Scope | Article Types | Review Articles | Letters to the Editor | Submission | Special considerations | Publishing Ethics | Policy on Prior Publication | Detailed Manuscript Preparation Instructions | Manuscript format | References | Figures | Tables | Supplementary Material  | AuthorAID |  Author Hub | Artificial Intelligence Policy

Submission

This journal uses ScholarOne Manuscripts for online submission and peer review. You can find out more on the 'Submitting your materials' page here. Queries can be directed to the BJN Editorial Office at: BJN.edoffice@cambridge.org

Advice on preparing your paper for submission can be found below.

Scope

British Journal of Nutrition is an international peer-reviewed journal that publishes original papers and review articles across the full spectrum of nutritional science. The focus of all manuscripts submitted to the journal should be to increase knowledge in nutritional science relevant to human or animal nutrition. BJN welcomes manuscripts that report studies in nutritional epidemiology, nutritional requirements, metabolic studies, body composition, energetics, appetite and obesity. Manuscripts that address interactions of nutrition with endocrinology, genetics, immunology, microbiology, molecular and cell biology, neuroscience and physiology and that report outcomes relevant to health, behaviour and well-being are also within scope for BJN.

Article types

BJN publishes the following: Research Articles, Review Articles, Systematic Reviews, Horizons in Nutritional Science, Workshop Reports, Policy-relevant Papers, Invited Commentaries, Letters to the Editor, Protocols, Obituaries, and Editorials.

Published examples of BJN article types can be found below:

• Research Article
• Review Article
• Horizons Article
• Letter to the Editor

The British Journal of Nutrition also publishes conference proceedings and symposia reports as supplementary issues. Further information and how to submit queries about publishing a supplement can be found here.

A note on policy-relevant papers

The BJN welcomes papers relevant to nutrition policy. If you are submitting such a paper, please select ‘Policy’ when choosing a subject category during submission, and specify that your article is policy-related in your cover letter.

Review articles

BJN welcomes reviews that are designed to advance knowledge, policy and practice in nutritional science. BJN publishes the following types of Review article:

• Reviews: These articles are written in a narrative style, and aim to evaluate critically a specific topic in nutritional science.
• Horizons in Nutritional Science: These are shorter than Review articles and aim to evaluate critically recent novel developments that are likely to produce substantial advances in nutritional science. These articles should be thought-provoking and possibly controversial.
• Systematic Reviews and meta-analyses: A systematic review or meta-analysis of randomised trials and other evaluation studies must be accompanied by a completed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement checklist, a guideline to help authors report a systematic review and meta-analysis (see British Medical Journal (2009) 339, b2535). In addition, we require that all such reviews are pre-registered at an accessible registration platform such as PROSPERO. Meta-analysis of observational studies must be accompanied by a completed Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) reporting checklist, indicating the page where each item is included (see JAMA (2000) 283, 2008-2012). In addition, manuscripts reporting systematic reviews without meta-analyses should adhere to the Synthesis without Meta-analysis (SWiM) guideline ( https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/synthesis-without-meta-analysis-swim-in-systematic-reviews-reporting-guideline/) (see BMJ (2020) 368: 16890). Manuscripts in these areas of review will not be sent for peer review unless accompanied by the relevant completed checklist. Guidance on submitting systematic reviews and meta-analyses can be found here Br J Nutr. 2019 Dec 14;122(11):1279-1294. doi: 10.1017/S0007114519002241.
• Scoping Reviews: We welcome submission of scoping reviews that use rigorous methodology to find relevant papers and to generate evidence for the need for further research in important areas of nutrition. In addition, such scoping reviews should provide a synthesis of the available literature. Authors should follow the guidance provided by PRISMA for scoping reviews and include a completed checklist available from the PRISMA  website. 

A Graphical Abstract is mandatory for Horizons and narrative Review articles. This is optional for all other article types but we encourage all authors to consider including a Graphical Abstract of their paper. See the section below on how to prepare a Graphical Abstract.

Guidance on Review articles in BJN can be found in the Editorial by B Fielding et al. here: Br J Nutr (2020) 123.

