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Introduction



Current Therapeutic Research (CTR) is a Gold Open Access, PubMed/Medline indexed, online-only journal. CTR focuses on the rapid publication of peer-reviewed original reports of all aspects of therapeutics, including papers presenting unexpected and/or negative results.

We also encourage the submission of manuscripts presenting preclinical and very preliminary research that may stimulate further investigation of potentially relevant findings, as well as in-depth review articles on specific therapies or disease states, and applied health delivery or pharmacoeconomics.

CTR encourages and supports the submission of manuscripts describing:

  • Interventions designed to understand or improve human health, disease treatment or disease prevention;
  • Studies that focus on problems that are uncommon in resource-rich countries;
  • Research that is "under-published" because of limited access to monetary resources such as English language support and Open Access fees (CTR offers deeply discounted English language editing; See below);
  • Republication of articles previously published in non-English journals (eg, evidence-based guidelines) which could be useful if translated into English;
  • Preclinical and clinical product development studies that are not pursued for further investigation based upon early phase results.

Pre-submission inquiries
Current Therapeutic Research is delighted to respond to pre-submission inquiries for suitability of manuscript topic, access to author support, etc. Please contact the editorial office at [email protected]; all queries will be dealt with promptly.

Types of submissions

Published articles cover the entire spectrum of therapeutics, including preclinical, clinical, postmarketing, outcomes, pharmacoeconomics, alternative medicine, devices, etc. For examples of some types of studies please click on the appropriate link below.

Original Research

Review Articles and Meta-analyses

Commentaries

Brief Reports

Case Reports

Research Letters

Letters to the Editor

All manuscripts are peer reviewed by independent reviewers for clinical relevance, technical accuracy, methodological rigor, clarity, and objectivity using a double-anonymized review process. A double-anonymized peer review process means that neither the author nor the reviewers are aware of each other's identity. After a technical check by the Managing Editor, new submissions are sent to the Editor-in-Chief to manage the peer review process. Upon receipt of the reviews, the Editor-in-Chief makes a decision to accept, reject, or request revision. The decision is passed to the Managing Editor who sends notification to the corresponding author.

Before you begin



Ethics in publishing

Please see our information pages on Ethics in publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication.

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 https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/; EC Directive 86/609/EEC for animal experiments http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/legislation_en.htm; and Uniform Requirements for manuscripts submitted to Biomedical journals https://www.icmje.org. This must be stated at an appropriate point in the article.

When a manuscript is received by Current Therapeutic Research that has an author who is also the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, or is from the Editor-in-Chief's institution, that Editor will recuse themselves from any editorial responsibilities for the manuscript. In addition, individuals who have potential conflicts of interest with any manuscript sent to them for review will be asked to recuse themselves from serving as peer reviewers.

Prospective, Observational, or Interventional Pre- and Post-marketing Studies
Pre- or post-marketing studies must undergo review by an institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee (EC). Patients must give written informed consent unless a waiver of consent is allowed by the IRB/EC. Patients must be informed of any real or potential conflicts of interest, including compensation of the investigator and potential costs to the patient that may result from their participation in the study. The amount of the remuneration of the investigators for their participation in pre- or post-marketing studies must be approved by the IRB/EC. If the design of a prospective pre- or post-marketing study calls for a treatment intervention such as a switch or withdrawal, then criteria must be established a priori for patient selection, the implementation of the intervention, and assessment of success/failure of such intervention. Such criteria must be scientifically justified, documented, uniformly applied and enforced, and clearly reported in the study report. Additionally, the patient or his/her insurance provider will not be required to pay for costs related to prospective interventions, such as those that may result from a drug switch or withdrawal.

All other studies that involve identifiable human subjects, including retrospective studies, chart reviews, post-marketing surveillance studies, or government mandated phase IV trials require IRB/EC approval or waiver.

In each case, detailed IRB/EC information should be clearly stated in the Methods section.

Studies that only utilize pre-existing, de-identified (according to HIPAA standards) patient data are not required to seek IRB approval.

Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing

The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process.

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.

Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Disclosure instructions
Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses

Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth (""sex assigned at birth""), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary. Moreover, the terms ""sex"" and ""gender"" can be ambiguous—thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the resources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

Declaration of Interest

All authors must disclose any financial or other relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places: 1. A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file (if double-blind) or the manuscript file (if single-blind). If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations of interest: none'. This summary statement will be ultimately published if the article is accepted. 2. Detailed disclosures as part of a separate Declaration of Interest form, which forms part of the journal's official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches. More information

REQUIRED
Each author must complete the ICMJE form for disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest available here

  1. Download the form to your computer.
  2. Open the form in Adobe Acrobat Reader, fill it out and then save it to your computer.
  3. The corresponding author is responsible for collecting the completed forms from each author and submitting them directly to CTR as part of the manuscript upload.

