GUIDE FOR AUTHORS
Biological Psychiatry is the official journal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry. The Journal rapidly publishes reports of novel results on a broad range of topics related to the pathophysiology and treatment of major neuropsychiatric disorders. Both basic and clinical neuroscience contributions are encouraged, particularly those addressing genetic and environmental risk factors, neural circuitry and neurochemistry, and important new therapeutic approaches.
Except where explicitly stated otherwise, Biological Psychiatry conforms to the guidelines set forth by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (see Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (December 2019): Available from http://www.ICMJE.org).
All new manuscripts must be submitted through the journal website: https://www.editorialmanager.com/bps. All correspondence should be directed to the Editorial Office at [email protected]
ARTICLE TYPES
Archival Reports
Archival Reports are original research papers reporting novel results on a broad range of topics related to the pathophysiology and treatment of major neuropsychiatric disorders. Clear explication of methods and results is critical to facilitate review of papers and replicability of findings.
- Word Limit: 4000 words in main body of text
- Abstract: 250 word limit; Structure as follows: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions
- Main Text: Structure as follows: Introduction, Methods and Materials, Results, Discussion
- Tables/Figures: No limit, as needed
- References: No limit, as needed
- Supplement: Allowed, unlimited length
Priority Communications
These are Archival Reports that clearly document novel experimental findings of unusual and timely significance. These papers should represent a conceptual advance in the field and are not intended for publication of preliminary results. They are expected to be acceptable for publication in essentially the form submitted. Papers that require substantial revisions or do not fit the criteria will be considered as Archival Reports. See Archival Reports for structure, word length, and other requirements.
Reviews
Reviews are concise and focus on current aspects of interest and research. Reviews should be novel and have sufficient supporting literature, which should be integrated into a mechanistic model when applicable. Reviews should generally not focus solely on the authors' own work. Note that meta-analyses report original data and thus are not considered review papers; meta-analyses should be submitted as Archival Reports. Unsolicited reviews may be submitted directly. Invited reviews must first complete a pre-submission evaluation and consultation process with the Reviews Editor. The Editorial Office will provide specific details and the proposal form to all invited authors when warranted.
- Word Limit: 4000 words in main body of text
- Abstract: 250 word limit; unstructured
- Main Text: Structure with headings as needed
- Tables/Figures: Allowed to summarize or illustrate important points
- References: 150 maximum
- Supplement: Allowed, unlimited length
Techniques and Methods
These articles feature new, improved, or noteworthy comments about techniques or methods relevant to basic or clinical research in, or treatment of, psychiatric disorders.
- Word Limit: 3000 words in main body of text
- Abstract: 150 word limit; unstructured
- Main Text: Structure as follows: Introduction, Methods and Materials, Results, Discussion
- Tables/Figures: Maximum of two
- References: No limit, as needed
- Supplement: Allowed, unlimited length
Correspondence
These letters to the editor are directly related to methods, procedures or interpretation of data presented in work recently published in our journal and uses new analysis of data presented, the support of previously published work, and/or scientific points to be addressed based on methodological issues. They may also present a case report that clearly and unambiguously illustrates important new principles that have not yet been demonstrated in clinical trials. When warranted, a reply from author(s) of the original work is solicited; in such cases, the editor does not issue a final decision until both articles are submitted and the pair is then published together. Correspondence is published online only as e-content.
- Word Limit: 1000 words in main body of text
- Abstract: Not permitted
- Main Text: Unstructured
- Tables/Figures: Not encouraged, but 1-2 allowed if needed to illustrate important points
- References: No limit, as needed
- Supplement: Not permitted
Commentaries and Editorials
These articles address points directly related to articles in the concurrent issue, and/or focus on topics of current research and interest. These are generally invited, but interested contributors may contact the Editor.
- Word Limit: 1500 words in main body of text
- Abstract: Not permitted
- Main Text: Unstructured, headings are not permitted
- Tables/Figures: A single summarizing figure or table is encouraged
- References: 10 maximum
- Supplement: Not permitted
Early Career Investigator Commentaries
These articles provide publishing opportunities to early career investigators (ECI), as part of a joint project between the Journal and the Education Committee of the Society of Biological Psychiatry. These are invited articles for which an ECI serves as the sole and corresponding author. Each ECI shall be 1) a current member of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, 2) no more than 10 years out from terminal degree, and 3) not hold an academic faculty rank higher than Assistant Professor. A senior investigator mentors each ECI, acts as the content reviewer, and is recognized in the Acknowledgments section. ECI commentaries are published online only as e-content.
