Aims and Scope
Editorial Process
Editorial Policies
Online Submission of CSK Articles
Text and Table Preparation
Figure Preparation
Reference Preparation
Supplementary Data Files
Article Types
Cover Submissions
Post-Acceptance
Author Services

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Aims and Scope

Cytoskeleton (CSK) publishes papers focusing on all aspects of cytoskeletal research, spanning genetic and cell biological observations, biochemical, biophysical and structural studies, mathematical modeling and theory. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, classic polymer systems of eukaryotic cells and their structural sites of attachment on membranes and organelles, as well as the bacterial cytoskeleton, the nucleoskeleton, and uncoventional polymer systems with structural/organizational roles.

CSK is published in 12 issues annually, and special issues will be dedicated to especially-active or newly-emerging areas of cytoskeletal research.

CSK serves as a venue for the rapid and fair evaluation of manuscripts, leading to the publication of high-quality articles that advance the cytoskeleton field.

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Editorial Process

All submissions are initially evaluated by at least one of the three executive editors for general suitability and strength of advance. An initial decision is typically reached within 1-3 days. Submissions that do not conform to the general criteria for publication are returned to the authors, without detailed review.

If sent for full review, a manuscript is evaluated by 2-3 leading scientists active in the relevant area of the cytoskeleton field, regardless of their membership on the CSK editorial board. All CSK reviewers are contacted in advance and asked to provide confirmation that they are willing to provide a timely evaluation.

When the reviewers’ comments have been compiled, the monitoring editor (who is one of the four associate editors or one of the three executive editors) generates a recommendation and the assigned executive editor communicates a decision to the authors. The editors will make every effort to reach a decision on a manuscript within 3-4 weeks of the submission date.

If revisions are a condition of publication, we request that a revised manuscript be returned within 3 months of the decision date. A revised manuscript not returned within this timeframe may be considered as a new submission, subject to reconsideration of novelty, and potentially new reviewers. We try to be flexible with authors when circumstances dictate, however, and we are always willing to consider legitimate requests for short extensions to the revision deadline.

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Editorial Policies

Manuscripts are considered with the understanding that no part of the work has been published previously in print or electronic format and the paper is not under consideration by another publication or electronic medium. Prior publication could include, but is not limited to, deposition of all or part of the data in a publicly-accessible preprint or poster repository. Questions related to this policy should be directed to the editors. All in-press or submitted works that are pertinent to the manuscript under consideration by the journal must accompany the submission. Related manuscripts that have been submitted elsewhere during the period of revision, must accompany revised manuscripts. Failure to provide copies of related manuscripts under consideration elsewhere may be grounds for rejection. Under no circumstances will any paper be considered that contains any data that have been submitted for publication elsewhere or parts of which have been reported in any other publication or electronic medium.

Authorship

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all appropriate contributors are listed as authors and that all authors have agreed to the manuscript’s content and its submission to CSK. In a case where we become aware of an authorship dispute, authorship must be approved in writing by all of the parties.

Conflict of interest

CSK requires all authors to disclose any potential sources of conflict of interest. Any interest or relationship, financial or otherwise, that might be perceived as influencing an author's objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest. These must be disclosed when directly relevant or indirectly related to the work that the authors describe in their manuscript. Potential sources of conflict of interest include but are not limited to patent or stock ownership, membership of a company board of directors, membership of an advisory board or committee for a company, and consultancy for or receipt of speaker's fees from a company. The existence of a conflict of interest does not preclude publication in this journal.

If the authors have no conflict of interest to declare, they must also state this at submission.
It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to review this policy with all authors and to collectively list in the cover letter (if applicable) to the Editor-in-Chief, in the manuscript (in the footnotes, Conflict of Interest or Acknowledgements section), and in the online submission system ALL pertinent commercial and other relationships.

Studies involving humans and animals

For manuscripts reporting studies involving human subjects, statements identifying the committee approving the studies and confirming that informed consent was obtained from all subjects must appear in the Materials and Methods section. All experiments on live vertebrates or higher invertebrates must be performed in accordance with relevant institutional and national guidelines and regulations. In the manuscript, a statement identifying the committee approving the experiments and confirming that all experiments conform to the relevant regulatory standards must be included in the Materials and Methods section. The editors reserve the right to seek comments from reviewers or additional information from authors on any cases in which concerns arise.

