Blood Style Guide - Article Structure
The left running head consists of author last names. The names should be in all caps, and any connecting words
should be lowercased. If there are 3 or more authors, use the first author’s last name and add et al.
VAN KEMENADE et al
LO-COCO et al
When there are only 2 authors for an article, use and (not ampersand) to join both authors' last names.
When there is only 1 author, simply use that author's last name.
VAN KEMENADE and LO-COCO
LO-COCO
The right running head consists of an abbreviated title. It should be in all caps, except that any lowercase
scientific symbols should remain lowercased for accuracy.
cmpl/PROMOTER FRAGMENT IN TRANSGENIC MICE
lgGs OF MULTIPAROUS WOMEN INHIBIT ALLOIMMUNIZATION
MYELOID cDNA MICROARRAY
The right running head should be no longer than 50 characters, including spaces; use of abbreviations to achieve this
limit is encouraged.
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Each manuscript should receive a section designation, either a special section designation or a scientific section
designation. Authors suggest a designation upon manuscript submission, but the journal Editor-in-Chief may decide to
change this designation.
There are several types of special articles, and those designations should appear in sentence-style capitalization:
Editorial
Focus on hematology
How I treat
Introductions(to other special articles)
Plenary paper
Review article
Review in translational hematology
Perspective
Brief report
Brief reports will always also have a scientific section designation. Other types of special articles include Inside Blood,
Erratum, and Correspondence.
Most articles will have scientific section designations (which reflect hematologic specialties), and these designations
should appear in all caps:
CHEMOKINES, CYTOKINES, AND INTERLEUKINES
CLINICAL TRIALS AND OBSERVATIONS
GENE THERAPY
HEMATOPOIESIS
HEMOSTATIS, THROMBOSIS, AND VASCULAR BIOLOGY
IMMUNOBIOLOGY
NEOPLASIO
PHAGOCYTES
RED CELLS
STEM CELLS IN HEMATOLOGY
TRANSFUSION MEDICINE
TRANSPLANTATION
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Titles are capitalized sentence style. There may be one subtitle, but it is run in after the title, separated from it
by a colon, and its first word is lowercased. Do not use dashes or periods to separate parts of a title.
Avoid using more than one subtitle, either by rewording or by combining 2 parts of the title and separating them with a comma.
Recombinant human erythropoietin in tranfusion-dependent anemic patients with multiple
myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma--a randomized multicenter study. The European Study Group of Erythropoietin (Epoetin Beta)
Treatment in Multiple Myeloma and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
could be changed to
Recombinant human erythropoietin in transfusion-dependent anemic patients with multiple
myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma: a randomized multicenter study by the European Study Group of Erythropoietin (Epoetin Beta)
Treatment in Multiple Myeloma and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
It is preferable that the title be a phrase, but if necessary, it may be a declarative sentence or question.
If a drug name is mentioned in the title, the generic name should be used unless several proprietary versions
of the drug are being compared or the article is commenting on a specific proprietary version of the drug.
imatinib (not Gleevec)
alemtuzumab (not Campath)
Abbreviations and/or expansions are allowed in titles; if an abbreviation is used, it should be expanded in the abstract.
Study group names may appear in the title and/or the byline; see Bylines for rules for including it in the byline. An
abbreviation of the group name may be used alone in the title if it is expanded in the abstract.
If a study group is part of the title, the group's full membership should be listed in an appendix; include a
title-page note that refers to that appendix.
A complete list of the members of the Germanic Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Study Group appears in the "Appendix."
If a study group is not part of the title or byline but is involved in the article, any membership list should be
listed in an appendix but put the statement in "Acknowledgments" rather than in a title-page note.
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Each author name should consist of a full given name and last name; initials and patronymics may be included.
Separate names with commas, not semicolons. Use and before the last author's name. If there is a patronymic,
do not separate it from the name with a comma.
Each author name should be followed by at least 1 superscript number keyed to that author’s affiliation(s); see Affiliation lines.
Stuart T. Fraser,1 Joan Isern,2 and Margaret H. Baron3
If an author has more than 2 affiliations, use a hyphen.
Stuart T. Fraser,1 Joan Isern,2 and Margaret H. Baron3-5
Bylines should not include titles, academic degrees, or any symbols, other than the ones that match authors to affiliations.
If last names consist or may consist of more than one word or element, it should be made clear where the last name
begins.
If a study group is part of the byline, it should appear at the end. The study group's name should be separated
from the list of individuals by for, unless all of the study group members have provided signatures to the Editorial
Office, in which case the group name should be preceded by and (with any previous use of and deleted).
