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INTRODUCTION
This journal covers the formation, growth and differentiation of the human embryo. It is intended
to bring to public attention new research on biological and clinical research on human reproduction and the human embryo including relevant
studies on animals. Its audience comprises researchers, clinicians, practitioners, academics and patients.
Context
The period of human embryonic growth covered is between the formation of the primordial germ cells
in the fetus until mid-pregnancy. High quality research on lower animals is included if it helps to clarify the human situation. Studies
progressing to birth and later are published if they have a direct bearing on events in the earlier stages of pregnancy.
Relevant topics
•Fertility and infertility
• IVF and assisted reproduction
• Reproductive
endocrinology
• Reproductive physiology
• Fertilization
• Gamete donation
• Embryology
•
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)
• Genetic disorders afflicting the embryo and their alleviation
• Cloning
•
Stem cells
• Implantation and organogenesis
• Pregnancy, fetus and birth
• Ethics, social, legal, counselling
Ethics Bioscience and Life
Constant attention is applied to ethical matters. Where appropriate, articles
covering ethical, religious and political topics arising through the treatment and care of various clinical conditions will be published
in Ethics Bioscience and Life, an occasional supplement to the main journal that shares its impact factor. This supplement is
published twice annually.
Types of papers
Original articles: a
full-length report of original basic or clinical investigation. An unstructured abstract in a single paragraph, 200 words maximum is
required. This should be comprehensible to readers before they read the article. Avoid abbreviations and reference citations. The rest
of the paper should be structured as follows: Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, References.
RBMOnline gives priority to reports of original research that are likely to change clinical practice or thinking about a disease.
Submission of randomized controlled trials requires inclusion of a checklist and flowchart in accordance with the CONSORT guidelines
and the registration number of the trial and the name of the trial registry.
Short communications must not exceed 1,000 words
with no more than one table or illustration and five references. An unstructured abstract of no more than 100 words is required. The
text should be structured in four parts: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion.
Review articles: a comprehensive
review of prior publications relating to an important clinical subject. An unstructured abstract of no more than 250 words is required.
The Introduction should indicate why the topic is important and should state the specific objective(s) of the review. The Conclusion
should include the clinical implications and observations regarding the need for additional research. Systematic reviews should follow
the QUOROM guidelines.
Ethics, social, legal, counselling: articles covering ethical, religious and political topics arising
through the treatment and care of various clinical conditions in the field of reproductive medicine. An unstructured abstract in a single
paragraph, 200 words maximum is required. The text can be unstructured or structured under headings of author's choice.
Commentaries:
for topics that authors wish to 'air'. Must not exceed 2,000 words with no more than one table or illustration and 10 references. An
unstructured abstract of no more than 200 words is required. The text can be unstructured or structured under headings of author's choice.
Letters to the Editor: a question or challenge to an article published recently in RBMOnline. Letters must be received within
6 weeks of publication of the article to which they refer and should be no longer than 250 words.
News: international news
from a wide variety of sources, and other matters of relevance to the journal's fields of study are invited. These should be 200-700
words in length and may be published at the Editor's discretion.
Contact details for
submission
Submission of manuscripts proceeds entirely online at  http://ees.elsevier.com/rbmo. Authors may send
queries concerning the submission process, manuscript status, or journal procedures to the RBMOnline Editorial Office at office@rbmonline.com
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Ethics in Publishing
For information
on Ethics in Publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication see http://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and
http://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.
Policy and ethics
The
work described in your article must have been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association
(Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm; EC Directive 86/609/EEC
for animal experiments http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/legislation_en.htm; Uniform Requirements
for manuscripts submitted to Biomedical journals http://www.icmje.org. This must be stated at an appropriate point
in the article.
Conflict of interest
All authors are requested to disclose
any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations
within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. See
also http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.
Submission declaration
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract
or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), 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 including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written
consent of the copyright-holder.
Contributors
Submission of multi-authored
manuscripts to this journal requires the consent of each author and all have to sign the covering letter. All authors of, and all contributors
(including medical writers and editors) must specify their individual contributions at the end of the text. The following format is suggested:
"I declare that I participated in the (here list contributions made to the study) and that I have seen and approved the final version.
