Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism

Manuscript Submission Guidelines & Editorial Policies Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

The Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism (JCBFM) features international peer-reviewed contributions highlighting experimental, theoretical, and clinical aspects of brain circulation, imaging and metabolism. It is truly relevant to any physician or scientist with an interest in brain function, including neurologists, neurochemists, physiologists, pharmacologists, anesthesiologists, neuroradiologists, neurosurgeons, neuropathologists, and neuroscientists. JCBFM stands at the interface between basic and clinical neurovascular research.

PUBLICATION PAGE CHARGES (Do not apply to invited authors)
After final layout for publication, each page of an article will incur a fixed charge of:
$97 per page for members of the ISCBFM
$130 per page for non-members
This charge is fully inclusive of colour reproduction of all colour images in print, HTML and PDF formats. It covers also a proportion of the costs of processing and producing the article for publication.

OPEN ACCESS
Upon acceptance of a manuscript, authors will be charged a one-time article processing charge (APC) to be paid by the author, institution or funder. This fee covers the cost of publication and ensures that articles will be freely available in perpetuity.
- The full price article processing charge (APC) is $4,000 + VAT where applicable*
- The discounted article processing charge (APC) for ISCBFM members is $3000 + VAT where applicable*
*If the paying author/institution is based in the European Union, to comply with European law, Value Added Tax (VAT) must be added to the APC. Providing a VAT registration number will allow an institution to avoid paying this tax, except for UK institutions. An invoice will be issued in GBP.

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available. For further information click to 5.3 Open access and author archiving

Page charges will not apply to open access papers where the author is paying an article processing charge.

Please read the guidelines below then visit the journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcbfm to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism will be reviewed. Papers judged by the Editors to be of insufficient general interest or otherwise inappropriate are rejected promptly without external review.

Originality: A submitted manuscript must be an original contribution not previously published (except as an abstract or preliminary report), must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere, and, if accepted, must not be published elsewhere in similar form, in any language, without the consent of Sage Publications. Each person listed as an author is expected to have participated in the study to a significant extent. Although the Editors and referees make every effort to ensure the validity of published manuscripts, the final responsibility rests with the authors, not with JCBFM, its Editors or the publisher.

1. Article types
2. Preparing your manuscript
   2.1 Word processing formats
   2.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
   2.3 Supplemental material
   2.4 Journal layout
   2.5 Reference style
   2.6 English language editing services
3. Submitting your manuscript
   3.1 How to submit your manuscript
   3.2 How to submit your revised manuscript
   3.3 Corresponding author contact details
   3.4 ORCID
   3.5 Publication of Twitter handles
4. Editorial policies
   4.1 Peer review policy
   4.2 Authorship
   4.3 Acknowledgments
   4.4 Funding acknowledgements
   4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
   4.6 Research ethics and patient consent
   4.7 Clinical trials
   4.8 Reporting guidelines
   4.9 Statistical guidelines
   4.10 Animal experiments
   4.11 Image integrity
   4.12 Availability of data and materials
   4.13 Sharing materials
   4.14 Pre-print servers
5. Publishing policies
   5.1.1 Publication ethics
   5.1.2 Correction and retraction process
   5.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
   5.3 Open Access and author archiving
   5.4 Permissions
6. On acceptance and publication
   6.1 JCBFM Authorship Form required
   6.2 Sage Production
   6.3 Access to your published article
   6.4 Online First publication
7. Further information

1. Article types

Although the Editors and referees make every effort to ensure the validity of published manuscripts, the final responsibility rests with the authors, not with JCBFM, its Editors, or the publisher. For further details on how to layout the article please see 2.4 Journal layout.

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2. Preparing your manuscript

2.1 Word processing formats

Main document files, including tables, must be submitted in editable format, not in PDF. Preferred formats for the text and tables of your manuscript are Word DOC, RTF, XLS. LaTeX files are not accepted. The text should be double-spaced throughout and with a minimum of 3cm for left and right hand margins and 5cm at head and foot. Text should be standard 10 or 12 point.

2.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

Artwork Guidelines
Illustrations, pictures and graphs, should be supplied in the highest quality and in an electronic format that helps us to publish your article in the best way possible. Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online and in the print issue. Colour reproduction of images in print is covered by the page charges for publication of a manuscript.  

Please follow the guidelines below to enable us to prepare your artwork for the printed issue as well as the online version.
Format: TIFF, JPEG: Common format for pictures (containing no text or graphs).

EPS: Preferred format for graphs and line art (retains quality when enlarging/zooming in).

