Before the Submission

1. Please ensure the manuscript aligns with the Aims and Scope. If the manuscript is prepared for a specific special issue within the journal, please ensure that you have read the description and submission information provided for that particular special issue.
2. Please refer to the Article type for information on the types of manuscripts accepted for submission.
3. If artificial intelligence or other AI-assisted tools were utilized during the manuscript writing process, it is necessary to include a statement in the declaration section to specify the service or tool used and the purpose it served. The authors should confirm that they have reviewed and edited this section and acknowledge full responsibility for the content of the manuscript.
4. The research conducted in the manuscript should adhere to the Research and Publication Ethics Guidelines. It is necessary to include an individual section called "Ethics Statement" in the manuscript, demonstrating that the research was approved by an appropriate ethics committee or an equivalent institution, and conducted in an ethical manner.
5. If third-party materials are utilized in the manuscript, it is important to obtain written permission from the copyright owner. Please ensure that you have obtained the necessary permission and be prepared to provide the corresponding document during the submission process.
6. In order to submit a manuscript, submitted author need to register in our editorial system first.
7. Full names are necessary;
8. Institutional email addresses are preferred where possible (the email addresses will be used when check the status of a manuscript in our editorial system);
9. Research interests should be specified by keywords.

Manuscript Preparation

Please download the Microsoft Word template for your manuscript preparation. If your manuscript includes mathematical content, you may also submit it in LaTeX. Please utilize the provided LaTeX template for preparing your manuscript. We recommend authors to refer to Responsible Research Publication: International Standards for Authors and our Research and Publication Ethics Guidelines when preparing manuscripts.

Materials to be Submitted

A cover letter, the manuscript (including the title page, figures, tables, and boxes inserted within the main text), and any supplementary or supporting materials (such as additional figures and tables, datasheets, videos, etc.) if applicable, are required for submission. Please note that manuscripts may only be submitted by one of the authors of the manuscript and not by third parties.

1. In the cover letter, authors should briefly introduce the theme of the manuscript and highlight the novelty and contribution of the study;
2. Authors are invited to provide the names of three well-qualified reviewers. Please do not suggest reviewers who are colleagues, co-authored, or collaborated with you during the last three years. Editors will not invite reviewers who have potential competing interests with the authors. In addition, the editor will decide whether or not to invite the suggested reviewers.
3. If for some technical reason online submission is not successful, the author can submit the manuscript to neurobiology@lidsen.com.

General Style and Format

1. Please ensure that the content of your manuscript adheres to the formatting requirements of ACS style.
2. Manuscripts submitted to OBM Neurobiology must be prepared in English. An English translation should be provided if a cited reference was published in another language while the original language should be indicated at the end of the reference.
3. OBM Neurobiology has no restrictions on the length of manuscripts, provided that the text is concise and comprehensive.
4. Abbreviations should be spelled out when they are first mentioned in the manuscript. We also strongly encourage authors to include an abbreviation/acronym list for reference.
5. Units used in the manuscripts submitted to OBM Neurobiology should be International System of Units (SI). Other units should be converted to SI units. An exception is accepted for blood pressure values (mm Hg should be used).

Structure of a Manuscript

Title Page

Manuscript Title

The title of a manuscript should be a concise, specific and informative noun phrase. Abbreviations or formulae should be avoided where possible.

Author List and Affiliations

Please ensure that each author meets the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) criteria for authorship.

Authors’ full first and last names must be provided. The initials of any middle names are optional. At least one author should be designated as corresponding author. The email addresses of all authors should be provided in the manuscript.

Each author must be affiliated to at least one institute. If author’s affiliation has changed after the study was finished and before the paper was accepted, current affiliation should be indicated as well. The affiliation should be organized in the style: Department, University/Organizational affiliation, City, State/Province (if applicable), Country. After obtaining the results of peer review, please avoid radical changes to the institute information.

Abstract

The abstract should be as brief as no more than 300 words or less and should succinctly state the purpose and main methods or experiments applied of the study, main findings, and the main conclusions or potential implications drawn from the study. Please minimize the use of abbreviations, and avoid citations in the abstract (any reference to other works should be described in the Abstract and cited in the main text).

Graphic Abstract

Authors are encouraged to provide a graphical figure or photo as a Graphic Abstract, which will serve as a visual summary of the research. This Graphic Abstract will be published on the website alongside the paper and should effectively illustrate the research theme, subjects, design, conclusions, and highlight the key findings of the study.

