JHEP Reports

JHEP Reports, the official open access journal of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), publishes Original Research Articles, Reviews, and Letters to the Editor concerned with basic, translational and clinical research in the field of hepatology with a special interest on innovation.

Prof. Josep M. Llovet
Editor-In-Chief

Prof. Xavier Forns
Deputy Editor

Prof. Arndt Vogel
Prof. Jacob George
Dr. Sophie Lotersztajn
Co-Editors

To see the full Editorial Board: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/jhep-reports/about/editorial-board

Manuscript submission: https://www.editorialmanager.com/jhepr

PUBLISHING SCHEDULE
JHEP Reports is published 12 times per year

EASL GUIDELINES ON NEW MASLD NOMENCLATURE IMPLEMENTATION

While recognizing the need for flexibility, particularly in papers still utilizing the old terminology, the JHEP Reports has established straightforward guidelines to encourage the adoption of the new nomenclature:

Clinical studies
Authors are encouraged to adopt the new nomenclature, unless scientifically and/or regulatory inappropriate.

Preclinical studies
Authors are encouraged to adopt the new nomenclature whenever applicable. In all other cases descriptive terminology should be used.

The JHEP Reports encourages authors to adhere to these guidelines when submitting their manuscripts, facilitating a smooth transition to the updated nomenclature. Additional details about the new nomenclature can be found here: https://www.journal-of-hepatology.eu/article/S0168-8278(23)00418-X/fulltext.

TYPES OF MANUSCRIPTS

Original manuscripts
Original articles describing clinical and basic investigations in the field of hepatology. Manuscripts are expected to be concise, well organized, and clearly written. They should not exceed 6000 words, including the abstract, and figure/table legends (excluding references). A maximum of 8 tables and/or figures is allowed. References should not exceed a maximum of 50.

Short Communications
Short manuscripts describing clinical and basic investigations in the field of hepatology. They should not exceed 2000 words, including the abstract, and figure legends (excluding references). A maximum of 2 tables and/or figures is allowed. References should not exceed a maximum of 25.

Fast-track peer review
In case authors wish their articles to be considered for fast-track peer review they should send the manuscript title and abstract along with a letter request to the journal office [email protected].

Review articles
Review articles on selected clinical and basic topics of interest for the readers of JHEP Reports that are solicited by the Editors. Review articles are expected to be clear, concise, and updated. The maximum length is 6000 words. The inclusion of a maximum of 8 high quality tables and/or coloured figures to summarize critical points is highly desirable. Reviews should include 5 to 10 key points that briefly summarize or highlight the main content of the article. References should not exceed a maximum of 150.

In case the authors want to propose a possible review article, they should approach the Journal office with a clear outline of the article that details the:

• list of authors with their respective institutions and their qualification to write such an article
• an outline with the headings, a title, and an abstract of the proposed article detailing (a) the content, (b) why it is timely, (c) its novelty and (d) reasons why it is appropriate for JHEP Reports

Editorials
This section consists of invited brief editorial comments on articles published in JHEP Reports. The length of an editorial should not exceed 1500 words and 1 table, or 1 figure is allowed. References should not exceed a maximum of 20.

Case reports
Case reports are not encouraged. If they represent an outstanding contribution to the aetiology, pathogenesis or treatment of a specific liver disorder they should be submitted as a Letter to the Editor.

Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor will be considered for publication if they are related to articles published in recent issues of JHEP Reports. The length of a Letter to the Editor should not exceed 800 words and 1 table or figure is allowed. References should not exceed a maximum of 10.

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PREPARING YOUR MANUSCRIPT

YOU DO NOT NEED TO SPECIFICALLY FORMAT YOUR MANUSCRIPT FOR A FIRST SUBMISSION FOR JHEP Reports.

Your Paper Your Way

We now differentiate between the requirements for new and revised submissions. When you first submit a manuscript, you can choose to submit your manuscript as a single Word or PDF file to be used in the refereeing process. Only when submitting a revised version of your paper you will be requested to put your paper into a 'correct format' for acceptance and provide the items required for the publication of your article.

The following guidelines refer to Research Articles. While published manuscripts are expected to conform tightly to the following guidelines, this is not a requirement at first submission (see the Your Paper, Your Way requirements section below). However, the authors need to ensure that the paper contains all the information that will allow the Editorial team to be able to perform adequate 'peer-review'.

