Review Articles are published regularly as Perspectives in Experimental Botany. Opinion papers that express a particular point of view on a controversial topic relevant to any aspect of plant science are also considered. Outlines of proposed reviews and opinions should be submitted to j.exp.bot@lancaster.ac.uk for consideration before preparation of a full manuscript.

Special Issues containing reviews and occasionally one or two primary papers in a specified subject area are published at intervals. Reviews should not be encyclopaedic, will ideally contain the author's views and be pitched at a level that will appeal to the non-specialist as well as those who work in the field. If primary papers are submitted for a Special Issue, then the Introduction should be longer than usual to help orientate the reader within the field, and the Discussion should also help to explain the context of the work.

Gene Notes. Please note that Gene Notes are no longer considered for publication.
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All manuscripts should be submitted via Bench>Press, our online manuscript submission and review system. If you are unable to submit in this way please contact the editorial office. To submit online please go to http://submit-jxb.oxfordjournals.org/ and follow the instructions for creating an account (or sign in) and submitting your manuscript. Before submitting your manuscript please read and follow the Journal’s guidelines for presentation.

If you are a first time user of the ‘Bench>Press system’ please click on ‘Create an account’ and register following the website’s instructions. If you are already registered with JXB Bench>Press, please sign in by using your e-mail as your username, and your password. If you have forgotten your password, you can obtain a new one by clicking on lost password. Here you will be prompted to enter your e-mail address. The next page will ask you your security question. After entering your security question, a new password will be e-mailed to you (you can always change a password on your Personal Information page).

After you have logged in, please enter the ‘Author Area’ and select ‘Submit a new manuscript’. Fill in all the required fields.

1. Manuscript metadata: Number of authors, article type, title, running title, key words, abstract, covering letter, submission agreement, and suggested editors. You are required to suggest three potential reviewers. You can also exclude reviewers, if so, please state your reasons in the covering letter. In both cases please provide as much information as possible. 2. Author(s) information: Please enter the name, institution, and e-mail for each author in the order they appear on the manuscript. 3. File upload metadata: number of images and supplementary files that you will upload, which are not included in the manuscript file. Please fill in all the required fields: number of pages and figures, number of colour and black and white figures, number of tables. 4. Upload your file(s): a single Word or .PDF file with tables and figures included is the preferred format. Please note that before creating your .PDF file, fonts (Asian, Cyrillic, Eastern European, and Middle Eastern) should be embedded in the document. Embedding ensures that all readers can view the document in any system. Please embed all fonts even if you think you have not used any special fonts. They are often left in the original Word document or may occur in graphics and may not even be visible (see Acrobat Help: ‘Embedding Fonts’). Alternatively, if tables are uploaded separately, these should be Word or PDF. If figures are not included in the text, they should be submitted as .JPEG, .TIFF or .GIF, and should be

If reference is made to a paper ‘in press’, a proof of this should also be submitted. If any material from other publications is included, it should be clearly referenced and copyright permission sought before submission. Please see section ‘Permission to reproduce figures’.

Abbreviations and their explanation should be composed in a list. Standard chemical symbols may be used in the text where desirable in the interests of conciseness. For long chemical names and other cumbersome terms, widely accepted abbreviations may be used in the text (e.g. ATP, DNA); the list of standard abbreviations published by The Biochemical Journal (http://www.biochemj.org/bj/bji2a.htm is an acceptable guide. Abbreviations for the names of less common compounds may be used, but the full term should be given on first mention. It is confusing and unnecessary to use abbreviations for common English words (e.g. L for light).

Numbers up to ten should be spelled out in the text except when referring to measurements. Numbers higher than ten are to be represented as numerals except at the beginning of a sentence. Fractions are to be expressed as decimals.

Dates should be cited thus: 7 June 2001 and the 24 hour clock should be used. Back to Contents

The complete scientific name (genus, species, and authority, and cultivar where appropriate) must be cited for every organism at the first mention. The generic name should be abbreviated to the initial thereafter, except where intervening references to other genera with the same initial could cause confusion. If vernacular names are employed, they must be accompanied by the correct scientific name on first use. Back to Contents

The metric system is adopted as standard. The system of units known as ‘SI’ should be used. If non-standard abbreviations must be used they should be defined in the text. Units of measurement should be spelled out except when preceded by a numeral, when they should be abbreviated in the standard form: g, mg, cm3, etc. and not followed by full stops. Use negative exponents to indicate units in the denominator (i.e. mmol m-2 s-1). Back to Contents

Follow Chemical Abstracts and its indexes for chemical names. The IUPAC and IUBMB recommendations on chemical, biochemical, and molecular biology nomenclature should be followed for amino acids, peptides, enzymes, nucleic acids, polynucleotides, carbohydrates, and lipids (see http://www.chem.qmw.ac.uk/iupac and /iubmb).