Placement: Please submit the figure files individually with the file designation "Images". They should be labelled sequentially and cited in the text. Do not embed figures in the text. Please provide figure legends in a double-spaced list on a separate manuscript page titled “Titles and legends to figures" after the Reference section.

Resolution: Rasterized based files (i.e. with .tiff or .jpeg extension) require a resolution of at least 300 dpi (dots per inch). Line art should be supplied with a minimum resolution of 800 dpi.

Dimension: Check that the artworks supplied match or exceed the dimensions of the Journal. Images cannot be scaled up after origination. The dimensions of the Journal are 280 (height) x 210 (width) mm, with 2 cm margins on each side, making the maximum dimensions for a figure 240 x 170mm.

Fonts: The lettering used in the artwork should not vary too much in size and type (usually sans serif font as a default).

2.3 Supplemental material

The Journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images, etc.) alongside the full-text of the article. These will be subjected to peer review alongside the article, but are not published in print.

Authors should submit supplementary information files in the final format as they are not edited and will appear online exactly as submitted. Supplementary material should be uploaded if possible as one supplementary file including figure and movie legends. Movies and extensive tables should be uploaded in separate supplementary files.

Supplementary files must be as small as possible so that they can be downloaded quickly. Images should not exceed 640 x 480 pixels. For movies we recommend 480 x 360 pixels as the maximum frame size and a frame rate of 15 frames per second. If applicable to the presentation of the information, use a 256-colour palette. Please consider the use of lower specification for all of these points if the supplementary information can still be presented clearly. Our recommended maximum data rate is 150 KB/s.

For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

2.4 Journal layout

Components of original articles should be in the following order:

• Title page
• Unstructured abstract
• Five key words
• Introduction
• Material and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Acknowledgements
• Author contribution statement (only for original research papers, not for reviews)
• Disclosure/conflict of interest
• Sentence regarding supplementary information on JCBFM website, if any
• References
• Figure legends
• Tables (in editable format, either in main document or as separate main document files)
• Figures (in separate image files, not inserted in main document)

Cover letter
A cover letter to the Editors should state that the material is original research, has not been previously published and has not been submitted for publication elsewhere while under consideration of JCBFM.

Title page of manuscript
The title page should include (a) the complete manuscript title; (b) all authors’ full names (listed as first name, middle initial, last name) and affiliations; (c) the name, postal address for correspondence, telephone number and e-mail address; and (d) a running headline of no more than 50 characters (including spaces) should be supplied which conveys the essential message of the paper.

If authors regard it as essential to indicate that two or more co-authors are equal in status, they may be identified on the manuscript title page by an asterisk symbol with the caption “These authors contributed equally to this work” immediately under the author affiliations list.

Please note that the title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring that readers find your article online through online search engines such as Google. Please refer to the information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords by visiting the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidelines on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online

Unstructured abstract and keywords on a separate page, following title page.
The abstract should be unstructured, factual and comprehensive. The use of abbreviations and acronyms should be limited and general statements (e.g. “the significance of the results is discussed”) should be avoided. Five keywords should be provided in alphabetical order below the abstract.

Materials/subjects and methods section
This section should contain sufficient detail, so that all experimental procedures can be reproduced, and include references. Methods, however, that have been published in detail elsewhere should not be described in detail. Authors should provide the name of the manufacturer and their location for any specifically named medical equipment and instruments, and all drugs should be identified by their pharmaceutical names, and by their trade name if relevant.

2.5 Reference Style

JCBFM adheres to the Sage Vancouver reference style. Please review the guidelines on Sage Vancouver to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style. If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Vancouver output file here.

2.6 English language editing services

Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the Journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services and our Sage Journal Author Gateway for further information.

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3. Submitting your manuscript

3.1 How to submit your manuscript

JCBFM is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcbfm to login and submit your article online.

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the Journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an existing account. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online, please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

3.2 How to submit your revised manuscript

Authors submitting a revised manuscript after review are asked in the submission process to include a point-by-point response to reviewers’ comments. It is imperative that your response be entered as editable text into the box provided for it. This text may in addition be uploaded as a file with embedded figures and/or tables if authors consider it necessary (File name: Author response to referees, file type: Other).

Papers revised after a decision may NOT be submitted as new manuscripts. Revisions submitted as new papers will be withdrawn by the Editorial Office. If you encounter difficulties submitting your revision, please contact the Editorial Office for help.

Authors should submit two copies of the revised manuscript: one clean document (file type: Main Document) and one showing highlighted changes made in response to reviewers' comments (file type: Other). Changes should be indicated using colour markings of the text. Please do not use underlining or the track changes function to highlight changes. Comment boxes are allowed. If the paper is accepted, the clean document only will be forwarded to the publisher.

