AJTR Copyright © 2009-All rights reserved. Published by e-Century Publishing Corporation, Madison, WI 53711
Author Guidelines

American Journal of Translational Research  (AJTR, ISSN 1943-8141) is an open access online journal dedicated
to original clinical and experimental research papers, but will also publish editorials, review articles, medical
hypothesis, letters to the editors and meeting reports. The goal of AJTR is to provide a free forum for rapid
dissemination of the novel discoveries in translational research.


SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPT (Click to submit manuscript online)

General Policy

All manuscripts are submitted with the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the
form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or thesis) and are not currently under consideration for
publication by another journal. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all authors have
contributed to, read and approved the final manuscript for submission. The authors should keep a copy of
manuscript submitted in case of revision, rejection, loss or damage. Receipt of manuscript will be acknowledged
and a decision regarding acceptance made as soon as possible. Accepted manuscripts may be subject to
editorial revision without notice.

Peer Review Policy

All manuscripts are subject to peer review and are expected to meet the rigorous standards of academic
excellence. The authors should provide up to five potential peer reviewers with detailed contact information
including e-mail address.  These should be experts in their field of study, who will be able to provide an objective
assessment of the manuscript.  If not provided, potential reviewers will be identified by their publication record or
recommended by the Editorial Board members. Recommended reviewers who have been a coauthor with the
corresponding author within five years prior to manuscript submission will not be used. Reviewers recommended
by authors will be only considered to use when other appropriate ones cannot be found.  

ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE POLICY

Authors’ responsibilities

To ensure that submitted manuscripts have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as
part of a published lecture or thesis) and are not currently under consideration for publication by another journal.

To ensure all authors have contributed to, read and approved the final manuscript for submission.

To ensure that all data in the submitted manuscript are authentic. Maintain accurate records of data associated
with their submitted manuscript and to provide this data upon reasonable request.

To inform the editor of any other submitted manuscripts that might contain overlapping or closely related content.

To obtain permission to reproduce any content from other sources.

To confirm that all the work in the submitted manuscript is original, and to acknowledge and cite any content
reproduced from other sources.

To ensure that any studies involving human or animal subjects conform to national, local and institutional laws
and requirements (e.g. WMA Declaration of Helsinki, the Guidelines of Office for Human Research Protections
(OHRP) Human Subject Protections, NIH Policy on Use of Laboratory Animals, or equivalent). For studies
involving human subjects, authors should obtain express permission from subjects and respect their privacy.
Confirmation that approval has been sought and obtained should be included in the manuscript where
applicable. Experiments involving animals should follow the appropriate institution or the National Research
Council Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals.

Declare any potential conflicts of interest that could be perceived as exerting an undue influence on his or her
duties at any stage during the publication process.

To notify promptly the journal editor or publisher if a significant error in their publication is identified, and to
cooperate with the editor and publisher to provide retractions or corrections if necessary.

Keep a copy of the manuscript submitted in case of revision, rejection, loss or damage. Receipt of manuscripts
will be acknowledged and a decision regarding acceptance made as soon as possible. Accepted manuscripts
may be subject to editorial revision without notice.

Authors should provide 4 potential peer reviewers with detailed contact information including e-mail address.
Authors may also nominate 2 peers that they request are not sent the article for peer review for conflicts of interest
or other appropriate reasons – in such instances some reasonable justification must be given. These should be
experts in their field of study, who will be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. If not
provided, potential reviewers will be identified by their publication record or recommended by the Editorial Board
members. All manuscripts are subject to peer review and are expected to meet the rigorous standards of
academic excellence.

Reviewers’ responsibilities

To ensure that accepted manuscripts meet the rigorous standards of academic excellence.

To review submitted manuscripts objectively, and in a timely manner.

To maintain the confidentiality of any information supplied by the editor or author, and to not retain or copy the
manuscript in any manner.

To alert the editor of any published or previously submitted content that is substantially similar to that under review.

To point out any relevant published work that is not yet cited.

To be aware of any potential conflicts of interest between the reviewer and author/research funders(financial,
institutional, collaborative or otherwise). To alert the editor to any potential conflicts of interest and if necessary,
withdrawing their services for that manuscript.