Submission declaration and verification

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture, or academic thesis; or with the exception of non-English language articles being republished in English; see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), 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, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service Crossref Similarity Check.

If your paper was submitted to another journal and rejected, you must disclose this information in the cover letter and provide any editor/reviewer comments that you received.

REQUIREMENTS FOR AUTHORSHIP

All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and (3) final approval of the version to be submitted. Translation services used should be identified.

Author contributions

For transparency, we require authors to submit a statement file outlining their individual contributions to the paper using the relevant CRediT roles: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing - original draft; Writing - review editing. Authorship statements should be formatted with the names of authors first and CRediT role(s) following. More details and an example

Changes to authorship

This policy concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts:

Before the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names must be sent to the editorial office from the corresponding author of the accepted manuscript and must include: (a) the reason the name should be added or removed or the author names rearranged and (b) written confirmation from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Note that publication of the accepted manuscript in an online issue is suspended until final authorship has been agreed. After the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Any requests to add, delete, or rearrange author names in an article published in an online issue will follow the same policies as noted above and will result in an erratum.

Article transfer service
This journal uses the Elsevier Article Transfer Service to find the best home for your manuscript. This means that if an editor feels your manuscript is more suitable for an alternative journal, you might be asked to consider transferring the manuscript to such a journal. The recommendation might be provided by a Journal Editor, a dedicated Scientific Managing Editor, a tool assisted recommendation, or a combination. If you agree, your manuscript will be transferred, though you will have the opportunity to make changes to the manuscript before the submission is complete. Please note that your manuscript will be independently reviewed by the new journal. More information.

Open access

Please visit our Open Access page for more information about open access publishing in this journal.

Reporting clinical trials

All randomized controlled trials submitted for publication should include a completed Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flow chart. Please refer to https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/consort/ for more information. This journal has adopted the proposal from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) which require, as a condition of consideration for publication of clinical trials, registration in a public trials registry. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrollment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the article. For this purpose, a clinical trial is defined as any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects of health outcomes. Health-related interventions include any intervention used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome (for example drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, dietary interventions including vitamin or herbal supplements, and process-of-care changes). Health outcomes include any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants, including pharmacokinetic measures and adverse events. Purely observational studies (those in which the assignment of the medical intervention is not at the discretion of the investigator) will not require registration. Further information can be found at https://www.icmje.org.
Studies that were initiated without registration can be registered retrospectively and will be considered for publication on a subjective basis.

PLEASE NOTE: If anything has changed since the study was registered, this must be clarified both in the submission letter and on the registration site.

Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete an 'Exclusive License Agreement' (see more information on this). Permitted third party reuse of open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license.

Author rights

As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.

Elsevier supports responsible sharing

Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

Role of the funding sources

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in the study design or approval; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated.

Funding body agreements and policies

Elsevier has established a number of agreements with funding bodies which allow authors to comply with their funder's open access policies. Some funding bodies will reimburse the author for the gold open access publication fee. Details of existing agreements are available online. After acceptance, open access papers will be published under a noncommercial license. For authors requiring a commercial CC BY license, you can apply after your manuscript is accepted for publication. Permitted third party (re)use is defined by the following Creative Commons user licenses:

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

For non-commercial purposes, lets others distribute and copy the article, and to include in a collective work (such as an anthology), as long as they credit the author(s) and provided they do not alter or modify the article.

If you need to comply with your funding body policy you can apply for a CC-BY license after your manuscript is accepted for publication.

Elsevier has established agreements with funding bodies, including Wellcome Trust and Research Councils UK. This ensures authors can comply with funding body open access policies and may also be reimbursed for their publication fees.

Payment of Author Fees

Authors will receive payment instructions once their article is accepted. Contact the Journal Editorial Office ([email protected]) for all queries.

The open access publication fee for this journal is USD 2000, excluding taxes. This change is effective January 1, 2023.Learn more about Elsevier's pricing policy.

Waiver Policy

If you have no funding for publication fees, you MUST state the reason at the time of submission, and provide appropriate formal documentation which supports your request, and clearly indicates that your research/study/grant does not support funds for publication. Such documentation may include a copy of the grant proposal, or an official letter from institution or sponsor which clearly states there is no money for publication fees.

The ability to pay the fees does not influence decisions regarding the acceptance of a paper, which is solely dependent on the peer-review process. Please note: Express Track manuscripts are not eligible for a reduced or waived fee.

Green open access
Authors can share their research in a variety of different ways and Elsevier has a number of green open access options available. We recommend authors see our green open access page for further information.

Elsevier Researcher Academy

Researcher Academy is a free e-learning platform designed to support early and mid-career researchers throughout their research journey. The "Learn" environment at Researcher Academy offers several interactive modules, webinars, downloadable guides and resources to guide you through the process of writing for research and going through peer review. Feel free to use these free resources to improve your submission and navigate the publication process with ease.

Language (usage and editing services)

Please write your text in standard, grammatically correct English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from Elsevier's WebShop https://webshop.elsevier.com/language-editing/ or visit our customer support site for more information. Authors are eligible for a 15% discount on standard language editing services through Elsevier's WebShop.

Submission

Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail.

Highlights

Highlights are optional yet highly encouraged for this journal, as they increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any). Please have a look at the example Highlights.

Highlights should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).

Submit your article

Please submit your article via Editorial Manager (https://www.editorialmanager.com/CURTHERRES/default.aspx)

Online Publication
Fully typeset, copyedited and citable versions of all accepted articles are typically published online 25 business days after payment of the open access fee is received (subject to prompt turnaround of proof by author).

Additional information

Drugs should be referred to by their universally accepted generic names, not by company trademarks. US adopted names (USANs) are acceptable. If unnamed compounds are referred to, as much information as possible (e.g., class of compound) should be included and published references to the compound should be provided. If this is not possible because of intellectual property reasons then this should be stated.

Footnotes and uncommon abbreviations should be avoided whenever possible. When abbreviations or symbols are used, they should be defined in the text the first time they appear as well as in the tables and figures.

Any material that has been published elsewhere must be accompanied by written consent from the original author and publisher for print and electronic reproduction.

Preparation

Pre-submission Inquiries

Current Therapeutic Research is delighted to respond to pre-submission inquiries for suitability of manuscript topic, access to author support, etc. Please contact the editorial office at [email protected]; all queries will be dealt with promptly.

Peer review

This journal operates a double-anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the Editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. More information on types of peer review.

Suggesting reviewers
Please submit the names and institutional e-mail addresses of several potential reviewers. You should not suggest reviewers who are colleagues, or who have co-authored or collaborated with you during the last three years. Editors do not invite reviewers who have potential competing interests with the authors. Further, in order to provide a broad and balanced assessment of the work, and ensure scientific rigor, please suggest diverse candidate reviewers who are located in different countries/regions from the author group. Also consider other diversity attributes e.g. gender, race and ethnicity, career stage, etc. Finally, you should not include existing members of the journal's editorial team, of whom the journal are already aware. Note: the editor decides whether or not to invite your suggested reviewers.

Double-Anonymized review
This journal uses double-anonymized review, which means the identities of the authors are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa. More information is available on our website. To facilitate this, please include the following separately:
Title page (with author details): This should include the title, authors' names, affiliations, acknowledgements and any Declaration of Interest statement, and a complete address for the corresponding author including an e-mail address.
Anonymized manuscript (no author details): The main body of the paper (including the references, figures, tables and any acknowledgements) should not include any identifying information, such as the authors' names or affiliations.

Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.

Article structure

Essential Title Page Information
  • Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Do not include a conclusion in the title. 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 superscript Arabic numeral 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 will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that phone numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.
  • 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 structured abstract, by means of appropriate headings, should provide the context or background for the research and should state its purpose, basic procedures (selection of study subjects or laboratory animals, observational and analytical methods), main findings (giving specific effect sizes and their statistical significance, if possible), and principal conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations. The following abstract headings should be used: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.

Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 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.


Introduction

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

Material and methods

Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.

Results

Results should be clear and concise.

Discussion

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Conclusions

The main conclusions of the study should be presented in a short Conclusions/Implications section, which must be separate from the Discussion and/or Results sections.

Graphical abstract

Although a graphical abstract is optional, its use is encouraged as it draws more attention to the online article. The graphical abstract should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 ? 1328 pixels (h ? w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 ? 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files. You can view Example Graphical Abstracts on our information site. Authors can make use of Elsevier's Illustration Services to ensure the best presentation of their images and in accordance with all technical requirements.

Highlights

Highlights are not mandatory for this journal. If you choose to include Highlights,they consist of a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings of the article and should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point). You can view example Highlights on our information site.

Acknowledgements

Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).

Declaration of Interest

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places: 1. A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file (if double-anonymized) or the manuscript file (if single-anonymized). If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations of interest: none'. This summary statement will be ultimately published if the article is accepted. 2. Detailed disclosures as part of a separate Declaration of Interest form, which forms part of the journal's official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches. More information.

Research Elements

This journal enables you to publish research objects related to your original research – such as data, methods, protocols, software and hardware – as an additional paper in a Research Elements journal.

Research Elements is a suite of peer-reviewed, open access journals which make your research objects findable, accessible and reusable. Articles place research objects into context by providing detailed descriptions of objects and their application, and linking to the associated original research articles. Research Elements articles can be prepared by you, or by one of your collaborators.

During submission, you will be alerted to the opportunity to prepare and submit a manuscript to one of the Research Elements journals.

More information can be found on the Research Elements page.


