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Instructions to Authors: 2021

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1. General Information

1.1. Biochemistry (Moscow) is a monthly international journal established by the Russian Academy of Sciences and published concurrently in Russian and English.

1.2. Biochemistry (Moscow) publishes works in all fields of biochemistry, as well as conceptually important works on biochemical aspects of related fields (molecular biology, bioorganic chemistry, microbiology, immunology, physiology, neurobiology, biomedical sciences, etc.) aimed to understanding molecular and cellular bases of biological processes. The journal also covers new experimental techniques in the field of biochemistry, theoretical advances relevant to biochemistry, reviews of modern biochemical research topics and mini-reviews. The journal does not consider purely phenomenological works which describe changes in biochemical parameters or markers of biological processes without connection with the mechanisms that caused these changes or are results of such changes, as well as works on cloning and expression of individual genes (including those in transgenic animals and plants) and materials analyzing genomic polymorphisms.

1.3. For publication finished original works are accepted which contain new experimental results; methodological works which the description of new methods of biochemical research; theoretical materials presenting new principles and approaches for solving some or other biochemical problems.

The section "Short Communications" publishes short experimental articles of a claiming, priority character, which require the fastest publication. In the accompanying letter to the Editor the authors have to motivate the necessity of the accelerated passage of the material. The publication time is 3-4 months.

The journal prints Reviews ordered by the Editorial Board (or offered by the authors and approved by the Board) on the most topical problems of biochemistry and related sciences. The review articles must meet the following requirements: 1) the authors must have their own works on the subject of the review; 2) the list of references should include works published on this topic during the last 5 years; 3) the review should not be a retelling and, sometimes, word for word quotation of pieces of the earlier published works, it should contain a critical analysis of the cited materials and the own concept, the own view of the problem that prompted the authors to write this review! The Editors and reviewers are strictly vigilant for plagiarism!

The section "Discussion" provides the authors an opportunity to publish comments and critical remarks about works printed earlier in the journal, to propose a new hypothesis. The section has a polemical character and prints response replicas of the parties affected by the publications.

1.4. The journal is surveyed and included in the Bibliographic Databases Web of Sciences, Biochemistry and Biophysics Citation Index, Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS Database, Chemical Abstracts, Chemical Titles, Current Contents/Life Science, Excerpta Medica, Index Internacional de Cardiologia, Index Medicus (MEDLINE/Pubmed), International Abstracts of Biological Sciences, The ISI Alerting Service, Science Citation Index, Science Citation Index Expanded, SCOPUS, Compendx; RISC (Russian Index of Scientific Citation). The journal is included in the list of peer-reviewed scientific publications of the Higher Attestation Commission.

1.5. Rules for authors and information about the journal can be found on the journal websites; http://protein.bio.msu.ru/biokhimiya and https://biochemistrymoscow.com, as well as on the portals of the publishing houses Pleiades: http://pleiades.online/ru/ journal/biochmsc/ and Springer: https://link.springer.com/journal /10541. The journal website in English presents the contents of all issues starting from 1996, with abstracts of the articles, keywords and addresses of the authors. In the free access there are also the best full-texts of two or three articles of each issue; the full volume thematic issues of the journal devoted to the most pressing problems of biochemistry are also presented in the free access. Moreover, manuscripts accepted for publication, which received the highest marks in reviewing, are pressed before publication in the "Papers in Press" section.

1.6. The impact factor of Biochemistry (Moscow) in 2020 was 2.487 the impact factor RISC for the Russian version was 3.038. According to Scopus data, the journal is in the 3rd quartile (Q3) among journals with biochemical profile and in the 2nd quartile (Q2) among editions of biomedical orientation.

1.7. To enlarge the scope of your readers and increase the citation of your work, you may publish an article in Biochemistry (Moscow) using the Open Access mode. In this case, the article must specify the Creative Commons type of license. All information about the Open Access publication of the article can be found in the publisher's website: http://pleiades.online/en/ authors/openaccess/.


2. Preparation of Manuscripts

2.1. The Editors accept for consideration manuscripts sent by e-mail as attached files to the Editors' addresses: editorial@biochemistrymoscow.com or ozrina@bio.chem.msu.ru.

2.2. The material of the article – the text, including the Abstract in English, a list of references, figure captions and tables – is presented as one file; each figure is presented as a separate file. If the material is large in volume, programs for archiving should be used. All pages of the manuscript including those of the list of references, tables, and figure captions should be numerated; the lines also should be numerated. Besides, the place of figures/tables should be indicated in the text. On a separate page information about authors is provided, including addresses, contact numbers, fax and e-mail, and the author responsible for the editing is also indicated.


3. Requirements for Manuscript Format

3.1. The submitted manuscript should be condensed to the utmost compatible and carefully edited, but without difficulties for its understanding and reproducing the results.

3.2. The manuscript is to be arranged as follows: 1) title; 2) authors' initials and last names; 3) full names of the institutions, index, city and E-mail (affiliation); 4) abstract; 5) key words; 6) short title of the manuscript (Running title); 7) the manuscript text including the list of references, tables, figure subscriptions.

The title should be as short and informative as possible and should not contain abbreviations.

If the authors of the article are employees of different institutions, the institutions should be numbered and superscript numbers indicating the authors' affiliations should follow the authors' last names; the author responsible for correspondence with the Editors should be indicated by asterisk to the right of the number. For each of the authors the complete name of the institution with the index, city and country should be given; for the author responsible for the correspondence the E-mail address should be also indicated.

