Manuscript will be sent to at least two referees for evaluation. The JOURNAL always attempts to minimize the potential for conflict of interest in the review of manuscripts. Therefore, authors may request that a specific individual with a possible conflict of interest not be involved in reviewing the manuscript. Authors may suggest the names and addresses of a few potential reviewers. The Editors and Associate Editors will be guided but not necessarily bound by these suggestions.

Contributors will receive an email from one of the Editors or Associate Editors stating whether their manuscript is acceptable. Revised manuscripts should be submitted through the online submission system. Correspondence concerning manuscripts should be sent directly to the relevant Editor. Revised papers will be considered as newly submitted papers if they are not resubmitted within 2 months for no justifiable reason. Handling of manuscripts is free of charge. Manuscripts will be published online at http://jb.oxfordjournals.org/ as “Advance Access” articles in 2 or 3 working days after acceptance. Authors should take care to follow instructions on Form and Style of Manuscript, as the pre-typeset manuscript will be published online. Authors who do not wish their papers to be published as “Advance Access” due to justifiable reason should contact the Editorial Office upon submission.

However, manuscripts will be published in a formal issue only after agreement by the author(s) to pay the costs of publication including Color Charge and Offprint Charge. Alteration in galley proofs, other than the correction of printer’s errors, are not granted, except when the Editor admits inevitable addition of a brief note in proofs at the author’s expense. Galley proofs corrected by authors should be returned to the printer by a designated date. Otherwise, the Editor reserves the right of proofreading. Reprints can be purchased, in lots of 50 copies, at cost prices. The orders should be submitted with the returned proof.

The members of the Editorial Board use the following guidelines to assist them in making editorial decisions. To inform prospective authors of our criteria, the guidelines are listed below, but please note that these are only guidelines. (1) Is the subject suitable for publication in the Journal of Biochemistry? (2) Is it an original contribution? (3) Is it a complete and final paper? (4) Is it clearly presented? (5) Are the summary and title informative? Do they reflect the contents of the paper? (6) Are the appropriate key words given? (7) Does the introduction contain statements sufficient to explain the aim of the work? (8) Are the methods sound? (9) Are the results relevant and sufficient? (10) Are the illustrations and tables necessary and acceptable? (11) Are the interpretations and conclusions justified by the data? (12) Are the references adequate; are all of them necessary? Does the list of references contain all the information?

In general, the Journal of Biochemistry will not publish papers that are: (1) Merely confirmatory or descriptive as to the presence of a well-known process in tissues or organisms not previously studied. (2) Not novel enough: purification of an enzyme or sequencing of a protein or nucleic acid which has already been reported for another species or organ, unless the manuscript includes novel findings or is of biological significance. (3) Too preliminary or incomplete: incomplete amino acid or nucleotide sequences, incomplete structures of natural compounds, incomplete NMR or other spectroscopic assignments, etc. (4) Deals only with the description of a new method or the preparation of a reagent such as a monoclonal antibody, unless it is novel or represents a substantial improvement. (5) Too specialized in areas outside the scope of the Journal of Biochemistry. (6) Just negative.

Manuscripts should conform to the style and usage of the Journal as exemplified in current issues. They should be typed on A4 form (21×29.7 cm or 21.6×28 cm) with double-spacing throughout. Text should be double spaced, with font size between 10.5 to 11, and saved as a .DOC, or .RTF file. Separate pages should be used for the following: (1) title page(s), (2) summary, (3) text, (4) footnote(s) to the text, (5) references, (6) table(s), (7) legend(s) to figure(s), (8) figures or other subsidiary matters, (9) supplementary data (if any), (10) declaration of Funding and Conflict of Interest . The manuscripts should be arranged in the order indicated above and all pages should be numbered in succession except the figure(s), the title page being page 1. Indicate the appropriate location in the text of the tables, figures, and other subsidiary materials by marginal notes. Latin words should be italicized (for example: in vitro, i.e., etc., per se). Footnote(s) to the author’s name(s) and affiliation(s) should appear on the title page. All footnotes should be numbered in succession with superscript, Arabic numerals, starting from the title page footnote(s). Footnotes to tables should be identified with superscript lower case (a, b, etc.), and placed at the bottom of the table. Acknowledgement (if any) should appear after the main text, and before the References. It is advised that authors note any conflict of interest in this section.

A desirable plan for the organization of a Regular Paper is as follows: (a) SUMMARY, (b) INTRODUCTION with no heading, (c) EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES or MATERIALS AND METHODS, (d) RESULTS, (e) DISCUSSION, (f) REFERENCES. In some cases, presentation will be clearer and more effective if the author combines some of these sections. For a Rapid Communication, a brief summary is requested, but headings and subheadings should be omitted.

