Journal of the Formosan Medical Association

Introduction

Journal of the Formosan Medical Association (JFMA), published continuously since 1902, is an open access international general medical journal of the Formosan Medical Association based in Taipei, Taiwan. It is indexed in Current Contents/ Clinical Medicine, Medline, ciSearch, CAB Abstracts, Embase, SIIC Data Bases, Research Alert, BIOSIS, Biological Abstracts, Scopus and ScienceDirect.

As a general medical journal, research related to clinical practice and research in all fields of medicine and related disciplines are considered for publication. Article types considered include perspectives, reviews, original papers, case reports, brief communications, correspondence and letters to the editor.The Editorial Board requires authors to be in compliance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (URMs), which are compiled by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE); current URMs are available at https://www.icmje.org.

Types of article

The categories of articles that are published in the Journal are listed and described below. Please select the category that best describes your paper. If your paper does not fall into any of these categories, please contact the Editorial Office.

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 JFMA 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.

Format guide

• Author: 3 or less
• Word limit: 800 words
• References: 8 or less
• Tables/Figures: 1 maximum

Review Articles and Practice Guidelines
These should aim to provide the reader with a balanced overview of an important and topical issue in research or clinical practice. 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.

Format guide

• Word limit: 3500 words
• Abstract : unstructured, up to 200 words
• References: 100 or less
• Tables/Figures: 6 maximum

Invited Articles
The format for invited articles is jointly decided by JFMA Editors and the contributing author.

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, 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, patient samples or animal specimens used, the essential features of any interventions, the main outcome measures, the laboratory methods followed, or data sources and how these were selected for the study), 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 repeat data that are presented in tables and/or figures. Only emphasize and summarize the essential features of 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 implications of the findings, and the conclusions that follow from the study results.

Format guide

• Word limit: 3500 words
• Abstract : structured, up to 250 words
• References: 40 or less
• Tables/Figures: 6 maximum

Case Reports
These are short discussions of a case or case series with unique features not previously described that make an important teaching point or scientific observation. They may describe novel techniques or use of equipment, or new information on diseases of importance. Section headings should be: Abstract, Introduction, Case Report, Discussion, Acknowledgments (if any), and References.

The Introduction should describe the purpose of the present report, the significance of the disease and its specificity, and briefly review the relevant literature.

The Case Report should include statements of the problem, patient history, diagnosis, treatment, outcome and any other information pertinent to the case(s).

The Discussion should compare, analyze and discuss the similarities and differences between the reported case and similar cases reported in other published articles. The importance or specificity of the case should be restated when discussing the differential diagnoses. Suggest the prognosis of the disease and possibility of prevention.

Note that the rejection rate for case reports is much higher than for other article categories due to the current situation of a large number of case reports being submitted. JFMA Editors may request short case reports to be formatted as correspondence under most circumstances.

Format guide

• Word limit: 2000 words
• Abstract : unstructured, up to 200 words
• References: 25 or less
• Tables/Figures: 3 maximum

Brief Communications
These reports should be concise presentations of preliminary experimental results, instrumentation and analytical techniques, or aspects of clinical or experimental practice that are not fully investigated, verified or perfected but which may be of widespread interest or application. The Editors reserve the right to decide what constitutes a Brief Communication.

Format guide

• Word limit: 1500 words
• Abstract: unstructured, up to 150 words
• References: 20 or less
• Tables/Figures: 2 maximum
• No subheadings

Correspondence
These include short case reports, technical or clinical notes and short comments on previously published articles. The Editors reserve the right to decide what constitutes a Correspondence.

Format guide

• Author: 4 or less
• Word limit: 500 words
• References: 5 or less
• Tables/Figures: 1 maximum

Letters to the Editor
Brief letters of constructive comments in response to previously published JFMA articles are welcome. Letters should have a title. Ensure that the corresponding author's mailing and e-mail addresses are included. Letters are edited, sometimes extensively, to sharpen their focus. They may be sent for peer review at the discretion of JFMA Editors. Letters are selected based on clarity, significance, and space.

Format guide

• Author: 4 or less
• Word limit: 400 words
• References: 4 or less
• Tables/Figures: 1 maximum

Manuscript Submission

Online Submission
Manuscripts (meaning all submission items, including all text, tables, artwork, cover letter, conflicts of interest disclosures, and any other required documents/material) must be submitted online to the JFMA through Editorial Manager. This system can be accessed at https://www.editorialmanager.com/JFMA/default.aspx. This site will guide authors stepwise through the submission process. If assistance is required, please refer to the tutorials and/or customer support that are available on the Editorial Manager website; you may also contact the Editorial Office. Please do not post, fax or e-mail your manuscripts to the Editorial Office.

Editorial Office
Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Formosan Medical Association
No.1, Chang-Te Street
Taipei 100, Taiwan
Tel: (+886) (0)2 2381-0367
Fax: (+886) (0)2 2389-6716
E-mail: [email protected]

Important Information

• Articles 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, headers and footers.
• The corresponding author is required to provide the email address of all co-authors. Notifications of the following status, "Send Back to Author", "Manuscript number notification" & "Decision letters", will automatically be communicated to all authors.
• Put text, references, table headings and tables, and figure legends in one file.
• Figures must be submitted as separate picture files, at the correct resolution and named according to the figure number, e.g., "Fig1.tif", "Fig2.jpg". Please see section Figures for more information.

Ethics in publishing

Please see our information on Ethics in publishing.

Ethical Approval of Studies and Informed Consent

For human or animal experimental investigations, appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee approval is required, and such approval, including the official approval code, should be stated in the methods section of the manuscript. For those investigators who do not have formal ethics review committees, the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki should be followed (World Medical Association. Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Available at: http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/17c.pdf).

For investigations in humans, state explicitly in the methods section of the manuscript that informed consent was obtained from all participating adults and from parents or legal guardians for minors or incapacitated adults, together with the manner in which informed consent was obtained (ex. oral or written).

For work involving animals, the guidelines for their care and use that were followed should be stated in the methods section of the manuscript. For those investigators who do not have formal institutional guidelines relating to animal experiments, the European Commission Directive 86/609/EEC for animal experiments (available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/legislation_en.htm) should be followed and the same should be stated in the methods section of the manuscript.

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.

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.

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. JFMA Editors strive to ensure that what is published in the Journal is as balanced, objective and evidence-based as possible. Since it is 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 the name of each author listed in your manuscript appears in either Section I or Section II of the JFMA Conflicts of Interest Statement form (an author’s name cannot appear in both Section I and Section II of the form).

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.

Authorship

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

Changes to Authorship

This policy concerns the addition, deletion, orrearrangement of author names in the authorship ofaccepted manuscripts. Before the accepted manuscript is published online, requests to add or remove an author,or to rearrange the author names, must be sent to theJournal Manager from the corresponding author of theaccepted manuscript and must include: (i) the reasonthe name should be added or removed, or the authornames rearranged; and (ii) an updated Authorship &Conflicts of Interest Statement with signatures from allauthors that they agree with the addition, removal orrearrangement. In the case of addition or removal ofauthor names, this must include confirmation from theauthor(s) being added or removed. Requests that are notsent by the corresponding author will be forwarded bythe Journal Manager to the corresponding author, whomust follow the procedures as described above.

Note that: (1) Journal Managers will inform theJournal Editors of any such requests and (2) onlinepublication of the accepted manuscript is suspendeduntil authorship has been agreed.

After the accepted manuscript is published online,any requests to add, remove, or rearrange authornames in an article will follow the same policies asdetailed above and result in a corrigendum.

Reporting Clinical Trials

The JFMA has adopted the ICMJE proposal from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) that require, as a condition of consideration for publication of clinical trials, registration in a public trials registry. Purely observational studies (those in which the assignment of the medical intervention is not at the discretion of the investigator) do not require registration. Further information can be found at https://www.icmje.org.