The Abstract should be short (no more than 250 words) and concisely and clearly describe the major significant results of the work and conclusions from it.

The list of Keywords should not contain more than seven items.

A short Running title should be given on a separate line after the key words.

When using non-standard abbreviations, the section Abbreviations should be added.

The manuscript text should be divided into sections: 1) Introduction; 2) Materials and Methods; 3) Results; 4) Discussion (if discussion is short, the results and discussion may be combined); 5) References.

The Introduction briefly describes the story of the problem with an imperative review of works, in which similar or relevant studies have already been conducted, and the purpose of the investigation is formulated.

The Materials and Methods section should be as short as possible, but adequate for repetition of the experiments; the section should also include the materials, reagents and equipment used in the work with indication of the company and producer country, e.g., glycerol (Sigma-Aldrich, USA), a JEM 100C electron microscope (JEOL, Japan) (if the company name is mentioned repeatedly in the body of the article, the name of the country should be omitted). Only new procedures should be described in detail; the previously published and well-known methods should merely be referred to the list of references, indicating the author and/or the name of the method (e.g., the protein concentration was determined by the Bradford method [7]). If the method is not widely known, it is advisable to set out its principle and specify the author. References to methods such as "nuclease was measured by the method [7]" or "according to [7]" are not allowed (the reference cannot be an independent member of a sentence).

The section Results should present the data in figures and tables; the experiments which do not need documentation are described in the text. In this section, the results should not be discussed; the authors can limit themselves by explaining the causal relationships between the experiments described.

The section Discussion should contain interpretation of the results (but not their repetition) and comparison with previously published data. It is desirable to illustrate the major results with a simple and visual scheme.

If necessary, the manuscript is concluded with Conclusion which is separated from the section Discussion section with a space instead of the line.

In connection with the Journal participation in the International Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the authors have to introduce in the end of the manuscript some phrases demonstrating the adherence to the international ethical standards. Examples of presentation of the relevant items in the final part of the manuscript are given below.

1) If the work was supported by any organization, in the item "Funding" it should be indicated what foundation and grant supported this study and each part of the work separately, if the sources of funding are different. The full names of institutions and sponsoring organizations should be given.

2) In the "Acknowledgments" item the authors can present information about any assistance in conducting the work and preparing the article: about useful discussions, assistance of colleagues, providers of materials, scientific data, computer equipment, devices; about conducting researches at collective use centers; about assistance in the technical preparation of the text. A description of the role of each author of the publication is desired.

3) In the item "Conflict of Interests" the authors declare the presence or absence of a conflict of interests in financial or any other field. This item is obligatory.

4) The item "Compliance with Ethical Standards" is also obligatory. If studies were conducted on animals, this item states: "All procedures performed in studies on animals were in compliance with ethical standards of the institution in which the studies were conducted and with the approved legal acts of the Russian Federation and international organizations".

If the study was conducted with the participation of humans, the item "Compliance with Ethical Norms" states: "All the procedures carried out in the research with participation of humans were in compliance with the ethical standards of the National Research Ethics Committee and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 and its subsequent changes or with comparable ethics standards. Informed voluntary consent was obtained from every participant of the study".

If the manuscript does not contain descriptions of studies involving humans or using animals which has been performed by any of the authors, the item "Compliance with Ethical Norms" states: "This article does not contain descriptions of studies performed by the authors with participation of humans or using animals as objects".

5) If the manuscript contains identification information about participants of the study, the following position should be included in the item "Informed Consent": "From all participants whose personal information is contained in this manuscript the additional written voluntary consent was obtained".

The list of References should be as short as possible (no more than 100 references) but contain references for all fundamentally important recent publications on this problem. In the journal the sequential numbering system of citations is adopted, i.e., in the text the order number of the cited source [in square brackets] corresponds to the number in the list of References. Authors should carefully check the sequence of the reference numbering in the text and their number in the bibliography. It is not allowed to include references to websites in the list of references; it is necessary to refer to publications of the authors offering these electronic resources (programs/databases). If such publications are absent, the reference is given in the text in the same way as to other unpublished materials (for example, the Database of Bacterial Carbohydrate Structures, csdb/glycoscience.ru/bacterial).

The list of References is printed as a separate section of the manuscript with the names and initials of all the authors, the title of the cited article and the output data. In addition, it is desirable to give DOI of the article. Below examples are given of references to journals, books, collected articles, and dissertations.

