Information for Authors - Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Trials:Nervous System Diseases

About the Journal

Founded in January 2016,Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Trials:Nervous System Diseases(CTNSD;ISSN:Print-2542-3932,Online-2542-3940) is a peer-reviewed,open-access international journal (www.actnjournal.com) with quarterly print on demand compilation of issues published,with its mission focused on reporting creative clinical and translational advancements on the subject of nervous system diseases,psychiatric and psychological disorders.

Aims and Scopes

The journal publishes papers on a broad range of the latest clinical findings of nervous system diseases,including brain,spinal cord,peripheral nerve,cranial nerve diseases,sympathetic and parasympathetic neuropathy,psychiatric and psychological disorders.In 2020,clinical trials focus on psychiatric disorders,such as depression,autism,obsession and schizophrenia are especially welcomed.The journal is also committed to publishing articles on general trial methodology as well as protocols,commentaries and traditional results papers-regardless of outcome or significance of findings.

CTNSDuses a rigorous and timely peer-review process that ensures the highest quality for publication.The journal ensures the accuracy,timeliness and completeness of the database’s content.CTNSDis dedicated to disseminating each published article to achieve the largest display through the most influential international journal platform.

Readership

CTNSDhas emerged as an important forum for the experts from the following disciplines including medicine,biostatistics,epidemiology,computer science,management science,pharmaceutical science,and bioethics.

Abstracting and Indexing

· ADL (Asian Digital Library)

· Baidu Scholar

· CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure)

· EBSCO Publishing’s Electronic Databases

· Exlibris - Primo Central

· Google Scholar

· Hinari

· Infotrieve

· Journal Guide

· National Science Library

· Netherlands ISSN center

· OpenJGate

· ProQuest

· TdNet

CTNSDis a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Editorial Board

The editorial board comprises over 80 members who are dedicated to developing a journal presenting outstanding peer-reviewed,evidence-based scholarly research in nervous system diseases.

Recruitment of new editorial board members is ongoing.

Criteria for Publication

· The study presents the novel results of primary scientific research.

· Experiments,statistics,and other analyses are performed to a high technical standard and are described in sufficient detail.

· Results reported have not been published elsewhere.

· Conclusions are presented in an appropriate fashion and are supported by the data.

· The research meets all applicable standards for the ethics of experimentation and research integrity.

· The article adheres to appropriate reporting guidelines and community standards for data availability.

· The article is presented in an intelligible fashion and is written in American English.

Trial Registration

CTNSDsupports initiatives to improve reporting of clinical trials.In line with ICMJE guidelines,the journal requires registration of all clinical trials that are reported in manuscripts submitted toCTNSD.Registration is mandatory for any clinical trials.For clinical trials that have not been registered prospectively,CTNSDencourages retrospective registration to ensure the complete publication of all results.The journal accepts publicly accessible registration in ClinicalTrials.gov (https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/) or in any registry that is a primary register of the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) (www.who.int/ictrp/network/primary/en/index.html).

· Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR)

http://www.anzctr.org.au/

· Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry (ReBec)

http://www.ensaiosclinicos.gov.br/

· Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR)

http://www.chictr.org.cn/

· Clinical Research Information Service (CRiS),Republic of Korea

http://cris.nih.go.kr/cris/en/use_guide/cris_introduce.jsp

· Clinical Trials Registry - India (CTRI)

http://ctri.nic.in/

· Cuban Public Registry of Clinical Trials (RPCEC)

http://registroclinico.sld.cu/en/home

· EU Clinical Trials Register (EU-CTR)

https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/

· German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS)

http://www.germanctr.de/

· Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT)

http://www.irct.ir/

· ISRCTN Registry

http://www.isrctn.com/

· Japan Primary Registries Network (JPRN)

http://rctportal.niph.go.jp/

· Thai Clinical Trials Registry (TCTR)

http://www.clinicaltrials.in.th/

· The Netherlands National Trial Register (NTR)

http://www.trialregister.nl/

· Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (PACTR)

http://www.pactr.org/

· Peruvian Clinical Trial Registry (REPEC)

http://www.ensayosclinicos-repec.ins.gob.pe/en/

· Sri Lanka Clinical Trials Registry (SLCTR)

http://www.slctr.lk/

Rigorous Peer Review

Referees ofCTNSDare asked to evaluate the manuscript of technically sound.Judgments about the significance of any particular paper are made after publication by the readership,who are the most qualified to determine what is of interest to them.

