Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology

These guidelines are in accordance with the "Recommendations for the conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals", which is a document revised in 2016 from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, available online at http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/.

Submission of Manuscripts

All new manuscripts must be submitted through the Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology online submission and review Web site (http://www.editorialmanager.com/jpag). Manuscripts must be written in English. Manuscripts not received electronically will not be reviewed.
In an accompanying letter, authors should state that the manuscript, or parts of it, have not been and will not be submitted elsewhere for publication, and include potential conflicts of interest, or lack thereof, for each author. Please note that an editable file is needed for production purposes so please upload your manuscript and table files as word or Excel files, not as pdf.
You also have the option to include a condensed statement of less than 300 characters describing your article that may be used to promote your article via social media. You will have the opportunity to input it during the submission process.

Submission items include:

1. cover letter (saved as a separate file for upload) which includes information about why this submission is appropriate for this Journal,
2. The author is encouraged to mention three suggested reviewers in Editorial Manager system (who will be considered as reviewers) and their email addresses
3. the manuscript, including title page, abstract, manuscript text, references and legends for tables and figures
4. Figures, tables, and artwork, each as a separate file

See table below for format of each type of submission.

Files should be labelled with corresponding or senior author name, along with appropriate and descriptive file names (e.g., Smith Text.doc, Fig 1.eps, Table 3.doc). Upload text, tables, and graphics as separate files. Do not import figures or tables into the text document and do not upload your text as a PDF. Complete instructions for electronic artwork submission can be found at www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
If the manuscript contains any information from the same dataset that was previously published or is in press, please provide an explanation and citation of any potential duplicate publication of results or interpretation in the letter to the editor.

Previously published tables and illustrations must be appropriately referenced, and written permission from any copyright holders must be submitted as an additional file, a copyright permission letter, at the time of submission.

The Editorial Office can be contacted at: David Newcombe, Managing Editor, Stellar Medical Publications, 20 North Street, Plymouth, MA 02360. Tel. 508-732-6767 x11, Fax 508-732-6766, Email [email protected]. The Publisher and Editors regret that they are not able to consider submissions that do not follow these procedures and the specific instructions for each different type of manuscript listed below.

Authors may send queries concerning the submission process, manuscript status, or journal procedures to the Editorial Office. Once the submission files are uploaded the system automatically generates an electronic (PDF) proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence, including the Editor's decision and request for revisions, will be by e-mail.

Ethics/Patient Consent
All original reports and brief reports must contain an IRB Approval or Exemption statement in the Methods section of the manuscript. Manuscripts describing research involving human subjects must document both IRB approval/exemption and the statement that informed consent was obtained from patients who served as subjects of the investigation. HIPPA compliance and patient confidence is important and will be fulfilled through IRB approval or patient consent for case reports. All Case Reports must document that written patient consent has been granted for the publication. In the Patient Consent section, specify if the patient provided assent (if less than 18 years of age) and who provided consent (patient if over 18 or legal guardian) and whether consent was obtained in writing. 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, and copies of the consents or evidence that such consents have been obtained must be provided to Elsevier on request. For more information, please review the Elsevier Policy on the Use of Images or Personal Information of Patients or other Individuals, https://www.elsevier.com/patient-consent-policy. 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.
Both Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) and systematic reviews should preferably be registered in respectively www.clinical.trials.gov or PROSPERO.

Authorship
When the manuscript is submitted, the corresponding author will be asked to attest that each listed author qualifies for authorship as defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html This means that each listed author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. The Author Contribution Statement should concisely detail each author's role in the study, e.g., study design, data analysis, writing of manuscript, acquisition of funding. Ghost authorship is not allowed. Co-first authorship requires previous approval of the Editor and should be justified in the cover letter.
Please assure that the corresponding author's email remains active and/or an alternative email should be listed in the author's profile with Editorial Manager.

Disclosure/Conflicts of Interest
All listed authors must state all possible competing interests (conflicts of interest) in the manuscript, including all financial interests (consulting, board membership, stock ownership, patent applications, grants, or honoraria) or non-financial competing interests (sometimes called "private interests"), which can be personal relationships, political, religious, or personal convictions, academic writing or consulting, or serving as an expert witness, that might lead to bias or a conflict of interest. If there is no conflict of interest, this should also be explicitly stated as none declared. All sources of funding should be acknowledged in the manuscript and any role that the sponsor had in study design, collection and evaluation of data, interpretation of results, writing of the manuscript or decision to submit for possible publication. If the sponsor had no role in design, data collection or analysis, writing or decision to submit for publication please include a statement to this fact.
For additional information on competing interests, see https://service.elsevier.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/286/supporthub/publishing/.