  1. Beltrami, C., Besnier, M., Shantikumar, S., Shearn, A. I. U., Rajakaruna, C., Laftah, A., Sessa, F., Spinetti, G., Petretto, E., Angelini, G. D., and Emanueli, C. (2017) Human pericardial fluid contains exosomes enriched with cardiovascular-expressed microRNAs and promotes therapeutic angiogenesis, Mol. Ther., 25, 679-693, doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2016.12.022.
  2. Sloan-Dennison, S., and Schultz, Z. D. (2018) Label-free plasmonic nanostar probes to illuminate in vitro membrane receptor recognition, Chem. Sci., 10, 1807-1815, doi: 10.1039/c8sc05035j.
  3. Anisimov, V. N. (2008) Molecular and Physiological Mechanisms of Aging [in Russian], Nauka, St. Petersburg.
  4. Sambrook, J., and Russell, D. W. (2001) Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, N.Y.
  5. Tanphaichitr, V. (2001) in Handbook of Vitamins (Rucker, R., and Suttie, J., eds.), Marcell Dekker, N.Y., pp. 275-316.
  6. Gendrolis, A. A., Serebryannikov, N. B., and Gandel', V. G. (1978) in Prostaglandins (Azhgikhin, I. S., ed.) [in Russian], Meditsina, Moscow, pp. 332-347.
  7. Gandelman, O. A. (1992) Kinetics and Mechanism of Bioluminescent Oxidation of Fire-Fly Luciferin: Author's abstract of Candidate's (Doctoral) dissertation [in Russian], Moscow State University, Moscow.
  8. Rosenkranz, A. A., Slastnikova, T. A., Durymanov, M. O., and Sobolev, A. S. (2013) Malignant melanoma and melanocortin 1 receptor, Biochemistry (Moscow), 11, 1228-1237, doi: 10.1134/S0006297913110035.

For authors using the EndNote system the Editors provide a style that supports formatting citations in the text and the list of references. The style file can be found on the journal websites http://protein.bio.msu.ru/biokhimiya and https://biochemistrymoscow.com in the sections for authors.

3.3.1. The volume of experimental article should not exceed 20 typewritten pages, including references, tables, and figures (three figures are equivalent to one page) and figure captions, and abstract in English; the number of figures and tables should not exceed eight; short communications should be of no more than 12 pages (including no more than 4 figures and/or tables); mini-reviews should not exceed 16 pages (including no more than 5 figures); reviews should be of no more than 35 pages (including no more than 8 figures); communications in the "Discussions" section can be up to 4 pages.

3.3.2. Text files should be submitted in Microsoft Word format (the version 6.0 and later); Times New Roman font of 12-point size should be used for the entire manuscript file, with the exception of Greek and other special characters in 12-point Symbol font. The text should be in one column, with spaces of one and a half, with 3 cm field from the left side, without the right edge leveling and word hyphenation. In the page, it should be no more than 30 lines.

In the text formatting the use of italics, bold, subscript and superscript indices, Greek and mathematical symbols (12-point Symbol font) should adhere to the journal style.

The style of the text material should be simple: without programmed headlines, inserts, templates, references to literary sources (hyper-references); without increase in line and letter spacing; without the use of templates, in the window "style" should be "normal"). This particularly applies to the "References", because programmed sequence numbers disappear when transferred to the publishing program.

Authors should not use such functions of the Word program as "Bookmark", "Note", "Footnote", "Endnote", because the publishing program misinterprets them. If the text contains a footnote (or endnote), then the authors should print "{Footnote}" immediately after the sentence or paragraph with its number and then directly the footnote text.

If in preparing the article the "Review" function was used, then before saving the file the "Review" function should be canceled and the function "Accept all changes in the document" should be used.

3.3.3. Tables should be provided in cases when the data cannot be presented in the text. Each table is made on a separate page and has its own title. Columns in the table should be entitled, the dimension values should be separated with comma. The column headings should be as short as possible, values easily deducible from the available ones (e.g., difference or percent) should not be given. Repetition of the same data in the text, tables, or figures is not allowed.

Tables are accepted only in the Word format (doc, docx). If the tables contain graphic inserts, these inserts should be sent as separate high-quality graphic files.

3.3.4. Figures with corresponding legends should be included in the file of the manuscript, and each figure should be located just after the paragraph, where it was mentioned for the first time.

In addition, figures should be presented as separate files meeting the following requirements:

General requirements for preparing plots, diagrams, and formulas:

We draw attention to the general conditions for publication of the illustrations:

3.3.5. Additional materials to articles. To describe the study more completely, additional materials (audio and video files, presentations, additional tables, figures, etc.) may be attached to the article, provided that the author is the copyright holder of the attached materials and has not previously transferred the copyright to their use to other persons (except the publisher), or the author has the written permission of the copyright holder to use them for publication and distribution in the journal. The additional materials are published only in the electronic version of the journal on the website: http://link.springer.com, as well as on the website of the journal: http://protein.bio.msu.ru/biokhimiya/. If there are additional materials in the text, you must place a reference to the Appendix to the article.

3.3.6. All physical values are recommended to present in the International System SI.

3.3.7. Physical and chemical symbols in the text, structural formulas of organic compounds, and mathematical formulas must be typed on a computer. In the designation with letters of relationships of units an oblique dash should be used as a division sign, e.g., mol/s (mol per second). In more complex expressions alongside with the oblique dash brackets are used to prevent an ambiguity: a/(bc), but not a/b/c or a/bc; (a/b)c, but not a/b · c. The relationships can also be represented as the production of symbols of the units raised to a degree (positive and negative), e.g., mol · s–1. Expression type mA/gel, μmol/min · mg protein, etc. are not allowed. In such cases it should be written as follows: mA per 1 column of gel, μmol/min per 1 mg protein, etc.

3.3.8. In preparing the article it is necessary to take into account the rules for the use of symbols, abbreviations, conventional designations, etc. recommended by the Biochemical Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (https://iubmb.org). The conventional designations given in these Instructions are obligatory for the authors and may be applied without special interpretation (definition). Symbols and abbreviations not specified in the list presented below are to be defined on the first page, sub- line, under the heading “Accepted abbreviations”.

