Information for Authors

The Innovation Life is a sister journal of The Innovation. The Innovation Life is an Open Access, international journal publishes innovative, rigorous and cutting-edge progress in Life science, especially interdisciplinary research achievements. We recognize that techniques from genetic, molecular and cell biology, and functional genomics through to modelling and system-based approaches will be applied across the whole spectrum of life science.We strive to adhere to the highest peer review and publishing standards of The Innovation.

The Innovation Life welcomes submissions from all fields of Life science and from any source, including but not limited to:

1. Biotechnology and bioengineering

2. Biochemistry and molecular biology

3. Biomedicines

4. Botany

5. Cell and developmental biology

6. Ecology and environmental science

7. Genetics and bioinformatics

8. Immunology

9. Microbiology

10. Neuroscience and psychology

11. Zoology

12. LifeX: multidisciplinary collaboration

The Innovation Life is devoted to serving scientists and the public loyally; to publishing significant advances promptly; to providing an exchange platform transparently; to promoting the translation from scientific discovery to technological achievements efficiently; and to disseminating scientific findings to the public throughout the world rapidly.

Unique Features:

1. Open access and fair peer review (blocklist of unfair peers)

2. Short processing time from submission to first decision (regular <3 weeks, fast track <1 week)

3. Award given to reviewers (irrespective of paper decision) and Lead Contact (upon acceptance) in order to clearly demonstrate our support of scientific standards

4. Involvement by the Central Academy of Fine Arts in the quality of figures and charts

5. Use of social media (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/WeChat) to promote papers

6. For APC information, please see our rights, sharing, and embargoes page.

Editorial Process

All submissions are initially evaluated in depth by the scientific editors. Papers that do not conform to the general criteria for publication will be returned to the authors without detailed review. Otherwise, manuscripts will be sent to at least two reviewers who have agreed in advance to assess the paper rapidly. The Innovation Life uses double-blind peer review. The editors will make every effort to reach decisions on these papers within 3 weeks of the submission date. If revisions are a condition of publication, generally 4 weeks are allowed for revisions, and only one revised version of the paper is considered. Evaluations of conceptual advance and significance are made on the basis of the literature available on the day of final decision, not the day of submission. Accepted papers will be published online ahead of the issue as soon as possible and will appear in an issue within 2 months of acceptance. Any major changes after acceptance are subject to review and may delay publication. Editors and Editorial Board members are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal’s usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups.

Fast-track review

If circumstances so warrant, authors may request a fast-track review of a paper in the cover letter. At the editor’s discretion, a fast-track review will be undertaken to expedite manuscripts that deserve rapid review and publication. Such review would be completed in less than 1 week.

Procedure for appeals

To appeal an editorial decision that you have received from The Innovation Life, please email the editorial office (life@the-innovation.org) and summarize the scientific basis on which you wish to appeal, including the manuscript number in the subject line of your email (e.g, Appeal to XINNlife-2023-XXXX). The handing editor and, as needed, editorial team will consider your appeal and respond to you once they have done so. Please note that, when your paper is under appeal at The Innovation Life, we consider it as being under active consideration; thus, please let us know immediately if you decide to submit to another journal instead.

Editorial Policies

Manuscripts are considered with the understanding that no part of the work has been published previously in print or electronic format and that the paper is not under consideration by another publication or electronic medium. All in-press or submitted works pertinent to the manuscript under consideration by The Innovation Life (including those cited in the manuscript under consideration) must accompany the submission. Related manuscripts that have been submitted elsewhere during the period of revision must accompany revised manuscripts. Failure to provide copies of related manuscripts under consideration elsewhere may delay the review process and may be grounds for rejection.

Preprint servers

We will consider papers previously posted on preprint servers such as arXiv, bioRxiv, and medRxiv. This policy applies only to the original submitted version of the paper; authors should not post revisions that respond to editorial input and peer review or post the final published version to preprint servers. Also, The Innovation Life’s prepublication policies with regard to coverage in the broader media still apply to studies posted on preprint servers.

Authorship

The Innovation ascribes to the authorship and contributorship guidelines defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.ICMJE.org). Unrestricted joint authorship is allowed. Each author may indicate only one email address.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all appropriate contributors are listed as authors and that all authors have agreed to the manuscript’s content and its submission to The Innovation Life.

