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Guidelines for Authors
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Organogenesis is a new peer-reviewed journal, available in print and on-line, that publishes significant experimental advances, reviews and commentaries on all aspects of organ development. The journal covers organogenesis in all multicellular organisms and also includes research into tissue engineering, artificial organs and organ substitutes.
The overriding criteria for publication in Organogenesis are originality, scientific merit and general interest.
Organogenesis is committed to the ultra-rapid publication of high quality original papers. The emphasis of the journal is on experimental papers (full length and brief communications) but it also publishes reviews, hypotheses and commentaries. All manuscripts are subjected to peer-review and accepted manuscripts are posted to the web site immediately and appear in print at the earliest opportunity.
Editorial Policy and Requirements for manuscripts submitted to Organogenesis
All papers published in Organogenesis must be written either in English or American English, and should use one form consistently. Abbreviations and acronyms should be defined the first time they are used, and a list of all abbreviations should be provided. All quantities should be expressed in SI units or their derivatives. Manuscripts should be double-spaced, with page numbers throughout and be provided with a running title of not more than 8 words at the head or foot of each page. The title page should not include the names of the authors (so that anonymity of peer review can be maintained): this information will be requested once a manuscript has been accepted.
By publishing in this journal, authors imply that they will make available specialized reagents (for example, antibodies, DNA probes or genetic strains of organisms) to other scientists in the field who request them. Where applicable, they also agree to submit novel gene sequences etc to the appropriate public databases before their manuscript is published.
All authors and readers should note that responsibility for the accuracy of statements of fact, expressions of opinion and any other material published in this Organogenesis rests solely with the author(s), and that no responsibility for such matters is assumed by its Editors, owners, publishers, referees or staff.
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Peer Review
All submissions to Organogenesis are screened for general relevance to the journal by the editor to which they are sent. Unless they are obviously irrelevant to organogenesis, in which case they will be returned immediately with an explanation, all papers are subjected to rigorous peer review by at least two reviewers. The review system operated by Organogenesis has been designed with fairness in mind, and has the following features;
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Review is anonymous in both directions (in most journals, the identity of the authors is revealed to reviewers).
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Manuscripts are transmitted to the reviewers electronically, in the interests of speed.
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The instructions to reviewers ask them to evaluate of the robustness of experimental results quite separately from their originality, general interest and impact. This separation helps the Editor to reach a decision, and helps the authors understand the basis on which that decision was made.
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Except for the protection of anonymity, the review process is as transparent as possible. In particular, all comments from the reviewers are passed on to the authors (there is no 'comments to the Editor only' section, common in other journals)
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If a manuscript is believed to not meet the standards of the journal or is otherwise lacking in scientific rigor or contains major deficiencies, the reviewers will attempt to provide constructive criticism to assist the authors in ultimately improving their work for publication, here or elsewhere. Manuscripts not invited for resubmission will not be reconsidered.
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If a manuscript receives favorable reviews but is not accepted outright following the initial review, it may be invited for reconsideration with the expectation that the authors will fully address the reviewer's criticisms. Resubmitted manuscripts with major revisions will be sent back for peer review.
Accepted papers will be rapidly posted to the journal website as Papers in Press.
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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 encoruaged. These may include either an abstract or a full length manuscript as an email attachment (Microsoft Word). Pre-submission inquiries should be emailed the Editor-in-Chief, Jamie A. Davies or one of the Receiving Editors: Julie Cambpell, Marc Hammerman or Jean-Pierre Saint-Jeannet.
General Submission
Organogenesis utilizes an online submission and tracking system which is designed to provide a better, more efficient service to authors.
- Authors can submit manuscripts online from anywhere in the world.
- Authors can track their manuscript through the peer review process.
- Author files are automatically converted into a PDF (Portable Document Format) file and submissions are acknowledged by email.
- Editors and reviewers access the PDF files on the website.
Click here to submit a manuscript to Organogenesis: http://org.msubmit.net/
All submissions must be accompanied by a completed copyright transfer form.
