Submissions

Author Guidelines

Updated May 21, 2023

Please read and follow these instructions carefully; doing so will ensure that the publication of your manuscript is as rapid and efficient as possible. The Publisher reserves the right to return manuscripts that are not prepared in accordance with these instructions.

Scope

The goal of the “American Journal of Translational Medicine (AJTM)” is to publish peer-reviewed papers that identify and fill scientific knowledge gaps at the junction of basic research and human applications. Our journal publishes articles focusing on information derived from human experimentation so as to optimise the communication between basic and clinical science. The original research published in our journal should report significant progress toward the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of disease; transform our understanding of human biology. These papers preferably will provide insights and evidence with influence beyond their own fields of research. Finally, we will publish papers that meet rigorous criteria of excellence and innovation,

The journal covers all areas of translational medicine but has several special are:

1. Cancer early finding and diagnosis, Cancer microenvironment,
2. Cancer treatment, Cancer epigenetics,
3. Cardiovascular, Metabolic, and Lipoprotein Translation,
4. Cell, tissue, and gene therapy, Stem cell therapy,
5. Clinical translation, Disease biomarkers,
6. Immunobiology and Immunotherapy,
7. Medical Bioinformatics, Neuroscience,
8. Nutrition & metabolism,
9. Patient-targeted molecular therapies in adults and/or children,
10. Reproduction and health,
11. Signal transduction in development and differentiation
12. Tissue engineering and regeneration medicine

We are interested in the manuscript which includes experimental or clinical investigation, both laboratory and translational study. We are interested in the manuscript, which covers studies at the molecular, cellular, organ and organism levels. It can be either animal or human studies.

Submission of manuscripts

Authors should submit Word or rich-text files in the submission link:

https://ajtm.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/ajtm/about/submissions

License and permissions

It is a condition of publication that authors grant an exclusive license to HGI Journals. This ensures that requests from third parties to reproduce articles are handled efficiently and consistently, and will also allow the article to be as widely disseminated as possible. In assigning copyright, authors may use their own material in other publications, provided that the journal is acknowledged as the original place of publication, and HGI Journals is notified in writing and in advance.

  Work submitted for publication must be original, previously unpublished, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. If previously published figures, tables, or parts of text are to be included, the copyright-holder’s permission must have been obtained prior to submission.

Cover Letter

All submissions should be accompanied by a cover letter that includes a brief overview of the manuscript and the corresponding and contacting author contact information including full name, e-mail address, phone number, and mailing address (corresponding author and contacting author). It should also specify the number of display items (figures and tables), the number of attachments (manuscript, figures, Supplementary Information if any), and their formats.

  It must include a statement indicating that the article has not been published in another publication and is not being submitted simultaneously to another journal.

Preparation of the manuscript

General: Papers must be clearly written in English. If you would like additional help with the quality of your written English, including grammar, spelling, and language usage consult American Journal Expert (http://www. journalexperts.com/).  

Format of a medical manuscript: Margins should be one inch (2.5 cm) at the top, bottom, and sides of the page. Font size should be 12-pt, the standard font in 'Times New Roman typeface. Manuscripts should be formatted in full justified paragraphs and headings should be left-aligned. The Math should be editable text.

The format of different types of articles is as under:

Format of Research Articles

Research articles present original research and address a clearly stated specific hypothesis or question. Papers should provide novel approaches and new insights into the problem addressed. A research article should divide into the following headings:

Title page
Author's information
Present address
Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
Ethical Approval
Acknowledgments
References
Tables
Figures

It should be no more than 6000 words and could include 8 figures and 4 tables. The abstract should be no more than 350 words

Format of Review Articles

Review articles are an attempt by one or more authors to sum up the current state of the research on a particular topic. Ideally, the author searches for everything relevant to the topic, and then sorts it all out into a coherent view of the "state of the art" as it now stands. Interested scientists may write their review articles under the following headings:

Title page
Author's information
Keywords
Present address
Abstract
Text
Acknowledgments
References
Tables
Figures

It should be no more than 8000 words and could include 6 figures and 3 tables. The abstract should be no more than 350 words

Format of Short Communications (Brief Report)

A short communication is for a concise, but independent report representing a significant contribution. Short communication is not intended to publish preliminary results.

  It should be no more than 2500 words, and could include two figures or tables. It should have at least 8 references. The abstract should be no more than 350 words

Scientists may prepare their short communications under the following headings.

