INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

David A Williams, Editor-in-Chief
Robert M Frederickson, Editor
Send an e-mail to the editor
Manuscript submission website

I. AIMS & SCOPE

Molecular Therapy publishes peer-reviewed original studies in the emerging field of molecular therapies to treat human diseases. The journal welcomes outstanding contributions in the areas of gene transfer, vector development and design, stem cell manipulation, development of gene-, peptide and protein-, oligonucleotide- and cell-based therapeutics to correct genetic and acquired diseases, vaccine development, pre-clinical target validation, safety/efficacy studies, and clinical trials. Molecular Therapy publishes original research articles that include methods and trial reports, letters to the editor, and invited commentaries and reviews.

II. ARTICLE TYPES

Original Articles are investigational studies presenting: basic and/or preclinical studies applying gene therapy or other molecular medicine interventions to specific disease models or biological problems; studies aimed at establishing proof-of-principle for novel therapeutic approaches; studies defining new methodological tools or improving established methods; and reports on the results of human clinical trials of gene therapy and other molecular medicine approaches to disease.

Studies should be organized as follows: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Results, Discussion, Materials & Methods, Acknowledgments, Supplementary Material, References, Tables, Figure Legends. There is a limit of eight display items (figures plus tables) and 50 references. Manuscripts should not be more than eight published pages. Lengthy papers may be returned to the authors for additional editing.

Review Articles – Written by recognized experts on the subject, reviews are about 3,000-4,000 words (and up to 150 references) and not only outline the "state of the art," but also try to project future directions. Review Articles are commissioned. Suggestions for articles will be evaluated for interest to the readership.

Commentaries – These are short descriptions and analyses of important research published in Molecular Therapy or elsewhere, events in gene therapy, or social, ethical or political issues of interest to Molecular Therapy readers. Commentaries are the opinion of the author, not the editorial board or the ASGCT. These articles are commissioned. Authors should not include more than 15 references.

Letters to the Editor – Letters are short, succinct statements and/or opinions responding to articles published in Molecular Therapy or commenting on events that have an impact on the gene therapy community as a whole. Letters do not contain primary data. All Letters to the Editor are subject to editing and possible abridgment.

III. MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

Molecular Therapy requires electronic submission of manuscripts. Detailed instructions are at our manuscript submission website. For questions regarding your submission, contact the Editorial Office via e-mail. Complete submissions contain all items below, and submissions are dated according to receipt of all items. No editorial decision will be communicated to the authors until the submission is complete. All Submissions MUST Include:

*Cover Letter stating:

1. The data in the manuscript is original and the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere.
2. None of the manuscript contents has been previously published except in abstract form.
3. All authors have read and approved all versions of the manuscript, its content, and its submission to the Molecular Therapy.
4. You agree to pay page charges if your paper is accepted ($60 per page up to eight printed pages and $120 per page thereafter for manuscripts with a first or corresponding author who is an Active ASGCT Member OR $110 per page up to eight printed pages and $170 per page thereafter for manuscripts with a first or corresponding author who are non-ASGCT members or associate ASGCT members).
5. If the submission contains color figures, the authors should state their willingness to pay color publication fees ($580/color page), should the manuscript be accepted for publication.
6. The corresponding author's address, telephone, fax, and email (email address required).

*License to Publish, signed by the corresponding author.
*Declaration of Conflict of Interest included in the paper's acknowledgements

Note: Any papers submitted for publication in Molecular Therapy do not have to pay a submission fee.

IV. MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

A. General. The manuscript should be double-spaced throughout with wide (1" or larger) margins. Set your word processing software to 8.5 x 11 inch paper. Number pages consecutively (with the title page as page 1). Begin a new page for reference lists, tables, and figure legends on separate pages. The file should use the wrap-around end-of-line feature, i.e., returns at the end of paragraphs only. Place two returns after every element, such as title, headings, paragraphs, figure and table callouts. The paper should be concise, economical of references, figures and tables, and formatted as described below. Original Articles should be organized as follows: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Results, Discussion, Materials & Methods, Acknowledgments, Supplementary Material, References, Tables, Figure Legends. Manuscripts that do not conform to these specifications will be returned to the authors for correction prior to review.

B. Title Page – Page 1
The title page should include the following:
–Brief, informative title of 120 characters or less
–Authors' full names, departments, and institutions (indicate affiliations numerically with numbers placed after authors' names and before the institutions; indicate the corresponding author using the format "Correspondence should be addressed to J.A.S. (johnsmith@university.edu)".
–City, state and country in which the work was done
–Corresponding author's address, telephone, fax and email (email address required)
–Short title of 50 characters or less, including spaces

C. Abstract – Page 2
–Must be a single paragraph and not exceed 200 words
–Briefly summarize the main findings of the paper without headings
–Do not include abbreviations, acknowledgments of support, or refer to footnotes or references –Write with a general scientific audience in mind
–Commentaries, Meeting Reports and Letters to the Editor do not require an abstract.

