home subscribe search archive forthcoming

Guidelines for Authors

Editorial Policy

Click here for information on our Editorial Policies.

Peer Review and Manuscript Evaluation Process

Click here for detailed information on our peer review process.

Open Access Policy

Landes Bioscience recognizes that some authors prefer that their research be freely available to all potential readers upon publication, and that certain funding agencies (NIH, Wellcome Trust, Howard Hughes Medical Institute) request immediate open access of agency-funded research.

To address these requests, we provide the following options for our authors and readers:
(1) One year after publication. ALL papers will become open access to ALL users throughout the world after having been published online for one year.
(2) Immediately upon publication. Papers can be open access immediately upon publication. Authors may purchase open access of their paper at the proof stage and the paper will be made freely available at our website. If the paper is funded by a NIH or Wellcome Trust grant, authors may deposit a PDF of the final manuscript with the NIH for download at PubMed Central. The fee for open access is $750. If the author's institution subscribes to the journal the fee is discounted to $500.

Manuscript Submission

Pre-submission inquiries

Pre-submission inquiries are encouraged but not necessary. These may include either an abstract or a full length manuscript as an email attachment (Microsoft Word). Pre-submission inquiries should be emailed to the Editor-in-Chief, Janice M. Reichert.

Submission

We utilize an online submission and tracking system which is designed to provide a better, more efficient service to authors.
  1. Authors can submit manuscripts online from anywhere in the world.
  1. Authors can track their manuscript through the peer review process.
  1. Author files are automatically converted into a PDF (Portable Document Format) file and submissions are acknowledged by email.
  1. Editors and reviewers access the PDF files on the website.
Please read the directions below and then click here to submit a manuscript to mAbs: http://mabs.msubmit.net (coming soon). All submissions must be accompanied by a completed copyright transfer form. Fax to mAbs at 512.637.6079

There are no word limits for papers published in mAbs, however, accepted manuscripts are published with the understanding that the author will pay a charge of $80 USD for pages 5 and greater (there is no charge for the first four pages).

For guidance, a five page article with 3 figures (approx 9cmx9cm, =3.5" x 3.5") and 100 references would consist of approximately 2000 words of text including figure legends. A four page article with 2 figures (approx 9cm x 9cm, =3.5" x 3.5") and 75 references would consist of approximately 2000 words of text including figure legends.These word counts do not include the references.

Under exceptional circumstances, when no grant or other source of support exists, the author(s) may apply (at the time of submission) to Janice Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, for a waiver of the page charges.

Manuscript Preparation

Text should be prepared in MicroSoft Word, 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 title, author's names, degrees and affilitations and email addresses.
  2. 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)
  9. Figure legends

Types of Papers

All submissions will be peer reviewed.

Reports

Reports 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. Key Words: 5-10, for indexing purposes
3. Introduction
4. Results
5. Discussion
6. Materials and Methods
7. References: No limit to number. Please see section below for reference format.

Technical Papers contain original research, however, they differ from Research Papers in that they describe new approaches, methods, or reagents rather than new understanding of a natural molecule or biological process. Papers may be submitted as either Technical or Research Papers, but the assignment to either category is the discretion of the Editors.

Brief Reports

These are short experimental papers that may present as little as a single experiment or observation. Brief Reports should constitute unusually interesting data combined with a discussion of what the data might mean, or an explantation of why the data contradicts current paradigms.

Abstract includes a single paragraph of fewer than 150 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.

Please include 5-10 key words for indexing purposes.

Short Communications are aimed at publishing short, but important, breakthrough data not embedded within a complex story. Please include an abstract of 100-150 words. The paper should be structured as a research paper (see above) but without the headings and subheadings. No more than 50 references.

Addenda are essentially an auto-commentary. The Editor or 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.

Please include an abstract of 150-200 words and 5-10 key words for indexing purposes. The citation for the original article including the full author list, title of article and journal information should be included on the title page. The typical length of an addendum will be approximately 500-1,000 words and may include up to 30 references. There will be no page charges for addenda and you are encouraged to include figures; however, please note the journal policy regarding color charges below.

Reviews should be recognized as scholarly by specialists in the field being covered, but should also be written with a view to informing readers who are not specialized in that particular field, and should therefore be presented using simple prose. Please avoid excessive jargon and technical detail. 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 should provide the reader with an idea of how the field may develop or future problems to be overcome, but should not summarize the article. To ensure that a review is likely to be accessible to as many readers as possible, it may be useful to ask a colleague from another discipline to read the review before submitting it. Submitted reviews are subject to the same page charges as full-length reports -- whether and how page charges will apply for commissioned reviews will be made clear when each review is commissioned. Reviews should include an abstract of 150-200 words and should cite no more than 150 references. Please include 5-10 key words for indexing purposes.

