Official Journal of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL)


Official Journal of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL).

Journal of Hepatology , the official journal of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), publishes articles describing clinical and basic investigations in the field of hepatology.

Contact Information:
Professor Massimo Colombo M.D.
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Hepatology
Fondazione IRCCS Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico Mangiagalli e Regina Elena
Via F. Sforza 35 - Pad. Granelli
Milan 20122
Telephone: +39 02 55033323
Fax: +39 02 55033121
E-mail: (Office) jhepatol@unipv.it
SUBMISSIONS: http://ees.elsevier.com/jhepat

TYPES OF MANUSCRIPTS

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS. Manuscripts submitted in this category are expected to be concise, well organized, and clearly written. The maximum length is 5,000 words, including the abstract, and references, tables and figures. The structured abstract must not exceed 250 words. The title must not exceed 130 characters. Acceptance of original manuscripts will be based upon originality and importance of the investigation. These manuscripts are reviewed by the Editors and, in the majority of cases, by two experts in the field. Manuscripts requiring extensive revision will be at a disadvantage for publication and will be rejected. Authors shall be responsible for the quality of language and style and are strongly advised against submitting a manuscript which is not written in idiomatic English. The Editors reserve the right to reject poorly written manuscripts even if their scientific content is qualitatively suitable for publication. Manuscripts are submitted with the understanding that they are original contributions and do not contain data that has been published elsewhere or are under consideration by another journal. Meeting abstracts do not constitute prior publication.

REVIEW ARTICLES. Review articles on selected clinical and basic topics of interest for the readers of the Journal of Hepatology will be solicited by the Editors. Review articles are expected to be clear, concise and updated. Review articles must be accompanied by a summary. The world limit for review articles is 5,000 words excluding the summary, references, tables and figures. The inclusion of tables and figures to summarize critical points is highly desirable. Review articles are reviewed by the Editors and may be sent to outside expert reviewers before a final decision for publication is made. Revisions may be required. Please provide a title page.

EDITORIALS. This section consists of invited brief editorial comments on articles published in the Journal of Hepatology. The length of an editorial should not exceed 1,500 words excluding references. A table and a figure can be included. Please provide a title page.

CASE REPORTS. Case reports are not encouraged and will only be accepted if they represent an outstanding contribution to the etiology, pathogenesis or treatment of a specific liver disorder. Regular case reports will not be accepted even if they provide interesting clinical information. The word limit for a case report is 3,000 words including the summary and references which should not exceed 15. Tables and figures can be included. Please provide a title page.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. Letters to the Editor will be considered for publication only if they are related to articles published in recent issues of the Journal of Hepatology. Letters must not be longer than 850 words, and may contain only one table or figure and a total of 8 references. No more than 4 Authors may appear in the author list. Letters must have a title. Please provide a title page for letters.

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION
The only accepted form of submission for all types of manuscripts is through the website http://ees.elsevier.com/jhepat . Authors are kindly asked NOT to send their manuscripts by fax or mail to the Editorial Office.

ORGANIZATION OF THE MANUSCRIPT
The submitted manuscript must be typed double-spaced throughout and must be in accordance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (see J Hepatol 1997;27:218 230); however, SI units are not compulsory. Improperly prepared manuscripts will not be entered into the review process. The number of tables and figures must be stated and uploaded in separate files from the text. Files must be uploaded in either Word or as RTF files. Figures can be created and uploaded as either Power Point files, JPG files or TIFF files. Our system does not support figures larger than 2 MB. Supplementary material, not for review, is acceptable. PC-compatible format is required. MAC users should ensure that the file extension is stated.

A letter of submission must be uploaded with all manuscripts, including revised manuscripts (see later). This should be uploaded in the Comments to the Editor section. This letter may be used to outline the strengths of the study. This letter must be accompanied by another letter (see later) signed by the Authors, indicating that: 1) in case of acceptance of the manuscript the copyright is transferred to the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL); 2) all the listed Authors have participated actively in the study; 3) all the Authors have read and approved the submitted manuscript; 4) the study complies with current ethical considerations; 5) the manuscript reports unpublished work which is not currently under consideration elsewhere and will not be submitted to another journal until a final decision has been made; and 6) there are no conflicts of interest, unless those identified specifically by the Authors in the letter. All these documents, except the letter of submission, should be faxed to the Editorial office on +39 02 55033121 on submission.

All commercial relationships (i.e. consultancies, patent-licensing agreements) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted manuscript must be included in the letter.

