The International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology (IJCEP, ISSN 1936-2625) is an open access online journal dedicated to publication of original work in all areas of clinical, anatomic and experimental pathology. IJCEP also welcomes papers from other fields related to the study of human disease, such as immunology, biochemistry and molecular biology. IJCEP is primarily devoted to original clinical, translational and experimental research papers, but will also publish editorials, review articles, case reports, letters to the editors and meeting reports. The goal of IJCEP is to provide a free forum for rapid dissemination of clinical and basic observations that will enhance our understanding, diagnosis and management of human disease.
SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPT (Click to submit manuscript online)
General Policy
All manuscripts are submitted with the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or thesis) and are not currently under consideration for publication by another journal. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all authors have contributed to, read and approved the final manuscript for submission. The authors should keep a copy of manuscript submitted in case of revision, rejection, loss or damage. Receipt of manuscript will be acknowledged and a decision regarding acceptance made as soon as possible. Accepted manuscripts may be subject to editorial revision without notice.
Peer Review Policy
All manuscripts are subject to peer review and are expected to meet the rigorous standards of academic excellence. The authors should provide up to five potential peer reviewers with detailed contact information including e-mail address. These should be experts in their field of study, who will be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. If not provided, potential reviewers will be identified by their publication record or recommended by the Editorial Board members. Recommended reviewers who have been a coauthor with the corresponding author within five years prior to manuscript submission will not be used. Reviewers recommended by authors will be only considered to use when other appropriate ones cannot be found.
Generally, all peer reviews will be performed in single-blinded model unless there is a potential conflict of interest and no other peer reviewer can be identified in which case a double-blinded protocol will be adopted.
ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE POLICY
Authors’ responsibilities
To ensure that submitted manuscripts have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or thesis) and are not currently under consideration for publication by another journal.
To ensure all authors have contributed to, read and approved the final manuscript for submission.
To ensure that all data in the submitted manuscript are authentic. Maintain accurate records of data associated with their submitted manuscript and to provide this data upon reasonable request.
To inform the editor of any other submitted manuscripts that might contain overlapping or closely related content.
To obtain permission to reproduce any content from other sources.
To confirm that all the work in the submitted manuscript is original, and to acknowledge and cite any content reproduced from other sources.
To ensure that any studies involving human or animal subjects conform to national, local and institutional laws and requirements (e.g. WMA Declaration of Helsinki, the Guidelines of Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) Human Subject Protections, NIH Policy on Use of Laboratory Animals, or equivalent). For studies involving human subjects, authors should obtain express permission from subjects and respect their privacy. Confirmation that approval has been sought and obtained should be included in the manuscript where applicable. Experiments involving animals should follow the appropriate institution or the National Research Council Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals.
Declare any potential conflicts of interest that could be perceived as exerting an undue influence on his or her duties at any stage during the publication process.
To notify promptly the journal editor or publisher if a significant error in their publication is identified, and to cooperate with the editor and publisher to provide retractions or corrections if necessary.
Keep a copy of the manuscript submitted in case of revision, rejection, loss or damage. Receipt of manuscripts will be acknowledged and a decision regarding acceptance made as soon as possible. Accepted manuscripts may be subject to editorial revision without notice.
Authors should provide 4 potential peer reviewers with detailed contact information including e-mail address. Authors may also nominate 2 peers that they request are not sent the article for peer review for conflicts of interest or other appropriate reasons – in such instances some reasonable justification must be given. These should be experts in their field of study, who will be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. If not provided, potential reviewers will be identified by their publication record or recommended by the Editorial Board members. All manuscripts are subject to peer review and are expected to meet the rigorous standards of academic excellence.
Reviewers’ responsibilities
To ensure that accepted manuscripts meet the rigorous standards of academic excellence.
To review submitted manuscripts objectively, and in a timely manner.
To maintain the confidentiality of any information supplied by the editor or author, and to not retain or copy the manuscript in any manner.
To alert the editor of any published or previously submitted content that is substantially similar to that under review.
To point out any relevant published work that is not yet cited.
To be aware of any potential conflicts of interest between the reviewer and author/research funders (financial, institutional, collaborative or otherwise). To alert the editor to any potential conflicts of interest and if necessary, withdrawing their services for that manuscript.
