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    GENETICS' SCOPE and PUBLICATION POLICIES up arrow

    The journal GENETICS, published by The Genetics Society of America, publishes high quality, original research presenting novel findings on a range of topics bearing on inheritance. These topics include population and evolutionary genetics, complex traits, developmental and behavioral genetics, cellular genetics, gene expression, genome integrity and transmission, and genome and systems biology. The journal also publishes Review, Commentary (current issues or interest to geneticists), and Perspective (historical) articles, as well as articles focused on the teaching of genetics.

    GENETICS is a peer-edited journal—all editorial decisions are made by the authors’ peers—with a tradition of rigorous peer-review. Full documentation of the data presented and compelling evidence for the conclusions drawn is required.

    CRITERIA FOR PUBLICATION

    Submitted manuscripts are assigned to an Associate Editor, a peer of the authors who manages the review process and decides if the manuscript will be accepted for publication. Manuscripts may be rejected without review if the editors judge it to be outside the scope of the journal. A manuscript will also be returned without being reviewed if it does not follow the GENETICS style guide, or if improper grammar or style precludes its proper scientific review.

    COPYRIGHT

    The corresponding author represents all the manuscript’s authors in signing a copyright transfer agreement. Upon manuscript acceptance, copyright becomes held by the Genetics Society of America. Under no circumstances can an author deposit an article into a departmental or institutional repository, or distribute, use, or modify for any commercial or non-commercial endeavor without the permission of the Genetics Society of America.

    The corresponding author must also obtain permission to reproduce figures, tables, or text from other copyrighted material.

    AUTHORSHIP

    Authors are those who contributed substantially to the research documented in the paper and share responsibility for the resulting article. The names of these researchers should appear in the byline. Those who assisted peripherally but are not authors may be recognized in the Acknowledgments.

    CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

    Upon manuscript submission, the corresponding author must describe any affiliations that may present a conflict of interest in either the choice of Senior Editors, Associate Editors, or reviewers. This information will remain confidential.

    FUNDING AGENCIES AND COMPLIANCE

    All granting agencies must be recognized in the Acknowledgments. This information must include the agency’s complete name, grant numbers, and institutional publication codes (if applicable).

    GENE SEQUENCES

    Authors must deposit all relevant information and data into the appropriate public databases, including but not limited to one of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration members. Note that submission into one of the following sequence database ensures that the others will also receive the sequences:

    Sequences may appear in text or in figures, but long sequences - such as those requiring more than two pages to reproduce – will not be published unless the Associate Editor and reviewers (we) agree that publication is necessary. If the long sequence is not recommended for publication, you can pay an increased (unsubsidized) page charge to have the sequence included in the publication.

    Complete mtDNA sequences will no longer be published in GENETICS, but relevant comparisons will be published if an accession number for the sequence in question is supplied.

    To prevent an article being delayed in publication:

    SHARING OF RESEARCH MATERIALS

    Because the discoveries of science require continual verification, and progress in science depends so strongly upon prior investigations, it is crucial that key research materials developed by one scientist be made readily available to others.

    By publishing in GENETICS, authors describing unique research materials agree to provide them at reasonable cost to colleagues who request them. Examples of unique research materials are strains, gene clones, antibodies (including cell lines producing monoclonal antibodies), and computer programs. A colleague is any active investigator, whether or not in training. The donor may require the recipient to agree neither to use such materials for commercial purposes nor to transfer them to a third party without the consent of the donor.

    PREPARING MANUSCRIPTS FOR SUBMISSION up arrow

    Please read these Instructions for Authors carefully. When you are ready to submit your manuscript for consideration, upload your manuscript online at http://submit.genetics.org.

    Before you upload your manuscript, ensure that it adheres to the guidelines in this document.

