Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters

International Scientific Journal
Established 1996

Editorial Policy

Scope

Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters publishes reports on novel investigations in all areas of cell and molecular biology, and also in the fields of biochemistry, biophysics and biotechnology. It encourages the submission of articles on studies where findings are at the interface of cellular and molecular biology, including but not limited to cellular compartments, the cell cycle and its regulation, cell differentiation, steam cells, cell traffic, signaling, motility, adhesion and division, the cellular membranes, the cytoskeleton, nuclear architecture, gene expression, and molecular biotechnology. The language of the journal is English.Each volume consists of four issues.

CMBL publishes:
a) Research Articles
b) Communications - short reports on new and exciting results of high urgency
c) Reviews - topical mini(reviews) as well as full critical reviews on important subjects reflecting new trends are also included in this section

Manuscript submission

Manuscripts preferred for publication in CMBL are those which:

1. Contain original work - which is not published elsewhere in any medium by the authors or anyone else, and is not under consideration for publication in any other medium. This restriction does not apply to review articles.
2. Are focused on the core aims and scope of the journal - CMBL is a scientific journal publishing fundamental research results in all areas of cell and molecular biology, and also in the fields of biochemistry, biophysics and biotechnology.
3. Are clearly and correctly written - should contain all essential features of a complete scientific paper, should be written in a clear, easy to understand manner, and be readable for a wide audience of biologists.
4. Are written in English - should be clearly and grammatically written, in an easily readable style. Attention to detail of the language will avoid severe misunderstandings which might lead to rejection of the paper (Please note that authors who are not native-speakers of English can be provided with help in rewriting their contribution in correct English)
5. Are delivered in electronic format. Manuscripts should be submitted via the EDItool - an online submission system available at http://cmbl.editool.com. Authors should register themselves first as new users and then upload their manuscripts along with a covering letter. In case of any problems manuscripts can be emailed directly to the Editorial Office (cmbl@cmbl.org.pl).
   The covering letter should contain all important details about the submission such as: Your full name (submitted by), the full title of your article, full list of authors, e-mail address and contact address, telephone/fax numbers, number of attached files, details of any previous or concurrent submission, area you would like to submit your manuscript in, recommendations of reviewers for Editor.

Experiments involving humans or laboratory animals

When submitting a manuscript in which the Authors report on experiments involving humans or laboratory animals, both in their cover letter and in the Materials and Methods chapter of the manuscript, the Authors must confirm that they have adhered to the legal requirements of the country in which the study was conducted.

Peer review process

All manuscripts directly uploaded to the EDItool receive individual identification codes. The Managing Editor then sends it to an appropriate Editor. However a submission may be declined by the Managing Editor without review, if deemed inappropriate for reasons other than scientific merit.
The Editors of CMBL seek advice from experts of in the appropriate field. Research articles and communications are reviewed by a minimum of two reviewers, review papers by at least three. Authors are requested to suggest persons competent to review their manuscript. However please note that this will be treated only as a suggestion, and the final selection of reviewers is exclusively the Editor's decision.
The Editors are fully responsible for decisions about manuscripts. The final decision whether to accept or reject a paper rests with them. Corresponding author receives final decision, and information about further processing of the manuscript.

Revised manuscript submission

When revision of a manuscript is requested, authors should return the revised version of their manuscript as soon as possible. Prompt action may ensure fast publication if a paper is finally accepted for publication in CMBL. If it is the first revision of an article authors need to return their revised manuscript within 60 days. If it is the second revision authors need to return their revised manuscript within 14 days. If these deadlines are not met, and no specific arrangements for completion have been made with the Editor, the manuscript will be treated as a new one and will receive a new identification code along with a new registration date.

Final proofreading

Authors will receive a pdf file with the edited version of their manuscript for final proofreading. This is the last opportunity to view an article before its publication. No changes or modifications can be introduced once it is published. Thus authors are requested to check their proof pages carefully against manuscript within 3 working days and prepare a separate document containing all changes that should be introduced. Authors are sometimes asked to provide additional comments and explanations in response to remarks and queries from the language or technical editors.

Online first

Manuscripts accepted for publication are published on-line using Online First service as soon as they are ready for publication (that is when final proofreading is performed by authors, and all concerns are resolved). Final manuscripts for publication may appear on the Web 1-2 months prior to regular issue publication. Once a manuscript appears on the Web site it is considered as published.

Reprints

After the issue publication, the corresponding author is notified by email, and receives a pdf file with the published version of the manuscript, and free printed reprints are sent by regular mail.

Errata

If any errors are detected in the published material they should be reported to the Managing Editor. The corresponding authors should send appropriate corrected material to the Managing Editor via email. This material will be considered for publication in the earliest available issue of CMBL.

