Study Reporting Guidelines To enhance the quality and transparency of health research, JCTH require all investigators to prepare articles according to appropriate EQUATOR research reporting guidelines. Each submission of an original article/systematic review/meta-analysis should be accompanied by an appropriate checklist as listed below. Authors can find more guidelines at EQUATOR and should indicate upon submission which guideline has been followed. The main study types and reporting guidelines are:
Cover Letter
The cover letter should briefly outline the current knowledge in the research area, identify the key gaps addressed by the study, and highlight the novel contributions and conceptual advancements provided by the findings. The significance of the work to a broad audience should be emphasized. Authors may suggest up to three suitable reviewers and indicate individuals or groups to exclude in the cover letter.
General Style
All manuscripts should be submitted as a single Microsoft Word document that is typed in Times New Roman, font size 11, and double-spaced. Tables are also submitted as double-spaced.All manuscripts should be marked with successive line and page numbers to facilitate the peer-review process.
Title Page
Title
The title should be written as a brief but complete statement that accurately describes the content of the article. It is suggested the title not exceed 120 characters (including spaces). There should be no non-standard abbreviations.
Short Title: The running title should not exceed 45 characters (including spaces).
Authors and Affiliation
All author names should be listed in the following order:
- First name (given name),
- Middle name (or initial, if used), and
- Last name (surname, family name)
The individual’s degree designation (i.e., PhD, MD, BS, etc.) should not be listed. Each author should list an associated department, university, or organizational affiliation and its location, including city, state/province (if applicable), and country. The affiliation should be denoted for each author using a numbering system that corresponds to that author’s position in the author list. Current addresses should be indicated separately and denoted by a symbol (but not an asterisk).
The maximum number of co-first authors is 3. The maximum number of co-corresponding authors is 2. The total number of co-first authors and co-corresponding authors must not exceed 4. Exceptional consideration will be given to multi-center studies.
Corresponding Author
The contact information for the corresponding author should include the individual’s name, complete mailing address (department, institute, street and number, city, state/province, zip code, and country), e-mail address, telephone number, and fax number. The name of the Corresponding Author in the authors’ list should be denoted by an asterisk (*). In the case of co-corresponding authors (no more than 2 are allowed), the person responsible for addressing reviewers’ comments should be listed first.
Present/permanent Address
Superscript Arabic numerals are used for authors’ footnotes. The address at which the author did the work should be retained as the main affiliation address. The author’s present address (or permanent address) may be displayed as a footnote to the author’s name, if the author was visiting during the work described in the article, or has changed address since then.
Manuscript Structure
The sections of the manuscript text are as follows: Title, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Declarations (including Acknowledgments, Funding, Conflict of Interest, Author Contributions, Ethical Statement [when involving any human subjects or animals], Data Sharing Statement [for research articles]), References, Tables, Figures Legends/Figures, and Supplementary materials (if any).
However, the sections vary among different article types. A case report contains an Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Case Presentation, Discussion, Conclusions, Declarations, References, Tables, Figures Legends/Figures, and Supplementary materials (if any). A review article consists of an Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Viewpoints (one-by-one), Conclusions, Declarations, References, Tables, Figures Legends/Figures, and Supplementary materials (if any). For more information on manuscript structure, please refer to the description of each article type.
i. Abstract
The Abstract must provide a complete but succinct summary of the study, its main aims, results, key findings, and implications for the field or specialty. The Abstract of systematic reviews and all original articles should be structured with the following section headings: Background and Aims, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. The Abstract of reviews and other non-original articles are unstructured and presented as a single paragraph with no subheadings. Acronyms and abbreviations must be defined the first time they appear in an Abstract. Abbreviations will only be used if the abbreviated term appears 3 or more times in the Abstract. Footnotes and references are not permitted.
Abstract Headings
Background and Aim(s): The Background statement supports the importance of the study’s aim(s). The Aim states the question(s) addressed by the study, from which the study design was determined.
Methods: This section briefly describes the basic study design and techniques used to fulfill the objective(s) of the study.
Results: The Results section reports the main data obtained by the study, including statistical values (e.g., confidence intervals or P-values). The results of each experiment described in the Methods should be stated. The appropriate values and statistical differences will be reported so that readers can determine the absolute as well as the relative impact of the results.