Distribution of materials and data

One of the terms and conditions of publishing in CSK is that authors be willing to distribute any materials and protocols used in the published experiments to qualified researchers for their own use. Materials include but are not limited to cells, DNA, antibodies, reagents, organisms, and mouse strains. These must be made available with minimal restrictions and in a timely manner, but it is acceptable to request reasonable payment to cover the cost of maintenance and transport of materials. If there are restrictions to the availability of any materials, data, or information, these must be disclosed in the cover letter and the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript at the time of submission.

Image manipulation

Adjustment of digital images with computer software is acceptable. However, the final image must remain representative of the original data. Unacceptable manipulations include the addition, alteration or removal of a particular feature of an image, and splicing of multiple images to suggest they represent a single field in a micrograph or gel. Adjustments applied to the whole image are generally acceptable if no specific feature of the original data is obscured as a consequence. If evidence of such inappropriate manipulation is detected, the journal may ask for the original data to be supplied and, if necessary, revoke acceptance of the article. At the time of submission, the corresponding author should include a brief statement in the cover letter confirming that all digital images in the manuscript are in compliance with the CSK image manipulation policy detailed above.

Open archive

Pursuant to NIH mandate, Wiley-Blackwell will automatically post the accepted version of contributions authored by NIH grant-holders to PubMed Central upon acceptance, where it will become available to the public 12 months after publication. Authors should not submit their papers independently to this repository. This service is free of charge and is fully compliant with funding agencies’ mandates. For further information, please visit our policy statement.

Permissions

If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included in your manuscript, you must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the sources in the article. To use material from CSK and/or Wiley-Blackwell journals and books, permission can be obtained online within minutes via our RightsLink® service. Just click on the Request Permissions link on the abstract page of the article and follow the on-screen instructions. For further information, please contact the Wiley-Blackwell Permissions Department at PermissionsUS@wiley.com. If you have adapted a figure from a published figure, please check with the copyright owners to see if permission is required and include a complete citation/reference for the original article. Obtaining permissions can take up to several weeks. As lack of appropriate permissions can delay publication, we recommend that you request permission prior to (or at the time of) submission.

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Online Submission of CSK Articles

Overview

All CSK articles – Research Articles, Short Reports, Technique Articles, Review Articles, Mini-review Articles, Views Articles, and Essay Articles – should be submitted via our online submission and peer review system, CSK ScholarOne Manuscripts, at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cytoskeleton. Information regarding the organization of the above article types may be found in the appropriate sections below.

Article Submission via CSK ScholarOne Manuscripts

CSK requests that authors submit all articles via CSK ScholarOne Manuscripts (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cytoskeleton). An author tutorial regarding online submission is available at this website. Authors may also contact the editorial office for assistance (mwise@bcm.edu, or by phone at +1 713 798 7599).

CSK ScholarOne Manuscripts will prompt you to upload the individual components of your manuscript (cover letter, text, figures, tables, and supplementary material) as separate files. Upon completion of this step, the website will build a composite PDF file of your entire manuscript for the benefit of the editors and reviewers evaluating your manuscript (links to all supplementary materials are also made available to the reviewers via the site for convenient viewing or download). Please note that the version of the PDF file that is accessible to the reviewers does not contain the cover letter; any information contained therein will remain confidential, and will not be shown to reviewers.

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Cover letter: All CSK articles, regardless of type, should be accompanied by a cover letter, which contains any relevant details regarding the study, related papers, potential conflicts of interest, etc. The cover letter should contain an express statement from the corresponding author that the current submission is not previously published or under consideration elsewhere, and that all submitted images are in compliance with our image manipulation policy (see above).

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In the cover letter (and/or in the relevant fields in the online submission form),authors are strongly encouraged to provide suggestions for five (5) potential reviewers, who in their estimation, can be reasonably expected to provide an unbiased and informed assessment. Authors may also list up to three people to exclude from the review process, along with the rationale for their exclusion. The online submission form also contains dedicated fields for suggesting potential reviewers and exclusion requests.

Submission of new and revised manuscripts (i.e., papers subject to review): authors may submit their articles in one of two ways: (1) submit the source text, figure, table, and supplementary files individually or (2) submit a single, all-inclusive PDF file, containing the text, figures, and tables (supplementary files would still have to be submitted individually). A variation of this second option, submitting the text as a Word (.doc) file and the figures as either individual PDF files or a single, combined PDF file (containing all the figures), is also acceptable. The first option is particularly beneficial to authors whose manuscripts contain figures that they prefer the reviewers see at high resolution.

