Submission, Review, & Publication Processes

Instructions to Authors (PDF)

Editorial Style

The editorial style of ASM journals conforms to the ASM Style Manual for Journals (American Society for Microbiology, 2017, in-house document [you may find the ASM Word List helpful]) and How To Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 7th ed. (Greenwood, Santa Barbara, CA, 2011), as interpreted and modified by the editorial board and the ASM Journals Department.

The editors and the Journals Department reserve the privilege of editing manuscripts, whether invited or not, to conform with the stylistic conventions set forth in the aforesaid publications and in these Instructions. Any deviations from this style must be approved by the Journals Department.

Submission Process

All submissions to CMR must be made electronically via the eJP online submission and peer review system at the following URL: https://cmr.msubmit.net/cgi-bin/main.plex. (E-mailed submissions will not be accepted.) First-time users must create an Author account, which may be used for submitting to all ASM journals. Instructions for creating an Author account are available at the above URL via the "help for authors" link, and step-by-step instructions for submitting a manuscript via eJP are also available through the same link on the log-in screen or on the account holder's home page. Information on file types acceptable for electronic submission can be found under the Files heading in the help for authors screen.

Manuscript Submission Checklist

Before submitting a manuscript, please review the following information.

eJP online manuscript submission and peer review system:

  • Provide a cover letter including a statement which confirms that the article has not been submitted for publication or review elsewhere
  • Provide names and contact information for at least three potential reviewers with appropriate expertise who can adequately review the manuscript
  • Provide a conflict-of-interest statement, disclosing any financial interests or support from institutions or companies mentioned in the manuscript (include this statement in the cover letter, in the submission form, and in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript)

Manuscript (the listed elements should be included in the following order):

  • A title page including the title of the article, a list of the authors, a list of the authors' affiliations, and an e-mail address for the corresponding author.
  • A table of contents with page numbers for each section
  • A summary of the manuscript, which will serve as the article abstract and will appear before the Introduction and in the journal's table of contents
  • An Introduction section
  • The main body of the manuscript (the main text, the tables, and the references must be double-spaced, and line numbers must be included in the text portion of the manuscript)
  • A References section, with all references formatted in ASM style (see "References") ; all references must be cited in the text
  • Author biographies
  • Figure legends (on initial submission, each legend should be placed in the text file and be incorporated into the image file beneath the figure to assist review)
  • Tables
  • Figures and author photographs, with each image on a separate page labeled with the figure number and with the legend; no line numbers should appear on pages with figures, and digital images must have been tested with Rapid Inspector and meet formatting specifications for the journal

Permissions:

  • Obtain permissions from both the original author and the original publisher to reproduce or adapt any figure or table included in the manuscript that is not original material; this includes material that the authors have previously published unless the authors are the copyright owners (note that most peer-reviewed journals are the copyright owners)

Supplemental Material. Supplemental material will be peer reviewed along with the manuscript and must be uploaded to the eJournalPress (eJP) peer review system at initial manuscript submission. The decision to publish the material online with the accepted article is made by the editor. It is possible that a manuscript will be accepted but that the supplemental material will not be.

All supplemental text, tables, and figures should be combined in a single self-contained document (PDF), and no supplemental material should be included in the main manuscript. Supplemental data set and movie files may be uploaded separately. The number of supplemental material files is limited to 10. Supplemental files should be submitted in the following standard formats.

  • Text, figures, tables, and legends should be included in a single PDF file. All figures and tables should be numbered independently and cited at the relevant point in the manuscript text, e.g., "Fig. S1," "Fig. S2," "Table S3," etc. Do not duplicate data by presenting them in both the text of the manuscript and a supplemental figure. Each legend should appear below its corresponding figure or table. The maximum file size is 8 MB. Please review this sample file for guidance.
  • Data set (Excel [.xls]) files should include a brief description of how the data are used in the paper. The maximum file size is 20 MB. Please review this sample file for guidance.
  • Movies (Audio Video Interleave [.avi], QuickTime [.mov], or MPEG files) should be submitted at the desired reproduction size and length and should be accompanied by a legend. The maximum file size is 20 MB.

Unlike the manuscript, supplemental material will not be edited by the ASM Journals staff and proofs will not be made available. References related to supplemental material only should not be listed in the References section of an article; instead, include them with the supplemental material. Supplemental material will always remain associated with its article and is not subject to any modifications after publication.

Material that has been published previously (print or online) is not acceptable for posting as supplemental material. Instead, the appropriate reference(s) to the original publication should be made in the manuscript.

Copyright for the supplemental material remains with the author, but a license permitting the posting by ASM is included in the copyright transfer agreement completed by the corresponding author. If you are not the copyright owner, you must provide to ASM signed permission from the owner that allows posting of the material, as a supplement to your article, by ASM. You are responsible for including in the supplemental material any copyright notices required by the owner.

Review Process

All manuscripts are considered to be confidential and undergo rigorous peer review by members of the editorial board or qualified ad hoc reviewers.

To expedite the review process, authors must recommend at least three reviewers who have expertise in the field, who are not members of their institution(s), who have not recently been associated with their laboratory(ies), and who could not otherwise be considered to pose a conflict of interest regarding the submitted manuscript. Please provide their contact information where indicated on the submission form. Impersonation of another individual during the review process is considered serious misconduct.

