Submissions

Author Guidelines

For editors (Proposals submission)

The CBR accepts proposals for monographs, thematic volumes, and proceedings volumes. Monographs and thematic volumes are composed of chapters referred to as reviews or original research. If you are interested in submitting a proposal, fill out this form and send it to EditorialOffice@colnes.org.

CBR is open to publishing proceeding volumes derived from conferences, workshops, and symposia as long as its thematic scope is not as broad and fits within the scope of the series. In this case, only full and short papers will be considered; however, short papers should not exceed 30% of the entire volume. Other paper typologies, such as posters, demos, etc. will be listed in the proceeding, but they will not be indexed as individual documents. For those who are organizing a conference and are interested in publishing their proceedings in CBR, feel free to complete this proposal form and send it to EditorialOffice@colnes.org. In exceptional situations, proceedings of events that have taken place one year ago as of the proposal submission can be considered. 

For authors (chapters preparation)

1 Aims and scope

Contemporary Biomedical Research (CBR) is a book series covering all areas and disciplines related to biomedicine and life sciences. CBR will consider thematic volumes as well as contents derived from conferences, workshops, and symposia in the fields of biochemistry, molecular biology, bioinformatics, biological engineering, immunology, toxicology, microbiology, biostatistics, cell biology, systems biology, virology, neuroscience, nanobiotechnology, cytogenetics, biotechnology, genetics, embryology, genetics, anatomy, physiology, pathology, genetics, neuroscience, and many others.  

2 Before you submit

2.1 Editorial policies

CBR ensures the publication of high-quality content derived from transparent and trusted research practices. CBR follows all the guidelines and best publication practices defined by the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE).

2.1.1 Authorship

CBR demands that all authors listed in the chapters have taken real responsibility during the research process and manuscript creation. We encourage the corresponding authors, project leaders, or institutions to avoid adding people who did not contribute to the research output (Gift authors) or to exclude people who did contribute and its name is not finally included (Ghost authors). In order to prevent this, it is strongly recommended to decide the authorship prior to project writing.

Before considering a paper for possible publication, a decision needs to be made regarding the definition of the ‘corresponding author’ and the ‘order of authors’. The corresponding author will play an administrative role since he/she will be contacted by the Editorial Office during the manuscript evaluation, production, and post-publication processes.

2.1.2 Conflict of interest

A Conflict of Interest (COI) takes place when authors have personal, academic, or financial relationships with third parties that could influence the content of research work submitted for publication.

At the time to submit a book or chapter, authors are requested to complete the COI Statement by which all potential interests are declared, if applicable. By means of this statement, the following issues might be declared:

• Direct or indirect resources received by any institution to complete the research work.
• Financial relationships with entities that supported the performance of the research work. 
• Patents and copyrights, whether pending, issued, licensed, and/or receiving royalties related to the research work.
• Personal relationships with people who can influence the research content.

These are some examples of COI statement: 

• [Author name] has received [state the received benefits] from [Institution name or equivalent].
• [Author name] has [type of relationship] with [Institution name or equivalent].

If there is no conflict of interest, the authors must declare:

• The author(s) declare that there is no conflict of interest.

2.1.3 Research data, reproducibility and transparency (If applicable)

The authors are encouraged to share the data behind the research work. The CBR’s policy is to make all scientific data of open access since we follow the Guidelines on Open Access to Scientific Publications and Research Data defined by the European Commission.

The data sharing process can occur in the following ways:

• Depositing data in a public repository. The Registry of Research Data Repositories can be of help to select a platform to host the data. The link(s) to access the data should be included in the manuscript.
• Data as supplementary material. During the submission stage, authors can submit supplementary files containing relevant data to share. These files will be available during the peer-review process and will be also published together with the paper main text. 
• Data on request. Prior to the publication process, authors may be asked for research data at the request of the editors or reviewers.   

Citations to research data should appear in the full text in the reference section. Authors need to follow the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles to provide the correct citation and referencing of the data.

2.1.4 Statement of data consent (If applicable)

In order to make science more transparent, open, and reproducible, CBR encourages its authors to submit a data statement; which will be publicly available. These are some examples:

• The (Name/type of data) generated during the development of this study has been deposited in (Repository name) and it is accessible at (Data URL).
• The (Name/type of data) generated during the development of this study has been included in the manuscript. 
• The (Name/type of data) generated during the development of this study has been published as supplementary material. 
• The (Name/type of data) generated during the development of this study cannot be freely available due to (reasons) but they might be requested to (contact information).
• The (Name/type of data) generated during the development of this study cannot be freely available due to restrictions imposed by (Name of the restrictor).
• No data have been generated during the development of this study.

2.1.5 Open access and copyright

All books published by CBR are open access, meaning they are freely available without any kind of subscription nor restriction. The individual chapters are published under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, which permits the sharing and adaptation of the material as long as appropriate credit be given, a link to the license be provided, and all changes are indicated. More information about this license can be found here.

2.1.5 Publication fees

There is no fee or charges applied for book processing and/or publication in CBR.

3 Book and chapter preparation

3.1 Book structure

Front matter:

• Title page (mandatory)
• Foreword (optional)
• Preface (optional)
• Acknowledgments (optional)
• Dedication (optional)
• About this book (mandatory)
• Table of contents (mandatory)

Parts: 

• Chapters structure

Back matter:

• About the author (for monographs) (optional)
• About the editor (for thematic volumes) (optional)
• List of contributors (for thematic volumes) (optional)
• Appendixes (optional, if applicable)
• List of abbreviations (optional, if applicable)

3.2 Chapter structure

• Title page
• Abstract (mandatory for proceedings)
• Keywords (mandatory for proceedings)
• Text structure
• Funding (if applicable)
• Acknowledgments (if applicable)
• References 
• Appendixes (if applicable) 

3.3 Text

• All chapters should be submitted in Word format.
• Text line spaced at 1.5, plain font 10-point Times New Roman.
• The sections should be numbered (eg.: 1., 2., 3., 4., etc.), as well as all the subsections (1.1., 1.2., 1.1.1, 2.1, 2.2., etc.).
• All pages should be numbered consecutively.
• The chapter should not include personal information about the authors (eg.: names, affiliations, emails, etc.).

