Guidelines for Authors

Thank you for your interest in the Australian Journal of Otolaryngology (Aust J Otolaryngol; AJO; ISSN 2616-2792). AJO adheres to the ICMJE’s Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals (1), COPE’s Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (2), and WAME’s policy (3) for generating this author instruction. Please refer to the following guidelines to help you prepare your manuscript. Feel free to contact the editorial office by email (ajo@amegroups.com) should you have any questions. To ensure a swift peer review and publication process, manuscripts that do not adhere to the following instructions will be returned to the corresponding author for technical revision at the preliminary review. The author instruction is updated on April 10, 2024.

1. ABOUT THE JOURNAL

The Australian Journal of Otolaryngology (Aust J Otolaryngol; AJO; ISSN 2616-2792) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and the Official Journal of the Australian Society of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgeons, published by AME Publishing Company. The Australian Journal of Otolaryngology provides a forum for clinical researchers, basic scientists, clinicians, and others to publish original research and explore controversies in the medical and surgical treatment of patients with otolaryngologic disorders, including head & neck cancer and disease of the skull base.

Publication schedule

Australian Journal of Otolaryngology operates under a continuous publication model, which emphasises the online version as the authoritative record and ensures peer reviewed papers can be cited immediately. As continuous publication articles aren’t continuously paginated, the universal digital object identifier (DOI) should be used for citations and can be easily handled with use of citation manager software. Check the ‘Latest Articles’ tab on the journal website for the latest published content. Articles are batched and available on the ‘Archive’ tab on the journal website.

For more about our journal, please see https://www.theajo.com/about.

2. MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES

2.1 Original Article
Original articles are articles that report the results of original research investigations. Original articles must have originality and clinical impact.
Word limit: there is no fixed word limit for research articles, but authors must use the most concise language possible, as well as succinct, structured sentences. The word count for the main text (excluding the abstract, references, tables, boxes, or figures) should be provided when the manuscript is submitted.
Abstract: 200-450 words structured with the subheadings Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.
Keywords: 3-5.
References: No limit.
Figures/Tables: No limit, but 10 figures are deemed sufficient.
Ccontributions: Original articles should include a section describing the contribution made by each author to the manuscript. See the “Author Contributions” section for details.
Data Sharing Statement: If a submitted article includes any data that are not publicly available, the authors are required to fill in a data-sharing statement form, which should be submitted along with their manuscript. If the article is accepted for publication, the Data Availability Statement (form) will be published online alongside the article. See the “Data Sharing Statement” section for details.
Ethical Statement: When a manuscript documents any experiment(s) involving human subjects or animals, the authors must indicate an ethical statement both in the methods section and the footnote. See the “Ethical Statement” section for details.

2.1.1 Reporting Checklist

Apart from following the general format as indicated above, Original Articles should be prepared according to the EQUATOR research reporting guidelines, as some commonly used guidelines listed below, and each submission should include a checklist (a reformatted version has been created for the journal) as supplementary material. The relevant page/line and section/paragraph number in the manuscript should be stated for each item in the checklist. A statement should be included at the end of the “Introduction” to indicate which reporting checklist was followed (e.g., “We present the following article/case in accordance with the CONSORT reporting checklist.”). The manuscript should also include a Reporting Checklist statement in the footnote (see the “Footnote” section). Failure to do so will result in the manuscript being returned to the authors for amendment. Please note that the application of a checklist is aimed at transparent and clear reporting to allow a better critical appraisal of the manuscript. The final format of the manuscript should follow the author instruction requirements.

*Authors may refer to the Extensions to the CONSORT Statement based on the specific study type; if a particular study type has not been included in the above list, authors can find more reporting guidelines on EQUATOR Network (http://www.equator-network.org/home/) and should indicate upon submission which guideline has been followed and provide related reporting checklist if available.

