Guidelines for Authors

Manuscript Submission
We strongly encourage digital submissions. Email submissions as attached Word documents to yjbm@yale.edu.  Each figure should be submitted as an individual file, in either TIFF or high-resolution JPEG format.  To submit via postal mail, contact the YJBM office for information.

Contact Information
The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine
c/o Yale School of Medicine Institutional Planning & Communications
300 George St, Suite 773
New Haven, Connecticut 06511
Telephone: (203) 785-5816
Fax: (203) 785-4327

Guidelines for Authors
The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine is an international peer-reviewed, open-access journal.  It publishes original contributions, reviews, articles on medical history, personal perspectives on medicine, policy analyses, case reports, and symposia related to biomedical matters. Contributions are welcome from all qualified sources. Manuscripts may be sent by e-mail attachment to yjbm@yale.edu, preferably as Microsoft Word documents and TIFF or high-resolution JPEG images. Please contact the journal for questions not answered by the guidelines. The following detailed directions for manuscript preparation should be followed.

General guidelines

Cover Letter. A cover letter should accompany the manuscript, in which authors:

1. include a 100-word summary of the significance of their findings and how these findings relate to the journal’s mission and scope,
2. certify that the work submitted to the YJBM has not been published elsewhere in any form and is not being submitted simultaneously to another journal, and
3. declare any conflicts of interest.

Title page. List as follows: The title of the manuscript; a running title (60 characters maximum, no abbreviations); date of submission; authors’ full names with middle initials; affiliation and current address of each author; name, email, mailing address, and phone number of the corresponding author; the number of tables, figures, and references.

Types of articles

Case reports describe an unusual presentation, a new treatment, or a difficult diagnosis. They include:

• an abstract (150 words or less);
• a brief introduction;
• a report section including presentation, clinical observations, test results, and accompanying figures;
• a discussion; and references.

Case reports should be limited to 3000 words.

Arts and Humanities articles either

1. provide personal perspectives on medical or biomedical topics in a clear narrative voice, e.g. narratives about clinical experiences or
2. supply historical, medical, or policy analysis on a specific topic, e.g. the impact of free clinics on diabetes care. Narratives should be limited to 3000 words. Analysis pieces should be limited to 6000 words.

Reviews provide a reasoned survey and examination of a particular subject of research. They should include critical assessment of the works cited, explanations of conflicts in the literature, and analysis of the field. The conclusion must discuss in detail the limitations of current knowledge, future directions to be pursued in research, and the overall importance of the topic in medicine or biology. These articles consist of:

• Abstract,
• Brief Introduction
• Topics (with headings and subheadings)
• Conclusions and Outlook
• References

Short reviews should have a maximum of 2500 words and 40 references. Long reviews should have a maximum of 5000 words and 70 references. Authors wishing to submit an unsolicited review should send a 100-word proposal to the YJBM office, summarizing the scope, importance, and relevance of the proposed review.

Original contributions present a medical or scientific advance and present biological explanations of the data shown. These articles consist of:

• Abstract (200 words or less)
• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Acknowledgements and source of funding
• References
• Figure Legends
• Figures
• Tables

Figures and Tables

Cite figures and tables sequentially in the text as they appear. Each table or figure must be cited at least once in the text. Manuscripts should have no more than eight display items.

Use SI units, or the nomenclature of your field if more appropriate. Nonstandard units and abbreviations should be defined at the end of the figure legend or in a footnote to the table.

If figures, illustrations, photographs or tables have appeared in other publications or are derived from items appearing in other publications, the author is responsible for obtaining proper permissions. For items that are protected by copyright, include a written permission from the copyright holder for YJBM to reproduce the figure, any limitations on usage specified by the copyright holder, and a bibliographic citation of the original author and source. For items drawn from non-copyrighted sources, include a bibliographic citation and a summary of any licensing conditions associated with such items.

Figures. Each figure must be submitted as an individual file, in either TIFF or high-resolution JPEG format. Images in other file formats, or embedded in documents, cannot be accepted. A resolution of at least 300 dpi will help ensure clear reproduction.

Number figures consecutively as they appear in the text. Label each axis clearly and include units. Figure titles should capitalize only the first word.

To make figures as clear and accessible as possible, please adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Figures should be on a white background. Lines should be at least 0.5 points wide.
2. If in grayscale, levels of grey should differ by at least 20% to maintain contrast. If in color, we ask that you avoid green and red to assist our colorblind readers. Avoid light colors such as yellow, as they are difficult to view.
3. For multiple data sets, choose symbols that are easily distinguishable from one another: for example, filled circles and open circles. Do not include a boxed legend as part of the figure; symbols must be described in the figure legend.
4. For micrographs or other photographs, include a scale bar in SI units. In the Methods section, briefly describe the objective, camera, and illumination used.
5. If figures contain multiple panels, there should be a clear logical connection between all parts of the figure. Minimize the number of panels.
6. Figures divided into panels or parts should label each part with a, b, etc. in lower-case bold type.
7. To indicate levels of significance use asterisks above each bar or portion of the figure. Define the level of significance in a footnote to the table (e.g. *p<0.05). All p-values should be expressed as less or greater than one of the following levels: 0.25, 0.1, 0.05, 0.01, 0.001 (i.e. p>0.1 or p<0.05).
8. Lettering should be in a sans-serif typeface in a readable size; 12-point fonts are preferred. If possible, the same typeface and size should be used for all figures. Do not use reversed type (white type on black background).
9. For figures labeled below the horizontal axis, slant labels at 45º, reading from bottom to top.

