Founded in 1912, Radiología is the official journal of the Spanish Society of Medical Imaging (Spanish Acronym: SERAM).

Radiología is published bimonthly (6 issues per year) accepts articles in Spanish or in English and the Journal publishes two editions Spanish and English. All articles undergo a rigorous double-blind review process.

Radiología focuses mainly on original research and review articles, although it also publishes other material.

The journal is indexed in: Emerging Sources Citation Index (Thomson Reuters), Medline, and EMBASE/Excerpta Medica.

We suggest that articles by Spanish authors should comply with the general criteria of Law 14/2007, from 3rd July, for biomedical research (BOE n 159), which protects the rights of individuals who are subjects of research. Clinical assays should be registered with public databases prior to their initiation and patient recruitment, and only after approval of the institutional or regional Clinical Research Ethics Committee. The authors should provide the archive number and database where the assay is registered. For all clinical assays that initiate patient recruitment as of 1 January 2017, registration in public databases will be mandatory. Assays with patient recruitment prior to this date may still be submitted to the Journal for evaluation.

The Journal publishes the following sections or article types:

1. Original article:

Original research articles

Radiología will give priority to the publication of works of this type, so that they will have a shorter wait to the moment they appear. These papers are on clinical or basic research, including meta-analysis, on aspects related to diagnostic imaging, interventional Radiology or any technological aspect in which the image is applied. They can be prospective or retrospective. In this section, reports that do not include a statistical study will not be accepted. The maximum number of authors is 7 and the maximum length is 4,000 words (Introduction, Material and methods, Results and Discussion). There can be up to 40 citations in the reference list. The authors should include the images and tables that are indispensable for illustrating and improving the understanding of the text, although a maximum of 4 tables and 7 figures is recommended. The abstract should be structured (Background and objectives; Materials and methods; Results; Conclusion). For manuscripts utilizing artificial intelligence, we recommend consulting "AI Reporting Guidelines: How to Select the Best One for Your Research" (https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/full/10.1148/ryai.230055) and applying the appropriate guidelines for writing. The authors should provide 3 to 10 keywords, according to the terms used in the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) of the Index Medicus/Medline, available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh.

Clinical original article

These works are generally retrospective, and should describe a sufficient number of cases to make it possible to reach conclusions regarding a disease or a disease process, or the technological application. Statistical analysis is not generally necessary, but it is important to address novel aspects of the subject or the disease being dealt with, either because of the characteristics of the image itself or due to the management of the disease in question. The maximum number of authors is 7 and the maximum length is 2,000 words (Introduction, Material and methods, Results and Discussion). References should not exceed 20. The authors should include the images and tables that are indispensable for illustrating and improving the understanding of the text, although a maximum of 1 table and 5 figures is recommended. The abstract should be structured (Background and objectives; Materials and methods; Results; Conclusion). The authors should provide 3 to 10 keywords, according to the terms used in the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) of the Index Medicus/Medline, available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh.

These articles review different aspects of diagnostics using images, interventional Radiology or the technology applied to the image. These are not in-depth reviews as though they were scientific papers, but updates. Thus, the maximum length is 4,000 words (excluding references, figure legends and tables). There should not be more than 75 references, and the tables and images that are indispensable for illustrating and improving the understanding of the text (a maximum of 3 tables and 10 figures is recommended). These are usually commissioned by the Editorial Board, although Radiología will consider spontaneous communications. In the latter case, the authors must, necessarily, consult first with the editor-in-chief through the E-mail address: editor-radiologia@seram.es. The maximum number of authors is 5. The abstract is not structured and should not exceed the maximum of 150 words. The authors should provide 3 to 10 keywords, according to the terms used in the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) of the Index Medicus/Medline, available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh

For continuing training credits, 10 multiple choice questions should be included (five responses, only one correct).

The norms are the same as for the Update in Radiology section, except that the articles must have necessarily been agreed to with the Editor. The maximum number of authors is 2, first a resident and, the second, a specialist who supervised him or her.

