Tutorial Videos
Types of papers
Reviews: Review articles collect, describe, and evaluate prior publications of important clinical subjects, accompanied by critical analysis leading to rational conclusions. These Reviews should contain very little, if any, original data from an author's own study; however, such data can be used to support the overall thesis of the article. We also accept targeted mini-reviews that cover specific topics or therapies.
Mechanics: Reviews articles should contain a short abstract stating the goal of the review, an introduction, discussion, and conclusion. We recommend that Review articles contain 2000-10,000 words, ≤ 7 figures and/or tables, and 50-120 references.
Original Studies: Original Studies articles present results of original clinical and/or translational (basic research with clinical applications) research. This article focuses on new data collected by the author(s) during the course of a clinical research, although other studies may be cited for support. The Original Study should contain the following sections: Title Page, Structured Abstract, Introduction, Patients and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion.
Mechanics: Original Studies should contain a structured abstract with the following sections: Background, Patients and Methods, Results, and Conclusion. We recommend that Original Studies contain 2000-8000 words, ≤ 7 figures and/or tables, and 30-60 references.
Case Reports: Case Reports of educational value may describe a single case or a small series of cases. Case Reports should draw attention to important clinical situations, unusual clinical phenomena, new treatment protocols, or new complications in a single patient or in a small number of patients. Case reports may also cover novel diagnostic imaging techniques, eg, MRI, CT, PET, SPECT. Modalities for diagnostic purposes, on outcome according to the pathologic grade or to monitor distant lesions, are of interest to the readership.
Mechanics: Case Reports should contain the following sections: Title Page, Clinical Practice Points, Introduction, Discussion, and Conclusion. We recommend that Case Reports contain 500-1500 words, 1-2 figures and/or tables, and 15-30 references. Imaging articles dealing with individual cases contain 500-1500 and that case series contain 2000-3000 words, 3-5 figures and/or tables, and 30-45 references.
Clinical Commentary: Clinical Commentaries focus on clinical topics that are novel or controversial and require rapid dissemination. These articles may also highlight treatment options, protocols, and/or novel case treatments. Authors who wish to submit an unsolicited Commentary should send a brief abstract to the Editor-in-Chief prior to submission in order to receive approval.
Mechanics: Commentaries should contain the following sections: Title Page, Introduction, Discussion, and Conclusion. We recommend Commentaries contain 1000-2000 words, 1-2 figures and/or tables, and 15-30 references.
Letters to the Editor: Letters to the Editor should focus on articles published within the journal during the last 12 months. These letters should be timely and seek to engage the authors of the original article in discussion. The authors of the original article will be asked to respond to a Letter to the Editor, commenting on their article. The Letter to the Editor and the Reply to the Letter to the Editor will be published together.
Mechanics: We recommend that letters contain 500-1000 words, and they may contain 1-2 figures and/or tables and 5-15 references.
Other Items: The journal also publishes highlights/reports of scientific meetings and book reviews. Please contact the editorial office for further information.
Submission checklist
You can use this list to carry out a final check of your submission before you send it to the journal for
review. Please check the relevant section in this Guide for Authors for more details.
Ensure that the following items are present:
1- Manuscript.
2- All figures (include relevant captions).
3- All tables (including titles, description, footnotes).
4- Supplemental files (where applicable)
• The manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked'.
• All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa.
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the
Internet). Evidence of the permission should be available upon request.
• A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare.
• Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed
Ethics in publishing
Please see our information pages on Ethics in publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication.
Editorial Policies and Practices
Human Subject Studies: It is the responsibility of the authors to assure that all clinical investigations detailed in manuscripts submitted to the journal are conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and to document that these studies have been approved by the appropriate institutional human research committee. Identifying information within written descriptions, photographs or pedigrees should not be published. If such information is included as essential scientific information, the authors must submit written consent of patient or guardian to publish such photographs in the print and electronic versions of the journal.
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 potentially competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places: 1. A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file (if double-blind) or the manuscript file (if single-blind). If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations of interest: none'. This summary statement will be ultimately published if the article is accepted. 2. Detailed disclosures as part of a separate Declaration of Interest form, which forms part of the journal's official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches. Financial interests should be disclosed to the Editor-in-Chief in the cover letter and on a separate conflict of interest page in the manuscript.
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, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service Crossref Similarity Check.
Use of inclusive language
Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Articles should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader, should contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of race, sex, culture or any other characteristic, and should use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, for instance by using 'he or she', 'his/her' instead of 'he' or 'his', and by making use of job titles that are free of stereotyping (e.g. 'chairperson' instead of 'chairman' and 'flight attendant' instead of 'stewardess').
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
Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.
If the manuscript has already been accepted for publication, any requests for changing the arrangement or adding or deleting one of the authors will be rejected.
Copyright
Upon the acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement'. 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.
Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article.
For gold open access articles: Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete an 'Exclusive License Agreement' Permitted third party reuse of gold open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license.
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, then this should be stated.
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 English Language Editing service available from Elsevier's WebShop.
Submission
Our online submission system guides you stepwise through the process of entering your article details and uploading your files. The system converts your article files to a single PDF file used in the peer-review process. Editable files (e.g., Word, LaTeX) are required to typeset your article for final publication. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, is sent by e-mail.
Submit your article
Please submit your article via
Full instructions for online submission are available on the………. Upon receipt of a manuscript, an e-mail message will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the paper. If you do not receive this confirmation within 48 hours, contact the editorial office: …… to confirm receipt.
Referees
Each submitted manuscript is required to include at least three suggested reviewers, with affiliations, and email addresses. Authors should consider carefully their suggested reviewers. Suggested reviewers should not have a conflict of interest for the submitted manuscript, nor have substantial ties to the authors of the manuscript. Email addresses must be from the suggested reviewer's institutional affiliation, not a non-specific, generic email address. Suggested reviewers should have expertise in the subject matter of the submitted manuscript. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used
Preparation
Manuscript Format
We wish to emphasize the importance of clarity and succinctness of the presentation of material:
We strongly recommend authors employ the format and guidelines detailed below.
Abbreviations and Nomenclature: Abbreviations and nomenclature should follow the recommendations of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the International Union of Biochemistry [see http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iupac/jcbn/]. The International System of Units (SI units) is recommended. It is desirable to include appropriate conversion factors to aid the reader.
Order
Title Page, Conflict of Interest Page, MicroAbstract (Original Studies), Abstract, Introduction, Subjects and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Clinical Practice Points, Acknowledgments, References, Tables, Figures. (Number ALL pages consecutively).
Peer review
This journal operates a single-blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of one independent expert reviewer 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.
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. 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.
Article structure
Subdivision - unnumbered sections
Divide your article into clearly defined sections. Each subsection is given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. Subsections should be used as much as possible when cross-referencing text: refer to the subsection by heading as opposed to simply 'the text'.
Introduction
State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
Subjects and methods
Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.
Results
Results should be clear and concise.
Discussion
This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.
Conclusions
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.
Appendices
If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.
Essential title page information
• Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
Abstract
The entire Abstract should not be more than 250 words. The abstract should be self-explanatory without reference to the text. Original Contributions should include a structured abstract with the following sections: Introduction/Background, Patientsand Methods, Results, Conclusion.
MicroAbstract (Original Studies)
Each manuscript should start its abstract with a microabstract limited to 3-4 sentences (60 words). The microabstract is not included as part of the structured abstract and will be excerpted in the Table of Contents to each issue. It may also be used for wider circulation. It should describe the:
All information should be accessible to a non-expert audience.
Clinical Practice Points (Original Studies, Case Reports)
Authors should complete a short summary (250 words or less) detailing the clinical importance of the study. The summary should address the following questions:
• What is already known about this subject?
• What are the new findings?
• How might it impact on clinical practice in the foreseeable future?
Graphical abstract
Although a graphical abstract is optional, its use is encouraged as it draws more attention to the online article. The graphical abstract should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files.
Keywords
Five keywords should be listed at the bottom of the abstract page. Words used in the title of the article or journal title may not be used as keywords.
Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.
Abbreviations should follow the recommendations of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the International Union of Biochemistry [see http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iupac/jcbn/].
Acknowledgements
Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).
Formatting of funding sources
List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:
Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz].
It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.
If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence:
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Units
Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other units are mentioned, please give their equivalent in SI.
Math formulae
Please submit math equations as editable text and not as images. Present simple formulae in line with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).
Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors can build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Otherwise, please indicate the position of footnotes in the text and list the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.
Artwork
Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.
• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or use fonts that look similar.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version.
• Submit each illustration as a separate file.
Formats
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is' in the native document format.
Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please 'Save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.
TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Color artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF) or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color online (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) in addition to color reproduction in print.
Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.
Tables
Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.