D. Introduction
The article should begin with a brief introductory statement that places the work to follow in perspective and explains its intent and significance. The introduction should be as concise as possible and should not be longer than two double-spaced typed pages.

E. Results
The Results section should briefly present the data in text, tables or figures.

F. Discussion
The Discussion should focus on the interpretation and significance of the findings with concise objective comments that describe their relation to other work in the area. It should not repeat information in Results. The Results and Discussion sections together should not exceed nine double-spaced, typed pages.

G. Materials and Methods
Readers should be able to reproduce the experiments from the information in the methods section, figure legends, table footnotes, and references. Provide the manufacturer's name and location (city, state if within the US; city, country if outside the US) for materials purchased. Manuscripts must include a statement that all human and animal studies have been approved by the authors' Institutional Review Board, and, for human studies, Molecular Therapy requires a statement confirming the Declaration of Helsinki protocols were followed and that patients gave their written, informed consent.

H. Acknowledgments
A note of acknowledgment is appropriate recognition for contributors who may not be listed as authors. Individuals should be referred to by their full first name and surname, with their affiliation in parentheses. Titles (Dr., Professor, Mrs., etc.) are not permitted. All authors are expected to disclose any commercial affiliations or consultancies, stock or equity interests, or patent-licensing arrangements that could be considered to pose a financial conflict of interest related to the submitted manuscript. All potential conflicts of interest must be described in the Acknowledgements section. All funding sources, institutional and corporate, should be noted in this section.

I. References
References should be cited in the text in numerical order (1, 2, 3, ..., n). Reference numbers should be enclosed in brackets (for example, "Jones and colleagues [3] found that...") and should precede figure call-outs. Original Articles are allowed a maximum of 50 referenced items, Commentaries are allowed up to 15 references and Review Articles are allowed no more than 150 items. Arrange the reference list in numerical order as the references occur in the text, followed by those in the figure legends and tables. For references with more than six authors, list the first six authors followed by et al. (preceded by a comma). Only articles that have been published or are in press should be included in the references. Unpublished results or personal communications should be cited as such in the text. Personal communications must include the date and the affiliation of the person communicating the material. Submitted manuscripts should not be cited in the reference list, but instead inserted in the text as follows: (J Smith and R Davis, manuscript submitted). The names of journals should be abbreviated according to the most recent edition of the List of Journals in Index Medicus PDF.

1. Hagag, N and Viola, MV (1993). Chromosome Microdissection and Cloning: A Practical Guide, Academic Press, San Diego, 179pp.
2. Gredmark T, Hallberg L (1978). Population study of women in Goteburg. Scand J Soc Med; 6: 49–54.
3. Harley NH, Vivian L (1974). Invading microorganisms. In: Sodeman WA, Smith A (eds). Mechanisms of Disease, 4th edn. Saunders: Philadelphia, pp 457–472.
4. Akutsu T (1974). Total heart replacement device. National Institute of Health: Bethesda. Report no. NIH-NHLI-69 2185-4.

J. Tables
Tabular presentations should be self-explanatory and not duplicate content in the text. Tables should be presented at the end of the manuscript (one table per page), numbered sequentially (1, 2, 3) and cited in chronological order in the text. Each table should include an informative title. Do not provide a table legend, but supply information such as the description of the experiment, definition of columns or abbreviations, etc. in footnotes to the title and table contents. Label footnotes with superscripted lowercase Arabic letters (a, b, c, etc.), not symbols. Define errors in the table by a footnote, e.g., "mean+SD" or "mean+SEM". Authors should ensure that the data in the tables are consistent with those cited in the relevant papers in the text, totals add up correctly, and percentages have been calculated correctly. Authors must submit tables in Microsoft Word format.

K. Figures
Illustrative material should complement the text. Figures should be labeled sequentially (1, 2, 3) and cited in the text, but not embedded within the text. Figures should be submitted as separate files. Figures should be high-resolution (at least 300 dpi for photos and 1000 dpi for line art/graphs) TIFF or EPS files. PowerPoint figures are not suitable for publication. Figure panels are denoted with boldface, lowercase Arabic letters, non-serif font (a, b, c, etc.) and are cited in the text as follows: (Fig. 1a) (Figs. 1a,b) (Figs 1a-c) (Figs. 1 and 2b). (Figure subpanels, for example b1, b (i), Ba, etc., are not permitted.) In figure legends, panel designations are always enclosed in parentheses -- (a) (b, c) – unless referred to directly, when parentheses are omitted: "Scale bars as in a." Authors should avoid bar or line graphs with only two data points. Such results may be described in the text only. Overall to save space, the author should aim for efficient and compact presentation of data and should avoid an excessive number of panels per figure.