Your Paper, Your Way requirements

• Authors may submit the first version of their manuscript (text, figures and tables) as a single file. This can be a Word or PDF file, in any format or layout, and figures and tables can be placed within the text.
• A title page that includes the Title, authors names and affiliation, conflict of interest statements, financial support statement and authors contributions.
• Figures should be of high enough quality for refereeing.
• All manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed to evaluate a manuscript (Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusions, Artwork and Tables with Captions).
• References can be in any style or format, as long as the style is consistent. Author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, article title (where required), year of publication, volume and issue/book chapter and the pagination must be present. Use of DOIs is highly encouraged.
• If the article is reporting on randomized controlled trials authors must include the study protocol, and the CONSORT flow diagram and checklist.

When a paper reaches the revision stage, authors will be requested to deliver any items that are still required for publication, for example editable source files. See details below.

Submission checklist
JHEP Reports requires a complete author checklist to be submitted with all revised manuscripts. Authors are encouraged to submit the checklist on their first submission.

Article structure
The manuscript must be arranged as follows:

• Title page
• Abstract in the JHEP Reports format
• Impact and Implications
• Graphical abstract
• Introduction
• Materials and methods (or Patients and methods)
• Results
• Discussion
• Abbreviations
• Acknowledgements
• References
• Tables
• Figure legends
• Figures

Title page
A title page must be provided for all submissions regardless of the type of manuscript being submitted. The title page should consist of all the following headings:

• Title: no more than 130 characters
• Short title: nor more than 50 characters
• Authors: a list of all authors with first and surnames. Author names should be spelled out; DO NOT USE INITIALS
• Affiliations: names of department(s) and institution(s) of all authors
• Corresponding author: name, address, and electronic mail address of the corresponding author
• Keywords: a minimum of three and maximum of 12 keywords (ideally not present in the title and abstract)
• Electronic word count
• Number of figures and tables
• Conflict of interest statement. For further information see our Conflict of interest section
• Financial support statement. See the Financial disclosure section
• Authors contributions: a list of the authors' contributions to the study; concept and design, experiments and procedures; writing of article etc. Authors are encouraged to use the CRediT taxonomy
• Clinical trial number

Abstract
A structured abstract, by means of appropriate headings, should have the following layout:

• Background & Aims: Context of research and state the main aim or objective of the study
• Methods: Essential information on the methods used, including details of the following where applicable: basic study design (e.g. randomized controlled trial, cross sectional study, cohort study, case series, etc.); setting, please specify study location (primary or tertiary care setting, hospital, general community, etc.); number of participants and how they were selected; intervention, the method of administration and the duration
• Results: Description of the key findings of the study, including absolute values and risk differences. Confidence intervals and p values should also be reported
• Conclusions: Concise summary that emphasizes new and important aspects of the study or observations

Abstracts should be no longer than 275 words. Do not use non-standard abbreviations, our complete list of non-defined abbreviations can be found here.
Reviews do not require a structured abstract.
Letters to the Editor are published without an abstract.

Impact and implications
Please include 3-4 sentences highlighting the impact and implications of your research. This should include a sentence laying out the scientific justification for the work along with potential implications and extensions where appropriate; a sentence explaining why and for whom the results of the study are important; a sentence explaining how these findings could be applied in practical ways by physicians, researchers, patients, caregivers, and/or policymakers. Implications should be based on the results of the study, and potential methodological limitations should be taken into account to avoid overgeneralization.

Graphical abstract
This should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership online. Authors must provide images that clearly represent the work described in the article. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Graphical abstracts should be provided as an image with a minimum of 531 × 531 pixels (h × w) using a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. If you are submitting a larger image then please use the same ratio. Please note that your image will be scaled proportionally to fit in the available window on ScienceDirect, which is a 200 × 500 pixel rectangle.
The submission of the graphical abstract is mandatory when submitting a revised manuscript, however, authors are encouraged to include it at submission.

For more information and examples please visit https://www.elsevier.com/journal-authors/graphical-abstract.

Highlights
Highlights are mandatory for this journal for revised original articles. 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.

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

Materials/Patients and methods
Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications can be described here.
The manuscripts should include a complete and detailed description of what was done. This includes a description of the design, measurement and collection of data, the study objective and major hypotheses, type and source of subjects, inclusion and exclusion criteria and measures of outcome, number of subjects studied and why this number was chosen. Any deviation from the study protocol should be stated. The baseline characteristics of any compared groups should be described in detail and, if necessary, adjusted for in the analysis of the outcome. For randomized clinical trials the following should also be clearly documented: treatments, sample size estimation, method of random allocation and measures taken for maintaining its concealment including blinding, numbers treated, followed-up, being withdrawn, dropping out, and having side effects (numbers and type). Please refer to our Statistics section for further details. Please refer to our Editorial policies section and below for providing details in relation to animal and human trials, drugs and chemicals, genomic and proteomic data, DNA and protein sequencing, microarray data, listing of antibodies and primers. It is now mandatory at JHEP Reports to include all of these details in a completed CTAT methods template table in the Supplementary data.

Results
Results should be clear and concise. Results should be explained and illustrated by using Tables and Figures. A maximum of 8 tables and/or figures per original article. Please refer to tables and figures formatting section.

Conclusions
The conclusions should provide a summary of the key results and discuss the appropriateness and impact of this original piece of work, where necessary referring to the literature to support the new findings.

Abbreviations
Please include an alphabetical list of all non-standard abbreviations used within the manuscript.

Acknowledgements
Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g. providing language help, writing assistance or proofreading the article, etc.)

Formatting of text
The submitted manuscript must be typed double-spaced throughout and pages numbered (including references, tables and figure legends). Preferably using a "standard" font (we prefer Times/Arial 12). For mathematical symbols, Greek letters, and other special characters, use normal text.

Language
Please write your text in good 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 should use the services of a professional language editor before submission.

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.

Formatting of tables
Tables should be provided as Word files (*.doc) compatible files. No TIFF, JPG, PDF or PowerPoint files are acceptable. When submitting tables in Microsoft Word use the table function, no tab, space or colours should be used. Tables should include a table number, title (in bold), table legend, and if necessary footnotes (including any abbreviations).

Formatting of figures
All graphics submitted to the JHEP Reports should be sent at their actual size, which is 100% of their print dimension and in portrait orientation.
Figures should be supplied in the following preferred file formats: PDF (*.pdf), PowerPoint (*.ppt), Adobe Illustrator (*.ai, *.eps), Photoshop (*.psd) files in grayscales or in RGB color mode. Figures should be sent in an editable format, and not compressed into a .ppt or .pdf file. Figures should not be sent in JPG (*.jpg) format.
Photographs (scans, immunofluorescences, EM, and histology images) should be submitted as: 1) TIFF (*.tif) with a resolution of at least 300 pixels per inch; or 2) Illustrator compatible EPS files with RGB color management (*.eps); or 3) Photoshop (*.psd) or editable PDF (*.pdf) files (grayscales or RGB) at the appropriate resolution:

• 300 dpi for colour figures
• 600 dpi for black and white figures
• 1200 dpi for line-art figures

For all photomicrographs, when possible, a scale bar should appear on the photograph. For Western blots original blots must be provided in the supplementary materials. Photographs of identifiable patients should be accompanied by written permission to publish from patient(s).
Panel lettering should be in Arial bold 14 pt, capitalized and no full stop (A, B) while lettering in figures (axes, conditions), should be in Arial 8 pt, lower case type with the first letter capitalized and no full stop. No type should be smaller than 6 pt.
If after acceptance the quality of the figures does not match the standards of JHEP Reports, the authors will be asked to resubmit the figures at the required quality.

Image integrity and standards
While it is accepted that authors sometimes need to manipulate images for clarity, manipulation for purposes of deception or fraud will be seen as scientific ethical abuse and will be dealt with accordingly. For graphical images, JHEP Reports is applying the following policy:
No specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or colour balance are acceptable if and as long as they are done in the whole figure (not in specific parts of it) and do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g. changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend.
Grouping of images from parts of a gel/different gels must be made explicit.
Please follow the CSE's guidelines for more information:
http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/resource-library/editorial-policies/white-paper-on-publication-ethics/3-4-digital-images-and-misconduct

Electrophoretic gels and blots
Positive and negative controls, as well as molecular size markers, should be included on each gel and blot, either in the main figure or an expanded data supplementary figure. For previously characterized antibodies, a citation must be provided. For antibodies less well characterized in the system under study, a detailed characterization that demonstrates not only the specificity of the antibody, but also the range of reactivity of the reagent in the assay, should be published as Supplementary Information or in an antibody profile database (e.g. Antibodypedia, 1DegreeBio).
The display of cropped gels and blots in the main paper is encouraged if it improves the clarity and conciseness of the presentation. In such cases, the cropping must be mentioned in the figure legend. For Western blots, original blots must be provided as supplementary materials.