If the author list includes a consortium, an optional list of members is permitted in a special "consortia" section that appears just before the paper’s acknowledgments section. In such a case, a full list of members is required, although a URL may also be included if desired. No affiliations are permitted in the "consortia" section. If you wish to include affiliations, this list should appear as supplemental information.

Competing interests

Transparency is essential for a reader’s trust in the scientific process and for the credibility of published articles. We feel that disclosure of competing interests is a critical aspect of transparency. Therefore, we ask that all authors disclose any financial or other interests related to the submitted work that (1) could affect or have the perception of affecting the author’s objectivity, or (2) could influence or have the perception of influencing the content of the article.

Prior to acceptance, author groups of all article types (front or back matter) are asked to complete and submit a “declaration of interests” form. We also ask that authors disclose any competing interests in the article in a dedicated Declaration of Interests section (see below).

Complete details of our declaration of interests policy and additional author instructions are available here.

Use of AI-assisted technologies in scientific writing

Where authors use artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should:

*Only use these technologies to improve readability and language, not to replace key researcher tasks such as interpreting data or drawing scientific conclusions.

*Apply the technology with human oversight and control, and carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased.

*Not list AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author or cite AI as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans.

*Disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Disclosure instructions. Authors must disclose the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in a new section titled "Declaration of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process." Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication. This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

Studies involving humans and animals

If the manuscript reports results of studies of either human subjects or materials obtained from human subjects, state in the materials and methods section that the study was approved by the appropriate institutional review board (IRB) and/or that appropriate informed consent was obtained from human subjects. Copies of signed consent forms from identifiable persons appearing in any photographs submitted with the manuscript must be emailed to The Innovation Life editorial office (life@the-innovation.org) or included in the submission file at the time of submission. To avoid violation of HIPAA regulations, the consent form should state that subjects understand that their identity (but not their medical records) will be divulged to The Innovation Life office by the transmission of the signed consent form. Alternatively, a member of the institution’s IRB can send a letter confirming that signed consent forms have been obtained from the individuals pictured in the manuscript, without naming the individuals. A manuscript cannot be processed until these consent forms or a letter from the IRB is received.

All experiments on live vertebrates or higher invertebrates must be performed in accordance with relevant institutional and national guidelines and regulations. In the manuscript, a statement identifying the committee approving the experiments and confirming that all experiments conform to the relevant regulatory standards must be included in the materials and methods section. The editors reserve the right to seek comments from reviewers or additional information from authors on any cases in which concerns arise.

Distribution of materials and data

An implicit term and condition of publishing in The Innovation Life is that authors be willing to distribute any materials, data sets, and protocols used in the published experiments to qualified researchers for their own use. Materials include but are not limited to cells, DNA, antibodies, reagents, organisms, and mouse strains or, if necessary, the relevant embryonic stem cells. These materials must be made available with minimal restrictions and in a timely manner, but it is acceptable to request reasonable payment to cover the cost of provision and transport of materials. If there are restrictions to the availability of any materials, data, or information, these must be disclosed in the cover letter and in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript at the time of submission.

Nucleic acid and protein sequences, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), copy-number variants (CNVs), microarray data, and macromolecular structures determined by X-ray crystallography (along with structure factors) must be deposited in the appropriate public database and must be accessible without restriction from the date of publication. When requested, data must also be provided to editors and peer reviewers for the purposes of evaluating the manuscript. The URL of the databases used must be included in a web resources section of the manuscript. All entry names and/or accession numbers must be included in the materials and methods section (see "database linking" below for specific formatting instructions).

Although The Innovation Life does not require authors to deposit genotype data to a public database, we do encourage this practice. We do ask that authors include genotype data in their supplemental materials or provide a website at which readers would be able to gain access to such data. If such data presentations are not possible, we ask that The Innovation Life authors accommodate legitimate requests for population-genetics data provided that there are no IRB restrictions.

Please provide a figure or table that summarizes the full results of your genome-wide scan.