Title page
Author's information
Present address
Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
Ethical Approval
Acknowledgments
References
Tables
Figures

Editorials

Editorials are short, invited opinion pieces that discuss an issue of immediate importance to the research community. Editorials should have fewer than 1000 words total, no abstract, a minimal number of references (definitely no more than 5), and no figures or tables (although they do have a photograph of the author as an illustration).

Focus

Focus articles are short, timely pieces that spotlight either recent research findings or policy issues related to research (for example, regulatory, funding, educational, or legislative discussions). Focus articles should not exceed 2500 words total (including abstract, main text, references and figure legend). They should have a short pithy title, a one-sentence abstract, no more than 10 references, and one figure (with figure legend) or table.

Commentaries

Commentaries present in-depth analysis of current issues such as policy, funding, regulatory, educational, and legislative issues, new institutes, careers etc. Commentaries should not exceed 3000 words total (including abstract, main text, references and figure legends). They should have a short pithy title, an abstract of 150 words or less, no more than 35 references, and one or two figures (with figure legends) or tables.

Perspectives

Perspectives discuss one or a cluster of recently published papers or a current research topic of high interest in which an author's perspective sheds an incisive light on key findings in research. These articles typically have one or two authors whose task is to inform our interdisciplinary readership about exciting scientific developments in the author's area of expertise. Other appropriate topics include discussions of methods, books, or meeting highlights.

  Perspectives present a new and unique viewpoint on existing problems, fundamental concepts, or prevalent notions on a specific topic, propose and support a new hypothesis, or discuss the implications of a newly implemented innovation. Perspective pieces may focus on current advances and future directions on a topic, and may include original data as well as personal opinion.

  Perspectives are usually between 2000 to 4000 words total (including abstract, main text, references and figure legends). They should have a short pithy title, an abstract of 150 words or less, no more than 35 references, and 1 or 2 figures (with figure legends) or tables. These are usually short peer-reviewed articles.

Case report

Case reports may provide a brief description of up to four cases of a particular condition that is unusual and also provides new insights into diagnosis or clinical management. AJTM especially welcomes following types of case reports: Unusual clinical disorder/disease presentation; Unusual associations between clinical disorders and signs & symptoms; Unexpected findings during treatment; Unexpected or rare adverse drug effects or interactions; Studies on novel procedure/diagnostic techniques; Rare diseases presentations and management; New infections or disease outbreak in local community; Clinically significant images. Case Reports should be a maximum of 1,500 words with no more than four tables or figures and 15 references.

Publication of any personal information about an identifiable living patient requires the explicit consent of the patient or guardian. This is a requirement under the Data Protection legislation. We expect authors to use the latest AJTM consent form, which is available in several languages.

Patient consent: You must have signed informed consent from patients (or guardians) before submitting to AJTM. Patient consent: You must have signed informed consent from patients (or guardians) before submitting to AJTM. (The form can be downloaded using this link: http://www.shgangze.com/down/html/?144.html)

Please anonymize the patient’s details as much as possible, eg, specific ages, ethnicity, and occupations. For living patients, this is a legal requirement and we will not send your article for review without explicit consent from the patient or guardian.

If the patient is dead the USA Data Protection Act does not apply, but the authors must seek permission from a relative (ideally the next of kin). If you don’t have signed consent from a deceased patient, guardian or family, the head of your medical team/hospital or legal team must take responsibility that exhaustive attempts have been made to contact the family and that the paper has been sufficiently anonymized not to cause harm to the patient’s family.

Scientists and Physician may prepare their short communications under the following headings.

Title page
Author's information
Present address
Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Case
(This section provides the details of the case in the following order):
Patient description
Case history
Physical examination results
Results of pathological tests and other investigations
Treatment plan
The expected outcome of the treatment plan
Actual outcome.
Discussion
Ethical Approval (Note on patient consent)
-- Informed consent is an ethical requirement for most studies involving humans, so before you start writing your case report, take written consent from the patient as all journals require that you provide it at the time of manuscript submission. In case the patient is a minor, parental consent is required. For adults who are unable to consent to investigation or treatment, the consent of the closest family members is required.
Patient anonymity is also an important requirement. Remember not to disclose any information that might reveal the identity of the patient. You need to be particularly careful with pictures, and ensure that pictures of the affected area do not reveal the identity of the patient.
References
Tables
Figures

Letter to the Editor

A letter to the Editor is a brief report that is within the journal's scope and of particular interest to the community, but not suitable as a standard research article.

A letter to the editor generally takes one of the following forms:

A: A substantial re-analysis of a previously published article in AJTM or in another journal.