• Quantitative comparisons between samples on different gels/blots are discouraged; if this is unavoidable, the figure legend must state that the samples derive from the same experiment and that gels/blots were processed in parallel. Vertically sliced images that juxtapose lanes that were non-adjacent in the gel must have a clear separation or a black line delineating the boundary between the gels. Loading controls (e.g. actin, tubulin, …) must be run on the same blot, if not possible with the same protein aliquot and/or with a red Ponceau coloration of the membrane. Sample processing controls run on different gels must be identified as such, and distinctly from loading controls.
• Cropped gels in the paper must retain important bands.
• Cropped blots in the body of the paper should retain at least six band widths above and below the band.
• High-contrast gels and blots are discouraged, as overexposure may mask additional bands. Authors should strive for exposures with grey backgrounds. Multiple exposures should be presented in supplementary information if high contrast is unavoidable.
• For quantitative comparisons, appropriate reagents, controls and imaging methods with linear signal ranges should be used.

Microscopic imaging data
JHEP Reports has adopted the policy of the Journal of Cell Biology in requiring the following information regarding microscope image acquisition:

• Make and model of microscope
• Type, magnification, and numerical aperture of the objective lenses
• Temperature
• Imaging medium
• Fluorochromes
• Camera make and model
• Acquisition software
• Any software used for image processing subsequent to data acquisition. Please include details and types of operations involved (e.g. type of deconvolution, 3D reconstitutions, surface or volume rendering, gamma adjustments, etc.)

If you export files from a microscope or other acquisition device, be sure to use consistent file formats (8-bit, 16 bit, etc.).
For presentation of fluorescence images, signals from individual channels should be shown in grey scale to reveal the full dynamic range of signal intensities, enabling colour-blind individuals to appreciate your data. Merged images should be presented in colour, with appropriate colours for each individual channel.
Micrographs must include a bar to indicate the scale.

Illustration services
JHEP Reports has an in-house graphic designer who will specifically work on all accepted manuscripts to format the tables/figures to comply with the journal's style. Upon acceptance the corresponding author will be asked to complete a form stating that the author gives permission to re-design graphics.

Figure legends
Figure legends should be listed one after the other, as part of the text document, separate from the figure files. Please do not write a legend below each figure.
Each figure legend should have a brief overarching title (in bold with figure number) that describes the entire figure without citing specific panels, followed by a description of each panel, and the symbols used. Enough information should be provided in the figure legend text to permit interpretation of figures without reference to the text, but should not contain any details of methods, or exceed 100 words.
The statistical test used as well as the values of statistical significance (whether significant or not) should always be included in the figure legends.
The abbreviated word for figure "Fig." should be typed and bolded, followed by the figure number and a period (i.e., "Fig. 1."). Every figure legend should have a title written in bold. If a figure contains multiple sections (i.e., A, B, C, D) the letter for these subsections should be in capital letters, and should be surrounded by parenthesis [i.e., (A)…(B)…(C)…(D)]. Figures should be numbered according to the order which they were cited.

An example of how a figure caption should look:

Fig. 1. Levels of AMH in the serum of women who were HCV+, HBV+, or controls. (A) Mean serum levels (bars represent SD and bold lines inside the box plot median levels). Levels of significance: *p = 0.011; ˆp = 0.009 (Mann-Whitney U-test). (B)….

References
Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic citations lies entirely with the authors. There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at first submission. References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent.

Citation in text
References are ordered as they appear in the text. Titles of all cited articles are required. All articles in the list of references should be cited in the text and, conversely, all references cited in the text must be included in the list. Personal communications and unpublished data should be cited directly in the text by the first author, without being numbered.

