Endocrine-Related Cancer Instructions to Authors

The scope of the journal

All types of basic, clinical and experimental investigation concerning endocrine-related cancers in human and animal subjects. The journal publishes reviews, together with original research papers of exceptional quality. Case reports are only considered if they are of extraordinary interest and reveal a new mechanism of disease.

Review articles

These are normally by invitation. Authors intending to submit unsolicited reviews should send an outline of the proposed article to the Editorial Office via the Feedback form. Review articles should be approximately 6000 words excluding references, including an allowance for tables and illustrations.

Online Submission

Note the new Free Access Option.

Submit online using the Manuscript Central system. This enables you to monitor the progress of your submission.

It also means that your paper can be included in the Accepted Preprint service.

If you are unable to submit online, please contact us for further information.

There is no charge for submitting papers nor will there be any subsequent page charges.

Please prepare the content of your article as described in the general instructions.

Commentaries

The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to invite commentaries or critiques on articles accepted for publication.

General instructions

Include a cover letter briefly indicating the substance of the paper. For original research articles, please state the novelty of the findings and why they represent a meaningful advance in the field. The letter should state that the work has not been, and will not be, submitted for publication elsewhere until the journal has reached a decision on whether to publish the paper. If rejected the authors are free to submit elsewhere; if accepted the assurance automatically extends indefinitely.

It will be assumed that submitted manuscripts carry the approval of all the authors.

Papers reporting clinical trials will only be considered if the trials have been pre-registered according to the guidelines set out in The Lancet 364 (9438) 911-912.

Papers quoted as 'In Press' (particularly those concerned with methodology) must be provided as additional electronic files.

Preparation of manuscripts

Arrange your manuscript as follows: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Declarations of interest, funding and acknowledgements, References, Figure Legends, Figures and Tables.

Use double spacing throughout (including reference list and figure legends) preferably in a Times font, and with a size of at least 10 point.

Number all pages, and number the lines down the left-hand side of each page.

Spelling should follow The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary or Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

All abbreviations must be defined when first mentioned.

Gene nomenclature

Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with accepted gene nomenclature.

Mice and rats

Gene symbols should be in italics with only the first letter capitalised. Protein designations should be the same as the gene symbols except that all letters should be capitalised and in roman (i.e. not italicised). For example:

Gene symbol: Sox2
Protein designation: SOX2

Gene symbols and protein designations should conform to the Rules for Nomenclature of Mouse and Rat Strains.

Humans, non-human primates and domestic species

Gene symbols should be in italics with all letters capitalised; protein designations should be the same as the gene symbols but not italicised. For example:

Gene symbol: SOX2
Protein designation: SOX2

Gene symbols and protein designations should conform to HUGO Gene Nomenclature guidelines.

Declarations of interest, funding and acknowledgements

Please insert before the reference list.

Declaration of interest: Please either (a) declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported; or (b) fully declare any financial or other potential conflict of interest.

Funding: Please detail all of the sources of funding relevant to the research reported.

Acknowledgements: Please be as brief as possible.

Title page

Include a separate title page with the title (limited to a maximum 20 words), authors' names, and full addresses of institutions (the address of the laboratory where the work was carried out should be given first).

Provide a short title for page headings.

Include a minimum of four keywords describing the manuscript.

Abstract

The abstract should be no more than 5% of the length of the paper.

State clearly the objective of the study, the methods used, and summarize results and conclusions.

Avoid abbreviations and references.

Introduction

The introduction should set the study in context by briefly reviewing relevant knowledge of the subject; follow this with a concise statement of the objectives of the study.

Materials and methods

Sufficient information should be provided so that other workers can repeat the study. If well-established methods are used, give a reference to the technique; full details of any modifications should be provided. Include the source of chemicals, reagents and hormones and give the manufacturer's name and location (town, country) in parentheses. Give the generic name, dose and route of administration for drugs. Specify the composition of buffers, solutions and culture media. SI symbols must be used, concentrations should be given in mol l^-1 and the term % must be defined as w/v or v/v for all solutions. For international units iu should be used (U should be used for enzyme activity).