Dieter Huhn, Christoph von Schilling, Martin Wilhelm, Anthony D. Ho, Michael Hallek,
Rolf Kuse, Wolfgang Knauf, Ute Riedel, Axel Hinke, Stefanie Srock, Stefan Serke, Christian Peschel, and Bertold
Emmerich, for the German Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Study Group
Dieter Huhn, Christoph von Schilling, Martin Wilhelm, Anthony D. Ho, Michael Hallek,
Rolf Kuse, Wolfgang Knauf, Ute Riedel, Axel Hinke, Stefanie Srock, Stefan Serke, Christian Peschel, Bertold Emmerich,
and the German Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Study Group
A study group name may not substitute for individual names in the byline; when a study group is included, between 3 and 25 individual names must appear in the byline.
An abbreviation of a study group name may be used alone in the byline if it is expanded in the abstract.
If a study group is part of the byline, the group’s full membership should be listed in an appendix; include a title-page note that refers to that appendix.
A complete list of the members of the German Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Study Group appears in the “Appendix.”
If a study group is not part of the title or byline but is involved in the article, any membership list should be listed in an appendix but put a statement in “Acknowledgments” rather than in a title-page note.
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The affiliations line should come after the byline, and each affiliation should be preceded by a superscript number (no space) that will be keyed to an author on the byline. Affiliations should be in the order of byline names’ number keys. It may be necessary to treat different departments at the same institution as separate affiliations. Separate institutions with semicolons; do not use a period at the end of the line.
1Department of Oncological Sciences, University of Torino Medical School, Torino, Italy; 2Laboratory Division of Clinical Oncology, Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment, Torino, Italy; and 3Laboratory of Gene Therapy, Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment, Torino, Italy
Do not abbreviate anything in the affiliations lines except for names of US states and Canadian provinces; use postal codes for these abbreviations. An organization’s abbreviation may be included parenthetically after the organization’s full name.
All articles but Editorials, Introductions, Perspectives, Review articles, and How I treats must have an abstract;
abstracts are optional in Review articles and How I treats.
An abstract should be an unstructured, single paragraph of no more than 200 words.
Use of abbreviations in abstracts is allowed; see Abbreviations for details.
Parts of an article (eg, references, tables, figures, appendixes) should not be cited in the abstract.
The guidelines for drug names in Titles apply to abstracts, too.
Avoid the use of manufacturer names in the abstract unless a specific brand of equipment is being investigated.
Any clinical trial registry information should be given as the last sentence of the abstract.
... . We conclude that specific anti–B-cell therapy with rituximab may be beneficial for patients with steroidrefractory chronic GVHD. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00136396.
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Every article should have an submit-accept-prepublish dates note. Optional footnotes include, in order: statement of article series, statement of prior presentation, any government statement on copyright, and an Inside Blood note. Insert these as separate notes after the submit-accept-prepublish note.
The submit-accept-prepublish footnote should take the form “Submitted [date]; accepted [date]. Prepublished online as Blood First Edition Paper, [date]; DOI 10.1182/blood-YYYY-MM-NNNNNN.”
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Any statement of equal author contribution should appear next.
H.K.K. and M.D.L.L.S. contributed equally to this study.
If the article is part of a series of articles, a note to that effect may be included and should cite all the previous articles.
This article is a continuation of a previous report.15
Begin this note with “Presented ...,” if at all possible.
Presented in abstract form at the 43rd annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, Orlando, FL, December 10, 2001.15
Articles may be accompanied on the web by supplemental data (eg, videos, spreadsheets). If such data is accepted by the journal’s editors, a title-page note will state this.
The online version of the article contains a data supplement.
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Some work done under US government auspices is not subject to copyright. Any author for whose work this is the case should include a statement to that effect. (The following is an example only.)
The publisher or recipient acknowledges right of the US government to retain a nonexclusive, royalty-free license in and to any copyright covering the article.
But any statement summarizing the role or views of sponsors, government, or employers should be included in “Acknowledgments.”
If an Inside Blood commentary is written about an article, then the following note is included on the article’s title page:
An Inside Blood analysis of this article appears at the front of this issue.
Main text
All headings should be capitalized sentence style, except that scientific terms should be capitalized or lowercased for accuracy.
All articles with scientific section designations should have an introduction, a methods section, a results section, and a discussion section; they may also have acknowledgments and/or an appendix.
Introduction
Materials and methods (or Patients and methods or Patients, materials, and methods, if appropriate)
Results
Discussion
Plenary papers must also have these headings.
Brief reports should have abbreviated sections:
Introduction
Study design
Results and discussion
Authors revising their papers to be brief reports should be sure to combine their results and discussion sections.
