(October 1, 2018)

BPB Reports
Instructions for Authors
BPB Reports introduce open access journal and online publication systems, which covers biologicalaspects of pharmaceutical and health sciences and scientific research from basic to clinical studies. The
journal deals with topics related to nutrients, foods, pollutants, toxic chemicals, microorganisms, andenvironments, employing the techniques of chemistry, hygienic chemistry, analytical chemistry,
biochemistry, molecular biology, toxicology, epidemiology, and so on.

It will be accepted original,

innovative submissions in English from both members and non-members of the Pharmaceutical Society ofJapan.
In BPB Reports, manuscripts are rapidly reviewed, and authors are informed the editor’s decision
within two weeks after submission. BPB Reports publishes a shorter paper containing research results
supported by limited data, called a Report, in addition to a longer Regular Article. Informational data setsobtained from a health science field (e.g. environmental monitoring and safety testing of foods orchemicals) or small-scale clinical studies are also considered for publication in BPB Reports. The
submissions should be previously unpublished and not being considered for publication elsewhere. All
listed authors must agree with the contents of the manuscript and give their consent for its submission. Only
manuscripts written in clear, concise English will be accepted for review. Authors who are not native
English speakers should note that only manuscripts checked and edited by a native English speaker with
sufficient scientific knowledge will be accepted for review. English judged to be inadequate by the Editorial
Board will be edited at the authors’ expense before publication.
In studies including results on natural products (NP) and/or crude extract materials (CEM) from NP,
a complete description and information on the sources of the NP/CEM, extraction methods for the CEM,etc. should be provided upon submission. (More details can be found in Guidelines for NP/CEM on ourwebsite.) Even if a CEM is prepared from an NP in accordance with a Traditional Herbal Medicine formula,including a Kampo or Traditional Chinese Medicine formula, you still must prepare your manuscript within the realm of the guidelines.

I. TYPES OF MANUSCRIPTThe Journal BPB Reports publishes Reports, Regular Articles, and Reviews.

~ 1 ~1. Reports: Papers containing new and important facts but limited research results derived fromincomplete or partial studies may be suitable as Reports. Informational data sets obtained from the fieldsof health sciences (e.g. environmental monitoring and safety testing of foods or chemicals) or small-scaleclinical studies are also considered for publication as Reports that should not exceed 3,000 words.
2. Regular Articles: The manuscript being submitted must consist of original research performed bythe authors and the research must include new information that is of significance. There is no restriction on
the number of words.
3. Reviews:(1) Regular Reviews: Reviewing scientific discoveries including the recent results of the author(s).
(2) Invited Reviews: Submitted by invitation from the Editorial Board, and encompass recent
important scientific discoveries.

II. MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
1. Cover letter

The cover letter should include information on the corresponding author (thecorresponding author’s name, affiliation, and address, telephone/fax numbers, and e-mail address).
2. Manuscript

The manuscript should be submitted as a single file of Microsoft Word file or PDF

file with tables and figures included at the end of the manuscript. (We will move to editing procedure soonafter your manuscript is accepted. Therefore we will recommend you to submit it with Microsoft Wordfile.) Please use Times New Roman font in 12-point size for Word files. All files should have a page setup
for A4-sized (210 mm wide × 297 mm high) paper when printed. Tables can be displayed horizontally ifnecessary. About pagination, sequential numbers should insert at the bottom of the page in the middle,and set the title page as page 1.
(1) Title pageThe title page (page 1) should start with the journal name (BPB Reports) and typeof manuscript (Reports, Regular Article, etc.). This should be followed by the title, name(s) of the author(s),affiliation(s), and mailing address(es). Please indicate the corresponding author’s e-mail address in thefootnote. An asterisk (*) should be added to the right of the corresponding author’s name. Use a dagger (†)
to the right of a name to indicate that the present affiliation of an author is different to that of when thepaper was written. In the footnotes, show the author’s current affiliation and address.
(2) Summary and Keywords

Page 2 should contain a summary no longer than 250 words as well

as 3 to 6 descriptive keywords, listed in decreasing order of importance. The first 3 keywords must beindependent, as they will be used in a keyword combination in the index (within 80 characters).
Abbreviations should not be used as keywords.

~ 2 ~(3) Main text

The text, acknowledgments, conflict of interest, and references should be presented

in this order.