At the revision stage, authors of manuscripts that contain cropped gels/blots must submit the original, uncropped image of each cropped gel/blot appearing in the manuscript. Each unedited gel/blot should be clearly labeled as "Full unedited gel/blot for Figure X", and the lanes of the unedited gel/blot that appear in the cropped image in the manuscript should be highlighted. All blots should contain markers denoting the location of molecular weight standards (units in kDa). 

The original gel/blot images should be submitted in a single PDF file and uploaded with the file designation "Supplemental Files". The file of the unedited images will be made available in the online supplementary material if the manuscript is accepted.

3.3 Corresponding author contact details

Provide full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address and telephone numbers. Academic affiliations are required for all co-authors.

3.4 ORCID

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognised.

The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID iD, please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

3.5 Publication of Twitter handles

JCBFM has its own Twitter account @_JCBFM and JCBFM Facebook page. Authors and readers are invited to join the ongoing discussion on these social media pages on quality issues and overcoming the ‘transitional roadblock’ in the field of biomedicine.

As a way of encouraging ongoing discussion within the field, JCBFM authors are offered the option of providing their Twitter handle to be published alongside their name and email address within their article. This way, JCBFM readers who have questions or thoughts regarding your paper can tweet you directly. Providing a Twitter handle for publication is entirely optional, if you are not comfortable with JCBFM promoting your article along with your personal Twitter handle then please do not supply it.

By providing your personal twitter handle you agree to let JCBFM and Sage Publications use it in any posts related to your journal article. You may also be contacted by other Twitter users. JCBFM and Sage Publications will have no control over you or your tweets at any time. If you would like guidance on how to promote your article yourself on Twitter or other Social Media channels please visit the Promote Your Article page on the author gateway.

To include your Twitter handle within your article please provide this within the Sage Track Submission form when prompted and on the separate title page in the format outlined below (please refrain from adding this to the manuscript itself to facilitate anonymous peer review).

As an example of how to supply this information please see the example below:

Joe Bloggs, Department of Neuroscience, University Hospital, Town, Zip code, USA.
Email: JoeBloggs@email.com
Twitter: @drjoebloggs

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4. Editorial policies

4.1 Peer review

JCBFM operates a single-anonymize reviewing policy in which the reviewers’ identities are concealed from the author. Manuscripts sent out for peer review are evaluated by at least one independent reviewer (normally two, sometimes more). Reviewers have access to all materials that may be relevant to the evaluation of the manuscript, including supplementary material for e-only publication.

The Editors then make a decision based on the reviewers' evaluations:

• Accept, with or without editorial revisions.
• Revise, with the author addressing concerns raised by the reviewers before a final decision is reached.
• Reject, typically on grounds of specialist interest, lack of novelty, insufficient conceptual advance or major technical and/or interpretational problems.

Anonymity and Confidentiality: All details about submitted manuscripts are kept confidential and no comments are issued to outside parties or organizations about manuscripts under consideration or if they are rejected. Editors are restricted to making public comments on a published article’s content and their evaluation. We do not release reviewers' identities to authors, except when reviewers specifically ask to be identified.

We ask reviewers not to identify themselves to authors without the Editors' knowledge. If they wish to reveal their identities while the manuscript is under consideration, this should be done via the Editor; if this is not practicable, we ask authors to inform the Editor as soon as possible after the reviewer has revealed his or her identity. We deplore any attempt by authors to confront reviewers or try to determine their identities. Our own policy is to neither confirm nor deny any speculation about reviewers' identities, and we encourage reviewers to adopt a similar policy.

Upon accepting an invitation to evaluate a manuscript, reviewers must keep the manuscript and associated data confidential, and not redistribute them without the Journal’s permission. If a reviewer asks a colleague to assist in assessing a manuscript, confidentiality must be ensured and their names must be provided to the Journal with the final report.

4.2 Authorship

JCBFM encourages transparency by requiring and publishing author contributions statements in all original research articles. A statement of authors’ responsibilities must be included in all manuscripts containing original research (not in reviews) above the reference list, specifying the contribution of every author, omitting none. Moreover, upon acceptance of a paper, a JCBFM Authorship Form must be sent by the corresponding author as an e-mail to the Editors. In this form, all authors must state their specific contributions to the manuscript and sign the form. Again, no author may be left out. If more than one form is necessary to include all authors, the corresponding author is responsible for collating and scanning all forms into one file and dispatching it to the Editorial Office.

The list of authors in the manuscript should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:

1. Made a substantial contribution to the concept and design, acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data,
2. Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
3. Approved the version to be published.