Fax to Kristen Moore at 512.637.6079
Special Submission
Organogensis will reconsider papers that have been rejected - solely on grounds of impact - by Nature, Science, Cell, Development, Genes and Development, in the original format of those journals, thus saving the authors effort and time. Authors are encouraged to enclose the reviewers' and/or editorial comments from the above mentioned journals, which will expedite the evaluation of the article. If these reviews suggest that the article is suitable, Organogenesis will still commission at least one independent review but will request a very rapid review usually by a member of the Editorial board.
Upon acceptance, the authors must provide the paper in the normal format for Organogenesis. Go to production guidelines.
All submissions must be accompanied by a completed copyright transfer form.
Fax to Kristen Moore at 512.637.6079
Non-Native Speakers of English
Authors who are not native speakers of English and submit manuscripts to international journals often receive negative comments from referees or editors about English-language usage. These problems can contribute to a decision to reject a paper. To help reduce the possibility of such problems, we strongly encourage such authors to take at least one or both of the following steps.
1. Have your manuscript reviewed for clarity by a colleague whose native language is English.
2. Use a service such as one of those listed below. An editor will improve the English to ensure that your meaning is clear and identify problems that require your review. Note that the use of such a service is at the author's own expense and risk and does not guarantee that the article will be accepted. Landes Bioscience accepts no responsibility for the interaction between the author and the service provider or for the quality of the work performed.
American Journal Experts
Inter-Biotec
Inter-Biotec also provides a free online writing course to help biomedical scientists whose first language is not English to write and publish their papers in English-language journals.
SPI Professional Editing Services
Write Science Right
Manuscript Preparation
Click here for more information.
Text should be prepared in MS 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 titles, author's names, degrees and affilitations
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
Organogenesis publishes full reports, brief communications, reviews and hypotheses.
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There is no word limit for papers published in Organogenesis, 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).
A four page article with three figures (approx 3.5' x 3.5') and 100 references would consist of approximately 3200 words (including figure legends).
Under exceptional circumstances, when no grant or other source of support exists, the author(s) may apply (at the time of submission) to Dr. Jamie Davies , Editor-in-Chief, for a waiver of the page charges. All applications must be countersigned by an appropriate institutional official stating that no funds are available for the payment of page charges.
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Full Length Reports include the following sections (in the following order):
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, including any processing of images that was performed.
7. References: No more than 85. Please see below for reference format.
Brief Reports are short experimental papers that may present as little as a single experiment or observation, where that observation is of sufficient interest and importance to justify immediate publication. They must be written in no more than 100 words and take up no more than 2 pages of the journal. They include the following sections:
1. Abstract: 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. References should not be cited in the abstract.
2. Key Words: 5-10, for indexing purposes.
3. Introduction
4. Combined results and discussion
5. (Materials and methods): this information can be included in figure legends instead, if this is appropriate.
6. References: No more than 30. Please see below for reference format.
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. 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 and abstract of 150 words and 5-10 key words for indexing purposes, and should cite no more than 120 references.
Hypotheses are papers that present novel hypotheses or perspectives on particular issues; the differ from reviews in that they are more focused on one specific problem, and the hypothesis they present must be novel and significant. These papers can be prepared in any of the above formats, and alternative formats may be agreed by negotiation with the Editor.
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)
Click here for guidelines on figure preparation and the required formats.
DO NOT EMBED GRAPHICS WITHIN YOUR MS WORD TEXT DOCUMENT.
References
Click here to view our reference format. References for review articles are limited to 150. For Research Papers, please limit references to 85. For Addenda, and Commentaries and Views, please limit references to 30.
The reference format for Organogenesis is the same as that for Cell Cycle. Click here to download this output style from EndNotes.
Supplementary Files
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Page and Color Charges
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 four page article with 3 figures (approx 9cmx9cm, =3.5" x 3.5") and 100 references would consist of approximately 3200 words of text including figure legends.
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
Organogenesis 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 Organogenesis 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.
Organogenesis 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:
- Native Photoshop .psd (if graphics are built with layers, do not flatten), 300dpi, CMYK at 100% size.
- 300 dpi .tif, CMYK at 100% size.
- 300 dpi highest quality .jpg, CMYK at 100% size.
- Scalable vector .eps line art or native Illustrator or Freehand files.
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