Official journal of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology

The Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology aims to provide a single, authoritative forum for the publication of original research and clinical studies on muscle contraction and human motion through combined or separate mechanical and electrical detection techniques. Some of the key topics covered include: control of movement; muscle and nerve properties; electrical stimulation; sports and exercise; rehabilitation; muscle fatigue; joint biomechanics; motion analysis; measures of human performance; neuromuscular diseases; physiological modelling; posture and movement. The Journal welcomes the submission of original papers, reviews and letters to the Editors. The Journal will also publish book reviews and a calendar of forthcoming events. Please note that, at the discretion of the Editor in Chief, some papers may be accepted for online publication only.

PUBLICATION CONDITION

A manuscript submitted to this journal can only be published if it (or a similar version) has not been published and will not be simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere. A violation of this condition is considered as fraud, and will be answered by appropriate sanctions against all authors. Two manuscripts are considered similar if their subjects concern the same hypothesis, question or goal, addressed with the same scientific methodology.

REFEREEING

All contributions are read by two or more referees to ensure both accuracy and relevance, and amendments to the script may thus be required before final acceptance. On acceptance, contributions are subject to editorial amendment to suit house style.

AUTHORSHIP

All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship as defined above should be listed in an acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support. Authors should disclose whether they had any writing assistance and identify the entity that paid for this assistance.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

"Conflict of interest statement" all authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. If there are no conflicts of interest, the authors should state there are none.

ROLE OF THE FUNDING SOURCE

All sources of funding should be declared as an acknowledgement at the end of the text. Authors should declare the role of study sponsors, if any, in the study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. If the study sponsors had no such involvement, the authors should so state.

PREPARATION OF SCRIPTS

All publications will be in English. Authors whose 'first' language is not English should arrange for their manuscripts to be written in idiomatic English before submission. Please also ensure that your manuscript has been thoroughly checked for errors prior to submission.

Language Editing: International Science Editing and Asia Science Editing can provide English language and copyediting services to authors who want to publish in scientific, technical and medical journals and need assistance before they submit their article or, it is accepted for publication. Authors can contact these services directly: International Science Editing http://www.internationalscienceediting.com and Asia Science Editing http://www.asiascienceediting.com or, for more information about language editing services, please contact authorsupport@elsevier.com who will be happy to deal with any questions.

Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our terms & conditions http://authors.elsevier.com/terms_and_conditions.html.

You should have your contribution typed in double-line spacing, on one side only of A4 paper. Do not underline anything and leave wide margins. Please also add line numbers to your submitted manuscript (e.g. 5, 10 , 15 etc.) and number every page.

EMG data should be collected and presented according to the 'Standards for Reporting EMG Data' printed at the back of each issue of this journal.

All authors should sign a cover note to acknowledge that they have read, and approve of, the content of the manuscript as submitted.

SUBMISSIONS

Authors are requested to submit their original manuscript and figures online via http://ees.elsevier.com/jek. This is the Elsevier web-based submission and review system. You will find full instructions located on this site. Please follow these guidelines to prepare and upload your article. Once the uploading is done, the system automatically creates an electronic pdf proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be managed via this system. Paper copies and email submissions are also currently accepted. Please submit to:

For the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East:

Professor M. Solomonow, Professor & Director, Bioengineering Division & Musculoskeletal Disorders Research Laboratory, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Mailstop 8343, PO Box 6511, Aurora, CO., 80045, USA; Tel.: (303) 724-0383, Fax: (303) 724-0394

For the Far East and Australia:

Professor T. Moritani, Laboratory of Applied Physiology, The Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606, Japan; Tel: 81 75 753 6888, Fax: 81 75 753 6734

No page charges are made to authors for material published.

Arrangement of papers

JEK now accepts original articles within a word limit of 5,000 words (including title page, abstract, text, references & figure legends). Reviews and special articles (keynote lectures or a Special issue articles) are exempted from this limit.
You should arrange your contribution in the following order:

1. Title page including the article title, author(s), affiliation(s), keywords and one author identified for correspondence

2. A 200 word abstract outlining the purpose, scope and conclusions of the paper

3. The text, suitably divided under headings

4. Acknowledgements (if any)

5. References

6. Tables (each on separate sheet)

7. Captions to illustrations (grouped on a separate sheet or sheets)

8. Illustrations, each on a separate sheet containing no text.

All submissions should be accompanied by a declaration signed by each author that the paper has not been previously published or submitted for consideration elsewhere.

TEXT

Subdivide your paper in the simplest way possible, consistent with clarity using the standard format of introduction, methods, results and discussion.

TABLES

Number tables consecutively throughout the paper (with Arabic numerals) referring to them in the text as Table 1, Table 2 etc. with a caption at the top of each table. Avoid the use of vertical rules. Tables should not duplicate results presented in graphs.

ILLUSTRATIONS

All illustrations should be identified with the author's name and figure number marked in pencil.

Line illustrations

Articles may be published more quickly if illustrations are supplied to the required standards, authors should not be deterred if the are unable to meet these standards as illustrations can be redrawn in-house. The originals must be supplied on separate sheets, with two photocopies. Illustrations will be reduced in size photographically, typically to fit one or two columns of the journal and this should be borne in mind to ensure that lines and lettering remain clear when reduced. If you label the original illustrations do so in black ink using a suitable stencil. Lower case letters should be used throughout, with an initial capital letter for the first word only. If suitable stencils are unavailable label a photocopy, not the original illustrations, and our studio will complete the work to the correct standard. If your illustrations are computer-generated follow the lettering standards as above and supply the blackest possible laser printout.

For full instructions on the electronic submission of artwork, please visit: http://ees.elsevier.com/jek.

Graphs

The minimum amount of descriptive text should be used on graphs and drawings (label curves, points, etc, with single-letter symbols). Descriptive matter should be placed in the figure caption. Scale grids should not be used in graphs, unless required for actual measurements. Graph axes should be labelled with variables written out in full, along the length of the axes, with the unit in parentheses (for example, Time(s)). A table is usually more satisfactory for recording data.

Photographs

Supply glossy, black and white, unmounted prints or 35 mm transparancies, plus two photocopies. A scale, where appropriate, should be marked on the photographs or included in the caption.

Colour Illustrations

If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://ees.elsevier.com/jek. Please note: Because of the technical complications which can arise by converting colour figures to 'grey scale' (for the printed version should not opt for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white prints corresponding to all the colour illustrations. Submit colour illustrations as original photographs high-quality computer prints or transparencies, close to the size expected in publication, or as 35 mm slides. Polaroid colour prints are not suitable.

REFERENCES

The reference list should be constructed alphabetically. Where more than one reference has the same first author, use the next named author to construct the list alphabetically. For identical author groups, list the references by date. References should be cited in the text using the first author name plus the year of the paper, eg Solomonow et al, 2004, in square brackets. References should be in the following form:

Journal article

Paivio A, Jansen B, Becker LJ. Comparisons through the mind's eye. Cognition 1975;37(2):635-47

Book

Strunk W, White EB. The elements of style. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan, 1979

Article or chapter in edited book

Gurman AS, Kniskern DP. Family therapy outcome research: knowns and unknowns. In: Gurman AS, Kniskern DP, editors. Handbook of family therapy. New York: Brunner/Maazel, 1981:742-75.

Please ensure that references are complete, in that they include where relevant, author's name, article or book title, volume and issue number, publisher, year and page reference. Journal titles should appear in full.

UNITS AND ABBREVIATIONS

SI units and their accepted abbreviations should be used.

RANDOMISED CONTROLLED TRIALS

All randomised controlled trials submitted for publication in the journal should include a completed Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flow chart. Please refer to the CONSORT statement website at http://www.consort-statement.org for more information. The Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology has adopted the proposal from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) which require, as a condition of consideration for publication of clinical trials, registration in a public trials registry. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the article. For this purpose, a clinical trial is defined as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. Studies designed for other purposes, such as to study pharmacokinetics or major toxicity (e.g. phase I trials) would be exempt. Further information can be found at www.icmje.org.

ETHICS

Work on human beings that is submitted to the Journal should comply with the principles laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki; Recommendations guiding physicians in biomedical research involving human subjects. Adopted by the 18th World Medical Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, June 1964, amended by the 29th World Medical Assembly, Tokyo, Japan, October 1975, the 35th World Medical Assembly, Venice, Italy, October 1983, and the 41st World Medical Assembly, Hong Kong, September 1989. The manuscript should contain a statement that the work has been approved by the appropriate ethical committees related to the institution(s) in which it was performed and that subjects gave informed consent to the work. Studies involving experiments with animals must state that their care was in accordance with institution guidelines. Patients' and volunteers' names, initials, and hospital numbers should not be used.

CHECKLIST

Have you told readers, at the outset, what they might gain by reading your paper?

Have you made the aim of your work clear?

Have you explained the significance of your combination?

Have you set your work in the appropriate context by giving sufficient background (including a complete set of relevant references) to your work?

Have you addressed the question of practicality and usefulness?

Have you identified future developments that may result from your work?

Have you structured your paper in a clear and logical fashion?

COPYRIGHT

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a "Journal Publishing Agreement" (for more information on this and copyright see http://ees.elsevier.com/jek. Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail (or letter) will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a "Journal Publishing Agreement" form. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases : contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Philadelphia, PA, USA: Tel. (+1) 215 238 7869; Fax (+1) 215 238 2239; e-mail healthpermissions@elsevier.com . Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).

AGREEMENTS WITH FUNDING BODIES
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors who publish in this journal to comply with manuscript archiving requirements of the following funding bodies, as specified as conditions of researcher grant awards. Please see www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/fundingbodyagreements for full details of the agreements that are in place for these bodies:

• Arthritis Research Campaign (UK)
• British Heart Foundation (UK)
• Cancer Research (UK)
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute (USA)
• Medical Research Council (UK)
• National Institutes of Health (USA)
• Wellcome Trust (UK)


These agreements and policies enable authors to comply with their funding body's archiving policy without having to violate their publishing agreements with Elsevier. The agreements and policies are intended to support the needs of Elsevier authors, editors, and society publishing partners, and protect the quality and integrity of the peer review process. They are examples of Elsevier's ongoing engagement with scientific and academic communities to explore ways to deliver demonstrable and sustainable benefits for the research communities we serve.

Authors who report research by funding bodies not listed above, and who are concerned that their author agreement may be incompatible with archiving requirements specified by a funding body that supports an author's research are strongly encouraged to contact Elsevier's author support team (AuthorSupport@elsevier.com). Elsevier has a track-record of working on behalf of our authors to ensure authors can always publish in Elsevier journals and still comply with archiving conditions defined in research grant awards.

PROOFS

One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post). Elsevier now sends PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 available free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win. If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or by post. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.

OFFPRINTS

The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively, 25 free paper offprints. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use. Additional paper offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.

PREPARATION OF SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

Elsevier now accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier web products, including ScienceDirect: http://wwww.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data is provided in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit: http://ees.elsevier.com/jek.

AUTHOR ENQUIRIES

For enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit: http://ees.elsevier.com/jek.

Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.