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Introduction

Aims and Scope

Journal of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection, launched in 1968, is the official bi-monthly publication of the Taiwan Society of Microbiology, the Chinese Society of Immunology, the Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan and the Taiwan Society of Parasitology.

The journal is an open access journal, committed to disseminating information on the latest trends and advances in microbiology, immunology, infectious diseases and parasitology. Articles on clinical or laboratory investigations of relevance to microbiology, immunology, infectious diseases, parasitology and other related fields that are of interest to the medical profession are eligible for consideration. Article types considered include perspectives, review articles, original articles, short communication and correspondence.

The Editorial Board of the Journal comprises a dedicated team of local and international experts in the field of microbiology, immunology, infectious diseases and parasitology. All members of the Editorial Board actively guide and set the direction of the journal. With the aim of promoting effective and accurate scientific information, an expert panel of referees constitutes the backbone of the peer-review process in evaluating the quality and content of manuscripts submitted for publication.

JMII is open access and indexed in SCIE, PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, AIDS & Cancer Reseach, CABI, BIOSIS Previews, Biological Abstracts, EBSCOhost, CancerLit, Reactions Weekly (online), Chemical Abstracts, HealthSTAR, Global Health, ProQuest.

The Editorial Board requires authors to be in compliance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (URMs); current URMs are available at https://www.icmje.org.

Types of article

1. Perspectives
These are comments on recent news or groundbreaking work and should provide a short review of the current state of research and explain the importance of the new findings. Perspectives on papers previously published in the JMII should add a different viewpoint to the research and should not merely be a repetitive summary of the original paper. Although many of the Perspectives published in the Journal are normally invited, unsolicited Perspectives are welcome and will be given due consideration. As these are meant to express a personal commentary, with rare exceptions, Perspectives should have no more than 3 authors.

Format guide:

• Word limit: 1000 words (excluding the abstract and references).
• References: 10 or less.
• Tables/Figures: 1 table or figure.

2. Review Articles
These should aim to provide the reader with a balanced overview of an important and topical subject in the field, and should be systematic and critical assessments of literature and data sources. They should cover aspects of a topic in which scientific consensus exists as well as aspects that remain controversial and are the subject of ongoing scientific research. All articles and data sources reviewed should include information about the specific type of study or analysis, population, intervention, exposure, and tests or outcomes. All articles or data sources should be selected systematically for inclusion in the review and critically evaluated. We welcome viewpoints that present the opinions of the authors rather than new experimental data or literature reviews.

Format guide:

• Word limit: 3500 words (excluding the abstract and references).
• References: 50 or less.
• Abstract: Up to 250 words, unstructured.
• Tables/Figures: Data in the text should not be repeated extensively in tables or figures.

3. Original Articles
These articles typically include randomized trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic tests, laboratory and animal studies, cohort studies, cost-effectiveness analyses, case-control studies, and surveys with high response rates, which represent new and significant contributions to the field.
Section headings should be: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conflicts of Interest Statement (if any), Acknowledgments (if any) and References.
The Introduction should provide a brief background to the subject of the paper, explain the importance of the study, and state a precise study question or purpose.
The Methods section should describe the study design and methods (including the study setting and dates, patients/participants with inclusion and exclusion criteria, or data sources and how these were selected for the study, patient samples or animal specimens used, explain the laboratory methods followed), and state the statistical procedures employed in the research.
The Results section should comprise the study results presented in a logical sequence, supplemented by tables and/or figures. Take care that the text does not repeatdata that are presented in tables and/or figures. Only emphasize and summarize the essential features of any interventions, the main outcome measures, and the main results.
The Discussion section should be used to emphasize the new and important aspects of the study, placing the results in context with published literature, the implicationsof the findings, and the conclusions that follow from the study results.

Format guide:

• Word limit: 3000 words (excluding the abstract and references).
• References: 40 or less.
• Abstract: Up to 250 words, structured.
• Tables/Figures: Data in the text should not be repeated extensively in tables or figures.


4. Short Communications
Short Communications should present unusual aspects of common problems or novel perspectives upon, or solutions to, clinically relevant issues.