B: An article that may not cover 'standard research' but that is of general interest to the broad readership of the American Journal of Translational Medicine

A maximum of ten articles may be included in the references.

Length of article: A letter to the Editor should be between 600 to 1500 words.

It could include two figures or tables. Scientists may prepare their short communications under the following headings:

Title page/Author(s) name and Affiliations/Abstract/Key Words/Main text/Correspondence/List of abbreviations used (if any)/Competing interests/Authors' contributions/Acknowledgements and Funding/ References/Tables and captions (if any)/Illustrations and Figures/Figure legends (if any)

Letters to the Editor may be edited for clarity or length and may be subject to peer review at the Editors' discretion. To contribute, please contact the Editors.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses

A systematic review paper, as defined by The Cochrane Collaboration, is a review of a clearly formulated question that uses explicit, systematic methods to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review. These reviews differ substantially from narrative-based reviews or synthesis articles. Statistical methods (meta-analysis) may or may not be used to analyze and summarize the results of the included studies.

Reports of systematic reviews and meta-analyses must include a completed PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) checklist and flow diagram to accompany the main text. You may download the blanc template on our website in the Author guide portion.

  Authors must also state in their “Methods” section whether a protocol exists for their systematic review, and if so, provide a copy of the protocol as supporting information and provide the registry number in the abstract.

If your article is a systematic review or a meta-analysis you should:

State this in your cover letter

Select “Research Article” as your article type when submitting

Include the PRISMA flow diagram in Figure 1 (required where applicable)

Include the PRISMA checklist as supporting information

In summary, the American Journal of Translational Medicine requires a completed PRISMA checklist and flow diagram as a condition of submission when reporting findings from a systematic review or meta-analysis. Templates for these can be found here or on the PRISMA website ( http://prisma-statement.org/) which also describes several PRISMA checklist extensions for different designs and types of data beyond conventional systematic reviews evaluating randomized trials. At a minimum, your article should report the content addressed by each item of the checklist. Meeting these basic reporting requirements will greatly improve the value of your review and may enhance its chances for eventual publication."

Meta-analysis of genetic association studies

Manuscripts reporting a meta-analysis of genetic association studies must report results of value to the field and should be reported according to the guidelines presented in Systematic Reviews of Genetic Association Studies by Sagoo et al. (https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000028). On submission, authors will be asked to justify the rationale for the meta-analysis and how it contributes to the base of scientific knowledge in the light of previously published results. Authors will also be asked to complete a checklist (DOCX) outlining information about the justification for the study and the methodology employed.

Meta-analyses that replicate published studies will be rejected if the authors do not provide adequate justification.

Clinical Practice Guideline and Expert Consensus

Clinical Practice Guideline

The clinical practice guidelines are recommendations that provide the optimum care for patients based on evidence from systematic reviews and a balance of the benefits and harms of different interventions. Ideally, a Clinical Practice Guideline should follow a methodical rigorous approach to its development, including, protocol drafting and registration (e.g., http://www.guidelines-registry.org), clear screening and identification of clinical concerns, systematic search of existing similar guidelines, systematic searching, evaluating and grading of evidence, and management of conflicts of interest of participants, and strict consensus methods for forming recommendations, etc.

Word limit: There is no fixed word limit for clinical practice guidelines but authors must use the most concise language possible, as well as succinct, structured sentences. The word count for the main text (excluding the abstract, references, tables, boxes, or figures) should be provided when the manuscript is submitted.

Abstract: 200~350 words structured with the subheadings Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.

Keywords: 3~5.

Main Text: Clinical practice guidelines should organize the main text in the Introduction, Methods, Main Body (Contain clear recommendations and discussions), and Conclusions. In addition, clinical practice guidelines are required to contain a box that highlights the key recommendations. See the “3.3 Main Text” section for details.

References: No limit.

Figures/Tables: No limit.

Author Contributions: Clinical practice guidelines should include a section describing the contribution made by each author to the manuscript. See the “3.1.1 Author Contributions” section for details.

Ethical Statement: When a manuscript documents any experiment(s) involving human subjects or animals, the authors must indicate an ethical statement both in the methods section and the footnote.

