ORGANIZATION AND FORMAT

Summary and Text

On receipt at ASM, the electronic file of an accepted manuscript undergoes an automated preediting, cleanup, and tagging process specific to the particular article type. To optimize this process, manuscripts must be supplied in the correct format and with the appropriate section headings. Consult a recent issue of MMBR for format and style. The title page must include the title, the running title (not to exceed 54 characters and spaces), the name and affiliation of each author, and a footnote indicating the complete mailing address, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address of the corresponding author. A table of contents showing the major headings and subheadings of the text should follow the title page. Headings and subheadings have the following format:

LEVEL 1 HEAD (centered, all caps, boldface)

Level 2 Head (centered, initial caps, boldface)

Level 3 head (boldface paragraph lead-in)

(i) Level 4 head (boldface sub-paragraph lead-in)

(a) Level 5 head (lightface italic sub-sub-paragraph lead-in)

The summary, which will be included in the issue table of contents and must be no longer than 250 words, should be placed at the end of the electronic file, after the References section and the figure legends (but before any tables).

Type every portion of the manuscript double-spaced (a minimum of 6 mm between lines), including figure legends, table footnotes, and references, and number all pages in sequence, including the figure legends and tables. Place the last two items after the References section. Manuscript pages should have line numbers; manuscripts without line numbers may be editorially rejected by the editor, with a suggestion of resubmission after line numbers are added. The font size should be no smaller than 12 points. It is recommended that the following sets of characters be easily distinguishable in the manuscript: the numeral zero (0) and the letter "oh" (O); the numeral one (1), the letter "el" (l), and the letter "eye" (I); and a multiplication sign and the letter "ex." Do not create symbols as graphics or use special fonts that are external to your word processing program; use the "insert symbol" function. Set the page size to 8 by 11 inches (ca. 21.6 by 28 cm). Italicize or underline any words that should appear in italics, and indicate paragraph lead-ins in boldface type.

Authors who are unsure of proper English usage should have their manuscripts checked by someone proficient in the English language.

Manuscripts may be editorially rejected, without review, on the basis of poor English or lack of conformity to the standards set forth in these Instructions.

References

i) References listed in the References section. The References section must include all journal articles (both print and online), books and book chapters (both print and online), patents, theses and dissertations, published conference proceedings, meeting abstracts from published abstract books or journal supplements, letters (to the editor), and company publications, as well as in-press journal articles, book chapters, and books (publication title must be given). Arrange the citations in alphabetical order (letter by letter, ignoring spaces and punctuation) by first-author surname and number consecutively. Provide the names of all the authors for each reference. All listed references must be cited parenthetically by number in the text. Since title and byline information that is downloaded from PubMed does not always show accents, italics, or special characters, authors should refer to the PDF files or hard-copy versions of the articles and incorporate the necessary corrections in the submitted manuscript. Abbreviate journal names according to the List of Journals Indexed for Medline (National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, 2009; available at ftp://nlmpubs.nlm.nih.gov/online/journals/ljiweb.pdf), the primary source for ASM style.

Follow the styles shown in the examples below for print references.

1. Arendsen, A. F., M. Q. Solimar, and S. W. Ragsdale. 1999. Nitrate-dependent regulation of acetate biosynthesis and nitrate respiration by Clostridium thermoaceticum. J. Bacteriol. 181:1489-1495.
   
2. Cox, C. S., B. R. Brown, and J. C. Smith. J. Gen. Genet., in press.* {Article title is optional; journal title is mandatory.}
   
3. da Costa, M. S., M. F. Nobre, and F. A. Rainey. 2001. Genus I. Thermus Brock and Freeze 1969, 295,AL emend. Nobre, Trüper and da Costa 1996b, 605, p. 404-414. In D. R. Boone, R. W. Castenholz, and G. M. Garrity (ed.), Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology, 2nd ed., vol. 1. Springer, New York, NY.
   
4. Elder, B. L., and S. E. Sharp. 2003. Cumitech 39, Competency assessment in the clinical laboratory. Coordinating ed., S. E. Sharp. ASM Press, Washington, DC.
   
5. Falagas, M. E., and S. K. Kasiakou. 2006. Use of international units when dosing colistin will help decrease confusion related to various formulations of the drug around the world. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 50:2274-2275. (Letter.) {"Letter" or "Letter to the editor" is allowed but not required at the end of such an entry.}
   
6. Fitzgerald, G., and D. Shaw. In A. E. Waters (ed.), Clinical microbiology, in press. EFH Publishing Co., Boston, MA.* {Chapter title is optional.}
   
7. Forman, M. S., and A. Valsamakis. 2003. Specimen collection, transport, and processing: virology, p. 1227-1241. In P. R. Murray, E. J. Baron, M. A. Pfaller, J. H. Jorgensen, and R. H. Yolken (ed.), Manual of clinical microbiology, 8th ed. ASM Press, Washington, DC.
   