All other items with special section designations may use whatever main headings the authors and editors deem appropriate. Inside Blood, Correspondence, and Erratum items should avoid the use of text headings.
It is preferable that data presented in a table or figure not be entirely repeated in main text. When text does repeat a piece of information from a table or figure, care should be taken to crosscheck accuracy.
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Main sections may be subdivided, and the resulting subheadings are not predefined.
Headings should be constructed in parallel; there should never be one subheading in a given section.
Second-level headings will be on a separate line (as are main headings), but third- and fourth-level headings will be the first phrase in the subsequent paragraph. Each third- and fourth-level heading should be followed by a period, a space, and the first sentence in the subsequent paragraph.
See Abbreviations for information on the use of abbreviations in headings.
Parts of an article (eg, references, tables, figures, appendixes) should not be cited in a heading.
Any information added (or deleted) after acceptance is subject to approval by the accepting editor.
Information added between acceptance and page proof composition should be added into the manuscript's existing text by the Production Office.
Information added in page proofs stage may be added either to existing text or as a note added in proof. Any note added in proof will appear as the last paragraph of "Discussion" and will be introduced with a fourth-level heading.
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This optional section should appear right after "Discussion."
This heading's number should accurately reflect the number of the acknowledged party (-ies). If only one person or organization is acknowledged, use "Acknowledgment."
Include all organizational support, including fellowships, chairs, and grants, in this section. Also include all recognition of nonauthor individual contributions. Begin grant support statements “This work was supported ... .” Designation of which author received which support may be indicated by inserting parenthetical sets of initials; do not include other words in these parentheticals (eg, to) unless essential.
This work was supported by grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation (81BS-52825) (B.U.M.) and the National Institutes of Health (grants CA41456 and CA72009) (D.G.T.).
Names of acknowledged persons should be presented consistently within each article. There is no requirement for full names or for affiliations.
Include all organizational support in the grant support note, including fellowships and grants. Include in the Acknowledgments all recognition of nonauthor individual contributions.
If applicable, acknowledgments should include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Any statement regarding degree candidacy and the relationship of the work to the degree.
A.B.C. and D.E.F. are PhD candidates at Any University and this work is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the PhD.
- Any dedication.
This article is dedicated to John Smith on the occasion of his 50th birthday.
This work is in memory of John Smith, who died while helping the authors with this article.
- Any statement summarizing role or views of sponsors, government, or employers.
The sponsors of this study are public or nonprofit organizations that support science in general. They had no role in gathering, analyzing, or interpreting the data.
The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or polices of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the US government.
- Any statement of manuscript number for a particular institution.
This is manuscript no. 0000-MEM from the Scripps Research Institute.
- Any declaration of no financial interest.
The International Safety Monitoring Committee that commissioned this study is an independent body of scientists including Drs Elias Schwartz (chair, US), Samuel Charache (US), Chaim Hershko (Israel), Stuart MacLeod (Canada), and Giuseppe Masera (Italy). This committee was convened by Apotex Inc in accordance with section 5.5.2 of the International Conference on Harmonization Good Clinical Practice guidelines. The members of the Safety Monitoring Committee and the authors have no financial interest in the development of deferiprone.
- Any reference to an appendix listing the membership of a study group (see Titles and Bylines for exceptions).
Thanks to the German Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Study Group for its participation in this study; a complete membership list appears in "Appendix."
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This required section should appear after “Discussion” and after any “Acknowledgments.” It must contain an authorship statement, a conflict-of-interest statement (positive or negative), and contact information for the corresponding author, and it may contain other information.
The authorship contribution statement should be the first paragraph, introduced by “Contribution:”. The positive or negative conflict-of-interest statement should be the second paragraph, introduced by “Conflict-of-interest disclosure:”. The corresponding author’s contact information should constitute the final paragraph, introduced by “Correspondence:”.
Contribution: H.K.K., M.D.L.L.S., and A.V.G. performed experiments; C.K.K. analyzed results and made the figures; G.T. and H.K.K. designed the research and wrote the paper.
Conflict-of-interest disclosure: The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Correspondence: Giovanna Tosato, Basic Research Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892; e-mail: tosatog@mail.nih.gov.
The formats for conflicts of interest are in the Author Guide. Suffixes such as Co, Corp, Ltd, etc are allowed in these notes.
The corresponding author’s contact information should consist of the name and mailing address of the author prepared to handle all official correspondence. The author is normally the corresponding author, though it may be a coauthor. The name need not be identical to the name’s form in the byline. The mailing address should be punctuated with commas and ending with a period. Abbreviate St, Rd, Ave, Rm, Bldg, Ste, and other similar words in English-language addresses; abbreviation of foreign addresses is optional. Avoid academic degrees and phone and fax numbers. If an e-mail address is included, append it after “; e-mail:”. E-mail addresses should be in all lowercase letters. If necessary, more than one author’s contact information may be listed.
