Please submit your manuscript to apjaieditor@gmail.com. On-line submission system and freely access to the journal are available at the following address: http://apjai.digitaljournals.org
Mission Statement
The Asian Pacific Journal of Allergy and Immunology (APJAI) publishes original research articles, clinical observations, case reports and reviews on various aspects of allergy and immunology provided that they have not been, and will not be, published elsewhere in whole, or in part, without the Editor’s permission. Papers accepted become the copyright of the Journal. Authors are responsible for all statements in articles submitted to the APJAI.
Contact Information
Asian Pacific Journal of Allergy and Immunology Editorial Office:
Division of Allergy and Immunology
Department of Pediatrics
Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital,
Mahidol University
Bangkok 10700, THAILAND
Tel/Fax: +662-418-0633
E-mail: apjaieditor@gmail.com
Journal Publication Policies and Procedures
The APJAI will consider for publication those papers directly related to allergy and immunology and has agreed to follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (the “Uniform Requirements”) of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the full text of which is available at http://www.icmje.org. The manuscript submission instructions for the APJAI submission are consistent with the 2009 version of the Uniform Requirements. The Editor assumes that on submission of a manuscript, all listed authors have agreed with the APJAI policies. Manuscripts that do not meet these guidelines may be returned to the submitting author for revision prior to any further consideration for peer review.
Submissions will be considered for publication in APJAI only if they are submitted solely to APJAI. It must not have been previously published and must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. All published manuscripts become the permanent property of the APJAI and may not be published elsewhere without written permission.
Ethical Approval of Studies and Informed Consent
For all research studies involving human subjects or research material derived from humans, a statement describing approval by the appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) is required. Authors must obtain appropriate informed consent from the study participants and stated in the Methods section of the manuscript. Studies exempted from IRB approval by their respective boards should be so indicated in the methods section. Institutional Review Board approval and informed consent statements are not required for Case Reports. Studies involving experimental animals must include a statement in the Methods section indicating that institutional or national guidelines were followed for the care and use of the animals. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in the manuscript being returned without review.
Clinical Trial Registration
APJAI requires investigators to preregister their clinical trials in a public trials registry approved by WHO, for example, www.clinicaltrials.gov. APJAI has adopted the WHO’s definition of a clinical trial: “any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes.” The clinical trial registration number and place of registry should be clearly identified on the title page.
Manuscript Preparation and Submission Requirements
Manuscripts should be type-written in English with standard font such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Courier, size 12. All sections on the manuscript should be typed double-spaced with margins of at least one inch on all sides. Begin each of the following sections on separate pages i.e. title page, abstract, main text, acknowledgements, references, individual tables, and figure legends. Use the program's page break function to begin each section on a new page. All pages should be numbered consecutively in the top right-hand corner, beginning with the title page. MS Word and PDF are required formats for manuscript submission. Display line numbers (1, 2, 3, and so forth) in the left margin of the manuscript. (Line numbering can be added from the Page Setup or Format menu of word processing programs.) The line numbering should be continuous throughout the entire manuscript, from the title page through final page (i.e. do not begin numbering from 1 again at the top of each page).
Manuscripts should be written in proper and clear English so that they are intelligible to the professional reader who is not a specialist in the particular field. Authors may be requested to have the English of the manuscript checked and improved by language editing services before submission.
All measurements must be given in SI units as outlined in the latest edition of Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: A Guide for Medical and Scientific Editors and Authors (Royal Society of Medicine Press, London). However, liter and molar are permitted. Abbreviations should be used sparingly and only where they reduce repetition of long, technical terms. Initially use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviation.
All manuscripts must be submitted to apjaieditor@gmail.com or online submission at the following address: http://apjai.digitaljournals.org. Complete contact information (mailing address, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address) of the corresponding author is required. First and last names, e-mail addresses, and institutional affiliations of all co-authors are also required.
Article Types
The APJAI publishes original articles, review articles, and case reports. Topics of interest include all subjects that relate to the basic and clinical aspects of allergy and immunology.
These should describe fully, but as concisely as possible, the results of original clinical and/or laboratory research. Original articles should have a structured abstract with the following headings: Background, Objective, Methods, Results and Conclusions. A minimum of 5 keywords for indexing, and no more than 35 references are required. Abstracts should be 250 words or less and text should not exceed 3,500 words. Advice on appropriate sectioning of original articles can be found in the ICMJE’s Uniform Requirements. Each original article may be accompanied by a combination of no more than 6 figures and tables. Original article manuscripts that are determined to significantly exceed these limits may be returned to the authors for shortening prior to review. The manuscript should be organized in the following order: title page; abstract and key words; main texts; acknowledgements; references; tables (each table complete with title and footnotes), figure legends; and figures. Figures should be loaded as separate files in the format specified below.