For revised manuscripts, the authors need to check all the citations in the References section. All authors should be included in reference lists unless there are more than three. If there are four or more authors, give the first three in the same way, followed by et al. For all listed citations with two or more authors who share first authorship, JHEP Reports stipulates those authors' names to be in bold type. It is the corresponding and first authors' responsibility to ensure that these names appear in bold in the reference section when submitting a revised draft (first drafts of submissions are exempt from this requirement). This allows giving due credit to joint-first authors (see the "Editorial" in the February 2015 issue of Journal of Hepatology for more on this topic). Also, please include the phrase "Author names in bold designate shared co-first authorship" at the beginning of the references section if you have citations that have joint first authors. Example: Smith T, Jones R, Davis G, et al. Article title.

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.

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. This identifier will not appear in your published article.

Supplementary data
Supplementary material can be uploaded during the submission process.

The Supplementary material should have a manuscript title, list of authors, a table of contents, followed by the list of investigators (if there is one), text (such as methods), figures, tables, and then references. Supplementary material must be prepared as a single Word file with pages numbered (including references, tables and figure legends) using Times New Roman or Arial 12. Sections have to be 12 pt bold, subsections have to be 12 pt italics. For mathematical symbols, Greek letters, and other special characters: use normal text, NOT symbol. The references must be in accordance with JHEP Reports reference style (see References).
Figures must be included with legends below each figure. Figure legends consist of a title (bold, and labelled Fig. S1) and separate descriptions for each panel, labelled by capital letters in parenthesis. Tables must be included with table titles (bold, and labelled Table S1) on top of the table and footnotes below. Very large tables (e.g. microarray data) should be submitted as Excel files. The Supplementary material will NOT be edited for style.

Supplementary movies may be submitted through Elsevier Editorial System as (*.mov), (*.avi), (*.mpeg) or (*.gif) files. Upon acceptance, if Supplementary material does not comply with the guidelines authors will be requested to change the formatting.
All supplementary data referred to in the main manuscript must be labelled as: Supplementary Materials & methods; Fig. S# and Table S#.

CTAT methods
JHEP Reports is continually improving the standard of published articles. In order for our readers to have the ability to replicate methods and data published in our journal we now insist that all publications complete the CTAT method tables (to be uploaded as a supplementary file). CTAT stands for the complete, transparent, accurate and timely account of all methods undertaken in a study. The CTAT table details all reagents, resources, cell lines, antibodies, DNA and protein sequences, databases etc., used in a study, allowing readers complete transparency of the experiments completed. Authors must complete this table and upload as a separate supplementary file.

Statistics
The statistical methods used should be relevant and clearly stated. Special or complex statistical methods should be explained and referenced. Complex analyses should be performed with the assistance of a qualified statistician and should be extensively described in the supplemental material to ensure reproducibility of the results together with an access to the primary results in public databases or upon request. Unqualified use of such analyses is strongly discouraged. The underlying assumptions of the statistical methods used should be tested to ensure that the assumptions are fulfilled. For small data sets and if variable distributions are non-normal, distribution free (non-parametric) statistical methods should be used. The actual p values – whether significant or not – should always be presented (not n.s.). Confidence intervals convey more information than p values and should be presented whenever possible. Continuous variables can always be summarized using the median and range, which are therefore preferred. Only in the infrequent case of a normal distribution are the mean and standard deviation (SD) useful. Complex analyses (including Cox and logistic regression analysis) should be presented in sufficient detail: i.e. variable scoring, regression coefficients, standard errors and any constants. Odds-ratios or relative risks are not sufficient documentation of such analyses. The handling of any missing values in the data should be clearly specified. The number of statistical tests performed should be kept at a minimum to reduce spurious positive results. Explorative (hypothesis generating) analyses without confirmation using independent data are discouraged. Figures showing individual observations e.g. scatter plots are encouraged. Histograms may also be useful. Tables should indicate the number of observations on which each result is being based. A statistical review of the paper will be sought from an expert when necessary.

Units
Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the internal system of units (SI). If other units are mentioned please give their equivalent in SI. For more information see http://www.apsstylemanual.org/resources/unitsOfMeasurement/siDerived.htm

Drugs and chemicals
The source of reagents should be stated (name, city, and state within parentheses) when first cited. Drugs and chemicals should be used by generic name. If trademarks are mentioned, proprietary (trademarked) names should be capitalized, with the spelling carefully checked. The generic name or generic descriptor accompany the trade name the first time it appears. Other data relating to unique biological, biochemical, and/or immunological markers should also be included if available, with their source identified.

Cell lines
It is recommended that results should be replicated using more than one cell line. When using primary cells a minimum of three different batches should be used.