I have the following conflicts of interest" (list here all relevant conflicts and source of funding). This should be listed in the "Comments"
field in EES.
Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be
asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright).
Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. 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 (please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions). 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: please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.
Retained author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details
you are referred to: http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.
Role of the
funding source
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 paper for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such
involvement then this should be stated. Please see http://www.elsevier.com/funding.
Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose
articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions
of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.
Language and language services
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted,
but not a mixture of these). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission
please visit http://www.elsevier.com/languageediting or our customer support site at http://epsupport.elsevier.com
for more information.
Patient details
Unless you have written permission
from the patient (or, where applicable, the next of kin), the personal details of any patient included in any part of the article and
in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission. For further information see
http://www.elsevier.com/patientphotographs.
Submission
Submission
to this journal proceeds totally online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via the homepage of this journal, http://ees.elsevier.com/rbmo,
you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. The system automatically converts source files to
a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript
source files are converted to PDF at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance.
All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail and via the author's
homepage, removing the need for a hard-copy paper trail.
Referees
To expedite
the review process, authors are invited to provide the editorial office with the names and email addresses of 3 potential referees that
are able to competently review the article submitted for possible publication. The referees are not to be associated with or involved
with the article in any way or be from the same institution as the author(s) involved with the article, and preferably not resident in
the same country.
PREPARATION
Use of wordprocessing software
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the wordprocessor 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 wordprocessor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words.
However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. Do not embed "graphically designed" equations or tables, but prepare
these using the wordprocessor's facility. 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: http://www.elsevier.com/guidepublication).
Do not import the figures into the text file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on
the manuscript. See also the section on Electronic illustrations.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the
"spell-check" and "grammar-check" functions of your wordprocessor.
Article structure
Subdivision - unnumbered sections
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".
Introduction
The Introduction should describe the question addressed by the report and must state the
objective of the research. The literature review should be relevant but not detailed.
Materials and methods
The Materials and methods section should describe the research methodology in sufficient detail
that others could reasonably be expected to be able to duplicate the work. However, if the methodology has been previously published,
the appropriate reference should be cited, and a full description is not required. Methods of statistical analysis should be identified
and, when appropriate, the basis for their selection stated. Statistical software programs used should be cited in the text. P
values should be expressed to no more than three decimal places. Reports in which statistical difference is lacking must provide some
indication of the study's power to detect such differences, and this information must be included in the abstract.
Results
The Results section should present the findings in appropriate detail. Tables and figures may
be used, but duplication between text and tables or figures is to be avoided.
Discussion
The Discussion section should be used to critically appraise the implications of the findings and to compare them with those of other
studies. Repetition of the results section should be avoided.
Conclusions
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.
Essential title page information
•
Title.
Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations
and formulae where possible.
•
Author names and affiliations.
Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a
double name), please indicate this clearly. 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. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address
and the complete postal address.
•
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.
Abstract
A concise and factual
abstract is required, 200 words maximum. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major
conclusions. An abstract is often presented separate from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References
should be avoided, but if essential, they must be cited in full, without reference to the reference list. Also, non-standard or uncommon
abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
Keywords
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. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.
Summary
A summary for lay readers is required of 250 words maximum. This must be understandable to a wider lay public
and to patients. This summary is available on a special Patients' page on the journal homepage. It can be based on the Abstract, but
all complex terms must be described simply.
Please submit as a supplementary item.
Abbreviations
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.
Acknowledgements
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 proofreading the article, etc.).
Persons who have contributed intellectually to the
paper but whose contributions do not justify authorship may be named and their function or contribution described, e.g. "scientific adviser,"
"data collections," or "participation in clinical trial." Such persons must have given their permission to be named. Authors are responsible
for obtaining written permission from the persons acknowledged by name, because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions.
Nomenclature and units
Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system
of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI. You are urged to consult IUB: Biochemical Nomenclature
and Related Documents: http://www.chem.qmw.ac.uk/iubmb/ for further information.
Accession numbers
Accession numbers are unique identifiers in bioinformatics allocated to nucleotide and protein sequences
to allow tracking of different versions of that sequence record and the associated sequence in a data repository [e.g., databases at
the National Center for Biotechnical Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine ('GenBank') and the Worldwide Protein Data
Bank]. There are different types of accession numbers in use based on the type of sequence cited, each of which uses a different coding.
