Instructions to Authors
Paper types
The Biochemical Journal will consider submission of the following paper types:
Research Papers
The normal form of publication, of approximately 10-15 pages.
Guidelines on sections/article structure requirements:
• The main text should include: Introduction, Results, Discussion and Methods.
• The Methods section should be included in the main text file (after the Discussion) and not provided as a supplementary file. All details needed to replicate the experiment must be included in the main text of the accepted article.
All research papers submitted to the Biochemical Society’s research journals will require a Data Availability Statement to be included upon submission. Please ensure this statement is included within your main manuscript file. This Data Availability Statement should indicate to the reader where data associated with the paper are available and how to access them (including links, where applicable, to the online dataset). If data sharing is not applicable to the paper, for any reason, please indicate this and explain why this is the case. Any restrictions on the availability of materials or information must be disclosed to the Journal at the time of submission. If your research/submission cannot comply with the data type specific deposit requirements, or if you require data to be deposited following an embargo period, please write to the Editorial Office in the first instance. For more information on Data Availability Statements, please visit our Data Policy page. Please contact the Editorial Office if you have any questions.
Review articles
Normally commissioned, although non-commissioned reviews will be considered for publication. Prospective authors should complete our pre-submission enquiry form or contact the Editorial Office providing a draft of their article if available. Please note that meta-analyses, systematic and bibliographical reviews are not considered for publication by the Journal.
Review articles should be of broad interest and provide a balanced overview of the field. They should critically address recent advances in the field, providing ideas and offering new insight into the topic. Review articles should be informative and a useful resource to the readership. Here are some tips to help you enhance your review article and attract a broad readership:
- Use an attractive title, that makes readers want to find out more
- Plan a logical structure for your article, the use of main headings and subheadings to guide readers is encouraged
- Use accessible language, especially for the introduction, before delving deeper into the subject
- Include high quality but simple figures to back up or illustrate points you are making within the article
- Avoid lists with limited discussion
- Don’t be afraid to add a little opinion
- Discuss cutting-edge technologies that are pushing the field forward. What does future research in this field look like?
- Think about how you can make your review article interesting and differ from existing reviews in the field
Guidelines on length/ article structure requirements: Reviews are usually 6,000–8,000 words (excluding references and figure legends) and should include at least one Figure. If you would like a shorter review to be considered, please contact the Editorial Office in the first instance so we can consider if another journal in our portfolio may be more suitable. There is no limit on the number of references included.
Commentaries
Normally commissioned, although non-commissioned commentaries can be considered. Used to highlight and put into context a research article published in the Biochemical Journal. Prospective authors should contact the Editorial Office providing a short summary of the area they propose to cover.
Guidelines on length/ article structure requirements: Commentaries should be approximately 1,500 words in length, with approximately 15-20 references and inclusion of at least one Figure is encouraged.
Editorials
Commissioned only.
Perspectives
Normally commissioned. Perspectives should cover a personal viewpoint of the field, provide a balanced summary of the current thinking (challenges and controversies), and comment on emerging and future directions of the field or research. Content can include (but is not limited to) trends, techniques and ethical issues.
Guidelines on length/ article structure requirements: Perspectives should be 2,000-4,000 words in length and can include Figures.
Correspondence/Comments/Letters to the Editor
Correspondence pieces should be informative and proactive. Any correspondence piece received by the Journal regarding a published paper will be sent to the authors of said paper for a response prior to further assessment by the Journal.
Guidelines on length/ article structure requirements: There is no set length or format for correspondence.