Figure sizing.
To avoid size reduction, authors should submit artwork of exact column measurements and crop out unnecessary areas (1 column = 87.50mm; 2 columns = 180mm). Most figures should be presented at 1 column width (or quarter page in size).

Figure legends.
Captions should be presented in a separate section of the manuscript. The figure title should be given in the legend, not on the figure. Legends should explain how an experiment was done and identify parts of the figure (i.e., a, b, c), not interpret the figure. Indicate the meaning of all symbols, keys and abbreviations used in the figure. Error bars should be defined in the legend as "mean + SD" or "mean + SEM". If you use SEM give n for each point.

Line drawings.
Drawings should have clear, uniform lines of thickness. Curves should be smooth. Do not use 3-dimensional graphs unless the third dimension is used for data. Label axes parallel to the axis, not at the top of the graph. Labels must be clearly legible. Use only black and white, not gray, in charts and graphs. The inside of bar graphs should use a patterned black and white print.

Photomicrographs.
A scale bar, not magnification, must be placed on micrographs and the scale indicated in the legend, e.g., "scale bar = 1 mm".

Submission of DNA Sequences.
The editorial policy of Molecular Therapy is to require the use of databases. Deposit of data in the appropriate database(s) is a condition of publication. New nucleotide data must be submitted and deposited in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases and an accession number obtained before the paper can be accepted for publication. Submission to any one of the three collaborating databanks is sufficient to ensure data entry in all. The accession number should be included in the manuscript. If requested, the database will withhold release of data until publication. The most convenient method for submitting sequence data is via the Internet:

DDBJ via SAKURA;
EMBL via WEBIN;
GenBank via BankIt;
stand-alone submission tool Sequin;
Mouse Genome Informatics.

For special types of submissions (for example, genomes, bulk submissions, and so on) additional submission protocols are available from the above sites.

Database contact information:
DDBJ: Center for Information Biology and DNA Data Bank of Japan, National Institute of Genetics, 1111 Yata, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan; telephone: +81 55981 6853; fax: +81 55981 6849; e-mail: ddbj@ddbj.nig.ac.jp; URL: http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp/; Visit DDBJ's website

EMBL: EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Submissions, European Bioinformatics Institute. Wellcome Trust Genome Campus. Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD UK; telephone: +44 1223 494499; fax: +44 1223 494472; e-mail: datasubs@ebi.ac.uk; URL: Visit EMBL's website

GenBank: National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, Bldg. 38A, Rm 8N-802 Bethesda, MD 20894, USA; telephone: +1 301 496 2475; fax: +1 301 480 9241; e-mail: info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov; URL: Visit GenBank's website

L. Permissions
If a table or figure has been published or copyrighted, the authors must obtain written permission from the copyright owner to reproduce the material in both print and electronic formats and submit the authorization with the manuscript. This applies to quotes, illustrations and other materials taken from previously published works not in the public domain. The original source should be cited in the figure caption or table footnote.

M. Supplementary Material
Supplementary material is peer-reviewed material directly relevant to the conclusion of an article that cannot be included in the printed version owing to space or format constraints. It is posted on the journal's web site and linked to the article when the article is published and may consist of data files, graphics, movies or extensive tables. The printed article must be complete and self-explanatory without the supplementary material. Supplementary material enhances a reader's understanding of the paper but is not essential to that understanding.

Supplementary material must be supplied to the editorial office in its final form for peer review. To ensure that the contents of the supplementary material files can be viewed by the editor(s), referees and readers, please also submit a 'read-me' file containing brief instructions on how to use the file. Supplementary material should be cited in the text as "Figure S1, S2, etc.," "Table S1, S2, etc." or "Supplementary Materials and Methods."

Every supplementary figure or table must be accompanied by a legend consisting of a title and detailed description. Please prepare supplementary legends as you would legends of figures and tables in the body of the manuscript. For supplementary materials and methods or supplementary references, a title such as "Supplementary References" suffices, and no description is needed.

Supplying supplementary material files: Authors should ensure that supplementary material is supplied in its FINAL format because it is not subedited and will appear online exactly as originally submitted. It cannot be altered, nor new supplementary material added, after the paper has been accepted for publication. Please supply the supplementary material via the electronic manuscript submission and tracking system in an acceptable file format. Authors should include a text summary (no more than 50 words) to describe the contents of each file and identify the types of files (file formats) submitted.

Supplementary material must be submitted as separate files, where each supplemental file consists of only one figure or table. Supplementary file legends should be included within the text of the manuscript and placed after the Acknowledgments. Format as below, listing figures first, followed by tables, then materials and methods:

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

Figure S1. Schematic diagram of automatic EEG analysis.

Table S1. Sequences of hairpin siRNA inserts used in this study.

Supplementary Materials and Methods.

