Submitting Your Manuscript
When you have a topic ready to develop into an article — or if you have already written an article and are looking for a “home” for it — please contact Editor in Chief Anne Montgomery (anne.montgomery@informa.com, 212-600-3596). She can let you know of our interest and potential publication timelines. She is always happy to review a draft and offer suggestions, but that is not a requirement. Unsolicited manuscripts are very welcome!

There is no fee for writers from end-user companies to submit manuscripts or to publish in BPI. Supplier authors, however, will be contacted about supporting their materials with print or digital advertising.

Article Categories
You do not need to specify an article category on submission of your work to us — and some manuscripts can fit nicely into more than one category. Minimum word counts (for all but our closers) represent two-page articles. The maximum counts are suggested upper limits: There is no set maximum count, but manuscripts that will run significantly over five or six pages may need to be published in two or three parts.

“Focus On. . . ” (Nontechnical) Articles (1,500‒3,000 words): These include discussions of ethics, quality risk management, regulatory trends, business issues, and training and careers in the industry. They are generally not subject to peer review, but the editors may choose to send discussions of known controversial topics to our subject-matter experts.

Peer-Reviewed (Technical) Articles (1,500‒4,500 words): These are the “meat” of the magazine and are accompanied by a “Focus Box” that suggests a product and process focus (MAbs or diagnostics, for example, and downstream processing or preclinical testing); related job functions (such as validation, process development, or information technology), and experience level (biotech basics vs. process optimization, for example). We encourage authors to submit their Focus Box categories, although that is not required for acceptance.

Peer-Reviewed “Supplier Side” Articles (1,500‒4,500 words): Article-length, supplier-friendly “application notes” (also with Focus Boxes) present material of solid technical quality specific to an author’s company’s product or technology.

Elucidations (500‒700-word “Closers”): One-page viewpoints, book reviews, guest editorials, and letters to the editor are encouraged.

Photo/Art Submissions (especially for use on our covers) are not only welcome but encouraged. Refer to the Graphics Formatting and Submission Guidelines for details.
Please contact senior technical editor, Cheryl Scott, for more information.

Innovators Issue: For information about submitting an advertorial for our annual Industry Innovators issue, published in July–August, please contact Kim Rafferty.

Digital and ePublications
BPI continues to expand its online offerings and is actively soliciting white papers and other presentations of key topics for digital-only presentations. These may be submitted manuscripts or composite forms such as webcasts with edited transcripts, Ask-the-Expert (sponsored) pieces, and other materials that fit nicely into an online format.

The editors are delighted to hear your ideas for digital content, and you can also suggest content or an online project with one of our strategic marketing representatives.

Submission Details and Timeline — Submission to Publication
1. Submit your manuscript: Send your manuscript by email to Editor in Chief Anne Montgomery (anne.montgomery@informa.com) or to Managing Editor Maribel Rios (maribel.rios@informa.com) depending on who you’ve been in contact with up to that point).

• Send us your manuscript in Microsoft Word (not as a PDF)
• Do not include embedded referencing. Instead, number your references manually, sequentially, in the order in which they appear, and do not repeat a reference (just its number). Don’t worry about formatting and arrangement of reference information – BPI has a hybrid format not entirely in line with the ACS Style Guide. But be sure to include
  • Full title of article or chapter; the names of all authors (if known, and even if they will be listed as et al.); periodical title along with (for a book) city, state, publishing house; or (for a magazine or journal) both volume and issue number (if available); and complete page numbers. For online publications, include a URL or DOI. The best examples can be found by looking at the articles in the BPI archives at bioprocessintl.com
• If you are a media liaison who is submitting on behalf of an author/company, we will copy you on correspondence, but we must include the corresponding author as well in all correspondence. We will not begin any formal review process without this information.
• Article photos/figures/tables should be numbered with captions and called out in the text. Photos and figures should be submitted separately in high-resolution (300 dpi) JPG or TIFF formats, about 2 inches in width. Tables should have a title and all footnotes should be included.

The editor will acknowledge receipt within 48 hours. At that point, if she sees the need for further work before the manuscript is ready for acceptance or peer-review, she or our senior technical editor will send revision notes.

If circumstances allow the editor to accept your manuscript for publication directly, you will receive information about the schedule and expectations.

2. Peer Review: Technical papers are sent to one or (usually) two members of BPI’s Editorial Advisory Board (EAB), along with a general review form to guide their assessment. BPI also solicits reviews from experts outside our board, when necessary. Our EAB members understand the industry’s mission and challenges, have been through the development process themselves, and are just as devoted to helping others succeed as is BPI itself.

The editor will blind the copy as much as is possible, even removing author and company names from the file properties. She will remove author names and acknowledgment text, for example. But this is also why we do not want embedded headers and footers that may contain company logos. Complete “blinding” is often difficult, so we also are careful not to send your manuscript to any reviewer who may have a conflict of interest.

Although reviewers are generally given two weeks to return comments and a publication decision, this process can take up to six weeks at certain times of the year.

Reviewers rarely accept a manuscript without making at least a few suggestions for improvement. The editor will assess the comments and decide what changes may be optional and which appear to be required. She will negotiate a schedule with you for a revision. Many times, however, the editors can incorporate changes into the editing process for your review at galley stage (see below).

3. Acceptance and Scheduling: Once a paper is accepted, the editor will generally give a first and second publication schedule. Very often we have to make adjustments to our page counts to control our audited ad–edit ratios; and at other times either your paper or someone else’s runs longer than we’d estimated. If we have to postpone your publication, we will place your paper as a high priority for the next issue or supplement.

4. Copyediting and Layout: About three weeks before the publication month, one of the BPI editors will edit and layout your manuscript in as complete a form as possible. You will receive the results as a galley for your review. We will have edited for a number of house style elements and for overall consistency with our design. Although the editors will negotiate some style issues with authors, the editor in chief makes the final call regarding exceptions to BPI formatting and punctuation protocols.

See this short list of key BPI Editing and House Style Practices.

5. Galley and Copyright: With your galley, which we will send as a PDF, you will also receive our standard copyright assignment form (government author version) to return to us by mail or an email (PDF) scan. As long as the terms are compatible, if your company legal advisor prefers to use your own form, that is fine.

• We will normally give you 48 hours to review and comment on your galley. For large groups of authors and during heavier travel seasons, we may be able to extend that time.
• We need comments/changes returned to us on one PDF with changes written in as annotations/notes and re-scanned or noted through the PDF editing feature.
• Multiple authors may simply pass the PDF around and add comments; or the corresponding author can enter the group’s changes at the end of the process. Throughout this process, which often takes place very close to our production deadline, you will be in contact with your editor, who can help address any problems with the file(s).
• We regret that we cannot resend your galley as a converted Word document because of the time it takes us to re-edit new text and reformat your layout.
• We can, however, accept your combined changes in a Word document as a list noting where edits occur.
• We also regret that we cannot receive your changes over the phone: We have to have written documentation of author galley requests on file.
• Rarely, but especially if many changes or additions are made, we will agree to send a second galley if time permits. We will not send a second galley if changes are merely to design and punctuation elements or simple corrections.

6. Production Process: Once your paper is as complete as possible and everyone is happy with it, your editor will send it to our production manager. She will insert the fractional advertisements, and those can alter our layouts. The editors then review all the pages again and make small changes as necessary.

About 10 days later, our production manager will upload issue files to our printer’s site. The editorial staff once again will look at every page to make sure no errors have appeared. Small changes can still be made, but for a fee – so we make substantive edits, only, at this stage.

7. Postpublication and Reprints: Once your paper has been printed and the file has been uploaded to our website, our associate editor will send you a link to your paper on our web site. You will be able to download a PDF for your personal use from there.

• Your personal PDF may not be posted online; unless you have paid for online reprints, we ask you to share your paper by linking to it on the BPI site.
• PubMed Central: Authors who need to comply with the NIH Public Access policy or other similar mandates have permission to upload the final, published version of their articles to the NIH Manuscript Submission system for immediate public access in PubMed Central or other funders’ repositories.
• Circumstances may vary, of course, especially with sponsored supplements, so we can discuss variations case by case.
• We will mail complimentary copies to you on request and as long as such copies are available. Just let your editor know how many you will need.
• Please see our reprint information if you would like copies for commercial distribution.

For more information about writing for BioProcess International, please contact editor in chief Anne Montgomery at anne.montgomery@informa.com, 212-600-3596; or managing editor Maribel Rios at maribel.rios@informa.com; 212-600-3595.