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The aim of the Hong Kong Journal of Nephrology, a peer-reviewed publication of the Hong Kong Society of Nephrology, is to promote clinical and scientific research in the field of nephrology and to serve as a channel of communication among nephrologists and renal nurses in Hong Kong, China, and the international community.

The journal invites original contributions relating to clinical or laboratory investigations of relevance to nephrology, dialysis or transplantation. Papers relating to basic immunology, anatomy and physiology are also welcomed if they relate to the kidney.

Manuscript Submission

We encourage authors to submit manuscripts as e-mail attachments to the Editor-in-Chief at: hkjn@hkjn.org

If you are unable to submit your manuscript by e-mail, you may submit it on a 3.5" floppy disk and post it, together with three hard copies of your manuscript (that match the disk file exactly) and a cover letter (that includes your name, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address), to:

Dr Alex WY Yu
Editor-in-Chief
Hong Kong Journal of Nephrology
Department of Medicine
Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital
Tai Po, New Territories
Hong Kong SAR, China
Tel: (+852) 2689-2255
Fax: (+852) 2665-6436

Please note that manuscripts submitted by e-mail should not also be submitted by mail or fax.

Important Information
  • Articles submitted by e-mail or on disk should be in Microsoft Word document format (*.doc) and prepared in the simplest form possible. We will add in the correct font, font size, margins and so on according to our house style.
  • You may use automatic page numbering, but please avoid other kinds of automatic formatting such as footnotes, endnotes, headers and footers.
  • Please put text, references, tables, figures, and legends in one file, with each table and figure on a new page.
  • To keep the total file size small, please insert figures (pictures/photographs) into the MS Word document as low resolution *.JPEG or *.TIFF files.
  • Figures that are line drawings or photographs must also be submitted separately as high resolution picture files, in *.EPS or *.TIFF format. Please ensure that files are supplied at the correct resolution: line artwork = minimum of 1000 dpi; halftone artwork = minimum of 300 dpi; combination artwork (line + tone) = minimum of 500 dpi.
  • If you are unable to submit such figures by e-mail, please post three sets of the original figures to the Editor-in-Chief at the above address. They will not be returned.
  • Please note that the cost of color illustrations will be charged to the author.

Basic Criteria

Articles should be written in English (American English spelling) and meet the following basic criteria: the material is original, the information is important, the writing is clear (clinical or laboratory jargon is to be avoided), the study methods are appropriate, the data are valid, and the conclusions are reasonable and supported by the data.

Previous Publication or Duplicate Submission

Submitted manuscripts are considered with the understanding that they have not been published previously in print or electronic format (except in abstract or poster form) and are not under consideration by another publication or electronic medium.

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

All authors are required to sign and submit the following financial disclosure statement at the time of manuscript submission:
I certify that all my affiliations with or financial involvement in, within the past 5 years and foreseeable future, any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript are completely disclosed (e.g. employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, royalties).
Authors who have no relevant financial interests should provide a statement indicating that they have no financial interests related to the material in the manuscript.

Categories of Articles

The categories of articles that are published are described below.

Letters to the Editor

These are short letters on significant preliminary clinical data, discussion or comments on previously published articles in the Hong Kong Journal of Nephrology. Typical length: 400-600 words (not including references).

Review Articles

These should aim to provide the reader with a balanced overview of an important and topical subject related to nephrology, and should be systematic, critical assessments of literature and data sources, emphasizing factors such as cause, diagnosis, prognosis, therapy, or prevention. All articles and data sources reviewed should include information about the specific type of study or analysis, population, intervention, exposure, and tests or outcomes. All articles or data sources should be selected systematically for inclusion in the review and critically evaluated.

The following are given as examples of possible section headings: Introduction (to include a definition of the disease to be discussed, its incidence and relationship to age, sex and geography), Etiology, Pathology (macroscopic and microscopic), Diagnosis, Clinical Features/Complications, Prevention, Treatment, Prognosis, Conclusion or Summary. Figures, tables, algorithms and other forms of illustration should be included as appropriate.

Reviews are usually written by invited authors who are recognized experts on that particular topic. Typical length: 2000-4000 words (not including tables, figures, and references).