8. Garcia, C. O., S. Paira, R. Burgos, J. Molina, J. F. Molina, and C. Calvo. 1996. Detection of salmonella DNA in synovial membrane and synovial fluid from Latin American patients. Arthritis Rheum. 39(Suppl.):S185. {Meeting abstract published in journal supple-ment.}
   
9. Green, P. N., D. Hood, and C. S. Dow. 1984. Taxonomic status of some methylotrophic bacteria, p. 251-254. In R. L. Crawford and R. S. Hanson (ed.), Microbial growth on C1 compounds. Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC.
   
10. Odell, J. C. April 1970. Process for batch culturing. U.S. patent 484,363,770. {Include the name of the patented item/process if possible; the patent number is mandatory.}
    
11. O'Malley, D. R. 1998. Ph.D. thesis. University of California, Los Angeles. {Title is optional.}
    
12. Rotimi, V. O., N. O. Salako, E. M. Mohaddas, and L. P. Philip. 2005. Abstr. 45th Intersci. Conf. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., abstr. D-1658. {Abstract title is optional.}
    
13. Smith, D., C. Johnson, M. Maier, and J. J. Maurer. 2005. Distribution of fimbrial, phage and plasmid associated virulence genes among poultry Salmonella enterica serovars, abstr. P-038, p. 445. Abstr. 105th Gen. Meet. Am. Soc. Microbiol. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC. {Abstract title is optional.}
    
14. Stratagene. 2006. Yeast DNA isolation system: instruction manual. Stratagene, La Jolla, CA. {Use the company name as the author if none is provided for a company publication.}

*A reference to an in-press ASM publication should state the control number (e.g., MMBR00577-09) if it is a journal article or the name of the publication if it is a book.

Online references must provide the same information that print references do, but some variation is allowed. For online journal articles, posting or revision dates may replace the year of publication, and a DOI or URL may be provided in addition to or in lieu of volume and page numbers. Some examples follow.

1. Charlier, D., and N. Glansdorff. September 2004, posting date. Chapter 3.6.1.10, Biosynthesis of arginine and polyamines. In R. Curtiss III et al. (ed.), EcoSal—Escherichia coli and Salmonella: cellular and molecular biology. ASM Press, Washington, DC. http://www.ecosal.org/ecosal/index.jsp. {Note that each chapter has its own posting date.}
   
2. Dionne, M. S., and D. S. Schneider. 2002. Screening the fruitfly immune system. Genome Biol. 3:REVIEWS1010. http://genomebiology.com/2002/3/4/reviews/1010.
   
3. Smith, F. X., H. J. Merianos, A. T. Brunger, and D. M. Engelman. 2001. Polar residues drive association of polyleucine transmembrane helices. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98:2250-2255. doi:10.1073/pnas.041593698.
   
4. Winnick, S., D. O. Lucas, A. L. Hartman, and D. Toll. 2005. How do you improve compliance? Pediatrics 115:e718-e724.

Note: a posting or accession date is required for any online reference that is periodically updated or changed.

(ii) References cited in the text. References to unpublished data, manuscripts submitted for publication, unpublished conference presentations (e.g., a report or poster that has not appeared in published conference proceedings), personal communications, patent applications and patents pending, computer software, databases, and websites (home pages) should be made parenthetically in the text as follows.

URLs for companies that produce any of the products mentioned in your study or for products being sold may not be included in the article. However, company URLs that permit access to scientific data related to the study or to shareware used in the study are permitted.

(iii) References related to supplemental material. References that are related only to supplemental material hosted by ASM or posted on a personal/institutional website should not be listed in the References section of an article; include them with the supplemental material itself.

(iv) Referencing publish-ahead-of-print manuscripts. Citations of ASM Accepts manuscripts should look like the following example.

Other journals may use different styles for their publish-ahead-of-print manuscripts, but citation entries must include the following information: author name(s), posting date, title, journal title, and volume and page numbers and/or DOI. The following is an example:

Correspondent Footnote

The complete mailing address, a single telephone number, a single fax number, and a single e-mail address for the corresponding author should be included on the title page of the manuscript. This information will be published in the article as a footnote to facilitate communication, and the e-mail address will be used to notify the corresponding author of the availability of proofs and, later, of the PDF file of the published article.

Errata, Authors' Corrections

Errata

The Erratum section provides a means of correcting errors that occurred during the writing, typing, editing, or printing (e.g., a misspelling, a dropped word or line, mislabeling in a figure) of a published article. Submit Errata via Rapid Review (see "How To Submit Manuscripts"). In the Abstract section of the submission form (a required field), put "Not Applicable." Upload the text of your Erratum as an MS Word file. Please see a recent issue for correct formatting. Send an email to journals{at}asmusa.org for more information.

Authors’ Corrections

The Author's Correction section provides a means of correcting errors of omission (e.g., author names or citations) and errors of a scientific nature that do not alter the overall basic results or conclusions of a published article (e.g., an incorrect unit of measurement or order of magnitude used throughout, contamination of one of numerous cultures, or misidentification of a mutant strain, causing erroneous data for only a portion [noncritical] of the study). Note that the addition of new data is not permitted.

