Author Guidelines
Scope Of The Journal
ACS Infectious Diseases invites original articles that highlight the role of chemistry in the multidisciplinary and collaborative field of infectious disease research. The scope of the journal encompasses all aspects of chemistry relating to infectious diseases research including research on pathogens, host-pathogen interactions, therapeutics, diagnostics, vaccines, drug-delivery systems, and other biomedical technology development pertaining to infectious diseases. Authors are encouraged to read a recent Editorial on our scope here.
Some specific areas that are appropriate include the following.
Pathogens and Host-Pathogen Interactions. Use of structural biology, chemical biology, glycobiology, physical chemistry, nucleic acid chemistry, and biochemistry to elucidate molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis. Development of tools to dissect mechanisms of pathogenesis
Therapeutics. Use of target- and phenotypic-based approaches for discovery and development of new agents to treat infectious diseases, with an emphasis on establishing mechanism of action, understanding binding mode and inhibitory mechanism, and/or discussing pathogen-specific challenges to drug development. Development of new technologies to facilitate characterization, validation, and prioritization of potential drug targets or to assess the physicochemical bases for cellular penetration of anti-infectives.
Drug Resistance. Mechanistic investigations of antimicrobial resistance.
Vaccines. Discovery and development of synthetic vaccines and small molecule vaccine adjuvants. Structural and physical investigations of epitope binding.
Diagnostics. Development of novel and improved diagnostics using physical, surface, analytical, and nano chemistry techniques. Use of structural biology, molecular biology, and chemical biology to investigate diagnostics targets.
Drug Delivery Systems. Use of novel materials and technologies, such as nanotechnologies, for delivery of antimicrobial agents.
Manuscript Types
ACS Infectious Diseases publishes original Articles, Featured Articles, Letters, Reviews, Perspectives, and Viewpoints that highlight recent developments and further the understanding of infectious diseases. The Editors welcome the submission of manuscripts in the following categories:
Articles. Concise, yet comprehensive, original research presenting an advance of immediate, broad, and lasting impact. Articles are not intended to be follow-up manuscripts, unless they contain new and extensive information that will advance the understanding of the system or biological process. Articles are peer-reviewed and contain an unreferenced abstract of 250 words or less. Abstracts should not contain abbreviations or acronyms unless essential. A referenced introduction should expand on the background of the work. Articles include the following headed sections (presented in this order): Results and Discussion (can be combined), and Methods. In general, Articles should be less than 6500 words in length and include 7–10 display items (figures/tables/schemes) and ~50 references. Supporting Information may be included. Articles include a graphical Table of Contents entry and a list of up to six keywords.
Featured Articles. The Editors may choose to give “Featured Article” status to any Article at the time of acceptance.
Letters. Short reports of original research focused on an individual significant finding. Letters are peer reviewed and begin with an unreferenced abstract of less than 150 words. Abstracts should not contain abbreviations or acronyms unless essential. Letters include unheaded sections for the Introduction and combined Results and Discussion and a headed section for Methods that can also contain subsections. Letters should contain 4–6 display items (figures/tables/schemes) and ~30 references. Letters should include sufficient experimental detail to allow others to reproduce the findings presented. Supporting Information is encouraged. Letters should be less than 4500 words in length, including the abstract, body text, methods, references, and figure/scheme legends. Letters include a graphical Table of Contents entry and a list of up to six keywords.
Reviews. Topical and of general interest to the readership. Reviews are peer-reviewed and contain an unreferenced abstract of 250 words or less that summarizes the main points. A good Review critically evaluates existing work, provides a logical organization, and makes the material more easily available to those not expert in the area through clear text and figures. The manuscript should contain the following components; a brief introduction of the field such that the general reader can understand (and/or appreciate) the questions that have been the focus of the field in the past 1-3 years, the progress that has been made addressing these questions in recent publications, and a summary putting the recent progress into context for the field. The scope of a Review should be broad enough that it is not dominated by the work of a single laboratory, and particularly not by the authors' own work. It should appeal to the wide readership of ACS Infectious Diseases (chemists, biochemists, molecular biologists, structural biologists & microbiologists). Reviews should be greater than 5000 words in length, include 4– 8 display items (figures/tables/schemes), and contain ~100 references. Include a graphical Table of Contents entry consisting of a colorful figure that represents the topic of the Review. Authors may choose to divide the Review into sections preceded by headings. Finally, the journal recommends that authors define key words used in the Review and key concepts in a separate paragraph.
