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Information for Authors

OPEN ACCESS OPTION FOR AUTHORS

Manuscripts must be submitted online. Once you have prepared your manuscript according to the instructions below, please visit the online submission web site. Instructions on submitting your manuscript online can be viewed here. To submit, you will need all your manuscript files, prepared as instructed; any online supplementary material; a cover letter; and contact details for all coauthors.

Types of Manuscripts Published

Integrative and Comparative Biology publishes invited, original papers derived principally from symposia sponsored by the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. Papers should be of general interest to comparative biologists. Specialized terms should be clearly defined, and the general biological significance of results should be stated explicitly.

All manuscripts are subjected to standard, anonymous peer review administered by the editorial office. An invitation to present an oral symposium paper and submit a corresponding manuscript does not guarantee publication.

Manuscripts are accepted with the understanding that the work has not been nor will be submitted for publication elsewhere and that all authors have read and approved the manuscript. Colleagues cited as sources of personal communication must have approved such citation.

Articles are published online approximately six weeks after acceptance. Inclusion in a print issue will occur in an order determined by the editor.

Preparation of Manuscripts

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.

Manuscripts must be double-spaced and must include text, tables, figure captions, and references in a single .doc, .rtf, or .tex file. The full address, e-mail address, telephone number, and fax number of the corresponding author should appear on the title page. In addition to the full title of the article, which should not exceed 100 characters including spaces, authors should supply a running title that will appear at the heads of the pages. This should not exceed 40 characters including spaces. A short abstract, not exceeding 400 words, should also be provided. The total number of words in the text (excluding references, tables, and figure legends) should also be indicated. For further information on the style to be used, please consult Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, seventh edition. Bibliographic references should be limited to essential literature, and all references must be cited in the text. They should be listed at the end of the paper in alphabetical order and not numbered. Please consult Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, seventh edition, for reference samples in the name-year format.

Your manuscript should be saved as a .rtf, .doc, or .tex document and submitted online.

Note: In the online version of Integrative and Comparative Biology there are automatic links from the reference section of each article to cited articles in Medline. This is a useful feature for readers but is only possible if the references are accurate. It is the responsibility of the author to ensure the accuracy of the references in the submitted article. Downloading references directly from Medline is highly recommended.

Figures

Please upload your figures separately as high-resolution images in .tif format (600 d.p.i. for line drawings and 300 d.p.i. for color and halftone artwork). For help in preparing your figures for publication, go to http://dx.sheridan.com/onl/. An article cannot be accepted until final, high-resolution figure files in .tif format have been submitted online.

Figures should be submitted in their desired final size, to fit the width of a single (88 mm) or at most a double (180 mm) column width. To reproduce well, photographs must be sharp, with good contrast between light and dark areas and sufficient detail and fineness of grain to withstand the loss of detail inherent in the printing process. All letters and numerals appearing in a particular figure should be of the same size and in proportion to the overall dimensions of the drawing. Letter labels used in figures should be in upper case in both the figure and the legend. Arial and Helvetica fonts are preferred, and type should be approximately nine points at the figure’s final size. Place labels parallel to the axes. Use italic type only to identify variables, constants, and scientific names of species. Typewritten and hand-lettered charts and graphs will not be accepted. Figures considered unsuitable for publication because of poor letter quality, broken type, and so on, will be returned to the author for correction. Composite figures should be submitted in their final, combined form, with all parts labeled appropriately. All figures, drawings, and graphs should be prepared with the intent of carrying the most information and the least extraneous detail. Color figures should use CMYK, not RGB, colors. The journal reserves the right to redraw or reduce the size of illustrative material.

The number of illustrations should be kept to a minimum. Figure captions must be listed in the text file.

Color Figure Charges

Many fields of research employ techniques that require color illustrations to adequately portray results. Accordingly, a number of journals are now routinely publishing color figures in research papers. ICB has been part of that trend, and in recent years has published color figures at a cost to authors. Beginning in 2008, each author will be allowed colored figures gratis, as long as the following three criteria are met:

  • The paper was submitted on, or before, the deadline of January 31.
  • Neither the author nor the symposium has funds earmarked for publication costs.
  • Color is essential for effective portrayal of the results, as deemed by the editor in consultation with the member of the editorial board representing the division supporting the symposium.