It should be remembered that abbreviations create difficulties for the reader, therefore their use should be restricted to a minimum. The clarity and lack of ambiguity are more important than brevity. On the other hand, it is sometimes convenient to use abbreviations for the names of substances and other terms, particularly in equations, tables, and figures.

Names of simple substances may be replaced by their formulas, e.g., NaCl instead of “sodium chloride”, CH3 COOH or AcOH instead of “acetic acid”. When abbreviations for chemical compounds are needed, maximum use should be made of standard chemical symbols (C, H, O, P, S, Na, Cl, etc.), trivial names (folate, etc.) and symbols (Me, Pr, Ac for methyl, propyl, acetyl, respectively).

One-letter symbols are preferred over three-letter symbols for amino acid residues in polypeptides and proteins:

AlanineAlaA
ArginineArgR
AsparagineAsnN
Aspartic acidAspD
Aspartic acid or asparagineAsxB
CysteineCysC
GlutamineGlnQ
Glutamic acidGluE
Glutamic acid or glutamateGlxZ
GlycineGlyG
HistidineHisH
IsoleucineIleI
LeucineLeuL
LysineLysK
MethionineMetM
PhenylalaninePheF
ProlineProP
SerineSerS
ThreonineThrT
TryptophanTrpW
TyrosineTyrY
ValineValV

Macromolecular compounds of repeated sequences may be represented by the prefix “poly” or the subscript n. Thus poly(Lys) or (Lys)n is polylysine, poly(Ala-Lys) or (Ala-Lys)n is a polymer consisting of alanine and lysine in regular alternating sequence, and poly(Ala,Lys) or (Ala,Lys)n is the irregular random polymer of these amino acids. The subscript n may be replaced by an average number (e.g., (Lys)10) or a range (e.g., (Lys)8-12).

For the three-letter designation of amino acid residues of proteins direct letters should be used, of which the first letter is capital and the rest ones are lower-case. Amino acid residues with the number in the sequence should be given as Asn223.

According to the genetic nomenclature rules, for writing genes mainly three-letter designation in Italic Latin letters is used (except drosophila and some other organisms). The relevant products (proteins) should be designated with capital letters. In prokaryotes normal genes are designated with lower-case letters with the “plus” symbol in superscript (e.g., proA+); mutant genes are also designated with lower-case letters with a mutation number (e.g., proA22). In eukaryotes normal genes are designated with capital letters (e.g., LEU2) and mutant genes with lower-case letters with a mutation number, if necessary (e.g., leu2-3).

When a new gene sequence is described in the article, it is necessary to pre-deposit it in the GenBank database or in another publicly available database.

Symbols used for monosaccharides:

ArabinoseAra
2-DeoxyribosedRib
FructoseFru
FucoseFuc
GalactoseGal
Galactosamine, N-acetylgalactosamineGlсN, GlcNAc
GlucoseGlc
Glucosamine, N-acetylglucosamineGlcN, GlcNAc
MannoseMan
Neuraminic, N-acetylneuraminic acidNeu, NeuAc
RiboseRib
XyloseXyl

When it is necessary to indicate furanose or pyranose, the saccharide symbol should be followed by the letter f or p: e.g., Ribf for ribofuranose.

For nucleosides, nucleotides, and polynucleotides the following symbols are used:

AdenineA
GuanosineG
InosineI
RibosylthymineT
UridineU
XanthosineX
Adenosine-5´-mono-, di-, and triphosphatesAMP, ADP, ATP
Cytidine-5´-mono-, di-, and triphosphatesCMP, CDP, CTP
Guanosine-5´-mono-, di-, and triphosphatesGMP, GDP, GTP
Orotidine-5´-mono-, di-, and triphosphatesOMP, ODP, OTP
Ribothymidine-5´-mono-, di-, and triphosphatesrTMP, rTDP, rTTP
Uridine-5´-mono-, di-, and triphosphatesUMP, UDP, UTP

The corresponding deoxyribonucleotides are designated by the same symbol preceded by the low-case letter “d”, e.g., dATP, dGTP, etc.

AMP isomers are designated as 2´-AMP, 3´-AMP, 5´-AMP, 3´:5´-AMP (adenosine-3´:5´-monophosphate, cAMP).

The symbols used for nucleic acids are presented below:

Deoxyribonucleic acidDNA
Complementary DNAcDNA
Mitochondrial DNAmtDNA
Ribonucleic acidRNA
Mitochondrial RNAmtRNA
Messenger RNAmRNA
Ribosomal RNArRNA
Transfer RNAtRNA
Specific tRNAtRNAAla, tRNAGlu, etc.
Isoacceptor tRNAtRNA1Ala, tRNA2Ala, etc.
Aminoacylated tRNAAla-tRNA, Glu-tRNA, etc.

Polyphosphoinositides and their hydrolysis products should be designated in the following way:

PhosphatidylPtd
InositolIns
PhosphateP

Thus, PtdIns(4,5)P2 stands for phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate.

Names of enzymes may be abbreviated, e.g., G6PDG (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase). The abbreviation should be defined in the "Abbreviations" paragraph on the title page. Substrate name used as part of the trivial enzyme name may be abbreviated, e.g., ATPase, Glu-decarboxylase.