Focused Review Series

The Editors invite members of the scientific community to consider topics of interest to our readers and to organize small series of focused reviews in particular areas. This will involve proposing a topic of interest, contacting potential authors for two-four or more reviews and providing the titles of the reviews, the names of the authors, and when they would be ready. Please also note in writing reviews that we are most interested in content and that there is flexibility in word count, number of references or number of figures. Please contact the Editor-in-Chief if you are interested in organizing a Focused Review Series.

Point of View articles should follow the same general guidelines as reviews, however there is considerable flexibility in the length and content. These articles are intended to address controversial issues, express new ideas, or expand on work already published. They may contain new data, and like other submissions, are subject to peer review. Like review articles, they should be accessible to a wide readership. Point of View articles are generally commissioned from authors of the most important recent papers to offer additional insights. Unsolicited Point of View articles are also welcome, and these may discuss the authors' own work or recent significant work in their field. These should be structured like reviews and be 1500 to 2500 words. Responses to Point of View articles are encouraged and will also be published as Point of View articles. Responses may be considerably shorter and structured as letters. Please include an abstract of 100-150 words.

Commentaries and Views may be short and focused opinion articles, commentaries on papers recently published in mAbs or elsewhere, or commentaries on significant conceptual changes, important trends or new directions in the field. These may include figures and up to 30 references. Please include an abstract of 100-150 words and 5-10 key words for indexing purposes.

Perspectives

A focused review or theoretical paper that is primarily addressed to the experts in the field. It may emphasize an opinion of the authors', present a concept, or authors' credo. Please include an abstract of 100-150 words and 5-10 key words for indexing purposes.

Journal Club

Journal Club articles include descriptions and critiques of major advances published in other leading journals. This will be modeled after and driven by journal club presentations held in most institutions around the country. Please include an abstract of 100-150 words and 5-10 key words for indexing purposes.

Research Philosophy and Profiles and Legacies

The Editors invite prominent scientists and clinicians to write about their careers and experiences and and will publish his or her photo on the cover. Each article in the "Profiles and Legacies" section contains the subsections "Biographical Information" detailing briefly the person's career path, the main text section which could carry any subtitle(s) they choose or could simply be "Philosophical Views." There is often a section entitled "Vision of/for the Future" where they comment and advise on the future direction of their field of research.

Text Files and Tables

Please save text and table files as Microsoft Word documents. Save tables in a file separate from text. Figure legends, however, should be at the end of the manuscript as text. Tables will be reformatted during production and therefore should only be minimally formatted in your text file.

Figures (Illustrations)

We require figures in electronic format. They should be provided as TIFF or Photoshop files (300 dpi or greater), EPS files, Powerpoint Files or PDF files. Compatible graphics programs are Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Powerpoint. Any image processing should be explained clearly in the Materials and Methods section of your manuscript.

Figures should be as small and simple as is compatible with clarity. Figures must conform to the following guidelines or authors will be asked to revise them.

Guidelines for figure preparation:

  1. Please be sure to embed all fonts.

  2. Each figure should be assembled into one file that prints onto one 8 1/2 x 11 page. Do not include separate panels on multiple pages.

  3. Unnecessary figures and panels in figures should be avoided: data presented in small tables or histograms, for instance, can generally be stated briefly in the text instead. Avoid unnecessary complexity, coloring and excessive detail. Figures should not contain more than one panel unless the parts are logically connected. If this is the case, each panel should be sized so that the figure as a whole can be reduced by the same amount and reproduced on the printed page at the smallest size at which essential details are visible. For figures with multiple panels, the labels should be set in uppercase Helvetica or Arial letters and should not contain periods or parentheses.

  4. Lettering in figures (labelling of axes and so on) should be in lower-case type, with the first letter capitalized and no full stop.

  5. Units should have a single space between the number and the unit, and follow SI nomenclature or the nomenclature common to a particular field. Thousands should be separated by commas (1,000). Unusual units or abbreviations should be defined in the legend.

  6. Scale bars should be used rather than magnification factors.

  7. Amino-acid sequences should be printed in Courier (or other monospaced) font using the one-letter code in lines of 50 or 100 characters.

  8. Layering type directly over shaded or textured areas and using reversed type (white lettering on a colored background) should be avoided.

  9. Where possible, text, including keys to symbols, should be provided in the legend rather than on the figure itself.

DO NOT EMBED GRAPHICS WITHIN YOUR MICROSOFT WORD TEXT DOCUMENT.

References

There are no limits on the number of references.

