We want the manuscript submission process to be simple. The submission system is fast, with no long forms to fill out, and no special formatting of the manuscript or its references is required to be evaluated.
If the manuscript is in a readable format for proper evaluation, access our submission system at https://www.vitjournals.com/ijdb and click on “Submit”. When asked for the manuscript document, attach it as it is. We prefer a single PDF with all the content to facilitate the process, but you can submit it as you wish. Please, do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have at ijdb@ehu.eus .
To send your manuscript access our submission system at https://www.vitjournals.com/ijdb and click in “Submit”.
To be evaluated, we prefer the manuscript in a single PDF with all the content, although you can send it as you wish. It is not necessary to format the manuscript or the references.
After accepting the article, we will ask you for the text and tables in Word format and the images or other materials with the optimal resolution to prepare the proofs.
Starting from Volume 68 (2024), IJDB is a fully Open Access journal. The journal complies with the Open Access requirements of funders, including Plan S from cOAlition S requirements. You can find more information about Open Access and funder's compliance in the journal's information and policies.
For more information on scope, publication fees, timely, etc. please consult the journal's information and policies.
The types of articles published by the journal and their formats are the following:
Original Article: Abstract, Introduction, Results, Discussion, Materials and Methods, Acknowledgements, References, Tables and Figure Legends.
Review: Abstract, Text, Acknowledgements, References, Tables and Figure Legends.
Short Communication: Same format as Original Article, but presenting preliminary results with potentially particular relevance. Should not exceed four journal pages.
Short Review: Same format as Review, but more concise.
Developmental Expression Pattern: Must present concise descriptions of relevant genes or proteins and discuss their potential relevance for the interpretation of the mechanisms of development. DNA and amino acid sequences and corresponding accession numbers should be provided.
Technical Article: Abstract, Introduction, Experimental Protocols, Results & Discussion, Acknowledgements, References, Tables and Figure Legends.
Essay, Special Contribution, Developmental Perspective or Meeting Report: There are no structural restrictions, but an Abstract must be provided. Essays typically include theoretical considerations, whereas Special Contributions are devoted, for instance, to the updating of tables of development of different organisms.
Interview: Introduction (biographical sketch and relevance of the interviewee in Developmental Biology), Questions and Answers, Acknowledgements and References and/or Selected Bibliography.
There are no space or number of references limitations.
Once the article has been accepted, we require that the manuscript have some minimum formatting characteristics. These are:
Minimum metadata:
Title (condense it, trying to keep it short and including important keywords), Authors, Affiliations, Correspondig Author and correspondence data, Keywords (select them well, do not include too many), Runnig title and Abbreviations most used in the manuscript.
References and citations:
Make sure that all citations in the text have their corresponding reference and vice versa.
It is not necessary to format the references in a specific style, as long as they have enough information to be correctly identified: Authors, year, title, journal or book, volume, pages or locator, etc. We recommend that you include the DOIs whenever possible because this will avoid possible confusion or incorrect identification of the reference.
We recommend that you use a reference management software where selecting or changing a citation style is easy. You can use any “author-date” based style (Harvard, APA, etc…) or download our style file for EndNote users if you prefer. Do not hesitate to contact us if you need any assistance.
For more details on manuscript formatting, you can check our Manuscript Checklist.
One of the images in your manuscript could be used as the cover of the issue where your article will be published. The final image of the cover will be chosen from all the images in the articles so you do not need to do anything to your images are cover candidates. However, if you have an image that you want to highlight in some way or that is not included in the manuscript, you can submit it as a cover proposal. You do not need to make a cover composition; you can simply send us the image you want to propose.
We try to make eye-catching covers, which are a classic in the field, so in addition to the scientific aspect, the images must be attractive or aesthetically attractive.
If you have a work in mind that is not yet done or completed, but you want to know if it could be interesting for the journal, you can ask us by writing to ijdb@ehu.eus.
If the manuscript is already finished, you can also ask us (we recommend attaching the draft), but taking into account that it is not necessary to format and that it will pass a quick first evaluation by the editorial board. If it is ready, you can simply proceed to submit it.