The Official Journal of the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology

Submission of Manuscript.
Authors are requested to submit their paper and figures online via the Elsevier Editorial System (EES): http://ees.elsevier.com/desc. EES is a web-based submission and review system. Authors may submit manuscripts and track their progress through the system to publication. From 1 January 2005, the editor can only accept web-based submissions. For technical submission problems, please contact Elsevier Author Support authorsupport@elsevier.com. Email submissions are not allowed.

For inquiries about manuscripts please contact:

JDS Editorial office
Editor-in-Chief, Akimichi Morita
Department of Geriatric and Environmental Dermatology, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya 467-8601, Japan; Fax: +81-(0)52-852-5066; E-mail: jdsci@med.nagoya-cu.ac.jp; JDS Website; http://intl.elsevierhealth.com/journals/jods

Type of Contribution.
Original papers, letters to the Editor and review articles are welcomed. All manuscripts must be typed in English and must not be in submission or have been or be published in any other journal. The entire manuscript text should be typed double spaced, including the abstract, footnotes, references, legends and tables, with 3-cm margins. Any changes should not be included in the manuscript file (as tracked changes).

Original Papers.
Basic and clinical scientific studies should be organized as follows: Title Page (including the name of the corresponding author and their e-mail address), Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, References, Legends, Tables and Figures. All pages should be numbered consecutively starting with the title page as page one. Trade names must have an initial capital; the trivial name for a compound may be used if the formal, chemical name (as established by international convention) is given after the first use.

Letters to the Editor.
These will report original data or may discuss published articles. Submission requirements for Letters to the Editor are the same as for regular manuscripts. Letters are not to exceed approximately 1000 words, not to include more than 10 references, and two figures (including tables). A single Figure or Table can be made but should contain no more than 8 separate panels labeled from (a) to (h). One panel may be composed of multiple figures with annotation around individual panels to make viewing easier. An abstract and subheadings should not be included in letters to the editor.
Comments may be solicited from authors if the letter refers to a particular article in the journal. Letters that report original data will be reviewed. All letters to the Editor are subject to editing and possible abridgement. Letters to the Editor will be included in the Medline database.

Review Articles.
A specific field is reviewed through classical and up-dated literature. Review articles are usually invited: however, submitted review articles will be considered. Review articles should not exceed 3750 words, 5 figures and contain no more than 50 references, except in exceptional circumstances. An abstract is required.

Title page.
List the title of the paper, authors' names, department and name of institution of origin, city and country. Include an address to which proofs and reprint requests should be mailed. Author's names should be written such that the last name follows the first name. For original papers please include a short or running title of no more than 75 characters (including spaces). Letters to the Editor should be clearly marked as such on this page.

Structured abstracts.
The paper should be prefaced by an abstract aimed at giving the entire paper in shortened form. Abstracts should be no longer than 250 words. In brief, the abstract should be divided into the following sections:
(1) Background; (2) Objective; (3) Methods; (4) Results; (5) Conclusion

Author comments to the Editor.
Authors should enter their comments to the Editor on the EES website, including the following information: 1) The manuscript has not been submitted for publication elsewhere. 2) All authors have significantly contributed to the manuscript and all agree with its contents. 3) Authors do not have any relevant financial interests in the findings from this manuscript.

Footnotes.
Footnotes should be listed consecutively at the bottom of the page on which they appear, and be designated by superscripted numerals.

References.
References should be typed double-spaced on a separate page. They should be individually numbered in the order of appearance in the text. In the text, they should be referred to by these numbers in square brackets. Example: Earlier studies in this laboratory [7 9]. . . When the authors' names are mentioned in the text, list no more than two authors. When three or more authors are listed only the first name followed by "et al." and the reference number. Example: Jones et al. [7]. In the reference list, include all authors' names and initials, but in case of six or more authors, list only the first six authors, then use "et al". and these references be typed on a separate page, double spaced and numbered in the order of appearance. Use only abbreviations of journal titles conforming to those adopted by Index Medicus.

Periodicals.
Should be referenced as follows: [1] Hashimoto K, Matsumoto K, Higashiyama M, Nishida Y, Yoshikawa K: Growth inhibitory effects of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 on normal and psoriatric keratinocytes. Br J Dermatol 123: 93 98,1993.

