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INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS
| 1. The
contents of Research in Microbiology |
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Papers are published in Research in Microbiology under one of the
following subheadings:
-Phylogeny and evolution,
-Ecology and population dynamics,
- Physiology and metabolism,
- Molecular genetics and genomics,
- Mobile elements,
- Viruses of prokaryotes,
- Interactions of microbes with their environment (pathogenic and
non-pathogenic)
The overriding criteria for publication are originality, high scientific
quality and up-to-date relevance. Papers should be written with
a wide audience of microbiologists in mind. Purely descriptive papers,
as well as those which do not report on significant advances in
scientific research, are discouraged and may be rejected without
review. Incomplete characterizations of new bacterial strains, bacterial
communities, enzymes or antimicrobial compounds, for instance, will
not be considered. Papers dealing with methods and theoretical microbiology
may be published if they are associated with significant novel approaches
and results. Papers on host-pathogen interactions, virulence and
disease fall within the scope of the journal only if they cover
the biology of the microbes
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Original articles in two formats: research papers or brief notes
Reviews
Letters to the Editor
News
| 3. How
to submit a manuscript |
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Electronic submission of papers using on-line manuscript submission
instructions is available at : http://pasteur.fontismedia.com/res
PLEASE NOTE:
English grammar, syntax and spelling must be carefully prepared
and checked before submission of the paper. The authors are encouraged
to include a cover letter for the Editor and to provide the names
and e-mail addresses of 3 potential referees. A PDF version of the
paper containing figures and tables is needed for the reviewing
process. The authors should also provide their paper as a Word document
and submit figures separately according to on- line submission instructions.
In addition, if the submitted manuscript contains a reference to
other related papers in press or considered for publication, PDFs
of these papers should be added to the submission as supplementary
information.
3. How to submit a manuscript
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Research papers: abstract 200 words, main text
(Introduction, Materials and methods, Results and Discussion) in
the range of 4000 word, about 40 references, and a combination of
a total of six to eight figures and tables. Longer papers can be
considered for publication of extra lenght is justified in the cover
letter.
Brief notes: abstract 100 words, main text 1800
words, references up to 18, and a combination of a total of 3 figures
and tables.
Reviews: abstract 100 words, main text 4000 words,
references 70.
Letters to the Editor: 800-word maximum, including
a total of 5 references or less, no abstract, no methods, no tables
or figures.
News: 600 words.
| 5. General
format of papers |
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Double-space (32 lines per page maximum) throughout (including
references, figure legends and table footnotes).
2.5-cm (1 inch) margins on all four sides.
Font size of at least 12 points.
Each page numbered top right (title page is 1).
Lines numbered
Each new paragraph indented
Either American or English spelling, but not both.
In general, do not use capital letters (except for first letter)
for titles, author names, section headings, etc.
When referring to figures in the main text, figure is abbreviated
to Fig., i.e., Fig. 1. When referring to tables, Arabic numerals
are used, i.e., Table 2.
| 6. Organization
of research papers and brief notes |
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Manuscript should be arranged in the following order (each item
should appear on a separate page):
a) Title page; b) Abstract + keywords; c) Introduction; d) Materials
and methods; e) Results; f) Discussion; g) Acknowledgements; h)
References; i) Legends to figures; j) Tables; k) Figures; l) Supplementary
material for on-line submission
Abbreviations: A list of unusual abbreviations may appear below
the keywords. In general, however, they must be defined in the text
the first time they are used, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.
Thereafter, they are to be used throughout the paper.
Chapters for Introduction, Materials and methods, Results and Discussion
are numbered in bold; subheadings are in italics; e.g.: 1.
Introduction; then 1.1 Subheading. Results and Discussion
may be grouped together.
a) Title page
Title: it should be informative and concise and not exceed 25
words. It should not contain non-standard acronyms or abbreviations
nor be in capital letters.
Authors’ names: full first name of each author is followed
by last name. Do not use capital letters; use commas to separate
names; do not use “and” before name of last author.
Each name should be followed by a superscript letter a, b, etc.
to designate the affiliation. The name of the author responsible
for correspondence and proof correction should be followed by an
asterisk (*) after the superscript letter.
Affiliations: give complete address (department and/or laboratory,
college, university, and full postal address) of each institute
at which the work was carried out, preceded by the appropriate superscript
letter (a, b, etc.). Affiliations should follow the list of names,
and each address should be given in a separate paragraph.
The e-mail address of each author is given at the bottom of the
title page. The e-mail address of the corresponding author is followed
by the note “*Correspondence and reprints”.
b) Abstract and keywords
The abstract is on page 2; it is accessible to a wide audience,
summarizing the objectives and major conclusions and indicating
the relevance of the work. Do not use references, footnotes or abbreviations
in the abstract. The word “Abstract” is in bold.
Keywords: place them below the abstract; provide a list of at least
three keywords existing in the MeSH thesaurus. They are in lower
case letters, separated by semi-colons. They are used for indexing
your paper and should express the precise content.
c) Introduction
The Introduction outlines the background of the study; it should
not summarize results nor be an extensive review of the literature.
Do not use subheadings in the Introduction.
d) Materials and methods
Avoid detailed description of standard procedures, procedures
performed using commercial kits or procedures fully described in
a former paper.
e) Results
f) Discussion
Discuss major findings. Avoid repeating parts of the Introduction
and Results. Do not defend the main conclusions with unpublished
data or with data from manuscripts in preparation.
g) Acknowledgements
Personal acknowledgements precede those of agencies and institutions;
use only a single paragraph.
h) References
Unpublished work and personal communications are indicated as
such in the text but not listed. Only published work and manuscripts
in press (indicate the journal) appear in the references list. The
list of references at the end of the paper, in alphabetic
order appears after the Acknowledgements.