Editors’ responsibilities
To act in a balanced, fair and objective way while carrying out duties without discrimination based on sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, gender, ethnic or geographical background of the authors. Editors have complete responsibility and authority to accept and/or reject manuscripts.
Ensure that there is no conflict of interest with respect to manuscripts they reject/accept.
To ensure that all manuscripts, including submissions for sponsored supplements or special issues are handled in the same way as other submissions, so that articles are considered and accepted solely on their academic merit without any commercial influence.
To preserve the anonymity of reviewers.
To adopt and follow reasonable procedures in the event of any complaints, ethical or otherwise, in accordance with the policies and procedures of COPE (www.publicationethics.org). To give authors a reasonable opportunity to respond to any complaints. All complaints should be investigated no matter when the original publication was approved, and documentation associated with any such complaints should be retained.
To promote the publication of corrections and/or retractions when errors are found.
Publisher Responsibilities
To ensure that all articles published meet the standards and requirements outlined above.
To ensure that any corrections, retractions, and/or clarifications are published when necessary.
To maintain the integrity of the academic record, and preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards.
Identification of Unethical Behavior
Misconduct and/or unethical behavior may be identified and brought to the attention of the editor and publisher at any time, by anyone.
Whoever informs the editor or publisher of misconduct should gather sufficient evidence and information in order for an investigation to be initiated. Evidence should be gathered in a discreet manner, in order to avoid spreading allegations beyond those who absolutely need to know, in order to protect the confidentiality of the parties in question until a conclusion has been reached.
All allegations will be taken seriously and handled in the same manner.
The editor will take initial action, with additional input from the publisher where appropriate.
In every case, authors will be given the opportunity to respond to any allegations.
Misconduct and Possible Outcomes
Minor breaches of conduct might be dealt with internally, without the need for any outside consultation;
Depending on the severity of the infraction, other outcomes may include, but are not limited to the following:
Informing the author or reviewer of the infraction, and educating him/her on how to avoid future breaches of conduct;
A written warning regarding the breach of conduct;
Publication of a formal notice and/or editorial detailing the misconduct;
A formal letter to the author’s department head and/or funding agency;
Retraction of the publication from the journal, and informing both the Abstracting & Indexing services as well as the readership of the publication of the infraction;
Suspension of the author’s eligibility for publication;
Reporting the breach of conduct to a higher authority for further investigation and action.
Copyright Policy
By submitting a manuscript to any of e-Century Publishing Corporation journal, all authors agree that all copyrights of all materials included in the submitted manuscript will be exclusively transferred to the publisher, e-Century Publishing Corporation once the manuscript is accepted.
Once the paper is published, the copyright will be released by the publisher under the “Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License”, enabling the unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction of the published article in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited. If the manuscript contains a figure or table reproduced from a book or another journal article, the authors should obtain permission from the copyright holder before submitting the manuscript, and be fully responsible for any legal and/or financial consequences if such permissions are not obtained.
All PDF, XML and html files for all articles published in this journal are the property of the publisher, e-Century Publishing Corporation (www.e-Century.org). Authors and readers are granted the right to freely use these files for all academic purposes. In addition, the author has the right to reuse any materials in his/her own paper for any purpose without getting the permission from the publisher provided that the original
work is properly cited.By publishing paper in this journal, the authors grant the permanent right to the publisher to use any articles published in this journal without any restriction including, but not limited to academic and/or commercial purposes.
If you are interested in using PDF, html, XML files or any art works published in this journal for any commercial purposes, please contact the publisher at business@e-century.org.
Use of Human Tissue and/or Animal Policy
Experiments involving human subjects should be in accord with the ethical standards established by the institution or in accord with the Helsinki Declaration, or the guidelines of Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) Human Subject Protections. For studies involved human subjects, when informed consent has been obtained it should be indicated in the manuscript.
Experiments involving animals should follow the institution or the National Research Council guide for the care and use of laboratory animals.
Units and Abbreviations
System International (SI) units should be used for all measurements. All abbreviations should be explicitly defined at their first occurrence except for those internationally acceptable. Abbreviations used in the genetic association reports will need to follow the conventions detailed in the specific information requirements for genetic association reports. Any articles that involve the description of enzymes will require the inclusion of the appropriate EC (Enzyme Commission) number as recommended by the Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB).