Editorial process

Each submission toCTNSDpasses through a quality control check and peer-review evaluation process before receiving a decision.The initial in-house quality control check deals with issues such as plagiarism check,competing interests,ethical requirements for studies involving human participants or ani

mals,financial disclosures,in full compliance withCTNSD’s data availability policy.Submissions may be returned to authors for queries,and will not be assigned to our editorial board or peer reviewers until they pass the quality control check.

Peer review process

Once the manuscript has passed quality control check,it is assigned to the strict double-blinded peer review process for a decision,either to accept,revise,or reject the article.Before manuscripts are sent for review,invited peer reviewers are confirmed regarding their availability,conflicts of interest with the manuscript,their agreements to have their names and comments published afterwords.A peer review report together with the reviewer’s name,if permitted,will be posted at the end of the article.Only 15-20% of over 200 manuscripts submitted per year are published inCTNSD.Most manuscripts will be evaluated by three external reviewers.Average time from the submission to the first editorial decision is 1 month.The review time could be shortened to 7 days for the paper with sophisticated review comments from other recognized journals in the field.According to these comments,the academic editors will make a decision as to accept,reject,request a revision or send to another peer review.

Authors who receive a decision of minor revision or major revision have 21 days to resubmit the revised manuscript.If you are submitting a revised manuscript,the following items with your revised submission are required:

· Response to reviewers form:Address the specific points made by each reviewer.

· Revised manuscript (traced copy):Include a traced copy of your manuscript file showing the changes you have made on the original submission.

· Revised manuscript (clean copy):Upload a clean copy of your revised manuscript that does not show your changes.

Reviewer recognition

The quality ofCTNSDdepends on the effort that is generously contributed by our reviewers who have dedicated their expertise and time helping to ensure we publish great science.CTNSDwill provide a certification of review for those who make general comments with more than 150 words and complete the peer-review process within 14 days.

We encourage the reviewers to share and discuss their review comments on Publons (www.publons.com).CTNSDwill also give credit to registered reviewers on Publons.

Authorship Criteria

Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the four components mentioned below:

1.Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work;or the acquisition,analysis,or interpretation of data for the work;AND

2.Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;AND

3.Final approval of the version to be published;AND

4.Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship.General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship.Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript.The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing the manuscript.Once submitted the order cannot be changed without written consent of all the contributors.The journal prescribes a maximum number of authors for manuscripts depending upon the type of manuscript,its scope and number of institutions involved (vide infra).The authors should provide a justification,if the number of authors exceeds these limits.

Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests

Authors

When authors submit a manuscript of any type or format they are responsible for disclosing all financial and personal relationships that might bias or be seen to bias their work.

Financial relationships (such as employment,consultancies,stock ownership or options,honoraria,patents,and paid expert testimony) are the most easily identifiable conflicts of interest and the most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal,the authors,and of science itself.However,conflicts can occur for other reasons,such as personal relationships or rivalries,academic competition,and intellectual beliefs.Authors should avoid entering in to agreements with study sponsors,both forprofit and non-profit,that interfere with authors’ access to all of the study’s data or that interfere with their ability to analyze and interpret the data and to prepare and publish manuscripts independently when and where they choose.

Peer reviewers

Reviewers must disclose to editors any conflicts of interest that could bias their opinions of the manuscript,and should recuse themselves from reviewing specific manuscripts if the potential for bias exists.Reviewers must not use knowledge of the work they are reviewing before its publication to further their own interests.

Editors and journal staff

Editors who make final decisions about manuscripts should recuse themselves from editorial decisions if they have conflicts of interest or relationships that pose potential conflicts related to articles under consideration.Other editorial staff members who participate in editorial decisions must provide editors with a current description of their financial interests or other conflicts (as they might relate to editorial judgments) and recuse themselves from any decisions in which a conflict of interest exists.Editorial staff must not use information gained through working with manuscripts for private gain.Editors should publish regular disclosure statements about potential conflicts of interests related to the commitments of journal staff.Guest editors should follow these same procedures.

Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts should be submitted online at http://www.journalonweb.com/apctnsd.