Editors’ responsibilities

To act in a balanced, fair and objective way while carrying out duties without discrimination based on sexual
orientation, religious or political beliefs, gender, ethnic or geographical background of the authors. Editors have
complete responsibility and authority to accept and/or reject manuscripts.

Ensure that there is no conflict of interest with respect to manuscripts they reject/accept.

To ensure that all manuscripts, including submissions for sponsored supplements or special issues are
handled in the same way as other submissions, so that articles are considered and accepted solely on their
academic merit without any commercial influence.

To preserve the anonymity of reviewers.

To adopt and follow reasonable procedures in the event of any complaints, ethical or otherwise, in accordance
with the policies and procedures of COPE (www.publicationethics.org). To give authors a reasonable opportunity
to respond to any complaints. All complaints should be investigated no matter when the original publication was
approved, and documentation associated with any such complaints should be retained.

To promote the publication of corrections and/or retractions when errors are found.

Publisher Responsibilities

To ensure that all articles published meet the standards and requirements outlined above.

To ensure that any corrections, retractions, and/or clarifications are published when necessary.

To maintain the integrity of the academic record, and preclude business needs from compromising intellectual
and ethical standards.

Identification of Unethical Behavior

Misconduct and/or unethical behavior may be identified and brought to the attention of the editor and publisher at
any time, by anyone.

Whoever informs the editor or publisher of misconduct should gather sufficient evidence and information in order
for an investigation to be initiated. Evidence should be gathered in a discreet manner, in order to avoid spreading
allegations beyond those who absolutely need to know, in order to protect the confidentiality of the parties in
question until a conclusion has been reached.

All allegations will be taken seriously and handled in the same manner.

The editor will take initial action, with additional input from the publisher where appropriate.

In every case, authors will be given the opportunity to respond to any allegations.

Misconduct and Possible Outcomes

Minor breaches of conduct might be dealt with internally, without the need for any outside consultation;

Depending on the severity of the infraction, other outcomes may include, but are not limited to the following:

Informing the author or reviewer of the infraction, and educating him/her   on how to avoid future breaches of
conduct;

A written warning regarding the breach of conduct;

Publication of a formal notice and/or editorial detailing the misconduct;

A formal letter to the author’s department head and/or funding agency;

Retraction of the publication from the journal, and informing both the  Abstracting & Indexing services as well as
the readership of the publication of the infraction;

Suspension of the author’s eligibility for publication;

Reporting the breach of conduct to a higher authority for further investigation and action.

Copyright Policy

By submitting a manuscript to any of e-Century Publishing Corporation journal, all authors agree that all
copyrights of all materials included in the submitted manuscript will be exclusively transferred to the publisher, e-
Century Publishing Corporation once the manuscript is accepted.

Once the paper is published, the copyright will be released by the publisher under the “Creative Commons
Attribution Noncommercial License”, enabling the unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and
reproduction of the published article in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.
If the
manuscript contains a figure or table reproduced from a book or another journal article, the authors should
obtain permission from the copyright holder before submitting the manuscript,
and be fully responsible for any
legal and/or financial consequences if such permissions are not obtained.

All PDF, XML and html files for all articles published in this journal are the property of the publisher, e-Century
Publishing Corporation (
www.e-Century.org). Authors and readers are granted the right to freely use these files for
all academic purposes. In addition,
the author has the right to reuse any materials in his/her own paper for any
purpose without getting the permission from the publisher
provided that the original work is properly cited.By
publishing paper in this journal, the authors grant the permanent right to the publisher to use any articles
published in this journal without any restriction including, but not limited to academic and/or commercial
purposes.

If you are interested in using PDF, html, XML files or any art works published in this journal for
any commercial
purposes
, please contact the publisher at business@e-century.org.

Use of Human Tissue and/or Animal Policy

Experiments involving human subjects should be in accord with the ethical standards established by the
institution or in accord with the
Helsinki Declaration, or the guidelines of Office for Human Research Protections
(OHRP) Human Subject Protections. For studies involved human subjects, when informed consent has been
obtained it should be indicated in the manuscript.

Experiments involving animals should follow the institution or
the National Research Council guide for the care
and use of laboratory animals.

Units and Abbreviations

System International (SI) units should be used for all measurements. All abbreviations should be explicitly defined
at their first occurrence except for those internationally acceptable. Abbreviations used in the genetic association
reports will need to follow the conventions detailed in the specific information requirements for genetic
association reports. Any articles that involve the description of enzymes will require the inclusion of the
appropriate EC (Enzyme Commission) number as recommended by the Nomenclature Committee of the
International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB).