- Word Limit: 1500 words in main body of text
- Abstract: Not permitted
- Main Text: Unstructured, headings are not permitted
- Tables/Figures: A single summarizing figure or table is encouraged
- References: 10 maximum
- Supplement: Not permitted
Clinical Commentaries
These invited-only commentaries are produced in collaboration with the National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative (NNCI). Unlike regular commentaries, these articles have a specific clinical focus and are intended for a clinical audience, including medical students, residents, and clinicians. Clinical commentaries are published online only as e-content.
- Word Limit: 1500 words in main body of text
- Abstract: Not permitted
- Main Text: Unstructured
- Tables/Figures: A single summarizing figure or table is encouraged
- References: 10 maximum
- Supplement: Not permitted
PREPARATION & FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS
The basic elements of all submissions are as follows:
- •Cover letter
- •Manuscript
- ›Title page
- ›Abstract
- ›Main text of article
- ›Acknowledgments
- ›Disclosures
- ›References
- ›Legends for tables and figures
- ›
- •Tables
- •Figures
- •Supplemental Information
Further details on each element are provided below, followed by guidance on style.
Cover Letter
Cover letters are optional for all submissions. A cover letter must be uploaded as a separate file, as it is not made available to peer reviewers.
Manuscript
Manuscripts should contain the following sections: title page, abstract, main article text, acknowledgments, disclosures, references, footnotes, and table/figure legends. The manuscript may also include tables, in text format, at the end of the file. Begin all sections on separate pages. The manuscript file should be supplied in Word, not in PDF.
Title Page
- The title page should be the first page of the manuscript file and should include the following elements:
- •Full article title, 200 characters or less; acronyms/abbreviations are prohibited
- •Full names of all authors, in order, and their affiliations
- •Corresponding author's complete mailing address, phone, and email
- •Short/running title, 55 characters or less (including spaces); standard acronyms are permitted
- •Six keywords
Abstract
Abstracts should be structured or unstructured according to the article type and should not exceed the word limits as detailed above. Structured abstracts should have the following sections: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions. The Methods section should explicitly state the sample size and sex/species of subjects, when applicable. For those manuscripts that require clinical trials registration (see Clinical Trials Registration section, below), the registry name, URL, and registration number should be included at the end of the abstract. References are not permitted in abstracts. Avoid the use of abbreviations/acronyms that are not used at least three times.
Main Text
The text of papers should be double-spaced and structured according to the article type. It should not exceed the word limits as detailed above. Articles reporting original research (Archival Reports, Priority Communications, Techniques and Methods) should be structured with the following headings: Introduction, Methods and Materials, Results, Discussion. The introduction should provide a brief background and state the objectives/hypotheses of the current work; it should not include the findings/results of the study. The Methods and Materials section should include sufficient detail to allow other investigators to replicate the work. It is not appropriate to move the entire text of the methods to the supplement to adhere to the Journal’s word count limits. Manufacturer name and location should be included at first mention, where applicable. Authors may reference other publications for methods that have previously been published in full detail elsewhere. Relevant ethics statements must be included; see Ethical Considerations section, below. The Results section should clearly present the experimental findings and test statistics in a logical order. The Discussion section should describe the results, interpret them in the context of prior literature, and discuss the implications and significance of the finding(s). Limitations of the current work should also be discussed.
Acknowledgments
This section should include detailed information regarding all sources of funding, including grant and other material or financial support. Specify granting agency, grant number, and recipient for each funding source. The role of study sponsor(s), if any, should be stated. Identify any data that was published previously, in abstract/poster form or on a preprint server. This section may also be used to acknowledge non-author contributors/collaborators and individuals who provided personal and technical assistance. If a consortium/group is listed as an author, then the individual members must be named here. Authors should secure written permission from all individuals named in this section.
Disclosures
This section must include the required financial disclosures and conflict of interest statements for each author. Even if every author has nothing to disclose, this must be explicitly stated. See section on Disclosure, below.
References
References should be numbered and listed by their order of appearance in the text. Refer to references in the text with the appropriate number in parentheses. References in tables and figures should also be numbered. List all authors; if there are more than seven authors, list the first six then et al. Periodical abbreviations should follow those used by Index Medicus. It is not appropriate to reference papers that have not yet been published (i.e., are submitted or under review). The following are sample references for a published journal article (1), a book (2), and an edited book (3).
- 1.Krystal JH, Carter CS, Geschwind D, Manji HK, March JS, Nestler EJ, et al. (2008): It is time to take a stand for medical research and against terrorism targeting medical scientists. Biol Psychiatry 63: 725-727.
- 2.American Psychiatric Association (2013): Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.
