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The Journal of Korean Medical Science(JKMS) is an international,
peer-reviewed, general medical journal published in English,
bimonthly on the last day of every even monthes. Publisher
of the Journal is the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.
The Journal aims at publishing evidence-based, scientifically
written articles from different disciplines of medical sciences.
The Journal welcomes articles of general interest to
audiences of medical researchers especially when they contain
new information. Articles of clinical evaluation of drugs
and other therapies, epidemiologic studies in general population,
studies on pathogenic organisms and toxic materials,
toxicities and adverse effects of therapeutics are welcomed.
When written in language other than English and has not
been propagated in any international information services
(abstract journals), secondary publication of the article is negotiable.
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If otherwise not stated in the Instuctions to Authors, Uniform
Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication shall be referred.
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CATEGORIES OF PUBLICATIONS |
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JKMS publishes editorials,
invited review articles, original articles, case reports, correspondence,
and abstracts of the original articles awarded by
affiliated societies of the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.
Editorial is an invited perspective in medical science, dealing
on very active areas of research, fresh insights and debates.
Invited review articles describe concise review on subjects
of importance to medical researchers. The review articles
should not exceed 30 pages of manuscript. The review articles
are accepted after editorial evaluation.
Original articles are papers containing results of basic and
clinical investigations, which are sufficiently well documented to be acceptable to critical readers. There is no limitation
in length of manuscript, but excessive illustrations
and large tables are not allowable.
Case Reports as well as brief communication deal with
issues of importance to medical researchers. Maximum length
of manuscript is ten pages.
Correspondence is a comment from readers for a published
article and a reply from the authors.
Abstracts of the original articles, awarded by affiliated
societies of the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences, are
attached to the end of each volume whether or not published
in other journals.
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EDITORIAL AND PEER REVIEW PROCESS |
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JKMS reviews all the received
materials. One copy of the manuscript is reviewed for format.
The remaining two manuscripts are sent to the two most
relevant investigators for review of the contents. The editor
selects peer referees by recommendation of the Editorial Board
members or from the specialist database owned by the Editorial
Board. If decided necessary, review for statistics may be
additionally requested. For reviews, names and their affiliations
of the authors are blinded. Acceptance of the manuscript
is decided based on the critiques and recommended decision
of the referees. A referee’s decision is made as "acceptance
without revision", "acceptance after minor revisions", "review
again after revisions", and "rejection". If there is a marked
discrepancy in the decisions between two referees or in opinions
between the author and referee(s), the Editor may send
the manuscript to another referee for additional comments
and recommended decision. Four repeated decisions of "review
again after revision" are regarded as "rejection". The reviewed
manuscripts are returned back to the corresponding author
with comments and recommended revisions. Names and
decisions of the referees are masked. A final decision on acceptance
or rejection for publication is forwarded to the corresponding
author from the Editorial Office. The usual reasons
for rejection are insufficient originality, serious scientific flaws,
poor quality of illustrations, or absence of a message that
might be important to readers. Rarity itself of a disease condition
is not an acceptable condition of case reports. The peer
review process takes usually four to eight weeks after the
manuscript submission.
Revisions are usually requested to take account of criticisms
and comments made by referees. Two copies of revised manuscript
should be resubmitted, including two sets of original
illustrations. Failure to resubmit the revised manuscript within two months is regarded as a withdrawal. The corresponding
author must indicate clearly what alterations have been
made in response to the referees comments point by point.
Acceptable reasons should be given for noncompliance with
any recommendation of the referees. Once accepted, original
articles will be published within six months.
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EDITORIAL POLICY |
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The Editor assumes that all authors listed in a manuscript
have agreed with the following policy of the Journal of Korean
Medical Science on submission of manuscript. Except for the
negotiated secondary publication, manuscript submitted to
the Journal must be previously unpublished and not be under
consideration for publication elsewhere. Under any circumstances,
the identities of the referees will not be revealed. If
a new author should be added or an author should be deleted
after the submission, it is the responsibility of the corresponding
author to ensure that the author concerned are aware of
and agree to the change in authorship. JKMS has no responsibility for such changes. Minimum
page charges and additional fee for reprints will be due
on every manuscript. Color illustrations are charged to the
authors. All published manuscripts become the permanent
property of the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences and may
not be published elsewhere without written permission.