In addition to providing the information that must be deposited in public databases as detailed above, authors are encouraged to contribute additional information to the appropriate databases. Authors are also encouraged to deposit materials used in their studies to the appropriate repositories for distribution to researchers.

Please contact us (life@the-innovation.org) if you would like advice about how to share data and/or examples of repositories that facilitate sharing large data sets.

Rights, Sharing, and Embargoes
An overview of the rights that The Innovation Life authors retain, the options for sharing articles at various stages, and the duration of embargo periods, as well as open access options, is available at /rights-sharing-embargoes.

Licenses

Gold open access authors retain copyright in their articles. We ask authors to sign a publishing agreement offering a choice of two Creative Commons licenses and ensuring that any attributions in reproductions of the work acknowledge the journal as the primary reference publication.

Once selected, Creative Commons user licenses are non-revocable. We recommend authors check if their funding body requires a specific license. See the Creative Commons website for more details about what to consider before choosing a user license.

The first option is the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which allows users to alter and build upon the article and then distribute the resulting work, even commercially. As with all Creative Commons licenses, the work must be attributed to the original author and publisher. This license encourages maximum use and redistribution but gives the author the least control about how the work might appear.

The second option is the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works License (CC BY NC ND), which allows users to copy and distribute the article, provided the work is attributed back to the original author and publisher. The article cannot be changed in any way or used commercially. This license gives the author the most control about how the work might be published.

Funding Bodies and Open Access

The Innovation Life is a fully gold open access journal. So that we can provide open access, expenses are offset by an author publication fee that allows the journal to support itself and the research community in a fully sustainable way.

Some universities have signed the Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity (COPE): "the timely establishment of durable mechanisms for underwriting reasonable publication charges for articles written by its faculty and published in fee-based open-access journals and for which other institutions would not be expected to provide funds." More information about COPE and the list of signatories can be found at http://www.oacompact.org.

A list of institutions that provide funding for open access can be found at https://sparcopen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/OA-Funds-in-Action-4.7.16.pdf.

Permissions

If you want to use excerpts or images, original or adapted, from articles that you have published in The Innovation and its sister journals, including The Innovation Life, The Innovation Geoscience, The Innovation Materials and The Innovation Medicine, you do not need to ask our permission. Our policy only requires that you cite the original publication.

If you want to use excerpts from copyrighted work in your submission, you must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and cite the original publication. For information about how to request permission to use copyrighted material, including work published elsewhere, please visit our permissions page.

If you have adapted a published figure, you may or may not need permission from the copyright owner, depending on how much the adaptation resembles the original. When in doubt, check with the copyright owner and cite the original article.

IMPORTANT: Obtaining permission can take several weeks. To avoid any delays to publication, we recommend that you seek permission before or at the time of submission.

Prepublication Publicity

Part of The Innovation Life' s role as a scientific publisher is to help ensure that the work you publish with us reaches the broadest possible readership within both the research community and the broader public. We understand that effective communication of the advances you have made helps promote public appreciation of science, and we want to do what we can to further that goal. We also take seriously our responsibility to support informed scientific journalism and look to encourage balanced and accurate coverage that avoids inappropriate hype. To assist with these aims, The Innovation Lifeoperates an embargoed press release system, which allows reporters a protected window to develop their stories. Embargoed The Innovation Life papers are made available to the media up to one week prior to publication and are under media embargo on the date of their publication. We ask authors not to begin active promotion of their work until this one-week window. The embargo date and time should be clearly communicated in any materials distributed in advance to the press and in conversations with reporters.

We always encourage authors to share their work with the scientific community through conference presentations and other discussions. We also understand that some of our authors might choose to share copies of their manuscripts by posting them online on a preprint server. With online posting, we appreciate that information about the work is publicly available and might therefore be covered by media outlets or other venues and that authors might be contacted by and speak to reporters, but please note that early coverage can impact media interest in a paper at the time of publication.

Please contact The Innovation Lifeoffice (life@the-innovation.org) if you or your press officer need embargo information for your paper, you plan on hosting a press conference, or there are special circumstances that you would like to discuss.

Presubmission and Status Inquiries

Editorial Manager

The Innovation’s online manuscript-submission system, ScholarOneManuscripts (S1M), is located at https://mc03.manuscriptcentral.com/innovation-life. Articles, reports, letters, reviews, and corrections are all handled through this online submission system.