These are educational works focused on continuing medical training, based mainly on the images and the figure legends. The text will concentrate on the key aspects of a general term that is illustrated in the images. The maximum number of figures is 15, with a maximum number of images of 30. All of the figures portraying a single patient will have the same number as the figure and will begin with the following data: Patient, age, sex, situation or main clinical topic (e.g. Fig. 1 – 48-year-old man with chest pain). The maximum number of words is 2,000 and this must include the key educational points (from 3 to 5), with the legend “It should be remembered that” with the words in color. It can include up to 30 references. The maximum number of authors is 5. It must include a structured abstract in the sections “Objective” and “Conclusion”, with a limit of 150 words. The authors should provide 3 to 10 keywords, according to the terms used in the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) of the Index Medicus/Medline, available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh

For continuing training credits, 10 multiple choice questions should be included (five responses, only one correct).

These articles provide informative contents on different subjects that relate Humanities to Medicine and, specifically to Radiology, that may be of interest to the journal’s readers. This includes all the branches of Humanities, and the articles can be anthropological, sociological, historic, artistic or the biography of relevant figures, among others. The objective of this section is to recall the figure of the physician (radiologist) as someone with experience in human conception as a whole, in all of its aspects. These are review articles that will follow the same structure and publication standards as those of “Update in Radiology”. Thus, the maximum length is 4,000 words (excluding the references, figure legends and tables). The articles should include available evidence on the subject being dealt with, supported by its corresponding references (no more than 75). It can be accompanied by tables and figures (no more than 3 tables and 10 figures). Before preparing the text, it should be proposed to the editor, at the address: editor-radiologia@seram.es

Once the manuscripts are ready, they will be included in the database and their final acceptance will undergo the same review circuit by peers from the journal. The maximum of authors is four.

Critically Appraised Topics (CATs) are structured abstracts from research articles that respond to a specific clinical query with the best available evidence, and are evaluated critically to confirm their validity. Articles of this type are characterized by their conciseness and, thus, the maximum length of the text is 1,100 words (excluding the references). A maximum of 12 references are permitted. The maximum number of authors is 4. The abstract is not structured. The authors should provide 3 to 10 keywords, according to the terms used in the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) of the Index Medicus/Medline, available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh

The manuscript should be structured using the following sections: - Clinical problem: brief summary of the clinical setting and of the diagnostic doubt generated. - Clinical query: Structured according to the PICO strategy (patient-intervention-comparison-outcome). The translation of the query into search terms will also be provided. - Search strategy employed: the major databases consulted and the number of references found. The documents to be selected are those that best synthesize the evidence of the clinical problem or those original articles with the highest level of evidence, according to the Oxford classification. This section can be summarized in a Table. Critical reading of the articles selected: summarize the major parameters analyzed that will guarantee the quality of the results. Applicability and conclusions: brief commentary that explains whether the results of other investigations serve to solve our query and if they are sufficiently important to change any aspect of our routine practice.

These works are short in length, and are based on one or several clinical-radiological cases. Radiología considers publishing them, although it will be restrictive when the time comes to accepting them. The reasons for presenting a work of this type could be the extreme rarity of the disease or how unusual its manifestation in a more common disease. In the case of interventional Radiology a reason could also be how innovative or the rarity of its management. In the presenting letter, the authors should highlight what it is that makes the case something exceptional, more than just its rarity. The authors should consider that it is a concise description, and a review of the literature is not appropriate. Therefore, the maximum extension is 1,100 words, with 10 references, and the figures will be limited to those essential to illustrate the findings described, up to a maximum of three. In general, tables should not be included. The maximum number of authors is 4. The abstract will not be structured. The authors should provide 3 to 10 keywords, according to the terms used in the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) of the Index Medicus/Medline, available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh

Necessarily, in the letter of presentation, the authors must refer to the reason for the exceptionality of the case and why they consider that it should be reviewed. The simple rarity, without adding anything beyond the previously described cases, is not a sufficient criteria. The discussion of the article should begin with an explicit allusion to what makes the case exceptional and, then, the discussion should focus on that exceptionality, and not simply review what has been reported elsewhere.

These contributions are brief compositions that reflect the opinion of the author on any controversial issue within the scope of the specialty. The author must necessarily consult with the editor-in-chief before submitting it. The maximum extension is 1,300 words. It can be accompanied by a maximum of 4 figures or tables, and can include no more than 5 references. As these are personal views, they will generally be contributions of a single author or, at most, two. Opinion articles do not require an abstract.

