Author Guidelines
This journal accepts email submission, you may email us your manuscript directly (editor@theijcp.org or elmer.editorial2@hotmail.com), please make sure you follow the manuscript preparation instructions.
Our requirements for submitted manuscripts are in accordance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. For general information about the structure and content of a biomedical manuscript, authors should get familiar with the ICMJE Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts before reading the specific instructions for International Journal of Clinical Pediatrics below.
General Requirements
Important notes: If you submit manuscripts via the online submission system, the first step is to register as a user of this site, make sure to check to register as Author, then you may add yourself as a Reader or a Reviewer as you like. When you upload your files, the manuscript main text is uploaded as the SUBMISSION FILE, and all other files are uploaded as SUPPLEMENTAL FILES, such as figures, cover letter, etc.
All manuscripts should be submitted electronically via our website, submissions via regular postal mail are not acceptable at the moment. Manuscripts should be double-spaced (including references, tables, and figure legends). International Journal of Clinical Pediatrics does not enforce a word limit for the manuscript, neither has a limit for figures, tables, legends and references.
Before submitting online, authors are asked to have their manuscript saved in word file and each figure saved as a separate electronic file, preferably named as "figure 1.tif," "figure 2.jpg," etc.
Manuscripts are accepted for consideration with the understanding that they have been submitted solely to International Journal of Clinical Pediatrics and that they have not been previously published, either in whole or in part. International Journal of Clinical Pediatrics is a fully peer-reviewed journal. The editors reserve the right to make editorial changes in all matter published in the Journal.
A cover letter should accompany the manuscript. It should include the name, mailing address, telephone and FAX numbers, and e-mail address of the corresponding author.
Clinical Trials Registration
Authors are encouraged to register their clinical trials with an international recognized clinical trials register, such as: clinicaltrials.gov; the EU Clinical Trials Register; WHO Clinical Trials Registry Platform.
Recommended Clinical Reporting Guidelines
Though not strictly required, the following clinical reporting guidelines are recommended to follow when preparing the relevant manuscripts.
• Randomized trials (CONSORT)
• Observational studies (STROBE)
• Systematic reviews (PRISMA)
• Case reports (CARE)
• Qualitative research (SRQR)
• Diagnostic / prognostic studies (STARD)
• Quality improvement studies (SQUIRE)
• Economic evaluations (CHEERS)
• Animal pre-clinical studies (ARRIVE)
• Study protocols (SPIRIT)
• Clinical practice guidelines (AGREE)
Types of Manuscripts
The manuscript should be written in English and the editors reserve the right to make appropriate corrections in grammar and style.
Original Article
Should report original research not previously published or being considered for publication elsewhere. Manuscripts may be edited to improve clarity and expression.
Short Communication
A short communication is a short version of "Original Article", whose methods, findings, data, etc. don't justify a full length paper, but still contain original findings with significant research merits, but are generally much more straightforward.
Editorial
These are usually submitted by the journal editors, about any cutting edge topics that relates to pediatrics, maximum 3000 words will be welcomed for consideration.
Letter to the Editor
Authors are encouraged to write about any cutting edge topics that relates to pediatrics, or the commentaries on this journal's previous publications, maximum 3000 words will be welcomed for consideration.
Review
In-depth reviews of recent developments are welcome, and will undergo peer review. Reviews should have an abstract of up to 350 words.
Case Report
Authors are required to follow the CARE Case Report Guidelines when preparing the case report manuscript, otherwise, it may be returned for resubmission. Click here to download the customized Case Report Guidelines.
Summary of Meeting
Brief of medical conferences in up-to-date topics of Pediatrics and relevant fields will be considered publication on International Journal of Clinical Pediatrics.
Authorship
The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria (www.icjme.org):
1) Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2) Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3) Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4) 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.
Corresponding Author
There must be a corresponding author (not more than 2 in a manuscript) clearly indicated in the title page, with his/her full academic affiliation, contact information (email, tel., fax).
The corresponding author is the person who is taking the responsibilities of the manuscript being prepared following research and publishing integrity and ethics.
The galley proof will be sent to the corresponding author for proofreading. Meanwhile, the galley proof might be also "carbon copy, CC" to the submitting individual, but that is not for all articles.
"The corresponding author is the one individual who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication process, and typically ensures that all the journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and gathering conflict of interest forms and statements, are properly completed, although these duties may be delegated to one or more coauthors. The corresponding author should be available throughout the submission and peer review process to respond to editorial queries in a timely way, and should be available after publication to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information should questions about the paper arise after publication" ( www.icjme.org).
Submitting Author
The submitting author is the person who carries out the submission work and submits the manuscript (usually via online submission portal) to the journal. The submitting author is not necessarily the corresponding author, however, upon receiving the manuscript submitted by the individual (submitting author) other than the corresponding author, we assume that the submitting author has obtained explicit permission from the corresponding author to do so, and we assume that the corresponding author is fully aware of and approves the submission and oversees the editorial procedures of the manuscript.
In this circumstance, a submission approval letter from the corresponding author might be requested by the editor, and the corresponding author should provide such letter before we do any processing of the manuscript.
