Instructions to Authors
Editorial Policy
Acta Medica Okayama (AMO ) publishes papers relating to all areas of basic and clinical medical science. Papers may be sub-mitted by those not affiliated with Okayama University. Only original papers which have not been published or submitted else-where and timely review articles should be submitted. Original papers may be Full-length Articles or Short Communications. Case Reports are considered if they describe significant and substantial new findings. Preliminary observations are not accepted. Each Case Report should be accompanied by a letter describing the purpose and outcome of the study, along with a summary that includes key sentences from the text and that should be meaningful to scientists in other disciplines. Prior consultation with the editor is recommended before preparing or submitting review articles. Word-formatted file of the manuscript should be submitted. Responsibility lies entirely with the author for all statements contained in the paper, including bibliographic references. Manuscripts must be in English. For any investigation involving human subjects, informed consent must be obtained from the subject(s) and/or their guardian(s) and this must be clearly stated in the paper.
Our policy is that all persons listed as authors must meet the AMO requirements for authorship. By submitting a manuscript for publication, every author acknowledges having made a substantial contribution to the concept and design of the study, the analysis and interpretation of the results and the writing of the paper in addition to having approved the final submitted version. Accordingly, “Authorship Form” signed each copy per author should be attached in submitting a manuscript. Note: Manu-scripts cannot be processed for reviewing until the Editorial Office has received this signed form. Authorship Form is avail-able on line at (http://ousar.lib.okayama-u.ac.jp/documents/authorship_form.doc).
Manuscript Format
Manuscripts should be typewritten with double spacing in 12pt and wide margins on good-quality typing paper. American spelling is to be used and all pages must be numbered consecutively starting with the title page. The first page (title page) should include the title, the names of the author(s), the institution where the study was conducted, and a running title of less than 40 letters and spaces. All authors should be listed by full name. The affiliation of each author should be specified. The corresponding author’s complete address should be written, including telephone and fax numbers and, an e-mail address for the purposes of correspondence. The names of Japanese authors should be written in both English and Japanese. The second page should contain an Abstract of no more than 200 words for Full-length Articles or 100 words for Short Communications, Case Report, and a list of no more than 5 unabbreviated key words. The Introduction begins on page 3. Following this, the standard format for Full-length Articles is: Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments. References, Tables, Legends to Figures, and Figures should be the separate pages respectively. For Short Communications, subdivision into Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion may be omit-ted. Latin words should be italicized (e.g., in vitro, in vivo, i.e., perse, etc.). As a style reference, see the chapter entitled “Scientific Style and Format” of The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (Cambridge University Press). Internet sources should not be listed in References. Only authorized internet sources may be included in the text with its active URL.
Ethical Conduct of Research
All studies on human subjects should be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Authors must indicate that the procedures were approved by the local Ethical Committee Board along with its approval number, and the Methods section must include a statement that all procedures were carried out with the adequate understanding and written consent of each subject.
On a clinical trial that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes (WHO definition), AMO requires not only approval of the institutional ethical board but also registration of the trial in any registries that are acceptable to International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (http://www.icmje.org/about-icmje/faqs/clinicaltrials-registration/) or that participate in the WHO International Clinical Trials Portal (http://www.who.int/ictrp/network/primary/en/). The information about the name of registry and the registration number of the trial in some proper registry should be described in the Methods section. The manuscript cannot be processed for reviewing until the Editorial Office has gotten the information of registration of the study.
When experimental animals are used, the Methods section should clearly indicate that all animal experiments were carried out in accordance with institutional Policies and Guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and that all efforts were made to minimize animal suffering.
Abbreviations
The following abbreviations should be used : l, ml, μl, kg, g, mg, μg, ng, pg, m, cm, mm, μm, nm, h, min, sec, msec, M, mM, and °C. Other ambiguous abbreviations should be defined upon first mention. Abbreviations should appear in parentheses immediately after their first mention and may be used alone thereafter in the text thereafter.
