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See Submitting a New Manuscript, Decide your Manuscript Type for expanded guidelines for each type.
Articles Articles should consist of no more than 3500 words, not including the words in the 250-word structured abstract or the reference list. The manuscript should have no more than six figures and/or tables total and no more than 40 references.
Clinical Chemistry uses the IMRAD Organizational Structure with a Title Page and a Structured Abstract at the beginning.
The body of the paper should include: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion. Acknowledgements, References, Tables, Figure Legends and Figures should appear at the end of the manuscript, in that order.
Please provide a structured abstract of 250 words or less, with separate headings of Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. This abstract should be included in the abstract field of the Manuscript Metadata page of your submission as well as in the text of your manuscript, after the Title Page.
Review Articles
There are two formats for Review Articles - the traditional review and the mini-review. Review Articles are usually invited, although unsolicited manuscripts in these categories are welcome. Each article should be approximately 5000 words of text, not including the words in the title page, the structured abstract of 250 words, or the references, and with no more than 4 tables and/or figures and no more than 50 references.
Review articles address a specific issue that is relevant for clinical practice and provide an evidence-based, balanced, patient-oriented review on this topic. Reviews should include a description of how the relevant evidence was identified, assessed for quality, and selected for inclusion; and discussion of controversial aspects and unresolved issues. For the mini-review we ask that the article be limited to less than 3500 words, not including the words of the title page, the structured abstract of 250 words, or the references, with no more than 40 recent references.
The mini-reviews have been particularly popular with readers as they focus on papers from the last 4-5 years and are a concise update of the field.
Also, Clinical Chemistry requires a structured abstract for review articles. Please present your abstract with four separate headings - Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.
Editorials
Editorials are no longer than 1500 words and contain no more than 15 references. Please, NO figures or tables. Avoid insertion of unpublished data and avoid use of corporate or trade names.
Editorials are usually invited, although unsolicited manuscripts in these categories are welcome.
Editorial Objectives
Disclosures
Authors need to take as balanced a view as possible, and must disclose any financial connection with any devices, assays, drugs, etc that are discussed in the article and any connections with competing financial interests.
Persons with strong financial conflicts of interest may be asked to cast their view(s) as “Opinions" or to prepare one side of a “Point/Counterpoint" article.
Please email the Editorial Staff at clinchemed{at}clinchem.aacc.org if a question of ethics or impropriety is raised in your mind.
Editorial Review Process
Editorials undergo expedited peer review by the Editor and the Editorials Editor, and, at times, a consultant, usually a member of the Editorial Board.
They are accepted usually, following minor editing, and sometimes require revisions. Both processes need to be done quickly, often by phone, email, or fax. There are no guarantees, however, that the editorial will be accepted.
Because of the Journal’s responsibility to our readers, the Journal will not publish an editorial that the Editor concludes fails to meet the planned objectives. Treat the seminal manuscript sent to you for comment as a confidential document; treat it as you would a new manuscript sent for review. Do not contact the author.
Perspectives
These short manuscripts (1500 words) are invited personal accounts usually complementing a history paper. Please include an unstructured abstract of no more than 200 words.
Reviews of Books, Software, and Websites
Reviews of Books, Software, and Websites inform our readers of resources relevant to their practice. They are intended to provide an evaluation of quality, contribution to the field, and relevance to other resources.
Reviews are customarily commissioned; persons interested in writing reviews should contact the Book Reviews Editor through the Journal’s editorial staff by email to clinchemed{at}clinchem.aacc.org, by telephone at 434-979-7009, or by fax at 434-979-7599.
The journal does not underwrite the opinions expressed by its reviewers and does not publish rebuttals to reviews. Authors and publishers who wish to correct what they perceive as an error of fact in a published review should contact the Journal.
Technical Briefs
Technical Briefs describe innovative clinical methodology and present it in a short communication. Technical Briefs should be 1500 words or less, not including the structured abstract (250 words) or the reference list. Each brief should contain no more than one figure and one table and no more than 20 references.
Please provide a structured abstract of 250 words or less, with separate headings of Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. This abstract should be included in the abstract field of the Manuscript Metadata page of your submission as well as in the text of your manuscript, after the Title Page.
Technical Briefs are indexed by all the major services (e.g., MedLine), so that they will not be missed by workers in the field. They are even available in their entirety in the print journal and in Clinical Chemistry Online, which can be accessed around the world.
eLetters
One rapid way to post a comment on a published paper is to send an eLetter to Clinical Chemistry Online. To do this, just go to the article at www.clinchem.org and click on Submit an electronic letter to the Editor about this paper. To see other eletters, go to http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/eletters?lookup=by_date&days=21
Clinical Chemistry intends publishing, within three days, most responses that contribute substantially to the topic under discussion. To avoid points that have already been made, please read other responses before posting your own.
eLetters submitted as Text will be formatted for you. To ensure that your response is not formatted as one long paragraph, precede new paragraphs with either a blank line or an indentation. Your exact spacing is not retained when submitted online as text.
eLetters submitted as HTML are not formatted by us. Only the formatting you provide will be used in the display of your eLetter. If you wish to include a table in your eLetter, the entire eLetter must be in HTML, the table itself must be tagged as an HTML table, and the ‘HTML’ button must be selected at the submission site.
Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor should be 750 words or less, excluding the word count of the reference list, table, figure and figure legend. Either one figure or one table may be included. References are limited to no more than 5 references.
Reply
Usually a Reply is requested by the editor and pertains to a specific manuscript. A Reply is generally no more than 750 words, excluding the words in the reference list, with no more than 5 references.
Case Reports
Case Reports are patient descriptions or observations that lack the systematic structure of original research. Please include an unstructured abstract of no more than 200 words.
Case Conferences
Case Conferences are presentation of a case description along with a detailed analysis of several specific clinical chemistry topics involved in the case. Please include an unstructured abstract of no more than 200 words.
Opinion
Opinion papers are short pieces that represent only the view of the authors. Opinions are usually no longer than 1500 words and contain no more than 15 references. Please include an unstructured abstract of no more than 200 words.
Special Reports
Special Reports are scientific reports of original research, usually concerning health, economics, ethics, law, and health care delivery. Please include an unstructured abstract of no more than 200 words.
Current Issues in Laboratory Medicine
Prospective authors should consult issues of the online Journal to determine the appropriate style for this manuscript type.
History
History manuscripts should have a 150 word unstructured abstract. Prospective authors should consult issues of the online Journal to determine further style for this manuscript type.
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