Authors should meet the conditions of all the points above, and each should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.
Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

Authorship Changes

Authors will no longer be able to add or remove authors after the editorial acceptance of an article. This includes changes during production or after publication. Before acceptance, authors may still change their author byline during the review process by completing an Authorship Change Form.

*Please note this policy does not impact our author name change policy.

4.3 Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgments section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair that provided only general support.

Any acknowledgements should appear at the end of your article, prior to the author contributions section (if applicable), declaration of conflicting interests, any notes and references.

4.3.1 Third party submissions

Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

•    Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input 
•    Identify any entities that paid for this assistance 
•    Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

4.4 Funding acknowledgements

JCBFM requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Please note: JCBFM requires this information at first submission and in all following versions of the manuscript.

4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

It is the policy of JCBFM to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.

Please ensure that a ‘declaration of conflicting interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state explicitly that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. If a conflict exists for some but not all authors, list the authors and conflicting interests, followed if applicable by “all other authors declare that they have no conflict of interest”.

For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.

4.6 Research ethics and patient consent

Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and all papers reporting human studies should include the following in the Material and Methods section:

• A statement confirming that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure that you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the approval number;
• The full proper name of the ethical guidelines or standards that governed conduct of the study (the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional)) or the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki;
• For research articles, authors are also required to state in the Methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal. If verbal consent was obtained, the reason(s) for this and how the consent was recorded should be provided in the text.

Authors should be guided by the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.

4.7 Clinical trials

Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism adheres to the ICMJE definition of clinical trial: ‘any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes.’

The Journal endorses the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment. However, consistent with the AllTrials campaign, retrospectively registered trials will be considered if the justification for late registration is acceptable. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract. Authors reporting phase II and phase III randomised controlled trials should refer to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) recommendations to facilitate the complete and transparent reporting of trial findings. Reports that do not conform to the CONSORT guidelines and Checklist may need to be revised before formal review.

4.8 Reporting guidelines

The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study. For example, all randomised controlled trials submitted for publication should include a completed Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flow chart as a cited figure, and a completed CONSORT checklist as a supplementary file.

For guiding principles for reporting statistical methods and results, please consult the SAMPL Guidelines for Biomedical Journals: http://www.equator-network.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/SAMPL-Guidelines-3-13-13.pdf

For example, authors reporting tumour markers prognostic studies are encouraged to follow the REMARK guidelines for complete and transparent reporting.

For describing human biospecimens, we recommend referring to the BRISQ reporting
guidelines (Biospecimen Reporting for Improved Study Quality) and ensuring at least Tier 1 characteristics are provided (doi: 10.1002/cncy.20147).

All authors reporting systematic reviews should refer to the PRISMA guidelines.

Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.

4.9 Statistical Guidelines

For presenting continuous measures (e.g. infarct volume) in graphs, use dot plots or boxplots. Bar charts are not appropriate for continuous measures since they do not provide information about distribution of the data. Appropriate descriptive measures of the average and variability for continuous measures in tables, text, or graphs are the arithmetic mean and standard deviation if the data are sufficiently normally distributed, or the median and interquartile range [being the 25th and 75th percentile] if data are not sufficiently normally distributed, but not the standard error. The presentation of the standard error as measure of variability is not correct since it is a 67% confidence coefficient for the mean, meaning that the interval mean±standard error of the mean is a 67% confidence interval of the mean. For presenting model-based measures (e.g. from ANOVAs), please give effect estimates and 95% confidence intervals.

Where statistical analyses are described, please specify which formal tests for normality were used to assess data distribution. All data should be subject to tests for normality. Data that do not exhibit a normal/Gaussian distribution should be analyzed via a non-parametric equivalent. For bar graph presentations, please show exact data points (e.g. dot plots) rather than bar plots throughout the manuscript and supplemental files.

Altman, D. G., & Bland, J. M. (2005). Statistics notes - Standard deviations and standard errors. British Medical Journal, 331(7521), 903-903. doi:DOI 10.1136/bmj.331.7521.903

Lang, T. A., & Altman, D. G. (2015). Basic statistical reporting for articles published in Biomedical Journals: The "Statistical Analyses and Methods in the Published Literature" or the SAMPL Guidelines. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 52(1), 5-9. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2014.09.006

Spriestersbach, A., Rohrig, B., du Prel, J. B., Gerhold-Ay, A., & Blettner, M. (2009). Descriptive Statistics The Specification of Statistical Measures and Their Presentation in Tables and Graphs Part 7 of a Series on Evaluation of Scientific Publications. Deutsches Arzteblatt International, 106(36), 578-583. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2009.0578