2.1.2 Selection And Description Of Participants
In study articles, the process of selection for observational or experimental subjects (healthy individuals or patients, including controls) should be clearly set out in the methods section. Any eligibility or exclusion criteria should be provided, along with a description of the population from which the subjects were sourced. Ideally, representative populations should be included in all study types and characteristics (such as age, sex, or ethnicity) of the study population should be described. Terms relating to sex (when reporting biological factors) and gender (identity, psychosocial or cultural factors) should be used correctly, and the sex and/or gender of the human participants, or the sex of animals or cells, should be reported, except where this is not appropriate. The methods used to classify sex and gender should also be described, where relevant. If the study focused on a specific population (e.g., only females), unless the reason is obvious (e.g., cervical cancer), the authors should explain their reasoning for this. For race and ethnicity, authors should describe how these were determined, and their relevance to the study should be explained. Study subjects should be described in the most neutral, exact, and respectful language possible. Any language that might cause the stigmatization of subjects must be avoided.

Authors are encouraged to refer to the SAGER guidelines for reporting of sex and gender information in study design, data analyses, results, and interpretation of findings: www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/sager-guidelines/.

2.1.3 Research Resource Identifiers (RRID)
AJO is pleased to be a part of the Research Resource Identification Initiative, a project aimed at clearly identifying key research resources used in the course of scientific experiments. These include antibodies, cell lines, model organisms, and software tools. To help authors quickly find the correct identifiers for their materials there is a single website (http://scicrunch.org/resources) where all resource types can be found and a 'cite this' button next to each resource that contains proper citation text that should be included in the methods section of the manuscript. Several examples of properly formatted methods sections with RRIDs can be found below:

• Antibodies: "antibody against ERK1 (Abgent Cat# AP7251E, RRID:AB_2140114)."
• Cell Lines: "we used the following cell lines: RRID: CVCL_1H60,..."
• Genetically modified organisms: "Fgf9Eks/Fgf9+ mice (RRID:MGI_3840442)..."
• Software tools: "...terminals were mapped (Neurolucida, v10, RRID:SCR_001775)."

2.2 Review Article
Review articles are articles that identify, synthesize and summarize existing evidence and information on a specific topic. Review articles should present a timely, comprehensive analysis of a specific topic. We welcome the submission of proposals for review articles for initial consideration.
Word limit: 6,000 words max. (including an abstract but excluding references, tables, and figures)
Abstract: 200-350 words max. Unstructured, except for certain types of reviews, e.g., narrative reviews.
Keywords: 3-5.
References: No limit.
Figures/tables: No limit.
Contributions: Review articles should include a section describing the contribution made by each author to the manuscript. See the “Author Contributions” section for details.
Ethical Statement: When a review documents any image(s) or video(s) involving human subjects or animals, the authors must indicate an ethical statement both in the methods section and the footnote. See the “Ethical Statement” section for details.

2.3 Case Report
AJO does not usually accept simple case reports, and authors are recommended to consider other journals for case report publications.
A case report should present observations of diseases, clinical findings, or novel/unique treatment outcomes that are relevant to practitioners in related fields. The text should be arranged as follows: Introduction, Case Presentation, and Discussion. Only cases of exceptional interest and novelty are considered. For manuscripts that fail to qualify, editors may request that the authors shorten the manuscript for resubmission as another type of article.
Word limit: 2,500 words max. (excluding references, tables, and figures)
Abstract: Unstructured, 200-350 words max. Unstructured.
Keywords: 3-5.
References: 20 max.
Figures/tables: 8 max., in total.
Contributions: The case report should include a section describing the contribution made by each author to the manuscript. See the “Author Contributions” section for details.
Ethical Statement: Case reports and case series should include an ethical statement indicating whether written consent has been obtained from the subject (or their parent/guardian). See the “Ethical Statement” section for details.

2.3.1 Reporting Checklist
Apart from following the general format as indicated above, authors should prepare the case reports according to the CARE Guidelines and their submission should include a reporting checklist (a reformatted version has been made for the journal) as a supplementary material. The relevant page/line and section/paragraph number in the manuscript should be stated for each item in the checklist. A statement like “We present the following case in accordance with the CARE reporting checklist” should be included at the end of the “Introduction”. The manuscript should also include a Reporting Checklist statement in the footnote (see the “Footnote”). Failure to do so will result in the manuscript being returned to the authors for their amendment.

