Advances in Pre-Clinical and Clinical Research

Advances in Pre-Clinical and Clinical Research (APCCR) welcomes high-quality submissions from the global research community. To ensure a smooth peer-review and publication process, all authors must strictly adhere to the following guidelines.

1. Authorship Criteria and Responsibilities

APCCR follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations (May 2023) for defining authorship. Authorship confers academic credit and implies full accountability for the published data.

Criteria for Authorship

To be listed as an author, an individual must meet all four of the following criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
• Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content.
• Final approval of the version to be published.
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, ensuring that questions related to accuracy or integrity are appropriately investigated and resolved.

All individuals who meet the first criterion must be given the opportunity to participate in the drafting and final approval phases. It is the collective responsibility of the authors—not the journal—to determine authorship order and settle any disputes.

Author Limits by Article Type

To maintain accountability, APCCR enforces the following limits on author counts:

• Editorials: Maximum of 2 authors.
• Case Reports: Less than 5 authors.
• Original & Review Articles: Less than 10 authors.

Special Authorship Considerations

• Corresponding Author: Only one corresponding author is permitted per article. This individual takes primary responsibility for communication during submission, peer review, and publication. They must ensure all administrative requirements (ethics approvals, trial registrations, disclosures) are met and must be available post-publication to respond to critiques.
• Multi-Author Groups: If publishing under a group name, the corresponding author must clearly identify the individual members who take credit and responsibility for the authorship.
• Non-Author Contributors: Individuals who contribute to the study but do not meet all four ICMJE criteria should be listed in the Acknowledgements section.
• Artificial Intelligence: Chatbots and AI tools cannot be listed as authors.
• Authorship Changes: Any addition or removal of authors after submission requires direct discussion with the Editor-in-Chief. A signed statement of agreement from all original authors must be submitted to the editorial office using the official journal format. Disputes are handled according to COPE guidelines.

2. Manuscript Preparation

All articles must be submitted electronically via the journal's portal at www.apccr-ascentia.com. First-time authors must register an account prior to submission.

General Formatting Rules

• Software & Layout: Microsoft Word format, double-spaced, with 2.5 cm (1-inch) margins. Page numbers must be in the lower-left corner.
• Language: Uniformly American or British English. Manuscripts must be thoroughly checked for spelling and grammar before submission.
• Abbreviations: Expand all abbreviations upon first use in the text. Do not use abbreviations in the manuscript title.
• Numbers: Numerals must be spelled out (e.g., “One” instead of “1”) if they appear at the beginning of a sentence.
• Terminology: Species names must be italicized. If a specific brand or product is cited, include the manufacturer's name and location (city, state/country).

Document Components

Submissions must be separated into the following files to ensure double-blind peer review:

• Covering Letter – Must include a formal request to publish, statements regarding conflicts of interest, funding support, and confirmation of Institutional Ethics Committee permission.
• Title Page
  • Article Title: 15 to 20 words maximum. For randomized trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses, the study design must be included in the title.
  • Running Title: 4 to 8 words maximum.
  • Metadata: Complete author information, corresponding author details, sources of support, total page count, word count, number of tables/figures, conflicts of interest, acknowledgements, and specific details of each author's contributions. Authors must also sign the copyright form corresponding to their order of appearance.
  • Manuscript file: The details of Manuscript Preparation and Submission can be found at https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf
• Blinded Manuscript File – Contains the main text, references, tables, and figure legends. Crucial: This file must be completely anonymized. It must not contain author names, affiliations, or the names of the institutions where the study was conducted.

To help authors format their submission correctly, a ready-to-use manuscript template is available: Download Manuscript Template (.docx)

3. Article Types and Specifications

*Word limits exclude the abstract, references, and tables.

Study Reporting Guidelines: Authors are expected to comply with standard reporting guidelines as cataloged by the EQUATOR Network.