Cover letter

Authors are required to declare the following statements,including:

· The manuscript is original,has not been submitted to or is not under consideration by another publication and has not been previously published in any language or any form,including electronic.

· All authors approve the final version of the manuscript and of its submission toCTNSD.

· Recommending 3-5 scientists as peer reviewers for your manuscript,including their contact information.The suggested reviewers should be in the same field of your study,from different institutions and have not copublished articles previously.

· Once submitted toCTNSD,the manuscript should not be submitted to other journals within 1 month,whether it is undergoing or awaiting the paper review process.

Update your ORCID record after publication

The first author or the corresponding author should provide ORCID upon manuscript submission.CTNSDalso helps authors to register a unique ORCID identifier to uniquely identify author’s publication.

Transfer of copyright agreement

Once your paper is successfully submitted,publishing agreements should be signed by all authors and uploaded to the editorial system.

Article type

·Research Article:CTNSDwill consider manuscripts on any clinical topic that is relevant to all aspects of nervous system diseases,including brain,spinal cord,peripheral nerve,and cranial nerve diseases,sympathetic and parasympathetic neuropathy,psychiatric and psychological disorders.

·Review:Generally 6000 words in length,which cover a current topic of interest in nervous system diseases.

·Study Protocol:Study protocol articles will only be considered for proposed or ongoing trials that have not completed patient recruitment at the time of submission.Please confirm the status of your study at submission.If the study has already undergone full external peer review as part of the ethics approval or funding process,the study protocol will usually only undergo editorial peer review by the handling editor.Proof of both ethics and funding will be required and we recommend that authors provide the relevant documentation on submission.Study protocols without major external funding will undergo full,external peer review.Study protocols without ethical approval will generally not be considered.

·Case Report:Case reports should offer an important new observation and not simply review the literature.In rare instances,we will consider case reports for this article type,but only if the topic is extraordinarily novel.

Reporting Guidance

Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with ICMJE Recommendation for the Conduct,Reporting,Editing,and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.The following guidelines should be followed when writing an article:

·CONSORT Statement (CONsolidated Standards Of Reporting Trials):The CONSORT statement is recommended for reporting randomized controlled trials,and allows different types of medical studies to be reported using different article types.The authors are encouraged to complete 25-item checklist in their cover letter.In addition,the registration identification number and registry position of the randomized controlled trial is listed in the last line in the Abstract.See http://www.consort-statement.org/for more information.

·STARD statement (STAndards for the Reporting of Diagnostic accuracy studies):This checklist is recommended for reporting diagnostic accuracy studies.See http://www.stard-statement.org/ for more information.

·STREGA statement (STrengthening the REporting of Genetic Associations):These guidelines are recommended for the reporting of genetic association studies.See http://www.strega-statement.org/ for more information.

·STROBE statement (STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology):These guidelines are recommended for the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology).See http://www.strobe-statement.org/ for more information.

·TREND statement (Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs):These guidelines are recommended for the reporting of non-randomized evaluations of behavioral and public health interventions.See http://www.cdc.gov/trendstatement/ for more information.

·MOOSE checklist (a Reporting Checklist for Authors,Editors,and Reviewers of Meta-analyses of Observational Studies):This checklist is recommended for meta-analyses of observational studies.See https://www.editorial-manager.com/jognn/account/MOOSE.pdf for more information.

·PRISMA statement (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses):The PRISMA Statement is recommended for the reporting of systematic evaluation and meta-analysis articles.See http://www.prisma-statement.org/ for more information.

Acceptance and Publication

After acceptance,the authors are free inquiry regarding the progress of their manuscript online using the account number assigned to the corresponding author at any time.Generally,manuscripts will be published within 3 months after acceptance.

The acceptance rate ofCTNSDwas 58% in 2019.

Ethics

According to ICMJE recommendations,the authors should follow all ethical principles for medical research involving humans and experimental animals.

Requirements for ethical issues related to clinical trials

· All studies performed involving human should be registered in clinical trials registry platform,such as ClinicalTrials.gov,prior to participant recruitment.The registry platform and register identifier should be provided upon submission and included in the abstract of the manuscript.