Status inquiries

The status of a submitted manuscript can be found fromS1M. If further information is needed about the status of a submitted manuscript withan extremely long delay of review process, please email life@the-innovation.org.

Manuscript Formats

A brief description of each article type is provided below.

Reviews (~8,000 words, ~10 figures/tables) should describe and synthesize recent developments of interdisciplinary significance and highlight future directions. They include an abstract, an introduction that outlines the main themes, brief subheadings, and an outline of important unresolved questions. Reviews are categorized into four types: 10, 20, 50, and 100 years, meaning that the main text of the review summarizes the advancement in 10, 20, 50, and 100 years.

Articles (~6,000 words, ~8 figures/tables) are expected to present a major advance. Articles include an abstract, an introduction, up to eight figures or tables, sections with brief subheadings, and about 40 references. Materials and methods should be included in the supplemental information, which should also include information needed to support the paper's conclusions.

*Articles and reports require the materials and methods section to provide sufficient details to allow replication of the study. In addition, for papers that involve a method that would benefit from the publication of a step-by-step protocol, we encourage authors to consider submitting a detailed protocol to our collaborative partner Bio-protocol.

Reports (~4,000 words, ~6 figures/tables) present important new research results of broad significance. Reports should include an abstract, an introductory paragraph, up to six figures or tables, and about 80 references. Materials and methods should be included the Supplemental Information, which should also include information needed to support the paper's conclusions.

*Articles and reports require the materials and methods section to provide sufficient details to allow replication of the study. In addition, for papers that involve a method that would benefit from the publication of a step-by-step protocol, we encourage authors to consider submitting a detailed protocol to our collaborative partner Bio-protocol.

Letters (~1,800 words, ~2 figures/tables) present a rapid and short report of a novel finding with broad interest.

Perspectives (~1,800 words, ~1 figure/table, ~10 references) highlight recent exciting research, but they do not primarily discuss the author's own work. They may provide context for the findings within a field or explain potential interdisciplinary importance. Perspectives that comment on papers in The Innovation Life should add a dimension to the research and not merely be a summary of the experiments described in the paper. Although many perspectives that comment on research published in The Innovation Life are solicited, we always welcome inquiries regarding new advances and fresh insights. As these are meant to express a personal viewpoint, with rare exceptions, perspectives should have no more than two authors.

Commentary (~1500 words, ~1 figure/table, ~5 references) presents analysis by scientists and experts on issues of interest to The Innovation Life or other journals. Most items in this section are commissioned by the editors, but unsolicited contributions are welcome. Commentary material may be peer reviewed at the editors’ discretion.

Editorials (~1,500 words, ~1 figure/table, ~10 references) provide views on a topic of specific interest and address a current need. An excellent editorial should contain comprehensive background, supporting evidences, feasible suggestion, and informative conclusion. Editorials should be submitted through ScholarOne Manuscripts and may be reviewed by peers. Also, editorials are subject to editing for clarity and space. Most items in this section are invited by the editors, but unsolicited contributions are also welcome.

Translational patents (~1,500 words, 1 figure/table, ~8 references) facilitate the progress of significant translational patents and illustrate the principle, pipeline, and manufacturing of such products.

News & Buzz (~1,500 words, 1 figure/table, ~5 references) provide in-depth analysis on big news. Most items in this section are commissioned by the editors, but unsolicited contributions are also welcome.

Out-of-the-Box (~1,500 words, 1 figure/table, ~5 references) articles allow authors to think creatively, freely, and off the beaten path. These pieces encourage authors to think from a new perspective and may result in novel ideas, solutions, and hypotheses. Out-of-the-Box thinking is associated with creativity and great novelty that may not be validated in current conditions but provide a totally different view on critical issues.

Illustration (~300 words, ~1 figure/table) is a figure illustration to summarize key points in field of interest.

Correspondence (~500 words, no figures/tables) is a brief comment on peer-reviewed papers (especially on Articles or Reports) published in The Innovation.

Preparation and Online Submission of Research Manuscripts

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted via our online submission system, S1M. An author tutorial regarding online submission is available at the S1M website. Authors may contact the editorial office (life@the-innovation.org) for assistance.

