Instructions to Authors

Scope
Editorial Policies
Submission
Manuscript Preparation
Production
Manuscript Charges​

About the Journal

Metallomics is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes 12 issues per year online.

Once a paper is accepted, Metallomics will publish the pre-proofed, pre-copyedited accepted manuscript online within 1 week. This will be replaced by a copyedited, proofed version of the paper in an issue.

Please read these instructions carefully and follow them closely. The Editors may return manuscripts that do not follow these instructions.

Scope of the Journal

Metallomics publishes cutting-edge investigations aimed at elucidating the identification, distribution, role and impact of metals and metalloids in biological systems. Studies that address the ‘what, where, when, how and why’ of these inorganic elements in cells, tissues, organisms and various environmental niches are welcome, especially those employing multidisciplinary approaches drawn from the analytical, bioinorganic, medicinal, environmental, biophysical, cell biology, and chemical biology communities. We are particularly interested in articles that enhance our chemical and/or physical understanding of the molecular mechanisms of metal-dependent life processes, and those that probe the common space between metallomics and other ‘omics approaches to uncover new insights into biological processes.

Metallomics seeks to position itself at the forefront of those advances in analytical chemistry destined to clarify the enormous complexity of biological systems.  As such, we particularly welcome those papers that outline cutting-edge analytical technologies, e.g., in the development and application of powerful new imaging, spectroscopic and mass spectrometric modalities.  Work that describes new insights into metal speciation, trafficking and dynamics in complex systems or as a function of microenvironment are also strongly encouraged.  Studies that examine the interconnectivity of metal-dependent processes with systems level responses relevant to organismal health or disease are also strongly encouraged, for example those that probe the effect of chemical exposure on metal homeostasis or the impact of metal-based drugs on cellular processes.

Editorial Policies

For full details of Oxford University Press’s editorial policies, please see Publication Ethics.

Authorship

It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all authors that contributed to the work are fairly acknowledged and that the published author list accurately reflects individual contributions. For more information, see the Authorship section of our Publication Ethics resources.

Peer Review

This journal uses single blind peer review. For full details about the peer review process, see Fair Editing and Peer Review.

Data Policy

Availability of Data and Materials

Where ethically feasible, Metallomics strongly encourages authors to make all data and software code on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to readers. Authors are required to include a Data Availability Statement  in their article at revision stage, and will be prompted for this by the editorial office.

We suggest that data be presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files, or deposited in a public repository whenever possible. Information on general repositories for all data types, and a list of recommended repositories by subject area, is available here.

Data Availability Statement

The inclusion of a Data Availability Statement is a requirement for articles published in Metallomics. Data Availability Statements provide a standardised format for readers to understand the availability of data underlying the research results described in the article. The statement may refer to original data generated in the course of the study or to third-party data analysed in the article. The statement should describe and provide means of access, where possible, by linking to the data or providing the required unique identifier.

The Data Availability Statement should be included in the endmatter of your article under the heading ‘Data availability’.

More information and example Data Availability Statements can be found here.

Data Citation

Metallomics supports the Force 11 Data Citation Principles and requires that all publicly available datasets be fully referenced in the reference list with an accession number or unique identifier such as a digital object identifier (DOI). Data citations should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite:

                [dataset]* Authors, Year, Title, Publisher (repository or archive name), Identifier

*The inclusion of the [dataset] tag at the beginning of the citation helps us to correctly identify and tag the citation. This tag will be removed from the citation published in the reference list.

Preprint Policy

Authors retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels, and this does not prevent submission to the journal. For further information see our Online Licensing, Copyright and Permissions policies. If accepted, the authors are required to update the status of any preprint, including your published paper’s DOI, as described on our Author Self Archiving Policy page.

Self-Archiving Policy

You may self-archive versions of your work on your own webpages, on institutional webpages, and in other repositories. If you want more information about the reuse rights you retain if you publish with us, please visit our Author Self Archiving Policy page.

Conflict of Interest

When submitting a paper, you and your co-authors must declare any potential conflicts of interest. You must do this by including a Conflict of Interest statement in your submitted manuscript.

A detailed definition of conflicts of interests is available.

Patient confidentiality

Journals publishing studies using human subjects should ensure that a patient's right to privacy has not been infringed without prior consent. We encourage journals to follow the ICMJE guidelines for reporting on human subjects. For publication of material that contains detailed patient information about a living individual, it is compulsory for a signed patient consent to be obtained. Any identifier that might reveal a patient’s identity must be removed (i.e., x-rays, MRIs, charts, photographs, etc.). Written informed consent is required from any potentially identifiable patient or legal representative, and should be presented in either the Methods section or the Acknowledgements.

