Journal of Molecular Endocrinology Instructions for Authors

The scope of the journal
Type of papers
Ethics
Open archiving and online repositories
Copyright
Online submission
General instructions
Preparation of manuscripts

Gene nomenclature
Declaration of interest, Funding and Acknowledgements
Title page
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
References
Tables
Figures

Supplementary data
Offprints

The scope of the journal

Journal of Molecular Endocrinology publishes original research studies that use the molecular approach to investigate the mechanisms underlying the action of hormones and related substances and their regulation in physiological and pathological processes. Articles on human molecular endocrinology, genetic/molecular basis of endocrine diseases, and current research resources, including proteomics, genomics, structural biology, computational biology, translational research and bioinformatics, are especially welcome.

Types of papers

Original research papers, short reviews and commentaries are considered.

Commentaries

The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to invite commentaries or critiques on articles accepted for publication.

Ethics

All authors must abide by the standards outlined in our ethical guidelines.

Open archiving and online repositories

Note the new Open Access Option.

Please note the Society’s policy on self-archiving. Acceptance of this policy is a condition of publication.

Copyright

Articles are considered on the understanding that if they are accepted for publication the entire copyright shall pass to the Society for Endocrinology. All authors are asked to sign a copyright agreement to this effect. To facilitate the processing of your manuscript please print out the agreement, and submit the completed form and accompanying notes with your paper. For information on how to request permission to reproduce any part of a paper published in Society for Endocrinology's journals see the permissions and commercial reprints page.

Online submissions

Submit online using the ScholarOne Manuscripts system. This enables you to monitor the progress of your submission.

It also means that your paper can be included in the Accepted Preprint service.

If you are unable to submit online, please contact us for further information.

There is no charge for submitting papers nor will there be any subsequent page charges.

Please prepare the content of your article as described in the general instructions below.

General instructions

Include a cover letter briefly indicating the substance of the paper. For original research articles, please state the novelty of the findings and why they represent a meaningful advance in the field. The letter should state that the work has not been, and will not be, submitted for publication elsewhere until the journal has reached a decision on whether to publish the paper. If rejected the authors are free to submit elsewhere; if accepted the assurance automatically extends indefinitely.

It will be assumed that submitted manuscripts carry the approval of all the authors.

Papers quoted as 'In Press' (particularly those concerned with methodology) must be provided as additional electronic files.

Preparation of manuscripts

Arrange your manuscript as follows: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Declarations of interest, funding, author contributions and acknowledgements, References, Figure legends, Figures and Tables.

Use double spacing throughout (including reference list and figure legends) preferably in a Times font, and with a size of at least 10 point.

Number all pages, and number the lines down the left-hand side of each page.

Spelling should follow The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary or Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

All abbreviations must be defined when first mentioned.

Gene and protein nomenclature

Wherever possible, manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with accepted gene nomenclature and conventions. Species-specific rules of nomenclature-formatting must be followed to differentiate gene and protein names. The gene convention should also be applied to mRNA and cDNA. The accepted gene/protein nomenclature for the various species is given below.

If a more widely used name exists, it can be used if the authors prefer, provided that the correct name is used when the gene/protein is first mentioned in the abstract and text.

Mice and rats:

Gene symbols should be in italics with only the first letter capitalised. Protein designations should be the same as the gene symbols except that all letters should be capitalised and in roman (i.e. not italicised). For example:

Gene symbol: Sox2
Protein designation: SOX2

Gene symbols and protein designations should conform to the MGI Guidelines for Nomenclature of Mouse and Rat Strains.

Humans, non-human primates and domestic species:

Gene symbols should be in italics with all letters capitalised; protein designations should be the same as the gene symbols but not italicised. For example:

Gene symbol: SOX2
Protein designation: SOX2

Gene symbols and protein designations should conform to HUGO Gene Nomenclature guidelines.

Fish:

Gene symbols should be in italics with all letters in lower case; protein designations should be the same as the gene symbols but not italicised and with the first letter capitalised. For example:

Gene symbol: sox2
Protein designation: Sox2

Gene symbols and protein designations should conform to ZFIN guidelines.

Declaration of interest, funding, author contributions and acknowledgements

Please insert before the reference list.

Declaration of interest: Please either (a) declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported; or (b) fully declare any financial or other potential conflict of interest.

Funding: Please detail all of the sources of funding relevant to the research reported in the format below.

