The Journal of Cell Biology publishes papers on all aspects of cellular structure and function. Areas of interest include, but are not restricted to:
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The Editors encourage submission of cross-disciplinary manuscripts that combine cell biology with other fields including but not limited to immunology, neurobiology, microbiology, developmental biology, and systems biology. Submissions are welcome regardless of experimental approach.
To warrant publication in the JCB, a manuscript must provide novel and significant mechanistic insight into a cellular function or process that will be of interest to a general readership. Manuscripts containing purely descriptive observations will not be published.
Papers presenting methods must describe a technological advance that permits the interrogation of cell biological problems in ways previously impossible. This may be a completely novel method or a significant improvement over existing methods that leads to novel biological insights. Methods with clinical or biotechnological applications will be considered if they are strongly based on cell biological observations. The description of a method alone is insufficient for publication and all methods papers must demonstrate insight into a specific cell biological problem or solid proof of principle experiments.
Systems biology (genomics, proteomics, etc.) manuscripts must provide novel mechanistic insights into a specific cell biological problem. Ideally, such manuscripts formulate and test novel hypotheses experimentally. Purely descriptive systems-wide studies (i.e., gene expression or protein lists) will not be published.
Computational biology and theoretical modeling manuscripts must lead to novel insights into properties and functional characteristics of complex biological systems or processes. Purely descriptive computational or kinetic models that confirm known mechanisms or describe them quantitatively without providing additional functional insights or do not lead to new mechanistic models will not be published.
Manuscripts submitted in the Article format must present a comprehensive analysis providing mechanistic insight into an area of significant general interest. Articles must be fully documented reports of original research, but they should be as concise as possible without compromising documentation of results. Manuscripts containing purely descriptive observations will not be published.
Manuscripts submitted in the Report format must describe definitive observations of outstanding interest that have the potential to open up new avenues of research. Reports describe cutting-edge findings of immediate interest to a wide readership. Incomplete, preliminary studies will not be published.
Reviews published in the JCB are commissioned by the Editors. If you have any questions regarding our review content, please contact the JCB Editorial office (jcellbiol@rockefeller.edu).
Comments published in the JCB are commissioned by the Editors to accompany a research article or report in the same issue.
The JCB guarantees scholarly review of all submissions in a timely fashion.
Upon submission, manuscripts are reviewed by at least one member of the editorial board for general suitability and strength of advance. An initial decision is usually reached within 2–3 days.
If sent for full review, the manuscript is refereed by several leading scientists active in the relevant field regardless of their membership on the JCB editorial board. A decision is communicated by an editorial board member familiar with the topic as soon as all referees’ reports are compiled.
When submission of a revised manuscript is invited following review, only a single revised version will be considered. The revised manuscript must be received within three months of the decision date or it will be considered as a new submission, subject to reconsideration of novelty, and possibly sent to new reviewers.
Manuscripts submitted in the Report format will be reviewed rapidly, usually within 14 days of receipt. Only minor revisions are allowed.
When submitting a manuscript, the authors must affirm that the material has been neither published nor submitted for publication elsewhere—other than as an abstract <400 words in length and containing no figures.
The data presented in a submitted manuscript must not be made available prior to publication in any article listed in a public citation database or in a book identified with an ISBN. Data should not be posted on any publicly available website. Any public posting may be considered prior publication. Presentation of your data at scientific meetings is permitted. Doctoral theses or dissertations are not regarded as prior publications, whether they are made available in electronic form or not, unless they have been actually "published" in a widely distrubutable form.
Any manuscript submissions/publications that are related to, or could be perceived as overlapping with the submitted manuscript must be provided to the JCB. The authors should explain in their cover letter how this publication relates to the submitted manuscript. This material will be sent with the manuscript to the Editors and reviewers, who will be asked to advise the Editors whether there is overlap between the submitted manuscript and the other material.
All authors must disclose any commercial affiliations or consultancies, stock or equity interests, or patent-licensing arrangements that could be considered to pose a conflict of interest regarding the submitted manuscript. All funding sources, institutional and corporate, should be credited in the Acknowledgments section.
The JCB requires the free exchange of all clones, cell lines, and biological reagents used in studies published in the Journal. Free exchange is required for all articles published since January 1, 1999. The source code for all computational methods published in the JCB must be made freely available. These requirements are in accordance with the recommendations articulated by the National Academy of Sciences.
