Letters in Drug Design & Discovery

ISSN: 1570-1808 - Expanded Frequency Online - Now 8 Issues in 2008

Instructions for Authors

Manuscripts should be submitted openly to one of the following Editors without prior invitation at the following addresses:

Submissions from North and South America:
Dr. John Frank Honek
Department of Chemistry
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1
Canada
Tel: +1-519-888-4567 ext. 5817
E-mail: jhonek@uwaterloo.ca

Dr. John L. Neumeyer
Director, Medicinal Chemistry Laboratory
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center
McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School
115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02478
USA
Tel: 617-855-3388
Fax: 617-855-2519
E-mail: jneumeyer@mclean.harvard.edu

Submissions from Europe:
Dr. Sabbir Ahmed
Department of Pharmacy
School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Kingston University, Penrhyn Road
Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT1 2EE
UK
Tel. : +44 (0)20 8547 2000 ext. 62433
Fax. : +44 (0)20 8547 7562
E-mail : S.AHMED@KINGSTON.AC.UK

Submissions from Japan:
Dr. Yoshio Okada
Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Kobe Gakuin University
Nishi-ku, Kobe 651-2180
Japan
Tel: +81-78-974-1551
Fax: +81-78-974-5689
E-mail: okada@pharm.kobegakuin.ac.jp

Submissions from Asia:
Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman, FRS
H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry
University of Karachi, Karachi-75270
Pakistan
Tel: (+92)-21-482-4924, (+92)-21-482-4925
Fax:(+92)-21-461-2073, (+92)-21-497-7491, (+92)-21-497-5781, (+92)-21-481-9018, (+92)-21-481-9019
E-mail: mhej@cyber.net.pk

Letters Length: The published Letter, written in English, can be 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 pages of the journal's format which can be reviewed at the website www.bentham.org/lddd with a word count per page of ca. 900 words.

Manuscript Organization: The manuscript should be divided as: Title page, abstract and the main text. The text may be subdivided further according to the areas to be discussed. The Acknowledgements (if any) and Reference sections must then follow. The first page should contain the title, the author's names (initials and surname only), with an asterisk in front of the name of the principal author.

Conflict of Interest: Financial contributions to the work being reported should be clearly acknowledged, as should any potential conflict of interest.

Abstract: The abstract should not exceed 50 words and it should condense the essential features of the letter article, with the focus on the major advances in the field.

Key Words: Authors must supply up to six key words along with their manuscript.

Text: The main text should begin on a separate page and it may be subdivided into separate sections. The reference numbers should be given in square brackets in the text. Acknowledgements should be kept to a minimum.

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 shows. 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 / Illustrations:

All authors must strictly follow the guidelines below for preparing illustrations for publication in Letters in Drug Design & Discovery- Online.

Editorial Requirements:

The 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 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 to be printed in color.
• Good quality of hardcopy originals is 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:

Scaling/Resolution: Illustrations as well as the text in the figures should be designed in resolution high enough to maintain the legibility even on being viewed at a width of 600 pixels, since this is the default size for an illustration on the Web.

Text within figures should use either Arial or Helvetica font, 10pt (maximum) font size, although Courier may also be used if a monospaced font is required. Select a font point compatible to the size of the graphics.

Whenever possible, submit graphics that do not have to be reduced to fit the standard figure size. Avoid textures and shadings giving a three-dimensional effect to the illustration. 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:
* Color figures should be supplied in CMYK not RGB colors.
* Required resolution for online submission is 600 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.

Formats: For illustrations, the following file formats are acceptable:

• Illustrator
• EPS (preferred format for diagrams)
• PDF (also especially suitable for diagrams)
• PNG (preferred format for photos or images)
• Microsoft Word (version 5 and above; figures must be a single page)
• PowerPoint (figures must be a single page)
• TIFF
• JPEG (conversion should be done using the original file)
• BMP
• CDX (ChemDraw)
• TGF (ISISDraw)

Bentham Science Publishers does not process figures submitted in GIF format.

If the large size of TIFF or EPS figures acts as an obstacle to online submission, authors may find that conversion to JPEG format before submission results in significantly reduced file size and upload time, while retaining acceptable quality. JPEG is a 'lossy' format, however. In order to maintain acceptable image quality, it is recommended that JPEG files are saved at High or Maximum quality.

