open access text

Figures

Figures should be either professionally drawn and photographed, or submitted as photographic quality digital prints. In addition to requiring a version of the figures suitable for printing, some journals now ask authors for electronic files of figures in a format (e.g., JPEG or GIF) that will produce high quality images in the web version of the journal; authors should review the images of such files on a computer screen before submitting them, to be sure they meet their own quality standard.

For x-ray films, scans, and other diagnostic images, as well as pictures of pathology specimens or photomicrographs, send sharp, glossy, black-and-white or color photographic prints, usually 127 x 173 mm (5 x 7 inches). Although some journals redraw figures, many do not. Letters, numbers, and symbols on Figures should therefore be clear and even throughout, and of sufficient size that when reduced for publication each item will still be legible. Figures should be made as self-explanatory as possible, since many will be used directly in slide presentations. Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends, however, not on the illustrations themselves.

Photomicrographs should have internal scale markers. Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background.

If photographs of people are used, either the subjects must not be identifiable or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.Whenever possible permission for publication should be obtained.

Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text. If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. Permission is required irrespective of authorship or publisher except for documents in the public domain.

For illustrations in color, ascertain whether the journal requires color negatives, positive transparencies, or color prints. Accompanying drawings marked to indicate the region to be reproduced might be useful to the editor.

Please consult Figure Preparation for detailed guidelines.

Legends for Figures

Type or print out legends for illustrations using double spacing, starting on a separate page, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one clearly in the legend. Explain the internal scale and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.

Units of Measurement

Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter) or their decimal multiples.

Temperatures should be in degrees Celsius. Blood pressures should be in millimeters of mercury, unless other units are specifically required by the journal.

Journals vary in the units they use for reporting hematological, clinical chemistry, and other measurements. Authors must consult the information for authors for the particular journal and should report laboratory information in both the local and International System of Units (SI). Editors may request that the authors before publication add alternative or non-SI units, since SI units are not universally used. Drug concentrations may be reported in either SI or mass units, but the alternative should be provided in parentheses where appropriate.

Submissions with Equations

In both displayed equations and in text, scalar variables must be in italics, with non-variable matter in upright type.

Displayed equations referred to in the text should be numbered serially ((1), (2), etc.) on the right-hand side of the page. Short expressions not referred to by any number will usually be incorporated in the text.

Mathematical equations should preferably be typewritten, with subscripts and superscripts clearly shown. It is helpful to identify unusual or ambiguous symbols in the margin when they first occur. Please ensure all symbols are described in the text. If equations are numbered, consecutive Arabic numbers in parentheses should be used. Equations may be referred to in the text as "equation (1)", "equations (2)-(4)". To simplify typesetting, please use: (1) the "exp" form of complex exponential functions; (2) fractional exponents instead of root signs; and (3) the solidus (/) to simplify fractions e.g. 3/4, exp x½. Other letters not marked will be set in roman type. Please supply reproducible artwork for equations containing ring formulae and other complex chemical structures. Schemes should also be numbered with consecutive Arabic numbers.

If you are submitting your manuscript as a Word-processed document, please ensure that equations are editable (i.e., not an image or locked). If using an equation editor, do not save the equations in non-editable format.

Submissions with Mathematical Scripts

Special care should be taken with mathematical scripts, especially subscripts and superscripts and differentiation between the letter "ell" and the figure one, and the letter "oh" and the figure zero.

If your keyboard or PC does not have the characters you need, or when using longhand, it is important to differentiate between: K and k; X, x and x (multiplication); asterisks intended to appear when published as multiplication signs and those intended to remain as asterisks; etc.

Special symbols, and others used to stand for symbols not available in the character set of your PC, should be highlighted in the text and explained in the margin. In some cases it is helpful to supply annotated lists of symbols for the guidance of the sub-editor and the typesetter, and/or a Nomenclature section preceding the Introduction.

In both displayed equations and in text, scalar variables must be in italics, with non-variable matter in upright type.

For simple fractions in the text, the solidus "/" should be used instead of a horizontal line, care being taken to insert parentheses where necessary to avoid ambiguity. Exceptions are the proper fractions available as single type on keyboards and in character sets (e.g. ¼, ½, ¾).

The solidus is not generally used for units: m s-¹ not m/s, but note electrons/s, counts/channel, etc.

Displayed equations referred to in the text should be numbered serially ((1), (2), etc.) on the right-hand side of the page. Short expressions not referred to by any number will usually be incorporated in the text.

Symbols used to represent tensors, matrices, vectors and scalar variables should either be used as required from the character set of the application you are using or marked on hard-copy by underlining with a wavy underline for bold, a straight underline for italic and a straight red underline for sans serif.

The following styles are preferred: upright bold sans serif r for tensors, bold serif italic r for vectors, upright bold serif for matrices, and medium-face sloping serif r for scalar variables. In mathematical expressions, the use of "d" for differential should be made clear and coded in roman, not italic.

Typographical requirements must be clearly indicated at their first occurrence, e.g. Greek, Roman, script, sans serif, bold, italic. Authors will be charged for corrections at proof stage resulting from a failure to do so.

Braces, brackets and parentheses are used in the order { [( )] } , except where mathematical convention dictates otherwise (e.g. square brackets for commutators and anticommutators; braces for the exponent in exponentials).

For units and symbols, the SI system should be used. Where measurements are given in other systems, conversion factors or conversions should be inserted by the author.

Submissions with Special Characters

If your article contains special characters, accents, or diacritics and you are preparing your manuscript in Microsoft Word, we recommend the following procedure:

For European accents, Greek, Hebrew, or Cyrillic letters, or phonetic symbols: choose Times New Roman font from the dropdown menu in the "Insert symbol" window and insert the character you require.