Identification of Patients in Descriptions, Photographs and Pedigrees

A signed statement of informed consent to publish (in print and online) patient descriptions, photographs and pedigrees should be obtained from all persons (parents or legal guardians for minors) who can be identified (including by the patients themselves) in such written descriptions, photographs or pedigrees. Such persons should be shown the manuscript before its submission. Omitting data or making data less specific to de-identify patients is acceptable, but changing any such data is not acceptable. State explicitly in the methods section of the manuscript that informed consent was obtained from all participating adult subjects or from parents or legal guardians for minors or incapacitated adults, together with the manner in which informed consent was obtained (i.e., oral or written).

Previous Publication or Duplicate Submission

Submitted manuscripts are considered with the understanding that they have not been published previously in print or electronic format (except in abstract or poster form) and are not under consideration in totality or in part by another publication or electronic medium.

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.

For manuscripts that are judged by JFMA Editors to be written in poor English but otherwise worthy of consideration for publication, authors are required to pay for the English polishing of their manuscript. Otherwise, the Editorial Office reserves the right to reject the manuscript.

Item presented at a meeting and published

Cionni RJ. Color perception in patients with UV- or blue-light-filtering IOLs. In: Symposium on Cataract, IOL, and Refractive Surgery. San Diego, CA: American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery; 2004. Abstract 337.

Theses

Ayers AJ. Retention of resin restorations by means of enamel etching and by pins. MSD thesis, Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, 1971.

Website

Glueckauf RL, Whitton J, Baxter J. Videocounseling for families of rural teens with epilepsy-project update. Telehealth News 1998. Available at http://www.telehealth.net/subscribe/newslettr_4a.html#1. Accessed November 15, 2008.

Company/manufacturer publication/pamphlet

Eastman Kodak Company, Eastman Organic Chemicals. Catalog no. 49. Rochester, NY: Eastman Kodak; 1977, p. 2-3.

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 JFMA is the official peer-reviewed publication of the Formosan Medical Association. Manuscripts published in the JFMA become the permanent property of the Formosan Medical Association and Elsevier.

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

Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in 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, it is recommended to state this.

Open access

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

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.

Supporting Documents

The following documents must be included in your submission and uploaded to Editorial Manager (refer also to the Checklist that follows these author instructions). Items (1), (2), and (3) are mandatory. Items (4) and (5) and (7) are required only if they are applicable to your manuscript.

(1) Cover Letter. This must include the following information:

• title of the manuscript
• a statement that the material contained in the manuscript has not been previously published and is not being concurrently submitted elsewhere
• persons who do not fulfill the requirements to be listed as authors but who nevertheless contributed to the manuscript (such as those who provided writing assistance, for example) should be disclosed
• signed by the corresponding author
• Optional: if you have a list of reviewers who you wish to review or not to review your manuscript, you may include this list in the cover letter

(2) Authorship & 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 Section Conflict of interest for more information). Please use the JFMA Authorship & Conflicts of Interest Statement form. The corresponding author is to sign on behalf of all the authors listed in the manuscript and is responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the information provided.

(3) Copyright Transfer Agreement. In the event that your manuscript is accepted for publication in the JFMA, you are required to transfer all copyright ownership in and relating to the work to Formosan Medical Association and Elsevier. Please use the JFMA Copyright Transfer Agreement form. Corresponding author's signature must be included.

(4) Signed Statement of Informed Consent. 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.

(5) 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.

Preparation

Text should be typed double-spaced on one side of white A4 (297 x 210 mm) paper, with outer margins of 2.5 cm. A manuscript should include a title page, abstract, main text, references, acknowledgments (if any), 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.

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 single anonymized review process. All contributions are 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.

Use of word processing software
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). Note that source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.

Title Page

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

• article category
• article title
• names (spelled out in full*) of all authors, and the institutions with which they are affiliated; indicate all affiliations with a superscripted number after the author's name and in front of the matching affiliation
• Declaration of any potential financial and nonfinancial conflicts of interest
• corresponding author details (name, e-mail, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers)
• running title not exceeding 50 characters

*The name of each author should be written with the family name last, e.g., Wan-Lin Chang. Authorship is restricted only to direct participants who have contributed significantly to the work and the number of authors should not exceed seven.

Abstract and Keywords

An abstract and 3-5 relevant keywords (in alphabetical order) are required for the following article categories: Review Articles, Invited Articles, Original Articles, Case Reports and Brief Communications.

