Information for Contributors

Abstract

Applied BiosafetyVol. 24, No. 4 Information for Contributors 2019Free AccessInformation for ContributorsKaren D. SavageKaren D. SavageSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Dec 2019https://doi.org/10.1177/1535676019873741AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail Please read the guidelines below then visit Applied Biosafety (APB)’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/apb to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your manuscript through the peer-review process.Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of APB will be reviewed.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, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, 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. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that APB may accept submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their manuscript on the preprint server while it is being peer-reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal’s author archiving policy. If your manuscript is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your manuscript.This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal.1. What Do We Publish?1.1 Aims & ScopeBefore submitting your manuscript to APB, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.Applied Biosafety: Journal of ABSA International (APB)is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal committed to promoting global biosafety awareness and best practices to prevent occupational exposures and adverse environmental impacts related to biohazardous releases. A goal of APB is to provide a forum for exchange of sound biosafety and biosecurity initiatives through publication of original articles, review articles, letters to the editors, commentaries, and brief reviews. We welcome and encourage submissions which further the profession of biosafety.1.2 Manuscript TypesOriginal Articles and Brief Review Articles should range from 3,000 to 5,000 words (excluding the abstract, tables, figures).Review Articles of a scientific concept or technological application of relevance to biosafety, biocontainment, or biosecurity may be up to 6,000 words in length (excluding the abstract and references).Editorials and Commentaries may be on any issue of relevance to biosafety but should be no more than 2,500 words and should include appropriate references.Letters to the Editors should be no more than 300 words and may be edited.More information on manuscript formatting can be found in Section 4: Preparing your manuscript.1.3 Writing Your ManuscriptThe SAGE Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources.1.3.1 Make your manuscript discoverableFor information and guidance on how to make your manuscript more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Manuscript Online.2. Editorial Policies2.1 Peer-Review PolicyAPB adheres to a double-blind reviewing policy in which the identity of both the reviewer and author are always concealed from both parties.Please remove authors’ names and other identifying information from the manuscript, including the title page, text, and acknowledgments. Manuscripts are blinded to reviewers. Manuscripts that are not blinded will be returned to the author without review.All manuscripts are reviewed initially by the Coeditors and only those manuscript that meet the scientific and editorial standards of the journal, and fit within the aims and scope of the journal, will be sent for outside review.Decisions on manuscripts will be made as rapidly as possible. In general, Editors will seek advice from two or more expert reviewers about the scientific content and presentation of submitted manuscripts.The Coeditors 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.APB is committed to delivering high quality, fast peer-review for your manuscript, and as such has partnered with Publons. Publons is a third-party service that seeks to track, verify, and give credit for peer-review. Reviewers for APB can opt-in to Publons in order to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for their review will be associated with the relevant journal, but the manuscript name, reviewer’s decision and the content of their review is not published on the site. For more information, visit the Publons website.2.2 AuthorshipManuscripts should only be submitted for consideration once all contributing authors give consent. Those submitting manuscripts should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the manuscripts are acknowledged as contributing authors.The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who: Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,Drafted the manuscript or revised it critically for important intellectual content,Approved the version to be published,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, multicenter 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.2.3 AcknowledgmentsAll contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgments 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.Please supply any personal acknowledgments separately from the main text to facilitate anonymous peer-review.2.3.1 Writing assistanceIndividuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgments 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.2.4 FundingAPB requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgments page on the SAGE 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 InterestsIt is the policy of APB to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published manuscripts.Please ensure that a “Declaration of Conflicting Interests” statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgments 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. APB has templates available for declaring conflicts of interest, funding, informed consent, and ethics approval.2.6 Research Ethics and Patient ConsentMedical 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 manuscripts 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, 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 individual cases or 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 do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your manuscript, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your manuscript as a separate file.