For Asian languages such as Sanskrit, Korean, Chinese, or Japanese: choose Arial Unicode font from the dropdown menu in the Insert symbol” window and insert the character you require.

For transliterated Arabic: you may choose either Times New Roman or Arial Unicode (unless the Instructions for Authors specify a particular font). For ayns and hamzas choose Arial Unicode font from the dropdown menu in the "Insert symbol" window and then type the Unicode hexes directly into the "Character code" box. Use 02BF for ayn, and 02BE for hamza.

Please also see the Unicode character code chart.

Submissions with Footnotes

Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article, using superscript Arabic numbers. Many wordprocessors build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

Table footnotes: Indicate each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter.

Introduction

The introduction must not exceed 2,000 keystrokes (characters plus spaces) and briefly justifies the research, specifies the hypotheses to be tested, and gives the objective(s).

The introduction should:

  • Provide background that puts the manuscript into context and allows readers outside the field to understand the purpose and significance of the study
  • Define the problem addressed and why it is important
  • Include a brief review of the key literature
  • Reports of clinical research should, where appropriate, include a summary of a search of the literature to indicate why this study was necessary and what it aimed to contribute to the field
  • Note any relevant controversies or disagreements in the field
  • The section should end with a very brief statement of what is being reported in the article.
  • The main and secondary objectives should be made clear, and any pre-specified subgroup analysis should be described.
  • Give only strictly pertinent references and do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported.
  • Extensive discussion of relevant literature should be included in the discussion.

Materials and Methods

Sufficient information should be given to permit repetition of the experimental work. This should include the design of the study, the setting, the type of participants or materials involved, a clear description of all interventions and comparisons, and the type of analysis used, including a power calculation if appropriate.

Specific information and/or protocols for new methods should be included in detail. If materials, methods, and protocols are well established, authors may cite articles where those protocols are described in detail, but the submission should include sufficient information to be understood independent of these references.

We encourage authors to submit detailed protocols for newer or less well-established methods as Supporting Information.

Methods sections of papers with data that should be deposited in a publicly available database should specify where the data have been deposited and provide the relevant accession numbers and version numbers, if appropriate. Accession numbers should be provided in parentheses after the entity on first use. If the accession numbers have not yet been obtained at the time of submission, please state that they will be provided during review. They must be provided prior to publication.

Results

Present your results in logical sequence in the text or in the form of tables or figures/illustrations when feasible, giving the main or most important findings first. The text should explain or elaborate on the tabular data, but numbers should not be repeated within text. Extra or supplementary data and technical details can be placed in an appendix where it will be accessible but will not interrupt the flow of the text.

When data are summarized in the results section, sufficient data, all with some index of variation attached should be presented to allow the readers to interpret the results of the experiment. Give numeric results not only as derivatives (For example %) but also as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated and specify the statistical methods used to analyse them.

Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Avoid non –technical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as “random” (which implies a randomizing device), “normal”, “significant”, “correlations”, and “sample”.

Results section may be further divided into subsections, each with a concise subheading, as appropriate. These sections have no word limit, but the language should be clear and concise.

Discussion

These sections may all be separate, or may be combined to create a mixed Results/Discussion section (commonly labeled "Results and Discussion") or a mixed Discussion/Conclusions section (commonly labeled "Discussion").

Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section. For experimental studies it is useful to begin the discussion by summarizing briefly the main findings, then explore possible mechanisms or explanations for these findings, compare and contrast how your research is different from previous reported and how your observations will significantly advance the current knowledge of the subject, state the limitations of the study. Do not repeat the details given in the introduction.

Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not adequately supported by the data. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. State new hypotheses when warranted, but clearly label them as such.

Figures should be either professionally drawn and photographed, or submitted as photographic quality digital prints. In addition to requiring a version of the figures suitable for printing, some journals now ask authors for electronic files of figures in a format (e.g., JPEG or GIF) that will produce high quality images in the web version of the journal; authors should review the images of such files on a computer screen before submitting them, to be sure they meet their own quality standard.

For x-ray films, scans, and other diagnostic images, as well as pictures of pathology specimens or photomicrographs, send sharp, glossy, black-and-white or color photographic prints, usually 127 x 173 mm (5 x 7 inches). Although some journals redraw figures, many do not. Letters, numbers, and symbols on Figures should therefore be clear and even throughout, and of sufficient size that when reduced for publication each item will still be legible. Figures should be made as self-explanatory as possible, since many will be used directly in slide presentations. Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends, however, not on the illustrations themselves.

Photomicrographs should have internal scale markers. Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background.

If photographs of people are used, either the subjects must not be identifiable or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.Whenever possible permission for publication should be obtained.

Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text. If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. Permission is required irrespective of authorship or publisher except for documents in the public domain.

For illustrations in color, ascertain whether the journal requires color negatives, positive transparencies, or color prints. Accompanying drawings marked to indicate the region to be reproduced might be useful to the editor.

Please consult Figure Preparation for detailed guidelines.

News & Events

July 16, 2014

OA Text launches its first Open Access Journal: Integrative Molecular Medicine (IMM)

OA Text is delighted to announce the launch of its first open access journal, Integrative Molecular Medicine (IMM), the first open access journal of OA Text.

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Sep 04, 2014

Integrative Molecular Medicine (IMM) is now Open for Submissions

Professor Masayoshi Yamaguchi and his editorial team are accepting manuscripts with no article publishing charges.

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