Author Guidelines

Submission to this journal proceeds totally online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. 

Free Format Submission

The author's time is valuable and should not be wasted on research formatting. Free Format Submission makes it easier and faster to prepare text for submission.

When submitting to our journal, authors are not required to follow any formatting guidelines. When an article is accepted for publication, authors can submit it in the format of their choice, and our editors will convert it into our journal-specific format for them.

If the submission is accepted for publication, We will format it in accordance with the style and format of the journal.

For all online submissions, please provide soft copies of all the materials (main text in MS Word or Tex/LaTeX), figures/illustrations in TIFF, PDF or JPEG, and chemical structures drawn in ChemDraw (CDX)/ISISDraw (TGF) as separate files, while a PDF version of the entire manuscript must also be included, embedded with all the figures/illustrations/tables/chemical, structures, etc ., It is advisable that the document files related to a manuscript submission should always have the name of the corresponding author as part of the file name, i.e., "Cilli MS text.doc," "Cilli MS Figure 1", etc.

It is imperative that before submission, authors should carefully proofread the files for special characters, mathematical symbols, Greek letters, equations, tables and images, to ensure that they appear in a proper format.

References, figures, tables,, structures, etc., should be referred to in the text at the place where they have been discussed. Figure legends/captions should also be provided.

Successful electronic submission of a manuscript will be followed by a system-generated acknowledgement to the principal/corresponding author. Any queries therein should be addressed to lddd@international-life-sciences.com

Manuscript Length

Reviews

Reviews should be 3000- 6000 words with 20 or more references excluding figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables etc.

Original articles

Original articles should be of 4000-6000 words with 20 or more references excluding figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables, etc. There is a quota of 95% of published Research articles per issue in this journal. Research articles will be published as open access against payment.

Letters 

Letters should be 3000-4000 words with 40 or more references excluding figures, structures, photographs, schemes, tables, etc.

Editorials 

Editorials are short papers on important topics related to the journal. The total number of words in an editorial should not exceed 1000 to 1500, and it should contain only 10-15 references. An abstract is not required.

 

Manuscript Preparation

The manuscript should be written in English in a clear, direct and active style. All pages must be numbered sequentially, facilitating in the reviewing and editing of the manuscript.

It is advisable that authors prepare their manuscript using the template available on the Web, which will assist in preparation of the manuscript according to journal’s format. Download the Template.

Manuscripts submitted for research and review articles in the journal should be divided into the following sections:

Title

Title Page

Structured Abstract

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

Text Organization

Conclusion

List of Abbreviations (if any)

Consent for Publication

Conflict of Interest

Acknowledgements

References

Appendices

Figures/Illustrations (if any)

Chemical Structures (if any)

Tables (if any)

Supportive/Supplementary Material (if any)

 

References

References can be submitted preferably in the ACS or Vancouver style. All references must be complete and accurate. The reference numbers must be finalized and the bibliography must be fully formatted before submission.

The references should be relevant to the study and should refer to the original research sources. Self-citation and self-interest should be avoided by the authors, editors, and peer-reviewers.

See below few examples of references listed in the ACS and Vancouver Style:

ACS Style

In ACS style, all references should be numbered sequentially [in square brackets] in the text and listed in the same numerical order in the reference section. Superscript in the in-text citations and reference section should be avoided.

Different reference formats have different rules for citation. See below for some common format examples.

Journal Article

The minimum required information for a journal article reference is author, abbreviated journal title, year, publication, volume number, and initial page of cited article, though complete pagination is possible. Journal abbreviation and volume are italicized . Year of publication is bold . All authors must be cited and there should be no use of the phrase et al. Journal abbreviations should follow the Index Medicus/MEDLINE.

Bard, M.; Woods, R.A.; Bartón, D.H.; Corrie, J.E.; Widdowson, D.A. Sterol mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae : chromatographic analyses. Lipids , 1977 , 12 (8), 645-654.

Zhang, W.; Brombosz, S.M.; Mendoza, J.L.; Moore, J.S. A high-yield, one-step synthesis of o-phenylene ethynylene cyclic trimer via precipitation-driven alkyne metathesis. J. Org. Chem. , 2005 , 70 , 10198-10201.

