2024 BBA Rising Stars in Biochemistry and Biophysics

Researchers who have a Mini-review published as part of the initiative will receive a BBA Rising Stars certificate and their Mini-review will be promoted globally.

There will be nine individual prizes of $500 for the recipient of the award in each journal.

Each prize recipient will be invited to join the Editorial Board of the BBA journal their work featured in.

Nominations are invited until March 1, 2023.

Questions and answers

Eligibility

• Candidates active in the broad areas covered by the journals of biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology, cell biology, genomics, bioinformatics, metabolomics, proteomics and systems biology.

• Candidates should be within 10 years of completing their PhD, but consideration is given to career breaks from academia or other extenuating circumstances (for example, but not limited to, working part-time, caring for dependents, etc). They should be undertaking their own independent research which can be evidenced by, e.g., setting up a lab, publishing as main author, or having received grant funding as a PI.

• The work undertaken by the candidate must have the potential to influence future research directions in biochemistry and biophysics. This will be determined by the Executive Editors of the BBA journals.

Candidate selection

• Selected nominees are invited by the Editors of individual BBA journals to submit a Mini-review paper relating to a question they are exploring through their research (typically from the last 2-3 years). To be considered for the prize, candidates must submit a Mini-review for publication.

• The Mini-reviews invited for inclusion in the BBA Rising Stars initiative will feature in a dedicated special issue of the journal relevant to their work, and in a combined special issue featuring all of the work of the 2024 BBA Rising Stars in Biochemistry and Biophysics across the BBA journals.

• The criteria for the prize will be based on degree of scientific innovation outlined in the Review, impact of the research, and the overall quality of the Mini-review. The Executive Editors of the journals will act as judges to determine recipient of the prizes.

• All authors who have a Mini-review published as part of the initiative will receive a certificate outlining their selection. In addition, there will be ten individual prizes of $500 for the recipient of the award in each journal (one for each journal). Each prize recipient will also be invited to join the Editorial Board of the BBA journal their work featured in.

Award timeline

• March 1, 2023: Deadline for nominations

• April 1, 2023: Successful nominees will be invited to contribute a review.

• December 31, 2023: Deadline for invited nominees to submit their reviews

• January–April 2024:  Reviews will be published in a special section in the BBA journal they are submitted to and in a BBA collection across the BBA titles.

• August 2024:  The Executive Editors of each BBA journal will select the recipient of the prize for the paper published in their journal.

Mini-review criteria

Mini-reviews are succinct, focused updates of the literature related to a question of current interest in the scientific community (typically from the last 2-3 years). Subjects covered in Mini-reviews are generally narrower, either in scope or depth, than those covered in full-length Reviews. They should highlight/analyze/discuss recent and important findings and include the author's viewpoint on how the subject relates to the current state of the field. Mini-reviews are usually 2000 to 4000 words in length (excluding references and figure legends), include an abstract that is no more than 100 words, up to 50 references (should include titles), and one to three figures/illustrations.”

For an example of a published Mini-review, please see: Fiyaz Mohammed, Catharine Trieber, Michael Overduin, Martyn Chidgey, Molecular mechanism of intermediate filament recognition by plakin proteins opens in new tab/window, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Cell Research, Volume 1867, Issue 11, November 2020, 118801, or E. Michael Danielsen, Intestinal permeation enhancers: Lessons learned from studies using an organ culture model opens in new tab/window, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Biomembranes, Volume 1863, Issue 1, 1 January 2021, 183474.

Nominating for future awards

• Nominations will be invited for submission via the BBA journals website (self-nominations are accepted). The nomination must include:

  • A document that includes a short overview/curriculum vitae of the nominated person showing their relevant accomplishments. Please include:

    • relevant publications and other evidence of independent research,

    • year of PhD, including brief details of extenuating circumstances, if more than 10 years ago

    • link to professional profile and Scopus Author ID, or other ID that lists publications.

  • Name of nominee, if different from the person being nominated.

  • A short textual overview from the nominee of no more than 300 words illustrating why this person qualifies for the award.

  • BBA Journal you would like your work to feature in.

Terms and conditions

Download Terms and Conditions opens in new tab/window

If you have any questions regarding the initiative, please contact the BBA Publisher [email protected] opens in new tab/window.