Animals

The full binomial Latin names should be given for all experimental animals other than common laboratory animals. State also the breed or strain and source of animals, and give details of age, weight, sex and housing.

Experiments with genetically engineered mice:

In inbred mice, genetic strain effects can have significant effects on phenotype. Because of this the following controls for experiments with genetically-manipulated mice should be used: parental inbred strain, or wild-type littermates.

Cell lines

In general, studies that are based on observations performed in a single cell line will not be considered for publication if other lines of the same general lineage and characteristics are available. If at all possible, observations should be replicated in multiple cell lines.

Human genotype–phenotype association studies

Until recently almost all genotype–phenotype observations were done using candidate gene approaches. The sequencing of the human genome and the comprehensive mapping of haplotypes of human SNPs have revolutionized gene association studies, which can now be conducted through genome-wide approaches. Unfortunately, many of the reported genotype-phenotype associations are questionable, and have not been replicated. Endocrine-Related Cancer recognizes that genotype-phenotype association studies, performed by either genome-wide or candidate gene approaches, are of potential interest as a first step in the discovery process, although subsequent validation will be needed to confirm or refute the observation. However, these initial association reports must be methodologically sound. To ensure this Endocrine-Related Cancer has adopted the recommendations made by the NCI-NHGRI Working Group on Replication in Association Studies (Nature 447, 655-660 (7 June 2007)), and authors should adhere to these criteria as listed below.

These criteria are intended for studies of genotype–phenotype associations assessed by genome-wide or candidate-gene approaches:

Statistical analyses demonstrating the level of statistical significance of a finding should be published or at least available so that others can attempt to reproduce the reported results
Explicit information should be provided about the study's power to detect a range of effects
The study should be epidemiologically sound, with careful accounting for potential biases in selection of subjects, characterization of phenotypes, comparability of environmental exposures (when possible) and underlying population structure in cases and controls
Phenotypes should be assessed according to standard definitions provided in the report
Associations should be consistent (within the range of expected statistical fluctuation) and reported for the same phenotypes across study subgroups or across similar phenotypes in the entire study group
Significance should not depend on altering the quality control methods beyond standard approaches that could change inclusion or exclusion of large numbers of samples or loci
Measures to assess the quality of genotype data should include results of known study sample duplicates or publicly available samples
The results for concordance between duplicate samples (if applicable) as well as completion and call rates per SNP and per subject should be disclosed, along with rates of missing data
A subset of notable SNPs should be evaluated with a second technology that verifies the same result with excellent concordance, because no technology is error-free
Associations with nearby SNPs in strong linkage disequilibrium with the putatively associated SNP should be reported (and should be similar)
The results of replication studies of previous findings should be reported even if the results are not significant
Testing for differences in underlying population structure in case and control groups should be performed and reported
Appropriate correction for multiple comparisons across all statistical tests examined should be reported. Comparison to genome-wide thresholds should be described. Similarly, for bayesian approaches, the choice of prior probabilities should be described

Genomic data

Manuscripts will be considered that utilize genomic approaches for purposes beyond cataloguing, and provide unique insights into regulatory networks, mechanisms, or demonstrations of biological function.

Filtered raw data should be submitted as supplemently data in a tab-delimited format using spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel. In presenting DNA microarray data it is essential to clearly identify the platform, describe the filtering criteria used to evaluate the raw data, and provide complete references for the statistical methods used to analyse the data. In addition to submitting supplemental data, we recommend that authors submit the same data to the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/), launched by the National Institute of Biotechnology Information, under the auspices of the National Library of Medicine and NIH, to support the public dissemination of gene expression data.

Ethics of experimentation

Human subjects:

Manuscripts must contain a statement that consent has been obtained from each patient or subject after full explanation of the purpose and nature of all procedures used
It must be stated that the investigation was approved by the local ethical committee, functioning according to the 3rd edition of the Guidelines on the Practice of Ethical Committees in Medical Research issued by the Royal College of Physicians of London (11 St Andrew's Place, London NW1 4LE, UK; Tel: +44 (0) 207 935 1174; Fax: +44 (0) 207 7486 4514; Email: publications{at}rcplondon.ac.uk; Web: www.rcplondon.ac.uk). Copies of the MRC recommendations can be obtained from the Medical Research Council, 20 Park Crescent, London W1B 1AL, UK (Tel: +44 (0) 20 7636 5422; Fax: +44 (0) 20 7636 6179) or at www.mrc.ac.uk

Animals:

All papers describing experiments on animals should conform with the following guidelines:

The UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory Animals published by the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare at The Old School, Brewhouse Hill, Wheathampstead, Herts AL4 8AN, UK (Tel: +44 (0)1582 831818; Fax: +44 (0) 1582 831414; Web: http://www.ufaw.org.uk/public-list.php#pl05 )
Society for Endocrinology's guidelines on papers involving the use of laboratory animals, at: http://www.endocrinology-journals.org/misc/useofanimals.htm

Free exchange of materials

The Society for Endocrinology would like to encourage its authors to deposit plasmid constructions in a public repository such as Addgene.

Statistical analysis

It is the author's responsibility to document that the results are reproducible and that the differences found are not due to random variation. No absolute rules can be applied but, in general, quantitative data should be from no fewer than three replicate experiments. Appropriate statistical methods should be used to test the significance of differences in results. The term "significant" should not be used unless statistical analysis was performed, and the probability value used to identify significance (e.g., P > 0.05) should be specified.

When several t-tests are employed, authors should be aware that nominal probability levels no longer apply. Accordingly, the multiple t-test, multiple range test, or similar techniques to permit simultaneous comparisons should be employed. Also, in lieu of using several t-tests, it is often more appropriate to utilize an analysis of variance (ANOVA) to permit pooling of data, increase the number of degrees of freedom, and improve reliability of results. Authors should use appropriate nonparametric tests when the data depart substantially from a normal distribution.

In presenting results of linear regression analyses, it is desirable to show 95% confidence limits.

When data points are fitted with lines, the method used for fitting (graphical, least squares, computer program) should be specified. If differences in slopes and/or axis intercepts are claimed for plotted lines, these should be supported by statistical analysis.

References

All references cited in the text should be included in the reference list and vice versa.

Unpublished work

Any unpublished work (personal communications, manuscripts in preparation and manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted for publication) should be referred to in the text and not listed in the references: (A Stone, unpublished observations), (J Brown, personal communication).

Articles accepted for publication but not yet published may be listed as �In Press� in the reference list.

In the text

Cite references in the text in chronological order and use et al. for more than two authors, eg: (Davies & Smith 1999; Frost et al. 2001; Williams 2001).

In the reference list

List references in alphabetical order. Papers by the same author should be given in the order: (i) single author; (ii) two authors alphabetically according to the name of the second author; and (iii) three or more authors chronologically, with a, b and c etc. for papers published in the same year, in the order in which they are cited in the text. A maximum of ten authors should be given.

Reference in the following format:

See RH, Calvo D, Shi Y, Kawa H, Luke MP & Yuan Z 2001 Stimulation of p300-mediated transcription by the kinase MEKK1. Journal of Biological Chemistry 276 16310-16317.

Harvey SS 1975 Hypnotics and sedatives. The barbiturates. In The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, edn 5, pp 102-123. Eds LS Goodman & A Gilman. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.

EndNote

Society for Endocrinology journal reference style for EndNote (version 3 and above) is available by right clicking here for Endocrine-Related Cancer. Go to 'Save Target As' and save the file into the 'Style' folder within the EndNote program folder (usually found on the computer hard (C:) drive). If using a shared copy of EndNote over a network, the network administrator may need to do this.

It is not necessary to manually change journal names from their abbreviated form to full names, as the publisher will do this in-house.

Tables

Tables should be concise and informative
The title should be a single sentence at the head of the table and should include the name of the organism studied
Tables should be self-contained, and not require further explanation; they should be numbered (arabic numbers) and cited in the text
Give a short heading for each column, and do not use internal horizontal and vertical lines
Any additional explanatory material should appear as footnotes, cross-referenced to the column entries
Explain all abbreviations used in the table in the footnotes

Figures

Image Acquisition and Manipulations

No specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. The groupings of images from different parts of the same gel, or from different gels, fields or exposures must be made explicit by the arrangement of the figure (e.g. using dividing lines) and in the text of the figure legend. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if and as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g. changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend.

This policy is adopted from The Journal of Cell Biology.

Microscopy

Microscope images should be made available to referees in images that are at least 300 dpi at the size which they will be published. Adjustments should be applied to the entire image. Threshold manipulation, expansion or contraction of signal ranges and the altering of high signals should be avoided. 'Pseudo-colouring' and nonlinear adjustment (for example 'gamma changes') are only allowed if unavoidable and must be disclosed. A magnification scale bar for each image should be included with the final revised version of the manuscript for publication. In the Methods section, specify the type of equipment (microscopes/objective lenses, cameras, detectors) used. Acquisition software should also be specified, as well as a description of specialized techniques requiring large amounts of processing, such as confocal, deconvolution, 3D reconstructions, or surface and volume rendering.

The Society for Endocrinology is committed to publishing high quality figures:

EPS or TIFF files are preferred; files should be exported in Illustrator compatible format
Any Photoshop (TIFF or JPEG) or PDF files should be at least 300 dpi at the final published width (avoid using PowerPoint files)
Amino acid, DNA, RNA, and PCR primer sequences should use Courier or similar non-proportional font; highlight sections of homology between sequences with grey shading
Label figure sections as A, B etc in the top left-hand corner
Indicate magnification with a scale bar in the bottom right-hand corner of the image; give the measurement in the legend
Use the preferred symbols of closed and open circles, squares and triangles. Ensure that symbols are large enough to be read clearly when the figure is reduced for publication. Do not enclose figures in boxes. Arial font is preferred for text labels
Include legends to all figures, giving any keys to any symbols used and the name of the organism studied

Colour

The cost of colour reproduction over and above that for black and white will be charged to the authors. This must be paid by credit card before publication. Please see colour charges form.

Supply colour figure files in the following format:

CYMK not RGB
EPS files for graphical data, TIFF for photographs and colour images, or high-quality JPEG files where neither EPS or TIFF files can be generated
Resolution of 300 dpi for print; avoid importing files into PowerPoint or Word for submission Additional information regarding the submission of figures can be found here.

Supplementary data

Supplementary data too large for print publication or exceeding the bounds of the manuscript may be suitable for online publication
Supplementary data files intended for online publication should be submitted online to Manuscript Central as a 'Supplemental File for Review', and referred to as supplementary data in the text
Supplementary information will be reviewed as part of the manuscript, evaluated for its importance and relevance, and if accepted should be referenced in the text of the article, directing readers to the web site
There is a charge to the author of �50 for the first file and �10 for subsequent files

Copyright

Articles are considered on the understanding that if they are accepted for publication the entire copyright shall pass to the Society for Endocrinology. All authors are asked to sign a copyright agreement to this effect. To facilitate the processing of your manuscript please print out the agreement, and submit the completed form and accompanying notes with your paper. Requests for permission to reproduce any part of papers published in the Society for Endocrinology's journals should be addressed to the Permissions Secretary.

Open archiving and online repositories

Please note the Society�s policy on self-archiving. Acceptance of this policy is a condition of publication.

Offprints

A free PDF will be emailed to the corresponding author. Offprints can be ordered on the form accompanying the proof.