Papers that exceed the length limits will not be considered.

Any general queries should be directed to the Editorial Office staff:
Tel +44 118 988 1833; Fax +44 118 988 1834; E-mail jgv{at}sgm.ac.uk.

Scope of the Journal

The Journal of General Virology (JGV) aims to publish papers that describe original research in virology and contribute significantly to their field. It is concerned particularly with fundamental studies. Papers must be in English. Standard papers, short communications and review articles are published.

Papers that describe new materials or methods without applying them to research are generally not acceptable. Preliminary or inconclusive data will not be published. Data that differ only in a minor way from previously published results are not acceptable; this applies, for instance, to comparisons of nucleotide sequences with closely similar published sequences. Papers dealing with clinical or epidemiological aspects of virology are welcome, provided that they contain new information on basic biological processes or virus–host interactions.

Prior publication

As part of the online submission process on Bench>Press, the individual submitting the paper will be asked to check a box confirming that material contained in the paper has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. This is a required field; the submission cannot be completed until this box has been checked.

Authorship

As part of the online submission process on Bench>Press, the individual submitting the paper will be asked to check a box confirming that all authors have agreed to the submission. This is a required field; the submission cannot be completed until this box has been checked.

Copyright

If a paper is accepted for publication in JGV, the authors (or other copyright holder) will be asked to download a Copyright Transfer Agreement form/Licence to Publish and transfer to the Society for General Microbiology the copyright (including electronic reproduction rights) of the paper. Neither a whole paper nor a substantial part of a paper may subsequently be published elsewhere in the same form, in any language or any medium, without the written consent of the Society.

Click here to download a Copyright Transfer Agreement form/Licence to Publish.

Self-archiving

Form of papers submitted

Restrictions on paper length

JGV publishes standard papers, short communications and reviews. These are restricted in length as described below, in order to improve the quality and clarity of the Journal. Any manuscripts submitted that exceed these limits will be returned immediately to the authors. The total number of words in the main text of the paper, and in the Summary, together with the number of figures and tables, must be stated on the title page. Papers lacking this information will not be reviewed until it is provided. New submissions, revised versions and resubmissions must all comply with these limits.

The Editors wish to emphasize that the review process and scientific criteria for acceptance of standard papers and short communications are identical.

Standard ('full-length') papers. The maximum permitted length of these is as follows: text (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and figure legends, but excluding references and tables), 5500 words; number of tables and figures combined, eight; summary, 250 words. There are no restrictions on the number of references.

Standard papers are divided into the following sections: Summary, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements and References. Repetition of content between sections must be avoided. A combined Results and Discussion section is permitted.

Short communications. The maximum permitted length of these is as follows: main text (including figure legends, but excluding tables and references), 2500 words; number of tables and figures combined, three; summary, 150 words. There are no restrictions on the number of references.

Short communications must report completed work, not preliminary findings: they are an alternative format for describing smaller pieces of work. They contain Summary and Reference sections, but the main text is not divided into sections. Methods should be described briefly within the text, not within figure legends.

Review articles. A small number of these are published each year. They aim to give an overview of a particular subject suitable for a wide audience. The maximum permitted length of these is as follows: main text (including figure legends, but excluding tables and references), 11 000 words; summary, 250 words; number of references, 150. Most reviews are invited. Unsolicited reviews will be considered but intending authors should consult the elliottjgv{at}st-andrews.ac.uk in advance.

General style and layout

In addition to reading the following, intending authors are advised to examine a current copy of the Journal for the layout and conventions used.

The past tense should be used throughout in describing new results, and the present tense in referring to previously established and generally accepted results. The Concise Oxford Dictionary (Oxford University Press) should be used as the standard for spelling and the CBE manual Scientific Style and Format (6th edn, Cambridge University Press) as an editorial guide. Authors are encouraged to use their own style of writing, provided that it is concise and conforms to normal English usage. Authors whose first language is not English are encouraged to have their paper checked by a native English speaker prior to submission.