S1M will prompt you to upload the individual components of your manuscript (cover letter, text, figures, supplemental information, etc.) as separate files. Upon completion of this step, the website will compile the entire manuscript into a composite PDF that will contain links for the editors and reviewers to download the individual high-resolution files of each component. Please note that the version of the PDF that is accessible to reviewers does not contain the cover letter; any information therein will remain confidential.

Please be aware that S1M will send all communications about the paper (including the request for final approval and the confirmation of submission) to the individual designated as corresponding author during the submission process, or if no name is designated, to the individual whose account is used for submission of the manuscript. If you wish to specify a different author for editorial correspondence after submission please contact the editorial assistant (life@the-innovation.org).

Cover letter

Each submission should be accompanied by a cover letter, which should contain a brief explanation of what was previously known, the conceptual advance provided by the findings, and the significance of the findings to a broad readership. The cover letter may contain suggestions for appropriate reviewers and up to three requests for reviewer exclusions. The cover letter is confidential to the editors and will not be available to reviewers.

Text specifications

Manuscript file types acceptable for submission include Word (.doc and .docx), LaTeX, PDF, and *.txt.

Please note that the text should be double spaced and that pages should be numbered. If you are using Microsoft Word, insert line numbers (under the Layout option of the Page Setup menu) for ease of reviewer reference. Although abstracts need to be entered as text files separate from the body of the manuscript during the online submission process, they should also be included within the manuscript file.

Nonstandard abbreviations should be defined when first used in the text. Use of abbreviations should be kept at a minimum. Use a period (full stop) instead of a comma (virgule) in the decimal place of numerals (50.25 rather than 50,25, for example).

Manuscript Organization

The Innovation Life manuscripts generally contain the following sections, in this order:

* Title,

* Author list

* Affiliations

* Correspondence email(s)

* Additional footnotes (if any)

* Abstract

* Main text (which, in articles, should be separated into introduction, materials and methods, results, and discussion)

* Appendices (if any)

* Supplemental information description, if any (note: this section should not include supplemental figures or tables; it should merely list how many and what types of files are included in the supplemental information)

* Acknowledgments

* Declaration of interests

* References

* Figure titles and legends

* Table titles and legends

All of these sections should be provided within one document.

Each figure should be uploaded individually as a separate file.

All supplemental information (aside from very large tables of data or Excel files) should be compiled into a PDF and uploaded as a single file.

NOTE: Manuscripts that do not conform to the format guidelines may be returned for reformatting.

Title

Titles may occupy no more than three lines of type. Each line should contain no more than 54 characters, including spaces. The title should convey the conceptual significance of the paper to a broad readership.

Authors and affiliations

Author names should be spelled out rather than set in initials and should not include professional titles. Authors should be footnoted with numerical superscripts to their corresponding affiliations and shared authorship roles. Commas should precede numerical superscripts (e.g., John B. Smith,1 Jane C. Doe,2 etc.).

Affiliations should contain the following core information in this order: department(s) or subunit(s), institution, city, state or region, zip code or postal code, country.

Joint authorship

Unrestricted joint authorship is permitted. Joint authors should be footnoted with numerical superscripts. The footnote should read "These authors contributed equally to this work" and should appear directly after the affiliation addresses.

Present address

A "present address" footnote may be used. It should appear directly before the corresponding authorship footnote and be designated with a numerical superscript.

Corresponding author(s)

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring adherence to all editorial and submission policies and for any communications that may arise after publication. In the case of multiple corresponding authors, each author should have only one email address.

The "correspondence" line should include the email address of the corresponding author(s) and should appear as the last footnote. Corresponding authors should be footnoted with non-superscript asterisks to their email addresses. In the case of two corresponding authors, the first corresponding author in the author list should be footnoted with one asterisk, and the second corresponding author should be footnoted with two asterisks.

Abstract

The abstract consists of a single paragraph of 250 words or fewer. It should clearly convey the conceptual advance and significance of the work to a broad readership. In particular, the abstract should contain a brief background of the question, a description of the results without extensive experimental detail, and a brief summary of the significance of the findings. References should not be cited in the abstract.