The following abbreviations do not require special definition:

BSAbovine serum albumin
CM-cellulosecarboxymethyl cellulose
CoA, CoASHcoenzyme A
DEAE-cellulosediethylaminoethyl cellulose
EDTAethylenediaminetetraacetate
EGTAethylene glycol-bis(β-aminoethyl ether) N,N,N´,N´-tetraacetate
FAD, FADH2flavin-adenine dinucleotide and its reduced form
FMN, FMNH2riboflavin-5´-phosphate and its reduced form
G-proteinguanine-nucleotide-binding regulatory protein
GSH, GSSGreduced and oxidized glutathione
IgGimmunoglobulin G
NAD, NAD+, NADHnicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide and its oxidized and reduced forms
NADP, NADP+, NADPHnicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide phosphate and its oxidized and reduced forms
PAGEpolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
Pi, PPiphosphate, pyrophosphate
POPOP1,4-bis(5-phenyl-2-oxazolyl)benzene
PPO2,5-diphenyloxazol
Q, QH2ubiquinone, ubiquinol

Class names (fatty acids, protein, virus, etc.) and short names (folate, furan, etc.) are not abbreviated. Such terms as “red blood cells”, “extracellular fluid”, and names of tissue preparations, buffers, suspension media should not be abbreviated.

The following abbreviations may be used for common physicochemical methods and related terms: CD, circular dichroism; EPR, electron paramagnetic resonance; ESR, electron spin resonance; GLC, gas-liquid chromatography; HPLC, high-pressure liquid chromatography; IR- and UV-spectroscopy, infrared and ultraviolet spectroscopy; NMR, nuclear magnetic resonance; ORD, optical rotary dispersion; SDS-PAGE, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate; TLC, thin-layer chromatography.

Generally adopted abbreviations PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) also do not require decoding.

3.3.9. Nomenclature of isotope-labeled compounds. The isotope symbol is placed in square brackets directly attached to the front of the name: [14C]urea, [α-14C]leucine, L-[methyl-14C]methionine. When more than one position in a substance is labeled and the positions are not indicated, the number of labeled atoms is shown by the subscript on the right-hand side of the symbol: [14C2]glycolic acid. The symbol “U” indicates uniform labeling (in [U-14C]glucose each molecule has 14C at all six positions, and symbol “G” indicates general labeling (in [G-14C]glucose 14C may be present at any, but not necessarily all, of the six positions). In the latter case, [14C]glucose will suffice.

The isotope prefix precedes the part of the compound name to which it refers: iodo[14C]acetic acid, 1-amino-[14C]methylcyclopentanol (H2N14CH2C5H8OH), fructose 1,6-[1-32P]bisphosphate. Terms such as “131I-labeled albumin” should not be contracted to “[131I]albumin” since native albumin does not contain iodine; however, “[131I]iodoalbumin” is acceptable.

When a compound contains isotopes of more than one element, their symbols are arranged alphabetically [3-14C, 2,3-D15N]serine. Deuterium may be designated by 2H or D, tritium by 3H or T.

The positions of isotope labeling are indicated by Arabic numerals, Greek letters, or prefixes placed within the square brackets before the element symbol to which they are attached by a hyphen: [1-3H]ethanol, L-[α-14C]leucine, [carboxyl-14C]leucine, [3,4-14C,35S]methionine, L-[methyl-14C]methionine.

The above rules also apply when the labeled compounds are designated by standard abbreviations or symbols: [α-32P]ATP, [32P]CMP (not CM32P!). Labeled orthophosphate and pyrophosphate may be designated by 32Pi and 32PPi, respectively.

Square brackets may be omitted for simple molecules by writing their chemical formulae: 14CO2, H218O, D2O, H235SO4, 32PO43- (but [32P]phosphate). The square brackets are not to be used when the isotopic symbol is attached to a word that is not a chemical name or refers to a class name of compounds: 131I-labeled, 3H-ligand, 14C-steroids, 14C-amino acids.

When describing results of experiments with labeled compounds, absolute values of the radioactivity should be given, wherever possible, in curies (Ci), becquerels (Bq), disintegrations per minute (DPM), or counts per minute (CPM).

3.3.10. Recommendations on specific topics common for biochemical literature are given below (see also Biochem. J., 289, 1-15 (1993)).

Animals, plants, microorganisms. The full binomial names should be included for all experimental animals (other than common laboratory animals) and plants. The strain, the variety, and, if possible, the source of the material should be given. Reports describing effects of changes in feeding should contain the compositions of the feeding material (growing media).

For microorganisms, full binomial Latin names should be printed italicized in the title, abstract, and at the first mention in the text. Further in the text, single-letter abbreviation may be given for the generic name along with the full species name. The number of the organism in the collection from which it was obtained should be given. If two genera with the same initial letter are studied, abbreviations such as Strep. and Staph. may be used. Ranks higher than genus (e.g., Eubacteria, Lactic acid bacteria) generic names used adjectively (e.g., staphylococcal) are not italicized.

Centrifugation. When conditions for centrifugation are critical, sufficient information should be provided for the experiment to be repeated: the centrifuge rotor, the quantitative composition of the suspension medium, operation temperature, the time of rotor operation at constant velocity (ignoring acceleration and deceleration periods), the centrifugal field based on the average radius of rotation of the liquid. For example: “The centrifugation was performed for 15 min at 2°C and 10,000g (rav 8 cm)”.