Authors should deposit plasmid constructs and genetically modified organisms in a public repository. Nucleic acid and protein sequences, microarray data, and structural data must be deposited in a public database and must be available on the date of publication. Relevant accession numbers must be included in the manuscript text.
If you are having difficulty obtaining materials from the authors of a manuscript published in the JCB after January 1, 1999, please contact the Executive Editor, Emma Hill: ehill@rockefeller.edu.
All final published content of the JCB will be automatically posted on PubMed Central and UK PubMed Central, where it will be available to the public six months after the publication date. Authors should not submit their papers independently to these repositories. This service is free of charge and is fully compliant with funding agencies’ mandates. We refer you to the Sherpa Romeo site for details: http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo.php.
All animal studies must be in compliance with the US Department of Health and Human Services Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, or otherwise relevant guidelines, approved by the authors' Institutional Review Board(s), and a statement to this effect must be included in the Materials and methods section.
The editors reserve the right to request original data from authors at any stage in the publication process, including post-publication.
All digital images in manuscripts accepted for publication will be scrutinized by our production department for any indication of manipulation.
Questions raised by the production department will be referred to the Editors, who will request the original data from the authors for comparison to the prepared figures. If the original data cannot be produced, the acceptance of the manuscript may be revoked. Any case in which the manipulation affects the interpretation of the data will result in revocation of acceptance. Cases of suspected misconduct will be reported to an author's home institution or funding agency.
With the exception of large-scale genomic analyses, we expect that all experiments have been repeated. The number of repetitions, cells, or samples analyzed, etc., must be provided in the relevant figure legend(s) and/or Materials and methods. Statistical information regarding variability of data should be represented where appropriate with error bars (see numerical data below).
To submit to the JCB either click here, or from the JCB home page at www.jcb.org, click "Submit". Specific instructions for navigating our submission system are provided on the online site.
A license to publish form (http://www.jcb.org/misc/license.pdf) must be signed by all authors, and can then either be scanned and included in the online submission as a PDF, or faxed to the Editorial office: (212) 327-8576. If you have any questions about this form, please email jcellbiol@rockefeller.edu. An edited version of this form for NIH authors is available upon request.
For original submissions, or a first revision, we encourage you to submit your manuscript text and figures as a single PDF file. For the final version of your manuscript we require the manuscript text as an editable document file and individual figure files.
The manuscript text file should contain all of the text elements: title page, abstract, introduction, results, discussion, materials and methods, acknowledgements, references, tables, figure legends. Figures, when included, should not be embedded within the text file.
Authors should provide a cover letter, containing any relevant details regarding the study, related papers, conflicts, etc. Authors may include suggestions for suitable Reviewers in their cover letter and up to five people to exclude from the reviewing process along with a reason for their exclusion. We will generally honor these requests, unless they preclude a rigorous review of the manuscript.
Acceptable file formats for your manuscript are DOC or PDF. The manuscript text must be formatted using double-line spacing throughout the manuscript.
Format: Manuscripts should be divided into the following sections, each beginning on a new page: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Results, Discussion, Materials and methods, Acknowledgements, Abbreviations List, References, Figure Legends, Tables.
Character Limits for Articles: The total length of an article is limited to 40,000 characters (not counting spaces). The character count includes ALL sections EXCEPT the Materials and methods and References. The number of characters should be listed on the title page.
Figure Limits for Articles: Articles may include up to ten (10) figures. Supplemental material (see below) is limited to five (5) figures and/or tables.
Format: Reports should be divided into the following sections, each beginning on a new page: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Results and discussion, Materials and methods, Acknowledgements, Abbreviations List, References, Figure Legends, Tables. Note that the Results and Discussion must be combined.
Character Limits for Reports: Reports can be no longer than 20,000 characters in length (not counting spaces). The character count includes ALL sections EXCEPT the Materials and methods and References. We recommend that the Materials and methods be kept to ~3,000 characters. The number of characters should be listed on the title page.
Figure Limits for Reports: Reports are limited to five (5) figures. Supplemental material (see below) is limited to three (3) figures and/or tables.
The title should be less than 100 characters (including spaces). Make the title concise and accessible to a general readership.
The title page includes:
• The complete names of the institutions where the work was done.
• The name, mailing address, telephone number, fax number, and email address of the author to whom correspondence and proofs are to be sent.
• A condensed title of less than 50 characters (including spaces) for incorporation in the running head.– If you wish to have two corresponding authors listed for the paper, you must designate one of them to communicate with the Editorial and Production offices.
– If a change of address is imminent, indicate the change and the date effective.
Abstracts must not exceed 160 words. The abstract is a single paragraph and should give a synopsis of the work reported that is self-explanatory and suitable for use without changes by abstracting services. Abstracts should not include references.
Materials and methods sections should be comprehensive and not simply reference a previous publication for details on how an experiment was performed.
For all microscopy performed, please provide image acquisition and preparation details as described below.
This must appear at the end of the Materials and methods section. It should provide brief legends for any materials submitted for online only publication (such as videos, data sets, or supplemental figures/tables).
There is no limit to the number of references cited in a manuscript. We strongly encourage authors to cite the primary literature rather than review articles throughout their manuscripts.
If automatic referencing systems are used, the references must be finalized and reduced to text before submission.
References should be cited parenthetically in the text by author and year of publication.
The following are examples of citation formats:
(Catalucci et al., 2009)
(Pedersen and Tsai, 2009)
(Wittman, 2009)
References should be listed alphabetically by first author’s last name. The authors must be cited in the order in which they first appeared in publication and as they subsequently appear in Medline, even in cases where more than one author contributed equally to the work. Include all authors’ names (do not use "et al."), year, complete article title, and inclusive page numbers. Abbreviate the names of journals according to PubMed; please spell out the names of unlisted journals.
The following are examples for accepted reference formats:
Journal Articles
Two authors:
Foster, E.R., and J.A. Downs. 2009. Methylation of H3K4 and K79 is not strictly dependent on H2B K123 acetylation. J. Cell Biol. 184:631–638.
More than two authors:
Eastman, S.W., M. Yassaeem, and P.D. Bieniasz. 2009. A role for ubiquitin ligase and Spartin/SPG20 in lipid droplet turnover. J. Cell Biol. 184: 909–921.
In press:
Brown, W., and A. Nelson. 2009. Phosphorus content of lipids. J. Lipid Res. In press.
Online Peer-Reviewed Articles
Published article with only DOI:
Lopez-Soler, R.I., R.D. Moir, T.P. Spann, R. Stick, and R.D. Goldman. 2001. A role for nuclear lamins in nuclear envelope assembly. J. Cell Biol. doi:10.1083/jcb.200101025
Published article with both DOI and pagination:
Lopez-Soler, R.I., R.D. Moir, T.P. Spann, R. Stick, and R.D. Goldman. 2001. A role for nuclear lamins in nuclear envelope assembly. J. Cell Biol. 154:61–71. doi:10.1083/jcb.200101025.
Complete Books
Myant, N.B. 1981. The Biology of Cholesterol and Related Steroids. Heinemann Medical Books, London. 882 pp.
Articles in Books
Innerarity, T.L., D.Y. Hui, and R.W. Mahley. 1982. Hepatic apoprotein E (remnant) receptor. In Lipoproteins and Coronary Atherosclerosis. G. Noseda, C. Fragiacomo, R. Fumagalli, and R. Paoletti, editors. Elsevier/North Holland, Amsterdam. 173–181.
Abstracts
Citation of abstracts in the reference list is not permitted
Unpublished data
We strongly discourage citation of unpublished data such as "unpublished results”, "unpublished observation”, and "data not shown". This is only permitted in exceptional circumstances and must appear parenthetically in the text as "unpublished data”. Citation of "manuscript in preparation”, "manuscript submitted”, etc., is not permitted. Unpublished data can not be included in the reference list.
Unpublished work may not be cited in the Materials and methods section. As an alternative to "unpublished data”, additional images, video, or data sets not shown in the article may be included as Online Supplemental figures, tables, or videos.
Personal communications
When a person(s) who is not an author of the article is the source of unpublished data, those data must be cited as a "personal communication”. In the case of "personal communications”, authors must provide a signed letter of permission from the source of the communication authorizing the authors to cite the communication. Personal communications can not be included in the reference list
A term that does not appear on the JCB standard abbreviations list must be used at least three times in a paper to qualify as an abbreviation. Spell out the term on first mention, and follow it with the abbreviated form in parentheses. Thereafter, please use the abbreviated form. If the term is used less than three times, no abbreviation is used. Supply a list of nonstandard abbreviations used in the paper, in alphabetical order, giving each abbreviation followed by its spelled-out version.
Supporting data that are not essential for appreciating the conclusions made in a manuscript may be included as supplemental material. Examples of appropriate data for supplemental material include DNA sequences, or Western blots that show the specificity of an antibody or efficient knockdown of a gene product. Videos or flash animations (.mov, .mpg, .avi, .swf, and .fla) may be included as supplemental material.
To ensure full peer review of all material published we do not permit supplementary text other than figure legends. Therefore, please make sure all text is included within the manuscript text itself. The number of supplemental display items (figures and/or tables) is limited to 5 for Articles and 3 for Reports.
The JCB follows the abbreviations and other conventions of Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (6th Edition, 1994, Council of Biology Editors, Inc., 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814).
The JCB adheres to strict editorial policy for acceptance and publication of data and digital images. Please see our Editorial Policies Section on Image manipulation above for further information.
File names for submitted figures and digital images should be alphanumeric. Do not include any spaces or special characters. Videos should be named by order of citation appearance (e.g., video1.mov). If a video is directly related to a figure or table, name accordingly (e.g., Fig4video3.mov). Lengthy file names should be avoided.
Acceptable file formats are EPS or TIFF. We cannot accept PowerPoint files. Please note that files saved in TIFF format from within the PowerPoint application are NOT at sufficiently high resolution to meet our formatting requirements. (For further information, please see our Editorial of January 5th, 2004.) The complete figure (all panels) should be in a single file.
The resolution of all submitted images accepted for publication must be at least 300 dpi at publication size.
To check the size and resolution of the image in Adobe Photoshop, select "Image Size" in the "Image" menu. Make sure the "Resample Image" box in "Image Size" dialog window is not checked and the "Width”, "Height”, and "Resolution" boxes are linked by the graphic chain. (It may be necessary to click twice on the "Resample Image" box to establish this link.) This will mean that no resolution (i.e., dots or data) is lost when reducing the dimensions of an image and that the machine does not add dots to an image when increasing its dimensions. Set the print size to the desired size of the image in the printed journal and make sure that the resolution at this size is equal to or above 300 dpi. Please submit in the TIFF format by selecting this choice in the format box of the "Save" dialog window (you can save as TIFF with LZW compression to reduce the size of large image files).
Submitted digital halftones should be in grayscale format.
Please submit color figures in RGB format. For published manuscripts, image files will be posted online in their original RGB format, maintaining the full color of your original files. When saving, always embed any ICC profile you have been working with. All profiles will be accurately converted to Adobe RGB (1998). If possible, we recommend that authors use Adobe RGB (1998) when preparing files. Note that we will still need to convert all RGB files to CMYK for printing on paper and color shifts may occur in conversion. You will not receive a CMYK proof. You can view an approximation of print results by converting to CMYK in Photoshop or Illustrator.
Vector files should be created in an illustration program such as Adobe Illustrator and should be saved and submitted as EPS (Encapsulated PostScript). Only Times, Helvetica, Arial, or Symbol fonts should be used. Using other fonts may result in lost or improperly converted characters.
Prepare photographic image files in Photoshop at 300 dpi as described above. Prepare line art in Illustrator as above (if you are importing color images, be sure to create an RGB Illustrator file). Image files should be placed into the file containing the line art. In Illustrator, copying and pasting or dragging directly from Photoshop will embed the image. Always embed images, never link. If you use the “Place” command, be sure to uncheck “Link” in the dialogue box. If you use another illustration program, please refer to the specific documentation for that application (generally there will be a “link”, “proxy”, or “OPI” option on import that should be unchecked). Save as EPS, always embedding any color profile used. We recommend Adobe RGB (1998).
As noted above in our Editorial Policy Section, all figures from manuscripts that have received an editorial acceptance will be screened for any evidence of manipulation. As you prepare your figures, please adhere to the following guidelines to accurately present your data:
A more detailed discussion of image presentation can be found here: (Rossner and Yamada, J. Cell Biol. 166:11–15)
The following information must be provided about the acquisition and processing of images:
If you export files from a microscope or other acquisition device, be sure to use consistent file formats (8 bit, 16 bit, etc.).