Valid Email Address
The submitting author and corresponding author are responsible for providing valid and attended email address, and should check the email regularly, in order not to delay the editorial procedure.
The galley proof will be sent to the corresponding author for proofreading. Meanwhile, the galley proof might be also sent "carbon copy, CC" to the submitting individual, but that is not for all articles.
Preparation of Original Articles
Original Articles are full-length reports of original research and will be considered for either the Clinical Research or the Basic Research. All articles should cover topics relevant to clinical and basic studies in Pediatrics.
Title Page
Title: Include animal species. Use no abbreviations. Limit: 150 characters with spaces.
Short Title: limit 45 characters (with spaces).
Authors
Include first and last names of all authors, and name and full location of department and institution where work was performed.
Grant Support
List grant support and other assistance if applicable.
Correspondence
Provide name, complete address, e-mail address, telephone number, and fax number of the corresponding author.
Financial Disclosures
All authors must disclose any financial arrangement(s) they may have with a company whose product figures prominently in the submitted manuscript or with a company making a competing product.
Structured abstract
Limit: 350 words. Organize according to the following headings: Background & Aims, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Do not use footnotes, or references.
Key words
Provide up to 8 keywords.
Introduction
Should be brief and set out the purposes for which the study has been performed along with relevant previous studies only wherever essential and necessary.
Materials and methods
Should be sufficiently detailed so that readers and reviewers can understand precisely what has been done without studying the references directly. The description may be abbreviated when well accepted techniques are used. Describe ethical guidelines followed, for human or animal studies. Cite approval of institutional human research review committee or animal welfare committee. Outline statistical methods used. When describing the results of hypothesis testing, report P values and/or confidence intervals. Using phrases such as "not significant" is not sufficient. Identify drugs and chemicals used by generic name, if trademarks are mentioned, manufacturer name and city are given.
Results
Should be presented precisely and directly. Do not include discussion of their importance in this section of the manuscript.
Tables
Tables should be prepared without use of tabs; most table editor programs can be uploaded successfully.
Figures
Images: Images can be clinical, pathologic (gross or microscopic), endoscopic, or radiographic. They should be of high quality (300 dpi or greater, clear, and in good focus), and illustrate well the diagnosis.
Color files should be submitted in the CMYK color space. Authors are encouraged to present color figures in a manner that will allow the data to be interpreted by colorblind readers.
You must add arrows if necessary on the figure to call out the relevant or important element of the figure, the legend should state what the arrows indicate.
Font
If your figures include text, an 8 to 10 point font should be used. Acceptable fonts are "sans serif" fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, and Myriad. Examples of unacceptable fonts ("serif" fonts) are Times.
Photographs
Photographs of identifiable patients must come with written permission to publish from the patient.
Line art and graphs: any graphs or line art you submit are at a resolution of at least 300 dpi so that they are readable to reviewers.
Accepted figure file formats: We support the following file formats: .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .png, .tif, .eps. When sending image files, please do not embed them in Word or PowerPoint. You may submit mixed file formats such as image1.jpg, image2.tif, image3.eps. Preferred figure file formats: .tiff, .psd .eps and .jpg.
Image file formats not supported at this time: ChemDraw, CorelDraw, Canvas, FreeHand, Excel, SigmaPlot, and Equation Editor. You may export image files from these programs as PDF, Jpeg, or other acceptable file formats.
File naming convention: Figures should be named consecutively such as "figure 1.tif," "figure 2.jpg," etc., with the file extension appended (.tif, .jpg, .eps, etc). Each figure should be saved as a separate electronic file. Authors must be aware of that color figure printing fee will be incurred. If the manuscript is reviewed with color figures, and the author does not wish to pay for printing color figures, the authors may choose to have their color figures printed in grayscale or black-and-white. Color figures are always free online.
Discussion
Discussion should be directly related to the study being reported. Do not include a general review of the topic only. An in-depth and insightful discussion in regarding to the new findings is encouraged.
References
Number references in the order cited as Arabic numerals in square brackets on the line. Only literature that is published or in press (with the name of the publication known) may be numbered and listed; abstracts and letters to the editor may be cited. Other materials, such as manuscripts submitted, unpublished data, personal communications, and the like, should not be cited.
Journal articles
List all authors up to seven, using "et al." when the number is greater than seven.
Joffe SW, Dewolf M, Shih J, McManus DD, Spencer FA, Lessard D, Gore JM, et al. Trends in the medical management of patients with heart failure. J Clin Med Res. 2013;5(3):194-204.
Books
Watson JD. The Double Helix. New York: Atheneum, 1968:1-6. Book Chapters
Hofmann AF. The enterohepatic circulation of bile acids in health and disease. In: Sleisinger MH, Fordtran JS, eds. Gastrointestinal Disease. Volume 1. 5th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1993:127-150.
Figure and table legends
Please do not embed or flatten the text into the image files. Legends should be in Word file and start from a new page, and numbered corresponding to the appearing order in the text.
Preparation of Review
Review article should include title page, an abstract (not more 350 words) and an introduction section, followed by the review.