Original Articles

These may be randomized trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic tests, cohort studies, cost-effectiveness analyses, case-control studies, and surveys with high response rates, that represent new and significant contributions to the field of nephrology.

Each manuscript should state the objective/hypothesis, design and methods (including the study setting and dates, patients/participants with inclusion and exclusion criteria, or data sources and how these were selected for the study), the essential features of any interventions, the main outcome measures, the main results, discussion placing the results in context with the published literature, and conclusions. Typical length: 2000-4000 words (not including tables, figures, and references).

Case Reports

These are short discussions of a case or case series with unique features not previously described. Interesting cases presented at interhospital meetings (within Hong Kong) are encouraged to be written up and submitted for consideration. Typical length: 800-1200 words (not including tables, figures, and references).

Hong Kong Renal Registry

This section provides updates on information obtained from the Hong Kong Renal Registry. Data pooled from all the dialysis centers are analyzed.

Technical Notes

Technical notes are devoted to technical aspects of clinical or experimental practice that are not fully investigated, verified or perfected, but which may be of widespread application. Typical length: 1000 2000 words. Submissions under this category will go through a short review and editing process.

Brief Communications

Publication under this category is based on the collective decision of the editors and reviewers. These papers are usually manuscripts originally submitted as original articles, but found to present preliminary or limited results of original research only. Typical length: 1500 2000 words (not including tables, figures, and references).

Clinical Vignettes

These are interesting clinical ?snapshots? of cases presented in the form of a descriptive paragraph and an illustrative figure/photograph. Typical length: 150-200 words (not including figures). Nephrology Forum

This section provides a platform for in-depth discussion by a group of nephrologists on a specific topic, usually preceded by a case presentation.

Nursing Section

This section is devoted to promote sharing of information among renal nurses. Typical articles describe specific techniques or procedures, modifications of techniques, or nursing practices.

Book Reviews

These are written by invited reviewers of newly published books in the field of nephrology.

Manuscript Preparation

Text should be typed double-spaced on one side of A4 (297 x 210 mm) paper, with outer margins of 3 cm. Each section of the manuscript should begin on a new page.

Title Page

The title page should contain the following information:
  • category of paper
  • manuscript title
  • short running title not exceeding 45 characters
  • the names (spelled out in full) of all the authors and their institutions (only 1 affiliation per author is permitted)
  • corresponding author details (e-mail address, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers)


Abstracts

The first page following the title page should contain a concise English abstract of no more than 300 words and 3 to 5 relevant key words/index terms. A Chinese version of the abstract should follow the English abstract (Chinese key words are not necessary). For authors who do not know Chinese, the translation will be taken care of by the Editorial Office.

Ethical Approval of Studies and Informed Consent

For human or animal experimental investigations, appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee approval is required, and such approval should be stated in the methods section of the manuscript. For those investigators who do not have formal ethics review committees, the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki should be followed (World Medical Association.Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Available at: http://www.wma.net/e/policy/pdf/17c.pdf ).

For investigations of human subjects, state explicitly in the methods section of the manuscript that informed consent was obtained from all participating adult subjects and from parents or legal guardians for minors or incapacitated adults, together with the manner in which informed consent was obtained (i.e. oral or written).

Identification of Patients in Descriptions, Photographs, and Pedigrees

A signed statement of informed consent to publish (in print and online) patient descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees should be obtained from all persons (parents or legal guardians for minors) who can be identified (including by the patients themselves) in such written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees, and should be submitted with the manuscript. Such persons should be shown the manuscript before its submission. Omitting data or making data less specific to deidentify patients is acceptable, but changing any such data is not acceptable.

Funding/Support and Conflicts of Interest

All financial and material support for the research and the work should be clearly and completely identified in an Acknowledgments in the manuscript. Ensure that any conflicts of interest are explicitly declared.

Units

Please use Systeme International (SI) units, with the exception of blood pressure values which are to be reported in mmHg. Please use the metric system for the expression of length, area, mass, and volume. Temperatures are to be given in degrees Celsius.

Drug Names

Use the Recommended International Non-proprietary Name for medicinal substances, unless the specific trade name of a drug is directly relevant to the discussion.

Abbreviations

Where a term/definition will be continually referred to, it must be written in full, followed by the subsequent abbreviation in brackets, when it first appears in the text. Thereafter, the abbreviation may be used.

