We will consider your manuscript as long as
it is your own original work and does not duplicate any previously published work, including your own;
it is not under consideration, in peer review, or accepted for publication in any journal other than Life Metabolism;
it has not been published in any other journal; and
it contains nothing abusive, defamatory, libelous, obscene, fraudulent, or illegal.
Authors should observe high ethical standards and obey publication best practices. The following are all unacceptable:
data falsification or fabrication
plagiarism, including duplicate publication of your own work without proper citation
misappropriation of work
We treat any case of ethical or publication malpractice very seriously. We will address them in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. Further information about OUP’s ethical policies is available.
You must submit your paper via our web-based submission system. If you have not published with Life Metabolism before, you will need to create an account. More information is available on the ScholarOne Manuscripts FAQ and help page. Questions about submitting can be sent to the editorial office at life_metab@fudan.edu.cn
This journal publishes several different article types.
abstract—unstructured abstract; maximum word count: 250
keywords—maximum keywords: 6. Each keyword can be a maximum of 15 words.
references—maximum references: 100
tables and figures—maximum of 10 figures and 6 tables
Each submission must contain the following sections: abstract, introduction, results, discussion, materials and methods, references.
abstract—unstructured abstract; maximum word count: 250
keywords—maximum keywords: 6. Each keyword can be a maximum of 15 words.
references—maximum references: 250
tables and figures—maximum of 6 figures and 6 tables
No structured sections required for Review Articles.
abstract—no abstract; a brief stand first of only one or two sentences.
keywords—no keywords
references—maximum references: 10
figures—maximum of 2 figures
No structured sections required for Research Highlights.
abstract—no abstract; a brief stand first of only one or two sentences.
keywords—no keywords
references—maximum references: 10
figures—maximum of 1 figure
No structured sections required for Letters.
abstract—no abstract; a brief stand first of only one or two sentences.
keywords—no keywords
references—maximum references: 10
figures—maximum of 2 figures
No structured sections required for Editorials.
abstract—unstructured abstract; maximum word count: 100
keywords—maximum keywords: 6. Each keyword can be a maximum of 15 words.
references—maximum references: 100
tables and figures—maximum of 4 figures and 4 tables
No structured sections required for Perspectives.
If you wish to reproduce any material for which you do not own the copyright—including quotations, tables, or images—you must obtain permission from the copyright holder. The permissions agreement must include the following documents:
nonexclusive rights to reproduce the material in your article in Life Metabolism
both print and electronic rights, preferably for use in any form or medium
lifetime rights to use the material
worldwide English-language rights
Further information on obtaining permissions is available.
If you are not confident in the quality of your English, you may wish to use a language-editing service to ensure that editors and reviewers understand your paper. Language editing is optional and does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted. Edited manuscripts will still undergo peer review by the journal.
Please include the following:
the title of your paper
all author names and affiliations
mailing address and email address of one corresponding author
a short running head of 50 characters or less
Abstracts have a maximum length of 250 words and must not contain reference citations or abbreviations.
The journal follows Oxford SCIMED style. Please refer to these requirements when preparing your manuscript. More information on the style guide is available. [UK/US] spelling should be used throughout, except in quotations and in references.
Please define nonstandard abbreviations at the first occurrence.
You must number all tables (e.g., table 1, table 2, table 3) and reference them in the text. You must place all tables at the end of the main text. Tables should be in an editable format, and not embedded as an image file.
You may format references in any readable style at submission. You are responsible for the accuracy of reference information. Style files for reference managers
Acknowledgments and funding information should be included at the end of your manuscript. Please fully cite any relevant funding information, including specific grant numbers.
Information on LaTeX files and formatting is available.
You must include figure titles and legends within the manuscript file—they should not be included in the image file.
You must submit each figure as an individual image file. Submit all panels of a multipanel figure on a single page as one file. For example, if the figure has 3 panels, the figure should be submitted as one file. Each panel should be labeled as a letter (A, B, C, D, etc.) in the upper-left corner of each panel.
Images of photographs or paintings can be provided as raster images. Common examples of raster images are .tif/.tiff, .raw, .gif, and .bmp file types. The resolution of raster files is measured by the number of dots or pixels in a given area, referred to as “dpi” or “ppi.”
minimum resolution required for printed images or pictures: 350dpi
minimum resolution for printed line art: 600dpi (complex or finely drawn line art should be 1200dpi)
minimum resolution for electronic images (i.e., for on-screen viewing): 72dpi
Images of maps, charts, graphs, and diagrams are best rendered digitally as geometric forms called vector graphics. Common file types are .eps, .ai, and .pdf. Vector images use mathematical relationships between points and the lines connecting them to describe an image. These file types do not use pixels; therefore resolution does not apply to vector images.
Figures prepared as .doc/.docx or .jpeg/.jpg files will not be accepted.
You must submit supplementary data or supplementary material at the same time as the main manuscript.
Supplementary material must be cited in the text of the main manuscript.
Supplementary material will be available online only and will not be copyedited or typeset.
Style and formatting of supplementary material should be consistent with that of the manuscript.
Supplementary material should be formatted to function on any internet browser.
Supplementary material files should be no larger than 2MB each.
Life Metabolism is a fully open access journal and depends upon open access publication fees for its operation. If your paper is accepted, you will be charged an open access fee. See the Charges section below for more information. All papers are freely available online upon publication under an open access licence. Please note that, in the first three years, there will be no publication costs for publishing in Life Metabolism, and Open Access fees will be waived.
After your manuscript is accepted, you must sign a licence to publish form on our Author Services website.
Life Metabolism articles can be published under the following Creative Commons licence:
Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY)
Your funding agencies may have specific requirements for what type of open access licence to use, so please check before selecting a licence. Please see Creative Commons licences for more information. Please check with your funding body if you are unsure of any licence requirements.
You can pay open access, page, and color charges on the same Author Portal you used to sign your licence to publish. Any applicable discounts can also be applied prior to payment.
You can pay your open access charges immediately after you sign your licence. You cannot pay page or color charges until production of your manuscript is complete.
Charges for the open access licence options offered by Life Metabolism are listed below. The standard licence to publish does not carry a charge.
Regular charge: $2780