Review articles are mostly invited by the Editors. Authors interested in submitting a review article should contact the Editor-in-Chief in advance to determine the appropriateness of any proposed review prior to submitting a full manuscript. Review articles address a specific question or issue that provide an evidence-based, review on a focused topic, either clinical or basic science. Review articles should have a structured abstract (250 words or less) with the following headings Objective, Data Sources, Study Selections, Results and Conclusion, a minimum of 5 keywords, and no more than 50 references. Text should not exceed 5,000 words and should be organized into the following sections: Introduction, Body, Discussion and Conclusions.
Case Reports should have an unstructured abstract of no more than 150 words, a minimum of 5 keywords, a maximum of 2 tables or figures and 20 references. The main text should not exceed 1,500 words and should be organized into the following sections: Introduction, Report of Case and Discussion. A fully structured abstract is not necessary for a Case Report. For guidance on acceptable handling of photographs and other safeguards of patient confidentiality and anonymity, refer to section II.E.1 of the ICMJE’s Uniform Requirements: Patients and Study Participants.
Short communications are short research articles intended to present exciting finding. Short communications are limited to 1000 words for the body of the text, 8 references and may include no more than 1 figure and 1 table. Manuscripts should be organized as described for original article and abstract.
Manuscript Components
Each submission must be comprised of the following submission items, unless otherwise specified: a cover letter, title page, text, acknowledgments, references, tables, figure legends and figures.
A cover letter, including complete contact information for the corresponding author (mailing address, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address) and potential conflicts of interest should be submitted with each article type. Papers are accepted for publication in the journal on the understanding that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. This must be stated in the covering letter.
The title page should contain (1) the title of the article; (2) a short running head (not to exceed 40 characters); (3) full names of the authors and (4) the institutional affiliation of authors. For authors with different affiliations, place an Arabic number as a superscript after each author’s last name and before the name of the corresponding affiliation. Place an asterisk (*) after the name of the corresponding author and provide this author’s name, address (institutional affiliation, city, state/province, zip code, and country), telephone and fax numbers, and email address at the bottom of the title page. A word count for the text only (excluding abstract, acknowledgments, figure legends, and references) and the number of figures and tables accompanying the manuscript should be specified. Authors may also add on the title page a footnote to explain the order of authorship.
The major points of the article should be summarized in 150 (case reports) to 250 words (original and review articles), in the order of their appearance in the manuscript. Abbreviations should be kept to an absolute minimum.
A minimum of 5 key words or brief phrases should be included in alphabetical order below the abstract for indexing purposes. The Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) used by the US National Library of Medicine’s Index Medicus (MEDLINE) are preferred.
Original Articles
The text of original articles should be divided into sections with the following headings in this order: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. The total text should not exceed 3,500 words (excluding the Abstract, References, and Figure/Table Legends). The author should add line numbers and create the text in PDF version.
Introduction:
This section should state the specific purpose, research objective, or hypothesis of the study and should provide a context or background information for the study. The aims of the manuscript should be clearly stated. Papers most closely related to the issue under study may be mentioned. The introduction should not contain either findings or conclusions.
Methods:
This section should be concise but provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be repeated by others. The source of material should be given in detail, where possible. Describe the design, subjects, setting, interventions, and main outcome measures. The explanation of the experimental methods provides technical information, apparatus details, and procedures. Describe statistical methods with sufficient detail to enable a reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. For all research studies including human subjects (excluding Case Reports) the specific IRB that has approved the research must be indicated. Additionally a statement that informed consent was obtained from all research participants must be included. The clinical trial registration number and place of registry should be informed for clinical trial studies.
Results:
Describe the experimental data and results as well as the particular statistical significance of the data. Results should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables and figures. Excessive repetition of the same data in different forms should be avoided. The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement is a set of guidelines for reporting on the methods and results of randomized and nonrandomized medical research studies and is available at the following Website: http://www.consort-statement.org.
Discussion:
Provide and quantify the main outcomes of the study. The data should be interpreted concisely, without repeating data already presented in the results section. Identify limitations of the presented data including plausible explanations for discrepancies between the data and the literature, any differences not expected from the initial hypothesis presented in the introduction and a measured description of the conclusions of the study with implications for future research, biological understanding and/or clinical applications.
Case Reports
The content of case reports should follow this guidance: the introduction describes the relevance of the clinical entity and ends with a brief characterization of the case; the case description section gives a chronological account of the presentation, diagnosis, clinical course and outcomes; the discussion section frames the case in a concise review of the literature and may suggest implications.
