An Official Clinical Practice Journal of the AGA Institute



Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology publishes clinical articles on all aspects of the digestive system, including the liver and pancreas. The types of articles Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology publishes include original papers, review articles, brief communications, and special category manuscripts. Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors ( http://www.icmje.org ). Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) ( http://www.publicationethics.org.uk ).

Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology has a total circulation of approximately 19,000—about 16,000 in the United States and 3,000 in other countries. 70% of subscribers are AGA members.

CGH is indexed in Current Contents, Excerpta Medica, MEDLINE^®, Science Citation Index, and Scopus.

Ethical Standards
Conflict of interest Policy
Plagiarism, Duplicate Submission/Publication Policy
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Funding
Information about Article Types
Submission Checklist
Reporting Clinical Trials
Randomized Controlled Trials
Manuscript Processing and Review
Publication
Editorial Office


ETHICAL STANDARDS

Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology strongly discourages the submission of more than one article dealing with related aspects of the same study. In almost all cases, a single study is best reported in a single paper.

The Journal editors consider research/publication misconduct to be a serious breach of ethics and will take action as necessary to address such misconduct, which includes submission or publication of information that:

• Is intentionally erroneous,
• Has been published elsewhere by a different author without acknowledgment (plagiarism),
• Has been published elsewhere by the same author without acknowledgment (duplicate publication), or
• Is subsequently published elsewhere by the same author without acknowledgment, attribution, or permission from the AGA Institute, as holder of the copyright, to reprint or adapt the material.

Each author who submits a manuscript must complete Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology's Copyright Assignment, Authorship Responsibility, NIH Funding, Financial Disclosure, Institutional Review Board/Animal Care Committee Approval, and Sponsorship form thereby affirming that:

(1) None of the material in the manuscript is included in another manuscript, has been published previously, or is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. This includes symposia proceedings, transactions, books, articles published by invitation, and preliminary publications of any kind except an abstract or poster. If there is any potential overlap with a manuscript previously published by the authors, the related manuscripts must be included for editorial evaluation.

(2) Only people who contributed to the intellectual content, the analysis of data, and the writing of the manuscript are listed as authors and that all authors take public responsibility for the research results being reported.

(3) Ethical guidelines were followed by the investigator in studies on humans or animals and described in the paper. The approval of the institutional review board of animal care committee must be cited in the Methods section of the text.

(4) All authors had full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Breaches in these standards may result in proscribed submission for all authors of the concerned manuscript and, when appropriate, notification of the authors' institutions. All authors are fully responsible for the content of the manuscript. The publication of abstracts is not considered duplicate publication but should be disclosed in the cover letter accompanying the manuscript submission.

Authorship
Each author must have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content of the paper and must approve of the final version of the manuscript. Authorship should be based on substantive contributions to each of the following:

• Conception and design of the study;
• Generation, collection, assembly, analysis and/or interpretation of data;
• Drafting or revision of the manuscript;
• Approval of the final version of the manuscript.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY

A. Potential Conflicts of Interest The following are examples of COI that may occur with editors, authors (including invited authors), and reviewers. Interactions considered pertinent are from the start of the research activity in a specific program until such time that a submission is anticipated to be published or one year from submission date, whichever is longer.

a. Editors: Editors who make final decisions about manuscripts must have no personal, professional, or financial involvement in any of the issues they might judge. Examples of personal involvement with an author include former student, fellow, mentor, or relative. Examples of professional involvement include academic rivalry, being from the same institution or research group as the author, evaluating a manuscript submitted by a member of the board of editors, or collaborating (e.g., co-authoring research article or grant) with an author. Examples of financial involvement include employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants/patents received, and royalties with an entity (or competing entity) discussed in the manuscript.

It is a COI for editors of the AGA Institute journals to hold a position of editorial responsibility for a competing publication. The Ethics Committee reviews disclosure statements submitted by editors and notifies either/both the Secretary/Treasurer and editor of any potential conflicts. The procedures contained in Section C of the "AGA/AGA Institute Policy on Disclosure of Potential Conflict of Interest" apply if a conflict is found to exist.

b. Authors: COI for an author may arise if there exists a financial arrangement (e.g., employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants/patents received, and royalties) with a company whose product figures prominently in the submitted manuscript or with a company that makes a competing product.

c. Reviewers: COI for reviewers exist when they have had an ongoing collaboration, original publications, or grants with the authors within the previous two years, except when part of a multicenter group from a different site; are from the same institution as the authors; or have any financial arrangements (e.g., employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants/patents received, and royalties) with a company whose product figures prominently in the submitted manuscript or with a company that makes a competing product.

B. Process
Potential COI are to be disclosed at the beginning of the peer-review process.

a. Editors: An associate editor having COI with a submitted manuscript must recuse himself from handling the manuscript and request that the manuscript be reassigned. The editor-in-chief having COI with a submitted manuscript must assign review to one of an associate or guest editor for handling. A manuscript submitted by one of the members of the board of editors must be assigned to a guest editor.

b. Authors: The senior or corresponding author assumes full responsibility for supplying the following information on the title page at manuscript submission:
i. For each author, disclosure of any financial arrangement with any company whose product figures prominently in the submitted manuscript or that makes a competing product; or a statement for each author that there is no conflict to disclose.
ii. A disclosure of all funding sources supporting the work and all institutional or corporate affiliations.
iii. A list of individuals who provided writing assistance for the manuscript and the source of funds that supported this assistance.

In addition, at manuscript submission, each author must complete and submit to the editorial office a standardized form that transfers copyright to the AGA Institute, verifies authorship responsibility, states NIH funding (if any), discloses all relevant conflicts of interest, and attests that the research protocol was approved by the author's institution and all experimentation was conducted in conformity with ethical and humane principles of research.

Based on the information provided, the editors will determine whether COI exists and decide to either a) reject the manuscript or b) publish the manuscript with the COI disclosed.

c. Reviewers: When invited, reviewers must decline to review a manuscript if a potential COI exists. After review, all reviewers must agree to and initial one of the following statements, which appear in the journals' manuscript tracking system:
i. I, the undersigned Reviewer, certify that I have not had an ongoing collaboration, original publication, or grant with the authors within the previous two years, except in the case of being a part of a multicenter group from a different site, nor am I from the same institution as the authors. I also certify that I do not have any financial arrangements (e.g., employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants/patents received, and royalties) with a company whose product figures prominently in the submitted manuscript or with a company that makes a competing product.
ii. I have listed any potential conflicts on interest in the Comments to Editors field.

If the reviewer discloses a potential COI after the review, the handling associate editor decides if the review should still be used to judge the manuscript.

C. Sanctions
Should an editor, author, or reviewer fail to disclose a potential COI and this is discovered after publication, the following sanctions may be applied according to the severity of the infraction.

a. Editors:
i. A letter of reprimand and warning as to future conduct from the editor, in the case of an associate editor, or from the Chair of the Publications Committee, in the case of the editor.
ii. Dismissal from the position.

b. Authors:
i. A letter from the editor of explanation and education where there appears to be a genuine misunderstanding of principles.
ii. A letter from the editor of reprimand and warning as to future conduct.
iii. A letter from the editor to the author's institution or funding body.
iv. Publication of a notice detailing the author's failure to disclose the COI.
v. Publication of an editorial detailing the full details of the misconduct.
vi. Refusal to accept future submissions from the author on a sliding scale of one-to-five years.
vii. Formal retraction or withdrawal of the paper from the scientific literature. viii. Reporting the case to the Office of Research Integrity (ORI).

c. Reviewers:
i. A letter from the editor of explanation and education where there appears to be a genuine misunderstanding of principles.
ii. A letter from the editor of reprimand and warning as to future conduct.
iii. A letter from the editor to the reviewer's institution.
iv. Refusal to allow the individual to review for the journal on a sliding scale of one-to-five years.

This policy was developed in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

PLAGIARISM, DUPLICATE SUBMISSION/PUBLICATION POLICY

A. Definitions

a. Plagiarism: Unreferenced use of published and unpublished ideas. It may occur at any stage of planning, research, writing, or publication and applies to print and electronic versions.

b. Duplicate Submission/Publication: Occurs when two or more papers, without full cross-reference, share the same hypothesis, data, discussion points, or conclusions.

