Instructions for Authors
SCOPE
American Journal of Clinical Oncology is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal that publishes original articles on the latest multi-modality scientific issues related to the locoregional management of cancer. Our intent is to give priority to submitted materials that deal with the surgical, radiotherapeutic and chemotherapeutic management of locoregional cancer
Ethical/Legal Considerations
A submitted manuscript must be an original contribution not previously published (except as an abstract or a preliminary report), must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere, and, if accepted, must not be published elsewhere in similar form, in any language, without the consent of Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Each person listed as an author is expected to have participated in the study to a significant extent. Although the editors and referees make every effort to ensure the validity of published manuscripts, the final responsibility rests with the authors, not with the Journal, its editors, or the publisher. All manuscripts must be submitted on-line through the journal's Web site at http://ajco.edmgr.com/. See submission instructions under "On-line manuscript submission."
Patient anonymity and informed consent: It is the author's responsibility to ensure that a patient's anonymity be carefully protected and to verify that any experimental investigation with human subjects reported in the manuscript was performed with informed consent and following all the guidelines for experimental investigation with human subjects required by the institution(s) with which all the authors are affiliated. If identifying details do appear in text, tables, and/or figures, the author must provide proof of informed consent that he/she obtained from the patients (a signed permissions form). This informed consent should be indicated in the text of the article (in the Methods section, if appropriate) or in the acknowledgments at the end of the article. Photographs with bars placed over eyes of patients should NOT be used in publication unless permission from the patient is granted.
Conflicts of interest
Authors must state all possible conflicts of interest in the manuscript, including financial, consultant, institutional and other relationships that might lead to bias or a conflict of interest. If there is no conflict of interest, this should also be explicitly stated as none declared. All sources of funding should be acknowledged in the manuscript. All relevant conflicts of interest and sources of funding should be included on the title page of the manuscript with the heading “Conflicts of Interest and Source of Funding:”. For example:
Conflicts of Interest and Source of Funding: A has received honoraria from Company Z. B is currently receiving a grant (#12345) from Organization Y, and is on the speaker’s bureau for Organization X – the CME organizers for Company A. For the remaining authors none were declared.
Copyright:
In addition, each author must complete and submit the journal's copyright transfer agreement, which includes a section on the disclosure of potential conflicts of interest based on the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" (www.icmje.org/update.html).
Note: A copy of this form is made available to the submitting author within the Editorial Manager submission process. Co-authors will automatically receive an Email with instructions on completing the form upon submission.
Compliance with NIH and Other Research Funding Agency Public Access Requirements
A number of research funding agencies require or request authors to submit the post-print (the article after peer review and acceptance but not the final published article) to a repository that is accessible online by all without charge. As a service to our authors, WK will identify to the National Library of Medicine (NLM) articles that require deposit and will transmit the post-print of an article based on research funded in whole or in part by the National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust, or Howard Hughes Medical Institute, to PubMed Central. Authors may indicate such funding when completing the Copyright Transfer Agreement.
Open access
Authors of accepted peer-reviewed articles have the choice to pay a fee to allow perpetual unrestricted online access to their published article to readers globally, immediately upon publication. Authors may take advantage of the open access option at the point of acceptance to ensure that this choice has no influence on the peer review and acceptance process. These articles are subject to the journal's standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit.
The article processing charge (APC) is charged on acceptance of the article and should be paid within 30 days by the author, funding agency or institution. Payment must be processed for the article to be published open access. For a list of journals and pricing please visit our Wolters Kluwer Open Health Journals page.
Authors retain copyright
Authors retain their copyright for all articles they opt to publish open access. Authors grant Wolters Kluwer an exclusive license to publish the article and the article is made available under the terms of a Creative Commons user license. Please visit our Open Access Publication Process page for more information.
Creative Commons license
Open access articles are freely available to read, download and share from the time of publication under the terms of the Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommerical No Derivative (CC BY-NC-ND) license. This license does not permit reuse for any commercial purposes nor does it cover the reuse or modification of individual elements of the work (such as figures, tables, etc.) in the creation of derivative works without specific permission.
