Submitting a manuscript to DMM
DMM is moving to a new submission system; for more information, see our FAQ page. To submit a manuscript, please use our online submission system.
- Terms of submission
- Online submission
- Article Publication Charge
- Reducing the pain to publish: transfer to Biology Open
- Focus on biodiversity: The Forest of Biologists
Terms of submission
DMM considers for publication original research that has not been previously published. Submission to DMM implies that this is the case and that the submitted manuscript is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
During the submission process, authors are asked to declare that the manuscript has been seen and approved by all authors. Submission also indicates that authors agree to abide by DMM's publishing policies, including the declaration of any competing interests to the journal upon submission of a manuscript.
DMM uses the CRediT taxonomy to define author contributions to primary research papers and requires that the independent contributions of each author be provided during online submission. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that contributions are agreed by ALL co-authors prior to manuscript submission. Please refer to the journal policies for further information on our authorship policies.
At acceptance, the corresponding author is asked to sign a licence agreement before publication can proceed. DMM applies a single licence agreement to all its articles. Visit our licence page for further details and to see an example licence.
Authors should clearly highlight the key finding(s) of the paper and explain its significance and interest to the field in their cover letter.
Upon article acceptance, Research and Resources & Methods articles are posted on the journal web site as accepted author manuscripts (Accepted manuscripts) before journal copyediting and layout and in advance of publication of the online issues in which they will subsequently appear. Authors who would prefer their accepted author manuscript NOT to be posted as an accepted manuscript should tick the relevant check box during the submission process.
We support the Think.Check.Submit. initiative.
Online submission
New manuscripts
DMM is committed to making submission as easy as possible for authors. As part of this commitment, DMM offers format-free submission.
At first submission, authors are not required to format their manuscript according to journal guidelines. However, for the benefit of reviewers and Editors, we do strongly encourage authors to make their manuscripts as easy to read as possible by using appropriate line spacing, line and page numbers, and ensuring that figures are clearly numbered and/or accompanied by their legend.
For new submissions, we recommend that you submit your paper as a single PDF file that contains all the necessary text, figures (with their legends) and tables.
Our submission system converts submitted files (PDFs or individual files) into a single PDF file for the review process. The corresponding author must check and approve the PDF to complete the submission process; if there are problems with figure resolution, please contact the Editorial Office.
During the submission process, you will be asked to provide an email address for each author and suggested reviewer. We strongly encourage the use of institutional email addresses. All corresponding authors are also required to submit an ORCID identifier (although it is best practice to use an ORCID iD to identify each author). Papers submitted using non-institutional email addresses (e.g. gmail) and without ORCID iDs may require additional verification steps, which could cause delays.
At submission, you will be asked to suggest at least three possible reviewers for your article. You will also have the opportunity to list any reviewers that, because of conflicts of interest, you would prefer not to review your article; please note that reviewer exclusion is at the discretion of the Editor.
As a service to our authors, DMM’s manuscript submission system (Editorial Manager) is integrated with the bioRxiv preprint server (operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) – thus avoiding the need to re-enter information or upload files in multiple submission systems. Authors depositing a manuscript in bioRxiv can transfer their paper directly to DMM through their transfer portal. Once deposited in bioRxiv, the unrefereed manuscript will become free for anyone to read almost immediately and cannot be removed, regardless of the editorial decision made at DMM. It will be citable with a bioRxiv DOI, its usage can be tracked, and it can be updated. Please ensure that all co-authors agree to preprint deposition before uploading to bioRxiv. Consideration of your manuscript for review and/or publication by DMM is not influenced by whether you choose to post it on bioRxiv.
DMM will consider new submissions accompanied by peer review reports from previous submission to journals of similar scope. Please provide a covering letter that clearly states that you wish the existing reviews to be taken into account, and include all reviews and decision letters as supplementary information. Please note that we may contact the journal from which the reviews originated to confirm details. DMM also reserves the right to request additional peer review.
Revised and accepted manuscripts
For revised submissions and accepted manuscripts, please provide all the necessary text and figures as individual files.
For more information on suitable file formats, please see our manuscript preparation and figure preparation guidelines. Authors working in LaTeX can download and use our template.
All revised manuscripts should adhere to our manuscript preparation guidelines, and authors should complete and submit our submission checklist with their manuscripts. This form asks authors to confirm that they have followed best practice guidelines regarding experimental subjects, data reporting and statistics. The checklist is based on the NIH Principles and Guidelines for Reporting Preclinical Research and is intended to help ensure high standards for reporting and to aid reproducibility.
To help you meet your funder requirements, you will be asked to provide details of all funding sources from ALL authors. Please provide the full official funding agency name, as listed on the Crossref Open Funder Registry, and all relevant grant numbers. See our manuscript preparation guidelines for more details.
Please note that revised manuscripts will be treated as a new submission if they are not submitted within three months of the date of the initial decision.
For more information on the types of articles that can be submitted to DMM, please visit our article types page.
Article Publication Charge
To provide Open Access, the costs of publication in DMM are partially covered by charging a subsidised fee to the authors or the research supporters for each accepted article. This Article Publication Charge (APC) is $3750 (plus VAT if applicable), increasing to $4000 for new submissions from January 1 2025. The true cost of publishing in DMM is higher, including costs relating to quality peer review; support for academic editors; plagiarism and image manipulation checks; text editing; layout; and online hosting, dissemination and archiving. APC fees are set in three currencies, US dollars, pound sterling and Euros, and do not follow the constantly changing exchange rate. This means that authors are not adversely affected by fluctuations in their local exchange rate.
DMM is included in many of the Read & Publish agreements offered by The Company of Biologists. This enables discounted or fee-free publication of an uncapped number of Research articles in DMM for corresponding authors at participating institutions (including, among others, the Max Planck Digital Library and University of California).
DMM has a small budget for waiving publication charges for authors in developing countries and others in genuine financial hardship. Corresponding authors based in certain countries will automatically be granted a full waiver upon application. Funds for waivers are limited, however, as the journal would not be sustainable without income from author charges to cover its costs. Payment requests will be sent to the corresponding author following acceptance of their paper.
The decision to publish a paper in DMM is wholly independent of payment or ability to pay, and is based solely on the validity and supportability of the work detailed in each manuscript. Editors and reviewers do not have access to information regarding authors' financial contributions. DMM is published by the not-for-profit publisher The Company of Biologists, a charitable organisation run by scientists to support the research community.
Reducing the pain to publish: transfer to Biology Open
Papers rejected from DMM can be transferred, strictly with the authors’ approval, to Biology Open (BiO), an online Open Access journal also published by The Company of Biologists, for editorial consideration. The Editors of BiO make their editorial decisions independently of DMM, have different criteria for acceptance and have a rapid decision time. Find out more about the transfer to BiO option.
Focus on biodiversity: The Forest of Biologists
For every research paper (including Resources & Methods articles) and for every peer-reviewed review-type article (e.g. Reviews, Perspectives, Clinical Puzzles, At a Glance poster articles and Special Articles) published in DMM, a new tree will be planted in the Young People's Forest at Mead in Derbyshire, UK, with support from the Woodland Trust. These newly planted trees will become part of The Forest of Biologists, an ambitious new biodiversity initiative that celebrates the community's contributions to DMM and its sister journals. A representation of the real tree will appear in our virtual forest, where authors can learn more about their own trees, explore the forest and keep track of our progress. Read the Editorial to find out more about The Forest of Biologists.
