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The Journal of Experimental Medicine publishes papers on physiological, pathological, and molecular mechanisms that encompass the host response to disease. Areas covered include, but are not limited to:
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Papers must be of broad interest and clear in vivo relevance. A high priority is given to studies that substantially advance our understanding of disease processes and the host response in humans.
Manuscripts submitted in Article format should present a comprehensive study with mechanistic insight into a basic immunological or disease process. Articles must be fully documented reports of original research, but should be as concise as possible without compromising the documentation and communication of the data. Manuscripts containing purely descriptive observations or reports of new techniques in the absence of new biological insights will not be considered.
Manuscripts submitted in the Brief Definitive Report (BDR) format should describe definitive, exciting observations that have the potential to open up new avenues of research and can be described using fewer figures and less text than an article.
Commentaries are personal perspectives on recent scientific developments published by the JEM and are commissioned by the Editors.
All submitted manuscripts are initially evaluated by at least two Editors who have a working knowledge of the relevant field. An initial decision is usually reached within 7 –10 days.
If sent for review, each manuscript is reviewed by several leading scientists in the relevant field. Decisions on reviewed manuscripts are usually reached within one month.
When submission of a revised manuscript is invited following review, the revision must be received within six months of the decision date or it will be considered a new paper and the novelty and priority reassessed accordingly. New manuscripts may be sent to the original reviewers and/or new reviewers.
Papers submitted by members of the editorial board undergo anonymous peer review and are handled by the Executive and Associate Editors, along with a member of our Advisory Editorial board.
When submitting a manuscript, the authors should affirm that no similar paper (including book chapters) has been or will be submitted elsewhere (other than as an abstract that is <400 words in length and contains no figures). Any unpublished articles that are related to or could be perceived to overlap with the submitted manuscript must be included for evaluation by the editors and reviewers.
The data presented in a submitted manuscript must not be made available prior to publication in any article listed in a public citation database or in a book identified with an ISBN. Data should not be posted on any publicly available website. Any public posting may be considered prior publication. Presentation of your data at scientific meetings is permitted. Doctoral theses or dissertations are not regarded as prior publications, whether they are made available in electronic form or not, unless they have been actually "published" in a widely distrubutable form.
All authors must disclose any commercial affiliations or consultancies, stock or equity interests, or patent-licensing arrangements that could be considered to pose a conflict of interest regarding the submitted manuscript. Potential conflicts of interest must be described in the Acknowledgements section. If there are no potential financial conflicts of interest, please add the following statement to the Acknowledgements section: "The authors have no conflicting financial interests." All funding sources, institutional and corporate, should be credited in the Acknowledgments section.
The JEM requires the free exchange of any materials used in studies published in the Journal. Free exchange is required for all articles published since January 1, 1999. The source code for all computational methods published in the JEM must be made freely available. These requirements are in accordance with the recommendations articulated by the National Academy of Sciences.
Nucleic acid sequences, protein sequences, crystallographic structures, and microarray data must deposited in the appropriate public database and must be made available by the date of publication. Microarray data should be MIAME compliant. Relevant accession numbers must be included in the manuscript text.
If you are having difficulty obtaining materials from the authors of a manuscript published in the JEM after January 1, 1999, please contact the Executive Editor, Heather Van Epps: jem{at}rockefeller.edu.
All final published content of the JEM will be automatically posted on PubMed Central and UK PubMed Central, where it will be available to the public six months after the publication date. Authors should not submit their papers independently to these repositories. This service is free of charge and is fully compliant with the mandates of funding agencies. See the Sherpa Romeo site for details: http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo.php.
All animal and human studies must be performed in compliance with the US Department of Health and Human Services Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (or otherwise relevant guidelines) and must be approved by the authors' Institutional Review Board(s). A statement to this effect should be included in the Materials and methods section. All clinical investigations must be conducted according to the principles expressed in the Helsinki Declaration.
The editors reserve the right to request original data from authors at any stage in the publication process, including after publication.
All digital images in manuscripts accepted for publication will be scrutinized by our production department for any indication of manipulation.