Animal experimentation

Where animals are used in research we expect them to have been treated in a humane manner and in line with the ARRIVE guidelines. The International Council for Laboratory Animal Science has published guidelines specifically for editors and Reviewers on how to handle submissions involving animal research. OUP supports these guidelines and, wherever possible, encourages editors and society partners to adopt them. Authors may be required to provide evidence that they obtained ethical and /or legal approval prior to conducting the research.

Submission

We will consider your manuscript as long as:

• it is your own original work and does not duplicate any previously published work, including your own;
• it is not under consideration, in peer review, or accepted for publication in any journal other than Metallomics;
• it has not been published in any other journal; and
• it contains nothing abusive, defamatory, libelous, obscene, fraudulent, or illegal.

Authors should observe high ethical standards and obey publication best practices. The following are all unacceptable:

• data falsification or fabrication
• plagiarism, including duplicate publication of your own work without proper citation
• misappropriation of work

We treat any case of ethical or publication malpractice very seriously. We will address them in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. Further information about OUP’s ethical policies is available.

How to Submit

You must submit your paper via our web-based submission system, which may be found on the ScholarOne Manuscripts submission page. If you have not published with Metallomics before, you will need to create an account. For more information, please see ScholarOne Manuscripts Author Support. Questions about submitting can be sent to the editorial office.

Article Type

This journal publishes several different article types.

Communications

These must report preliminary research findings that are highly original and impactful and of immediate interest to the metallomics community. Although there is no page limit for communications, the length should be commensurate with the content. Authors are encouraged to make full use of electronic supplementary information to present a concise article.

Full papers

These must represent a significant development in the particular area and are evaluated according to originality, quality of scientific content and contribution to existing knowledge. Although there is no page limit for Full papers, appropriateness of length to content of new science will be taken into consideration.

Review articles:

Metallomics publishes a range of review articles. Potential authors should contact the editorial office before embarking on their work. Unpublished results will not be presented in Review articles.

• Critical reviews

Critical reviews are definitive, comprehensive reviews that provide a critical evaluation of the chosen topic area. Authors should be selective in the choice of material, whilst still aiming to cover the important work in the field.  A discussion of potential future developments is strongly encouraged. All critical review articles will identify the Associate Editor who handled the peer review of the paper. 

• Minireviews

Minireviews highlight research in an emerging and topical area of metallomics-related science that will typically focus on work carried out in the last two-three years. These articles should cover what the authors believe are the most interesting and significant developments in a specific subject area and highlight potential future developments in the conclusions section.

• Tutorial reviews

Tutorial reviews are designed to increase awareness and understanding of a chosen topic area by a broad-based, non-specialist audience.  Tutorial reviews may be the first to review a significant new technology or approach of interest to the community by describing recent developments in an area.

Perspectives

Perspectives are opinion pieces that provide an authoritative discussion of a topic area of direct or potential relevance to the metallomics community.  Authors should identify an area where further developments are imminent or in urgent need of being addressed. The article should be easily understandable to a non-specialist in the field.

Comments and Replies

Comments and Replies are a medium to further the discussion and exchange of scientific opinions between authors and readers of work published in Metallomics.  A comment should present either an alternative analysis of and/or emphasize new insights into the previously published work.  Comments will be forwarded to the authors of the original work being discussed, and these authors will be provided an opportunity to submit a Reply.  The Comment and Reply will be subjected to rigorous peer review and will be published together.  Comments and Replies that contain any form of personal attack are not suitable for publication. 

Third-Party Permissions

If you wish to reproduce any material for which you do not own the copyright—including quotations, tables, or images—you must obtain permission from the copyright holder. The permissions agreement must include the following documents:

• nonexclusive rights to reproduce the material in your article in Metallomics
• both print and electronic rights, preferably for use in any form or medium
• lifetime rights to use the material
• worldwide English-language rights

Further information on obtaining permissions is available.

Manuscript Preparation: Format, Structure, and Style

Pre-submission Language Editing

If you are not confident in the quality of your English, you may wish to use a language-editing service to ensure that editors and reviewers understand your paper. Language editing is optional and does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted. Edited manuscripts will still undergo peer review by the journal.

Title Page

Please include the following:

• the title of your paper
• all author names and affiliations
• mailing address and email address of one corresponding author
• a short running head of 50 characters or less

Abstract

Abstracts have a maximum length of 250 words and must not contain reference citations or abbreviations.

Graphical Abstracts

Authors of all article types except comments and replies, are required to submit a graphical abstract as part of the article, in addition to the text abstract. The graphical abstract should consolidate the findings of the article and will be published as part of the article online and in the body of the abstract in PDF. Ar revision stage, you will be asked by the editorial office to submit the graphical abstract as a separate file, selecting the appropriate file-type designation in the journal’s online submission system. The file should be clearly named, e.g. graphical_abstract.tiff. See Preparing and submitting your manuscript for guidance on appropriate file format and resolution for graphics.