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. https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/publishing-ethics#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.

Language
JPAG uses US English and relies of the AMA Style Guide. If English is not your native language, please consider having a native English speaker review the manuscript for grammar and wording before submitting, or use the Elsevier translating services {https://webshop.elsevier.com/language-translation-services}.
If a manuscript contains too many errors in English word choice, grammar, syntax, or usage, resulting in unclear meaning, the Editor-in-Chief may REJECT the manuscript prior to its being sent for review. The editor may suggest having a native English speaker improve the manuscript or otherwise to use the Elsevier translating services, and may offer the option to resubmit to JPAG after correction of these translation issues. Alternatively, the editor may offer this suggestion, but feel that there are other factors the warrant Rejection; in this case, the Editor may suggest that improvements in language be made prior to submission to another English language journal.
The Editors value inclusive and gender-neutral language; thus the journal follows the AMA-11 style guidelines for inclusive language.

Article Types published in JPAG

1. Original Studies
2. Case Reports
3. Brief Report
4. Reviews
5. Letters to the Editor
6. Editorials
7. Commentary
8. NASPAG Documents

Original Studies
The study should have a clear research question and the structure follows the items of the applicable transparent reporting guideline (www.equator-network.org) based on the study design, see Table 1. The headings should include structured abstract, keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Case series are considered as small cohorts and these manuscripts should follow the format of an original study.

Case Reports
A case report is a brief description of a specific finding and management that is unusual and instructive and not previously reported. The case report should have a clear purpose and teaching point; simply being the first case reported does not usually justify publication. The structure of the case report follows the CARE transparent reporting guideline (www.equator-network.org) including assent of the patient and consent of parent(s)/guardian(s). Case series are considered as small cohorts and these manuscripts should follow the format of an original study.

Brief Report
A brief report may describe studies of any type of design. Brief reports describe preliminary or confirmatory work, or studies that are limited by their design or methodology. The headings should include Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion.

Reviews
Reviews address a specific topic and represent literature review and author opinions and recommendations and follow the PRISMA transparent reporting guideline. Reviews must have a narrative abstract that introduces the topic being reviewed and summarizes the article. Reviews are typically commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief.

Systematic reviews
Systematic reviews are defined as a literature review with a systematic search with and without meta-analysis. Systematic reviews should follow the PRISMA transparent reporting guideline or the SWiM transparent reporting guideline.

Letters to the Editor
Letters containing pertinent observations on an article previously published in the journal or on research in general will be considered. Letters should provide constructive criticism and information that is of interest to the reader. When a specific article published in the journal is the topic of the letter, the senior author of the article will be given the opportunity to respond. The Editorial Board reserves the right to shorten letters when necessary to comply with journal style. All Letters to the Editor should be submitted through the journal's online submission system {HYPERLINK" http://www.editorialmanager.com/jpag"}

Editorials
A guest editorial may be requested by the Editor-in-Chief related to a specific topic in the field of pediatric and adolescent gynecology, or specifically related to an article published in the journal.

Commentary
Commentaries papers are typically by invitation only and address topics including clinical perspectives, practice-related issues, ethical dilemmas, or experiences of clinical relevance to pediatric and adolescent gynecology. These may be topics about which evidence is insufficient for a systematic or expert review.

NASPAG Documents
Position Statements and Clinical Opinions from NASPAG Committees that have been endorsed by the NASPAG Board are published in the Journal.

The following table shows the abstract word count, manuscript word count, maximum number of references, and maximum number of tables and figures per type of manuscript.

Table 1. Overview of manuscript type and maximum wordcount for abstract and manuscript body as well as maximum number of references tables and figures.

Article type	Abstract word count	Manuscript word count*	Max number of references	Max number of tables & figures
Original Studies	250	3000	30-35	5
Case report	125	1500	5-7	2
Brief report	250	1500	5-7	2
Review	250	3500	30-35	5
Systematic review	300	6250	50-60	5
Letter to the Editor	NA	350	4	0
Commentary	250	1500	5-7	2

NA, not applicable.
*Manuscript word count does not include the title page, abstract, references or tables/figures.

