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Author Guidelines

Immunology publishes papers on fundamental aspects of immunology including: cellular immunology; innate immunity; molecular immunology; antigen presentation; lymphocyte migration; immunogenetics; imaging at the molecular, cellular or whole animal level; protein crystallography; plasmon resonance; in silico modeling; and, knockout and knock-in studies. Original articles describing mechanistic insights to the immune system are particularly welcome. The journal also publishes commissioned review articles on subjects of topical interest to immunologists. The editors are also prepared to consider unsolicited review suggestions in the form of submitted abstracts. Immunology is essential reading for workers in all areas of immunological research. Please note that excessively long manuscripts and unnecessary data will slow down the review process. Papers will be accepted for publication provided they meet these requirements and provided they have not been and will not be published elsewhere, in whole or in part.

 

Pre-submission English-language editing. Authors for whom English is a second language may choose to have their manuscript professionally edited before submission to improve the English. English-language editing will a) improve grammar, spelling, and punctuation; b) improve clarity and resolve any ambiguity caused by poor phrasing and c) improve word choice and ensure that the tone of the language is appropriate for an academic journal. A list of independent suppliers of editing services can be found at www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor/english_language.asp. All services are paid for and arranged by the author, and use of one of these services does not guarantee acceptance or preference for publication.

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Formatting your manuscript. Manuscripts should be formatted with double spacing using a general font such as Times Roman/New Roman, Arial or Helvetica throughout; preferably with a 3-cm margin (Far Eastern/Asian fonts may create problems during PDF conversion). When adding symbols, e.g. Greek characters, the degree symbol etc. you should use the Symbol font. Alternatively, you may wish to write out any unusual characters/symbols in full. The manuscript should be prefaced by a covering page, bearing the full title of the article; a short title; name, postal and e-mail address of the corresponding author (together with the name of the institute where the work was done), and also the email address of the senior author. The paper should be divided into the following parts, in the order indicated. (1) Summary/abstract: this should not be longer than 250 words (for tips on how to optimize your abstract for search engines go to http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor/seo.asp). (2) Introduction: this should give the reasons for doing the work, but not an extensive review of previous work in the area. (3) Materials and Methods: these should be concise but sufficient detail must be included to allow the work to be repeated; where appropriate, reference to previously published methodology should be made in place of experimental detail. (4) Results: these should be as concise as possible; the use of tables and figures to illustrate the same results will only rarely be allowed. (5) Discussion: this section must be used for discussion of the significance of the results only, not for reiteration of results. (6) Acknowledgments: must also include details of financial support. (7) References: see below. The author should keep a copy of his/her manuscript. The Editor reserves the right to make literary corrections. The Editor’s decision concerning acceptance or rejection will normally be made approximately 30 days after receipt of the manuscript. Appeals regarding decisions made by the Editors regarding the suitability of manuscripts for publication should be directed to the Editors. Accepted papers will normally be published online within 4–6 weeks and in print within 2 months.

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References. We recommend the use of a tool such as EndNote or Reference Manager for reference management and formatting. EndNote reference styles can be searched for here: http://www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp. Reference Manager reference styles can be searched for here: http://www.refman.com/support/rmstyles.asp. References should be numbered sequentially as they appear in the text; those cited in figure legends and tables should be numbered according to the position of the citation of the figure or table in the text. In the text, use superscripted numbers (with no brackets) for references, with the reference number appearing outside punctuation, but inside parentheses. The numerical list of references to articles and papers at the end of the paper should show the full title of the paper with first and last page numbers. The journal name should be abbreviated according to the system adopted by IndexMedicus. In papers with 8 authors or less, all author names should be listed. In papers with more than 8 authors, please list the first three names followed by et al. For example:
Oyaizu N, Adachi Y, Hashimoto F, McCloskey TW, Hosaka N, Kayagaki N, Yagita H, Pahwa S. Monocytes express Fas ligand upon CD4 cross-linking and induce CD4+T cells apoptosis: a possible mechanism of bystander cell death in HIV infection. J Immunol 1997; 158:2456–63.
Cheng J, Zhou T, Liu C et al. Protection from Fas-mediated apoptosis by a soluble form of the Fas molecule. Science 1994; 263:1759–62.
When the reference is to a book, the following forms should be used:
Virella G, Goust JM, Fudenberg HH. Introduction to Medical Immunology, 2nd edn. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1990.
Specific chapter/section in book:
Kearse KP, Kaplan AM, Cohen DA. Role of cell surface glycoproteins in the formation of T-cell: APC conjugates. In: Schook LB, Tew JG, eds. Antigen Presenting Cells: Diversity, Differentiation, and Regulation. New York: Alan R. Liss, 1988:221–34.
Only papers that have been published or accepted for publication (in press) should be listed in the references. Unpublished observations and personal communications should be cited as such in the text only. Work listed as ‘in press’ in the reference list should include the target journal.