Correspondence: Pier Giuseppe Pelicci, European Institute of Oncology, Department of Experimental Oncology, Via Ripamonti 435 Milan, 20141 Italy; e-mail: pgpelicci@ieo.it; and Saverio Minucci, European Institute of Oncology, Department of Experimental Oncology, Via Ripamonti 435 Milan, 20141 Italy; e-mail: sminucci@ieo.it.
Other information that may be put in “Authorship” includes any statement of author death and any notice of study group membership list as an online supplement. All this information should be placed together in the penultimate paragraph (ie, between the disclosure and the author contact information).
Contribution: H.K.K., M.D.L.L.S., and A.V.G. performed experiments; C.K.K. analyzed results and made the figures; G.T. and H.K.K. designed the research and wrote the paper.
Conflict-of-interest disclosure: The authors declare no competing financial interests.
John M. Jones died on August 2, 2006. A complete list of the members of the German Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Study Group appears as a data supplement to the online version of this article.
Correspondence: Giovanna Tosato, Basic Research Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892; e-mail: tosatog@mail.nih.gov.
In notes that mention authors (other than the death statement and the correspondence information), refer to authors with complete sets of initials, with periods and closed up. If 2 or more authors have the same initials, write out last names.
H.D.K.
J.-M.F.
J. M. Faint and J. M. Fletcher
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All appendixes appear immediately before "References."
If an appendix contains a figure or table that is referenced anywhere in text, give it a number in succession with any other figures or tables in the article. If the figure or table is not referenced by name anywhere in text, it need not have a number. If an appendix consists largely of a figure or table, it should not have a number or a caption at all; it may, however, have a title and/or legend.
List study group members in an appendix. See Titles, Bylines, and Acknowledgments for instructions on how to refer to such an appendix.
Only if an article has more than 1 appendix should an appendix be numbered; multiple appendixes should be numbered with arabic numerals. If a substantive name for an appendix would be helpful, include it as a subtitle.
Appendix
Appendix: study group members
Appendix 1, Appendix 2
Appendix 1: study group members
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The journal does not publish addenda; other options are notes added in proof or appendixes, if appropriate.
When referring to other parts of an article, be as specific as possible; avoid general statements such as "see above," "see below," or "see text."
To refer to an article element that does not have a heading, use a lowercase general description of the item, without quotation marks or other punctuation or formatting.
the abstract
the title
the byline
the title-page notes
To refer to an element of an article that has a printed, unnumbered heading, use quotation marks around the heading exactly as it appears. Do not precede the heading with the, and do not follow it with section.
"Introduction"
"Materials and methods" (not the "Materials and methods" section)
"Chemotaxis assay"
"Results"
"CCL19-induced dendritic extension of SPDCs"
"Acknowledgments"
"References"
"Note added in proof"
"Appendix"
But refer to a numbered element of an article without using quotation marks.
Figure 1
Table 3
Appendix 2
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Figures and tables should appear in the order in which they are introduced in the main text. (The text mention of a figure or table after which the item appears is called its callout.) If necessary, however, figures and tables may be mentioned in a preliminary fashion out of order, as long as this is done prior to "Results," but in such situations the actual figure or table will not appear in the article until its official callout, in order.
Parenthetical mentions of a figure or table should not include "see" unless necessary.
(Figure 1)
(see Figure 1 for a description of the process) Refer to figures and tables by their names, not their substantive titles.
When more than 1 of the same type of element is cited, separate consecutive items with a hyphen and nonconsecutive items with and.
Figures 1-2
Tables 1 and 3
Figures 2-4 and 6
Tables 2, 4, and 6
Also do this when multiple elements not of the same type are cited in running text.
Tables 2-3 and Figures 1 and 4-5 summarize ...
But when multiple elements not of the same type are cited in a parenthetical, separate them with a semicolon.
(Figures 1-2)
(Tables 1 and 3)
(Table 2; Figure 1)
(Figures 1-2; Tables 2 and 4)
Text references to figures may refer directly to panels and subpanels by appending them to the figure name. Separate consecutive panel labels with hyphens and nonconsecutive panel labels with commas followed by no space.
Figure 1A
Figure 2B-C
Figure 3B,D
Figure 4Aiii
Figure 5Ci-iii
Figure 6Bi,iii
But avoid hyphens if grammatically necessary.
There is depletion in U266 cells and LP-1 cells (Figure 2B and C, respectively).
And avoid hyphens when citing multiple panels in different figures.
