The journal of Clinical Neuroscience is the official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia, the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists, the Australian and New Zealand Society for Neuropathology, the Taiwan Neurosurgical Society, and the Asian Australasian Society of Neurological Surgeons
Types of papers and word limits
Original research (both clinical and laboratory), case series, reports and correspondence will be considered. To be accepted for publication, individual case reports need to have important and novel learning points; a simple narrative of a complex or challenging patient(s) is insufficient. Case series dealing with important areas of practice with a thorough review of relevant literature will be considered. Laboratory Studies must be clinically relevant. The journal also publishes invited review articles and debates on topical and controversial subjects in neuroscience and neurology.
Case Reports should not exceed 1000 words including references and up to a maximum of three figures.
Clinical Studies, Neuropathology and Neuroanatomical Studies should not exceed 4000 words.
Images in Neuroscience should not exceed a total of 500 words and three images, with a limit of one published page each for both the Question and the Answer sections.
Laboratory Studies should not exceed 3000 words.
Reviews and Histories should not exceed 5000 words.
Short Communications should not exceed 800 words and a maximum of two figures.
Technical Note and Operative Techniques should not exceed 2500 words.
The word limits include references, the abstract, tables, figure captions and supplementary material.
Ethics in publishing
For information on Ethics in Publishing and Ethical Guidelines for journal publication see
http://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics
and http://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.
A paper that contains the results of human and/or animal studies will be accepted for publication only if it is made clear that a high standard of ethics was applied in carrying out the investigation. All clinical investigators must follow the Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki (
http://ohsr.od.nih.gov/guidelines/helsinki.html). In the case of invasive studies of humans, the text should include
a statement that the research protocol was approved by a local institutional review board or ethics committee and that written consent
was obtained from all subjects. For case reports, subjects must not be identifiable; however, the patient's written consent to publish
must be given (see Patient details).
Conflict of interest
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. See also
http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.
Submission declaration and verification
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection software iThenticate. See also
http://www.elsevier.com/editors/plagdetect.
Changes to authorship
This policy concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts:
Before the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names, must be sent to the Journal Manager from the corresponding author of the accepted manuscript and must include: (a) the reason the name should be added or removed, or the author names rearranged and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, fax, 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. Requests that are not sent by the corresponding author will be forwarded by the Journal Manager to the corresponding author, who must follow the procedure as described above. Note that: (1) Journal Managers will inform the Journal Editors of any such requests and (2) publication of the accepted manuscript in an online issue is suspended until authorship has been agreed.
After the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Any requests to add, delete, or rearrange author names in an article published in an online issue will follow the same policies as noted above and result in a corrigendum.
Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see
http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information.
An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement'
form or a link to the online version of this agreement. Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult
http://www.elsevier.com/permissions).
If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit
the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.
Retained author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to:
http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.
Role of the funding source
You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated. Please see
http://www.elsevier.com/funding.
Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit
http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.
Language and language services
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageservices or our customer support site at http://support.elsevier.com for more information.
Patient details
Unless you have written permission from the patient (or, where applicable, the next of kin), the personal details of any patient included in any part of the article and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission. For further information see
http://www.elsevier.com/patientphotographs.
Submission
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts source files to a single PDF file of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF files at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail removing the need for a paper trail.
Full instructions for uploading data and files are given on the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) website:
http://ees.elsevier.com/jocn/ Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except as an abstract or part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration (in whole or in part) for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent from the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, the copyright-holder.
Referees
Please submit, with the manuscript, the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of three potential referees. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.
Use of wordprocessing software
Allow at least a 2.5 cm margin all round. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. However, please save the file in the native format of the wordprocessor used and make sure that the different levels of headings can be distinguished easily.
The electronic text should be prepared in a very similar way to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier:
http://www.elsevier.com/guidepublication).
Note that source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also
the section on Electronic illustrations http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your wordprocessor.
Article structure
Papers should be set out as follows: title page, abstract and keywords, text, acknowledgements, references, tables, figures, captions to illustrations, video and supplementary data.
Essential title page information
• Title. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems and must be concise and informative. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible. The title should not be divided into a title and a subtitle. The category of the article, such as a case report, can be included on a separate line.
• Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name, and, if available, the e-mail address of each author. The name of the department within an institution must also be included.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author. Please ensure that only one author has been nominated as the corresponding author. The role of corresponding author does not indicate seniority in any way. It is possible to indicate equal authorship by inclusion of a superscript number after the authors' names and a footnote.
• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address' ) may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
• Sources of support. Support in the form of grants and any financial or intellectual conflict of interest must be listed on the title page.
Abstract and keywords
An abstract is required for all submissions except Images in Neuroscience and Letters to the Editor. The abstract should consist of one paragraph only of not more than 200-250 words summarising the contents of the article and must not contain any subheadings or references. Below the abstract, list from three to seven key-words that will assist in cross-indexing the article. Whenever possible, use terms from the MeSH list of Index Medicus.
Text
Papers should be submitted in English in journal style. Failure to do so may lead to significant delays in publication. Spelling may be British or American but must be consistent throughout the text of the article.
Hyphenation, symbols and lists
Please do not use the automatic hyphenation option. Only use hyphens when they are part of a word. Never use the letter 'I' for the number '1'. Never use the letter 'O' for the number '0'. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, and superscripts, as well as greek and specialised symbols, when necessary. Always insert a space between a number and a unit (e.g., 5 mm). Do not indent lists. However, if preparing a list within a list, use a tab and, not a space to indent the sublist. Bullets, numbers, alphabetical characters or dashes may be used but please use rationally and consistently.
