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The following instructions for the Biotechnology & Applied Biochemistry online submission site are organized in question-and-answer format. You can read through the questions in order, or click on any of these questions to jump directly to the answer. When you're ready to continue, go back to the home page.
Do I need to do anything before I can begin submitting my manuscript? If you have never submitted to a Portland Press Journal electronically before, you must first register for an account. To register, you will fill out a profile form telling us who you are and how to contact you if necessary. The information you supply here will also be filled in for you when you begin submitting a paper. You can change any of this information at any time in the future by clicking the "Sign on and update my registration information" link on the submission home page. You will need to choose a username and password. Try to pick a password that you will not forget but that is not easy to guess. Combinations of upper- and lower case letters, numbers and punctuation marks are best (passwords are case-sensitive: capital letters must be entered as capitals, and so on). You can also change your password in the future, and if you ever forget your username and/or password, you can request a reminder via e-mail by clicking on the link provided on the submission home page. Finally, please be sure you enter an e-mail address that you can use to handle Biotechnology & Applied Biochemistry business. All correspondence regarding your submissions will be sent to the address you enter, so use an e-mail account that you check frequently, and take special care to enter the address correctly. How do I begin submitting a manuscript? If you have registered, and you are ready to submit a paper, you can click on the "Sign on and begin a new submission" link on th home page to start the submission process. To submit your manuscript, you will fill out four screens of information, including submitting the file or files comprising your submission; the process is reasonably self-explanatory, and detailed help is provided along the way. What should I prepare ahead of time for a new submission? Before you begin submitting, you should have the following items ready:
They should be entered in the online form using the spaces provided. How do I submit a revised manuscript? Revised manuscripts are submitted exactly like new submissions, except that you will need to enter the Biotechnology & Applied Biochemistry manuscript number that was assigned to the previous version. This number is of the form BA2001/1234. If the previous version was also submitted electronically, the manuscript information is also filled in for you so you do not need to retype it (although you can make changes). Please note that the submission must be resubmitted in full. Include all figures, even if they have not changed from the original submission. What kinds of file may I submit? We strongly encourage submission of both text and graphics as a single Adobe Acrobat PDF file because you can review the electronic version of your manuscript for accuracy before online submission. Submitting your manuscript in PDF format will also expedite the review process because it is this version that is circulated on the Web for review. For more information on the Adobe Acrobat application program go to Adobe's web site. If you cannot create a PDF, please see below for instructions on submitted separate files. If your paper is accepted, at that time you will need to provide separate high-resolution, publication-quality graphics, also in TIFF or EPS format, for print and on-line publication. It is therefore best for the initial submission to create the graphics using applications that are capable of preparing acceptable TIFF or EPS formats. For important information on the preparation of graphics in these formats, please see the Cambridge University Press web site. How do I create a PDF file? To create a high-quality PDF file, you will need the commercial product Adobe Acrobat (not to be confused with the free Acrobat Reader product, which only allows you to read PDF files). The software can be purchased at most computer stores or directly from Adobe, and includes detailed instructions on producing PDFs. 5 Easy Steps for Submitting a PDF:
What if I can't create a PDF? If you cannot submit your manuscript as a PDF file, you may submit separate text and graphics files online. We will only accept the text of your manuscript as a Microsoft Word file created with MS Word 6.0 or a later version. Other word processing programs will not work for review. Do not use Asian fonts as this will make your manuscript unreadable for reviewers. Use standard fonts such as Times or Times New Roman and symbol font for Greek and other special characters. Do not embed figures in the text and be sure the number of the figure is visible in the figure. The MS Word and graphics files will be converted into a PDF file by the Editorial Office. However, you will be asked to approve the electronic version of the manuscript after the conversion to PDF. Carefully review a printed copy for changes in figures, formatting and symbols. A delay in review will occur if corrections are necessary because the manuscript must be resubmitted. At this stage in the submission process we will accept graphics saved as TIFF, EPS, GIF, JPEG or BMP files. For graphics, we cannot accept certain application programs such as Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Access), Corel Perfect Office (WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, Presentations), Lotus SmartSuite (Freelance Graphics, 1-2-3, Approach, WordPro) and SigmaPlot. However, most of these applications will allow you to save graphics in one of the above formats. Where should I put my response to a previous review of this manuscript? When you are submitting a revised paper, respond to specific comments from previous reviews in the cover letter. Please note that this letter must be plain text, without any formatting. Can I submit supplemental data or a multi-media adjunct? Currently we can accept QuickTime movies, animated gif files o PDB structures as supplemental data online. These data will be reviewed as a part of the normal manuscript review process and will be judged by the same criteria. Only data that are uniquely suited to the On-line journal and which substantially contribute to the manuscript will be accepted. What happens after I complete a submission? If you submitted a complete PDF file, the manuscript will go directly into our tracking system and be assigned to reviewers. From this point on, the review process continues as it always has. If you submitted separate text and graphics files, the paper must be converted to PDF before the review process can begin. This conversion process is not straightforward and can produce unexpected results, so we ask authors to approve the PDF before the review process. You will receive an e-mail alerting you when the PDF is ready for proofreading, along with instructions on how to access the PDF and how to approve or reject it. What are some common pitfalls I should avoid?
What should I do if I get stuck? You will find detailed help links throughout the submission process, and you can use any of these links without stopping the submission. In case you are having more serious problems, you will also find a link on every page allowing you to send feedback directly to the Editorial Office staff. If you send a problem report from this page, we will make every effort to respond as soon as possible. |