Guide for Authors

Welcome to the website for all electronic manuscript submissions to Immunology and Cell Biology.The instructions below are structured so you can quickly and easily answer the following questions:

1. Is my manuscript suitable for Immunology and Cell Biology? (Scope & Editorial_policy)
2. How do I format my manuscript for Immunology and Cell Biology? (Format of Papers)
3. How do I submit my manuscript to Immunology and Cell Biology? (Submission of Papers)

Immunology and Cell Biology is published 8 times a year by Nature Publishing Group and is abstracted or indexed in:

• Academic Search (EBSCO)
• AIDS Information
• Australian Medical Index
• Biological Abstracts (BIOSIS)
• Biomedical Reference (EBSCO)
• CAB Abstracts
• Cambridge Scientific Abstracts
• CancerLIT
• Cancer Therapy of the Upper Gastrointestinal Tract
• Chemical Abstracts Service
• Elsevier BIOBASE/Current Awareness in Biological Sciences
• Current Contents/Life Sciences
• EMBASE/Excerpta Medica
• Health Source Nursing/Academic (EBSCO)
• Journals @ Ovid
• PubMed
• ProQuest (previously University Microfilms)
• Reference Update
• Research Alert
• Science Citation Index

Scope

Immunology and Cell Biology (ICB) focuses on the general functioning of the immune system in its broadest sense, with a particular emphasis on its cell biology.
Areas that are covered include but are not limited to:

• Cellular immunology
• Innate and adaptive immunity
• Immune responses to pathogens
• Tumour immunology
• Immunopathology
• Immunotherapy
• Immunogenetics
• Immunological studies in humans and model organisms (including mouse, rat, Drosophila etc)

This leading journal has established an international reputation, built on more than 80 years of innovative publishing. The Journal publishes peer-reviewed Original Articles,Short Communications and Outstanding Observation Articles that describe new research results. Outstanding Observation Articles describe striking reproducible observations that have extremely important conceptual implications but do not necessarily include insights into the underlying molecular mechanism. This manuscript category allows publication of extraordinary findings soon after their discovery. Methodological papers or technical reports are usually not considered for publication in ICB unless of outstanding quality. ICB also publishes Reviews and News and Commentary articles, which provide succinct summaries of, respectively, an area or a specific research advance in immunology. Landmark articles are brief commentaries which highlight the historical significance of a particular piece of research relevant to the journal’s scope. Editorial articles are brief comments written by the editor(s) of the journal or by guest editor(s) of Special Features (see below) based on the contents of the current issue or topical subjects that fall within the scope of the journal. ICB occasionally publishes Meeting Reports that briefly detail the discussions, presentations and events at a relevant recent meeting. At the Editor-in-Chief's discretion, short Correspondence articles are also published in the journal.

News and Commentary and Landmark articles are by invitation only. Reviews can be submitted by authors without invitation but authors are encouraged to submit an abstract of the review to the Editor-in-Chief ( christopher.parish@anu.edu.au) to consider for suitability prior to submission of a full article. Submissions of Review articles from outstanding graduate students are also encouraged under the following conditions:

• An abstract of the review should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief (christopher.parish@anu.edu.au) to consider for suitability prior to the submission of a full article
• The supervisor of the student that has most expertise in the area being reviewed must be a participatory co-author on the paper
• The article should encompass a critical assessment of an area: the timeliness of this assessment should be explicitly justified

ICB strongly encourages the submission of 'Theoretical' Articles to challenge and provoke discussion in the international scientific community. The Journal also occasionally publishes thematic Special Features which encompass groups of papers that comprehensively cover a specific area in the field. These features are by invitation only, although the Editor-in-Chief (christopher.parish@anu.edu.au) is receptive to suggested topics. Correspondence articles should primarily cover responses to papers published in ICB, but may raise issues of importance to the immunological community. They should not be more than 1000 words in length.

Editorial policy

The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to our readership. Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts are peer reviewed by at least two anonymous reviewers and the Editor-in-Chief. The Editorial Board reserves the right to refuse any material for publication. Final acceptance or rejection rests with the Editorial Board.
Papers are published in order of acceptance, except in the case of papers of outstanding quality and Short Communications, which will be published as rapidly as possible. Papers are accepted under the categories Original Articles , Theoretical Articles , Short Communications ,Outstanding Observation Articles, News and Commentaries, Meeting Reports , Landmarks and Reviews.

Manuscripts should be written so that they are intelligible to the professional reader who is not a specialist in the particular field. They should be written in a clear, concise, direct style. Where contributions are judged as acceptable for publication on the basis of scientific content, the Editor and the Publisher reserve the right to modify typescripts to eliminate ambiguity and repetition and improve communication between author and reader. If extensive alterations are required, the manuscript will be returned to the author for revision.

