Guide for authors

Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas is the official publication of the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV). Founded by Juan de Azúa in 1909, it is the longest-standing monthly Spanish medical journal. The journal is dedicated to articles on scientific research and continuing education with subjects related to medical-surgical dermatology and venereology. The journal is published in Spanish in its printed version and in Spanish and English in its on-line edition.

We suggest that articles by Spanish authors should comply with the general criteria of Law 14/2007, from 3rd July, for biomedical research (BOE n 159), which protects the rights of individuals who are subjects of research.  Clinical assays should be registered with public databases prior to their initiation and patient recruitment, and only after approval of the institutional or regional Clinical Research Ethics Committee.  The authors should provide the archive number and database where the assay is registered.  For all clinical assays that initiate patient recruitment as of 1 January 2017, registration in public databases will be mandatory.  Assays with patient recruitment prior to this date may still be submitted to the Journal for evaluation without this  archive number and database.

Any article submitted to this journal will follow the guidelines described in this author’s guide, so it is essential to consult it before submitting manuscripts.

FIRST PAGE
Regardless of the type of article, for any section of this journal, authors must always include on the first page of the article, in addition to the title, authors, affiliations, and email address, statements regarding Ethical Considerations, Informed Consent, Funding, Conflict of Interest, the Use of Artificial Intelligence, and Authorship.
Declarations are required even if the author considers that none exist or are not applicable.

Ethical Considerations
Any article involving experiments with humans will require the author to declare that all procedures were conducted in accordance with Helsinki, relevant laws, and institutional guidelines. The reference number of the study approval by an ethics committee must be included in original articles or research involving human experimentation. For animal experiments, compliance with applicable regulations should also be stated.

This declaration is mandatory in both Original Articles and Short Communications.

Informed Consent
Appropriate consents and permissions must always be obtained whenever there is experimentation, when case presentations are included without experimentation, or when an author wishes to include details or other personal information (data) or images of patients or any other individuals in an Elsevier publication. It must be declared that no patient data are included in the article, or if they are, that they do not violate the patient's privacy and confidentiality or allow recognition of the individual, and that written informed consent is in possession in any case. The rights to privacy of human subjects must always be respected. The author will declare that these consents have been obtained on the first page and within the manuscript, but will not send these documents unless Elsevier requests them.

This declaration is mandatory in all sections, except for Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and Reviews and any section with an update content that do not include Case Reports: Practical Dermatology, Controversies in Dermatology and Novelty  in Dermatology,

Funding
The author will identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and will briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if applicable, in study design; data collection, analysis, and interpretation; drafting the report; and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. If the funding source(s) did not participate in these activities, this should be declared.

This declaration is mandatory in all sections. If there is no funding, the author must explicitly declare that none exists.

Conflict of Interest
Any type of financial or personal relationship with other individuals or organizations that could have influenced the work should be disclosed, even if not directly related to the current manuscript. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancy, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications or registrations, other funding, travel grants, and participation in courses and conferences as a paid expert. If none of these conditions apply, the statement should be: "Declaration of interest: none."

In the case that a member of the Editorial Board contributes as an author of a submitted manuscript, the responsible editor must include the following statement in the conflict of interest section: “As ABC is a member of the Journal’s Editorial Board, they have not participated in or had access to review or acceptance information of the manuscript.”

This declaration is always mandatory and must be provided for each participating author.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Scientific Writing
Other uses are not authorized. Please see the detailed description later in these guidelines.

Mandatory declaration whenever AI is used.

Authorship
Those listed as authors must have made substantial contributions. Changes in authorship or order of authors after submission are not permitted without prior justification and approval by the Editor-in-Chief.
See the relevant sections later in these guidelines.

BODY OF THE ARTICLE
Ethical Considerations and Consent should also be declared beyond the first page in cases involving animal or human experimentation.

Ethics and Informed Consent
In the case of experiments involving humans or animals, the author must declare in the “Materials and Methods” section that the guidelines for Human and Animal Rights described in the “Ethics in Publishing” section of this author’s guide have been followed. Specifically, for experiments with humans, authors should confirm that the research was conducted in accordance with the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki, and for animals, that the ARRIVE guidelines were followed or that the research complies with the applicable laws on the Use and Care of Laboratory Animals and, when applicable, Animal Welfare Laws. Authors must also declare that they have obtained approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or the relevant ethics committee, without revealing data that could hinder blinded review, and that they have obtained informed consent from the patients. Please note that the Spanish Biomedical Research Law states that ethics committees at each center must evaluate all biomedical research involving interventions in humans or the use of biological samples.

