This article updates the guidance published in 2015 for authors submitting papers to British Journal of Pharmacology (Curtis et al., 2015) and is intended to provide the rubric for peer review. Thus, it is directed towards authors, reviewers and editors. Explanations for many of the requirements were outlined previously and are not restated here. The new guidelines are intended to replace those published previously. The guidelines have been simplified for ease of understanding by authors, to make it more straightforward for peer reviewers to check compliance and to facilitate the curation of the journal's efforts to improve standards.

Linked EditorialsThis Editorial is part of a series. To view the other Editorials in this series, visit: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.12956/abstract; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.12954/abstract; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.12955/abstract and http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.13112/abstract

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Reproducibility is a current concern for everyone involved in the conduct and publication of biomedical research. Recent attempts testing reproducibility, particularly the reproducibility project in cancer biology published in elife (https://elifesciences.org/collections/9b1e83d1/reproducibility-project-cancer-biology), have exposed major difficulties in repeating published preclinical experimental work. It is thought that some of these difficulties relate to uncertainty about the provenance of tools, lack of clarity in methodology and use of inappropriate approaches for analysis; the latter particularly related to untoward manipulation of images. In the past, some of these so-called untoward practices were considered the 'norm'; however, today, the landscape is different. The expectations, not only of the readers of the published scientific word but also of the publishers and funders of research, have changed. This collective group now expects that any published data should be reproducible; but for this to be possible, experimental detail, confirmation of selectivity and quality of reagents/ tools, analytical and statistical methods used need to be described adequately. Two powerful methodologies often used to support researchers' findings allow the detection of changes in protein expression, that is, immunoblotting (widely known as Western blotting) and immunohistochemistry. Undeniably, as a result of unintentional mistakes (often related to lack of antibody specificity; Baker, 2015), but, in some cases, deliberate alterations and questionable interpretations of results, the use of these two methods has led to many high profile retractions. Indeed, such images have driven the retractions that have occurred in BJP over the last two years.Today, immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry serve as primary methodologies for the detection and quantification of molecular signalling pathways and identification of therapeutic targets. This necessitates clear guidance for the application of these techniques, the need for controls (both positive and negative) and the most appropriate methods for quantification. Indeed, this need has spawned a number of initiatives to support researchers in assessing the validity of antibody resources including antibodypedia (Bjorling and Uhlen, 2008) and the resources available within 'The Human Protein Atlas' (Thul et al., 2017). The aim of this article is to outline the rationale for, and the expectations of, the BJP with respect to work published in the Journal that includes immunoblotting or immunohistochemical data. In creating these guidelines, our aim is to reduce potential misinterpretations and to maximise the communication and transparency of essential information, particularly with respect to the methodologies employed.We have generated the guidelines below for the benefit of authors, editors and reviewers. While we recognise other recently published guidelines (Uhlen et al., 2016) and indeed we have incorporated some of the advice provided in such reports, we focus, here, on th...

All tuberculosis vaccines currently in clinical trials are designed as prophylactic vaccines based on early expressed antigens. We have developed a multistage vaccination strategy in which the early antigens Ag85B and 6-kDa early secretory antigenic target (ESAT-6) are combined with the latency-associated protein Rv2660c (H56 vaccine). In CB6F1 mice we show that Rv2660c is stably expressed in late stages of infection despite an overall reduced transcription. The H56 vaccine promotes a T cell response against all protein components that is characterized by a high proportion of polyfunctional CD4(+) T cells. In three different pre-exposure mouse models, H56 confers protective immunity characterized by a more efficient containment of late-stage infection than the Ag85B-ESAT6 vaccine (H1) and BCG. In two mouse models of latent tuberculosis, we show that H56 vaccination after exposure is able to control reactivation and significantly lower the bacterial load compared to adjuvant control mice.