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Manuscript Checklist (link to PDF)
All those wishing to submit a manuscript to Clinical Chemistry must register with our online manuscript tracking system.
Registration Instructions for Clinical Chemistry:
Type or paste http://submit.clinchem.org/ into your web browser.
Click on "Create a new account" on the left side of the page.
Follow the instructions on the account creation page and fill out the form. On the form you will need to enter your primary email address, your password (anything you wish), password again (to confirm), and then a question and answer for your password hint (to be used in case you forget your password later).
Click on "complete step 1".
At this point, a verification number will be sent to you by email. It may take up to fifteen minutes to arrive.
When you have received your verification number, visit http://submit.clinchem.org/ again and log in using your email address and the password you entered in the registration form.
When prompted to do so, enter the verification number that was sent to you by email.
Upon entering this number, you will see a list of queues. One of them will be called Author Area. Click on this and you will find you have the option to submit a new paper.
Determine a Journal Category That Describes Your Manuscript
Articles are grouped in the journal according to subject:
Decide your Manuscript Type
Prospective authors should consult recent issues of the Journal to determine the appropriate category and style for their manuscripts.
Types of Manuscripts and their Specifications
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 totaland 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 4000 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 "eLetters: Submit a response to this article." 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.
Please print these instructions and refer to them during the upload of your manuscript.
Make sure your manuscript/tables and images are prepared and ready for upload. This is the most important rule for a smooth, problem-free submission.
Our Manuscript Preparation section will offer assistance in properly formatting your paper. It can be found at http://www.clinchem.org/info_ar/info_a_outline.shtml or on the upper left hand corner of each submission page.
Please follow the manuscript preparation instructions carefully.
Open your web browser and type in http://submit.clinchem.org/.
Log in with your email address and password.
Click on Author Area and choose ‘Submit a New Manuscript’.
If you are uploading a manuscript on which a Revision Decision has been rendered, it should not be submitted as a new paper with a new number. There is an option to 'Submit a Revision:' in your Author Area and it should be uploaded there.
If more than thirty days have passed since the revision decision, your paper may have closed, In this case, you must upload the revision as a new manuscript but, on the first page of metadata, you will need to enter the original manuscript number in the proper field of the ‘Resubmission’ area.
Fill in each page of Manuscript Metadata. Items highlighted in red are mandatory but the more information provided, the better.
Resubmissions are manuscripts that received a ‘Request for Revision’ decision and the previous manuscript file has closed due to the passage of time (30 days). They will need to be submitted as new papers but will link to the previous paper when the number of that previous paper is entered here and the box is checked.
If you are uploading a manuscript that received a revision decision and has not closed you need to make corrections to the same paper and upload it as a revised manuscript instead of uploading it as a new paper. Instructions for doing so can be found in the revision decision letter.
The Companion Paper listing links papers that are submitted as part of a group of papers.
Please fill in the Abstract field. The abstract should be structured with each of the four sections divided by an extra line space. For manuscripts that do not have abstracts (Letters to the Editor, Editorials, or a Reply), please enter the first page of text after the title page into this Abstract field so reviewers may discern the topic of your paper.
Please fill in the Cover Letter field. The cover letter is your chance to tell the editor of the journal anything that is pertinent to your submission and to identify yourself.
Do not include your cover letter in your manuscript. If you do so, it will be included in the PDF file that will be used by reviewers. This letter should be uploaded in the Manuscript Metadata section of our online submission software only, not included in the actual manuscript.
The Response to Reviews field should contain a point-by-point response to each of the reviewer’s specific comments on the manuscript. This is used only when you are resubmitting a paper, or submitting a revised paper, after a revision decision has been rendered.
Click Save/Continue.
Fill in the next page of Author Metadata. An email address for the corresponding author is required. Adding the email address of a second author is helpful in case the first email address fails.
Click Save/Continue.
Enter the number of image files and supplemental files you need to upload. Supplemental Data files are files for online publication only.
You may also upload here any other file that should not appear in the print journal, such as in press reference materials, additional study data, STARD checklists, etc.
Please specify each file’s purpose in the browse window’s label field.
Enter the number of image files you need to upload. The manuscript has already been designated as one file (Manuscript File). Tables should be included in the Word manuscript file as they cannot be uploaded as separate Word files.
Only .tiff (tagged image file format) and .eps (encapsulated postscript) image formats, at resolution 600 dpi, are acceptable. You may use .ppt (PowerPoint) files, but make sure the fonts are embedded (in PPT, choose Tools, Options, Save tab, Embed TrueType fonts and the Embed all characters button). Also include only one image per slide, one slide per file.
You will need to upload your manuscript as a Word document (or whatever software package you use).
All figures that are to appear in print, however, must be uploaded as Image Files in .tif, .eps or .ppt formats. Please do not upload PDF files as they do not always convert properly.
Click Save/Continue.
The system will then offer a browse button for the manuscript and for each image. Click each browse button and find the corresponding file on your computer, each in turn. When all are completed, click upload.
Tip: If your files are large, you may want to upload a few, click upload, wait for them to upload, add a few more and so on until all are uploaded. This often helps prevent conversion errors.
It is also helpful to compress large .tif files using LZW or comparable compression. This will speed the upload process. Do not use ZIP compression, however, because the files can’t be extracted during upload.