Static and GIF images are both acceptable. Pictures minimum of 300 dpi are preferred.

Keywords

Each manuscript must contain 3 to 10 keywords that be pertinent to the subject.

Main Body Sections

Introduction

This section provides an overview of the research background, outlining the objectives and significance of the study in relation to existing research in the field. It should clearly state the working hypothesis or hypotheses that will be addressed in the research.

Materials and Methods

This section provides a comprehensive description of the research methodology to enable others to replicate the work. For novel methods, a detailed description is required, while well-established methods can be briefly summarized or referenced appropriately. It is essential to clearly explain the resources, materials, data, and protocols used in the study, particularly for those with restricted access. The names of suppliers for all antibodies used in the study should be provided. Additionally, the methods of statistical analysis should be clearly identified, and any statistical software programs used in the study should be appropriately cited.

If the sequences of oligonucleotides have not been previously published, they should be provided in the manuscript. Furthermore, any novel DNA or protein sequences should be deposited in a suitable database, such as GenBank, EMBL, or SWISS-PROT, and the corresponding accession numbers should be included in the manuscript.

Ethics Statement

The research conducted should adhere to the Research and Publication Ethics Guidelines. It is required to include a dedicated section in the manuscript called "Ethics Statement." This section should demonstrate that the research was approved by an appropriate ethics committee or an equivalent institution and that it was conducted in an ethical manner.

If your manuscript is not applicable to this requirement, please include "Not applicable" in this section. The Ethics Statement should provide, at minimum, the project identification code, date of approval, and the name of the ethics committee or institutional review board involved in the approval process.

Result

It presents the experimental findings. Tables and figures may be included in this section.

Figures

Figures in EPS, JPG, PNG, PDF, TIFF formats, minimum 300 dpi are acceptable. Color figures are preferred while not charged.

All figures in the manuscript should have a concise noun title and a concise explanatory caption. Footnotes should be clearly marked and explained.

Figures should be sequentially ordered in numerical order (e.g., Figure 1 or Figure 1A) throughout the paper and inserted in the text near their first citation.

Please refrain from including more than eight figures in the manuscript.

Tables

Tables should be prepared in editable Word format, instead of inserted pictures or pieced text.

All tables should contain a brief noun title while all columns should be given an explanatory heading. Footnotes should be clearly and correctly marked and explained.

Tables should be sequentially ordered in numerical order (e.g. Table 1) throughout the paper and inserted in the text near their first citation.

Equations

Equations contained in the manuscript should be prepared by equation editors, e.g., Microsoft Equation Editor built in Word, instead of inserted pictures or pieced text.

Discussion

The findings and their implications should be discussed and/or compared with those of other studies. Future research directions may also be recommended in this section.

Conclusions

This is an optional section, which can be included if the discussion is very long or complicated.

Ending Sections

Acknowledgments

In addition to the main authors, those who provided help during the research (e.g., language check, writing assistance, etc.) should be thanked in this section.

Author Contributions

A section on Author Contributions should be included, specifying the contributions made by each author. Authors should be individuals who have made substantial contributions to the research, including the conception and design of experiments, data acquisition and analysis, drafting and revising the manuscript.

If the manuscript has a single author, it is necessary to include the statement "The author conducted all the research work for this study" in this section.

We recommend authors to consult the "What Constitutes Authorship? COPE Discussion Document" to ensure compliance with appropriate authorship criteria.

Funding

Funding resources and grant information should be clarified in this section.

Competing Interests

All authors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. Authors must disclose any financial or personal relationships with individuals or organizations that could potentially influence or bias their work inappropriately. For detailed requirements, please refer to the Competing Interests Policy for specific instructions.

Sample disclosure statements of competing interests:

1. If there are competing interests:

Authors may refer to the following template: “Author A has received research sponsorship from Company A. Author B is the inventor of Patent B (Patent No. xxx, Patent Name xxx). Author C owns stock in Company C. We have fully disclosed any and all interests to LIDSEN.”

1. If there are no competing interests:

Authors should state "The authors have declared that no competing interests exist."

Additional Materials

To support or supplement the study, additional materials, e.g., text documents, data tables and spreadsheets, static and GIF images, videos, etc., can be published along with the paper. A list of the materials should be provided in the paper, like:

The following additional materials are uploaded at the page of this paper:

1. Title of material 1 (e.g., Figure S1: Title).
2. Title of material 2 (e.g., Table S1: Title).
3. Title of material 3 (e.g., Video S1: Title).