Transfer of Copyright Agreement

A properly completed Transfer of Copyright Agreement form must be provided for each submitted manuscript. A form is sent automatically from the EDItool upon a new manuscript submission. Transfer of Copyrights Agreement should be signed and sent to the Editorial Office to the address listed below:

Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters
Editorial Office
University of Wrocław
Faculty of Biotechnology
Przybyszewskiego 63/77
51-148 Wrocław, Poland
fax: +48 71 375 6208 or +48 71 375 6234
e-mail: cmbl@cmbl.org.pl or cmbl@ibmb.uni.wroc.pl

Charges

It is anticipated that the page charge per printed page + postage fee for free reprints will be paid by the authors. However, payment of the charge is not a condition of publication, in particular for research which was not supported by an external grant source. Colour illustrations will be published at the author's expense and it cannot be a subject of waiver. It is expected that all figures submitted in colour will be published in colour, i.e. it is not possible to change from colour to b&w or vice versa after manuscript evaluation. The actual prices are available from www.cmbl.org.pl. The main author will receive 50 free offprints and also free pdf version of the paper.

Manuscript Processing Overview

Electronic submission is now mandatory for Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters. Manuscripts should be submitted via the Paper Processing System (EDItool), an online submission system available at
http://cmbl.editool.com. A short manual on the submission system is available on the EDItool web page and also on our web page. In case of any problems manuscripts can be emailed directly to the Editorial Office (cmbl@cmbl.org.pl).

1. In order to submit a manuscript via the EDItool, authors should first register themselves as new users, and then upload their manuscripts along with a covering letter. The covering letter should contain all the important details about the submission, namely: your full name (as submitting author), the full title of your article, a full list of the authors, your e-mail address and physical contact address, telephone/fax numbers, the number of attached files, the details of any previous or concurrent submissions, and 2-3 names of suggested reviewers.
2. Together with submission, authors are asked to send the signed Transfer of Copyright Agreement form as soon as possible (the pdf file is available for download).
3. The submitted manuscript is initially reviewed by the Editor. He then sends it on to 2 to 5 selected referees for a specialist review. The Editor decides whether the manuscript can be further considered for publication or not. Next, the Editor asks the authors to make revisions according to the outcome of the peer review.
4. After making corrections, the authors should upload a revised version of the manuscript along with detailed replies to the reviewers' comments to the EDItool. The revised fragments of the manuscript should be in black font with a yellow highlight.
5. Please note that many acceptable papers require minor revision or condensation. It is in the mutual interest of both the authors and the journal that amended manuscripts be returned promptly. A revised paper will only retain its original date of receipt if it is received by the Editor within 60 days of the date of return to the authors.
6. The Editor refers the revised manuscript back to the referees. Based on those second reviews, the Editor decides whether the manuscript can be accepted for publication or not. If the corrections are satisfactory in general, but the manuscript still requires some revision, the Editor sends it to the authors for final, minor corrections. In the case of the second revision of an article, the authors need to return it within 14 days.
7. The Editor will officially inform the author about the final decision. The manuscript then undergoes language editing (after which it is again returned again to the authors for final acceptance of changes), technical editing, and proofreading, and is finally published, first online, and later in print form.

All the steps listed above are taken inside the EDItool system. Authors can follow the editorial process in the system using their login and password, which are received during registration and choosing the option "Paper's history". For further details, please contact the Editorial Office at cmbl@cmbl.org.pl.

Manuscript Submitting Guide

First submission

1. Manuscripts should be submitted via the Paper Processing System (EDItool), an online submission system available at http://cmbl.editool.com. Submit the initial manuscript as one single PDF file (preferably), with the MS Word format (.doc, .docx extension) as an optional back-up format. The file should be as small as possible.
2. Please, do not use a non-specific file names as: manuscript/1, paper2 or article but identify the file by the last name of the first author and first word of the manuscript title.
3. It is expected that all figures submitted in colour will be published in colour, i.e. it is not possible to change from colour to b&w or vice versa.
4. The text should be single spaced, and all the pages should be numbered consecutively, including the references, tables, and figure legends. Conform to the general style of the journal and write in clear and grammatical English.
5. Identify the article type in the submission letter: Regular manuscript or Short communication, Review or Mini review.
6. Suggest at least two expert reviewers, providing their complete contact information, and indicate individuals who may be excluded from the review process.
7. Identify the corresponding author on the title page and provide a complete mailing address, telephone, fax numbers and an e-mail address for correspondence.

Manuscripts should be structured as follows

Use Times New Roman font for the text. For figures please, use Arial font. Please right and left justify the body of the text without paragraph indents. All the tables, figures and photographs should be inserted into the body of the text. Please do not number titles and subtitles.

