For Referees
About Molecular Systems Biology
Molecular Systems Biology is an international open access, online publication dedicated to providing full-length, rapidly published papers in all areas of molecular systems biology. The journal is jointly run by EMBO and NPG. Editorial independence and scientific quality are guaranteed by an international group of distinguished senior editors and a broad and highly qualified Advisory Editorial Board, supported by an EMBO in-house editor.
Molecular Systems Biology aims to publish only the best manuscripts focusing on the analysis, integration and modeling of molecular and cellular biological systems. It is therefore important that manuscripts are critically evaluated for compliance with the following criteria:
- novelty
- broad biological significance
- importance to the specific field
- strong evidence for the conclusions that are drawn
The review process
All submitted manuscripts are assessed by the editorial staff for suitability for the review process. The abstract or a PDF file of manuscripts may be sent to Senior editors and / or Advisory Editorial Board members for further input toward this decision. To save authors and referees time, only those manuscripts judged most likely to meet our editorial criteria are sent out for formal review. Manuscripts that are sent for formal review typically go to three referees. Based on their advice, the editor decides to: accept the manuscript, with or without minor revision; invite the authors to revise the manuscript to address specific concerns before a final decision is reached; or reject the manuscript, typically on grounds of specialist interest, lack of novelty, insufficient conceptual advance or major technical and/or interpretational problems.
Referees may recommend a particular course of action in their confidential comments to the editor, but should bear in mind that the editors may have to make a decision based on conflicting advice. Furthermore, editorial decisions are not a matter of counting votes or numerical rank assessments, but rather are based on an evaluation of the strengths of the arguments raised by each referee and by the authors. The most useful referee reports, therefore, are those that set out clear, substantiated arguments and refrain from recommending a course of action in the comments directed to the authors.
Top of pageSelecting referees
Referee selection is critical to the review process, and our choice is based on many factors, including expertise, reputation, specific recommendations, and our previous experience with the referee. We normally send manuscripts to referees only after having contacted them about the possibility first, and expect referees to treat even this initial request as confidential.
Top of pageUpon receiving a manuscript to referee
To avoid unnecessary delays in processing manuscripts, please do the following immediately upon receipt of a manuscript for review:
- double-check the deadline to ensure that there have been no misunderstandings regarding timing, and contact the editorial office immediately if you anticipate any difficulties in meeting it
- skim the manuscript and consider whether there might be a conflict of interest for you (with the authors, their institution, their funding sources) and whether you can judge the article impartially
- read the editor's letter carefully and be sure to note any points specific to the manuscript that the editor may have requested your opinion on
Confidentiality
Referees should treat the review process as being strictly confidential, and should keep the following guidelines in mind:
- manuscripts refereed for Molecular Systems Biology should not be discussed with anyone not directly involved in the review process
- if colleagues are consulted, they should be identified to the editors
- if experts from outside the referee's own laboratory are consulted, referees should check with the editors beforehand to avoid involving anyone who may have been excluded by the editor
- referees should, as a rule, not disclose their identities to the authors or to other colleagues since they may be asked to comment on the criticisms of other referees and may then find it difficult to be objective. Should they feel strongly about making their identities known to the authors, they should do so via the editor. We strongly disapprove of any attempt by authors to determine the identities of referees or to confront them, and encourage referees to neither confirm nor deny any speculation in this regard.
Writing the report
The primary purpose of referee reports is to provide the editors with the information that they need to reach a decision, but they should also instruct the authors on how to strengthen their manuscript if revision is a possibility. Confidential comments to the editor are welcome, but it is helpful if the main points are stated in the comments for transmission to the authors. We recommend the following division of the report:
Comments for transmission to the authors
Referees are asked to maintain a positive and impartial, but critical, attitude in evaluating manuscripts. Criticisms should remain dispassionate; offensive language is not acceptable. As far as possible, a negative report should explain to the authors the weaknesses of their manuscript, so that they can understand the basis for a decision to ask for revision or to reject the manuscript.