Weissgerber, T. L., Milic, N. M., Winham, S. J., & Garovic, V. D. (2015). Beyond Bar and Line Graphs: Time for a New Data Presentation Paradigm. Plos Biology, 13(4). doi:ARTN e100212810.1371/journal.pbio.1002128

4.10 Animal experiments

For experiments involving animals (or material from animals, such as cell cultures, brain slices) submitted for publication, the following must be stated explicitly in the Material and Methods section:

• the full proper name (NOT “local” ethics committee) of the institutional or licensing committee which approved the experimental protocols and any relevant details regarding animal welfare and drug side effects;
• the name of the guidelines/regulations which governed how the experiments were CONDUCTED;
• a statement confirming that the experiments have been REPORTED following/in compliance with the ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting in Vivo Experiments) for how to REPORT animal experiments https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines. This means that you will be required to confirm compliance with the ARRIVE guidelines both in the submission site, where you will be asked to fill out a detailed check sheet, and in the Materials and Methods section of your manuscript.

4.11 Image integrity and standards

Images submitted with a manuscript for review should be minimally processed (for instance, to add arrows to a micrograph). Authors should retain their unprocessed data and metadata files, as Editors may request them to aid in manuscript evaluation. If unprocessed data is unavailable, manuscript evaluation may be stalled until the issue is resolved.
A certain degree of image processing is acceptable for publication, but the final image must correctly represent the original data and conform to community standards. The guidelines below will aid in accurate data presentation at the image processing level:

• Authors should list all image acquisition tools and image processing software packages used. Authors should document key image-gathering settings and processing manipulations in the Methods section.
• Images gathered at different times or from different locations should not be combined into a single image, unless it is stated that the resultant image is a product of time-averaged data or a time-lapse sequence. If juxtaposing images is essential, the borders should be clearly demarcated in the figure and described in the legend.
• Touch-up tools, such as cloning and healing tools in Photoshop, or any feature that deliberately obscures manipulations, is to be avoided.
• Processing (such as changing brightness and contrast) is appropriate only when it is applied equally across the entire image and is applied equally to controls. Contrast should not be adjusted so that data disappear. Excessive manipulations, such as processing to emphasise one region in the image at the expense of others (for example, through the use of a biased choice of threshold settings), are inappropriate, as is emphasizing experimental data relative to the control.

For gels and blots, positive and negative controls, as well as molecular size markers, should be included on each gel and blot – either in the main figure or an expanded data supplementary figure. The display of cropped gels and blots in the main paper is encouraged if it improves the clarity and conciseness of the presentation. In such cases, the cropping must be mentioned in the figure legend.At the revision stage, authors of manuscripts that contain cropped gels/blots must submit the original, uncropped image of each cropped gel/blot appearing in the manuscript (see 3.2 How to submit your revised manuscript).

• Vertically sliced gels that juxtapose lanes that were not contiguous in the experiment must have a clear separation or a black line delineating the boundary between the gels.
• Cropped gels in the paper must retain important bands.
• Cropped blots in the body of the paper should retain at least six band widths above and below the band.
• High-contrast gels and blots are discouraged, as overexposure may mask additional bands.
• Authors should strive for exposures with grey backgrounds. Immunoblots should be surrounded by a black line to indicate the borders of the blot, if the background is faint.
• For quantitative comparisons, appropriate reagents, controls and imaging methods with linear signal ranges should be used.

Microscopy adjustments should be applied to the entire image. Threshold manipulation, expansion or contraction of signal ranges and the altering of high signals should be avoided. If ‘pseudo-colouring’ and nonlinear adjustments (for example ‘gamma changes’) are used, this must be disclosed. Adjustments of individual colour channels are sometimes necessary on ‘merged’ images, but this should be noted in the figure legend. We encourage inclusion of the following with the final revised version of the manuscript for publication:

• In the Methods section, specify the type of equipment (microscopes/objective lenses, cameras, detectors, filter model and batch number) and acquisition software used. Although we appreciate that there is some variation between instruments, equipment settings for critical measurements should also be listed.
• The display lookup table (LUT) and the quantitative map between the LUT and the bitmap should be provided, especially when rainbow pseudo-colour is used. It should be stated if the LUT is linear and covers the full range of the data.
• Processing software should be named and manipulations indicated (such as type of deconvolution, three-dimensional reconstructions, surface and volume rendering, 'gamma changes', filtering, thresholding and projection).
• Authors should state the measured resolution at which an image was acquired and any downstream processing or averaging that enhances the resolution of the image.

The data will be published in the online version of JCBFM, or detailed information will be provided in the articles on how the data can be obtained.