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.2.7 Clinical TrialsAPB does not publish clinical trials.2.8 Research DataAt SAGE we are committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research. Where relevant, APB encourages authors to share their research data in a suitable public repository subject to ethical considerations and where data is included, to add a data accessibility statement in their manuscript file. Authors should also follow data citation principles. For more information, please visit the SAGE Author Gateway that includes information about SAGE’s partnership with the data repository figshare.2.9 Dual Use Research of ConcernDual Use Research of Concern (DURC) is defined as life sciences research that, based on current understanding, can be reasonably anticipated to provide knowledge, information, products, or technologies that could be directly misapplied to pose a significant threat with broad potential consequences to public health and safety, agricultural crops and other plants, animals, the environment, materiel, or national security. The editorial policies of APB support the minimization of biosecurity risk while promoting the exchange of information required to improve public, occupational, and environmental health.3. Publishing Policies3.1 Publication EthicsSAGE 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 PlagiarismAPB 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 manuscripts. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted manuscripts may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an manuscript, 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 manuscript is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the manuscript; 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 publicationIf 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 APB Editorial Office at the address given below.3.2 Contributor’s Publishing AgreementBefore 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 the SAGE Author Gateway.3.3 Open Access and Author ArchivingAPB offers optional open access publishing via the SAGE Choice program. For more information, please visit the SAGE Choice website. For information on funding body compliance and depositing your manuscript in repositories, please visit SAGE Publishing Policies on our Journal Author Gateway.4. Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission4.1 FormattingManuscripts considered for publication must be written in English and structured as original articles, review articles, letters to the editors, commentaries, and brief reviews. In addition to presenting the methods and results of a study, the author(s) should draw implications from the results, discuss their relevance, and propose recommendations for change or further study. Work involving pathogens or toxins must be conducted in accordance with relevant biosafety guidelines and a statement on the containment used to conduct the experiment should be included.Provide full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address, and telephone numbers. These details should be presented separately from the main text of the manuscript to facilitate double-blinded peer-review.Submissions not complying with the instructions provided herein will be rejected.4.1.1 Cover letterManuscripts (except correspondence) must be accompanied by a cover letter signed by all authors stating: (1) there has been no duplicate publication or submission of any part of the work; (2) all authors have read and approved the manuscript; and (3) there is no financial arrangement or other relationship that could be construed as a conflict of interest. If a potential conflict exists, its nature should be stated in the letter and on the title page of the manuscript for each author involved (see Editorial and Ethical Policies for a complete explanation).4.1.2 Title page fileConstruct a title that does not exceed 50 words and does not contain acronyms other than those referring to trials.List first and last names, affiliations, and email addresses for all authors.List the total word count.Acknowledge all sources of financial support (grants, fellowships, equipment, or remuneration of any kind) and any relationships that may be considered a conflict of interest (i.e., employment, stock holdings, retainers, paid or unpaid consultancies, patents or patent licensing arrangements, or honoraria) that may pertain to the manuscript (see Editorial and Ethical Policies).Give details of any prior presentation, including meeting name, location, and date.List acknowledgments, any shared first authorship, and other author notes.Give the name, address, telephone/fax numbers, and email address(es) of the corresponding author.4.1.3 Manuscript fileNote that APB uses a double-blinded reviewing policy, so no information that could identify the source of the manuscript (e.g. author or institution names) should appear in the body of the manuscript.In addition, please remove all hidden identifying information (including authorship information) from the file properties of