The ideal report should include:
- an initial paragraph that summarizes the major findings and the referee's overall impressions, as well as highlighting major shortcomings of the manuscript.
- specific numbered comments, which may be broken down into major and minor criticisms if appropriate (numbering facilitates both the editor's evaluation of the manuscript and the authors' rebuttal to the report).
The report should answer the following questions:
- what are the major claims and how significant are they?
- are the claims novel and convincing?
- are the claims appropriately discussed in the context of earlier literature?
- is the study of interest to more than a specialized audience?
- does the paper stand out in some way from the others in its field?
- are there other experiments that would strengthen the paper?
For manuscripts that may merit further consideration, it is also helpful if referees can provide advice on the following points where appropriate:
- how the clarity of the writing might be improved (without necessarily going into specific details of spelling and grammar)
- how the manuscript might be shortened
- how to do the study justice without overselling the claims
- how to represent earlier literature more fairly
- how to improve the presentation of methodological detail so that the experiments can be reproduced
- the submission of supplementary data on the Molecular Systems Biology web site to enhance the presentation (depositing, for example, crystallographic information, SBML files for modelling studies, proteomics or microarray data, detailed methods, mathematical derivations, long tables and movies).
This author report should not include a recommendation regarding publication, which is regarded as confidential information since the final decision regarding acceptance, revision or rejection rests with the editor.
Confidential evaluation
The manuscript should be rated on the form provided via the web-link
Additional comments to the editor might include:
- a definite recommendation regarding publication
- an assessment of how much any suggested additional experiments would improve the manuscript, and of how difficult they would be to complete within a reasonable timeframe (3 months)
- in cases where the manuscript is unacceptable in its present form, an opinion about whether the study is sufficiently promising to encourage a new submission in the future.
Editing referee reports
As a matter of policy, we do not suppress referee reports. On rare occasions, however, we may edit a report where the referee has made an inadvertent but obvious factual mistake, or to remove offensive language or comments that reveal confidential information. We ask referees to avoid saying anything that may cause needless offence, but also expect authors to recognize that criticisms are not necessarily unfair simply because they are expressed in robust language.
Top of pageTiming
Molecular Systems Biology is committed to rapid editorial decisions and publication as efficiency in this process is a valuable service both to our authors and the scientific community as a whole. We therefore ask that referees respond promptly or inform us if they anticipate a significant delay, which allows us to keep the authors informed and, where necessary, find alternative referees.
Top of pageConflicts of interest
Where authors have asked us to exclude referees and their reasons seem to justify this, we usually comply with their request. We also try to avoid referees who have recent or ongoing collaborations with the authors, have commented on drafts of the manuscript, are in direct competition, have a history of dispute with the authors, or have a financial interest in the outcome. Because it is not possible for the editors to know of all possible biases, however, we ask referees to draw our attention to anything that might affect their report, including commercial interests, and to decline to referee in cases where they feel unable to be objective. We do not find it necessary to exclude referees who have reviewed a paper for another journal; the fact that two journals have independently identified a particular person as well qualified to referee a paper does not decrease the validity of her/his opinion in our view.
Top of pagePublication policy and ethical considerations
In spite of our best efforts to identify breaches of publication policy or ethical conduct, such as plagiarism or author conflict of interest, the referees who are more familiar with the field are more likely to recognize such problems and should alert the editors to any potential problems in this regard.
Top of pageFeedback to referees
When we ask referees to re-review a manuscript that has been revised in response to their criticisms, we normally send them copies of the other referees' comments. Upon request, we inform referees of our decisions and send copies of the other referee reports. Referees who find that their recommendations have been overruled should realise that this does not imply any lack of confidence in their judgement. It is not uncommon for experts to disagree and, in the absence of a consensus, the editors must still reach a decision one way or the other.
