Instructions for Authors
Instructions for Authors
Aim and Scope
Editorial Policies
Copyright
The Process for Handling Cases Requiring Corrections, Retractions,
and Editorial Expressions of Concern
Manuscript Preparation
Peer Review Process
Galley Proofs
Article Processing Charge and Other Extra Charge
Address for Correspondence
Aim and Scope
The Shimane Journal of Medical Science (SJMS), a publication of Shimane University Faculty of Medicine, is a peer-reviewed open access online journal in English which regularly publishes four issues per year. The aim of the SJMS is to provide health professionals and researchers with high-quality scientific information. The SJMS publishes original articles, review articles, case reports, and technical notes.
Editorial Policies
Overview
SJMS supports and adheres to the guidelines and best practices of the Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
Authorship
All authors listed in the manuscript must meet the following criteria provided by ICMJE’s Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals.
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work
- Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content
- Final approval of the version to be published
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved
Ethics of Human Study
Research conducted through the use of human subjects must be in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Authors must indicate, using its approval number, that the research has been approved by the local Ethical Committee Board. In research cases involving human subjects, human genomes, and genetic analysis, authors must indicate informed consent has been taken. Any information that would enable identification of individual patients should not be written in the article.
Ethics of Animal Experimentation
Research conducted using animals must have been conducted in accordance with NIH standards and institutional guidelines about animal experimentation. Authors must indicate that research has been conducted using appropriate measures to minimize animal pain and discomfort. Authors also must indicate the specific approval number issued by the institutional animal experimentation committee.
Clinical Trials and Reporting Guidelines
Research based on a clinical trial should be registered in the clinical trial registration system (either UMIN-CTR / JMACCT-CTR / JapicCTI / jRCT), and authors must indicate by approval number that it has been registered.
In addition, authors are encouraged to follow published, standard reporting guidelines, such as Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives or the reporting guidelines for the research design posted on the EQUATOR Network.
Data-sharing
For research based on a clinical trial, authors must indicate the following data-sharing statement regarding data-sharing in the article.
a. Will anonymized individual participant data (including data dictionaries) be available?
b. What data in particular will be available?
c. What other documents (e.g. study protocol, statistical analysis plans, etc.) will be available?
d. When will data be available (start and end dates)?
e. Data access criteria (with whom, for what purpose of analysis, and by what mechanism will data be made available?)
For a description example of data-sharing, see Table, Examples of Data Sharing Statements That Fulfill These ICMJE Requirements, in the “Data Sharing Statements for Clinical Trials: A Requirement of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors”.
Policies on Conflict of Interest
Authors must take responsibility to disclose all information regarding any potential conflict of interest. This may refer to, but is not limited to, cases where research was conducted upon the request of companies, government and municipal agencies,NGOs, academic societies, or anywhere the research received financial aid or support. Authors should conduct a self-check on the disclosure form of ICMJE, and include the result on the title page. In the case of there being a conflict of interest, all relevant documentation must be submitted, and the conflict must be mentioned in the paper. The disclosure form can be downloaded from Disclosure of Interest.
Advertising Policy
SJMS does not accept any commercial entities.
Copyright
The copyright for all articles and abstracts published in the SJMS, in either printed or digital form, will be retained by Shimane University, Faculty of Medicine. Authors should obtain approval from all co-authors about copyright ownership, and submit a statement to that effect.
The copyright lies with Shimane University, Faculty of Medicine upon receipt of the paper(s) by the editorial board. In cases where a paper is not accepted, the copyright is waived and automatically returned to the author. In every case involving the reprinting of a paper from this journal, the source must be clearly stated.
Articles published in the SJMS are open access articles and distributed under the Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (BY-NC-ND) 4.0.
Shimane University, Faculty of Medicine may, on approval of the editorial board, have all or part of the submitted papers published through online or other media (including electronic media) in any language.
The Process for Handling Cases Requiring Corrections, Retractions, and Editorial Expressions of Concern
In cases involving typos or clerical errors, a list of errata must be included. Such errata must only be included on the premise that they do not interfere with the quality of the research.
In cases where the honesty and integrity of the research is called into doubt, an investigation will be conducted by the editorial board. For an investigation, the editorial board refers to the Flowchart of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) or https://www.ronbun.jp/flowcharts/ and guidelines. If a research paper is deemed inappropriate, it will be retracted and an expression of concern will be reported.
Manuscript Preparation
The Editorial Board of the SJMS accepts papers which are written in English and have not previously been published or submitted for publication except in special cases approved by the board. The board requires all authors to have their manuscripts proofread by native English speakers with extensive knowledge in the related areas.
Manuscript Submission
Manuscripts should be prepared by MS-Word and double-spaced to facilitate the peer review and editorial process. Manuscripts, including tables and figures, should be submitted to the Address for Correspondence by e-mail attachments. Each manuscript should consist of the following:
Title page, summary page, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusion, ethical approval, author contribution, acknowledgments, funding, conflict of interest, references, tables, figure legends, figures.
Manuscripts should be submitted together with the submission paper.
Manuscript Format
Please follow the format outlined in the document “Submission Guidelines”.
Peer Review Process
All papers are subject to review. The editor in charge of the submission will be appointed by the representative chief editor of the journal. At the time of submission, the chief editor or editor-in-charge will review the paper’s summary and contents. The paper will be withdrawn or rejected if it is found that the paper is not in accordance with manuscript submission rules, or if it is in conflict with the journal’s purpose. At this time, comments may be offered, or suggestions may be made regarding changes to the content. The representative chief editor for the journal or the editor-in-charge will appoint two or three external reviewers to conduct the review. The editorial board of the SJMS may in some cases appoint an external reviewer from outside the university. All types of submitted papers are peer-reviewed in a single-blind review.
The representative chief editor of the journal or the editor in charge, having learned about the reviewer’s decision, will then request the author to reconsider and correct the content. If there is significant difference of opinion among the reviewers, the editorial board of the SJMS will deliberate and, in some cases, request further review. In the case that all the reviewers decide to reject the paper, the review will be discontinued, and the editorial board will be notified.
The editorial board of the Shimane Journal of Medical Science will deliberate on the adoption or rejection of papers, and make the final decision.
Revisions
Based on the reviewers’ comments, the author must correct the article and resubmit it by the set deadline. The following documentation must be enclosed:
- A manuscript of the corrected paper including tables and figures (corrections underlined in red)
- A copy of the reviewer’ comments
-
Correspondence to reviewers’ comments
After the review procedure is finished, authors must submit the final manuscript in an MS-word file. The font needs to be Times New Roman 12 point, the tables and figures need to be submitted in an editable file, and photos need to be submitted in a jpeg file.
Galley Proofs
Authors are requested the first proof once the galley is done. In principle, proofreading should be completed within two days, and at that time, a major correction will not be approved. Any proofs made after the revised proof are left to the discretion of the editorial board of the SJMS.
Article Processing Chargeand and Other Extra Charge
Article Processing Charge
No article processing charge will be charged to the authors.
Extra Printing Charge
Cost of offprint and color print will be charged to authors. Some of the printing costs may in some cases be charged to the authors.
English Editing Charge
If there is a problem with English expression and English editing is requested, the cost may be charged to the authors.
Address for Correspondence
Shimane University Medical Library
89-1 Enya-cho, Izumo, 693-8501 Shimane, Japan
Tel:+81-853-20-2090 Fax:+81-853-20-2095
E-mail:m-kanri@lib.shimane-u.ac.jp