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General: The manuscript should be submitted as a plain Microsoft Word format document, or similar, using Times New Roman font. No attempt should be made to arrange the text into columns, sections or apply any other formatting – other than bold, italic and indents. Greek symbols should be entered using the standard Microsoft Word Insert Symbol tool, that uses the Times New Roman font. Symbol font should NOT be used This also applies for supplements.
Papers should be as concise as possible. The following limits are recommended - approximately 8000 words (not including tables, references etc.) for review papers and 6000 words (not including tables, references etc.) for ordinary research papers.
Title: The title should contain no more than twenty words (including subtitle, if any). Do not use abbreviations in the title. Lower case should be used and no capitalisation of first letters of individual words.
Running Title: An informative running title, of no more than 50 characters, must be provided.
Authors: Use initials and last names of all authors with only commas between. Do not add titles (e.g. Prof. Dr. PhD etc.). Different affiliations should be marked by superscript numbers (1,2 etc,). The corresponding author should be designated by an asterisk (*). Full mailing address (essential) as well as e-mail address (essential) should be included.
Key Words: Provide up to 10 key words or phrases. Do not use abbreviations in the key words.
Abstract: The abstract is extremely
important and upon this it is decided whether the manuscript will
be sent out for review or not. It is highly recommended that a well prepared abstract is sent to the Editor-in-Chief before submission to see if the area or results would fit eCM journal. It must relate to the scope of the
journal and must show the clinical relevance of the work (regardless
from which field of the journal's scope).
Incremental steps in research will not be entertained by eCM journal.
The abstract should be no more than 250 words. It should contain
the purpose of the work, the methods used, as well as the main results
and conclusions, but not in separate sections. It must not contain
phrases like "will be described", "will be discussed",
"are presented", etc. Abbreviations may be used in the
abstract but must be defined in parentheses the first time they
are used, e.g. "...transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was
used to....". References should not be included in the abstract.
The clinical relevance of the work must be briefly mentioned within the abstract.
Introduction: This must be a clear and concise statement of the purpose of the paper and the relationship of this paper to what is already in the literature (along with relevant references). Please respect the relevance of all material to the Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion and avoid unnecessary repetition.
Materials & Methods:
All eCM reviewers are asked a simple question. Is the M&M section
described well enough to allow repetition of the work? If the answer
is no the paper is sent back and rejected. This section must have complete
information (even if already published) for all areas of the study so that others
could duplicate the work. This section should carefully describe
the methods and materials used including sample size and statistical
approaches. Sequence and source of unique constructs etc should
be made available to other scientists to allow repetition. Please
provide the manufacturer name of all products used in paper. The
role of any outside organization in the collection of data, its
analysis and interpretation must be described in the Methods section
of the text. When animal studies are submitted, Animal Ethics Committee permissions must be mentioned. When using human material from a hospital, the ethics permission must be mentioned. If patient consent forms were used, these should be mentioned.
For review papers, this section may not be applicable.
Text: All text will be presented in Times New Roman font. Where symbols other than standard Greek letters are used please indicate the font set they can be found in. Each paragraph should be clearly indented. Sentences should be separated by single spaces only.
Headings: Do not number headings. Major headings should be typed in bold upper and lower case, bold and centred. Subheadings: print bold and place flush with the left margin of the text on a separate line. Sub-subheadings: print italic and place flush with the left margin of the text on a separate line. All headings must conform to these categories.
Equations : Each equation must be consecutively numbered, and placed centred on a separate line with space before and after it. Equation numbers, in parentheses, should be flush with the right margin. If the work is submitted as a Microsoft Word document the equation should be prepared using 'Microsoft Equation Editor'. Otherwise the equations should be prepared as bitmaps with DPI values of 300 or better.
Symbols and abbreviations : Define each abbreviation in parentheses the first time it is used (even if it has already been defined in the Abstract). For more than 10 symbols include a separate table in the text defining symbols (with units, as applicable).
