Journal of Biological Rhythms

This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics and recommends that authors follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

There are no publication charges except for circumstances requiring special printing, some instances of color print reproduction, or unusual length and number of illustrations; in these cases, the publisher will provide cost information before the paper is accepted.

Please read the guidelines below, then visit the journal’s submission site to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

Sage disseminates high-quality research and engaged scholarship globally, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in publishing. We encourage submissions from a diverse range of authors from across all countries and backgrounds.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of the Journal of Biological Rhythms will be reviewed.

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

JBR may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on preprint servers. Please include the DOI for the preprint along with your submission. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal.

As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

1. Article types
2. Editorial policies 
                2.1 Peer review policy 
                2.2 Authorship 
                2.3 Acknowledgements 
                2.4 Funding 
                2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests 
                2.6 Research ethics and patient consent 
                2.7 Clinical trials 
                2.8 Reporting guidelines
3. Publishing polices 
                3.1 Publication ethics 
                3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement 
                3.3 Open access and author archiving 
                3.4 Permissions
4. Preparing your manuscript 
                4.1 Word processing formats 
                4.2 Title Page 
                4.3 Introduction 
                4.4 Materials and methods section 
                4.5 Results section 
                4.6 Discussion section 
                4.7 Artwork, figures and other graphics 
                4.7.1 Visual abstracts 
                4.8 Supplementary material 
                4.9 Reference style 
                4.10 Abbreviations 
                4.11 English language editing services
5. Submitting your manuscript 
                5.1 How to submit your manuscript
                5.2 ORCID
                5.3 Title, keywords and abstracts 
                5.4 Corresponding author contact details
6. On acceptance and publication 
                6.1 Sage Production 
                6.2 Access to your published article 
                6.3 Online First publication
7. Further information

1. Article types
JBR considers original reports in English as Research Articles, covering all aspects of biological rhythms, using genetic, biochemical, physiological, behavioural, epidemiological, and modelling approaches, including clinical trials. Emphasis is on circadian and seasonal rhythms, but other periodicities are also considered. Letters also report original research but of a narrower scope, with a few figure panels or equivalent-sized tables. Reviews, Commentaries, Editorials, and other items of interest related to biological rhythms are also encouraged, but pre-submission inquiries to the Editor in Chief by authors of such pieces are recommended. JBR does not publish case reports. 

    • Original Research 
                o Abstract (300 words) 
                o Keywords (at least 5) 
    • Letters (about 2,000 words) 

    Total word count does not include abstracts, keywords or references.

2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy
JBR adheres to a rigorous single-anonymize reviewing policy in which the identity of the reviewers is not known to the authors.

The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

2.2 Authorship
Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors.

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

        (i)    Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition,
               analysis or interpretation of data, 
        (ii)   Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content, 
        (iii)  Approved the version to be published, 
        (iv)  Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility
              for appropriate portions of the content

Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. 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.

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. 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.

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

2.3.1 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.

2.3.2 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance.
It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.

2.4 Funding
JBR requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sa 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.

2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
It is the policy of JBR 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 that “The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest”.

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

2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.

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 animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section 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.

For research articles and letters, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.

Information on informed consent to report case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative.

Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.

All research involving animals submitted for publication must be approved by an ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted. The journal has adopted the Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare for Veterinary Journals published by the International Association of Veterinary Editors or the U.S. National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

2.7 Clinical trials
JBR conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

2.8 Reporting Guidelines

We suggest authors consider the ENLIGHT checklist as a guide for good practice for documenting light-based interventions for human studies.

The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study. For example, all randomized 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.

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

3. Publishing Policies

3.1 Publication ethics
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

3.1.1 Plagiarism
JBR 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 plagiarized 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.

3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

3.2 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.

3.3 Open access and author archiving
Journal of Biological Rhythms 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.

3.4 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.

4. Preparing your manuscript

4.1 Word processing formats
Manuscripts should be written clearly and concisely and should conform generally to the Council of Science Editors Style Manual (Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 7th ed.).