Multi-author volumes.
Should be referenced as follows: [1] Hashimoto K, Matsumoto K. Yoshikawa K: The effect of D3 on human keratinocytes and its metabolism. In the Biology of the Epidermis. Edited by A Ohkawara, J McGuire. Elsevier Publishers BV, Amsterdam, 1992, pp. 123 131.

Monograph.
Should be referenced as follows: [1] Siegel SS: Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavior Science. McGraw-Hill, New York,1956. References may be made to material ''in press'' as follows: Jensen CV; Nature (in press). Do not include references to personal communications, unpublished data or manuscripts either in preparation or submitted for publication. If essential, such material may be incorporated at the appropriate place in the text. Authors are responsible for bibliographic accuracy.

Tables.
Tables with legends must be typed (double-spaced) on separate sheets. The table number (in Arabic numerals) should be in the order of appearance in the text and a short title must be supplied. Footnotes in the table are designated by superscript a, b, c, etc.

Figures and Legends.
For textural placement all figures should be numbered in the order of appearance. Parts of the figure, such as A, B, etc., should be labeled on the figure. Legends should be submitted on a separate sheet of paper, according to the following example: Fig 1. A short title. A brief explanation may also be given.

Color Figures.
The color reproduction printing costs of figures are free of charge, subject to the Editor's discretion. Please note that only figures for which color printing is essential will be considered. For instructions on production of figure files, please refer to section 'Artwork instructions' at www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions

Preparation of Supplementary Data.
Elsevier now accepts electronic supplementary material (e-components) 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 at http://www.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 our artwork instruction pages at the Author Gateway at www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Ethics.
Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent which should be documented in your paper. Patients have a right to privacy. Therefore identifying information, including patients? images, names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be included in videos, recordings, written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and you have obtained written informed consent for publication in print and electronic form from the patient (or parent, guardian or next of kin where applicable). If such consent is made subject to any conditions, Elsevier must be made aware of all such conditions. Written consents must be provided to Elsevier on request. Even where consent has been given, identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning and editors should so note. If such consent has not been obtained, personal details of patients included in any part of the paper and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.

Proofs.
These will be sent to the named corresponding author. Where no corresponding author is specified the first named author will receive the proofs. They should be carefully checked and returned by airmail within 2 days of receipt. Only printing errors may be corrected at this proofing stage: no changes in, or additions to, the edited manuscript will be allowed at this stage.

Referees.
Authors may suggest 3 referees (full names, addresses, phone and fax numbers must be supplied). You are also allowed to suggest names who you would like to exclude from being a referee. The final choice of referees will be at the discretion of the Editorial Board.

Reprints.
From the 15th of May 2006, JDS will provide authors with free electronic reprints of their article. An Author Reprint Order Form will be sent to the author together with the proofs, enabling hard copy reprints to be ordered at the prices listed on the form. Post acceptance and Copyright transfer. For authors who wish to know more about our copyright policies, proofreading procedures, and how to purchase offprints, please refer to the section 'Copyright Information' at www.elsevier.com/authors

Author Services.
For queries relating to the general submission of manuscripts (including electronic text and artwork) and the status of accepted manuscripts, please email: authors@elsevier.co.uk or Fax: +44 (0)1865 843905.

Language Editing.
The following individual/s have expressed interest in helping authors of manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Dermatological Science with English editing. Authors may contact these individuals or services directly by mail, phone, fax, or e-mail. All financial arrangements are strictly between the two parties. The Journal of Dermatological Science neither endorses nor recommends any specific individual or service. Professional editing, while often recommended by reviewers, does not ensure acceptance or publication of a manuscript.

Karin Mesches, Ph.D., SciTechEdit International, 7012 East Mountain Brush Circle,Highlands Ranch, CO 80130, USA; fax: 303-773-6660;e-mail: editor@scitechedit.com ; Web page: http://www.scitechedit.com

Language Polishing
Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission, please visit http://www.elsevier.com/locate/languagepolishing or contact authorsupport@elsevier.com for more information. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor take responsibility for any products, good or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our Terms and Conditions http://www.elsevier.com/termsconditions

Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies