ISSN 1415-4757 printed version
ISSN 1678-4685 online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Submission of papers

Genetics and Molecular Biology (formerly named Revista Brasileira de Genética/Brazilian Journal of Genetics - ISSN 0100-8455) is published by the Sociedade Brasileira de Genética (Brazilian Society of Genetics).

The Journal considers contributions that present the results of original research in genetics, evolution and related scientific disciplines.

Although Genetics and Molecular Biology is an official publication of the Brazilian Society of Genetics, contributors are not required to be members of the Society.

It is a fundamental condition that submitted manuscripts have not been and will not be published elsewhere. With the acceptance of a manuscript for publication, the publishers acquire full and exclusive copyright for all languages and countries.

Manuscripts considered in conformity with the scope of the journal, judged by the Editor in conjunction with the Editorial Board, are reviewed by the Associate Editor and two or more external reviewers. Acceptance by the Editor is based on the quality of the work as substantial contribution to the field and on the overall presentation of the manuscript.

1. Manuscripts should be submitted to:

Angela M. Vianna-Morgante, Editor-in-Chief
Genetics and Molecular Biology

2. A submission package sent to the Editorial Office must contain:

a) The manuscript that must be submitted by the Corresponding Author. This is the person who will also check the page proofs, and arranges for the payment that may incur during the editorial process.

b) An accompanying cover letter, signed by the corresponding author, stating that the data have not being published and are not under consideration elsewhere, and that all authors have approved the submission of the manuscript. It must also inform the e-mail addresses of all other authors so that they can be contacted by the Editorial Office for confirmation of the submission. Possible conflicts of interest (e.g. due to funding, consultancies) must be disclosed.

c) An electronic copy of the text, tables and figures, including supplementary material to be published online only. Formats for text are Word or RTF in Windows platform. Images in TIFF or JPEG formats should be sent in separate files (For Figures, see detailed instructions in 3.1.h).

d) Manuscripts including photos or any other identifiable data of human subjects must be accompanied by a copy of the signed consent by the individual or his/her guardian.

Failure to adhere to these guidelines can delay the handling of your contribution and manuscripts may be returned before being reviewed.

3. Categories of Contribution
3.1. Research Articles

Manuscripts must be written in English in double-spaced, 12-point type throughout; formatted to A4 paper with 2.5 cm margins; marked with consecutive line and page numbers, beginning with the cover page.

The following elements must start on a new page and be ordered as they are listed below:

a) The title page must contain: a concise and informative title; the authors' names (first name at full length); the authors' institutional affiliation, including department, institution, city, state or province and country; different affiliations indicated with superscript Arabic numbers; a short running title of about 35 characters, including spaces; up to five key words; the corresponding author's name, postal address, phone and fax numbers and email address.

b) The Abstract must be a single paragraph that does not exceed 200 words and summarizes the main results and conclusions of the study. It should not contain references.

c) The text must be as succinct as possible. Text citations: articles should be referred to by authors' surnames and date of publication; citations with two authors must include both names; in citations with three or more authors, name the first author and use et al. List two or more references in the same citation in chronological order, separated by semi-colons. When two or more works in a citation were published in the same year, list them alphabetically by the first author surname. For two or more works by the same author(s) in a citation, list them chronologically, with the years separated by commas. (Example: Freire-Maia et al., 1966a, 1966b, 2000). Only articles that are published or in press should be cited. In the case of personal communications or unpublished results, all contributors must be listed by initials and last name (et al. should not be used). Numbers: In the text, numbers nine or less must be written out except as part of a date, a fraction or decimal, a percentage, or a unit of measurement. Use Arabic numerals for numbers larger than nine. Binomial Names: Latin names of genera, species and infraspecific taxa must be printed in italics; names of orders and families should appear in the Title and also when first mentioned in the text. URLs for programs, data or other sources should be listed in the Internet Resources Section, immediately after the References Section, not in the text.

The text includes the following elements:

Introduction - Description of the background that led to the study.

Material (or Subjects) and Methods - Details relevant to the conduct of the study. Statistical methods should be explained at the end of this section.

Results - Undue repetition in text and tables should be avoided. Comment on significance of results is appropriate but broader discussion should be part of the Discussion section.

Discussion - The findings of the study should be placed in context of relevant published data. Ideas presented in other publications should not be discussed solely to make an exhaustive presentation.

Some manuscripts may require different formats appropriate to their content.

d) The Acknowledgments must be a single paragraph that immediately follows the discussion and includes references to grant support.

e) The References Section: references must be ordered alphabetically by the first author surname; references with the same first author should be ordered as follows: first, as single author in chronological order; next, with only one more co-author in alphabetical order by the second author; and finally followed by references with more than two co-authors, in chronological order, independent of the second author surnames. In references with more than 10 authors only the first ten should be listed, followed by et al. Use standard abbreviations for journal titles as suggested byNCBI (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/journals/).

Only articles that are published or in press should be included in this section. Works submitted for publication but not yet accepted, personal communications and unpublished data must be cited within the text. "Personal communication" refers to individuals other than the authors of the manuscript being submitted; "unpublished data" refers to data produced by at least one of the authors of the manuscript being submitted. Works of restricted circulation (e.g., theses not available in public databases, congress abstracts not published in regular journals or public databases) should not be listed in this section.