Verify that each reference has its counterpart in the list and vice-versa;
incorrect or incomplete referencing will delay publication.
All citations in the text should refer to:
1. Single author: the author‚s name (without initials, unless
there is ambiguity) and the year of publication;
(Espinosa-Urgel, 2009)
2. Two authors: both authors, names and the year of publication;
(Vaneechoutte and Fani, 2009)
3. Three or more authors: first author's name followed by et al.,
and the year of publication.
(Vosahlikova et al., 2007)
Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups of references
should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.
Examples: "as demonstrated (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan
and Jones, 1995). Kramer et al. (2000) have recently shown ...."
In the list of References:
References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further
sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from
the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters
"a", "b", "c", etc., placed after
the year of publication.
Follow the styles shown below:
Reference to a journal publication:
Davidovich, C., Belousoff, M., Yonath, A., 2009. The evolving ribosome:
from non-coded peptide bond formation to sophisticated translation
machinery. Res. Microbiol.160, 487-492.
Reference to a book:
Strunk Jr., W., White, E.B., 1979. The Elements of Style, third
ed. Macmillan, New York.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Mettam, G.R., Adams, L.B. , 1999. How to prepare an electronic version
of your article, in: Jones, B.S., Smith, R.Z. (Eds.), Introduction
to the Electronic Age. E- Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281-304.
i) Legends to figures
The text for figure titles and their corresponding legends starts
on a separate page following the reference list.
j) Tables
Tables are consecutively numbered according to their order of
appearance in the main text. Each table carries a short title at
the top (Table 2, etc.) describing its content in relation to the
main text. Except for the heading and bottom of the table, avoid
horizontal dividing lines; vertical lines between columns are completely
omitted from any table. Instead, the first column is left-aligned
and other columns are generally centered. Only the first letter
of each heading is capitalized, and any units (Roman characters)
appear in parentheses after or under the corresponding heading.
Footnotes are collected under the table and referred to in the table
by superscript letters (a,b, etc.).
k) Figures
Figures are numbered (Arabic numerals) consecutively by order
of appearance in the main text (Fig. 1). Figures should be provided
in the PDF version for the review process. The lettering and the
graph symbols (squares, triangles, circles, etc.) should have a
finished printed size of at least 9 pt. Authors of accepted papers
should supply graphic files of halftone illustrations, saved as
TIFF, EPS or BMP. Line art should have a resolution of approximately
1 000 dpi. Half-tone graphics (photographs or graphics with shades
of gray) should have a resolution of 300 dpi. A figure that is a
combination of both a half-tone and line art should have a resolution
of at least 500 dpi. When necessary, indicate magnification by a
scale bar. Visit http://authors.elsevier.com/ArtworkInstructions.html?dc=AI1
There is no charge for reproduction of black and white illustrations.
Color figures are charged to the author.
Make sure that all figures and tables are included at the end of
the manuscript, even if original are submitted separately.
l) Supplementary material for on-line submission
Supplementary material in the form of tables or figures can
be accepted for publication on line at the Editor’s discretion.
| 7. Organization
of reviews |
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The main text may be divided into sections with subheadings;
it should end with a concluding section. The use of tables, charts,
pictures and maps is strongly encouraged. Style used for Title, Abstract
page, Tables, Figures and References follows the instructions above.
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They may follow the style of original papers or reviews; the convener
will specifically define the style of paper for each Forum issue.
The Publications Office will forward instructions to invited authors.
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Microorganisms: follow guidelines of the Nomenclature Committees,
ICSP http://www.the-icsp.org/ and ICTV. Genus and species are written
in full the first time the name appears in the text; subsequently,
only use the first letter of the genus, followed by the species (e.g.
Escherichia coli, then E. coli). When proposing new names or a new
combination of names for the organisms they describe, authors are
invited to apply guidelines ICSP and IJSEM (Int J Syst Evol Microbiol
50, 2239-44 and 2247-49 and Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 52 1043-47 for
new rules for species definition, or visit http://intl-ijs.sgmjournals.org/misc/ifora.shtml),
and to provide evidence that type strains are deposited in two recognized
culture collections in two different countries. For genetic nomenclature
of IS and transposons, visit http://www-is.biotoul.fr and http://www.ucl.ac.uk/eastman/tn/
Nucleotide sequences: they should be deposited in the NCBI or EMBL
databases prior to submission. Their accession number should be provided
in the submitted manuscript and the sequences should be made public
prior to publication.
Units of measurement: follow the Système International (SI).
Always respect the space between the number and the units (e.g. 100
°C, 25 mg). Use small l for liter).
Genetic loci are italicized; protein products of the loci are not
italicized. Latin words in current use, such as in vitro/vivo/situ,
via, as well as abbreviations for expressions such as cf., e.g., i.e.,
et al., appear in Roman type.
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Proofs are sent to the author responsible for correspondence.
After careful correction, return them to the publisher
within 48 h. If there is no response the article
will be published as it appeared in the first proofs. Aside from
typographical errors, no changes can be made in the references.
Elsevier provides either 25 free reprints of each article or the
PDF version. To purchase additional reprints, fill in the order
form which accompanies the proofs and return it to the publisher
together with the corrected proofs.
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A paper sent back to the author for revision should
be returned to us within 2 months, together with a letter
describing all modifications performed as well as answers to critics’
remarks item by item; otherwise, it will be considered as a new
submission. The Publications Office may request additional modifications
after acceptance of a paper if the length is excessive or if the
format does not conform to instructions.
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Submission implies that the paper reports original research,
has not been published previously, is not under consideration for
publication elsewhere and will not be published in whole or in part
elsewhere (in the same or in another language). As soon as the article
is published, the author is considered to have transferred his or
her rights to the publisher. Requests for reproduction should be
sent to the Publisher: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions
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