Perspectives. Submitted by invitation only. Perspectives are designed to provide an enlightened appraisal of a field of research in which experts review the “state of the art” for a given topic similar to Reviews. Unlike Reviews, however, authors have editorial freedom to express their views on the strategic directions of the field of research. Perspectives should include a brief introduction of the field such that the general reader can understand (and/or appreciate) the questions that have been the focus of the field in the past 1-3 years, the progress that has been made addressing these questions in recent publications, and a summary putting the recent progress into context of the field and highlighting new questions that may arise or are now within reach in the next 1-3 years. It is best if the authors briefly put the field in perspective and discuss which questions can now be answered by the data in recent publications. The authors should provide a brief statement at the end of the Perspective about where the new data take us and what we should expect in the coming years in this area of research. The scope of a Perspective should be broad enough that it is not dominated by the work of a single laboratory, and particularly not by the authors' own work. It should appeal to the wide readership of ACS Infectious Diseases (chemists, biochemists, molecular biologists, structural biologists & microbiologists). Perspectives are peer-reviewed, contain an unreferenced abstract of 250 words or less, and include a graphical Table of Contents. Perspectives should be 3000–6000 words in length, include 3–6 display items (figures/tables/scheme), and contain up to 100 references. Authors may choose to divide the Perspective into sections preceded by headings. Finally, the journal recommends that authors define key words used in the Perspective and key concepts in a separate paragraph. We accept shorter forms of this manuscript type (“Miniperspective”) as long as they discuss emerging topics. Perspectives are submitted via a special link created in the author dashboard.
Viewpoints. Submitted by invitation only. Viewpoints are brief non-peer reviewed commentaries on current issues in the infectious diseases field, meant to call attention to a specific topic and encourage dialogue within the community. Responses to Viewpoints or other content will be considered. Viewpoint articles should be approximately 1500 words in length and contain a short abstract (100 words) to highlight the main point. Viewpoints can accommodate up to 2 smaller figures and/or tables. We strongly encourage the use of at least 1 figure. Please limit references to 8-12.
ACS Publishing Center
While this document will provide basic information on how to prepare and submit the manuscript as well as other critical information about publishing, we also encourage authors to visit the ACS Publishing Center for additional information on everything that is needed to prepare (and review) manuscripts for ACS journals and partner journals, such as
Mastering the Art of Scientific Publication, which shares editor tips about a variety of topics including making your paper scientifically effective, preparing excellent graphics, and writing cover letters.
Resources on how to prepare and submit a manuscript to ACS Paragon Plus, ACS Publications’ manuscript submission and peer review environment, including details on selecting the applicable Journal Publishing Agreement.
Sharing your research with the public through the ACS Publications open access program.
ACS Reviewer Lab, a free online course covering best practices for peer review and related ethical considerations.
Manuscript Preparation
Submit with Fast Format
All ACS journals and partner journals have simplified their formatting requirements in favor of a streamlined and standardized format for an initial manuscript submission. Read more about the requirements and the benefits these serves authors and reviewers here.
Manuscripts submitted for initial consideration must adhere to these standards:
Submissions must be complete with clearly identified standard sections used to report original research, free of annotations or highlights, and include all numbered and labeled components.
Figures, charts, tables, schemes, and equations should be embedded in the text at the point of relevance. Separate graphics can be supplied later at revision, if necessary.
A two-column manuscript template is available and can be used for manuscripts submitted to any ACS journal or partner journal. Templates are not required but may be useful to approximate how an article will compose. For manuscripts with word count limits, authors are not required to fit content into a page limit based on the template.
References can be provided in any style, but they must be complete, including titles. For information about the required components of different reference types, please refer to the ACS Style Quick Guide.
Supporting Information should be submitted as a separate file(s).
Document Templates and Format
The templates facilitate the peer review process by allowing authors to place artwork and tables close to the point where they are discussed within the text. Learn more about document templates here.
General information on the preparation of manuscripts may also be found in the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication.
Acceptable Software, File Designations, and TeX/LaTeX
See the list of Acceptable Software and appropriate File Designations to be sure your file types are compatible with ACS Paragon Plus. Information for manuscripts generated from TeX/LaTeX is also available.
Cover Letter
A cover letter must accompany every manuscript submission. During the submission process, you may type it or paste it into the submission system, or you may attach it as a file.