Abbreviations and units
All abbreviations should be fully explained at their first occurrence in the text. Avoid numerous invented abbreviations. All measurements should be expressed in metric units, SI units being preferred except in the case of fluid pressures. For more detailed recommendations, authors may consult the Royal Society of Medicine publication: Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: A Guide for Biological and Medical Editors and Authors.
Proprietary names, medication and equipment: Proprietary names and medication should start with initial capital letters. The name of the manufacturer should be included in parentheses after the first mention of the product, followed by the manufacturer's location (city, state and country).
Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as 'graphics' or enclose the font.
• Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit each figure as a separate file.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please 'save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as 'graphics'.
TIFF: Color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is'.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimised for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Color artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for color: in print or on the Web only. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting color figures to 'gray scale' (for the printed version should you not opt for color in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the color illustrations.
Please note: If you do not wish to pay for color printing, you will need to supply separate black-and-white versions of the color illustrations, and the color versions will be used online only. This is to avoid potential technical complications that can arise by converting color figures to 'gray scale'. In addition, some colors (e.g., yellow and green, and black and red) cannot be differentiated when converted to black and white. The Journal will not print black-and-white versions of color photographs in which information essential to the correct interpretation of that figure is no longer visible. Authors must submit figures both in black-and-white and in color that can be clearly understood in both versions.
Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. 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.
Figure captions for imaging studies must include details of the scan type (e.g., T1-weighted MRI) and the view (e.g., axial, coronal). Captions to histology sections must include stain type and magnification or a scale bar.
Tables and equations
Do not embed 'graphically designed' equations or tables, but prepare these using the wordprocessor's facility. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. Do not import the figures into the text file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on the manuscript. See also the section on Electronic artwork. To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your wordprocessor.
Do not submit tables as photographs.
Care should be taken to ensure that all units are included.
A short descriptive title should appear above each table and any footnotes, suitably identified, should appear below. Ensure that each table is cited in the text and number tables in the order in which they are cited. Place footnotes to the tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Do not use vertical rules. Ensure that the data presented in tables are not duplicated in the text.
References
Please note that the accuracy of references is the sole responsibility of the author.
Text: Indicate references by superscript numbers in the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.
List: Number the references in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
1. Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun 2000;163:51–9.
Reference to a book:
2. Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of style. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan; 1979.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
3. Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In: Jones BS, Smith RZ, editors. Introduction to the electronic age, New York: E-Publishing Inc; 1999, p. 281–304.
Please note use of the shortened form for the last page number (e.g., 51–9)and that for more than three authors the first three should be listed followed by 'et al.'. For further details you are referred to 'Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals' (J Am Med Assoc 1997;277:927–34) (see also
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html). Personal communications,
manuscripts in preparation and other unpublished data should not be cited in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text in parentheses.Titles of publications in any European language should be provided in the original language of the article. Titles in extra-European languages should be complemented by an English translation. If the original title is not written in Latin characters, the title should be transcribed and complemented (or replaced) by an English translation in brackets..
Citing and listing of web references.
As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (e.g.,DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.
Journal abbreviations source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to
Index Medicus journal abbreviations:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html; List of title word abbreviations:
http://www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php; CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service):
http://www.cas.org/sent.html.
Video data
Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the files in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 50 MB. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect:
http://www.sciencedirect.com. Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation
or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed
instructions please visit our video instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Note: since video
and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version
for the portions of the article that refer to this content.
Supplementary data
Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect:
http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please provide the data
in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply
a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Submission checklist
The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are present:
One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded, and contain:
• Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked'
• References are in the correct format for this journal
• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)
• Color figures are clearly marked as being intended for color reproduction on the Web (free of charge) and in print, or to be reproduced in color on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print
• If only color on the Web is required, black-and-white versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes
For any further information please visit our customer support site at http://support.elsevier.com.
Additional checklist for YJOCN
Legal compliance
• Signed patient consent form has been supplied for publication of recognisable images
• Conflict of interest has been disclosed
Manuscript
• Word count is within the limit for the article type
• The number of images is within the limit for the article type
• Contains an abstract of one single paragraph of 200 -250 words
• All acronyms have been spelt out at first mention
Contact information
• One nominated corresponding author only
Figures
• All figures are cited and in numerical order
• On black-and-white figures, any previously colored sections can be clearly differentiated
• Identifying patient details have been removed
• Captions for scans include scan type and view
• Captions for histology images include stain type and scale bar/original magnification
• Abbreviations/acronyms are spelt out in the caption to each respective figure
Tables
• Submitted in Word or Excel format
• All are cited and in numerical order
References
• Any URL addresses have been verified
• URL addresses include date of latest access
Use of the Digital Object Identifier
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles in press' because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information. The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows (example taken from a document in the journal Physics Letters B):
doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2010.09.059
When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, the DOIs are guaranteed never to change.
Proofs
One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or, a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 (or higher) available free from
http://get.adobe.com/reader. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online).
The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/tech-specs.html. If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return them to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or by post. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately – please let us have all your corrections within 48 hours. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.
Offprints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use.
For inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission) please visit this journal's homepage. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, will be provided by the publisher. You can track accepted articles at
http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle. You can also
check our Author FAQs ( http://www.elsevier.com/authorFAQ) and/or contact Customer Support via http://support.elsevier.com.