Pathology International

Official Journal of the Japanese Society of Pathology

Edited by:
Masahide Takahashi

Print ISSN: 1320-5463
Online ISSN: 1440-1827
Frequency: Monthly
Current Volume: 60 / 2010
ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2008: 48/68 Pathology
Impact Factor: 1.349

TopAuthor Guidelines

Instructions for Authors

Latest Information Regarding Submission

• A new and upgraded online submission is available at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pin
• Detailed information regarding the payment of publication fees will be included in the acknowledgment letter.
• OnlineOpen (open access model) is available.
• Editorial Office has new contact details.

Aims and Scope

Pathology International is the official English journal of the Japanese Society of Pathology, publishing articles of excellence in human and experimental pathology. The Journal focuses on the morphological study of the disease process and/or mechanisms. For human pathology, morphological investigation receives priority but manuscripts describing the result of any ancillary methods (cellular, chemical, immunological and molecular biological) that compliment the morphology are accepted. Manuscripts on experimental pathology that approach pathologenesis or mechanisms of disease processes are expected to report on the data obtained from models using cellular, biochemical, molecular biological, animal, immunological or other methods in conjunction with morphology. Manuscripts that report data on laboratory medicine (clinical pathology) without significant morphological contribution are not accepted.

Editorial Review and Acceptance

Submitted manuscripts are first read by Associate Editors. At this stage, some reports may be declined. The others are sent for peer review to two or three reviewers, who are usually selected from Editorial Board members. The Associate Editors decide whether to accept, request a revision or reject based on the reviewers' comments and their own judgment. All articles submitted to the Journal must comply with these instructions. Failure to do so will result in the return of the manuscript and a possible delay in publication. All contributions should be written in English. Manuscripts should be written so that they are intelligible to the professional reader who is not a specialist in the particular field. Where contributions are judged as acceptable for publication on the basis of scientific content, the Editor or the Publisher reserves the right to modify typescripts to eliminate ambiguity and repetition and to improve communication between authors and readers. If extensive alterations are required, the manuscript will be returned to the author for revision.

Submission of Manuscripts

Manuscripts should be submitted online at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pin. Please note that Microsoft Word 2007 is not yet compatible with journal production systems. Please use Word's 'Save As' option to save your document as an older (.doc) file type. For assistance, please contact the Editorial Office (email: pin@wiley.com; tel: +81 3 3830 1263; fax: +81 3 5689 7278).
Authors are required to provide their manuscripts electronically. The entire article (including tables) should be supplied as a single file; only electronic figures should be supplied as separate files. It is essential that the final, revised version of the accepted manuscript and the file saved are identical.
• Digital figures must be supplied as .jpg files at a resolution of at least 300 d.p.i. (high-resolution print-outs are also required). If necessary, the Editorial Assistant will request that authors supply hard copies of their figures. If authors are unable to provide digital figures, then three sets of printed figures will need to be supplied as bromides or laser print-outs on smooth, clean, white paper.
• Upon acceptance of the article, high-resolution figures (at least 300 d.p.i.) saved as .eps or .tif files or two sets of printed figures should be provided. Digital images supplied only as low-resolution files cannot be used.

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 12 months after publication. For further information, see http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor/CTA.asp.

Further instructions are available from the submission site.

Preparation of Manuscripts

Style
All contributions should be written in English; spelling should conform to the Webster's Dictionary. Submissions should be double spaced and the top, bottom and side margins should be 2.5cm. Pages should be numbered consecutively in the top right-hand corner, commencing with the Title Page and including those containing Acknowledgments, References, Tables and Legends to Figures.

The following instructions should be adhered to.

• Do not use enter at the end of lines within a paragraph.
• Turn the hyphenation option off.
• Specify any special characters used to represent non-keyboard characters.
• Take care not to use l (ell) for 1 (one), O (capital o) for 0 (zero) or ß (German esszett) for β (Greek beta).
• Use a tab, not spaces, to separate data points in tables.
• If you use a table editor function, ensure that each data point is contained within a unique cell (i.e. do not use enter within cells).

