• Content is immediately available for free Open Access.

• Authors retain full copyright ownership. Articles may be copied, redistributed, stored and used to prepare derivative works. We use the Creative Commons license supplemented by our Author Declaration which supercedes and extends parts of Creative Commons license. Click the image below to read the simplified and full legal text.

  

• A modest publication charge covers journal expenses. See rates below.

• The article will be available in PubMedCentral and PubMed upon publication.

• For more information about Open Access publishing and the principles on which this journal was founded, please see the publications of Stevan Harnad from the University of Southampton and the Budapest Open Access Initiative. The Nature Publishing Group provides an introductory forum on the topic.

We strongly encourage Open Access publication, but some authors may not be able to publish under this model for several reasons. Authors in this situation can still opt to publish in BPO provided they transfer copyright to the journal. Authors in this situation should contact us about this issue after their manuscript is accepted for publication.

Open Access Publication Fee

The publication fee for articles published in Biological Procedures Online is $1250 US dollars. An excellent FAQ about publication fees is available from the Public Library of Science that explains the benefits of these fees.

Peer Review

Biological Procedures Online is extensively peer reviewed. When submitting manuscripts, authors must suggest several unaffiliated individuals who are qualified to review their manuscript objectively. A decision to publish is reached through the journal's editorial board, taking into account the reviewers' comments. A detailed overview of BPO's peer review process is available.

To reduce the chance of manuscript rejection, authors are strongly urged to review the criteria reviewers will use to evaluate their manuscripts and should be conscious of these criteria when writing their paper. The Referee Report Form outlines this.

Ethical Responsibilities and Rights

Research published in Biological Procedures Online must conform to accepted ethical polices that govern both the conduct of research and its publication. BPO has adopted the ethical policies of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals which are available at http://www.icmje.org. (Formatting and layout instructions for BPO differ from these requirements and are detailed below).

The editorial process is based on a system of fairness and mutual respect. Biological Procedures Online has adopted the policy statements of the Council of Science Editors, to govern our editorial policy. Among these is the following:

Should possible scientific misconduct or dishonesty in research submitted for review be suspected or alleged, this journal reserves the right to forward any submitted manuscript to the sponsoring or funding institution or other appropriate authority for investigation. This journal recognizes the responsibility to ensure that the question is appropriately pursued, but does not undertake the actual investigation or make determinations of misconduct.

Articles that extend the scope of prior work must present only new and unpublished information. An author who has assigned copyright in a related article should read our copyright information page.

Please familiarize yourself with these policies.

Correspondence

Readers are invited to submit correspondence concerning articles published in the journal. Such letters should be limited to 500 words and preferably be submitted within two months after publication of the related article. Letters will be screened before publication. Authors will have the opportunity to respond. Letter writers must include their complete name and contact information (including email) for publication. Submit letters by email. Publication charges do not apply.

Writing Your Paper

Article structure is flexible and should be chosen to best convey your knowledge to the reader. A protocol section is mandatory for papers that describe a method. The content structure below is useful for manuscripts examining a method or a technique.

Authors' Remarks

Optional. This section will not be published with the article. It exists for authors to provide comments to referee reports. To take advantage of it, resubmit your manuscript electronically with this section included. These comments are available to everyone involved in the review.

Document Head

Select a short and informative title.

List all contributing authors' names and affiliations. State the address, including e-mail, of the author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Provide medical subject heading (MeSH) indexing terms. These terms are not arbitrary. See the list of medical subject headings (MeSH). Run these MeSH search terms on PubMed to ensure that the results returned are related to your manuscript's topic. (Hint: to run a MeSH heading search on PubMed, type "term1 [mh] term2 [mh]").

Abbreviations may be listed in a new paragraph.

Abstract

Summarize your key points in less than 125 words. The abstract must function as a self-contained unit. A suggested content outline is to name your method, state its purpose, the situation for which your method is useful, then describe how your method works, list its advantages and then how well the method works or how it was evaluated.

Introduction

Provide background information. You may include reasons for choosing your methods and how these methods facilitate your research.

Materials and Methods

Provide the procedural overview of your methods, similar to a traditional materials and methods section. A step-by-step protocol is provided in a later section.

Results and Discussion

Explain the application of your method and cover the potential difficulties and challenges others may face in using your method. You may choose a combined Results and Discussion section, or to create these separately.

Issues examined may optionally include why one approach was chosen over another, or the challenges faced in fine-tuning or applying a method. Describe which parts are sensitive to variation and error. Where can modifications be made without greatly affecting results? How did the results change with modifications, and what were these results? Under what conditions can the best results be obtained?

Supplemental Information

Optional. Supplemental information to the paper may be hosted at an external site. This information includes items related to the article that would be useful to its readers. For example, data sets, maps, multimedia content, related research from the authors and so forth. These links should be active at the time of submission.

References

References must follow the format of the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals."

Number references in the order in which they appear, for example: (1), (5-7,10).

Citations are to use the following styles:

1. Rollag MD, Niswender GD. Radioimmunoassay of Serum Concentrations of Melatonin in Sheep Exposed to Different Lighting Regimens. Endocrinology 1976;98:82-89.
2. Voet D, Voet J. Biochemistry. 2nd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons; 1995. p. 502-504, 618.
3. Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. p. 465-478.
   
   Journal names should be abbreviated as per the Index Medicus.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy to their references.

Acknowledgments

This section is required. List all individuals or groups who have contributed to the work and are not listed as authors. Include also all sources of financial support. Finally, all conflicts of interest must be declared. These include both financial and non-financial conflicts, such as employment or personal relationships and corporate relationships related to a product or a competing product that any author of the submission may have or may be perceived to have.

Protocol

This section is required in papers that describe a method. It is a step-by-step recipe of your materials and methods. It is targeted particularly at graduate students and should provide them with an easy-to-follow and step-by-step guide for repeating your procedures with maximum efficiency. Use any reasonable format, such as the following sample framework:

Equipment: list all required equipment, including the manufacturer.
Reagents: list these and provide a recipe for mixing any required solutions.
Method: provide a detailed stepwise guide of how the procedure is performed.

Formatting Your Paper

Initial Submission

Few requirements exist for the formatting of your manuscript for review:

8.5 x 11 inch paper size (US Letter)
PDF format (See creating PDF files)
Use US English spelling (ie: "color" instead of "colour")
Use the active voice where possible (ie: "We found that" rather than "...was found").
Authors must perform the English language editing. We can perform this service on request, but fees may apply. Contact us for details.

Final Submission

Submit your manuscript as a Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org/StarOffice file. The journal will convert it into an XML format. Documentation on our XML format is available, for your information.

Submitting Your Paper - Checklist

1. Manuscript submission and review is conducted through our online peer review system. Create an account if this is your first submission or log in to your existing account. Follow the instructions in the [Author Interface] tab. Many features are available, including:
   • real-time reports of your manuscript's review status;
   • view referees' comments for you as they are submitted;
   • resubmit your manuscript as often as you choose while it is under consideration;
   • suggest the names of additional referees if necessary;
   • electronic communication to maximize the speed of the review process;
   • ...and many more time-saving conveniences.
2. Include with your submission the author declaration form.

We will acknowledge receipt of your work by e-mail. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, please contact us.

Availability of Prints

High-quality prints of your final manuscript are available at a cost. Minimum order is 10 prints. Please contact us for rates.

We look forward to receiving your manuscript!