Abstracts for Review Articles, Invited Articles, Case Reports and Brief Communications should be unstructured (in one single paragraph with no section headings), be no more than 200 words long and include information on the background/purpose of the report, methods, results (or case report), and conclusions.

Abstracts for Original Articles should be structured into the sections listed below and be no more than 250 words long.

Background/Purpose: briefly explain the importance of the study topic and state a precise study question or purpose.

Methods: briefly introduce the methods used to perform the study; include information on the study design, setting, subjects, interventions, outcome measures and analyses as appropriate.

Results: briefly present the significant results, with data and statistical details such as p values where appropriate; be sure that information in the abstract matches that in the main text.

Conclusion: state the meaning of your findings, being careful to address the study question directly and to confine your conclusions to aspects covered in the abstract; give equal emphasis to positive and negative findings.

Keywords should be taken from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html).

No abstract or keywords are required for Perspectives, Correspondence and Letters to the Editor.

Main Text

The text for Original Articles and Brief Communications should be organized into the following sections: Introduction, Materials (or Patients) and Methods, Results, Discussion, and References. Subheadings in long papers are acceptable if needed for clarification and ease of reading. Sections for Case Reports are: Introduction, Case Report, Discussion, and References. Each section should begin on a new page.

Abbreviations

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.

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 Nonproprietary 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, "… KSPSS version 11 was used (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, 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 of 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 < 0.001, since additional zeros do not convey useful information; the largest 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.

Funding/Support Statement

All financial and material support for the research, work, writing and editorial assistance from internal or external agencies, including commercial companies, should be clearly and completely identified in a Funding/Support Statement.

Acknowledgments

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.

Figures

General guidelines
The number of figures should be restricted to the minimum necessary to support the textual material. Figures 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 figure legend in alphabetical order. Items requiring explanatory footnotes should follow the same style as that for tables as described in Section Tables

Patient identification should be obscured. 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 at the correct resolution (see Section Formats ). The files should be named according to the figure number, e.g., "Fig1.tif", "Fig2.jpg".

Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please "save as" or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):

• EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as "graphics".
• TIFF: Color or grayscale photographs (halftones) — always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
• TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings - use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
• TIFF: Combination of bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale) - a minimum of 600 dpi.
• DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office applications, please supply “as is”.

Please do not:

• Supply files that do not meet the resolution requirements detailed above;
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (such as GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG) as the resolution is too low;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available at https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Please note that the cost of color illustrations will be charged to the author.

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. Items requiring explanatory footnotes should be denoted using superscripted lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.), with the footnotes arranged under the table in alphabetical order. 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 in alphabetical order. 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 indicated by superscripted numbers according to order of appearance in the text, and placed after punctuation. [The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.]
• 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 abstracts unless they are the only available reference to an important concept.
• Do not cite uncompleted work or work that has not yet been accepted for publication (i.e., “unpublished observation”, “personal communication”)

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

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

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

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, authors’ surnames and initials, article title, abbreviated journal name, year, volume and inclusive page numbers.
• The surnames 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.
• Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and for correct text citation.

Examples are given below.

Standard journal articles

Wu UI, Wang JT, Ho YC, Pan SC, Chen YC, Chang SC. Factors associated with development of complications among adults with influenza: a 3-year prospective analysis. J Formos Med Assoc 2012;111:364-9.

Chen JC, Huang AJ, Chen SC, Wu JL, Wu WM, Chiang HS, et al. Interleukin-27 and interleukin-12 augment activation of distinct cord blood natural killer cells responses via STAT3 pathways. J Formos Med Assoc 2012;111:275-83.

Journal supplement

Kaplan NM. The endothelium as prognostic factor and therapeutic target: what criteria should we apply? J Cardiovasc Pharmacol 1998;32(Suppl 3):S78-80. Journal article not in English but with English abstract

Hofele C, Schwager-Schmitt M, Volkmann M. Prognostic value of antibodies against p53 in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma-five years survival rate. Laryngorhinootologie 2002;81:342-5. [In German, English abstract]

Book with edition

Bradley EL. Medical and surgical management. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Saunders; 1982, p. 72-95.