A letter must contain the following elements:
Manuscript title
Name of the corresponding author
Name(s) of any other author(s)
A paragraph explaining why the paper is appropriate for ACS Infectious Diseases, and
Note whether the manuscript was discussed with an ACS Infectious Diseases Editor before submission
A short (~150 word) lay summary (at the level of an undergraduate in chemistry or biochemistry) describing the significance of the study for a broad audience
Manuscript Text Components
Title Page. Titles should clearly and concisely reflect the emphasis and content of the manuscript and be accessible to a broad audience. Titles are of great importance for current awareness and information retrieval and should be carefully constructed for these purposes. One option that authors may wish to consider is to present a significant outcome in the title. Titles should not contain specialized abbreviations or jargon. Editors may request author revision of a title at any time prior to publication.
Author List. Include all those who have made substantial contributions to the work. To facilitate indexing and retrieval and for unique identification of an author, use first names, initials, and surnames (e.g., John R. Smith) or first initials, second names, and surnames (e.g., J. Robert Smith). At least one author must be designated with an asterisk as the person to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Many Funders and Institutions require that institutional affiliations are identified for all authors listed in the work being submitted. ACS facilitates this requirement by collecting institution information during manuscript submission under Step 2: Authors and Affiliations in ACS Paragon Plus.
During manuscript submission, the submitting author must provide contact information (full name, e-mail address, institutional affiliation, and mailing address) for each of the co-authors. Because all of the author names are automatically imported into the electronic Journal Publishing Agreement, all author names must be entered into ACS Paragon Plus. (Note that co-authors are not required to register in ACS Paragon Plus.) The author who submits the manuscript for publication accepts the responsibility of notifying all co-authors that the manuscript is being submitted. Deletion of an author after the manuscript has been submitted requires a confirming letter to the Editor-in-Chief from the author whose name is being deleted. For more information on ethical responsibilities of authors, see the Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research.
Abstract. All Articles, Letters, Reviews, Perspectives, and Viewpoints must contain an abstract, which should provide a succinct, informative summation of the most important results and conclusions. Ideally, an abstract should be less than 150 words. References cannot be cited in the abstract. Abbreviations should be used sparingly and spelled out when first used. Abstracts display the same graphic provided for the TOC.
Keywords. Authors should provide a list of up to six keywords to be displayed below the abstract of their publication.
Introduction. The purpose and significance of the research should be clearly stated and placed in the context of earlier work in the area. Historical summaries are seldom warranted. Do not attempt a complete survey of the literature. If a recent article has summarized work on the subject, cite that article without repeating its individual citations. In general, the introductory section should be ~750 words for a letter and ~1000 words for an article. This section does not have a heading.
Results and Discussion. Results should be presented concisely. Tables and figures should be referred to directly, and data should be presented in only one figure or table. In the interest of economy of space, Supporting Information (also subject to review) should be submitted as a separate file. The discussion should interpret the results, relate them to existing knowledge in the field, and clearly state their significance. To conserve space, please submit supplemental information as a single PDF as Supporting Information for Review. The Results and Discussion sections in Research Articles may be combined into a single section or described separately (preferred). Please use section headings.
Conclusion. Authors should write a brief conclusion that succinctly highlights the key findings of the paper and their significance.
Experimental Section. Provide a clear, unambiguous description of materials, methods, and equipment in sufficient detail to permit repetition of the work elsewhere. Describe novel experimental procedures in detail, but refer to published procedures by literature citation of both the original and any published modifications. Authors must emphasize any unexpected, new, and/or significant hazards or risks associated with the reported work. This information should be in the experimental details section of the full article or communication. Experimental Manuscripts reporting data from experiments on live animals must include a statement identifying the approving committee and certifying that such experiments were performed in accordance with all national or local guidelines and regulations.
Ancillary Information. Include pertinent information in the order listed immediately before the references.
Supporting Information. Provide brief descriptions in non-sentence format listing the contents of the material supplied as Supporting Information.
PDB ID Codes: Include the PDB ID codes with assigned compound Arabic number. Include the statement “Authors will release the atomic coordinates and experimental data upon article publication.”
Corresponding Author Information: Provide email addresses for each of the designated corresponding authors.
Present/Current Author Addresses: Provide information for authors whose affiliations or addresses have changed.
Author Contributions: Include statement such as "These authors contributed equally."
Acknowledgment: Authors may acknowledge people, organizations, and financial supporters in this section.