Title page. The title page should provide the following information: title of paper, name(s) of author(s), name and address of the institution(s) where the work was performed, including the full postal address (plus telephone and fax numbers and e-mail address, if applicable) of the author to whom correspondence should be sent; a shortened running title of not more than 55 letters and spaces; footnotes to indicate present addresses of any authors who are no longer at the institution where the work was performed; and the number of words in the Summary, and in the main text of the paper, together with the number of figures and tables. The name of the corresponding author will appear on the title page of the published paper; the corresponding author's e-mail address will also be given, unless a specific request is made for these to be withheld.

Summary. The Summary is likely to be read by more people than the full paper, and many abstracting services use authors' summaries without modification. It is therefore important that this section is clear and comprehensible in its own right. The Summary should be in the form of a single paragraph. References should not be cited and any abbreviations used must be defined.

Introduction. The Introduction should give a concise background to the present study. It should not present an extended review (up-to-date review articles should be cited wherever possible), nor should it anticipate the Results or Discussion in any detail.

Methods. This section should give sufficient information to allow others to repeat the work. It may contain subsections. Established methods should be described very briefly (for instance, with a reference) and novel methods should be given in greater detail. Suppliers of chemicals, biological materials and equipment should be indicated if this may affect the results. For bioreagents (e.g. virus strains, antibodies, cell lines), the source (culture collection, company or colleagues) must be documented adequately. Suppliers' addresses should not be given unless this is considered essential for a particular reason.

Results. This section should describe concisely the rationale of the investigation and its outcomes. Overall interpretation of the data belongs in the Discussion. The Results section may be divided into subsections with concise, descriptive titles.

Discussion. This section should relate results to previous work and interpret them. It can outline hypotheses based on the work reported. It must not repeat parts of the Introduction or recapitulate the Results section. The Discussion section may also be divided into subsections with concise descriptive titles. The Results and Discussion sections may be combined, and subsections used.

Acknowledgements. This optional short section should follow the Discussion.

References. References in the text should be cited thus: two authors, Banks & Davies (2002) or (Banks & Davies, 2002); three or more authors, Banks et al. (2002) or (Banks et al., 2002). References to papers by the same author(s) in the same year should be distinguished in the text and in the References list by the letters a, b, etc. (e.g. 2002a, or 2002a, b). Multiple citations in the text may be given in either alphabetical or chronological order, but the usage should be consistent throughout the paper.

In the References section, papers should be listed alphabetically by first author; papers with three or more authors should be listed in chronological order after any other papers by the first author. References must include the title of the paper, as well as both initial and final page numbers. Titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the system used by Medline. No stops should be used after abbreviated words. References to books should include year of publication, title, edition, editor(s) (if any), place of publication and publisher, in that order. When the reference is to a particular part of a book, the inclusive page numbers and, if appropriate, the title of the article or chapter, must be given.

For papers with 11 or more authors, the names of the first nine only should be given; the remainder should be represented by '& other authors' (e.g. Banks, A., Davies, C., Franks, E., Smith, J., Brown, D., Garcia, F., Elliott, H. K., Jones, P. M., Evans. G. & other authors).

Example of a journal reference:

Hannoun, C., Norder, H. & Lindh, M. (2000). An aberrant genotype revealed in recombinant hepatitis B virus strains from Vietnam. J Gen Virol 81, 2267–2272.

Example of a book chapter reference:

Kann, M. & Gerlich, W. H. (1998). Hepatitis B. In Topley and Wilson's Microbiology and Microbial Infections, 9th edn, pp. 745–774. Edited by L. Collier, A. Balows & M. Sussman. London: Arnold.

