Instructions for Authors
Thyroid publishes original works on thyroid molecular and cell biology, pituitary and peripheral thyroid physiology, as well as the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and therapy of thyroid disorders, including those in the Fields of neoplasia, autoimmunity, development, and nutrition.
GENERAL POLICIES
Manuscripts must be submitted online through the publisher’s online peer-review system, Manuscript Central, using the following URL:
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/thyroid
There is an $85 manuscript submission fee to subsidize the cost of manuscript processing. We accept Visa/MasterCard for payment by credit card. Please be sure to include the account number, the card expiry date, and the name of the cardholder.
To help defray the cost of printing, the publisher requests that page charges, currently $70 per printed page, be paid by all authors who have funds available from research grants or their institutions. These payments are not a prerequisite for publication of any manuscript. The charge for color reproduction is the responsibility of the author(s). The author(s) must contact the publisher for cost estimates.
Peer Review. Regular articles, solicited and unsolicited reviews, and letters to the editor will be peer-reviewed by the editor, members of the Editorial Board, and ad hoc reviewers. Thyroid will accept original manuscripts that contain material that has not been reported elsewhere, except as an abstract of no more than 350 words. Prior abstract presentations should be described as a footnote to the title. Submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter requesting evaluation for publication in Thyroid. The authors must confirm that the manuscript has been submitted solely to Thyroid and is not submitted, in press, or published elsewhere. They must also confirm that all the research meets the ethics guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements of the country where the study was performed. The authors are encouraged to suggest names of appropriate reviewers and may also request that a particular individual not serve in that capacity.
Institutional Review and Clinical Trials. For clinical studies, experimental subjects should be described in detail and the institutional review and informed consent should be obtained as appropriate. Clinical trials should have prospective and public registration or else they may not be considered for publication. The authors should ascertain that their experimental procedures are in compliance with the guiding principles in the “Care and Use of Animals” published in the Information for Authors of the American Journal of Physiology.
Acceptance for Publication. Once the peer-review process has been completed, the authors may be invited to submit one or more revisions. Invitation to submit a revision does not indicate that the revised manuscript will be accepted for publication. Manuscripts will be published if they are accepted for publication by the editor-in-chief, if the submitted information is valid, if guidelines for ethical conduct of research, permissions, and acknowledgment of nonoriginal work are received, and if the publisher’s criteria for publication are met, which includes also assignment of copyright.
Authors’ Responsibility: Originality/Permissions. The authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce figures, tables, and text from previously published material. Written permission must be obtained from the original copyright holder (generally the publisher, not the author or editor) of the journal or book concerned. An appropriate credit line should be included in the figure legend, table footnote, or text, and full publication information should be provided in the reference list. Written permission must be obtained from the author of any unpublished material cited from other laboratories, and it should accompany the manuscript. Any permission fee or cost levied by other publishers and/or authors is the sole responsibility of the author(s) submitting material to Thyroid.
PREPARATION OF THE MANUSCRIPT FILE
Thyroid suggests using Word® 2003 for the preparation of the manuscript file (MS file). Do not submit text files as PDF files. Use double-spaced format with standard font size 12. Avoid complex formatting such as columns. Use the “Tab” key at the start of a paragraph rather than the paragraph indent feature. Line numbers may be added to aid reviewers but are not essential.
The order of appearance of elements of the MS file is (1) title page(s), (2) abstract, (3) main body, (4) acknowledgments and disclosures, (5) name and address of corresponding author, (6) references, (7) tables, and (8) figure legends. (The Journal’s standard rules for Abbreviations and Nomenclature are discussed later.)
Title Page. This should include (1) the title of the article, (2) all authors’ full names, (3) all authors’ highest-earned academic degrees, (4) all authors’ complete affiliations, and (5) all authors’ full contact information, including e-mail addresses. (Do not use abbreviations in the title of the manuscript.)
Below the author information, include the running title and at least five key words for indexing.
Abstract. Abstracts are required for all manuscripts except Letters to the Editor, Editorials, News, and Commentary. In general, abstracts should not exceed 350 words. Do not cite references in the abstract. Abbreviations can be used but should be defined in the abstract. For a Clinical or Basic Original Study the abstract must be organized into the following four sections: Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Start each section of the abstract in a new paragraph. The Background section should have one or two sentences regarding the background, followed by one or two sentences that state the objective of the study or the hypothesis that is tested in the study. It is preferable to state a hypothesis or hypotheses rather than an objective. Avoid vague terminology such as “determine if X plays a role.” The Conclusions should not restate the results but rather summarize the major findings and provide the reader an indication of their importance and how they alter, support, extend, or refute widely held concepts. For Reviews or Scholarly Dialog the abstract sections are as follows: Background, Summary, and Conclusions. For Remarkable Patients Including Images the abstract sections are as follows: Background, Patient Findings, Summary, and Conclusions.