To help curb the inadvertent use of cross-contaminated or misidentified cell lines, authors are asked to check their reagents against the list of commonly misidentified cell lines maintained by the International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC; http://iclac.org/databases/cross-contaminations/), also accessible through the NCBI BioSample database. If using a cell line that is on this list, authors should provide a scientific justification and state the identity issue in the methods section.

In the "Materials and methods" section, the source of cells utilized (catalogue number if obtained from vendor or cell bank, species, sex, strain, race, age of donor, whether primary or established) should be clearly indicated. The methods section should state if cell line authentication has been carried out and by what method (e.g. STR profiling) and when authentication testing was last performed for that cell line. Authors should be able to provide the test results upon request. Mycoplasma contamination testing status must also be reported.

Please note that it has come to our attention that several cell lines have been contaminated with different cell lines. Therefore, the Journal will no longer consider experiments using BEL7402, SMMC7721, MHCC97L, BEL7404, QGY7701, QGY7703, QSG7701 and SKHEP1 as HCC cell lines, except if the authors provide formal proof of their origin with STR, hepatic gene expression and specific gene mutations. Authors should clearly state this at first submission. For more information please read this Editorial in the Journal of Hepatology: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2017.08.002.

Resource Identification Initiative
JHEP Reports encourages authors to use Research Resource Identifiers (RRIDs) for critical reagents and tools.

The Resource Identification Portal allows you to search for antibodies and organism items (e.g. antibodies, model organisms, cell lines, and software) and obtain the appropriate identifiers. Once you have located the RRID, please insert "RRID:" plus the identifier in the appropriate location in the manuscript. For example:

• Antibodies: "Sections were stained with a rabbit polyclonal antibody against ERK1 (Abgent Cat# AP7251E, RRID: AB_2140114)."

For more information visit the Resource Identification Initiative website.

Genomic and proteomic data
Appropriate data sets (including but not limited to microarray data, protein or DNA sequences) must be deposited in an approved database, and an accession number or a specific access address must be included in the published paper. When working with publicly available databases the provenance of the data and the release number should be clearly indicated.
We encourage compliance with MIBBI guidelines (Minimum Information for Biological and Biomedical Investigations).

DNA and protein sequences
Approved databases are GenBank or other members of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (EMBL or DDBJ) and SWISS-PROT.

Microarray data
Data should be presented in MIAME-compliant standard format (http://www.fged.org/projects/miame/). Approved databases are Gene Expression Omnibus (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) and ArrayExpress (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/arrayexpress/).
Other large datasets produced using genomics technologies (including but not limited to ChIP on Chip, Genotyping, aCGH, sequencing and Tilling Arrays) must be deposited in an appropriate public repository. Please include the repository URL and the data accession number in the body of the manuscript upon submission. Data must be publicly accessible upon acceptance and publication of the manuscript as a Paper in Press.

Database linking
Elsevier requires authors to connect articles with external databases, giving readers access to relevant databases that help to build a better understanding of the described research. Please refer to relevant database identifiers using the following format in your article: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN). See https://www.elsevier.com/databaselinking for more information and a full list of supported databases.

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EDITORIAL POLICIES

Ethics in publishing
For information on Ethics in publishing and ethical guidelines for journal publication see https://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and https://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.

Authorship and contributors
As stated in the ICMJE recommendations, credit for authorship requires:
(a) substantial contributions to the conception and design; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the data,
(b) the drafting of the article or critical revision for important intellectual content, (c) final approval of the version to be published, and
(d) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the article are appropriately investigated and resolved. An author contribution statement is required as part of the title page (study concept and design; acquisition of data; analysis and interpretation of data; drafting of the manuscript; critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; statistical analysis; obtained funding; administrative, technical, or material support; study supervision).

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 Journal Manager at [email protected] from the corresponding author of the accepted manuscript and must include:
(a) the reason the name should be added or removed, or the order of the authors rearranged; and
(b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) 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. Requests that are not sent by the corresponding author will be forwarded by the Journal Manager to the corresponding author, who must follow the procedure as described above. Note that: (1) Journal Managers will inform the Journal Editors of any such requests and (2) publication of the accepted manuscript in an online issue is suspended until 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 will follow the same policies as noted above and result in a corrigendum.

Disclosures

Declaration of interest

All authors are required to provide a Declaration of Interest Statement and should complete a standard form, which is available at http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest/. This form should be uploaded with the revised manuscript at submission. Further information is available at https://www.icmje.org/recommendations as well. The forms should be uploaded as a single supplementary disclosure file.
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, activities, additional affiliations, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. If there are no conflicts of interest then please state this: 'Conflicts of interest: none'. See also https://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest. Further information and an example of a conflict of interest form can be found here.

Declaration of Generative AI in scientific writing
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, not to replace key researcher tasks such as interpreting data or drawing scientific conclusions.
• Apply the technology with human oversight and control, and carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased.
• Not list AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author, or cite AI 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.
• 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 for use of generative AI technologies
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 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.

Drug declaration
A drug declaration statement/disclosure form will be sent to the corresponding author after acceptance. Authors must select the statement that is most appropriate for their manuscript. This form as well as the copyright forms must be returned to the Editorial office via e-mail.

Submission declaration
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an electronic preprint), 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 including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder.

Financial disclosure
Authors are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article.

Role of the funding source
Briefly describe the role of the 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 article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, then this should be stated.

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

Informed consent and patient details
Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent, which should be documented in the paper. Appropriate consents, permissions and releases must be obtained where an author wishes to include case details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication. Written consents must be retained by the author but copies should not be provided to the journal. Only if specifically requested by the journal in exceptional circumstances (for example if a legal issue arises) the author must provide copies of the consents or evidence that such consents have been obtained. For more information, please review the Elsevier Policy on the Use of Images or Personal Information of Patients or other Individuals. Unless you have written permission from the patient (or, where applicable, the next of kin), the personal details of any patient included in any part of the article and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.

Experimental animal studies
Manuscripts reporting experiments using animals must include a statement giving assurance that all animals received human care and that study protocols comply with the institution's guidelines. Studies involving animal experiments should conform to the Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE) guidelines (http://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines), developed by the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) to improve standards and reporting of animal research. Please review the ARRIVE checklist and disclose all relevant animal research information as directed.
Where applicable the strain and sex should be reported, if both male and females animals were used then the number of each should be specified. In relation to cell cultures and tissue samples used the sex of the animals used should be specified.

For all manuscripts reporting animal experimentation the authors must state in the methods section:

• A statement referring to the above guidelines.
• A statement on institutional approval.
• Where applicable:
  • The strain and sex should be reported, if both male and females animals were used then the number of each should be specified;
  • Genetic background of animals used;
  • In relation to cell cultures and tissue samples the sex of the animals;
  • State the transgenic or genetic mouse model used, and what control mice were used;
  • Housing of animals, cage system, enriched environment, diet, food, light or dark cycle.

Mouse strains and cell lines should be italicized and superscript if they are knockout or transgenic strains, e.g., ob/ob (KO), p53+/+, p53-/-.
Statistical methods used should be outlined, in addition to if sex was considered a factor in the statistical analysis.

Clinical trials
In line with the position of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the journal will not consider results posted in the same clinical trials registry in which primary registration resides to be prior publication if the results posted are presented in the form of a brief structured (less than 500 words) abstract or table. However, divulging results in other circumstances (e.g., investors' meetings) is discouraged and may jeopardise consideration of the manuscript. Authors should fully disclose all posting in registries of results of the same or closely related work.

Registration of clinical trials
Registration in a public trials registry is a condition for publication of clinical trials in the JHEP Reports in accordance with ICMJE recommendations.

The trial registration number must be included on the title page of the manuscript reporting a registered clinical trial. Failure to do so will prevent entry to the peer review process.

Randomized controlled trials should be presented according to the CONSORT guidelines. At manuscript submission, authors must provide the study protocol, including the statistical analysis plan, and CONSORT checklist accompanied by a flow 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 are available online.

Reporting guidelines
JHEP Reports endorses the use of an appropriate reporting guideline when writing any health research manuscript. You can find the most commonly required reporting guidelines on the EQUATOR Network.

This free tool will help you work out which reporting guidelines are right for you: https://www.penelope.ai/equator-wizard.

At the minimum, your article should report the content addressed by each item of the identified checklist or state that the item was not considered in the study (for example, if you did not use blinding, your article should say so).