Abbreviations Used: Provide a list of nonstandard abbreviations and acronyms used in the paper, e.g., "Mtb, Mycobacterium tuberculosis". Separate by semicolons. Do not include compound code numbers in this list. It is not necessary to include abbreviations and acronyms from the Standard Abbreviations and Acronyms list in The ACS Style Guide (http://pubs.acs.org/series/styleguide) or those accepted by the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (http://pubs.acs.org/paragonplus/submission/jmcmar/jmcmar_abbreviations.pdf).
References and Notes. Number literature references and notes in one consecutive series by order of mention in the text. Numbers in the text are non-parenthesized superscripts. The accuracy of the references is the responsibility of the author. List all authors; do not use et al. Provide inclusive page numbers. Titles may have capitalization of first word only (excluding, for example, acronyms and trade names) or standard capitalization as shown below. The chosen style should be used consistently throughout the references. Double-space the references using the format shown below.
Compile all references together in a list at the end of the manuscript text. Many of them will have links to other web resources, such as the corresponding abstracts in Chemical Abstracts and the full text on publisher websites. Because of this electronic linking, and because the references are not checked in detail by Editors or reviewers, it is crucial that authors verify their accuracy. Avoid unnecessarily long lists of references. However, authors must reference all previous publications in which portions of the present work have appeared. Avoid long references; place additional data and peripheral discussion in the Supporting Information rather than in references. Supplementary references may be placed in Supporting Information. Literature references must be numbered with Arabic numerals in the order of their first citation in the text and the corresponding numbers inserted at the appropriate locations in the text.
Titles of journals are abbreviated according to Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI, http://cassi.cas.org/search.jsp). Manuscripts accepted for publication are cited as “in press”; the DOI should be given if the paper is published online. Cite manuscripts that are in preparation or have been submitted but not yet accepted as unpublished experiments or personal communications.
Journals: Gehrke, S. S., Kumar, G., Yokubynas, N. A., Côté, J. P., Wang, W., French, S., MacNair, C. R., Wright, G. D., and Brown, E. D. (2017) Exploiting the sensitivity of nutrient transporter deletion strains in discovery of natural product antimetabolites. ACS Infect. Dis. 3, 955–965. DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.7b00149.
Serial publications like Methods in Enzymology should be listed in the same form as journals.
Journal articles published online ahead of print or online only, the DOI should be used: Cohen, L. J., Han, S., Huang, Y.-H., and Brady, S. F. Identification of the Colicin V Bacteriocin Gene Cluster by Functional Screening of a Human Microbiome Metagenomic Library. ACS Infect. Dis. Epub Aug 15, 2017. DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.7b00081
References to book chapters and monographs: Copeland, R. A. (2013) Drug-target residence time. In Evaluation of enzyme inhibitors in drug discovery: A guide for medicinal chemists and pharmacologists, 2nd ed., pp 345–382, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Patents: Vince, R., and Hua, M. Optically-active isomers of dideoxycarbocyclic nucleosides. U. S. Patent 4,950,758, Aug 21, 1990.
Book with an Editor: Nelsestuen, G. L., Resnick, R. M., and Pletcher, C. H. (1980) in Vitamin K Metabolism (Suttie, J. W., Ed.) 3rd ed., Vol. 2, pp 28-38, University Park Press, Baltimore, MD.
Tables. Tabulation of experimental results is encouraged when this leads to more effective presentation or to more economical use of space. Titles and footnotes should be on the same page as the table. Tables may be created using a word processor’s text mode or table format feature. The table format feature is preferred. Ensure each data entry is in its own table cell. If the text mode is used, separate columns with a single tab and use a return at the end of each row. Submit within the body of the manuscript text file.
Number consecutively using Arabic numbers.
Include a descriptive heading that, together with the individual column headings, makes the table self-explanatory.
Give footnotes letter designations and cite them in the table by italic superscript letters. The sequence of letters should proceed by line rather than by column.
When a reference is cited, insert a lettered footnote in the table and put the reference number in a footnote.
When columns are used, arrange data efficiently to save space.
Place crystallographic and NMR data tables last in a series of tables in a manuscript, because they are generally placed in the Methods section.
Include list of sections/components specific to Journal with any descriptions (if needed). Title, Author List, Abstract, Keywords, Main Text (Introduction, Experimental, Results, Discussion/Conclusion), Acknowledgement, References (NOTE: references upon submission must follow Review-Ready Submission requirements, graphics included in separate section).
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