Current Pharmacogenomics & Personalized Medicine

(Formerly ‘Current Pharmacogenomics’)

Volume 6, 4 Issues, 2008
ISSN: 1875-6913 (Online)
ISSN: 1875-6921 (Print)

Instructions for Authors

The journal is interested in receiving submission on the personalization of health interventions ranging from drugs and medical devices to nutrition and more generally, variability in host-environment interactions and its mechanistic determinants. Priority will be given to expert reviews that include original ideas or new ways of treating concepts related to personalized medicine (e.g., pharmacogenomics, nutrigenomics, systems biology, diagnostics) and enabling health technologies (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics). Integration of molecular and clinical research, social science, ethics, economics and policy dimensions in personalized medicine is highly desirable. Manuscripts that present a superficial discussion of a topic or plain synthesis of research findings are not suitable.

Authorship: A cover letter from the corresponding author should accompany each submission. This letter should clearly state that the article has not been published or is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that each author has contributed significantly in the conception, design, analysis and/or writing of the article; that each author accepts public responsibility for the manuscript contents; and that each author has viewed the final article and approved it for publication. The CPPM strives to comply with the guidance provided by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (http://www.icmje.org). The cover letter should also contain the full current postal address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address for the corresponding author. All authors should sign this letter and any future changes in authorship must be approved in writing by all authors.

Manuscript Types: The following types of manuscripts are considered for peer-reviewed publication in CPPM.

Full length reviews provide the reader with a comprehensive assessment of any area of -omics technology applications towards personalized medicine. These expert reviews should be of broad interest and provide a clear vision for future advances in that area. For full length review articles, the manuscript, written in English, should not exceed 70 pages (ca. 30 printed pages), including the bibliography, tables and figures.

Mini reviews provide the reader with a focused assessment of any area in personalized medicine as noted above, and should be of interest to both clinical and basic science researchers. A mini review should be an original and balanced synthesis of the literature and should not dwell on the authors' own published results. For mini review, the manuscript, written in English, should not exceed a maximum of 40 manuscript pages in length (ca. 15 printed pages), including the bibliography, tables and figures.

Feature articles are submitted by invitation from the editors only. Feature article format is reserved to respond to new developments in the field of personalized medicine in a timely manner. The CPPM Editors-in-Chief, Consultant Editors, Specialty Field Editors and the International Editorial Advisory Board survey the personalized medicine literature to identify issues that require immediate attention and discussion in the field. These articles voice well-argued, thought-provoking ideas and opinions that are not yet popular or mainstream, in order to stimulate a dialogue among stakeholders in personalized medicine. In other cases, the feature articles may provide a discussion of future trajectories on rapidly emerging opportunities and challenges in the field. Feature articles should be comprised of no more than 4,000 words written in an edgy editorial style and should include at least one well composed figure or illustration that capture the key concepts in the article.

Original research articles will be considered for peer-reviewed publication at CPPM provided that they address a previously unmet unique niche in personalization of health interventions. We particularly seek applied or translational research that integrates different methodological or conceptual approaches, including but beyond genomics technologies. For example, original research on a novel phenotype or candidate gene, a new -omics technology application context (e.g., personalized nutrition, vaccines, biologics, medical devices), gene-environment interactions specifically in personalized medicine, prospective studies aimed at discerning genetic basis of inter-individual and population-to-population differences in health intervention outcomes may be of interest. Empirical social science and policy research on personalized medicine will also be considered. Original data should be accompanied with well-reasoned balanced discussion on how authors’ findings may improve drug discovery and development, disease prevention and individualization of drug therapy in humans or personalization of health interventions more generally. A clear statement must be included in the Methods section confirming that studies on human subjects were conducted with the approval of an appropriate ethics review committee. The authors should review carefully the latest version of the Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm). Animal experiments (if applicable) should strictly adhere to ethical standards and a clear explanation must be provided in the Methods section in this context.