Reporting guidelines for main study types

Randomised trials	CONSORT
Observational studies	STROBE
Systematic reviews	PRISMA
Study protocols	SPIRIT	PRISMA-P
Diagnostic/prognostic studies	STARD	TRIPOD
Case reports	CARE
Clinical practice guidelines	AGREE	RIGHT
Qualitative research	SRQR	COREQ
Animal pre-clinical studies	ARRIVE
Quality improvement studies	SQUIRE
Economic evaluations	CHEERS

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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.

For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the research data page.

Data statement
To foster transparency, we encourage you to state the availability of your data in your submission. 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. For more information, visit the Data Statement page.

Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit https://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.

REVIEW PROCESS

Authors should be aware that manuscripts will be screened upon submission. Only the manuscripts, which fully comply with the submission requirements outlined and in which the level of English is of an acceptable standard will enter the peer review process. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service Crossref Similarity Check.

First submission
Once successful submission of a manuscript has taken place, an acknowledgement will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author on the manuscript. All subsequent correspondence will be with the designated corresponding author. The number of the manuscript should be used by the authors in all communications with the Editorial Office. All the manuscripts will be reviewed by the Editors and papers that are not considered by the editors to be strong candidates for publication or outside the scope of the Journal will be returned to the authors without detailed review, typically within 3-5 days. Otherwise, manuscripts will be sent to reviewers. After review, the corresponding author will be notified by letter of the decision taken by the Editor(s). This letter will be accompanied in most, but not all, cases by the comments of the reviewers. This letter will be sent via e-mail.

Resubmission
In some cases, authors will be invited to submit a revised version of the manuscript for further review. This invitation does not imply, in any case, that the revised version will be accepted for publication. In general, revised manuscripts must be received in the Editorial Office within four months of the date of the first decision. Authors should submit the resubmitted manuscript with all changes underlined. The resubmitted manuscript should be accompanied by a cover letter stating that the manuscript has been revised according to the comments made by the Editor and the Reviewers. Figures and tables must be uploaded. Please ensure that a separate point by point response to the reviewers is included with the covering letter.
Please do not send revised manuscripts to the Editorial Office via e-mail. Revised manuscripts should be uploaded in the Editorial Manager website.

Peer review
This journal operates a single 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. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal's usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups. More information on types of peer review.

Procedure for appeals
To appeal to an editorial decision you have received from this journal, please email the editorial office ([email protected]), summarizing the scientific basis on which you wish to appeal and including the manuscript number in the subject line of your email. The handing editor and, as needed, editorial team will consider your appeal and respond to you once they have done so. Please note that when your paper is under appeal at this journal, we regard it as being under active consideration, so please let us know immediately if you decide to submit to another journal instead.

Proofs
Proofs will be made available to the author(s) to be checked. It is the responsibility of the author(s) to make sure that the quality and accuracy of the manuscript, figures, and tables in the proofs is correct. Authors should submit their proof corrections within 48 hours if the corrections are minor, to expedite publication. All questions arising after acceptance of a paper, especially those concerning proofs, should be directed to the Publisher, Elsevier, Radarweg 29, 1043 NX Amsterdam, The Netherlands, e-mail: [email protected]. Further changes or additions to the edited manuscript after these corrections cannot be accepted.

Press releases
JHEP Reports along with Elsevier are now selecting exceptional articles for press release. Upon acceptance of the article the Associate Editor and Editorial office will discuss the suitability of an article for a press release and will inform the corresponding authors for approval. There are a limited number of press releases and articles are rarely selected.

Advertisements
EASL reviews and approves/rejects advertisements for compliance with the their advertising policy and although all advertising material is expected to conform to ethical (medical) standards, inclusion online for this publication does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement of the quality or value of such product or of the claims made of it by its manufacturer. Please visit https://www.elsmediakits.com/ for more information.

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Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (see more information on this). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.

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.

Offprints
The corresponding author will be notified and receive a link to the published version of the open access article on ScienceDirect. This link is in the form of an article DOI link which can be shared via email and social networks. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication.

Digital Archive
Elsevier's policy on the permanent availability and preservation of published content can be seen here.

Contact the Editorial office

Contact Information:
Editorial Office
7, Rue Daubin
CH-1203 Geneva
Switzerland
Telephone: +41 22 807 03 63
Editorial Office e-mail: [email protected]
Manuscript submission: https://www.editorialmanager.com/jhepr/Default.aspx