Reference

References, throughout the text, including tables and legends, should be numbered in numerical order. Citation numbers should be included in square brackets ([ ], like [1], [2, 3], [4-8]).

Reference manager, like EndNote, is recommended if a manuscript, especially review article, contains a large number of references. An Vancouver style EndNote template can be downloaded here.

LIDSEN journals follow Vancouver citation style. Frequently used reference types are listed below. For more detailed instructions and examples, please visit: International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals: Sample References and Citing Medicine, 2nd edition.

We have provided examples of references in the following categories for your convenience and reference:

1. Journal Article:

   Author 1 AB, Author 2 CD. (up to 6 authors before using “et al.”) Article title. Abbreviated Journal Name. Year; Volume: pages. (When page is not available, a DOI or other identifier should be provided).

2. Book and Book Chapter:

   Author 1 AB, Author 2 CD. Book title. 2nd ed. City of the Publisher: Name of the Publisher; Year of the publication. (page p. or p. page range if any. For example, p. 254, pp. 254-259, 480p.).

   Author 1 AB; Author 2 CD. Chapter title. In: Book title. City of the Publisher: Name of the Publisher; Year of the publication. (page p. or p. page range if any).

3. Conference Proceeding:

   Author 1 AB, Author 2 CD. Title of the presentation. Proceedings of the Name of the Conference; Full Date of Conference (Year Month Day); Location of Conference (City, State if US, Country). Location of the Publisher (City): Name of the Publisher.

4. Technical Report:

   Author 1 AB, Author 2 CD. Report title. Final report. City of the report agency (state abbreviation if US): Name of the agency; year of the report; report number.

5. Thesis:

   Author AB. Title of thesis. City of the University: Name of the university; year of completion.

6. Website:

   Author 1 AB, Author 2 CD. Article title [Internet]. City of the press: name of the press; year of update [cited date (year month day)]. Available from: URL.

7. Unpublished Work:

   Author 1 AB, Author 2 CD. Title of unpublished work. Abbreviated Journal. Forthcoming year.

After Submission

Peer Review

The manuscript will undergo a preliminary check by the Editor-in-Chief or Guest Editor of the corresponding special issue to ensure it aligns with the scope and meets the quality and relevance requirements of the journal. Only after this initial check, the paper will be sent for peer review. Supplementary materials are also subjected to peer review.

This journal executes single-blind peer review which means reviewers are anonymous. Manuscripts deemed suitable will be reviewed by external experts invited by the internal assistant editor. External experts include volunteer reviewers, members of the Reviewer Board and Editorial Board, or those suggested by the academic editors. Reviewers recommended by authors may also consider. Reviewers should not have published with any of the co-authors during the past three years and should not currently work or collaborate with any of the institutions of the co-authors of the submitted manuscript. After the authors have made revisions and submitted the revised manuscript, the same reviewers will be contacted to review the revised version.

In rare cases, despite extensive efforts and numerous invitations, it may not be possible to obtain the required number of reviewers. In such cases, it may be suggested to withdraw the manuscript rather than further delaying its processing, allowing authors to approach other publishers who may have a better chance of finding suitable reviewers.

Currently, manuscript types such as Editorials and Interviews do not undergo the peer review process in this journal. The manuscript types mentioned above will be subjected to assessment by the Editor-in-Chief, Guest Editor, or members of the Editorial Board upon submission. Following this review, a determination will be made regarding the manuscript's appropriateness for publication.

Change of Authorship

The journal allows authors to correct their authorship in cases where there are legitimate reasons. Any additions, deletions, or rearrangements of names in the author list can only be made prior to publication. Any modifications require confirmation from all authors, including those being added or removed, and should be communicated to the responsible journal editor. Authorship changes will not be considered if confirmation from all authors cannot be provided.

Article Transfer

If a manuscript is rejected by the journal for not meeting the established interest level, but aligns with the research scope of another journal within LIDSEN, authors have the option to transfer the manuscript to the appropriate journal. Please note that accepting the transfer offer does not guarantee acceptance of the manuscript, as the editors of the journal will still need to evaluate it thoroughly.