The reformatted CARE checklist can be downloaded here.

Case reports should include an ethical statement indicating whether written consent has been obtained from the subject (or their parent / guardian). See the “Ethical Statement” section for details.

2.4 Editorial
An Editorial is defined as a comment on an article or articles published in AJO. Editorials are generally solicited by the editorial office and written by recognized leader(s) in the field.
Word limit: 2500 words max. (excluding references, tables, and figures)
Abstract: Not required
Keywords: 3-5.
References: 25 max., including the article being discussed.
Figures and Tables: 2 max. in total
Ethical Statement: See the “Ethical Statement” section for details.

2.5 Editorial Commentary
The Editors extend an invitation to an expert in the field to discuss a paper, report, event, or topic from within the past few months, or in the near future. The problems addressed by the relevant paper/report/event/topic should be considered within the wider context of the field.
Word Limit: 2,500 words max. (excluding references, tables, and figures).
Abstract: Not required.
Keywords: 3-5.
References: 25 max., including the article being discussed
Figures/Tables: 2 max. in total.
Ethical Statement: See the “Ethical Statement” section for details.

2.6 Letter To The Editor
We welcome the submission of letters regarding the content of the journal or other topics of interest to our readers. The journal may invite replies from the authors of the original publication, or forward letters to these authors. Correspondence is also referred to as a ‘Letter to the Editor’.
Word limit: 1,000 words max. (excluding references, tables, and figures)
Abstract: Not required.
Keywords: Not required.
References: 10 max.
Figures/tables: 1 max.
Ethical Statement: See the “Ethical Statement” section for details.

2.7 Specialty Technique
Specialty Techniques are short articles describing innovative solutions to clinical problems within the field of otolaryngology. Practical value to the readership, originality and quality of illustrations (when appropriate) are essential ingredients, and it is recommended that the manuscripts be accompanied by short video or multimedia presentations that will be accessible to the reader, providing additional information through the journal website. Specialty techniques articles are generally limited to no more than 6 double-spaced pages and an abstract is not required.

Videos are essential and need to be of high quality. We allow three video files no longer than 3 minutes each or one video at one and a half minutes in length. Connected and continually-playing segments are allowed within each video file. In exceptional cases, a longer segment may be considered with the prior permission of one of the editors.

2.8 Others
In general, AJO does not accept articles that fall outside the above-mentioned categories. If you have any questions regarding the article category for submission to AJO, please contact the Editorial Office at: ajo@amegroups.com.

3. MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

The length of manuscripts must adhere to the specifications under the section “MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES”.

Manuscripts should be presented in the following order: (i) Title page; (ii) abstract and keywords; (iii) the main text; (iv) Acknowledgments; (v) Footnote; (vi) References; (vii) Tables; (viii) Figures; (ix) Videos; (x) Figure Legends; (xi)Supplementary material.

3.1 Title Page
The title page should include a) the title of the article; b) the authors’ full names and institutional affiliations; c) the address, telephone and fax numbers, and effective e-mail address of the corresponding author(s) (extremely important for subsequent timely communication); d) if available, the 16-digit ORCID of the author(s); e) a running title of no more than 60 characters (including spaces); f) disclaimers (if applicable); g) word count; h) number of figures and tables; i) contributions (required for certain article types; see below detailed description).

3.2 Abstract And Keywords
The abstract must adhere to the specifications under the section ‘Manuscript Categories’. The abstracts of original articles (including systematic reviews with meta-analyses), systematic reviews without meta-analyses, and narrative reviews should be structured. The abstracts for all the other manuscript types should be unstructured. The abstract should not contain any citations, figures, or tables. General statements (e.g., “the significance of the results is discussed”) should be avoided. After the Abstract, 3-5 keywords should be provided.