Conclusions: The Conclusions section should state only the logical interpretations that can be drawn from the data that was reported in the Results, and how the study contributes to the knowledge of the research or medical community.
ii. Graphical Abstract
A well-designed graphical abstract usually draws more attention to the online article, which will be published online along with the full article and may be selected as the cover or back cover art of the issue. The graphical abstract should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form. The graphical abstract should be submitted as a separate file through the online submission system. The image size should be a minimum of 13.2 cm × 17.6 cm (h × w) and can be larger with the same proportions. The image should be high-quality, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. The preferred file types include JPG, TIFF, or PDF for submission, whereas an editable version, such as PSD, EPS, AI, Visio, WMF, EMF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OPJ, CDR, or PDF, is preferred for the production process. No additional text, table, outline, or synopsis should be included. Any text or label must be part of the image file. Unnecessary white space or the heading “Graphical Abstract” should not appear within the image file.
iii. Keywords
Immediately following the abstract, it is recommended to include 6 to 12 keywords selected from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) descriptor terms, which are listed in the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary database. These terms can be searched using the MeSH browser at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html. The keywords will be presented in the row-list style and written in lowercase, separated by semicolons. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.
iv. Main Text (Introduction/Methods/Results/Discussion)
The main body of a manuscript should be organized as follows: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion (including Conclusions) (IMRD), followed by Declarations, References, Tables, Figures Legends/Figures, and Supplementary materials (if any).
Introduction
The Introduction should focus on the rationale for conducting the study--why it was performed, and why the objectives were formulated as they were. The Introduction should succinctly convey the authors’ depth of understanding of the problem(s) addressed by the study, and the work of other investigators in this area. The objective(s) is then succinctly stated in the final paragraph. The statement of the objective is the most important sentence of the paper, since it determines all that follows it. A brief outline of the study design is optional, but sometimes highly recommended if the design is not immediately clear from the objective or to entice the reader to read further. The Introduction is not divided into subsections.
Methods
The Methods section should provide all the details that would be required for another investigator to repeat the work as it was performed by the authors. A beginning subsection “Study design” is highly recommended, that gives an overview of how the study satisfied the objectives of the study (as stated in the last paragraph of the Introduction). Subsequent subsections should be presented in the order in which the protocols were performed. It is highly recommended that each subsection begins with a sentence explaining the reason for the protocol, that is, how the protocol contributed to satisfying the objectives of the study. The steps taken for each protocol discussed in each subsection should be presented in the order in which they were performed. The results of an experiment should not be included in the Methods section, unless the results determined the direction of further experiments.
The Methods section needs to state which EQUATOR reporting guideline has been followed during the preparation of the manuscript, and the checklist should be submitted together as supplementary material. Please find detailed information in “Study Reporting Guidelines”. All experimental methods described in the Methods section must have accompanying data presented in the Results section or additional materials, and vice versa. Do not have a separate subsection for listing materials or equipment; but do list the materials and equipment within the protocols if they influenced the data. The complete names and locations (city, state/province and country) must be provided for the manufacturers of drugs, tools, instruments, software, reagents and equipment.
Methods that have been published previously and used without significant alteration may be described briefly, with the appropriate reference. When significant changes have been made to a method, however, those changes should be described in detail, with citations as appropriate. By convention, the last subsection should discuss the detailed methods and software used to perform statistical analyses. No materials or methods should be presented outside of the Methods section.
Results
The subsections of the Results should correspond to the subsections of the Methods, as much as practical. Reasons for performing an experiment or protocol may be summarized, but do not state or repeat the steps of an experimental procedure.
There should be data reported for each experiment described in the Methods section. The Results section should objectively present the data in a straightforward manner, noting the degree of significance in differences when appropriate. The Results section should not include interpretations of the data or conclusions, unless they redirected the investigation. Where data is presented in a table or figure, the data should be summarized in the text and the reader referred to the table or figure. Each table or figure should be referred to, and in numerical order.
The Results section usually does not include any background information or discussion of results from previously published studies. Therefore, in general, no references are present in the Results.
Citing “data not shown” is discouraged; however, if unavoidable the term will be presented at the end of the sentence containing the description of the findings and written in parentheses as “…(data not shown)…”
Discussion
The data presented in the Results section, including figures, tables and supplementary materials, should not be repeated in the Discussion section.
It is highly recommended that the Discussion section begin with a very brief summary (1-3 sentences) of the study’s objectives, the methods used to achieve the objectives, and the results. Repetitions of information that was already provided in the Introduction, or information in support of the study’s importance or objectives, is misplaced and discouraged.
Remaining paragraphs of the Discussion should focus on interpretations of the data of the study, with thoughtful comments on the novelty or unexpected features of the results, and references to relevant past studies.
The paragraph before the final summary and conclusions should discuss the limitations of the study. Limitations of the study are only those features that weakened the statistical power of the data, or prevented the full realization of the study’s objectives (as stated in the Introduction).
The conclusions section should briefly summarize conclusions that are directly supported by the evidence, and comment on the implications of the findings.
v. Declarations
Acknowledgments
This section should acknowledge any and all personal assistance and providers of special reagents from sources that do not fulfill the requirements of authorship; individuals’ names and affiliations should be provided in full. The names of individuals who provided writing assistance (in full and with affiliations, if applicable) should be given in this section.
Funding
Grant support and other financial assistance to the study and the article should be specified. The full name of the funding agency should be given, with grant numbers (if available) provided in brackets, and the author to whom the grant was awarded (written as initials “to AZW”). Multiple grant numbers should be separated by commas. Agencies should be separated by semi-colons.
Example: Funding
The work was supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (R01DK11xxxx to xxx).
All authors must check the ICMJE’s unified disclosure form. Each author should check the form to disclose any potential conflict of interest and is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the provided information. The ICMJE’s form could be downloaded here. Examples: Conflict of Interest
1. The author is a consultant for and has received consultation fees from A**llas; however, this review is solely the author’s work without any connection with A**llas.
2. One of the authors, xx, has been an editorial board member of xxx journal since May 2021. The authors have no other conflict of interests to note.
3. The authors have no conflict of interests related to this publication.
Author Contributions
The Author Contributions should be provided in paragraph form. The manner in which each author was involved with the study or preparation of the manuscript is listed with the author’s name (shown as initials, within parentheses). Contributions that are acceptable for inclusion as an author are: study design, performance of experiments, analysis and interpretation of data, manuscript writing, critical revision, statistical analysis, critical funding, administrative support, and technical or material support. For details regarding authorship requirements, please refer to the Authorship Criteria. There is no need to declare the author’s contribution for articles with only one author. Example: Authors’ Contributions
Study concept and design (MJ, SS), acquisition of data (DS, CF), analysis and interpretation of data (DS, CF, MJ, SS), drafting of the manuscript (DS, CF), critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content (MJ, MJT, SS), administrative, technical, or material support (SS), and study supervision (SS). All authors have made a significant contribution to this study and have approved the final manuscript.
Ethical Statement
All studies involving human subjects or animals should include a clear ethical statement. If a manuscript contains any individual person’s data in any form (including individual details, images or videos), consent for publication must be obtained from that person. For more details about ethics, please refer to “Ethics in Scientific Process”.
Data Sharing Statement
A Data Sharing Statement is encouraged for research articles through which readers will know how to access the shared data. Sample wording: The [TYPE, such as technical appendix, statistical code, or dataset] data used to support the findings of this study have been deposited in the [NAME] repository ([DOI or other persistent identifier]); The [TYPE] data used to support the findings of this study are included within the article; The [TYPE] data used to support the findings of this study are included within the supplementary information file(s); The [TYPE] data used to support the findings of this study have not been made available because [the reason]; The [TYPE] data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author at [email address or URL] upon request; If no other data, please state: No additional data are available. Please find detailed information in “Data Sharing Policy”.
vi. References
References will be cited according to the rules recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and NLM. References are numbered consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the manuscript, by using superscripted Arabic numerals, for example, "Tam et al.3 reported that…". Citations with multiple references (e.g., 2,3,4,7,9) can be abbreviated as: 2-4,7,9. The citation numbers should be placed after a comma and a period [e.g., ",7-10"; ".2"], and before a colon and a semi-colon [e.g., "7-10;"].
References should be relevant and correct. Authors should avoid citing retracted articles and replace them with other relevant current articles. If a retracted article does need to be cited, the reason should be explained in the manuscript, and the retracted status of the article should be noted in the reference list; the retraction note should also be cited in the manuscript, and the full reference of the retraction note should be listed in the references section.
Commonly used reference styles are listed as below. The EndNote style template can be downloaded here.
