INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS
| Manuscript | Cover Letter | Title Page | Authorship | Abstract
| Text | Statistics | Acknowledgements | References | Tables | Figures
| Permission | Figure Legends | Appeal | Proofreading
  1. All manuscripts submitted to the Annals, Academy of Medicine, Singapore, must be original works which have not been previously published and must be submitted exclusively to the Annals.

  2. Following acceptance, the Publisher reserves copyright of all published materials and such materials may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the Publisher.

  3. Statements in articles are the responsibility of the authors.

  4. The Editorial Board will consider for publication manuscripts submitted in the format of the Vancouver style established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

  5. The Editorial Board reserves the right to edit all articles for purposes of style, format and clarity. All papers submitted to the Annals will be subjected to external and/or editorial review.

  6. Authors may be required to revise their manuscripts for reasons of style and content.

  7. Manuscripts with excessive typographical errors may be returned to authors for retyping.

  8. Compliance by authors to requested revisions does not automatically bind the Annals to publish any article.

  9. Rejected manuscripts will be destroyed unless requested by the author, in advance, to be returned.

  10. All case reports will only be considered as a Letter to the Editor.


The Manuscript

  1. Address manuscripts to "The Editor, 81 Kim Keat Road, #12-00 NKF Centre, Singapore 328836".

  2. Submit one soft copy of all elements of the manuscript on the Online Manuscript Submission system (http://www.annals.edu.sg/OnlineManuscript/). You will first be required to register as a User.

  3. Three separate types of documents should be prepared. Arrange them in the following order: (1) title page, (2) abstract, text, references, tables, legends, and (3) figures.

  4. Number all pages in chronological order.

  5. Remove all author-identifying details from the main text (Document 2) in order to ensure anonymity for a blinded review process. If your manuscript contains an Acknowledgements section, include it in the Document 1 - Title page.

  6. Type all matter on A4 size paper (210 X 297 mm), double-spaced and on one side only. Leave wide margins on all sides of the page.

  7. If you encounter problems with the Online Submission System, you may call or email us for assistance. Authors who cannot access the Online Submission System may submit their articles by mail (with a soft copy on disk or CD) or via email.


The Covering Letter

Manuscripts must be accompanied by a covering letter [see/use our sample] signed by all co-authors. This must include:

  1. information on prior publication or submission elsewhere of any part of the work,

  2. information on whether the submission is part of a companion paper or set of papers and whether the other papers will be submitted to the Annals,

  3. the contribution of each author briefly,

  4. a statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all authors,

  5. disclosure (if any) of their affiliations with or financial involvement with any commercial organisation with direct financial interest in the subject or materials discussed in the manuscript,

  6. whether the paper is being submitted as a free paper or for a specific theme issue (please specify the title of the theme issue),

  7. any additional information that may be helpful to the editor, such as whether the author(s) will be willing to meet the cost of reproducing colour illustrations. 

If all the co-authors have electronic signatures, you may submit the soft copy of the cover letter when submitting the manuscript online. If you are submitting the cover letter by mail or fax, please specify the title of the manuscript and/or tracking number on the cover letter for reference purposes.


Clinical Trials Registration

The Annals requires clinical trials to be registered in a public registry before consideration for publication. The definition of a clinical trial, from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), "is any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention and comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. By "medical intervention" we mean any intervention used to modify a health outcome. This definition includes drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, process-of-care changes, and the like ... a trial must have at least one prospectively assigned concurrent control or comparison group in order to trigger the requirement for registration.

Trials that begin enrollment on or after 1 July 2005 must be registered at or before the onset of patient enrollment. Trials that began enrollment before 1 July 2005 may be registered after enrollment began but must be registered prior to submission.

The registry must be accessible to the public at no charge. It must be open to all prospective registrants and managed by a not-for-profit organization. There must be a mechanism to ensure the validity of the registration data, and the registry should be electronically searchable.

An acceptable registry must include at minimum the following information:
  • a unique identifying number,

  • a statement of the intervention (or interventions) and comparison (or comparisons) studied,

  • a statement of the study hypothesis,

  • definitions of the primary and secondary outcome measures,

  • eligibility criteria,

  • key trial dates (registration date, anticipated or actual start date, anticipated or actual date of last follow-up, planned or actual date of closure to data entry, and date trial data considered complete),

  • target number of subjects,

  • funding source, and

  • contact information for the principal investigator.

Authors can obtain detailed information at www.ICMJE.org.


The Title Page should contain:

  1. the title of the article (do not use abbreviations);

  2. the full name of each author with maximum of three degrees (underline family name);

  3. positions of authors and names of departments and institutions to which they are attached;

  4. a short running head of no more than 40 characters (count letters and spaces); and

  5. name, address, telephone, email and fax numbers of author for correspondence and requests for reprints.


