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Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology


eISSN: 11795972 | ISSN: 11795972 | Current volume: 13 | Current issue: 1 Frequency: Yearly
Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology is an international, peer reviewed, open access journal that covers topics in biomedical engineering, bioinformatics, systems biology, and computational biology, in particular papers using computational methods to address complex problems in today’s medicine and biology. The journal aims to provide a forum to bridge experimental research and mathematical modelling.

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Please visit the journal’s homepage for more information, to access full text content, and/or to submit a manuscript.
Abstracting and Indexing

  • Clarivate Analytics: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • EBSCO
  • ProQuest
  • PubMed Central (PMC)


  • Article Processing Charges (APCs)*

    There is no charge for submitting a paper to Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology. Upon acceptance of your manuscript, you will be charged a one-time article processing charge (APC) of 2,650 USD. This fee covers the cost of publication and ensures that your article will be freely available. 

    Benefits of Publishing

    The journal offers significant benefits to authors including:

    • International, PubMed-listed, open access journal
    • All articles made immediately freely available on PubMed Central
    • Indexed in: Web of Science Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and Scopus
    • Fast, rigorous peer review
    • Open access format, driving high visibility and global exposure
    • Prompt online publication
    • Article metrics service to allow each author to monitor re-use of published articles


    * The article processing charge (APC) is payable when a manuscript is accepted after peer review, before it is published. The APC is subject to taxes where applicable. Please see further details here.

    Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology aims to be the leading forum covering a very wide range of topics in biomedical engineering, bioinformatics, systems biology, and computational biology, in particular papers using computational methods to address complex problems in today’s medicine and biology.

    Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology aims to be a forum to form a bridge across experimental research and mathematical modelling. This interdisciplinary journal is intended to provide further communications among researchers using computational methods in biology.

    The journal’s main areas of research includes:

    • Biomedical Engineering
    • Biomaterials
    • Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
    • Biofabrication, 3D Printing and 3D Bioprinting
    • Bionanotechnology and BioMEMS
    • Bioelectronics and Biosensors
    • Biomechanics
    • Lab and Organ-on-a-Chip Systems
    • Engineered Multicellular Living Systems
    • Drug Delivery
    • Molecular Communication
    • Internet of Bio-NanoThings
    • Biomedical and Health Informatics
    • Biomedical Signal Processing
    • Computational Biology
    • Systems Biology
    • Biomedical Imaging
    • Biomedical Devices and Systems
    • Biointerfaces, Cytocompatibility and Biocompatibility
    Editor in Chief
    Nureddin Ashammakhi Michigan State University, USA
    Editorial Board
    Ian F. Akyildiz University of Helsinki, Finland
    Ilangko Balasingham Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway
    Andreas Blaeser Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
    Christopher Contag Michigan State University, USA
    Alireza Dolatshahi-Pirouz Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
    Mohammed Elmusrati University of Vaasa, Finland
    Thomas Growth Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
    Joao Mano University of Aveiro, Portugal
    Faleh Tamimi Marino McGill University, Canada
    Ibrahim Ozbolat Penn State University, USA
    Ipsita Roy The University of Sheffield, UK
    Aliasger Salem University of Iowa, USA
    Bige Deniz Unluturk Michigan State University, USA
    Sheng Xu University of California San Diego, USA
    Shrike Zhang Harvard Medical School, USA
    Advisory Board
    M. N. V. Ravi Kumar The University of Alabama, USA
    • Clarivate Analytics: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
    • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
    • EBSCO
    • ProQuest
    • PubMed Central (PMC)

    Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology Manuscript Submission Guidelines

     

    Table of Contents:

    1. Open Access
    2. Article processing charge (APC)
    3. What do we publish?
    3.1 Aims & scope
    3.2 Article types
    3.3 Writing your paper
    4. Editorial policies 
    4.1 Peer review policy
    4.2 Authorship
    4.3 Acknowledgements
    4.4 Funding
    4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
    4.6 Research ethics and patient consent
    4.7 Clinical trials
    4.8 Reporting guidelines 
    5. Publishing policies
    5.1 Publication ethics 
    5.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
    6. Preparing your manuscript
    6.1 Word processing formats
    6.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
    6.3 Supplementary material
    6.4 Reference style
    6.5 English language editing services
    7. Submitting your manuscript
    7.1 How to submit your manuscript
    7.2 Title, keywords and abstracts
    7.3 Information required for completing your submission 
    7.4 Permissions
    8. On acceptance and publication 
    8.1 Sage Production
    8.2 Online publication
    8.3 Promoting your article
    9. Further information  

    This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

    This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

    Please read the guidelines below then visit the journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/becb to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer review process.

    Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology will be reviewed.

    As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

    Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy.

    If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.

    If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal

    1. Open Access

    Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. Each article accepted by peer review is made freely available online immediately upon publication, is published under a Creative Commons license and will be hosted online in perpetuity. Publication costs of the journal are covered by the collection of article processing charges which are paid by the funder, institution or author of each manuscript upon acceptance. There is no charge for submitting a paper to the journal.

    For general information on open access at Sage please visit the Open Access page or view our Open Access FAQs.

    2. Article processing charge (APC)

    If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time article processing charge (APC) is payable. This APC covers the cost of publication and ensures that your article will be freely available online in perpetuity under a Creative Commons license.

    The APC for this journal is 2650 USD.

    If the paying party is based in the European Union, to comply with European law, value added tax (VAT) must be added to the APC. Providing a VAT registration number will allow an institution to be exempt from paying this tax, except for UK institutions.

    3. What do we publish?

    3.1 Aims & scope

    Before submitting your manuscript to Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

    3.2 Article types
     

    • Commentary Commentaries discuss the findings, implications, and/or outcomes of specific research or wider research on a general topic. They elaborate on or offer original ideas about a specific paper or a widely-researched subject.  Commentaries differ from reviews in that they present the author’s original ideas and suggestions instead of only collating and reporting the previous research.
     Editorial Written by the Editor-in-Chief, deputy Editor-in-Chief, Guest Editor or Associate Editor of a journal, editorials are intended to inform readers of changes concerning the journal, or to introduce supplements, special issues, or new ideas relevant to the journal.  In limited circumstances individuals other than the individuals listed here may propose an editorial topic if they wish.
    • Letter to the Editor Letters to the editor can be submitted on any topic relevant to the journal and are usually in response to an article published in the journal. They can suggest new subjects to be incorporated by the journal or commend and review papers published in the journal.  We recommend that individuals considering submitting a letter to the editor should contact the editor in chief first to discuss their manuscript.
    • Meeting Report This manuscript type reports on a meeting with specific relevance to the journal it is submitted to. Meetings can be international or national conferences or institutional seminars.
    • Original Research These should detail original experiments/research conducted by the authors.  Any research on any topic is accepted, provided it falls within the aims and scope of the journal.  Original research must add to scientific knowledge on the subject and must be completed in accordance with ethical principles.  Research on humans or animals must have applicable ethical approvals.
    • Review A review is a detailed examination including the benefits and drawbacks of a medicine, therapeutic technique, computer program, policy, or anything else appropriate to the journal.  They are substantially composed of a report on previous research.  Authors wishing to present original ideas in addition should choose the Commentary type.  All journals accept unsolicited review manuscripts for peer review.
    • Short Report Short reports present new research that adds to previous studies. This can be reporting on the reliability or unreliability of research or informing readers of new factors that may influence the outcome of the study. Authors must acknowledge the work they build upon including any unpublished sources. Manuscripts should be no longer than approximately 1,000 words excluding references.
    • Technical Advance A broad-scoped category of manuscript reporting an advance within the journal's scope.  New procedures, experiments, standard practices, or computational methods should be presented in technical advance articles. They report on significant advancements in technology that the reader will benefit from learning about.

    3.3 Writing your paper

    The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

    3.3.1 Making your article discoverable

    For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online

    4. Editorial policies

    4.1 Peer review policy

    Following a preliminary triage to eliminate submissions unsuitable for Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology all papers are sent out for review. The covering letter is important. To help the Editor in the preliminary evaluation, please indicate why you think the paper suitable for publication. If your paper should be considered for fast-track publication, please explain why.

    The journal’s policy is to have manuscripts reviewed by two expert reviewers. Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology utilizes a single-anonymize peer review process in which the reviewer’s name and information is withheld from the author. Reviewers may at their own discretion opt to reveal their names to the author in their review but our standard policy practice is for their identities to remain concealed. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief who then makes the final decision.

    As part of the submission process you will be asked to provide the names of two peers who could be called upon to review your manuscript. Recommended reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Please be aware of any conflicts of interest when recommending reviewers. Examples of conflicts of interest include (but are not limited to) the below: 

    • The reviewer should have no prior knowledge of your submission
    • The reviewer should not have recently collaborated with any of the authors
    • Reviewer nominees from the same institution as any of the authors are not permitted

    You will also be asked to nominate peers who you do not wish to review your manuscript (opposed reviewers).

    Please note that the Editors are not obliged to invite any recommended/opposed reviewers to assess your manuscript.

    The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor / Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

    4.2 Authorship

    Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors. The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship.

    This is all those who:

    1. Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
    2. Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
    3. Approved the version to be published,
    4. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

    Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.

    Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.

    Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

    4.3 Acknowledgements

    All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

    4.3.1 Third party submissions

    Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

    •    Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input 
    •    Identify any entities that paid for this assistance 
    •    Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

    Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

    4.3.2 Writing assistance

    Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

    Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.

    4.4 Funding

    Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

    4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

    It is the policy of Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biologyto require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.

    Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’.

    For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations.

    4.6 Research ethics and patient consent

    Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.

    Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and all papers reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure that you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the approval number.

    For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.

    Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative. Please do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file.

    Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants

    All research involving animals submitted for publication must be approved by an ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted. The Journal has adopted the ARRIVE guidelines.

    4.7 Clinical trials

    Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

    4.8 Reporting guidelines

    The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study. For example, all randomized controlled trials submitted for publication should include a completed CONSORT flow chart as a cited figure and the completed CONSORT checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should include the completed PRISMA flow chart as a cited figure and the completed PRISMA checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. The EQUATOR wizard can help you identify the appropriate guideline.

    Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.

    5. Publishing policies

    5.1 Publication ethics

    Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

    5.1.1 Plagiarism

    Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

    5.1.2 Prior publication

    If material has been previously published, it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

    5.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement

    Before publication Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology publishes manuscripts under Creative Commons licenses. The standard license for the journal is Creative Commons by Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC), which allows others to re-use the work without permission as long as the work is properly referenced and the use is non-commercial. For more information, you are advised to visit Sage's OA licenses page. Alternative license arrangements are available, for example, to meet particular funder mandates, made at the author’s request.

    6. Preparing your manuscript

    6.1 Word processing formats

    The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

    6.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

    For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines  Figures supplied in color will appear in color online.

    6.3 Supplementary material

    This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. These will be subjected to peer-review alongside the article.  For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files, which can be found within our Manuscript Submission Guidelines page.

    6.4 Reference style

    Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology adheres to the AMA Manual of Style. View the guide here to ensure your manuscript conforms to this style.

    If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the AMA output file here.

    6.5 English language editing services

    Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

    7. Submitting your manuscript

    7.1 How to submit your manuscript

    To submit your manuscript to Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology, please visit the manuscript submissions site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/becb and ensure that references are formatted with AMA reference style.

    7.2 Title, keywords and abstracts

    Please supply a title, short title, an abstract and keywords to accompany your article. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article online through online search engines such as Google. Please refer to the information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords by visiting the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidelines on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

    7.3 Information required for completing your submission

    Provide full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address and telephone numbers. Academic affiliations are required for all co-authors. These details should be presented separately to the main text of the article to facilitate anonymous peer review. You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

    7.5 Permissions

    Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

    8. On acceptance and publication

    If your paper is accepted for publication after peer review, you will first be asked to complete the contributor’s publishing agreement. Once your manuscript files have been checked for Sage Production, the corresponding author will be asked to pay the article processing charge (APC) via a payment link. Once the APC has been processed, your article will be prepared for publication and can appear online within an average of 30 days. Please note that no production work will occur on your paper until the APC has been received.

    8.1 Sage Production

    Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit, or by email to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly.  Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. 

    8.2 Online publication

    One of the many benefits of publishing your research in an open access journal is the speed to publication. With no page count constraints, your article will be published online in a fully citable form with a DOI number as soon as it has completed the production process. At this time it will be completely free to view and download for all.

    8.3 Promoting your article

    Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

    9. Further information

    Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the Manuscript Submission process should be sent to the Biomedical Engineering and Computational Biology editorial office as follows:

    Neisha Jobanputra, neisha.jobanputra@sagepub.co.uk