Main Body. The main body of the text should follow the abstract, followed by a page break. For a Clinical or Basic Original Study and for Case Studies use the following sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion. The Introduction should state the hypothesis in specific terms and provide a brief background that supports its rationale and importance. Reviews and Scholarly Dialog should be organized into the following sections: Introduction, Review, Summary, and Conclusions. For Remarkable Patients Including Images there should be a brief introduction followed by a section titled Patient (not “Case”) followed by a discussion.
Acknowledgments. This section is optional and can be used to recognize any source of institutional or governmental funding for your research, or to thank colleagues whose assistance impacted your article.
Disclosure Statement. Immediately following the Acknowledgments section, a section entitled “Author Disclosure Statement” must be included. This text must be part of your MS file.
In this portion of the manuscript, the authors must disclose any commercial association that might create a conflict of interest in connection with submitted manuscripts. This statement should include appropriate information for each author, thereby representing that competing financial interests of all authors have been appropriately disclosed according to the policy of the journal. It is important that all conflicts of interest, whether they are actual or potential, be disclosed. This information will remain confidential while the manuscript is being reviewed and will not affect the editorial decision. Please see the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals at www.icmje.org/index.html#conflicts for further guidance. If no conflicts exist, the authors must state, “No competing financial interests exist.”
References. The references should include all author names. Cite references in text as consecutive numbers in parentheses, e.g., (11). The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references and should be reminded that inaccurate references are highly frustrating to the reader, the cited author, and indexing services. If you are using EndNoteTM Reference ManagerTM software, use the Output Styles for Thyroid. (Note: The initial submission may use a style for another journal, but Thyroid style will be required for the final version.) The format for references is as follows:
Journal article: Lombardi A, Tramontano D, Braverman LE, Ingbar SH 1989 Transferrin in FRTL-5 cells: regulation of its receptors by mitogenic agents and its role in growth. Endocrinology 125:652–658.
Book: American Psychiatric Association 1994 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed. American Psychiatric Association Press, Washington.
Book chapter: Atkins F, Van Nostrand D 2006 Radioiodine whole body imaging. In: Wartofsky L, Van Nostrand D (eds) Thyroid Cancer: A Comprehensive Guide to Clinical Management, 2nd edition. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ, pp 133–151.
Proceedings: Lavilla S, González-López JJ, Larrosa MN, Bartolomé RM, Prat G 2008 Prevalence of the quinolone-modifying enzyme aac(6′)-Ib-cr in extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing enterobacterial isolates in Barcelona. Abstract presented at the 18th Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), Barcelona, Spain, April 19–22. Abstract no. P1523.
Abstract: Scacheri P, Crabtree J, Kennedy A, Swain G, Ward J, Marx S, Spiegel A, Collins F 2006 V804 RET mutation in MEN2A: first report. J Int Med 255:712 (abstract).
Website: National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Inc. 2007 Practice Guidelines in Oncology—Thyroid Carcinoma v.2. Available at www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/thyroid.pdf. Accessed December 15, 2008.
Tables. Each table should appear on its own page. Tables should not contain data that can be given in the text in one or two sentences. There should be enough information in each table such that it can be understood independently of the text. The most important details of experimental conditions can be included in the table footnotes, and the reader can be referred to the Methods section for additional information. If the tables contain important information on methodology, there should be a brief reference in the Methods section directing the reader to the table containing the information.
Figure Legends. All figure legends should be numbered consecutively at the end of the MS file. Do not include figures or images in the MS file. Manuscript Central will collate all uploaded files into a single PDF for the peer-review process.
PREPARATION OF THE FIGURE AND IMAGE FILES
Figure or Image Files. Each figure or image should be submitted as a separate file in a .tif or .eps format. They should be numbered in the order cited in the text. When naming your figure files, please label them with the main author’s last name, followed by a period (.), and then list the figure number, e.g., Smith.Fig1.
Figures and images should not show the name of a manufacturer or reveal patients’ names. Please keep in mind that the figures will be reduced, so do not submit large figures/graphs that contain small type, as the text within the figure will not be readable after reduction. Please follow these instructions when preparing figure files for uploading.
- Line illustrations must be submitted at 900 dpi.
- Halftones and color photos should be submitted at a minimum of 300 dpi.
- Power Point files cannot be uploaded.
- Save art as either TIFF or EPS files. Avoid submitting JPEG or PDF files.
- Color art must be saved as CMYK, not RGB.
- Color illustrations can be printed in the journal, with a subsidy from the author(s).
If you need directions on how to convert a Power Point slide to acceptable format, go to www.liebertpub.com/MEDIA/pdf/ppconvert.pdf.
IMPORTANT:
Please do not upload a single PDF containing all text, image, and table files. Upload individual files of all manuscript material. Once all individual files are uploaded on to Manuscript Central, the system will automatically create a single PDF proof for you and for the peer-review process.