    The corresponding author must have permission of all the authors to submit a manuscript to GENETICS for publication. All authors must agree to give the corresponding author the authority to act on their behalf, but all authors are responsible for the article’s content. By submitting a manuscript to GENETICS, the authors guarantee that the manuscript represents original research, that the data are available to the Associate Editor, Senior Editor, and Editor-in-Chief if necessary, and that the manuscript (and its substance) has not been previously published and is not currently being considered for publication by another journal.

    Data entered during manuscript submission is the data that appears in the published-ahead-of-print version (for accepted articles), so be sure to complete all fields.

    FIGURES AND TABLES

    Figures

    To prevent publication delay, these guidelines should be followed when you submit your manuscript figure files. A summary is included below and detailed information is available in the individual sections.

    Figures include drawings, graphs, mating-type charts, complex chemical formulas, and other sketches.

    File Format

    Acceptable file formats are TIFF (.tiff), JPEG (.jpg), Microsoft Word (.doc), Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt), EPS (.eps), PDF (.pdf), or Adobe Illustrator (.ai).

    Formats not supported include: LaTex/Tex, Bitmap (.bmp), PICT (.pict), Excel (.xls), Photoshop (.psd), Canvas (.cnv), Corel Draw (.cdr), and locked or encrypted PDFs (.pdf).

    Resolution, Contrast, and Size

    All files must conform to the resolution ranges specified below:

    RGB, CMYK, and Grayscale are all acceptable. Halftones should be high contrast with sharp detail, because some loss of detail and contrast is inevitable in the printing process. Good contrast is particularly important for chromatographs, such as gel separations. Additionally, each file must be no larger than 10 MB and figures should be 10-20 cm in width and 1-25 cm in height. Graph axes must be exactly perpendicular and all lines of equal density (.5 point minimum).

    Labels and Legends

    Labels may be used for figures with multiple parts. If so, use A, B, etc. in non-bolded type to label the parts for easy reference within the text. If a figure has important areas to highlight, arrows or numbers can be used to draw attention to these areas. If the figure is submitted in unattached parts, include a scan of how these should be arranged in the printed version.

    Additionally, label all figures in numerical order with Arabic numerals, and please cite figures within the text in numerical order. When preparing your manuscript for publication, the copyeditors will insert or relocate a citation, or will renumber figures as needed. Within the label, be sure to distinguish between similar characters, such as the letter l and the number 1 or the letter O and the number 0.

    Acceptable type for the labels and legends is Helvetica, size 10 point in a bold weight. The label heading (Figure #) should be in all Caps.

    Figure legends must start with a brief title leading into text. All conventional symbols used to indicate figure data points are available for typesetting; unconventional symbols should not be used. Mathematical variables (both in the figure legend and figure) should be italicized and all genotypes must be italicized. Any additional symbols that are normally italicized should continue to use italic rather than underlined roman characters.

    Tables

    Tables are considered to be figures, but they have special requirements. Within the tables, try to minimize shading, color type, line drawings, graphics, or other illustrations. Instead, prepare a separate, numbered figure to accompany the table. Histograms should not be used to present data that can be captured easily in text or small tables, as they take up much more space. Tables cited in the both the Materials and Methods and Results sections will be set only in the Results section. They will appear in the Materials and Methods only if they are cited in that section and nowhere else.

    Format

    The only acceptable file format is Microsoft Word (.doc), and each table must start on a new page, with long tables presented on several pages.

    Layout

    Tables may contain the following sections:

    Tables should have clearly defined boxheads and bottom lines that are .5 point in weight. Use shorter horizontal rules within the boxhead to indicate unambiguously which subheadings are subordinate to a higher-level heading. Do not use vertical or diagonal rules and do not use horizontal rules between the boxhead and the closing rule. Each column in the boxhead should have a title, and each boxhead entry should refer to material beneath it and not to material to the right.

    Labels and Legends

    Labels for the table should be in all Caps and should be Helvetica font, size 10 point. Material within the table should also be in Helvetica font, size 10 point and be double-spaced. Any totals and sums should be in boldface type. If a legend is present, it must precede any footnotes and should follow the font requirements for the labels and table text.