These declarations will be included in the Materials and Methods section of Original Articles, Short Communications, and sections publishing Case Series.

When one or more cases are presented without experimentation, or when an author wishes to include personal details, other information, or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication, the author must declare that they possess the written consent of the patients. All articles that include data, photographs, or evidence involving patients—whether anonymized or not—must explicitly state in the body of the article that informed consent has been obtained from the patients for their reproduction.

To avoid any doubt, informed consent is always required in clinical cases, regardless of whether the images are anonymized or not, including radiographs. Images accompanied by any patient data always require this declaration.

They will be included in the Problem Case, Practical Dermatoscopy, or another section where one or more clinical cases appear.

TYPES OF ARTICLES

Original Articles. This section includes original work in clinical and basic research. Recommended study designs are experimental studies (clinical trials) or observational studies of analytical types (case-control and cohort studies) or descriptive (cross-sectional). For clinical trials, the CONSORT guidelines should be followed (available at: http://www.consort-statement.org/), as well as the STARD initiative for diagnostic tests (http://www.stard-statement.org/) and the STROBE guidelines for observational studies (http://www.strobe-statement.org/). It is advised that, in single-center studies, the number of authors does not exceed six. Multicenter studies may consider more authors. The maximum length of the manuscript is 2500 words (excluding the title page, abstract, references, tables, and figure legends). Up to 30 references, 6 figures, and 6 tables are permitted. Include an unstructured abstract of up to 250 words, structured into sections: background and objectives, materials and methods, results, conclusions, and keywords. Modifications to these guidelines are only allowed in exceptional cases with prior permission from the Editor. It is recommended to submit supplementary material such as additional tables, figures, or methodologies that, while not essential for understanding the work, may be useful for replication or detailed reading.

Brief Communications. This section is suitable for reports on short series of patients or long series that validate previous findings, as well as brief research articles signed by up to 6 authors. If it is a study, it should follow the style and design recommendations for original articles. Include an unstructured abstract of up to 150 words and keywords. The maximum length is 1500 words (excluding title page, abstract, references, tables, and figure legends). Up to 3 figures and/or tables and a maximum of 20 references are allowed. The manuscript should be structured with the following sections: a) abstract (summarizing key findings); b) main text with the following sections: introduction, clinical cases/patients and methods, results, discussion; and c) references. As with original articles, supplementary material such as additional tables, figures, or methodologies that are not essential for understanding but useful for replication or detailed reading may be submitted electronically.

Review. Aims to update a dermatological topic thoroughly based on current, high-quality scientific evidence. It should be signed by a maximum of 3 authors. The text should not exceed 3500 words (excluding title page, abstract, references, tables, and figure legends), include up to 8 tables/figures, and a maximum of 100 references. Include an unstructured abstract of up to 150 words and keywords. Reviews are commissioned by the Editorial Committee or upon prior request to the editor (ad@elsevier.com) and are peer-reviewed. Priority is given to systematic reviews, which should follow PRISMA guidelines (https://www.prisma-statement.org/). If they include meta-analyses, the format should resemble that of original articles. For reviews with recommendations concerning procedures and/or preventive, diagnostic, or therapeutic techniques, include the level of evidence and grade of recommendation according to SIGN, Oxford, or NICE classification systems.

Practical Dermatology. A review article on a topic with an essentially practical approach. It should be concise, focusing on clinical practice recommendations. Signed by up to 3 authors, with a maximum length of 2500 words (excluding title page, abstract, references, tables, and figure legends). Include an unstructured abstract (max 150 words) and keywords. Up to 8 figures, charts, tables, or algorithms are recommended to aid understanding. Up to 50 references are allowed. These are commissioned or submitted upon prior request and peer-reviewed. Evidence levels for recommendations should be included as described for general reviews.

Controversies in Dermatology. A review article on a topic with controversial aspects, presenting personal opinions and different viewpoints from the literature. Signed by up to 3 authors, with a maximum of 2500 words (excluding title page, abstract, references, tables, and figure legends). Include an unstructured abstract of up to 150 words and keywords. Up to 6 figures or tables and 30 references are permitted. These are commissioned or submitted upon request and peer-reviewed.

Novelty in Dermatology. An article that concisely reviews and discusses a current, highly relevant topic. 1 to 3 authors are allowed. Maximum 2500 words (excluding title page, abstract, references, tables, and figure legends). Include an unstructured abstract of up to 150 words and keywords. Up to 6 tables/figures and 30 references are permitted. These are commissioned or submitted upon request and peer-reviewed.