Letters to the Editor

Letters are invited that discuss, criticise or develop themes put forward in papers published in BJN. They should not, however, be used as a means of publishing new work. Acceptance will be at the discretion of the Editorial Board, and editorial changes may be required. The authors of the original article will be offer the right to reply.

Protocol papers

We welcome protocol manuscripts that report planned or ongoing randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in humans that investigate a link between nutrition and health. Manuscripts that report work already completed will not be considered. The start and expected end dates of the study must be included in the manuscript and in the cover letter. Manuscripts should adhere to the SPIRIT guidelines (https://www.spirit-statement.org/) and should be accompanied by a completed SPIRIT checklist. If you are submitting a protocol paper, we encourage you to consider publishing the paper reporting the main outcome of your research in the BJN. Please note that each paper will undergo independent peer review. If both articles are accepted, we will link these together, ensuring that readers can view both the protocol paper and the outcomes of the study paper together.

Special considerations

Please ensure that studies which involve the following experimental designs meet the following criteria: 

In vivo and in vitro models

Studies involving animal models of human nutrition and health or disease will be considered for publication if the amount of a nutrient (or other food constituent) or combination of nutrients (food constituents) used could reasonably be expected to be achieved in the human population.

Studies involving in vitro models will be considered for publication if the amount of a nutrient (or other food constituent) or combination of nutrients (food constituents) is within the range that could reasonably be expected to be encountered in vivo, and that the molecular form of the nutrient(s)/ food constituents is the same as/ similar to that to which the cell type used in the model is likely to encounter in vivo.

Extracts

Studies involving extracts will be considered for publication if the source of starting material is readily accessible to other researchers and that there are appropriate measures for quality control of the starting material and extract. The method of extraction must be described in sufficient detail for other researchers to replicate the experiment. Please ensure that the nutrient composition of the extract is characterised fully and that appropriate measures are used to control the composition of the extract between preparations.  The amount of extract used should reasonably be expected to be achievable in a human population (or in animals if they are the specific target of an intervention).

Studies involving extracts in in vitro models will only be considered for publication if the above guidelines for studies involving extracts are followed, and that the amount and molecular form of the extract is the same as that which would be encountered by the cell type used in the model in vivo.

Dietary Inflammatory Index 

Manuscripts reporting outcomes related to the Dietary Inflammatory Index will be considered for publication if there is evidence from the study that the index is related to two or more biomarkers of inflammation.

Publishing ethics

BJN considers all manuscripts on the strict condition that:

• The manuscript is your own original work, and that it does not duplicate any other previously published work;
• The manuscript has been submitted to BJN  only and that it is not under consideration or peer review or accepted for publication or in press or published elsewhere;
• All listed authors know of, and agree to, the manuscript being submitted to BJN; and
• The manuscript contains nothing that is abusive, defamatory, fraudulent, illegal, libellous, or obscene.

BJN adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on research and publications ethics. Text taken directly, or closely paraphrased, from earlier published work that has not been acknowledged or referenced will be considered plagiarism. Submitted manuscripts in which such text is identified will be withdrawn from the editorial process. If a concern is raised about possible plagiarism in an article submitted to or published in BJN, this will be investigated and dealt with in accordance with the COPE guidelines.

All authors are required to comply with Cambridge University Press’s publishing ethics guidelines. As part of its editorial processes, this journal may share relevant submission data and manuscript content with in-house or third-party tools to perform research integrity and other submission checks. Any such information sharing is conducted in accordance with the appropriate privacy and processing laws, applicable Terms of Use, and ethical guidance. In cases of alleged or suspected misconduct, the journal will investigate in line with COPE recommendations. 

The Nutrition Society, as the owner of BJN, endorses the Publication Ethics outlined by Cambridge University Press.

Policy on prior publication

When authors submit manuscripts to this journal, these manuscripts should not be under consideration, accepted for publication or in press within a different journal, book or similar entity, unless explicit permission or agreement has been sought from all entities involved. However, deposition of a preprint on the author’s personal website, in an institutional repository, or in a preprint archive shall not be viewed as prior or duplicate publication. Authors should follow the Cambridge University Press Preprint Policy regarding preprint archives and maintaining the version of record. 