All submitted manuscripts should be typed in double spacing throughout on A-4 or American quarto paper. Dot matrix print or any print that is difficult to read is unacceptable. Our preferred font styles are Arial, Times New Roman or Helvetica. The font size should be no less than 11 pt. All pages should be numbered consecutively. Abbreviations should be defined the first time that they are used in the manuscript and a list of abbreviations used should be provided after the cover page.

Peer-Review and Publication Process: All manuscripts submitted for publication will be immediately subjected to editorial scrutiny. Manuscripts that do not conform to the CPPM format and editorial style will be returned to the authors. Only those articles that may potentially pass the rigorous standards of the peer review process are sent out for critical appraisal by expert referees invited from the international editorial board and the broader scientific community. Every effort will be made for rapid processing of the manuscripts and the decision conveyed to the authors within six to eight weeks of the receipt of the paper. The manuscripts will be typeset and the proofs dispatched to the authors normally within four to eight weeks of their acceptance. Please provide your telephone and Fax numbers together with your e-mail address with all submissions.

Manuscript Organization: The manuscript should be structured as: Title page, abstract and the main text. For review articles, the text should be organized further with subheadings according to the areas to be discussed. Original research articles should include Introduction, Methods (e.g., a clear description of the study design, subjects, inclusion/exclusion criteria, primary end-points and variables, technical, ethical and statistical aspects), Results and Discussion with a well-articulated conclusion section. The Acknowledgement and Reference sections should follow. For all articles, the first page should contain the title, the authors’ affiliations, names (initials and surname only), with an asterisk in front of the name of the corresponding author. Five pertinent and carefully chosen keywords and a running title less than 55 characters (including spaces) should be listed on the manuscript cover page. All submitted manuscripts should be typed in double spacing in MS word format. Our preferred font styles are Arial, Times New Roman or Helvetica. The font size should be no less than 11 pt. All pages should be numbered consecutively. Abbreviations should be defined the first time that they are used in the manuscript and a list of abbreviations used should be provided after the cover page. Financial contributions to the work being reported should be stated clearly under the Acknowledgement section for both reviews and original articles.

Duality/Conflicts of Interest: This section is essential for all articles and should appear immediately prior to the Reference section. All possible conflicts of interest, financial or other relationships that may potentially influence the design, conduct, interpretation, reporting of original research or synthesis of data in review articles should be disclosed. If you are certain that there are no conflicts of interest relevant to your submission, please state it clearly in this section. We encourage the authors to review additional information available by the British Medical Journal (http://bmj.com/cgi/content/short/317/7154/291) and The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (http://www.icmje.org).

Abstract: The abstract should not exceed 250 words and it should condense the essential features of the review article, with the focus on the major advances in the field. Abstract should immediately convey to the reader the flavor of the article and its contents. The abstract for the review articles should be unstructured and presented as a single paragraph. For original articles, a 250 word structured abstract is necessary with headings as Objective, Methods, Results and Conclusions.

Text: The main text should begin on a separate page and it may be subdivided into separate sections. The review article should mention any previous important reviews in the field and contain a comprehensive original discussion starting with the general background of the field. The principal aims of the review article should be provided at the end of the Introduction section. It should then go on to discuss the salient features of recent developments. The authors should avoid presenting material that has already been published in a previous review.

Tables:

• Data Tables should be submitted in Microsoft Excel or in Microsoft Word table format.
• Each table should include a title/caption explaining what the table presents. Detailed legends may then follow.
• Tables should be given on separate pages with indications on the left hand margin to the text, as to the appropriate placement of the tables.
• Tables should not contain vertical rules.
• Columns and rows of data should be made visibly distinct by ensuring the borders of each cell display as black lines.
• Tables should be numbered consecutively in order of their citation in the body of the text, with Arabic numerals.
• If a reference is cited in both the table and text, insert a lettered footnote in the table to refer to the numbered reference in the text.
• Tabular data provided as additional files can be submitted as an Excel spreadsheet.

Figures and Illustrations: All authors must strictly follow the guidelines below for preparing illustrations for publication in Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine.