Original manuscripts must be arranged as follows: (1) title page, (2) abstract, (3) introduction, (4) materials and methods (or patients and methods), (5) results, (6) discussion, (7) acknowledgements, (8) references, (9) tables, (10) figure legends, and (11) figures.

Title page. This page must contain: (1) a title of no more than 130 characters; (2) the names of the Authors including the first names of all the Authors in full; (3) the names of department(s) and institution(s) where the work was done; (4) short title of less than 40 characters to be used as a running head; (5) name, address, telephone and fax numbers and electronic mail address of the corresponding Author; (6) electronic word count and (7) number of figures and tables; (8) list of abbreviations in the order of appearance; (9) financial disclosure.

Abstract. The abstract must contain 250 words or less and must be organized as follows: Background/Aims, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Do not use abbreviations, footnotes or references in the abstract. An electronic word count of the abstract must be included. Three to seven key words at the end of the abstract must be provided.

Animal trials. Manuscripts reporting experiments using animals must include a statement giving assurance that all animals received humane care and that study protocols comply with the institution's guidelines. Statistical methods used should be outlined.

Human trials. Manuscripts reporting data from research conducted on humans must include a statement of assurance in the methods section of the manuscript reading that: (1) informed consent was obtained from each patient included in the study and (2) the study protocol conforms to the ethical guidelines of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki as reflected in a priori approval by the institution's human research committee.

Randomised controlled trials. Any paper that is an RCT should adhere to the guidelines that can be found at the following web-site: www.consort statement.org. The checklist should be printed out and faxed to the Editorial office at the time of submission. The trial registration number must be included on the title page of the manuscript reporting a registered clinical trial. Failure to do so will prevent entry to the peer review process. Registration of clinical trials. The Journal of Hepatology endorses the policy of the WHO and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) on the registration of clinical trials. Any trial that starts recruiting on or after July 1, 2005 should be registered in a publicly owned, publicly accessible registry and should satisfy a minimal standard dataset. Trials that started recruiting before that date will be considered for publication if registered before September 13, 2005. More detailed information regarding the definition of clinical trial, the minimal registration data set, and the requirements for an acceptable trial registry can be found in New Engl J Med 2004, 351:1250-1251 and New Engl J Med 2005, 352:2437-2438.

Drugs and chemicals. Drugs and chemicals should be used by generic name. If trademarks are mentioned, the manufacturer's name and city should be given. All funding sources supporting the work, either public or private, especially those from pharmaceutical companies, must be provided.

Genetic Sequence data. In papers reporting a novel DNA or amino sequence, verify that the data have been or will be submitted either to Gen-Bank or EMBL and provide the accession number.

References. We recommend the use of EndNote for the preparation of references for manuscripts for submission to this journal. References should accord with the system used in Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (J Hepatol 1997, 27: 218-30). They should be numbered consecutively in parentheses in the text and listed numerically in the reference list at the end of the text with journal titles abbreviated in the style of Index Medicus. Where there are seven or more Authors, list the first six followed by et al. All articles in the list of references should be cited in the text and, conversely, all references cited in the text must be included in the list. Personal communications and unpublished data should be cited directly in the text by the first Author, without being numbered (see example).

Article: Sallie R, Cohen AT, Tibbs CJ, Portmann BC, Rayner A, O'Grady JG, et al. Recurrence of hepatitis C following orthotopic liver transplantation: a polymerase chain reaction and histological study. J Hepatol 1994;21: 536-542.
Book: Scheuer PJ, Lefkovitch JH. Liver Biopsy Interpretation, 5th ed. London: W.B Saunders; 1994.
Chapter in Book: Schmidt E, Schmidt FS. Clinical pathology of viral hepatitis. In: Deinhardt F, Deinhardt J, editors. Viral Hepatitis. Laboratory and Clinical Science. New York: Marcel Dekker; 1983. p. 411-487

Tables. Should be numbered consecutively in the text with Arabic numerals and each typed on a separate sheet with the table number and title centred above the table and explanatory notes below the table. A maximum of 6 tables is allowed.

Figure Legends. Should be typed and double spaced. They should be numbered according to the order of citation. Enough information should be provided to permit interpretations of figures without reference to the text. Clearly indicate whether permission has been obtained for any copyrighted material included in a submission. Kindly send a fax of this permission.

Figures. These should be uploaded preferably as either Power Point files, JPG files or TIFF files. We do not accept figures larger than 2 MB.