Accept and Proofreading

Once the Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board, or Guest Editor of the special issue has made a decision to accept your manuscript, you will receive an acceptance letter. Subsequently, you will receive the word version of the galley proof for your review and approval. We kindly request authors to carefully review the edits and formatting made during the editing and typesetting process to ensure the accuracy of the material. It is recommended to minimize the number of revisions and modifications and focus on correcting any errors. Authors are also requested to promptly respond to any inquiries from the editorial team. When reviewing the galley proof, please highlight any necessary modifications or corrections to ensure they are easily identifiable.

Editorial Policies

As a member of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), the OBM Neurobiology editorial team has undergone comprehensive training to enforce rigorous peer-review processes and uphold stringent ethical policies and standards.

By submitting a manuscript to our journal, all authors affirm that they have read and consented to the editorial policies and that the manuscript aligns with the journal's relevant policies and guidelines.

Open Access

This journal is an open-access journal, meaning that:

1. Publications are immediately available online without subscription or price barriers;
2. Publications are free to be archived in any personal, institutional, or governmental repositories;
3. Publications are free to be distributed or reused without asking for permission;
4. Publications receive higher visibility by worldwide audience;
5. Publications receive more citations due to higher publicity.

Copyright

We publish all LIDSEN journals under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) License, unless otherwise noted. Under this license, authors agree to make articles, including data, graphics, and supplements, legally available for reuse, without permission or fees, for virtually any purpose. Any individual or institution is free to copy, distribute, reproduce, or reuse these publications, as long as the author and original source are properly cited.

Please note that some articles (especially Reviews) may contain figures, tables or text taken from other publications, for which LIDSEN does not hold the copyright or the right to re-license the published material. Please note that you should inquire with the original copyright holder (usually the original publisher or authors), whether or not this material can be re-used.

All the papers that are published in LIDSEN journals contain a note:

© ... by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the conditions of the Creative Commons by Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is correctly cited.

Preprint

This journal accepts manuscripts that have been previously published on preprint platforms such as arXiv, bioRxiv, etc. However, any content submitted in this manner should not have been published in scientific journals, books, or any other officially recognized publications. If the manuscript has been previously published on a preprint platform, it is mandatory for the authors to inform the editorial office at the time of submission. After the manuscript is formally published, you are required to update the preprint version and provide a link to the final published article.

Misconduct

As a member of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), all Lidsen journals adhere to core practices in addressing potential cases of misconduct. When allegations of misconduct are brought to the attention of the editorial office, internal editors will conduct an investigation and, if deemed necessary, may reach out to the author's institution or funding agency for further information. If the allegations are substantiated, we will take appropriate actions in accordance with COPE guidelines to safeguard the integrity of academic records.

Multiple Submissions and Publications

We do not permit simultaneous manuscript submissions to multiple journals, and we do not allow the republication of non-original content, such as English translations of papers already published in other languages. In the event of the circumstances described above, we will conduct a comprehensive evaluation and take appropriate actions in alignment with the COPE guidelines.

Plagiarism

All manuscripts undergo a thorough plagiarism screening using the Similarity Check service, provided by Crossref and powered by iThenticate. It is imperative to note that our journal maintains a strict policy against plagiarism within submitted content.

Plagiarism encompasses the act of replicating content, ideas, imagery, or data from any source, including an author's own prior publications, without appropriate acknowledgment of the original source.

In instances where plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, regrettably, the manuscript may be deemed unsuitable for publication. Moreover, should instances of plagiarism come to light after a manuscript's publication, our editorial office will meticulously assess the situation, considering either a publication correction or, in more severe cases, paper retraction, as deemed necessary.

Irregular Image Manipulation

Advances in Environmental and Engineering Research maintains a strict policy against any form of image manipulation or adjustment that could potentially distort the faithful representation of information conveyed by the original images. Irregular image manipulations encompass:

1. The introduction, enhancement, relocation, or removal of elements within the original image.
2. The amalgamation of images that should logically remain separate (e.g., from different sections of the same gel or distinct gels).
3. Modifications to contrast, brightness, or color balance that obscure, eliminate, or accentuate specific details.

In the event of identified and verified irregularities in image processing, the manuscript may encounter rejection during the peer review stage. Additionally, the journal may contemplate publication corrections or, in more severe cases, paper retraction should such issues come to light after publication.

Corrections and Retractions

At times, it may be necessary to make corrections or retractions to articles published in the journal. These actions will be taken by the editors after careful consideration and following the guidelines provided by COPE. Any modifications made will be accompanied by a permanent post-publication statement that is linked to the original article. Such statements may include corrections (correction or erratum), retractions, or, in rare cases, removals. We encourage authors, readers, or organizations to report any errors or ethical concerns they identify in published articles by using the contact information provided on the journal's website. All reports will be carefully reviewed by the editors and addressed in accordance with COPE guidelines for handling publication ethics issues.