Where relevant, the clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract. For studies that have a registration number, this number should be included initially when a trial acronym is used to refer to the trial in the report or to other trials discussed in the paper. For data that have been deposited in a public repository and/or are the subject of analysis elsewhere, the distinctive, persistent data set identifier, the repository name, and the number should be included at the end of the abstract.

3.3 Text
Format: Text should be double-spaced throughout. The pages should be numbered.
Font: A readable font (e.g., Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, or Verdana) with 10 or 12 pt. font size.
Language: English. British or American spelling is acceptable but must be consistent throughout.

3.4 Authorship and Author contributions

3.4.1 Authorship
Authors should meet all four of the ICMJE’s authorship criteria listed below for authorship (1):
1) Substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the data for the work; AND
2) Drafting the article or reviewing 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.

Contributors who meet fewer than all 4 of the above criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors, but they should be acknowledged. Examples of activities that alone (without other contributions) do not qualify a contributor for authorship are acquisition of funding; general supervision of a research group or general administrative support; writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading. Additionally, AI tools cannot be listed as an author of a paper as AI tools cannot meet the requirements for authorship and cannot take responsibility for the submitted work (1-3).

Authors must disclose in the Cover letter, Materials and Methods, and the Acknowledgement for applying any AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Bing) in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data. Disclosure should include - but is not limited to - all prompts used to generate new text, or to convert text or text prompts into tables or illustrations; the full prompt used to generate the research results; the time and date of a query; and the AI tool used and its version. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics. For more recommendations, please refer to the WAME Recommendations on Chatbots and Generative Artificial Intelligence in Relation to Scholarly Publications: https://wame.org/page3.php?id=106.

Please carefully check the authorship of your manuscript before submission. Except for grammatical corrections, any other changes of authorship after submission require a sound scientific justification.

3.4.2 Author contributions
Of note, the “Contributions” section is required for original articles, review articles, and case reports.

Author contributions describes the contribution each author made to the manuscript. The ‘Contributions’ section should be presented as follows:
(I) Conception and design:
(II) Administrative support:
(III) Provision of study materials or patients:
(IV) Collection and assembly of data:
(V) Data analysis and interpretation:
(VI) Manuscript writing: All authors
(VII) Final approval of manuscript: All authors

Note: With VI and VII, “All authors” is obligatory, while the other credits are case-based; The ‘Contributions’ section is not required when there is only one author.

See more details of authorship and contributorship: https://www.theajo.com/page/about/authorship-and-contributorship.

3.5 Data Citation
We are committed to improving the openness, transparency, and reproducibility of research, and believe research data citation through standard reference lists offers an easy way to access data for reproducible research.

To support best practices in data citation, AME has endorsed the FORCE11 Data Citation Principles (https://www.force11.org/datacitationprinciples). According to the FORCE11 Data Citation Principles, data can be cited in the same way as article, book, and web citations, and authors are required to include data citations as part of their reference list.

Data citation is applicable for data held within institutional, subject-focused, or more general data repositories. When citing or making claims based on data, authors should refer to the data at the relevant place in the main text of the manuscript and include a formal citation in the reference list. We recommend the format proposed in the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles.

Below is an example of an in-text data citation:
[dataset] Authors; Year; Dataset title; Data repository or archive; Version (if any); Persistent identifier (e.g. DOI)

“[dataset]” should be included immediately before the reference so it can be properly identified as a data reference.

3.6 Acknowledgments
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the ‘Acknowledgments’ section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include an individual who provided purely technical help, writing or language editing assistance, or a department chairperson who provided only general support. If a part of the manuscript has been presented elsewhere (e.g. meeting presentation/poster history), a corresponding statement should be provided in the acknowledgment section. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.

The ‘Acknowledgments’ section should also detail all funding sources for the work in question. There must be a section “Funding” within the “Acknowledgments” section. If the research was carried out without funding, "None" should be stated in this section.

