BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES (BBS)

Instructions for Authors and Commentators

Once the Commentary stage of the process has begun, the author can no longer alter the article, but can respond formally to all commentaries accepted for publication. The target article, commentaries, and authors' responses then co-appear in BBS. Continuing Commentary and replies can appear in later issues.

CRITERIA FOR ACCEPTANCE: To be eligible for publication, a paper should not only meet the standards of a journal such as Psychological Review or the International Review of Neurobiology in terms of conceptual rigor, empirical grounding, and clarity of style, but should also offer an explicit rationale for soliciting Commentary. That rationale (c. 500 words) should be provided in the author's covering letter, together with a list of suggested commentators (with email addresses).

A BBS target article can be (i) the report and discussion of empirical research that the author judges to have broader scope and implications than might be more appropriately reported in a specialty journal; (ii) an unusually significant theoretical article that formally models or systematizes a body of research; or (iii) a novel interpretation, synthesis, or critique of existing experimental or theoretical work. Occasionally, articles dealing with social or philosophical aspects of the behavioral and brain sciences will be considered.

The service of Open Peer Commentary will be primarily devoted to original unpublished manuscripts. However, a recently published book whose contents meet the standards outlined above may also be eligible for Commentary. In such a BBS Multiple Book Review, a comprehensive, article length precis by the author is published together with the commentaries and the author's response. In special cases, Commentary will also be extended to a position paper or an already published article dealing with particularly influential or controversial research. Submission of an article implies that it has not been published or is not being considered for publication elsewhere. Multiple book reviews and previously published articles appear by invitation only. The Associateship and professional readership of BBS are encouraged to nominate current topics and authors for Commentary.

In all the categories described, the decisive consideration for eligibility will be the desirability of Commentary for the submitted material. Controversiality simpliciter is not a sufficient criterion for soliciting Commentary: a paper may be controversial simply because it is wrong or weak. Nor is the mere presence of interdisciplinary aspects sufficient: general cybernetic and "organismic" disquisitions are not appropriate for BBS. Some appropriate rationales for seeking Open Peer Commentary would be that: (1) the material bears in a significant way on some current controversial issues in behavioral and brain sciences; (2) its findings substantively contradict some well-established aspects of current research and theory; (3) it criticizes the findings, practices, or principles of an accepted or influential line of work; (4) it unifies a substantial amount of disparate research; (5) it has important cross-disciplinary ramifications; (6) it introduces an innovative methodology or formalism for consideration by proponents of the established forms; (7) it meaningfully integrates a body of brain and behavioral data; (8) it places a hitherto dissociated area of research into an evolutionary or ecological perspective; etc. In order to assure communication with potential commentators (and readers) from other BBS specialty area, all technical terminology must be clearly defined or simplified, and specialized concepts must be fully described.

NOTE TO COMMENTATORS: The purpose of the Open Peer Commentary service is to provide a concentrated constructive interaction between author and commentators on a topic judged to be of broad significance to the biobehavioral science community. Commentators should provide substantive criticism, interpretation, and elaboration as well as any pertinent complementary or supplementary material, such as illustrations; all original data will be refereed in order to assure the archival validity of BBS commentaries. Commentaries and articles should be free of hyperbole and remarks ad hominem.

STYLE AND FORMAT FOR ARTICLES AND COMMENTARIES: Target articles must not exceed 14,000 words (and should ordinarily be considerably shorter); commentaries should not exceed 1000 words, including references. Spelling, capitalization, and punctuation should be consistent within each article and commentary and should follow the style recommended in the latest edition of A Manual of Style, The University of Chicago Press. It may be helpful to examine a recent issue of BBS.

Web-Ready Draft: BBS has a new policy of temporarily archiving the manuscripts submitted for refereeing on a (hidden) Web Site for BBS referees only. This is to accelerate and facilitate the refereeing process.  After refereeing is completed, your manuscript will be removed; once accepted, the final draft will be archived publicly for potential commentators in BBS's Preprint Archive.

Format: All submissions must include an indexable title, followed by the authors' names in the form preferred for publication, full institutional addresses, email addresses and WWW URLs. Target article authors must also provide numbered headings and subheadings to facilitate cross-reference by commentators. Two abstracts, one of 100 and one of 250 words, should be submitted with every target article (~60 words for commentaries and responses). The shorter abstract will appear one issue in advance of the article; the longer one will be circulated to potential commentators and will appear with the printed article. A list of 5-10 keywords should precede all target article texts. Notes, acknowledgments, appendices, and references should be grouped at the end of the target article or commentary.

Illustrations: Tables and figures (i.e., photographs, graphs, charts, or other artwork) should be numbered consecutively. Every table should have a title; every figure, a caption. At least one reference in the text must indicate the appropriate location. (For sizes, see below)

References: Bibliographic citations in the text must include the author's last name and the date of publication and may include page references. Complete bibliographic information for each citation should be included in the list of references. Please also include the WWW URL for any paper for which it exists. Examples of correct style are: Brown(1973); (Brown 1973); Brown 1973; 1978); (Brown 1973; Jones 1976); (Brown & Jones 1978); (Brown et al. 1978). References should be typed on a separate sheet in alphabetical order in the style of the following examples. Do not abbreviate journal titles:

Freeman, W.J. (1958) Distribution in time and space of prepyriform electrical activity. Journal of Neurophysiology 2: 644-66. 
http://cogprints.soton.ac.uk/abs/neuro/199806009

Dennett, D.C. (1991) Two contrasts: Folk craft versus folk science and belief versus opinion. In: The future of folk psychology: Intentionality and cognitive science, ed. J. D. Greenwood, Cambridge University Press. 
http://cogpints.soton.ac.uk/abs/phil/199804005

Bateson, P. P. G. & Hinde, R. A., eds. (1978) Growing points in ethology, Cambridge University Press.

Preparation of final accepted draft: double-spaced (1/4" space between lines) on 8-1/2 by 11 or A4 paper, with margins set to 70 characters per line (not "justified"), and 25 lines per page (50 pages maximum). Pages should be numbered consecutively. Each table and figure should be submitted on a separate page, not interspersed with the text. Tables should be typed to conform to BBS style. Figures should be ready for photographic reproduction (jpegs, gifs, tiffs, picts); they cannot be redrawn by the printer. Charts, graphs, or other artwork should be done in black ink on white paper and should be drawn to occupy a standard area of 8-1/2 by 11 or 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 inches before reduction. Photographs should be glossy black-and-white prints; 8 by 10 inch enlargements are preferred. All labels and details on figures should be clearly printed and large enough to remain legible even after a reduction to half size. It is recommended that labels be done in transfer type of a sans-serif face such as Helvetica.

Send hard copies to:

Stevan Harnad,
Editor, Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Electronics and Computer Science
University of Southampton
Highfield, Southampton
SO17 1BJ UNITED KINGDOM
bbs@cogsci.soton.ac.uk
http://bbs.cogsci.soton.ac.uk

EDITING: The publishers reserve the right to edit and proof all articles and commentaries accepted for publication. Authors of articles will be given the opportunity to review the copy-edited manuscript and page proofs. Commentators will be asked to review copy-editing only when changes have been substantial; commentators will not see proofs. Both authors and commentators should notify the editorial office of all corrections within 48 hours or approval will be assumed.

Authors of target articles receive 50 offprints of the entire treatment, and can purchase additional copies. Commentators will also be given an opportunity to purchase offprints of the entire treatment.

*Individuals interested in serving as BBS Associates are asked to write to the editor bbs@cogsci.soton.ac.uk.