The Official Journal of the Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations






The Asian Journal of Psychiatry is the official journal of the Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations. It is a general and comprehensive journal of psychiatry for psychiatrists, mental health clinicians, neurologists, physicians, students of mental health and those involved in mental health policy development. It will publish peer reviewed original research articles; review articles; commentaries on significant articles; synopses of current research highlights from Asia; and letters to the editor. It aims to focus on psychiatric research pertinent to Asia produced either within or from outside the continent. This may include preclinical, clinical, service system and policy development research relevant to psychiatry and will highlight the socio-cultural diversity of the region as it pertains to mental health. The journal aims to bridge a knowledge gap of the application and transfer of research findings and clinical practice through Asia to and from the rest of the world.

Types of papers:

(1) Full-length papers: 2000-3000 words (excluding tables, figures and references).
(2) Short communications: 1000-1500 words (excluding tables, figures and references).
(3) Letters to the Editors: 600-800 words, 10 references, 1 figure or table.
(4) Special solicited research and/or reviews.
(5) Invited comments or hypotheses.
(6) Editorials


Submission Checklist:

It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal's editor for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.

Ensure that the following items are present:

– One author designated as corresponding author
– E-mail address
– Full postal address
– Telephone and fax numbers
– All necessary files have been uploaded
– Keywords
– All figure captions
– All tables (including title, description, footnotes)


Further considerations

– Manuscript has been "spell checked"
– References are in the correct format for this journal
– All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
– Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)


General

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 Publisher.

Upon acceptance of an article, you will be asked to transfer copyright (for more information on copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/authorsrights.This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included in the submission, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has pre-printed forms for use by authors in these cases: contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Philadelphia, PA, USA: phone (+1) 215 238 7869, fax (+1) 215 238 2239, e-mail healthpermissions@elsevier.com

Requests for materials from other Elsevier publications may also be completed on-line via the Elsevier homepage http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions

Submission of manuscripts

The Asian Journal of Psychiatry proceeds totally online via the Elsevier Editorial System. In case you do not have an Internet connection, please contact the Editorial Office for alternative instructions. By accessing the online submission system at http://ees.elsevier.com/ajp you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. When submitting a manuscript online, authors need to provide an electronic version of their manuscript and any accompanying figures and tables and are requested to direct the manuscripts to the most appropriate Editor.

Once the uploading is done, the system automatically generates an electronic (PDF) proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence, including the Editor's decision and request for revisions, will be processed through the system and will reach the corresponding author by e-mail.

For further details on how to submit online, please refer to the online EES Tutorial for authors. Alternatively please contact the Author Support Team at esubmissionsupport@elsevier.com or the Reviewers Support Team at reviewersupport@elsevier.com

Elsevier also provides 24/7 Telephone Support for:

The Americas: +1 888 834 7287,
Asia & Pacific: +81 3 5561 5032,
Europe & ROW: +353 61 709 190


Presentation of manuscript

Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Italics are not to be used for expressions of Latin origin, for example, in vivo, et al., per se. Use decimal points (not commas); use a space for thousands (10 000 and above).

Provide the following data on the title page (in the order given).

Title. Concise and informative. The title should indicate the main point of the manuscript. Note that titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.

Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name, and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.

Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who is willing to handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.

Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

Abstract. A concise and factual abstract is required (maximum length 250 words for full-length papers or 100 words for short communications). The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separate from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. References should therefore be avoided, but if essential, they must be cited in full, without reference to the reference list. Non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

Keywords. Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of six keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Abbreviations. Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field at their first occurrence in the article: in the abstract but also in the main text after it. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Arrangement of the article

Subdivision of the article. Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text'. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.

Introduction. State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Experimental/Materials and methods. Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described. Statistical tests used for evaluation of data should be briefly explained. In case of experimental studies, animals used should be described, including information on breed, breeder, sex, age, weight and the maintenance conditions. Special chemicals and their sources should be grouped under a separate sub-heading. For drugs generic names should be used; trade names may be given in brackets where the drug is first mentioned. In case of a new drug, a chemical description (formula) should be given. The form of a drug used should also be indicated.

Results. In this section the findings should be described clearly, concisely, and in logical order without extended discussions of their significance. Only in case of short communications, the results and discussion sections may be combined. Results should usually be presented in graphic or tabular form, rather than discursively. There should be no duplication in text, tables and figures. Experimental conclusions should normally be based on adequate numbers of observations with statistical analysis of variance and the significance of differences. The number of individual values represented by a mean should be indicated.

Discussion. This section should present conclusions to be drawn from the results accompanied by an assessment of their significance in relation to previous work. Speculative discussion is not discouraged, but the speculation should be based on the data presented and identified as such. In general, the discussion should be as concise as possible.

Author Disclosure

Role of Funding Source. Authors are kindly requested to briefly describe the role of the study sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, authors should so state.

eg, Funding for this study was provided by NIMH Grant XXXXXXX; the NIMH had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

Following the Role of the Funding Source text, authors are required to declare their individual contribution to the manuscript under a subheading Contributors.

eg, Author X designed the study and wrote the protocol. Author Y managed the literature searches and analyses. Authors X and Z undertook the statistical analysis, and author W wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.

The third aspect of the Journal's new policy concerns the 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 three (3) years of beginning the work submitted that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.

