Instructions for authors

Neurología Argentina is the official journal of the Sociedad Neurológica Argentina. The journal accepts articles on Neurology in general and its different specializations, and on topics related to Neurosciences, both basic and applied.

Original Articles

Original Articles must deal with clinical, clinical research, basic research and surgery topics as relates to Neurosciences, and must aim at responding one or more questions posed therein.

They must have a maximum of 30,000 characters with spaces, and must include references, abstract, tables, captions, and annexes. They may include up to 6 figures, 3 tables, and 50 references.

The manuscripts must have the following format:

• Title, Keywords (restricted to 4-6 words) and Abstract (restricted to 200-250 words), all in Spanish and in English.
• Abstract: must be laid out as follows: Introduction, Aim, Patients (or Subjects or Materials) and Methods, Results, and Conclusions.
• The body of the manuscript on research or observational studies shall usually –although not necessarily– be divided in sections with the following headings: Introduction, Aim, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion.
• Introduction: This section must clearly state the backgrounds and aim of the manuscript, plus a summary of the grounds in support thereof (what is sought, with whom and to which extent).
• Patients (or Subjects or Materials) and Methods: This section must clearly describe the inclusion criteria of the study materials, study patients, and the study design. The population must be defined, i.e. the inclusion, exclusion and patient rejection criteria applied for the inclusion of patients in the study, as well as the place and the effective date on which the study was carried out. If the manuscript refers to humans, the section must be entitled Patients and Methods or Subjects and Methods (when the study includes a healthy-individual control group). If randomization techniques were applied, they must be specified. The endpoints studied and the techniques used to measure them must be accurately defined. Statistical tests must also be clearly specified, as well as their power and significance level. The measurement units used in paraclinical and clinical parameters must conform to international standards. The references to drugs must be made to their generic names.
• Results: The results of the study must be presented in a logical order according to the contents of the body of the article, tables, and figures. The most relevant results of the study must always be also described in the body of the article. Data may be presented in tables or figures, but not in both of them at the same time.
• The Discussion section must not include data that have not been described in Results. Instead, it must contain a discussion of the results obtained in the study, and not a review of its subject-matter. The discussion of previous studies published in Spanish is of special interest to Neurología Argentina. Conclusions must be stated in this section.

Case Studies

Case Studies shall be considered for publication when they make a novel contribution to Neurology or Neurosurgery. They must be of easy and simple publication. They must have a maximum of 20,000 characters with spaces, and must include references, abstract, tables, captions, annexes and 25 references.

The manuscripts must have the following format:

• Title, Keywords (restricted to 3-5 words) and Abstract (restricted to 100 words), all in Spanish and in English.
• Abstract: must be laid out as follows: Introduction, Clinical Case/s, and Conclusions.
• The body of the article must be divided in Clinical Case and Comments.
• Under Clinical Case a brief description of the case or cases presented must be made. The references to drugs must be made to their generic names. The measurement units used in paraclinical and clinical parameters must conform to international standards. Tables may be used when the number of cases so justifies.
• Comments must include a review of the cases presented, and must be brief, make reference to the relevant aspects of the case and their comparison against the available literature, to express coincidences and discrepancies with them, and the proposals or hypothesis made, if relevant.
• They may include up to 3 figures, 2 tables.

Reviews

Reviews must document and summarize the existing knowledge on their subject-matter. They shall be published by express invitation of the Editorial Board. Spontaneous submissions will not be accepted. Reviews must have a maximum of 40,000 characters with spaces, and must include references, abstract, tables, figure captions, and annexes. They may include up to 6 figures, 3 tables, and 80 references.

The manuscripts must have the following format:

• Title, Keywords (restricted to 3-5 words) and Abstract (restricted to 250 words), all in Spanish and in English.
• Abstract: must be laid out as follows: Introduction, Aim, Discussion, and Conclusions.
• The body of the article may be freely arranged with a discussion of the different aspects of its subject-matter; subheadings may be added to aid the didactic presentation of the contents. Reviews must include a section to describe the methods employed to locate, select, collect and pool the data.

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor may contain feedback on the articles published in the Journal, in which case they must include the response by the author of the manuscript at issue. They may also report very briefly on a novel and recent finding.

• They must be addressed “To the Editor”.
• Letters to the Editor must have a maximum of 3,000 characters with spaces, and must include references, and tables and figures captions.
• They may include up to 1 table or figure and 5 references.

Editorials

The timeliness and characteristics of Editorials shall be exclusively decided by the Board of Directors. The Editorial shall be assessed by renowned referees, with authority on the relevant subject-matter, who shall be selected by the Editorial Board. The final resolution on publication shall be made by the authorities of Neurología Argentina.