This work was supported by the Medical Research Council (grant numbers xxxx, yyyy); the Wellcome Trust (grant number xxxx); and Tommy's Baby charity (grant number xxxx).

Where research has not been funded please state the following:
This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.

Author contribution statement (optional): Please include a statement specifying the contribution of each co-author.

Acknowledgements: Please be as brief as possible.

Title page

Include a separate title page with the title (limited to a maximum 15 words), authors' names, and full addresses of institutions (the address of the laboratory where the work was carried out should be given first).

Titles should be as short as possible while still informing the reader about the article content and engaging their interest.

Provide a short title for page headings.

Include a minimum of four keywords describing the manuscript.

Abstract

Abstracts should be no more than 250 words.

Abstracts should highlight all the important information in the manuscript, describing clearly the objective of the study, the methods used, the results and summarizing the main conclusions.

Do not refer to the text or references, and do not use abbreviations.

Introduction

The introduction should set the study in context by briefly reviewing relevant knowledge of the subject; follow this with a concise statement of the objectives of the study.

Materials and methods

Sufficient information should be provided so that other workers can repeat the study. If well-established methods are used, give a reference to the technique; full details of any modifications should be provided. Include the source of chemicals, reagents and hormones and give the manufacturer's name and location (town, country) in parentheses. Give the generic name, dose and route of administration for drugs. Specify the composition of buffers, solutions and culture media. SI symbols must be used, concentrations should be given in mol l^-1 and the term % must be defined as w/v or v/v for all solutions. For international units iu should be used (U should be used for enzyme activity).

Animals

The full binomial Latin names should be given for all experimental animals other than common laboratory animals. State also the breed or strain and source of animals, and give details of age, weight, sex and housing.

Experiments with genetically engineered mice:

In inbred mice, genetic strain effects can have significant effects on phenotype. Because of this the following controls for experiments with genetically-manipulated mice should be used: parental inbred strain, or wild-type littermates.

Cell lines

In general, studies that are based on observations performed in a single cell line will not be considered for publication if other lines of the same general lineage and characteristics are available. If at all possible, observations should be replicated in multiple cell lines.

Genomic data

Manuscripts will be considered that utilize genomic approaches for purposes beyond cataloguing, and provide unique insights into regulatory networks, mechanisms, or demonstrations of biological function.

Filtered raw data should be submitted as supplemental data in a tab-delimited format using spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel. In presenting DNA microarray data it is essential to clearly identify the platform, describe the filtering criteria used to evaluate the raw data, and provide complete references for the statistical methods used to analyse the data. In addition to submitting supplemental data, we recommend that authors submit the same data to the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/), launched by the National Institute of Biotechnology Information, under the auspices of the National Library of Medicine and NIH, to support the public dissemination of gene expression data.

Free exchange of materials

The Society for Endocrinology expects its authors to deposit plasmid constructions in a public repository, such as Addgene.

Statistical analysis

It is the author's responsibility to document that the results are reproducible and that the differences found are not due to random variation. No absolute rules can be applied but, in general, quantitative data should be from no fewer than three replicate experiments. Appropriate statistical methods should be used to test the significance of differences in results. The term "significant" should not be used unless statistical analysis was performed, and the probability value used to identify significance (e.g. P < 0.05) should be specified.

When several t-tests are employed, authors should be aware that nominal probability levels no longer apply. Accordingly, the multiple t-test, multiple range test, or similar techniques to permit simultaneous comparisons should be employed. Also, in lieu of using several t-tests, it is often more appropriate to utilize an analysis of variance (ANOVA) to permit pooling of data, increase the number of degrees of freedom, and improve reliability of results. Authors should use appropriate nonparametric tests when the data depart substantially from a normal distribution.

In presenting results of linear regression analyses, it is desirable to show 95% confidence limits.

When data points are fitted with lines, the method used for fitting (graphical, least squares, computer program) should be specified. If differences in slopes and/or axis intercepts are claimed for plotted lines, these should be supported by statistical analysis.

Your paper may be sent to the Statistical Advisor for comments.

References

All references cited in the text should be included in the reference list and vice versa.

Unpublished work

Any unpublished work (manuscripts in preparation and manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted for publication) should be referred to in the text and not listed in the references: (A Stone, unpublished observations).

Reference to personal communications should be avoided, but when necessary, include the person's name, his or her title, and date. Personal Communications should be cited in the text in parentheses but not included in the References list: (Hampton SA, Editor-in-Chief, personal communication, October 12, 2005.). A letter granting permission to publish the personal communication from the person providing the information must be included at the time of submission.