For density-gradient centrifugation, centrifuge and rotor manufacturer(s), temperature, and gradient composition should be stated. Results should preferably be presented as a function of distance from rotor center rather than fraction number; it is then unnecessary to indicate top and bottom of the gradient. If fraction numbers are used, the top and bottom of the gradient should be indicated.

For ultracentrifugation, the following parameters are used: sedimentation coefficient (not constant), s; sedimentation coefficient at zero concentration at 20°C in water, s020,w; Svedberg unit (10-13 s), S; partial specific volume, v; diffusion coefficient, D, D020,w, as for the sedimentation coefficient. The temperature at which the sedimentation and diffusion measurements were made should be stated.

Chromatography. Using photographs or schemes of paper and thin-layer chromatography should be restricted to cases when it is difficult to give corresponding information in the text. The rate of a substance movement relatively to the solvent front in paper or thin-layer chromatography is characterized by Rf value. The solvent composition is best described as follows: butan-1-ol-CH3COOH-H2O (4 : 4 : 1 v/v).

Elution diagrams for column chromatography should be shown with the effluent volume increasing from left to right. Units of concentration and volume should be shown clearly. Column dimensions and, if possible, column void volume (V0) should also be stated. Elution peak maximum may be characterized by elution volume (Ve) or, preferably, by partition coefficient (α or KD). Calibration curves (e.g., plots of molecular mass versus Ve or KD) for columns will not be published.

Electrophoresis. Photographs of gel electrophoregrams will be published provided that they bear some important information; drawings or densitograms may be more informative in certain cases. The composition of the electrophoretic medium, pH, temperature, electrophoretic mobilities (m), and operative voltage should be quoted. The symbol pI should be used for isoelectric point.

Enzymes. For nomenclature, the recommendations of the latest edition of Enzyme Nomenclature (1992, Academic Press, San Diego-New York) should be followed. Units of enzyme amount should be defined in each paper in terms of the rate of the reaction catalyzed under specified conditions. The SI unit for the rate is 1 mol of substrate transformed per sec (or 1 mol of product formed per sec). This gives the unit of enzyme amount called katal (symbol: kat). Units of enzyme amount may be also expressed in terms of the amounts that catalyze other rates, e.g., 1 µmol of substrate transformed per min.

Concentrations of protein solutions are often measured versus a solution of a standard protein (e.g., BSA). The standard protein used, its source, and, if possible, water content should be quoted.

The rate constants for the forward and backward reactions at the nth step of a multistep enzyme-catalyzed reaction should be represented by kn and k-n, respectively. The Michaelis constant (Km) is defined as substrate concentration ([S]) which corresponds to v = V/2, where V (or Vmax) is the initial rate of product appearance or substrate disappearance when the enzyme is saturated with the substrate, and v is the initial rate at a given substrate concentration. For reactions involving two substrates (A and B), KAm = [A] when v = V/2 and [B] is extrapolated to infinity; a value of [A] at which v = V/2 at a finite concentration (which should be specified) of B should be referred to as an apparent Michaelis constant for A (KAm,app). Other parameters used in enzyme kinetics include: Ks, dissociation constant for enzyme-substrate complex; Ki, dissociation constant for enzyme-inhibitor complex; [I]50, inhibitor concentration at which rate is decreased by half; h, Hill coefficient (parameter in Hill equation used to describe sigmoidal v versus substrate or inhibitor concentration curves) (see also “Recommendations on Symbolism and Terminology in Enzyme Kinetics” published in Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 224, 732-740 (1983)).

Substance amount, molecular mass, Dalton, and molar concentration. The SI unit of the amount (n) of substance is mole (abbreviated mol), i.e., the amount of substance containing the same number of structural units (molecules, atoms, ions, electrons, etc.) as the number of carbon atoms contained in 0.012 kg of 12C. Avogadro's number, NA = 6.02·1023 per mol, gives the number of structural units in a mole of any substance. Molar mass (M) is the mass of 1 mol of the substance (m/n), and its dimension is g/mol or kg/mol. Mass (m, g), amount (n, mol), and molar mass (M, g/mol) are different terms which are linked to one another with the relationship m = nM. There are two preferred ways of specifying the mass of a biochemical entity. Relative molecular mass (Mr, formerly “molecular weight”) is the ratio of the mass of a molecule to 1/12 of the mass of the atom 12C. Hence, it is dimensionless. Molecular mass is the mass of one molecule of a substance expressed in daltons; the dalton is defined as 1/12 of the mass of the atom 12C or M/NA. Thus, a protein may be said to have a relative molecular mass of 50,000 (Mr = 50,000) or a molecular mass of 50,000 daltons (better, 50 kD), and may be referred to as the 50,000-Mr protein or the 50-kD protein. It is not correct to express Mr in daltons. Either Mr or molecular mass (kD) should be used throughout the paper.

Solutions should be described in terms of molarity (M, mM, µM, etc.), i.e., the number of moles of substance contained in 1 liter of the solution, not normality (N). The decimal system should be used, e.g., 0.25 M HCl. The term % must be defined as w/w, w/v, or v/v, e.g., 5% (w/v) means 5 g/100 ml. For aqueous solutions of less than 1%, w/v need not be stated since it is obvious that the concentration is given in terms of mass of solute. For solutions of salts, expressed in %, it should be made clear whether the compounds are hydrated or anhydrous.