Preferred format for the text and tables of your manuscript is Word DOC; RTF, XLS, LaTeX files are also 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. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

4.2 Title page
Include the authors' names, the title and a short running title, and the institution(s) (with all words spelled out in full) from which the paper emanates. If current addresses are different, then these should be indicated in a footnote. Also include the name, mailing address, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the person to whom correspondence and proofs should be sent.

4.3 Introduction
Include an Introduction that provides a brief review of relevant background material and indicates the purpose of the study.

4.4 Materials and methods section
This section should provide sufficient information for qualified investigators to reproduce the work in similar fashion. Reference to published procedures by appropriate succinct summary and citation is encouraged but should not replace adequate methodological description. Authors must confirm that they have conscientiously followed principles and practices in accord with these documents in experiments involving human subjects and experimental animals (see 2.6 Research ethics and patient consent).

4.5 Results section
Provide a concise description of the findings with appropriate reference to illustrations and tables.

4.6 Discussion section
Include a summary of the main findings (no data), their relation to other published work, and a statement of their significance.

4.7 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.
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, the cost is $800 for the first color image in print, and $200 for any subsequent printed color images in the same article.
Number the pages, illustrations, and tables.
A list of figure legends should follow the references and be the last section in the text. A brief title and description of each illustration should be included. These should be typed consecutively on the same page(s).

4.7.1 Visual abstracts
A visual or graphical abstract is one single-panel image meant to be a clear, quick, and concise pictoral representation of the research published in the journal. It is meant to support the written abstract that accompanies all papers submitted for review to the journal.

Please note visual abstracts are optional, but if you wish to submit a visual abstract with your paper, please follow the below guidelines:

• Label: The file should be labelled as "graphical abstract," so that it is clear the file is not an article figure (e.g., it should not be labelled as "Fig1," "Fig2," etc.).
• Caption: A caption should be provided with the graphic. The caption should read: "This is a graphical representation of the abstract."
• Format: JPG, TIF, or EPS
• Size: The image should be 1200 pixels square at 300dpi with Arial font (12-16 point) so it is readable on a phone.
• Copyright free: Do not use images subject to copyright clearance for graphical abstracts. The image should have no overlap with images in the figures of the paper.
• Submission: The final visual abstract image should be sent with accepted article.
• Clarity: Simplicity is the key to conveying information visually. Part of the image should convey the organism under study.

4.8 Supplementary material
This 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. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files, which can be found within our Manuscript Submission Guidelines page. Number figures and tables S1, S2, etc.

4.9 Reference style
References should be double spaced and listed sequentially in alphabetical order according to the name of the first author with (a) a full list of authors, (b) date, (c) full title of the paper, (d) journal titles abbreviated as per Index Medicus, (e) volume number, and (f) first and last pages. Only papers published or in press may be included in the reference list. Papers should be cited in the text by author(s) and date. 

                Examples 
                Aschoff J (1965) Response curves in circadian periodicity. In Circadian Clocks,
                J Aschoff, ed, pp 95-111, North-Holland, Amsterdam.            

                Pittendrigh CS and Daan S (1976) A functional analysis of circadian pacemakers in nocturnal 
                rodents: The stability and liability of spontaneous frequency. J Comp Physiol A 106:223-252. 

                Richter CP (1965) Biological Clocks in Medicine and Psychiatry, Charles C Thomas, Springfield,
                IL.

4.10 Abbreviations
Abbreviations should be introduced in parentheses after the first occurrence of the term being abbreviated. Use standard metric units wherever possible.

4.11 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 on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

5. Submitting your manuscript

5.1 How to submit your manuscript
JBR is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jbrhythms 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 account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

5.2 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 recognized.

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.

5.2 Title, keywords and abstracts
Please supply a title, short title, an abstract and at least five keywords to accompany your article. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring 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.

5.3 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.

6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 Sage Production
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned 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, if any, are accurate.

6.2 Access to your published article
Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.3 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.

7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the JBR editorial office as follows:

Mary E. Harrington, PhD
Editor in Chief
mharring@smith.edu