AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Sections

Submission

1. Aims and Scope
2. Manuscript Categories and Requirements
3. Preparing the Submission
4. Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations
5. Author Licensing
6. Publication Process After Acceptance
7. Post Publication
8. Editorial Office Contact Details

1. SUBMISSION

Authors, please note that submission implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere in English or in any other language except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium. GCB Bioenergy will consider submissions containing material that has previously formed part of a PhD or other academic thesis, which has been published according to the requirements of the institution awarding the qualification. Preprint posting is not considered prior publication and will not jeopardize consideration at GCB Bioenergy. More information about Wiley’s policies on preprints can be found here.

GCB Bioenergy no longer has strict formatting requirements, but all manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed to evaluate a manuscript. These can be found here. Manuscripts should be submitted online at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/gcb-bioenergy

By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, and affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require, will be used for the regular operations of the publication, including, when necessary, sharing with the publisher (Wiley) and partners for production and publication. The publication and the publisher recognize the importance of protecting the personal information collected from users in the operation of these services, and have practices in place to ensure that steps are taken to maintain the security, integrity, and privacy of the personal data collected and processed. You can learn more at https://authorservices.wiley.com/statements/data-protection-policy.html.

All submitted manuscripts will be processed through plagiarism detection software. In submitting your manuscript, you accept that it may be screened against previously published literature. Plagiarized manuscripts will be rejected immediately.

Authorship

The list of authors should accurately illustrate who contributed to the work and how. All those listed as authors should qualify for authorship according to the following criteria:

1. Have made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
2. Been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
3. Given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content; and
4. Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
5. Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, in an Acknowledgments section (for example, to recognize contributions from people who provided technical help, collation of data, writing assistance, acquisition of funding, or a department chairperson who provided general support). Prior to submitting the article all authors should agree on the order in which their names will be listed in the manuscript.

Joint first or senior authorship: In the case of joint first authorship, a footnote should be added to the author listing, e.g. ‘X and Y should be considered joint first author’ or ‘X and Y should be considered joint senior author.’

Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, in an Acknowledgments section. Financial and material support should also be mentioned. Thanks to anonymous reviewers are not appropriate.

Funding
All sources of institutional, private and corporate financial support for the work within the manuscript must be fully acknowledged, and any potential conflicts of interest noted. If in doubt, please check the Open Funder Registry for the correct nomenclature: https://www.crossref.org/services/funder-registry/

Submission Questions
In lieu of a cover letter, authors must answer the following questions during submission (max 50 words per answer):

1. What is the scientific question you are addressing?
2. What is/are the key finding(s) that answers this question?
3. Why is this work important and timely?
4. Does your paper fall within the scope of GCBB; what bioenergy AND biological aspects does it address? Policy papers do not need to contain biological aspects.
5. What are the three most recently published papers that are relevant to this question? This information will assist the Editors in selecting reviewers.

Conflict of Interest Statement
Authors will be asked to provide a conflict of interest statement during the submission process. For details on what to include in this section, see the ‘Conflict of Interest’ section in the Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations section below. Submitting authors should ensure they liaise with all co-authors to confirm agreement with the final statement.

The journal requires that all authors 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 directly 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. 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 collectively to disclose with the submission ALL pertinent commercial and other relationships.

GCB Bioenergy is committed to rapid evaluation and publication of submitted papers. To this end, we strive to return the Editor's decision and reviewer comments within 60 days of submission and to publish papers online within 30 days of receipt of the final version of the manuscript and all necessary files and forms.

In order to achieve this, manuscript review is based on a two-stage process:

• During the first stage, manuscripts are assigned to appropriate members of the Editorial Board who determine if the manuscript should be sent for peer-review. This decision is based on the submission questions and abstract. In 2018, the median time for this stage was 10 days and 5% of manuscript progressed to the second stage.
• During the second stage, manuscripts are assessed by two to three independent reviewers. The final decision is made by the Subject Editor. In 2018, the median time for stage two was 50 days and 40% of submitted manuscripts were accepted for publication. A decision letter will be emailed to the corresponding author once the Subject Editor has made his or her decision.