In providing details of funding, authors should adhere to the following guidance:

• The sentence should begin: ‘This work was supported by …’
• The full official funding agency name should be given, (i.e., ‘National Institute of Health’, not ‘NIH’). Grant numbers should be given in brackets (e.g., [grant number xxxx]).
• Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma (e.g. [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]).
• Agencies should be separated by a semi-colon (with ‘and’ before the last funding agency)
• Where certain sources of funding were received by a specific author, the following text should be added after the relevant agency or grant number: ‘to [author initials]’.

Example: ‘This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [AA123456 to C.S., BB765432 to M.H.]; and the Alcohol & Education Research Council [hfygr667789].’

3.7 Footnote
3.7.1 Reporting Checklist
For articles written in accordance with specific reporting guidelines, the author must include the “Reporting Checklist” section in the footnote and indicate, “The authors have completed the XXXX reporting checklist.”

If the manuscript is accepted for publication, the author’s completed checklist will be published online alongside the manuscript.

3.7.2 Data Sharing Statement
If an original article includes any data that are not publicly available, the authors are required to fill in a data-sharing statement form, which should be submitted along with their manuscript. If the article is accepted for publication, the Data Availability Statement (form) will be published online alongside the article. The data sharing statement form can be downloaded here.

3.7.3 Peer Review File
With a commitment to openness and accountability, and to increase the level of transparency throughout our peer review process, our editorial office has decided to fully implement the transparent peer review (TPR) process for all new submissions from March 27, 2023.

For more details, please refer to: http://www.theajo.com/announcement/view/155.

3.7.4 Conflicts Of Interest
All authors will be asked to fill in the ICMJE’s unified disclosure form (the latest version). The form could be downloaded at: https://cdn.amegroups.cn/static/public/coi_disclosure.docx. Each author should submit a separate form and is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the submitted information. The corresponding author should use the information in the form completed by each author to create the COI statement for the manuscript. The statement (but not the forms) must be included along with the submission. The statement should include the initials of the author along with the conflicts of interest. The following examples show the format in which the Conflicts of Interest statement should appear in the manuscript:

“Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.”

“Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form. KSS and VS are former employees of Scanco Medical AG. NV is a current employee of Scanco Medical AG. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.”

If the paper is accepted, the completed ICMJE’s unified disclosure forms will be required and will be published alongside the article.

For more about the journal’s policy on conflicts of interest, visit http://ajo.amegroups.com/page/about/conflicts-of-interest.

3.7.5 Ethical Statement
Statement #A is a must for every article, followed by statement #B.
Statement #B should be described ①based on the type of experimental research and article type; ②both in the Methods section and the “Ethical Statement” section of Footnote.

#A. (a Must) Statement for every article

(a) Please note that all articles submitted to our journal must include an Ethical Statement in the Footnote, containing the following wording: “The authors are 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.”

(b) Written informed consent for the publication of details relating to a person must be obtained from that person (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 18) for all manuscripts that include images, details, or videos. The consent must be for publication of their details under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) (such that they will be freely available on the internet). If the person has deceased, consent for publication must be acquired from their next of kin. A statement that written informed consent for publication was obtained must be included in the manuscript.

To get consent for publication, authors can use the consent form (download the form for the patient or the form for the participant ) or a consent form from their institution or region, if suitable. The consent form must specify that the details/images/videos will be freely available on the internet and that the general public will be able to view them. Authors do not need to provide a copy of the consent form to the editorial office; however, if the Editor requests it, the consent form must be provided and will be kept confidential.

Consent for image publication may not be necessary for circumstances where photographs are completely unidentified and there are no details on persons mentioned within the text. The Editor has the final say on whether or not consent to publish is required.