Multiple subpanel labels in different panels of the same figure should always use commas followed by no space.
Figure 5Bii,Ciii
Figures 5Bi-iii,Ci and 4A-C
Refer to parts of a figure that don't have panel labels or to parts of a table in general terms; avoid punctuation or possessives if at all possible.
Figure 2B inset
Figure 3 filled squares
Table 1 footnotes
Table 2's rightmost column
Table 2's "Congenital anomalies"
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Companion articles (closely related articles that appear side-by-side in the same issue) are designated as such by the journal editors upon acceptance if not before. Authors who want their article to be companion to another should contact the journal editors during the review process or upon acceptance.
If an article references a designated companion article, use the standard citation-reference combination, but add a page number afterward. (see accompanying article by DiMartino et al,29 beginning on page 618).
A list of 3 or more items may be presented in main text or as a table. Lists of 2 items should always be presented in main text.
If a list consists of words or phrases and is in main text, it should be presented as run-in text punctuated by commas or semicolons.
The response of Fanca bone marrow to in vitro stimulation is characterized by (a) an accelerated depletion in CFU-GM progenitors, (b) an evident granulocyte/macrophage differentiation disbalance, and (c) a marked susceptibility of the expanded population to enter into apoptosis.
If a list consists of complete sentences and is in main text, it should be presented as run-in text or as a set of paragraphs, but always punctuated by periods.
(1) IVIG (black IgGs) and 7E3 (white IgGs) are taken into the cell by pinocytosis. (2) At physiologic pH, IgG has low affinity for the FcRn receptor. (3) Bound IgG molecules are protected from release into the lysosome.
Items in a list should be constructed in parallel fashion, with parallel punctuation. If items in a list are not complete sentences, then and or or should precede the last item.
A list need not be enumerated, but enumeration is encouraged to promote clarity. Enumerate items in a table list or a list of paragraphs using arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc), followed by a period, a space, and the list item.
- IVIG (black IgGs) and 7E3 (white IgGs) are taken into the cell by pinocytosis.
- At physiologic pH, IgG has low affinity for the FcRn receptor.
- Bound IgG molecules are protected from release into the lysosome.
Enumerate items in a list run in to a sentence using arabic numerals or lowercase letters surrounded by parentheses and followed by a space and the list item.
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Equations should be run in to paragraphed text if at all possible. In these cases, appropriate grouping symbols should be used to clarify the order of operations.
Vx(smooth) = (Vx-1 + Vx + Vx+1)/3
% specific lysis = 100 × (experimental release - spontaneous release)|/|(maximum release - spontaneous release)
D = (Π - θ)/[√Variance(Π - θ)]
Only if necessary for clarity may equations be displayed; do not number display equations.
Supplemental data (not part of the main manuscript) may be accepted by the editors for publication in the online journal. Examples include videos and spreadsheets.
If an article's supplemental data is accepted, the article will contain (a) a title-page note reading, "The online version of the article contains a data supplement." and (b) at least one text reference to the data mentioning "the Blood website" and including "see the Supplemental Video(s)/Data Set(s) link at the top of the online article." Subsequent text references to the data need not include this wording.
Supplemental data must be formatted by authors to match specifications provided by the Blood Editorial Office. Authors will be asked to approve an index page that will be published online and will contain links to the actual data files.
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(If authors wish their figure text to agree stylistically with their figure legend text, article text, and table text, they should read Style checklist for text in Blood figure images.)
Images should be laid out as compactly as is consistent with conveying the relevant data. Images will be sized to fit the smallest possible space while retaining all relevant detail.
In order to prevent radical changes in figure content, authors should prepare the figures 8.0 cm wide (1-column width) or, if necessary, 11.5 cm wide (1½ column width). Also, authors should be sure to keep all parts of an image proportionate to one another; for example, care should be taken to not make axis labels disproportionately small in relation to the axes.
Tabular material should generally appear as a table that is not part of a figure, but if the tabular material is graphically related to parts of a figure, it can appear within the figure.
The figure legend must contain a boldface (a) name ("Figure" + arabic figure number) and (b) substantive title. Do not refer to figure panels, other figure parts, or any other part of an article in a figure title. A nonboldface description of the figure usually follows, run in after the title, describing each panel, subpanel, inset, or other part of the figure.
Figure 4. Clusters of genes categorized by the expression patterns in purified stem and progenitor cells. The vertical axis represents the normalized gene expression values. (A) Representative genes that are predominantly expressed in HSCs and down-regulated in MPPs, CLPs, and CMPs. (B) Representative genes that were up-regulated in MPPs. (C) Representative genes that are highly expressed in CLPs. (D) Representative genes that are highly expressed in CMPs.
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Composite figures should be arranged to fit the smallest possible space while retaining any relevant details.
Lanes of blot test panels need not follow any of the panel labeling systems below.
For clarity, the panels of composite figures should usually be labelled with capital letters and the legend demarcated by putting each letter within parentheses.
Figure 1. Cell cycling phenotypes and genetic analysis of C57BL/6 × B6D2F1 backcross mice. (A) The percent progenitors in S phase for 60 N2 animals is depicted. (B) Interval mapping analysis of the N2 generation. The horizontal line indicates the statistical threshold for highly significant linkage, obtained by performing a permutation test with 2000 permutations at 1 cM intervals, on chromosome 11 only. (C) Interval mapping analysis of the N6 generation.
If a panel must be mentioned in the grammar of the legend, however, precede the letter with panel and do not use parentheses.
Note that the electron and light microscopy patterns are identical and that there are no filopodia labeled in panel A.
If figure panels have subpanels, label the subpanels with lowercase roman numerals and demarcate the legend using the same system as above. Avoid repeating the main panel label in front of each subpanel label unless necessary for organizational clarity.
Figure 1. IVIG effects on the time course of 7E3-induced thrombocytopenia. Rats received IVIG (or saline) followed by 8 mg/kg 7E3. (A) Individual raw platelet count verses time data for animals given saline (i), 0.4 g/kg IVIG (ii), 1 g/kg IVIG (iii), or 2 g/kg IVIG (iv). (B) Average percent of initial platelet count data. Each error bar represents the SD about the mean.
If a subpanel is discussed within the discussion of its panel, the parenthetical that introduces the subpanel discussion should not contain the panel label.
Figure 7. NRAMP1 association with C albicans-containing phagosomes in HL-60 cells differentiated into granulocytes. After treatment for 5 days with DMSO, HL-60 cells were allowed to ingest heat-killed C albicans for 30 minutes at 37°C. The cells were then washed free of uningested particles, fixed, and permeabilized before indirect immunofluorescence examined by using a Nikon optical fluorescence microscope (A) or a confocal microscope (B). Detection was performed with an affinity-purified rabbit anti-NRAMP1 antibody (Ai, Bi, and Bii), nonimmune serum (Aii), or no primary antibody (Aiii) on the cells. Immunofluorescence micrographs (Ai-Aiii) and the corresponding bright field images (Aiv-Avi) are shown.
If subpanels must be mentioned in the grammar of the legend, combine the panel and subpanel labels and precede with panel.
... as compared with that shown in panel Biv.
If consecutive panels or subpanels are discussed, connect the labels with hyphens; if nonconsecutive panels or subpanels are discussed, separate them with a comma but no space afterward.
(B-C)
(B,D)
panels B-C
panels B,D
panels Ci-iii
panels Bii,Ciii
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If a figure contains only 2 or 3 panels and none of them have subpanels, they need not be labeled with capital letters. Instead, they may be referred to in the figure legend using a combination of top, bottom, left, right, and middle. If these words are used to demarcate a legend, put them in parentheses and capitalize; if they are used in the grammar of the legend, lowercase them.
Figure 1. Cyclin D1 immunostaining of neoplastic cell nuclei in a case of lymphomatoid polyposis. Shown at ×20 original magnification (left) and ×400 original magnification (right). An immunoperoxidase technique in a paraffin section was used.
Figure 1. Cyclin D1 immunostaining of neoplastic cell nuclei in a case of lymphomatoid polyposis. (Left) ×20 original magnification. (Right) ×400 original magnification. An immunoperoxidase technique in a paraffin section was used.
If a figure contains 4 or more panels organized by characteristics into rows and columns and has no subpanels, the panels need not be labeled with capital letters as long as each row and column is labeled with a characteristic.
If any figure contains subpanels, however, the capital letter and lowercase roman numeral system above should be used.
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Figure images may contain whatever other symbol and text labels are necessary to convey relevant detail, except avoid any text labels that might be confused with panel and subpanel labels.
... (C) Plasma levels from 10 healthy control (Ctrl) donors.
Any abbreviations used in the figure image but not explained in the article's main text should be defined in the legend.
Symbols should be explained in the text legend if possible, including the symbols themselves if possible.
If necessary, words may be used to describe the symbols.
Splenocytes from DO11.10 mice were incubated with 0, 1, 10, 100, or 1000 ng/mL MIP-1a (triangles) or MIP-1b (squares) in plates containing 0 (open symbols) or 500 (filled symbols) μg/mL OVA.
If symbols must be in the grammar of the text legend, use commas to save space, with items punctuated with semicolons.