Nomenclature for genes and proteins must follow international standards. It is important to differentiate between genes and proteins. Italics is a standard for genes, so all gene symbols and loci should be in italics and capitalization as it applies for each organism's standard nomenclature format, in text, tables, and figures. Proteins should appear in Roman type. Nomenclature conventions differ amongst species, please follow them accordingly.

Arabidopsis: http://www.arabidopsis.org/portals/nomenclature/guidelines.jsp

Maize: http://www.maizegdb.org/maize_nomenclature.php

Rice: http://www.gramene.org/documentation/nomenclature/rice_gene_nomen.pdf

Tomato: http://tgrc.ucdavis.edu/

Wheat: http://www.k-state.edu/wgrc/

Deposition of sequence data (proteins or nucleotides), array data, molecular interaction data, and any other data where there is a publicly held database is required before publication of the manuscript; and the database accession number must be given in the manuscript (Materials and methods). Appropriate databases for protein and nucleic acid sequences are: EMBL; GenBank, or the Protein Data Bank.

Microarray Gene Expression Data should be MIAME compliant; and data should be deposited in a public repository such as ArrayExpress and GEO. Back to Contents

If equations require more than one level of subscript or superscript, please use either ‘Microsoft Equation Editor’ or ‘Math Type’. If anything else is used, the equation has to be re-typed which makes it vulnerable to errors. Back to Contents

Tables should be on a separate page, and should be numbered in Arabic numerals with a concise and descriptive legend at the head. They should be cited in the text in a sequential order. Please create tables in Word using the ‘table’ feature and include them in the text file. Back to Contents

To ensure that reviewers, editors, and readers can understand your figures please follow the recommendations to make them colourblind friendly (see http://jfly.iam.u-tokyo.ac.jp/color/) - In the fluorescent double-staining micrographs, DNA chips, etc, do not use the combination of red and green. Use magenta (purple) and green instead. - For micrographs with three or more channels, in addition, show either a greyscale picture of each channel or the combination of the two most important channels in magenta and green. - For graphs and line drawings, label elements of the graph on the graph itself rather than making a separate colour-coded key, since matching the same colours in distant places is extremely difficult. - Do not convey information in colour only. Show difference both in colour and shape (solid and dotted lines, different symbols, various hatching, etc.). Red does not appear as a bright and vivid colour. Avoid using red characters on a dark background.

Colour publication: The charges for colour publication in print are currently £200 per colour page. Reviews, focus papers and special issue papers are exempt from colour charges, but colour should be essential for the scientific understanding.

Authors of manuscripts submitted after April 1st 2008 can choose to have their figures published in colour in the online version of the article for free, while the print version will be published in black and white. The use of online-only colour will be limited to those figures which reproduce adequately in both greyscale and colour. Authors who wish to have their figures in colour both online and in print will be charged as specified above. Please consider these options carefully at the time of submission. The online system will ask you to select these options for each colour figure. If a figure is going to be published in colour online but not in print it is essential that no reference to colour is made in the legend or within the text of the manuscript that refers to the figure. The figure files for colour online-only should be supplied in CMYK. Authors will receive the proofs according to the print version of the manuscript.

Figure legends should be provided on a separate page and included in the text file. Each legend should contain sufficient explanation to be meaningful without cross-referencing. A scale of the original should be included in the legend unless already indicated in the picture. A description of the symbols used in the figures should be written out in full. (Please do not include the character symbol in the legend.) Please note that figure legends may be used by search engines for figure searches.

Cover illustrations: authors are encouraged to submit interesting images for a potential issue cover. Illustrations may be taken from the article, or be closely related to it, and they should be original. The potential cover illustration figure(s) must be supplied in electronic format as .TIFF, and resolution must be above 300 dpi at publication size. The image size is 91×285 mm. Please provide a detailed legend and credit information. A short concise caption may also be provided to appear on the front cover. Authors may submit a potential cover illustration at the time of submission or at a later stage during the reviewing process via e-mail (j.exp.bot@lancaster.ac.uk). In this latter case please provide your manuscript number and title and your address.

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Authors should check the supplementary data carefully as this information is not professionally copy edited or proofread. Back to contents

LITERATURE CITATION

The accuracy of the references and citation information is the responsibility of the authors. Please be aware that, if citation information is incomplete or inaccurate, links on the online journal will not work.

Citations in the text should have the authors immediately followed by the date to facilitate the electronic linkages which are available on-line, for example: (Shen and Ma, 2001) or Shen and Ma (2001). If several papers by the same author in the same year are cited, they should be lettered in sequence (2000a, b), etc. When papers are by more than two authors they should be cited in the text: (Shen et al., 2001). The list of literature must be typed single-spaced throughout and with a single line space between each citation. References should be thoroughly checked before submission. If the list is not in the correct form it will be returned to the author for amendment and publication of the paper may be delayed. In the list, references must be placed in alphabetical order without serial numbering. The following standard form of citation should be used, including the title of each paper or book:

Jiang Q, Gresshoff PM. 1993. Lotus japonicus: a model plant for structure–function analysis in nodulation and nitrogen fixation. In: Gresshoff PM, ed. Current topics of plant molecular biology, Vol. II. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 97––110.