In addition to following the general format of a clinical practice guideline described above, this type of article should also adhere to the RIGHT (Reporting Items for Practice Guidelines in Healthcare. (Article link: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M16-1565?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed) and each submission should include the RIGHT Checklist (http://www.right-statement.org/right-statement/checklist) (a reformatted version has been created for the journal can be downloaded here) as supplementary material. The relevant page/line and section/paragraph number in the manuscript should be stated for each item in the checklist. The statement “We present the following article in accordance with the RIGHT reporting checklist” should be included at the end of the “Introduction”. The manuscript should also include a Reporting Checklist statement in the footnote (see the “Footnote” section). Failure to do so will result in the manuscript being returned to the authors for amendment. Please note that the application of a checklist is aimed at transparent and clear reporting to allow critical appraisal of the manuscript. The final format of the manuscript should follow the author's instruction requirements.

Expert Consensus

Expert consensus is a way to generate key clinical questions, determine the best evidence, and form recommendations. When expert consensus appears as a category of articles, it is similar to clinical practice guidelines in that it requires expert assessment and comprehensive judgment of the quality and credibility of the evidence.

Expert consensus differs from clinical practice guidelines in that, it is not necessarily developed by professional societies and associations, as clinical guidelines are, but also by experts with certain influence in a particular field; it tends to be developed in a shorter period of time; the development process tends to be less scientifically rigorous than that of clinical practice guidelines; there may or may not be a grading of the evidence; and the quality of the evidence included is often not as high as in clinical practice guidelines etc.

Word limit: There is no fixed word limit for expert consensus but authors must use the most concise language possible, as well as succinct, structured sentences. The word count for the main text (excluding the abstract, references, tables, boxes, or figures) should be provided when the manuscript is submitted.

Abstract: 200~350 words structured with the subheadings Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.

Keywords: 3~5.

Main Text: Expert consensus should organize the main text in Introduction, Methods, Main Body (Contain clear recommendations and discussions) and Conclusions. In addition, an expert consensus is required to contain a box that highlights the key recommendations. See the “3.3 Main Text” section for details.

References: No limit.

Figures/Tables: No limit.

Author Contributions: Expert consensus should include a section describing the contribution made by each author to the manuscript. See the “3.1.1 Author Contributions” sections for details.

Ethical Statement: When a manuscript documents any experiment(s) involving human subjects or animals, the authors must indicate an ethical statement both in the methods section and the footnote. See the “3.5.5 Ethical Statement” section for details.

Surgical technique

This section is designed to be presented as a detailed "how to" multimedia manual for operative procedures. The manuscript on surgical techniques should include detailed descriptions of the procedures in a step-by-step format. Expert opinions regarding possible pitfalls and the comparison of the described procedure with other methods are encouraged.

Word limit: 5500 words max. (excluding references, tables, video and figures)

Abstract: Unstructured, 200~350 words max. No abbreviations.

Keywords: 3~5.

Main text: Unstructured but the text should include at least contain three aspects–Introduction, Surgical techniques, and Comments.

References: No limit.

Figures/Tables: No limit, but 10 figures are deemed sufficient.

Videos: Surgical videos are encouraged for this section. We will accept digital files in MP4, Flash video (.flv), MPEG (MPEG video file), mov, avi, and wmv formats or videos on CD/DVD. Check the video for more details. The corresponding author must confirm in the Copyright Transfer Agreement, that he/she has received a signed release form from each patient recorded on the submitted video. Patients must not be identifiable in these videos. If required, additional video editing by the authors, including the insertion of a voice-over, may also be requested by the editorial office.

Ethical Statement: Surgical technique should include an ethical statement indicating whether written consent has been obtained from the subject (or their parent/guardian).

Personal data from third-party sources

For all studies using personal data from internet-based and other third-party sources (e.g., social media, blogs, other internet sources, mobile phone companies), data must be collected and used according to company/website Terms and Conditions, with appropriate permissions. All data sources must be acknowledged clearly in the Materials and Methods section.

Conference/Meeting Abstract Proceedings

We also publish the proceedings from international conferences or selected abstract presented at a meeting. All enquiries regarding the possible publication of Meeting Proceedings in AJTM should be sent to the Editor via

the Editorial offices at gzou@shgangze.com

News and Views

News and Views contain updates and newsworthy discussion pieces relevant to the journal's scope. All enquiries regarding the possible publication of News and Views should be sent to the Editor via the Editorial offices at gzou@shgangze.com

Tables

Tables must be numbered with Arabic numerals in the order in which they are cited in the text. They should have a brief descriptive title placed at the top. A short description is also accepted. Footnotes can be included below the table. Tables cannot duplicate data contained in the text. Tables must be sent in Microsoft Word and have no links to the main document or other archives. Provide files at approximately the correct size they are to be printed (letter size). Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules.