Nucleotide sequences. Authors should remember that nucleotide sequence should be determined in both DNA chains. A clear description of the determination and complete sequence data will suffice.

Powers in tables and figures. Authors must exercise care in the use of powers to avoid numbers with too many digits in table headings and in figures. This is illustrated by the following examples: 1) a concentration 0.00015 M may be expressed as 15·10-5 M but it is preferable to give it using a prefix, as 0.15 mM or 150 µM; listing of 0.15 under the heading “Concentration, mM” or 150 under “Concentration, µM”, or 15 under “Concentration × 105, M” are all appropriate (but not 15 under the heading “Concentration, M × 10-5”!); 2) listing of 2 under the heading “103k” means k = 0.002, and 2 under the heading “10-3k” means k = 2000; 3) complex quantities are treated similarly; a value of 200 M-1 for 1/[S] would appear as “2” under the heading “10-2/[S], M-1” or as “0.2” under the heading “1/[S], mM-1”. Concentrations may conveniently be indicated by square brackets.

The following decimal prefixes and symbols should be used for multiples and subdivisions of units:

MultiplePrefixSymbol
1012teraT
109gigaG
106megaM
103kilok
102hectoh*
10decada*
10-1decid*
10-2centic*
10-3millim
10-6microµ
10-9nanon
10-12picop
10-15femtof
10-18attoa
*To be avoided whenever possible (except for cm).

A combination of a prefix and a unit is treated as one symbol and may be raised to a power without using brackets, e.g., mM-1 and cm2.

Buffer solutions. These must be specified in a way allowing readers to reproduce the experimental conditions. It is useful to give complete composition of each buffer solution in the Materials and Methods section or at the first mention, e.g., 0.09 M CH3COONa/0.01 M CH3COOH, pH 5.6 (which means that the buffer solution has these concentrations of these substances). A short designation “0.1 M sodium acetate buffer, pH 5.6” may be used thereafter throughout the paper. If a buffer contains two or more ionizable substances, e.g., pyridine and CH3COOH, the concentration of each component must be specified.

Trivial names of the following common buffers may be used without definition:

Aces2-[(Amino-2-oxoethyl)amino]ethanesulfonic acid
Ada(N-[2-Acetamido]-2-iminodiacetic acid
Bes2-[Bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]ethanesulfonic acid
BicineN,N-Bis-(2-hydroxyethyl)glycine
Bistris2-[Bis-(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]-2-(hydroxymethyl)propane-1,3-diol
Hepes4-(2-Hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazine-ethanesulfonic acid
Hepps4-(2-Hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazine-propanesulfonic acid
Mes4-Morpholine-ethanesulfonic acid
Mops4-Morpholine-propanesulfonic acid
Pipes1,4-Piperazinediethanesulfonic acid
Taps3-{[2-Hydroxy-1,1-bis(hydroxymethyl)ethyl]amino}-1-propanesulfonic acid
Tes3-{[2-Hydroxy-1,1-bis(hydroxymethyl)ethyl]amino}ethanesulfonic acid
TricineN-[2-Hydroxy-1,1-bis(hydroxymethyl)ethyl]glycine
Tris2-Amino-2-(hydroxymethyl)-1,3-propanediol

Incubation media such as Krebs-Ringer solution, Eagle's medium, or Waymouth's medium should be defined by citing the reference or by giving their compositions.

Spectra and spectroscopic data. Full spectra should be published only if they demonstrate novel or important information. The spectra for UV or visible absorption, fluorescence, circular dichroism, and optical rotation should have a wavelength scale (nm or µm). Where possible, molar terms should be used when describing absorption, optical rotation, and circular dichroism. As stated above, commonly used abbreviations of methods (ORD, CD, EPR, ESR, and NMR) need not be defined.

Visible and ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy. The value of log (I0/I) is called attenuance, and this reduces to absorbance when scattering and reflection are negligible. If scattering is significant, e.g., when culture cell density is estimated, the more general term attenuance should be used. Otherwise, the term absorbance should be used, but not extinction or optical density. The symbols used: A, absorbance (log (I/I0)); a, specific absorption coefficient (liter·g-1·cm-1) (alternatively used A1%1cm); ε, molar absorption coefficient (absorbance of a 1 M solution in a 1 cm light-path) (liter·mol-1·cm-1 or M-1·cm-1 but not cm2·mol-1). Wavelength (nm) at which measurements are done are given without units (e.g., A1%1cm,420). No equals sign is placed between ε or A and its numerical value.

IR spectra are reported as percentage transmittance (T) versus wavelength (µm) or frequency (cm-1).

Optical rotation is reported as the specific rotation ([α]tλ), which is numerically equal to the rotation in degrees of a 1 g/ml solution in a 1 dm (10 cm) light-path at wavelength λ and temperature t. Solution concentration (g/100 ml) and solvent should be stated, e.g., [α]20420 27.5. (2 g/100 ml methanol). Molar expressions (molar rotation) may be also used: [M] = [α]·Mr and [m] = [α]·Mr/100.

For biopolymers, optical rotatory dispersion ([m]m.r.w.) is reported for the mean residue (monomer) Mr; the dimension of [m]m.r.w. is deg·cm2·dmol-1.