ABBREVIATIONS AND NOMENCLATURE
Abbreviations and nomenclature should follow recommendations of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB; Recommendations on Biochemical and Organic Nomenclature, Symbols and Terminology) at www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iubmb/. The International System of Units (SI units) is recommended, but conventional units may also be used. In either case, it is desirable to include appropriate conversion factors to aid the reader. The list of abbreviations in the journal Endocrinology is generally acceptable in Thyroid. Novel abbreviations should be kept to a minimum and must be defined when they first appear. Drug names should always be generic. Pedigrees should be drawn according to published standards (see 1995 AJHG 56:745–752). *Human gene names and loci should be written in italicized capital letters and Arabic numerals (e.g., PAX8). Mouse genes should be written in italic using sentence case (e.g., Pax8). Protein names are not italicized (e.g., PAX8). For the description of human mutations, refer to the following reference: Antonarakis et al. 1998 Recommendations for a nomenclature system for human gene mutations. Hum Mutat 11:1–3 (http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/ fulltext/5001291/PDFSTART). When a manuscript that contains novel sequences is accepted, the sequences must be deposited in the appropriate database (such as GenBank), an accession number obtained before the manuscript is sent to the publisher, and the accession number added in a footnote.
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* Bennett RL, Steinhaus KA, Uhrich SB, O’Sullivan CK, Resta RG, Lochner-Doyle D, Markel DS,
Vincent V, Hamarishi J 1995 recommendations for standardized human pedigree nomenclature. Pedigree Standardization Task Force of the National Society of Genetic Counselors. AJHG 56:745–752
ONLINE SUBMISSION PROCESS
The online submission process requires filling out and checking off menu-driven forms and uploading files. The final PDF of the manuscript reviewed by reviewers and editors is generated from multiple sources, including files uploaded and information entered on the Web by the authors.
All manuscripts, regardless of category or type, must be submitted online using the following URL: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ thyroid
First-time authors should register and obtain a username and password that provides access to their Author Center for present and future manuscript submissions. Once logged in to the Author Center, click on the “Submit a Manuscript” link to submit a new manuscript.
First screen: Select the type of manuscript that you consider best fits your manuscript. Occasionally, the editor will recommend a change in manuscript type based on the manuscript’s content and the journal’s format. Copy the title, running head, and abstract from your main text file(s) and paste them into the appropriate fields. If the type of manuscript you are submitting does not require an abstract (Editorials, Commentary, and Letters), enter “No abstract required.” Finally, check if you are submitting the manuscript on your own behalf and that of your coauthors, or if you are submitting the manuscript on the authors’ behalf.
Second screen: Gives an option for assigning keywords to the manuscript.
Third screen: Enter the authors’ names, e-mail, institution, and address.
Fourth screen: Provides an option to list preferred and nonpreferred reviewers. The authors are encouraged to suggest names of appropriate reviewers, particularly if their manuscript is in a very specialized area or one not often featured in Thyroid.
Fifth screen: For entering a cover letter and manuscript information. Answer all questions on this page.
Sixth screen: Used to upload the MS file and the figure and image files.
Seventh screen: Like the earlier screens, it is menu driven. It provides an opportunity to review prior entries and flags required fields for which data were not provided. It concludes the option to submit the manuscript.
INFORMATION REGARDING SUBMISSION OF REVISIONS
The responses to reviewers and editors should be included in the cover letter, not in a separate file. It is important that the responses include statements regarding what changes were made in the revised manuscript. If the authors do not think that a change is required, it should be indicated. If the revision is submitted in Word®, use the Track Changes feature in the Tools menu to show the changes; otherwise, highlight the changes. If there is no change in the number of figures or images and their order in the manuscript does not change, the previously submitted files are still valid and can be retained in the revision, but check to see if the labeling of figure files is still valid. If newer versions of tables and/or figures need to be uploaded, please delete old files from previous versions of the manuscript.
PROCEDURES FOR ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPTS
Upon acceptance of your article, please fax the Copyright Agreement form to 914-740-2108. Manuscripts cannot be published without a signed Copyright Agreement form, which is available at transfer_of_copyright.pdf.) The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining the signatures of coauthors. The authors not permitted to release copyright must still return the form signed under the statement of the reason for not releasing the copyright.
Proofs are generally prepared soon after manuscripts are accepted for publication. Almost all original articles, reviews, scholarly dialog, case studies, remarkable patients, and most letters will be sent for online ahead-of-print publication (EPub) shortly after the proof has been approved by the author, editor, and publisher.
REPRINTS
Reprints may be ordered by following the special instructions that will accompany the proofs. Reprints ordered after the issue has been printed will be charged at a substantially higher rate.
PUBLISHER AND SOCIETY
Thyroid is published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., 140 Huguenot Street, 3rd Floor, New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215. Telephone: (914) 740-2100; Fax: (914) 740-2108; e-mail: info@liebertpub.com; website: www.liebertpub.com.
Thyroid is the Official Journal of the American Thyroid Association (ATA) with the editorial office at the ATA Office, 6066 Leesburg Pike, Suite 550, Falls Church, VA; website: www.thyroid.org.