VPH CALL FOR PAPERS

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Dear Colleagues,

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A are planning to publish a special issue, focussed on biology-driven mathematical and computational models that are relevant to physiome style multidisciplinary research, which aims to illustrate the current state of play and future directions in 'real data'-based biomathematical modelling.

The issue, titled “Towards the Virtual Physiological Human: Mathematical and Computational Case Studies” will be edited by Drs Bindi Brook, John King (both in Nottingham), and Peter Kohl (Oxford). This special issue is focusing on, but not limited to, articles offering a combination of theory and experiment, documenting theoretical advances with clear exposition of how they further our understanding of biological processes. We are particularly interested in ‘case studies’ that provide expertise, tools and/or lessons that may be applicable to a wider range of activities in the Virtual Physiological Human (VPH) community (http://www.vph-noe.eu/). Herewith, we would like to invite expressions of interest from authors who would like to contribute.

Please note that the overall volume of the focused issue is limited (190 journal pages), and that we anticipate inviting no more than 10-12 papers. Selection will favour broad representation of developments across multiple organ systems and levels of investigation. It is possible that not all expressions of interest can be taken through towards an invitation to submit a manuscript for peer-review. Moreover, invited submissions will be accepted only if deemed suitable following the usual rigorous refereeing procedures.

We would like to encourage all interested teams to register their proposals, to ensure that the focused issue will offer a valid reflection of the breadth and depth of VPH related efforts. This will also allow us to gauge interest in this medium for communication, and perhaps allow us to continue the 'tradition' of annual focussed issues devoted to physiome-style research.

Regarding content - all papers are encouraged to combine:

• a review element,

• presentation of new data and/or concepts, and

• conclusions that offer forward-looking suggestions.

The strict maximum length of manuscripts is ten thousand words (in total, i.e. including figure legends and references), plus up 200 words of tables and four large figures (colour figures will incur a charge of £300 for 1-3 figures and £600 for 4-6 figures both in the on-line version of manuscripts and the printed version of the Journal).

Timelines:

1) Expressions of interest, consisting of

• working title

• author listing

• 1-page abstract outlining the paper content and main conclusions

• any special publication needs (i.e. larger allowance for text / figures / colour) with short explanation of why these may be required.

These must reach the Nottingham office by e-mail to Jane Mason, Jane.A.Mason@nottingham.ac.uk <mailto:Jane.A.Mason@nottingham.ac.uk>, and NO later than 1 October 2010.

2) Invitations to submit will reach corresponding authors by 15 October 2010 (this initial editorial review is to confirm suitability of topics for the focused issue, to identify / address potential overlap, and to highlight any areas for which additional contributions may need to be encouraged).

3) Submission of manuscripts is required by 13 December 2010.

4) Peer-review comments will be returned to authors in March 2011.

5) Revised manuscripts will be due *within 4 weeks of receipt of reviewers’ comments.

Note that submitting authors are responsible for obtaining reprint permissions for any copyrighted material; copies of these permissions need to be submitted with the final version of the manuscript.

Please note that these are absolute deadlines, as there is NO 'slack' built in to the timing.

The journal volumes are scheduled to appear in print in *October 2011* (all papers will be available on-line by about September 2011.

Handling of manuscripts will be coordinated by Jane Mason at Nottingham. Please feel free to contact her Jane.A.Mason@nottingham.ac.uk <mailto:Jane.A.Mason@nottingham.ac.uk with any questions.

For your information please find the authors' instructions for Phil. Trans. at http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/site/misc/style-guide.xhtml.

On behalf of Drs Brook, King and Kohl,

Dr Margarita Zachariou.