Instructions for Authors

World Journal of Pediatricsis a peer-reviewed journal published by Children's Hospital,Zhejiang University School of Medicine,Hangzhou,China.The journal gives priority to reports of outstanding clinical and experimental works as well as important contributions related to common problems of infants,children and adolescents worldwide.

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted via the submission system athttps://www.editorialmanager.com/wjop.The address of the editorial office is as follows: Children's Hospital,Zhejiang University School of Medicine,3333 Binsheng Rd,Binjiang District,Hangzhou 310052,China.Email: wjpch@zju.edu.cn.

Acceptance

Manuscripts should meet the following criteria: original material,clear writing,appropriate study methods,valid data,and reasonable conclusions supported by the data.In short,they should contain important information or topic of general medical interest.

Peer-review process

All the manuscripts that adhere to its style andInstructions for Authorsare referred to peer-review.Some of them are rejected immediately after an in-house review.The rejection at this stage is due to insufficient originality,serious scientific flaws or absence of message.The remaining articles are sent to at least two reviewers expert in the subject.Manuscripts are reviewed with due respect for authors' confidentiality,and the identity of peer reviewers is also kept confidential.A decision is made from 6 to 12 weeks according to the response from reviewers,revision by the author(s)and reappraisal on the revision.

The accepted manuscripts are subjected to editorial revision to comply with the requirements on language and style of the journal.The copyright of the accepted and published articles is held by the journal and all the published materials can not be reproduced or published elsewhere,in whole or part,without the written permission from the editor.

Duplicate submission

Manuscripts are considered with the understanding that they have not been published previously and are not under consideration by another publication.The author should alert the editor if the work includes subjects about which a previous report has been published.A research paper submitted to this journal should not overlap by more than 10% with the previously published work or work submitted elsewhere,which would be considered as duplicate publication.Ifin doubt,authors may forward copies of the published work or material submitted elsewhere to this journal for decision-making.

Proofs and reprints

Upon acceptance of the article,the corresponding author will receive a link to the special Author Query Application at Springer’s web page where you can sign the Copyright Transfer Statement online and indicate whether you wish to order OpenChoice,offprints,or printing of figures in color.Once the Author Query Application has been completed,your article will be processed and you will receive the proofs.Corrections on the proof should be restricted to errors only and no substantial additions/deletions should be made.No addition or deletion in the names of the authors is permissible at this stage.A copy of the issue carrying the article is supplied free of charge to the authors.Reprints may be ordered on payment in advance.

Categories of Articles

Articles can be considered for publication as editorials,original articles,review articles,special communications,brief reports,letters to editor,commentaries,or clinical image.

Original article

Original articles should report original research relevant to basic and clinical pediatrics including randomized trials,intervention studies,studies of screening and diagnostic tests,cohort studies,cost-effectiveness analyses and case control studies.While reporting randomized controlled trials (RCT),authors must attempt to be in conformity with the consolidated standards of reporting trials (CONSORT) statements.[1]Each manuscript should be accompanied with a structured abstract (divided into background,methods,results and conclusions) in no more than 250 words.Four to five key words to facilitate indexing should be provided in alphabetical order along with the abstract.The text should be divided in sections on introduction,methods,results and discussion.Number of tables and figures should be limited to a maximum of 5 and 3 respectively.The typical text length for such contributions is 2500-3500 words (excluding title page,abstract,tables,figures,acknowledgements and references).

Research letter:Short accounts of original articles will also be considered for publication as research letters.These focused research letters must not exceed 1500 words,3 illustrations or tables and up to 20 references,preferably recent publications.No abstract should be included.Research letters will be peer reviewed in a manner identical to original articles.

Review article,Systematic review &Meta-analysis

Review articles or systematic,critical assessments of literature are also published.Normally,a review article on a subject already published in theWorld Journal of Pediatricsis not accepted for a period of 3 years.The typical length for review articles is 4000 words or fewer,excluding tables,figures,and references.Authors submitting review manuscripts should include a structured abstract of around 250 words describing the need and purpose of review,methods used for selection,extraction and synthesis of data,and main conclusions.While reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses,authors must attempt to be in conformity with the PRISMA statement(http://www.prisma-statement.org/);a completed PRISMA checklist and flow diagram should also be submitted as supplemental files for checking.The templates of the checklist and flow diagram can be downloaded from the PRISMA website (http://www.prisma-statement.org/statement.htm).