Every supplemental file must have its own legend and the legend may be included within the supplemental file, in addition to being listed at the end of the manuscript text.

Accepted file formats: Quick Time files (.mov) graphical image files (.gif) HTML files (.html) MPEG movie files (.mpg) JPEG image files (.jpg) sound files (.wav) plain ASCII text (.txt) Acrobat files (.pdf) MS Word documents (.doc) Postscript files (.ps) MS Excel spreadsheet documents (.xls) Powerpoint files (.ppt). We cannot accept TeX and LaTeX. File sizes must be as small as possible, so that they can be downloaded quickly. Images should not exceed 640 x 480 pixels (9 x 6.8 inches at 72 pixels per inch), but we recommend 480 x 360 pixels as the maximum frame size for movies. A frame rate of 15 frames per second is also recommended. If applicable to the presentation of the supplementary material, use a 256 color palette. Please consider the use of lower specification for all of these points if the supplementary material can still be represented clearly. The recommended maximum data rate is 150 KB/s. The number of files should be limited to eight. Individual files should not exceed 1 MB. Please seek advice from the editorial office before sending files larger than our maximum size to avoid delays in publication.

Further questions about the submission or preparation of supplementary material should be directed to the editorial office.

At the Editor's discretion, large tables, data sets, etc. of accepted manuscripts may be published as supplementary material on the Molecular Therapy website only.

N. Non-Native Speakers of English
Authors who are not native speakers of English who submit manuscripts to international journals often receive negative comments from referees or editors about the English-language usage in their manuscripts, and these problems can contribute to a decision to reject a paper. To help reduce the possibility of such problems, we strongly encourage such authors to take at least one of the following steps:

• Have your manuscript reviewed for clarity by a colleague whose native language is English.
• Use a service such as one of those listed below. An editor will improve the English to ensure that your meaning is clear and identify problems that require your review. Note that the use of such a service is at the author's own expense and risk and does not guarantee that the article will be accepted. Nature Publishing Group accepts no responsibility for the interaction between the author and the service provider or for the quality of the work performed.

American Journal Experts

Inter-Biotec

Inter-Biotec also provides a free online writing course to help biomedical scientists whose first language is not English to write and publish their papers in English-language journals.

SPI Professional Editing Services

Write Science Right

V. MT OPEN

Upon submission of an original research paper, authors can indicate within the manuscript tracking system whether they wish to pay a one time fee to allow their article to become freely available immediately upon publication. The fee is £2000/$3000/€2400 (plus VAT where applicable) and can be paid by via credit card or by requesting an invoice be raised.

Upon acceptance, authors must fill out and send back a payment form. By paying this fee authors are permitted to post the final, published PDF of their article on a website, institutional repository, or other free public server immediately upon publication.
Authors must sign and return the license to publish form, which has been amended to offer authors the choice of which license to use on their open access paper. The first license is the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License which allows readers to download the article and share it with others as long as they mention the author and link back to the original article. The article cannon be changed in any way or used commercially. The second option is the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike 3.0 Unported License which allows readers to alter, transform, or build upon the article and then distribute the resulting work under the same or similar license to this one. The work must be attributed back to the original author and commercial use is not permitted.

Authors must notify the editorial office if they no longer want the open access article by the time of acceptance. Choosing the open access option does not guarantee acceptance.

For further information please see the Journal Open FAQs and Payment Form.

VI. PAGE CHARGES

Page charges are dependent on status as an ASGCT member. If your paper is accepted, the authors will be assessed $60 per page up to eight printed pages and $120 per page thereafter for manuscripts with a first or corresponding author who is an Active ASGCT Member OR $110 per page up to eight printed pages and $170 per page thereafter for manuscripts with a first or corresponding author who are non-ASGCT or associate members. The cost to authors for publishing color art is $580 per page.

VII. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION

Molecular Therapy subscribes to the standards set by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors in The Lancet (364, 911-912, 2004), requiring that all trials that start enrolling participants after July 1, 2005 must be registered in a suitable publicly accessible register before that date in order to be considered for publication in the Journal. Those trials that started enrollment before July 1, 2005 must register before September 13, 2005 to be considered for publication. Suggested registers include: Clinical Trials.Gov and Current Controlled Trials. Registration in the former is free, while registration for trials that do not emanate from developing countries carries a $144 charge in the latter. Access to both registries is free.

VIII. ADVANCE ONLINE PUBLICATION

All original articles, reviews and letters to the editor are published ahead of print on Advance Online Publication. This is the final version of the manuscript that will subsequently appear, unchanged, in print.

IX. PROOFS

An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author with a URL link from which proofs can be collected. Proofs must be returned by fax within 48 hours of receipt. Failure to do so may result in a delay to publication. Extensive corrections cannot be made at this stage.

X. OFFPRINTS

Offprints may be ordered using the form accompanying the proof.