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Word 2007. Authors please note that Word 2007 is not yet compatible with journal production systems. Unfortunately, the journal cannot accept Microsoft Word 2007 documents until such time as a stable production version is released. Please use Word’s ‘Save As’ option to save your document as an older (.doc) file type.

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Figures and diagrams should be referred to as ‘Figs’ and given Arabic numbers. Although low-res image files embedded within the manuscript document are acceptable for review purposes, once your article is accepted it will be necessary to supply high-quality versions. For production purposes, it is best if you supply digital versions of your figures in TIFF or EPS format; however it is also possible to use Illustrator or Photoshop files saved in the format “.eps” or “.tif”. Other formats such as Powerpoint or JPG may be acceptable depending on the quality. If you are unable to provide these specified formats, please provide the figures in as many different file formats as possible. As a guide, the ideal figure resolution/specification for various types of original figures, at their final published size, is as follows:
Line art – minimum 600 dpi, or a vector image with no bitmapped elements.
Halftone (i.e. both B/W and colour photographs) – minimum 300 dpi.
Line and tone (line art and halftone combined) – minimum 600 dpi.
E.g. a photograph (halftone) that will be printed at single column width, 3 inches across, should have ³900 pixels across at 1:1 resolution (this means that the figure should not be created at a smaller size and simply enlarged, it must be created at this size). As a guide, if the electronic files are viewed at 400% on the computer screen and they look pixellated in any way then they will probably not be of sufficient quality for printing.
Photographs should be well contrasted on glossy paper, and be about the same size as the finished block final published image would be. Masking instructions or lettering, arrows etc., can, if necessary be indicated on an overlay. Paper printouts are acceptable for line diagrams providing that the quality is good: the lines should be solid, the text in a standard font and not blurred, and the overall image should be sharp and clear. The author’s name, manuscript number and figure number should be given on the back of each hardcopy figure. Where there is any possible doubt as to the orientation of an illustration, the top should be marked with an arrow.
Avoid using tints where possible: if they are essential to the understanding of the figure, try to make them coarse.
Detailed information on our digital illustration standards is available at: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/authors/digill.asp
Ideally, if authors have doubts about the quality of electronic figures, they should also send high-quality printed versions of the figures to the editorial office once their manuscript has been found to be acceptable for publication. Manuscripts will NOT BE ACCEPTED and sent to the publishers until suitable quality productions files/good quality hard copies of the figures have been received by the Editorial Office.
Legends should be separate from the figures and included in the main text of the manuscript. A statement of magnification should be included for drawings and photographs. In the full-text on-line version of the journal, figure legends may be truncated in abbreviated links to the full-screen version. Therefore, the first 100 characters of any legend should inform the reader of the key aspects of the figure.

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Colour artwork. Reproducing artwork in colour in the print journal incurs a cost. Authors will be expected to pay for all aspects of the colour reproduction and should complete a colour-work agreement form after acceptance (www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/SN_Sub2000_F_CoW.pdf). However, Immunology offers free colour reproduction for all figures within a given manuscript, if a figure from that manuscript is chosen for the front cover image. Alternatively, in the event that an author is unable to cover the costs of reproducing colour figures in colour in the print version of the journal, Immunology also offers authors the opportunity to reproduce colour figures in colour for free in the online version of the article (they will still appear in black and white in the print version). For those authors whose papers were submitted with colour figures; once your manuscript has been accepted for publication, we strongly encourage you to complete and return the colour work agreement form – even if you have decided to present your figures in black & white in the published version. The form allows you to specify black & white reproduction for all of your figures, and thus streamlines the administration associated with article processing, and reduces the possibility of error. The form, of course, also allows you to specify 'colour in print' for all, or selected, images (and indicates the associated costs); as well as free 'online only' colour reproduction for all images. If an author wishes to take advantage of the free colour-on-the-web service, or has any other questions relating to colour artwork, they should liaise with the Editorial Office (s.tobin@immunology.org) to ensure that any necessary documentation is completed satisfactorily for the Publisher.

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Tables should be provided as one table per page, and should be given Arabic numbering. The approximate position in the text should be indicated. Units should appear in parentheses in the column headings, but not in the body of the table. Both figures and tables should be comprehensible without reference to the text.

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Ethical issues. If the work involves experimentation on living animals, authors must provide evidence that it was performed in accordance with local ethical guidelines. In the case of work involving human beings, evidence must be provided that it was performed with the approval of the local ethical committee.

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Abbreviations. The journal recognizes the abbreviations given in the Instructions to Authors Biochemical Journal. Abbreviations not listed there may be used for unwieldy terms, when these occur frequently. These abbreviations and their meanings should be listed on a separate page and the list will appear as a footnote on the first page of the article.