Please note: This journal does not accept Microsoft Word 2007 documents (.docx) at this time. Please use Word's 'Save As' option to save your document as an older (.doc) file type.


Author Material Archive Policy

Authors who require the return of any submitted material that is accepted for publication should inform the Editorial Office after acceptance. If no indication is given that author material should be returned, Blackwell Publishing will dispose of all hard copy and electronic material 2 months after publication.

Ethical Consideration

Authors must state that the protocol for the research project has been approved by a suitably constituted Ethics Committee of the institution within which the work was undertaken and that it conforms to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in Tokyo 2004), available at http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm. All investigations on human subjects must include a statement that the subject gave informed consent. Patient anonymity should be preserved. Photographs need to be cropped sufficiently to prevent human subjects being recognized (or an eye bar should be used). Any experiments involving animals must be demonstrated to be ethically acceptable and where relevant conform to national guidelines for animal usage in research. In the case of research involving recombinant DNA, experiments should be carried out according to the guidelines issued by the authorized agency in the country in which the research was performed.

Copyright

Authors publishing in the Journal will be asked to sign an Exclusive Licence Form. In signing the form it is assumed that authors have obtained permission to use any copyrighted or previously published material. All authors must read and agree to the conditions outlined in the form, and must sign the form or agree that the corresponding author can sign on their behalf. Articles cannot be published until a signed form has been received.
Authors can download the form here.

OnlineOpen

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 available from our website at: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/pin_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.

Manuscript Categories

Manuscripts are published in five categories: (i) Original Articles; (ii) Case Reports; (iii) Rapid Communications; (iv) Short Communications (concise case reports not exceeding four printed pages, including figures and tables); and (v) Letters to the Editor (opinions, interpretation and new information on various aspects of pathology). In addition, occasional invited Reviews and Editorials on current topics may be published.

Authorship
Criteria for authorship that appear in section II.A of the 'Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication', as presented at http://www.ICMJE.org/ should be strictly followed. Authorship credits should be based on (i) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (ii) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and final approval of the version to be published. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, alone, does not justify authorship. All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Parts of manuscripts
Manuscripts should be presented in the following order: (i) title page, (ii) abstract and key words, (iii) text (introduction, methods, results, discussion), (iv) acknowledgments, (v) references, (vi) figure legends, (vii) tables (each table complete with title and footnotes) and (viii) figures. For case reports the main text should be presented as follows: introduction, clinical summary, pathological findings and discussion. In all cases each section should start on a new page.

Title page
The title page should contain (i) the title of the paper, (ii) the full names of the authors and (iii) the addresses of the institutions at which the work was carried out together with (iv) the full postal and email address, plus facsimile and telephone numbers, of the author to whom correspondence about the manuscript should be sent. The present address of any author, if different from that where the work was carried out, should be supplied in a footnote.
The title should be short, informative and contain the major key words. Do not use abbreviations in the title. A short running title (less than 40 characters including spaces) should also be provided.

Abstract
The abstract should be unstructured. This should be a concise excerpt of no more than 200 words of the purpose, basic procedures, main findings and the principal conclusions of the investigation. New and important information should be emphasized. Case report abstracts should include clinical information, pathological findings, result of investigative analysis, if any, and a conclusion as to the importance of the case for the understanding of the disease process.

Key words
Three to 10 key words or key phrases should be supplied below the abstract, in alphabetical order, and should be taken from those recommended by the US National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) browser list at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html.

Text
Materials and Methods These should be described in sufficient detail to establish scientific validity and allow others to repeat the study. Sources of the equipment and reagents should be followed by the city, abbreviation of the state name (for the USA) and the country where it is located.
Results should be presented in logical sequence in the text, tables and illustrations and should not include material appropriate to the discussion. Figures and tables should be used here to allow easy comprehension of the data.
Discussion Data given in the results section should not be reiterated. This section should consider the results in relation to any hypothesis(es) advanced before, which may include an evaluation of the methodology and of the relationship of new information to previously published work in that field.
Acknowledgments should be made only to people who have made genuine contributions and who endorse the data and conclusions. Sources of financial support should also be acknowledged.