Do not make symbols plural in order to agree with the number of what they represent.
indicates levels in mice. (Not s indicate levels in mice.)
If necessary, symbols may be explained, instead, in a key legend (a graphic legend within the figure image); in that case, it should be placed into the figure image as compactly as possible.
Insets are generally explained in the figure legend, unless their meaning is obvious from the image.
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Color should be used when necessary to convey the relevant data. If the accepted manuscript contains color figures, they should generally be published in color unless no data would be lost. Each manuscript's reviewers have the opportunity to designate essential color; such designations require that a figure reviewed in color be published in color.
For each color photomicrograph in a figure, the stain used should be specified in the legend.
Figures may contain any combination of patterns and shading to denote differences (eg, in bar graphs). But to ensure that patterns and shading remain discernible, authors should choose them after sizing the figure to the specifications in Image size and layout.
To lend greater legibility to bar graphs, simple patterns may be used and patterns may be alternated with shading. Avoid using more than 2 shades of gray.
If a color figure is accepted but publication in black and white is preferable and approved, the author should (a) supply the figure in black-and-white format to ensure that no detail is lost and (b) ensure that the figure legend avoids mention of color.
For each micrograph, the following information must be provided, either in the methods section or in the figure legend: (1) microscope’s make and model, (2) type, magnification, and numerical aperture of the objective lenses, (3) temperature, (4) imaging medium, (5) fluorochromes, (6) camera’s make and model, (7) acquisition software, and (8) any subsequent software used for image processing. For further details, including warnings about image enhancement, see the Blood Author Guide.
The TA muscles were frozen in OCT embedding medium and sectioned as 6-μm longitudinal sections. The sections were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde and incubated with antihuman nuclei antibody (1:250) overnight at 4°C followed by Alexa-fluor 488 goat antimouse IgG1 secondary antibody (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR). The myofibers were revealed by rhodamine-phalloidin staining (Molecular Probes). The images were captured by the Deltavision SA3.1 wide-field deconvolution microscope (Applied Precision, Issaquah, WA). For the GFP fusion study, the TA images were captured from frozen sections by Nikon Eclipse E800 microscopy (Melville, NY) and followed by hematoxylin-and-eosin staining of the same sections. To reconstruct a 3-dimensional image of GFP-positive regenerating TA muscle fibers, a stack of 44 one-µm sections of a frozen TA muscle were acquired as green and red 2-channel images by a Leica TCS SP confocal microscope (Leica, Heidelberg, Germany) and imported into MetaMorph software (Molecular Devices, Downingtown, PA) as a series of .tif files. A 3-dimensional reconstruction was created by Volocity software (Mountain View, CA) and used to generate an MOV file showing a 180-degree horizontal rotation of the stack.
The next section details how to specify magnifications within a figure legend.
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For each micrograph (whether photomicrograph or electron micrograph) in a figure (including each inset micrograph), there should be an indication of magnification. This may be done by including a scale bar in the micrograph image or by stating in the legend the micrograph's original magnification (that is, the magnification prior to production of the article).
If a scale bar is used, either it should be labeled or the legend should state the bar's length.
Bars represent 5 μm (A) and 200 nm (C).
If the legend states the magnification, be sure to include original for accuracy. Use the phrase "Original magnification" followed by the multiplication symbol and the magnification.
Original magnification ×250.
(original magnification ×250)
If the original magnification is the same for multiple panels, the statement may reflect that, but avoid unnecessary parentheses surrounding the entire statement.
Original magnification ×250 for all panels.
Original magnification ×250 for panels A-D.
Original magnifications ×250 (A-D) and ×400 (E-H).
If a figure is reproduced or adapted from previously published material, written permission must be obtained by the author from the copyright holder (usually the publisher). The author will need to give to Blood a copy of this written permission prior to the printing of the article; so it is advisable to initiate the permission request process early.
Acknowledge the original source by creating the appropriate reference and citing it in the legend, making reference to the acquired permission.
Adapted from Foster and Hunt47 with permission.
Reprinted from Begley et al4 with permission.
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Tables should generally consist of tabular material (at least 2 × 2, which may include row heads but not column heads). But nontabular lists of 3 or more items may be presented as tables; lists of 1 or 2 items should be incorporated into the main text.
Avoid multipart tables. No column should contain more than 1 column head, and ,. Place any title of a table section to the left as a row head, being sure to indent existing row heads as row subheads.
Every table should begin with boldface number, followed by a period and a brief, substantive title.
