ASN Journal Policies: This printable PDF version contains the entirety of the different components and policies discussed on this page.
CJASN Instructions for Authors
ASN Policy on Scientific Misconduct
ASN journals uphold the highest standards of peer review and academic publishing. The work of authors and reviewers contributes to our common aim of understanding the latest advances in basic, clinical, and translational research. In very rare instances, editors receive notification or allegations of misconduct related to studies submitted to ASN journals, and our process for responding to such notification is detailed in the “ASN Policy on Scientific Misconduct.”
Editorial Policies
Authorship: ASN journals have adopted the criteria recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) in the current update of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals:
“Authorship credit should be based on
- substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
- drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
- final approval of the version to be published; and
- agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work pre- and post-publication.
Note the full text of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals.
For author contributors, ASN journals have adopted this statement from the Annals of Internal Medicine: “When used, professional writing assistance must be acknowledged. If those assisting with the writing do not meet criteria for authorship their contributions should be noted in the acknowledgments.”
Study Group Authors: If the author list includes study group(s), submitting authors must provide a list of the participating study group(s) and contributors in the manuscript and the online submission form. The list may contain a collaboration of individuals (e.g., investigators) and/or the name of an organization (e.g., a laboratory, educational institution, corporation, or department) and its members. If the list of group members’ names exceeds 4250 characters, the group members’ names will appear in the Supplemental Material and will still be indexed in PubMed.
Authorship Contributions: ASN journals require submitting authors to include authorship contributions during submission by utilizing Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT). CRediT provides several benefits, including enabling visibility and recognition of the different contributions of researchers.
Duplicate Submission or Prior Publication: During submission, authors must state that neither the manuscript nor any significant part of it is under consideration for publication elsewhere or has appeared elsewhere in a manner that could be construed as a duplicate or prior publication of the same, or similar, work. Abstracts for scientific meetings are not considered previous publication but should be cited in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript. Should there be doubt concerning prior publications, the title page and abstract of such material and of related manuscripts submitted for publication at other journals must be included with the preprint server by the author will not be considered prior publication; see the “Preprints” section below for additional information.
Image Forensics: ASN journals require that images submitted and published in CJASN, JASN, or Kidney360 be as close as possible to the original images, with minimal processing. Image forensics programs are used to detect selective processing. For guidance on image integrity, ASN journals encourage authors to review Nature Research’s editorial policies. Prior to publication, all images are screened for potential manipulation and any findings are reviewed by the editors. The respective journal will contact authors directly should image manipulation concerns arise.
ORCID: ASN strongly encourages every author to register for and use an ORCID iD (a persistent digital identifier) that distinguishes each researcher from others with similar names. An ORCID iD connects an author’s affiliations, grants, publications, peer review, and more to ensure recognition for all contributions. Authors can register directly through each journal’s submission system. Instructions on how to associate an ORCID iD are available.
Plagiarism: ASN journals utilize Crossref Similarity Check, powered by iThenticate, to screen for potential plagiarism (including self-plagiarism) prior to manuscript acceptance. The respective journal will contact authors directly should plagiarism concerns arise.
Preprints: Posting of un-refereed manuscripts to a community preprint server by the author will not be considered prior publication, provided that the following conditions are met:
1. During submission, authors must acknowledge preprint server deposition and provide associated accession numbers and/or digital object identifiers (DOIs); and
2. The preprint server should meet NIH standards for interim research product repositories as available on the NIH website.
CJASN accepts preprint manuscript submissions directly from bioRxiv and medRxiv. Authors do not have to spend time reloading manuscript files and reentering author information during submission. Authors can visit https://www.biorxiv.org/submit-a-manuscript and https://www.medrxiv.org/submit-a-manuscript, respectively, to submit their preprint transfers to CJASN.
Registry, Data Sharing, and Adherence Policies
Requirement for Registration of Clinical Trials: A clinical trial is defined as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. As a condition of consideration for publication, ASN journals require registration in a public trial registry. Trials must be registered before the onset of patient enrollment. This policy applies to any clinical trial. Studies designed for other purposes, such as to study pharmacokinetics or major toxicity (e.g., phase 1 trials) are exempt. ASN journals do not advocate a specific registry, but registration must be with a registry that meets the following minimum criteria:
1. Accessible to the public at no charge, searchable by standard electronic (internet-based) methods, open to all prospective registrants free of charge or at minimal cost, validation of registered information, and identification of trials with a unique number.
2. Provide information on the investigator(s), the research question or hypothesis, methodology, intervention and comparisons, eligibility criteria, primary and secondary outcomes measured, date of registration, anticipated or actual start date, anticipated or actual date of last follow-up, target number of subjects, status (anticipated, ongoing, or closed), and funding source(s).
The registration number and the date of registration must be included within the “Methods” section of the manuscript.
Examples of registries that meet ICMJE approval are listed below. This registries list is current as of October 19, 2020 and is subject to change. ASN journals will also review articles registered elsewhere on a case-by-case basis.