Examples of potential conflicts of interest which should be disclosed include employment, consultancies, stock ownership (except for personal investment purposes equal to the lesser of one percent (1%) or USD 5000), honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications, registrations, and grants. If there are no conflicts of interest, authors should state that there are none.

eg, Author Y owns shares in pharma company A. Author X and Z have consulted for pharma company B. All other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Finally, before the references, the Journal will publish Acknowledgements, in a separate section, and not as a footnote on the title page.

eg, We thank Mr A, who kindly provided the data necessary for our analysis, and Miss B, who assisted with the preparation and proof-reading of the manuscript.

References. See separate section, below.

Figure legends, tables, figures, schemes. Present these, in this order, at the end of the article. Figures and photographs of good quality should also be submitted online as a separate file.

Tables. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.

Nomenclature and units. Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI.

DNA sequences and GenBank Accession numbers. Many Elsevier journals cite "gene accession numbers" in their running text and footnotes. Gene accession numbers refer to genes or DNA sequences about which further information can be found in the databases at the National Center for Biotechnical Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine. Elsevier authors wishing to enable other scientists to use the accession numbers cited in their papers via links to these sources, should type this information in the following manner:

For each and every accession number cited in an article, authors should type the accession number in bold , underlined text . Letters in the accession number should always be capitalised. (See Example below). This combination of letters and format will enable Elsevier's typesetters to recognise the relevant texts as accession numbers and add the required link to GenBank's sequences.

Example: "GenBank accession nos. AI631510, AI631511, AI632198 , and BF223228 ), a B-cell tumor from a chronic lymphatic leukemia (GenBank accession no. BE675048 ), and a T-cell lymphoma (GenBank accession no. AA361117 )".

Authors are encouraged to check accession numbers used very carefully. An error in a letter or number can result in a dead link. In the final version of the printed article, the accession number text will not appear bold or underlined. In the final version of the electronic copy, the accession number text will be linked to the appropriate source in the NCBI databases enabling readers to go directly to that source from the article.

Preparation of supplementary data. Elsevier 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://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 Author Gateway at http://www.elsevier.com/authors

Policy and ethics. The work described in your article must have been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans; http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm and with the internationally accepted principles in the care and use of experimental animals. This must be stated at an appropriate point in the article.

References

Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic citations lies entirely with the authors.

Citations in the text: Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications should not be in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication and a copy of the title page of the relevant article must be submitted.

Citing and listing of web references. As a minimum, the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

Text: All citations in the text should refer to:

1. Single author: the author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication;
2. Two authors: both authors' names and the year of publication;
3. Three or more authors: first author's name followed by 'et al.' and the year of publication.


Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.

Examples: "as demonstrated (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995). Kramer et al. (2000) have recently shown ...."

List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication.

Examples: Reference to a journal publication:
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J., Lupton, R.A., 2000. The art of writing a scientific article. J. Sci. Commun. 163 (2) 51-59.

Reference to a book:
Strunk Jr., W., White, E.B., 1979. The Elements of Style, third ed. Macmillan, New York.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Mettam, G.R., Adams, L.B., 1999. How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: Jones, B.S., Smith , R.Z. (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age. E-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281-304.

Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of serial title word abbreviations: http://www.issn.org/lstwa.html

Preparation of electronic illustrations and services

General points

•Always supply high-quality printouts of your artwork, in case conversion of the electronic artwork is problematic.
•Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
•Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
•Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Times, Symbol.
•Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
•Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files, and supply a separate listing of the files and the software used.
•Attach all illustrations as separate files.
•Provide captions to illustrations separately.
•Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/authorartworkinstructions You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.

Formats

Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please "save as" or convert the images to one of the following formats (Note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below.):•EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as "graphics".
•TIFF: Colour or greyscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
•TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
•TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (colour or greyscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
•DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office applications please supply "as is".

Please do not:
•Supply embedded graphics in your word processor (spreadsheet, presentation) document;
•Supply files that are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
•Supply files that are too low in resolution;
•Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.


Captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions on a separate sheet, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Colourful e-Products
Figures that appear in black and white in print appear in colour, online, in ScienceDirect at http://www.sciencedirect.com. There is no extra charge for authors who participate.

For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for colour in print or on the Web only. Because of technical complications, which can arise by converting colour figures to "grey scale" (for the printed version should you not opt for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the colour illustrations. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/authorartworkinstructions

Proofs
Galley-proofs will be sent to the corresponding author by email, which will allow the author to make changes to the proof on the pdf itself, without needing to print it out. Please check all queries and make any corrections within 2 days of receipt.

Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurate as possible. In order to do this we need your help. When you receive the (PDF) proof of your article for correction it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Subsequent corrections will not be possible, so please ensure your first sending is complete.

Tracking Accepted Manuscripts
After acceptance of your article by the journal, and following receipt of the files at Elsevier, authors can keep track of the progress of their accepted article, and set up e-mail alerts informing them of changes in their manuscript's status using the 'Track Your Paper' feature at http://www.elsevier.com/authors You will receive a unique reference code together with the acknowledgement e-mail from Elsevier sent upon receipt of your manuscript files in the Elsevier production system.

Authors in Japan please note
Upon request, Elsevier will provide authors with a list of people who can check and improve the English of their paper (before submission). Please contact our Tokyo office: Elsevier Japan, 4F Higashi-Azabu, 1-Chome Bldg, 1-9-15 Higashi-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0044, Japan, Phone: (03)-5561-5032; Fax: (03)-5561-5045; e-mail: jp.info@elsevier.com

Reprints The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. 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.