Case Reports
Case reports should provide new information that enhances our knowledge on the disease process, such as the discovery of new markers for diagnosis, unusual clinicopathological features that promote further study on a larger scale, and new information that sheds light on histogenesis or other aspects of disease. The following reports will not be accepted: (i) pathologically typical lesion in an unusual location without new findings to add to existing knowledge; (ii) a combination of two rare lesions that can be regarded as a mere coincidence without suggestive data to explain the coincidence; (iii) a rare case but without significantly new information regarding histogenesis and clinicopathological characteristics. Authors are requested to clarify in the Discussion what readers could learn from the case. A pathologist should be included as an author when the histological findings play a key role of the report. Information that can be linked to the patients' identification must be carefully masked.

References
The Vancouver system of referencing should be used. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of each reference and checking them against the original article.
Provide a list of references, double spaced, after the text. Cite references in the text by superscript Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear in the text. Abbreviate titles of journals according to MEDLINE. References to unpublished data and personal communications should appear in the text only. List all authors for each reference, unless there are seven or more, in which case only the first three followed by 'et al.' should be given. Authors should check that all references listed have been cited in the text and that no references have been omitted from the list. Examples of correct reference format:
Journal articles:
1 Cohen MB, Beckstead JH, Ferrell LD, Yen B. Enzyme histochemistry of hepatocellular neoplasms. Am J Surg Pathol 1986; 10: 789-94.
Books and other monographs:
2 Morson BC, Dawson IMP, Day DW, Jass JR, Price AB, Williams GT, eds. Morson & Dawson's Gastrointestinal Pathology, 3rd edn. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1992.
Chapter in a book:
3 Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathologic properties of invading microorganisms. In: Sodeman WA Jr, Sodeman WA, eds. Pathologic Physiology: Mechanisms of Disease. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1974; 457-72.
Electronic material:
4 Clea Japan [homepage on the Internet]. Osaka: Clea Japan, c1999-2004. (Cited 25 November 2004) Inbred animals. Available from: http://www.clea-japan.co.jp/animals/b6-3.htm.

Reference Management and Formatting
We recommend the use of a tool such as EndNote or Reference Manager for reference management and formatting.
EndNote reference styles can be searched for here:
http://www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp.
Reference Manager reference styles can be searched for here:
http://www.refman.com/support/rmstyles.asp.

Tables
These should be included on a separate page, numbered with Arabic numerals and an accompanying caption at the top. Each table must be referred to in the text and an indication of the preferred position in the text should be given. Explanatory matter should be placed in footnotes below the tabular matter and not included in the caption. All non-standard abbreviations should also be explained in the footnotes. Footnotes should be indicated by †, ‡, § and *, **, *** should be reserved for P-values. Statistical measures such as SD or SEM should be identified in headings. Vertical rules and horizontal rules between entries should be omitted. Column headings should be brief with units of measurement in parentheses.

Figure legends
All illustrations require legends, which should be typed on a separate sheet with double spacing. Such legends must provide a descriptive account of the illustration. Indicate the staining method for each photomicrograph. Magnification of photomicrographs is not necessary because the observation magnification is not the same as that of the printed figure. If the size of the cells or other structures is essential for the study, a scale bar of unit length should be included in the figure. When symbols, arrows and numbers or letters are used to identify parts of illustrations, each one should be identified and explained in the legend. Use of scale markers in the image is suggested for electron micrographs.