1. www.anzctr.org.au
2. www.clinicaltrials.gov
3. www.ISRCTN.org
4. www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index/htm
5. www.trialregister.nl
6. https://eudract.ema.europa.eu/
(new registrations after June 20, 2011)
Data Sharing: ASN journals subscribe to the ICMJE Data Sharing policy for clinical trials.
All manuscripts that report the results of clinical trials must contain a data sharing statement with the following information:
1. Whether individual deidentified participant data (including data dictionaries) will be shared;
2. What data in particular will be shared;
3. Whether additional, related documents will be available (e.g., study protocol, statistical analysis plan, etc.);
4. When the data will become available and for how long; and
5. By what access criteria data will be shared (including with whom, for what types of analyses, and by what mechanism).
All submitted manuscripts that report systems-level analyses (‘-omics’) must deposit data in a publicly accessible archiving site and provide appropriate links and dataset identifiers in the Methods section. Examples include:
1. For DNA-based assays, such as GWAS (SNP array), whole-exome sequencing (WES), or whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data, including primary genotype data and genome-wide statistics:
• European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA) (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ega/)
• The Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gap)
2. For RNA-based assays, such as genome-wide gene expression data (array-based, RNA-seq-based, other), including primary data and summary statistics
• European Nucleotide Archive (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena)
• Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/)
3. For proteomic data: PRoteomics IDEntifications database (PRIDE) (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pride/archive/).
Animals: For all animal studies, authors must state adherence to the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals or the equivalent. Authors reporting animal studies are encouraged to refer to the ARRIVE guidelines. For studies that report several experimental series, inclusion of a supplemental table summarizing key features of all experimental series is encouraged. The table should list the series, animals used, the intervention, the sample size, outcome measures, whether there was experimenter or observer blinding, and figure and table numbers for results.
Antibodies: A description of all antibodies used should be included in the Methods, providing the source and catalog/clone number for commercial antibodies or a description/reference to a description of the generation of custom antibodies. Steps to verify specificity should be described.
Cell Lines: Authors must describe the source of all cell lines utilized. As appropriate, include information regarding authentication of cell lines.
Declaration Policies
Animal Experimentation: For all animal experimentation described in the manuscript, ASN journals require that the Methods section include a statement of adherence to the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals or an international equivalent. Find the full text of these NIH guidelines here.
Institutional Review Board or Ethics Committee Oversight: For all clinical experimentation, indicate approval by an Institutional Review Board or equivalent Ethics Committee with oversight authority for the protection of human research subjects within the Methods section. If the study is deemed exempt from Institutional Review Board or Ethics Committee approval, provide the reason for exemption.
Declaration of Helsinki: ASN journals require that authors state in the Methods section adherence to the Declaration of Helsinki. Find the full text of the Declaration of Helsinki here.
Declaration of Istanbul: The purpose of the Declaration is to combat organ trafficking, transplant tourism, and transplant commercialism and to encourage adoption of effective and ethical transplantation practices around the world. ASN journals require that studies related to clinical organ transplantation include the following wording in the Methods section: “The clinical and research activities being reported are consistent with the Principles of the Declaration of Istanbul as outlined in the ‘Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism.’” Find the Declaration of Istanbul here.
Organs from Executed Prisoners: ASN journals do not accept manuscripts whose data derive from transplants involving organs obtained from executed prisoners.
Format and Process
Permission Requests: Letters granting permission to reprint figures or other copyrighted material must be included from the source publisher for all previously printed or adapted material. Permissions must be uploaded as Supporting Documents when the manuscript is submitted through the journal’s submission system. Any permission requests for a figure or other material from an article published within an ASN journal can be submitted online using the link for the Copyright Clearance Center on the referenced article page.
Transfers: If a manuscript is deemed not suitable for one ASN journal, authors may request the transfer of their manuscript for consideration to another ASN journal. The submitting author may indicate their transference preference at the time of initial submission to any ASN journal. If a submitting author has elected to transfer their manuscript, the manuscript files, including reviews, will automatically be supplied to the transferred journal. The comments from the editors and reviewers will be used at the discretion of the receiving journals’ editorial team.
Manuscript Components
Checklists
ASN journals expect authors to adhere to established guidelines for reporting of preclinical and clinical research. Adapted versions of the checklists noted below are available in “Author Resources.”
- CHEERS Checklist for Economic Evaluation of Health Interventions
- CONSORT Checklist for Clinical Trials
- COREQ Checklist for Reporting Qualitative Studies
- PRISMA Checklist for Systematic Reviews
- SQUIRE Checklist (Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence)
- STROBE Checklist for Observational Studies
- TRIPOD Checklist for Prediction Model Development and Validation
*Randomized Controlled Trials: ASN journals encourage authors submitting reports of randomized controlled trials to review the CONSORT Statement. The same considerations apply for secondary analyses of randomized trials that are analyzed by treatment arm. Authors preparing reports of randomized clinical trials are expected to include a CONSORT flow diagram as the first figure in the manuscript.