Format guide:

• Word limit: 1500 words (excluding the abstract and references).
• References: 10 or less.
• Abstract: Up to 50 words, unstructured format
• Tables/Figures: 1 table and figure.

5. Correspondence
Correspondences include letter to Editor, and comments that respond to a recently published article in JMII or address an issue of interest to JMII readers. Replies will be published in the same issue as the letter, and are invited at the discretion of the Editor.

Format guide:

• Word limit: 500 words.
• Tables/Figures: 1 figure or table.
• References: 5 or less.
• No subheadings.
• Begin with 'Dear Editor'.

Editorial Office

Journal of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection
Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital
No. 7, Zhongshan S. Road, Zhongzheng District
Taipei City 100, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Tel: 886-2-23123456 ext 65396
Fax: 886-2-23955072
E-mail: [email protected]

Before you begin

Basic Criteria

Articles should be written in English (using American English spelling) and meet the following basic criteria: the material is original, the information is important, the writing is clear and concise, the study methods are appropriate, the data are valid, and the conclusions are reasonable and supported by the data.

Manuscript Submission

Online submission
Authors may submit manuscripts via Editorial Manager at https://www.editorialmanager.com/JOUMII/default.aspx.
If assistance is needed, the Editorial Office can be contacted for any help necessary.

Important Information

  • The corresponding author will be notified by the editorial office when the manuscript is accepted and sent to the Publisher. The corresponding author will receive a PDF proof by e-mail from the Publisher within the next 2 months. JMII reserves the right to rescind our provisional decision of acceptance if no response is received from the author by the dategiven by the Publisher.
  • Articles submitted should be in Microsoft Word document format and prepared in the simplest form possible. We will add in the correct font, font size, margins and so on according to the journal's style.
  • You may use automatic page numbering, but do NOT use other kinds of automatic formatting such as footnotes, endnotes, headers and footers.
  • Put text, references, and table/figure legends in one file.
  • Figures must be submitted as separate picture files, at the correct resolution of a minimum of 600 dpi. The files should be named according to the figure number and format, e.g. "Fig1.tif", "Fig2.jpg".
Please ensure that the following documents are included (refer also to the checklist that follows these author instructions):
(1) A cover letter. It must include your name, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address (both of the first author and corresponding author), and state that the manuscript has never been submitted, in whole or in part, to other journals. Your signature and those of ALL your coauthors must be included.
(2) An authorship and conflicts of interest statement. Each author's contribution to the manuscript should be listed. Any and all potential and actual conflicts of interest should also be listed (see relevant section below for more information). Please use the JMII Authorship and Conflicts of Interest Statement form that follows these author instructions. The corresponding author must sign on behalf of all the listed authors in the manuscript.
(3) A copyright transfer agreement. In the event that your manuscript is accepted for publication in the JMII, you are required to transfer all copyright ownership in and relating to the work to the Taiwan Society of Microbiology. Please use the JMII Copyright Transfer Agreement form that follows these author instructions.The corresponding author must sign on behalf of all the listed authors in the manuscript.
(4) An ethics statement. Articles covering the use of human or animal samples in research, or human or animal experiments must be accompanied by a letter of approval from the relevant review committee or authorities (see relevant section below).
(5) Articles where human subjects can be identified in descriptions, photographs or pedigrees must be accompanied by a signed statement of informed consent to publish (in print and online) the descriptions, photographs and pedigrees from each subject who can be identified (see relevant section below).
(6) Copyright permission. If you have reproduced or adapted material from other copyrighted sources, the letter(s) of permission from the copyright holder(s) to reproduce or adapt the copyrighted sources must be supplied. Otherwise, such material must be removed from your manuscript.

Ethics in publishing

Please see our information on Ethics in publishing.

Studies in humans and animals

If the work involves the use of human subjects, the author should ensure that the work described has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans. The manuscript should be in line with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and aim for the inclusion of representative human populations (sex, age and ethnicity) as per those recommendations. The terms sex and gender should be used correctly.