To facilitate the review, copies of in-press and submitted manuscripts that are important for judgment of the present manuscript should be included as supplemental material not for publication.

When a manuscript is submitted to the journal, it is given a control number (e.g., CMR00123-19) and assigned to the editor in chief. (Always refer to this control number in communications with the editor and the Journals Department.) From there it is assigned to at least two independent experts for peer review. A single-blind review, where authors’ identities are known to reviewers, is applied. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to inform the coauthors of the manuscript's status throughout the submission, review, and publication processes. The reviewers operate under strict guidelines set forth in "Reviewer Guidelines" and are expected to complete their reviews expeditiously. Once the manuscript is submitted, it is sent out for peer review to several experts in the field. Reviews generally take about 6 weeks, and then a decision (accept, modify, or reject) about the manuscript is made. It should be expected that there will be minor or major revisions required of authors during the revision process. Manuscripts may require re-review if the editor deems it necessary.

The corresponding author is notified by an editor or the editor in chief of his/her decision to accept, reject, or require modification. When modification is requested, the corresponding author must either submit the modified version within 2 months or risk withdrawal of the manuscript. A point-by-point response to the reviews must be uploaded as a separate file (identified as such). A compare copy of the manuscript (without figures) should be included as a marked up manuscript if the editor in chief requested one.

Manuscripts that have been rejected, or withdrawn after being returned for modification, will not be reconsidered by CMR, although a formal appeal can be initiated.

Notification of Acceptance

Manuscripts cannot be accepted until all required materials are submitted to the editorial office (manuscripts must be formatted correctly, figures must be prepared according to specifications, and permissions must be secured). When an editor or editor in chief has decided that a manuscript is acceptable for publication on the basis of scientific merit, the author and the Journals Department are notified. The text files undergo an automated preediting, cleanup, and tagging process specific to the particular article type, and the illustrations are examined. If all files have been prepared according to the criteria set forth in these Instructions and those in the eJP online manuscript submission system, the acceptance procedure will be completed successfully. If there are problems that would cause extensive corrections to be made at the copyediting stage or if the files are not acceptable for production, ASM Journals staff will contact the corresponding author.

Once all the material intended for publication has been determined to be adequate, the manuscript is scheduled for the next available issue. The editorial staff of the ASM Journals Department completes the editing of the manuscript to bring it into conformity with prescribed standards.

Page Proofs

Page proofs, together with a query sheet and instructions for handling proofs, will be made available to the corresponding author electronically. Queries must be answered on the query page, and any changes related to the queries, as well as any additional changes, must be indicated on the proofs. Note that the copy editor does not query at every instance where a change has been made. Queries are written only to request necessary information or clarification of an unclear passage or to draw attention to edits that may have altered the sense. It is the author's responsibility to read the entire text, tables, and figure legends, not just items queried. Corrected proofs must be returned within two business days after notification of availability.

The proof stage is not the time to make extensive corrections, additions, or deletions. Figures as they appear in the proofs are for validation of content and placement, not quality of reproduction or color accuracy. Print output of figures in the PDF page proofs will be of lower quality than the same figures viewed on a monitor. Please avoid making changes to figures based on quality of color or reproduction in proof.

Important new information that has become available between acceptance of the manuscript and receipt of the proofs may be inserted as an addendum in proof with the permission of the editor in chief. If references to unpublished data or personal communications are added, it is expected that written assurance granting permission for the citation will be provided. Limit changes to correction of spelling errors, incorrect data, and grammatical errors and updated information for references to articles that have been submitted or are in press. If URLs have been provided in the article, recheck the sites to ensure that the addresses are still accurate and the material that you expect the reader to find is indeed there.

Questions about proofs should be directed to the ASM Journals Department (email, cbrown@asmusa.org; telephone, 202-942-9384).

PDF Files

The corresponding author will have limited access (10 downloads, total) to the PDF file of his/her published article. An e-mail alert will automatically be sent to him/her on the day the article is posted online. It will provide a URL, which will be required to obtain access, and instructions. An article may be viewed, printed, or stored, provided that it is for the author's own use.

Should coauthors or colleagues be interested in viewing the paper for their own use, the corresponding author may provide them with the URL; a copy of the article may not be forwarded electronically. However, they must be made aware of the terms and conditions of the ASM copyright. (For details, go https://journals.asm.org/content/copyright-and-license-information.) Note that each such download will count toward the corresponding author's total of 10. After 10 downloads, access will be denied and can be obtained only through a subscription to the journal (either individual or institutional) or after the standard access control has been lifted (i.e., 1 year after publication). The ASM embargo policy allows a press release to be issued on the date the online issue is published.

Author Reprints and Eprints

The corresponding author may receive, in addition to the 10 published PDF files mentioned above, 100 free eprints of his/her contribution. Instructions for ordering gratis or additional reprints and eprints can be found in the billing notification e-mail sent to all corresponding authors. To order reprints postpublication, please follow the instructions on the Author Reprint Order Form. Please contact cjsreprints@cadmus.com with any questions.