Papers submitted after the deadline for whatever reason will incur the charge of US$600 per color figure. Authors should be aware that color charges waived for papers submitted on or before January 31 do not merely vanish. They have to be paid by SICB. Payment for color by the Society takes money that would otherwise be used to support attendance by students at SICB meetings, so authors and symposium organizers are encouraged to cover color charges in their budgeting.

If you have questions concerning the color figure policy, please contact the editorial office.

Illustrations for which color is not essential can be reproduced as black and white images in the print journal and, additionally, in color as online supplementary material. This option is not subject to color charges. Authors should indicate clearly that they would like to take up this option in comments accompanying the original submission. The availability of additional color images as supplementary material should be mentioned where relevant in the main text of the manuscript. Instructions on how to submit color figures as supplementary material can be viewed here.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations for scientific units should conform to the Systeme Internationale (that is, be given as SI units). Please consult Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, sixth edition.

Cover Illustration Submissions

An illustration is featured on the cover of each issue. Authors are encouraged to submit to Oxford Journals upon acceptance previously unpublished high-quality .tif files for possible use as cover illustrations. Images submitted for the cover should be in .tif format, in full color, sized to approximately 8.5 inches by 7 inches, at a resolution of 300 d.p.i. or higher. Provide a brief caption and include a credit for the photographer or artist. Every effort will be made to use a cover photo related to an article in the issue.

Supplementary Material

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).

It is standard practice for appendices to be made available online-only as supplementary material. All text and figures must be provided in suitable electronic formats. 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. Information on preparing supplementary material can be found here.

Permissions

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce illustrations or extracts from other sources. Permission must be obtained for both print publication and online publication in perpetuity. The signed original of each permission form should be supplied upon acceptance. All necessary credits and acknowledgments should be included in the figure captions. If sufficient permissions are not received for an article, publication will be delayed until such permissions are secured. For more information on obtaining permissions and for a permission request form you can use to request permission from copyright holders, please contact the editorial office.

Page Charges

The standard length for articles published in Integrative and Comparative Biology is 12 printed pages, which includes text, references, tables, figures, and figure captions. Authors will be assessed a mandatory charge of $135 for each additional printed page, which will be billed to the corresponding author after an article has appeared in the print version of the journal.

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].’

Authorship

All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship. The order of authorship should be a joint decision of the coauthors. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. Authorship credit should be based on substantial contribution to conception and design, execution, or analysis and interpretation of data. All authors should be involved in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content and must have read and approved the final version of the manuscript. Assurance that all authors of the paper have fulfilled these criteria for authorship should be given in the covering letter.

Conflict of Interest

At the point of submission, ICB 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.

Statement on human and animal rights

With regard to any original research described in the paper, authors must indicate compliance with their Institutional Review Board or ACUC (http://web.ncifcrf.gov/rtp/lasp/intra/acuc/fred/guidelines_nci.asp guidelines.

Disclaimer

Statements of fact and opinion in the articles in Integrative and Comparative Biology are those of the respective authors and contributors and not of Integrative and Comparative Biology, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, or Oxford University Press. Neither Oxford University Press, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, nor Integrative and Comparative Biology, make any representation, express or implied, in respect of the accuracy of the material in this journal and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. The reader should make his/her own evaluation as to the appropriateness or otherwise of any experimental technique described.

Author Self-Archiving/Public Access Policy

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

Copyright

It is a condition of publication in the journal that authors assign copyright to the Society for Integrative and Comparative 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 copyright, 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 is notified in writing and in advance.

OPEN ACCESS OPTION FOR AUTHORS

Integrative and Comparative Biology 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 copyright 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 Integrative and Comparative Biology 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 a subscription to Integrative and Comparative Biology:

  • 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 colour charges that might apply.

If you choose the Open Access option you will also be asked to complete an Open Access charge form online. 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 Integrative and Comparative Biology. 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 link for Integrative and Comparative Biology.

Please see these guidelines for reuse of Oxford Open content.