MOLECULAR CELL
Information for authors
This page describes our policies and provides information that we think will be helpful to you as you prepare manuscripts for submission and publication. If you have submitted a paper and want information about the status of the paper, please log in to our online manuscript submission system, Editorial Manager (EM). If you run into any problems or if you have specific questions, you can always e-mail us at molecule@cell.com or call +1-617-397-2800.
About the journal
Molecular Cell publishes 24 issues per year and releases new articles online each week. Our editorial team consists of PhD-trained editors who work closely with authors, reviewers, and the scientific editorial board to maintain the journal’s high standards and to bring exciting new discoveries to readers. All Molecular Cell content is free one year after print publication.
Editorial evaluation timeline
We read and evaluate every submission, and we try our best to get back to you quickly. We are mindful of how long it can take to publish a paper, so we work with authors and reviewers to minimize that time. Here’s how long each step in the process usually takes:
Initial decision to review 3–5 days after submission
Decision after review 3–4 weeks after submission
Anticipated timeframe for suggested revisions 2–3 months (with flexibility if needed)
Time to online publication 3–5 weeks after acceptance
Time to print publication Within 3 months of acceptance
Presubmission inquiries
Unsure if your paper is suitable for Molecular Cell? Send us a presubmission inquiry at molecule@cell.com, and we'll let you know what we think in 2–5 business days. Please include a title, an abstract, and an explanation of why your paper is significant and broadly interesting. You can also submit a presubmission inquiry using this form.
Relationship between Cell Press journals
Co-consideration
If you think your paper might be suitable for two or more Cell Press journals, you now have the opportunity for simultaneous consideration at multiple journals using Cell Press Community Review. With Cell Press Community Review, all the Cell Press life and health science journals of your choice provide unified consideration of your manuscript via one handling editor who works closely with you, your chosen journals’ editorial teams, and expert reviewers from the field to help you navigate a path to publication with Cell Press. To take advantage of this unique opportunity, please submit directly to the Cell Press Community submission site. For more information, view our instructions for authors and FAQ or reach out to us at community@cell.com with any questions.
Transfer of papers between Cell Press journals
We know it can be time consuming to serially submit your paper to multiple journals, restarting the review process each time. Cell Press publishes many journals, and we give you the opportunity to transfer your paper, along with the reviews and the reviewers' identities, from one journal to another. If you have questions about the suitability of your paper for transfer, please contact the editor of the receiving journal. If you have general questions about the transfer process, please refer to our FAQs on article transfers. Often, the Editor of the target journal will be able to reach a decision based on the existing reviews. Occasionally, the Editor may seek comments from additional reviewers. If you transfer your paper using our online system, you will have a chance to edit your files before they are sent to the receiving journal. You can always submit your paper to another Cell Press journal without mentioning the first review process. In this case, the manuscript will be evaluated as a regular new submission.
Communication with other Cell Press journals
If your paper is not a strong candidate for further consideration at the journal submitted to, the handling editor of your manuscript may contact other topically relevant journals within Cell Press with a view to offering you the option of a transfer. Your handling editor may briefly describe the paper to editors at one or more Cell Press journal. If you would like to opt out of this process, please indicate this in your cover letter and/or contact your editor via email.
Editorial policies
Preprint servers
We are happy to consider manuscripts previously posted on preprint servers such as arXiv, bioRxiv, BioRN, ChemRxiv, or SSRN. Three of our broad scope journals, Cell Reports, Current Biology, and iScience, also support direct submission of manuscripts from bioRxiv via transfer of manuscript files and metadata to the journal’s Editorial Manager site. Our support for posting of preprints only applies to the original submitted version of the manuscript; we do not support posting to preprint servers revisions that respond to editorial input and peer review or final accepted manuscripts. Once your paper is published, we encourage you to update the preprint record with a link to the final published article. Please see our prepublication publicity policies for more information on sharing your work at the prepublication stage.
Pre-registration
Cell Press journals support the pre-registration of both clinical trials and analysis plans in curated, public repositories when authors consider it appropriate. Individual Cell Press journals may require pre-registration of clinical trials in a WHO-compliant registry. If authors inform us that they have pre-registered their studies, their published article will indicate where the pre-registered information can be accessed.
Related manuscripts
If you or your coauthors have any related papers submitted or in press elsewhere, you need to let us know and include them with your initial submission (or with your revision if they were submitted during revision). We ask this because having access to related papers often helps us (and reviewers) to assess the submitted work, and it can help prevent potentially difficult scenarios down the road. Failure to provide copies of related manuscripts may delay the review process and may be grounds for rejection. As a matter of publishing ethics, we cannot consider any paper that contains data that have been published or submitted for publication elsewhere.
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