Detailed manuscript preparation instructions

Language

Papers submitted for publication must be written in English. We recommend that authors for whom English is not their first language have their manuscript checked by someone whose first language is English before submission, to ensure that submissions are judged at peer review exclusively on academic merit.

We list a number of third-party services specialising in language editing and/or translation, and suggest that authors contact as appropriate. Use of any of these services is voluntary, and is at the author's own expense. Please note that the use of any of these services is voluntary, and at the author's own expense. Use of these services does not guarantee that the manuscript will be accepted for publication, nor does it restrict the author to submitting to a Cambridge-published journal. 

All references with titles in languages other than English should also have a translation in parentheses following the original. 

Spelling should generally be that of the Concise Oxford Dictionary (1995), 9th ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Authorship

The Journal conforms to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) definition of authorship, as described by P.C. Calder (Br J Nutr (2009) 101, 775). Authorship credit should be based on:

1. Substantial contributions to conception and design, data acquisition, analysis and/or interpretation;

2. Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and

3. Final approval of the version to be published.

4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

In the process of submitting an article to the BJN, the corresponding author is prompted to provide further details about contributions to the article using the CRediT taxonomy. People who have contributed to the article but do not meet the full criteria for authorship should be recognised in the acknowledgements section; their contribution can also be described in terms of the CRediT taxonomy. More details on the 14 contributor roles listed by CRediT taxonomy can be found at the link above. 

Ethical standards

The required standards for reporting studies involving humans and experimental animals are detailed in an Editorial by G.C. Burdge (Br J Nutr (2014) 112).

Experiments involving human subjects

The notice of contributors is drawn to the guidelines in the World Medical Association (2000) Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects, with notes of clarification of 2002 and 2004 (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/), the Guidelines on the Practice of Ethics Committees Involved in Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (3rd ed., 1996; London: The Royal College of Physicians) and the Guidelines for the ethical conduct of medical research involving children, revised in 2000 by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health: Ethics Advisory Committee (Arch Dis Child (2000) 82, 177–182). Articles reporting randomised trials must conform to the standards set by the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) consortium. A completed CONSORT Checklist (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) consortium) must accompany manuscripts reporting randomised controlled trials.

Required disclosures: A paper describing any experimental work on human subjects must include the following statement in the Experimental Methods section: "This study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures involving human subjects/patients were approved by the [insert name of the ethics committee; a specific ethics number MUST be inserted]. Written [or Verbal] informed consent was obtained from all subjects/patients. [Where verbal consent was obtained this must be followed by a statement such as: Verbal consent was witnessed and formally recorded]." For clinical trials, the trial registry name, registration identification number, and the URL for the registry should be included.

PLEASE NOTE: As a condition for publication, all randomised controlled trials that involve human subjects submitted to BJN for review must be registered in a public trials registry, preferably in English. A clinical trial is defined by the ICMJE (in accordance with the definition of the World Health Organisation) as any research project that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes. Registration information must be provided at the time of submission, including the trial registry name, registration identification number, and the URL for the registry.

We also welcome manuscripts that include outcomes of qualitative research in nutrition involving human participants. Such manuscripts must be accompanied by a completed COREQ checklist.

Experiments involving the use of other vertebrate animals

Papers that report studies involving vertebrate animals must conform to the 'ARRIVE Guidelines for Reporting Animal Research' detailed in Kilkenny et al. (J Pharmacol Pharmacother (2010) 1, 94-99) and summarised at https://arriveguidelines.org/resources. Authors MUST ensure that their manuscript conforms to the checklist that is available from the nc3Rs website  and the completed check list should be uploaded as a separate document during submission of the manuscript.  The Editors will not accept papers reporting work carried out involving procedures that cause, or are considered likely to cause, distress or suffering which would confound the outcomes of the experiments, or experiments that have not been reviewed and approved by an animal experimentation ethics committee or regulatory organisation.