Editorial Requirements:
The final quality of the illustrations printed in the journal largely depends on the quality of the figures/illustration provided by the author. In preparing artwork or graphics for publication, keep in mind the following crucial points.

• Submit the original artwork or a photographic print of the original for publication.
• Do not submit photocopies. (Hardcopy submission requirement)
• Illustrations should be provided as separate files, not embedded in the text. (Hardcopy submission requirement).
• Remove all color from graphics except for those illustrations (Greyscale), which are intended to be printed in color.
• Good quality of hardcopy originals are a requirement.
• Figures should be referred to as “Fig. (1)”, “Fig. (2)” etc. in the text with figure numbers in bold within round bracket.
• Revised manuscripts should contain a complete set of artwork and photographs.

Technical Details:
• Figures should be provided on high quality, white, smooth opaque paper. (Hardcopy requirement).

Format & Resolution:
• The following file formats can be accepted. (Preference in order of appearance): PDF, TIFF, JPEG, GIF
• Illustrations must fit a single or double column format on the journal page, according to the following guideline below:

• Whenever possible, submit graphics that do not have to be reduced to fit the standard figure size.
• Use the best resolution available (hardcopy submission requirement). For online submission the maximum resolution is 300 dpi.
• Avoid textures and shadings giving a three-dimensional effect to the illustration.
• Symbols and lettering in the illustration should be of similar size.
• Smaller lettering is used.
• Font: Times New Roman or Helvetica is preferable. Font size: 10pt (maximum)
• Line drawings should have clear and sharp lines and should be of uniform density. Moreover, lines should be continuous without any breaks.
• Do not use lines thinner than 1 point.

Color Figures/Illustrations:
• The cost for the first published page of color figures is US$ 780; the second additional page will be for US$ 570, and each subsequent page for US$ 385.

• Color figures should be supplied in CMYK not RGB colors.
• Required resolution for online submission is 300 dpi. In case of hardcopy submission, please use the maximum resolution available. In case the figure(s) are of an inferior quality they will need to be improved either by the author or by the publisher on a charged basis.

Photographs: Submit high-contrast prints that are of single- or double-column width so that they will not have to be reduced when printed. Negatives are not acceptable. However, in case of hardcopy submission, color illustrations and plates can be published from 35 mm color slides.

Structures: Structures should be presented separately, drawn using a suitable graphics program (e.g., ChemDraw) and printed with a laser printer. The structures should fit into a width of 8 cm (for structures to be inserted within single column widths) or a width of 18 cm (for structures or schemes to be inserted in double column widths).

References: In the text, the references should be quoted as first author's surname with initials and year of publication within square brackets, e.g., [Johnson, M.R. 2005a; Smith, A. et al. 2005; Salehi, A. and Swaab, D.F. 1999]. More than one paper from an author in the same year must be identified by letters a, b, c, etc., with the year of publication, e.g., [Johnson, M.R. 2005a, 2005b, 2005c]. All references should be listed at the end of the paper alphabetically. All references must be accurate and have all cited authors stated and title of the paper; use of terminology "et al." must not be used. On-line citations should include date of access. Journal titles should conform to the present Index Medicus abbreviations. Full paper titles should be given. References should be listed as shown in the examples below:

Hökfelt, T.; Vincent, S. R.; Dalsgaard, C. J.; Herrera-Marschitz, M.; Understadt, U.; Schultzberg, M.; Christensson, I. and Terenius, L. (1984) Some Aspects on Distribution and Role of Opioid Peptides in the Central and Peripheral Nervous System. In Central and Peripheral Endorphins: Basic and Clinical Aspects; Muller, E. E.; Genazzani, A. R.; Eds.; Raven Press: New York, pp. 1-16.

Möhler, H. and Okada, T. (1977) Benzodiazepine Receptors: Demonstration in the Central Nervous System. Science 198, 849-851.