Consensus Documents. An article of up to 2500 words that compiles consensus documents, recommendations, and clinical or diagnostic guidelines developed by a working group or scientific society. Include an unstructured abstract of no more than 150 words and keywords. May include up to 8 tables or figures and 100 references. The article must specify levels of evidence and grades of recommendation according to current international guidelines. It is recommended to include supplementary material detailing procedures used in creating the document.

Challenging cases. Manuscripts will include original, unpublished clinical cases described by 1 to 3 authors, without an abstract but with keywords. The goal is to present cases with relevant educational features, such as atypical clinical presentation, characteristic findings, histological, dermatoscopic, etc. The title may suggest the final diagnosis if the diagnostic challenge is unrelated to the entity itself. High-quality, well-focused images with neutral backgrounds are required.

The manuscript will have two parts: 1) Case presentation (max 200 words for inclusion on a printed page), including: a) clinical history; b) physical examination; c) histopathology (describing findings without concluding diagnosis); d) other complementary tests; e) up to 3 high-quality color images (clinical, histological, dermatoscopic, etc., without figure legends, described in the text). 2) Diagnosis and comments (max 450 words, excluding references), including: a) diagnosis; b) clinical course and treatment; c) discussion of the disease, the presented case, and differential diagnosis, emphasizing the case's originality; and d) references (up to 6).

Practical Dermatoscopy. Focuses on the discussion of dermatoscopic-clinical case reports. Presents cases with challenging clinical diagnosis where dermatoscopy provides key diagnostic clues. Signed by up to 3 authors, no abstract required. Sections include: 1) Problem case presentation with two clinical images and a brief description (≤50 words, excluding diagnosis); 2) two dermatoscopic images with the question: "What is your diagnosis?"; 3) Commentary (max 400 words, excluding references), describing the images and key features used for differential diagnosis. Up to 6 references are allowed.

Research Letters. This section is dedicate to publish short clinical or translational studies.  Up to 6 authors, maximum 800 words (excluding abstract and keywords), with up to 3 figures/tables and 10 references.

Images in Dermatology. Original, high-quality images illustrating clinical, pathological, or imaging features (dermatoscopy, confocal microscopy, ultrasound, etc.) of dermatological diseases or test results, with significant educational value. Usually a single image or composed of up to 2 images, accompanied by a 200-word explanatory legend. The title should be brief (minusq10 words), indicating the pathology, and no more than three authors. The image must be exceptional in quality, well-focused, with a neutral background, and representative of the pathology.

Letters to the Editor. Critical opinions, agreements, praise, or comments regarding published articles or the journal's content. Signed by up to 4 authors. No abstract or keywords. Up to 800 words and 3 figures/tables. Up to 10 references allowed.

Opinion Articles. Personal viewpoints on dermatology topics, possibly referencing related publications. Usually unstructured, up to 2000 words (excluding references, up to 20), no abstract, keywords required. Up to 2 figures/tables may be included.

History and Humanities in Dermatology. Articles on the history or humanities related to dermatology and venereology. Up to 1500 words, no abstract or keywords, with up to 3 authors, 3 figures/tables, and 10 references.

Surgical Videos. Demonstrations of innovative surgical techniques, modifications, or complex case resolutions. Signed by up to 4 authors. The video (max 10 minutes) should be accompanied by a descriptive text (up to 800 words), including sections: introduction, technique description, indications/contraindications, complications, conclusions, and references. Up to 3 figures/tables may be embedded. The video file should not exceed 50 MB and must be compatible with common media players. The video will be published online, and the article will appear in print.

Resident Forum. Short bibliographic reviews by dermatology residents (medical trainees in dermatology), on current or impactful topics or recent articles providing new insights into etiology, pathophysiology, diagnostics, or treatments. Signed by up to 3 authors, no abstract, keywords required. Up to 500 words, with optional 1 figure/table, and up to 5 references from PubMed-indexed articles related to the discussed topic.

All manuscripts must be submitted online through the Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas EM Web site at https://www.editorialmanager.com/ad

This journal is published in Spanish and in English language.

One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
- E-mail address
- Full postal address
All necessary files have been uploaded:
Manuscript:
- Include keywords
- All figures (include relevant captions)
- All tables (including titles, description, footnotes)
- Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided
- Indicate clearly if color should be used for any figures in print
Graphical Abstracts / Highlights files (where applicable)
Supplemental files (where applicable)
Further considerations
- Manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'
- 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 Internet)
- A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare
- Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed

For further information, visit our Support Center.