Examples of data types include but are not limited to: statistical data files, replication code, text files, audio files, images, videos, appendices, and additional charts and graphs necessary to understand the original research. The Editors may also grant exceptions for data that cannot legally or ethically be released. All data submitted should comply with Institutional or Ethical Review Board requirements and applicable government regulations. For further information, please contact the Editorial Office.

4.12 Availability of data and materials

An inherent principle of publication is that others should be able to replicate and build upon the authors' published claims. Therefore, a condition of publication in the JCBFM is that authors are required to make materials, data and associated protocols promptly available to readers without undue qualifications.

• JCBFM only accepts articles using standard deviation.
• Any restrictions on the availability of materials or information must be disclosed to the Editors at the time of submission.
• Any restrictions must also be disclosed in the submitted manuscript, including details of how readers can obtain materials and information.
• If materials are to be distributed by a for-profit company, this must be stated in the paper.
• Supporting data must be made available to Editors and peer-reviewers at the time of submission for the purposes of evaluating the manuscript. Peer-reviewers may be asked to comment on the terms of access to materials, methods and/or data sets; JCBFM reserves the right to refuse publication in cases where authors do not provide adequate assurances that they can comply with the Journal's requirements for sharing materials.

After publication, readers who encounter refusal by the authors to comply with these policies should contact the Editors of the Journal. In cases where Editors are unable to resolve a complaint, the Journal may refer the matter to the authors' funding institution and/or publish a formal statement of correction, attached online to the publication, stating that readers have been unable to obtain necessary materials to replicate the findings. Details about how to share some specific materials, data and methods can be found in the sections below. The preferred way to share large data sets is via public repositories. Some of these repositories offer authors the option to host data associated with a manuscript confidentially, and provide anonymous access to peer-reviewers before public release.

These repositories coordinate public release of the data with the Journal's publication date either advance online publication (Online First) or through print/online publication. This option should be used when possible, but it is the authors' responsibility to communicate with the repository to ensure that public release is made promptly on the Journal's Online First (or print/online) publication date. Any supporting data sets for which there is no public repository must be made available as Supplementary Information files that will be accessible on http://jcbfm.sagepub.com upon publication. In cases where it is technically impossible for such files to be provided to the Journal, the authors must make the data available to Editors and peer-reviewers at submission, and directly upon request to any reader on and after the publication date, the author providing a URL or other unique identifier in the manuscript.

Authors are strongly recommended to deposit their original datasets to a recommended data repository as part of the manuscript submission process. We encourage submission of datasets to recognised repositories where possible, such as FIGSHARE (https://figshare.com/) or DRYAD (http://www.datadryad.org/).

4.13 Sharing materials

A condition of publication in JCBFM is that authors are required to make materials, data and associated protocols promptly available to others without undue qualifications. It is acceptable to request reasonable payment to cover costs of distribution and reagents may be made available via commercial or non-commercial third party providers. Authors reporting new chemical compounds integral to the conclusions of the paper must provide the chemical structure, synthesis and characterization of the compounds with sufficient experimental details to allow other researchers to reproduce the synthesis and characterization.

For biological materials such as mutant strains and cell lines, JCBFM requires authors to use established public repositories when one exists (for example, Jackson Laboratory, the European Mouse Mutant Archive (EMMA), the European Conditional Mouse Mutagenesis Program (EUCOMM), the Knockout Mouse Project (KOMP), Addgene, RIKEN Bioresource Centre, the Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Centers, American Type Culture Collection (Americas), American Type Culture Collection (Asia/Europe), UK Stem Cell Bank), and provide accession numbers in the manuscript.

Cell lines:
The distribution of human cell lines used in research should not be hindered by restrictions from donors. Researchers developing cell lines must investigate and disclose any restrictions associated with the human or other tissue they are using, particularly if someone else collected the samples, if the samples come from multiple clinical sources or if they come from several legal jurisdictions. If a scientist needs to create cell lines that might be used for as-yet-unforeseen purposes, only tissue with no restrictions should be used. Authors of papers that involve consent forms must, at time of submitting the manuscript, make Editors aware of any limits that result from those forms.

Flow cytometry:
Every manuscript that contains flow cytometry experiments should identify in the Methods section all antibody reagents by clone identifier, vendor and fluorochrome. Authors should identify the instrument and software used to collect and analyse experimental data. Axes labels for plots or graphs depicting flow cytometry data should state the marker (for example, CD4) and the axes scales (log or linear) should be clearly visible. Authors should provide numerical analysis for the number of cells analysed and the absolute numbers or percentages (with statistics stated in either the text, legend or in a supplementary table) of the relevant cell population(s) within post-sort fractions. Hints for good general practice in the description of flow cytometry experiments can be found at the MIFlowCyt Standards section of SourceForge.