Optical rotatory dispersion is reported as the variation of [α] or [m] with wavelength or frequency.

Circular dichroism is reported as the molar absorption coefficient (Δε = εL - εR, where εL and εR are absorption coefficients for the light polarized to the left and to the right) or as molar ellipticity [θ]M. For biopolymers, molar concentrations in terms of the mean residue Mr are generally used. Units of Δε are liter·mol-1·cm-1 or M-1·cm-1; units of [θ]M are as for [m] in terms of the mean residue. The relationship between Δε and [θ]M is [θ]M = 3300 Δε.

Fluorescence spectroscopy. In reporting fluorescence (F) excitation and emission spectra, it should be stated whether they are normalized or corrected, and what is the nature of the correction. Fluorescence-polarization data and spectra are reported as polarization ratio (P) or anisotropy ratio (A); both are dimensionless.

Statistical treatment of results. Data from a large number of independent experiments should be reported in a way permitting evaluation of their reproducibility and significance. When the goal is to determine quantitative or statistical characteristics of a population, the information is adequately given by: 1) the number of independent experiments (replicate measurements in one animal, results from pooled tissues, etc., represent only one independent estimate); 2) the mean value; 3) the standard deviation, the coefficient of variation, or the standard error of the estimate of the mean value. It should be clearly stated whether the standard deviation or the standard error is used. A convenient form for inclusion in a table is, for example, 263 ± 2.5 (10), where the number in parentheses represents the number of values used in calculating the mean.

If the results are claimed significant, a significance test should be performed and probability estimated.

Normal-distribution statistics should be used unless otherwise established.

Authors are encouraged to provide data that are impossible or impractical to include in the printed journal (such as large data sets of identified proteins in proteomic research) as supplemental material, which is made available to readers only on-line, on the internet site of the journal. The supplemental material should be referred to in the manuscript at an appropriate place in the text.

4. Operations with Manuscripts (Reviewing, Editing, Proofs)

4.1. A correctly submitted manuscript received by the Editor is assigned a registration number and the date of receipt is recorded, about which the Editors inform the authors by E-mail. Manuscripts not written according to the rules are returned to the authors without reviewing.

4.2. Reviewing. When submitting a manuscript, authors may indicate two potential reviewers (name, E-mail address) from specialists in the field of research, as well as those whose participation in the reviewing is undesirable.

All manuscripts are reviewed by the Executive Editor-in-Chief and sent to the Responsible Editor competent in the relevant specific field of study; he, in turn, indicates two or three specialists to review the manuscript. The list of Responsible Editors and members of the Editorial Board is posted on the journal’s website, as well as on the Biochemistry (Moscow) sites on the Pleiades and Springer portals.

Based on the expert opinions, the Editorial Board determines the further fate of the manuscript and in controversial cases attracts additional reviewers. By decision of the Editorial Board, the manuscript may be accepted for publication in the presented form, sent to the authors for revision, or rejected. A manuscript may be rejected because of insufficiently high evaluations by the reviewers because of inconsistency with the profile or level of the journal publications.

A manuscript which received the highest score from two independent reviewers is published as “Accelerated publication” (publication time 3-4 months).

If necessary, the manuscript is sent to the authors for revision according to the comments of the reviewers and editors, after which it is re-reviewed, and the Editorial Board again decides on the acceptability of the manuscript for publication. At the beginning of the published article, the dates are given of the initial receipt of the manuscript, the receipt after the revision, and of the acceptance for publication.

The revised manuscript should be returned to the Editor within three months after the authors receiving the reviews; otherwise, the manuscript is considered as a newly submitted one and is assigned a new registration number and a new date of receipt to the Editor.

In the journal it is accepted a “single blind review”, i.e., the names of reviewers are unavailable to authors, and the confidentiality of reviewers is strictly observed. All editorial letters to the authors are followed with signature of the responsible Scientific Secretary of the journal.

4.3. From 2003, the Journal began preliminary publication of manuscripts (Papers in Press) on the Biochemistry (Moscow) website (http://protein.bio.msu.ru/biokhimiya) before publication of the article. On the site are posted experimental papers submitted in English, which obtained a high score during reviewing and were accepted for publication.

4.4. At all stages of working with manuscripts, as well as for communication with authors, the Editor Board uses E-mail, therefore, the authors should be very attentive to the E-mail address specified in the manuscript and should promptly report any changes occurred.

4.5. One month after the next issue of the journal is printed, the Editor sends the authors the proofreading of the article as a PDF-file and instructions for correcting it by E-mail.

At the proofreading stage, no replacement of text, figures or tables is allowed. If, nevertheless, it is necessary, the problem is resolved by the Editorial Board; in exceptional cases, the article is transferred to another number.

5. English Version of the Journal

5.1. Each issue of the journal is prepared concurrently in Russian and English.

Articles are translated by a group of highly qualified translators specialized in biochemistry. During the work, the translators often need to contact the authors and eliminate inaccuracies in the Russian text of the article. Corrections agreed with the authors are introduced in both the Russian and English texts at the proofreading stage.

Authors who are fairly fluent in professional English language may present their authentic translation of the article to the Editor.

5.2. Translations are edited by the English Editor of the journal, and the prepared text is sent to the authors for correction.

5.3. Upon the publication, the Editor sends PDF-files of the Russian and English versions of the article.