Files should not be compressed with tools such as Zipit or Stuffit prior to submission as these tools will in any case produce negligible file-size savings for JPEGs and TIFFs, which are already compressed.

Please do not:
1. Supply embedded graphics in your word processor (spreadsheet, presentation) document
2. Supply files that are optimized for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low
3. Supply files that are too low in resolution
4. Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Image Conversion Tools:
There are many software packages, many of them freeware or shareware, capable of converting to and from different graphics formats, including PNG.

Good general tools for image conversion include GraphicConverter on the Macintosh, PaintShop Pro, for Windows, and ImageMagick, which is available on Macintosh, Windows and UNIX platforms.

Note that bitmap images (e.g. screenshots) should not be converted to EPS, since this will result in a much larger file size than the equivalent JPEG, TIFF, PNG or BMP, with no increase in quality. EPS should only be used for images produced by vector-drawing applications such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw. Most vector-drawing applications can be saved in, or exported as, EPS format. In case the images have been originally prepared in an Office application, such as Word or PowerPoint, then the original Office files should be directly uploaded to the site, instead of being converted to JPEG or another format that may be of low quality.

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.

Chemical Structures: Chemical structures MUST be prepared according to the guidelines below.

Structures should be prepared using a suitable drawing program e.g. ChemDraw and provided as separate file, submitted both on disk and in printed formats.

Numbers in bold should identify all chemical structure. If a name is also used to describe the compound, the associated number if required, should be in bold and parenthesis, e.g. “compound (1)”.

Structure Drawing Preferences:

[As according to the ACS style sheet]

Drawing Settings:

Chain angle       120°

Bond spacing    18% of width

Fixed length       14.4 pt (0.500cm, 0.2in)

Bold width          2.0 pt (0.071cm, 0.0278in)

Line width           0.6 pt (0.021cm, 0.0084in)

Margin width       1.6 pt (0.096cm)

Harsh spacing    2.5 pt (0.088cm, 0.0347in)

Text Settings:

Font                    Times New Roman / Helvetica

Size                    10pt

Under the Preference Choose:

Units                    points

Tolerances          3 pixels

Under Page Setup Use:

Paper                  US letter

Scale                  100%

References: For the format of references, see the ACS Style Guide, pp 106-114 Examples:

Journal Reference:
Barton, D.H.R.; Brewster, A.G.; Ley, S.V.; Rosenfield, M.N. J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Commun., 1977, 147, 2356.

Book Reference:
Rahman, A.-U.; Shah, Z. Stereoselective Synthesis in Organic Chemistry, Springer-Verlag: New York, 1993.

Book Chapter Reference:
Wheeler, D.M.S.; Wheeler, M.M. In Studies in Natural Products Chemistry; Atta-ur-Rahman, Ed.; Elsevier Science B. V: Amsterdam, 1994; Vol. 14, pp. 3-46.

Abstracts, unpublished data 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. All authors of referenced papers must be cited and there must be no use of the short hand version of et al. when citing authors. Abbreviations should be defined the first time that they are used in the manuscript and a list of abbreviations should be provided.

Online Manuscript Submission:
Manuscripts must only be submitted online to the Bentham Science Editorial Office. Once the Editor-in-Chief of the journal has accepted your abstract, we would prefer that you submit your full manuscript online via our online submission service available at www.bentham-mps.org or by FTP Submission at www.bentham-ftp.org

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.

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

Reviewing and Promptness of Online Publication: All papers submitted for online publication will be immediately subjected to editorial scrutiny, usually in consultation with members of the Editorial Advisory Board. Authors are encouraged, however, to suggest names of possible referees for their submissions. Every effort will be made to assess the papers quickly and the decision conveyed to the authors normally within two weeks of the receipt of the paper. The papers will be typeset and the proofs dispatched by E-mail to the authors.

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

Language Editing: Manuscripts submitted containing many English typographical errors will not be published. Authors from non-English language countries are advised to use the services of our professional language editing department prior to submitting their manuscript to the Journal. 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 are sent page proofs. To avoid delays in publication, proofs should be checked immediately for typographical errors and returned within 48 hours. Authors will be charged for excessive changes made at the page proof stage.

Reprints: Each first named 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. First named authors may also order an online subscription of the journal at 50% off the normal subscription rate by contacting the subscription department at e-mail: 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$ 1,500 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$ 750 . For more information please contact us at e-mail: openaccess@bentham.org

Copyright: It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to this journal 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.