Cellular & Molecular Immunology is published 6 times a year and is abstracted or indexed in:
Cellular & Molecular Immunology is a bimonthly journal providing the latest information and advancements in our understanding of the immunological response of the host, both in vitro and in vivo. The journal is designed to cover both basic research and clinical applications in all areas of cellular and molecular immunology, including but not limited to:
The journal publishes peer-reviewed Research Articles, Reviews, Mini Reviews and Brief Reports.
Cellular & Molecular Immunology welcomes submissions that explore novel ideas, or un- or contra-orthodox approaches, as long as they are underpinned by conventional scientific practice and present falsifiable hypotheses that are tested with empirical methods and evidence.
Manuscripts must provide evidence that can be critically evaluated, and where applicable:
Terms that may be ambiguous to the broad audience of the journal should be clearly defined within the manuscript.
Submission to Cellular & Molecular Immunology implies that all authors have seen and approved the full manuscript. Corresponding authors of accepted papers will be required to sign a Licence to Publish form on behalf of all authors (see below).
To avoid unnecessary delays in the review process, please consider the following policies carefully before submitting your manuscript.
Duplicate publication
Material submitted to the journal must be original and not published or submitted for publication elsewhere in any language. This policy applies to material submitted elsewhere while the contribution to Cellular & Molecular Immunology is under consideration.
Authors submitting a manuscript should notify the editor(s) if part of their contribution has appeared or will appear elsewhere, or if any related material is under consideration or in press elsewhere.
If a submission contains a figure that is published elsewhere or that is copyrighted, the author must provide documentation that the previous publisher or copyright holder has given permission for the figure to be re-published. The editors consider all material in good faith, and assume that the journal has full permission to publish every part of the submitted material, including illustrations.
Conflicts of interest
In the interests of transparency and to help reviewers assess any potential bias, the journal requires authors of research articles to declare any competing commercial interests in relation to the submitted work. Referees are also asked to indicate any potential conflict they might have with reviewing a particular paper.
Electronic manipulation of images
Digital image enhancement is acceptable practice, although it can result in the presentation of unrepresentative data as well as in the loss of meaningful signals. During manipulation of images a positive relationship between the original data and the resulting electronic image must be maintained. If a figure has been subjected to significant electronic manipulation, the specific nature of the enhancements must be noted in the figure legend or in the 'Materials and methods' section. The editors reserve the right to request original versions of figures from the authors of a paper under consideration.
Ethical considerations
Protocols for research projects involving human subjects or animals must have been approved by a suitably constituted Ethics Committee of the institution within which the work was undertaken and must conform 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.
Supplementary information for editors and reviewers
Any manuscripts under review or accepted for publication elsewhere should accompany the submission if they are relevant to its scientific assessment.
Authors should also provide upon submission any kind of supplementary material that will aid the review process.
Researchers who are not native speakers of English and 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:
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 Types
Research Articles
Research Articles describe original research, and should not exceed 7,000 words (excluding the abstract, tables, figure legends and references) and 12 figures.
Reviews and Mini Reviews
Reviews and Mini Reviews cover a focused area on the advancing edge of immunology and provide a balanced view of current research that can be understood by researchers outside that specialty.
Authors interested in publishing a Review or Mini Review may submit a proposal, including an outline of the proposed article, by email to the Editorial Office (cmi@ustc.edu.cn). Reviews and Mini Reviews will be subject to the established review process.
Brief Reports
Brief Reports definitively document either experimental results or informative patient case studies. Authors should pose a clear question in the introduction and then answer it using definitive data as proof. The Materials and Methods section should be kept succinct, citing primary work. A Brief Report should not exceed 1,200 words (excluding the abstract, tables, figure legends and references), 2 tables or figures, and 20 references.
Article Requirements
Cover letter
Each manuscript must be accompanied by a cover letter including statements that:
Manuscripts should be presented in the following order (omitting sections inappropriate for specific article types e.g. methods for Reviews and Mini Reviews). Footnotes to the text are not allowed and any such material should be incorporated into the text as parenthetical matter.
(i) Title page
The Title page should include a succinct title (50 words or fewer); a concise running title (which should normally not exceed 60 characters); the full names of all authors including their given names; the affiliations (including city, state and country) of all authors; and the full contact details of the corresponding author (including telephone and fax numbers, and email address).
(ii) Abstract
A brief abstract (maximum 250 words) should state the purpose, basic procedures, main findings and principal conclusions of the study. The abstract should not contain abbreviations or references.
(iii) Keywords
Three to five key words, for the purposes of indexing, should be supplied below the abstract, in alphabetical order.
(iv) Introduction
The Introduction should summarize the rationale for the study and outline pertinent background material. The Introduction should not contain either results or conclusions.