3.4 Additional files

• Conflict of interest statement (if applicable)
• Statement of data consent (if applicable)
• Figures in JPG, TIFF or PNG formats

3.5 Language

CBR accepts only contributions in the English language. Please consider the following issues:

• In order to assess the quality of your manuscript, ensure that the content is professionally edited. 
• Both American and British spelling is accepted; however, only one of them can be adopted throughout the chapter.
• Non-native English authors are encouraged to find support from native English colleagues or using professional English editing services.

3.6 Abstract 

Abstracts should contain between 150 to 200 words and they will be mandatory for the chapters derived from proceedings. In the case of thematic volumes and monographs, the abstracts will be optional, but we encourage authors to include abstracts in the chapters.

3.7 Keywords

Please provide 3 to 6 keywords that represent the content of the chapter. The usage of keywords will be mandatory for the chapters derived from proceedings. In the case of thematic volumes and monographs, the abstracts will be optional.

3.8 Tables

• Submitted as editable text and not as a picture.
• Cited in consecutive numerical order using Arabic numerals (eg.: Table 1, Table 2, etc.).
• Placed next to the text where it is cited.
• Contained data should not appear elsewhere in the manuscript.

3.9 Figures

• Use Arial or Helvetica fonts.
• Cited in consecutive numerical order using Arabic numerals (eg.: Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.).
• For the peer review purpose, low-quality figures can be accepted; however, for the publication purpose, high-quality figures of at least 300 dpi are required.
• Figures should be submitted both in the main text and as separate files using JPG, TIFF, or PNG formats. Figures submitted as separate files should be named according to their numerical order in the text (eg.: Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.).

3.10 Abbreviations

Non-standard abbreviations in the field should be defined at first mention in the text. Please avoid abbreviations in the title, abstract, and keywords.

3.11 Footnotes

Footnotes can be used to provide additional information to the text, tables, and figures. They should be numbered consecutively throughout the manuscript.

3.12 References

CBR follows the reference style of the Vancouver style. All references will be placed in their respective chapter and not at the end of the book.

3.12.1 In-text citations

• Allocate numbers to the sources according to the order in which is cited in the text.
• Use Arabic numerals and comma-separated (1, 2, 3). Feel free to use squares [ ] or brackets ( ), however, only one of them can be adopted throughout the chapter. 
• The authors can be quoted in the following way: Smith (8) affirms…

3.12.2 Reference list 

Journal article

Petitti DB, Crooks VC, Buckwalter JG, Chiu V. Blood pressure levels before dementia. Arch Neurol. 2005 Jan;62(1):112-6.

Book

Carlson BM. Human embryology and developmental biology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2009. 541 p.

Book chapter

Speroff L, Fritz MA. Clinical gynecologic endocrinology and infertility. 7th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; c2005. Chapter 29, Endometriosis; p. 1103-33.

Conference paper

Grassby AJ. Health care in the multi-cultural society. In: Walpole R, editor. Rural health. Proceedings of the Rural Health Conference of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners; 1978; Melbourne. Melbourne: The Royal Australian College of Practitioners; 1979. p. 49-50.

Website

Diabetes Australia. Diabetes globally [Internet]. Canberra ACT: Diabetes Australia; 2012 [updated 2012 Jun 15; cited 2012 Nov 5]. Available from: http://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/en/​Understanding-Diabetes/Diabetes-Globally/.

Thesis

Weisbaum LD. Human sexuality of children and adolescents: a comprehensive training guide for social work professionals [master's thesis]. Long Beach (CA): California State University; 2005. 200 p.

In case you are referencing sources not displayed above, we recommend you to visit this website for more examples. 

3.13 Funding

In case the research has received funds, please declare the following: This research has received funds by [Institution name or equivalent] (grant number).

3.14 Appendices

Appendices should be placed after references. Whether these are in a table or figure format, they must be numbered consecutively.

4 Post-submission

Chapters submitted to thematic volumes will be peer-reviewed. Once a chapter is submitted, the Volume Editor, in coordination with the Series, checks its relevance to the series, completeness of metadata and content, such as technical quality and presentation. At this stage, the editors might reject the chapter if he/she considers it as not suitable for peer review. 

When the Volume Editor moves the chapter to the peer review phase, two external reviewers of considerable expertise in the field and, who are willing to collaborate, will be assigned. Reviewers perform voluntary work; nevertheless, they are asked to consider the timeliness, confidentiality, possible conflict of interests, and ethical behavior.

Once the review process is completed, the Volume Editor in coordination with the Series Editor makes a final decision, which can be one of the following:

• Accepted
• Considered with minor revisions
• Considered with major revisions
• Rejected

When the chapters are ‘considered with minor revisions’, ‘considered with major revisions’ or ‘rejected’, the author(s) will receive the comments resulting from the evaluation process. Those authors whose chapters are accepted in their current form may receive comments regarding the series’s guidelines in order to publish the final version.

The review process is closed when, after all the required review rounds, the author(s) addresses all the comments raised by the reviewers and/or editors.

5 After acceptance

5.1 Proofreading

Once the chapter is ready for publication, authors will receive proofs to check the completeness of the text. Authors are asked to revise the entire content structure, author(s) information, numbering of figures and tables, references, as well as other issues. Please note that this is a critical stage as, after proofreading, the chapter will be published without further changes.