Authorship
Authorship of articles should be limited to those who have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. These include:

  1. conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of data, or both,

  2. drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and

  3. final approval of the version to be published.

    All other forms of participation such as general support by departmental chairman, financial and material support, grants, secretarial support, scientific advice, etc, should be mentioned as acknowledgements at the end of the paper.

  4. Any change in authors (e.g. additions, deletions or change of order) after the initial manuscript submission must be approved by all authors. An explanation of the change must be submitted to the Annals, signed by all authors, including the added/moved/removed authors.


Abstract

  1. Guidelines for Writing Structured Abstract
    A summary of the paper must be in the form of a structured abstract (maximum of 250 words for regular articles and reviews) using the following format:

  2. Original Articles
    Introduction: questions addressed

    Materials & Methods: design, setting, sample, interventions (if appropriate), chief outcome

    Results: main findings

    Conclusions: only those related to results, both positive and negative, and clinical research implications

  3. Review Articles
    Introduction: principal aims of the reviews

    Methods: sources of data, criteria for their selection

    Results: main findings

    Conclusions: principal conclusions, and clinical and research implications

  4. As the Annals has been listed in the Index Medicus and entered into the Medline On-Line Data Base, the abstract will be included with the citation in Medline. Thus, the abstract will appear in the print-out when a computer search retrieval is done. Consequently, we would urge all authors to ensure that a good and comprehensive abstract of their article is prepared with each publication.

  5. Please note that Letters to the Editor, Short Communications pieces, Obituaries/Tributes and Book Reviews do not require an Abstract.


The Text

  1. Original papers should normally not exceed 15 typewritten pages including tables, illustrations and references unless absolutely necessary. Interesting review articles will also be considered.

  2. System Internationale (SI) units should be used for measurements.

  3. Do not use abbreviations such as SVC, WPW. Write in full: superior vena cava, Wolff-Parkinson-White.

  4. Abbreviate measurements (mm, kcal, etc) as recommended by the Style Manual for Biological Sciences. All measurements should be in the metric system.

  5. Do not begin sentences with a numerical figure. Numbers should be spelt out in words if they lead a sentence.

  6. Cite in numerical order every reference, figure and table. (Order of mention in text determines the number given to each.) Use Arabic numerals in superscript to cite references.


Statistical Methods
Any statistical method used should be detailed in the methodology section of the paper and any not in common use should be described in detail and supported by references.


Acknowledgements
As a separate section in the Title page document, one or more statements could specify:

  1. contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship;

  2. acknowledgements of technical help and/or financial and material support.


References

  1. Place immediately after the text.

  2. Number the references in the order of which they are mentioned in the text.

  3. Abbreviate titles of journals according to the style used in Index Medicus.

  4. Follow the Vancouver style of referencing. For examples of proper referencing, refer to any of the articles published on this web site or go to http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html.


Tables

  1. Place each table on a new page.

  2. Give each table a number (eg. Table 1, 2, etc) and a title. Number tables in the order of which they are mentioned in the text.

  3. Provide a footnote to each table, identifying in alphabetical order all abbreviations used.


Figures

  1. Acceptable formats are Adobe Photoshop, .jpg and .tif, and Microsoft Power Point, .ppt. To ensure high-quality printing, resolution of 300dpi or higher is preferred. A separate file should be submitted for each figure.

  2. If hard copies are submitted, three glossy black and white prints of each photo or drawing are required. Please note that artwork of published articles will not be returned.

  3. Size of photos and drawings should not exceed 150 X 200 mm.

  4. Figures should be professionally drawn; freehand lettering is unacceptable.

  5. Use black ink for all charts and line drawings. Make decimals, broken lines, etc. strong enough for reproduction. Bar charts should be one-dimensional and only in tones of grey.

  6. Use arrows to designate special features.

  7. Orientate photographs by use of an arrow on the back to indicate the top end.
    Photomicrographs must show only the essential fields; magnification and staining technique used should be indicated.

  8. Identify figures on the back by number.

  9. Number figures in the order of which they are mentioned in the text.

  10. Colour photos will be published at the author's own expense.


Permission

  1. Wholesale reproduction of all previously published tables, charts, figures and photos will require written permission from the publisher concerned.

  2. Reproduction of modified data will require at least a reference citing.

  3. Patients shown in photographs should have their identity concealed or should give their written consent for publication.


Figure Legends

  1. List all figure legends on a separate page.

  2. All abbreviations used in the figures are to be identified and explained in the corresponding legends.


Appeal

All decisions made on the submitted manuscripts are final and the Annals do not encourage any appeal.


Proofreading

Authors will be provided with page-proofs to proofread for typesetting errors. Important changes in data are allowed but authors may be charged for excessive alterations. Proofs must be returned within the given deadline.