INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS
Journal of the Philippine Dermatological Society (JPDS)

The Journal of the Philippine Dermatological Society (JPDS) is the official publication of the Philippine Dermatological Society (PDS). The JPDS is designed to meet the continuing education needs of the PDS members and the medical community.  The JPDS is issued bi-annually to the PDS members and considers original articles related to dermatology for publication.  It also considers studies conducted in the Philippines that have been published in other scientific journals, in either its original, modified, or abstract form, with the written permission of the publisher and principal author.

SECTIONS OF THE JOURNAL
The following sections are features of the Journal:

1. Editorials: Brief, substantiated commentaries on limited  subjects

2. Let’s Hear from a Colleague: Contributions from members  of the PDS or other health professionals that provide updates  on specific topics relevant to dermatologists

3. Clinical trials/ Experimental research: Original, in-depth clinical or investigative laboratory research articles

4. Observational research: Original, in-depth observational studies such as cohort, case-control, cross-sectional   research

5. Reviews: Summaries of two or more original observational or experimental research presented as overviews or meta- analysis

6. Current evidence: Summaries of systematically searched and appraised current evidence regarding focused clinical problems or questions, presented as critically-appraised topics (CAT) or abstracts

7. Case reports/ Case series: In-depth reports of individual patient or series of patients that are of unusual interest

8. The Clinical Eye: Dermatology Photo Quiz: Multiple- choice questions and photographs focusing on specific  dermatology topics for the PDS’ members continuing education

9.  Meeting reports: Concise statements summarizing  important material for dermatologists presented at major dermatology meetings and seminars

10. Brief communications: Brief descriptions of case reports or clinical observations of unusual interest. Maximum of four double-spaced typewritten pages, maximum of two illustrations.  No abstract.

11. Correspondence: Brief letters or notes to the Editor that comment on articles that have appeared in the Journal.  Individual case reports should be submitted as Brief communications.

12. Announcements: Announcements of ongoing and future PDS activities, such as continuing medical education, board examination schedules,  conventions (local and international)

EDITORIAL POLICY

Contributions are reviewed by peers selected by the Editorial Board composed of Fellows of the Philippine Dermatological Society (PDS). Statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communications herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Editor(s) or the Philippine Dermatological Society.

CHECKLIST OF REQUIREMENTS

REPORTING GUIDELINES

The criteria for preparation of manuscripts are adopted from the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals”¹ established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org).  For reports of randomized controlled trials, authors should refer to the CONSORT statement (www.consort-statement.org). This guideline provides a set of recommendations comprising a list of items to report and a patient flow diagram.

PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPT

Type manuscript on white bond paper, 8 ½ X 11 inches (one side only) with margins of at least 1 inch on all sides.  Use double spacing throughout, including the title page, abstract, text, acknowledgements, references, tables, and legends for illustrations.  Begin each of the following sections on separate pages: title page, abstract, text, acknowledgements, references, individual tables, and legends.  Number pages consecutively, beginning with the title page.  Type the page number in the upper or  lower right-hand corner of each page.

Manuscripts will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that they are being submitted to one journal at a time and have not been published, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere.  This does not preclude considerations of a manuscript that has been rejected by another journal or of a complete report that follows publication of preliminary findings elsewhere, usually in the form of an abstract.  Copies of any possible duplicative published material should be submitted with the manuscript that is being sent for consideration.

The original numbered copy of the manuscript and all supporting material plus one (1) photocopy (not carbon copies) must be submitted to the Editor or Associate Editors (See Checklist of Requirements).

The manuscript shall be reviewed by the peer Editors and Editorial Board and by the peer reviewers chosen by the Editorial Board.  The manuscript may undergo revisions before it can be published. For each revision, submit the revised manuscript, together with the previous manuscript containing the comments and corrections, within two weeks from the time the edited manuscript was returned.

Once a manuscript is finally accepted, the Editor shall send a letter to the author informing her/him about the acceptance.  Return two copies of the revised and retyped manuscript and a CD of the final version of the manuscript.  Text, tables, and figures must be saved in separate electronic files. With a felt tip pen, label disc with the main author’s last name, the manuscript number, file names of the text, tables, and figures, and the type of word processing software used. The author accepts responsibility for the submitted electronic copy in the disc exactly matching the printout of the final version of the manuscript.

TITLE PAGE

The title page should contain (1) the title of the article which should be concise but informative; (2) a short running head or footnote of no more than 40 characters (counting letters and spaces) placed at the foot  of the title page; (3)  first name, middle initial, and last name of each author, with highest academic degree(s); (4) name of department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed;  (5)  disclaimer, if any;  (6) name and address of author responsible for correspondence about the manuscript; (7) name and address of author to whom requests for reprints should be addressed, or statement that reprints will not be available from the author; (8) the source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs or all of these.