For help with submissions, manuscript status inquiries, or questions about the peer review process, please contact: gcb-bioenergy@igb.uiuc.edu

Click here for more details on how to use ScholarOne

2. AIMS AND SCOPE

GCB Bioenergy: Bioproducts for a Sustainable Bioeconomy exists to promote understanding of the interface between biological and environmental sciences and the production of fuels directly from plants, algae and waste. The scope of the journal extends to areas outside of biology to policy forum, socioeconomic analyses, technoeconomic analyses and systems analysis. Papers do not need a global change component for consideration for publication, it is viewed as implicit that most bioenergy will be beneficial in avoiding at least a part of the fossil fuel energy that would otherwise be used.

Key areas covered by the journal:

• Bioenergy feedstock and bio-oil production: energy crops and algae their management,, genomics, genetic improvements, planting, harvesting, storage, transportation, integrated logistics, production modeling, composition and its modification, pests, diseases and weeds of feedstocks. Manuscripts concerning alternative energy based on biological mimicry are also encouraged (e.g. artificial photosynthesis).
• Biological Residues/Co-products: from agricultural production, forestry and plantations (stover, sugar, bio-plastics, etc.), algae processing industries, and municipal sources (MSW).
• Bioenergy and the Environment: ecosystem services, carbon mitigation, land use change, life cycle assessment, energy and greenhouse gas balances, water use, water quality, assessment of sustainability, and biodiversity issues.
• Bioenergy Socioeconomics: examining the economic viability or social acceptability of crops, crops systems and their processing, including genetically modified organisms [GMOs], health impacts of bioenergy systems.
• Bioenergy Policy: legislative developments affecting biofuels and bioenergy.
• Bioenergy Systems Analysis: examining biological developments in a whole systems context.

3. MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES AND REQUIREMENTS

Please click here to follow the Manuscript Submission for Review Checklist to prepare your manuscript for review.

GCB Bioenergy will consider the following manuscript types:

Original Research
Primary Research Articles present the results of a completed research project and are up to 8000 words in length. Word limits apply to the main body of the text (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Acknowledgements). Formatting is standard (see Formatting Instructions, below). These are peer reviewed. Decisions are made by the Editors.

Technical Advances present exciting new research tools, methods, and techniques, including new modelling approaches, and should include a detailed description of the methodological design and discussion of how this technique improves the study of bioenergy. GCB Bioenergy has a wide readership; accordingly the technical advance must be broadly applicable. Papers describing methods that apply to one species or system are unlikely to meet our criteria unless authors are able to show that their methods can be generalized. The main body word limit is 4000 words (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results & Discussion, and Acknowledgements). Formatting is standard (see Formatting Instructions, below) except that Results and Discussion may be combined. These are peer reviewed. Decisions are made by the Editors.

Comment and Review
Research Reviews examine a defined specialist subject that is of topical interest. Reviews should begin with an abstract and an introduction, followed by up to 10 sections following a logically developed plan, and end with a Conclusion. Reviews should be no more than 8000 words (count includes Abstract, Introduction, body, Conclusions and Acknowledgements). These are peer reviewed. Decisions are made by the Editors.

Opinions are usually a review or re-analysis that challenges prevailing views on a topical issue. These may include emerging frameworks arising from a synthesis of recent research, alternative interpretations of a field of research, controversial perspectives on current areas of research of high interest, or reason the need for a new direction in research. This list is not exclusive and the Editors are interested to hear of other ideas. While this category of article is designed to allow expression of viewpoints that may run counter to established viewpoints, articles must be anchored in sound reasoning developed from the peer-reviewed literature. The article must be sufficiently complete to convince reviewers of the value of the contribution. Articles that are essentially reviewing a topic, a statement of opinion not reasoned from the peer-reviewed literature, arguing for redirection of government funding for research and those primarily discussing the authors’ own work will not be considered. Opinion articles should begin with an Abstract and Introduction, followed by a body with up to 6 sections, and end with a Conclusion. Opinion articles should be no more than 5000 words and have no more than 8 tables and figures. These are peer reviewed. Decisions are made by the Editors.