Responses to the comments of the reviewers and/or editors in conjunction with revised manuscripts: In addition to the manuscript text, figures, tables, supplementary material, and cover letter, revised manuscripts must also be accompanied by a detailed, point-by-point response to the comments of the reviewers and/or editors. Our online submission system provides designated fields for this response, and it will be fully visible to the reviewers. The cover letter, which will be visible only to the editors, should briefly summarize how the revised manuscript addresses the comments of the reviewers and/or editors.

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Text and Table Preparation

File formats:

For manuscript text, tables, and legends (table, figure, supplementary), our preferred file formats are Word (.doc) and PDF. MS Word 2007 Users: please save documents as Word 97-2003 format. PDFs can be generated in Adobe Acrobat Reader versions 6.0 and 7.0 for Windows and Mac OSX users, or version 5.0 for Mac OS9 users.

General Information:

• American spelling should be used throughout the manuscript.

• Please note that the manuscript text, tables, and legends (table, figure, supplementary) should be 1.5 or double-spaced.

• Pages should be numbered, with the title page serving as page 1.

• Text should be typed in 10 point text or higher.

• Text should be formatted for standard US letter size paper (8.5 inches x 11 inches).

• Do not insert any figures into the main manuscript document (unless creating a PDF for initial submission).

• Do not use picture boxes in text to create special characters.

• Gene names must be italicized; protein products of the loci are not italicized. Authors must use the original name published for a gene unless they have obtained permission to rename the gene from the authors of the original study (or from a governing body, such as, in the case of a yeast gene, the Saccharomyces Genome Database curator).

• Nonstandard abbreviations should be defined at their first mention in the text; use of abbreviations should be kept at a minimum.

• Fonts: use Times (preferred), Arial or Helvetica for normal characters and the appropriate symbol from your font menu for Greek characters (versus writing them out).

• Please give Latin names for the experimental genus and species.

• For chemical nomenclature, follow the Subject Index of Chemical Abstracts. Capitalize trade names and give manufacturers’ names.

Tables

Tables must use rows and columns to correlate two variables. All tables must be 1.5 or double-spaced and on pages separate from the main text. Do not divide into sub-tables and do not use vertical rules. Label each table at the top with a Roman numeral followed by a self-explanatory table title. Tables should be numbered in order of appearance and keyed to the text. Insert explanatory material (i.e., captions) and footnotes below the table. Designate footnotes using lowercase superscript letters ^{(a, b, c)} reading horizontally across the table. Supply units of measure at the heads of the columns. Abbreviations that are used only in a table should be defined in the footnotes to that table. Table legends should contain both an explanatory title and a caption, and should also appear under a Table Legends section at the end of the main manuscript document.

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Figure Preparation

Figures must be supplied as digital files. These can be bitmap images or line art (also known as vector graphics). Bitmap images are comprised of pixels and are typically used to display figures that previously would have been captured on film (e.g., light, fluorescence, and electron microscopy, gels, and traditional photography). Line art is instead comprised of ‘paths’ that can form shapes, and is usually used for schematic diagrams, graphs, and molecular structures. Common line art applications include Adobe Illustrator, Canvas, SigmaPlot, and Excel.

File Sizes for Articles Under Review

For newly-submitted articles or revisions still under review, authors should prepare figures to be the smallest size (1-2 MB) that will convey the essential scientific information, so that the editors and reviewers can more easily work with the files. If your article is ultimately accepted for publication, we will request higher quality figure files for production purposes.

CSK Figure Guidelines

These general guidelines are provided to ensure that your figure files are optimized for submission via CSK ScholarOne Manuscripts and production in the journal. Figures should conform to these guidelines or authors will be asked to revise them:

• Figures should be numbered in a single series (using Arabic numbers) that reflects the order in which they are referred to in the text (e.g., Figure 1).

• For figures with multiple panels, use uppercase Helvetica or Arial letters to label the individual panels; these should not be followed by periods or enclosed within parentheses (e.g., Figure 1A and C).

• Each figure should be assembled into a single file that fits within a single 8.5 x 11 inch page.

• Please do not submit the individual panels of a multi-panel figure as individual files.

• Figure legends should contain both a self-explanatory title and a caption, and should appear under a Figure Legends section at the end of the main manuscript document only (i.e., figure titles and legends should not appear as components of the figures themselves).

• PC users, please be sure to embed all fonts.

• Micrographs should include a bar to indicate scale, and this should be described in the associated figure legends.

• Please ensure that all text and symbols within a figure are of suitable size for clarity.

