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Molecular Cell is a complementary partner to its companion journal Developmental Cell, and has similar standards for publication.
Papers should be as concise as possible. The total character count of an article must be under 55,000 (including spaces). There should be no more than 7 figures and/or tables (which together with their legends should fit into no more than 2 pages). Each figure should consist of a single high-quality print ready for scanning and reduction to fit the printed page of the journal. Papers that do not fit these criteria will be returned to the authors.
Short Papers
Molecular Cell considers submissions for publication that fit into less than 6 published pages. This corresponds to a text of less than 32,000 characters (including spaces) and less than 4 single-column figures. Short papers follow the same general organization as research articles.
Submission of Research Articles
Papers should be submitted to: Editor, Molecular Cell, Cell Press, 1100 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138. Four copies of each manuscript should be provided, as well as an electronic version of the text (please send a word processor file rather than a pdf file). If a manuscript is closely related to papers in press or submitted elsewhere, it will be considered for publication only after copies of these papers are provided. Under no circumstances will any paper be considered that contains any data that have been or will be submitted for publication elsewhere (including symposium volumes). Revised manuscripts will be reconsidered only if resubmitted within 2 months of the date of the original decision. For submissions that are not published, only available figures will be returned to the authors.
Prepublication Publicity Policy
Work intended for submission to Molecular Cell, currently under consideration at Molecular Cell, or "in press" at Molecular Cell may not be discussed with the media (including other scientific journals) before publication. Providing preprints, granting interviews, discussing data with members of the media, or participating in press conferences in advance of publication with prior approval from the Molecular Cell editorial office may be grounds for rejection. Authors are welcome to present and discuss material intended for publication in Molecular Cell at scientific meetings; however, we do require that they refrain from discussing the findings with members of the press beyond those included in the formal presentation. In addition, we encourage meeting organizers to contact our editorial office in advance of a meeting if they have any questions regarding this policy.
Organization and General Style of Research Articles
Summary
A single paragraph of fewer than 150 words. The primary goal of the summary should be to make the general significance and conceptual advance of the work clearly accessible to a broad readership. References should not be cited in the Summary.
Running Title
No more than 50 characters (including spaces).
Introduction
Succinct, with no subheadings.
Results and Discussion
These sections may each be divided by subheadings or may be combined. Footnotes should not be used and will be transferred to the text. Gene symbols should be italicized; protein products of the loci are not italicized. Nonstandard abbreviations should be defined when first used in the text. All text should be letter quality and double spaced.
Experimental Procedures
This section should contain sufficient detail so that all procedures can be repeated, in conjunction with cited references.
References
The references include only articles that are published or in press. Unpublished data, submitted manuscripts, abstracts, and personal communications should be cited within the text only. Personal communication should be documented by a letter of permission. Please use the following style for references:
Article in a periodical:
Sondheimer, N., and Lindquist, S. (2000). Rnq1: an epigenetic modifier of protein function in yeast. Mol. Cell 5, 163-172.
Article in a book:
Sorenson, P.W., and Caprio, J.C. (1998). Chemoreception. In The Physiology of Fishes, D.H. Evans, ed. (Boca Raton, FL): CRC Press), pp. 375-405.
An entire book:
Cowan, W.M., Jessell, T.M., and Zipursky, S.L. (1997). Molecular and Cellular Approaches to Neural Development (New York: Oxford University Press).
Figures
Each copy of a submitted manuscript should be provided with a set of figures of sufficient quality for reviewers to judge the data. Magnification should be indicated by a bar scale. Lettering on halftone figures generated by computer should be outside the area of the halftone. Color figures will be included only when in the reviewers' opinions they are essential. Authors will be charged $1000 for the first color figure and $250 for each additional one, which partially defrays the cost of separating and printing color figures. For publication each figure should consist of a single montage.
Molecular Cell encourages the use of digital figures. For guidelines for submission, see our Guidelines for Sending Electronic Images.
Fiqure Legends and Tables
Legends and tables should be included in the submitted manuscript as separate sections, following the style of the journal. Each figure legend should have a brief, separate title that describes the entire figure without citing specific panels.
Publication Schedule
Papers that do not conform to the general criteria for publication will be returned immediately, without detailed review. Otherwise, we try to let authors have reviewers' comments within a month. If revisions are a condition of publication, only one revised version of the paper will be considered. Because of Molecular Cell's rapid publication schedule, strict limitations are placed on corrections to articles at proof stage, so manuscripts should be carefully edited before submission and resubmission. Articles will be published within 12 weeks of acceptance.
Distribution of Materials and Data
Publication of a research article in Molecular Cell is taken to imply that the authors are prepared to distribute freely to academic researchers for their own use any materials (e.g., cells, DNA, antibodies) used in the published experiments. In cases of dispute, authors may be required to make primary data available to the Editor. Nucleic acid and protein sequences, atomic coordinates (along with structure factors), and microarray data must be deposited in the appropriate public database and must be accessible without restriction from the date of publication. An entry name or accession number must be included in the paper before publication. Microarray data should be MIAME compliant (for guidelines see www.mged.org/miame).
Review Articles
Molecular Cell publishes full-length reviews (approximately 5000 words) on any topic that is of interest to its readership. Proposals for reviews may be submitted to the editors. Once a proposal is accepted, detailed format guidelines will be provided. | 
