Instructions to authors
There is a publication charge for manuscripts once they are accepted. For price information, exemptions and waiver policies, please consult
the journal homepage http://www.gmb.org.br.
1. Manuscripts must be submitted through our online submission platform
hosted at: https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/gmb-scielo
The cover letter should be addressed to:
The Editors-in-Chief, Genetics and Molecular Biology
2. For submission the following instructions must be observed:
a) The manuscript must be submitted by the Corresponding Author, identified as such in the title page of the manuscript. This is the person who will also check the page proofs, and arranges for any payment that may incur during the editorial process. The submitting author must provide an ORCID ID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID, http://orcid.org/), with public information available, at the time of submission by entering it in the user profile in the submission system. Multiple submissions from the same computer of manuscripts from different institutions will not be accepted.
b) Entering the following metadata is required: (i) the manuscript title, (ii) a short running title (max. 35 characters), (iii) the Abstract, and (iv) up to five keywords. All these items must be exactly the same as those figuring in the first two pages of the manuscript file.
c) Statements are required informing that the data have not been published and are not under consideration elsewhere, and that all authors have approved the submission of the manuscript. Furthermore, possible conflicts of interest (e.g. due to funding, consultancies) must also be disclosed. For statements on ethical issues in research see below (3.1.m).
d) The names of all co-authors, including institutional affiliations and e-mail addresses must be entered, as contact information for the Editorial Office. We strongly encourage co-authors to also provide their ORCID iDs at the time of submission.
e) In the referee suggestions field, up to five reviewer names can be entered by the author(s); valid e-mail contact addresses for these are required, in case they are selected by the editor. These suggestions can be made separately as preferred and opposed reviewer(s).
f) Files must be uploaded separately and identified according to file types, respecting the following sequence: main text document (title page as page 1), tables, figures and, if applicable, supplementary material. The main text file must include the title page, Abstract, References and, if applicable, figure legends, which must be typed on a separate page following the References and Internet Resources sections. Each table, figure and element containing supplementary material must be saved and uploaded in a separate file. Formats for text and tables are Word or RTF in Windows platform. Figures should be in TIFF or JPEG formats (see detailed instructions in 3.1.i).
g) Manuscripts including photos or any other identifiable data of human subjects must be accompanied by a copy of the signed consent by the individual or his/her guardian.
Failure to adhere to these guidelines can delay the handling of your contribution and manuscripts may be returned before being reviewed.
Special attention should be given to the structuring of the manuscript and correct language usage. These are important factors in the smooth running of the editorial and peer-review process, and can result in faster publication.
3. Categories of Contribution
3.1. Research Articles
Manuscripts must be written in English in double-spaced, 12-point type throughout; marked with consecutive line and page numbers, beginning with the cover page.
The following elements must start on a new page and be ordered as they are listed below:
a) The title page must contain: a concise and informative title; the authors’ names (first name at full length); the authors’ institutional affiliation, including department, institution, city, state or province, and country; different affiliations indicated with superscript Arabic numbers; a short running title of up to 35 characters (including spaces); up to five key words; the corresponding author’s name, full postal, postal, email address and ORCID ID.
b) The Abstract must be a single paragraph that does not exceed 200 words and summarizes the main results and conclusions of the study. It should not contain references.
c) The text must be as succinct as possible. Text citations: articles should be referred to by authors’ surnames and date of publication; citations with two authors must include both names; in citations with three or more authors, name the first author and use et al. List two or more references in the same citation in chronological order, separated by semi-colons. When two or more works in a citation were published in the same year, list them alphabetically by the first author surname. For two or more works by the same author(s) in a citation, list them chronologically, with the years separated by commas. (Example: Freire-Maia et al., 1966a, 1966b, 2000). Only articles that are published or in press should be cited. In the case of personal communications or unpublished results, all contributors must be listed by initials and last name (et al. should not be used). Numbers: In the text, numbers nine or less must be written out except as part of a date, a fraction or decimal, a percentage, or a unit of measurement. Use Arabic numerals for numbers larger than nine.Binomial Names: Latin names of genera, species and infraspecific taxa must be printed in italics; names of orders and families should appear in the Title and also when first mentioned in the text. URLs for programs, data or other sources should be listed in the Internet Resources Section, immediately following the References Section, not in the text.
The text includes the following elements:
Introduction - Description of the background that led to the study.
Material (or Subjects) and Methods - Details relevant to the conduct of the study. Statistical methods should be explained at the end of this section.
Results - Undue repetition in text and tables should be avoided. Statistical analyses should be presented as complete as possible, i.e. not only P-values should be shown, but also all other test variables required for full appreciation of the results by the reviewers and readers. Comments on relevance of results are appropriate but broader discussion should be part of the Discussion section.
Discussion - The findings of the study should be placed in context of relevant published data. Ideas presented in other publications should not be discussed solely to make an exhaustive presentation.
Some manuscripts may require different formats appropriate to their content.
d) The Acknowledgments must be a single paragraph that immediately follows the discussion and includes references to grant support.
e) Conflict of Interest: Any possible conflict of interest must be disclosed here. If there is none, please state: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicial to the impartiality of the reported research.
f) Authors Contributions: The contributions of each author must be specified here; identify authors by their initials. The style of this section may be as follows:
author initials> conceived and the study, <author initials> conducted the experiments (detail if necessary), <author initials> analyzed the data, <author initials> wrote the manuscript, <author initials> (other contributions if applicable), all authors read and approved the final version.
In case of doubts concerning contribution definitions, we suggest to consult the CRediT taxonomy at https://casrai.org/credit.
g) The References Section: References must be ordered alphabetically by the first author surname; references with the same first author should be ordered as follows: first, as single author in chronological order; next, with only one more co-author in alphabetical order by the second author; and finally followed by references with more than two co-authors, in chronological order, independent of the second author surnames. In references with more than 10 authors only the first ten should be listed, followed by et al. Use standard abbreviations for journal titles as suggested by NCBI (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/journals/).
Only articles that are published or in press should be included in this section. Works submitted for publication but not yet accepted, personal communications and unpublished data must be cited within the text. “Personal communication” refers to information obtained from individuals other than the authors of the manuscript being submitted; “unpublished data” refers to data produced by at least one of the authors of the manuscript under consideration. Works of restricted circulation (e.g., theses not available in public databases, congress abstracts not published in regular journals or public databases) should not be listed in this section.
Sample journal article citation:
Breuer ME and Pavan C (1955) Behaviour of polytene chromosomes ofRhynchosciara angelae at different stages of larval development. Chromosoma 7:371-386.
Yonenaga-Yassuda Y, Rodrigues MT and Pellegrino KCM (2005) Chromosomal banding patterns in the eyelid-less microteiid lizard radiation: The X1X1X2X2:X1X2Y sex chromosome system in Calyptommatus and the karyotypes of Psilophtalmus and Tretioscincus (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae). Genet Mol Biol 28:700-709.
Sample book citation:
Dobzhansky T (1951) Genetics and Origin of Species. 3rd edition. Columbia University Press, New York, 364 pp.
Sample chapter-in-book citation:
Crawford DC and Howard-Peebles PN (2005) Fragile X: From cytogenetics to molecular genetics. In: Gersen SL and Keagle MB (eds) The Principles of Clinical Cytogenetics. 2nd edition. Humana Press, New Jersey, pp 495-513.
Sample electronic article citation:
Gotzek D, Ross KG (2009) Current status of a model System: The gene Gp-9 and its association with social organization in fire ants. PLoS One 4:e7713.
h) Internet Resources Section: this section should contain a list of URLs referring to data presented in the text, as well as software programs and other Internet resources used during data processing. Date of consultation must be stated.
Sample Internet resource citation:
Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/OMIM (September 4, 2009)
LEM Software, http://dir.niehs.nih.gov/dirbb/weinbergfiles/hybrid_design.htm (September 4, 2009)
i) Tables: must be in Word format prepared with the table tool (do not use space bar or tabulator). A concise title should be provided above the table. Tables must be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Each column must have a title in the box head. Footnotes typed directly below the table should be indicated in lowercase superscript letters. Tables that are to appear in the printed version must be saved in Word format and not as figures, so that they can later be fitted during typesetting. Each table must be saved and uploaded as a separate file.
j) Figures must be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals. Images should be in TIFF or JPEG format. Figures in Word, PowerPoint or Excel format cannot be published. Only sequence data can be presented in Word format. Journal quality reproduction will require grayscale resolution yielding 300 dpi, color figures should be at 600 dpi. These resolutions refer to the output size of the file, that is the size in which it will appear printed in the journal; if it is anticipated that images will be enlarged or reduced, the resolutions should be adjusted accordingly. Figures composed of several elements should be sent as a single panel, obeying the print size definitions of the journal (single or two columns width). Scanned figures should not be submitted. Color illustrations are accepted. Each figure/panel must be saved and uploaded as a separate file. When uploading, identify each illustration by the first author name and the number of the respective figure.