Disclaimer

While the advice and information in the article are believed to be true and accurate on the date of its going to
press, neither the authors nor the editors can accept any legal responsibilities for any errors or omissions that
may be made. The publication makes no warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the materials contained
within.


PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPT

All manuscripts should be written in standard grammatical English using computer software, arranged in the
following order and saved as single DOC (MS Word) file:
1.        cover letter
2.        title page
3.        abstract and keywords
4.        main text
5.        acknowledgements, if any
6.        references
7.        tables, if any
8.        figure legends, if any
9.        figures, if any

Cover Letter

The cover letter should include name, degree, address, telephone, fax and email of the corresponding author. A
statement that all authors have contributed to, read and approved the final manuscript for submission should be
included if there are multiple authors. Any editorial or financial conflict of interest (e.g., consultancy, stock
ownership, equity interests, patent or licensing agreements) should be clearly disclosed in the cover letter. The
disclosure statement must be submitted upon the acceptance.


Title Page

The title page should include:
1.        a concise title;
2.        first name, middle initial, and last name of each author, along with his or her highest academic degree; and
3.        name of the department and institutional affiliation of each author.

Abstract and Key Words

The abstract should not exceed 250 words that concisely summarize the study’s purpose, significant findings and
conclusions.  Include up to 6 key words or phrases at the end of the abstract.

Main Text

The main text should include Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion.  The Introduction
should be succinct, clearly stating the purpose and rationale of the study. In Materials and Methods, the
procedures should be described in sufficient detail to allow duplication by an independent observer. Results and
Discussion may be combined or divided. They should be written concisely and logically with emphasis on novel
findings.

Acknowledgements

All acknowledgements (if any) should be included at the end of the main text before references and may include
grant and administrative support.

References (Please click to download EndNote Style or RefMan Output Style for AJTR)

Reference published in AJTR should begin on a new page, be double-spaced and numbered in order of citation
in the text, including citations in tables and figure legends. Complete author citation is required (use of "et al" is
not acceptable).  References should conform to the style of the Journal. Examples follow:

Journals: [1] Jones JD, Eble JN, Wang M, MacLennan GT, Delahunt B, Brunelli M, Martignoni G, Lopez-Beltran A,
Bonsib SM, Ulbright TM, Zhang S, Nigro K, Cheng L. Molecular genetic evidence for the independent origin of
multifocal papillary tumors in patients with papillary renal cell carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res  2005; 11:7226-7233.

Book chapter: Cheng L, Lopez-Beltran A, MacLennan GT, Montironi R, Bostwick DG. Neoplasms of the urinary
bladder. In: Bostwick DG, Cheng L, editors. Urologic Surgical Pathology. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier/Mosby;
2008. p. 259-352.

Book: Cheng L, Zhang D. Molecular Genetic Pathology. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press/Springer; 2008.

Web sites: See Data Supplements section below for proper use of web site references. Cite in text only.

In press: To be used only for papers accepted for publication. Cite as for journal with (in press) in place of volume
and page numbers.

Submitted papers/unpublished data: Cite in text only.

Tables

All tables have to be created with Word "Insert Table" function and should be cited consecutively in the main text by
Arabic numbers (Table 1, Table 2, etc). Each table has to have a descriptive title on the top of the table. Provide
explanations for any nonstandard abbreviations in footnotes to the table.


Figure Legends

Figure legends including figure number, a short title and detailed description should be embedded at the end of
text file.

Figures

All figures should be cited consecutively in the main text by Arabic numbers (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc).  All figures
must be in high resolution and inserted at the end of the manuscript and labeled with the corresponding
numbers. The text in Figures must be in Arial Font and clearly readable. Photographs of a person should render
them unidentifiable or include their written permission.

Publication Fee

American Journal of Translational Research is an open access journal which provides instant, worldwide and
barrier-free access to the full-text of all published articles. Publishing Fee allows the publisher to make the
published material available for free to all interested online readers.

The Open Access publication fee is $1880 per article. This will be billed to the corresponding author if the
manuscript is accepted. There is no extra charge for any number of tables or color figures.