#B. (Based on research experiments type and article type)

(a) Human Experiments
For research involving human experiments, the article must include a statement that ethical approval was obtained (or a statement that it was not required and why), including the name of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s), the number/ID of the approval(s), and a statement that the participants gave informed consent before taking part (or a statement that it was not required and why). Authors should also state that the study conformed to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in 2013), available at: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects. For example:

(For prospective experiments) Ethical Statement: The authors are 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. The trial was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in 2013). The study was approved by the institutional/regional/national ethics/committee/ethics board of ******* (No.: the registration number of the ethics board) and informed consent was taken from all individual participants.

(For retrospective experiments) Ethical Statement: The authors are 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. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in 2013). The study was approved by the institutional/regional/national ethics/committee/ethics board of ******* (No.: the registration number of the ethics board) and individual consent for this retrospective analysis was waived.

(b) Animals Experiments
For any experiments involving animals, the authors must indicate the nature of the ethical review permissions, relevant licenses (e.g. Animal [Scientific Procedures] Act 1986), and national or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals by which the research was conducted. Describe this information in both the “Method” section and the “Ethical Statement” section on the Footnote. For example:

Ethical Statement: The authors are 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. Experiments were performed under a project license (No.: the license number) granted by the institutional/regional/national ethics/committee/ethics board of *******, in compliance with ******* national or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals.

(c) Case Report
In general, the submission of a Case Report should be accompanied by written consent from the subject (or their parent/guardian) before publication; this is particularly important where photographs are to be used or in cases where the unique nature of the incident being reported makes it possible for the subject to be identified. Authors should also state that the study conformed to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in 2013), available at: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects. Please describe this information in both the “Case Presentation” section and the “Ethical Statement” section on Footnote. For example:

Ethical Statement: The authors are 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. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee(s) and with the Helsinki Declaration (as revised in 2013). Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this case report and accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the editorial office of this journal.

C. Additional Notes:
The Editorial Office may request copies of the informed consent documentation at any time. While the Editorial Board recognizes that it might not always be possible or appropriate to seek such consent, the onus will be on the authors to demonstrate that this exception applies in their case.

The Journal retains the right to reject any manuscript based on unethical conduct in either human or animal studies.

3.8 References
Sources should be referenced according to the Vancouver reference style. Referencing AI-generated material as the primary source is not acceptable. For guidance on references, please refer to: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/.

In the text, references should be identified using numbers in round brackets. Where more than one number is required, they should appear consecutively [e.g., "cancer-related mortality (19)”; “adenocarcinoma (29,30)”]. References (including in the text, tables and figure legends) should be numbered consecutively and consistently according to the order in which they first appear in the text.

The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. For reports with up to three authors, all the author names should be listed. However, if a report has more than three authors, the first three authors should be listed followed by “et al.”

• McLeer-Florin A, Lantuéjoul S. Why technical aspects rather than biology explain cellular heterogeneity in ALK-positive nonsmall cell lung cancer. J Thorac Dis 2012;4:240-1.
• Lin X, Li W, Lai J, et al. Five-year update on the mouse model of orthotopic lung transplantation: Scientific uses, tricks of the trade, and tips for success. J Thorac Dis 2012;4:247-58.

Below are two examples for the management of the reference:
a.     If you manage references manually or in another way, you could refer to the reference example below:
Lin X, Li W, Lai J, et al. Five-year update on the mouse model of orthotopic lung transplantation: Scientific uses, tricks of the trade, and tips for success. J Thorac Dis 2012;4:247-58.
b.     If you use “Endnote” (a commercial reference management software package produced by Clarivate Analytics, used to manage bibliographies and references when writing essays and articles), the reference style file for AME journals can be directly downloaded here: https://cdn.amegroups.cn/static/public/reference-style.ens.

3.9 Tables
Tables are recommended to be provided in separate files. Tables should be self-contained and complement, but not duplicate, the information contained in the text. All tables should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. Each table should be on a separate page; tables must be typed and editable in a tabular format that is convenient for copyediting and typesetting; they should not be inserted as images. Please refer to the examples for different cases.

Each column must have an appropriate heading and, if measurements are given, the units should be provided in the column heading. Column headings should be brief, with units of measurement in parentheses; all abbreviations must be defined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: †, ‡, §, ¶, should be used (in this order), and *, **, *** should be reserved for P-values. Statistical measures such as SD or SEM should be identified in the headings.