• All text within a figure should be consistent with other text in the figure; the use of different fonts and sizes, while sometimes helpful, can also impact the legibility of a figure.

• Our maximum file size is 20 MB per file, though the vast majority of figure files submitted should be considerably smaller than this.

Acceptable Figure Formats for Online Submission and Publication

• TIFF (.tif)

• Encapsulated PostScript (.eps)

• Portable Document File (.pdf)

• JPEG (.jpg) – use maximum quality

• Postscript (.ps)

File Types Not Accepted by ScholarOne Manuscripts

As outlined above, CSK ScholarOne Manuscripts accepts TIF, EPS, PDF, JPEG, and PS files. Other formats should be converted to one of these accepted file types. Virtually all common artwork-creation software, such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Canvas, ChemDraw, CorelDraw, SigmaPlot, Origin Lab, and others, are capable of saving files in EPS format. This option can normally be found under the “Save As” or “Export” commands in the “File” menu.

Image Resolution

• For color figures, the minimum resolution should be 300 dpi.

• For black and white figures, the minimum resolution should be 600 dpi.

• For line art figures, the minimum resolution should be 1200 dpi.

Color Images:

Images can be generated by RGB (red, green and blue) or CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) color separation. RGB generates colors by combining different intensities of red, green and blue light. This is known as color by addition (combining all three colors produces white). RGB is used by computer displays and is therefore the format we use for publishing online images (i.e., please submit your final figures in RGB color mode). It produces more vivid and fluorescent color images.

Please be aware that we must convert images to CMYK for production of the print copy. The colors are generated by combining printing inks that absorb different frequencies. This is known as color by subtraction (combining all inks produces black). Conversion can alter the appearance of some colors – particularly fluorescence, which can appear ‘flatter’ than that online because of the inherent limitations of color by subtraction. This is unavoidable and does not reflect a flaw in our conversion process, which is optimized to give the best possible CMYK images.

Black and White Photographic Images:

Submitted digital halftones should be in grayscale format.

Line Art:

File format: Vector files should be created in illustration programs such as Adobe Illustrator, Canvas, SigmaPlot, and Excel, and should be saved and submitted as PDF (Portable Document Files) or EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) files. Only Times New Roman, Helvetica, Arial, or Symbol (for Greek characters) fonts should be used. Use the 'special character palette' provided when uploading files to system in the caption area. Using other fonts may result in lost or improperly converted characters.

Text labeling: Please use Helvetica (or Arial) font and bold uppercase (capital letters) to distinguish figure panels and Times font for any text. Use Symbol font for Greek letters. Labels should be in sentence case.

Line widths/styles: We prefer that you use pen/stroke widths of 0.6-1pt. If lines are densely packed, the minimum acceptable width is 0.15pt. For Microsoft Excel files, avoid using curved dotted lines, as conversion to PDF may generate a solid line.

Figures Combining Photographs and Line Art:

Image files should be placed into the file containing the line art. When combining images from different files, make sure you always ‘embed’ images and do not simply ‘link’ them. In Adobe Illustrator, copying and pasting or dragging an image directly from Adobe Photoshop will embed the image. Alternatively, if you use the ‘Place’ command, be sure to uncheck ‘Link’ in the dialogue box. For other software packages, please refer to the documentation for each specific application (frequently there will be a ‘link’, ‘proxy’, ‘OLE’, or ‘OPI’ option on import that should be unchecked.

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References

Limits on the Number of References

There is no limit to the number of references cited in a Research article. We strongly encourage authors to cite the primary literature rather than review articles throughout their research articles. For all other CSK article types (Short Reports, Technique Articles, Review Articles, Mini-review Articles, Views Articles, Essay Articles), please refer to the individual sections below for general guidelines regarding the allowable number of references.

If automatic referencing systems are used (e.g., EndNote, RefMan), the references must be finalized and reduced to text before submission.

References in the Text

Each reference cited in the text must be listed in the References and vice versa: please check this carefully.

References should be cited in square brackets in the text by first author’s last name and year of publication.

Literature citations in the text should conform to the following:

1. Single author – [Jones, 1995] or [Jones, 1995; Smith, 1996].

2. Two authors – [Jones and King, 1994] or [Jones and King, 1994; Smith 1996]

3. More than two authors – [Jones et al., 1995] or [Jones et al., 1995a; Jones et al., 1995b; Smith et al., 1994; Smith et al., 1995].

4. Authors must be cited in the order in which they first appeared in publication and as they subsequently appear in Medline, even in cases where more than one author contributed equally to the work.