Reports are expert scientific reports, which outline the direction of a relevant research area, integrated experimental network, etc. Reports should begin with an abstract and introduction, followed by up to 20 sections, and end with a Conclusion and/or Recommendations. These are peer reviewed at the Editor’s discretion. Decisions are made by the Editors. Authors interested in submitting a Report should first send a one-paragraph proposal (300 words) to the Editorial Office.

Platforms are structured authoritative reviews of a specific feedstock , e.g. switchgrass, Jatropha, or algae. These will describe the organism being used or potentially used by the biofuels industry, its origin, culture, issues, sources of genomic information, genetic resources, transformation systems, environmental risk assessment and environmental benefits, and in the case of crops, where they may be grown and what yields may be expected. There is an urgent demand for information on a range of organisms that have been little used in the past, but appear to have large potential. Platforms should begin with an introduction, followed by up to 10 headings following a logically developed plan, and end with a Conclusion, tables, figure captions and figures. Platforms should be no more than 8000 words (count includes Introduction, body, Conclusions and Acknowledgements). These are peer reviewed. Decisions are made by the Editors.

Legislative Issues and Policy Developments are authoritative reviews that deal with existing, proposed legislation or voluntary compliance with agreed codes of conduction (e.g. Green Certificates) affecting the development of biological R&D and deployment of biofuel systems. For example: How does the Biodiversity Convention affect use of novel organisms and genes in making better biofuels? How will proposed EU or US Farm Bills affect the development of new crops? What are the implications of widespread deployment of different biofuels systems for the IPCC? Policy commentaries should begin with an introduction, followed by up to 10 headings and end with a Conclusion, tables, figure captions and figures. They should be no more than 8000 words long.

Editorial and Front Material
Editorials are invited discussions of recent exciting research or analysis of topical issues. Opinions are welcome as long as they are factually based. Editorials have the following sections: body, references, tables, figure captions and figures. They should include no more than 1 table or figure total, 10 references, and be no more than 500 words. These are not peer reviewed. Decisions are made by the Editors.

Commentaries are invited discussions highlighting the novelty of a recently published article. They should include no more than 1 table or figure total and 10 references, and be no more than 1,500 words (count includes body and acknowledgments). These are not peer reviewed. Decisions are made by the Editors.

Letters to the Editor are a well-reasoned challenge to a recently published article of relevance to the journal. Opinions are welcome as long as they are factually based. Letters only have the following sections: body and references. They should include no more than 1 table or figure total and 10 references, and be no more than 800 words (count includes body and Acknowledgements). If a letter is accepted for publication it will be provided to the authors of the original article (when appropriate) so that they may have an opportunity to provide a Response to the Editor. These are not peer reviewed. Decisions are made by the Editors.

Responses are a response to a Letter to the Editor. Opinions are welcome as long as they are factually based. Responses only have the following sections: body and references. They should include no more than 1 table or figure total and 10 references, and be no more than 500 words (count includes body and Acknowledgements). These are not peer reviewed. Decisions are made by the Editors.

4. PREPARING THE INITIAL SUBMISSION

Wiley Author Resources
Manuscript Preparation Tips: Wiley has a range of resources for authors preparing manuscripts for submission available here. In particular, authors may benefit from referring to Wiley’s best practice tips on Writing for Search Engine Optimization.

Editing, Translation, and Formatting Support: Wiley Editing Services can greatly improve the chances of a manuscript being accepted. Offering expert help in English language editing, translation, manuscript formatting, and figure preparation, Wiley Editing Services ensures that the manuscript is ready for submission.

GCB Bioenergy no longer has strict formatting requirements for initial submissions, but all manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed to evaluate a manuscript:

• Title
• Running Title: A short running title of less than 45 characters including spaces
• List of Authors: The full names of the authors. As part of the journal’s commitment to supporting authors at every step of the publishing process, the journal requires the submitting author (only) to provide an ORCID iD when submitting a manuscript. This takes around 2 minutes to complete. Find more information here.
• Institutional affiliations: All author's institutional affiliations where the work was conducted, with a footnote for the author’s present address if different from where the work was conducted; where authors have different addresses, use numbered superscripts to refer to each address provided.
• Contact Information Corresponding author’s telephone, and email details
• Abstract: Limited to 300 words. 
• Keywords: 6-10 keywords
• Introduction
• Materials and methods
• Results 
• Tables
• Figures and figure legends
• Discussion
• References: Authors are strongly encouraged to cite primary research papers. References should be cited using the APA reference format. In-text citations include the author and date, either both inside parentheses or with the author names in running text and the date in parentheses. Items should only include articles that have been published or are currently in press. ‘In press’ manuscripts that are necessary to understand and evaluate the submitted manuscript must be included at the time of submission.

