Instructions for Contributors: Manuscript Preparation
All manuscript pages (including references, tables, figure legends, footnotes) must be double-spaced and in a typeface of at least 11-point size. Label each page with the first author's name and page number.
Form. Please observe the following order: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Results, Discussion, Materials and Methods, Acknowledgments, References, Tables, Figure legends. The Title page should include: (a) title; (b) all authors' full names; (c) all affiliations clearly indicated; (d) a shortened version of the title for use as a running head (maximum 50 characters, including spaces); and (e) keywords (up to six) for use in indexing. Abstracts (limited to 250 words not containing references) should summarize the aim of the research, the methodological approach, and the significance of the results. Methods should be detailed enough to allow qualified researchers to reproduce the results. In addition, please set all genes, alleles, and loci in italic type and proteins in Roman type.
Figures and legends. Number figures consecutively according to the order in which they are cited in the text. The figure sizes will be adjusted to fit the journal format; therefore, please keep labels, symbols, and other callout devices in proportion to the figure size and detail. Figure legends should be brief and should not contain methods. Symbols indicated in the figure must be identified in the legend text. If figures are reprinted from another source, permission to reprint is required. Text and labels in figures, line drawings, and microscopy images should be clearly visible after reduction for publication. Indicate magnification for images with a bar. Multipart figures should be submitted as one composite.
Tables. Tabular data should be presented concisely and logically. Number tables consecutively according to the order cited in the text. Provide a title for each table. Use only horizontal rules and ensure that column headings are unambiguous in indicating columns to which they refer. Include table legends and footnotes where needed. If tables are reprinted from another source or if data included are from another source, permission to reprint is required.
Citations. Citations are not numbered. For single authors, cite as (name date) in text. For citations with two authors, cite as (surname and surname date). For citations with more than two authors, do not list all authors. Cite as (first author's surname et al. date) in text. Undated citations (unpublished, in preparation, personal communication) should include first initials and last names of all authors up to three before et al.--e.g., (F Smith, pers. comm.)--and do not appear in the reference list.
References. Only articles that are published, in press, or posted to a preprint server whose papers are fully citable should be included in references. "Et al." should be used ONLY after the first 10 authors. References should be arranged alphabetically by author and not as numbered citations. It is the authors’ responsibility to not cite any retracted article. Please observe the following reference style:
Sampath P, Mazumder B, Seshadri V, Gerber CA, Chavatte L, Kinter M, Ting SM, Dignam JD, Kim S, Driscoll DM, et al. 2004. Noncanonical function of glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA synthetase: gene-specific silencing of translation. Cell 119: 195–208. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2004.09.030
Stohr N, Lederer M, Reinke C, Meyer S, Hatzfeld M, Singer RH, Huttelmaier S. 2006. ZBP1 regulates mRNA stability during cellular stress. J Cell Biol 175: 527–534. doi:10.1083/jcb.200608071
Strunk W, White EB. 1979. The elements of style. Macmillan, New York, NY.
Tymowska J. 1991. Polyploidy and cytogenetic variation in frogs of the genus Xenopus. In Amphibian cytogenetics and evolution (eds. Green DM, Sessions SK), pp. 259–297. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.
For preprint servers: Preprints deposited in bioRxiv, for example, should be cited using their digital object identifier (doi).
Example: Author AN, Author BT. 2013. My article title. bioRxiv doi: 10.1101/123456.
If the paper includes website URLs as references to places where material was obtained for doing the work (with the exception of preprint servers, such as bioRxiv.org, whose papers are fully citable—see details above), the URL should be included next to that information in the text.
Supplemental Material. RNA will accept supplemental material, which will be linked to the article published online. Supplemental figures should be of the same quality as figures in the paper and should be supporting data, rather than main data. Other supplemental material will be restricted to long tables or Excel files of data, lists of genomic and sequence data, or movies. Supplemental material will be peer-reviewed and must be submitted online at the same time as the manuscript, and it cannot be altered after acceptance of the manuscript. Submission of supplemental material to the journal is not an alternative to submission to public databases (thus crystal structure coordinates, sequence data, and microarray data must be submitted prior to submission to the journal and accession numbers given in the manuscript). Public databases have confidential sections to which passwords give access for editors and referees upon request. The types of files supplied should be clearly indicated (.docx, .xlsx, .rtf, .mp3, .mpeg, .mov, .wav …). Supplemental files themselves (which include the figure legend and figure) must be uploaded separately and named as follows, with underscores connecting all segments in each file name and with the file-type extension in view: Supplemental_Fig_S1.pdf, Supplemental_Fig_S2.eps, Supplemental_Table_S1.eps, Supplemental_Table_S2.jpeg, Supplemental_Movie_S1.mov, Supplemental_Methods.pdf, etc. Please cite supplemental material in main text accordingly.