For papers describing a new cell population or for which a given sorted cell population is critical to the main message imparted by the new work, authors should describe in a supplementary figure or two the full gating strategy used for the experiments described in the manuscript. A figure depicting the 'gates' used to identify sorted subsets is useful and should be provided to the referees on request. These data would include preliminary forward and side scatter gates of the starting cell population, indicating where boundaries between 'positive' and 'negative' staining cell populations are defined. For preliminary sorts that use 'cocktails' of antibodies to exclude certain cell populations, for example, lineage-minus (Lin-), the antibodies and fluorochromes that are contained in the 'cocktail' need to be specified for the 'dump' channel.

For further information about accessibility of biological data and materials, see the following: Cech, T. R. (2003), Sharing Publication-Related Data and Materials: Responsibilities of Authorship in the Life Sciences. DOI: 10.17226/10613.

Sharing data sets
A condition of publication in JCBFM is that authors are required to make materials, data and associated protocols promptly available to others without undue qualifications. Data sets must be made freely available to readers from the date of publication, and must be provided to Editors and peer-reviewers at submission, for the purposes of evaluating the manuscript. For the following types of data set, submission to a community-endorsed, public repository is mandatory. Accession numbers must be provided in the paper. Examples of appropriate public repositories are listed below.

DNA and protein sequences
Protein sequences: Uniprot
DNA and RNA sequences: Genbank/European Nucleotide Archive (ENA)/DDBJ, Protein DataBank, UniProt.
DNA and RNA sequencing data (traces for capillary electrophoresis and short reads for next-generation sequencing): NCBI trace and short-read archive, ENA's Sequence Read Archive.
When publishing reference genomes, the assembly must be made available in addition to the sequence reads.

This policy includes even short stretches of novel sequence information such as epitopes, functional domains, genetic markers, or haplotypes. Short novel sequences must include surrounding sequence information to provide context.

The sequences of all RNAi, antisense and morpholino probes must be included in the paper or deposited in a public database, with the accession number quoted. When an unpublished library is included in the paper, at minimum the sequences of the probes central to the conclusions of the paper must be presented.

Simple genetic polymorphisms should be submitted to dbSNP. For data linking genotyping and phenotyping information, we strongly recommend submission to dbGAP or EGA, two repositories that have mechanisms for access control for human health-related phenotypes.

Macromolecular structures
Authors of papers describing structures of biological macromolecules must provide atomic coordinates and related experimental data (structure factor amplitudes/intensities for crystal structures, or restraints for NMR structures) upon request of Editors for the purposes of evaluating the manuscript, if they are not already freely accessible in a publicly available and recognised database (for example, Protein DataBank, Uniprot, Nucleic Acids Database or Biological Magnetic Resonance Databank). Electron microscopy-derived density maps and coordinate data must be deposited in EMDB.

Where there is no public repository and if the data sets are too large to submit to the Journal online, authors should either consult the Journal Editorial Office for advice or provide five separate copies of these data to the Editors in an appropriate format (for example, CD or DVD) for the purposes of peer-review.
If authors wish to deposit work into a Protein DataBank (PDB), please contact the Editorial Office.

Microarray data
MIAME-compliant microarray data: deposit in GEO or ArrayExpress upon submission to the Journal. Data must be MIAME-compliant, as described at the MGED web site specifying microarray standards.

Crystallographic data for small molecules
Manuscripts reporting new three-dimensional structures of small molecules from crystallographic analysis should include a .cif file and a structural figure with probability ellipsoids for publication as Supplementary Information. The structure factors for each structure should also be submitted. Both the structure factors and the structural output must have been checked using the IUCR's CheckCIF routine, and a PDF copy of the output must be included at submission, together with a justification for any alerts reported. Crystallographic data for small molecules should be submitted to the Cambridge Structural Database and the deposition number referenced appropriately in the manuscript. Full access must be provided on publication.

Other datasets
In addition to the above-mentioned mandatory requirements for data submission to community-endorsed public databases, JCBFM strongly recommends deposition of other types of data sets into appropriate public repositories that are at an earlier stage of development. Examples of such repositories that facilitate sharing large data sets, some of which can offer the option of anonymous referee access to data before publication, include:

For proteomics data: PRIDE, PeptideAtlas, Tranche
For protein interaction data: IMEx consortium of databases including DIP, IntAct and MINT
For chemical compound screening and assay data: PubChem
Other databases recommended include IntAct and the Global Proteome Machine Organization.
Earth sciences databases recommended include Pangaea, the publishing network for geoscientific and environmental data; PetDB, for geochemical data of rocks on the ocean floor; and GEOROC, geochemistry of rocks from the oceans and continents.
See also: World Data Center system; National Climatic Data Center.
Astronomy and Astrophysics: NucAstroData; Plasma gate; Smithsonian/NASA astrophysics data system; SIMBAD astronomical database; UK solar system data centre.
Physics: NIST physical reference data; Hepdata reaction data.
Biology: NBII; ITIS (taxonomy); NCBI taxonomy; Species 2000; National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis; Dryad.