Citing a Journal Article by DOI
Yang J., Tian H., Pan S., Chen G., Bowen Z., Dangal S. (2018). Amazon drought and forest response: Largely reduced forest photosynthesis but slightly increased canopy greenness during the extreme drought of 2015/2016. Global Change Biology. doi: 10.1111/gcb.14056

Citing a Chapter in a Book
Nelson, J.R., Craig, E. (1994). SSA hsp70 subfamily. In: J. Rothblatt & T.Stevens (Eds.), Guidebook to the Secretory Pathway (pp. 27–29). New York: Oxford University Press.

Citing a Complete Book
Segel, I.H. (1968). Biochemical Calculations. USA: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Additional Files
Supplemental materials should be supplied as separate files but referred to in the main text. Supporting information and appendices are information that is not essential to the article, but provides greater depth and background. It is hosted online and appears without editing or typesetting. It may include tables, figures, videos, datasets, etc. For submission, they should be supplied as separate files but referred to in the text. Click here for Wiley’s FAQs on supporting information.

Note: if data, scripts, or other artefacts used to generate the analyses presented in the paper are available via a publicly available data repository, authors should include a reference to the location of the material within their paper.

General Style Points
The following points provide general advice on formatting and style.

• Abbreviations: In general, terms should not be abbreviated unless they are used repeatedly and the abbreviation is helpful to the reader. Initially, use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviation only.
• Units of measurement: Measurements should be given in SI or SI-derived units. Visit the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) website for more information about SI units.
• Numbers: numbers under 10 are spelt out, except for: measurements with a unit (8mmol/l); age (6 weeks old), or lists with other numbers (11 dogs, 9 cats, 4 gerbils).
• Lines should be double spaced and also be numbered
• Spelling: The journal uses British/US spelling; however, authors may submit using either option, as spelling of accepted papers is converted during the production process.
• Footnotes to the text are not allowed and any such material should be incorporated into the text as parenthetical matter.
  
  

5. EDITORIAL POLICIES AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Peer Review and Acceptance
The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to journal readership. Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts are peer reviewed. Papers will only be sent to review if the Editor-in-Chief determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements. Wiley's policy on the confidentiality of the review process is available here.

Data Sharing and Data Accessibility
The journal encourages authors to share the data and other artefacts supporting the results in the paper by archiving it in an appropriate public repository. Authors should include a data accessibility statement, including a link to the repository they have used, in order that this statement can be published alongside their paper.

Species Names
Upon its first use in the title, abstract, and text, the common name of a species should be followed by the scientific name (genus, species, and authority) in parentheses. For well-known species, however, scientific names may be omitted from article titles. If no common name exists in English, only the scientific name should be used.

Publication Ethics
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Note this journal uses iThenticate’s CrossCheck software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Read Wiley’s Top 10 Publishing Ethics Tips for Authors here. Wiley’s Publication Ethics Guidelines can be found here.

6. AUTHOR LICENSING

If a paper is accepted for publication, the author identified as the formal corresponding author will receive an email prompting them to log in to Author Services, where via the Wiley Author Licensing Service (WALS) they will be required to complete a copyright license agreement on behalf of all authors of the paper.

Authors may choose to publish under the terms of the journal’s standard copyright agreement, or OnlineOpen under the terms of a Creative Commons License.
General information regarding licensing and copyright is available here. To review the Creative Commons License options offered under OnlineOpen, please click here. (Note that certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license be used; to check this please click here.)

Self-Archiving Definitions and Policies: Note that the journal’s standard copyright agreement allows for self-archiving of different versions of the article under specific conditions. Please click here for more detailed information about self-archiving definitions and policies.