If the tables have been reproduced from another source, a letter or permission from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) authorizing the reproduction of the material must be submitted as supplemental material along with the manuscript.

3.10 Figures
Figures should be provided in separate files. All illustrations (line drawings and photographs) are classified as figures. Figures should be cited in the order in which they appear in the text. Magnifications should be indicated using a scale bar on the illustration.

• File types, resolution, size: Please refer to the specification (file types, resolution, image size, file size, etc.) for more detailed requirements. For the flow diagram of a study/trial (e.g. CONSORT diagram), please provide the diagram in an editable form, e.g. Word (.doc) or PowerPoint (.ppt) file, etc.
• Figure legends: Legends should be provided for figures, including the figure title, the full name of any abbreviation in the figure, a detailed description of any symbol in the figure (e.g., some color notation or arrows), and a separate description of each figure if it is a combination of several figures, etc.
• Copyright: If the figures have been reproduced from another source, a letter from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) authorizing the reproduction of the material must be attached to the cover letter (see the “COPYRIGHT AND PERMISSION” section).
• Patient Privacy: Where illustrations include recognizable individuals, living or deceased, great care must be taken to ensure that consent for publication has been given (see the “Ethical Statement” section). A statement like “This image is published with the patient/participant’s consent.” should be included at the end of the figure legend. Patient anonymity should be preserved. Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. For example, photographs need to be cropped sufficiently to prevent human subjects from being recognized and the eyes and eyebrows (at a minimum) must be masked using Coarse Pixilation to make the individual unrecognizable. However, masking the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are de-identified, authors should ensure that such changes do not distort scientific meaning.

In-text citations

• Cite figures with the format: Figure 1A, Figure 1B, Figure 2, Figure 3, etc. When consecutive subparts of a figure are cited, they should be cited as Figure 1A-1D, Figure 2B-2L, etc.
• Cite figures in ascending numeric order upon the first appearance in the manuscript file. This includes citations to text boxes and tables. In the published article, figures are inserted according to the placement of their first citation and caption in the article.
• Lettered subparts of whole figures may be cited in any order in the text if the first mention of each whole figure is in numerical order. For example, Figure 1 contains 4 subparts (i.e., Figure 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D). These subparts should be cited consecutively unless Figure 1 as a whole is already cited before Figure 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D.

3.11 Videos
Videos should be provided in separate files. The journal will accept digital files in mp4, flash video (flv.), MPEG (MPEG video file), DVD video, mov., avi., and mwv. formats or videos on CD / DVD. Contributors are asked to be succinct, and the editorial office reserves the right to request a shorter video if necessary. Video files can be submitted online at: http://www.theajo.com/pages/view/submit-multimedia-files

• Duration: Video files should be limited to 20 minutes.
• Quality: Please set the video aspect ratio as 4:3 or 16:9 (widescreen). The original video should be of high quality with the resolution ≥1280×720, the frame rate ≥24 frames per second, and the bit rate ≥5 Mbps.
• In-video text and audio: Videos should have text or symbols or audio descriptions. All text notes, explanations, descriptions, etc. in the video must be provided in English. The logo or watermark of the hospital/institution should not appear on the screen. Any patient information should be erased from the video.
• Video legends: Legends should be provided for the video files. The video files should be numbered consecutively in their order of reference in the text.
• Copyright: If the videos have been reproduced from another source, a letter from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) authorizing the reproduction of the material must be attached to the cover letter. It is especially worth noting that if background music appears in a video, the author should also obtain authorization from the copyright owner of that music if that music is involved in copyright licensing (see the “COPYRIGHT AND PERMISSION ” section).

For promotion, all accepted videos will be subsequently included in AME Surgical Video Database (ASVIDE: https://www.asvide.com) and its youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA4NnVYmMW2NS5QrnLEVQNg).