1.　Title Page(s)

Provide a title page(s), containing the following items.
(1) The form of the paper (Regular Paper or Rapid Communication). The field and its topic under which the paper is to be reviewed.
(2) Title. The title should be informative and as short as is consistent with clarity. The title should not include chemical formulae or arbitrary abbreviations, but chemical symbols may be used to indicate the structures of isotopically labeled compounds. The numbering of parts in a series of papers is not permitted, but titles and subtitles may be used if necessary.
(3) By-line. List full names of all authors. A footnote reference(s) to an author(s), indicating a change of address, should be given on the title-page.
(4) From-line. List the institution(s) in which the work was carried out, and the Zip Code, if available.
(5) Running title. Provide a short running title of less than 60 strokes. It should be as informative as possible.
(6) The name, complete mailing address, telephone number, Fax number, and E mail address of the person to whom correspondence should be sent. To expedite the review, much of the journal’s correspondence will be by E mail.
(7) Abbreviations. Non-standard abbreviations (see Section X-6, 7, and 8) should be defined, even if they are known to those familiar with the field. List all non-standard abbreviations used in the paper in alphabetical order in a footnote on the title page.

2.　Summary

(1) Every paper should have summary. The summary should be concisely written in less than 200 words. Summaries of Rapid Communications should be limited to 100 words. The summary should briefly present the problem, suggest the scope of the work and the plan of experiments, mention significant data and state major findings and conclusions. Avoid statements such as “The significance of these results is discussed” that do not help the reader. The summary should be intelligible to the non-specialist as well as the specialist in your field, and hence should avoid specialized terms and abbreviations.
(2) Key words. Provide five key words identifying the nature of the subject matter alphabetically in the last part of the summary.

3.　Introduction

The text of a Regular Paper should begin with a short introduction with no heading. This should state the reasons for performing the work, with brief reference to previous work on the subject. Avoid giving an extensive review of the literature.

4.　Methods, Results, and Discussion

The arrangement of the paper after the introduction is not fixed. The author may separate sections with italicized subheadings.
The Experimental Procedures or Materials and Methods should give sufficient details to enable the reader to repeat your work exactly, if necessary. The necessity for conciseness should not lead to omission of important experimental details. Refer to previously published procedures employed by citation of both the original description and pertinent published modifications, and do not include extensive description unless they present substantially new modifications. Combination of the Results and Discussion in a single section sometimes gives a clearer and more compact presentation.

5.　References

References cited in the text should be numbered in parentheses with italicized Arabic numerals in order of appearance. References to “unpublished experiments” and “personal communications” should appear parenthetically in the text following the name(s) of the source of information [(Yamada, T., personal communication), (Suzuki, M. and Yoshida, M., unpublished observations) etc.]. Be sure to verify the wording of any personal communication with the person who supplied the information and get his approval for the use of his name in connection with the quoted information. All references should be listed in numerical order typed double-spaced on a separate sheet under the heading REFERENCES.

Please note the following examples.
(1) For a journal article:
　7. Sanger, F., Nicklen, S., and Coulson, A.R. (1977) DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74, 5463–5467
(2) For a chapter in an edited book:
　12. Messing, J. (1983) New M13 vectors for cloning in Methods in Enzymology (Wu, R., Grossman, L., and Moldave, K., eds.) Vol. 101, pp. 20–51, Academic Press, New York
(3) For a book by one or more authors:
　15. Sambrook, J., Fritsch, E.F., and Maniatis, T. (1989) Molecular Cloning. A Laboratory Manual pp. 1339–1341, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
Text citations to references written by more than two authors should be styled for example as, Smith et al. In the reference list, however, the names of all authors (with initials) must be given. If an article has been accepted for publication by a journal but has not yet appeared in print, the reference should be styled as follows:
　29. Tanahashi, H. and Ito, T. (1994) Molecular characterization of a novel factor recognizing the interleukin-6 responsive element. J. Biochem. (in press)
The use of “in preparation” and “submitted for publication” is not allowed in the reference list.
Citation of the references written in a language which is usually unreadable for general readers and those published in a journal (or book) to which general reader could not easily access should be avoided.

6.　Figure Legends

Figure legends should be prepared for each figure. There should be sufficient experimental detail in the legend to make the figure intelligible without reference to the text (unless the same material has been given with a previous figure, or in the Experimental Procedures section).

7.　Nucleotide Sequence

1. Tables should be drawn on separate pages and numbered consecutively in Roman numerals. For aid in designing tables in acceptable style, refer to current issues of the Journal.
2. Each table should have an explanatory title and sufficient experimental detail, usually in a paragraph immediately following the title, to be intelligible without reference to the text (unless the procedure is given in the Experimental Procedures section, or under another table or figure).
3. Indicate units of measure clearly.
4. Footnotes to tables should be kept to a minimum and should be indicated by superscript lower cases, at the bottom of the table.
5. Table must be submitted as .DOC, .RTF, Excel or Power Point files.