All micrographs must include a bar to indicate the scale.
Protein molecular weights or DNA marker sizes must be indicated on all figure panels showing gel electrophoresis.
Error bars on graphic representations of numerical data must be clearly described in the figure legend. The number of independent data points (n) represented in a graph must be indicated in the legend. Numerical axes on graphs should go to zero, except for log axes.
Statistical analyses must be carried out on all available data and not just on data from a "representative experiment". Statistics and error bars should only be shown for independent experiments and not for replicates within a single experiment.
A more detailed discussion of error bars in experimental biology can be found here: (Cumming et al., J. Cell Biol. 177:7–11.)
Do not use the Word 2007 Microsoft default math editor since it contains incompatibilities that prevent us from using equations created with this editor.
Please use the Design Science Equation Editor (formerly the default Word editor) or MathType rather than the new default math editor featured in the Insert ribbon. To use either Equation Editor or MathType, in the Insert ribbon, click “Object” and choose object type “Microsoft Equation 3.0” or “MathType Equation”. The Equation Editor toolbar or MathType window will appear and will work as in previous versions of Word.
Tables must use rows and columns to correlate two variables. All tables must be double spaced and on pages separate from the text. Tables must be self-contained and self-explanatory. Do not divide into sub-tables and do not use vertical rules. Label each table at the top with a Roman numeral followed by the table title. Insert explanatory material and footnotes below the table. Designate footnotes using lowercase superscript letters (a, b, c) reading horizontally across the table. Supply units of measure at the heads of the columns. Abbreviations that are used only in a table should be defined in the footnotes to that table.
The JCB can post video files online. Videos must be cited both at the relevant place in the text of the Results section, and in the legends of any figures that contain video stills or images related to the video.
Localization of 2FYVE-GFP during WT S. typhimurium invasion.
HeLa cells transfected with 2FYVE-GFP (green) were infected with WT S. typhimurium expressing RFP (red). Images were analyzed by time-lapse confocal microscopy using a laser-scanning confocal microscope (LSM 510; Carl Zeiss, Inc.). Frames were taken every minute for 24 min.
The JCB encourages authors to submit their original image data files to the JCB DataViewer. The JCB DataViewer is a browser-based application for viewing original image files from various types of microscopes and gel-documentation systems. The JCB DataViewer supports many original file formats. You can read more about this application in the Editorial published on December 3, 2008.
Authors whose manuscripts are accepted for publication in the JCB may submit cover images for consideration with the accepted version of the manuscript. Images submitted should be at least 300 dpi at the size of publication—please refer to our figure preparation guidelines for details.
Cover image suggestions can be submitted along with a brief legend once your manuscript has been editorially accepted. Images should be a minimum of 300 dpi. Please submit cover suggestions via our manuscript tracking system when you upload final files once your manuscript has received an editorial acceptance. Additional information can be obtained by contacting the JCB Editorial office at jcellbiol@rockefeller.edu.
A manuscript will generally be published no later than six weeks after receipt of the final acceptance. Prompt return of corrected page proofs to the production office will help ensure timely publication.
All correspondence concerning the copyediting and production of manuscripts that have been accepted for publication should be addressed to:
The Journal of Cell Biology
Production Office
The Rockefeller University Press
1114 First Avenue, Third Floor
New York, NY 10065-8325
Tel.: (212) 327-8552
Fax: (212) 327-8513
email: jcb@mail.rockefeller.edu
A Rough Galley proof is supplied to the corresponding author as a PDF along with instructions. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours. Authors will be provided with information on charges for offprints and special services at that time. The cost of authors' text alterations in proof is $4.00 per change. Figure reprocessing at the authors' request will be charged at $55.00 per subject.
You may order offprints of your article on the publication charge form.
Authors will be charged a rate of US$0.07 per character, not counting spaces, and not including Materials and methods, References, or Tables. There will also be a flat fee of $350 for posting of ALL supplemental material. Color reproduction is free. An author's inability to meet charges will not affect the publication of acceptable manuscripts. The publication charge and offprint form must be completed before the article is released.
Copyright of all material published in the JCB remains with the authors. The authors grant the Rockefeller University Press an exclusive license to publish their work for the first 6 months. After 6 months the work becomes available to the public to copy, distribute, or display under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Please see our License to Publish and this Editorial published on April 30, 2008 for more details.