Author Guidelines

Thank you for contributing to Journal of Academic Ophthalmology. Please read the instructions carefully and observe all the directions given. Failure to do so may result in unnecessary delays in publishing your article. All manuscripts must be submitted at the following link:

https://www2.cloud.editorialmanager.com/ophthalmology/default2.aspx

Submission Checklist
Manuscript Format
Digital Artwork Preparation
Submission Procedure
Production Procedure
Policy Statements

Submission Checklist

Author Information
◽All authors: full name, degrees, department, affiliation, e-mail address
◽Corresponding author: mailing address, telephone number

Manuscript File
◽Must be digital - hard copy submissions are not accepted

Abstract and Keywords
◽See the section Article Types for word limit

References
◽Cited sequentially in AMA style

Figures and Tables
◽Cited sequentially and included in the main document

Art Files
◽Must be saved separately from the main document

Permissions
◽Required if you plan to reproduce content from a published source or include a photograph of a patient

Ethnics Policies & Conflict of Interest
◽Authors are required to disclose any conflict of interest as per ICMJE COI guidelines and form
◽Declaration to be accompanied with studies involving human or animal participants

Manuscript Format

Article Types

The following graph shows what types of articles are accepted for publication, and what requirement they may have.

Article Type	Abstract Limit	Keywords Limit	Title Limit
Research Article	Up to 350 words	No Limit	Up to 20 words
Editorial	Up to 350 words	No Limit	Up to 20 words
Case Report	Up to 350 words	No Limit	Up to 20 words

General Guidelines

You must submit a digital copy of your manuscript. Hard copy submissions are not accepted.
Keep the format of your manuscript simple and clear. We will set your manuscript according to our style—do not try to “design” the document.
The manuscript, including the title page, abstract and keywords, text, references, figure captions, and tables should be typewritten, double-spaced in 12-point font with 1-inch margins all around and saved as one file.
Each figure should be saved as its own separate file. Do not embed figures within the manuscript file.
Keep abbreviations to a minimum and be sure to explain all of them the first time they are used in the text.
The manuscripts should be written in American English.
The authors should use Système International (SI) measurements. For clarity, nonmetric equivalents may be included in parentheses following the SI measurements.
Use generic names for drugs. You may cite proprietary names in parentheses along with the name and location of the manufacturer.
Credit suppliers and manufacturers of equipment, drugs, and other brand-name material mentioned in the manuscript within parentheses, giving the company name and primary location.

Title Page

This journal adheres to a single-blinded peer-review policy. The title page should be included in the main document.
The title page should list the article title and the corresponding author’s full name, degree, title, department, affiliation, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone and fax numbers. It should also list the full name, degree, title, department, and affiliation of every co-author.

Abstract and Keywords

See the section Article Types for word limits.

The abstract should briefly outline the content of the article and any conclusions it may reach. The keywords should be words a reader would be likely to use in searching for the content of the article.

The abstract should include the following sections: Background, Purpose, Methods, Results, Conclusion.

Main Document

Please clearly distinguish the hierarchy of headings within the manuscript by using capital letters, underline, italic, and bold styles as necessary.
As needed, use italic, superscripts, subscripts, and boldface, but otherwise do not use multiple fonts and font sizes.
Do not insert page or section breaks except where noted in the Author Instructions.
Use hard returns (the Enter key) only at the end of a paragraph, not at the end of a line. Allow lines of text to break automatically in your word-processing software. Do not justify your text.
Use only one space, not two, after periods.
Create tables using the Table function in Microsoft Word.

Acknowledgments

The source of any financial support received and recognition of personal assistance for the work being published should be indicated at the end of the article, just before the Reference section, under the heading Acknowledgments.

Conflict of Interest

All authors (including corresponding and co-authors associated with the manuscript) must make a formal statement at the time of submission indicating any potential conflict of interest that might constitute an embarrassment to any of the authors if it were not to be declared and were to emerge after publication. Such conflicts might include, but are not limited to, shareholding in or receipt of a grant or consultancy fee from a company whose product features in the submitted manuscript or which manufactures a competing product. Should the article be accepted for publication, this information will be published with the paper.

