Acta
Biochimica et Biophysica Sinica
Instructions to Authors
Publishing Scope
ABBS (Acta Biochimica et Biophysica Sinica) publishes regular
research papers, short communications and mini reviews on advancement
of research in biochemistry, molecular biology and biophysics.
It appears with 12 issues a year since 2003. Papers and communications
should contain original research not been published and not under
consideration for publication elsewhere, and reviews should provide
a concise, accurate introduction to the subject matter and inform
the reader critically of the latest developments in some area.
Submission of Manuscripts
Submissions in English from all over the world are welcome.
Manuscript should be submitted to following address of the ABBS
editorial Office:
Editorial Office of ABBS,
Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology,
Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences,
320 Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China.
E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: 0086-21-64338357
Initial submission
When first submitted, the following should be included in the
submission:1. One original manuscript and two copies;3. A declaration
with the agreements of all authors that the copyright of the paper
is owned by ABBS;
4. A cover letter.
Revised version
Once the manuscript is sent back to the corresponding author for
revision, the revised one should be submitted to the ABBS editorial
office within one month. When the revised version of the manuscript
is submitted, the following should be included:
1. The manuscript sent back by the editorial office;
2. One revised manuscript and one copy;
3. The reply letter to revision advice;
4. An electronic copy on a 3.44 inch disk;
5. A cover letter.
Format of Manuscript
The manuscript should be printed single-face on high-quality paper
of 210 mm × 297 mm, double spacing and one-inch margins throughout.
The text typed in a font size of twelve points. In any manuscript,
all pages including tables and figures should be numbered with
the title page as page 1, and the suggested location in the text
of each figure and table should also be indicated.
Regular research paper (up to 4 printed pages) should be arranged
in the order: (a) title, author (s), and complete name (s) of
institution(s); (b) running title; (c) summary; (d) introduction;
(e) experimental procedures; (f) results; (g) discussion; (h)
references; (i) footnotes; (j) figure legends; (k) tables; (l)
figures.
Short communication (up to 2 printed pages) contains:
Mini review (up to 4 printed pages)
Requirements of Manuscript
Title
The title of a manuscript should be short, clear and informative,
limited to less than 20 notional words, and easy to be indexed
without non-standard acronyms or abbreviations.
Title Page
The title page should contain names of all authors and their complete
mailing addresses, and the information of the correspondent author
in detail: a) name; b) full address; c) telephone and fax numbers;
d) email address
Abstract
The abstract should succinctly, clearly and simply describe the
aim, methods, results and conclusion of the manuscript. It must
not exceed 150 words and should be understandable in itself.
Key words
Less than 5 key words should be listed below the abstract.
Introduction
Basic principles of research, background, earlier related work
and the purpose of the present studies should be described in
the introduction, not more than 300 words.
Experimental Procedures
It should be brief but sufficiently complete to permit a qualified
reader to repeat the experiments, the procedures published previously
should be indicated in references, and the modifications based
on it should not be given in detail except it is necessary.
Results
The results are best presented in figures and tables, if some
results not requiring documentation given solely in the text.
In the results, there should not have extensive discussion.
Discussion
The discussion should be concise (usually less than four typed
pages) and focus on the interpretation of the results rather than
a repetition of the results section.
References
The references should be numbered consecutively in the order of
appearance in the manuscript and are cited in text by number rather
than the author and date.
In general, especially when references came from many chapters
of the same book, it is permitted to cite authors or editors of
the book only without citing authors of chapters and chapter titles.
When a reference has 7, or less than 7, authors, all authors should
be listed and commas should be put between their names. If a reference
has more than 7 authors, only the first author is listed, following
by “et al.” Journal names are abbreviated according
to Chemical Abstracts. Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy
of the references.
I. Reference of Article
Form: ordinal number of the reference;
family name and proper name of author(s); title; name of the periodical;
year; volume(issue): starting and concluding page numbers.
For example: 9 Xu W F et al. Cloning
and characterization of human protease-activated receptor 4. Proc
Natl Acad Sci USA, 1998, 95(12): 6642-6646
II. Reference of Book
Form: ordinal number of the reference;
author(s)[In: name(s) of editors]; name of the book; edition (none
for the first edition); place of publication; publisher(s); the
year of publication; starting and concluding page numbers. e.g.
For example: 18 Gill P, Evett I.
Population genetics of short tandem repeat (STR) loci. In: Weir
B ed. Human Identification: The Use of DNA Markers, Dordrecht,
Netherlands: Kluver Acad, 1995, 69-87
Footnotes
A footnote written by the author (s) can be: (1) received date
and accepted date; (2) source of grants; (3) original affiliation
or present address of the author(s); (4) telephone, Fax and e-mail
of the corresponding author; (5) abbreviations used in the text.
A footnote line, a dashed line 3.5 cm long, can be put below the
first page of the text to isolate the footnote from the text
Tables and Figures
Tables should have titles and sufficient experimental detail in
a legend immediately following the title to be understandable
without reference to the text. Each column in a table must have
a heading, and abbreviations, when necessary, should be defined
in the legend.
Figures
Figures should have titles and explanatory legends containing
sufficient detail to make the figure easily understood. All legends
should be printed consecutively in a separate section of the manuscript.
The abscissa and ordinate should be clearly labeled with appropriately
sized type. The width ×height of a figure should be less than
10 cm × 10 cm. Appropriately sized numbers, letters, symbols,
superscript and subscript in should be “Times New Roman”
should be used in font 12. And all these used in multi-paneled
figures must be consistent. The units of measurement must be given.
Grey or very-tiny lines backgrounds should be avoided.
Failure to comply with these specifications will require new figures
and delay publication. Scales for plotting the data should be
marked by short index lines, but every index line need not be
numbered. Use standard symbols found in MS Word with symbols and
curves identified in the legend and not on the figure. Indicate
the figure number on the front of each figure.
Tables and Figures should appear at the place where they should
be in the text. Authors are advised to put original Tables and
figures or photos in a separate envelope or hard paper bag, after
marking with pencil the ordinal numbers and orientations of figures
on their back, then to adhere photocopies of these figures into
the text. Titles and legends should be printed below the figures
in the text.
Publishing Fees
The registration fee is free. As to an accepted manuscript, the
cost will depend on the number of printed pages, $30 for each
page. There will be a charge of $2 per figure for publication
of halftone figures, and the cost is $200 for each illustration
containing color.
Any question please contact us.