Tables
Tables should be used efficiently, i.e., only when the data can-not be presented clearly in the text. For aid in designing tables in an acceptable style, consult recent issues of AMO. Instructions to Authors Each table should be typed on a separate page with a suitable caption at the top and a legend at the bottom. The caption and legend should be written so that they are comprehensible without reference to the text. Cite all tables in the text and number them in order of appearance.
Figures
Authors must submit high-resolution TIFF/JPEG/PowerPoint file of figures for the first submission. Authors should bear in mind the page size of AMO (82 mm in width for a single column and 170 mm in width for double columns). Original figures should be no larger than 170 × 213 mm in order to fit into the text columns. And scale bars should be provided on each photograph. Full-size figures, properly laid out and in no need of reduction, are ideal and save valuable editorial and layout time. For the format of bibliographic references, see recent issues of AMO. Color illustrations are not acceptable unless the author is prepared to cover all costs involved in color reproduction. Figure legends should be written as concisely as possible while ensuring that they are comprehensible without reference to the text. All figures should be cited in the text and numbered in order of their appearance. The figure legends for figures should be typed on a separate page of the text file.
References
All literature cited in the text, including table and figure legends, should be identified by a number written in square brackets in order of appearance. References should be listed in numerical order at the end of the manuscript under the heading “References” and should be typed with double spacing throughout. Citation of references written in a language not commonly understood or contained in obscure journals or books should be avoided. Titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the Serial Sources for the Biosis Data Base (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). The full title of the article and the name of all authors as well as the first and last page numbers should be given. Examples of citation style are as follows:
van Holde KE, Lohr DE and Robert C : What happens to nucleosomes during transcription? J Biol Chem (1992) 267 : 2837-2840.
Tobe K, Matsuura K, Iwasaki Y and Okazaki S : Change of obesity population and body constitution in newly enrolled university students. Igaku No Ayumi (J Clin Exp Med, Tokyo) (1998) 184 : 884-885 (in Japanese).
Graham DI : Hypoxia and vascular disorders ; in Greenfi eld’s Neuropathology, Adams JH and Duchen LW eds, 5th Ed, Edward Arnold, London (1992) pp 153-268.
Lever WF and Schaumburg-Lever G : Histopathology of the Skin. 7th Ed, JB Lippincott, Philadelphia (1990) pp 252-268.
Review Process and Revision of Manuscripts
Manuscripts are sent to two peer-reviewers without COI relevant to the manuscript who will suggest whether to accept or reject the article or to return it to the author(s) for revisions. In the case of revised manuscripts, 2 copies of the revised manuscript should be returned to the editor along with the original manuscript returned by the editor. Responses to any comments or questions raised by the editor and/or reviewers must also be included. The author(s) must clearly specify all alterations performed in response to any comments or questions raised by the editor and/or reviewers. Authors are required to submit the revised version within 6 months and should understand that papers resubmitted after 6 months will be treated as new submissions.
Galley Proofs
Galley proofs are sent from the editorial office to the author(s) and must be returned promptly to avoid delays in publication. Requests for reprints may be made with the return of the galley proofs.
Charges
Review & Full-length Article : 6,000 Japanese yen per printed page up to 4 pages; 20,000 yen per each printed page over 4 pages. Short Communication, Case Report: 6,000 yen per printed page up to 2 pages; 20,000 yen per page over 2 pages. For a printed page with color figures, a separate fee of 22,000 yen a page applies. There is a processing fee of 10,000 yen for all accepted articles.
Copyright
Authors submitting articles to AMO agree that if accepted, copyright of the article, including the right of reproduction in all forms and media, will belong exclusively to Okayama University Medical School.
Address for Correspondence
Word/Excel/Powerpoint etc files of cover letter, manuscript including Tables and Figure legends, Authorship form and PDF files of Figures, should be sent to the Editorial office of AMO as attached files by E-mail.
Professor Masato Asanuma, Editorial Office, Acta Medica Okayama, Okayama University Medical School, 2-5-1 shikata-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8558, Japan.
Phone : ＋81 (86) 235 7057, Fax : ＋81 (86) 235 7059; E-mail : actamed＠cc.okayama-u.ac.jp (Do not copy & paste e-mail address)