Figure legends must be included at the end of the main text file and should be typed on a new page.
k) Nomenclature: Taxonomic names should be in accordance with current international standards. For rules concerning gene names and gene symbols, please see separate Instruction form.
l) Sequences may appear in text or in figure. DNA, RNA and protein sequences equal to or greater than 50 units must be entered into public databases and accession numbers must be provided upon acceptance of the article. Failure to do so will inadvertently delay publication.
m) Data access: reference should be made to availability of detailed data and materials used for reported studies.
n) Ethical issues: Reports of experiments on live vertebrates must include a statement in the text that the institutional review board approved the work and the protocol number must be provided. For experiments involving human subjects, authors must also include a statement that informed consent was obtained from all subjects. If photos or any other identifiable data are included, a copy of the signed consent must be uploaded during manuscript submission. In any case, a letter (in English) indicating the approval by the respective Ethics Committee must be included in the submission. The letter should be preferentially Institutional and should confirm the protocol number of the approval.
o) Supplementary Material: Data that the authors consider of importance for completeness of a study, but which are too extensive to be included in the published version, can be submitted as Supplementary Material. At publication, this material will be made available together with the electronic version. In case a manuscript contains such material, it should be appropriately identified within the text file. Supplementary material in tables should be identified as Table S1, Table S2, etc., in case of figures they should be named accordingly, Figure S1, Figure S2. In addition, a list of this material should be presented at the end of the manuscript text file, containing the following statement:
Supplementary material - the following online material is available for this article:
Table S1 – < short title >
Figure S1 – < short title >
This material is available as part of the online article from
3.2 Short Communications
Short Communications present brief observations that do not warrant full-length articles. They should not be considered preliminary communications;
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should be 15 or fewer typed pages in double spaced 12-point type, including literature cited;
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should include an Abstract;
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but no further subdivision, with introduction, material and methods, results and discussion; all in a single section and without headers.
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up to four items (tables and/or figures) may be submitted;
Note: The title page, abstract and reference section format is that of a full-length Research Article. For Supplementary Material see instructions in item 3.1.m.
3.3 Genome Insight For GMB
A new section of articles devoted to genome data (Genome Insight) will be considered for publication in Genetics and Molecular Biology. Genome Insight is for focused papers, usually of approximately 1500 words (up to four tables or figures), that publish new genome data as they become submitted to GenBank. This section is the premier forum to deliver that information directly to the genome community in a rapid and efficient publication of the genome. Data must be related to a complete (or nearly complete) and fully annotated genome for prokaryote or viruses, but a draft may be accepted for an eukaryote genome. While the focus of Genome Insight is necessarily involved in novel sequences, the manuscript must contain specifically novel biological, evolutive, biotechnological and/or metabolic insights revealed by data. The work may provide comparative analyses of previously published genomes that contain a substantial and novel insight of broadest biological and genetic significance. Submitted manuscript must contain an abstract, which should be a brief report on the organism as well as its relevance and the main insight revealed by the genome. The text (approximately 1500 words- excluding abstract, references and acknowledgements) should not contain subdivisions, but must contain the rational for the selection of such organism as well as organism information (including taxonomy, natural habitat, phylogenetic position, eventual pathogenicity, symbiotic, biotechnological use, etc), methodology (genome sequencing and assembly; reference number at GenBank), genome relevance (which should indicate the main insights revealed by the data analysis and main conclusions. Acknowledgements and References (up to 20 references) headings should be included. Figure Legends should be provided at the end of the manuscript. Metagenome, transcriptome as well as epigenome data may also be considered for publication, but prior submission of the abstract to the Editor is necessary. Note: The title page, abstract and reference section format is that of a full-length Research Article. For Supplementary Material see item 3.1.m. in our Instructions to Authors.
3.4 Letters to the Editor
Relate or respond to recent published items in the journal. Discussions of political, social and ethical issues of interest to geneticists are also welcome in this form.
3.5 Review Articles
Review Articles are welcome. The Editor must be contacted prior to submission. Please, provide an Abstract and a list of your recent publications in the area.
3.6 Book Reviews
Publishers are invited to submit books on Genetics, Evolution and related disciplines, for review in the journal. Aspiring reviewers may propose writing a review.
3.7 History, Story and Memories
These are accounts on historical aspects of Genetics relating to Brazil.
4. Articles accepted for publication
Once an article is accepted, the Editorial Office will send it to copy editor for language and technical corrections. If major corrections were proposed, the manuscript with the highlighted corrections will be returned to the corresponding author for approval. The final version approved by the authors must be free of any text/correction markings when returned to the Editorial Office.
After typesetting, page proofs will be sent to the corresponding author. Changes made to page proofs, apart from typesetting errors, will be charged to the authors. Notes added in proof require Editorial approval.
Together with the proofs, a form of consent to publish and transfer of copyright is sent to the corresponding other. The latter will have sign this form, also on behalf of any co-authors, and submit it through ScholarOne website.
5. Reprints
Reprints are free of charge and will be provided as a pdf-file.
TALK TO US
Editors
Augusto Schrank
Marcia Pinheiro Margis
E-mail: editor@gmb.org.br
Assistant Editor
Klaus Hartfelder
E-mail: editor@gmb.org.br
Editorial Office
Cristina de Morais Cianci
E-mail: editor@gmb.org.br