Images in Neurology

This section must present a description of and comments on images with significant clinical interest. The images may be patient photographs, neuroradiological images and any other iconographic materials relevant to Neurology. These images –which must not necessarily be extraordinary but must be illustrative– must be accompanied with their relevant explanation in the caption. The manuscripts submitted for Images in Neurology must have a maximum of 3,000 characters with space, including up to 5 literature references.

The manuscripts must have the following format:

• Title in Spanish and in English.
• The article may include up to 2 figures, with a caption containing the description and comments on the images, which must be of a significant clinical interest.
• They must not contain tables, except with the express authorization of the Editorial Board. 

Special Articles authored by Working Groups of Sociedad Neurológica Argentina

These Special Articles must document and summarize the current knowledge on their subject-matter, and must express the opinion and suggestions of the relevant Working Group of the Sociedad Neurológica Argentina. These articles must have a maximum of 40,000 characters with spaces, and must include references, abstract, tables, figure captions, annexes and a maximum of 80 references.

The manuscripts must have the following format:

• Title, Keywords (restricted to 4-6 words) and Abstract (restricted to 250 words), all in Spanish and in English.
• Abstract: must be laid out as follows: Introduction, Aim, Discussion, and Conclusions.
• The body of the article may be freely arranged with a discussion of the different aspects of its subject-matter; subheadings may be added to aid the didactic presentation of the contents.
• They may include up to 6 figures and 3 tables.

Procedure to obtain the agreement for the publication of the manuscript by the working group: For papers, reviews and special articles primarily or secondarily authored by any of the Working Groups of Sociedad Neurológica Argentina, the main authors and the acting Secretary of the working group must: have presented the manuscript to be published in the last group meeting and have obtained its approval at that meeting, which must be recorded in the minutes of the relevant meeting. Furthermore, an additional note must record the name of the group, the date of the meeting that approved the manuscript, and a description of authors, the members of the group who participated actively in the drafting of the paper, and their respective positions and responsibilities in the drafting of the manuscript to be published. This note must also include the names of the members of the group who expressed their disagreement or their will not to participate in the publication.

Correspondence with Comments and Opinions

This Section shall include brief comments and opinions on miscellaneous issues of interest to Neurología Argentina. The topics must be presented in a clear and concise way, to introduce novel issues, comments or opinions on recent findings. These may include research studies or shorter clinical case studies. They must have a maximum of 10,000 characters with spaces, and must include references, abstract, tables, captions, and annexes. They may include up to 2 figures or tables and 15 references.

The manuscripts must have the following format:

• Title, Keywords (restricted to 3-5 words) and Abstract (restricted to 100 words), all in Spanish and in English.
• Abstract: must be laid out as follows: Introduction, Aim, Comments, and Conclusions.
• The body of the article must be divided in Introduction and Comments. The Comments section must include comments or opinions on a certain finding or issue, with reference to the most relevant aspects thereof. It must not include literature reviews. Conclusions must be stated in this section.

History and Humanities

These contributions shall be considered for publication if they mean a contribution to the ethical, historical or humanitarian aspects of Neurology or Neurosurgery. They must be of easy and simple publication. History and Humanities contributions must have a maximum of 20,000 characters with spaces, and must include references, abstract, tables, figures captions, annexes and 25 references. 

The manuscripts must have the following format:

• Title, Keywords (restricted to 3-5 words) and Abstract (restricted to 100 words), all in Spanish and in English.
• Abstract: must be laid out as follows: Introduction, Aim, Discussion, and Conclusions.
• The body of the article must be divided in Introduction and Comments. Comments must include a review with reference to the cases presented, and must be brief, make reference to the relevant aspects of the case and its comparison against the available literature, to express coincidences and discrepancies with them, and the proposals or hypothesis made, if relevant.
• They may include up to 3 figures and 2 tables.

Controversies in Neurology

This section must document and summarize the current knowledge on a controversial issue, for which at least two conflicting views must exist. They shall be published by express invitation of the Editorial Board. Spontaneous submissions will not be accepted. Reviews must have a maximum of 40,000 characters with spaces, and must include references, abstract, tables, figure captions, annexes and up to 80 references. 

The manuscripts must have the following format:

• Title, Keywords (restricted to 4-6 words) and Abstract (restricted to 250 words), all in Spanish and in English.
• Abstract: must be laid out as follows: Introduction, Aim, Discussion, and Conclusions.
• The body of the article may be freely arranged with a discussion of the different aspects of its subject-matter; subheadings may be added to aid the didactic presentation of the contents.
• They may include up to 6 figures and 3 tables.

Miscellanea

Neurología Argentina also publishes articles on Colloquia in Neurology, Highlights of Literature, and Book Reviews. They shall be published by express invitation of the Editorial Board. Spontaneous submissions shall not be accepted.

You can send your manuscript at  http://ees.elsevier.com/neurolarg

This journal has no page charges.