Tables : Tables should be numbered and referred to sequentially in the text. Each Table should have a short descriptive heading, on the same line as the Table number. Additional details, explanation of symbols, etc., should be placed at the bottom of the Table. Tables MUST be provided in Microsoft Word Table format. All text contained in the table(s) should be in Times New Roman font. Tables must fit into either one column (8cm wide), or two columns, i.e. 17cm wide). Each table MUST fit onto a single A4 page, when a 9pt Time New Roman font size is used for the included text. Where a table needs to be larger than that which will fit onto a single A4 page, then the table must be split into the required number of tables and labelled appropriately (e.g. Table 1a, 1b ..etc.) and provided as separate Microsoft Word files. All letters and numbers in tables should be at least 9pt size. Tables should not be supplied as bitmap images (e.g. jpg or tiff files), as the reproduction quality is rarely found to be acceptable. The style for the use of units must be conssitent with that described below, under Units.
Units : Use only standard SI and Non-SI units accepted for use with the International System of Units (see: http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf ) . There should always be a space between the number and the unit (e.g. 10 mm), including temperature (e.g. 10 ºC) and percentage (e.g. 10 %). Standard abbreviations for time units (s, min, h, d) should be used – the forms ‘mins’ and ‘hrs’ are NOT acceptable.
Figures: Number each figure (including line drawings) and refer to each figure in sequence in the text (no exception to this rule is allowed, even if several figures are mounted to form a plate). Multiple illustrations within each figure must be designated (lower case) (a), (b), (c) etc. Such multiple illustration figures should be supplied already assembled as a single *.jpg file that will fit onto a single A4 page at a minimum resolution of 300dpi. Each figure must have a comprehensive legend, supplied at the end of main text document. Letters, labels and numbers must be at least 2mm when printed in their final size onto an A4 page. The style for the use of units must be conssitent with that described above, under Units.
All figures must be supplied in digitised form *.jpg format files as high resolution (at minimum 300dpi - in their final size, with no white (or any) border- as printed on an A4 page). TIFF images are not acceptable since they cause the PDFs to be unmanageable for review. Diagrams produced in PowerPoint format must be converted into high resolution *.jpg format. Where figures are derived from programs such as Microsoft Excel files they must be saved as *.jpg files and not included in the form of embedded objects in a Word file. No Figures should be embedded in the Word file or a PowerPoint file, papers will be sent straight back (even after being accepted by review).
Use arrows or letters of sufficient size to point out features in figures. Use white lettering on dark backgrounds and vice versa. Labelling must be incorporated in the *.jpg files BEFORE saving. Do NOT add labelling to figures as overlays in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint files.
Magnification marker/scale - This MUST be included on all image figures : Use a line representing 10 µm, 1 µm, 100nm, etc. to indicate magnification, identify the line size either on the photo or in the caption. Magnification should NOT be indicated as 'X ..........' in the legend, this has no meaning.
Size : Line drawings should be suitable for display at a final size of 8cm or 17cm. Micrographs and photographs should be of a resolution suitable for display at their final size (digital resolution of 300-400 dpi for A4 page). Groups of images/diagrams must be supplied as single *.jpg bitmaps to a final size resolution of 300 - 400 dpi (A4 page size).
Legend : Each figure must have a separate legend; the legend should include: Figure x (in bold), followed by the caption text. The text should provide a comprehensive description of the figure(s) and scale-line dimension(s), if it is not already included in the image.
Stereopairs : Use 7.5cm wide photographs, if already mounted, the space between photos on the final size (printed on A4) should be 12mm. Red/green and red/cyan (please specify) anaglyphs are preferred, if possible.
Graphs: Graphs should start the y axis at 0 or show a clear scale break in those cases where starting at 0 would be difficult. The numerals on graph scales should be sufficiently large and clear enough and spaced to allow the data to be interpreted and the nature of the scale, eg linear or log, readily appreciated. The scale numerals should be easily readable, even when printed at the reduced size that figures will usually be printed, ie column width. All graphs must be converted to *.jpg format of sufficient resolution (600dpi on A4 page).
Statistical tests: These should be clearly defined and statistical significance should be shown in both figures and tables by superscripts of a, b, c, rather than *, ¶, # or other non-sequential symbols. Statistical terms (e.g. t, P, p, n etc.) should be italicised.
Results : This section should succinctly state the results without any lengthy discussion or interpretation of individual data. Conclusions should NOT be stated throughout the Results section. Tabular data should not repeat that shown in the Graphs.