your submission by using Microsoft Word’s document inspector. This will ensure blinding when reviewers add their own comments to your manuscript. Remember that deleting this data is irreversible, so please save an original version of the document with the data included for your own safekeeping before deleting the data from the document that you are submitting. If you are confused about how to remove this data, please refer to this online tutorial.Original Articles and Brief Review Articles should range from 3,000 to 5,000 words (excluding the abstract, tables, and figures).Review Articles of a scientific concept or technological application of relevance to biosafety, biocontainment, or biosecurity may be up to 6,000 words in length (excluding the abstract and references).Commentaries may be on any issue of relevance to biosafety but should be no more than 2,500 words and should include appropriate references.Letters to the Editors should be no more than 300 words and may be edited.Text material must be submitted as a single Microsoft Word document (not a PDF) named the “main document.” Type the title at the top of the first page followed by the abstract and keywords, text, references, appendix (if applicable), and figure legends (see below for details).Tables, figures, videos, and supplementary materials are delivered as separate files.Type section heads in bold (initial capital) letters at the left margin (do not center) followed by a hard return; subheads appear in italics (initial capital) at the left margin followed by a hard return. Third-level heads are in italicized type (first word capitalized) and indented to run in with the text.Section headingSecond-level head.Third-level head.Do not embed anything in the text, including fonts, links, footnotes in a hidden field, field codes, bookmarks, comments, passwords, objects, worksheets, databases, artwork, or slides (e.g. PowerPoint). Do not use endnotes or other bibliographic style functions for reference lists.Use the formatting function for bold, italic, and sub/superscripts. Symbols, foreign letters, and short (one line) mathematical formulas may be inline in the text.Since manuscripts undergo a blind review, no author or institution name should appear in the text or header/footer.4.1.4 AbstractGive a substantive summary of an Original Article in 250 words or less.All abstracts must be structured. Please label the sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion. For more information on structured abstracts, please see https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/policy/structured_abstracts.html.Provide a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 6 keywords and/or key phrases.4.1.5 TextOrganize the text for experimental investigations into sections entitled Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. Editorials and Reviews may be structured as appropriate for the material.Avoid naming any institution(s) in the work or otherwise identifying the author(s).Use Sl measurements; generic drug names should be used.Define abbreviations and acronyms when they first appear in the text.Identify tables and figures using Arabic numerals in parentheses (e.g., Figure 1).Place equations appearing in the text on their own line and number serially toward the right margin:1Short expressions without a number should be in-line with the text.Complex equations should be prepared with appropriate software and inserted to flow with the text.4.1.6 Statistical analysisThere should be sufficient information regarding study design, inclusion/exclusion criteria and what factors and how they were explored to permit study replication. For prognostic studies, the following information should be described: Study design and outcome(s) of interestFactors which may influence that outcomeInclusion/exclusion criteria (including how comparison group was chosen)Measurement instruments for outcome and factors (exposures) that may be associated with itLength of follow-upMethods for statistical evaluation, including description of how confounding was controlled that would allow for replication of the study by another investigatorEquations should be typed exactly as they are to appear in the final manuscript. Authors are encouraged to review recommendations from the Annals of Internal Medicine regarding the presentation of percentages and statistical measures such as error measures, P values, and trends. Likewise, authors are encouraged to consult guidelines from the American Psychological Association for information on presenting statistical results.For studies that have numeric data and use statistical inference, include a subsection that describes the methods used for statistical analysis and document the statistical software used.If a statistical analysis is conducted, explanation of the methods used must precede the Results section in the manuscript. Unusual or complex analysis methods should be referenced.Methodology for all statistical analysis should be described and references should be cited. Use of standard tests (chi-square test, student’s T-test, etc.) do not require citation of references. Use of proprietary software for statistical analysis should be documented.4.1.7 Reference styleAPB adheres to the AMA Manual of Style (10th ed.). View the guide here to ensure your manuscript conforms to this style. Do NOT use endnotes or other bibliographic style function for reference lists.Letters to the Editor may have no more than 10 references.Manuscript types other than Letters to the Editors have no limitations on references.Number references in the order of appearance in the text. Identify references in the text, tables, and legends as superscript Arabic