Authors of accepted papers will be required to sign a Licence to Publish form (see below).

Format of Papers

Non-Native Speakers of English
Researchers who are not native speakers of English who submit manuscripts to international journals often receive negative comments from referees or editors about the English-language usage in their manuscripts, and 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 of the following steps:

• Have your manuscript reviewed for clarity by a colleague whose native language is English.
• Use one of the many English language editing services that are available, such as that offered by Nature Publishing Group Language Editing. An editor will improve the English to ensure that your meaning is clear and identify problems that require your review.

Please note that the use of Nature Publishing Group Language Editing is at the author's own expense and in no way implies that the article will be selected for peer review or accepted by an NPG journal (or any other journal). The decisions that the editors of any NPG journal make based on the quality and suitability of a manuscript for that journal are entirely independent of whether that manuscript has been language-edited by Nature Publishing Group Language Editing .

Article Requirements

Covering letter

Papers are accepted for publication in the Journal on the understanding that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. This must be stated in the covering letter.

Authors must declare any financial support or relationships that may pose conflict of interest.

If tables or figures have been reproduced from another source, a letter from the copyright holder (usually the Publisher), stating authorization to reproduce the material, must be attached to the covering letter.

Authors must state in the manuscript that the protocol for a research project involving human subjects or animals has been approved by a suitably constituted Ethics Committee of the institution within which the work was undertaken and that it conforms to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in Edinburgh 2000). Any experiments involving animals must be demonstrated to be ethically acceptable and where relevant conform to national guidelines for animal usage in research.

Theoretical Articles

Theoretical Articles not exceeding eight printed pages in the Journal (including figures, tables and references) are invited for the publication of new ideas that have not been published elsewhere. Theoretical Articles should present a logical argument based on published experimental data, but should not provide extensive reviews of the literature. A title page, abstract, key words and references should be included, but otherwise there is no set format for Theoretical Articles.

Short Communications

Short Communications describe completed work and should not be merely a preliminary communication. In general, they are published more rapidly than longer articles. They should not exceed *2000 *words (four pages of typescript) and may include two figures and/or tables.

Outstanding Observation Articles

Outstanding Observation Articles report reproducible striking observations obtained in vivo or under physiological conditions in vitro, that have important conceptual implications. They report a clearly important immunological phenomenon and its significance in some detail but the molecular mechanism underlying the findings need not be fully elucidated. They are published more rapidly than standard articles and should follow the format of ‘Original Articles’ or ‘Short Communications’.

Reviews Detailed guidelines for the preparation of review articles are available on request. (please email icb.office@anu.edu.au)

Organisation of paper

Manuscripts should be presented in the following order (omitting sections inappropriate for specific article types e.g. methods for Reviews and Theoretical articles): (i) title page, (ii) abstract and key words, (iii) results, (iv) discussion, (v) methods, (vi) acknowledgements, (vii) references, (viii) appendices, (ix) figure legends, (x) tables (each table complete with title and footnotes) and (xi) figures. Footnotes to the text are not allowed and any such material should be incorporated into the text as parenthetical matter.

Title page

The title page should contain (i) the title of the paper, (ii) the full names of the authors and (iii) the addresses of the institutions at which the work was carried out together with (iv) the full postal and email address, plus facsimile and telephone numbers, of the author to whom correspondence about the manuscript should be sent.

The title should be short (less than 100 characters) and informative, and contain the major key words. A short running title (less than 50 characters) should also be provided.

Abstract and key words

Articles must have a brief abstract (250 word limit) that states the purpose, basic procedures, main findings and principal conclusions of the study. The abstract should not contain abbreviations or references.

Three to six key words, for the purposes of indexing, should be supplied below the abstract, in alphabetical order.

Introduction

The Introduction should summarize the rationale for the study and outline pertinent background material. The Introduction should not contain either findings or conclusions.

Results

should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables and figures; repetitive presentation of the same data in different forms should be avoided. The Results should not include material appropriate to the Discussion.

Discussion

Should consider the results in relation to any hypotheses advanced in the Introduction. This may include an evaluation of methodology and the relationship of new information to the existing corpus of knowledge in that field. Data given in the Results section should not be reiterated here. Methods should be described in sufficient detail to allow the experimental work to be reproduced in another laboratory and leave the reader in no doubt as to how the results were derived.

Acknowledgements

The source of financial grants and other funding must be acknowledged, including a frank declaration of the authors' industrial links and affiliations. The contribution of colleagues or institutions should also be acknowledged. Personal thanks and thanks to anonymous reviewers are not appropriate.

References

The Vancouver system of referencing should be used, with the exception that the journal issue number should not be included (see the examples given below). In the text, references should be cited using superscript Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear. If cited in tables or figure legends, number according to the first identification of the table or figure in the text.