B. Sanctions
Should plagiarism or duplicate submission/publication be identified, the journal editors will apply the following sanctions according to the severity of the infraction. They will apply sanctions to individual authors depending on their type of involvement with the article, as provided at the time of submission on the title page.

a. A letter of explanation from the journal editors to the authors where there appears to be a genuine misunderstanding of principles.

b. A letter of reprimand from the journal editors as to future conduct.

c. A formal letter from the journal editors to the author's institution, employer, or funding body.

d. Publication of a notice or editorial in journal.

e. Refusal to accept submissions from the author for a range of one-to-five years.

f. Formal withdrawal or retraction of paper from the scientific literature.

g. Journal editors report the case to Office of Research Integrity, which promotes integrity in biomedical and behavioral research supported by the U.S. Public Health Service; monitors institutional investigations of research misconduct; and facilitates the responsible conduct of research through educational, preventive, and regulatory activities.

This policy was developed in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH) FUNDING

If a manuscript is accepted for publication and was supported by the NIH, the journal's publisher will automatically deposit the manuscript into PubMed Central (PMC) in accordance with the mandatory NIH policy on federally funded manuscripts. To facilitate this process, authors of such manuscripts are asked to provide their NIH grant number on the Copyright Assignment Form under the NIH Funding portion of the form. The publisher will send to PMC the final peer-reviewed manuscript when received at Elsevier's production department. Once deposited, authors will receive an email from the NIH containing the PMC-formatted article for approval. Articles become available on PMC 12 months after they have been published.

INFORMATION ABOUT ARTICLE TYPES

Original Articles
Original Articles are full-length reports of original research and will be considered for either the Clinical-Alimentary Tract or Clinical-Liver/Pancreas/Biliary Tract section of the Journal. Articles cover topics relevant to clinical studies in these areas of interest. They may discuss nutrition, morphology, physiology, pathophysiology, epidemiology, imaging, or therapy. Both adult and pediatric problems are included. To be published, the work presented in the manuscript must be original; on occasion, confirmatory studies of timely and important observations will also be acceptable. In addition, other considerations for evaluating the acceptability of a submitted manuscript include its importance, the soundness of the experimental design, the validity of the methods, the appropriateness of the conclusions, and the quality of presentation.

Original articles submitted to Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology cannot exceed 4,000 words including the figure and table legends, and references. No more than six figures and/or tables are permitted, though more may be included online as supplemental material. Each figure may have up to six panels. Your manuscript will be returned to you if it does not meet these criteria.

Review Articles
Review Articles in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology must not exceed 6,000 words, including figure and table legends, and references. No more than six figures and/or tables are permitted, though more may be included online as supplemental material. Each figure may have up to six panels. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology's medical illustrator, Sarah Williamson, (SWilliamson@gastro.org), would be able to assist you in creating or revising figures, and we strongly encourage you to make use of her services while writing the paper.

Image of the Month
Image of the Month presents a striking clinical image that is meant to challenge and inform readers. The Image of the Month is presented as a short case report including images that completely illustrate the case. The section is intended to illustrate and teach important medical points. Lower priority will be assigned to submissions that illustrate or are similar to recently published cases. Image of the Month submissions will be considered for both print and online-only publication. Submissions must describe the case completely, regardless of the number of images, however any Image of the Month submissions containing a video or more than three images will be considered for electronic publication only. (Please see Electronic Image of the Month below.) Authors of Image of the Month submissions are not required to pay for color reproduction. If you would like to submit an image for publication in the Journal, please follow the instructions below.

1. Images should be endoscopic, pathologic, and radiographic if appropriate. They should be of high quality and illustrate the full spectrum of the disorder. Pathology images should be included whenever possible for favorable consideration. Endoscopy images should be free of lettering or numbering.
2. The case should be described in 550 words or less. Format should be as follows: Short pertinent history, physical examination and laboratory findings, and initial clinical course. The image(s) should then be described with all labeled structures explained in the text.
3. No more than three authors are allowed on each submission. Contributors must provide their names, addresses, phone, and e-mail addresses. Contributors must sign and return the copyright form which assigns copyright to the AGA Institute and attest that the figure has not been submitted or published elsewhere.
4. "Image of the Month" submissions must be submitted online at http://www.editorialmanager.com/cgh

Electronic Image of the Month
Due to the increasing use of video in reports on clinical cases and a high number of "Image of the Month" submissions, Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology publishes Electronic Image of the Month, where some accepted images, especially those that include video clips can be published online only. When an image is accepted for the Electronic Image of the Month section, authors will receive a decision letter requesting approval to publish their article online only. If an author does not agree to these terms the article will not be considered further for publication. If authors choose to have their accepted image published in the 'Electronic Image of the Month' section, their article will be posted on our website, www.cghjournal.org, within two to three months. Authors of Electronic Image of the Month submissions are not required to pay for color reproduction.