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

Math formulas

Please submit math equations as editable text and not as images. Present simple formulas in line with normal text where possible and use the slash (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

Artwork

Electronic Artwork
General points

  • Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
  • Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.
  • Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or use fonts that look similar.
  • Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
  • Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
  • Provide captions to illustrations separately.
  • Submit each illustration as a separate file.
    A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website: https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
    You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here. Formats. If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is' in the native document format. Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic artwork is finalized, 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 (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.
    TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi.
    TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black and white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.
    TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.

  • Please do not:
  • Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors;
  • Supply files that are too low in resolution;
  • Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Figure captions

Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, 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.


Tables
Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with the following symbols, in order: *, †, ‡, §, ?, , **, ††, etc. 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.

Formatting of funding sources

List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements: Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz].
It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.
If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence:This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

References

Citation in 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. Personal communications should not be included in the reference list, but in the text immediately following the referenced material. Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Unless there are compelling reasons to do so, which should be clearly communicated to the editor, "data on file," "internal reports," material that has been "submitted for publication," and related non-peer-review sources are prohibited. Likewise, meeting abstract data, even if published, should be avoided.

Package inserts are not valid data sources unless in reference to prescribing information such as dosing. All other drug information should be derived from the primary literature and cited accordingly.

Reference formatting
There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. In-text citations should be indicated sequentially by superscript number(s) or in brackets. The authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the pagination must be present. Use of DOI is highly encouraged. The reference style used by the journal will be applied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage. Note that missing data will be highlighted at proof stage for the author to correct.

Web References
As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. [dataset] 5. Oguro, M, Imahiro, S, Saito, S, Nakashizuka, T. Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions, Mendeley Data, v1; 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1

Data references
This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

Reference management software
Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles, such as Mendeley and Zotero, as well as EndNote. Using the word processor plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide. If you use reference management software, please ensure that you remove all field codes before submitting the electronic manuscript. More information on how to remove field codes.

Journal abbreviations source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.

Video data
Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. Any identifiable features of an individual patient or research subject must be masked to maintain confidentiality. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the files in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 50 MB. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: https://www.sciencedirect.com. Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages at https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Research data
This journal encourages and enables you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate, and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings. To facilitate reproducibility and data reuse, this journal also encourages you to share your software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project.

Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article or make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. If you are sharing data in one of these ways, you are encouraged to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. Please refer to the "References" section for more information about data citation. For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the research data page.


Data linking
If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described.

There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. For more information, visit the database linking page

For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect.

In addition, you can link to relevant data or entities through identifiers within the text of your manuscript, using the following format: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).

Mendeley Data

This journal supports Mendeley Data, enabling you to deposit any research data (including raw and processed data, video, code, software, algorithms, protocols, and methods) associated with your manuscript in a free-to-use, open access repository. During the submission process, after uploading your manuscript, you will have the opportunity to upload your relevant datasets directly to Mendeley Data. The datasets will be listed and directly accessible to readers next to your published article online.

For more information, visit the Mendeley Data for journals page.

Data statement
To foster transparency, we encourage you to state the availability of your data in your submission. This may be a requirement of your funding body or institution. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you will have the opportunity to indicate why during the submission process, for example by stating that the research data is confidential. The statement will appear with your published article on ScienceDirect. For more information, visit the Data Statement page.

Submission Checklist

The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are present:

Cover letter

  • Title, authors, number of pages, and numbers of tables and figures
  • Indication that the paper has been read and approved by all authors
  • Description of how each author contributed to the manuscript and others who may have assisted
  • Name of the Special Section in which the paper is to be included, if applicable
  • Information about any previous presentation of the data (eg, at a specific meeting)
  • Information about any previous presentation of the data (eg, abstract, poster or presentation at a meeting or published on a preprint service [provide DOI])
  • Notice of any interests that might be seen as influencing the research (eg, financial interest in a test or procedure, funding by pharmaceutical companies for drug research, etc)
  • A copy of the permission granted to reproduce or adapt any copyrighted material from another source or a notice that permissions are pending

Title page

  • Full title
  • All authors listed with academic degrees and affiliations
  • One author designated as Corresponding Author:
  • E-mail address
  • Full postal address
  • Telephone numbers
  • ORCID ID
  • Keywords

Manuscript

  • All figure legends (if applicable)
  • All figures (if applicable) uploaded individually
  • All tables (including title, description, footnotes) uploaded individually

Further considerations

  • Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-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)

For any further information, please visit our customer support site at https://service.elsevier.com.

Failure to comply with any or all of these guidelines could result in rejection of an otherwise acceptable paper.

After Acceptance

Proofs

One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author or a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 (or higher) available free from http://get.adobe.com/reader. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/tech-specs.html.

If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return them 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. 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 - please let us have all your corrections within 48 hours. It is important to ensure that all 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


Offprints

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.

Author Inquiries

Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch. You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.