 

Some important points to remember

All authors must be cited and there should be no use of the phrase et al.

Date of access should be provided for online citations.

Punctuation should be properly applied as mentioned in the examples given above.

Abstracts, unpublished data and personal communications (which can only be included if prior permission has been obtained) should not be given in the references section. The details may however appear in the footnotes.

The authors are encouraged to use a recent version of EndNote (version 5 and above) or Reference Manager (version 10) when formatting their reference list, as this allows references to be automatically extracted.

Vancouver Style

In Vancouver style, all references should be numbered sequentially [in square brackets] in the text and listed in the same numerical order in the reference section. Punctuation should be properly applied as mentioned in the examples given above.

Different reference formats have different rules for citation. See below for some common format examples.

Journal Article

The required information for a journal article is author, abbreviated journal title, year, publication, volume number, and initial page of cited article, though complete pagination is possible. It is necessary to list all authors if the total number of author is six or less and for more than six authors use three authors and then et al (the term " et al. " should be in italics). Journal abbreviations should follow the Index Medicus/MEDLINE. Capitalize the first letter of the first word in the title. The rest of the title is in lower-case, with the exception of proper names.

Al-Habian A, Harikumar PE, Stocker CJ, Langlands K, Selway JL. Histochemical and immunohistochemical evaluation of mouse skin histology: comparison of fixation with neutral buffered formalin and alcoholic formalin. J Histotechnol 2014; 37(4): 115-24.

Guilbert TW, Morgan WJ, Zeiger RS, Mauger DT, Boehmer SJ, Szefler SJ, et al. Long-term inhaled corticosteroids in preschool children at high risk for asthma. N Engl J Med. 2006 May 11;354(19):1985-1997.

 

After Acceptance

  1. First Check: Once the manuscript has been accepted, the editorial team will check the manuscript to ensure that it is ready for production. If updates are needed, we will contact you. 
  2. Publishing License and Payment: After the content of the manuscript is confirmed, the corresponding author will be notified of acceptance and payment of Article Page Charges by email, and will sign the publication license agreement to proceed to production.
  3. Proofs: Authors will receive an e-mail for page proofs. Authors should also make sure that any renumbered tables, figures, or references match text citations and that figure legends correspond with text citations and actual figures.  A proof will be sent to the corresponding author for confirmation, and the corresponding author should carefully check the information about the author and the content of the manuscript.Proofs must be returned within 72 hours of receipt of the email.
 

Correction Policy

For maintaining the integrity of the scientific record and avoiding inconsistencies downstream, minor corrections that do not affect the scientific understanding of the paper (for example formatting or typographical errors or preference of wording) may be rejected if submitted post-publication.

The correction procedure depends on the publication stage of the article, but in all circumstances a correction notice is released as soon as possible:

Online First publication: Letters in Drug Design & Discovery will consider replacing the Online First version with an updated version which corrects the error and notes the changes that have been made and the date(s) on which the changes were made (in a correction notice at the end of the article).

Publication in an issue: If the article has already appeared in an issue, a correction notice will be released in the next available electronic and print issue. The online version of the article will link to the correction notice.

Retraction Policy

Retractions are considered by journal editors in cases of evidence of unreliable data or findings, plagiarism, duplicate publication, and unethical research. All retraction notices explain why the article was retracted. A retraction notice will also be published in the next available electronic and print issue.

Editors should consider retracting a publication if:

  • They have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of major error (eg, miscalculation or experimental error), or as a result of fabrication (eg, of data) or falsification (eg, image manipulation)
  • It constitutes plagiarism.
  • The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper attribution to previous sources or disclosure to the editors, permission to republish, or justification (ie, cases of redundant publication).
  • It contains material or data without authorization for use.
  • Copyright has been infringed or there is some other serious legal issue (eg, libel, privacy).
  • It reports unethical research.
  • It has been published solely on the basis of a compromised or manipulated peer review process.
  • The author(s) failed to disclose a major competing interest would have unduly affected interpretations of the work or recommendations by editors and peer reviewers.