Reporting guidelines for original/research studies types are as follows: https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/consort/

Randomised trials	CONSORT
Observational studies	STROBE
Systematic reviews	PRISMA
Study protocols	SPIRIT
Diagnostic/prognostic studies	STARD
Case reports	CARE
Clinical practice guidelines	AGREE
Qualitative research	SRQR
Animal	Pre-clinical studies
Quality improvement studies	SQUIRE
Economic evaluations	CHEERS

4. References, Tables, and Figures

References

• Style: Vancouver format. References must be cited in the text using superscript Arabic numerals, placed immediately after punctuation marks, without brackets. Number them consecutively in the order they appear.
• Source Quality: Cite original research wherever possible; avoid citing abstracts. Do not cite personal communications unless essential, and only with written permission. Verify all references via PubMed to ensure retracted articles are not cited (unless discussing the retraction itself).
• Unpublished Work: Papers accepted but not published should be cited as “in press” or “forthcoming” (requires written permission).

To format references automatically in APCCR's Vancouver style, download the journal's EndNote output style: Download Vancouver Style (EndNote .ens)

Examples

1.     Davidoff F, for the CSE Task Force on Authorship. Who's the author? Problems with biomedical authorship, and some possible solutions. Science Editor. 2000;23: 111-9.

2.     Yank V, Rennie D. Disclosure of researcher contributions: a study of original research articles in The Lancet. Ann Intern Med. 1999;130:661-70.

3.     Flanagin A, Fontanarosa PB, DeAngelis CD. Authorship for research groups. JAMA. 2002;288:3166-8. Godlee F, Jefferson T. Peer Review in Health Sciences. London: BMJ Books; 1999.

4.     http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm (accessed June 26, 2009).

5.     Rochon PA, Gurwitz JH, Cheung CM, Hayes JA, Chalmers TC. Evaluating the quality of articles published in journal supplements compared with the quality of those published in the parent journal. JAMA. 1994;272:108-13.

6.     Pitkin RM, Branagan MA, Burmeister LF. Accuracy of data in abstracts of published research articles. JAMA. 1999;281:1110-1.

Tables

• Tables capture information concisely and display it efficiently; they also provide information at any desired level of detail and precision. Including data in tables rather than in text often reduces the length of the text.
• Submit tables double-spaced on separate pages. Number them consecutively based on their citation in the text.
• Do not use internal horizontal or vertical lines.
• Provide a brief title for each table and short headings for each column.
• Explain all nonstandard abbreviations and identify statistical measures of variation (e.g., standard deviation) in the footnotes, not the heading.
• Be sure that each table is cited in the text.
• If you use data from another published or unpublished source, obtain permission and acknowledge that source fully.
• Additional tables containing backup data too extensive to publish in print may be appropriate for publication in the electronic version of the journal, deposited with an archival service, or made available to readers directly by the authors. An appropriate statement should be added to the text to inform readers that this additional information is available and where it is located. Submit such tables for consideration with the paper so that they will be available to the peer reviewers.

Figures and Illustrations

• Submit professional, high-quality digital files (JPEG or GIF) or print photographs (usually 127 x 173 mm).
• Ensure all text, symbols, and arrows contrast well with the background and remain legible when reduced in size. Photomicrographs must feature internal scale markers.
• Legends must be typed double-spaced on a separate page using Arabic numerals. Include the method of staining for photomicrographs.
• Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been cited in the text.
• Permissions: Written permission must be obtained for reproducing previously published figures or photographs of identifiable individuals.

Units of Measurement

• Use metric units (meters, kilograms, liters) for length, height, weight, and volume.
• Temperatures should be in Celsius, and blood pressure in millimeters of mercury (mmHg).
• Laboratory measurements should be reported using the International System of Units (SI). Local units may be requested or provided in parentheses.

5. Post-Review Revisions and Proofreading

When a manuscript requires revision based on peer review, the corresponding author will be notified via email. Authors must:

• Submit the revised, anonymized manuscript within 15 days.
• Highlight all textual changes in yellow within the revised manuscript file.
• Provide a separate MS Word “Comments File” containing point-by-point responses to the reviewers. Format this document with the following columns: Point Number, Reviewer Comment, Author Reply, and Page/Column/Line Number where the change was made.
• If no changes were made to the authorship or methodology, there is no need to resubmit the title page or copyright form.