Preparation of Case Report
Authors are required to follow the CARE Case Report Guidelines when preparing the case report manuscript, otherwise, it may be returned for resubmission. Click here to download the customized Case Report Guidelines.
Preparations of Letter to the Editor, Editorial
These should have a title page, a main body of text and references. They do not need the abstract and introduction section.
Units
Authors are encouraged to use SI units, SI is preferred for the expression of length, area, mass, and volume. Blood pressures can be in millimeters of mercury, temperatures can be in degrees Celsius, all measured values must be accompanied with units.
Clinical Trial
Randomized controlled trials should be presented according to the CONSORT guidelines (JAMA2001;285:1987-1991 or http://www.consort-statement.org). Authors should provide the CONSORT checklist with a diagram illustrating the progress of patients through the trial, including recruitment, enrollment, randomization, withdrawal and completion, and a detailed description of the randomization procedure. Manuscripts that fail to comply with CONSORT guidelines or do not include the CONSORT checklist at the time of submission will not be considered for publication.
We suggest that submissions reporting randomized controlled trials should follow CONSORT guidelines; diagnostic accuracy studies follow STARD guidelines; meta-analyses follow QUOROM guidelines; and for manuscripts reporting epidemiological studies should follow STROBE guidelines.
Submission Declarations (Conflict of Interest, Human and Animal Rights, Informed Consent, ant others)
The authors should declare any conflict of interests related to the manuscript. Published research must comply with the guidelines for human studies and animal welfare regulations. Authors should state that subjects have given their informed consent and that the study protocol has been approved by the institute's committee on human research. Further, they should also state that animal experiments conform to institutional standards.
Pease include the following declarations, any submissions missing a single item of declaration will be returned for resubmission.
Original Article, Short Communication
• Acknowledgement
• Financial Disclosure or Funding
• Conflict of Interest
• Informed Consent
• Author Contributions
• Institutional Review Board Approval (IRB Approval, add in the Methods section)
• Ethical Compliance with Human/Animal Study (add in the Methods section. Examples: This study was conducted in compliance with the ethical standards of the responsible institution on human subjects as well as with the Helsinki Declaration; or, This study was conducted in compliance with all the applicable institutional ethical guidelines for the care, welfare and use of animals.)
• Data Availability
Review Article, Editorial
• Acknowledgement
• Financial Disclosure or Funding
• Conflict of Interest
• Author Contributions
• Data Availability
Case Report, Letter to the Editor
• Acknowledgement
• Financial Disclosure or Funding
• Conflict of Interest
• Informed Consent
• Author Contributions
• Data Availability
#If any of above item not applicable or there is none to declare, just state "Not applicable" or "None to declare", BUT there must be such item in the article, it can't be missing.
Review Process
Reviewers provide comments for the editor and for the authors. The Journal expects reviewers to treat manuscripts as confidential communications and not to use the content for their own purposes or make copies of the manuscripts. Reviewers are also expected to declare to the editor any possible conflicts of interest. Details for peer-review process.
Decisions
The single most important criterion for acceptance is the originality of the work. However, a decision to accept a manuscript is not based solely on the scientific validity of its content. Other factors may affect decisions, such factors are, the extent and importance of new information in the paper compared with that in other papers being considered, the Journal's need to represent a wide range of topics, and the overall suitability for International Journal of Clinical Pediatrics.
Decisions on peer-reviewed papers are sent to the authors via email within an average of 3 weeks from the date of submission.
Editing
Accepted papers are subject to copyediting according to the style of International Journal of Clinical Pediatrics, authors will be sent galleys (HTML and PDF) for proofreading. The authors need to approve all the statements contained in the article including the changes the copyeditor has made before publication.
Open Access Publishing Charge
This is an open access journal, an open access Article Publishing Charge is required for accepted articles, fees vary from article types, click here for rates details. Upon acceptance for publication, this fee is payable, an invoice will be sent to the submitting author or corresponding author.
Disclaimer
The statements and opinions contained in this journal are solely those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors or the publisher. The appearance of advertizements in the Journal is not a warranty, endorsement or approval of the products or services advertized or of their safety. The Editor-in-Chief and the Publisher disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas or products referred to in the articles or advertizements.
Corrections and Retractions
If serious error or scientific misconduct occurs, the article will be retracted during any stage of publishing. If the paper with error has been published, and the error is minor without affecting the overall results and conclusions of the study, a correction statement will be published in the next available issue. If errors occur during the editing/copyediting or proofreading because of the publisher, a correction will be published as erratum.
Manuscript Funding Agencies
If your manuscript was NIH- or HHMI-funded, or funded by UK, Europe or Canada agencies, you may click here for more information of Pubmed Central deposit after your article published.
Use of AI Tools (such as ChatGPT)
1. AI tools (such as ChatGPT) cannot be listed as an author of a paper.
2. If authors use AI tools (such as ChatGPT) in the preparation of a manuscript, they must disclose how the AI tool was used and extent of the usage, in which parts or sections the AI tool was used.
3. Use of AI tools but without disclosure in the manuscript constitutes academic misconduct.
4. Manuscript authors are ultimately responsible for the submitted work.