Authors who use EndNote or Reference Manager can download the style for SGM journals (select Journal of General Virology or Microbiology; the style is the same for both). Only papers that have been accepted for publication but not yet published can be cited as 'in press' in the References list, and they must be accompanied by the name of the journal. Any such papers must be included as supplementary files with the online submission. References to papers not yet accepted should be cited in the text as unpublished results, giving the initials and surnames of all authors. Such papers do not appear in the list of references. References to 'manuscript submitted' or 'manuscript in preparation' are not permitted. Permission must be secured for all personal communications that are cited in the text.

Tables. These should be employed selectively and should be generally comprehensible without reference to the text. Each Table should have a concise title; additional material should be given in a legend or footnotes as appropriate, but these should be brief and should not contain experimental detail that could be included in the text. The footnote symbols are *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶ and #, to be used in that order.

Figures. This section gives general guidance on preparing figures for publication.The online submission guidelines give specific advice on preparing figures for inclusion in a PDF file for submission, where file sizes need to be kept below 1 MB. Figures must be designed for both clarity and economy of space. Where lettering is included, a single font should be used throughout (sans-serif fonts, such as Helvetica or Arial, are preferred for clarity). Legends must not repeat the Methods section. Parts of a single figure should be designated (a), (b), etc., and labelled as such on the figure. Figures should be designed to fit into either one or two columns on the journal page. Maximum printed sizes (width × height), including lettering, are 84 × 235 mm or 176 × 235 mm.

Line drawings. These should be of a quality suitable for direct reproduction and approximately twice the size that they will appear. Line drawings should be submitted as (i) original drawings in black ink on white paper; (ii) glossy photographs; or (iii) high-quality computer-generated figures. Symbol sizes and line thicknesses must be chosen for clear visibility after reduction. Symbols should be defined in the legend, rather than on the axes. Where possible, the same point symbols should be used for comparable variables in different figures. The preferred symbols are , , , , , , and . With computer-generated figures, special care should be taken over the use of shading and hatching. Tints (shading made up of fine dots) can make file sizes very large, and they often do not reproduce well when printed in the journal. The use of tints should therefore be avoided if possible. If tints are used they should have a screen value of 100 lines per inch or lower.

Sequence data and schematic diagrams. Diagrams of nucleotide and amino acid sequences and schematic diagrams of, for example, genome structure and organization, should be prepared 'camera-ready' with a good-quality printer. The layout should be designed to fit the journal page economically, i.e. to fill either the full width of the page (176 mm) or a single column (84 mm). The height of the characters should be about 1.5–2 mm (or 6–8 point). For printing sequence data at full-page width with this size of type, a layout with 80–100 nucleotides per line is appropriate (or 60–70 if there are spaces between the codons). For a single-column layout, 50–60 nucleotides is about right. The lines of sequence should be as close as is consistent with clarity. Use of the single-letter amino acid code is preferred. See below for guidelines on reporting sequence data.

Photographs. These should be well-contrasted and approximately final size (maximum width 176 mm). For photomicrographs, magnification should be shown by a bar marker.

Digitally generated images. It is usually possible to obtain better reproduction from graphics files than from hard-copy printouts made from these files. The resolution should be at least 300 d.p.i. The preferred file format is TIFF or EPS, but a considerable range of file types generated by various graphics programs can, in principle, be handled; authors should seek detailed guidance from the jgv{at}sgm.ac.uk. In certain cases it may, however, be necessary for appropriate hard-copy images to be supplied.

Where images of gels, autoradiograms etc. have been digitally generated or processed, either directly or after being scanned, the hardware and software used must be stated.

Colour photographs. Colour figures are reproduced free of charge if the use of colour is considered by the Editors to be necessary for scientific reasons. Graphics files for colour images should, if possible, be supplied as CMYK, not RGB files.

Supplementary data

Online data that usefully supplement the contents of a paper may be referred to either by including the URL of the relevant website in the paper or by attaching supplementary data files (e.g. tables, figures, sequences, video etc.) to the published paper in JGV Online. In the latter case, the material should be supplied as a supplementary file for peer review along with the paper: authors should contact the jgv{at}sgm.ac.uk for details.