Manuscript structure
All manuscripts must follow the transparent reporting guidelines (available on equator-network.org) applicable to the appropriate study design, see Table 2.

The manuscript must include the following, arranged in this order: Title Page, Structured Abstract and Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and References. Manuscripts must be typed double-spaced with at least 1-inch margins. In addition, the manuscript should have running line numbers and page numbers, beginning with the Title page.

As of February 14, 2022, JPAG is instituting a double-blind peer review system. As a result, all submissions will need to include a separate title page that must include the authors' first and middle initials and last name, academic degree; city and state in which the study was undertaken; departments and institutional affiliation at the time the study was undertaken; and the name, telephone number, email address, and address of author responsible for correspondence concerning the manuscript. If the findings were presented at a meeting, please include the name of the meeting, the organization presenting the meeting, the location, and the date of the meeting. If any acknowledgments of collaboration or preparation of the manuscript need to be reported, they should be appearing in the Acknowledgements section on the title page. The title page should also include the word count of the abstract and the main text (not including title page, references, figure legends, and figures).

Authors should make every effort to avoid including personally identifying text from the manuscript file.

Table 2. Overview of transparent reporting guidelines for the main study types, available on equator-network.org.

Study type	Transparent reporting guideline
Randomized controlled trial	CONSORT
Observational studies	STROBE
Systematic review with meta-analysis	PRISMA
Systematic review without meta-analysis	SWiM*
Study protocol	SPIRIT
Diagnostic studies	STARD
Prognostic studies	REMARK or TRIPOD
Case reports	CARE
Clinical practice guideline	AGREE
Qualitative research	SRQR
Quality improvement	SQUIRE

* Campbell M, McKenzie JE, Sowden A, Katikireddi SV, Brennan SE, Ellis S, Hartmann-Boyce J, Ryan R, Shepperd S, Thomas J, Welch V, Thomson H. Synthesis without meta-analysis (SWiM) in systematic reviews: reporting guideline BMJ 2020;368:l6890 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l6890