In the reference list, cite the names of all authors when there are six or fewer; when seven or more, list the first six followed by et al. Do not use ibid. or op cit. Reference to unpublished data and personal communications should not appear in the list but should be cited in the text only (e.g. Smith A, 2007, unpubl. data). All citations mentioned in the text, tables or figures must be listed in the reference list.

Names of journals should be abbreviated in the style used in PubMed.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references.

Journal Article

1 Voskoboinik I, Trapani JA. Addressing the mysteries of perforin function. Immunol. Cell Biol. 2006; 84: 66-71.

Book

2 Peltz G. Computational genetics and genomics: tools for understanding disease. New Jersey: Humana Press, 2005.

Chapter in a Book

3 Durham SR. Eosinophils and bronchial hyper-responsiveness in bronchial asthma. In: Kay AB (ed.) Eosinophils, Allergy and Asthma. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 1990: 140-43.

Electronic Material

4 National Health & Medical Research Council. Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Early Breast Cancer. Second Edition [PDF on Internet]. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, [updated 6 September 2003; cited 3 March 2004]. Available from:www.nhmrc.gov.au/publiactions/pdfcp74.pdf

Figures

Figures and images should be labeled sequentially, numbered and cited in the text. Each figure should be saved in a separate file. Figures including multiple parts (e.g. Fig.1a, 1b, 1c) should be saved in a single file (e.g. Figure1a-c). The figure number should be placed above each figure. Figure legends should be inserted in the article's text file. The use of three-dimensional histograms is strongly discouraged when the addition of the third dimension gives no extra information. If a table or figure has been published before, the authors must obtain written permission to reproduce the material in both print and electronic formats from the copyright owner and submit it with the manuscript. This follows for quotes, illustrations and other materials taken from previously published works not in the public domain. The original source should be cited in the figure caption or table footnote. Colour figures can be reproduced if necessary, but the authors will be expected to contribute towards the cost of publication (download the color form for details). Please note that colour figures can be reproduced on the web for FREE (see below for further details).

Artwork Guidelines

Detailed guidelines for submitting artwork can be found by downloading the guidelines PDF. Using the guidelines, please submit production quality artwork with your initial online submission. If you have followed the guidelines, we will not require the artwork to be resubmitted following the peer-review process, if your paper is accepted for publication.

Colour on the web

Authors who wish their articles to have FREE colour figures on the web (only available in the HTML (full text) version of manuscripts) must supply separate files in the following format. These files should be submitted as supplementary information and authors are asked to mention they would like colour figures on the web in their submission letter.

For Single Images:

Width	500 pixels (authors should select "constrain proportions", or equivalent instructions, to allow the application to set the correct height automatically.)
Resolution	125 dpi (dots per inch) or "Save for Web" if using Photoshop
Format	JPEG for photographs GIF for line drawings or charts
Filenaming	Please save image with .jpg or .gif extension to ensure it can be read by all platforms and graphics packages.

For Multi-part Images :

Width	900 pixels (authors should select "constrain proportions", or equivalent instructions, to allow the application to set the correct height automatically.)
Resolution	125 dpi (dots per inch) or "Save for Web" if using Photoshop
Format	JPEG for photographs GIF for line drawings or charts
Filenaming	Please save image with .jpg or .gif extension to ensure it can be read by all platforms and graphics packages.

Authors may be asked to pay the full colour fee for figures that are not submitted in the format described above.

Tables

These should be labeled sequentially as Table 1, Table 2, etc. Each table should be numbered and titled, numbered and titled, and cited in the text. Reference to table footnotes should be made by means of Arabic numerals. Tables should not duplicate the content of the text. They should consist of at least two columns; columns should always have headings. Authors should ensure that the data in the tables are consistent with those cited in the relevant places in the text, totals add up correctly, and percentages have been calculated correctly. Unlike figures or images, tables may be embedded into the word processing software if necessary, or supplied as separate electronic files.

House Style

As the electronic submission will provide the basic material for typesetting, it is important that papers are prepared in the general editorial style of the journal.

1. See the artwork guidelines for information on labeling of figures
2. Do not make lines thinner than 1pt (0.36mm)
3. Use a coarse hatching pattern rather than shading for tints in graphs
4. Colour should be distinct when being used as an identifying tool
5. Use SI units throughout
6. Spaces, not commas should be used to separate thousands
7. Abbreviations should be proceded by the words for which they stand in the first instance of use
8. Text should be double spaced with a wide margin

File Formats:

File formats for manuscript files, figures and tables that are acceptable for our electronic manuscript submission process are given on the online forms. Further advice on file types is also available from the Tips webpage. Please follow our artwork guidelines for submitting figures, and use a common word-processing package (such as Microsoft Word) for the text. Either embed tables converted into images at the end of your Word document, or as a separate files in whichever program you used to generate them. If you submit raw data, this can be done in Excel, or tab/comma delimited format.