AUTHORSHIP

All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship.  Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content.

Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to (a) conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of data, (b) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and (c) final approval of the version to be published.  Conditions (a), (b), and (c) must all be met.  Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship.  General supervision of the research group is also not sufficient for authorship.  Any part of an article critical to its main conclusions must be the responsibility of at least one author.

A paper with corporate (collective) authorship must specify the key persons responsible for the article.  Others contributing to the work should be recognized separately (see Acknowledgements and Other information).

Editors may require authors to justify the assignment of authorship.

ABSTRACT AND KEY WORDS

The second page should carry an abstract of not more than 150 words typed double-spaced on a separate sheet of paper.  Abstracts of papers submitted for publication in the Clinical trials/

Experimental research, Observational research, and Systematic Reviews should be organized as follows:

Background: What is the major problem that prompted the study?

Objective: What is the purpose of the study?

Methods: How was the study done?

Results: What are the most important findings?

Conclusion: What is the single most important conclusion?

For case reports and case series, the abstract and manuscript should have the following headings:

Introduction: Why is this case important enough to report?

Case Report: What are the details of the case?

Conclusion: How would you summarize the case report? What is the most important conclusion?

These headings must be used before each description. In the abstract, it is not permissible to state that the results or other data will be presented or discussed.  Use only approved abbreviations.

Below the abstract, provide and identify 3 to 10 key words or brief phrases that will assist the indexers in cross-indexing your article and that may be published with the abstract.  Use terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus.  If MeSH terms are not available for recently introduced terms, present terms may be used.  Enclose key words in parenthesis.

TEXT

The text of observational and experimental articles is usually, but not necessarily, divided into sections with the following headings: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Lengthy articles may need subheadings within some sections to clarify their content, especially the Results and Discussion sections.  Other types of articles such as case reports, reviews, and editorials may need other formats.  The authors should consult the journal editors for further guidance.

Introduction: Clearly state the purpose of the article.  Summarize the rationale for the study or observations.  Give only strictly pertinent references, and do not review the subject extensively.

Methods: Describe your selection of the observational or experimental subjects clearly (patients or experimental animals, including controls).  Specify the research design, inclusion and exclusion criteria, inclusive dates when study was conducted, site(s) where study was conducted, materials and equipment (manufacturer’s name and address in parenthesis), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results.  Give references to established methods, including statistical methods.  Provide references and brief descriptions of methods that have been published but are not well known. Describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations.

When reporting experiments on human subjects, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accord with the ethical standards of the Committee on Human Experimentation of the institutions in which the experiments were done, or were in accord with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975.  When reporting experiments on animal subjects, indicate whether the institution’s or the National Research Council’s guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.  Identify precisely all drugs and chemical used, including generic name(s), dosage(s), and route(s) of administration.  Do not use patient’s name, initials, or hospital numbers.

Statistics: Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results.  When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals).  Avoid sole reliance on statistical hypothesis testing, such as the use of p values, which fails to convey important quantitative information.  Discuss eligibility of experimental subjects.  Give details about randomization.  Describe the methods for, and success of any, blinding or observations.  Report losses to observations (such as dropouts from a clinical trial).  References for study design and statistical methods should be to standard works (with pages stated) when possible rather than to papers where designs or methods were originally reported.  Specify any general computer programs used.

Put general descriptions of methods in the ‘Methods’ section.  When data are summarized in the ‘Results’ section, specify the statistical methods used to analyze them.  Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support.  Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables.  Avoid non-technical uses of technical terms in statistics such as “random” (which implies a randomizing device), “normal”, “significant”, “correlation”, and “sample”.  Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols.

Results:  Present your results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations.  Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables and/or illustrations. Emphasize or summarize only important observations.  Include numbers of observations and the statistical significance of the findings when appropriate.  Detailed statistical analyses, mathematical derivations, and the like sometimes may be suitably presented in the form of one or more appendices.

Discussion: Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and conclusions that follow from them.  Do not repeat in detail the data given in the ‘Results’ section.  Include in the ‘Discussion’ the implications of the findings and their limitations and relate the observations to other relevant studies.  Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by your data.  Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed.  State new hypotheses when warranted, but clearly label them as such.  Recommendations, when appropriate, may be included.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledge only persons or agencies that have made substantive contributions to the study.  Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from everyone acknowledged by name because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions.

REFERENCES

Number references consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text.  Identify references in the text, tables, and legends by superscript Arabic numerals.  References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with a sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or illustrations.

Use the form of references adopted by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and used in Index Medicus.  Use the style of the examples cited at the end of this section.

The titles of the journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus.