The author should ensure that the manuscript contains a statement that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and have been approved by the appropriate institutional committee(s). This statement should contain the date and reference number of the ethical approval(s) obtained. Authors should also include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects. The privacy rights of human subjects must always be observed.

The journal will not accept manuscripts that contain data derived from unethically sourced organs or tissue, including from executed prisoners or prisoners of conscience, consistent with recommendations by Global Rights Compliance on Mitigating Human Rights Risks in Transplantation Medicine. For all studies that use human organs or tissues authors must provide sufficient evidence that they were procured in line with WHO Guiding Principles on Human Cell, Tissue and Organ Transplantation. The source of the organs or tissues used in clinical research must be transparent and traceable. Authors of manuscripts describing organ transplantation must additionally declare within the manuscript:

  1. that autonomous consent free from coercion was obtained from the donor(s) or their next of kin; and
  2. that organs/tissues were not sourced from executed prisoners or prisoners of conscience.

All animal experiments should comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and should be carried out in accordance with the U.K. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 and associated guidelines, EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments, or the National Research Council's Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the authors should clearly indicate in the manuscript that such guidelines have been followed. The sex of animals must be indicated, and where appropriate, the influence (or association) of sex on the results of the study.

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual's objectivity is potentially compromised by a desire for financial gain, prominence, professional advancement or a successful outcome. JMII Editors strive to ensure that what is published in the Journal is as balanced, objective and evidence-based as possible. Since it can be difficult to distinguish between an actual conflict of interest and a perceived conflict of interest, the Journal requires authors to disclose all and any potential conflicts of interest.

Conflicts of interest may be financial or non-financial. Financial conflicts include financial relationships such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements. Non-financial conflicts include personal or professional relationships, affiliations, academic competition, intellectual passion, knowledge or beliefs that might affect objectivity.

Please ensure that any conflicts of interest and sources of funding are fully declared on page 2 of the JMII Authorship and Conflicts of Interest Statement form.

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'. 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.

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.

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, 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 compliance, your article may be checked by Crossref Similarity Check and other originality or duplicate checking software.

Use of inclusive language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise to seek gender neutrality by using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as default/wherever possible to avoid using "he, she," or "he/she." We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition unless they are relevant and valid. When coding terminology is used, we recommend to avoid offensive or exclusionary terms such as "master", "slave", "blacklist" and "whitelist". We suggest using alternatives that are more appropriate and (self-) explanatory such as "primary", "secondary", "blocklist" and "allowlist". These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive.

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.

Changes to authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list 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.
Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Reporting clinical trials
Randomized controlled trials should be presented according to the CONSORT guidelines. At manuscript submission, authors must provide the 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.

Registration of clinical trials
Registration in a public trials registry is a condition for publication of clinical trials in this journal in accordance with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the article. 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, behavioural treatments, dietary interventions, 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.

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.


The JMII is the official peer-reviewed publication of the Taiwan Society of Microbiology. Manuscripts published in the JMII become the permanent property of the Taiwan Society of Microbiology. All articles published in the Journal are protected by copyright, which covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article, as well as translation rights. No JMII article, in part or whole, may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, by photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the Taiwan Society of Microbiology.

Open Access

All articles will be available Open Access on ScienceDirect. Permitted (re)use is that outlined by the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which states that for non-commercial purposes, others may distribute and copy the article, and 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.

This is an open access journal: all articles will be immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download. To provide open access, this journal has an open access fee (also known as an article publishing charge APC) which needs to be paid by the authors or on their behalf e.g. by their research funder or institution. Permitted third party (re)use is defined by the following Creative Commons user licenses:

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

Open access

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

The open access fee for this journal is Full Length Research papers or Review papers - USD$1,080 for members, and USD $1,800 for non-members; Short Communications - USD$875, and USD $1,460 excluding taxes. Learn more about Elsevier's pricing policy

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 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 may wish to use the Language Editing service available from Elsevier's Language Services.

Submit your article
Please submit your article via https://www.editorialmanager.com/joumii/.

Manuscript Preparation

Text should be typed double-spaced on one side of white A4 (297 × 210 mm) paper, with outer margins of 2.5 cm. A manuscript should include a title page, abstract, text, conflicts of interest statement (if any), acknowledgments (if any), references, and figures and tables as appropriate. Each section of the manuscript should begin on a new page. Pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the title page.