Graphical abstract

A graphical abstract is an image that summarizes the main findings of a paper. It adds a rich, visual component to the start of a paper, helping readers to quickly appreciate and understand the central message.

Graphical abstracts may be submitted at any stage but are only required with the final submission. The image should be 650 x 500 pixels at 300 dpi, using Arial font with a size of 12–16 points; smaller fonts will not be legible online.

Introduction

The Introduction should be succinct, with no subheadings, and should present the background information necessary to provide a biological context for the results.

Materials and methods

The materials and methods section needs to include sufficient detail so that readers can understand how the experiments were performed and so that all procedures can be repeated in conjunction with cited references. This section should also include a description of any statistical methods employed in the study.

Results

The results section may contain subheadings.

Discussion

The discussion should explain the significance of the results and place them into a broader context. It should not be redundant with the results section. This section may contain subheadings.

Appendices

Detailed results of statistical analyses may be presented as an appendix. Appendices may contain subheadings.

Description of supplemental information

This section should be titled "supplemental information" and should briefly list what types of data are included in the supplemental information. For example, "supplemental information includes four figures and two tables."

Declaration of interests

This section is required for all papers. Please use it to disclose any competing interests. If there are no interests to declare, please note that with the following wording: "The authors declare no competing interests." The text in this section should match the text provided in the declaration of interests form.

Acknowledgments

The acknowledgments section may acknowledge contributions from non-authors and list funding sources. This section should be proofread carefully, as amendments or corrections are unlikely to be considered for publication as corrections.

References

References should include only articles that are published. In the references list, "et al." should be used only after 3 authors. References with four or fewer authors should list all authors. Please use the following styles for references:

Article in a periodical

1. Leach, N.T., Sun, Y.,Michaud, S.,et al. (2007). Disruption of diacylglycerol kinase delta (DGKD) associated with seizures in humans and mice. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 80, 792–799, 10.1086/513019.

Article in a book

2. King, S.M. (2003). Dynein motors: Structure, mechanochemistry and regulation. In Molecular Motors, M. Schliwa, ed. (Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH), pp. 45–78.

Entire book

3. Cowan, W.M., Jessell, T.M., and Zipursky, S.L. (1997). Molecular and Cellular Approaches to Neural Development (Oxford University Press).

Online reference

4. Rothwarf, D.M., and Karin, M. (1999). The NF-kB pathway: a paradigm in information transfer from membrane to nucleus. Science’s STKE, http://www.stke.org/cgi/content/full/OC_sigtrans;1999/5/rel.

Computer program

5. Hubbard, S.J. and Thornton, J.M. (1993). NACCESS computer program (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University College London).

*Software may also be cited in text; for an in-text citation, include the name of the manufacturer in parentheses.

Dissertation/thesis

6. Smith, J.P. (1985). DNA sequences. PhD thesis (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

In-text citations

Unpublished data, abstracts, and personal communications may be cited within the text only. Submitted articles that have not yet been accepted should be cited as data not shown, unpublished data, or a personal communication.

*Unpublished data may refer only to work from an author of the manuscript being submitted.

*A personal communication should be documented by a letter of permission (this may be in the form of an e-mail communication, letter, or other appropriate form of permission).

Please use the following style for such citations:

Unpublished data

(M.A., unpublished data)

Abstract

(M. Adams et al., 1997, Soc. Neurosci., abstract)

Personal communication

(M. Adams, personal communication)

Figure titles and legends

Figure titles and legends should be included in the submitted manuscript as a separate section, consisting of a brief title that describes the entire figure without citing specific panels and a subsequent description of each panel.

Each figure must be numbered consecutively with whole numbers. In other words, figures must be numbered as Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, etc., rather than as Figure 1a, Figure 1b, Figure 1c, etc.

Figures may not exceed one page.

Figure titles may not contain parenthetical information, reference citations, or footnotes.

All reference citations within a figure must also be included in the figure legend.

For any figures presenting pooled data, the measures should be defined in the figure legends (for example, data are represented as the mean ± SEM).

Tables

Include tables in the submitted manuscript after the figure titles and legends. Tables should not be saved as figures, i.e., as .jpg or .tif files. All tables intended for print should be incorporated into the end of the manuscript Word file. Tables should not be uploaded individually.