Types of conflicts include: Consulting, Royalties, Research Support, Institutional Support, Ownership, Stock/Options, Speakers Bureau, and Fellowship Support. Any commercial entity whose products are described, reviewed, evaluated, or compared in the manuscript, except for those disclosed in the Acknowledgments section, are potential conflicts.

This journal follows the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and an ICMJE disclosure of potential conflicts of interest (COI) form must be submitted for each author at the time of manuscript submission. Forms must be submitted even if there is no conflict of interest. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all authors adhere to this policy prior to submission.

A conflict of interest statement must also be included in the manuscript after any "Acknowledgements" and "Funding" sections and should summarize all aspects of any conflicts of interest included on the ICMJE form. If there is no conflict of interest, authors must include 'Conflict of Interest: none declared'.

Please click http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest to download a Conflict of Interest form. The disclosure information is important in article processing. If the provided forms are incomplete or missing, it can cause delays in publishing of article.

Informed Consent

The journal adheres to the principles set forth in the Helsinki Declaration and holds that all reported research conducted with human participants should be conducted in accordance with such principles. Reports describing data obtained from research conducted in human participants must contain a statement in the Methods section indicating approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The authors should also indicate whether or not individual consent for the study was obtained, or whether it was waived.

References

References should be the most recent and pertinent literature available. It is essential that they are complete and thoroughly checked. If the reference information is incomplete, good online sites to search for full details are the National Library of Medicine: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/; Books in Print: http://www.booksinprint.com/; PubMed: http://www.booksinprint.com/; or individual publisher Web sites.

References must be listed in AMA style, using Index Medicus journal title abbreviations.
References follow the article text. Insert a page break between the end of text and the start of references.
References must be cited sequentially (NOT alphabetically) in the text using superscript numbers.
By way of exception to AMA style, do not italicize book titles or journal title abbreviations and do not put a period at the end of a reference.
List all author names, up to and including six names. For more than six authors, list the first three followed by et al.
References should be styled per the following examples:

Citing a journal article:

Citing a chapter in a book:

Citing a book:

Citing a thesis:

Citing a government publication:

Citing an online article:

Citing a symposium article:

Figure Captions

Figures include photographs or radiographs, drawings, graphs, bar charts, flow charts, and pathways, but NOT lists or tables.
Figures must be cited sequentially in the text. Number all figures (and corresponding figure captions) sequentially in the order they are cited in the text.
Figure captions should be written after the reference list. Insert a page break between the end of references and the start of figure captions.
Figure captions should include a description of the figure and/or each lettered part (A, B, etc.) and of any portions of the figure highlighted by arrows, arrowheads, asterisks, etc.
For a figure borrowed or adapted from another publication (used with permission), add a credit line in parentheses at the end of each figure legend. This credit line should be a complete bibliographic listing of the source publication (as a reference), or other credit line as supplied by the copyright holder. For example (Reprinted with permission from Calfee DR, Wispelwey B. Brain abscess. Semin Neurol 2000;20:357.)

Tables

Data given in tables should be commented on but not repeated in the text. Be sure that lists or columns of related data are composed in a word-processing program like the rest of the text.
Do not intersperse tables in the text. Tables should appear after the figure captions. Insert a page break between the end of the figure captions and the start of the tables.
Tables must be double-spaced and numbered in the same sequence they are cited in the text. A short descriptive title should be provided for each table.
If a table contains artwork, supply the artwork separately as a digital file
For tables borrowed or adapted from another publication (used with permission), add a credit line as the first footnote beneath each table. This credit line should be a complete bibliographical listing of the source publication (as a reference), or other credit line as supplied by the copyright holder. For example, “Reprinted with permission from Calfee DR, Wispelwey B. Brain abscess. Semin Neurol 2000;20:357.” (“Data from . . .” or “Adapted from . . .” may also be used, as appropriate.)
Other footnotes for tables should be indicated in the table using superscript letters in alphabetical order.
Any abbreviations used in the table should be explained at the end of the table in a footnote.

