Instructions for Contributors

Human Biology publishes scientific articles, brief communications, letters to the editor, and review articles on the general topic of population biology and genetics. Manuscripts should be submitted to Dr. Sarah Williams-Blangero, Editor-in-Chief, Human Biology, Department of Genetics, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, 7620 NW Loop 410, San Antonio, TX 78227-5301 (e-mail: humbiol@darwin.sfbr.org). All submitted articles will be reviewed by researchers familiar with the particular subject area. After a paper is reviewed, it is returned to the author for revisions (if necessary) or rejected. Once a paper has been accepted and an issue assigned, it will be copyedited according to the style of the journal, which incorporates elements of style from Scientific Style and Format, The CBE Manual (Bethesda, Md.: Council of Biology Editors, 1994, 6th ed.) and other style manuals. The copyedited manuscripts are then typeset. The journal reserves the right to charge authors for part of the costs involved in publishing long articles or those containing much tabular material. Authors will receive page proof, which they are to proofread carefully and return promptly.

Submitting a Manuscript

You should submit an original and three copies of your manuscript. The manuscript should be typed or word-processed and double-spaced throughout, including the author affiliations, the Literature Cited, the figure captions, and the tables. Please use 8¹/₂ x 11 inch (21.5 x 27 cm) paper. The article should follow the style of Human Biology and should be written concisely.

Organization. The manuscript should be organized as follows. The first page should be a title page, including the title of the paper, authors' names, complete authors' affiliations, and key words. The second page should contain the abstract of the paper. The abstract should give a summary of the article and not be merely descriptive of it. For example, state the results and the conclusions; do not use such phrases as "The results are discussed in terms of epidemiology." On the third page of the manuscript you should start the actual text.

The text should contain the following sections: an introduction (untitled) outlining the background of your topic and stating your purpose in writing the present article; the materials and methods (the study population, statistical methods, measurement methods, etc.); the results; and a discussion.

After the main text of your article, you should include a complete list of Literature Cited. In the text, you should cite the articles by author and date. In the Literature Cited section the articles should be in alphabetical order by author. The reference list should include all articles cited in the text, figure captions, and tables. Please do not pad your list with papers you do not cite. Following the Literature Cited section are the tables and the figure captions.

References. Each reference in the Literature Cited section should be complete. For journal articles this means that you should include the names of the first three authors, date, title of article, journal title (abbreviated according to Index Medicus, or spelled out completely if the journal is not listed in the Index), volume number, and inclusive page numbers. For chapters in a book you must list the names of the first three authors, date, title of chapter, title of book, editors of book, publisher and city (and country if outside the United States) where the publisher is located, volume number if necessary, and inclusive page numbers. If you are referencing an entire book, include the names of the first three authors (or editors), date, title, and publisher and location. Other types of references (technical reports, dissertations, etc.) should always include as much information as possible: the names of the first three authors (sometimes the author might be a corporation or an organization), date, title, publishing organization and location, number of report, name of university and location, series designation, etc. Articles appearing in conference proceedings should be treated as chapters in a book; that is, you will list the names of the first three authors, date, title of article, title of conference proceedings book (not...