III. MANUSCRIPT FORM
1. AffiliationsWhen there are two or more authors and they belong to more than one affiliation,

the connection between each author and his or her affiliation should be indicated by italicized superscripts
a, b, c... placed after each author’s name and before each affiliation.
Examples for describing affiliations and mailing addresses:aDepartment of Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hokkaido University;

Kita 12, Nishi 6, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060–0812, Japan: b Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute ofAdvanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST); Central 6, 1–1–1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 350–8566, Japan: and c Department of Pharmaceutical Services, Hiroshima University Hospital; 1–2–3
Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734–8551, Japan.
2. Abbreviations

Abbreviations must be spelled out in full at their initial appearance each in thesummary and the main text, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter, the abbreviation only
may be used. Please limit to a minimum the use of abbreviations in the title. However, the following neednot be defined: ADP (adenosine 5′-diphosphate), AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), AMP(adenosine 5′-monophosphate or adenylic acid), ANOVA (analysis of variance), ATP (adenosine 5′triphosphate), cAMP (adenosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate), cDNA (complementary DNA), CoA(coenzyme A), CYP (cytochrome P450), DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), ED50 (50% effective dose), ESR(electron spin resonance), FAB-MS (fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry), FAD (flavin adeninedinucleotide), GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry), GLC (gas-liquid chromatography), GMP(guanosine 5′-monophosphate), HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography, high-pressure liquidchromatography), IC50 (inhibitory concentration, 50%), IR (infrared), LC (liquid chromatography), LC/MS(liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry), LD50 (50% lethal dose), mRNA (messenger RNA), MS (massspectrum), NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance), OTC (over the counter), PCR (polymerase chain reaction),
QOL (quality of life), RNA (ribonucleic acid), RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction),
TLC (thin-layer chromatography), tRNA (transfer RNA), UV (ultraviolet), WHO (World HealthOrganization)
3. Units

The following units should be used: length (m, cm, mm, μm, nm, Å), mass (kg, g, mg,μg, ng, pg, mol, mmol, μmol), volume (L, mL, μL), time (s, min, h, d), temperature (°C, K), radiation (Bq,dpm, Gy, Sv), and concentration (M, mM, mol/L, mmol/L, mg/mL, μg/mL, %, % (v/v), % (w/v), ppm, ppb)

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4. Spectral and Elemental Analysis Data

Please report spectral and elemental analysis data in

the following format. 1H NMR (CDCl3) δ: 1.25 (3H, d, J=7.0 Hz), 3.55 (1H, q, J=7.0 Hz), 6.70 (1H, m).
13C-NMR (CDCl3) δ: 20.9 (q), 71.5 (d), 169.9 (s). IR (KBr) cm−1: 1720, 1050, 910. UV λmax (EtOH) nm(ε): 241 (10860), 288 (9380). UV λmax (H2O) nm (log ε): 280 (3.25). FAB-MS m/z: 332.1258 (Calcd for
C18H20O6: 332.1259). MS m/z: 332 (M+), 180, 168. [α]23
D −74.5 (c=1.0, MeOH). Anal. Calcd for C19H21NO3:
C, 73.29; H, 6.80; N, 4.50. Found: C, 73.30; H, 6.88; N, 4.65.
5. Nomenclature

The nomenclature used for chemical compounds shall be in accordance with

the nomenclature rules formulated by IUPAC. Alternatively, naming may conform to the nomenclature in
the index of Chemical Abstracts or the Ring Index.
6. References and Notes“References” include articles published in journals, books, on theInternet, and others (technical reports, patents, lectures, etc.). References other than those indicated above
should be described in the text. References should be numbered consecutively according to the order ofcitation in the text (one Arabic number should be assigned to each reference or note). An Arabic number
followed by a right-hand half-parenthesis should be placed after the last relevant word in the sentence,outside the punctuation mark if any, and all references should be listed in numerical order at the end of thetext in the section entitled References and Notes. Journal abbreviations should conform to those listed byPubMed.
Examples of references are as follows:
1) Vasievich EA, Chen W, Huang L. Enantiospecific adjuvant activity of cationic lipid DOTAP incancer vaccine. Cancer Immunol. Immunother., 60, 629–638 (2011).
2) Shimizu K, Oku N. Brain tumor diagnosis using PET with angiogenic vessel-targeting liposomes.
Tumor of the central nervous system. (Hayat MA ed.) Vol. 3, Springer, New York, pp. 169–176 (2011).
3) Brunner A, Greune H, U.S. Patent 1910462 (1993) [Chem. Abstr., 27, 4092–4096 (1993)].
4)International

Organization

forStandardization.