Digital Artwork Preparation

General Guidelines

It is best to use Adobe Photoshop to create and save images, and Adobe Illustrator for line art and labels.
Do not submit art created in Microsoft Excel, Word, or PowerPoint. These files cannot be used by the typesetter.
Save each figure in a separate file.
Do not compress files.
All black-and-white and color artwork should be at a resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch) in TIFF format. Line art should be 1,200 dpi in EPS or TIFF format.
It is preferable for figures to be cropped to their final size (approximately 3½ inches for a single column and up to 7 inches for a double column), or larger, and in the correct orientation. If art is submitted smaller and then has to be enlarged, its resolution (dpi) and clarity will decrease.

Note: Lower resolutions (less than 300 dpi) and JPEG format (.jpg extension) for grayscale and color artwork are strongly discouraged due to the poor quality they yield in printing, which requires 300 dpi resolution for sharp, clear, detailed images. JPEG format, by definition, is a lower resolution (compressed) format designed for quick upload on computer screens.

Black-and-White Art

Black-and-white artwork can be halftone (or grayscale) photographs, radiographs, drawings, line art, graphs, and flowcharts. Only digital artwork is accepted.
If possible, do not send color art for conversion to black-and-white. Do the conversion yourself so that you can check the results and confirm in advance that no critical details are lost or obscured by the change to black-and-white.
For best results, line art should be black on a white background. Lines and type should be clean and evenly dark. Avoid screens or cross-hatching, as they can darken or be uneven in printing and lead to unacceptable printing quality.

Color Art

All color artwork should be saved in CMYK, not RGB.

Art Labels

Arrows, asterisks, and arrowheads (or other markers) should be white in dark or black areas and black in light or white areas, and large in size. If not, these highlighting marks may become difficult to see when figures are reduced in size during the typesetting process.
Use 1-point (or thicker) rules and leader lines.
Capitalize the first word of each label and all proper nouns. Consider using all capitals if you need a higher level of labels.
Where there are alternate terms or spellings for a named structure, use the most common one and make sure it is consistent with what is used in the text.
Avoid using multiple fonts and font sizes for the labels; use only one or two sizes of a serif font

Submission Procedure

Article Processing Charge (APC)

During the submission process, you will be prompted to confirm that you accept to pay the APC if your manuscript should be chosen for publication. Please refer to the first page of this document for the exact pricing. You will be billed based on the year in which you submitted your manuscript, but you will not receive the bill until and unless your manuscript has been accepted for publication.

Submission Procedure

Consult the checklist on the first page of this document to ensure that you are ready to submit your manuscript.
Please note: There are no submission charges to submit your manuscript to this journal.
Manuscripts must be submitted electronically at the following link:
https://www2.cloud.editorialmanager.com/ophthalmology/default2.aspx.
Always review your manuscript before submitting it. You may stop a submission at any phase and save it to submit later. After submission, you will receive a confirmation email.

You can also check the status of your manuscript by logging in to the submission system. The Editor in Chief will inform you via email once a decision has been made.

Peer Review Process

Each manuscript accepted by the Editorial Office undergoes a strict peer review process. At least two referees are assigned to Research Article, Editorial, and Case Report. The reviewers are chosen according to their areas of expertise in the field. An appropriate selection of keywords will help with assignment. The review process is done in a single-blinded fashion; the reviewer knows the identity of the authors/institution, but the authors does not know the identity of the reviewers. This anonymization procedure is provided by the Editorial Office to convey a maximum of impartiality.

Preprint Server Statement

Journal of Academic Ophthalmology encourages the submission of manuscripts that have been deposited in an initial draft version in preprint repositories such as Research Square, arXiv, and medRxiv. Drafts of short conference abstracts or degree theses posted on the website of the degree-granting institution, and draft manuscripts deposited on authors’ or institutional websites are also welcome. All other prior publication is forbidden.

During submission, authors should (1) note use of the preprint repository in the cover letter, (2) state what adjustments and/or updates the draft has undergone between deposition and submission and (3) cite the preprint, including the DOI, as a reference in the manuscript.

After submission to the journal, and until a final decision has been made, authors are discouraged from depositing versions of their manuscript as preprints. Upon publication authors should add a link from the preprint to the published article. Twelve months after publication, authors can update the preprint with the accepted manuscript.