Figure Legends. Figure legends should be together, separate from the figures, at the end of your document after the references and any tables. Each legend should appear on a separate page. Figures must be interpretable from their legends without reference to the text. Do not include any details of methods in figure legends.

Begin legends with figure number, then title, both in bold. Provide a short description of each panel sequentially (a., b., etc.) and describe what symbols represent. When possible, include symbols in the legend (e.g. [•] rather than ‘closed red circle’). If error bars are included, specify what error they represent (standard deviation, SEM, etc.) If statistical significance is represented, define all asterisked symbols at the end of the figure legend.

Tables. Each table should appear on a separate page at the end of your manuscript, after the references. Include title and table number above each table. Each row and column requires a heading or title, with content (including units of measure) clearly indicated. Tables do not include legends; describe tables in the text as briefly as possible.

Number tables consecutively as they appear in the text, with Arabic numerals. Cite each table at the most appropriate point in the text. Definitions of all abbreviations used in the table should be placed in a footnote, indicated by lowercase superscript letters: a, b, c, etc. Use footnotes to provide additional detail if necessary.

If statistical information is included, describe level of significance in a footnote; use superscript i, ii, etc. to distinguish significance of data sets. All p-values should be expressed as equal to or less or greater than one of the following levels: 0.25, 0.1, 0.05, 0.01, 0.001 (i.e. p>0.1 or p<0.05).

Materials, abbreviations, and documentation. All relevant data sets, sequences, and images should be deposited in public databases; provide accession numbers for new data deposited. Provide full genotypes in the standard format for your organism; provide accession numbers where appropriate; state the origin of all strains and plasmids.

If human or animal subjects were used, either

1. state that your institutional review board/ ethics committee has approved the experiment and provide reference numbers as appropriate;
2. state that IRB approval was not required and explain why; or
3. if your institution does not have an IRB state that the Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/pdf/17c.pdf) was followed. If informed consent was required, describe how it was obtained in the Methods section and include a copy of the informed consent form used.

For clinical trials on human subjects, the ICJME requirements for registration (http://www.icmje.org/#clin_trials) must be met. Trials beginning after July 1, 2005 must have completed registration before patient enrollment began. Studies solely on pharmacokinetics are exempt. Contact the Journal office for further information on registration and data deposition.

Use generic or IUPAC names of drugs and chemicals. Give the manufacturer, city, and state or country of all chemicals, equipment, and software mentioned in the text. Define and list all abbreviations in a footnote to the first abbreviation used in the manuscript; avoid non-standard abbreviations if possible. Do not footnote abbreviations in the abstract, but include definitions in parentheses. Number all pages of the manuscript sequentially.

Copyright and open access. Upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication, the author will be asked to sign an agreement transferring copyright to the YJBM for all printed and/or commercial publication, distribution, or reproduction of the work. No published material may be reproduced, distributed, or published elsewhere, either in print form or for commercial purposes, without the written permission of the journal. Personal and educational uses involving limited numbers of printed copies are exempt. Articles published after January 1, 2006, through PubMed Central, are considered open access under the terms of the Bethesda Statement (http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/bethesda.htm). The YJBM is currently in the process of drawing up a license agreement to reflect our new open-access status. Until then, rights of digital reproduction are granted to all parties under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode). Licensing and copyright conditions may differ when authors are government employees; contact the YJBM office for further information.

Until our new license form is complete, we ask authors to continue using our copyright form with the understanding that digital copies may be freely reproduced for non-commercial purposes.

Author Contributions. Authors are encouraged to include a brief summary of individual contributions and the funding source of each co-author. This summary will appear following the acknowledgments.

Reference Information

PLEASE NOTE: Making sure that all references in a manuscript are in the correct format and style will expedite a timely review.

Citation style. Our journal uses the format of the National Libraries of Medicine.

Number references in the order they appear in the text.  Cite references by sequential numbers in the text, using Arabic numbers in square brackets [3] on the line. References first cited in a table or figure legend should be numbered so that they are in sequence with citations where the table or figure is first mentioned.

List all authors when there are three or fewer; when there are four or more, list the first three, followed by 'et al.' References must be double-spaced.

Download the Endnote template for YJBM [ENS].

Personal communications A personal communication must be substantiated by a letter from the source, indicating that the communication is correct, original, and recent, and that the source is willing to be cited. Send a copy of the letter to the Journal office by postal mail if written, or forward the relevant message(s) to yjbm@yale.edu if electronic. Personal communications are cited in parentheses in the text, and are not included in the references. Example: The protein is present at low abundance during embryogenesis (J. S. Smith, personal communication, 3.4.06).

Please direct all inquiries on manuscript submission to yjbm@yale.edu.