These articles provide a review of the most recent information related to controversial matters or the current situation in the area of diagnostic imaging and therapy guided by imaging techniques. The articles are commissioned, although the editor is open to considering individual proposals. They should never be sent to Radiología without having consulted previously with the editor-in-chief. The style is free, although it must always have an introductory section, which ends with a specific objective, and a conclusion at the end of the manuscript. The maximum extension is 2,500 words and 30 references. A maximum of 5 figures or tables can be included. The number of authors is a maximum of three. The abstract is not structured. The authors should provide 3 to 10 keywords, according to the terms used in the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) of the Index Medicus/Medline, available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh.

The Editorial Board encourages the readers of Radiología to send their objections or comments relative to articles published in Radiología, as well as their comments on any aspect related to Radiología. This section will also include comments concerning the editorials of Radiología. The maximum extension is 500 words and there can be 5 references, In general the number of authors will be one or two. They should not include abstract, tables or figures. Exceptionally, a figure may be published, but it would first have to be considered by the Editorial Board.

The Editorial Board of Radiología will evaluate clinical descriptions that contain information that, because of their relevance, could have a clearly instructive value for the journal’s readers. The maximum extension is 650 words and it can include up to 2 figures and 5 references. The number of authors will be a maximum of two. They do not include abstract or tables.

Radiología is a dynamic journal and, as such, considers the introduction of new sections over time. These sections will generally be grouped under the title “special articles”. The articles in these sections will be commissioned by the editor-in-chief and, in principal, spontaneous contributions will not be considered.

All manuscripts must be submitted online through the Radiología Editorial Manager site at https://www.editorialmanager.com/RX/default.aspx.

This journal has no page charges.

This journal is published in Spanish and in English language.

You can use this list to carry out a final check of your submission before you send it to the journal for review. Please check the relevant section in this Guide for Authors for more details.

Ensure that the following items are present:

One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:

• E-mail address

• Full postal address

All necessary files have been uploaded:

Manuscript

• Include keywords

• All figures (include relevant captions)

• All tables (including titles, description, footnotes)

• Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided; Indicate clearly if color should be used for any figures in print

Graphical Abstracts / Highlights files (where applicable)

Supplemental files (where applicable)

Further considerations:

• Manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'

• All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa

• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)

• A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare

• Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed

For further information, visit our Support Center.

Please see our information on Ethics in publishing.

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.

The author should ensure that the manuscript contains a statement that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and have been approved by the appropriate institutional committee(s). This statement should contain the date and reference number of the ethical approval(s) obtained. Authors should also 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.

The journal will not accept manuscripts that contain data derived from unethically sourced organs or tissue, including from executed prisoners or prisoners of conscience, consistent with recommendations by Global Rights Compliance on Mitigating Human Rights Risks in Transplantation Medicine. For all studies that use human organs or tissues authors must provide sufficient evidence that they were procured in line with WHO Guiding Principles on Human Cell, Tissue and Organ Transplantation. The source of the organs or tissues used in clinical research must be transparent and traceable. Authors of manuscripts describing organ transplantation must additionally declare within the manuscript:

1. that autonomous consent free from coercion was obtained from the donor(s) or their next of kin; and

2. that organs/tissues were not sourced from executed prisoners or prisoners of conscience.

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 Research Council's Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals 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 (including organ/tissue donors) require 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 the author has 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 anonymized) or the manuscript file (if single anonymized). If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations of interest: none'. 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.

Authors must declare the use of generative AI tools in the manuscript preparation process upon submission of the paper.

Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (“AI tools”) have been rapidly adopted in research and scholarly publishing, offering significant benefits while requiring clear standards for responsible and transparent use.

Authors preparing a manuscript for this journal may use AI tools to support them. However, these tools must never be used as a substitute for human critical thinking, expertise and evaluation. AI tools may only be applied with human oversight and control.

Please read Elsevier’s detailed author policy on the use of AI tools, as stated in Elsevier’s generative AI policies for journals.

Ultimately, authors are responsible and accountable for the contents of their work. This includes accountability for: 

• Carefully reviewing and verifying the accuracy, comprehensiveness, and impartiality of all AI-generated output (including checking the sources, as AI-generated references can be incorrect or fabricated).

• Editing and adapting all material thoroughly to ensure the manuscript represents the author’s authentic and original contribution and reflects their own analysis, interpretation, insights and ideas.

• Ensuring accuracy and originality of any AI generated images and provide appropriate attribution where relevant.

• Ensuring the use of any tools or sources, AI-based or otherwise, is made clear and transparent to readers. If AI tools have been used, we require a disclosure statement upon submission; please see example below.