Questions raised by the production department will be referred to the Editors, who will request the original data from the authors for comparison to the prepared figures. If the original data cannot be produced, the acceptance of the manuscript may be revoked. Any case in which the manipulation affects the interpretation of the data will result in revocation of acceptance. Cases of suspected misconduct will be reported to an author's home institution or funding agency.
Experiments generating data that are essential to support any conclusion of the study must be performed more than once and must be repeated a sufficient number of times to demonstrate reproducibility. Each figure legend must specify the number of animals or replicates in each experimental and control group and the number of times each experiment was independently performed. Each experiment should include a sufficient number of mice per group to demonstrate intraexperimental variability. If experiments were performed with single mice, you must provide a justification and explain how intraexperimental variability was assessed. Statistical information should be presented with error bars where appropriate. Please see our Editorial in the May 11, 2009 issue for a detailed discussion.
The JEM discourages authors from introducing new terminology unless there is a compelling scientific justification for doing so. A new term may be introduced if, for example, you identify a new protein with a unique chemical structure and function. However, if a newly identified protein resembles an existing protein or family, the name should reflect this relationship. Cell subsets should be described according to the function(s) of the cell, rather than by introducing new terminology.
To submit to the JEM either click here, or click on "Submit" at the JEM home page , (www.jem.org). Specific instructions for navigating our submission system are provided on the JEM website. Authors should notify the office if an email acknowledging submission is not received within 1–2 business days.
A license to publish form (http://www.jem.org/misc/license.pdf) must be signed by all authors, and can then either be scanned and included in the online submission as a PDF, or faxed to the Editorial office: (212) 327-8511. If you have any questions about this form, please email jem{at}rockefeller.edu. A version of this form edited for NIH employees is available upon request.
For original submissions, or a first revision, we ask that you submit your manuscript text and figures as a single PDF file, including tables and supplemental material. Figures should appear after the text and should not be embedded within the text.
For the final revision of accepted manuscripts, we require submission of the manuscript text as an editable document and individual figure files in EPS or TIF format. Please note that files saved in TIFF format within the PowerPoint application are not high enough resolution for publication. Figures should not be saved in PowerPoint at any stage of preparation.
The manuscript text file should contain all of the text elements: title page, Abstract, Introduction, Results, Discussion, Materials and methods, Acknowledgements, References, Figure legends, and Tables.
Authors should provide a cover letter that includes the name, address, and contact information for the corresponding author (phone number, fax number, and email address), and statements affirming that all authors concur with the submission and that none of the data have been previously reported or are under consideration for publication elsewhere. Authors may include in their cover letter suggestions for suitable reviewers and requests for people to be excluded from the reviewing process, along with an explanation for the exclusion(s). We take requests for exclusions seriously and honor these requests whenever possible. Please note, however, we do not honor requests for exclusion of senior Editors.
Format: Manuscripts should be divided into the following sections: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Results, Discussion, Materials and methods, Acknowledgements, References, Figure Legends, Tables.
Character Limits: The length limit for Articles is 44,000 characters (not including spaces). The character count includes all sections EXCEPT the Materials and methods and References. The total character count must be indicated on the title page.
Figure Limits: Articles are limited to 10 figures and 8 supplemental figures and/or tables.
Reference Limits: Articles are limited to 80 references.
Format: BDRs should be divided into the following sections: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Results and discussion, Materials and methods, Acknowledgements, References, Figure legends, and Tables. Note that the Results and Discussion must be combined.
Character Limits: The length limit for BDRs is 22,000 characters (not including spaces). The character count includes all sections EXCEPT the Materials and methods and References. We recommend that the Materials and methods section be limited to approximately 3,000 characters. The total character count must be indicated on the title page.
Figure Limits: BDRs are limited to 6 figures and 4 supplemental figures and/or tables.
Reference Limits: BDRs are limited to 40 references.
The manuscript title must be limited to 130 characters (including spaces). The title should be concise and accessible to a general audience.
The title page includes:
• The complete names of the institutions where the work was performed.
• The name, mailing address, telephone number, fax number, and email address of the author to whom correspondence and proofs are to be sent.