Authors are required to follow the "Image of the Month" guidelines provided above. Electronic Image of the Month articles are indexed on PubMed

Editorials
Editorials provide comments on papers published elsewhere in the same issue. Editorials are usually solicited by the Editor.

Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor offer opinions on manuscripts submitted to Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Text should not exceed 250 words with a limit of three references; no more than three authors are allowed on each submission. All letters become the property of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology and are subject to editing by the editors. Letters commenting on manuscripts are sent to the authors of those manuscripts for response. Letters are selected for their importance and not all letters submitted can be published. Letters should be submitted within a month from the publication of the manuscript.

Brief Communications
Brief Communications are short reports of preliminary or limited results of original research, observations, or case series on the causes, mechanisms, diagnosis, course, treatment, and prevention of digestive diseases. The formatting guidelines for brief communications are as follows: Abstract must not exceed 175 words, manuscript body must not exceed 1500 words, one to two figures or tables, and 15 to 20 references. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology's medical illustrator, Sarah Williamson, (SWilliamson@gastro.org), would be able to assist you in creating or revising figures, and we strongly encourage you to make use of her services while writing the paper.

Perspectives
Perspectives inform the clinical and basic research communities about fields in which there have been recent and important advances. They focus on one specific aspect of a field, rather than providing a comprehensive literature survey, and can be controversial, briefly discussing opposing viewpoints. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology's medical illustrator, Sarah Williamson, (SWilliamson@gastro.org), would be able to assist you in creating or revising figures, and we strongly encourage you to make use of her services while writing the paper.

Education Practice
Education practice articles present recently published position statements on patient management through a clinical scenario. Each article encapsulates the problem, management strategies, and supporting evidence, including reference to AGA or other learned bodies' position statements, areas of uncertainty, published guidelines, and recommendations for the specific case presented. A short list of references is proposed as suggested reading. Education Practice articles are solicited by the editors. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology's medical illustrator, Sarah Williamson, (SWilliamson@gastro.org), would be able to assist you in creating or revising figures, and we strongly encourage you to make use of her services while writing the paper.

Education and Training
Education and Training articles focus on content relevant to GI training directors, including curriculum development, training systems, and teaching points.

Meeting Summary
This section brief reports of symposia, conferences, and meetings in digestive disease research. They include critical commentary, connections among the presentations, and consensus, if any, that emerged from the meeting. The editors encourage authors of potential meeting summaries to propose submissions for this section in advance of scheduled meetings. To ensure relevance, summaries must been submitted within two months after a meeting.

Continuing Medical Education (CME)
Each issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology will contain two to three continuing medical education exams associated with articles that appear in the issue. AGA members can take the exams online free of charge. Non-AGA members are required to pay a $15 processing fee. Readers can claim 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit ^™. Reviewers of manuscripts can also claim CME credit. After reviewing a manuscript on the Journal's manuscript tracking system, Editorial Manager, the reviewer will be prompted to claim up to 3.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits ^™.

SUBMISSION CHECKLIST

All manuscripts should be typed in 12-point font size and double-spaced and should contain the following sections in the order given below. All manuscripts submitted to Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology are made available for online review. Authors should submit their manuscripts, with figures and tables, electronically via our website, http://www.editorialmanager.com/cgh . Complete instructions for online submission are located on the website.

Cover Letter
Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology strongly encourages authors to suggest three to four referees (include their e-mail address, phone, and fax numbers) and the Associate Editor they believe best qualified to review their paper. Authors may also list a non-preferred Associate Editor and non-preferred referees, but the ultimate selection of an Associate Editor and referees is at the sole discretion of the Editor and Associate Editor, respectively. A list of our current Associate Editors can be found at http://www.cghjournal.org/content/bdofeds
State reasons for deviations, if any, from standard format and clarify any potential conflicts related to the exclusive nature of the publication. The cover letter must also categorize the manuscript into one of two groups: Alimentary Tract or Liver/Pancreas/Biliary.