Authorship

All listed authors should have contributed to the manuscript substantially and have agreed to the final submitted version. The corresponding author or a person who is submitting the article must provide details (full name, institutional affiliation, address for communication and e-mail address) for all the authors. It is corresponding author's responsibility to notify all the authors of the article regarding submission and further process related to the submitted article. 

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion, or rearranging of author names in the authorship list should only occur prior to the manuscript's acceptance and with the Journal Editor-in-Chief's approval.

Please review the Best Practice Guidelines on Research Integrity and Publishing Ethics. 

To request such a change, the Editor-in-Chief must receive the following from the corresponding author:

  1. The rationale for the revised author list.
  2. Written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. 

Supplementary Material

To enrich your content, you can include supplementary materials such as applications, images, and videos. Submitted supplemental materials are published precisely as submitted. Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make modifications to supplemental materials at any point during the process, please submit an updated file.

Information of Consent

Authors should ensure that the individual rights of all the participants who are involved in the study are protected. Identifying details (eg, names and dates of birth) of the participants that were studied should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and genetic profiles unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the participant (or parent or guardian if the participant is incapable) gave written informed consent for publication. 

Conflict of Interest

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could be viewed as inappropriately influencing their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest which should be disclosed include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. 

Appeals

Authors may appeal if they feel that the decision to reject was based on: i) a major misunderstanding over a technical aspect of the manuscript; or ii) a failure to understand the scientific advance shown by the manuscript. Appeals requesting a second opinion without sufficient justification will not be considered. To lodge an appeal, please contact  Journal Editorial Office by email, quoting your manuscript number. Appeals will only be considered from the original submitting author.

Copyright Notice

The Letters in Drug Design & Discovery applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license to published articles. Under this license, authors retain ownership of the copyright for their content, but they allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute and/or copy the content as long as the original authors and source are cited. Appropriate attribution can be provided by simply citing the original article.

Data Availability Statement

 A data availability statement (also sometimes called a ‘data access statement’) tells the reader where the research data associated with a paper is available, and under what conditions the data can be accessed. They also include links (where applicable) to the data set.

How should I write a data availability statement?

The table below contains template statements that you can use or adapt. This is not an exhaustive list however, and an individual data set might warrant a different type of statement.

 

Availability of data Template for data availability statement Policy
Data openly available in a public repository that issues datasets with DOIs The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in [repository name e.g “figshare”] at http://doi.org/[doi], reference number [reference number]. All
Data openly available in a public repository that does not issue DOIs The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in [repository name] at [URL], reference number [reference number]. All
Data derived from public domain resources The data that support the findings of this study are available in [repository name] at [URL/DOI], reference number [reference number]. These data were derived from the following resources available in the public domain: [list resources and URLs] All
Data available within the article or its supplementary materials The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials. Basic, Share upon Request
Data generated at a central, large-scale facility, available upon request Raw data were generated at [facility name]. Derived data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author [initials] on request. Basic, Share upon Request
Embargo on data due to commercial restrictions The data that support the findings will be available in [repository name] at [URL / DOI link] following a [6 month] embargo from the date of publication to allow for commercialization of research findings. Basic, Share upon Request
Data available on request due to privacy/ethical restrictions The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, [initials]. The data are not publicly available due to [restrictions e.g. their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants]. Basic, Share upon Request
Data subject to third party restrictions The data that support the findings of this study are available [from] [third party]. Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for this study. Data are available [from the authors / at URL] with the permission of [third party]. Basic, Share upon Request
Data available on request from the authors The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [author initials], upon reasonable request. Basic, Share upon Request
Data sharing not applicable – no new data generated Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study. All
Non-digital data available Non-digital data supporting this study are curated at [add location]. Basic
Data not available due to [ethical/legal/commercial] restrictions Due to the nature of the research, due to [ethical/legal/commercial] supporting data is not available. All
Data not available – participant consent The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly, so due to the sensitive nature of the research supporting data is not available. All

 

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Using Personal Information

Any personal information received by the journal will only be used to process and publish your manuscript. 
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If you have any questions about this privacy policy of your personal information, please send an email to lddd@international-life-sciences.com.