Book with editors

Letheridge S, Cannon CR, editors. Bilingual education: Teaching English as a second language. New York: Praeger; 1980.

Book chapter in book with editor and edition

Greaves M, Culligan DJ. Blood and bone marrow. In: Underwood JCE, editor. General and systematic pathology. 4th ed. London: Churchill Livingstone; 2004, p. 615-72.

Book series with editors

Wilson JG, Fraser FC, editors. Handbook of teratology, vols. 1-4. New York: Plenum Press; 1977-1978.

Bulletin

World Health Organization. World health report 2002: reducing risk, promoting healthy life. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2002.

Electronic publications

Duchin JS. Can preparedness for biological terrorism save us from pertussis? Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2004;158(2). Available from: http://archpedi.amaassn. org/cgi/content/full/158/2/106. Accessed June 12, 2004.

Smeeth L, Iliffe S. Community screening for visual impairment in the elderly. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2002(2):CD001054. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858. CD1001054.

Items presented at a meeting but not yet published

Khuri FR, Lee JJ, Lippman SM. Isotretinoin effects on head and neck cancer recurrence and second primary tumors. In: Proceedings from the American Society of Clinical Oncology; May 31 –June 3, 2003; Chicago, IL. Abstract 359.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material such as applications, images and sound clips, can be published with your article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make changes to supplementary material during any stage of the process, please make sure to provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the 'Track Changes' option in Microsoft Office files as these will appear in the published version.

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, which may also include software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Editorial and Peer Review Process

As a general rule, the receipt of a manuscript will be acknowledged within 1 week 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 submission will not be accepted 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 promptly without review. Note that the rejection rate for case reports is higher than for other article categories due to the current situation of a large number of case reports being submitted.

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. The JFMA follows a single-blind peer review process. Authors may submit a list in their cover letter of reviewers who they wish to review or not to review their manuscript. However, the actual peer reviewers invited will remain anonymous and may or may not be the reviewers suggested by the authors as the selection of reviewers is at the sole discretion of JFMA Editors. (Authors may also submit a list of JFMA Editors who they wish to manage or not to manage their manuscript.) The editors and reviewers will not disclose any information about a manuscript or its review to anyone except the manuscript's corresponding author.

For manuscripts that are judged by JFMA Editors to be written in poor English but otherwise worthy of consideration for publication, authors are required to pay for the English polishing of their manuscript. Otherwise, their manuscript will be rejected.

The corresponding author will usually be notified within 8 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). If revisions are required, authors are asked to return a revised manuscript to the Editorial Office via Editorial Manager within 30 days. Please notify the Editorial Office in advance if additional time is needed or if you choose not to submit a revised manuscript.

Preparation for Publication

Once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, authors should submit the final version of their manuscript in MS Word format, with all tables/figures as applicable, via Editorial Manager. It is a basic requirement that the manuscript be prepared using good English. The Editorial Office reserves the right to edit poor English as suggested by the reviewer(s) and/or Editorial Board before the final version is decided. The editing fee will be charged to the authors.Accepted manuscripts are then presented to the Publisher to be copyedited according to the Journal's style.

Online proof correction

To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. 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, you 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 you to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.
If preferred, you 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 your article published quickly and accurately. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

Publication Charges and Reprints

Starting from 1 January 2021, authors of accepted articles will be charged a publication fee of US$1500 (US$1200 for members of the Formosan Medical Association). Authors will also be charged US$84 per illustration, figure or table that is in color. For manuscripts that require extensive English editing, authors will be charged for the correction of English grammar at US$30/page. Please note, for non-solicited review articles including practice guidelines and consensus report, if the paper length (words count or reference numbers) exceeds the limitation as stated in the Types of Article section, the publication fee will be US$2,000 (US$1,600 for members of the Formosan Medical Association) per accepted paper.

For environmental reasons, JFMA does not provide article offprints to authors. Professional reprints (which include a cover page) of your article may be ordered at prices based on the cost of production.

Author inquiries

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

FORMS

• Checklist
• Authorship/Conflicts of Interest Statement
• Copyright Transfer Statement

Updated Sep 2016