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CONFLICT OF INTEREST |
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Corresponding author of an article is asked to let the Editor
know potential conflict of interest possibly influencing
their interpretation of data. Potential conflict of interest is
applied even when the authors are confident that their
judgments have not been influenced in the manuscript.
Such conflicts may be financial supports or connections to
pharmaceutical companies, political pressure from interest
groups, or academic problems. The Editor will decide
whether the information on the conflict should be included
in the published paper. Before publishing such information,
the Editor will consult with the corresponding author. In
particular, all sources of funding for a research should be
explicitly stated. JKMS asks referees
to let its Editor know of any conflict of interest before
reviewing a particular manuscript.
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MANUSCRIPT FORMAT |
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All materials must be written in proper and clear English.
The manuscript, prepared according to "Uniform Requirements
for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals" (the fifth ed., 1997), is not returned to the corresponding
author because of the incorrectness of the format. The manuscript
including tables and their footnotes, and figure legends,
must be typed in double space on A4 sized, with margins of at least 2.5 cm on every side. The main body of manuscript
should be in the following sequence: title,
abstract and key words, introduction, materials and methods,
results, discussion, acknowledgments, references,
tables, and figure legends. All pages should be numbered
consecutively.
Title page : This should contain the title of an article,
full names of authors, and institutional affiliation(s). If
several authors, and institutions are listed, they should be
clearly indicated with which department and institution
each author is affiliated. In a separate paragraph, address
for correspondence, including the name of corresponding
author, degree, address (institutional affiliation, city, zipcode
and country), telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail
address, should be given. Information
concerning sources of financial support should be placed
as a footnote. A running title, less than ten words, should
not be declarative or interrogative sentences.
Abstract and key words : The abstract should be concise,
less than 200 words, and describe concisely, in a
paragraph, purpose, methods, important results, and
derived conclusions of the study in an unstructured format.
Abbreviations, if needed, should be kept to absolute
minimum with proper identifications. Abstracts for case
report may deviate from this format, but carry the same
restrictions of word count. Abstracts is not required for
editorials or for correspondence. Up to ten key words
should be listed at the bottom of abstract to be used as
index terms. For the selection of key words, refer to Medical
Subject Heading (MeSH) in Index Medicus, or in
internet site, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html
Introduction : Brief background, references to the most
pertinent papers generally enough to inform readers, and
relevant findings of others are described. The specific question
to which the authors’ particular investigation being
studied, should also be described.
Materials and Methods : We endorse the principles
embodied in the Declaration of Helsinki and expect that
all investigations involving human materials have been
performed in accordance with these principles. For animal
experiment, "the Guiding Principles in the Care and
Use of Animals" approved by the American Physiological Society have to be observed. Explanation of the experimental
methods should be concise and sufficient for repetition
by other qualified investigators. Procedures that
have been published previously should not be described
in detail. However, new or significant modifications of
previously published procedures need full descriptions.
The sources of special chemicals or preparations should be
given along with their location (name of company, city
and state, and country). Method of statistical analyses and
criteria of significance level should be described. In Case
Reports, case history or case description replaces the
Materials and Methods section as well as Results section.
Results : This part should be presented logically using
text, table and illustrations. Excessive repetition of table
or figure contents should be avoided.
Discussion : The data should be interpreted concisely
without repeating materials already presented in the
results section. Speculation is permitted, but it must be
directly supported by the presented data of authors and
be well founded.
Acknowledgments : All persons who have made substantial
contribution, but who are not eligible as authors
are named in acknowledgment.
References : Citation of references in the text should be
made by giving consecutive number in parenthesis (Vancouver
style). They should be listed in the order of citation
in the text with consecutive number in this separate
section. Style for papers in periodicals is: name and initials
of all authors, full title of article, journal name abbreviated
in accordance with Index Medicus, year, volume,
and first and last page numbers. Style for chapter of a
book is: author and title of the chapter, editor of the
book, title of the book, edition, volume, place, publisher,
year, and first and last page numbers. All other references
should be listed as shown in "Uniform Requirements for
Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals". Authors
are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their
references and correct text citations. Papers in press may
be listed among the references with the journal name and
tentative year of publication. Unpublished data or personal
communications can be listed only with the
author’s written permission.
Examples of reference style :
- Hus DW, Hakim F, Biller BMK, de la Monte S, Zervas NT, Klibranski A, Hedley-Whyte ET. Significance of proliferating cell nuclear antigen index in predicting pituitary adenoma recurrence. J Neurosurg 1993; 78: 753-61.