- 3.Martin JH (1985): Properties of cortical neurons, the EEG, and the mechanisms of epilepsy. In: Kandel ER, Schwartz JH, editors. Principles of Neural Science, 2nd ed. New York: Elsevier, pp 461-471.
The Journal also encourages the citation of underlying or relevant datasets in manuscripts by citing them in the text and including a data reference in the reference list. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so that it can be properly identified as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier does not appear in published articles.
Figure/Table Legends
Provide a brief title and legend for each figure and table. For multi-part figures, describe each panel. Avoid duplicating information in the figure/table legends that is already presented in the Methods and Materials or Results sections.
Tables
Tables should be cited in the text and numbered consecutively (i.e., 1, 2, 3) in the order of their mention. Each table should have a title, along with a brief description (legend). Do not duplicate information that is already presented in the text. Tables must be supplied in an editable format (Word or Excel). They may either be included at the end of the manuscript file, or uploaded individually, but not both. Table footnotes should use superscript lowercase letters, rather than symbols or bold/italic text. Colored text or shading is not permitted in tables.
Figures
Basic figure instructions are provided here. Further details regarding electronic artwork quality and preparation can be found at https://www.elsevier.com/authors/author-schemas/artwork-and-media-instructions.
Key Requirements for Figures
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1
| File Formats | › TIFF, PDF, PPT, or EPS are preferred; JPEG is acceptable |
| Resolution | › Halftone or combination art: 300-500 dpi › Line art: 1000 dpi or supply as vector image |
| Image Size | › Single column width: 90 mm (255 pt) › 1.5 column width: 140 mm (397 pt) › Double column (full page) width: 190 mm (539 pt) › Note: 72 points = 1 inch |
| Font | › 8-12 point (minimum size variability) › Standard typeface (e.g., Arial, Times New Roman) › Consistent throughout |
| Multi-Panel Figures | › Label each panel/part with a capital letter (A, B, C,…) |
| Figure Titles/Legends | › Include in manuscript file, not in figure files |
| File Naming | › Use the figure number (Fig1.tif, Fig2.pdf, etc.) |
| Upload | › Supply as individual files (a single file for each figure) |
Figures should be cited in the text, numbered consecutively (i.e., 1, 2, 3) in the order of their mention, and have brief legends. Each figure should be consistent in color, size, and font, and be designed proportionally so that it can later be sized as needed without loss of legibility or quality. Letters and numbers, in particular, should not vary greatly in size. RGB color mode is preferred over CMYK. High quality versions of each figure should be uploaded individually (i.e., two figures should be uploaded separately as Figure 1 and Figure 2). To reduce TIFF file size, flatten layers and then save with LZW compression before uploading. A minimum resolution of 300 dpi is required. Note that the quality of a low-resolution figure cannot be improved by artificially increasing the resolution in graphics software; figures must be initially created with sufficient quality/resolution. Figure titles and legends should be included as editable text in the manuscript file and not in the figure files.
Images should represent the original data and be minimally processed. Uniform adjustments (e.g., brightness, contrast) may be applied to an entire image, but individual elements of an image may not be adjusted, manipulated, or cropped in order to selectively highlight, obscure, delete, or otherwise misrepresent the image or its interpretation.
Color illustrations are accepted, although the cost of color printing must be paid by the author. Otherwise, all illustrations appear in color for the online version, but are reproduced in black and white in the print journal. Authors may supply black-and-white versions of color figures for printing purposes. Authors should be mindful of color choices that may be problematic when converted to grayscale. The addition of textures and different line types helps avoid such problems.
Supplemental Information
Supplemental information, relevant to the work but not critical to support the findings, is strongly encouraged by the Journal and is made available via links in the online article but not published in print. All such material is peer-reviewed, but not typeset or proofed and so should be carefully prepared. Unlike other files, all supplemental information (including text, tables, and figures) should be uploaded in a single Word file whenever possible. Exceptions are large and/or lengthy tables, which may be submitted in Excel. Word documents will automatically be converted to PDF before being posted online.
Do not number sections of text; rather, use textual headings to clearly differentiate sections. Supplementary figures and tables should appear with their titles/legends, and be numbered consecutively (i.e., Figure S1, Figure S2, Table S1). References should be included as a separate list from those in the main manuscript; number beginning with (1) and include a reference list at the end of the supplemental document. The CONSORT diagram for randomized controlled trials, when applicable, will be published in the supplement.