References
Citation in text
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
Reference links
Increased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such as Scopus, CrossRef and PubMed, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Please note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is highly encouraged.
A DOI is guaranteed never to change, so you can use it as a permanent link to any electronic article. An example of a citation using DOI for an article not yet in an issue is: VanDecar J.C., Russo R.M., James D.E., Ambeh W.B., Franke M. (2003). Aseismic continuation of the Lesser Antilles slab beneath northeastern Venezuela. Journal of Geophysical Research, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JB000884. Please note the format of such citations should be in the same style as all other references in the paper.
Web references
As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.
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.
References in a special issue
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.
Reference management software
Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles, such as Mendeley and Zotero, as well as EndNote. Using the word processor plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide. If you use reference management software, please ensure that you remove all field codes before submitting the electronic manuscript. More information on how to remove field codes.
Reference style
Text: Indicate references by (consecutive) superscript arabic numerals in the order in which they appear in the text. The numerals are to be used outside periods and commas, inside colons and semicolons. For further detail and examples you are referred to the AMA Manual of Style, A Guide for Authors and Editors, Tenth Edition, ISBN 0-978-0-19-517633-9.
List: Number the references in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
1. Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun. 2010;163:51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.Sc.2010.00372.
Reference to a journal publication with an article number:
2. 1. Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon. 2018;19:e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00205.
Reference to a book:
3. Strunk W Jr, White EB. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. New York, NY: Longman; 2000.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
4. Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In: Jones BS, Smith RZ, eds. Introduction to the Electronic Age. New York, NY: E-Publishing Inc; 2009:281–304.
Reference to a website:
5. Cancer Research UK. Cancer statistics reports for the UK. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/; 2003 Accessed 13 March 2003.
Reference to a dataset:
[dataset] 6. Oguro, M, Imahiro, S, Saito, S, Nakashizuka, T. Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions, Mendeley Data, v1; 2015. https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.
Prescription information: Endoxan (cyclophosphamide) Injection and tablet [prescribing information]: Deerfield, IL: Baxter; 2013.
Erratum: Loehrer PJ, Sr., Einhorn LH, Elson PJ, et al. A randomized comparison of cisplatin alone or in combination with methotrexate, vinblastine, and doxorubicin in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma: a cooperative group study [published erratum appears in: J Clin Oncol 1993;11:384]. J Clin Oncol 1992; 10:1066-73.
Non-English Language Translations: Zhang N, Gong K, Yang XY, et al. Expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1-alpha, hypoxia-inducible factor-2alpha and vascular endothelial growth factor in sporadic clear cell renal cell renal cell carcinoma and their significance in the pathogenesis thereof. [in Chinese]. Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi 2006; 86:1526-9.
Journal abbreviations source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.
Video
Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the file in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB per file, 1 GB in total. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article. Note: since video and animation 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.
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. To facilitate reproducibility and data reuse, this journal also encourages you to share your software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project.
Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article or make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. If you are sharing data in one of these ways, you are encouraged to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. Please refer to the "References" section for more information about data citation.
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
Acceptance and Online Only Publication
The editor reserves the right to schedule your manuscript for print or online-only publication. All manuscripts will appear in a printed table of contents; however, some papers may only be available online due to print page restrictions.
After Acceptance
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, 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 the inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.
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 payable by authors.
• The Author is entitled to post the accepted manuscript in their institution's repository and make this public after an embargo period (known as green Open Access). The published journal article cannot be shared publicly, for example on ResearchGate or Academia.edu, to ensure the sustainability of peer-reviewed research in journal publications. The embargo period for this journal can be found below.
Gold open access
• Articles are freely available to both subscribers and the wider public with permitted reuse.
• A gold open access publication fee is payable by authors or on their behalf, e.g. by their research funder or institution.
Regardless of how you choose to publish your article, the journal will apply the same peer review criteria and acceptance standards.
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.
The gold open access publication fee for this journal is LE 3003000,cluding taxes.
Green open access
Authors can share their research in a variety of different ways. Authors can self-archive their manuscripts immediately and enable public access from their institution's repository after an embargo period. This is the version that has been accepted for publication and which typically includes author-incorporated changes suggested during submission, peer review and in editor-author communications. Embargo period: For subscription articles, an appropriate amount of time is needed for journals to deliver value to subscribing customers before an article becomes freely available to the public. This is the embargo period and it begins from the date the article is formally published online in its final and fully citable form.
This journal has an embargo period of 12 months.