(v) Materials and Methods
Materials and Methods should be described in sufficient detail to allow the experimental work to be reproduced in another laboratory, and to leave the reader in no doubt as to how the results were derived.
(vi) Results
The Results (which can be combined with the Discussion in Brief Reports) 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.
(vii) Discussion
The Discussion should not reiterate Results, but rather should consider them 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 body of knowledge in that field.
(viii) Acknowledgements
Authors should acknowledge the source of financial grants and other funding, and declare any industrial links or affiliations. The contribution of colleagues or institutions should also be acknowledged. Personal thanks and thanks to anonymous reviewers should not be included.
(ix) References
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. Please see below for further information on formatting references.
(x) Figure legends
(xi) Tables and figures
Tables should be labelled sequentially as Table 1, Table 2, etc. Each table should be numbered, titled and cited in the text. Reference to table footnotes should be made by using Arabic numerals. Tables should not duplicate the content of the text. They should consist of at least two columns, and each column should have a heading. 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 main manuscript file if necessary, or supplied as separate electronic files.
Figures and images should be labelled 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 also applies to 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. Please note that colour figures can be reproduced on the web for FREE (see below for further details).
Abbreviations
Authors should avoid abbreviations that are not in common use across the field of immunology, and should not introduce abbreviations for terms used fewer than 4 times. All abbreviations should be defined in the text on first usage.
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, references should be numbered 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¡¯. References 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 (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/).
Journal Article
1 Stefanska AM, Walsh PT. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Evidence for an autoimmune component. Cell Mol Immunol 2009; 6: 81-86.
2 Liu Z, Liu R, Qiu J, Yin P, Luo F, Su J et al. Combination of human Fas (CD95/Apo-1) ligand with adriamycin significantly enhances the efficacy of antitumor response. Cell Mol Immunol 2009; 6: 167-174.
Article not in English
3 Chachin M, Ohmura T, Hayashi N, Nishimura Y, Satoh H. Pharmacological and clinical profile of telmisartan, a selective angiotensin II type-1 receptor blocker. Nippon Yakurigaku Zasshi 2004; 124: 31-39. Japanese.
Article in press
4 Guo Y, Zhao G, Tanaka S, Yamaguchi T. Differential responses between monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages for lipopolysaccharide stimulation of calves. Cell Mol Immunol 2009; 6: in press.
Book
5 Peltz G. Computational genetics and genomics: tools for understanding disease. New Jersey: Humana Press, 2005.
Book Chapter
6 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
7 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: http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/_files/cp74.pdf
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 chartsFilename 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 chartsFilename 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.
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.
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 manuscript 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 manuscript.
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 can neither be altered, nor added to, 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:
Accepted file formats
We cannot accept TeX or LaTeX (.tex) files
File sizes must be as small as possible, so that they can be downloaded quickly. Images should not exceed 640 x 480 pixels (approximately 23 x 17 cm at 72dpi), and we would recommend 480 x 360 pixels as the maximum frame size for movies. We also recommend a frame rate of 15 frames per second. If applicable to the presentation of the supplementary information, use a 256-colour palette. Please consider the use of lower specification for all of these points if the supplementary information can still be represented clearly. Our recommended maximum data rate is 150 KB/s.
The number of files should be limited to eight, and the total file size should not exceed 8 MB. Individual files should not exceed 1 MB. Please seek advice from the Editorial Office before sending files larger than our maximum size to avoid delays in publication.
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. Please save Word documents with the .doc file extension; Excel documents with the .xls file extension, and PowerPoint documents with the .ppt file extension.
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:
Do not use the ¡®Equation¡¯ button in the ¡®Symbols¡¯ section of the ¡®Insert¡¯ tab.
Adobe Acrobat
Best results are achieved by using Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 or above to read PDF files. To install this FREE program, download from the link here and follow the on-screen instructions.
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 may result in delays to the publication of the paper. A copy of the Licence to Publish form can be found at http://mts-cmi.nature.com/letters/cmi_publish.pdf
The Chinese Society of Immunology (CSI) and the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) do not require authors of research articles to assign copyright of their published contributions. Authors grant CSI and USTC 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.
Proofs
The corresponding author will be sent an e-mail with instructions on how to download the proofs. 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
Offprints may be ordered using the order form available for download with the proofs. Orders submitted after the journal is printed are subject to increased reprint prices.
Page/colour charges
Information on page and colour charges will be sent to the corresponding authors of accepted manuscripts.
Business matters
For enquiries related to business correspondence, advertising, supplements, subscriptions or permissions, please contact:
Caroline Hadley
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E: c.hadley@natureasia.com
For enquiries related to manuscripts in production and editorial processes, please contact:
Cellular & Molecular Immunology
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