SCOPE

The journal publishes papers on the development, organization, plasticity, and function of the cerebral cortex, including the hippocampus as well as the thalamocortical relationship and cortico-subcortical interactions. The journal is multidisciplinary and welcomes studies which address major issues of general significance using modern neurobiological and neuropsychological techniques, including neuroanatomy, biochemistry, molecular neurobiology, electrophysiology, behavior, theoretical modeling, and brain imaging and/or electroencephalographic studies on developing and adult humans. In addition to research articles, the journal publishes special features and occasional special issues dedicated to well defined subjects. PLEASE NOTE the following changes to the Instructions for Authors:

• Cerebral Cortex now requires keywords to be supplied
• Page charges ($60/page) will be applied to all papers

SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS

Cerebral Cortex accepts submissions online at Manuscript Central.

For instructions on how to submit your manuscript online, please click here.

For any queries please contact the editorial office:

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

At the point of submission, Cerebral Cortex's policy requires that each author reveal any financial interests or connections, direct or indirect, or other situations that might raise the question of bias in the work reported or the conclusions, implications, or opinions stated - including pertinent commercial or other sources of funding for the individual author(s) or for the associated department(s) or organization(s), personal relationships, or direct academic competition. When considering whether you should declare a conflicting interest or connection please consider the conflict of interest test: Is there any arrangement that would embarrass you or any of your co-authors if it was to emerge after publication and you had not declared it?

As an integral part of the online submission process, Corresponding authors are required to confirm whether they or their co-authors have any conflicts of interest to declare, and to provide details of these. If the Corresponding author is unable to confirm this information on behalf of all co-authors, the authors in question will then be required to submit a completed Conflict of Interest form to the Editorial Office. It is the Corresponding author’s responsibility to ensure that all authors adhere to this policy.

If the manuscript is published, Conflict of Interest information will be communicated in a statement in the published paper

FUNDING

Details of all funding sources for the work in question should be given in a separate section entitled 'Funding'. This should appear before the 'Acknowledgements' section.

The following rules should be followed:

• The sentence should begin: ‘This work was supported by …
• The full official funding agency name should be given, i.e. ‘National Institutes of Health’, not ‘NIH’ (full RIN-approved list of UK funding agencies) Grant numbers should be given in brackets as follows: ‘[grant number xxxx]’
• Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma as follows: ‘[grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]’
• Agencies should be separated by a semi-colon (plus ‘and’ before the last funding agency)
• Where individuals need to be specified for certain sources of funding the following text should be added after the relevant agency or grant number 'to [author initials]'.

An example is given here: ‘This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [AA123456 to C.S., BB765432 to M.H.]; and the Alcohol & Education Research Council [hfygr667789].’

FEATURE ARTICLES

Feature articles can range in length from 2- to 3-page commentaries to full-size review articles of 15 - 20 pages. Feature articles are meant to showcase new and exciting developments, to serve as a vehicle for addressing controversial issues (two opposing views can be presented in a "point-counterpoint" format), to present brief focused reviews on selected topics, or to introduce new technical developments in other fields that can benefit research on the cerebral cortex or bring forward new developments in the relationship between clinical and basic science.

ORGANIZATION OF MANUSCRIPTS

Manuscripts must be in English, produced by a word processor in a .doc or .rtf format, and contain wide margins. They should be double-spaced throughout (including figure captions and references), with the sections assembled in the order listed below (EXCEPT for inclusion of the figures). Please note: This journal does not accept Microsoft Word 2007 documents at this time. Please use Word's "Save As" option to save your document as an older (.doc) file type.

• Title pages should include the title, the name(s) and institutional affiliation(s) of the author(s), the full address, telephone and facsimile numbers as well as the e-mail address of the corresponding author and a brief running title
• Abstracts should be no more than 200 words
• Keywords (up to five) should be provided, in alphabetical order, and should characterize the scope of the paper, the principal materials, and main subject of work. (Keywords are important for your paper to be found through Internet searching, and therefore, should be selected carefully and should not repeat words that appear in the title)
• Introduction (without a separate heading) should indicate the objectives, significance or hypothesis, when applicable, and a concise summary of the background of the study. Lengthy reviews of the status of the field are discouraged in research articles
• Materials and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Acknowledgements, including any grants, disclaimers or sources of support (along with the address of the corresponding author)
• References used
• Tables
• Captions to figures
• Figures in individual files and uploaded separately with simple names such as "Figure1," "Fig. 2," or "Figure3_color."
• Supplementary Material must be separate from the main document file.