• Ensuring the manuscript is developed in a way that safeguards data privacy, intellectual property and other rights, by checking the terms and conditions of any AI tool that is used. 

Finally, authors must not list or cite AI tools as an author or co-author on the manuscript since authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to, and performed by, humans. 

The use of AI tools in the manuscript preparation process must be declared by adding a statement at the end of the manuscript when the paper is first submitted. The statement will appear in the published work and should be placed in a new section before the references list. An example:  

Title of new section: Declaration of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the manuscript preparation process. 
Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME OF 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 published article. 

The declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools, such as tools used to check grammar, spelling and references. In addition, authors are not required to disclose the use of AI tools or features within specialist disability-related assistive technology, provided these are used solely for accessibility purposes.

If you have nothing to disclose, you do not need to add a statement.  

Please note: to protect authors’ rights and the confidentiality of their research, this journal does not currently allow academic editors and reviewers to upload an unpublished manuscript into a generative AI tool, as is stated in Elsevier’s generative AI policies for journals. However, AI tools may be used in a supportive capacity by editors and reviewers to improve structure and language of the review report or editorial decision letter or to conduct a background literature search. Elsevier is actively evaluating compliant AI tools and may revise this policy in the future.

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' 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 compliance, your article may be checked by Crossref Similarity Check and other originality or duplicate checking software.

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise to seek gender neutrality by using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as default/wherever possible to avoid using "he, she," or "he/she." We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition unless they are relevant and valid. When coding terminology is used, we recommend to avoid offensive or exclusionary terms such as "master", "slave", "blacklist" and "whitelist". We suggest using alternatives that are more appropriate and (self-) explanatory such as "primary", "secondary", "blocklist" and "allowlist". These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive.

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 Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the 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 resources 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.

The editors of this journal generally will not consider changes to authorship once a manuscript has been submitted. It is important that authors carefully consider the authorship list and order of authors and provide a definitive author list at submission. The policy of this journal around authorship changes:

• All authors must be listed in the manuscript and their details entered into the submission system. Changes can only be made prior to acceptance, and only if approved by the journal editor. This includes additions, deletion, or rearrangement of author names.

• Requests to change authorship must be made by the corresponding author using this form. The corresponding author must provide the reason for the request to the journal editor with written confirmation from all authors, including any authors being added or removed, that they agree with the changes. Requests which do not comply with the instructions outlined in the form will not be considered.

• This journal does not allow authorship changes after acceptance. This includes additions, deletions, or the rearrangement of author names, including changes to the corresponding author.

• The review process may be paused while a change in authorship request is being considered.

• Approved authorship changes will result in a corrigendum if the manuscript has already been accepted.

• Any unauthorized authorship changes may result in the rejection of the manuscript or retraction if the article has already been published.

In line with the position of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the journal will not consider results posted in the same clinical trials registry in which primary registration resides to be prior publication if the results posted are presented in the form of a brief structured (less than 500 words) abstract or table. However, divulging results in other circumstances (e.g., investors' meetings) is discouraged and may jeopardise consideration of the manuscript. Authors should fully disclose all posting in registries of results of the same or closely related work.

Randomized controlled trials should be presented according to the CONSORT guidelines. At manuscript submission, authors must provide the CONSORT checklist accompanied by a flow diagram that illustrates the progress of patients through the trial, including recruitment, enrolment, randomization, withdrawal and completion, and a detailed description of the randomization procedure. The CONSORT checklist and template flow diagram are available online.

Registration in a public trials registry is a condition for publication of clinical trials in this journal in accordance with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the article. A clinical trial is defined as any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects of health outcomes. Health-related interventions include any intervention used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome (for example drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, dietary interventions, and process-of-care changes). Health outcomes include any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants, including pharmacokinetic measures and adverse events. Purely observational studies (those in which the assignment of the medical intervention is not at the discretion of the investigator) will not require registration.

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, it is recommended to state this.

Please visit our Open Access page for more information about open access publishing in this journal.

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 write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the Language Editing service available from Elsevier's Language Services.

Our online submission system guides you stepwise through the process of entering your article details and uploading your files. The system converts your article files to a single PDF file used in the peer-review process. Editable files (e.g., Word, LaTeX) are required to typeset your article for final publication. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, is sent by e-mail.

Please submit your article via https://www.editorialmanager.com/RX/default.aspx.

Please submit the names and institutional e-mail addresses of several potential reviewers.

