International Journal of Andrology

The Official Journal of the European Academy of Andrology

Edited by:
Ewa Rajpert-De Meyts

Print ISSN: 0105-6263
Online ISSN: 1365-2605
Frequency: Bi-monthly
Current Volume: 32 / 2009
ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2008: 1/5 Andrology
Impact Factor: 4.021

TopAuthor Guidelines

International Journal of Andrology welcomes manuscript submissions on all aspects of andrology, including original and review articles, commentaries and editorials in basic, molecular and clinical research.

Animal studies will only be considered if directly relevant to to human reproductive biology and andrology. Veterinarian and animal husbandry aspects are outside the scope of International Journal of Andrology. Case reports will not be considered unless containing substantial novel information.

Manuscripts must be submitted online. To submit, go to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ija. Full instructions for submittance are listed on this website.

Editorial and production queries. For manuscripts submitted before 1 April 2009 (numbers up to and including IJA-2009-0079), please forward your query to Leena Karlsson (email: leenaka@utu.fi). For manuscripts submitted after 1 April 2009 (numbers starting from IJA-2009-0080), please forward your query to Andy Beare (email: int.j.androl@gmail.com).

All manuscripts must be accompanied by either a completed Exclusive Licence Form or a completed Online Open Exclusive Licence Form (see below) to be sent to the Production Editor (via fax: +65 6511 8288 or email: ija@wiley.com). The work shall not be published elsewhere in any language without the written consent of the publisher. The articles published in this journal are protected by the licence, which covers translation rights and the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute all of the articles printed in the journal. No material published in the journal may be stored on microfilm or videocassettes or in electronic databases and the like without the prior written permission of the publisher.

OnlineOpen is available to authors of primary research articles who wish to make their article available to non-subscribers on publication, or whose funding agency requires grantees to archive the final version of their article. With OnlineOpen the author, the author's funding agency, or the author's institution pays a fee to ensure that the article is made available to non-subscribers upon publication via Wiley InterScience, as well as deposited in the funding agency's preferred archive. For the full list of terms and conditions, see http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/authorresources/onlineopen.html#OnlineOpen_Terms. Any authors wishing to send their paper OnlineOpen will be required to complete the payment form at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/IJAN_OOF.pdf.

Prior to acceptance there is no requirement to inform an Editorial Office that you intend to publish your paper OnlineOpen if you do not wish to. All OnlineOpen articles are treated in the same way as any other article. They go through the journal's standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit.

Abstract Should be concise, no more than 200 words and placed before the text.

Text Papers should be clearly divided into the following sections: introduction; materials and methods; results; discussion with conclusions.

Abbreviations and units When first mentioned, cumbersome chemical names should be suitably abbreviated for later reference in the paper. Doses of drugs should, if possible, be given as unit weight/body weight, e.g. nmol/kg. Concentrations can be given either in terms of molarity (e.g. nmol/l) or as ng/ml. The SI (Système International) units can be used but are not mandatory. Molarity should refer to the active component.

In abbreviations and symbols, standardized terms should be used. Biochemical terminology should follow the recommendations in Biochemical Nomenclature and Related Documents, published by the Biochemical Society. For enzymes use the nomenclature recommended by IUPAC-IUB Commission as published in Enzyme Nomenclature, Academic Press, New York, 1980. Upon request authors can obtain a more complete list of abbreviations, units etc. from the publisher.

Whenever reference is made to unpublished work of others, a letter of permission from the responsible investigator should be included. Reference to work which is planned or in progress should be avoided.

IllustrationsAll photographs, drawings or graphs are referred to as figures, abbreviated (Fig.), and should be numbered in sequence with Arabic numerals. Figures should be planned to fit the printed column, 205 x 125 mm. The preferred place of each figure should be marked in the left margin of the manuscript. Number, orientation and author's name should be indicated upon submission. If your paper is accepted, it is important that all electronic artwork is supplied to the editorial office int he correct format and resolution. We recommed that you consult the publisher's illustration guidelines at http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/illustration.asp if you need advice on any aspect of preparing your artwork.

Electronic artwork You can upload digital versions of figures when submitting your manuscript online. Ideally, these should be sent in the PICT format if created on a Mac, or WMF if created in Windows. Files saved as PS, EPS, GIF and TIF may also be used, but please be aware that it will not be possible to modify them. Avoid using tints; if they are essential to the understanding of the figure, try to make them coarse. Detailed information on our digital illustration standards is available on authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/illustration.asp.

Photographs Except for photomicrographs, should be about one and a half to two times the size of the final block and must be unmounted glossy enlargements showing good detail and moderate but not excessive contrast. Labels, arrows etc should be professionally prepared, and the lettering uniform and large enough to be read easily when reduced. Photomicrographs should be carefully prepared to fit the printed column (205 x 125 mm) at unaltered size according to the magnification mentioned in the legend and text.

Line drawings should be in black ink on white paper and should be about twice the size of the final printed version.

Graphs should be plotted on plain white paper and be about twice the size of the finished block. Prominence of lettering, lines, curves, and signs should correspond to the relative importance of each component.

Colour Illustrations Authors of review articles will not be charged for colour work in their manuscript and therefore do not need to submit a colour work agreement form. Costs of colour illustrations for all other articles must be borne by the authors. If there is colour work in your manuscript when it is accepted for publication, Blackwell Publishing require you to complete and return a colour work agreement form to the Production Editor (via fax: +65 6511 8288 or email: ija@wiley.com) before your paper can be published. However, in exceptional circumstances, the Chief Editor may choose to waive part or all of these costs if the authors are able to make a convincing case.

