Submissions
Submission Preparation Checklist
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.- The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
- Permission from the student's supervisor is required in order to publish any work completed in their lab.
- The submission file is in Microsoft Word document file format.
- Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
- The text is single-spaced; uses a 10-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
- The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
- Please disregard the following item on this checklist (i.e. disregard "If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.").
- If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.
Papers (Research and Review Articles)
Instructions for Authors – Resarch & Review Articles
Catalyst: Facets of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences accepts both original research articles and reviews for publication. The specific instructions for submissions, supplementary to general submission requirements, are described in detail below. Please read and follow all requirements closely as your submission will be sent back without review if it does not adhere to these requirements.
Original Research articles must include the following sections in the given order:
Abstract: Summarize your research findings, including your hypothesis, methodology, motivations,and your major interpretations. This section should not be elaborate, but provide readers with enough information to understand your paper, your experiments, and your reasoning. Maximum length is 200 words.
Introduction: Describe in detail the field of your work. Provide readers with information regarding recent advances in the field, as well as major concepts required to understand your paper. This section should not discuss your results or interpretation of your experiments, but should frame the motivations for your work. Draw on work previously performed in your field and discuss how it led you to your research hypothesis. Present your hypothesis and discuss its significance. Maximum length is 600 words.
Results: Provide the reader with the results of your experiments. This section should be divided up by subheadings that denote congruent ideas. For instance, if your paper discusses a novel interaction between two proteins in cells, relevant subheadings may include, in italics, “Protein X is phosphorylated in pathway A” and “Protein X binds Protein Y at its C-terminal domain”. As shown, these two subheadings comprise the framework for the conclusion that Protein X and Protein Y interact. Your results section should provide readers with the outcomes of each experiment without any introduction of bias. Do not discuss or interpret your work here; simply present it and allow the reader to make his or her own inferences. Each major result should be supported by a table or figure in the accompanying “Tables and Figures” document. Do not directly insert tables or figures in your report. Maximum length is 900 words.
Discussion: Elaborate on the data presented in your Results section. In this section, you should interpret your data and present your own opinion. It is also appropriate to introduce speculation of potential scientific phenomena (such as the interaction of two proteins) in order to link the experiments you present in your Results section. This section should also include commentary on any errata, as well as a critical analysis of the experimental procedures used. Maximum length is 500 words.
Future Directions: Discuss very briefly the next directions that you (or another researcher in your place) will take with this work. If you are in the middle of a project, what are the next steps? What else needs to be done to answer important questions in the field? How can these questions be addressed? Why are these questions important? Use this section to discuss these themes. Maximum length is 150 words.
Materials and Methods: Describe in detail the methodology used in your experiments. This section can be split into subheadings corresponding to individual techniques. For instance, an author may have one subheading describing molecular cloning of a plasmid, and another subheading describing how it was transfected into cells grown in a tissue culture. Do not elaborate on errata of the methodology or your motivations for using one technique over another. Simply present how you conducted your experiments, and provide sufficient detail such that another researcher may repeat your work. Maximum length is 1000 words.
Reviews must include the following sections in the given order:
Abstract: In this section, describe briefly the overall goal of the review and its overarching theme. Present a brief summary of your collective interpretation of the works you have studied and comment on its significance to the field. Maximum length is 200 words.
Introduction: Describe in detail the field corresponding to the review. Provide the reader with an overview of recent advances in the field, and important concepts necessary to understand and critically analyze your review paper. You should also use commentary on previous work to frame questions that remain unanswered in the field, and to frame overarching themes that you will be discussing and throughout your review. Maximum length is 600 words.
Body: Thoroughly discuss the works that you are reviewing and provide your own interpretations of the experiments presented within them. This section should not be divided by headings and subheadings corresponding to different major ideas. For instance, a review paper exploring therapeutic strategies in the treatment of brain tumours may have headings titled: “Diagnostic Pitfalls” and “The Issue of Metastasis”. These headings should aim to address individual questions presented in your introduction, while remaining consistent to one, overarching theme. Maximum length is 1100 words.
Conclusions: Use this section to tie together the ideas presented in the different subheadings of your Body. This section should also once again summarize the main point of your review, and provide the reader with a reminder of why your review is significant and how it ties together important ideas in the field. You are encouraged to draw your own conclusions from several independent research studies. Maximum length is 400 words.
Figures & Tables: You may include figures and tables to support the findings you discuss in your review article, in a separate document as described in general submission requirements. However, you are not permitted to re-use figures and/or schematics from other sources.
Perspectives
Instructions for Authors – Perspectives
Catalyst: Facets of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences accepts Perspectives for publication. The instructions for submissions, supplementary to general submission requirements, are described in detail below. Please read and follow all requirements closely as your submission will be sent back without review if it does not adhere to these requirements.
The Perspectives section offers authors an opportunity to discuss opinions on all matters relating to science. It is viewed as an editorials section for the scientific community and submissions can comment on both scientific content, such as recent discoveries and their benefits and pitfalls, as well as associated matters, such as being a student, the “omics” movement in science, and so forth. Perspectives should provide intelligent commentary on fields that are relevant to a broad readership. Their structure is largely open to authors, however, we limit submissions to 1000 words. If applicable, please follow the guidelines outlined for general submissions.
Protocols
Instructions for Authors – Protocols
Catalyst: Facets of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences accepts Protocols for publication. The instructions for submissions to the section, supplementary to general submission requirements, are described in detail below. Please read and follow them closely as we will send your paper back without review if it does not adhere to these requirements.
Protocols must include the following sections in the given order:
Abstract: Summarize the purpose of your Protocol. Very briefly frame it into the current methodology within the field and describe how it moves the field forwards or why it is unique. Touch on the purpose of the Protocol. Do not delve into complete methodology here or discussion of your technique; simply provide a broad overview in order to get readers interested. Maximum length is 200 words.
Protocol: Describe the Protocol. In this section, you should describe the purpose of the Protocol in detail, frame it within the current methodology of the field and describe the process in a coherent, easy-to-follow manner. This section should be written similar to a Materials and Methods section, however, you should also discuss benefits and shortfalls of your particular protocol and of others in the field with which it is comparable. You are welcome to reference figures and it is encouraged that you will do so. Of special interest to our readership are flowcharts and similar figures that simply explain complex concepts. Maximum length is 1200 words.
Multimedia
Instructions for Authors – Multimedia
Catalyst: Facets of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences accepts multimedia publications for online-only publication. The instructions for submissions, supplementary to general submission requirements, are described in detail below.
Please read and follow all requirements closely as your submission will be sent back without review if it does not adhere to these requirements. The Multimedia component offers authors an opportunity to demonstrate their biochemical skills in a audio or visual manner – whether it be podcasts, video tutorials, photo galleries, etc. BBS Catalyst multimedia submissions can be provided as a supplement scientific contributions described in a protocol, and/or provide intelligent commentary on fields that are relevant to a wide readership. Submissions will be published on a case-by-case basis and not necessarily alongside a print issue. Their structure is largely open to authors, however, the time commitment for multimedia publications is considerably higher. Therefore, it is advised to consult with the multimedia editing team beforehand by sending a submission proposal by email to BBSCatalystSubmit@gmail.com with the subject line “Multimedia Submission”, in order to work with editors throughout the entire publication process.
Copyright Notice
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
