Instructions for Authors

Instructions for Authors

The Osaka City Medical Journal will consider the publication of any original manuscript,
review, case report, or short communication. Articles should be in English.

Manuscript submission. Manuscripts should be sent to the Editor, Osaka City Medical Journal,
Osaka City Medical Association, Osaka City University Medical School, 1-4-3 Asahimachi, Abeno-ku, Osaka 545-8585, Japan; phone and fax 06-6645-3782; e-mail shiigakukai@med.osaka-cu.ac.jp

The Journal accepts only manuscripts that contain material that has not been and will not be published elsewhere. Duplicate publication of scientific data is not permitted. If closely related papers might be considered to be duplicate publications, the possible duplicate should be submitted with the manuscript and the authors should explain in their covering letter what is original in the submitted paper. Submit three copies of the manuscript (two of which may be photocopies) together with CD-R or DVD-R containing the body text, tables and figures. The manuscript should be prepared by Microsoft Word or its compatible software (doc or docx). Acceptable formats for figures are JPG or TIF. Use only 12-point font size and a standard serif font. Double-space throughout the manuscript and use standard-sized (ISO A4, 212×297mm) white bond paper. Make margins at least 25 mm wide on all sides. Number pages consecutively starting with the title page and ending with the reference list. Begin each of these sections on a separate page: title page, abstract, text, acknowledgements, references, tables (each one separate), and figure legends. Do not use abbreviations in the title or abstract and limit their use in the text, defining each when it first appears. Manuscripts should meet the requirements outlined below to avoid delay in review and publication. Society membership for all the authors is required before the submission. Authors whose native language is not English must seek the assistance of a native English speaker who is familiar with medical sciences. Please attach the certificate from the person(s) who edit the manuscript. Some minor editorial revision of the manuscript will be made when the editorial committee considers it necessary.

Title page. All submissions must include a title page. The full title of the paper, should be concise,specific, and informative, and should contain the message of the paper without being in sentence form.Next, include the full names and academic affiliations of all authors, and indicate the corresponding author,address, phone, fax, and e-mail address. Give a running title (not to exceed 50 characters including spaces),and three to five key words. Last, give the word count for text only, exclusive of title, abstract, references,tables, and figure legends.

Structured abstract. The abstract of 250 words or less should consist of four paragraphs headed
Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.

Text. Full papers about experiments or observations may be divided into sections headed Introduction,
Methods, Results, and Discussion.

Tables. Each table should be typed on a separate sheet in characters of ordinary size, double-spaced (with at least 6 mm of white space between lines). Each table must have a title and should be assigned an Arabic numeral (‘Table 3’). Vertical rules should not be used.

Figures. For black-and-white figures, submit three original glossy prints or laser-quality proofs and three photocopies of each. One transparency and three color prints should be submitted of each color figure.
Label the front of figures with the figure number. Indicate on the back of each figure the first author, the first few words of the manuscript title, and the direction of the top of the figure (if needed).
Photomicrographs should have scale markers that indicate the magnification. Provide figure legends on a separate page, double-spaced, immediately after the tables. All illustrations and graphs, to be referred to as figures, should be numbered in Arabic numerals (‘Fig. 2’ etc.). The approximate position of each figure in the text should be indicated in the right margin of the manuscript. Illustrations in full color are accepted for publication if the editors judge that color is necessary, with the cost paid by the author.

References. Reference must be double-spaced and numbered consecutively in the order cited in the text. When listing references, follow the style of the Uniform Requirements (http://www.icmje.org/) and abbreviate names of journals according to PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/netrez). List all authors up to three; when there are four or more, list the first three and use et al.

Examples of reference style

1. Priori SG, Schwartz PJ, Napolitano C, et al. Risk stratification in the long-QT syndrome. N Engl J Med 2003;348:1866-1874.
2. Schwartz PJ, Priori SG, Napolitano C. The long-QT syndrome. In: Zipes DP, Jalife J, editors. Cardiac
   electrophysiology: from cell to bedside. 3rd ed. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders; 2000. pp. 597-615.

Proofs. One set of proofs together with the original manuscript will be sent to the author, to be carefully checked for any essential changes or printer’s errors. The author is requested to return the corrected proofs within 48 h of their receipt.

Short communications and case reports.

1. A short communication should have between 1500 and 2000 words, including the abstract. This word
   count is equivalent to about four double-spaced manuscript pages.
2. The original and two copies including three sets of figures and tables should be sent to the Editorial
   Office.

Manuscript submission fee. A nonrefundable fee of 10,000 JPY is due on submission of original manuscripts, case reports, and short communications. A manuscript returned beyond six months of the date of the initial decision will be considered a new submission.

Page charges. A standard publication fee of 100,000 JPY will be applied for each accepted paper.
Authors are also required to pay page charge of 10,000 JPY per printed page.
Ex) If your article has 10 pages, the amount of fee is 100,000 JPY＋10 pages×10,000 JPY＝200,000 JPY.

Reprints. If you were interested in ordering reprints of your article, we accept at least 50 full-color
copies. Authors are required to pay page charge of 100 JPY per printed page. Ex) If you request 60 copies
for 10-page article, the amount of fee is 100 JPY×10 pages×60 copies＝60,000 JPY.

Studies of human subjects. It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that any clinical investigation they did and report in manuscripts submitted to the Osaka City Medical Journal are in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net).

Animal studies. It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that their experimental procedures are in compliance with the “Guiding Principles in the Care and Use of Animals” (http://www.the-aps.org/pub_affairs/humane/pa_aps_guiding.htm) published each month in the information for authors of the American Journal of Physiology.

Conflict of Interest (COI) Disclosure.
1. It is the responsibility of the authors to disclose any COI by signing the form.
2. If the authors have no conflicts, please state“ All authors have no COI to declare regarding the present
study” in the Acknowledgements.
Authors are required to disclose any relationships with company or organization (such as funds,
consultancy fee, grant, fee for speaking, stock or shares). At the time of initial submission, the
corresponding author is responsible for obtaining conflict of interest information from all authors.

[Revised: June 8, 2021]