· The ethics committee,approval number and date should be stated in papers.Prospective clinical studies with no registration will not be accepted byCTNSD.In addition,informed consent of study and protocol version should be indicated.

· Clinical manuscripts should be written according to the reporting guidelines at www.equator-network.org.Additionally,checklists and a flow chart should be provided upon submission.

Patient consent privacy

Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions,photographs,sonograms,CT scans,etc.,and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian,wherever applicable) gives informed consent for publication.Authors should remove patients’ names from figures unless they have obtained informed consent from the patients.The journal abides by ICMJE guidelines:i.Authors,not the journals nor the publisher,need to obtain the patient consent form before the publication and have the form properly archived.The consent forms are not to be uploaded with the cover letter or sent through email to editorial or publisher offices.ii.If the manuscript contains patient images that preclude anonymity,or a description that has obvious indication to the identity of the patient,a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript.

Plagiarism

· EachCTNSDpaper will be checked twice,using Cross check to verify originality after submission and prior to publication.The check report will be sent to the authors.

· The similarity of anyCTNSDpaper should not be over 5% against one single published paper,not over 20% against all published papers.

· Similarity between new submitted manuscript and the published by the same research team or author should be not over 30%.

· No retracted articles should be cited.

· For dishonorable events including redundant (duplicate) publication,suspected plagiarism,and undisclosed conflicts of interest,CTNSDwill abide by COPE guidelines (http://publicationethics.org/resources).

Corrections and Retractions

CTNSDpublishes corrections,retractions,and expressions of concern as appropriate,and as quickly as possible.We follow the ICMJE and COPE guidelines where applicable.

·Correction:A notice of correction will be issued byCTNSDto correct substantial errors that appear in published articles when these errors significantly affect the content or understanding of the work (e.g.,error in data presentation or analysis) or when the error affects the publication’s metadata (e.g.,misspelling of an author’s name).In these cases,CTNSDwill publish a correction that will be linked to the original article.In very rare cases,we may choose to correct the article itself and repost it online.If that course is taken,a correction notice will also be created to document the changes to the original article.

·Author-Initiated Retractions:CTNSDwill retract an article at the authors’ request at any time unless it is under review for a possible violation of Responsible Conduct Regarding Scientific Communications.At the authors’ option,the retraction notice may simply state that the article has been retracted at the authors’ request.Alternatively,the authors may provide a brief explanation of the error(s) prompting the retraction.However,statements of retraction may not assign blame to specific authors or laboratories.

·Editorialretractions:The editors reserve the right to retract an article at any time after publication without the consent of the authors if an investigation by an appropriate authority reveals a violation ofCTNSD’s ethics policy.To request a correction/retraction,please contact the editorial office directly at apctnsd@gmail.com.

Data Availability

CTNSDencourages authors to upload original experimental data on journal website or Figshare prior to or after publication,including original data,images,or tables.Open access of data will increase study transparency,accelerate the scientific research pace,and establish credibility of scientific research.Figshare is an internationally respected data repository that can upload,store,and share original data of the study.With the permission of open-access copyright,the authors can display and share their data,which facilitates retrieval,reading,download,and sharing.

Data Sharing Statement in Clinical Trials

Manuscripts submitted toCTNSDthat report the results of clinical trials must contain a data-sharing statement as described in Table.We would like to bring this to your attention and the editorial office can decide whether to add any policy statement on Author Instruction page.

http://www.icmje.org/news-and-editorials/data_sharing_june_2017.pdf

Open Access Publication

CTNSDis co-published by Wolters Kluwer-MedKnow,a global open access medical publisher.Therefore,CTNSDapplies the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License to works we publish.This license allows others to remix,tweak,and build upon the work noncommercially,as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

Anyone interested in reading your research can get free access to your paper at our official website (www.actnjournal.com).

Open Access Service Fees

Authors of published papers will be granted complete waiver for the open-access fee.

Copyright/Permissions after Publication

· The publisher retains all rights concerning assembling,printing,reproducing,translating,disseminating,exhibiting,publishing,retrieving and indexing part or of all the contents of the article.

Table1:Examples of Data Sharing Statements That Fulfill These ICMJE Requirements＊

· After signing transfer of copyright with the journal,the authors still retain the rights.

· In not-for-profit circumstances,the use,dissemination and reproduction of part or of all contents of the article is permitted when cited properly.