numerals.List the first 3 authors (last name and initials separated by a comma); use ”et al.” for 4 or more authors.Abbreviate journal titles according to the style of Index Medicus; formats for the common types of journal citations are:Journal article: authors’ names and initials, article title, journal name, year, volume, and inclusive page numbers. Example: Görich J, Rilinger N, Söldner J, et al. Endovascular repair of aortic aneurysms: treatment of complications. J Endovasc Surg. 1996;6:136-146.Abstracts (not more than 2 years old): authors’ names and initials, title followed by [abstract], journal name, year, volume, and inclusive page numbers. Example: Reid DB, Diethrich EB. Intravascular ultrasound imaging in carotid artery stenting: results of a prospective study [abstract]. Cardiovasc Surg. 1996;4:661.Books: author/editor(s), title, edition, city/state of publication, publisher, and year. Example: Ahn SS, Moore WS, eds. Endovascular Surgery, 2nd ed. Philadelphia, PA: WB Saunders Co.; 1991.Book chapters: author(s), chapter title, editor(s), book title, city/state of publication, publisher, year, and inclusive page numbers. Example: Towne JB. Postintervention surveillance. In: White RA, Fogarty TJ, eds. Peripheral Endovascular Interventions. St. Louis, MO: Mosby–Year Book, Inc.; 1996:109-115.4.2 Artwork, Figures, and Other GraphicsFor guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit SAGE’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.Figures supplied in color will appear in color online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For specifically requested color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from SAGE after receipt of your accepted manuscript.4.2.1 LegendsType all figure and movie legends on a separate page of the Microsoft Word file, explaining abbreviations and symbols used in the figure. Previously published figures must be acknowledged and accompanied by written permission from the publisher to reproduce the material if it is copyrighted.Do not use the caption function for figure legends or include the actual figures in the Microsoft Word file.4.2.2 Table filesUse tables to supplement the text, not duplicate it.Make separate Microsoft Word files for each table, number them sequentially using Arabic numerals, and give a title at the top of the page. Do not insert tables in the text or create/save tables as an image.Format tables using the table formatting function in Microsoft Word; elaborate formatting (including reliance on shading and color) should not be used.Define any abbreviations as the first footnote under the table; list the abbreviations alphabetically.Use footnotes for explanatory material, labeling each with a superscript lower case letter (a-z) in alphabetical order.4.2.3 Figure filesPlease note that color figures will be displayed in color online and will be printed in grayscale. If you would prefer to print the figures in color, this can be arranged for an additional fee; please indicate your interest in a comment during production. The fees for color are $800 for the first figure and $200 for each additional color figure. Please indicate “print color requested” at the end of the legend of any figure that needs to be printed in color and for which you are willing to pay the fee. The publisher will confirm the color order at the page proof stage and send an invoice.If you are submitting a figure that will appear in color online but will be printed in grayscale because you choose not to pay the fee for color printing, please ensure that readers will be able to discern the colors when they are converted into grayscale (e.g., use different line or fill patterns on graphs in addition to different colors, which will look very similar in grayscale).Figures, pictures, charts, graphs, or line art should be cited in numeric order. All image files for figures should be labeled with the figure number (label each part if figures include multiple parts, e.g. 2A, 2B). The figure legend should be placed below each figure and should include descriptions of each figure part and identify the meaning of any symbols or arrows.Use color judiciously in pictures and graphics. We recommend the use of symbols, hatching, and line styles to further differentiate graphics if materials are presented using color as figures and pictures will be printed in grayscale unless color charges are paid.Text mentioned in figures and charts should use Arial font throughout (unless reproduced from an external source). The font color of such text should be black in order to ensure better legibility in a black and white print. Font size of such text should not be less than 8 point.Do not embed images into the text document. High-resolution images should also be uploaded separately as figure files.Supply all figures in a digital format of suitable quality for printing: TIFF for pictures or EPS for graphs and line drawings (to preserve quality when enlarged/zoomed). Image resolution should be at least 400 ppi for color or grayscale images and 600 ppi (preferably higher) for black and white line drawings or graphs. Image size at these resolutions should be no less than 3 inches wide for vertical images and 5 inches wide for horizontally oriented figures. Use a lossless compression algorithm (such as LZW) that does not degrade the resolution.4.2.4 Movie filesSubmit video clips up to 50 MB each in size in any video format. Legends must be provided, and the callout location of each file must appear in the text.Upload a movie/video file as a ”figure” or “supplementary material” as appropriate.4.3 Supplemental MaterialFollow the formatting instructions above for any supplemental figures, tables, reference