Compliance with funder mandated open access policies
An author whose work is funded by an organization that mandates the use of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license is able to meet that requirement through the available open access license for approved funders. Information about the approved funders can be found here: http://www.wkopenhealth.com/inst-fund.php
FAQ for open access
http://www.wkopenhealth.com/openaccessfaq.php
Permissions: Authors must submit written permission from the copyright owner (usually the publisher) to use direct quotations, tables, or illustrations that have appeared in copyrighted form elsewhere, along with complete details about the source. Any permissions fees that might be required by the copyright owner are the responsibility of the authors requesting use of the borrowed material, not the responsibility of Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. For permission and/or rights to use content for which the copyright holder is LWW or the society, please go to the journal's website and after clicking on the relevant article, click on the "Request Permissions" link under the "Article Tools" box that appears on the right side of the page. Alternatively, send an e-mail to customercare@copyright.com. For Translation Rights & Licensing queries, contact Silvia Serra, Translations Rights, Licensing & Permissions Manager, Wolters Kluwer Health (Medical Research) Ltd, 250 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8RD, UK. Phone: +44 (0) 207 981 0600. E-mail: silvia.serra@wolterskluwer.com. For Special Projects and Reprints (U.S./Canada), contact Alan Moore, Director of Sales, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Square, 2001 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103. Phone: 215-521-8638. E-mail: alan.moore@wolterskluwer.com. For Special Projects and Reprints (non-U.S./Canada), contact Silvia Serra, Translations Rights, Licensing & Permissions Manager, Wolters Kluwer Health (Medical Research) Ltd, 250 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8RD, UK. Phone: +44 (0) 207 981 0600. E-mail: silvia.serra@wolterskluwer.com.
Manuscript Submission
On-line manuscript submission: All manuscripts must be submitted on-line through the new Web site at http://ajco.edmgr.com/. First-time users: Please click the Register button from the main menu and enter the requested information. On successful registration, you will be sent an e-mail indicating your user name and password. Print a copy of this information for future reference. Note: If you have received an e-mail from us with an assigned user ID and password, or if you are a repeat user, do not register again. Just log in. Once you have an assigned ID and password, you do not have to re-register, even if your status changes (that is, author, reviewer, or editor).
Authors: Please click the log-in button from the menu at the top of the page and log in to the system as an Author. Submit your manuscript according to the author instructions. You will be able to track the progress of your manuscript through the system. If you experience any problems, please contact Naima DuBois Stone, Editorial Coordinator, phone: 215-521-8016, email: naima.stone@wolterskluwer.com. Requests for help and other questions will be addressed in the order received.
Preparation of Manuscript
Manuscripts that do not adhere to the following instructions will be returned to the corresponding author for technical revision before undergoing peer review.
Title page: Include on the title page (a) complete manuscript title; (b) authors' full names, highest academic degrees, and affiliations; (c) name and address for correspondence, including fax number, telephone number, and e-mail address; (d) address for reprints if different from that of corresponding author; and (e) all sources of support, including pharmaceutical and industry support, that require acknowledgment.
The title page must also include disclosure of funding received for this work from any of the following organizations: National Institutes of Health (NIH); Wellcome Trust; Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI); and other(s).
Structured abstract and key words: Limit the abstract to 250 words. Do not cite references in the abstract. Limit the use of abbreviations and acronyms. Use the following subheadings: Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. List three to five key words.
Text: Organize the manuscript into four main headings: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion. Define abbreviations at first mention in text and in each table and figure. If a brand name is cited, supply the manufacturer's name and address (city and state/country). All forms of support, including pharmaceutical industry support, must be acknowledged in the Acknowledgment section.
Abbreviations: For a list of standard abbreviations, consult the Council of Biology Editors Style Guide (available from the Council of Science Editors, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814) or other standard sources. Write out the full term for each abbreviation at its first use unless it is a standard unit of measure.
References: The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. Key the references (double-spaced) at the end of the manuscript. Cite the references in text in the order of appearance. Cite unpublished data--such as papers submitted but not yet accepted for publication and personal communications, including e-mail communications--in parentheses in the text. If there are more than three authors, name only the first three authors and then use et al. Refer to the List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus for abbreviations of journal names, or access the list at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html. Sample references are given below:
Journal article
1. Ang KK, Price RE, Stephens LC, et al. The tolerance of primate spinal cord to re-irradiation. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 1993;25: 459-64.
Book chapter
2. Dimery IW. Chemotherapy in head and neck cancer. In: Myerhoff WI, Rice DH, eds. Otolaryngology: head and neck surgery, 2nd ed. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1992:1027-45
Entire book
3. Virchow R. Cellular Pathology. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott, 1863.
Software
4. Epi Info [computer program]. Version 6. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 1994.
Online journals
5. Friedman SA. Preeclampsia: a review of the role of prostaglandins. Obstet Gynecol [serial online]. January 1988;71:22-37. Available from: BRS Information Technologies, McLean, VA. Accessed December 15, 1990.
Database
6. CANCERNET-PDQ [database online]. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute; 1996. Updated March 29, 1996.
World Wide Web
7. Gostin LO. Drug use and HIV/AIDS [JAMA HIV/AIDS Web site]. June 1, 1996. Available at: http://www.ama-assn.org/special/hiv/ethics. Accessed June 26, 1997.
URL (uniform resource locator)
8. (J. M. Kramer, K. Kramer [jmkramer@umich.edu], e-mail, March 6, 1996).
Figures
All digital artwork should be submitted through Editorial Manager. The following information summarizes our guidelines for image preparation:
Creating Digital Artwork
Learn about the publication requirements for Digital Artwork: http://links.lww.com/ES/A42
Create, Scan and Save your artwork and compare your final figure to the Digital Artwork Guideline Checklist (below).
Upload each figure to Editorial Manager in conjunction with your manuscript text and tables.
Digital Artwork Guideline Checklist
Here are the basics to have in place before submitting your digital art to American Journal of Clinical Oncology:
Artwork should be saved as TIFF, PDF, Word Doc, PPT, or EPS files.
Artwork is created as the actual size (or slightly larger) it will appear in the journal. (To get an idea of the size images should be when they print, study a copy of the journal to which you wish to submit. Measure the artwork typically shown and scale your image to match.)
Crop out any white or black space surrounding the image.
Diagrams, drawings, graphs, and other line art must be vector or saved at a resolution of at least 1200 dpi. If the art is created in an MS Office program, convert to a hi-res PDF. If the PDF creation process is unfamiliar then submit the MS Office doc.
Photographs, radiographs and other halftone images must be saved at a resolution of at least 300 dpi.
Photographs and radiographs with text must be saved as postscript or at a resolution of at least 600 dpi.
Each figure must be saved and submitted as a separate file. Figures should not be embedded in the manuscript text file.
Additional Figure Requirements:
Cite figures consecutively in the text, and number them in the order in which they are discussed. Include the figure number and figure part (1A, 1B, 1C).
Number figures in the figure legend in the order in which they are discussed.
Upload figures consecutively to the Editorial Manager web site and number figures consecutively in the Description box during upload.
Figure legends: Include legends for all figures. They should be brief and specific, and they should appear on a separate manuscript page after the references. Use scale markers in the image for electron micrographs, and indicate the type of stain used.
Color figures: The journal accepts for publication color figures that will enhance an article. Authors who submit color figures will receive an estimate of the cost for color reproduction. If they decide not to pay for color reproduction, they can request that the figures be converted to black and white at no charge.
Tables: Create tables using the table creating and editing feature of your word processing software (eg, Word, WordPerfect). Do not use Excel or comparable spreadsheet programs. Each table should be uploaded as a separate, individual file. Cite tables consecutively in the text, and number them in that order. Each table should appear on a separate sheet and should include the table title, appropriate column heads, and explanatory legends (including definitions of any abbreviations used). Do not embed tables within the body of the manuscript. They should be self-explanatory and should supplement, rather than duplicate, the material in the text.
Supplemental Digital Content
Supplemental Digital Content (SDC): Authors may submit SDC via Editorial Manager to LWW journals that enhance their article's text to be considered for online posting. SDC may include standard media such as text documents, graphs, audio, video, etc. On the Attach Files page of the submission process, please select Supplemental Audio, Video, or Data for your uploaded file as the Submission Item. If an article with SDC is accepted, our production staff will create a URL with the SDC file. The URL will be placed in the call-out within the article. SDC files are not copy-edited by LWW staff, they will be presented digitally as submitted. For a list of all available file types and detailed instructions, please visit http://links.lww.com/A142.
SDC Call-outs
Supplemental Digital Content must be cited consecutively in the text of the submitted manuscript. Citations should include the type of material submitted (Audio, Figure, Table, etc.), be clearly labeled as "Supplemental Digital Content," include the sequential list number, and provide a description of the supplemental content. All descriptive text should be included in the call-out as it will not appear elsewhere in the article.
Example:
We performed many tests on the degrees of flexibility in the elbow (see Video, Supplemental Digital Content 1, which demonstrates elbow flexibility) and found our results inconclusive.
List of Supplemental Digital Content
A listing of Supplemental Digital Content must be submitted at the end of the manuscript file. Include the SDC number and file type of the Supplemental Digital Content. This text will be removed by our production staff and not be published.
Example:
Supplemental Digital Content 1. wmv
SDC File Requirements
All acceptable file types are permissible up to 10 MBs. For audio or video files greater than 10 MBs, authors should first query the journal office for approval. For a list of all available file types and detailed instructions, please visit http://links.lww.com/A142.
Style: In general, style should be patterned after the American Medical Association Manual of Style (9th edition). Stedman's Medical Dictionary (27th edition) and Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th edition) should be used as standard references. Drugs and therapeutic agents should be referred to by their accepted generic or chemical names. The name should not be abbreviated. Code numbers should be used only when a generic name is not yet available. In that case, the chemical name and a figure giving the chemical structure of the drug is required. Copyright or trade names of drugs should be capitalized and placed in parentheses after the name of the drug. Names and locations (city and state in USA; city and country outside USA) of manufacturers of drugs, supplies, or equipment cited in a manuscript are required to comply with trademark law and should be provided in parentheses. Units of measure should be expressed in the metric system, and temperatures should be expressed in degrees Celsius. Conventional units should be written as SI units as appropriate.
Content Sections:
Original Articles. Our intent is to publish high quality research as it relates to clinical trials, outcome analyses, and translational research, cost utility analyses, etc.
A structured abstract is required and should be organized using the following headings: Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions. The abstract should not exceed 250 words. The main text of an Original Article should not exceed 3500 words (this count excludes the abstract, references, tables, and figure legends). Original Articles should contain no more than 6 tables and/or figures.
Additional text, tables, and figures may be submitted as Supplemental Digital Content.
Review Articles. Review articles should be submitted that relate to the combined modality locoregional management of cancer, translational research, research techniques, new technology, etc. Authors are encouraged to include high quality illustrations and summary data tables.
Review Articles should be submitted with an unstructured abstract of 250 or less. The main text of a Review Article should not exceed 4000 words (this count excludes the abstract, references, tables, and figure legends). Review Articles should contain no more than 6 tables and/or figures.
Additional text, tables, and figures may be submitted as Supplemental Digital Content
Cancer Management Controversy. This section will appear on a periodic basis in the journal. No abstract is required for Cancer Management Controversy submissions, but the text of these submissions should not exceed 2000 words, excluding references. Up to two tables and/or figures may be submitted.
Opinion pieces. We will periodically solicit editorial pieces as they relate to new or controversial topics. These submissions should contain no more than 1500 words, excluding references. One table or figure may be submitted with an editorial piece. No abstract is required.
Correspondence. We will seek to publish a limited number of reader correspondence in each issue. These submissions should be limited to 750 words or less, excluding references. One table or figure may be submitted with reader correspondence.
After Acceptance
Page proofs and corrections: Corresponding authors will receive electronic page proofs to check the copyedited and typeset article before publication. Portable document format (PDF) files of the typeset pages and support documents (eg, reprint order form) will be sent to the corresponding author by e-mail. Complete instructions will be provided with the e-mail for downloading and printing the files and submitting corrected page proofs via the ProduXion Manager system or directly to the Proof Manager. It is the author's responsibility to ensure that there are no errors in the proofs. Changes that have been made to conform to journal style will stand if they do not alter the authors' meaning. Only the most critical changes to the accuracy of the content will be made. Changes that are stylistic or are a reworking of previously accepted material will be disallowed. The publisher reserves the right to deny any changes that do not affect the accuracy of the content. Proofs must be checked carefully and corrections returned within 24 to 48 hours of receipt, as requested in the e-mail notification accompanying the page proofs.
Publisher's contact: E-mail color letters and corrected page proofs to The Proof Manager, Health Learning, Research & Practice, Wolters Kluwer Health, Email: jprod.lwwus@mpslimited.com, Fax: 1-443-451-8191. Production questions can be directed to Senior Production Editor Aidan Derrico. E-mail: Aidan.Derrico@wolterskluwer.com.
Reprints: Authors will have the opportunity to order reprints after issue publication. An e-mail will be sent to each author with a valid e-mail address in Editorial Manager. Contact Customer Service (customerservice@lww.com) with any questions.