At this point the system will ask you to close your browser and wait for an email acknowledgement that your manuscript and images have been converted into a PDF for review purposes. Please understand that larger image files take longer to convert to PDF.
When the acknowledgement email comes to the email account you registered with, you will be asked to return to your Author Area and approve all parts of the uploaded manuscript (Manuscripts Ready for you to Proof).
To Proof a Manuscript
Open your web browser and type in http://submit.clinchem.org/.
Click on your Author Area and choose ‘Ready for you to proof’.
Carefully check each section of manuscript metadata.
Click ‘I Approve This Section As Is’ at the end of each section.
If you need to make a change, in the Manuscript Conversion section that starts with ‘View your PDF’, choose ‘Reupload your Manuscript and/or Image Files’ (this is to generate a new PDF and HTML references page).
Remember to tell the system to generate a new HTML reference file by clicking the button.
The system will then offer a browse button for the new manuscript and each image.
Click each browse button and find the corresponding file on your computer, each in turn. When all are completed, click upload.
At this point the system will ask you to close your browser and wait for an email acknowledgement that your manuscript and images have been converted into a PDF for review purposes.
When the email comes to the email account you registered with, you will be asked to return to your Author Area and again approve all parts of the uploaded manuscript (Ready for you to Proof).
Repeat this re-upload process as many times necessary until you get the files the way you want them to appear for review.
Items to check thoroughly include the references html page. This reference linking to Medline is a valuable tool for both editors and reviewers, so you will need to make sure your Reference section uploaded to the Clinical Chemistry site correctly.
If not, our Manuscript Preparation section will offer assistance in properly formatting references. It can be found at http://www.clinchem.org/info_ar/info_a_outline.shtml and in a link at the top of each submission page.
Even though you uploaded your manuscript and images separately, your PDF file should include all parts of your manuscript:
The abstract (copy), cover letter and point-by-point response to reviewers (if a revision) should appear in the manuscript metadata windows.
Please edit or approve until all boxes are filled. Click Approve.
You are finished and will receive a confirmation email that your manuscript has been received in the Clinical Chemistry editorial office.
Note: All parts of the manuscript must be checked off and approved on the system before the paper will be sent to our office. Until you approve the manuscript and receive the final confirmation email, the Clinical Chemistry editorial office has not received your manuscript.
When manuscripts are at ‘ready to proof’ stage, this means that you can edit the manuscript and make any changes by re-uploading your submission.
Please understand that once an item is uploaded, it is converted into HTML language and cannot be edited online. The only way you can change something is by re-uploading the manuscript or images and allowing it to go through the conversion process again--replacing what was there before. You can do this conversion as many times as needed.
In the case that your references are not hyperlinked to their respective papers, please be sure that your reference format follows the format dictated by our Manuscript Preparation pages.
Books and more obscure references will not be hyperlinked. DOI numbers and access dates of websites are acceptable.
You may find that your HTML references section is empty. This can be remedied by including the heading "References" before that section in your paper so that the system recognizes them as such.
References cannot be edited directly in the manuscript; any changes must be made by re-uploading your corrected manuscript file during the proofing stage. They can, however, be edited slightly in the HTML field, although this will not correct the references in your manuscript.
You may insert an HTML break ( <P> ) after citations that you do not think will be linked because they do not exist in Medline or in a journal hosted by HighWire Press; for example, citations for books, papers in press, personal communications, etc.
In press references cited in the references list must be accompanied by a copy of the cited manuscript and a letter of acceptance, or a complete author proof from the publisher. These resources should be uploaded as supplemental data along with the manuscript and other print materials.
If they are not received, the manuscript will be returned to the author until these materials can be obtained. In press reference materials are required before the review process can proceed.
Please follow the specific, step-by-step submission instructions. This should help you place all portions of your submission in their proper locations. We use this particular software so that all parts of your manuscript -- title page, text, references, tables, figure legends, and images -- appear in the PDF that the reviewers will see.
By uploading all files in the right place, when the manuscript is converted to PDF, all aspects will be in their proper order in the PDF file. By entering the abstract and cover letter and other requested information on the manuscript metadata page as well, we can make sure editors and staff have the information they need.
When you are finished, you will receive a confirmation email that your manuscript has been received in the Clinical Chemistry office. You may check on the status of your manuscript at any time by logging in to your Author Area and clicking on the [Active Manuscript-Check Status] queue.
About copyright
More detailed information can be found under the ‘Copyright’ section of the Information for Authors, found in a link at the top of each page at http://submit.clinchem.org/.
Prior to publication we require copyright releases signed by all authors. Our Authors Assurances and Assignment of Copyright form can be found in the upper left hand corner of each submission page at http://submit.clinchem.org/ . Please print as many copies of it as needed for all authors to sign.
Your paper will be held until the complete copyright is received. If no copyright form is received at the date of publication, the manuscript will be completely pulled from production.
Please note that all authors must sign both sections of the form (a signature on the lower section means that all conflicts of interest have been disclosed within the text of the manuscript even if there are none).
The form(s) can be uploaded with your manuscript (see blue copyright link) or you may send the completed form(s) to us by fax at 434-979-7599 or scan and send via email attachment to clinchemed{at}clinchem.aacc.org.
Please include the manuscript number on all correspondence.
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