If finally accepted, the degree of reduction will be determined by the Publisher, but in general it should be assumed that the same degree of reduction will be applied to all figures in the same paper. For photomicrographs, where possible, a scale should appear on the photograph. Colour plates will be reproduced at the Author's expense. Illustrations should be numbered with Arabic numerals. Laser generated line prints are welcome. Photographs of identifiable patients should be accompanied by written permission to publish from the patient(s)

ENGLISH

Authors may be asked to contact professionals regarding the correction of the English content of manuscripts either before or after acceptance. This expense will be the responsibility of the Authors.

PERMISSIONS

Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier Rights and Permissions Department, PO Box 800, Oxford OX5 1DX, UK; phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.co.uk. You may also contact Rights and Permissions directly through Elsevier's home page ( http://www.elsevier.com ), selecting first 'Customer Support', then 'General Information', then 'Permissions Query Form'.

REVIEW PROCESS
Review process. Authors should be aware that manuscripts will be screened upon submission. Only the manuscripts which fully comply with the submission requirements outlined and in which the level of English is of an acceptable standard will enter the peer review process.

First submission. Once successful submission of a manuscript has taken place, an acknowledgement will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding Author. The number of the manuscript should be used by the Authors in all communications with the Editorial Office. All the manuscripts will be reviewed by the Editors and, in most cases, by other expert reviewers. After review, the corresponding Author will be notified by means of a letter of the decision to accept or reject the manuscript for publication. This letter will be accompanied in most, but not all, cases by the comments of the reviewers. This letter will be sent via email.

Resubmission of manuscripts. In some cases, Authors will be invited to submit a revised version of the manuscript for further review. This invitation does not imply, in any case, that the revised version will be accepted for publication. In general, revised manuscripts must be received in the Editorial Office within three months of the date of the first decision, otherwise they will be considered as "de novo" manuscripts. In order to upload revised manuscripts Authors should enter their Author centre in EES and go to "Create a revision" in the manuscripts with decisions section. Instructions for resubmission of manuscripts are identical to those for the first submission, with the exception that all changes made in the revised version of the manuscript should be underlined and that the cover letter must state that the revised manuscript has been revised according to the comments made by the Editor and the Reviewers. Figures and tables must be uploaded. Please ensure that a separate point by point response to the reviewers is correctly uploaded under the section Authors' Response. Please do not send revised manuscripts to the Editorial Office via e-mail.

PROOFS
Proofs will be sent to the Author (s) to be checked. Please pay particular attention to general layout and quality and accuracy of figures and tables in the proofs. Further changes or additions to the edited manuscript after these corrections cannot be accepted. Authors should return their proofs within 48 hours, by fax or e-mail if the corrections are minor, to expedite publication. All questions arising after acceptance of a paper, especially those concerning proofs, should be directed to the Publisher, Elsevier Ireland Ltd., Elsevier House, Brookvale Plaza, East Park, Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland, Tel.: +353 61 709650; fax: +353 61 709250; e-mail: m.darcy@elsevier.com

COVER ILLUSTRATIONS
Cover illustrations will be chosen by the Editors. Authors are encouraged to submit colour figures suitable for publication on the cover at the time of submission of the manuscript. Charges are calculated for colour figures used within the article.

REPRINTS
Reprints must be ordered in advance. An order form indicating the cost of the reprints is sent from the Publisher with page proofs. Reprint orders, payments, and inquiries must be forwarded to the Publisher, not to the Editorial Office.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announcements of meetings that could be of interest to the readers of the Journal of Hepatology should be sent to the Editor at least 4 months before the date of publication. Short announcements are published free of charge. Large announcements are considered as advertising and the prices vary according to the size and the number of insertions.

ADVERTISEMENTS
Information about advertisements in the Journal of Hepatology can be obtained from the Publisher.

Copyright assignment, Authorship responsibility, Financial disclosure and Institutional Review Board/Animal Care Committee Approval. Download form here: COPYRIGHT

This form should be printed out and signed by all Authors and sent to the Editorial Office via fax +39 02 55033121. If this form is not received the paper will not be published if finally accepted.

Drug Declaration/Conflict of Interest Form. Download form here: DRUG_DECLARATION

This form should be printed out and signed by all Authors and faxed to the Editorial Office on +39 02 55033121 This is required when a paper is a drug-related study. If this form is not received the paper cannot be published.