4.14 Pre-print servers

In the case of working manuscripts or early drafts of manuscripts posted on a pre-print servers: Authors should alert the Editor when submitting their manuscript if they have posted it on a pre-print server. Authors may deposit the original version of their manuscript (i.e. the version submitted before peer review) on a pre-print server at any time, but should not post an updated version of their manuscript on the pre-print server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the Journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the Journal's self-archiving policy.

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5. Publishing policies

5.1 Publishing ethics

Sage and JCBFM are committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the JCBFM Editorial Policies Document, the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway

5.1.1 Plagiarism

The Journal and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the Journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

CrossCheck is a multi-publisher initiative to screen published and submitted content for originality. JCBFM uses CrossCheck to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. To find out more visit the CrossCheck website.

5.1.2 Correction and retraction process

Content published as Online First (OF) is final and cannot be amended. The online and print versions are both part of the published record hence the original version must be preserved and changes to the paper should be made as a formal correction. If an error is noticed in an OF article, a correction should accompany the article when it publishes in print. An HTML (or full-text) version of the correction will also be created and linked to the original article. If the error is found in an article after print publication, the correction will be published online and in the next available print issue. Please note the following categories of corrections to print and online versions of peer-reviewed content:

• Erratum - Notification of an important error made by the Journal that affects the publication record or the scientific integrity of the paper, or the reputation of the authors, or of the Journal.
• Corrigendum - Notification of an important error made by the author that affects the publication record or the scientific integrity of the paper, or the reputation of the authors or of the Journal.
• Retraction - Notification of invalid results. All co-authors must sign a retraction specifying the error and stating briefly how the conclusions are affected.

Decisions about corrections are made by the Editor (sometimes with peer-reviewers' advice) and this sometimes involves author consultation. Requests to make corrections that do not affect the paper in a significant way or impair the reader's understanding of the contribution (a spelling mistake or grammatical error, for example) are not considered. In cases where co-authors disagree about a correction, the Editors will take advice from independent peer-reviewers and impose the appropriate correction, noting the dissenting author(s) in the text of the published version.

5.2 Contributor’s Publishing Agreement

Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement, which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the Society. For more information please visit our Frequently Asked Questions on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

5.3 Open access and author archiving

Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

Page charges will not apply to open access papers where the author is paying an article processing charge.

Upon acceptance of your manuscript, you will be charged a one-time article processing charge (APC) to be paid by you, your institution or funder. This fee covers the cost of publication and ensures that your articles will be freely available in perpetuity.
- The full price article processing charge (APC) is $3,000 + VAT where applicable*
- The discounted article processing charge (APC) for ISCBFM members is $2,250 + VAT where applicable*

*If the paying author/institution is based in the European Union, to comply with European law, Value Added Tax (VAT) must be added to the APC. Providing a VAT registration number will allow an institution to avoid paying this tax, except for UK institutions. An invoice will be issued in GBP.

5.4 Permissions

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions on the Sage Journal Author Gateway

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6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 JCBFM Authorship Form required

Once a manuscript is accepted, a JCBFM Authorship form is required in addition to the Sage Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. The corresponding author is responsible for sending a completed Authorship Form to the Editors. In this form, all authors must state their specific contributions to the manuscript and sign the form. Hand written signatures are required and no author may be left out. If all authors cannot fill out and sign the same form, the corresponding author is responsible for collecting authors’ forms. If more than one form is used, the header must be completed on each form to include the manuscript ID, title and the names of all authors. The forms must then be compiled and scanned into one PDF file, and e-mailed to the Editorial Office. Failure to promptly return the form will delay publication.

6.2 Sage Production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that funding and conflict of interest statements are accurate. 

6.3 Access to your published article

Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.4 Online First publication

Online First allows final revision articles (completed articles in queue for assignment to an upcoming issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a final journal issue which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. For more information please visit our Online First Fact Sheet

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7. Further information

Online First allows final revision articles (completed articles in queue for assignment to an upcoming issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a final journal issue which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. For more information please visit our Online First Fact Sheet Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism Editorial Office: kknaustjcbfm@gmail.com and wzhujcbfm@gmail.com

For inquiries related to advertising, reprints or publishing a supplement, please contact the publisher’s office:  UKAdvertising@sagepub.co.uk.