• A condensed title of less than 50 characters (including spaces) for incorporation in the running head.– If you wish to have two corresponding authors listed for the paper, you must designate one of them to communicate with the Editorial and Production offices.
– If a change of address is imminent, indicate the change and the date effective.
Abstracts must not exceed 200 words. The abstract should provide a clear synopsis of the reported findings that is accessible to a non specialist reader. References should not be included in the abstract.
The text should be presented with concise, accurate subheadings, and all data must be original and clearly labeled.
The Discussion should not repeat the material covered in the Results section. In BDRs, the Results and Discussion sections must be combined.
The Materials and methods should be comprehensive and provide sufficient guidance to repeat the experiments. Authors should not simply reference previous publications for details on how an experiment was performed. For all microscopy experiments, please provide image acquisition and preparation details as outlined below.
The Online supplemental material section should provide brief legends for any materials submitted for online publication only (including supplemental figures/tables, datasets, and videos). This section must appear directly after the Materials and methods section. Please note that we do not permit supplemental text other than figure legends.
All figure legends should include the figure number followed by a short title. Include a brief explanation of the experiment that provides sufficient detail for the reader to understand the data without reference to the text. Methods described in detail in the Materials and methods section should not be repeated in the legend. Symbols used in the figure must be explained in the figure legend. Each figure legend must specify the number of animals or replicates in each experimental and control group, as well as the number of times each experiment was independently performed.
If automatic referencing software is used, the references must be finalized and reduced to text before submission.
References should be cited parenthetically in the text by author and year of publication.
The following are examples of citation formats:
(Jones et al., 2009)
(Jones and Wilson, 2009)
(Jones, 2009)
References should be listed alphabetically by first author’s last name. The authors must be cited in the order in which they first appeared in publication and as they subsequently appear in Medline, even in cases where more than one author contributed equally to the work. Include all authors’ names (do not use "et al."), year, complete article title, and inclusive page numbers. Abbreviate the names of journals according to PubMed; please spell out the names of unlisted journals.
The following are examples for accepted reference formats:
Journal Articles
Two authors:
Bevan, M., and P. Fink. 1978. The influence of thymus H-2 antigens on the specificity of maturing and killer and helper cells. Immunol. Rev. 42:3–19.
More than two authors:
Julius, M., E. Simpson, and L. Herzenberg. 1973. A rapid method for the isolation of functional thymus-derived lymphocytes. Eur. J. Immunol. 3:645–649.
In press:
Myers, L.K., J.M. Stuart, and A. H. Kang. 1990. A CD4 cell is capable of transferring suppression of collagen-induced arthritis. J. Clin. Immunol. In press.
Online Peer-Reviewed Articles
Published article with only DOI:
Tang, C., and J.P. Klinman. 2001. The catalytic function of bovine lysyl oxidase in the absence of copper. J. Biol. Chem. doi:10.1074/jbc.C100138200.
Published article with both DOI and pagination:
Tang, C., and J.P. Klinman. 2001. The catalytic function of bovine lysyl oxidase in the absence of copper. J. Biol. Chem. 276:30575–30578. doi:10.1074/jbc.C100138200.
Complete Books
Myant, N.B. 1981. The Biology of Cholesterol and Related Steroids. Heinemann Medical Books, London. 882 pp.
Articles in Books
Pink, J.R.L., O. Lassila, and O. Vainio. 1987. B-lymphocytes and their self-renewal. In Avian Immunology. A. Toivanen and P. Toivanen, editors. CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, FL. 65–78.
Abstracts
Citation of abstracts in the reference list is not permitted
Unpublished data
We strongly discourage citation of unpublished data (e.g., “unpublished results,” “unpublished observation,” and “data not shown”). Unpublished data may not be cited in the Reference list; this includes citation of manuscripts in preparation or submitted for publication. If unpublished data are presented, they must be indicated in the text as “unpublished data.”
Unpublished data may not be cited in the Materials and methods section. As an alternative to “unpublished data,” additional data, images, figures, tables, etc., should be included as Online supplemental material.