Example reference styles:
1) Articles in journals List all authors up to six, and use "et al." When there are more than six authors, use the following format: |
Article in print | Yi SG, Sadhu AR, Jones SL, Turner Krista, Monsour H, Donahue K, et al. The effect of adrenal replacement therapy on rates of fungal colonization and mortality in critically Ill patients awaiting liver transplantation. J Clin Transl Hepatol 2015;1(1):2-8. doi: 10.14218/JCTH.2013.00007, PMID: 26355432. |
Issue with supplement | Kim WR. The burden of hepatitis C in the United States. Hepatology 2002;36(Suppl 1): S30–S34. doi: 10.1053/jhep.2002.36791, PMID: 12407574. |
Issue with no volume | Ahrengart L, Tornkvist H, Fornander P, Thorngren KG, Pasanen L, Wahlstrom P, et al. A randomized study of the compression hip screw and Gamma nail in 426 fractures. Clin Orthop Relat Res 2002;(401):209-222. PMID: 12151898. |
Article published electronically ahead of the print version | Yang WJ, Wu YB, Chen L, Xu KK, Xie YF, Wang JJ. Two Chitin Biosynthesis Pathway Genes in Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae): Molecular Characteristics, Expression Patterns, and Roles in Larval-Pupal Transition. J Econ Entomol 2015;108(5):2433-2442. Epub 2015 Jul 1. doi: 10.1093/jee/tov186, PMID: 26453732. |
2) Books and other monographs Smith BM. Basics of analytical chemistry and chemical equilibria. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2013. |
Organization as author | American Psychiatric Association. Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with eating disorders. 3rd edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2006. |
Editor(s), compiler(s) as author | Dawson C, Whitfield HN, editors. ABC of urology. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.; 2006. |
Author(s) and editor(s) | Breedlove GK, Schorfheide AM. Adolescent pregnancy. 2nd ed. Wieczorek RR, editor. White Plains (NY): March of Dimes Education Services; 2001. |
Chapter/Article in a book | Shah J. Bladder outflow obstruction. In: Dawson C, Whitfield HN, editors. ABC of Urology. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.; 2006. p. 6-9. |
E-book | Tissue BM. Basics of analytical chemistry and chemical equilibria [Internet]. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2013. [cited 2015 May 21]. Available from Wiley Online Library: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781118647042 |
3) Conference proceedings Marle F, Jankovic M, Maurer M, Schmidt MD, Lindemann U, editors. Risk and change management in complex systems. Proceedings of the 16th International DSM Conference; 2014 Jul 2-4; Paris, France. Dutch: Elsevier; 2014. |
4) Conference paper Ollmar S, Nicander I, Aberg I, Birgersson U. Evolution of a diagnostic decision support tool based on electrical impedance. In: Hermann Scharfetter, Robert Merwa, editors. 13th International Conference on Electrical Bioimpedance and the 8th Conference on Electrical Impedance Tomography; 2007 Aug 29-Sep 2; Graz, Austria. Berlin: Springer; 2007. p. 4-7. |
5) Dissertation Grant, C. Grounded in your culture: the hidden key to promoting academic achievement among African American adolescent males [Dissertation]. Minneapolis: Capella University; 2010. |
6) Patent Cheng, DY, Wiersma SJ, inventor; International Power Technology, Inc., assignee. Composite membrane for a membrane distillation system, United States Patent US 4419242. 1983 December 6. |
7) Forthcoming (In Press) Material Lan T, Chang L, Wu L, Yuan YF. IL-6 plays a crucial role in HBV infection. J Clin Transl Hepatol Forthcoming 2015. |
vii. Tables
All tables should provide concise but detailed information without the need to reference any portion of the text in the main body of the manuscript (or elsewhere). The information provided in the table should provide additional information that is not present in the text, to avoid redundancy.
The tables should be numbered according to their sequential presentation in the manuscript. Each of the tables should be on a separate page, starting immediately after the figure legends, or immediately after the Reference list if there are no figure legends. The tables should not be submitted as a separate file.
Tables require a label (e.g., “Table 3”) and a brief descriptive title above the table. Place legends, footnotes, and other text below the table. Indicate each footnote in the table with a superscript lowercase letter.
The table should be written using the Table function in Microsoft Word (not embedded Excel/.xlsx or image files). Tables should read vertically, if space allows, and have headings for each column prepared without the use of tabs. Abbreviations used in the table should be defined below the table in alphabetical order.
Table 3. Clinical features of the patients and healthy control group
Variables | Patients | Control | P-value |
Body mass index, kg/m2 | | | |
Systolic blood pressure, mmHg | | | |
Diastolic blood pressure, mmHg | | | |
viii. Figures
All figures must be referred to in the main body of the paper, most often in the Results section, and numbered in the order in which they are referred to in the text. Please refer to the Art Guideline for more detailed requirements.