Correspondence

Letters commenting upon a recent article in theWorld Journal of Pediatricsare welcome.Such letters should be received within 6 months of the article's publication.At the editorial board's discretion,a letter may be sent to authors/experts for comments and both letter and reply may be published together.Letters may also relate to other topics of interest to pediatricians and others,and/or useful clinical observations.Letters should not be more than 400 words.The number of authors should not exceed 2,including the authors' reply in response to a letter commenting upon an article published in this journal.

Clinical image

A short text of about 150 words depicting the condition with color photographs (vide infra) is needed.Normally only clinical photographs are accepted but accompanying skiagrams or pathological images could also be considered for publication.Photographs should be of high quality,clearly identify the condition and preferably add to the existing knowledge.

Personal viewpoint

Such articles are published on topical pediatric issues including social aspects.It is expected that the authors have sufficient credible experience on the subject for giving viewpoints.These should not exceed 1500 words.

Preparing Manuscripts

Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with theUniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals.[2]A summary of technical requirements for preparing the manuscript is provided below:

? Double-space throughout the maintext including abstract,text,acknowledgements,references,figure legends.Start each of these sections (in same order) on a new page,numbered consecutively in the upper right hand corner.

? Use at least 11 point font size (Times New Roman or Arial).

? Conventional units are preferred with SI units in parenthesis,if available.The metric system is preferred for the expression of length,area,mass and volume.

? Use nonproprietary names of drugs,devices and other products.

? Tables,figures or crafts should be prepared and submitted in separate files.

Manuscripts not fulfilling the technical requirements shall be returned to the authors without initiating the peer-review process.

Title page

The page should contain (i) the title of the article: which should be concise but informative (simpler the title the better;preferably it should contain all the key words to help electronic retrieval reliably);(ii) a short running title of less than 40 characters;(iii)initials and surname of each author with the highest academic degree(s) and designation at the time when the work was done;(iv) name,address,telephone,fax,email address of the corresponding author;(v) funding source;(vi) ethical appproval;(vii) conflict of interest for all authors.If none,say "No financial or non-financial benefits have been received or will be received from any party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article.";and (viii) contributors' statement.

Authorship

All persons designated as authors should qualify for the authorship.Authorship credit should be based on substantial contributions to (i) concept and design,or acquisition of data,or analysis and interpretation of data;(ii) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content;and (iii)final approval of the version to be published.Conditions 1,2 and 3 must all be met.Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship.All such people who contributed to the work but do not satisfy all the conditions should be listed in the acknowledgements.Authors are responsible for obtaining written permissions from everyone acknowledged by name.One of the authors shall act as guarantor of the paper and he/she should take the responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole,from its inception to published article.Authors should provide a description of what each author contributed on the title page.Subsequently,no names can be added or deleted without written permission of the editor.Written consent of authors whose names are being deleted should be obtained.This journal reserves the right to satisfy itself regarding the specific role of each listed author to justify authorship.All authors must give signed consent to publication (please download from WJP website).

Conflict of interest

Conflict of interest for a given manuscript exists when the author has ties to activities that could inappropriately influence his or her judgment,whether or not judgment is in fact affected.Financial relationships with industry—for example,through employment,consultancies,stock ownership,honoraria,expert testimony,either directly or through immediate family,are usually considered to be the most important conflict of interests.However,conflicts can occur for other reasons,such as personal relationships,academic competition and intellectual passion.If any of the authors have accepted reimbursement for attending symposium,a fee for speaking,fee for organizing educational activities,funds for research,funds for a member of the staffor consultation fees from an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the results of the study,review,editorial or letter,a conflict of interest would be deemed to exist.If any of the authors had been employed by an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication,or if any of them hold stocks or shares in such an organization,conflict of interest would be deemed to exist.The manuscript must be accompanied by the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest.

Abstract and key words

The second page should carry an abstract in case of original article (250 words or fewer),review article (250 words or fewer),brief report (100-150 words),respectively.For original article and reviews,the abstract should be structured as detailed earlier.For brief reports,the abstract should state the purpose of the study,basic methodology,main findings (giving specific data and statistical significance) and key conclusion(s).Below the abstract,authors should provide 3-5 key words for indexing;terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MESH)list ofIndex Medicusshould be used.

The basic structure of a paper follows the well known acronym IMRAD,which stands for Introduction (what questions was asked),Methods (how was it studied),Results(what was found) and Discussion.[2]

Introduction

The introduction must clearly state the question that the author(s) tried to answer in the study.It may be necessary to briefly review the relevant literature.Only cite those references that are essential to justify the proposed study.

Methodology

The methods section should describe,in a logical sequence,how the study was designed (e.g.,how randomization was done),carried out (e.g.,how subjects were chosen or excluded,ethical considerations,accurate details of materials used,exact drug dosage and form of treatment,etc.) and data were analyzed (e.g.,an estimate of the power of the study,exact test used for statistical analysis,etc.).For standard methods,appropriate references are sufficient,but if standard methods are modified these should be clearly brought out.Authors should provide complete details of any new methods or apparatus used (manufacturer's name and address in parentheses).

Ethics:When reporting experiments on human subjects,authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional)and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964,as revised in 2000.[3]They should indicate whether the study was approved by the Institutions' Ethical Committee;and informed consent was obtained for all research individuals.

For all research involving human subjects,informed consent to participate in the study should be obtained from participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 16) and a statement to this effect should appear in the manuscript.For manuscript reporting studies involving vulnerable groups (for example unconscious patients) where there is the potential for coercion (for example prisoners) or where consent may not have been fully informed,manuscripts will be considered at the editors discretion.In the case of articles describing human transplantation studies,authors must include a statement declaring that no organs/tissues were obtained from prisoners and must also name the institution(s)/clinic(s)/department(s) via which organs/tissues were obtained.

For reporting the details ofindividual cases,authors should submit patient’s written consent to publication for evaluation by editors.They should not use patients' names,initials,or hospital numbers,especially in illustrative material.This journal reserves the right to reject a manuscript on ethical grounds,on the basis of recommendations of its "Ethical Committee",even if the research has been cleared by the institutional ethical committee.Moreover,when reporting experiments on animals,authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Statistics:Authors should describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results.When possible,they meet to quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals).ActualPvalues are provided rather than stating as just <0.05 or >0.05 etc.References for the design of the study and statistical methods should be to standard works when possible (with pages stated) rather than to papers in which the designs or methods were originally reported.Any generaluse computer programs used should be specified and statistical terms,abbreviations,and most symbols be defined.

Results

This section should include only relevant,representative data and not all information collected during the study.Major findings should be presented clearly and concisely.Text,tables,and illustrations should be used sensibly while avoiding repeating in the text all the data depicted in the tables or illustrations and emphasizing or summarizing only important observations.Tables and figures should be restricted to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support.It is necessary to cite the tables in the text and type them on separate sheets.It may also be useful to mention what the study did not find.

Discussion

Discussion ordinarily should not be more than one third of the total length of the manuscript.This section should include a summary of the major findings,their relationship to other similar studies,limitations of methods and implications of these findings in future research.Conclusions should be linked to the goals of the study.Unqualified statements and conclusions which are not completely supported by the data should be avoided.Authors should also refrain from making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analyses.

Acknowledgements

In acknowledgements section,it is suitable to list all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship,such as a person who provided purely technical help,writing assistance,or a department head who provided only general support.Groups of persons who have contributed materially to the paper but whose contributions do not justify authorship may be listed under a heading such as"clinical investigators" or "participating investigators",and their function or contribution should be described,for example,"served as scientific advisers","critically reviewed the study proposal","collected data",or "provided and cared for study patients".A written consent is required from all the persons acknowledged,indicating their acceptance for the same.Acknowledgements section should be placed after the manuscript's Discussion or Conclusion section and before the References section.

References

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text.References are identified in text,tables,and legends by Arabic numerals in parentheses.References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.

The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used inIndex Medicus.Authors are required not to use abstracts,unpublished observations and personal communications as references.References to papers accepted but not yet published should be designated as "in press";authors should obtain written permission to cite such papers as well as verification that they have been accepted for publication.

The references must be verified by the author against the original documents.The Springer Vancouver style is our journal's Uniform Requirements style.

Journal article

List all authors when 6 or less.When 7 or more,list only first six and add et al.

O'Mahony S,Rose SL,Chilvers AJ,Ballinger JR,Solanki CK,Barber RW,et al.Finding an optimal method for imaging lymphatic vessels of the upper limb.Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging.2004;31:555–63.doi:10.1007/s00259-003-1399-3.

Frumin AM,Nussbaum J,Esposito M.Functional asplenia:demonstration of splenic activity by bone marrow scan.Blood.1979;59 Suppl 1:26–32.