    REFERENCES

    The References section lists only articles that are published or in press. References must be formatted as they appear in a recent issue of GENETICS. Parenthetical references are cited in text chronologically. For author names, order references alphabetically by first author with a space between an author's initials. For multiple citations with the same first author, first list single-author entries by year using 1996a, 1996b, etc., as needed. Then list two-author entries alphabetically by second author. Finally, list entries by three or more authors (cited in the text as "FIRST et al. 1996") only by year and without regard to number of authors or alphabetical rank of authors beyond the first. For articles with more than five authors, list the first five names and then "et al."

    Sample journal article citation:

    Bridges, C. B., and E. G. Anderson, 1925 Crossing over in the X chromosomes of triploid females of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 10: 418–441.
    (Note spaces between authors' initials and after the boldface colon.)

    Sample book citation:

    Sturtevant, A. H., and G. W. Beadle, 1939 An Introduction to Genetics. W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia.

    Sample chapter-in-book citation:

    Beadle, G. W., 1957 The role of the nucleus in heredity, pp. 3–22 in The Chemical Basis of Heredity, edited by W. D. McElroy and B. Glass. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.

    SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

    Authors are encouraged to submit supplemental material that enhance the published manuscript and which may be of interest to other investigators. Examples of supplemental material include genetic maps based on DNA polymorphisms, figures, and extended materials and methods sections.

    Supplemental files are submitted online at http://submit.genetics.org during the initial manuscript submission, or when the final source files are uploaded. The Editorial Office publishes all source files without alteration. For example, if the author uploads a Microsoft Word file, the reader will download the Microsoft Word file and view the data as originally submitted.

    Within the manuscript source file, refer to supplemental material using this language: "See Supplemental Material." This reference will create a link in the online version of the manuscript that will provide readers with easy access to the supplemental material.

    Accepted File Types

    Because files will not be copy-edited, and will be accessed exactly as submitted, the editorial office recommends that you upload a PDF, where possible; however, supplemental files may include:

    Do not submit Zipped files, and if possible, limit the size of each file to 10MB. If you have any questions about the suitability of a file, please contact the Editorial Office.

    Supplemental Figures

    Supplemental figures include images, drawings, graphs, mating-type charts, complex chemical formulas, and other sketches.

    If a figure has multiple parts, label them A, B, C, etc. For labels. use Helvetica, size 10 point in a bold weight. Italicize symbols that are normally italicized, including all mathematical variables.

    Figure legends start with Supplemental Figure, followed by the Arabic number, a period, an em dash, and then the legend. Number figures consecutively using Arabic numerals. Unless the legend is a full sentence, there is no period at the end. Use Helvetica, size 10 point in a regular weight.

    Supplemental Tables

    Supplemental tables should each start on a new page. If a table has multiple parts, label them A, B, C, etc. For labels use Helvetica, size 10 point in a bold weight.

    Table titles start with Supplemental Table, followed by the Arabic number, a period, an em dash, and then the legend. Number tables consecutively using Arabic numerals. Unless the title is a full sentence, there is no period at the end. Use Helvetica, size 10 point in a regular weight. Do not include units of measure in the parentheses of the title.

    RESUBMISSIONS

    Resubmission of Rejected Manuscripts is permitted a single time, unless repeat submission is encouraged by the Associate Editor. When submitting a previously rejected paper, authors must fully disclose the paper's history with the journal. Authors are expected to use the reviewer's comments to revise rejected papers before submitting them anew.

    EDITORIAL STYLE

    GENETICS editorial style conforms to the The Chicago Manual of Style (The University of Chicago Press) and Harbrace College Handbook (Harcourt) as interpreted and modified by the editors and Dartmouth Journal Services. The copyeditors rely on a variety of supplementary resources due to the diverse content of the journal: