Reproductive Medicine and Biology

The official English journal of the Japan Society for Reproductive Medicine, Japan Society of Fertilization and Implantation, Japan Society of Andrology

Edited by:
Hiroshi Imai

Print ISSN: 1445-5781
Online ISSN: 1447-0578
Frequency: Quarterly
Current Volume: 7 / 2008

TopAuthor Guidelines

Aims and Scope
Reproductive Medicine and Biology (RMB) is the official English journal of the Japan Society for Reproductive Medicine, and publishes original research articles that report new findings or concepts in all aspects of reproductive phenomena in all kinds of mammals. Papers in any of the following fields will be considered: andrology, endocrinology, oncology, immunology, genetics, function of gonads and genital tracts, erectile dysfunction, gametogenesis, function of accessory sex organs, fertilization, embryogenesis, embryo manipulation, pregnancy, implantation, ontogenesis, infectious disease, contraception, infertility treatment, surgery, ethics and social issues, at the biological, biochemical, biophysical, molecular biological, analytically morphological and clinical levels. Reports on techniques applicable to the above field are also considered. Original Articles, Research Notes and Case Reports will be accepted, but not preliminary reports.

Review articles are usually submitted upon invitation by the Editors, but the Editorial Board welcomes voluntary contributions. Reviews should be a focused, brief treatment of a contemporary development in a single area, and should be no longer than 10 printed pages. Authors wishing to contribute Review Articles should contact the Editor-in-Chief or an Editorial Board member before submission.

Acceptance
The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to our readership. Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts are peer reviewed by two anonymous reviewers and the Editor. Manuscripts are accepted whether or not the author is a member of the Japan Society for Reproductive Medicine. The Editorial Board reserves the right to refuse any material for publication and advises that authors should retain copies of submitted manuscripts and correspondence as material cannot be returned. Final acceptance or rejection rests with the Editorial Board.

Submission of Manuscripts
All articles submitted to the Journal must comply with these instructions. Failure to do so will result in return of the manuscript and possible delay in publication.

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 improve communication between author and reader. If extensive alterations are required, the manuscript will be returned to the author for revision.

Will authors please note that Word 2007 is not yet compatible with journal production systems. Unfortunately, the journal cannot accept Microsoft Word 2007 documents until such time as a stable production version is released. Please use Word's 'Save As' option therefore to save your document as an older (.doc) file type.

Covering letter
Papers are accepted for publication in the Journal on the understanding that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. This must be stated in the covering letter. The covering letter must contain an acknowledgment that all authors have contributed significantly, and that all authors are in agreement with the content of the manuscript.

Authors must also 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.net/e/policy/b3/htm. All investigations on human subjects must include a statement that the subject gave informed consent and patient anonymity should be preserved. Any experiments involving animals must be demonstrated to be ethically acceptable and where relevant conform to national guidelines for animal usage in research.

Authors should declare any financial support or relationships that may pose conflict of interest.

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 hardcopy and electronic material two months after publication.

Submission
The original manuscript and two copies should be submitted to:

Editorial Office,
Reproductive Medicine and Biology,
Japan Society for Reproductive Medicine
c/o MA Conventional Consulting Inc.,
Dai2 Izumi-shoji Bldg. 5F, 4-2-6 Kojimachi,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083, Japan.
Tel: +81 3 3288 7266; Fax: +81 3 5275 1192; E-mail: info@jsrm.or.jp
(As a rule, courier or registered mail should be used.)

You are required to provide an email address as all correspondence regarding your submission will be forwarded by email. For any queries regarding your submission, please contact Ms Hiroko Yamamoto, Editorial Assistant, at info@jsrm.or.jp, telephone 03 3288 7266.

Copyright
Papers accepted for publication become copyright of the Japan Society for Reproductive Medicine and authors 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 from http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/rmb_elf.pdf.

Preparation of the Manuscript
Submissions should be printed, doubled-spaced, on one side only of A4 paper. The top, bottom and side margins should be 30 mm. Laser or near-letter quality print is essential. All pages should be numbered consecutively in the top right-hand corner, beginning with the title page. Indent new paragraphs. Turn the hyphenation option off, including only those hyphens that are essential to the meaning.

Style
Manuscripts should follow the style of the Vancouver agreement detailed in the 'Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals', as presented in Ann Intern Med 1997; 126 : 36-47 and at www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/126/1/36.

The Journal uses US spelling and authors should therefore follow the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

All measurements must be given in SI units as outlined in the latest edition of Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: A Guide for Medical and Scientific Editors and Authors (Royal Society of Medicine Press, London).

Abbreviations should be used sparingly and only where they ease the reader's task by reducing repetition of long, technical terms. Initially use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviation.

At the first mention of a chemical substance, give the generic name only. Trade names should not be used; drugs, also, should be referred to by their generic names, rather than brand names.

Statistical analysis of the data must be done by appropriate methods. Simultaneous comparisons among multiple estimates should be based on the multiple Student's t -test, multiple range test or similar techniques to permit these comparisons. Authors should use a non-appropriate test of significance when the data depart substantially from a normal distribution. For bioassays and competitive protein assays, measure of the precision of the estimates should be given (e.g. standard deviation, standard error of the mean, coefficient of variation, or 95% confidence limits.

Parts of the manuscript
Manuscripts should be presented in the following order: (i) title page, (ii) abstract and keywords, (iii) text, (iv) acknowledgments, (v) references, (vi) figure legends, (vii) tables (each table complete with title and footnotes), (viii) figures.

Footnotes to the text are not allowed and any such material should be incorporated into the text as parenthetical matter.

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, proofs and requests for offprints 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.

In keeping with the latest guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, each author's contribution to the paper is to be quantified.

The title should be short, informative and contain the major key words. A short running title (less than 40 characters, including spaces) should also be provided.

Abstract and key words
All articles must have a brief structured abstract that states in 200 words or fewer the purpose, basic procedures, main findings and principal conclusions of the study. The abstract should not contain abbreviations or references.

Five key words (for the purposes of indexing) 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 (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html).

Text
Authors should use subheadings to divide the sections of their manuscript: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, References.

Introduction: This section should include sufficient background information to set the work in context. The aims of the manuscript should be clearly stated. The introduction should not contain either findings or conclusions.

Methods: This should be concise but provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be repeated by others. The source of material should be given in detail, where possible.

Results: Results should be presented in a logical sequence in relation to the text, tables and figures; repetitive presentation of the same data in different forms should be avoided. The results should not contain material appropriate to the Discussion.

Discussion: This should consider the results in relation to any hypotheses advanced in the Introduction and place the study in the context of other work.

Acknowledgments: The source of financial grants and other funding should be acknowledged, including a frank declaration of the authors' industrial links and affiliations. The contribution of colleagues or institutions should also be acknowledged. Thanks to anonymous reviewers are not allowed. (It is the authors' responsibility to obtain written permission to use directly or in a modified form any material that has appeared in another publication.)

References
The Vancouver system of referencing is used.

In the text, references should be cited using superscript Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear. If cited only in tables or figure legends, number them according to the first identification of the table or figure in the text.

In the reference list, the references should be numbered and listed in order of appearance in the text. Cite the names of all authors when there are six or less; when seven or more, list the first three followed by et al. If several papers by the same author(s) and from the same year are cited, a, b, c, should be used after the year of publication to differentiate between articles. Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the Serial Source for the Biosis Data Base, available from http://www.biosis.org/

Reference to unpublished data and personal communications should appear in the text only.

References should be listed in the following form:

Journal article
1 Bavister B, Yanagimachi R. The effect of sperm extract and energy sources on the motility and acrosome reaction of hamster spermatozoa in vitro. Biol Reprod 1982; 16: 228-231.

Book
2 Katlowitz NM, Albano GJT, Golimbu M, Morales P. Potentiation of drug-induced erection. New York: Church of Livingstone, 1988.

Chapter in a Book
3 Brinster RL. Mammalian embryo metabolism. In: Blandau RJ (ed.), The Biology of the Blastocyst. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971; 303-318.

Electronic material
4 American Urological Association [Internet]. Male Infertility Best Policy Committee. Report on varicocele and infertility. Linthicum, MD: American Urological Association; available from URL: http://auanet.org.

Tables
Tables should be self-contained and complement, but not duplicate, information contained in the text. Tables should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Each table should be presented on a separate sheet of A4 paper with a comprehensive but concise legend above the table. Tables should be double-spaced and vertical lines should not be used to separate columns. Column headings should be brief, with units of measurement in parentheses; all abbreviations should be defined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: †, ‡, §, ¶, should be used (in that order) and *, **, *** should be reserved for P-values. Statistical measures such as SD or SEM should be identified in the headings. The table and its legend/footnotes should be understandable without reference to the text.

Figures
All illustrations (line drawings and photographs) are classified as figures. Figures should be cited in consecutive order in the text. Each figure should be labeled on the back in very soft marker or chinagraph pencil, indicating name of author(s), figure number and orientation. ( Do not use an adhesive label as this prohibits electronic scanning.) Figures should be sized to fit within the column (80.5 mm) whenever possible. Authors may request that unavoidably large figures be published at double-column width (168 mm), by writing 'double-column' on the back of the illustration; however, the Editors reserve the right to make discretionary reductions in size.

Line figures should be supplied as sharp, black and white graphs or diagrams, drawn professionally or with a computer graphics package; lettering should be included. Photographs should be supplied as sharp, glossy, black and white photographic prints and must be unmounted.

Individual photographs forming a composite figure should be of equal contrast, to facilitate printing, and should be accurately squared.

Photographs need to be cropped sufficiently to prevent a subject being recognized, or an eye bar used; otherwise, written permission to publish must be obtained.

Magnifications should be indicated using a scale bar on the illustration.

If supplied electronically, graphics should be supplied as high-resolution (at least 300 d.p.i.) files, saved as .eps or .tif format. A high-resolution print-out must also be provided. Digital images supplied only as low-resolution print-outs and/or files cannot be used. For the Digital Graphics Standards, please see http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/authors/digill.asp

Colour figures
Colour photographs should be submitted as good-quality, glossy colour prints. The full cost of printing colour figures will be charged to the author.

Figure legends
Legends should be self-explanatory and typed on a separate page. The legend should incorporate definitions of any symbols used and all abbreviations and units of measurement should be explained so that the figure and its legend is understandable without reference to the text. (Provide a letter stating copyright authorization if figures have been reproduced from another source.)

Manuscript on Disk
Authors are required to provide their manuscripts on disk; however, disks should not be sent until the manuscript has been accepted.

Use a new disk rather than a reformatted disk; the disk must contain the relevant file(s) only. Authors should supply their accepted paper as formatted text. It is essential that the hardware and the word processing package are specified on the disk (e.g. IBM, Word 2000 or Mac, Word 5.1), as well as the first author's surname, the journal title and the manuscript number.

The entire article (including tables) should be supplied as a single file; only electronic figures should be supplied as separate files.

The following instructions should be adhered to.
• It is essential that the final, revised version of the accepted manuscript and the file saved on disk are identical.
• Do not use the carriage return (enter) at the end of lines within a paragraph.
• Turn the hyphenation option off.
• Specify any special characters used to represent nonkeyboard characters.
• Take care not to use l (ell) for 1 (one), O (capital o) for 0 (zero) or ß (German esszett) for beta (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 carriage returns within cells.
• Digital figures must be supplied as .tif or .eps files at a resolution of at least 300 d.p.i. (high-resolution printouts are also required).

On-line guidelines
Reproductive Medicine and Biology is also available online at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com

Proofs, Offprints and Page Charges
Proofs: It is essential that corresponding authors supply an email address to which correspondence can be emailed while their article is in production. Notification of the URL from where to download a Portable Document Format (PDF) typeset page proof, associated forms and further instructions will be sent by email to the corresponding author. The purpose of the PDF proof is a final check of the layout, and of tables and figures. Alterations other than the essential correction of errors are unacceptable at PDF proof stage. The proof should be checked, and approval to publish the article should be emailed to the Publisher by the date indicated; otherwise, it may be signed off on by the Editor or held over to the next issue.

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

Page charges: Authors are allowed eight printed pages (Original Articles) and four printed pages (Research Notes and Clinical Case Reports) per article without charge. Excess text and illustrations will be charged to the author on a page basis (¥15 000/US$150 per page). English language revision and the cost of redrawing figures will also be charged to the authors if the Editorial Board considers this to be necessary.

The full cost of printing colour figures will be charged to the author.

Blackwell Journals Online
Reproductive Medicine and Biology is also available online via Blackwell Synergy. 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.blackwell-synergy.com

Enquiries
The Publisher's (Wiley-Blackwell) Tokyo office has Japanese speakers available to answer any queries on tel: 03 3830 1221; fax: 03 5689 7278. (For international calls the country code for Japan is 81.)