Journal of Acupuncture and Tuina Science Instructions for Authors

Editors in Chief

Chen Han-ping, Wu Huan-gan

The Journal of Acupuncture and Tuina Science, a peerreview journal with an international scope (ISSN 1672-3597,CN 31-1908/R, Bimonthly), is embodied by Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) , The Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WPRIM), Springer-Verlag GmbH Database, Index of Copernicus (IC) and Chinese Science Citation Database(CSCD). You can search the text on http://www.wanfangdata.com.cn/perio/detail.do?perio_id=zjtnyx-e,http://www.springerlink.com/content/1672-3597 and http://tn.acumoxj. com/magazine/index.jhtml.

MANUSCRIPT INFORMATION

Sc ope of contributions

Journal of Acupuncture and Tuina Science welcomes manuscripts from all over the world, on all aspects of acupuncture，moxibustion and tuina (massage). Article types include basic science studies, clinical studies, reviews,systematic reviews and meta-analyses, randomized controlled and pragmatic trials, famous doctor's experience, etc.

Su bmission

Manuscripts should be submitted online via the online submission and peer review website of Journal of Acupuncture and Tuina Science [http://116.228.206.14:4999/journalx_jatsen(English version) or http://116.228.206.14:4999/journalx_jats(Chinese version)]. Only online submissions are accepted for rapid publication. The submitting author takes responsibility for the paper during submission and peer review.

Pr evious publication submission

If a submission could be considered redundant or duplicative of a previous published work, a full statement of such should be made to the editor. If duplicate publication is attempted without such notification, editorial action may be taken,including prompt rejection of the manuscript. Any subjects discussed in the submitted manuscript who have been mentioned in another publication should be noted, with a reference to the previous work. If manuscripts are under consideration by another publication, copies of possibly duplicative materials that are being considered elsewhere must be provided at the time of manuscript submission.

Co pyright

Once material is published in the journal, it becomes the copyrighted property of Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture and Meridian. Permission must be attained from the editorial board to publish in other medical journals.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Biographical and contact information (including address,phone and fax numbers, e-mail address, and working place) for all authors must be initially provided.

Au thorship and group authorship

Author should be considered to be someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a published study, and biomedical authorship continues to have important academic,social, and financial implications. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. One or more authors should be responsible for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to published article.

Authorship credit should be based on: (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data,or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (3)final approval of the version to be published. (1), (2), and (3)must all be met.

If authorship of multicenter trials is attributed to a group, all members of the group who are named as authors should fully meet the above criteria for authorship. The group should jointly make decisions about corresponding author before submitting the manuscript for publication, and the other group members may be listed in an acknowledgment in which their function or contribution should be described. The correspondence author should be prepared to explain the presence and order of these individuals. It is not the role of editors to make authorship decisions or to arbitrate conflicts related to authorship.

Co nflicts of interest

When authors submit a manuscript, they are responsible for disclosing all financial and personal relationships that might bias their work and undermine the credibility of the journal, the authors, and of science itself. To prevent ambiguity, authors must state explicitly whether potential conflicts exist in the manuscript on a conflict-of-interest notification page that follows the title page, providing additional detail, if necessary,in a cover letter that accompanies the manuscript. Editors may use information disclosed in conflict-of-interest and financialinterest statements as a basis for editorial decisions. Editors should publish this information if they believe it is important in judging the manuscript.

In formed consent

Before experimenting on human subjects, authors should obtain the statement of informed consent from the study participants.

The study participants have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information,including names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. When informed consent has been obtained, it will be indicated in the published article.

Et hical requirement

When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

EDITORIAL REVIEW AND PUBLICATION

Pe er review

An editor reviews submitted manuscripts initially.Manuscripts with insufficient priority for publication are rejected promptly. Other manuscripts are sent to expert consultants for peer review. All the reviewers' identities and the authors' identities are kept anonymous for each other. The manuscript under review is not revealed to anyone other than peer reviewers and editorial staff. We encourage authors to suggest the names of possible reviewers, but we reserve the right of final selection. Reviewers are required to evaluate the manuscript and to return comments within two weeks.

Re jected manuscripts

Rejected manuscripts will not be returned to authors unless specifically requested.

Ed iting

Accepted manuscripts are copyedited first by our editor according to our style (including tables and illustrations) and then by our translator or another reviewer whose mother language is English for correcting syntax error and returned to the author for approval. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made by the editor and authorized by the corresponding author.

Pu blication

Authors are required to pay publication fee if their manuscripts are accepted for publication (unsolicited manuscripts).

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals by ICMJE (www.icmje.org).

Ti tle page

The title page should include the article title, names and affiliations of all authors, and correspondence biographical information on all authors. If an author's affiliation has changed since the work was done, list the new affiliation as well. Titles should be concise and descriptive. The name, address,telephone number, fax number, and email address of the corresponding author should be addressed. Any grant support

should be mentioned on this page.

Ab stract and keywords

Provide an abstract of no more than 400 words. Include information as applicable for the following headings: objective,methods, results, and conclusion.

Underneath the abstract, provide 5-8 keywords (preferably Medical Subject Heading terms, MeSH).

Te xt

Introduction: Provide a brief background for the article,including the rationale for the study or observation.

Methods:Describe the selection of subjects, including demographics and study design. Identify the procedures in sufficient detail so others may replicate the results. Provide references to established methods and new techniques; provide the rationale for their use and also describe their limitations.Authors submitting review articles should describe the methods used to locate, select, extract, and synthesize data.

Statistics: As necessary, describe statistical methods and provide appropriate indicators of error or uncertainty. Specify any statistical software used.

Results:Present results in a logical sequence.

Conclusion:Emphasize important and new findings of the study. Include implications of the findings and their limitations.

Discussion: The discussion should focus on the interpretation and significance of the findings with concise objective comments that describe their relation to other work in the area. It should not repeat information in part of results.

Fi gure

Give each figure a caption. For color figures, the resolution should be 300 dpi. For black and white figures, the resolution should be 500 dpi.

No menclature and abbreviations

Authors must conform to the Standard Acupuncture (Part 1 and 2) revised by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1991. The full term should appear at first mention, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Standard units of measure are acceptable to abbreviate without expansion. When discussing particular products, it is preferable to use the nonproprietary(generic) name or descriptive term throughout. If desired, the brand name can be included parenthetically at first mention.Chinese herbs should be in Chinese phonetic alphabet,followed by the Latin name in parentheses. The title of a book should be spelled in Chinese phonetic alphabet, followed by the English name in parentheses.