The offi­cial language of Neurología Argentina is Spanish, although manuscripts may be published in English as an exception and at the sole decision of the Editorial Board.

Please see our information pages on Ethics in publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication.

If the work involves the use of human subjects, the author should ensure that the work described has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans. The manuscript should be in line with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals and aim for the inclusion of representative human populations (sex, age and ethnicity) as per those recommendations. The terms sex and gender should be used correctly.

Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects. The privacy rights of human subjects must always be observed.

All animal experiments should comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and should be carried out in accordance with the U.K. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 and associated guidelines, EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments, or the National Institutes of Health guide for the care and use of Laboratory animals (NIH Publications No. 8023, revised 1978) and the authors should clearly indicate in the manuscript that such guidelines have been followed. The sex of animals must be indicated, and where appropriate, the influence (or association) of sex on the results of the study.

Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent, which should be documented in the paper. Appropriate consents, permissions and releases must be obtained where an author wishes to include case details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication. Written consents must be retained by the author but copies should not be provided to the journal. Only if specifically requested by the journal in exceptional circumstances (for example if a legal issue arises) the author must provide copies of the consents or evidence that such consents have been obtained. For more information, please review the Elsevier Policy on the Use of Images or Personal Information of Patients or other Individuals. Unless you have written permission from the patient (or, where applicable, the next of kin), the personal details of any patient included in any part of the article and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places: 1. A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file (if double-blind) or the manuscript file (if single-blind). If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations of interest: none'. This summary statement will be ultimately published if the article is accepted. 2. Detailed disclosures as part of a separate Declaration of Interest form, which forms part of the journal's official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches. More information.

The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process.

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.

Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Disclosure instructions
Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' section of our ethics policy for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service Crossref Similarity Check.

Please note that preprints can be shared anywhere at any time, in line with Elsevier's sharing policy. Sharing your preprints e.g. on a preprint server will not count as prior publication (see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information).

Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the SSex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the S SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth ("sex assigned at birth"), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary. Moreover, the terms "sex" and "gender" can be ambiguous—thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the Sresources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.
Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (see more information on this). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.

Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases.

Author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.

Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated.

Researcher Academy is a free e-learning platform designed to support early and mid-career researchers throughout their research journey. The "Learn" environment at Researcher Academy offers several interactive modules, webinars, downloadable guides and resources to guide you through the process of writing for research and going through peer review. Feel free to use these free resources to improve your submission and navigate the publication process with ease.

Please submit your article via http://ees.elsevier.com/neurolarg.

Title page

The following information must be included in the title page:

• Article title, concise but informational.
• Name of each author, with their highest academic title and their work center
• Name of the department of institution to which the article must be attributed. Authorship All the individuals mentioned as authors of the manuscript must be duly qualified to be named as such. Each author must have contributed sufficiently to the work so as to be publicly made accountable of the contents thereof. With their permission, the members of the team who do not meet these criteria may be included in the Acknowledgements section or in an Annex to the manuscript (see the section on Acknowledgements).
• Corresponding author for the manuscript, with the name and e-mail address
• The manuscript must also declare the support received for the conduction of the research, such as awards, equipment, drug, total or partial funding sources, conflicts of interest (or non-existence thereof), or all of these.
• The Abstract must be submitted in Spanish and in English, restricted to 100-250 words, according to the type of article submitted, and must not contain any mentions to tables or figures.
• The abstract must be laid out as follows: Original Articles: Introduction, Aim, Patients (or Subjects or Materials) and Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Case Studies: Introduction, Clinical Case/s, and Conclusions. Reviews, History and Humanities, Controversies in Neurology, Correspondence with Comments and Opinions, Special Articles by the Working Groups of the Sociedad Neurológica Argentina: Introduction, Aim, Discussion, and Conclusions.
• Keywords: must be 3-6 keywords, depending on the type of article, alphabetically ordered, and must allow for the classification and identification of the contents of the manuscript.
• Neurología Argentina recommends using the terms included in Index Medicus’s Medical Subject Headline List, which is freely accessible on the Internet through the PubMed platform (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html).
• In any case, if the terms chosen are not included in the Index Medicus’s Medical Subject Headline List, it is recommended to follow the terminology used in the medical literature consulted.

Anonymous Manuscript

The body of the article must be divided in different sections, as follows:

• Original Articles: Introduction, Aim, Patients (or Subjects or Materials) and Methods, Results, and Discussion.
• Case Studies: Introduction, Clinical Case/s, and Comments.
• History and Humanities, Correspondence with Comments and Opinions: Introduction, Discussion and Comments.
• Reviews, Controversies in Neurology, Special Articles by the Working Groups of the Sociedad Neurológica Argentina: the body may be freely laid out based on the discussion of the different aspects of their subject-matter, with subheadings if necessary for a better presentation of the contents.
• They must include a section describing the methods employed to locate, select, collect and pool the data.

