Submission of a paper to Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, including a revised version, implies the transfer of copyright from the author(s) to the publisher and therefore that the corresponding author has obtained the approval of all other authors to the text and that it does not contain information previously published (except as a meeting abstract or by submission of sequence data to an electronic database) and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Publication in Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology is taken to imply the authors' willingness to comply with reasonable requests to supply reagents such as recombinant clones and monoclonal antibodies, and sequence data in electronic form to persons lacking access to computer databases.
Submission Manuscripts in triplicate and including three collated sets of figures (one original set plus duplicate sets of the same quality) ready for the printer should be submitted to one of the editorial offices. Manuscripts returned for revision should be returned to the editor within 3 months. Papers accepted for publication should be as concise as possible and should be no longer than 14 printed pages. In exceptional cases the editors will consider longer papers (never exceeding 20 printed pages) if the authors of such complex papers show to the satisfaction of the editors that the limitation in length would result in subdivision of the material into several papers and hence in an increase in the total number of pages necessary for the presentation of the work.
Submission of sequence data to databases The easiest and preferred method for submitting sequence data is to use the Authorin program, which is available free of charge for PC or Macintosh systems from GenBank, National Center for Biotechnology Information, Bldg. 38A Room 8N-803, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA (voice: + 1 301 4962475; fax: +1 301 4809241; e-mail: authorin@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Files generated by Authorin may be sent by e-mail to gb-sub@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov or copied to floppy disk and mailed to GenBank. For each sequence, a unique accession number will be issued by the database (within 24 hours if received via e-mail). The accession number should be included as a footnote on the first page of the article: 'Note: Nucleotide sequence data reported in this paper are available in the EMBL, GenBankTM and DDJB databases under the accession number(s)-.' If requested, GenBank will withhold release of the data until the appearance of your paper. Updates, corrections or notification for publication (the latter is currently handled by the editors for papers published in MBP) should be sent to update@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
Manuscripts The preferred medium of final submission to the accepting editor is on disk with accompanying reviewed and revised manuscript (see Electronic manuscripts below). Manuscripts should be in English on numbered pages with double-spaced typing throughout (including tables, legends and reference lists) on one side of the paper only with margins of at least 3 cm all round.
They should be divided into:
(1) title page-
include a succinct title (which should not normally exceed 100 characters and
should not contain any subtitles or abbreviations), the names and complete
address (including telephone, telefax and e-mail) of the corresponding author,
a list of abbreviations and a list of addresses of authors who have moved from
the institutions where the work was performed,
(2) abstract - maximum
250 words,
(3) keywords (3-6 indexing terms),
(4) introduction,
(5) materials and methods,
(6) results,
(7) discussion,
(8) acknowledgements (grant support and technical support to be listed
here),
(9) references,
(10) tables and
(11) figure
legends.
A recent issue of the journal should be consulted for details. In the interests of clarity and brevity, it may sometimes be advantageous to combine the results and discussion into a single section. Everyone makes minor modifications to standard methods. Do not describe standard materials and methods or modifications unless they have significant and demonstrable utility. Do not duplicate descriptions of methodology in the figure legends. Generic and species names should be typed out in full the first time mentioned - in the title, the summary and the text - and thereafter the generic name should be abbreviated. Words or letters to be printed in italics should either be in italics or underlined. The metric system should be used throughout.
Short communications These are intended for the publication of brief definitive reports, primarily of complete DNA sequence data, methods, biochemical or immunochemical data, that do not merit a full-length publication. Maximum length is four printed pages, including one or two figures. Only the salient points of a long DNA sequence should be published, as the whole sequence will be available from a computer database. The title, authorship and affiliations will be in the standard format of the journal. The text should not be sectioned, except for references. Essential experimental details may be incorporated into a figure legend. To facilitate rapid publication, authors will be expected to supply high-quality copy and expedite any necessary revisions, although decisions will normally be yes or no, based on the quality and appropriateness of the initial submission.
We are initiating a Minireview series on topics of current, significant advancement in the field. This new trial is considered well worth exploring if the Journal can make good choices of interesting topics, insist on high quality of the reviews and publish them on an irregular basis to maintain a minimum standard. The reviews should be short, current, specific and potentially provocative. They should provide a balanced synthesis from the available data rather than a simple regurgitation of results, but not to be overly speculative. If possible, they should provide new concepts and ideas extending across different parasite systems. The Minireview is tentatively confined to a maximal length of 2000 words, at most three display items including tables and figures and a list of references no more than 50 and preferably within the past three years. The text can be divided into simple sections with a succinct abstract. Minireviews will be subjected to the established review process at MBP, and published by an accelerated schedule if accepted.
References In the text, references should be numbered singly in square brackets in order of their citation, e.g., [2,3,5-7]. In the list, references should be numbered in the order of citation in the text, not in alphabetical order. Unpublished data, personal communications and papers in preparation or 'submitted' should not be listed in the references (but may be incorporated at the appropriate place in the text); work 'in press' may be listed only if it has been accepted for publication. Personal communications must be accompanied by a letter from the named person(s) giving permission to quote such information. Abstracts (whether published or not), theses and similar material are not to be quoted in the list. If necessary, they can be referred to in the text in parentheses. Periodicals [1], books [2] and edited books [3] should accord with the following examples:
[1] Perrine, K.G., Denker, J.A. and Nilsen, T.W. (1988) A multi-copy gene encodes a potentially protective antigen in Brugia malayi. Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 30, 97-104.