Organization as author

American Academy of Pediatrics.Clinical practice guideline:treatment of the school-aged child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.Pediatrics.2001;108:1033–44.

Complete book

Department of Health.Shifting the balance of power within the NHS: securing delivery.London: DoH;2001.

Blenkinsopp A,Paxton P.Symptoms in the pharmacy: a guide to the management of common illness.3rd ed.Oxford:Blackwell Science;1998.

Book chapter

Wyllie AH,Kerr JFR,Currie AR.Cell death: the significance of apoptosis.In: Bourne GH,Danielli JF,Jeon KW,editors.International review of cytology.London: Academic;1980.p.251–306.

Conference proceedings

Kimura J,Shibasaki H,editors.Recent advances in clinical neurophysiology.Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical Neurophysiology;1995 Oct 15-19;Kyoto,Japan.Amsterdam: Elsevier;1996.

Dictionary and similar references

Stedman's medical dictionary.26th ed.Baltimore: Williams &Wilkins;1995.Apraxia;p.119–120.

Unpublished accepted material

Leshner AI.Molecular mechanism of cocaine addiction.N Engl J Med.In Press 1996.

Material from Internet

Doe J.Title of subordinate document.In: The dictionary of substances and their effects.Royal Society of Chemistry.1999.http://www.rsc.org/dose/title of subordinate document.Accessed 15 Jan 1999.

Tables

(i) Each table should be typed in single-spaced and in a 10-or 12-point font on a separate page;(ii) Tables must be numbered consecutively (Roman numerals) in the order of their first citation in the text,with a brief but self-explanatory title for each (preferably no longer than 10 to 15 words);each column should have a short or abbreviated heading;(iii) Explanatory matters are placed in footnotes,not in the heading.In footnotes,all nonstandard abbreviations used in each table and any empty cells should be explained adequately.Use superscript letters (a,b,c) to mark each footnote and be sure each footnote in the table has a corresponding note (and vice versa);for explainingPvalues,please use symbols like *,?,?,§,||… (iv) Statistical measures of variations should be identified such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean.When presenting percentages,include numbers (numerator and denominator);(v) Be sure that each table is cited in the text;(vi) If data are used from another published or unpublished source,it is necessary to obtain permission and acknowledge them fully.

Figures and illustrations

(i) Each figure of a manuscript should be submitted as a single file in the format of TIFF or EPS only;resolution should be at 300-600 dpi;(ii) Multi-panel figures (those with parts a,b,c,d etc.) should be submitted as a single composite file that contains all parts of the figure;figures should be uploaded in the correct orientation;(iii) Figures should be numbered in the order they are first mentioned in the text,and uploaded in this order;figure should be named as Fig.1.tif,Fig.1.eps,and so on;(iv) Figure titles (max 15 words) and legends (max 300 words) should be provided in the main manuscript,not in the graphic file;for explainingPvalues,please use symbols like *,?,?,§,||… (v) For text within figures,please use Times font in 8-10 point;(vi) Each figure should be closely cropped to minimize the amount of white space surrounding the illustration.Cropping figures improves accuracy when placing the figure in combination with other elements;(vii) Photomicrographs with no inset scale should have the magnification of the print in the caption;stains should be indicated;(viii) If photographs ofindividual/people are used,the subjects must not be identifiable,and the pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.One option is theWorld Journal of PediatricsForm for photographs of identifiable patients,which be found on the journal's website atwww.wjpch.com;(ix) If a figure has been published,the original source should be acknowledged and written permission from the copyright holder be obtained to reproduce the material.

Legends for illustrations

Legends for illustrations should be typed or printed out in double-space,starting on a separate page,with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations.When symbols,arrows,numbers,or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations,each of them must be identified and explained in the legend.The internal scale should be explained and the method of staining in photomicrographs be identified.

Units of measurement

Measurements of length,height,weight,and volume should be reported in metric units,i.e.,meter(m),gram(g),or liter(L)or their decimal multiples.Milliliter or deciliter should be expressed as mL or dL.Red and white blood cell counts are to be expressed as ×106/μL and ×103/μL respectively.Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius and blood pressures in millimeters of mercury (mmHg).All hematological and clinical chemistry measurements should be reported in the conventional system or in terms of the International System of Units (SI).

Abbreviations and symbols

Only standard abbreviations are used in the text while avoiding abbreviations in the title and abstract.The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.Year,month,day,hour,minute and second should be abbreviated as y,mon,d,h,min,and s in tables respectively.