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CD nomenclature to be used for all cell differentiation antigens, with or without alternative names which give information about the molecule’s function. Complement receptors should be named CR1 etc., followed by the correct CD terminology in parentheses: CR1 (CD35); CR2 (CD21); CR3 (CDIIb, CD18): CR4 (CDIIc, CD18).

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SI units. The journal recognises the adoption of the Système International d’Unitès (SI units) proposed in Units, Symbols and Abbreviations (1972), published by the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London, W1M 8AE. Other abbreviations should be used only for unwieldy names and only when they occur frequently. Where such non-standard abbreviations are used, a glossary should be provided.

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Protein sequences determined by direct sequencing must be submitted to SWISSPROT (European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hixton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK; E-mail: data subs@ebi.ac.uk), who do not provide accession numbers in advance for protein sequences that are the result of translation of nucleic acid sequences. These translations will automatically be forwarded from the EMBL nucleotide database and are assigned SWISS-PROT accession numbers on incorporation into TrEMBL. Results from characterization experiments should also be submitted to SWISS-PROT (update@ebi.ac.uk).

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Required forms. Upon submission, every author is required to complete the author’s declaration form (www.blackwellpublishing.com/
pdf/imm_author_declaration_online.pdf). In addition, once accepted, papers become copyright of Blackwell Publishers and authors are then required to complete an exclusive licence form (www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/ELF_IMM.pdf ). Copyright licensing is a condition of publication and papers will not be passed to the publisher for production unless copyright has been licensed (papers subject to government or Crown copyright are exempt from this requirement. Note that a completed colour-work agreement form (www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/SN_Sub2000_F_CoW.pdf), as referred to in the relevant section above, will also be required after acceptance.

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Online submission. All manuscripts should be submitted online as this enables the Editorial Office to process manuscripts in the most efficient way. New manuscripts should be submitted as a single Word/RTF/PDF file containing the complete manuscript i.e. text, tables and figures. If your manuscript is subsequently found to be acceptable for publication, separate figure files of appropriate quality will be required for production purposes, as detailed in the section related to figures and diagrams above. Papers are accepted on the understanding that all of the material submitted is the property of the authors (except where due acknowledgement is given), and that no substantial part has been, or will be, published elsewhere. Papers involving human subjects should receive local ethical approval and the informed consent of all subjects should be obtained. Experiments involving animals should be conducted in accordance with the relevant local legislation. Once papers have been accepted for publication they become the copyright of the Journal. To submit, go to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/imm and follow the step-by-step instructions provided. Please note that it is the corresponding author’s Manuscript Central Account that should be used for submission. If you require any help during the submission process you can use the online help facility provided, contact the Manuscript Central support team (support@ScholarOne.com) or contact the Immunology Editorial Office (Sharon Tobin: s.tobin@immunology.org). Word and RTF files with the figures and tables inserted can be uploaded to Manuscript Central, as can PDF files containing the complete manuscript. Word/RTF files will be converted to a PDF upon upload to the system and it is the PDF version that will be used for review. Users of Macintosh computers should ensure that the file extension name (e.g. DOC or RTF) is present to ensure conversion to PDF files. Please ensure that the figures inserted into the Word/RTF file or included in the PDF are of suitable quality for review and that each figure is labelled with a figure number (Figure 1, Figure 2 etc). During submission, you can suggest potential reviewers for your manuscript. You should not propose people that are working in your institution or close collaborators elsewhere. If you refer to unpublished papers, you should upload these as additional files that are available for review.

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Revised manuscripts should be submitted online at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/imm in two formats:
(i) A file for re-review - This should be a single file containing the text, all figures and all tables even if these were not altered during revision. All alterations made to the manuscript should be UNDERLINED/HIGHLIGHTED as this makes it easier for the referees and editors to assess the changes made. Single Word or RTF files with the figures and tables inserted can be uploaded during re-submission, as can single PDF files containing the complete manuscript as for submission of the original manuscript.
(ii) Files for production - In order to speed publication, you should also upload separate text and figure files for production. The text file should be a single file that contains: the text of the manuscript with all the highlighting/underlining removed; the references; tables; and figure legends. It should be in a word-processed, not PDF, format because PDF files cannot be used for production. The figures should NOT be included in this file as this can lead to errors during production. For instructions regarding the figure formats/file quality that are suitable for uploading please see the section dealing with figures and diagrams.