REFERENCES

Cerebral Cortex follows the name-year citation style from Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (7th ed.) for style.

References should be cited in the text as "Experiments by Author (Author 1989) have demonstrated..." or "...as reported earlier (Author and Author 1985; Author 1985, 1986a, 1986b; Author et al. 1986)" and should be listed chronologically when multiple citations are grouped. In the list of references, works cited should be ordered alphabetically according to first author surname and chronologically where several papers by the same author are cited. In the list of references, journal articles should be listed as follows:

• Author A, Author B. 1989. Title. Journal. 21:100-131.

Books should be listed as:

• Author B. 1911. Title. City: Publisher. 1811 p.

or:

• Author CD, Author EF. 1984. Title of the chapter. In: Author E, editor. Title of the book. 8th ed. City: Publisher. p 1334-1360.

The titles of journals should be abbreviated in accordance with the Index Medicus or the Bibliographic Guide for Editors and Authors.

TABLES

Because tables are expensive and difficult to set, only data essential in illustrating important points should be included. Tables should be created with the table function of a word processing program; spreadsheets are not acceptable. They should be typed double-spaced, each on a separate page, and numbered using Arabic numerals; do not use vertical rules and use only those horizontal rules absolutely necessary for clarity. Table titles should be concise. Explanatory material, notes on measurements and other general information that applies to the whole table should be included as the first, unnumbered footnote and not in the table title. Consult a recent issue for the journal's table style. Indicate the most appropriate position for the table in the margin of the manuscript.

FIGURES

Please be aware that the figure requirements for initial online submission (peer review) and for reproduction in the journal are now the same. Authors should now supply final high-resolution .tif or .eps files for reproduction in the journal at the time of submission. Figure legends should be typed separately from the figures and placed in the main text document. Additional information on preparing your figures for publication can be located at Cadmus.

These should be submitted in the desired final printed size so that reduction can be avoided. The type area of a printed page is 240 (height) x 180 mm (width) and figures, including their legends, should not exceed this area. A single column is 86 mm wide; a double column is 180 mm wide. Ideally figures should fit either a single or a double column. Images should be of sufficiently high quality with respect to detail, contrast, and fineness of grain to withstand the inevitable loss of contrast and detail inherent in the printing process.

All supplementary figures and supplementary figure legends must be separate from the main document file.

COLOR FIGURES

The cost of printing color figures is $600 per figure. Please submit figures containing color only if you want them to be printed in color. Authors ordering offprints of articles that contain color figures will incur an additional charge for color reproduction. If you ticked the color charge approval box in Manuscript Central, the online submission site for the journal, you will incur color figure charges.

BLACK AND WHITE/GRAYSCALE IMAGES

Please provide these as clear sharp images, suitable for reproduction as submitted. No additional artwork, redrawing or typesetting will be done. Faint and gray lines, shading or stippling will be lost upon reproduction and should be avoided. Where various shadings are used within one figure please ensure that it is easy to differentiate between them. There should be sufficient white space between lines and dots to ensure the areas will not fill in and look gray. If stippling is used, this should be made up of clear black dots with visible white space between them. Ensure that the size of the lettering is in proportion with the overall dimensions of the figure.

Ideally, the figure should fit either single (86 mm) or double column width (180 mm).

SUBMISSION OF FIGURES

At submission, figures must be saved in TIFF format at a resolution of at least 300 pixels per inch at the final printed size for color and grayscale figures and photographs, and 600-1200 pixels per inch for black and white line drawings. Although some other formats can be translated into TIFF format by the publisher, the conversion may alter the tones, resolution and contrast of the image. Digital color art should be submitted in CMYK rather than RGB format, as the printing process requires colors to be separated into CMYK and this conversion can alter the intensity and brightness of colors. Therefore authors should be satisfied with the colors in CMYK (both on screen and when printed) before submission. Please also keep in mind that colors can appear differently on different screens and printers. Failure to follow these guides could result in complications and delays.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

All supplementary figures and supplementary figure legends must be separate from the main document file. Supporting material that is not essential for inclusion in the full text of the manuscript, but would nevertheless benefit the reader, can be made available by the publisher as online-only content, linked to the online manuscript. The material should not be essential to understanding the conclusions of the paper, but should contain data that is additional or complementary and directly relevant to the article content. Such information might include more detailed methods, extended data sets/data analysis, or additional figures (including color). All text and figures must be provided in suitable electronic formats (instructions for the preparation of Supplementary Material can be viewed here).