- Gardner EJ. Familial polyposis coli and Gardner syndrome:
is there a difference? In: Ingall JRF, Mastromarino
AJ, editors, Prevention of hereditary large bowel cancer.
New York: Alan R Liss, 1983; 39-60.
Tables and Figures : Tables and figures should be submitted
separately from the text of paper, and figure legends
should be typed on separate sheets.
Table should be simple and should not duplicate information
in figures. Title all tables and number them with
arabic numerals in the order of their citation. Type each
table on a separate sheet. Describe all abbreviations. Each
column should have an appropriate heading, and if numerical
measurements are given, the unit should be added to
column heading. The significance of results should be
indicated by appropriate statistical analysis. Table footnotes
should be indicated with superscript markings. All
units of measurements and concentrations should be designated.
Exponential terminology is discouraged.
Flow diagram and complex biochemical structures should
be prepared professionally. Graphics should be used only
when a relevant point needs illustration. Clear, glossy prints
are acceptable instead of original drawings, provided that
all parts of the figures are in focus. X-ray films or Polaroid
photographs are not acceptable. Except for especially complicated
drawings, which show a large amount of data, all
figures are published in one-page or one column width.
When the figures are reduced to the size of a single-column
or of a single-page width, the smallest parts of the figure
must be legible. Otherwise, the figures will be returned
to the author for revision. Points of observations should
be noted with different symbols rather than with different
types of line and their significance can be directly shown
in the body of figure or in the legend. Only those common
symbols that the printer can type (×, ■, △, ▲, - - -)
should be used. If a figure contains a left- or right-hand
ordinate, explanation of the left ordinate should read in
the upward direction and that of the latter should read
downward.
All photographs should be of the highest quality.
The entire expense of reproducing color photographs will
be charged to the author. The author is responsible for
submitting prints that are of sufficient quality to permit
accurate reproduction, and for approving the final color
galley proof. All photographs should be correctly exposed,
sharply focused, and submitted on glossy white paper. JKMS assumes no responsibility
for the quality of the photographs as they appear in the Journal. Current estimates for color reproduction can be
obtained from the Editorial Office. The figure numbers,
in arabic numerals, should appear directly on the photographs
using lettering, at the lower right corner. Symbols,
arrows, or letters used in photographs should contrast with
background. Tissue or thin paper overlay on plate can be
used to protect figures and to indicate important areas of
the photograph that must be reproduced with greatest
accuracy. A legend for each light microscopic photograph
should include name of stain and magnification. Electron
microscopic photograph should have an internal scale
marker. All kinds of figures may be reduced, enlarged or
trimmed for publication by the Editor.
All the legends for figures should be typewritten in double
space. Do not use separate sheets for each legend. Figure
legend should describe briefly the data shown, explain
any abbreviations or reference point in the photographs,
and identify all units, mathematical expressions, abscissas,
ordinates, and symbols.
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AUTHOR’S MANUSCRIPT CHECK LIST |
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- Double-spaced typing in A4 size white paper with 12-
point font
- Sequence of title, abstract and keywords, introduction,
materials and methods, results, discussion,
acknowledgments, references, and tables and figure
legends. All pages should be numbered consecutively.
- Title page with article title, authors’ full name(s) and
affiliation, address for correspondence (including telephone
and fax numbers and e-mail address), running
title (less than 10 words), and footnotes, if any.
- Abstract in unstructured format within 200 words,
and key words as in MeSH.
- All tables and figure numbers found in the text.
- References listed in a proper format. Check that all references
listed in the references section are cited in the
text and vice versa.
- A covering letter stating the material is not published
previously, and will not be submitted for publication
elsewhere, and stating conflicts of interest of all listed
authors, if any.
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ALTERATION IN PROOF |
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JKMS provides the corresponding
author with galley proofs for their correction. Corrections
should be kept to minimum. The Editor retains the
prerogative to question minor stylistic alterations and major
alterations that might affect the scientific content of the paper.
Fault found after the publication is a responsibility of the
authors. We urge our contributors to proofread their accepted
manuscripts very carefully. The corresponding author may
be contacted by the Editorial Office, depending on the nature
of correction in proof. If the proof is not returned to the Editorial
Office within 48 hours, it may be necessary to reschedule
the paper for a subsequent issue.
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