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Postal submission. If you are unable to submit your manuscript online you should contact the editorial office (s.tobin@immunology.org) for advice. If necessary, you can send four complete copies of the text, tables and figures, along with a disk containing a word-processed file of the manuscript to:

Immunology Editorial Office
British Society for Immunology
Vintage House
37 Albert Embankment
London
SE1 7TL
UK

Please ensure that the disk version is identical to the hard copy. All revisions and corrections to the paper (including those to the references) should be made on the disk, so that the final version of the hard copy and the disk are identical. Do not use the carriage return (enter) at the end of lines within a paragraph. Turn the hyphenation option off. Save figures on disk in as many different formats as are available to you (see the instructions in 'Figures and tables’ above). Always enclose a hard copy of figures. The size and density of the disk, the nature of the software system and of the operating system (MS-DOS, CPM, etc.) must be indicated. The preferred system for this Journal is IBM compatible, using Word, but any system and disk can be handled. The filenames used must also be supplied with the disk, which itself should be labelled with the name of the first author and the first three words of the Title. Any special characters used (e.g. to indicate Greek letters, etc.) must be indicated separately. Disks will not be returned to authors. Please note that postal submissions will take longer to process than those manuscripts submitted online.

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Tracking an article through to publication. Online production tracking is now available for your article through Blackwell's Author Services. Author Services enables authors to track their article – once it has been accepted – through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated emails at key stages of production. The author will receive an email with a unique link that enables them to register and have their article automatically added to the system. Please ensure that a complete email address is provided when submitting the manuscript. Visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.

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Review articles Immunology published review articles in all topical areas of immunological research. These are generally commissioned, but the Editor-in-Chief also welcomes unsolicited reviews and proposals. Reviews are typically between 2,500 and 3,500 words long, and generally include up to 100 references (although precise length will be dependent upon context). The inclusion of Figures and Tables is requested, with a maximum limit of four of each. For reviews colour figures may be included at no additional charge for print reproduction. Completed reviews will be assessed by an editor and/or referee prior to acceptance and publication and revisions may be requested. Please contact the Editorial Office (s.tobin@immunology.org) for further information.

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OnlineOpen is a pay-to-publish service from Blackwell that offers authors whose papers are accepted for publication the opportunity to pay up-front for their manuscript to become open access (i.e. free for all to view and download) via the Online Journal website. Each OnlineOpen article will be subject to a one-off fee of £1300 (equivalent to $2600) to be met by, or on behalf of, the Author in advance of publication. Upon online publication, the article (both full-text and PDF versions) will be available to all for viewing and download free of charge. The print version of the article will also be branded as OnlineOpen and will draw attention to the fact that the paper can be downloaded for free via the Online Journal service. Any authors wishing to send their paper OnlineOpen will be required to complete the combined payment and copyright licence form available from our website at: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/OOF_IMM.pdf
(Please note this form is for use with OnlineOpen material ONLY.) Once completed, this form should be sent to the Editorial Office, along with the rest of the manuscript materials, at the time of acceptance or as soon as possible after that (preferably within 24 hours to avoid any delays in processing). Prior to acceptance there is no requirement to inform the Editorial Office that you intend to publish your paper OnlineOpen if you do not wish to.

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Page proofs will be submitted to the contributors for minor corrections. Major alterations to the text will not be accepted. Proofs will be sent via e-mail as an Acrobat PDF (portable document format) file. The e-mail server must be able to accept attachments up to 4 MB in size. Acrobat Reader will be required in order to read this file. This software can be downloaded (free of charge) from the following website: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. This will enable the file to be opened, read on screen, and printed out in order for any corrections to be added. Further instructions will be sent with the proof. Proofs will be posted if no e-mail address is available; in your absence, please arrange for a colleague to access your e-mail to retrieve the proofs.

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Offprints. Authors will be provided with electronic offprints of their paper. Paper offprints may be ordered at prices quoted on the order form that accompanies proofs, provided that the form is returned with the proofs. The cost increases if the order form arrives too late for the main print run. Offprints are normally dispatched within three weeks of publication of the issue in which the paper appears. Please contact the publisher if offprints do not arrive: however, please note that offprints are sent by surface mail, so overseas orders may take up to six weeks to arrive. Electronic offprints are sent to the corresponding author at his or her first email address on the title page of the paper, unless advised otherwise; therefore please ensure that the name, address and email of the receiving author are clearly indicated on the manuscript title page if he or she is not the first author of the paper.

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OnlineEarly. Immunology is covered by Blackwell Publishing’s OnlineEarly service. OnlineEarly are complete full-text articles published online in advance of their publication in a printed issue. Articles are therefore available to read and reference. OnlineEarly articles are complete and final and include the authors’ final corrections. Because they are in finalised form, no changes can be made after online publication. The nature of OnlineEarly articles means that they do not yet have volume, issue or page numbers, so OnlineEarly articles cannot be cited in the traditional way. They are therefore given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which allows the article to be cited and tracked before it is allocated to an issue. After print publication, the DOI remains valid and can continue to be used to cite and access the article. More information about DOIs can be found on the following web site: http://www.doi.org.

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