which is designed to provide a better, more efficient service to authors.

• Authors can submit manuscripts online from anywhere in the world.

• Authors can track their manuscript through the peer review process.

• Author files are automatically converted into a PDF (Portable Document Format) file and submissions are acknowledged by email.

• Editors and reviewers access the PDF files on the website.

Click here to submit a manuscript to Communicative & Integrative Biology.

Copyright Transfer

All submissions must be accompanied by a completed copyright transfer form.
Email or fax to: Managing Editor, CIB, cib<at>landesbioscience.com, fax: 512.637.6079

Non-Native Speakers of English

Authors who are not native speakers of English and submit manuscripts to international journals often receive negative comments from referees or editors about English-language usage. These problems can contribute to a decision to reject a paper. To help reduce the possibility of such problems, we strongly encourage such authors to take at least one or both of the following steps.

Have your manuscript reviewed for clarity by a colleague whose native language is English.
Use a service such as one of those listed below. An editor will improve the English to ensure that your meaning is clear and identify problems that require your review. Note that the use of such a service is at the author's own expense and risk and does not guarantee that the article will be accepted. Landes Bioscience accepts no responsibility for the interaction between the author and the service provider or for the quality of the work performed.

American Journal Experts

Inter-Biotec

Inter-Biotec also provides a free online writing course to help biomedical scientists whose first language is not English to write and publish their papers in English-language journals.

SPI Professional Editing Services

Write Science Right

Manuscript Preparation

Click here for more information or download the House Style Manual

Text Files and Tables

Please save text and table files as Microsoft Word documents, double-spaced, with page numbers throughout. Papers should be written as concisely as possible in clear, grammatical English and organized in the following manner:

1. Title page, including titles, author names, degrees and affilitation
2. All papers should include 5-10 key words for indexing purposes
3. A list of abbreviations and acronyms used throughout the text
4. An abstract (150-250 words; depends upon type of paper, see below)
5. A running title of no more than 50 characters in length
6. Text (length depends upon type of paper, see below).
7. References
8. Tables (with descriptive titles and legends) should be save as separate files from the text
9. Figure legends should be included at the end of the manuscript text.

Types of Papers

Research Papers | Short Communications | Reviews | Addenda | Meeting Reports

Research Papers should include the following sections:

1. Abstract: A single paragraph of fewer than 250 words. The primary goal of the abstract should be to make the general significance and conceptual advance of the work clearly accessible to a broad readership. References should not be cited in the abstract.
2. Introduction
3. Results: Present results in logical sequence in tables and illustrations. In the text, explain, emphasize or summarize the most important observations. Units of measurement should be expressed in accordance with Systeme International d’Unites (SI Units).
4. Discussion: Do not repeat in detail data given in the Results section. Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study. Relate observations to other relevant studies. On the basis of your findings (and the findings of others), discuss possible implications/conclusions. When stating a new hypothesis, clearly label it as such.
5. Materials and Methods
6. References. Maximum 85.
7. Tables: Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals and include descriptive titles and legends.
8. Figure legends

Short Communications are aimed at publishing short, but important, breakthrough data not embedded within a complex story. The abstract should not be longer than 120 words. The paper should be structured as a research paper (see above) but without the headings and subheadings. Please limit text to 4500 words total and references to 50.

Reviews should be recognized as scholarly by specialists in the field being covered, but should also be written with a view to inform readers who are not specialized in that particular field, and should therefore be presented using simple prose. Please avoid excessive jargon and technical detail. Prior to submission you may find it useful for a colleague from another discipline to read the review to ensure it is as accessible to as many readers as possible.

Reviews should capture the broad developments and implications of recent work. The opening paragraph should make clear the general thrust of the review and provide a clear sense of why the review is now particularly appropriate. The concluding paragraph shoud provide the reader with an idea of how the field may develop or future problems to be overcome, but should not summarize the article.Reviews should include an abstract of 150 words and no more than 150 references should be cited.

Submitted reviews are subject to the same page charges as full length reports (see below). Whether and how page charges will apply for solicited reviews will be made clear when each review is commissioned by the Editor.

Addenda are essentially an auto-commentary. The Editorial Board will solicit authors of the most significant recent and forthcoming papers, published elsewhere, to provide a short summary with additional insights, new interpretations or speculation on the relevant topic. These manuscripts may include data or models, which due to space limitations were not included or discussed in the original paper. In other words, the authors may provide biased and uncensored points of views, complementing their article. Addenda will appear simultaneously, or very soon after, publication of the original paper.

Please include an abstract of 150-200 words. The typical length of an addendum will be approximately 500-1,000 words and may include up to 30 references. There will be no black and white page charges for addenda and you are encouraged to include figures; however, please note the journal policy regarding color charges below.

Meeting Reports. Authors are encouraged to email František Baluška with proposals for meeting reports. Please contact the meeting organizers to verify that reports will be permitted. There will be no black and white page charges for meeting reports and you are encouraged to include figures; however, please note the journal policy regarding color charges below.

Figures (Illustrations)

Click here for guidelines on figure preparation and the required formats.

References

Click here to view our reference format. References for review articles are limited to 150. For Research Papers, please limit references to 85. For Addenda, and Commentaries and Views, please limit references to 30.

The reference format for Communicative & Integrative Biology is the same as that for Cell Cycle. Click here to download this output style from EndNotes.

Supplementary Files

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Page Proofs

Page proofs should be returned within two working days, preferably by email or fax. Corrections should be marked on the actual proof and provided in a numbered list. Lengthy additions should be avoided, but where necessary should be provided in a MS Word file with explicit instructions regarding placement.

Cover Image Submissions

Communicative & Integrative Biology publishes cover illustrations that are taken from articles in each issue, or that are designed to accompany an accepted article.

The cover illustration should be scientifically interesting and visually attractive. The illustration need not be a figure from the paper but should be closely related to the subject of the paper. If you are interested in submitting a figure for use as the cover of CIB please email a high-resolution version of your image, conforming to the specifications below, and an explanatory caption of 50-60 words to Kathryn Sauceda.

Communicative & Integrative Biology Cover Image Specifications

All potential cover images should be sized to fill the entire cover. 12'' high and 9'' wide should be the minimum size. Larger files are even better. Please remove all text, captions, etc. from the image. If you have variations of the image you may send additional files. Please send no more than 2 alternate versions.

Accepted formats and resolution:

1. Native Photoshop .psd (if graphics are built with layers, do not flatten), 300dpi, CMYK at 100% size.
2. 300 dpi .tif, CMYK at 100% size.
3. 300 dpi highest quality .jpg, CMYK at 100% size.
4. Scalable vector .eps line art or native Illustrator or Freehand files.

Download PDF of the House Style Manual