“Howwedevelopstandards.”〈 https://www.iso.org/developing-standards.html 〉, cited 5 September, 2018.
In the References section, include the last names and initials of the first and middle names for allauthors.
For references appearing in the main text, the last names of the first 2 authors only should be written.
For references with 3 or more authors, write the name of the first author followed by et al. (Example: Joneset al.).
IV. X-RAY CRYSTAL STRUCTURE ANALYSES
When structure determination by X-ray crystallographic analysis is a central theme of a paper, the datarequired for registration with the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) should be attached as~ 4 ~supplementary material. Although this does not apply in cases where crystallographic analysis plays onlya supplementary role, crystal data (unit cell parameters, space group, Z density) and R-factor should still
be noted. Atomic coordinates will be printed when the structure is important. Bond lengths and angles,
thermal parameters, and torsion angles will be printed when they are important for the issues addressed in
the paper. When papers have been accepted, the authors are advised to register the data with CCDC.
V. NUCLEOTIDE SEQUENCES
Newly reported nucleotide sequences must be deposited in one of the data banks, (either DDBJ,GenBank, or EMBL) and an accession number must be obtained before the paper will be accepted by theEditorial Board. Access to the information in the database must be available at the time of publication. Afootnote will be included in the paper indicating that such a deposit has been made.
VI. CONFLICT OF INTEREST
A conflict of interest (COI) exists when anyone has financial or personal relationships that could
inappropriately influence (bias) a submitted manuscript. All authors are requested to disclose any financial
relationship with any company or institution that might benefit from the publication of the manuscript.
Authors should consider as a guide for financial disclosures:
1. Research funding from a for-profit (commercial) organization
2. Consulting fee/honorarium
3. Patent royalties/licensing fees
4. Employment/leadership position/advisory role
5. Others (travel fees, gift, etc.)
This disclosure must be included in the text of the manuscript under the Conflict of Interest heading.
If the authors have no conflict of interest, they must state as much, “The authors declare no conflict ofinterest.” And if they have some conflict of interest, they must state as much, for example: A (author name)received a research grant from O (entire company, institute or personal name); B received non-financial
support from P; C serves as a consultant to Q; D received honoraria for writing promotional material for R;
E has a patent JP Patent 12345 licensed to S; F is President of T; G has been reimbursed by U for attending
conferences; H and I are employees of X; J has no conflict of interest.
VII. ETHICS
1. For manuscripts dealing with scientific investigations involving human subjects and/or humantissues, the experiments should be performed in accordance with the ethical principles for medical research
outlinedintheDeclarationofHelsinki

1964

asmodifiedbysubsequent

revisions(https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-researchinvolving-human-subjects/).

~ 5 ~Only studies that have been performed after receiving approval from the appropriate ethics committeeof an institution will be accepted for publication. Finally, please clearly state in the manuscript that thestudy was performed according to institutional guidelines and attach to the cover letter a scanned certificatefrom the ethics committee.
2. Manuscripts describing animal experiments should be conducted in accordance with theexperimental animal guidelines of the institution as well as the appropriate government guidelines, such as
those published by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Only
manuscripts of experiments conducted in accordance with the appropriate guidelines will be eligible forpublication. Finally, please state clearly within the manuscript which guidelines were followed and that thestudy was indeed conducted in accordance with the guidelines.
VIII. REFEREES
1. With the exception of Invited Reviews, manuscripts will be reviewed by two or more referees,
whose opinions will form the basis of the final decision by the editor.
2. Please submit the revised manuscript no later than two months from the date of notification ofmanuscript revision by the editor. A manuscript that is not revised within two months may be rejected.
IX. SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS
Authors should submit a manuscript through the online submission system at https://www3.ekenkyu.com/bpb-reports-scied/ but only if a manuscript is a single file of Microsoft Word file or PDF fileembedded tables and figures at the end of the manuscript.

~ 6 ~X. PAGE CHARGESThe page charge is calculated by adding basic charge, total number of words, and total number of figures,tables, and references. The corresponding author will be sent an invoice before publication. Manuscripts
will be published after receiving the page charge. To publish the article quickly, the payment must be done
by a credit card. If the page charge is not paid within two months after issuance of the invoice, acceptanceof the manuscript is canceled.
Page Charge（excluding tax）
Basic chargea

Number of Wordsb

Number of Figures andNumber of Referencesd（yen/article）(yen/word)

Tablesc(yen/reference)(yen/figure)Members: 30,000

53,000150

Non-members: 40,000a

The basic charge will be discounted when a corresponding author is a member of The PharmaceuticalSociety of Japan.
b

Total number of words in the text, legends for figures, tables and references in the manuscript.

c

Total number of figures and tables in the manuscript.

dTotal number of references in the manuscript.

*There is no additional charge to publish figures in color.

XI. OTHER IMPORTANT POINTS
1. In general, after a paper has been reviewed, no authors may be added or deleted from the paper, andthe order of the names of the authors cannot be changed.
2. The authors are given an opportunity to proofread the galley of an accepted manuscript. No additions
and revisions are allowed other than the correction of typographical errors.
3. BPB Reports applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CCBY) license to works we published. The
license was developed to facilitate open access – namely, free immediate access to, and unrestricted reuseof, original works to all types. Under this license, authors agree to make articles legally available for reuse,
without permissions of fees, for virtually any purpose. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse these articles,
as long as the author and original source are properly cited.

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