Please see our information pages on Ethics in publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication.

If the work involves the use of human subjects, the author should ensure that the work described has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans. The manuscript should be in line with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and aim for the inclusion of representative human populations (sex, age and ethnicity) as per those recommendations. The terms sex and gender should be used correctly.

Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects. The privacy rights of human subjects must always be observed.

All animal experiments should comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and should be carried out in accordance with the U.K. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 and associated guidelines, EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments, or the National Institutes of Health guide for the care and use of Laboratory animals (NIH Publications No. 8023, revised 1978) and the authors should clearly indicate in the manuscript that such guidelines have been followed. The sex of animals must be indicated, and where appropriate, the influence (or association) of sex on the results of the study.

Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent, which should be documented in the paper. Appropriate consents, permissions and releases must be obtained where an author wishes to include case details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication. Written consents must be retained by the author but copies should not be provided to the journal. Only if specifically requested by the journal in exceptional circumstances (for example if a legal issue arises) the author must provide copies of the consents or evidence that such consents have been obtained. For more information, please review the Elsevier Policy on the Use of Images or Personal Information of Patients or other Individuals. 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.

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places: 1. A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file (if double-blind) or the manuscript file (if single-blind). If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations of interest: none'. This summary statement will be ultimately published if the article is accepted. 2. Detailed disclosures as part of a separate Declaration of Interest form, which forms part of the journal's official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches. More information.

The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process.

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.

Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Disclosure instructions
Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

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, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' section of our ethics policy for more information), 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 service Crossref Similarity Check.

Please note that preprints can be shared anywhere at any time, in line with Elsevier's sharing policy. Sharing your preprints e.g. on a preprint server will not count as prior publication (see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information).

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise to seek gender neutrality by using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as default/wherever possible to avoid using "he, she," or "he/she." We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition unless they are relevant and valid. When coding terminology is used, we recommend to avoid offensive or exclusionary terms such as "master", "slave", "blacklist" and "whitelist". We suggest using alternatives that are more appropriate and (self-) explanatory such as "primary", "secondary", "blocklist" and "allowlist". These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive.

Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the SSex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the S SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth ("sex assigned at birth"), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary. Moreover, the terms "sex" and "gender" can be ambiguous—thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the Sresources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, 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.
Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Randomized controlled trials should be presented according to the CONSORT guidelines. At manuscript submission, authors must provide the CONSORT checklist accompanied by a flow diagram that illustrates the progress of patients through the trial, including recruitment, enrollment, randomization, withdrawal and completion, and a detailed description of the randomization procedure. The CONSORT checklist and template flow diagram are available online.

This journal uses the Elsevier Article Transfer Service to find the best home for your manuscript. This means that if an editor feels your manuscript is more suitable for an alternative journal, you might be asked to consider transferring the manuscript to such a journal. The recommendation might be provided by a Journal Editor, a dedicated Scientific Managing Editor, a tool assisted recommendation, or a combination. If you agree, your manuscript will be transferred, though you will have the opportunity to make changes to the manuscript before the submission is complete. Please note that your manuscript will be independently reviewed by the new journal. More information.

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (see more information on this) in order to assign to the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV) the copyright in the manuscript and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript (the "Article") in all forms and media (whether
now known or later developed), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, effective when the Article is accepted for publication.

Author rights

As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.

Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

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 visit our Open Access page from the Journal Homepage for more information

Researcher Academy is a free e-learning platform designed to support early and mid-career researchers throughout their research journey. The "Learn" environment at Researcher Academy offers several interactive modules, webinars, downloadable guides and resources to guide you through the process of writing for research and going through peer review. Feel free to use these free resources to improve your submission and navigate the publication process with ease.

Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from Elsevier's Author Services.

Please submit your article via http://ees.elsevier.com/ad

This journal operates a double anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal's usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups. More information on types of peer review.

This journal uses double-anonymized review, which means the identities of the authors are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa. More information is available on our website. To facilitate this, please include the following separately:
Title page (with author details): This should include the title, authors' names affiliations, acknowledgements and any Declaration of Interest statement, and a complete address for the corresponding author including an e-mail address.
Anonymized manuscript (no author details): The main body of the paper (including the references, figures, tables and any acknowledgements) should not include any identifying information, such as the authors' names or affiliations.