Required Elements

1. Title Page. The title page should include author's first name and middle initials and last name, academic degree; city and state in which the study was undertaken; departments and institutional affiliation at the time the study was undertaken; acknowledgment of any source of funding; disclaimers, and name, telephone number, email address, and address of the corresponding author. If the findings were presented at a meeting, include the name of the meeting, the organization sponsoring the meeting, the location, and the date of the meeting. The title page should also include the word count of the abstract, the word count of main text (not including title page, abstract, acknowledgements, references, figure legends, and figures), and the total number of figures and tables.
2. Authorship. See above criteria for authorship from the ICMJE
3. Structured Abstract and Keywords. For the maximum abstract word count see table 1. The following headings should be used in the abstract: Study Objective; Methods; Results; and Conclusion. Follow the applicable transparent reporting guideline.
4. Keywords. Below the abstract, provide 3 to 10 keywords or short phrases to assist in cross-indexing the article. Use terms from the medical subject heading (MeSH) list of Index Medicus.
5. Introduction. The introduction should contain brief background information that acquaints the reader with the current state of knowledge in the area under investigation and the knowledge gap resulting in the objective of the study. Do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported. Follow the corresponding transparent reporting guideline.
6. Methods. This section should contain a brief description of the Study design that would allow others to replicate the study, participants of the study and/or animal models and controls and methods and procedures.Institutional Review Board (IRB) statement of approval should be included here. Follow all the method items of the applicable transparent reporting guideline.
   All the statistical methods used in the study should be appropriately referenced. Specify any general use computer programs used. Avoid nontechnical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as "random," "normal," "significant," "correlation,", "association" and "sample." Define statistical terms, abbreviation, and most symbols.
7. Results. This section should be presented in a concise, easily understood manner, which may necessitate use of figures and tables to illustrate detailed findings. All table and figures which supplement the text, should be cited here. Duplication of text and supporting material should be avoided. Follow the applicable transparent reporting guideline.
8. Discussion.The discussion should start with summarizing the specific findings of the study that answers the study objective, its interpretation and how the new information relates to what has been published previously. Repetition of material presented in the Introduction or in Methods should be avoided. Implications of the results and the limitation of interpretation should be included. Follow the discussion items of the applicable transparent reporting guideline.
9. Disclosure/Conflict of Interest Statement. In this paragraph, a disclosure/conflict of interest statement must be included for each author. Please either indicate the lack of conflict (i.e. nothing to disclose) or list possible conflicts for each named author. Conflicts of Interest include financial or other relationships that could be perceived to influence the manuscript. If uncertain as to what might be considered a potential conflict of interest, authors should err on the side of full disclosure. The authors should make every effort to avoid personally identifying information from the disclosure statement and refer to potential conflicts by author number instead of author name, for instance, Author 1 is a consultant for XXX; Author 2 is an employee of YYYY; Author 3 has no potential conflicts to disclose.
10. Patient Consent Statement (for Case Reports). In this paragraph, the author must confirm that the patient has consented to having his/her personal information or images included in the article. If patient consent not required, the author should state; "Patient consent is not required because no personal information or details are included that may identify the patient"
11. References. JPAG uses Vancouver referencing style. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the manuscript and cited by superscript with no parentheses. All references must be cited in the text. References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with a sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or illustration. References should be typed double-spaced, and journal names abbreviated according to the Index Medicus. Accepted work in press should include journal title, volume, year in which it is to appear or the publisher's name and year of a book. Unpublished data, personal communications, and papers presented at annual meetings or symposia are not to be used.
12. Figures. Figures should be submitted in an acceptable format (TIFF, JPEG, EPS, or PDF) at a resolution of at least 300 dpi. For maximum number of figures allowed for each different manuscript type, see Table 1. Authors are encouraged to submit figures in color. All color figures will be published online in color at no charge to the authors. Authors may choose the option of printing publishing figures in the journal in color for an additional fee. Figures should be numbered consecutively in the order of their appearance in the manuscripts. Each figure must be accompanied by a descriptive legend.
    Figure Legends. Each figure must be accompanied by a figure legend of 2 to 3 sentences. The Figure legends should be included on a separate page in the manuscript file after the reference section and can't be part of the figure itself. Please supply magnification and stain information for any photomicrographs. Also define any symbols or abbreviations used in the legend. If any figure has been previously published, a letter of permission from the copyright holder to reprint the figure must be included, and appropriate attribution provided.
13. Tables. Type each table double-spaced on a separate sheet. Do not submit tables as photographs. For maximum number of tables allowed for each different manuscript type, see Table 1. Supply a brief title for each table. Number the tables consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. Give each column a short or abbreviated heading. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all nonstandard abbreviations that are used in the table. For footnotes use the following designation in superscript: a, b, c, d, e. Identify statistical measure of variation such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean. Be sure that each table is cited in the text. If you use data from another published or unpublished source, obtain permission and acknowledge fully.
14. First author photo (optional). JPAG only publishes first author photographs (if desired) for the following manuscript types: Editorial, Guest Editorial, Commentary or invited review. Please save the photo in black and white and upload in Editorial Manager with file name : Manuscriptnumber_photo_Authorlastname in an acceptable format (tiff, jpeg, eps or pdf).
15. 300-Character Article Summary (optional). If your article is accepted, the summary will be used by the journal's social media team to promote your article. This should be a two-sentence summary of the article. The first sentence should briefly summarize what you did or your findings. The second sentence should start out with "The importance of this (report or finding) is..." and then add your short justification to the end of this sentence. This summary must be less than 300 total characters).

Visual abstracts and video abstracts

Visual abstract
A visual abstract may be submitted at the authors' discretions. If the authors choose to provide a visual abstract, authors must provide an original image that clearly represents the work described in the paper. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the submission system by selecting "graphical abstracts" from the drop-down list when uploading files. Please note that just as each paper should be unique, so each graphical abstract should also be unique.

For ease of browsing, the graphical abstract should have a clear start and end, preferably "reading" from top to bottom or left to right. Try to reduce distracting and cluttering elements as much as possible.

• Image size: please provide an image with a minimum of 1328 x 531 pixels (w x h) using a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. If you are submitting a larger image, please use the same ratio (500 wide x 200 high). Please note that your image will be scaled proportionally to fit in the available window on ScienceDirect: a 200 by 500-pixel rectangle.
• Font: please use Times, Arial, Courier or Symbol with a large enough font size as the image will be reduced in size for the table of contents to fit a window 200 pixels high.
• File type: preferred file types are TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files.
• No additional text, outline or synopsis should be included. Any text or label must be part of the image file. Please do not use unnecessary white space or a heading "graphical abstract" within the image file.