Include in the reference list only those articles that have been published or are in press. Unpublished data or personal communications must be cited within the text.

The list of references should be numbered consecutively according to the first time mentioned within the article. Cite only the number assigned to the reference:

Correct: according to Jones.1

Incorrect: according to Jones1.

Correct: noted by Smith et al.1

Incorrect: Smith et al (1).

When referring the reader to specific references as part of a sentence please state:

Correct: For a review see refs. 20-25.

Incorrect: For a review see 20-25

Journal References

The reference format is the same for all of our journals. You may download the output style for Cell Cycle from Endnotes.

Abbreviate journal names according to the style used in Index Medicus or a comparable source and omit punctuation after journal titles. Spell out foreign or less commonly known journal names.

[Author's last name] [Author's initials], [All other author's last names followed by their initials]. [Title of article with only the first word capitalized]. [Journal's standard abbreviated name] [Year]; [Volume (number)]:[Inclusive pages].

For Example:

  1. Hahn WC, Counter CM, Lundberg AS. Creation of human tumour cells with defined genetic elements. Nature 1999; 400:464-468.

  2. Fisher MJ, Virmani AK, Wu L, Aplenc R, Harper JC, Powell SM, Rebbeck TR, Sidransky D, Gazdar AF, El-Deiry WS. Nucleotide substitution in the ectodomain of trail receptor dr4 is associated with lung cancer and head and neck cancer. Clin Cancer Res 2001; 7:1688-97.

Book References

[Author's last name] [Author's initials], [Other authors' last names followed by initials]. [Chapter title]. In: [Editor's last name] [Editor's initials], ed(s). [Book Title]. [Number of edition]. [City]:[Publisher], [Year]:[Inclusive pages].

For Example:

  1. Ozoren N, El-Diery WS. Introduction to cancer genes and growth control. In: Ehrlic M, ed. DNA Alterations in Cancer: Genetic and Epigenetic Changes. Natick, MA: Eaton Publishing, 2000:3-43.

Supplementary Files

Please provide supplementary material in the following formats:

  • Text: MS Word file

  • Table/Data: MS Word file or Excel file

  • Figures: Please provide figures in a MS Word file or in a PPT file, clearly labeled with figure legends below them.

  • Please provide ALL files also in one PDF file. Links to supplemental data will be included in the PDF of the published manuscript and in the online abstract.

  • Video Files: Video submissions for viewing online should be Audio Video Interleave (.avi), MPEG (.mpg), or Quick Time (.qt, .mov).

    1. AVI files can be displayed via Windows Media Player (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/players.aspx); MPEG files can be displayed via Windows Media Player; Quick Time files require Quick Time software (free) from Apple (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/index.html)

    1. Videos should be brief whenever possible (<2-5 minutes). Longer videos will require longer download times and may have difficulty playing online. Videos should be restricted to the most critical aspects of your research. A longer procedure can be restructured as several shorter videos and submitted in that form.

    1. It is advisable to compress files to use as little bandwidth as possible and to avoid overly long download times. Video files should be no larger than 5 megabytes. This is a suggested maximum. If files are larger please contact the Managing Editor.

    1. A caption giving a brief overall description of the video content should be provided for each video.

    1. If your paper is accepted for publication you may wish to supply the editorial office with several different resolutions of your video files. This will allow viewers with slower connections to download a lower resolution version of your video.

Page and Color Charges

NOTE: There are no page charges or color charges for the first year of mAb's publication (July 2008-July 2009).

For original research papers that occupy more than four pages of the journal, publication of the first four monochrome pages is free but papers are published on the understanding that the author will pay a charge of $80 U.S. dollars for each additional page or part-page used.

Publication of color images is free for the online version of the journal, but carries a page charge of $340 US dollars for the initial page and $150 for each additional page in the print edition. If you prefer that color figures appear online only and in black and white for the print version, please make sure that the figure legends for each version of the figure are provided.

For guidance, a five page article with 3 figures (approx 9cmx9cm, =3.5" x 3.5") and 100 references would consist of approximately 2000 words of text including figure legends. A four page article with 2 figures (approx 9cm x 9cm, =3.5" x 3.5") and 75 references would consist of approximately 2000 words of text including figure legends.These word counts do not include the references.

Under exceptional circumstances, where there are no funds to cover page charges and articles cannot be reduced in size, authors may appeal directly to the Editor for page charges to be waived. This appeal must be supported by a letter signed by finance official at the author’s institution, confirming that no funds are available to cover page charges.

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.

Reprints

A reprint order form will be sent to the author prior to the issue going to press or you may download it here.

Cover Image Submissions

mAbs 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 mAbs 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.

mAbs 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.