You should not suggest reviewers who are colleagues, or who have co-authored or collaborated with you during the last three years. Editors do not invite reviewers who have potential competing interests with the authors. Further, in order to provide a broad and balanced assessment of the work, and ensure scientific rigor, please suggest diverse candidate reviewers who are located in different countries/regions from the author group. Also consider other diversity attributes e.g. gender, race and ethnicity, career stage, etc. Finally, you should not include existing members of the journal's editorial team, of whom the journal are already aware.

Note: the editor decides whether or not to invite your suggested reviewers.

This journal operates a double anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal's usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups. More information on types of peer review.

This journal uses double anonymized 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.

Anonymized 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.

This section describes the article structure for this journal.

Divide your article into clearly defined sections. Each subsection is given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. Subsections should be used as much as possible when cross-referencing text: refer to the subsection by heading as opposed to simply 'the text'.

State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.

Results should be clear and concise.

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.

If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

• Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.

• Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.

• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.

• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

Highlights are optional yet highly encouraged for this journal, as they increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any). Please have a look at the example Highlights.

Highlights should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).

A structured abstract, by means of appropriate headings, should provide the context or background for the research and should state its purpose, basic procedures (selection of study subjects or laboratory animals, observational and analytical methods), main findings (giving specific effect sizes and their statistical significance, if possible), and principal conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations.

The headings will consist of: «Introduction and Objectives», «Patients or Materials and Methods», «Results» y «Conclusions».

Although a graphical abstract is optional, its use is encouraged as it draws more attention to the online article. The graphical abstract should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 x 1328 pixels (h x w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 x 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files. You can view Example Graphical Abstracts on our information site.

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using British spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. To maximise discoverability, use terms and words that are not already in the manuscript's title and abstract as keywords. Consider the terms that potential readers may use to search for work on this topic that do not already appear in the title and abstract. Include synonyms and related terms to cover different variations of how readers might search for your topic. Specific keywords target niche audiences, while broad keywords increase the chances of your article reaching a wider audience. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).

List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other units are mentioned, please give their equivalent in SI.

This section describes the artwork for this journal.

Whilst it is accepted that authors sometimes need to manipulate images for clarity, manipulation for purposes of deception or fraud will be seen as scientific ethical abuse and will be dealt with accordingly. For graphical images, this journal is applying the following policy: no specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if and as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g. changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend.

General points

• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.

• Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.

• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or use fonts that look similar.

• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.

• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.

• Provide captions to illustrations separately.

• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version.

• Submit each illustration as a separate file.

• Ensure that color images are accessible to all, including those with impaired color vision.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available.

You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.

Formats

If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is' in the native document format.

Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please 'Save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):

EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.

TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi.

TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.

TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.

Please do not:

• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors;

• Supply files that are too low in resolution;

• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF) or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color online (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites). Further information on the preparation of electronic artwork.

Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.

This section describes the references for this journal.

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

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. The [dataset] 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.

Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.

Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles, such as Mendeley. Using citation plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide. If you use reference management software, please ensure that you remove all field codes before submitting the electronic manuscript. More information on how to remove field codes from different reference management software.

Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line in the text. You can refer to author names within your text, but you must always give the reference number, e.g., “as demonstrated [3,6]. Barnaby and Jones [8] obtained a different result ....”.

Number the references in the reference list in the order in which they appear in the text.

Please note the 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) and more samples of formatted references.

Abbreviate journal names according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations (LTWA).

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 2020;163:51–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sc.2020.00372.

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. 2022;19:e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.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 a 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; 2023, p. 281–304.

Reference to a website:

[5] Cancer Research UK. Cancer statistics reports for the UK, http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/; 2023 [accessed 13 March 2023].

Reference to a dataset:

[6] Oguro M, Imahiro S, Saito S, Nakashizuka T. Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions [dataset], Mendeley Data, v1; 2015. https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.

Reference to software:

[7] Coon E, Berndt M, Jan A, Svyatsky D, Atchley A, Kikinzon E, et al. Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) v0.88 (Version 0.88) [software], Zenodo, 2020. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3727209.

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, at no cost, receive a customized Share Link providing 50 days free access to the final published version of the article on ScienceDirect. The Share Link can be used for sharing the article via any communication channel, including email and social media. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Corresponding authors who have published their article gold open access do not receive a Share Link as their final published version of the article is available open access on ScienceDirect and can be shared through the article DOI link.

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.