3.12 Abbreviations And Symbols
Use only standard abbreviations; All abbreviations should be defined when they are first used in the text unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement and a list of full terms should be provided in the manuscript.

3.13 Supplementary Appendix
The Supplementary Appendix should be paginated, with a table of contents, followed by the list of investigators (if there are any), text (such as methods), figures, tables, and then references. The supplementary appendix should not be included in the article’s reference list.

The Appendix must be submitted in a Word file. The Appendix will not be edited for style. It will be presented online as additional information provided by the authors.

The published article will contain a statement that supplementary material exists online and will provide the reader with a URL and/or link. Refer to the following example for how to reference the supplementary appendix in the text of the article: “Many more regressions were run than can be included in the article. The interested reader can find them in a supplementary appendix online.”

3.14 Equations
Equations should be numbered sequentially with Arabic numerals; these should appear right in parentheses. All variables should appear in italics. Use the simplest possible form for all mathematical symbols. For example:

• “a2+b2=c2” equations: normal text format.
• All other equations: a graphic of the entire equation should be produced using MathType and inserted into the main body of the text as an object.

4. STYLE OF THE MANUSCRIPT

Manuscripts must follow the style of the Vancouver agreement detailed in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ revised ‘Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication’, as presented at: http://www.ICMJE.org/.

• Author name: Each author’s given name should be followed by their surname. The first letter of the surname should be capitalized. A hyphen can be used in the surname depending on the rule in the author’s region.
  Note: Author names will be published exactly as they appear in the manuscript file. Please double-check the information carefully to make sure it is correct. If applicable, an ORCID should be placed after the name of the author.
  
• When abbreviating an author’s name, the first letter of each capitalized word will be used for the name’s abbreviation, i.e., “Shaoling Li” becomes “SL.” The first letter of the second name SHOULD NOT be capitalized, or else it will be included in the abbreviation. However, if the author wishes to use an abbreviation that includes their second name, they should write their second name using a hyphen to connect it with its anterior word, i.e., “Shao-Ling Li” to become “SLL.”
• Spelling: British or American spelling is acceptable but must be consistent throughout.
  
• Units: All measurements must be given in SI or SI-derived units. For more information about SI units, please go to the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) website at: https://www.bipm.org/en/about-us.
  
• Abbreviations must be used sparingly and only where they ease the reader’s task by reducing the repetition of long, technical terms. Initially, the full term should be given, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter, only the abbreviation should appear.
  
• Trade names: Drugs should be referred to by their generic names. If proprietary drugs have been used in the study, these should be referred to by their generic name, with the proprietary name and the name and location of the manufacturer mentioned in parentheses.

5. COPYRIGHT AND PERMISSIONS
For specifications, please refer to: https://www.theajo.com/page/about/copyright-and-permission

6. PEER REVIEW PROCESS
For specifications, please refer to: https://www.theajo.com/pages/view/peer-review-process

7. ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGES
For specifications, please refer to: https://www.theajo.com/pages/view/article-processing-charges

8. PROOFS
Page proofs will be sent to the author via e-mail. Page proofs should be returned within three working days, preferably by e-mail. Corrections should be marked on the actual proof and provided in a numbered list. Lengthy additions should be avoided but, when necessary, should be provided in an MS Word file with explicit instructions regarding placement.

9. OFFPRINTS AND REPRINTS
Authors will be sent a free URL link to the published online article for their personal use. Authors who wish to purchase hard-copy offprints should fill in the offprint order form, which will be sent with the author’s proof. Orders should be sent to the Editorial Office. Orders for reprints should be sent to the Publisher’s Office.

10. SUBMITTING AND TRACKING MANUSCRIPTS
All articles are submitted and the entire review process is managed electronically through the OJS system (http://www.theajo.com/login), which has been developed to provide authors with a straightforward online submission process.

For any questions, please contact our Editorial Office by e-mail: ajo@amegroups.com.

References
1. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/
2. https://publicationethics.org/
3. https://wame.org/policies