Revision Procedure

Should the editors decide that your article requires a revision, you will need to make the changes via a word- processing program and resubmit it electronically.
Log In to the submission system and find your article, which will be marked for revision.
The best way to make revisions to your manuscript is by enabling the Track Changes mode in Microsoft Word, which will automatically highlight and mark up revised text. Please submit both a marked up copy and a clean copy of your revised manuscript to the submission system.
Your original files will still be available after you upload your revised manuscript, so you should delete any redundant files before completing the submission.
You will also be provided space in which to respond to the reviewers’ and editors’ comments. Please be as specific as possible in your response.

Production Procedure

Page Proofs

Page proofs will be sent to you via email. The proofs will be in a PDF file format, which should be opened using Acrobat Reader software. You will receive further instructions with your proofs. Take this opportunity to check the typeset text for typographic and related errors. Elective alterations are difficult to accommodate owing to the associated time and expense of introducing them. Therefore, please be sure that when you submit your manuscript, it is accurate, complete, and final.

Policy Statements

Statement on Liability

The legislation on product liability makes increased demands on the duty of care to be exercised by authors of scientific research and medical publications. This applies in particular to papers and publications containing therapeutic directions or instructions and doses or dosage schedules. We therefore request you to examine with particular care, also in your own interest, the factual correctness of the contents of your manuscript once it has been copyedited and returned to you in the form of galley proofs. The responsibility for the correctness of data and statements made in the manuscript rests entirely with the author.

Definition of Authorship

Authorship credit should be based on criteria established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Each author should have made the following contributions towards the completion of the manuscript:

Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data
Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content
Final approval of the version to be published

Copyright Statement

Submitted manuscripts must represent original research not previously published nor being considered for publication elsewhere. The editors combat plagiarism, double publication, and scientific misconduct with the software CrossCheck powered by iThenticate. Your manuscript may be subject to an investigation and retraction if plagiarism is suspected.

If you plan to reproduce text, tables, or figures from a published source, you must first obtain written permission from the copyright holder (usually the publisher). This is required even if the material is from your own published work. For material never before published and given to you by another person, you must obtain permission from that person. Serious delays to publication can be incurred if permissions are not obtained.

As the author, it is your responsibility to obtain all permissions, pay any permission fees, furnish copies of permissions with your manuscript, and include a credit line at the end of the figure caption, beneath the table, or in a text footnote.

Articles are published under the “CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0” license. This means that everyone is free to copy, distribute and transmit the published article. Commercial use is not allowed, nor are derivative works (nobody may alter, transform or build upon your work without express permission). The full text of the license can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0.

Statement of Ethics

This journal adheres to the ethical standards described by the Committee on Publication Ethics and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Authors are expected to adhere to these standards.

For all manuscripts reporting data from studies involving human or animal participants, formal review and approval, or formal review and waiver (exemption), by an appropriate institutional review board (IRB) or ethics committee is required, as well as any necessary HIPAA consent, and should be described in the Methods section with the full name of the reviewing entity. All clinical trials must be registered in a public trials registry. Denote the registry and registry number.

Patient Permission Policy and GDPR Policy

You must obtain a signed patient permission form for every patient whose recognizable photograph will be used. If you do not supply this, the identity of the patient must be obscured before the image is published; this could interfere with the instructive value of the photograph.

The personal rights of people who are recognizable on images must be protected. Please provide a written consent form for publication signed by every recognizable person. For persons under 18 years of age / persons supervised, please provide the signature of both parents / the legal guardian / supervisor. A suitable declaration of consent form can be obtained in our authors' lounge.

We cannot accept or store illustrations in which personal data of third parties are included. Please submit images in completely anonymous form, free of personal data only! Such data may not only be directly visible in the image (e.g., a patient name or a date of birth in an X-ray image); they can also be included in the metadata of the image, which is accessible with the appropriate software. They may also be obscured by a cropping feature (such as PowerPoint or Word), but can be made visible underneath. If you have questions about data protection regulations, please contact us before submitting your manuscript.