The peer review process for Special Issues and Article Collections is also a single anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the Editor-in-chief for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then assigned to an external Guest Editor. All Guest Editors receive training on conducting peer review. The Guest Editor sends the manuscript to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Guest Editor makes a recommendation for the decision to the Editor in Chief. The Editor in Chief is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor in Chief oversees the peer review process of all Special Issues and Articles Collections to ensure the high standards of publishing ethics and responsiveness are respected. Guest Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the guest editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal's usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups.

[

It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. 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. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. 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. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). 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 artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.

Divide your article into clearly defined sections. Each subsection is given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. Subsections should be used as much as possible when cross-referencing text: refer to the subsection by heading as opposed to simply 'the text'.

State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published, should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite the source. Any modifications of an existing method should also be described. According with the paper presented, to include the sections described in CONSORT, STROBE and STANDARD is fundamental. We advise to detail in the supplementary material those methodological aspects that are not essential for understanding the work.

Results should be clear and concise.

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.

If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

• Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration.  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.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• 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.

Highlights are a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings of the article. Highlights are optional and should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point). You can view example Highlights on our information site.

A structured abstract, by means of appropriate headings, should provide the context or background for the research and should state its purpose, basic procedures (selection of study subjects or laboratory animals, observational and analytical methods), main findings (giving specific effect sizes and their statistical significance, if possible), and principal conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations.

Although a graphical abstract is optional, its use is encouraged as it draws more attention to the online article. The graphical abstract should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files. You can view Example Graphical Abstracts on our information site.

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using British spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Whilst it is accepted that authors sometimes need to manipulate images for clarity, manipulation for purposes of deception or fraud will be seen as scientific ethical abuse and will be dealt with accordingly. For graphical images, this journal is applying the following policy: no specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if and as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g. changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend.

General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.
• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or use fonts that look similar.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version.
• Submit each illustration as a separate file.
• Ensure that color images are accessible to all, including those with impaired color vision.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available.
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.

Formats
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is' in the native document format.
Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic artwork is finalized, 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 (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.
TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 600 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF) 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 online (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites). Further information on the preparation of electronic artwork.

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.

Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Increased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such as Scopus, CrossRef and PubMed, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Please note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is highly encouraged.

A DOI is guaranteed never to change, so you can use it as a permanent link to any electronic article. An example of a citation using DOI for an article not yet in an issue is: VanDecar J.C., Russo R.M., James D.E., Ambeh W.B., Franke M. (2003). Aseismic continuation of the Lesser Antilles slab beneath northeastern Venezuela. Journal of Geophysical Research, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JB000884. Please note the format of such citations should be in the same style as all other references in the paper.

As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), 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.

This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. This identifier will not appear in your published article.

Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.

Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.

Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles, such as Mendeley. Using citation plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide. If you use reference management software, please ensure that you remove all field codes before submitting the electronic manuscript. More information on how to remove field codes from different reference management software.

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 2010;163:51¿9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.Sc.2010.00372.
Reference to a journal publication with an article number:
2. Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon. 2018;19:e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00205.
Reference to a book:
3. Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of style. 4th ed. New York: Longman; 2000.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
4. 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; 2009, p. 281¿304.
Reference to a website:
5. Cancer Research UK. Cancer statistics reports for the UK, http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/; 2003 [accessed 13 March 2003].
Reference to a dataset:
[dataset] 6. Oguro M, Imahiro S, Saito S, Nakashizuka T. Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions, Mendeley Data, v1; 2015. https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.
Note shortened form for last page number. e.g., 51¿9, and that for more than 6 authors the first 6 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 Samples of Formatted References).

Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.

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 links to 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 file in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB per file, 1 GB in total. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect. 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. 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.

Include interactive data visualizations in your publication and let your readers interact and engage more closely with your research. Follow the instructions here to find out about available data visualization options and how to include them with your article.

Supplementary material such as applications, images and sound clips, can be published with your article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make changes to supplementary material during any stage of the process, please make sure to provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the 'Track Changes' option in Microsoft Office files as these will appear in the published version.

If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that give them a better understanding of the research described.

There are different ways to link your datasets to your article.  When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. For more information, visit the database linking page.

For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect.

In addition, you can link to relevant data or entities through identifiers within the text of your manuscript, using the following format: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).

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. To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download the free Adobe Reader, version 9 (or higher). Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site.
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 scan the pages and return via e-mail. 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. 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.

The corresponding author will be notified and receive a link to the published version of the open access article on ScienceDirect. This link is in the form of an article DOI link which can be shared via email and social networks. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Both corresponding and co-authors may order offprints at any time via Elsevier's Author Services.

Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch.
You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.