Processing of papers

Reviewing and scientific editing

During the online submission process, authors may select up to two Editors who would be appropriate to handle their paper. To do this, the relevant Editor(s) should be selected from the drop-down list. If you are unsure which Editor would be most appropriate, the fields should be left blank (reading 'Suggest Editor...'). You may also exclude up to two Editors who you do not wish to handle your paper. If you do not select an Editor, the Editorial Office will select an appropriate Editor for you. You will then be sent an acknowledgement stating the Editor's name and contact details, together with the paper's reference number. Any subsequent queries should be directed to the Editor. A list of the Editors' interests and contact details is available here.

After preliminary examination to establish that a paper appears to be a competent submission within the scope of the Journal, the Editor will assign it to two or more independent reviewers for review online. These reviewers will review the paper for originality and significance of the work described and judge its acceptability for publication. There are three possible recommendations: accept, conditional accept (revise) and reject. Conditional accept implies that the manuscript requires modifications that could be carried out within 6 weeks. The reviewers may also make critical comments and, where necessary, suggest improvements or additional experiments that could be done in support of the findings. However, it is the Editor who makes the final decision as to the acceptability of the paper.

Papers are reviewed as quickly as possible, but authors should not usually expect to receive a decision in less than 6 weeks.

Electronic files for accepted papers

Authors will be asked to upload a word-processor file, plus separate electronic files of figures, when they submit the revised version of their paper. Details of any extra files or information needed will be sent by the Editorial Office when acceptance is confirmed (see also online submission guidelines for extensive additional information). Advice on file types for figures is given above.

Copy-editing

Once accepted, a paper is copy-edited by the Editorial Office staff in preparation for printing. This is done by making use of a word-processor file uploaded to Bench>Press by the author when the revised manuscript is submitted. Papers are copy-edited to the extent necessary to achieve clarity of expression and to conform with the Journal's conventions and standard scientific nomenclature. No changes of substance are made without the authors' consent.

Proofs

Proofs are e-mailed as a PDF file. The PDF file should be printed and corrections marked on the paper copy. No attempt should be made to edit the PDF file electronically. The corrected proof should be sent to the jgv{at}sgm.ac.uk within 3 days (by airmail from outside Europe). If necessary, corrected pages may be sent by fax (+44 118 988 1834) to the Editorial Office or minor corrections may be communicated by e-mail (jgv{at}sgm.ac.uk), but the corrected proof should still be mailed. A copy of the proof should be retained by the authors. Extensive changes at the proof stage are not permitted. Authors may be charged for correction of their non-typographical errors.

Offprints

Twenty-five offprints are provided free of charge. Additional copies may be ordered at prices given on the order form that accompanies the proofs. The order form should be completed and returned to the jgv{at}sgm.ac.uk with the proof, irrespective of whether additional offprints are required. Later orders are subject to increased prices. Click here to download an Offprint Order form.

Charges

There are no handling or page charges.

Ethics of human and animal work

A paper describing any experimental work with humans should include a statement that the Ethics Committee of the institution in which the work was done has approved it, and that the subjects gave informed consent to the work.

Experiments with animals should be done in accordance with the legal requirements of the relevant local or national authority. Procedures should be such that animals used in experiments do not suffer unnecessarily. Papers should include details of the procedures and anaesthetics used. The Editors will not accept papers where the ethical aspects are, in their opinion, open to doubt.

During the online submission process, authors will be asked to confirm either that their paper complies with these requirements, or that the question is not applicable (i.e. no human or animal experimentation is reported in the paper).

Reagent sharing

By publishing in JGV, authors agree that any viruses, plasmids and living materials, such as cell lines or bacterial strains, that are newly described within the article are available without unnecessary delay and at a reasonable cost to members of the scientific community for non-commercial purposes.