Figure legends
Figure legends should be listed together on a separate page and located immediately after the Reference list. The figure legends should correspond to the figures. The figure legend should begin with a single unifying title that generally describes all the panels of the figure and data presented in the figure. The title should not appear in the figure itself.
Figure legends should interpret the figure for the readers, ensuring that readers understand what the authors need them to understand about the results. The figure legends should not repeat details given in the Methods, or details that should be stated in the Methods. The figure legend should not repeat the data values presented in the figure (including statistical values). The Figure Legend should not include any results or conclusions.
For inclusion of any copyrighted material, documentation that permission has been obtained for reproduction must be provided, and the source acknowledged in the legend. All symbols appearing in the Figure should be defined in the legend (such as asterisks and arrows). In addition, any color distinctions should be defined in the Figure Legend, unless a key has been added as an inset to the figure itself and provides the definitions. For micrographs, a scale bar within the figure is preferable to inclusion of the magnification in the legend. Abbreviations used in the figure should be defined in the legend.
Images
Publishing color figures in all Xia & He Publishing journals is free of charge. Images may be clinical, pathologic (gross or microscopic), endoscopic, or radiographic. Only images that are essential to justify the conclusions stated in the manuscript should be included. Figures can be submitted in JPG, TIFF, or PDF formats. The quality must be sufficient for peer review. For final publication, high-quality figures are required, along with a well-prepared and editable version, such as layered PSD, EPS, AI, Word, Excel, PPT, or PDF.
Composite figures may be submitted either as a single print-quality image, neatly labeled with uppercase letters (A, B, C…) in bold font in the upper left corner of the image; or as separate panels (without labels, e.g., Figure 1A.tif, Figure 1B.tif) corresponding to the description in the figure legend, which are combined during production if accepted for publication.
Photographs
All patient identifiers must be removed from photos and radiographic studies, unless specific written permission has been obtained from the patient.
Electron micrographs
Use scale markers in the image for electron micrographs, and indicate the type of stain used.
Line art and graphs
Lines or lettering should not be faint. Check that all lines and lettering within the figures are legible at final size. All lines should be at least 0.1 mm (0.3 pt) wide.
Gel electrophoresis labeling
The protein molecular weight or DNA marker sizes must be indicated on all appropriate figure panels.
Formatting Specifications
Figure Files
It is the responsibility of the authors to submit publication-quality, high-resolution images. Do not include figure titles or captions within your figures. Please be aware of that artificially enhancing the resolution of the image will result in a blurred image.
File Requirements
The list below is an abbreviated summary of the figure specifications.
File formats | For submission: TIFF, JPG, or PDF format, clear to review; For publication: TIFF files with high-quality, and the corresponding editable files in PSD, EPS, AI, PDF or PPT format are required. |
Color Mode | GRAYSCALE (black and white) or RGB (color) |
Dimensions | Width: single column 8.6 cm; 2/3 double column 15 cm; double column 17.6 cm. Height: less than 21 cm |
Resolution | Photographs and color images: 300 dpi. Gel electrophoresis, radiographs, CT scans, and grayscale images: 600 dpi. Line art (purely black and white figures with no shades of gray): 1200 dpi. Figures combined with graphs and line art: 500 dpi. |
Line art (purely black and white figures with no shades of gray) must have a resolution of at least 1200 dpi. |
Figures combined with graphs and line art must have a resolution of at least 500 dpi. |
Text within figures | Arial, 8-12 pt |
Captions | Do not include any title or captions on figures |
File Size | 10 M or less, save with Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW) compression |
◎ Digital art files should be cropped to remove non-printing borders (such as unnecessary white or black space around an image, no more than 10% of total area) and should not include embedded “legend” text, figure titles, or figure numbers.
◎ Figures that do not meet the above requirements may be returned when necessary.
◎ Note that source files of figures (such as PDF/AI/PS/EPS/PPT) may be required whether you embed your figures in the text or not, upon acceptance for publication.
ix. Supplementary Materials
Supplementary materials, including but not limited to documents, tables, figures, videos and data, should be submitted together with the manuscript. For a manuscript prepared according to a reporting guideline, the corresponding checklist should be submitted and published (if accepted) as supplementary material. The authors need to choose “supplemental file” in the “file upload” step. All documents submitted as supplemental documents will be published online only.