Supplementary information

Supplementary information is peer-reviewed material directly relevant to the conclusions of an article that cannot be included in the printed version owing to space or format constraints. It is posted on the journal's web site and linked to the article when the article is published and may consist of data files, graphics, movies or extensive tables.

The printed article must be complete and self-explanatory without the supplementary information. Supplementary information enhances a reader’s understanding of the paper but is not essential to that understanding.

Supplementary information must be supplied to the editorial office in its final form for peer review. On acceptance the final version of the peer reviewed supplementary information should be submitted with the accepted paper.

To ensure that the contents of the supplementary information files can be viewed by the editor(s), referees and readers, please also submit a ‘read-me’ file containing brief instructions on how to use the file.

Supplying supplementary information files

Authors should ensure that supplementary information is supplied in its FINAL format because it is not subedited and will appear online exactly as originally submitted. It cannot be altered, nor new supplementary information added, after the paper has been accepted for publication.

Please supply the supplementary information via eJP, the electronic manuscript submission and tracking system, in an acceptable file format (see below).
Authors should:

Saving files with Microsoft Office 2007

Microsoft Office 2007 saves files in an XML format by default (file extensions .docx, .pptx and xlsx). Files saved in this format cannot be accepted for publication.

Save Word documents using the file extension .doc

• Select the Office Button in the upper left corner of the Word 2007 Window and choose "Save As"
• Select "Word 97-2003 Document"
• Enter a file name and select “Save”

These instructions also apply for the new versions of Excel and PowerPoint.

Equations in Word must be created using Equation Editor 3.0

Equations created using the new equation editor in Word 2007 and saved as a "Word 97-2003 Document" (.doc) are converted to graphics and can no longer be edited. To insert or change an equation with the previous equation editor:

• Select "Object" on the “Text” section of the "Insert" tab
• In the drop-down menu - select "Equation Editor 3.0"

Do not use the “Equation" button in the “Symbols” section of the “Insert” tab.

Adobe Acrobat

Once you have submitted your files and the conversion is in progress, you may log off the Internet and come back later to check and approve the conversion. This process can take up to 5 - 10 minutes before the PDF, created in the conversion process, is ready for approval. Please remember that your manuscript will not be submitted until you have approved the converted files.

Getting Help

If you need additional help, you can click on the help signs spread throughout the system. A help dialogue will pop up with context sensitive help. Should further assistance be required, then please contact ICB.Office@anu.edu.au.

Manuscript Status

After you approve your manuscript it is submitted and you will receive an acknowledgement email. You can check the status of your manuscript at any time in the review process by:

1. Accessing the system with your password or link sent to you in the acknowledgement email
2. Clicking on the link represented by your manuscript tracking number and abbreviated title.
3. Clicking on the "Check Status" link at the bottom of the displayed page.

Licence to Publish

The corresponding author must complete and sign the Licence to Publish form upon acceptance of the manuscript and return it to the editorial office. Failure to do so will result in delays to the publication of your paper. A copy of the Licence to Publish form can be found at http://mts-icb.nature.com/letters/icb_publish.pdf

ASI does not require authors of original research papers to assign copyright of their published contributions. Authors grant ASI an exclusive licence to publish, in return for which they can re-use their papers in their future printed work. NPG's author licence page provides details of the policy and a sample form. Authors are encouraged to submit their version of the accepted, peer-reviewed manuscript to their funding body's archive, for public release six months after publication. In addition, authors are encouraged to archive their version of the manuscript in their institution's repositories (as well as on their personal web sites), also six months after the original publication. Authors should cite the publication reference and doi number on any deposited version, and provide a link from it to the published article on the NPG website. This policy complements the policies of the US National Institutes of Health, the Wellcome Trust and other research funding bodies around the world. NPG recognizes the efforts of funding bodies to increase access of the research they fund, and strongly encourages authors to participate in such efforts.

Advance online publication

All original articles are published ahead of print on Advance Online Publication. This will be the final version of the manuscript and will subsequently appear, unchanged, in print.

Proofs

An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author with a URL link from where proofs can be collected. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt. Failure to do so may result in a delay to publication. Extensive corrections cannot be made at this stage.

Offprints

25 free offprints will be provided to the corresponding authors of each published paper. Additional offprints may be ordered using the order form available for download with the proofs. Later orders submitted after the journal is printed are subject to increased reprint prices.

Business Matters

To find out who to contact for business correspondence and enquiries such as advertising, subscriptions, permissions, papers in production or publishing a supplement, please visit our publisher’s contacts page.

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