1. Title (in block capitals except for Latin species names, in bold, aligned centrally), authors' names and surnames (in block capitals, first name then surname, ‘and’ between last two authors, aligned centrally), and authors' affiliations (in normal type, aligned centrally).
2. Abstract and key words (first letter of each item in keyword list capitalised).
3. Footnotes should be typed as normal text, not inserted as special fields, on the first page of the text, preceded by a short horizontal line (3 cm long). The corresponding author and a list of the abbreviations (alphabetically) used in the manuscript should be included in the footnotes.
4. The Introduction should be as concise as possible, without subheadings.
5. The Materials and methods should be sufficiently detailed to enable the experiments to be reproduced.
6. The Results and Discussion sections may be combined and may be organized under subheadings.
7. Acknowledgments should be brief and should precede the references.
8. References should be indicated in the text by Arabic numerals in square brackets, e.g. [23], and numbered consecutively in order of appearance. The in-text references should not state the full names. The list of references should be typed at the end of the paper in the citation order in the style indicated below. Journal titles should be in bold. Journal volumes should be underlined. All authors; names (‘and’ between last two authors) and the full titles of the references should be given. Book titles should be given in full, and in bold. The first and last pages of references cited should be given in full (e.g. 341-347, not 341-7). Please note the positions of commas and spaces. DOI addresses could be helpful in addition. Web site addresses should be included in the References section.

Style in which references are to be cited (papers in journals, books and sections thereof, conference materials):

1. Smith, L.B. and Brown, K.L. A new method for spectrin detection. J. Biol. Chem. 1234 (2003) 2345- 2361.
2. Ferrari, R. and Dieci, G. The transcription reinitiation properties of RNA polymerase III in the absence of transcription factors. Cell. Mol. Biol. Lett. 13 (2008) 112-118. DOI: 10.2478/s11658-007-0041-y.
3. Brown, W.C., Smith, D.J. and Jones, H.L. Production of anti-spectrin antibodies. in: Fundaments of Environmental Sciences (McDonald, L.C., Ed.), 10th edition, CBLS Publ. Co.,Cecily, 1995, 234-267.
4. Zydel, J. Spectrin-like molecules from E. coli. XXXIX Meeting of the Polish Biochem. Soc., Kielce, 1999, 24-28.

Headings. Main text headings should be typed in bold CAPITAL LETTERS. Second-level headings should be typed in bold upper and lower case letters. Third level headings should be in upper and lower case letters, italics.

Tables, equations and formulae. Type tables in the Word editor as close as possible to the place of reference in the text. Put Tab. 1., etc. at the top of the table in upper and lower case letters. References to tables in the text should be given thus: Tab. 1.
All the equations and formulae should be inserted as objects in the appropriate place in the text, and should be numbered.

Photographs and figures should be reduced to a suitable size and pasted into the text. The figure captions should be typed underneath the figures, as Fig. 1., etc. in upper and lower case letters. References to figures in the text should be given thus: Fig. 1.

Web site addresses and e-mail addresses should not be in the form of hyperlinks; please turn off the function that automatically reformats such addresses into hyperlinks.

Experiments involving humans or laboratory animals

When submitting a manuscript in which the Authors report on experiments involving humans or laboratory animals, both in their cover letter and in the Materials and Methods chapter of the manuscript, the Authors must confirm that they have adhered to the legal requirements of the country in which the study was conducted.

Accepted manuscripts

1. Please do not use PDF, DVI, or PostScript files at this stage, as these formats do not allow editing of the text. Most word-processing packages are acceptable; however, we prefer that authors use a recent version of Microsoft Word. Manuscripts saved with formatting intact (.doc, docx extension) are preferred. The rich-text format (.rtf extension) is acceptable, but plain text (.txt extension) files are discouraged.
2. Submit each figure as a separate .tiff or .jpg file extension (in addition to those pasted in the text). The .tiff format is preferred. When creating your figures, use the Arial font. Sizes and line weights will reproduce clearly and accurately when the figures are sized to the appropriate width (12 cm or 5 inches). The minimum line weight is 1 point (thinner lines will not reproduce well). Eliminate all excess white space from the borders of each figure. Please note that each graphics item should contain all its details, apart from those explained in the legend, in the same file, i.e. arrows, scale bars, asterisks, molecular weight standard values and indications of the panel, e.g. A, B, C. Number figures consecutively with Arabic numerals.
3. A resolution of at least 600 dpi is required for quality reproduction. Color photographs should be transmitted as CMYK colour. RGB images should be converted into CMYK, and all the necessary colour adjustments must be made prior to the transmission of the files. Authors must supply a colour-correct CMYK printout of all colour electronic art if the paper is accepted. Hard copy submissions of colour figures must be submitted on paper or flexible board due to the nature of the reproduction process.
4. Use your software's spell-checking and page-numbering capabilities before final submission.
5. The manuscript will be edited according to the style of the journal, and authors must read the proofs carefully. Proofs will be sent to the corresponding author as a PDF file. To avoid delay in publication, only necessary changes should be made, and proofs should be returned promptly.

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