Disclosures
ASN journals have adopted the ASN Conflict of Interest and Disclosure Policy. Instructions are automatically emailed to each author at the appropriate time following submission. An ASN Journal Disclosure Form must be completed for each manuscript. The form must be submitted by each author and it must include the unique Manuscript ID and Manuscript Title for the submitted article.
ASN journals are committed to ensuring the integrity of its scientific, educational, and research activities. ASN’s conflict of interest policy requires disclosure of any financial or other interest (commitment) that might be construed as resulting in an actual, potential, or perceived conflict. Authors of submissions to CJASN, JASN, or Kidney360, are required to disclose any financial relationship or commitment for the previous 36 months held by the author and any spouse/partner of the author. The form must be submitted even if an author has no disclosures to report.
Failure to comply and/or accurately and completely report the potential financial conflicts of interest could lead to the following: 1) Prior to publication, article rejection, or 2) Post-publication, sanctions ranging from, but not limited to, issuing a correction, reporting the inaccurate information to the authors’ institution, banning authors from submitting work to ASN journals for varying lengths of time, and/or retraction of the published work.
Funding
Authors should report all funding sources that were used to support the submitted work. If applicable, grant names and numbers must be provided. Information for funders who have supplied funds outside of the submitted work should be placed in the Disclosures section and not in the Funding section.
Acknowledgments
Information in the “Acknowledgments” section of the manuscript may include any/all the following:
1. Personal thanks for technical assistance, advice; performance of special tests; use of laboratory facilities; manuscript preparation, including editorial or clerical assistance from individual persons (e.g., individuals who helped type or proofread the manuscript); critical review of the manuscript;
2. Brief dedications;
3. Previous presentation information;
4. Author degree candidacy and relationship of the submitted work to the degree;
5. References to sources of material related to the research;
6. Role of sponsors, government agencies, or employers in the research presented; and
7. Disclaimers (“The content of this publication does not reflect the views or policies of …”).
Publication Policies
Embargo Policy
All information regarding the content and publication date of accepted manuscripts is strictly confidential. Information contained in or about accepted articles may not appear in print or electronic format, nor on the radio, television, or social media, or be released by the news media until after 5:00 PM EST on the day the article appears in the Published-Ahead-of-Print page on the journal’s website or on the day the published version is mailed, whichever comes first. This policy is not meant to inhibit the presentation of the work to, or its discussion among, other researchers. For information about publication dates for specific articles, contact Christine Feheley at 202-640-4638 or email cfeheley@asn-online.org.
Copyright
ASN journals require authors of all submitted manuscripts to assign copyright of their published contributions. The author copyright license form provides policy details. After submission of an article, each author will receive an email with a link to a copyright form. Each author must sign and date the form and submit it electronically. ASN journals recognize that for US Government employees, work created within the scope of their employ is in the public domain, and copyright transfer is not required for such work.
Publication Fees and Open Access
Publication Fees
1. Page Charges: Authors will be charged $70.00 per manuscript page.
2. Figure Charges: Authors will be charged $500.00 per color page. (Figures submitted in color will be published in color.)
3. Invited Material Charges: Authors of invited material are exempt from page and figure charges.
Open Access
ASN journals recognize and support the efforts of sponsoring agencies and institutions to increase access to the research that they fund. ASN journals automatically submit all articles directly to PubMed Central, where they will be freely accessible within 12 months of publication. If an article needs to be made freely accessible upon online publication, ASN journals offer the Author Choice program. For an additional fee, articles are made freely accessible immediately upon online publication. See the “Author Choice” section for details. Authors are encouraged to archive their version of the manuscript in their institution’s repository. Authors should cite the publication reference and DOI on any deposited version and provide a link from their version to the published article on the journal’s website. Journal articles are freely accessible to researchers in developing countries through the Health Inter Network Access to Research Initiative (HINARI).
Author Choice
Authors may choose to have the digital posting of their manuscript freely accessible immediately upon publication through a program called “Author Choice.” The Author Choice flat fee to make an author’s manuscript freely accessible upon publication online is $3000. The fee must be prepaid before the manuscript will be made accessible. Authors will have the opportunity to make this choice during submission and/or when the page proofs and invoice are received.
Payment
Within 48 hours of receiving the page proofs, authors of articles in each of the three journals will receive an email from aubilling.djs@sheridan.com with a link to the online billing and reprint ordering system. The author must log into this site to review the publication charge estimate and provide payment information for all applicable charges (purchase order or credit card information). At this stage, the author can also order reprints. For questions regarding the estimate or ordering reprints, contact aubilling.djs@sheridan.com or call 802-882-1655. Pricing includes the purchase of reprints by the author(s) for personal use only. Nonauthors can purchase reprints via Sheridan Content Services by contacting Marcus Glover at 800-635-7181 (x8065) or email marcus.glover@sheridan.com.