Pitts, W. J.; Wityak, J.; Smallheer, J. M.; Tobin, A. E.; Jetter, J. W.; Boynitzky, J. S.; Harlow, P. P.; Solomon, K. A.; Corjay, M. H.; Mousa, S. A.; Wexler, R. R. and Jadhav, P. K. (2000) Isoxazolines as Potent Antagonists of the Integrin avb3. J. Med. Chem. 43, 27-40.

Abstracts, unpublished data, meeting reports and personal communications (which can be only included if permission has been obtained) should not be given in the references section but they may be mentioned in the text and details provided as footnotes.

Online Manuscript Submission: Manuscripts must only be submitted online to the Bentham Science Editorial Office. You may submit your full manuscript either by e-mail as attachment (maximum file size 1 MB) at cppm@benthamscience.org or by online submission. For online submission, the manuscripts should be submitted via our online manuscript submission service available at www.bentham-mps.org or by FTP submission at www.bentham-ftp.org .

Please provide your complete manuscript in the form of a single zipped folder containing soft copies of all the material (main text in MS word format, figures / illustrations, scanned photographs, tables, chemical structures drawn in ChemDraw) as separate files, while a PDF version of the entire manuscript must also be included with all the figures / illustrations / tables / chemical structures etc. embedded in the text exactly in the manner as they should appear online.

Authors are required to proofread their full manuscript before submission. The Publishers will not be responsible for any error occurring in the manuscript in this regard.

A successful electronic submission of a manuscript will be followed by a system-generated acknowledgement to the principal/corresponding author within 72 hours of the dispatch of the manuscript. Any queries therein should be addressed to mahmood@bentham.org and copied to Jalil@bentham.org

Page Charges: No page charges will be levied to the authors.

Language Editing: Manuscripts that are written poorly or those with substantial typographical errors will not be published. Accepted manuscripts may be edited for language and organizational structure by the CPPM editorial team prior to typesetting. Authors from non-English speaking countries may choose to utilize the publisher’s professional language editing services prior to submitting their manuscript to the CPPM. Please contact Bentham Publishing Services www.benthampublishingservices.com for a language editing quote at e-mail: info@benthampublishingservices.com stating the total number of words of the article to be edited.

Proofs: Authors will receive the page proofs for detailed inspection of their article. To avoid delays in publication, proofs should be checked immediately for typographical errors and returned within 48 hours. However, authors are not permitted to make excessive changes or alter the contents substantially at the page proof stage.

Reprints: The corresponding author will receive by e-mail a free copy of their article as a PDF file. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article which is exclusively for the author's own use and may not be copied or distributed. Reprints may be ordered from the Publisher prior to publication of the article. Corresponding and first name authors may also order a personal print and online subscription of the journal at 50% off the normal subscription rate by contacting the subscription department by e-mail at: subscriptions@bentham.org

Bentham Open Access: Accepted articles can be published online for free open access for all to view. Open access publishing provides the maximum dissemination of the article to the largest audience. Authors must pay for this service. All corresponding authors will be asked to indicate whether or not they wish to pay to have their paper made freely available on publication. If authors do not select the Open Access option, then their article will be published with standard subscription-based access at no charge. Open access articles are published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provide the work is properly cited.

Bentham Science offers authors the choice of open access publication of their articles at a fee of US$ 2,800 per published article which allows indefinite online publication with BOTH Bentham Science and PubMed Central.

Alternatively, authors may choose to publish their article with Bentham Science at a reduced fee for a limited open access period. Bentham Science is the first and only publisher to offer authors the choice at a reduced open access fee to have their article published for a limited open access period. For open access publication for a period of twelve months (limited open access) the per article fee is US$ 1,400. For more information please contact us at e-mail: openaccess@bentham.org

Copyright: It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to the CPPM have not been published and will not be simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere. Plagiarism is strictly forbidden, and by submitting the article for publication the authors agree that the publishers have the legal right to take appropriate action against the authors, if plagiarism is discovered. By submitting a manuscript the authors agree that the copyright of their article is transferred to the publishers if and when the article is accepted for publication.

Errata: All errata will be corrected promptly in a timely manner.