When creating a table, please use the Microsoft Word table function, and please do not place an Excel table into a Word document. Tables not created with the Microsoft Word table function will be sent back for revision. Do not submit a table in PDF format.

Word tables should not be tab or space delineated and should not include colored text or shading, but embedded graphics with color are OK.

Do not use paragraph returns to separate data within a cell.

Tables should include a title, and footnotes and/or legends should be concise.

Table titles may not contain parenthetical information, reference citations, or footnote citations.

Use superscripted lowercase letters (beginning with "a") for footnotes in tables. Do not use numbers or symbols.

Tables must be numbered as Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, etc., rather than as Table 1a, Table 1b, Table 1c, etc.

If italic font is used within a table to indicate some feature of the data, an explanation of its meaning must be given in the table legend. Bold text may not be used in tables.

If a referenced paper or study is mentioned within a table, it must be included in the references list and must be followed by its appropriate citation number (e.g., "Author et al.1") within the table.

All abbreviations within a table must be defined in the table legend or footnotes.

Permissions

Please provide proof of permission to include any work cited as "personal communication." This may be in the form of an email communication, letter, or other appropriate form of permission.

For figures that have been reprinted from an outside source, please provide proof of permission for their use.

Organization of Supplemental Information

Supplemental information files are restricted to (1) figures that cannot be rendered in print with enough detail to be informative, (2) tables that have too many columns and/or rows to fit across two printed pages, (3) clinical descriptions, tables, and figures that would substantially lengthen the print version of the manuscript, (4) movies, and (5) supplemental methods (see below).

For full-length articles, supplemental materials and methods should be limited to those materials or methods related to the supplemental display items, detailed analytical methods, and tabular presentations of primers or other information that would not fit well in the main text for formatting reasons.

Reports, however, may include a complete methods section. If included, such a section should present a comprehensive description of the methods, reagents, and statistics required to reproduce the experiments in the paper. We encourage authors to provide complete descriptions rather than referring to previous publications. Please note that the main paper also needs to give brief explanations of all the methods with enough detail to allow readers to understand the general experimental design and the results of the experiments. Any tables, such as a list of primers, included in the supplemental materials and methods should not be numbered.

Supplemental information should be provided with the original submission. Please follow the figure guidelines below for preparing figures. All figures and tables should have titles and legends.

Please provide a single PDF that contains all supplemental case reports, figures and legends, supplemental tables, and supplemental references (in this order). If a supplemental table cannot fit onto two 8.5" x 11" pages, please instead supply the table as an Excel file. Please do NOT include the title or author list in the PDF; we will add a coversheet with this information. Please also do not include movie titles and legends; leave those in the main text, and we will move them to a separate online page that links to the movies. In addition, please do not include page numbers in your final PDF. We strongly recommend that the final size of this PDF be less than 10 MB in order to ensure successful downloads for all readers. In addition, this PDF should be considered the FINAL version; it will be published as is, except for the coversheet that we will add. Scientific errors detected in the supplemental information after publication will require that a correction be published (as with errors in the main paper).

Please follow the following style preferences to ensure that your supplemental information PDF is consistent with the copy-edited version of your main text:

*Case reports should be titled "supplemental note: case reports." These descriptions should fully describe the phenotypes of the affected individuals and are not subject to a word limit.

*Figures should be titled Figure S1, Figure S2, etc. (NOT Supplemental Figure 1, Supplemental Figure 2, etc.)

*Similarly, tables should be titled Table S1, Table S2, etc. (NOT Supplemental Table 1, Supplemental Table 2, etc.)

*Please use the word "supplemental" rather than "supplementary" in headings (e.g., "supplemental materials and methods," "supplemental references," etc.)