1. Each figure (Scheme, Diagram) should be given on a separate file numbered with an Arabic numeral (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.). Figures will be reduced to fit into the type area of the printed page (17.5×23.5 cm).
2. Indicate the magnification of photomicrographs in the legend or include a bar indicating the scale in the figure.
3. Flow diagrams and amino acid or nucleotide sequences should always be presented as direct photographic reproduction.
4. Color figures will be printed at the expense of the authors. The cost will be GBP 350 per figure. Papers submitted with colored photographs will be reviewed on the assumption that the authors will pay for color costs. Switching a color figure to black and white figures after acceptance may require Editorial approval. If the figures should be reproduced as black and white, the author must provide black and white version of figure files when submitting the manuscript. Black and white figures will be printed without additional cost, but should be well prepared with high contrast.
5. Figures must be submitted as .DOC, .EPC, .JPG, .PPT, .TIF, .PDF or .GIF.
6. Please also note that a set of figures with same tag is counted as one figure, i.e. Figure 1A, 1B, 1C are counted as one (Figure 1).

Supporting material that cannot be included, and which is not essential for inclusion in the full text of the manuscript, but would nevertheless benefit the reader can be published online. Authors are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to submit Supplementary data whenever appropriate; for example, when the amount of material is too great to warrant inclusion in the main body of the paper, or when the material is in a format that cannot be represented in print (i.e. video clips or animated graphics). All material to be considered as Supplementary data must be submitted at the same time as the main manuscript for peer review. Please indicate clearly the material intended as Supplementary data upon submission. Also ensure that the Supplementary data is referred to in the manuscript at an appropriate point in the text. Supplementary data should be submitted in a separate file(s), in its final form. Please note that Supplementary data will not be edited, so ensure that it is clearly and succinctly presented, and that the style of terms conforms to the rest of the paper. Also ensure that the presentation will work on any internet browser.

Acceptable formats: A maximum of 10 files is acceptable to make up the supplementary data unit for the article. The maximum size per file should not exceed 1.5 MB. An HTML index page is usually created to link in the Supplementary data file(s). Please provide short (2–4 words) titles for each individual file—these will be used to create links to the files from the index page.

1. Refer in the text to simple chemical compounds by their formulae when these can be printed in simple horizontal lines of type. Do not use structural formulae in the running text.
2. Ionic charge should be shown as a superscript following the chemical symbol,
e.g. Fe^3＋, SO₄^2-.
3. Prepare large structural formulae and long mathematical equations in a form suitable for direct photographic reproduction and include them as a Diagram at the end of the paper.

4. Isotopically Labeled Compounds—The symbol for an isotope is shown in square brackets directly before the name (word), as in [¹⁴C]urea, [α-¹⁴C]leucine, DL-[methyl-¹⁴C]methionine. When more than one position in a substance is labeled with the same isotope and the positions are not indicated, the number of labeled atoms should be indicated as a right-hand subscript; as in [¹⁴C₂]glycolic acid. The symbol U indicates uniform, e.g. [U-¹⁴C]glucose (where the ¹⁴C is uniformly distributed among all six positions). The isotopic prefix precedes that part of the name to which it refers, as in sodium [¹⁴C]formate, thiamine [β-³²P]diphosphate. Terms such as ¹³¹I-labeled albumin should not be contracted to [¹³¹I]albumin. When isotopes of more than one element are introduced, their symbols should be arranged in alphabetical order: e.g. L-[3-¹⁴C, 2,3-²H, ¹⁵N]serine. The symbols ²H and ³H or D and T may be used for deuterium and tritium, respectively.

For simple molecules, the labeling is indicated by writing the chemical formulae with the prefix superscripts attached to the correct atomic symbols in the formulae: e.g. ¹⁴CO₂, H₂¹⁸O, ²H₂O. Square brackets should not be used for them, or when the isotopic symbol is attached to a word that is not a specific chemical name, abbreviation or symbol: e.g. ¹³¹I-labeled, ¹⁴C-sugar, ¹⁴C-steroids, ³²PO₄^3-, but [³²P]-phosphate.

5. Spectrophotometric Data—Beer’s law may be stated as

Where A is the absorbance; T, the transmittance (－I / I₀);ε　, the molar absorption coefficient; c, the concentration of the absorbing substances in moles per liter; and l, the length of the optical path in centimeters. Under these conditions );ε has the dimensions literámol^-1ácm^-1 or more briefly M^-1ácm^-1 (not cm^-1ámol^-1). Do not use “O.D.” and “E.”

Authorship:

Conflict of Interest:

Funding:

Details of all funding sources for the work in question should be given in a separate section entitled 'Funding'. This should appear before the 'Acknowledgements' section.

The following rules should be followed:

1. Abbreviations with specific meanings may be used for convenience for complex chemical substances, particularly in equations, tables, or figures. Avoid using abbreviations in titles and summaries except the standard ones listed in Table II of Section X-8.
2. Use abbreviations and symbols sparingly in the text. In chemical equations, which traditionally depend upon symbols, an abbreviation or symbol may be used for a term that appears in full in the neighboring text. Trivial names are usually sufficiently short not to require abbreviations.
3. An abbreviated name or symbol in a column heading in a table, figure, or photograph must either be taken from the “accepted” list given in Section X-8 or formulated in accordance with the principles of Section X-6.

The author retains the copyright for each article. All authors must sign the License to Publish form to grant the Journal of Biochemistry a license to publish the accepted article, when the manuscript is accepted. Requests for any reproduction or translation of this journal should be made to below: ,