Reproducibility of results

An indication of this should be given. Variability should be indicated statistically wherever possible; when error terms are given, the measure of dispersion and the number of observations should be stated. Statistical techniques used must be specified.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations for units and virus names are dealt with below. The use of abbreviations is permitted in JGV, but they should aid the reader and not simply be a convenience to the author; therefore, their use should be limited. As a general rule, if the abbreviation is used less than three times in the text, it should be removed. All abbreviations should be defined in full and introduced in parentheses at the first mention in both the summary and the main text. For example, 'cells were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM).' To download a PDF file listing permitted and compulsory abbreviations, click here.

Quantities, units and symbols

The recommended SI units should be used. Concentrations should be indicated by the use of superscripts, rather than a solidus: e.g. mg ml⁻¹ rather than mg/ml. There should be a space between a number and a unit, e.g. 3.2 kb not 3.2kb; 37 °C not 37°C.

Molecular mass, M_r and K

The mass of a molecule should be specified in one of two ways:

(i) M_r ('relative molecular mass'). This is the ratio of the mass of a molecule to 1/12 of the mass of ¹²C; it is thus a pure number and has no units.

(ii) Molecular mass (not 'molecular weight'). This is the absolute mass of a molecule expressed in daltons (Da); the dalton is defined as 1/12 of the mass of ¹²C. A protein can be said to have an M_r of 20 000 or a molecular mass of 20 kDa. It is incorrect to express M_r in daltons or to use 'K' to represent an M_r of 1000 or 1 kDa. A number followed by K (e.g. 15K) may be used as a designation of a compound. This designation must be defined when it first appears: e.g. 'the protein with an M_r of 15 000 / molecular mass of 15 kDa (15K protein)'.

Virus nomenclature

Virus names should be given in full in the title of the paper and at their first occurrence in the Summary and in the main body of the text. Where appropriate, a precise strain designation should be included. Names should follow the standard nomenclature set out by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. This web page also includes the standard abbreviations for viruses.

For further explanation, click here to download Taxonomy is taxing (PDF file, 19 KB) (adapted from M. H. V. van Regenmortel).

Other nomenclatures

Chemical and biochemical

Authors should follow the recommendations of IUPAC for chemical nomenclature, and those of the Nomenclature Committee of IUBMB and the IUPAC–IUBMB Joint Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature for biochemical nomenclature. A summary of nomenclatural recommendations, with references, is given in the Biochem J Instructions for Authors. The recommendations are given in full in Compendium of Biochemical Nomenclature and Related Documents, 2nd edn (1992), London: Portland Press.

Enzyme

The system published in Enzyme Nomenclature (1992), London & New York: Academic Press, and its supplements is used. Enzyme Commission numbers should be given where appropriate.

Immunology

Immunological terms such as interleukin, interferon etc. should, at first mention, be defined in full, followed by the appropriate abbreviation (note, in particular, the use of hyphens):

Alpha interferon (IFN-)
Interleukin-1 (IL-1)
Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-)

Genes and proteins

Authors should be guided by the recommendations of M. Demerec et al. (Genetics 54, 61–76, 1966) where these are relevant to virus genetics. Particular care should be taken to distinguish between genes (e.g. gag ) and the proteins that they encode (e.g. Gag, p15^gag).

Papers reporting sequence data

Such papers should be accompanied by substantial additional experimentation to characterize the gene(s) and product(s) concerned, and/or substantial comparable analysis. A sequence alone is unlikely to be acceptable.

Papers reporting new sequence data will not be published unless the sequence has an accession number from a recognized nucleotide database. Manuscripts containing sequence data should include, on the title page, the footnote 'The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number for the sequence reported in this paper is X00000'.

Comparison of sequence data

When making comparisons between nucleotide or amino acid sequences, it is important to use the correct terminology. 'Homology' has a precise biological meaning of 'having a common evolutionary origin'. When a percentage comparison is made, the terms identity or similarity, as appropriate, must be used.