5. Avoid any additional text within the brackets.

6. Manuscripts accepted for publication, but not yet published – list in References as “In press”.

7. Citation of unpublished work:

(a) Your own unpublished data -- CSK strongly discourages citation of unpublished data such as "unpublished results", "unpublished observation", and "data not shown". This is only permitted in exceptional circumstances and must appear parenthetically in the text as "unpublished data" (e.g., T. D. Smith, unpublished data). Citation of "manuscript in preparation", "manuscript submitted", etc., is not permitted. Unpublished data can not be included in the reference list.

Unpublished work may not be cited in the Materials and Methods section. As an alternative to "unpublished data", additional images, video, or data sets not shown in the article may be included as online supplementary figures, tables, or videos.

(b) Personal communications –- when a person(s) who is not an author of the article is the source of unpublished data, these data must be cited in the text as a “personal communication”. These will only be published when substantiated by written permission from the source of the communication. Personal communications should appear parenthetically in the text and include institutional affiliation and date. Use the format (R. J. Smith, Brandeis University, 2010, personal communication). Personal communications can not be included in the reference list.

Reference List

(1) References should be listed alphabetically according to surname and initials of the first author. Within a group of papers with the same first author, list single author papers first, then papers with two authors, then et al. papers. If more than one reference exists for each type, arrange in date order. Use a and b for papers published in the same year.

(2) Initials should follow all surnames in the list of authors; insert no periods or spaces following intitials.

(3) Only papers that have been published or are in press may be included in the reference list; submitted manuscripts, personal communications (which can be included only with permission), abstracts, and unpublished data should not be cited in the reference list (although they may be included in the text).

(4) Any references that occur only in the tables or legends should be included in the reference list.

(5) ‘In press’ citations must have been accepted for publication and the name of the journal or publisher included.

(6) For references to journal articles - include (a) all authors' surnames and initials through the first 10 authors (use “et al.” after the tenth author), (b) year, (c) complete article title, (d) name of journal, and (e) inclusive page numbers.

For references to books – include (a) all authors’ surnames and intitials through the first 10 authors (use “et al.” after the tenth author), (b) year, (c) chapter title (if any), (d) editors (if any), (e) book title, (f) city of publication, (g) publisher’s name, and (h) inclusive page numbers.

(7) Abbreviate the names of journals according to Index Medicus/Medline; please spell out the names of unlisted journals. For CSK articles, the title abbreviation is “Cytoskeleton (Hoboken)”.

(8) References should be in CSK style, examples of which appear below.

Journal Articles

Two Authors: Bunnell TM, and Ervasti JM. 2010. Delayed embryonic development and impaired cell growth and survival in Actg1 null mice. Cytoskeleton (Hoboken) 67:564-72.

More than two authors: Tian G, Thomas S, and Cowan NJ. 2010. Effect of TBCD and its regulatory interactor Arl2 on tubulin and microtubule integrity. Cytoskeleton (Hoboken) 67:706-14.

In press: Gandhi M, Jangi M, and Goode BL 2010. Functional surfaces on the actin-binding protein coronin revealed by systemic mutagenesis. J Biol Chem. In press.

Online Peer-Reviewed Articles

Published article with DOI only McLachlan RW, Yap AS. 2011. Protein tyrosine phosphatase activity is necessary for E-cadherin-activated Src signaling. Cytoskeleton (Hoboken) doi:10.1002/cm.20492.

Books

Howard J. 2001. Mechanics of Motor Proteins and the Cytoskeleton. Sunderland, Massachusetts: Sinauer Associates, Inc. 367 p.

Articles/Chapters in Books

Moseley JB, Maiti S, Goode BL. 2006. Formin proteins: Purification and measurement of effects on actin assembly. In: Balch WE, Der CJ, Hall A, editors. Regulators and Effectors of Small GTPases: Rho Family. San Diego, California: Elsevier, Inc. Methods in Enzymology Vol. 406; p 215-233.

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Supplementary Data Files

Material contained in these files does not appear in the print article, but rather accompanies the final version of the article online, where it is available to registered users.

All supplementary data is subject to peer review (i.e., it should be submitted at the same time as all other components of the manuscript).

Please note that supplementary data files are NOT copyedited by CSK. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that all files are carefully checked prior to submission, and that the style of terms and figures utilized therein conforms with that utilized in the article itself. Modification of supplementary material post-publication will require a formal, “published” correction.