[2] Davis, L.G., Dibner, M.D. and Battey, J.F. (1986) Basic Methods in Molecular Biology, Elsevier, Amsterdam.
[3] Chang, K.-P., Fong, D. and Bray, R.S. (1985) Biology of Leishmania and leishmaniasis. In: Leishmaniasis (Chang, K.P. and Bray, R.S., eds.), pp. 1-30. Elsevier. Amsterdam.
[4] Lal, A.A. De la Cruz, V.F., Campbell, G.H., Procell, P.M., Collins, W.E. and McCutchan, T.F. (In Press) Structure of the circumsporozoite gene of Plasmodium malariae. Mol Biochem. Parasitol.
Abbreviations of journal titles should conform to those adopted by the List of Serial Title Word Abbreviations, ISDS International Centre, 20, rue Bacbaumont, 75002 Paris, France (ISBN 2-904938-02-8).
Tables Each table should be typed double-spaced on a separate sheet and have a short descriptive title. A legend may be placed under table. Footnotes should be identified in the table by a, b, c, etc.
Figures Figures must be in a form and condition suitable for high quality reproduction. Lettering should be clear and of adequate size to be legible after reduction. Consider the printed page and column proportions when preparing figures. If figures are not to be reduced their format should not exceed 16 x 20 cm. Multiple panels of a single figure must be mounted together. Each DNA sequence figure must fit on a single sheet of paper. Place numbering at one end of each line, not on separate lines, and avoid excessive line spacing. Consider placing nucleotide and protein data in separate panels, using single-letter amino acid abbreviations for the protein sequence and grouping nucleotides either continuously or in blocks of ten separated by one space (up to 120 nt per line). Over 10 000 bp can legibly fit on each journal page in this format (see, e.g., Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 43, 279-288). Preferably use a sans-serif-font. Upper case is standard, except that introns or other features can be usefully distinguished by lower case. Provide sharp laser-printer or imagesetter copy. Nucleotide sequences of long coding regions, where the amino acid sequence is the primary feature, and long DNA sequences, may, at the editor's discretion, be omitted from the printed paper. They can be obtained from electronic databases or from the authors. Half-tone illustrations may be included. They should be submitted as black-and-white prints on glossy paper and have as much contrast as possible. A scale should appear on photomicrographs. Colour plates will be published at the expense of the authors. Submission of colour plates implies that authors are prepared to pay these costs. Figure legends should be typed double spaced at the end of the text, not on the figures. Figures should be checked extremely carefully, particularly after revisions. No changes to figures will be possible after acceptance of the manuscript.
Detailed instructions Abbreviations, symbols, chemical and biochemical nomenclature, etc., should follow the recommendations given in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (Vol. 268, pp. 14543-14551). Avoid abbreviations which are not in common use across the field of molecular and biochemical parasitology. Those used should be defined in the text on first usage and listed as a footnote on the title page. Do not introduce abbreviations unless they are used at least 4 times.
Electronic Manuscripts Electronic manuscripts have the advantage that there is no need for the rekeying of text, hereby avoiding the possibility of introducing errors and resulting in reliable and fast delivery of proofs.
For the initial submission of manuscripts for consideration, hardcopies are sufficient. For the processing of accepted papers, electronic versions are preferred. After final acceptance, your disk plus one, final and exactly matching printed version should be submitted together. Double density (DD) or high density (HD) diskettes (31/2 or 51/4 inch) are acceptable. It is important that the file saved is in the native format of the wordprocessor program used. Label the disk with the name of the computer and wordprocessing package used, your name, and the name of the file on the disk. Further information may be obtained from the Publisher.
Proofreading Proofs should be read carefully and returned by fax or airmail within 2 days of receipt. Corrections should be restricted to typesetting errors; not other alterations will be accepted. Addenda in proofs will be printed only in exceptional cases, and only after approval by the editors.
Reprints The author will receive an order form with the proofs on which reprints above the 50 free per contribution may be ordered.
Page charges There will be no page charges.
Editors
C.C. Wang, School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0446, USA. Tel: +1 415 4761321; Fax: +1 415 4760688; e-mail: ccwang@cgl.ucsf.edu
Alan H. Fairlamb, Department of Medical Parasitology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK. Tel: +44 171 9272455; Fax: +44 171 6368739; e-mail: a.fairlamb@lshtm.ac.uk.
Tony Holder, Division of Parasitology, National Institute of Medical Research, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London NW7 1AA, UK. Tel.: +44 181 9593666 ext. 2175; Fax: +44 181 9138593; e-mail: a-holder@nimr.mrc.ac.uk
Rick Komuniecki, Department of Biology, University of Toledo, Arts & Sciences, 2801 E. Bancroft St., Toledo, OH 43606-3390, USA. Tel: +1 419 5372065; Fax: +1 419 5377737; e-mail: rkomuni@uoft02.utoledo.edu