In the event that an author is not able to cover the costs of reproducing colour figures in colour in the printed version of the journal, International Journal of Andrology offers authors the opportunity to reproduce colour figures in colour for free in the online version of the article (but they will still appear in black and white in the print version). If an author wishes to take advantage of this free colour-on-the-web service, they should complete and return the above colour work agreement form to the Production Editor.

Legends Text to figures should be typed on a separate sheet and numbered correspondingly. The legend should make the meaning of each illustration understandable without reference to the text. In the full-text online edition of the journal, figure legends may be truncated in abbreviated links to the full screen version. Therefore, the first 100 characters of any legend should inform the reader of key aspects of the figure.

Tables These should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals and cited in the text. An approximate location in the text should be indicated in the left margin of the manuscript. Each table should be typed on a separate sheet and have a legend which makes its general meaning comprehensible without reference to the text.

References We recommend the use of a tool such as EndNote or Reference Manager for reference management and formatting. The authors are responsible for the correctness of references. The references in the text should quote the surnames of the authors and the year of publication, 'Brown & Smith (1968)' or 'Brown et al. (1968)' when there are more than two authors. The reference list should indicate only the publications mentioned in the text which should be listed in alphabetical order. Titles of journals should be in full.

Examples:
Armitage, P. (1971) Statistical Methods in Medical Research, p. 25 Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.
Cheng, C. Y., Boettcher, B., Tinneberg, H. R. & Buxton, J. (1980) Activation of spermatozoal forward migration in vitro by hydrocortisone. International Journal of Andrology, 3, 654-670.
Weibel, E. R. (1973) Stereological techniques for electron microscopic morphometry. In: Principles and Techniques for Electron Microscopy, Vol. 3. (ed. M. A. Hayat), pp. 237-249. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.

Proofs The corresponding author will receive an e-mail alert containing a link to a web site. A working e-mail address must therefore be provided for the corresponding author. The proof can be downloaded as a PDF (portable document format) file from this site. Acrobat Reader will be required in order to read this file. This software can be downloaded (free of charge) from the following web site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. This will enable the file to be opened, read on screen and printed out in order for any corrections to be added. Further instructions will be sent with the proof. Hard copy proofs will be posted if no e-mail address is available. Authors will be charged for any major changes against the manuscript, and excessive changes may be disallowed. If a significant amount of new material is added, the paper may be redated. Second proofs will be sent only if justifiably requested by the author. Final proofs are read by the Chief Editor.

Offprints The corresponding author will receive a pdf 'reprint' of his or her article. Printed offprints can be supplied if ordered on the offprint form which accompanies the proofs.

Short Communications not exceeding two printed pages are acceptable for rapid publication if requested by the authors.

Letters to the Editor These are subject to critical review and may be published in part or in full. Preference is given to letters related to articles published in the Journal, but letters on topics of current interest may be accepted if space is available. Letters are restricted to 300 words and five references.

Review Articles International Journal of Andrology will publish articles on subjects pertinent to the structure and function of the male reproductive system and male gametes. The Chief Editor will solicit these reviews; unsolicited reviews will undergo the same editorial refereeing process as original manuscripts.

Supporting Information International Journal of Andrology will consider inclusion of supporting information such as figures, methodological details and video clips not exceeding 15Mb. Supporting information should not be required for the full and complete understanding of the paper. Any material that is required for the full and complete understanding of the paper should either be incorporated fully into the paper or referred to in some other manner such as traditional reference, appendix or reference to an author-hosted website. Further details on submitting supporting information can be found at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor/suppmat.asp.

Author Material Archive Policy Unless specifically requested, Blackwell Publishing will dispose of all hardcopy or electronic material submitted four months after publication. If you require return of any material submitted, please inform the Editorial Office or Production Editor on submission.

Early View International Journal of Andrology is covered by Blackwell Publishing's Early View service. Early View articles are complete full-text articles published online in advance of their publication in a printed issue. Articles are therefore available as soon as they are ready, rather than having to wait for the next scheduled print issue. Early View articles are complete and final. They have been fully reviewed, revised and edited for publication, and the authors' final corrections have been incorporated. Because they are in final form, no changes can be made after online publication. The nature of Early View articles means that they do not yet have volume, issue or page numbers, so Early View articles cannot be cited in the traditional way. They are therfore given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which allows the article to be cited and tracked before it is allocated to an issue. After print publication, the DOI remains valid and can continue to be used to cite and access the article.

NEW: Online production tracking is now available for your article through Wiley-Blackwell's Author Services.

Author Services enables authors to track their article - once it has been accepted - through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated e-mails at key stages of production so they don't need to contact the production editor to check on progress. Visit authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.

Note to NIH Grantees Pursuant to NIH mandate, Wiley-Blackwell will post the accepted version of contributions authored by NIH grant-holders to PubMed Central upon acceptance. This accepted version will be made publicly available 6 months after publication. For further information, see www.wiley.com/go/nihmandate.

Disclaimer The Publisher, European Academy of Andrology and Editors cannot be held responsible for errors or any consequences arising from the use of information contained in this journal; the views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Publisher, European Academy of Andrology and Editors, neither does the publication of advertisements constitute any endorsement by the Publisher, European Academy of Andrology and Editors of the products advertised.

The editors reserve the right not to accept papers unless adherence to the principles given in the Declaration of Helsinki and the Guiding Principles in the Care and Use of Animals (DHEW Publication, NIH) is clear.