Each item of supplementary information must be referred to at least once within the text of the main article (i.e., the article that is published in the print issue of the journal) using the file name and the term “supplementary material”, for example: (see Figure S1 in supplementary material; see Table S1 in supplementary material; see Movie S1 in supplementary material; see Dataset S1 in supplementary material).

Supplementary figures

Figures in TIF, PDF, EPS, JPEG, and PS format are acceptable – see Figure Preparation.

Supplementary tables – see Text and Table Preparation

Supplementary movies

Movies should be submitted in the following preferred formats: QuickTime (.mov), Audio-Video Interleaved (.avi), MPEG (.mpg), Windows Media Video (.wmv), or Shockwave Flash (.swf). File names should be as short as possible (e.g., Movie S1, Movie S2, etc.). Please provide a separate Microsoft Word (.doc) file containing the titles and captions of all movies.

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Article Types

Research Articles

Research articles should be fully documented reports of original research. They should be written in as concise a style as possible, but should still be accessible to the broad readership of CSK. Research articles should typically provide at least some degree of mechanistic insight. In principle, however, we are receptive to considering high-quality descriptive articles, provided they are thorough and of significant interest to the cytoskeleton field.

Format: Research articles should be divided into the following sections: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Results, Discussion, Materials and Methods, Acknowledgements, References, Table Legends, Figure Legends, Supplementary Material Legends

Word Limits for Research Articles: The suggested maximal length of an article is 10,000 words. The word count includes title page, abstract, and figure/table legends, but excludes references and supplementary legends. In rare cases, where appropriate, longer papers will be published at the discretion of the editors.

Figure/Table Limits for Research Articles: Articles typically contain a maximum of twelve (12) figures and five (5) tables; however, publication of more figures and/or tables is permitted with authorization from the editors. Please note that supplementary figures and tables do not count toward the figure/table limits specified above. If additional figures/tables are deemed necessary, please contact the editorial office mwise@bcm.edu prior to submission.

Style/Layout for Research Articles:

Title Page: The title page should provide a short and informative title not to exceed 200 characters (including spaces), which should not contain any nonstandard abbreviations. The title page should also list the complete names and addresses of all authors, and should clearly indicate the corresponding author (whose phone, fax, and e-mail address are mandatory). A short running title of less than 60 characters (including spaces) should also be provided, along with a list of 5-6 key words or phrases (not used in the title), that will adequately index the subject material of the article.

Abstract: The abstract should not exceed 200 words unless absolutely necessary, and should under no circumstances exceed 250 words. The abstract should appear as a single paragraph, which should enable readers to quickly comprehend the thrust of the article prior to reading the article itself. Abbreviations should be avoided. Reference citations within the abstract are not permitted.

Introduction: must be written to target an audience of biologists lacking specialized knowledge in the area, must clearly state the background of the research and its aims, and should end with a brief statement as to what the current paper achieves in this regard.

Results: should be broken down into logical subsections with short informative subheadings.

Discussion: should clearly discuss the main conclusions of the research and provide clear explanations of their importance and relevance within the context of previously published work in the same area. A short, separate Conclusions section may also be included, if useful.

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Please note that the Results and Discussion sections may either appear independently, or be combined into a single Results and Discussion section at the author’s discretion.

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Materials and Methods: should be comprehensive; avoid referencing previous publications for critical details relating to how experiments were performed.

Acknowledgements: should be brief.

References: please refer to Reference Preparation for details.

Table Legends: each table legend should include both an informative title and a caption, and should appear in a separate Table Legends section at the end of the main manuscript document.

Figure Legends: each figure legend should include both an informative title and a caption, and should appear in a separate Figure Legends section at the end of the main manuscript document.

Supplementary Material Legends: each item of supplementary material should include both an informative title and a caption, and should appear in a separate Supplementary Materials Legend section at the end of the main manuscript document. A separate Word (.doc) file providing the legends for all supplementary items (tables, figures, movies, etc.) should also be provided at submission.

Short Reports

These are shorter, ‘report’ style articles describing definitive observations of high interest that may potentially open up new avenues of research. Please note that reports deemed incomplete or too preliminary will not be published.

Format: The style/layout of a Short Report follows that of a Research Article in CSK, with one exception (the Results and Discussion sections MUST be combined into a single Results and Discussion section).

Word Limits for Short Reports: The total length of an article is limited to 6,000 words. The word count includes title page, abstract, and figure/table legends, but excludes references and supplementary legends.