Tables

Tables should be labeled in Arabic numerals and titled concisely. Number all tables in the order of their citation in the text. Tables should be typed double-spaced in as simple a form as possible. Abbreviations used in the table and not defined in the text should be defined in footnotes using these symbols (in order of appearance):*, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶.

Figures

The number of figures should be restricted to the minimum necessary to support the textual material. Figures that are line drawings or photographs must be inserted into the word document as low resolution *.JPEG or *.TIFF files, and also submitted separately as high resolution picture files, in *.EPS or *.TIFF format. Please ensure that files are supplied at the correct resolution: line artwork = minimum of 1000 dpi; halftone artwork = minimum of 300 dpi; combination artwork (line + tone) = minimum of 500 dpi.

If you are unable to submit such figures by e-mail, please post three sets of the original figures to the Editor-in-Chief. They will not be returned. The figures should be in the form of unmounted, unretouched glossy prints, and marked on the back with the figure number, top of the figure, and the principal author?s name, using a soft lead pencil or stick-on labels. Patient identification should be obscured. Do not mark directly on the prints. Indicators/arrows and labels may be marked on a photocopy of the original print to indicate subtle but salient points. Include internal scale markers in photomicrographs and electron micrographs.

Illustrations, graphs, charts, etc. should be drawn with black ink on white paper and should preferably be done by a professional illustrator. Arrows and other symbols must be of professional quality and of a size permitting some reduction in the final copy.

All figures must be accompanied by legends and indicate the anatomic area and/or pathologic condition shown. For photomicrographs, include the type of specimen, original magnification, and stain. All symbols and abbreviations not defined in the text should be defined in the legend.

Please note that the cost of color illustrations will be charged to the author.

Personal Communications and Unpublished Data

A signed statement of permission should be included from each individual identified as a source of information in a personal communication or as a source for unpublished data; the date of communication and whether the communication was written or oral should be specified.

References
  • Each reference citation should be a number enclosed in square brackets on the same line as the text, not a superscript.
  • References must be numbered consecutively in order of appearance in the text, and listed in number order in the reference list: do not alphabetize.
  • References cited in tables or legends should be included in sequence at the point where the table or figure is first mentioned in the text.
  • Abstracts should not be cited unless the abstract is the only available reference to an important concept.
  • Do not cite uncompleted work or work that has not yet been accepted for publication as references.
  • Abbreviations for journals should conform to those used in Index Medicus.
  • References should include the complete title of the article and the last names and initials of all the authors up to 6. If there are more than 6 authors, include the last names and initials of the first 6 authors followed by "et al".
  • Always give the last page number as well. If there is only one page, state if the article is an abstract or letter.
  • If you must cite information from a website, please provide the author information, article title, the website address and the date you accessed the information.
  • Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and for correct text citation.

Examples are given below.

Journal article:

Yu AW, Nawab ZM, Barnes WE, Lai KN, Ing TS, Daugirdas JT. Splanchnic erythrocyte content decreases during hemodialysis: a new compensatory mechanism for hypovolemia. Kidney Int 1997;51:1986?90.

Book chapter:

Belzer FO, Glass N, Sollinger H. Technical complications after renal transplantation. In: Morris PJ, ed. Kidney Transplantation: Principles and Practice. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1988;511?20.

Editorial and Peer Review

Submitted manuscripts are reviewed initially by the Editors. Manuscripts with insufficient priority for publication are rejected promptly. Rejected manuscripts will not be returned to authors unless requested. All other manuscripts are sent to expert consultants for peer review.

Preparation for Publication

Accepted manuscripts are copyedited according to our house style and the galley proofs are returned to the corresponding author for final approval. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made by the copy editor and authorized by the corresponding author.

All authors must sign a statement of authorship responsibility and copyright transfer prior to publication of their paper. This form is provided with the galley proofs.

Reprints

Authors receive 20 copies of their articles free of charge. Additional reprints may be ordered at terms based on the cost of production. A reprint order form is provided with the galley proofs.

Unauthorized Use

Published manuscripts become the permanent property of the Hong Kong Society of Nephrology Ltd, and may not be published elsewhere without written permission.