Figures

Figures should be supplied in an electronic format at a suitable size for printing with the following resolutions: 600 dots per inch (dpi) for line drawings and combinations; 300 dpi for greyscale and color. Color figures must be supplied in CMYK not RGB colors. Please ensure that the prepared electronic image files print at a legible size and are of a high quality for publication. Figure captions: Ensure that each illustration has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

AJTM requires figures to be submitted individually, in the same order as they are referred to in the manuscript; the figures will then be automatically embedded at the end of the submitted manuscript. Kindly ensure that each figure is mentioned in the text and in numerical order.

For figures with more than one panel, panels should be clearly indicated using labels (A), (B), (C), (D), etc. However, do not embed the part labels over any part of the image, these labels will be replaced during typesetting according to Frontiers' journal style. For graphs, there must be a self-explanatory label (including units) along each axis.

For LaTeX files, figures should be included in the provided PDF. In case of acceptance, our production office might require high-resolution files of the figures included in the manuscript in EPS, JPEG or TIF/TIFF format.

To upload more than one figure at a time, save the figures (labeled in order of appearance in the manuscript) in a zip file and upload them as 'Supplementary Material Presentation.'

Please note that figures not in accordance with the guidelines will cause substantial delays during the production process.

References

At the end of the paper, in the References section the literature should be arranged in alphabetical order. If they have the same author, they should be in chronological order.

In the text: References must be cited in the text mentioning the last name of the author and year between parentheses. In case of two authors, both should be mentioned. When there are three or more authors, mention only the first author followed by et al. When two or more references are cited in the same parenthesis, the authors should be in chronological order. And if they have the same year, they should be in alphabetical order. Moreover, if there is more than one reference of the same author and the same year, they should be indicated with letters.

(Note: Authors may choose American Journal of Translation Medicine in Endnote for Reference format) The link is: https://endnote.com/style_download/43279/

Article-processing charges（2023）

American Journal of Translational Medicine levies an article-processing charge for each article accepted for publication

Page charges: Authors whose research was supported by grants, special funds (including departmental and institutional), or contracts (including governmental) or whose research was done as part of their official duties (government or corporate, etc.) are required to pay page charges (based on the number of typeset pages, including illustrations, in the article).

Corresponding authors of articles accepted for publication will receive an e-mail notifying them how to pay the page and any other applicable publication charges (see below).

Page charges are $800 per article (Research article or Review article) or $400 (Case report) in 2023

If the research was not supported by any of the means described above, a request to waive the charges may be sent to the Editor, American Journal of Translational Medicine, PO Box 37974, Honolulu, HI 96837. The USA. (e-mail gzou@shgangze.com [after acceptance of the manuscript]). The request must include the manuscript control number assigned by AJTM and indicate how the work was supported. Waivers apply only to page charges; responsibility for color charges and other publication fees remains with the author. Commentaries are not subject to page charges.

Color charges: The cost of publishing in color must be borne by the author. Color charges are $150 per color figure (subject to change without notice).  Commentaries are not subject to color charges.

However, these charges may be reduced or waived if the Editor finds difficulty from authors in this regard.

Proofs

All manuscripts will undergo some editorial modification, so it is important to check proofs carefully. PDF page proofs will be sent via e-mail to the corresponding author for checking. To avoid delays in publication, proofs should be checked and returned within 48 hours. Corrections should be returned by annotated PDF, e-mail or fax. Extensive changes to the text may be charged to the author.

Post-production corrections

Corrections are made if the publication record is seriously affected by the academic accuracy of published information. Where these amendments concern peer-reviewed material, the correction will be published as a formal notice (erratum) in a subsequent issue.

Changes to authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.

Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Peer review and Reviewers’ responsibilities

1. Reviewers ensure that accepted manuscripts meet the rigorous standards of academic excellence.
2. Reviewers review submitted manuscripts objectively, and in a timely manner.
3. Reviewers maintain the confidentiality of any information supplied by the editor or author, and to not retain or copy the manuscript in any manner.
4. Reviewers alert the editor of any published or previously submitted content that is substantially similar to that under review.

Publication

Accepted peer-reviewed original articles, short communication, case report, and review will be published both electronically and in hard print.

American Journal of Translational Medicine
Hawaii Gangze Inc., Publisher
1170 Nuuanu Ave, Suite 37974
Honolulu HI 96837. USA
Tel: 808-367 6828
Email: gzou@shgangze.com
Publisher Website: www.shgangze.com
Journal Website: https://ajtm.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org