Authors should explicitly mention the type of accession number together with the actual number, bearing in mind that an error
in a letter or number can result in a dead link in the online version of the article. Please use the following format: accession number
type ID: xxxx (e.g., MMDB ID: 12345; PDB ID: 1TUP). Note that in the final version of the electronic copy, accession numbers
will be linked to the appropriate database, enabling readers to go directly to that source from the article.
Footnotes
Footnotes should NOT be used in the text of submissions to the main journal of RBMOnline. Footnotes
are permitted sparingly in submissions to the Ethics, Bioscience and Life supplement to RBMOnline. If used, number them consecutively
throughout the article, using superscript Arabic numbers. Many wordprocessors build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be
used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves separately at
the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list. Table footnotes are permitted in all submissions. Indicate
each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter.
Artwork
Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing
of your original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
• Only use the following
fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
•
Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit each figure as a separate file.
A detailed guide
on electronic artwork is available on our website:
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
You are urged
to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Regardless of the application
used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, 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: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save
the text as "graphics".
TIFF: color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line
drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office applications please supply "as is".
Please
do not:
• Supply embedded graphics in your wordprocessor (spreadsheet, presentation) document;
• Supply files that
are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Color
artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS 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 on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations
are reproduced in color in the printed version. For color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs
from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for color in print or on the Web only. For
further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Please
note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting color figures to "gray scale" (for the printed version should
you not opt for color in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the color illustrations.
Figure captions
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.
Tables
Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the
table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that
the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.
References
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references. The 'Harvard' style is used. References appearing
for the first time in a table or figure should be cited in the text where the table or figure is mentioned.
Citation in text
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.
Web references
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.
Reference style
Text: All citations
in the text should refer to:
1. Single author: the author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year
of publication;
2. Two authors: both authors' names and the year of publication;
3. Three or more authors:
first author's name followed by "et al." and the year of publication.
Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups
of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.
Examples: "as demonstrated (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999;
Allan and Jones, 1995). Kramer et al. (2000) have recently shown ...."
List: References should be arranged first alphabetically
and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified
by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J., Lupton, R.A., 2000. The art of writing a scientific article. J. Sci. Commun. 163, 51-59.
Reference
to a book:
Strunk Jr., W., White, E.B., 1979. The Elements of Style, third ed. Macmillan, New York.
Reference to a chapter in
an edited book:
Mettam, G.R., Adams, L.B., 1999. How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: Jones, B.S., Smith , R.Z.
(Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age. E-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281-304.
Journal abbreviations
Journal names should be abbreviated according to Index Medicus journal abbreviations: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html
Video data
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 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 files in
one of our recommended file formats with a maximum size of 30 MB and running time of 5 minutes. Video and animation files supplied will
be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com.
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 at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. 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 data
Elsevier accepts electronic
supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities
to publish supporting applications, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will
be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com.
In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please provide the data in one of our recommended file formats. Authors
should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file.
For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Submission checklist
It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior
to sending it to the journal's Editor for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure
that the following items are present:
One Author designated as corresponding Author:
• E-mail address
• Full
postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded
• Keywords
• All figure
captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been "spellchecked"
and "grammar-checked"
• References are in the correct format for this journal
• 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 Web)
• Color figures are clearly marked as being intended for color reproduction on the Web (free of charge)
and in print or to be reproduced in color on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print
• If only color on the
Web is required, black and white versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes
For any further information please
visit our customer support site at http://epsupport.elsevier.com..
AFTER ACCEPTANCE
Use of the Digital Object Identifier
The
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character
string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore,
it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles in press' because they have not yet received their full bibliographic
information. The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows (example taken from a document in the journal Physics Letters
B):
doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2003.10.071
When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, they are guaranteed
never to change.
Proofs
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. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can
be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 (or higher) available free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the
Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win.
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 return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or by post. 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. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your 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. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.
Offprints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail.
For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication.
The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer
outlining the terms and conditions of use.
AUTHOR INQUIRIES
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