Title Page
Title--Use no abbreviations. Limit: 120 characters including spaces.
Short Title--Limit: 45 characters with spaces.
Authors--Include first names of all authors and name and full location of department and institution where work was performed.
Grant Support--List grant support and other assistance.
Abbreviations--List abbreviations alphabetically. (Note: In general, the use of abbreviations is discouraged.)
author.
Disclosures-- All authors must disclose any potential conflicts (financial, professional, or personal) that are relevant to the manuscript. If the author(s) has nothing to disclose, this must be stated.
Writing Assistance--The names and funding source for individuals who provided writing assistance must be listed.

Abstract
Limit: 260 words. Abbreviations must be spelled out at least once. Do not use footnotes or references.
Authors should submit a structured abstract of no more than 250 words organized into the following categories as applicable:

Background & Aims: Describe the importance of the study and the precise research objective(s) or study question(s).

Methods: Methods should include information on the following aspects of study design when applicable. The methods section may employ subheadings at the discretion of the author.

• Design--describe the basic study design, e.g., randomized controlled trial, cross sectional study, cohort study, case series, survey, etc.
• Setting--specify whether the study was conducted in a primary or tertiary care setting, in an ambulatory care clinic or hospital, in the general community, etc.
• Participants--indicate the number of study subjects and how they were selected, recruited, and assigned to the intervention.
• Intervention--report the method of administration and duration of the intervention.

Results: Provide the main outcomes of the study, including confidence intervals or P values. Report the absolute values and risk differences so that readers can determine the absolute, as well as the relative, impact of the results.

Conclusions: State only conclusions that are directly supported by the evidence and the implications of the findings.

Keywords Include 3-4 keywords associated with your manuscript, separated by semicolons (e.g., active vitamin D; parathyroid hormone-related peptide; hypercalcemia; bone resorption). Should your manuscript be accepted, the keywords will appear with the published manuscript, making it easier to find in literature search engines such as PubMed.

Video Abstracts
Authors are encouraged to submit video abstracts with their manuscripts. Discussion points include the motivation for undertaking the study, a brief overview of methodology, and the highlights of how the results advance the field of digestive disease. The following guidelines apply:

• Acceptable file formats: MPEG, MOV, AVI, or GIF
• Length does not exceed 5 minutes
• Sound and picture is clear (ensure that you capture the video in a quiet and well-lit environment)
• Video is in English
• Author speaks clearly
• Content is relevant to accepted manuscript
• Content is free of language that is offensive, defamatory, abusive, profane, and threatening

To submit a video abstract with your manuscript, choose the item type "Video Abstract" on the journal's manuscript management system, Editorial Manager.

Body of paper
Describe ethical guidelines followed; cite approval of institutional human research review committee or animal welfare committee; describe in detail hazardous procedures or chemicals involved, including precautions observed.

Outline statistical methods used.

Identify drugs and chemicals used by generic name (if trademarks are mentioned, manufacturer name and city are given).

References
Cite references in order of appearance in text using superscripted Arabic numerals. Cite personal communications and unpublished data directly in text without being numbered. All abbreviations should follow the Index Medicus abbreviations. Follow Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology requirements for style:

Article (list 3 authors followed by et al):
13. Meltzer SJ, Ahnen DJ, Battifour H, et al. Protooncogene abnormalities in colon cancers and adenomatous polyps. Gastroenterology 1987;92:1174-1180.

Book:
18. Day RA. How to write and publish a scientific paper. Philadelphia: Institute for Scientific Information, 1979.

Article in Book:
22. Costa M, Furness JB, Llewellyn-Smith IF. Histochemistry of the enteric nervous system. In: Johnson LR, ed. Physiology of the gastrointestinal tract. Volume 1. 2nd ed. New York: Raven, 1987:1-40.

Tables
Tables should be prepared without the use of tabs; most table editor programs can be uploaded successfully. If your table contains decimal fractions, please round your numbers to two places after the decimal point. Tables may be embedded in the file that contains your manuscript or attached as separate files.