Disclaimer
While the advice and information in the article are believed to be true and accurate on the date of its going to press, neither the authors nor the editors can accept any legal responsibilities for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publication makes no warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the materials contained within.
PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPT (Download Sample Manuscript for IJCE)
All manuscripts should be written in standard grammatical English using computer software, arranged in the following order and saved as single DOC (Word) file including all components of the manuscript:
1. cover letter
2. title page
3. abstract and keywords
4. main text in Arial Font
5. acknowledgements, if any
6. references
7. tables, if any
8. figure legends, if any
9. figures, if any
Cover Letter
The cover letter should include name, degree, address, telephone, fax and email of the corresponding author. A statement that all authors have contributed to, read and approved the final manuscript for submission should be included if there are multiple authors. Any editorial or financial conflict of interest (e.g., consultancy, stock ownership, equity interests, patent or licensing agreements) should be clearly disclosed in the cover letter. The disclosure statement must be submitted upon the acceptance.
Title Page
The title page should include:
1. A concise title;
2. First name, middle initial, and last name of each author. No academic degree should be provided in this section;
3. Name of the department and institutional affiliation of each author;
4. A short Running Title for the paper;
5. Corresponding author and contact information including e-mail address;
6. Acknowledgement including sources of financial support for the work, if any;
7. Declaration of Conflict of Interest.
Abstract and Keywords
The abstract should not exceed 250 words that concisely summarize the study’s purpose, significant findings and conclusions. Include up to 6 keywords or phrases at the end of the abstract. Each keyword should be separated by a comma.
Main Text
The main text should include Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion. The Introduction should be succinct, clearly stating the purpose and rationale of the study. In Materials and Methods, the procedures should be described in sufficient detail to allow duplication by an independent observer. Results and Discussion may be combined or divided. They should be written concisely and logically with emphasis on novel findings.
Acknowledgements
All acknowledgements (if any) should be included at the end of the main text before references and may include grant and administrative support.
References (Please download EndNote X Style or Reference Manager Output Style for IJCEP)
Reference published in IJCEP should begin on a new page, be double-spaced and numbered in order of citation in the text, including citations in tables and figure legends. Complete author citation is required (use of "et al" is not acceptable). References should conform to the style of the Journal. Examples follow:
Journals: [1] Krishnan B and Truong LD. Renal epithelial neoplasms: the diagnostic implications of electron microscopic study in 55 cases. Hum Pathol 2002; 33: 68-79.
Books: Fishman AP: Pulmonary Hypertension and Cor Pulmonale. Pulmonary Diseases and Disorders. Edited by Fishman AP. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1988, pp. 999-1048
Web sites: Cite in text only with an active weblink and keep such links minimum.
In press: To be used only for papers accepted for publication. Cite as for journal with (in press) in place of volume and page numbers.
Submitted papers/unpublished data: Cite in text only.
Tables
All tables should be cited consecutively in the main text by Arabic numbers (Table 1, Table 2, etc). Type each table with a descriptive title on a separate page after the references. Provide explanations for any nonstandard abbreviations in footnotes to the table.
Figure Legends
Figure legends including figure number, a short title and detailed description should be embedded at the end of text file.
Figures
All figures should be cited consecutively in the main text by Arabic numbers (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc). All figures must be prepared at 600dpi resolution and embedded at the end of the manuscript in the Word File. The text in all Figures must be in Arial Font and clearly readable at the 100% zoom. Photographs of a person should render them unidentifiable or include their written permission.
Supplemental data: Authors are encouraged to avoid using supplemental data; and keep any such data and provide to readers if requested. If supplemental data have to be used, all of them should be in the single file with all supplemental figures, tables and text materials included and arranged properly for publication.
Publication Fee
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology is an open access journal which provides instant, worldwide and barrier-free access to the full-text of all published articles. Publishing Fee allows the publisher to make the published material available for free to all interested online readers.
Publication fee is $1780 for each paper which will be billed to the corresponding author. There is no extra charge for color figures or any other hidden charges.