Research Data Policy and Data Availability Statements

A submission to the journal implies that materials described in the manuscript,including all relevant raw data,will be freely available to any researcher wishing to use them for non-commercial purposes,without breaching participant confidentiality.

Data availability

All original research must include a data availability statement.Data availability statements should include information on where data supporting the results reported in the article can be found,if applicable.Statements should include,where applicable,hyperlinks to publicly archived datasets analysed or generated during the study.For the purposes of the data availability statement,“data” is defined as the minimal dataset that would be necessary to interpret,replicate and build upon the findings reported in the article.When it is not possible to share research data publicly,for instance when individual privacy could be compromised,data availability should still be stated in the manuscript along with any conditions for access.Data availability statements can take one of the following forms (or a combination of more than one if required for multiple datasets): (i) The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available in the [NAME] repository,[PERSISTENT WEB LINK TO DATASETS];(ii) The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request;(iii)All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files];(iv) The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due [REASON(S) WHY DATA ARE NOT PUBLIC] but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request;(v) Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study;(vi)The data that support the findings of this study are available from[THIRD PARTY NAME] but restrictions apply to the availability of these data,which were used under licence for the current study,and so are not publicly available.Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of[THIRD PARTY NAME].More templates for data availability statements,including examples of openly available and restricted access datasets,are available from Data Availability Statements(https://www.springernature.com/gp/authors/research-data-policy/data-availability-statements/12330880).

Data repositories

This journal strongly encourages that all datasets on which the conclusions of the paper rely are available to readers.We encourage authors to ensure that their datasets are either deposited in publicly available repositories (where available and appropriate) or presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files whenever possible.Please see Springer Nature’s information on recommended repositories (List of Repositories,https://www.springernature.com/gp/authors/research-data-policy/recommended-repositories).General repositories—for all types of research data—such as figshare and Dryad may be used where appropriate.

Data citation

The journal also requires that authors cite any publicly available data on which the conclusions of the paper rely.Data citations should include a persistent identifier (such as a DOI),should be included in the reference list using the minimum information recommended by DataCite,and follow journal style.Dataset identifiers including DOIs should be expressed as full URLs.

Research data and peer review

Peer reviewers are encouraged to check the manuscript’s data availability statement,where applicable.They should consider if the authors have complied with the journal’s policy on the availability of research data,and whether reasonable effort has been made to make the data that support the findings of the study available for replication or reuse by other researchers.Peer reviewers are entitled to request access to underlying data (and code) when needed for them to perform their evaluation of a manuscript.

This journal uses double-blind peer review.If you are providing reviewers with access to your data (for example via a repository link,supplementary information or data on request),it is strongly suggested that the authorship in the data is also blinded.There are data repositories that can assist with this and/or will create a link to mask the authorship of your data.

Authors who need help understanding our data sharing policies,help finding a suitable data repository,or help organising and sharing research data can access our Author Support portal(https://support.springernature.com/en/support/solutions/folders/6000238326) for additional guidance.

For more information

More information are available fromhttp://www.springernature.com/gp/group/data-policy/faq.

Copyright Transfer

Authors will be asked to transfer copyright of the article to the Publisher (or grant the Publisher exclusive publication and dissemination rights).This will ensure the widest possible protection and dissemination of information under copyright laws.

Open Choice

World Journal of Pediatricsis a Transformative Journal (TJ)allowing authors to choose gold Open Access.Authors who choose to publish Open Access are required to pay an Article Processing Charge (APC).The final version of the published article is free to read for everyone.Please refer to the section of Open Access fees and funding at journal homepage for the info about the APC for the journal.Open Choice articles do not require transfer of copyright as the copyright remains with the author.The articles are published open access under a CC BY licence (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence).For more info about Open Access policy of the journal,please visit the page of How to publish with us.

References

1 Moher M,Schulz KF,Altman DG,for the CONSORT Group.The CONSORT Statement: revised recommendations for improving the quality of reports of parallel group randomized trials.Lancet.2001;357:1191-4.(Also available from: URL:http://www.consort-statement.org/).Accessed 28 June,2002.

2 Hall GM.Structure of a scientific paper.In: Hall GM,eds.How to write a paper.London: BMJ Books,2000.

3 52nd WMA General Assembly.World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects.Available from: URL: http://www.wma.net.Accessed 28 June,2002.