For corrections of a scientific nature or issues involving authorship, including contributions and use or ownership of data and/or materials, all disputing parties must agree, in writing, to publication of the Correction. For omission of an author's name, letters must be signed by the authors of the article and the author whose name was omitted. The editor who handled the article will be consulted if necessary.

Submit an Author's Correction via Rapid Review (see "How To Submit Manuscripts"). In the submission form, select Erratum as the manuscript type; there is no separate selection in Rapid Review for an Author's Correction, but your Correction will be published as such if appropriate. In the Abstract section of the submission form (a required field), put "Not Applicable." Upload the text of your Author's Correction as an MS Word file. Please see a recent issue for correct formatting. Signed letters of agreement must be supplied as supplemental material (scanned PDF files).

Abbreviations

General. Abbreviations should be used as an aid to the reader, rather than as a convenience to the author, and therefore their use should be limited. Abbreviations other than those recommended by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry-International Union of Biochemistry (IUPAC-IUB) (Biochemical Nomenclature and Related Documents, Portland Press, London, United Kingdom, 1992; available at http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iupac/bibliog/white.html) should be used only when a case can be made for necessity, such as in tables and figures.

It is often possible to use pronouns or to paraphrase a long word after its first use (e.g., "the drug" or "the substrate"). Standard chemical symbols and trivial names or their symbols (folate, Ala, and Leu, etc.) may also be used.

Define each abbreviation and introduce it in parentheses the first time it is used; e.g., "cultures were grown in Eagle minimal essential medium (MEM)." Generally, eliminate abbreviations that are not used at least three times in the text (including tables and figure legends).

Not requiring introduction. In addition to abbreviations for Système International d'Unités (SI) units of measurement, other common units (e.g., bp, kb, and Da), and chemical symbols for the elements, the following should be used without definition in the title, summary, text, figure legends, and tables: DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid); cDNA (complementary DNA); RNA (ribonucleic acid); cRNA (complementary RNA); RNase (ribonuclease); DNase (deoxyribonuclease); rRNA (ribosomal RNA); mRNA (messenger RNA); tRNA (transfer RNA); AMP, ADP, ATP, dAMP, ddATP, and GTP, etc. (for the respective 5' phosphates of adenosine and other nucleosides) (add 2'-, 3'-, or 5'- when needed for contrast); ATPase and dGTPase, etc. (adenosine triphosphatase and deoxyguanosine triphosphatase, etc.); NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide); NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, oxidized); NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, reduced); NADP (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate); NADPH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, reduced); NADP+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, oxidized); poly(A) and poly(dT), etc. (polyadenylic acid and polydeoxythymidylic acid, etc.); oligo(dT), etc. (oligodeoxythymidylic acid, etc.); UV (ultraviolet); PFU (plaque-forming units); CFU (colony-forming units); MIC (minimal inhibitory concentration); Tris [tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane]; DEAE (diethylaminoethyl); EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid); EGTA [ethylene glycol-bis(β-aminoethyl ether)N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid]; HEPES (N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid); PCR (polymerase chain reaction); and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). Abbreviations for cell lines (e.g., HeLa) also need not be defined.

The following abbreviations should be used without definition in tables:

• amt (amount)
• approx (approximately)
• avg (average)
• concn (concentration)
• diam (diameter)
• expt (experiment)
• exptl (experimental)
• ht (height)
• mo (month)
• mol wt (molecular weight)
• no. (number)
• prepn (preparation)
• SD (standard deviation)
• SE (standard error)
• SEM (standard error of the mean)
• sp act (specific activity)
• sp gr (specific gravity)
• temp (temperature)
• tr (trace)
• vol (volume)
• vs (versus)
• wk (week)
• wt (weight)
• yr (year)
  

Reporting Numerical Data

Standard metric units are used for reporting length, weight, and volume. For these units and for molarity, use the prefixes m, µ, n, and p for 10–3, 10–6, 10–9, and 10–12, respectively. Likewise, use the prefix k for 103. Avoid compound prefixes such as mµ or µµ. Use µg/ml or µg/g in place of the ambiguous ppm. Units of temperature are presented as follows: 37°C or 324 K.

When fractions are used to express units such as enzymatic activities, it is preferable to use whole units, such as "g" or "min," in the denominator instead of fractional or multiple units, such as µg or 10 min. For example, "pmol/min" is preferable to "nmol/10 min," and "µmol/g" is preferable to "nmol/µg." It is also preferable that an unambiguous form such as exponential notation be used; for example, "µmol g–1 min–1" is preferable to "µmol/g/min." Always report numerical data in the applicable SI units.

For a review of some common errors associated with statistical analyses and reports, plus guidelines on how to avoid them, see the article by Olsen (Infect. Immun. 71:6689-6692, 2003).

For a review of basic statistical considerations for virology experiments, see the article by Richardson and Overbaugh (J. Virol. 79:669-676, 2005).

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