Personal communications
When a person(s) who is not an author of the article is the source of unpublished data, those data must be cited as a "personal communication." In the case of "personal communications," authors must provide us with an email or signed letter of permission from the source of the communication authorizing the authors to cite the communication. Personal communications may not be cited in the Reference list.
Terms that do not appear in the JEM standard abbreviations listmust be used three or more times in a manuscript to justify abbreviation. When using nonstandard abbreviations, the full term should be spelled out at the first mention, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. The abbreviation should be used consistently thereafter. All nonstandard abbreviations should be listed in alphabetical order on the title page.
Supporting data that are not essential for appreciating the conclusions made in a manuscript may be included as supplemental material. Examples of appropriate data for supplemental material include DNA sequences or Western blots that show the specificity of an antibody or efficient knockdown of a gene product. Videos or flash animations (.mov, .mpg, .avi, .swf, and .fla) may be included as supplemental material.
To ensure full peer review of all material published, we do not permit supplementary text other than figure legends. Therefore, please make sure all text is included within the manuscript text itself. The number of supplemental display items (figures and/or tables) is limited to 8 for Articles and 4 for Brief Definitive Reports.
The JEM follows the abbreviations and other conventions of Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (6th Edition, 1994, Council of Biology Editors, Inc., 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814).
The JEM adheres to strict editorial policy for acceptance and publication of data and digital images. Please see our Editorial Policies Section on Image manipulation above for further information.
Files names for figures and digital images should be alphanumeric. Do not include spaces or special characters. Videos should be named according to the order of appearance (e.g., video1.mov). If a video is directly related to a figure or table, please name the file accordingly (e.g., Fig3video3.mov). Please avoid lengthy file names.
Acceptable file formats are EPS or TIFF. We cannot accept PowerPoint files. Please note that files saved in TIFF format from within the PowerPoint application are NOT at sufficiently high resolution to meet our formatting requirements. The complete figure (all panels) should be in a single file.
The resolution of all submitted images accepted for publication must be at least 300 dpi at publication size.
To check the size and resolution of the image in Adobe Photoshop, select "Image Size" in the "Image" menu. Make sure the "Resample Image" box in "Image Size" dialog window is not checked and the "Width," "Height," and "Resolution" boxes are linked by the graphic chain. (It may be necessary to click twice on the "Resample Image" box to establish this link.) This will mean that no resolution (i.e., dots or data) is lost when reducing the dimensions of an image and that the program does not add dots to an image when increasing its dimensions. Set the print size to the desired size of the image in the printed journal and make sure that the resolution at this size is equal to or above 300 dpi. Please submit in the .tif format by selecting this choice in the format box of the "Save" dialog window (you can save as .tif with LZW compression to reduce the size of large image files).
Submitted digital halftones should be in grayscale format.
Please submit color figures in RGB format. For published manuscripts, image files will be posted online in their original RGB format, maintaining the full color of your original files. When saving, always embed any ICC profile you have been working with. All profiles will be accurately converted to Adobe RGB (1998). If possible, we recommend that authors use Adobe RGB (1998) when preparing files. Note that we will still need to convert all RGB files to CMYK for printing on paper and color shifts may occur in conversion. You will not receive a CMYK proof. You can view an approximation of print results by converting to CMYK in Photoshop or Illustrator.
Vector files should be created in an illustration program such as Adobe Illustrator and should be saved and submitted as EPS (Encapsulated PostScript). Only Times, Helvetica, Arial, or Symbol fonts should be used. Using other fonts may result in lost or improperly converted characters. If you must save as .tif, files should be at least 1,000 dpi at publication size.
Prepare photographic image files in Photoshop at 300 dpi as described above. Prepare line art in Illustrator as above (if you are importing color images, be sure to create an RGB Illustrator file). Image files should be placed into the file containing the line art. In Illustrator, copying and pasting or dragging directly from Photoshop will embed the image. Always embed images, never link. If you use the “Place” command, be sure to uncheck “Link” in the dialogue box. If you use another illustration program, please refer to the specific documentation for that application (generally there will be a “link”, “proxy”, or “OPI” option on import that should be unchecked). Save as EPS, always embedding any color profile used. We recommend Adobe RGB (1998). If you must save as TIFF, files should be at least 600 dpi at publication size.