Figure/Table Limits for Short Reports: Articles may contain up to five (5) figures and three (3) tables. Please note that supplementary figures and tables do not count toward the figure/table limits specified above. If additional figures/tables are deemed necessary, please contact the editorial office mwise@bcm.edu prior to submission.

Technique Articles

Technique articles must describe a technological or methodological advance that provides a new way to examine the organization, dynamics, or function of the cytoskeleton. This may be a completely novel method or a significant improvement over existing methods. Submissions that address the need for standardization of experimental procedures or describe strategies for developing high-throughput platforms for such techniques are particularly welcome. Please note that descriptions of hypothesis-driven research, which in the editors’ opinion emphasizes the significance of experimental findings over the technique, are not appropriate for submission as a technique article.

Article Layout: Technique articles should be divided into the following sections: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Reagents and Instruments, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, References, Figure Legends, Table Legends, Supplementary Material Legends.

Title page: (same for all article types; refer to this same section under Research Articles above).

Abstract: (same for all article types; refer to this same section under Research Articles above).

Introduction: The introduction should emphasize the broad nature of the issue that the article addresses, with reference to key publications.

Reagents and Instruments: All relevant reagents and instruments used in the work should be included in this section, including the name of the manufacturer and the product or part number.

Methods: Combine descriptions of all methods/techniques in one section, with subheadings where appropriate.

Results: Combine all results and observations in one section, with subheadings where appropriate.

Discussion: This section should contain discussion and interpretations of the data, with subheadings where appropriate.

Acknowledgements: (same for all article types; see this same section under Research Articles above).

References: (same for all article types; see Reference Preparation for additional details).

Table Legends: (same for all article types; see this same section under Research Articles above).

Figure Legends: (same for all article types; see this same section under Research Articles above).

Supplementary Material Legends: (same for all article types; see this same section under Research Articles above).

Please note that the remaining article types – Review articles, Mini-review articles, Views articles, and Essay articles -- are typically solicited by the editors. For authors interested in submitting an “unsolicited” article, or suggesting a potential topic, please contact the editorial office at mwise@bcm.edu.

Review Articles

Review articles should provide a balanced “comprehensive” focus on one or more aspects of a specific cellular or physiological process, or a specific cytoskeletal molecule, or specific structural, functional, or biological commonalities among a larger set of cytoskeletal molecules. Review articles should be unbiased and impartial, incorporating a variety of conflicting data or models in a specific area. Inclusion of a figure(s), i.e., model(s), summarizing current knowledge in a particular area(s) is strongly encouraged. Unpublished, primary research data is inappropriate for inclusion in a review article. Authors interested in submitting an “unsolicited” review article should first contact the Editorial Office at mwise@bcm.edu.

Format: Review articles should be divided into the following sections: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Body (which should include a logical sequence of primary headings and subheadings), Conclusions and Perspectives, Acknowledgements, References, Table Legends, Figure Legends, Supplementary Material Legends.

Word limits for Review articles: The total length of a Review article is limited to 10,000 words. The word count includes title page, abstract, and figure legends, but excludes references, tables, and supplementary material. Under special circumstances, where the nature of the topic being reviewed might warrant additional length, a review article may be longer, or even be published in two or more separate installments. In these situations, please contact the editorial office mwise@bcm.edu prior to submission for approval.

Review articles can contain up to 200 references and can feature up to 6 display items (figures, diagrams, or tables).

Mini-review Articles

Mini-review articles should not contain an exhaustive review of an area, but rather provide a focused, concise treatment of relatively recent advancements or issues in a single area. Unpublished, primary research data is inappropriate for inclusion in mini-review articles. Authors interested in submitting an “unsolicited” mini-review article should first contact the Editorial Office at mwise@bcm.edu.

Format: Mini-reviews are structured exactly like Review articles, but are simply shorter in length.

Word limits for Mini-review articles: The total length of a Mini-review article is limited to 6,000 words. The word count includes title page, abstract, and figure legends, but excludes references, tables, and supplementary material.

Mini-review articles can contain up to 75 references and can feature up to 4 display items (figures, diagrams, or tables).

Views Articles

Views articles are short, perspective pieces, intended to provide a unique forum for the communication of well-founded personal speculation, hypotheses, and scientific opinions. Thus, Views articles afford authors greater latitude in communicating these ideas than in a traditional research manuscript. In instances where authors render a personal opinion about controversial or conflicting findings, citations of published observations from the authors’ own lab(s) to support their point of view are strongly encouraged. The inclusion of unpublished, primary research data is not appropriate in Views articles. Authors interested in submitting an “unsolicited” Views article should first contact the Editorial Office at mwise@bcm.edu.