lists, appendices, etc. Each item (e.g. table, reference list, etc.) should be named Supplementary Table 1, Supplementary Reference List, Supplementary Figure 1, etc. and uploaded as ”supplementary material.”This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc.) alongside the full-text of the manuscript. For more information, please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.4.4 English Language Editing ServicesAuthors 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.4.5 PublicationAccepted manuscripts will be scheduled for publication generally in the order in which they are received after no further author revisions are required and the SAGE Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement has been signed by the corresponding author.APB reserves the right to edit accepted manuscripts to comply with the journal’s format, to remove redundancies, to correct grammatical faults, and to improve readability without altering the meaning. Several weeks before the scheduled publication of a manuscript, the Editorial Office will send an edited version of the manuscript via email to the corresponding author for approval. After author approval of the edited version has been received, the publisher will send a PDF file of the page proof by email. At this stage, only correction of typographical errors or mistakes in the presentation of data can be made. Approval of or changes to the proof must be returned within 4 business days. A complimentary PDF of the final published manuscript will be sent to the corresponding author after publication. The average time from acceptance to online publication is 5 weeks.4.6 Guidance for Manuscript SharingAuthors’ rights with regard to sharing an manuscript’s pre- and post-publication are outlined on the SAGE archiving policies page. SAGE and APB follow a Green Open Access policy.In all cases, when posting or reusing the contribution under this policy, appropriate credit must be given to the SAGE journal where the contribution has been published, as the original source of the content, as follows: Author(s), Manuscript Title, Journal Title (Journal Volume Number and Issue Number) pp. xx-xx. Copyright © [year] (Copyright Holder). Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.Additionally, authors must provide a link to the appropriate DOI for the published version of the contribution on the SAGE Journals website (https://journals.sagepub.com).5. Submitting Your ManuscriptAPB is hosted on SAGE Track, a web based online submission and peer-review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/apb to login and submit your manuscript 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.5.1 ORCIDAs 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.We encourage all authors and co-authors to link their ORCIDs 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. We collect ORCID IDs during the manuscript submission process and your ORCID ID then becomes part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your manuscript 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 Information Required for Completing Your ManuscriptYou will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplemental files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).5.3 PermissionsPlease also ensure that you have obtained any necessary 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 see the Copyright and Permissions page on the SAGE Author Gateway.6. Acceptance and Publication6.1 SAGE ProductionYour SAGE Production Editor will keep you informed as to your manuscript’s progress throughout the production process. Page proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal SAGE Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us 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. If there are any changes to the author list at this stage, all authors will be required to complete and sign a form authorising the change.6.2 OnlineFirst PublicationOnlineFirst allows final manuscripts (completed and approved manuscripts awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the SAGE Journals help page for more details, including how to cite OnlineFirst manuscripts.6.3 Access to Your Published ManuscriptSAGE provides authors with online access to their final manuscript.6.4 Promoting Your ManuscriptPublication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your manuscript and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The SAGE Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Manuscript page on the Gateway for tips and advice. In addition, SAGE is partnered with Kudos, a free service that allows authors to explain, enrich, share, and measure the impact of their manuscript. Find out how to maximize your manuscript’s impact with Kudos.7. Further InformationAny correspondence, queries, or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the APB editorial office as follows: Karen D. Savagekaren@absaoffice.org(866) 425-1385 (toll free)(847) 949-15177.1 Appealing the Publication DecisionEditors have very broad discretion in determining whether an manuscript is an appropriate fit for their journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the manuscript, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailed written description of the error they believe occurred.If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at publication_ethics@sagepub.com.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 24Issue 4Dec 2019 Information© ABSA International 2019To cite this article:Karen D. Savage.Information for Contributors.Applied Biosafety.Dec 2019.231-238.http://doi.org/10.1177/1535676019873741Published in Volume: 24 Issue 4: December 1, 2019PDF download