Gynecologic Oncology is the official publication of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists

GUIDE FOR AUTHORS

Introduction
Gynecologic Oncology, an international journal, is devoted to the publication of clinical and investigative articles that concern tumors of the female reproductive tract. We welcome the submission of investigations relating to the etiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of female cancers, as well as research from any of the disciplines related to this field of interest. Research areas include: cell and molecular biology, chemotherapy, clinical trails, epidemiology, genetics, immunology and vaccines, 'omics', pathology and cytology, quality of life, radiation therapy, surgery, and translational research. All aspects of scholarship related to tumors of this region are welcome, with originality, quality, and clarity the chief criteria of acceptance.

Types of Articles
Original Research Report: Full-length report of an original basic or clinical investigation.
Review Article: A comprehensive and scholarly review of the literature relating to an important basic or clinical subject, accompanied by critical analysis and leading to reasonable conclusions.
Letter to the Editor: May consist of either of two types of correspondence: (1) a question or challenge to article published recently in the journal or (2) a brief communication describing a preliminary research report or a review.
Editorial: Commentary on an original article published in the same issue or an opinion or perspective on a specific topic.
Clinical Commentary: Offers perspective or opinion of clinical relevance.
Rapid Communication: For papers, which will usually be primary research (Articles), judged to warrant fast dissemination, Gynecologic Oncology can publish a peer-reviewed manuscript in the journal in as little as 12 weeks of receipt, after full clinical/scientific and statistical review. Authors should outline the case for rapid publication in their covering letter to the Editors.
Case Report: A brief description of up to three cases of a particular condition that is unusual and also provides new insights into diagnosis or clinical management.

Before You Begin

Ethics in Publishing
For information on Ethics in Publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication see http://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and http://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines

Clinical Trial Guidelines
We invite submission of all clinical trials, whether phase I, II, or III. For phase I trials, we especially encourage those of a novel substance for a novel indication, if there is a strong or unexpected beneficial or adverse response, or a novel mechanism of action. Systematic reviews of randomised trials also might warrant rapid peer review and publication. We encourage the registration of all interventional trials, whether early or late phase, in a primary register that participates in WHO's International Clinical Trial Registry Platform. We also encourage full public disclosure of the minimum 20-item trial registration dataset at the time of registration and before recruitment of the first participant ( http://who.int/ictrp/data_set/en/index1.html). The registry must be independent of for-profit interest. Reports of randomised trials must conform to revised CONSORT guidelines, and should be submitted with their protocols. All reports of clinical trials must include a summary of previous research findings, and explain how this trial contributes to the sum of knowledge. The relation between existing and new evidence should be shown by direct reference to an existing systematic review and meta-analysis; if neither exists, authors are encouraged to do their own, or to describe the qualitative association between their research and previous findings.
• Cluster randomised trials must be reported according to CONSORT extended guidelines.
• Randomised trials that report harms must be described according to extended to extended CONSORT guidelines.
• Studies of diagnostic accuracy must be reported according to STARD guidelines.
• Systematic reviews must be written according to the Cochrane Collaboration guidelines.
• Observational studies (cohort, case-control, or cross-sectional designs) must be reported according to the STROBE statement.

Conflict of Interest
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within 24 months of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. See also http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.

Gynecologic Oncology requires full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. All authors must complete and sign the official Gynecologic Oncology conflict of interest form, which may be found at: http://www.elsevier.com/framework_products/promis_misc/Gynecologic%20Oncology%20Conflict%20of%20Interest%20Policy%20Form.pdf. Each and every author must disclose any potential conflict of interest as defined on the form itself.
The conflict of interest form may be submitted in several ways: 1) download the form, have all authors place an official digital signature on the form, and upload it to your submission; 2) download the form, print it out, hand sign it, scan the signed form, and upload the scanned file to your submission; or 3) download the form, hand sign it, and fax all signed forms together to +1 619 699 6859. Please ensure that if you fax the forms, you gather all forms and fax them together before approving your submission.
You will receive confirmation of receipt for all conflict of interest forms. If signed conflict of interest forms are not provided upon submission, your submission will be returned to you with a request that you provide signed forms for all authors. Your manuscript will not be considered for publication by editors or reviewers until all signed conflict of interest forms have been received.

Role of Medical Writer or Editor
If a medical writer or editor was involved in the creation of your manuscript, we need a signed statement from the corresponding author to include their name and information about funding of this person. This information should be added to the Acknowledgement section. We also require signed statements from any medical writers or editors declaring that they have given permission to be names as an author; or in the Acknowledgments section.

Submission Declaration
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder.

Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.
Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions). 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: please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions

Retained Author Rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to: http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights

Role of the Funding Source
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to: http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights

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

Language Services
Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit http://www.elsevier.com/languagepolishing or our customer support site at http://epsupport.elsevier.com for more information. 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://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions

Online Submission
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via the homepage of this journal ( http://www.elsevier.com/journals) you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. The system automatically converts source files to a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail and via the author's homepage, removing the need for a hard-copy paper trail.

It is a condition of publication that all manuscripts must be written in clear, grammatical English and be submitted to the Gynecologic Oncology Web site at http://ees.elsevier.com/ygyno. Authors are requested to transmit the text and art of the manuscript in electronic form to this address. Each manuscript must also be accompanied by a cover letter. (Please see Preparation of Manuscript below.) If you are unable to provide an electronic version, please contact the editorial office prior to submission by e-mail (gyn@elsevier.com), telephone +1 619 699 6508, or fax +1 619 699 6859].

Manuscripts are accepted for review with the understanding that no substantial portion of the study has been published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere and that its submission for publication has been approved by all of the authors and by the institution where the work was carried out. Authors must disclose prior presentation at a public scientific meeting as a footnote on the title page.

Manuscripts that do not meet the general criteria or standards for publication in Gynecologic Oncology will be immediately returned to the authors, without detailed review.

CHECK LIST FOR AUTHORS

Please follow this link for a detailed list of the submission requirements and how to structure your article:Check List for Authors

After Acceptance

Use of the Digital Object Identifier
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles in press' because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information. The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows (example taken from a document in the journal Physics Letters): doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2003.10.071
When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, they are guaranteed never to change.

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 (or higher) 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.