Methodological and Statistical instructions for authors submitting manuscripts to the Journal of Hepatology

The manuscripts should include a complete and detailed description of what was done. This includes a description of the design, measurement and collection of data, the study objective and major hypotheses, type and source of subjects, inclusion and exclusion criteria and measures of outcome, number of subjects studied and why this number was chosen. Any deviation from the study protocol should be stated.
The baseline characteristics of any compared groups should be described in detail and - if necessary - adjusted for in the analysis of the outcome. For randomised clinical trials the following should also be clearly documented: treatments, sample size estimation, method of random allocation and measures taken for maintaining its concealment including blinding, numbers treated, followed-up, being withdrawn, dropping out, and having side effects (numbers and type).
The statistical methods used should be relevant and clearly stated. Special or complex statistical methods should be explained and referenced. Complex analyses should be performed with the assistance of a qualified statistician. Unqualified use of such analyses is strongly discouraged. The underlying assumptions of the statistical methods used should be tested to ensure that the assumptions are fulfilled. For small data sets and if variable distributions are non-normal, distribution free (non-parametric) statistical methods should be used. The actual P-values - whether significant or not - should always be presented (not NS). Confidence intervals convey more information than P-values and should be presented whenever possible. Continuous variables can always be summarised using the median and range which are therefore preferred. Only in the infrequent case of a Normal distribution are the mean and standard deviation (SD) useful. Complex analyses (including Cox and logistic regression analysis) should be presented in sufficient detail: i.e. variable scoring, regression coefficients, standard errors and any constants. Odds-ratios or relative risks are not sufficient documentation of such analyses. The handling of any missing values in the data should be clearly specified.
The number of statistical tests performed should be kept at a minimum to reduce spurious positive results. Explorative (hypothesis generating) analyses without confirmation using independent data are discouraged. Figures showing individual observations e.g. scatter plots are encouraged. Histograms may also be useful. Tables should indicate the number of observations on which each result is being based.

Manuscript Number __________________________

Copyright assignment
(To be signed by each Author)*

Copyright assignment: In consideration of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) taking action to review and edit my submission, the undersigned Authors, jointly and severally, hereby transfer, convey, and assign all right, title and interest therein, including any and all copyrights to the EASL. In addition to reproduction in conventional printed form, your article will be stored electronically. Your assignment of copyright signifies your agreement to the journal making arrangements to include your paper in document delivery services, CD-ROMS and electronic databases, etc., worldwide. Should the EASL not publish the aforesaid submission, EASL agrees to release its rights therein.

Authorship Responsibility: I, the undersigned Author, certify that I have participated sufficiently in the intellectual content, the analysis of data, if applicable, and the writing of the manuscript, to take public responsibility for it. I have reviewed the final version of the manuscript, believe it represents valid work, and approve it for publication. As an Author of this article, I certify that none of the material in the manuscript has been published previously, is included in another manuscript or is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. I also certify that this article has not been accepted for publication elsewhere, not have I assigned any right or interest in the manuscript to any third party. Moreover, should the Editors of the Journal of Hepatology request data upon which the manuscript is based, I shall produce it.

Financial Disclosure: I, the undersigned Author, certify that I have no commercial associations (e.g. consultancies, stock ownership, equity interests, patentlicensing arrangements, etc) that pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article, except as disclosed on a separate attachment. Funding sources supporting the work and my institutional or corporate affiliations are acknowledged.

Institutional Review Board/Animal Care Committee Approval: I, the undersigned Author, certify that my institution has approved the protocol for any investigation involving humans or animals and that all experimentation was conducted in conformity with ethical and humane principles of research.

Manuscript Number:

Date:

Print Name:

Signed:

This form should be signed and faxed to the Editorial Office on +39 02 55033121

Manuscript Number __________________________

Drug declaration Statement/Disclosure
(To be signed by each Author)*

Title of paper:

PLEASE CHOOSE THE MOST APPROPRIATE DECLARATION (X) WHICH WILL APPEAR ON THE FIRST PAGE OF YOUR PAPER

• a) The Authors who have taken part in this study declared that they do not have anything to disclose regarding funding or conflict of interest with respect to this manuscript)
• b) The Authors who have taken part in this study do not have a relationship with the manufacturers of the drugs involved either in the past or present and did not receive funding from the manufacturers to carry out their research. The Authors received support from . . ...
• c) The Authors who have taken part in this study have declared a relationship with the manufacturers of the drugs involved.
• d) The Authors have declared that they received funding from the drug companies involved in order to carry out their research in this manuscript.
• e) The Authors who have taken part in this study have declared a relationship with the manufacturers of the device/materials involved.
• f) The Authors have declared that they received funding from the manufacturers of the device/materials involved in order to carry out their research in this manuscript
• g) The underlying research reported in the study was funded by the NIH Institutes of Health I declare that the above statements are true

Manuscript Number:

Print Name:

Date:

Print Name:

Signed:

This form should be faxed to the Editorial Office on +39 02 55033121