A basic visual/graphical abstract template is provided below. Further tips on how to create one, see https://www.elsevier.com/authors/tools-and-resources/visual-abstract.The visual abstract will be used for social media purposes as well.

Video abstract
JPAG accepts video abstract to support and enhance your scientific research. The Editor-in-chief in collaboration with social media Editor will choose from original study, review or systematic review and the corresponding author receives an invitation for video abstract. Authors submit with the final version of their article the links to the video within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. The corresponding author will receive an invitation after the manuscript has been submitted through Editorial Manager. The video itself should be submitted through Editorial Manager.

Video should have a maximum length of 3 minutes just like a short oral of a published paper. Video should have an audio narration track and silent videos are not accepted. Preferably no music is used. However, when music is used, the author must obtain permission from the copyright holder or documentation that the music is royalty free. The start of the video should show the title of the study, the author's name and institution. Commercial-type messages should not be used.

All submitted files should be properly labelled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. Please file the video as: manuscriptnumber_video_firstauthorlastname. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the files in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 50 MB. The preferred video format is 16:9 and with a resolution HD 1080P. Preferred codec is H264.
The file formats can be: WMV, AVI, MOV or mp4. Video abstract files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including Science Direct: http://www.sciencedirect.com. Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages at {https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions}. Note: since video cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.

Open Access Options
This journal offers authors a choice in publishing their research:

• Subscription
  • Articles are made available to subscribers as well as developing countries and patient groups through our universal access programs.
  • No open access publication fee is required.
• Open access
  • Articles are freely available to both subscribers and the wider public with permitted reuse.
  • An open access publication fee is payable by authors or on their behalf, e.g. by their research funder or institution. All articles published open access will be immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download. Permitted reuse is defined by the following Creative Commons user licenses:

Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivs (CC BY-NC-ND): for non-commercial purposes, lets others distribute and copy the article, and to include in a collective work (such as an anthology), as long as they credit the author(s) and provided they do not alter or modify the article. To provide open access, this journal has a publication fee (USD 750 for Case Reports and USD 2500 for full articles) which needs to be met by the authors or their research funders for each article published open access. Your publication choice will have no effect on the peer review process or acceptance of submitted articles.

Reviewer Policy Statement
The practice of peer review is intended to ensure that good science is published. It is an objective process at the heart of good scholarly publishing, and is carried out by all reputable scientific journals. Our reviewers therefore play a vital role in maintaining the high standards of JPAG, and all manuscripts are peer reviewed following the procedure outlined below. Special issues and/or conference proceedings may have different peer review procedures involving, for example, Guest Editors, conference organizers or scientific committees. Authors contributing to these projects may receive full details of the peer review process on request from the Editorial office.

Initial manuscript evaluation
The Editor-in-Chief first evaluates all manuscripts. Some submissions may be rejected at this stage of an initial review by the Editor-in-Chief with or without input from other members of the Editorial Advisory Board. Manuscripts rejected at this stage are insufficiently original, have serious scientific flaws, have poor grammar or English language (see language section), or are outside the aims and scope of the journal. Authors of manuscripts rejected at this stage will be informed within 2 weeks of submission. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that reviewers are only asked to consider papers that have a reasonable chance of eventual publication, and to provide the authors with a timely response to allow them to better prepare the paper for subsequent submission to another journal or to revise sufficiently to be reconsidered by JPAG. Manuscripts that meet the minimum criteria are passed on to at least 2 experts for review. The comments provided by the reviewers are intended to improve the quality of the science that is eventually published.

Online proof correction
Corresponding authors will receive an e-mail with a link to our online proofing system, allowing annotation and correction of proofs online. The environment is similar to MS Word: in addition to editing text, the author can also comment on figures/tables and answer questions from the Copy Editor. Web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing the author to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.
If preferred, authors can still choose to annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version. All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail we send to authors, including alternative methods to the online version and PDF.
We will do everything possible to get an accepted article published quickly and accurately. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables & figures and references. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely the author's responsibility. If the corresponding author fails to approve a proof, the manuscript may not be published.