All material to be considered as Supplementary Material must be submitted at the same time as the main manuscript for peer review. It cannot be altered or replaced after the paper has been accepted for publication. Please indicate clearly the material intended as Supplementary Material upon submission. Also ensure that the Supplementary Material is referred to in the main manuscript where necessary.

EXPERIMENTAL SUBJECTS

When human subjects are used, manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and written consent of each subject. Authors should be aware of the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki), which has been printed in the British Medical Journal (July 18, 1964). When experimental animals are used, the methods section must clearly indicate that adequate measures were taken to minimize pain or discomfort. Experiments should be carried out in accordance with the guidelines published in the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (NIH publication no. 86-23, revised 1987) or the European Communities Council Directive of November 24, 1986 (86/609/EEC).

PAGE CHARGES

The page charge is $60 per published page.

OFFPRINTS

If the purchase of offprints is required, a completed offprint order form must be returned with the proofs. Late orders submitted after the journal is in press are subject to increased prices.

AUTHOR SELF-ARCHIVING/PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY FROM MAY 2005

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

Cerebral Cortex authors have the option, at an additional charge, to make their paper freely available online immediately upon publication, under the Oxford Open initiative. After your manuscript is accepted, as part of the mandatory licence form required of all corresponding authors, you will be asked to indicate whether or not you wish to pay to have your paper made freely available immediately. If you do not select the Open Access option, your paper will be published with standard subscription-based access and you will not be charged.

For those selecting the Open Access option, the charges for Cerebral Cortex vary depending on the institution at which the Corresponding author is based:

Optional Oxford Open charges:
For a corresponding author based at an institution with an online subscription to Cerebral Cortex:

• Regular charge - £900 / $1800 / €1350
  
• List B developing country charge** - £450 / $900 / €675
  
• List A developing country charge** - £0 / $0 / €0
  

For a corresponding author based at an institution that does not subscribe to the online journal:

• Regular charge - £1500 / $3000 / €2250
  
• List B developing country charge** - £750 / $1500 / €1125
  
• List A developing country charge** - £0 /$0 / €0
  

*Visit http://www.oxfordjournals.org/jnls/devel/ for list of qualifying countries.

Orders from UK will be subject to a 17.5% VAT charge. For orders from the rest of the EU, we will assume that the service is provided for business purposes, please provide a VAT number for yourself or your institution and ensure you account for your own local VAT correctly.

The above Open Access charges are in addition to any page charges and color charges that might apply.

If you choose the Open Access option you will also be asked to complete an Open Access charge form. You will be automatically directed to the appropriate version of the form depending on whether you are based at an institution with an online subscription to Cerebral Cortex. Therefore, please make sure that you are using an institutional computer when accessing the form. To check whether you are based at a subscribing institution please use the Subscriber Test for Cerebral Cortex.

Please see these guidelines for reuse of Oxford Open content.

COPYRIGHT

It is a condition of publication in Cerebral Cortex that authors grant an exclusive license to Oxford University Press. 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 granting an exclusive license, authors may use their own material in other publications provided that Cerebral Cortex is acknowledged as the original place of publication and Oxford University Press is notified in writing and in advance.

PERMISSIONS FOR ILLUSTRATIONS AND FIGURES

Permission to reproduce copyright material, for print and online publication in perpetuity, must be cleared and if necessary paid for by the author; this includes applications and payments to DACS, ARS, and similar licensing agencies where appropriate. Evidence in writing that such permissions have been secured from the rights-holder must be made available to the editors. It is also the author's responsibility to include acknowledgements as stipulated by the particular institutions. Oxford Journals can offer information and documentation to assist authors in securing print and online permissions: please see the Guidelines for Authors section. Information on permissions contacts for a number of main galleries and museums can also be provided. Should you require copies of this, please contact the editorial office of the journal in question or the Oxford Journals Rights department.