Avoid using abstracts as references; unpublished observations and personal communications may not be used as references, although references to written, not verbal, communications may be inserted in the text enclosed in parentheses.  Information about manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted should be cited in the text as “unpublished observations” enclosed in parentheses.

The references must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents.

Examples of correct forms of references are given below:

Journals
Buechner SA, Li CY, Su WP.  Leukemia cutis: a histopathologic study of 42 cases.  Am J Dermatopathol 1985; 7:109-118.

Books
Moschella S, Hurley H, eds.  Dermatology.  Philadelphia:  WB Saunders, 1985:  1117-1125.

Chapters in books
Baker H.  Psoriasis.  In:  Rook A, Wilkinson DS, Ebling FJG,et al, eds.  Textbook of Dermatology.  Oxford:  Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1986:  1499-1510.

Dissertation or Thesis
Ramirez AT. Experimental wound healing in man (Dissertation).  Boston, MA:  Tufts University. 1965, 128 p.

Electronic material
Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases.  Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 1995 Jan-Mar [cited 1996 Jun 5]; 1(1):[24 screens].  Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/eid.htm

TABLES

Type each table on a separate sheet.  Remember to use double-spacing.  Do not submit tables as photographs.  Number tables consecutively and supply a brief title for each.  Give each column a short abbreviated heading.  Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading.  Explain in footnotes all nonstandard abbreviations that are used in each table.  Identify statistical measures of variation such as standard deviation (SD) and standard error of mean (SEM).

Omit internal horizontal and vertical rules.  Cite each table in the text in consecutive order.  If you use data from another published or unpublished source, obtain permission and acknowledge fully.

Having too many tables in relation to the length of the text may produce difficulties in the lay out of the paper.

The editor, on accepting the manuscript, may recommend that additional tables containing important back-up data too extensive to be published may be made available by the author(s).  In that event, an appropriate statement will be added to the text.  Submit such tables for consideration with the manuscript.
ILLUSTRATIONS

Black and white illustrations, color illustrations, and tabular materials will be published free in moderate numbers.  Excess illustrations and excess tabular materials and will be charged to the author.  Submit the required number of complete sets of figures. Figures should be professionally drawn and photographed: free hand or typewritten lettering is unacceptable.  Instead of original drawings, roentgenograms, and other materials, send sharp, glossy black and white photographic prints, usually 5 X 7 inches, but no larger than 8 X 10 inches.  Letters, numbers, and symbols should be clear and even throughout, and of sufficient size that when reduced for publication, each item will still be legible.  Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations, not on the illustrations themselves.

Each figure should have a label posted on its back indicating the number of the figure, the names of the author, and the top of the figure.  Do not write on the back of the figures or mount them on cardboard, or scratch or mark those using paper clips.  Do not bend figures.

If digital images such as photos from digital cameras and scanned images are used, each picture should have a minimum of 100kb JPEG in size and saved in CD with proper labeling.

Photomicrographs must have internal scale markers.  Symbols, arrows, or letters used in the photomicrographs should contrast with the background.

If photographs of persons are used, the subject must not be identifiable or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.

Cite each figure in the text in consecutive order.  If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material.  Permission is required, regardless of authorship or publisher, except for documents in the public domain.

LEGENDS FOR ILLUSTRATIONS

Type legends for illustrations double-spaced, starting on a separate page with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations.  When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one clearly in the legend.  Explain internal scale and identify method of staining in photomicrographs.

ABBREVIATIONS

Use only standard abbreviations.  Consult the following sources for standard abbreviations:  (1) Iverson, Cheryl et al, eds.  American Medical Association manual of style, 8th ed.  Baltimore:  Williams & Wilkins, 1989. (2) CBE Style Manual Committee.  Council of Biology Editors style manual:  a guide for authors, editors, and publishers with biological sciences, 4th ed.  Arlington:  Council of Biology Editors, 1978; and (3)  O’Connor M, Woodford FP.  Writing scientific papers in English:  an ELSE-Ciba Foundation guide for authors.  Amsterdam, Oxford, New York:  Elsevier-Excerpta Medica, 1975.  Avoid abbreviations in the title.  The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.

All hematological and clinical chemistry measurements should be reported in the metric system in terms of the International System of Units (SI).  Editors may request that alternative or non-SI units be added by the author before publication.

SUBMISSION OF CONTRIBUTIONS

Copies of the manuscript, illustrations, and other contributions or correspondence should be sent to the editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Philippine Dermatological Society.

Camille B. Angeles, MD, FPDS
Editor-in-Chief
Journal of the Philippine Dermatological Society
Room 1015 South Tower, Cathedral Heights Building Complex
St. Luke’s Medical Center, E Rodriguez Avenue, 1102 Quezon City
Tel. No. (632)723-0101 loc 2015 | Telefax No. (632)727-7309