Open Access fees: Authors who choose to publish using OnlineOpen will be charged a fee. A list of Article Publication Charges for Wiley journals is available here.

Funder Open Access: Please click here for more information on Wiley’s compliance with specific Funder Open Access Policies.

7. PUBLICATION PROCESS AFTER ACCEPTANCE

Submission of Final Files by Authors

Graphical Abstract: authors must submit an abstract figure (diagram or illustration selected from the manuscript or an additional "eye-catching" figure) with their final files. A short description of the graphical abstract must be provided, as well.

Press Releases: Authors who intend to distribute a press release for the article should notify the Editorial Office as soon as possible to ensure that the article will not appear online as an "Accepted Article" and an embargo date can be set after final proofs are received.

Accepted Article Received in Production

After the final manuscript files are found to be suitable for publication, they will be forwarded to the publisher. Accepted Articles are published online a few days after final acceptance and appear in PDF format only. They are given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which allows them to be cited and indexed by PubMed. Submitting authors should therefore carefully check the names and affiliations of all authors provided in the cover page of the manuscript so it is accurate for indexing. Subsequently, the final copyedited and proofed articles will appear in an issue on Wiley Online Library; the link to the article in PubMed will update automatically.

When an accepted article is received by Wiley’s production team, the corresponding author will receive an email asking them to login or register with Wiley Author Services. The author will be asked to sign a publication license at this point.

Proof Corrections

Authors will receive an e-mail notification with a link and instructions for accessing HTML page proofs online. Page proofs should be carefully proofread for any copyediting or typesetting errors. Online guidelines are provided within the system. No special software is required, most common browsers are supported. Authors should also make sure that any renumbered tables, figures, or references match text citations and that figure legends correspond with text citations and actual figures. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt of the email. Return of proofs via e-mail is possible in the event that the online system cannot be used or accessed. 

Please note that the author is responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made during the editorial process – authors should check proofs carefully. Note that proofs should be returned within 48 hours from receipt of first proof.

After the final version article of the proof is published (the article of record) no changes can be made. The DOI is reserved to cite and access the article.

Publication Charges
Publication in the journal is free. However, there is a cost for publishing colour figures in print.

Colour Figures

Colour figures may be published online free of charge; however, the journal charges for publishing figures in colour in print.  If the author supplies colour figures at Early View publication, they will be invited to complete a colour charge agreement in RightsLink for Author Services. The author will have the option of paying immediately with a credit or debit card, or they can request an invoice. If the author chooses not to purchase colour printing, the figures will be converted to black and white for the print issue of the journal.

Please contact the Production Editor if you have any queries regarding this.

Early View
The journal offers rapid publication via Wiley’s Early View service. Early View (Online Version of Record) articles are published on Wiley Online Library before inclusion in an issue. Once the article is published on Early View, no further changes to the article are possible. The Early View article is fully citable and carries an online publication date and DOI for citations.

Citing this Article: eLocators
This journal now uses eLocators. eLocators are unique identifies for an article that service the same function page numbers have traditionally served in the print world. When citing this article, please insert the eLocator in place of the page number. For more information, please visit the Author Services eLocator page here.

8. POST PUBLICATION

Access and Sharing
When the article is published online:

• The author receives an email alert (if requested using Wiley Author Services).
• The link to the published article can be shared through social media.
• The author will have free access to the paper (after accepting the Terms & Conditions of use, they can view the article).
• The corresponding author and co-authors can nominate up to ten colleagues to receive a publication alert and free online access to the article.

Promoting the Article
To find out how to best promote an article, click here.

Measuring the Impact of an Article
Wiley also helps authors measure the impact of their research through specialist partnerships with Kudos and Altmetric.

9. EDITORIAL OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS

GCB Bioenergy
University of Illinois
1118 Institute for Genomic Biology
1206 West Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801-3838
USA
Tel. +1-217-333-9651 or +217-300-9011
Fax +1-217-244-3637
E-mail: gcb-bioenergy@igb.uiuc.edu

Author Guidelines updated 18th October 2019