Discussion : The Discussion should summarize but not repeat the Results and should distinguish between logical explanations of the results reported and extrapolations or hypotheses drawn from the results and show how each result advances the overall conclusions of the study. The Discussion should show the relationship of the results to what is already in the literature (along with relevant references). If the study produces an incremental step in what is known the paper will not be entertained by the eCM journal. Respect the relevance of all material to the Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion and avoid unnecessary repetition. The Discussion must show the potential clinical relevance of the work. The final part of the Discussion should refer back to the rationale for the study (findings into the context of the reason for the study as outlined in the Introduction) and explain how the findings have advanced the area.
Conclusions : Where possible and reasonable, some conclusion should be made about the wider implications of the study findings.
Acknowledgements : Authors should acknowledge in the manuscript all support for the work, including funding, equipment and drugs. Authors should also acknowledge technical support or anyone who has contributed but has not been listed as an author. The Pre-Production editor will add your conflict of interest statements to this section which you provided with the signed letter of submission.
Include all references relevant to the paper. References can be made only to readily available published work and to papers in press. Unpublished results, submitted manuscripts and personal communications are not allowed and must not be included in the reference list, but can be acknowledged in the text (in parentheses). Important: All references cited in the paper, and the names (spellings) and years in the text must match those in References. Reference may be made to Web sites. These must be listed separately, in a list entitled 'Web References', following the usual 'References' list. Web references in the list should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text. Web references should be referred to in the text as '(Web ref. 1)','(Web ref. 2)' etc. Details of each Web reference should include the FULL Uniform Resource Locator (URL), followed by the date accessed in square brackets 1.e. [dd-mm-yyyy].
References must be organized in alphabetical order by the first author's last name. For several references with the same first author , the following order must be used: [a] one-author references, ordered by year {e.g., Jones (1989); Jones (1991)}; [b] two-author references, ordered first according to second author's last name, then ordered by year {Jones and Brown (1990); Jones and Smith (1988)}; and [c] three (and more)-author references, ordered by year {Jones et al. (1983); Jones et al. (1993a); Jones et al. (1993b)}.
In the text use the following style:
Jones (1989) or (Jones, 1989) or Jones and Smith (1988). If there are three or more authors, use the form Jones et al. (1993) (use italics for et al.). If more than one paper is published by the same author(s) in the same year, use the form Jones (1986a)
Output styles for Endnote and Reference Manager
Download Reference manager ouput style HERE
Download Endnote ouput style HERE
Note: The Endnote style was updated on 04.05.2011
Zotero Users can find the output style on this page. Note: eCM Journal is not responsible for content downloaded from other sites.
*Mac users- Please hold down the Ctrl button when clicking. This results in a list of options, one of which is download
The output files should be saved to your computer and opened in your reference manager software.
Reference list section:
Begin each reference on a separate line.
For papers in journals; last names and initials of all authors (not "et al."), year (in parentheses), full title of paper, name of publication (use standard abbreviations), volume number (in bold), and first and last pages must be provided. Do not use any punctuation (nor "and " or "&" preceding last author's name), except for commas between authors' names.
Please ensure all references have any abbreviations in uppercase letters.
E.g. "DNA" not "dna".
Titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. The list can be obtained from the following Web page
For a book, include name(s) and initials of author(s), year, title of book (in upper and lower case), name and city of publisher, range of pages or chapter cited; do not refer to an entire book!
For a Proceedings or multi-author book, in addition, the names of all editors, name and city of publisher or alternatively full availability information, as well as the last pages must be included. Abstracts should be clearly identified as such.
For internal or contract reports, Master's and Doctoral Theses relevant inclusive pages, full availability information, with identification numbers and complete address must be provided.
The Discussion with Reviewers (DWR) section is an important part of eCM journal and should be prepared with great care. Improper, careless or non-responsive answers will require revision and will thus delay publication. No length limit is imposed on DWR, therefore please provide complete but concise answers. The DWR section should be placed immediately following the References. Consider 'Discussion with Reviewers' to be a major heading. Leave one line of space and start with the first question. Deal with each of the reviewers' questions separately. Identify (by giving last name and initial(s) of the reviewer) who is asking this particular question. If the Reviewer has withheld his/her name, put Reviewer I, II etc instead. Extra figures and references can be included, when necessary.
| Last modified October 21, 2011 |