*As with main-text figures, supplemental figures should include error bars where appropriate, and these error bars should be clearly defined in the figure legends

Supplemental movies and Excel spreadsheets

Supplemental movies may be submitted through ScholarOne. Our preferred format is .mp4, but we also accept .mov, .avi, and .mpg files. Please note that we cannot accept movie files that require the reader to download particular codecs; the files must be playable on computers with standard media players, such as QuickTime or Windows Media Player. To create high-quality files with maximum compression, as well as ensure that your video can be played on our website and ScienceDirect's flash media player, the following specifications are strongly recommended:

*File size: <150 MB

*Frame rate: 30 frames per second

*Field order: none (progressive, not interlaced)

*Aspect ratio: widescreen 16:9

*Video codec: H.264

*Video bitrate: 2 Mbps

*Audio codec: AAC

*Audio bitrate: 128 kbps

If you choose the submission item "supplemental movies and spreadsheets," the PDF builder will embed links within the PDF where editors and reviewers will be able to download files. This also works for Excel files that do not display properly once converted to a PDF.

Figure Organization, Format, and Style

Digital figure files submitted through S1M must conform to our digital figure guidelines, or authors will be asked to revise them.

If you have any questions about digital files, please contact The Innovation Life editorial office (life@the-innovation.org).

Submission of Revised Manuscripts

In addition to including the sections described above, revised manuscripts must also contain a detailed point-by-point response to the comments of the reviewers and/or editors. These responses should be compiled into a document titled response to reviewers and uploaded individually. This response will be seen by reviewers if the manuscript is sent for re-review. The cover letter is confidential to the editors and should briefly summarize how the revised manuscript addresses these comments. All changes to the manuscript should also be highlighted with the track changes feature in Microsoft Word. In general, revised manuscripts will be reconsidered only if resubmitted within 4 weeks of the date of the original decision.

Checklist for final submission

In order for a paper to be accepted and scheduled for publication, the authors will be asked to send the following items. Please refer to the letter from the editor for further details and to the additional guidelines below for final figures.

1. Please make sure that your final manuscript includes the following:

*For any figures presenting pooled data, definitions of the measures within the figure legends

*Experimental procedures in sufficient detail in the materials and methods

*Author and affiliations lists with superscripted numbers

*Concise titles for figures and tables

*Proper formatting and resolution of figures (see above)

*Proper formatting of tables (see above)

2. Please submit the final version of text and figures through our online editorial system (ScholarOne).

Production and proofs

After final acceptance, the manuscript will be passed to the production team to be copyedited and prepared for printing. Figures may be resized during the production process.

PDF proofs will arrive via email about 1 week prior to publication and need to be returned with corrections no more than 24 hours after receipt. If you will be unreachable at all during this period or anticipate any problems meeting this timeline, please contact The Innovation Life editorial office (life@the-innovation.org)

Process for post-publication issues

We will thoroughly investigate any issues with data or figures that we publish. While we do not monitor the internet or social media, we follow up on all clearly documented concerns that are directly brought to our attention (from authors or concerned readers, named and anonymous). If we think that there is reason to investigate, we will discuss the concerns with the lead contact. This process generally involves asking for the original, unprocessed data, along with descriptions of how the experiments in question were performed and how the figures were prepared. We will assess these materials, and we may consult with reviewers or other experts. There are several potential outcomes of the process. First, we may take no further action; in this case, we may publish an editorial note to describe the process and explain why we are taking no further action. Second, if we think the issues are resolvable with a correction, we may ask the authors to prepare a correction statement. Third, if we uncover serious issues, we may ask the authors to retract the paper and we will work with them to prepare a retraction statement. Fourth, if the timeline to a potential resolution seems long, we might publish an editorial expression of concern to alert the community that an investigation is ongoing. At any point during this process, if our analysis uncovers potentially serious issues, we will generally ask authors to alert their institution and funding bodies.

Correcting the scientific record is a priority for us. Because we consider the investigation process confidential, we don' t report back in detail to the person who contacted us with the concern. As the process can include gathering and evaluating original data, discussing with authors, and collaborating with institutional investigations, it can take some time. We are committed to making sure that the investigation moves forward quickly, but as these are serious and important matters, we prioritize reaching the outcome that best serves the scientific community over reaching the fastest outcome.

Other post-publication changes

Upon request from authors who have changed their name, we will update author names on published papers and publish a correction. In cases of authors with a strong need for privacy, the change will be made invisibly, without publishing a correction. We will also arrange to update the article metadata in secondary indexation databases, specifically Clarivate/Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus.