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2020 Volume 17 Pages 155
Both intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of larger proteins are involved in many biological processes such as transcription, translation, cellular signaling, cell cycle control, and liquid-liquid phase separation [1]. As a result of this ubiquity, the structural and functional aspects of IDPs/IDRs, especially in relation to their binding to relevant biomolecular partners, have been extensively studied. A review article on this topic was recently published by Hibino, E. and Hoshino, M. [2] in Biophysics and Physicobiology (BPPB). Published under the title “A novel mode of interaction between intrinsically disordered proteins”, this review article both surveyed the literature and included the authors’ own experimental results.
In response to that publication, BPPB received a comment from Dr. Sigalov, A. B. (SignaBlok, USA) [3], which argued that the title and abstract of the review article by Hibino, E. and Hoshino, M. [2] could potentially mislead the readers of BPPB about the true novelty of their work. In order to provide both sides of the argument, the Editorial office made a decision to publish the original comment submitted by Dr. Sigalov, A. B. [3] along with an invited response from Dr. Hoshino, M. of Kyoto University [4], within the same issue of BPPB.
A number of journals have recently recommended that authors should avoid using the words “new”, “novel”, or “first” in the title and/or abstract of an article [5,6]. After much discussion amongst the Editors, we at BPPB have decided to conform to this general policy. Whilst in the current case we will let the authors’ arguments stand for themselves, to avoid such problems in the future we recommend that potential authors of BPPB keep this point in mind.