N'tchobo H. 1998. Sucrose unloading in tomato fruits. II. Subcellular distribution of acid invertase and possible roles in sucrose turnover and hexose storage in tomato fruit. PhD thesis, Laval University, Canada, 87–118.

Richard C, Granier D, Inzé D, De Veylder L. 2001. Analysis of cell division parameters and cell cycle gene expression during the cultivation of Arabidopsis thaliana cell suspensions. Journal of Experimental Botany 52, 1625–1633.

Only papers published or in press should be cited in the literature list. Unpublished results, including submitted manuscripts and those in preparation, should be cited as unpublished in the text. Journal titles should not be abbreviated but be given in full. Citation of articles from e-journals and journal articles published ahead of print should have the author names, year, manuscript title, journal title followed by the assigned digital object identifier (DOI) or the appropriate URL:

Parry MAJ, Andralojc PJ, Mitchell RAC, Madgwick PJ, Keys AJ. (March 14, 2003.) Manipulation of Rubisco: the amount, activity, function and regulation. Journal of Experimental Botany 10.1093/jxb/erg141.

Citation of other URL addresses (unless in reference to an e-journal) may be made in the text but should not be included in the reference list. Back to Contents

A new submitted manuscript is sent to the relevant subject Associate Editor, who oversees the review process. Manuscripts are reviewed by two independent experts in the particular area. The reviewers will make a scientific assessment and recommendation to the Editors. In case of a disagreement, the Associate Editor may ask a third independent expert to assess the manuscript. Reviewers and Associate Editors remain unknown to authors. The Associate Editors will reach a final decision either to accept, accept with revision or to reject a manuscript. Rejected manuscripts with an invitation to re-submit will be considered as new submissions and undergo the full reviewing process at the Editors' discretion. Include a point by point response to reviewers with your re-submitted manuscript. Back to Contents

Please note that if your manuscript (or supplementary material) includes any data in tables or figure(s) already published, you will need permission from the original publisher to reproduce them before your manuscript can be published. This includes figures adapted (modified or re-drawn) in any way from other publications. Permission to reproduce figures or data from other publications must be sought by authors at the time of acceptance. Please note that obtaining copyright permission could take some time. A copy of the permission document should be sent to the Production Editor, Journal of Experimental Botany, Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP. E-mail: JXB production office To seek copyright permission please contact the copyright permission department of the relevant journal or publisher.

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Open Access articles are freely available online to all from the date of online publication. All primary papers accepted after 1 April 2007 whose corresponding author’s institution subscribes to the JXB will be published Open Access. All material associated with that article will also be accessible to all. Authors from non-subscribing institutions can choose to make their article Open Access, and this in turn incurs a charge of £1500/$2800/€2250. If authors choose not to pay the fee the article will remain under subscription access for one year, and during that time will only be accessible to those with a personal or institutional subscription or on a pay per view basis. After that time all online articles are freely accessible to all. Authors will be offered the Open Access option when their paper is accepted; For more information click here.

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Proofs will be sent electronically to the corresponding author as a .PDF file and will include illustrations set in the appropriate place in the type. The author should make a print copy and add any necessary typographical corrections before returning the corrected proofs by fax to Oxford University Press (+44 (0) 1865 355817) or e-mail (exbotj@oxfordjournals.org) within three days of receipt; otherwise the Editor reserves the right to correct the proofs and to send the material for publication. This is essential if all the material in a given issue is not to be delayed by the late receipt of one corrected proof. Back to Contents

On publication of an article, corresponding authors will receive free of charge 25 reprints and a unique URL that gives access to both PDF and HTML versions of the paper. The free URL link may be mounted on the authors’ home page or institutional web site. This URL links visitors to the JXB site and the complete version of the paper online with all functionality; it is accessible regardless of subscription status. Additional offprints may be purchased if required. Order forms are sent out with the proofs. Late orders submitted after the Journal has gone to press are subject to a 100% surcharge (to cover the additional printing cost). Back to Contents

It is a condition of publication in the Journal that authors grant an exclusive licence to the Society for Experimental Biology. This ensures that requests from third parties to reproduce articles are handled efficiently and consistently and will also allow the article to be as widely disseminated as possible. In assigning the licence, authors may use their own material in other publications provided that the Journal is acknowledged as the original place of publication, and Oxford University Press, on behalf of the SEB, is notified in writing and in advance. Back to Contents

For information about this journal's policy, please visit our Author Self-Archiving policy page.