Format: Views articles should be divided into the following sections: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Body (which should include a logical sequence of primary headings and subheadings), Conclusions and Perspectives, Acknowledgements, References, Table Legends, Figure Legends, Supplementary Material Legends.

Word limits for Views articles: The total length of a Views article is limited to 6,000 words.

Views articles can contain up to 45 references and can feature up to 3 display items (figures, diagrams, or tables).

Essay Articles

Essay articles are intended to describe, in a conversational style, how a particular facet of the cytoskeleton field evolved. These articles typically reflect the viewpoints and recollections of pioneers in respective areas of the cytoskeleton field (e.g., the discoverer of a particular cytoskeletal protein, function, or process) and chronicle how this discovery has subsequently shaped or influenced thinking and/or practice in the field. Authors interested in submitting an “unsolicited” essay article should first contact the Editorial Office at mwise@bcm.edu.

Format: Essay articles should be divided into the following sections: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Body (which should include a logical sequence of primary headings and subheadings), Conclusions and Perspectives, Acknowledgements, References, Table Legends, Figure Legends, Supplementary Material Legends.

Word Limits for Essay Articles: The total length of an Essay article is typically 3,500 – 7,500 words.

Essay articles can contain up to 45 references, and feature 2-4 display items (figures, diagrams, or tables).

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Cover Submissions

Authors may submit color candidates and accompanying legends for cover consideration at the time of initial submission or along with revised submissions via our online submission/peer review system (please designate all cover candidates as “supplementary material not for review”).

Please note that upon acceptance of a manuscript, the editors will also evaluate all color images therein for cover potential, using perceived level of scientific interest and aesthetic appeal as their primary evaluation criteria. If a manuscript is deemed to contain color images with cover potential, the authors will receive an e-mail inviting them to submit a color cover candidate(s) and accompanying legend(s), along with an instruction set for the preparation of color cover candidates.

All cover images submitted should be at least 300 dpi at the size of publication – please refer to our figure preparation guidelines for details. Additional information can be obtained by contacting the CSK editorial office at mwise@bcm.edu.

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Post-Acceptance

Publication of Accepted Manuscripts

Accepted manuscripts are published in accordance with the following model: (1) accepted, uncorrected articles or “preprints” are published online as “Accepted Articles” within 5 days of acceptance, (2) corrected, copyedited manuscripts are published online as “EarlyView Articles” within 3-4 weeks of acceptance, and (3) final, “print” versions of manuscripts typically published within 6 weeks of acceptance.

Copyediting and Production

All correspondence concerning the copyediting and production of manuscripts that have been accepted for publication should be addressed to:

Larry Graup
CSK Production Editor
(T) (570) 754-3060
(F) (570) 754-2247
email: lgraup@infionline.net

Proofs

An e-proof is supplied to the corresponding author as a PDF along with instructions. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours. Authors will be provided with information on charges for offprints and special services at that time. There are currently no charges associated with authors’ text alterations in proof or figure reprocessing at the authors’ request.

Reprints

Reprints may be purchased at https://caesar.sheridan.com/reprints/redir.php?pub=10089&acro=cm

Publication Charges

Currently, no page charges are levied against authors or their institutions for the publication of CSK articles or the posting of associated supplementary material. With regard to color reproduction, each article is currently entitled to 1-2 pages of free color, and all additional pages of color (no limit) are billed at the special reduced rate of $500/page.

Copyright Policy

Upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication, the corresponding or responsible author will be requested to sign an agreement transferring copyright to the publisher (Wiley-Blackwell), who reserves copyright. Authors retain a number of “non-exclusive rights”, which are outlined in the Copyright Transfer Agreement.

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Author Services

Visit the new Author Services at http://authorservices.wiley.com

Features include:

• Free access to your CSK article for 10 of your colleagues; each coauthor on your CSK article may nominate up to 10 colleagues. This feature is retrospective – even previously-published CSK articles qualify for this free colleague access.

• Access in perpetuity to your published article.

• Production tracking for your article and easy communication with the Production Editor via e-mail.

• A list of your favorite journals with quick links to the Editorial Board, Aims & Scope, Author Guidelines, and if applicable, the Online Submission website; journals in which you have tracked production of an article are automatically added to your Favorites.

• Guidelines for optimizing your article http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/seo.asp for maximum discoverability.