Label both axes and provide some measure of quantitation (e.g., log10 fluorescence) to indicate the ratio of fluorescence intensity between peaks. Decade tick marks must be displayed on all flow cytometry plots; numerical values are not required.
As noted above in our Editorial Policy Section, all figures from manuscripts that have received an editorial acceptance will be screened for any evidence of manipulation. As you prepare your figures, please adhere to the following guidelines to accurately present your data:
A more detailed discussion of image presentation can be found here: (Rossner and Yamada, J. Cell Biol. 166:11–15)
The following information must be provided about the acquisition and processing of images:
If you export files from a microscope or other acquisition device, be sure to use consistent file formats (8 bit, 16 bit, etc.).
All micrographs must include a bar to indicate the scale.
Protein molecular weights or DNA marker sizes must be indicated on all figure panels showing gel electrophoresis.
Error bars on graphic representations of numerical data must be clearly described in the figure legend. The number of independent data points (n) represented in a graph must be indicated in the legend. Numerical axes on graphs should go to zero, except for log axes.
Statistical analyses must be carried out on all available data and not just on data from a "representative experiment". Statistics and error bars should only be shown for independent experiments and not for replicates within a single experiment.
A more detailed discussion of error bars in experimental biology can be found here: (Cumming et al., J. Cell Biol. 177:7–11.)
Do not use the Word 2007 Microsoft default math editor since it contains incompatibilities that prevent us from using equations created with this editor.
Please use the Design Science Equation Editor (formerly the default Word editor) or MathType rather than the new default math editor featured in the Insert ribbon. To use either Equation Editor or MathType, in the Insert ribbon, click “Object” and choose object type “Microsoft Equation 3.0” or “MathType Equation”. The Equation Editor toolbar or MathType window will appear and will work as in previous versions of Word.
Tables must use rows and columns to correlate two variables. All tables must be double spaced and on pages separate from the text. Tables must be self-contained and self-explanatory. Do not divide into sub-tables and do not use vertical rules. Label each table at the top with a Roman numeral (e.g., Table I, Table II, etc.) followed by the table title. Insert explanatory material and footnotes below the table. Designate footnotes using lowercase superscript letters (a, b, c) reading horizontally across the table. Supply units of measure at the heads of the columns. Abbreviations that are used only in a table should be defined in the footnotes to that table.
The JEM can post video files online. Videos must be cited both at the relevant place in the text of the Results section, and in the legends of any figures that contain video stills or images related to the video.
A manuscript will generally be published no later than six weeks after receipt of the final acceptance. Authors can help maintain this publication time by promptly returning corrected page proofs to the production office.
All correspondence concerning the copyediting and production of accepted manuscripts should be addressed to:
The Journal of Experimental Medicine
Production Office
The Rockefeller University Press
1114 First Avenue, Third Floor
New York, NY 10065-8325
Tel.: (212) 327-8527
Fax: (212) 327-8513
email: jem{at}mail.rockefeller.edu
Rough galley proofs are supplied to the corresponding author as a PDF, along with instructions. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours. Authors will be provided with information on charges for offprints and special services at that time. The cost of authors' text alterations in proof is $4.00 per change. Figure reprocessing at the authors' request will be charged at $55.00 per subject.
Authors may submit cover images for consideration. The images should conform to our figure guidelines regarding file format and resolution at publication size. Black and white and color submissions are both welcome. A brief cover legend should be submitted with the image.
You may order offprints of your article on the publication charge form.
Authors will be charged a rate of US$0.07 per character, not counting spaces, and not including Materials and methods, References, or Tables. There will also be a flat fee of $350 for posting of ALL supplemental material. Color reproduction is free. An author's inability to meet charges will not affect the publication of acceptable manuscripts. The publication charge and offprint form must be completed before the article is released
Copyright of all material published in the JEM remains with the authors. The authors grant the Rockefeller University Press an exclusive license to publish their work for the first six months. After six months the work becomes available to the public to copy, distribute, or display under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Please see our License to Publish and this Editorial published on April 30, 2008 for more details.
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