Required disclosures: Where a paper reports studies involving vertebrate animals, the Methods section must include: i) details of the institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of animals that were followed and ii) a statement that all experimental procedures involving animals were approved by the [insert name of the ethics committee or other approving body]. In addition, wherever possible authors should also insert a specific ethics/approval number.

Observational studies in nutritional epidemiology

Papers reporting observational studies in nutritional epidemiology should address each item of the STROBE-Nut checklist and upload a correctly completed checklist. The STROBE-Nut checklist can be found at The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies | EQUATOR Network (equator-network.org)

Research integrity

BJN recommends that authors consult the Reappraised Research Integrity Checklist by Grey et al. (2020) Check for publication integrity before misconduct, Nature. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03959-6) before submitting their paper (accessed February 2020)

Manuscript format

The requirements of BJN are in accordance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals produced by the ICMJE.

For detailed instructions regarding mathematical modelling, statistical analysis and nomenclature requirements, please refer to the Appendix to these instructions.

Cover letter

Papers should be accompanied by a cover letter including a brief summary of the work and a short explanation of the novelty of the study and how it advances nutritional science. The text for the cover letter should be entered in the appropriate box as part of the online submission process.

Manuscripts should be organised as follows:

Title Page

The title page should include:

1. The title of the article;
2. Authors' names;
3. Name and address of department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed for each author;
4. Name, mailing address, email address, telephone and fax numbers of the author responsible for correspondence about the manuscript;
5. A short version of the title, not exceeding 45 characters (including letters and spaces) in length;
6. At least four keywords or phrases (each containing up to three words);
7. List of abbreviations.

Authors' names should be given without titles or degrees and one forename may be given in full. Identify each author's institution by a superscript number (e.g. A.B. Smith¹) and list the institutions underneath and after the final author.

Abstract

Each paper must open with an unstructured abstract of not more than 250 words. The abstract should be a single paragraph of continuous text outlining the aims of the work, the experimental approach taken, the principal findings (including effect size and the results of statistical analysis) and the conclusions and their relevance to nutritional science. **Please do not use sub-headings in your abstract.**

Graphical Abstracts

Submission of graphical abstracts is mandatory for Horizons and narrative Review articles and is optional for all other article types but we encourage all authors to consider including a graphical abstract of their paper.

A Graphical Abstract is a single image that summarises the main findings of a paper, allowing readers to gain quickly an overview and understanding of your work. Well-designed and prepared graphical abstracts are an important way to publicise your research, attracting readers, and helping to disseminate your work to a wider audience. Ideally, the graphical abstract should be created independently of the figures already in the paper but it could include a (simplified version of) an existing figure. Graphical abstracts are displayed at article level, and on the article landing page online.

The graphical abstract should be submitted separately from the main paper using the ‘Graphical Abstract’ file designation on ScholarOne at revised submission stage. Graphical abstracts should be clear and easy for the viewer to read, and should illustrate one main point only. Permission to reuse images should be sought by the authors before submitting a graphical abstract.

We recommend that only TIFF, EPS or PDF formats are used for electronic artwork. Other non-preferred but usable formats are JPG, PPT and GIF files and images created in Microsoft Word. For further information about how to prepare your figures, including sizing and resolution requirements, please see our artwork guide. The image will be scaled to fit the appropriate space on Cambridge Core, so please ensure that any font used is clear to read, and that any text is included as part of the image file (although text should ideally be kept to a minimum). There is also no need to include the title ‘Graphical Abstract’ in your image.

Introduction

It is not necessary to introduce a paper with a full account of the relevant literature, but the introduction should indicate briefly the nature of the question asked and the reasons for asking it. It should be no longer than two manuscript pages.

Experimental methods

Ethical approval: For studies involving human participants or experimental animals, the Methods section must include a subsection that reports the appropriate ethical approvals for the study (see Ethical Standards above).

Diets: The nutrient composition of diets used in studies must be described in detail, preferably in a table(s). Experimentally relevant differences in composition between diets are essential. For instance, studies of effects of fats should include the fatty acid compositions of the diets.

Analytical methods: All analytical procedures must be accompanied by a statement of within and between assay precision.

Statistical analyses and justification of sample size: Include a subsection that describes the methods used for statistical analysis (see the section on statistical analysis in the Appendix).  All manuscripts that report primary research must contain a statistical justification of sample size that is stated explicitly in the Statistics sub-section of the Methods. Manuscripts that do not contain this information will be returned to the authors for correction before peer review. The amended versions will be treated as new submissions. The information required must include, but not be restricted to, the following:-

• Hypothesised effect size with appropriate justification. 
• A statement regarding statistical power (typically 80%) and the two-sided significance level (typically 0.05).
• An explanation of how the statistical power was calculated.
• If sample size is determined by the feasibility of recruitment, minimally detectable effect sizes should be provided instead of power analysis.

The only exceptions are:

• Meta-analyses;
• Exploratory or secondary analysis of observational studies based on large sample sizes.

Results

These should be reported as concisely as possible, using figures or tables as appropriate. Data must not be duplicated in tables and figures.

Statistical significance and P-values

• Statistical significance should always be discussed in the context of the clinical/scientific significance of the results.
• The journal prioritizes presentation of effect sizes, and associated confidence intervals, over P-values to reflect uncertainty. The use of statistical significance has a place in appropriately powered studies with clear necessity for an indication of the magnitude of statistical incompatibility of the data with the null hypothesis.
• Any ‘star’, superscript letter or similar representation of the degree of statistical significance should be avoided.
• The journal recommends authors refer to the principles on the reporting of statistical significance described in the following papers:
• Amrhein, V, Greenland, S, McShane, B. (2019) Scientists rise up against statistical significance. Nature 567, 305-307.
• Wasserstein RL, Lazar NA. (2016) The ASA Statement on p-Values: Context, Process, and Purpose. The American Statistician 70, 129-133.
• P-values larger than 0.01 should be reported to two decimal places and those between 0.01 and 0.001 to three decimal places; P-values smaller than 0.001 should be reported as P<0.001.  Leading zeros should be included in P-values and full P-values should always be quoted (not P<0.05 for example).

Discussion

While it is generally desirable that the presentation of the results and the discussion of their significance should be presented separately, there may be occasions when combining these sections may be beneficial. The discussion should be no longer than five manuscript pages.

Acknowledgments

Here you may acknowledge individuals or organizations that provided advice and/or support (non-financial). Formal financial support and funding should be listed in the following section.

Financial support

Please provide details of the sources of financial support for all authors, including grant numbers. For example, "This work was supported by the Medical Research Council (grant number XXXXXXX)". Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma and space, and where research was funded by more than one agency the different agencies should be separated by a semi-colon, with "and" before the final funder. Grants held by different authors should be identified as belonging to individual authors by the authors' initials. For example, "This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (A.B., grant numbers XXXX, YYYY), (C.D., grant number ZZZZ); the Natural Environment Research Council (E.F., grant number FFFF); and the National Institutes of Health (A.B., grant number GGGG), (E.F., grant number HHHH)".

This disclosure is particularly important in the case of research that is supported by industry. Support from industry not only includes direct financial support for the study but also support in kind such as provision of food items, medications, equipment, kits or reagents without charge or at reduced cost and provision of services such as statistical analysis; all such support must be disclosed here. Where no specific funding has been provided for research, please provide the following statement: "This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors."

In addition to the source of financial support, please state whether the funder contributed to the study design, conduct of the study, analysis of samples or data, interpretation of findings or the preparation of the manuscript. If the funder made no such contribution, please provide the following statement: "[Funder's name] had no role in the design, analysis or writing of this article."

Declaration of Interests

All authors must include a declaration of interests in their main manuscript file. This declaration will be subject to editorial review and may be published in the article. 

Interests which should be declared are situations that could be perceived to exert an undue influence on the content or publication of an author’s work. They may include, but are not limited to, financial, professional, contractual or personal relationships or situations. 

If the manuscript has multiple authors, the author submitting must include interest declarations relevant to all contributing authors. 

Example wording for a declaration is as follows: “Declaration of interests: Author 1 is employed at organisation A, Author 2 is on the Board of company B and is a member of organisation C. Author 3 has received grants from company D.” If no interests exist, the declaration should state “Declaration of interests: The author(s) declare none”. 

Authorship

Please provide a brief description of the contribution of each author to the research using the CRediT taxonomy.

All authors listed on any papers submitted to this journal must be in agreement that the authors listed would all be considered authors according to disciplinary norms, and that no authors who would reasonably be considered an author have been excluded. For further details on this journal’s authorship policy, please see this journal's publishing ethics policies.

References

As per BJN’s new policy on format-neutral submission for original submissions, please note that the below applies to revised papers only. 

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the text using superscript Arabic numerals in parentheses, e.g. 'The conceptual difficulty of this approach has recently been highlighted^(1,2)'. If a reference is cited more than once, the same number should be used each time. References cited only in tables and figure legends should be numbered in sequence from the last number used in the text and in the order of mention of the individual tables and figures in the text.

Names and initials of authors of unpublished work should be given in the text as 'unpublished results' and not included in the References. References that have been published online only but not yet in an issue should include the online publication date and the Digital Object Identifier (doi) reference, as per the example below.

At the end of the paper, on a page(s) separate from the text, references should be listed in numerical order using the Vancouver system. When an article has more than three authors only the names of the first three authors should be given followed by 'et al.' The issue number should be omitted if there is continuous pagination throughout a volume. Titles of journals should appear in their abbreviated form using the NCBI LinkOut page. References to books and monographs should include the town of publication and the number of the edition to which reference is made. References to material available on websites should follow a similar style, with the full URL included at the end of the reference, as well as the date of the version cited and the date of access.

All references with titles in languages other than English should also have a translation in parentheses following the original. 

Examples of correct forms of references are given below.

Journal articles

• Rebello SA, Koh H, Chen C et al. (2014) Amount, type, and sources of carbohydrates in relation to ischemic heart disease mortality in a Chinese population: a prospective cohort study. Am J Clin Nutr 100, 53-64.
• Villar J, Ismail LC, Victora CG et al. (2014) International standards for newborn weight, length, and head circumference by gestational age and sex: the Newborn Cross-Sectional Study of the INTERGROWTH-21st Project.Lancet 384, 857-868.
• Alonso VR & Guarner F (2013) Linking the gut microbiota to human health. Br J Nutr 109, Suppl. 2, S21–S26.
• Bauserman M, Lokangaka A, Gado J et al. A cluster-randomized trial determining the efficacy of caterpillar cereal as a locally available and sustainable complementary food to prevent stunting and anaemia. Public Health Nutr. Published online: 29 January 2015. doi: 10.1017/S1368980014003334.

Books and monographs

• Bradbury J (2002) Dietary intervention in edentulous patients. PhD Thesis, University of Newcastle.
• Ailhaud G & Hauner H (2004) Development of white adipose tissue. In Handbook of Obesity. Etiology and Pathophysiology, 2nd ed., pp. 481–514 [GA Bray and C Bouchard, editors]. New York: Marcel Dekker.
• Bruinsma J (editor) (2003) World Agriculture towards 2015/2030: An FAO Perspective. London: Earthscan Publications.
• World Health Organization (2003) Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation. WHO Technical Report Series no. 916. Geneva: WHO.
• Keiding L (1997) Astma, Allergi og Anden Overfølsomhed i Danmark – Og Udviklingen 1987–199I (Asthma, Allergy and Other Hypersensitivities in Denmark, 1987–1991). Copenhagen, Denmark: Dansk Institut for Klinisk Epidemiologi.

Sources from the internet

• Nationmaster (2005) HIV AIDS – Adult prevalence rate. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/hea_hiv_aid_ad... (accessed June 2013).

For authors who use Endnote, you can find the style guide for BJN here. 

Figures

Figures should be supplied as separate electronic files. Figure legends should be grouped in a section at the end of the manuscript text. Each figure should be clearly marked with its number and separate panels within figures should be clearly marked (a), (b), (c) etc. so that they are easily identifiable when the article and figure files are merged for review. Each figure, with its legend, should be comprehensible without reference to the text and should include definitions of abbreviations. The nature of the information displayed in the figures (e.g. mean (SEM)) and the statistical test used must be stated.

We recommend that only TIFF, EPS or PDF formats are used for electronic artwork. For further information about how to prepare your figures, including sizing and resolution requirements, please see our artwork guide.

In curves presenting experimental results the determined points should be clearly shown, the symbols used being, in order of preference, ○, ●, ∆, ▲, □, ■, ×, +. Curves and symbols should not extend beyond the experimental points. Scale-marks on the axes should be on the inner side of each axis and should extend beyond the last experimental point. Ensure that lines and symbols used in graphs and shading used in histograms are large enough to be easily identified when the figure size is reduced to fit the printed page. Statistically significant effects should be indicated with symbols or letters.

Colour figures will be published online free of charge, and there is a fee of £350 per figure for colour figures in the printed version. If you request colour figures in the printed version, you will be contacted by CCC-Rightslink who are acting on our behalf to collect colour charges. Please follow their instructions in order to avoid any delay in the publication of your article.

Please refer to the Office of Research Integrity guidelines on image processing in scientific publication. Authors should provide sufficient detail of image-gathering procedures and process manipulation in the Methods sections to enable the accuracy of image presentation to be assessed. Authors should retain their original data, as Editors may request them for comparison during manuscript review.

Tables

Tables should be placed in the main manuscript file at the end of the document, not within the main text. Please do not supply tables as images (e.g. in TIFF or JPG format). Each table should be cited in the text. Tables should carry headings describing their content and should be comprehensible without reference to the text.

The dimensions of the values, e.g. mg/kg, should be given at the top of each column. Separate columns should be used for measures of variance (SD, SE etc.), the ± sign should not be used. Shortened forms of the words weight (wt) height (ht) and experiment (Expt) may be used to save space in tables, but only Expt (when referring to a specified experiment, e.g. Expt 1) is acceptable in the heading. 

Footnotes are given in the following order: (1) abbreviations, (2) superscript letters, (3) symbols. Abbreviations are given in the format: RS, resistant starch. Abbreviations in tables must be defined in footnotes in the order that they appear in the table (reading from left to right across the table, then down each column). Symbols for footnotes should be used in the sequence: *†‡§||¶, then ** etc. (omit * or †, or both, from the sequence if they are used to indicate levels of significance).

Supplementary material

Material that is not essential to understanding or supporting a manuscript, but which may nonetheless be relevant or interesting to readers, may be submitted as supplementary material. Supplementary material will be published online alongside your article, but will not be published in the pages of the journal. Types of supplementary material may include, but are not limited to, appendices, additional tables or figures, datasets, videos, and sound files.

Although Supplementary Material is peer reviewed, it is not checked, copyedited or typeset after acceptance and it is loaded onto the journal's website exactly as supplied. Please see our general guidance on supplementary materials for further information.

Where relevant we encourage authors to publish additional qualitative or quantitative research outputs in an appropriate repository, and cite these in manuscripts.

AuthorAID

AuthorAID is a global network that provides free support, mentoring, resources and training to help researchers in low- and middle-income countries to write, publish and otherwise communicate their work.

Key features of AuthorAID are:

• a community space for discussion and questions where researchers can benefit from advice and insights from members across the globe
• access to a range of documents and presentations on best practice in writing and publication
• world-wide training workshops and MOOCs on scientific writing
• a chance to network with other researchers
• personal mentoring by highly published researchers and professional editors

For any authors new to publishing research articles, we encourage you to make use of the AuthorAID resources before submitting your paper to BJN. Through the AuthorAID network, guidance can be found to help researchers through the process of writing and submitting scientific papers, advice about responding to reviewer comments, as well as research design and grant applications.

Please note that seeking support through AuthorAID will not guarantee acceptance for publication in BJN, or affect the editorial process in any way.

Appendix: Mathematical modelling, statistics and nomenclature