The source of financial grants and other funding should be acknowledged, including a frank declaration of the authors' industrial links and affiliations. All persons who have made a substantial contribution but are not eligible as authors are named in the acknowledgments. Authors must also declare any competing interests.
It is the Editors' expectation that authors will perform a comprehensive search of the literature to gather the most current articles relative to the subject matter. All references that are five years old or more should be replaced with current literature, unless the referenced publication is a classic work that underscores the core subject. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and format. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables, and legends by superscript arabic numerals. References should follow "2009 Vancouver style." See http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html for more information. Try to avoid using abstract as references. “Unpublished observations” and “personal communications” may be inserted in the text.
Examples of correct forms of references are given below:
Article in Journals
- Standard journal article. List the first six authors followed by et al.
Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002;935:40-6.
- Corporate Author
Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002;40:679-86.
Books and other monographs
- Personal Author(s)
Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.
- Chapter in a Book
Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.
Tables should be numbered in the order in which they are first cited in the text with Arabic numerals. They should be on separate pages, one table per page. Each table should have a concise heading that makes it comprehensible without reference to the text of the article. Use horizontal lines only at the top and bottom of the table and between column headings and the body of the table. Use no vertical lines. Explain any nonstandard abbreviations in alphabetical order in a footnote to the table, e.g., Abbreviations: CT, computed tomography; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; OR, odds ratio.
Figures (graphs, charts, photographs, and illustrations) should be numbered in the order in which they are first cited in the text. It is a requirement that graphics be prepared using a program which can save files in a format that can ultimately be saved and submitted as EPS or TIFF. Figures should not be embedded within the manuscript text file, but submitted as separate EPS or TIFF files. Graphics should be saved in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) rather than RGB (red, green, blue). The resolution specification for TIFF and EPS files is 800 dpi for monochrome, figures that are black and white only and line shots; 250-300 dpi for gray/ CMYK or color photographs, and 600 dpi for combinations, such as photographs labeled with letters or other markings.
Figure legends should be typewritten, double-spaced, and listed on a separate page after the tables. They should not appear on the figures. The figure title should appear at the beginning of each legend. The legends should identify the data or subject being presented and its legend are understandable without reference to the text. Figures should be professionally drawn and photographed. Coloured photographs may be published and additional expense will be paid by the authors. Titles and detailed explanations belong in the figure legends, not on the figures themselves. Photomicrographs must have internal scale markers. Symbols, arrows, or letters used in the photomicrographs should contrast with the background. If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material.
Page Proofs
APJAI will provide the corresponding author with galley proofs for review/correction. Corresponding authors will receive a PDF file of the typeset pages to check the copyediting before publication. Authors should make only necessary changes and return the corrected page proofs to the Editor within 3 business days.
Transfer of Copyright
All manuscripts accepted for publication become the property of the APJAI. All authors must read, agree to the conditions outlined in the Copyright Transfer Form and must sign the Form. Articles cannot be published until a signed Copyright Transfer Form has been received. Published articles may not be published elsewhere, in English or any other language, without the permission of the Editor-in-Chief of APJAI.
Suggestions for Peer Reviewers
Authors may provide the names, affiliations, and e-mail addresses for up to three potential peer reviewers. These individuals should not be (within last 5 years) collaborators or coauthors and should not have provided substantial advice or critiques to the authors in the conduct of this work.
Conflicts of Interest Disclosure
Authors must disclose any financial or personal relationship which could result in a conflict of interest with regard to the published article. Authors without relevant financial interests in the manuscript should indicate no such interest. These conflicts of interest will be published in footnote form for all manuscripts accepted for publication by the APJAI.
Funding/Support
All financial support for the research and the work should be clearly and completely identified on the acknowledgement.
Submission Preparation Checklist
- The submission has not been previously published, nor is it considered by another journal.
- The submission file is in Microsoft Word and PDF file format.
- The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point Times New Roman font; display line numbers in the left margin of the manuscript. All illustrations and figures should be in TIFF or EPS files.
- The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements.
Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party. Authors must omit from their manuscripts any identifying details regarding patients and study participants, including patient names, initials, social security numbers, and hospital numbers. Patient details may be included only if they are essential for scientific purposes and the authors obtain written informed consent for publication from the patient, parent, or guardian.
Publication Fees
From January 2014, a sum of US $400.00 is charged to the corresponding author of each article published in the APJAI. A pdf file will be provided to the corresponding author. In case of English editing required by reviewers, US $60.00 is charged additionally. Additional fee for reprints and color illustrations are charged to the authors.
Open Submissions
Indexed