Articles accepted for publication but not yet published may be listed as ‘In Press’ in the reference list. If an 'In Press' article is included in the Accepted Preprint service or a similar scheme, then the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) should be included. Further details on citing Accepted Preprints.

In the text

Cite references in the text in chronological order and use et al. for more than two authors, eg: (Davies & Smith 1999; Frost et al. 2001; Williams 2001).

In the reference list

List references in alphabetical order. Papers by the same author should be given in the order: (i) single author; (ii) two authors alphabetically according to the name of the second author; and (iii) three or more authors chronologically, with a, b and c etc. for papers published in the same year, in the order in which they are cited in the text. A maximum of ten authors should be given.

Reference in the following format:

See RH, Calvo D, Shi Y, Kawa H, Luke MP & Yuan Z 2001 Stimulation of p300-mediated transcription by the kinase MEKK1. Journal of Biological Chemistry 276 16310-16317.

Harvey SS 1975 Hypnotics and sedatives. The barbiturates. In The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, edn 5, pp 102-123. Eds LS Goodman & A Gilman. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.

Tables

Tables should be concise and informative
The title should be a single sentence at the head of the table and should include the name of the organism studied
Tables should be self-contained, and not require further explanation; they should be numbered (arabic numbers) and cited in the text
Give a short heading for each column, and do not use internal horizontal and vertical lines
Any additional explanatory material should appear as footnotes, cross-referenced to the column entries
Explain all abbreviations used in the table in the footnotes

Figures

Image acquisition and manipulations

No specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. The groupings of images from different parts of the same gel, or from different gels, fields or exposures must be made explicit by the arrangement of the figure (e.g. using dividing lines) and in the text of the figure legend. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if and as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g. changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend.

This policy is adopted from The Journal of Cell Biology.

Microscopy

Microscope images should be made available to referees in images that are at least 300 dpi at the size which they will be published. Adjustments should be applied to the entire image. Threshold manipulation, expansion or contraction of signal ranges and the altering of high signals should be avoided. 'Pseudo-colouring' and nonlinear adjustment (for example 'gamma changes') are only allowed if unavoidable and must be disclosed. A magnification scale bar for each image should be included with the final revised version of the manuscript for publication. In the Methods section, specify the type of equipment (microscopes/objective lenses, cameras, detectors) used. Acquisition software should also be specified, as well as a description of specialized techniques requiring large amounts of processing, such as confocal, deconvolution, 3D reconstructions, or surface and volume rendering.

The Society for Endocrinology is committed to publishing high quality figures:

EPS or TIFF files are preferred; files should be exported in Illustrator compatible format
Any Photoshop (TIFF or JPEG) or PDF files should be at least 300 dpi at the final published width (avoid using PowerPoint files)
Amino acid, DNA, RNA, and PCR primer sequences should use Courier or similar non-proportional font; highlight sections of homology between sequences with grey shading
Label figure sections as A, B etc in the top left-hand corner
Indicate magnification with a scale bar in the bottom right-hand corner of the image; give the measurement in the legend
Use the preferred symbols of closed and open circles, squares and triangles. Ensure that symbols are large enough to be read clearly when the figure is reduced for publication. Do not enclose figures in boxes. Arial font is preferred for text labels
Include legends to all figures, giving any keys to any symbols used and the name of the organism studied

Colour

The cost of colour reproduction over and above that for black and white will be charged to the authors. This must be paid by credit card before publication. Please see colour charges form.

Supply colour figure files in the following format:

CYMK not RGB
EPS files for graphical data, TIFF for photographs and colour images, or high-quality JPEG files where neither EPS or TIFF files can be generated
Resolution of 300 dpi for print; avoid importing files into PowerPoint or Word for submission. Additional information regarding the submission of figures can be found here.

Supplementary data

Supplementary data too large for print publication or exceeding the bounds of the manuscript may be suitable for online publication
Supplementary data files intended for online publication should be submitted online via ScholarOne Manuscripts as a 'Supplemental File for Review', and referred to as supplementary data in the text
Supplementary information will be reviewed as part of the manuscript, evaluated for its importance and relevance, and if accepted should be referenced in the text of the article, directing readers to the web site
There is a charge to the author of £100 for the first file and £20 for subsequent files. When submitting a manuscript with supplementary data please complete a supplementary data form.

Offprints

A free PDF will be emailed to the corresponding author. Offprints can be ordered on the form accompanying the proof.