Figures for printing
Line drawings and graphs should be professionally drawn to fit the column widths of the Journal (8.5 cm, 11.55 cm or, if needed, 17.55 cm). Figures should be clearly labeled and supplied as bromides or laser printed on smooth, clean, white paper. Photographs must be supplied as sharp, glossy, black and white prints. If the authors would like to have a group of photographs printed together in a single block (composite figure), one set of photographs may be mounted to show the preferred layout. Photographs must be sized to fit the column widths of the Journal (see above). The maximum plate area for composite figures is 17.5 x 22.0 cm, including the legend printed at its foot. Inappropriately sized material will be cropped or reduced by the editorial office or the publisher. Scale bars must be included on all electron micrographs, with the scale specified in the figure legend. Figures should be numbered with Arabic numerals and each figure should be identified clearly on the back on a self-adhesive label with its number, name of author(s) and orientation. Do not use ball point pen or paper clips. Titles and detailed explanations should be confined to legends and not included in illustrations. Supply legends for all figures on a separate sheet of paper, not with the illustration. Supply figures in either black and white or color, which can be assigned when submitting the manuscript or uploading the revised version to Manuscript Central.

Supporting Information
Supporting Information is provided by the authors to support the content of an article but they are not integral to that article. They are hosted via a link on Wiley InterScience but do not appear in the print version of the article. Supporting Information should be submitted together with the article for review; they should not be added at a later stage. They can be in the form of tables, figures, appendices and even video footage.
Reference to Supporting Information in the main body of the article is allowed. However, it should be noted that excessive reference to a piece of Supporting Information may indicate that it would be better suited as a proper reference or fully included figure/table. The materials will be published as they are supplied and will not be checked or typeset in any way.
All Supporting Information files should come with a legend, listed at the end of the main article. Each figure and table file should not be larger than 5Mb, although video files may be larger. Prior to submission, please check the guidelines at http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/suppmat.asp

Units and abbreviations
As far as possible, units should conform to SI conventions. Standard abbreviations may be used and should be defined in the Abstract and on first mention in the text (unless this is a common abbreviation; please check the list at the back of the Journal). In general, a term should not be abbreviated unless it is used repeatedly and the abbreviation is helpful to the reader.

Pre-Submission English-Language Editing
Authors for whom English is a second language may choose to have their manuscript professionally edited before submission to improve the English. A list of independent suppliers of editing services can be found at http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/english_language.asp. Japanese authors can also find a list of local English improvement services at http://www.wiley.co.jp/journals/editcontribute.html. All services are paid for and arranged by the author, and use of one of these services does not guarantee acceptance or preference for publication.

Publication Fees
Editorial processing charge: ¥5000 (Japan) or US$40 must accompany manuscripts. This charge will not be refunded to the author.
Page charges: For articles of eight pages or less there are no page charges. Articles in excess of eight pages are subject to a charge of ¥5000 per printed page. Color printing and redrafting of tables require an additional charge.
Color figures: The cost of reproducing color figures will be charged to authors. A charge of ¥50,000 for the first color page and ¥140,000 for each extra color page thereafter will be charged to the author. Up to nine figures may be placed on one page. In order to reduce the color printing fee, the sequence of the color figures may be altered by the Editorial Office.

Wiley-Blackwell 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 emails at key stages of production so they do not need to contact the Production Editor to check on progress. Visit http://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.

Proofs
Notification of the URL from where to download a PDF typeset page proof, associated forms and further instructions will be sent by email to the corresponding author. The proof should be checked and returned to Wiley-Blackwell Publishing within 3 days of receipt. Alterations to the text and illustrations (other than the essential correction of errors) are unacceptable at proof stage; authors may be charged for excessive alterations.

Offprints
A minimum of 50 offprints will be provided upon request, at the author's expense.

Early View
Pathology International 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 therefore 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. More information about DOIs can be found at http://www.doi.org/faq.html

Online Guidelines
Pathology International is also available online at Wiley Interscience. Full-text online articles include reference links to cited articles and external databases, and a full search facility so that you can find the information you are looking for. Keep up to date with the latest tables of contents, emailed directly to your desktop, by registering for free at: www.interscience.wiley.com