Figures
For additional information regarding journal guidelines for figure submissions, please see our Frequently Asked Questions

Images: Images can be clinical, pathologic (gross or microscopic), endoscopic, or radiographic. They should be of high quality (300 ppi or greater, clear, and in good focus) and illustrate the diagnosis well.

Photographs: Photographs of identifiable patients must be accompanied by written permission to publish from the patient.

Line Art and Graphs: Graphs, charts and other line art may be reformatted and/or redrawn by our Graphics staff for consistency with the overall style of the AGA Institute journals. Please be sure that any graphs or line art you submit are at a resolution of at least 300 ppi so that they are readable to reviewers.

Figure Legends: Please do not embed or flatten the text into the image files. Figure legends should be included in the manuscript body, immediately before the references, or typed and submitted in .doc (Word document) or .rtf (rich text format). This text will be reformatted in the style of the AGA Institute journals.

Preferred Figure File Formats: The preferred formats for figure files are tiff (.tif) and jpeg (.jpg). For questions regarding the conversion of other file formats to .jpg or .tif, please view our Figure Submission FAQ.

Accepted Figure File Formats: Other acceptable file formats include: .bmp, .gif, .pbm, .pcx, .png, .pct, .msp, .tif, .eps, .xbm, .psd, .ai, .indd, .pdf, and .tga files. When sending image files, please do not embed them in Word. You may submit mixed file formats (image1.jpg, image2.tif, image3.eps, etc.).

Image File Formats not Supported at this Time: Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets, ChemDraw, CorelDraw, Canvas, FreeHand, SigmaPlot, QuarkXpress, and Equation Editor. You may export image files from these programs as PDF, JPEG, or other acceptable file formats. For questions regarding the conversion of these file formats to our preferred formats, please view our Figure Submission FAQ.

File Naming Convention: Figures should be named consecutively such as "figure 1.tif," "figure 2.jpg," etc., with the file extension appended (.tif, .jpg, .eps, etc). Each figure should be saved as a separate electronic file.

Color Files: Figures should be submitted in the CMYK color space. Authors are encouraged to present color figures in a manner that will allow the data to be interpreted by colorblind readers. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology suggests that authors present dual-labeled images in green and magenta rather than in green and red. See the website of the Jfly data depository for Drosphila researchers ( http://jfly.iam.u-tokyo.ac.jp/color/ ) for more information on how to make figures and presentations intelligible for a colorblind audience.

Font: If your figures include text, an 8 to 10 point font should be used. Acceptable fonts are "sans serif" fonts such as Helvetica, Arial, and Myriad. Examples of unacceptable fonts ("serif" fonts) are Times New Roman, Palatino, and Garamond. Lettering should begin with an upper case letter, followed by lower case lettering.

Multiple Panel Figures: Please submit each panel (image) separately. However, you may submit a multiple panel version to suggest the order in which you would like the panels arranged. You may also include a written, suggested layout. Each individual panel should be of the highest possible quality (300 ppi or higher) at actual print size.

Cost: Authors will be required to pay for the printing of color figures ($650 for the first color figure and $100 each for additional figures). If the manuscript is reviewed with color figures, it must be published with color figures with printing fees paid for by the author. If the author does not wish to pay for printing color figures, then the figures must be uploaded in grayscale or black-and-white only to allow review of the data as they will ultimately be published in print. Authors may include color images to be published online only by uploading the color files separately as supplemental files.

Supplemental files
We encourage you to submit non-essential figures or portions of your manuscript as supplementary material for online-only publication, as our readership highly values supplementary materials. However, please note that important methods should be within the body of the text and not provided as supplemental information. Also, authors who offer supplementary information must ensure those materials are readily available upon request.

The portions of your manuscript that you would like to be included as supplementary material (including figures and tables) should be uploaded separately from the manuscript as "supporting documents." The supplementary material will not appear in the PDF, though there will be a link to access the file in the PDF of your submission.

REPORTING CLINICAL TRIALS

It is mandatory for authors to provide full registration of their clinical trial(s). A clinical trial is defined as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention and comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. The trial must have at least one prospectively assigned concurrent control or comparison group in order to trigger the requirement for registration.

Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology has adopted the recommendations put forth by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). For more information on the ICMJE recommendations, please go to http://www.icmje.org . Appropriate online registries include www.clinicaltrials.gov, www.isrctn.org, www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index.htm, www.actr.org.au, www.trialregister.nl, or any primary registers that participate in the World Health Organization's International Clinical Trial Platform. The clinical trial registry URL and the clinical trial number must be included in the body of the manuscript and must be provided in the manuscript management system upon submission.

RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS

Randomized controlled trials should be presented according to the CONSORT guidelines ( http://www.consort-statement.org ). At manuscript submission, authors must provide the CONSORT checklist with a diagram that illustrates the progress of patients through the trial, including recruitment, enrollment, randomization, withdrawal and completion, and a detailed description of the randomization procedure. The CONSORT checklist and template flow diagram can be found on www.consort-statement.org. Manuscripts that fail to comply with CONSORT guidelines will not be reviewed for publication.

MANUSCRIPT PROCESSING AND REVIEW

Submissions. The Editorial Office receives around 1,000 manuscripts a year. Each new manuscript receives a unique number, and information on the manuscript is recorded on the Editorial Office computer network. The editorial staff releases information on manuscripts only to authors. The Editorial Office will e-mail a letter to the corresponding author acknowledging receipt of a manuscript, whether new or a resubmission.

Review process. Each manuscript is assigned to an Associate Editor who has expertise on the subject of the manuscript. After review by the Associate Editor, if the manuscript is judged to be appropriate and competitive for publication in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, it is sent to experts in the appropriate area for peer review. The Associate Editor chooses two or three reviewers, who remain anonymous. Authors are encouraged to suggest an Associate Editor and three to four reviewers in the cover letter, though final assignments are at the discretion of the editor.

Reviewers provide comments for the editor and for the authors. The Journal expects reviewers to treat manuscripts as confidential communications and not to use the content for their own purposes or make copies of the manuscripts. Reviewers are also expected to declare to the editor any possible conflicts of interest.

Decisions. The single most important criterion for acceptance is the originality of the work. However, a decision to accept a manuscript is not based solely on the scientific validity of its content. Other factors affecting decisions include the extent and importance of new information in the paper compared with that in other papers being considered, the Journal's need to represent a wide range of topics, and the overall suitability for Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Decision letters usually, but not always, convey all factors considered for a particular decision. Occasionally, the comments to the authors may appear to be inconsistent with the editorial decision, which takes into consideration reviewers' comments to the editor, as well as the additional factors listed above.

Decisions on peer-reviewed papers are e-mailed to the authors an average of two weeks from the date of submission.

PUBLICATION

Accepted manuscripts are sent to the publisher, Elsevier, and indexed on PubMed soon after acceptance. Within five to seven business days, they will be uploaded to Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology online www.cghjournal.org under "Articles in Press" for preprint viewing by subscribers. Once authors have had the opportunity to review proofs of their manuscripts, these author-corrected proofs will replace the uncorrected proofs, followed by the final articles on PubMed.

Manuscripts are copyedited to make them consistent with Journal style; if a particular section in the manuscript is not clear or requires additional information, the copy editor will direct questions to the author. These questions, or "author queries," will appear in the margins of the proofs that are sent to the author. All abstracts and titles will be reviewed and possibly modified by the Journal's science editor. Authors can review changes at the revision stage of their manuscripts. All line art will be reviewed and possibly modified by the Journal's graphics staff. Authors can review changes at the proof stage of their manuscripts.

The time between acceptance and print publication is approximately three months. The corresponding author can expect proofs of the article approximately two months after acceptance. Authors receive proofs for the primary purpose of checking the accuracy of the typesetting; authors are not to revise or rewrite their articles at this stage. If after acceptance of their paper, authors become aware of important information they believe should be added to their manuscript, they should contact the editor of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Authors are required to return proofs to the publisher within 48 hours. If changes are not returned within 48 hours, the manuscript will move forward in the production process.

Reprints. Forms for ordering article reprints will be sent with proofs to authors and should be returned with the corrected proofs. Authors do not receive free reprints, and therefore are responsible for ordering their own reprints (minimum order, 100) from the publisher.

CONTACT INFORMATION

The address for the submission of manuscripts or correspondence is: C. Mel Wilcox, MD, Editor, Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, AGA, 4930 Del Ray Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-3015; e-mail: cgh@gastro.org; tel: 301-654-2055 ext. 683; fax: 301-654-1140.



Updated August 2009

© 2009 by the AGA Institute