Key Resources Table
Biological Psychiatry supports efforts in the biomedical research community to improve transparency and reproducibility in published research. Thus, we are pleased to participate in the initiative to include a Key Resources Table in all published articles that report original research (Archival Reports, Priority Communications, Techniques and Methods). Authors are asked to submit this table at first revision, which should be uploaded using the “Key Resources Table” item type. This table will be published as supplemental information. The table template is available for download from the journal website or can be downloaded directly here: https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/content/bps-key-resources-table.
The Key Resources Table is designed to promote reproducibility and thus, should include the resources and relevant details necessary to reproduce the study's results. It does not need to be exhaustive. We strongly encourage the use of RRID identifiers that provide persistent, unique identifiers to key study resources. Authors may search for RRIDs at https://scicrunch.org/resources.
Multimedia Content
Multimedia content, in formats such as AVI or MPG, is encouraged and should be uploaded as an “e-component” in the drop-down menu at the upload screen.
Style
Basic style points are as follows:
Tabled
1
| Layout | › Double-space all text › Number each page › Line numbering is not necessary |
| Spelling | › Use American, as opposed to British, spellings |
| Language | › English |
| Font | › Any standard typeface is acceptable (e.g., Arial, Times New Roman) › Be consistent throughout (use the same typeface and size) |
| Acronyms/Abbreviations | › Define at first use in the abstract › Define again at first use in the text and also in each legend › Avoid unnecessary/uncommon abbreviations |
| Nomenclature | › See below |
Our readership is diverse, and authors should consider that many readers are in specialty areas other than their own. It is important, therefore, to avoid jargon. Manuscripts with the broadest appeal are focused and clearly written. In highly specialized areas, the introduction should be a concise primer.
We encourage authors whose first language is not English to ask a native English speaker to review their manuscript or to use a professional language editing service prior to submission. Accepted manuscripts are copyedited to conform to the AMA Manual of Style.
Psychopharmacology Nomenclature
Biological Psychiatry supports the Neuroscience-based Nomenclature (NbN) project (https://nbn2r.com/), which aims to promote the use of mechanism-based nomenclature that is pharmacologically-driven, rather than indication-based. The NbN system characterizes medications based on their pharmacological domain and mode(s) of action. Authors should use NbN’s glossary or official apps in order to translate between the old and new nomenclature.
Gene/Protein Nomenclature
Gene symbols should be italicized and differentiate by species. Human symbols should be all uppercase (DISC1), whereas symbols for rodents and other species should be lowercase using only an initial capital (Disc1). Protein products, regardless of species, are not italicized and use all uppercase letters (DISC1).
Authors should use approved nomenclature for gene symbols by consulting the appropriate public databases for correct gene names and symbols. Approved human gene symbols are available from HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) at http://www.genenames.org/. Approved mouse symbols are provided by The Jackson Laboratory at http://www.informatics.jax.org/marker/. Use symbols (e.g., SLC6A4, DISC1) as opposed to italicized full names, and avoid listing multiple names separated by a slash, such as 'Oct4/Pou5f1'. Use one name throughout and include any alias(es) upon the first reference. Authors should submit proposed gene names that are not already approved to the appropriate nomenclature committees as soon as possible. It is the authors’ responsibility to ensure these are deposited and approved before publication of an article.
SUBMISSION PROCESS
All manuscripts must be submitted in electronic form through the Biological Psychiatry online submission and review website (https://www.editorialmanager.com/bps). Submission is a representation that all authors have personally reviewed and given final approval of the version submitted, and neither the manuscript nor its data have been previously published (except in abstract or preprint form) or are currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.
The Journal has created checklists to assist authors in the efficient submission of both new and revised manuscripts. They are entirely optional and intended solely to help authors adhere to our submission guidelines and save time so that submissions do not need to be returned for correction. The checklists are available here: http://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/content/bps-submission-checklists.
To ensure transparency, authors are expected to clearly declare other reports/publications of their own that have used the same dataset or sample. Authors must also identify figures, tables, and/or data that have been published elsewhere. It is the author's responsibility to obtain permission from the copyright holder(s) to reproduce or modify any previously published materials.
The person designated in the system as the corresponding author must be one of the individuals named as a corresponding author on the title page. Upon finalizing the submission, the corresponding author will immediately receive an email notification that the submission has been received by the Editorial Office. If such documentation has not been received, then a problem has occurred during the submission process and should be investigated. Any manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines will be returned to the author for correction before the manuscript is processed. The manuscript status is available to the corresponding author at all times by logging into the website. The submission will receive a manuscript number once it has been processed and assigned to an editor.
New Submission
When submitting a new manuscript, authors will be asked to provide the following: valid email addresses for all authors; the names, emails and affiliations of 6 individuals who would be appropriate to review the work; and all submission files. Further details are as follows.
New Submission Files
To ease the burden of the submission process, we permit authors to upload the entire submission (minus a cover letter) as a single file, with pages numbered, in Word or PDF. Tables and figures may either be placed within the body of the manuscript or presented separately at the end. Authors must ensure that all elements are clearly legible for editors and peer reviewers. Alternatively, authors may upload individual files (cover letter, manuscript, figures, etc.) separately. All files should be labeled with appropriate and descriptive names (e.g., SmithText.doc, Fig1.eps, Table1.doc). The system will build a single PDF of the submission from the uploaded files. Regardless of how files are uploaded at this stage, all essential components of a manuscript are still required. See Manuscript section, above.
Author Notifications
The Journal sends a notification to every individual named as an author upon receipt of every new submission. This email provides details of the submission, including the full author list and the text of both the acknowledgments and disclosures sections. This policy requires valid email addresses for all coauthors, which must be supplied at submission; institutional email addresses are strongly preferred. When a consortium/group is named as an author, this group must be entered as an author at the relevant screen. An email address for the primary contact/principal investigator of the consortium/group should be supplied. The named individual should be someone responsible for the consortium/group and must be a member of this group.
Referee Suggestions
For all new submissions (except Commentaries and Correspondence), authors are required to provide the full names and contact information (affiliation and email) of 6 individuals who are especially qualified to referee the work and would not have a conflict of interest in reviewing the manuscript. Affiliations of the suggested referees should all be different, and none should share an affiliation with any of the authors. Editors are not appropriate to suggest as a reviewer. Authors are also permitted to identify reviewers who should be excluded from reviewing their work, but final peer reviewer selections remain at the editors' discretion.
Revised Submission
When submitting a revised manuscript, authors are asked to provide a detailed response to reviewers, which must be uploaded as a unique Word or PDF file (separate from the cover letter). Authors may upload a ‘tracked changes’ version of their revision, but must always include a ‘clean’ non-marked version of the manuscript. For articles that report original research (Archival Reports, Priority Communications, Techniques and Methods), authors are also asked to provide a Key Resources Table (see relevant section, above, for details; click here to download the template). If revisions are a condition of publication, only two revised versions of the paper will be considered. Unsolicited revisions are not allowed.
Revised Submission Files
All files (cover letter, response to reviewers, manuscript, figures, etc.) must be uploaded separately at revision, and should be labeled with appropriate and descriptive file names (e.g., SmithText.doc, Fig1.tif, Table1.doc). File format requirements are specified in the below table. The system will build a single PDF of the submission from the uploaded files. Authors should be careful to replace all files that have been updated since original submission and ensure all files are correctly labeled (particularly if figures and/or tables have been rearranged and subsequently renumbered).
File Type Requirements
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| Cover Letter | Word or PDF |
| Detailed Response to Reviewers | Word or PDF |
| Manuscript | Word |
| Tables | Word or Excel |
| Figures | TIFF, PDF, PPT, or EPS |
| Supplement | Word |
| Key Resources Table | Excel |
| In This Issue Feature | Word |
Word Limits
Biological Psychiatry strictly enforces its word limits when a revised manuscript is submitted. Needing to address the reviewers' concerns is not a sufficient reason for exceeding the stated maximum word limits. We advise authors to critically evaluate their manuscripts to ensure that they are written as concisely and clearly as possible. Additionally, the Journal strongly encourages the use of Supplemental Information. This can be text, tables, and/or figures that are relevant to the work but not critical to support the findings. Supplemental Information is published online, but does not appear in print and therefore does not count against the word limits.
In This Issue Feature
The submission of revised manuscripts (except Commentaries and Correspondence) requires a new unique file with a brief non-technical summary of the article. The blurb should be uploaded as a text file, 50-75 words in length, and be written in laymen’s terms. Should the article be accepted for publication, this summary will be used for the In This Issue feature when the article is published.
PEER REVIEW PROCESS
All submissions (with the general exception of Editorials, Commentaries, and Correspondence) will be subject to blinded peer review. The actual selection of reviewers will be made by the editors. As a general rule, papers will be evaluated by three or more independent reviewers and, on occasion, an additional review for statistical adequacy may also be obtained. The comments of the reviewers are generally communicated to the authors within 30-45 days of submission.
Biological Psychiatry excludes reviewers who work at the same institution as any author, or those who have any other obvious conflict of interest. The identity of individual reviewers remains confidential to all parties except the Editorial Office. Reviewers are expected to treat manuscripts under peer review with the strictest confidentiality.
Authors should be aware that manuscripts may be returned without outside review when the editors deem that the paper is of insufficient general interest for the broad readership of Biological Psychiatry, or that the scientific priority is such that it is unlikely to receive favorable reviews. Editorial rejection is done to speed up the editorial process and to allow the authors' papers to be promptly submitted and reviewed elsewhere.
Biological Psychiatry is a member of the Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium, an alliance of neuroscience journals that have agreed to accept manuscript reviews from each other. Authors may submit a revision of their manuscript to another Consortium journal, and, at the author's request, Biological Psychiatry will forward the peer reviews to that journal. Authors can find a list of Consortium journals and details about forwarding reviews at http://nprc.incf.org.
EDITORIAL POLICIES
Authorship
To qualify for authorship, an individual must have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for all or part of the content, given final approval of the submitted version, and made substantive intellectual contributions to the submitted work in the form of: 1) conception and design, and/or acquisition of data, and/or analysis of data; and 2) drafting the article, and/or revising it critically for important intellectual content. Authorship also requires agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. All individuals who meet criteria for authorship must be named as authors, and all individuals named as authors must meet all authorship criteria. If authorship is attributed to a group (either solely or in addition to 1 or more individual authors), all members of the group must meet the full criteria and requirements for authorship as described above. Any changes in authorship after initial submission (additions, deletions, reordering) must be approved in writing by all authors.
The Journal permits shared/joint authorship in either the first or senior positions. Authors may denote on the title page which authors contributed equally and, should the article be accepted for publication, a notation will be included in the published paper.
Corresponding Author
By electing to approve and finalize the submission of a manuscript as the corresponding author, Biological Psychiatry assumes the author’s acknowledgment and acceptance of the following responsibilities: 1) act as the sole correspondent with the Editorial Office and the publisher, Elsevier, on all matters related to the submission, including review and correction of the typeset proof; 2) assurance that all individuals who meet the criteria for authorship are included as authors on the manuscript title page, and that the version submitted is the version that all authors have approved; and 3) assurance that written permission has been received from all individuals whose contributions to the work are included in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript.
Although a single person must serve as the corresponding author and be responsible for the manuscript from submission through acceptance, we do permit two individuals to be named as contacts in the final, published version of a paper. This may be noted on the title page of the paper and, should the article be accepted for publication, both individuals will be named in the published paper.
Disclosure of Biomedical Financial Interests and Potential Conflicts of Interest
Biological Psychiatry requires all authors to provide full disclosure of any and all biomedical financial interests. Further, we require all authors for all article types to specify the nature of potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise. This disclosure includes direct or indirect financial or personal relationships, interests, and affiliations relevant to the subject matter of the manuscript that have occurred over the last two years, or that are expected in the foreseeable future. This disclosure includes, but is not limited to, grants or funding, employment, affiliations, patents (in preparation, filed, or granted), inventions, honoraria, consultancies, royalties, stock options/ownership, or expert testimony. This policy of full disclosure is similar to the policies of the ICMJE and other such organizations. The conflict of interest statements should be included in the Financial Disclosures section of the manuscript at the time of submission for all article types. If an author has nothing to declare, this must be explicitly stated. Authors should contact the Editorial Office with questions or concerns, but should err on the side of inclusion when in doubt. The following is a sample text:
Dr. Einstein reports having received lecture fees from EMC Laboratories, and research funding from Quantum Enterprises. Dr. Curie disclosed consulting fees from RA Inc. Dr. Newton reported his patent on “Newtonian physics”. Dr. Archimedes reported no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.
It is the responsibility of all authors to ensure that their conflicts of interest and financial disclosures are included in the manuscript. Manuscripts that fail to include the complete statements of all authors upon submission will be returned to the corresponding author and will delay the processing and evaluation of the manuscript.
Diversity
The mission of Biological Psychiatry is to publish impactful scientific communications. To further that mission, we promote diversity in all aspects of the publication process, including authorship, reviewing, and editing. Our diversity efforts aim to increase participation among individuals of underrepresented racial, ethnic, and gender identities; from underrepresented countries or disadvantaged backgrounds; and those with disabilities. For further information, see https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.12.009.
Ethical Considerations
Authors should consider all ethical issues relevant to their research. In the Methods and Materials section of the manuscript, authors should identify the institutional and/or licensing committee that approved the experiment(s) and confirm that all experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Authors of reports on human studies should include detailed information on the informed consent process, including the method(s) used to assess the subject's capacity to give informed consent, and safeguards included in the study design for protection of human subjects. When relevant patient follow-up data are available, this should also be reported. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate that institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.
Biological Psychiatry takes seriously its responsibility in ensuring scientific integrity, and will pursue any allegations of misconduct, including but not limited to plagiarism, duplicate submission or publication, data fabrication or falsification, unethical treatment of research subjects, authorship disputes, falsified referee suggestions, and undisclosed conflicts of interest. The Journal generally follows the guidelines recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (https://publicationethics.org/), although we also reserve the right to take alternative action(s) as deemed necessary, including contacting the authors’ institution(s), funding agency, or other appropriate authority for investigation. Literature corrections, via errata or retractions, are handled on a case-by-case basis.
Clinical Trials Registration
In concordance with the ICMJE, Biological Psychiatry requires the prospective registration of all clinical trials as a condition of consideration for publication. A clinical trial is defined as any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups to one or more interventions to evaluate the effects of those interventions on health-related biomedical or behavioral outcomes. Health-related interventions are those used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome; examples include drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, dietary interventions, educational programs and treatment/prevention/diagnostic strategies. Health outcomes include any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants; examples include pharmacokinetic measures, adverse events, health-related behaviors, and changes to physiological, biological, psychological, or neurodevelopmental parameters. Purely observational studies (those in which the assignment of the medical intervention is not at the discretion of the investigator) will not require registration.
For further information, see here: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/clinical-trial-registration.html and https://www.who.int/ictrp/en/. See also here, https://grants.nih.gov/ct-decision/index.htm, for a useful decision tool available through the National Institutes of Health to determine whether a study with human subjects qualifies as a clinical trial.
Trials must have been registered at or before the onset of patient enrollment. Retrospective registration (i.e., at the time of submission) is not acceptable. For all clinical trials and secondary analyses of original clinical trials, the trial name, URL, and registration number should be included at the end of the abstract. Acceptable registries are ClinicalTrials.gov (https://www.clinicaltrials.gov) or any primary registries in the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (http://www.who.int/ictrp/network/primary/en/index.html).
Research and Data Reporting Guidelines
Biological Psychiatry supports initiatives aimed at improving the reporting of biomedical research. Checklists have been developed for a number of study designs, including randomized controlled trials (CONSORT), systematic reviews (PRISMA), meta-analyses of observational studies (MOOSE), diagnostic accuracy studies (STARD), and animal research (ARRIVE). The Minimum Information for Biological and Biomedical Investigations (MIBBI) portal also provides data-reporting standards, such as MIAME for microarray experiments. A comprehensive list of reporting guidelines is available from the EQUATOR Network Library (http://www.equator-network.org). Authors should make use of the appropriate guidelines when drafting their papers. Peer reviewers are asked to refer to these checklists when evaluating these studies.
Biological Psychiatry requires the inclusion of the CONSORT materials (flow diagram and checklist) at submission for all randomized controlled trials. Authors of other study designs are encouraged, but not required, to include the relevant checklists at submission. All such materials will be published as supplemental information.
Materials and Genes
Upon publication, it is expected that authors willingly distribute to qualified academic researchers any materials (such as viruses, organisms, antibodies, nucleic acids and cell lines) that were utilized in the course of the research and that are not commercially available.
GenBank/EMBL accession numbers for primary nucleotide and amino acid sequence data should be included in the manuscript at the end of the Methods and Materials section. All microarray data (proteomic, expression arrays, chromatin arrays, etc.) must be deposited in the appropriate public database and must be accessible without restriction from the date of publication. An entry name or accession number must be included in the Methods and Materials section.
Repository Data
A growing number of private and public repositories are accumulating demographic and clinical data, genetic and genetic analysis data, DNA, and other biomaterials for use in medical research. Manuscripts submitted for publication in Biological Psychiatry that employ repository data and/or biomaterials must be in full compliance with the rules developed by the respective repository governing the correct citation of the repository, funding agencies, and investigators who contributed to the repository. Any other stipulation by the repository governing publications using repository data and/or biomaterials must also be followed. Authors must provide sufficient information in the manuscript for the Editor and reviewers to determine that these conditions have been met and that the repository has been established and maintained according to current ethical standards. The Editors may require authors to provide additional documentation regarding the repository during the review process.
Preprint Policy
Biological Psychiatry permits the submission of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers, including bioRxiv. However, we request that authors do not update the posted article to include changes made in response to the reviewers’ comments. Authors should disclose that the article has been posted on a preprint server in the Acknowledgments/Disclosures section of the paper. If the article is accepted for publication, authors must be able to transfer copyright to the Society of Biological Psychiatry, or agree to the terms of and pay the associated fee for an open-access license.