Table 1. Human inhibitory NK cell receptors
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Organize tables as compactly and logically as possible. Minimize the number of cells with no data, and avoid empty cells (but see below regarding averages, totals, etc). Use row subheads to minimize the number of columns. If all entries in a column or row are identical, remove that column or row and put that information in a footnote. If any entries are percentages, that should be clarified by using the percent symbol in a row head, a column head, or in a footnote.
Column heads, row heads, and entries should not be boldface, except that boldface may be used to indicate certain items in a nucleotide or amino acid sequence, but this use should be explained in a footnote. Italics, shading, and/or footnotes are acceptable alternatives to boldface.
It is preferable to put a single average, total, or subtotal in a footnote. But if a set of averages, totals, or subtotals cannot easily be conveyed in a footnote, then it is okay to display them in separate rows, as long as the row title (eg, Average, Total, etc) is in the stub. If in an average, total, or subtotal row there are no entries under columns that otherwise consist of numbers, use a dash; leave blank any entries under columns that do not consist of numbers.
All columns, except the one containing the row heads, should have a column head; the one containing row heads may have a column head.
Center all column heads, except flush left any column head for the first column.
Spanner heads (column heads that span column subheads) should be freestanding phrases; that is, they should not lead grammatically to their subheads.
Row heads should not cut into any columns beyond the first column, nor should any head be centered across the table between rows.
In row or column heads, specify the unit for that row or column; separate the head and the unit with a comma.
Parentheses should be used in row or column heads only to explain data entries that contain parentheses.
Average hemoglobin level, g/L (mean)
Column and row heads should be accurate (including singular or plural) for the data presented in the respective column or row.
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In composed pages, tables will contain only 3 full-width rules: one above the column heads, one below the column heads, and one below the last row. Spanner heads will be linked to their subheads with short rules that span all the subheads.
The body of the table should not contain any rules; obviate the need for such rules by inserting row heads with row subheads.
Capitalize table titles, column heads, row heads, and text entries in the data field sentence style, unless capitalizing the first word would change its meaning.
Use abbreviations where possible in the column and row heads and in the data field; expand in a footnote any abbreviations not expanded in the main text.
Do not use >, <, >, and < in row or column heads or in the table title; rather, use a worded phrase that is appropriate to the context.
Less than 200 mg (not < 200 mg)
400 mg for at least 8 weeks (not 400 mg, 3 8 weeks)
Older than 60 years (not > 60 years)
At least 60 years old (not > 60 years)
At least 1 year (not < 1 year)
2 or more treatments (not > 2 treatments)
Platelet count no higher than 100 × 109/L (not Platelet count < 100 × 109/L)
But the symbols may be used inside parentheticals and in data entries.
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Scientific units should be given according to the SI system. If non-SI units are deemed useful, give a conversion factor in a footnote; do not use dual reporting in tables.
Use NA (not applicable), ND (not determined), and other similar abbreviations where appropriate and provide the expansion in the abbreviation footnote. If absolutely necessary, indicate unavailable data with an em (long) dash but explain its meaning with a footnote. No cells should be left empty (but see above regarding averages, totals, etc).
If a 4-digit number is in a column containing a number with 5 or more digits, punctuate it with a space, and likewise for a number with 4 digits to the right of the decimal.
Allow ordinal numbers as numerals in the data field, but in row or column heads or in the table title, present ordinal numbers under 10th as words.
Footnotes should occur in the following order: (1) note applying to entire table, (2) abbreviations note, and (3) all notes with callout symbols.
- Any note that applies to the entire table should not have a note callout symbol.
- Any abbreviations should be given in a separate note without a note callout symbol. The first abbreviation should be provided followed by indicates and then the expansion; clarify subsequent abbreviations using ellipsis:
BM indicates bone marrow; SCT, stem cell transplantation; and VWF, von Willebrand factor.
Abbreviations should be defined in the order in which they appear left-to-right in the column heads, top-to-bottom in the row heads, and then left-to-right, top-to-bottom in the data entries. (Subsequent tables using the same abbreviations should reference the previous abbreviations footnote.)
Abbreviations are explained in Table 1.
- All footnotes that apply to columns, rows, or individual data entries use symbols in this order: ∗, †, ‡, §, | |, ¶, #, ∗∗, ††, and ‡‡. If more than 10 such notes are necessary, do not use symbols but use superscripted lowercase letters in alphabetical order instead. The symbol should not be part of the grammar of the footnote. Treat each note as a sentence, including capitalization and a period, but don’t capitalize the the first word if doing so would change the scientific meaning.
∗p53 sequencing was performed on patient MM samples, as previously described.
Callout symbols should proceed left-to-right through column heads, then top-to-bottom through the row heads, and finally left-to-right and top-to-bottom through the data field.
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), 0.4 g/kg (
), and 2 g/kg (
).