Sample journal article citation:
Breuer ME and Pavan C (1955) Behaviour of polytene chromosomes of Rhynchosciara angelae at different stages of larval development. Chromosoma 7:371-386.

Yonenaga-Yassuda Y, Rodrigues MT and Pellegrino KCM (2005) Chromosomal banding patterns in the eyelid-less microteiid lizard radiation: The X1X1X2X2:X1X2Y sex chromosome system in Calyptommatus and the karyotypes of Psilophtalmus and Tretioscincus (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae). Genet Mol Biol 28:700-709.

Sample book citation:
Dobzhansky T (1951) Genetics and Origin of Species. 3rd edition. Columbia University Press, New York, 364 pp.

Sample chapter-in-book citation:
Crawford DC and Howard-Peebles PN (2005) Fragile X: From cytogenetics to molecular genetics. In: Gersen SL and Keagle MB (eds) The Principles of Clinical Cytogenetics. 2nd edition. Humana Press, New Jersey, pp 495-513.

Sample electronic article citation:
Simin K, Wu H, Lu L, Pinkel D, Albertson D, Cardiff RD and Van Dyke T (2004) pRb inactivation in mammary cells reveals common mechanisms for tumor initiation and progression in divergent epithelia. Plos Biol 2:194-205. http://www.plosbiology.org.

f) Internet Resources Section: this section should contain a list of URLs referring to data presented in the text, software programs and other Internet resources used during data processing. Date of consultation must be stated.

Sample Internet resource citation:
Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/OMIM (September 4, 2005) LEM Software, http://dir.niehs.nih.gov/dirbb/weinbergfiles/hybrid_design.htm

LEM Software, http://dir.niehs.nih.gov/dirbb/weinbergfiles/hybrid_design.htm (September 4, 2005)

g) Tables must be in Word format prepared with table tool, inserted at the end of the main text file, each table starting on a new page. A concise title should be provided above the table. Tables must be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Each column must have a title in the box head. Footnotes typed directly below the table should be indicated in lowercase superscript numbers.

h) Figures must be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Images should be in TIFF or JPEG format and provided in separate files. Identify each illustration by the first author name and the number of the respective figure. Figures in Word, PowerPoint or Excel format cannot be published. Only sequence data can be presented in Word format. Journal quality reproduction will require grayscale resolution yielding 300 dpi, color figures should be at 600 dpi. These resolutions refer to the output size of the file; if it is anticipated that images will be enlarged or reduced, the resolutions should be adjusted accordingly. Figures composed of several elements should be sent as a single panel, obeying the print size definitions of the journal (single or two columns width). Scanned figures should not be submitted. Color illustrations can be accepted.
Figure legends must be included in the main text file and should be typed on a new page that immediately follows the tables.

i) Nomenclature should adhere to current international standards.

j) Sequences may appear in text or in figure. DNA, RNA and protein sequences equal to or greater than 50 units must be entered into public databases. The accession number must be provided and released to the general public together with publication of the article.

k) Data access: reference should be made to availability of detailed data and materials used for reported studies.

l) Ethical issues: reports of experiments on live vertebrates must include a statement that the institutional review board approved the work and the protocol number must be provided. For experiments involving human subjects, authors must also include a statement that informed consent was obtained from all subjects. If photos or any other identifiable data are included, a copy of the signed consent must accompany the manuscript.

m) Supplementary Material: Data that the authors consider of importance for completeness of a study, but which are too extensive to be included in the published version, can be submitted as Supplementary Material. This material will be made available together with the electronic version. In case a manuscript contains such material, it should be appropriately identified within the text file. Supplementary material in tables should be identified as Table S1, Table S2, etc., in case of figures, they should be named accordingly, Figure S1, Figure S2. For online access, Supplementary material should be in PDF, JPEG or GIFF formats. In addition, a list of this material should be presented at the end of the manuscript text file, containing the following statement: Supplementary material - the following online material is available for this article:

- Table S1 < short title >
- Figure S1 - < short title >

3.2 Short Communications
Present brief observations that do not warrant full-length articles. They should not be considered preliminary communications. They should be 15 or fewer typed pages in double spaced 12-point type, including literature cited. They should include an Abstract no longer than five percent of the paper's length and no further subdivision with introduction, material and methods, results and discussion in a single section. Up to to four items (tables and/or figures) may be submitted. The title page and reference section format is that of full-length article.

3.3 Letters to the Editor
Relate or respond to recent published items in the journal. Discussions of political, social and ethical issues of interest to geneticists are also welcome in this form.

3.4 Review Articles
Review Articles are welcome. The Editor should be contacted prior to submission.

3.5 Book Reviews
Publishers are invited to submit books on Genetics, Evolution and related disciplines, for review in the journal. Aspiring reviewers may propose writing a review.

3.6 History, Story and Memories
Accounts on historical aspects of Genetics relating to Brazil.

4. Proofs and Copyright Transfer
Page proofs will be sent to the corresponding author. Changes made to page proofs, apart from printer’s errors, will be charged to the authors. Notes added in proof require Editorial approval. A form of consent to publish and transfer of copyright will have to be signed by the corresponding author, also on behalf of any co-authors.

5. Reprints
Reprints are free of charge and provided as a pdf-file.