Style

The journal follows Oxford SCIMED style. Please refer to these requirements when preparing your manuscript. UK or US spelling can be used, but should consistent throughout the manuscript, except in quotations and in references.

Abbreviations

Please define nonstandard abbreviations at the first occurrence.

Tables

You must number all tables (e.g., table 1, table 2, table 3) and reference them in the text. You must place all tables at the end of the main text. Tables should be in an editable format, and not embedded as an image file.

References

Please number your references and ensure that the numbers in the text are put into square brackets, and not superscript. You are responsible for the accuracy of reference information. Please ensure that you include article and book titles in your manuscript’s reference list.

Acknowledgments and Funding

Acknowledgments and funding information should be included at the end of your manuscript. Please fully cite any relevant funding information, including specific grant numbers.

LaTeX

Information on LaTeX files and formatting is available.

• See Overleaf to download a LaTeX template
• Upload your manuscript as a PDF file
• Compress all TeX or LaTeX files, including figures, support files, etc. into a single archive file (zip) and upload file

Further LaTeX instructions are available here.

Figures

You must include figure titles and legends within the manuscript file—they should not be included in the image file.

You must submit each figure as an individual image file. Submit all panels of a multi-panel figure on a single page as one file. For example, if the figure has 3 panels, the figure should be submitted as one file. Each panel should be labelled as a letter (A, B, C, D, etc.) in the upper-left corner of each panel.

Images of photographs or paintings can be provided as raster images. Common examples of raster images are .tif/.tiff, .raw, .gif, and .bmp file types. The resolution of raster files is measured by the number of dots or pixels in a given area, referred to as “dpi” or “ppi.”

• minimum resolution required for printed images or pictures: 350dpi
• minimum resolution for printed line art: 600dpi (complex or finely drawn line art should be 1200dpi)
• minimum resolution for electronic images (i.e., for on-screen viewing): 72dpi

Images of maps, charts, graphs, and diagrams are best rendered digitally as geometric forms called vector graphics. Common file types are .eps, .ai, and .pdf. Vector images use mathematical relationships between points and the lines connecting them to describe an image. These file types do not use pixels; therefore resolution does not apply to vector images.

Figures prepared as .doc/.docx or .jpeg/.jpg files will not be accepted.

Figure accessibility and alt text

Incorporating alt text (alternative text) when submitting your paper helps to foster inclusivity and accessibility. Good alt text ensures that individuals with visual impairments or those using screen readers can comprehend the content and context of your figures. The aim of alt text is to provide concise and informative descriptions of your figure so that all readers have access to the same level of information and understanding, and that all can engage with and benefit from the visual elements integral to scholarly content. Including alt text demonstrates a commitment to accessibility and enhances the overall impact and reach of your work.  

Alt text is applicable to all images, figures, illustrations, and photographs. 

Alt text is only accessible via e-reader and so it won’t appear as part of the typeset article. 

Detailed guidance on how to draft and submit alt text. 

Supplementary Material

You must submit supplementary data or supplementary material at the same time as the main manuscript. Please include 'suppl_data' in the title of the supplement files.

• Supplementary material must be cited in the text of the main manuscript.
• Supplementary material will be available online only and will not be copyedited or typeset.
• Style and formatting of supplementary material should be consistent with that of the manuscript.
• Supplementary material should be formatted to function on any internet browser.
• Supplementary material files should be no larger than 2MB each.

Production

Licence to Publish and Open Access Options

Metallomics offers the option of publishing under either a standard licence or an open access licence. The standard licence to publish does not carry a charge. Please note that some funders require open access publication as a condition of funding. If you are unsure whether you are required to publish open access, please do clarify any such requirements with your funder or institution.

Should you wish to publish your article open access, you should select your choice of open access licence in our online system after your article has been accepted for publication. You will need to pay an open access charge to publish under an open access licence.

Metallomics articles can be published under the following types of licences:

• Standard licence to publish (Oxford University Press (OUP) Journals, Standard Publication Model)
• Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY)

Manuscript Charges

Author Portal

You can pay open access charges on the same Author Portal site you used to sign your licence to publish. You can pay immediately online or request an invoice by email or post. You may also refer the charges to an institutional prepayment account. Any applicable discounts can also be applied prior to payment.

You can pay your open access charges immediately after you sign your licence. If selecting a standard licence instead of open access, there is no charge.

OA Licence Charges

Charges for the open access licence options offered by Metallomics are listed below. The standard licence to publish does not carry a charge.

Charges for CC BY:

Regular charge:  $2,319

Free developing country charge*: $0

*Visit our Developing Countries page for more information and a list of qualifying countries.