Reprints/Subscriptions

We are committed to providing two hard copies and five highquality reprints to authors for free.Reprints can be purchased as print or electronic reprints and as translated articles,and will be customized to your specific requirements and shrinkwrapped.

Advertising Policy

· All advertisements are subject to approval of the Publisher,or Editor.However,the Publisher or the Editor shall not unreasonably withhold such approval.

· Advertising is separate from content.Advertisers and sponsors have no advance knowledge of our editorial content,nor do the editors shape content to accommodate advertising.Publisher will not sell advertising for a specific product on the condition that it appear in the same location,and at the same time,as a specific article mentioning that product,unless clearly labeled as an exclusive sponsor.Advertisers do not influence any of our editorial decisions or advertising policies.

· The appearance of advertising on our journal is neither a guarantee nor an endorsement by the publisher,society or editorial partner of the product,service,or company and claims made in such advertising.

· Advertising that appears at Publisher’s journal will be clearly distinguishable from editorial content.

· Publisher’s advertising sales representatives have neither control over,nor prior knowledge of,specific editorial content before it is published.

· Advertisers have no control or influence over the results of searches a user may conduct on the Publisher’s journal.Search results are based solely on the functionality available through our search software (e.g.,keywords or natural language) and user-defined criteria (e.g.,displaying most recent or most relevant items first).

· All advertisements are accepted and published by Publisher on the warranty of the agency and advertiser that both are authorized to publish the entire contents and subject matter of the advertisement.

· In consideration of publication of an advertisement,the advertiser and the agency,jointly and severally,agree to indemnify and hold harmless Publisher,its officers,agents and employees against expenses (including legal fees) and losses resulting from the publication of the contents of the adv ertisement,including,without limitation,claims or suits for libel,violation of privacy,copyright infringement or plagiarism.

· All advertisements must clearly and prominently identify the advertiser by trademark or signature.

· Any reference to Publisher or it products or services in advertisements,promotional material,or merchandising by the advertiser or the agency is subject to the Publisher’s prior written approval for each such use.

· Publisher is not responsible for any damages,including but not limited to actual,direct,incidental or consequential damages,for errors in displaying an ad.

· Publisher will not be bound by any condition,printed or otherwise,appearing on any insertion order or copy instructions when such conditions conflict with the conditions set forth in this policy statement.

· In the event of nonpayment,Publisher reserves the right to hold advertiser and/or its advertising agency liable for such monies as are due and payable to Publisher.

· Any use of Publication trademarks or copyrighted material for links to and from the website must be approved,inadvance,by the Publisher.Any such unauthorized linking is prohibited.

· Recruitment ads:All advertisements for employment must be nondiscriminatory and comply with all applicable laws and regulations.Ads that discriminate against applicants based on sex,age,race,religion,marital status,or physical handicap will not be accepted.Non-US recruitment advertisers are required to confirm in writing that they are equal opportunity employers.

· Advertised products must be compliant with the regulations in the country where the advertisement will be seen.

· Publisher does not release personally identifiable data on the users of our websites or email service to advertisers.

Dissemination after Publication

Once the paper is published,it will be scheduled for dissemination via e-Newslettter.

After publication,CTNSDprovides articles more visibility on the social network,e.g.,Mendeley,Facebook,Twitter,LinkedIn.We also recommend authors link your paper from as many websites as possible using citation and social book marking tools such as,

· ORCID,https://orcid.org/

· ResearchGate,https://www.researchgate.net/

· Kudos,https://www.growkudos.com/

· Mendeley,https://www.mendeley.com/

· Figshare,https://figshare.com/

· DataCite,https://www.datacite.org/

· Google+,https://plus.google.com/discover

· Facebook,https://www.facebook.com/

· Twitter,https://twitter.com/

· LinkedIn,https://www.linkedin.com/

· Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acanthamoeba_keratitis#References

Contact Us

Website:http://www.actnjournal.com/

Online submission:http://www.journalonweb.com/apctnsd

Author inquiries:apctnsd@gmail.com

LinkedIn Account:CTNSD Zhao

Mendeley Account:Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Trials:Nervous System Disease

Facebook Account:CTNSD Zhao

Twitter Account:CTNSD@ctnsd_editor