Title Page

The title page should contain the following information (in order, from the top to bottom of the page):

  • category of paper
  • article title
  • names (spelled out in full) of all authors*, and the institutions with which they are affiliated
  • running title not exceeding 50 characters
  • corresponding author details (name, e-mail, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers)
*The name of each author should be written with the family name last, e.g. Jing-Long Huang. Authorship is restricted only to direct participants who have contributed significantly to the work.

Preparation

Queries

For questions about the editorial process (including the status of manuscripts under review) or for technical support on submissions, please visit our Support Center.

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. 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.

The Editorial and Peer Review Process

As a general rule, the receipt of a manuscript will be acknowledged within 2 weeks of submission, and authors will be provided with a manuscript reference number for future correspondence. If such an acknowledgment is not received in a reasonable period of time, the author should contact the Editorial Office.

Manuscripts are reviewed by the Editorial Office to ensure that the submission contains all parts. The Editorial Office will not accept a submission if the author has not supplied all parts of the manuscript as outlined in this document.

Manuscripts are then forwarded to the Editor-in-Chief, who makes an initial assessment of it. If the manuscript does not appear to be of sufficient merit or is not appropriate for the Journal, then the manuscript will be rejected without review. Rejected manuscripts will not be returned to authors unless requested.

Manuscripts that appear meritorious and appropriate for the Journal are reviewed by at least two Editorial Board members or expert consultants assigned by the Editor-in-Chief. Authors will usually be notified within 10 weeks of whether the submitted article is accepted for publication, rejected, or subject to revision before acceptance. However, do note that delays are sometimes unavoidable.

Article structure

Main Text

The text for Original Articles should be organized in sections as follows: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Sections for Case Reports are: Introduction, Case Report, and Discussion. Each section should begin on a new page.

Abbreviation

Where a term/definition will be continually referred to, it must be written in full when it first appears in the text, followed by the subsequent abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter, the abbreviation may be used. An abbreviation should not be first defined in any section heading; if an abbreviation has previously been defined in the text, then the abbreviation may be used in a subsequent section heading. Restrict the number of abbreviations to those that are absolutely necessary and ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Numbers

Numbers that begin a sentence or those that are less than 10 should be spelled out using letters. Centuries and decades should be spelled out, e.g., the Eighties or nineteenth century . Laboratory parameters, time, temperature, length, area, mass, and volume should be expressed using digits.

Units

Système International (SI) units must be used, with the exception of blood pressure values which are to be reported in mmHg. Please use the metric system for the expression of length, area, mass, and volume. Temperatures are to be given in degrees Celsius.

Names of Drugs, Devices and Other Products

Use the Recommended International Non-proprietary Name (rINN) for medicinal substances, unless the specific trade name of a drug is directly relevant to the discussion. Generic drug names should appear in lowercase letters in the text. If a specific proprietary drug needs to be identified, the brand name may appear only once in the manuscript in parentheses following the generic name the first time the drug is mentioned in the text.

For devices and other products, the specific brand or trade name, the manufacturer and their location (city, state, country) should be provided the first time the device or product is mentioned in the text, for example, KIBM SPSS Statistics 21.0 was used (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Thereafter, the generic term (if appropriate) should be used.

Gene nomenclature

Current standard international nomenclature for genes should be adhered to. For human genes, use genetic notation and symbols approved by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (http://www.genenames.org). You may also refer to the resources available on PubMed at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/guide/genes-expression. The Human Genome Variation Society has a useful site that provides guidance in naming mutations at http://www.hgvs.org/mutnomen/index.html. In your manuscript, genes should be typed in italic font and include the accession number.

Statistical Requirements

Statistical analysis is essential for all research papers except Case Reports. Use correct nomenclature for statistical methods (e.g., two sample t test, not unpaired t test). Descriptive statistics should follow the scales used in data description. Inferential statistics are important for interpreting results and should be described in detail. All p values should be presented to the third decimal place for accuracy. The smallest p value that should be expressed is p > 0.99.


Personal communications and unpublished data

These sources cannot be included in the references list but may be described in the text. The author(s) must give the full name and highest academic degree of the person, the date of the communication, and indicate whether it was in oral or written (letter, fax, e-mail) form. A signed statement of permission should be included from each person identified as a source of information in a personal communication or as a source for unpublished data.

Abstracts and Key Words

Abstracts should be no more than 250 words in length. Abstracts for Original Articles should be structured, with the section headings: Background/Purpose(s), Methods, Results, Conclusion. Abstracts for Case Reports are unstructured, but should include the significance and purpose of the case presentation, the diagnostic methods of the case, the key data, and brief comments and suggestions with regard to the case. For all article categories, 3-5 relevant key words should also be provided in alphabetical order.

Acknowledgments

After the Conflicts of Interest Statement and/or Funding/Support Statement, general acknowledgments for consultations and statistical analyses should be listed concisely, including the names of the individuals who were directly involved. Consent should be obtained from those individuals before their names are listed in this section. Those acknowledged should not include secretarial, clerical or technical staff whose participation was limited to the performance of their normal duties.

All financial and material support for the research and work from internal or external agencies, including commercial companies, should be clearly and completely identified. Ensure that any conflicts of interest are explicitly declared.

Figures

The number of figures should be restricted to the minimum necessary to support the textual material. They should have an informative figure legend and be numbered in the order of their citation in the text. All symbols and abbreviations should be defined in the legend. Items requiring explanatory footnotes should follow the same style as that described for tables.
Unless you have written permission from the patient (or, where applicable, the next of kin), the personal details (such as their name and date of birth) of the patient must be removed. If their face is shown, use a black bar to cover their eyes so that they cannot be identified (for further information, see www.elsevier.com/patientphotographs).
All lettering should be done professionally and should be in proportion to the drawing, graph or photograph. Photomicrographs must include an internal scale marker, and the legend should state the type of specimen, original magnification and stain.

Figures must be submitted as separate picture files (ex. TIF, JPG, etc.) at the correct resolution of a minimum of 600 dpi. The files should be named according to the figure number and format, e.g., "Fig1.tif ", "Fig2.jpg".

Tables

Tables should supplement, not duplicate, the text. They should have a concise table heading, be self-explanatory, and numbered consecutively in the order of their citation in the text. Information requiring explanatory footnotes should be denoted using superscripted lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.), with the footnotes arranged alphabetically by the superscripts. Asterisks (*, **) are used only to indicate the probability level of tests of significance. Abbreviations used in the table must be defined and placed after the footnotes. If you include a block of data or table from another source, whether published or unpublished, you must acknowledge the original source.

References

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and for correct in-text citation.

In the main text, tables, figure legends

  • References should be identified using superscripted numbers, and numbered consecutively in order of appearance in the text and placed after punctuation.
  • References cited in tables or figure legends should be included in sequence at the point where the table or figure is first mentioned in the main text.
  • Do not cite uncompleted work or work that has not yet been accepted for publication (i.e., "unpublished observation", "personal communication") as references.
  • Do not cite abstracts unless they are the only available reference to an important concept.
In the references list
  • References should be limited to those cited in the text and listed in numerical order, NOT alphabetical order.
  • References should include, in order, author names, article title, journal name, year, volume and inclusive page numbers. The last names and initials of all the authors up to 6 should be included, but when authors number 7 or more, list the first 6 authors only followed by "et al".
  • Abbreviations for journal names should conform to those used in MEDLINE.
  • If citing a website, provide the author information, article title, website address and the date you accessed the information.
  • Reference to an article that is in press must state the journal name and, if possible, the year and volume.

Examples of the most common reference types are provided below. (Please pay particular attention to the formatting, word capitalization, spacing and style.)

Reference to a journal publication:
1. Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun 2000;163:51-59.

Reference to a book:
2. Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of style. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan; 1979.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book
3. Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In: Jones BS, Smith RZ, editors. Introduction to the electronic age. New York: E- Publishing Inc; 1999, p. 281-304.


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Updated Jan 2017