Tables

• Tables must be numbered and submitted on separate pages.
• Pictures of tables shall not be accepted.
• Any necessary explanations must be included in footnotes and not in the titles.
• Non-standard acronyms used in Tables must be explained in footnotes.
• Statistical dispersion measurements, such as standard deviation and mean standard error, must be identified.
• Tables must not contain horizontal or vertical inside borders.
• All Tables must be referenced in the main body of the article.

Figures and Illustrations

• These graphical elements must be limited to those depicting the main findings described in the body of the manuscript.
• Images must be of good technical quality. Tone relations must be the same as the original images and must not be edited, although arrows and other marks may be added to point at the most significant findings.
• Accepted formats are .jpg or .tiff files, at a resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi).
• All images to be included in the same article must be of the same size. Neurología Argentina recommends using homogeneous magnification levels to obtain analogous images (mainly of CT scans and MRIs).
• Figures must be numbered according to their order in the article. Illustrations must be drawn in black ink against a white background.

Acknowledgements

If relevant, Acknowledgements must be included before the References.

References

• References must be submitted on a separate page. They must be updated; the citation of articles published in Spanish (especially within the last two years) is recommended. The review and inclusion of domestic references on the subject-matter of the manuscript is highly recommended, as the authors may deem relevant.
• References must be numbered correlatively in the order in which they are cited for the first time in the body of the manuscript.
• References must be identified with superscript Arabic numbers in the body, tables and captions (e.g., 1-3, 6).
• References must be spread out on the relevant page, with the reference format adopted by the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (http://www.icmje.org).
• If one of the references is pending publication, it must be followed by the legend “In Press”. The authors shall be accountable for the truthfulness of such statement. Journal titles must be abridged as recommended by Index Medicus’s List of Journals Indexed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed).
• The reference to personal communications is not admissible.

Acronyms

The use of acronyms must be avoided in the manuscript title and minimized as much as practicable in the Abstract. The acronyms used by the author must be defined and described in the body of the article the first time they are mentioned.

This journal uses double-blind review, which means the identities of the authors are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa. More information is available on our website. To facilitate this, please include the following separately:
Title page (with author details): This should include the title, authors' names affiliations, acknowledgements and any Declaration of Interest statement, and a complete address for the corresponding author including an e-mail address.
Blinded manuscript (no author details): The main body of the paper (including the references, figures, tables and any acknowledgements) should not include any identifying information, such as the authors' names or affiliations.

It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). Note that source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.

Increased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such as Scopus, CrossRef and PubMed, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Please note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is highly encouraged.

A DOI is guaranteed never to change, so you can use it as a permanent link to any electronic article. An example of a citation using DOI for an article not yet in an issue is: VanDecar J.C., Russo R.M., James D.E., Ambeh W.B., Franke M. (2003). Aseismic continuation of the Lesser Antilles slab beneath northeastern Venezuela. Journal of Geophysical Research, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JB000884. Please note the format of such citations should be in the same style as all other references in the paper.

As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. This identifier will not appear in your published article.

Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.

Text: Indicate references by superscript numbers in the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.
List: Number the references in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
1. Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun 2010;163:51–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.Sc.2010.00372.
Reference to a journal publication with an article number:
2. Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon. 2018;19:e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00205.
Reference to a book:
3. Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of style. 4th ed. New York: Longman; 2000.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
4. Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In: Jones BS, Smith RZ, editors. Introduction to the electronic age, New York: E-Publishing Inc; 2009, p. 281–304.
Reference to a website:
5. Cancer Research UK. Cancer statistics reports for the UK, http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/; 2003 [accessed 13 March 2003].
Reference to a dataset:
[dataset] 6. Oguro M, Imahiro S, Saito S, Nakashizuka T. Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions, Mendeley Data, v1; 2015. https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.
Note shortened form for last page number. e.g., 51–9, and that for more than 6 authors the first 6 should be listed followed by 'et al.' For further details you are referred to 'Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals' (J Am Med Assoc 1997;277:927–34)(see also Samples of Formatted References).

Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.

Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the file in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB per file, 1 GB in total. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect. Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages. Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.

Supplementary material such as applications, images and sound clips, can be published with your article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make changes to supplementary material during any stage of the process, please make sure to provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the 'Track Changes' option in Microsoft Office files as these will appear in the published version.

One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download the free Adobe Reader, version 9 (or higher). Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site.
If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return them to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and scan the pages and return via e-mail. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

The corresponding author will be notified and receive a link to the published version of the open access article on ScienceDirect. This link is in the form of an article DOI link which can be shared via email and social networks. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Both corresponding and co-authors may order offprints at any time via Elsevier's Author Services.

Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch.
You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.