Corrections

A correction notice will be issued if changes made to a published article impact its interpretation or conclusions, while maintaining the scholarly integrity of the article. The statement"Correction" will be used for errors introduced by authors, while "Erratum" will be used for errors introduced by publishers.

Retractions

In cases where there are significant errors that significantly affect the interpretation or conclusions of an article, or instances of improper research or publishing behavior, it may be necessary to retract the published article. If the reasons presented by the author and the institution meet the criteria for retraction, a request to retract the article can be initiated. The decision to retract an article will be based on the COPE guidelines.

Article Removal

In rare cases where issues in a published article cannot be resolved by corrections or retractions, a notice of article deletion will be issued. For instance, the article contains content that infringes on the privacy rights of research participants, is libelous, or violates other legal rights, the article is subject to a court order, or taking actions may pose serious risks, etc. Bibliographic metadata (such as title and author) of deleted articles will be retained, along with a statement explaining the reasons for their removal.

Competing Interests Policy

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, in its Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals, gives the following guidance: “The potential for conflict of interest and bias exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as patients' welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain). An author’s complete disclosure demonstrates a commitment to transparency and helps to maintain trust in the scientific process.” Medical-related LIDSEN journals follow the recommendations of the ICMJE. Most of the recommendations are not specific to medical journals and are followed by ALL LIDSEN journals.

Conflicts of interest can also be known as competing interests, which can be financial interests (such as employment, consultancies, stock ownership or options, honoraria, patents, and paid expert testimony) or non-financial interests (such as affiliations, personal or professional relationships, and personal beliefs) in nature.

When submitting a manuscript, authors should declare all competing interests in detail that relate to or which can be perceived to relate to the article. Regarding any patents, patent applications, or products in development or involved in the market, the related information, including patent numbers and titles, should be disclosed. If there are no competing interests to declare, the authors should also include a statement in the article to confirm that there are no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to report. A statement of conflicts of interest must be included in the manuscript as a separate section, which should be placed before the reference list. Authors may also disclose potential conflicts of interest in a cover letter or via the manuscript submission system during the submission process. Journal editors will take these disclosures fully into account when processing articles. Such disclosures will be published online as part of the article to assist readers in evaluating the article.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

Research involving human subjects, human material, human tissues or human data should comply with the Declaration of Helsinki. Prior to initializing research, an appropriate approval, licensing or registration must be obtained from an institutional review board or equivalent ethics committee(s). The journal requires authors include a section (Ethics Statement), describing how the ethical principles were considered when the experiment was designed and ensured when conducted.

If there were animals used in an experiment, the authors are required to comply with the internationally-accepted "3Rs" principles and get approval first from the ethics committee in their institutes.

Check Research and Publication Ethics Guidelines for more details.

Data Sharing and Citation Policy

To enhance reproducibility and facilitate data reuse, we encourage authors to share the research data supporting the results reported in their articles published in LIDSEN journals. Authors should provide at least the minimum data required to reproduce the results presented in the article. Examples include (but are not limited to): software, code, algorithms, protocols, methods, materials, photographs, videos, gene sequences, interview transcripts, etc.

Authors should add a Data Availability Statement before the reference list of their article to confirm whether the data underlying the paper exists. If it exists, this statement will describe where the data is available and how it can be accessed, including hyperlinks and persistent identifiers (e.g. DOI or accession number) for the data (if applicable). If the study did not report any data, we encourage you to state this as well.

All data that are publicly available and used in the writing of an article should be cited at the relevant place in the manuscript text and in addition include a citation in the reference list. We recommend following the format proposed by the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles for citing the data:

Authors; Year; Dataset title; Data repository or archive; Version (if any); Persistent identifier (e.g. DOI)

Our Data Sharing and Citation Policy provides additional details regarding the step-by-step guide to data sharing and examples of Data Availability Statement and citation of data.

Research Ethics Statement

The research should comply with the Research and Publication Ethics Guidelines. An individual section Ethics Statement should be provided in the manuscript showing that the research was approved by an appropriate ethics committee or an equivalent institution and conducted ethically.

At least the project identification code, date of approval and name of the ethics committee or institutional review board should be provided in this section.