ACCEPTANCE AND PUBLICATION
Proofs
The corresponding author will receive proofs by email generally within 3-5 weeks of acceptance, which must be corrected and returned within 48 hours of receipt. Authors are responsible for carefully reviewing and proofreading the entire article for accuracy. Once a corrected proof is published online, additional corrections cannot be made without an erratum.
Publication Schedule
Accepted articles are published online, prior to copyediting, within one week of final acceptance. They will be immediately citable, with an assigned digital object identifier (DOI) number. Corrected proofs are published online approximately 28 business days from final acceptance. Articles generally appear in their final paginated form within 6 months of acceptance.
Press and Embargo Policy
The Journal does not typically embargo articles, but can do so in instances where authors or their institutions wish to coordinate a press release. Authors should contact the Editorial Office immediately after notification of an acceptance if they would like an embargo set for their article.
Fees
Color illustrations are accepted. Although the cost of color printing must be paid by the author, authors may choose, at no cost, for illustrations to be reproduced in black and white in the print journal and appear in color for the online version. Color illustrations are printed at a rate of $650 (US dollars) for the first figure, and $100 for each additional figure. Authors may supply black-and-white versions of color figures for printing purposes.
As a primarily subscription-based journal, Biological Psychiatry does not otherwise have publication charges. However, authors may choose to make their article open-access, for which a fee of $3990 (US dollars) applies. Open-access articles will be made available to all (including non-subscribers) via the ScienceDirect platform. Authors of accepted articles who wish to take advantage of this option should complete and submit the online order form sent after acceptance.
Cover Art
Biological Psychiatry generally selects cover art relevant to an article appearing in that issue. The Journal encourages the submission of scientifically and visually interesting images that do not appear in the paper, but that would be suitable for cover art, particularly those that summarize or represent the article’s findings. Authors may upload images to be considered for the cover during the submission process, or email them separately to the Editorial Office. Any such images must be the property of the submitting authors. Figures that appear in the paper are automatically considered for covers.
Article Sharing
The Society of Biological Psychiatry and Elsevier support responsible sharing. The corresponding author will, at no cost, receive a customized Share Link (https://www.elsevier.com/authors/journal-authors/submit-your-paper/sharing-and-promoting-your-article/share-link) providing 50 days free access to the final published version of the article on ScienceDirect. The Share Link can be used for sharing the article via any communication channel, including email and social media. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Authors may order offprints at any time via Elsevier's WebShop (https://webshop.elsevier.com).
NIH Public Access Policy and Other Funding Body Agreements
As a service to our authors, our publisher, Elsevier, will deposit peer-reviewed manuscripts to PubMed Central that have reported research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). To initiate this process, the corresponding author must indicate that the study received NIH funding when completing the Publishing Agreement Form, which is sent to the corresponding author via email after acceptance. Elsevier has also established agreements and policies with multiple other funding bodies, including Wellcome Trust, to help authors comply with manuscript archiving requirements. Please see the full details at https://www.elsevier.com/about/open-science/open-access/agreements.
Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article by the Journal, the corresponding author will be asked to transfer copyright to the Society of Biological Psychiatry on behalf of all authors. This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information under U.S. Copyright Law. Once accepted, a paper may not be published elsewhere, including electronically, in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright holder. All copies, paper or electronic, or other use of information must include an indication of the Elsevier Inc. and Society of Biological Psychiatry copyright and full citation of the journal source. All requests for other uses will be handled through Elsevier Inc.
Authors retain the following rights: 1) Patent and trademark rights and rights to any process or procedure described in the article. 2) The right to photocopy or make single electronic copies of the article for their own personal use, including for their own classroom use, or for the personal use of colleagues, provided the copies are not offered for sale and are not distributed in a systematic way outside of their employing institution (e.g. via an email list or public file server). Posting of the article on a secure network (not accessible to the public) within the author’s institute is permitted. However, if a prior version of this work (normally a preprint) has been posted to an electronic public server, the author(s) agree not to update and/or replace this prior version on the server in order to make it identical in content to the final published version, and further that posting of the article as published on a public server can only be done with Elsevier’s written permission. 3) The right, subsequent to publication, to use the article or any part thereof free of charge in a printed compilation of works of their own, such as collected writings or lecture notes, in a thesis, or to expand the article into book-length form for publication. Please see the Journal Publishing Agreement, sent to the corresponding author via email after acceptance, for full details.
QUESTIONS? CONTACT US
For questions about the submission or review process, please contact the Editorial Office at [email protected], or by phone at (254) 522-9700.
There is also a help menu, accessible from all screens during the submission process.
Updated 7/2/21
