Instructions for Authors

Authorship Criteria

All authors should meet the following criteria:

1.Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
2.Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
3.Final approval of the version to be published.
4.Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

DND adheres to the guidelines set by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Duplicate submissions or publications are strictly prohibited. Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest.

Types of Manuscript

DND publishes Original Articles, Reviews, Letters to the Editor, and Editorials, in addition to articles commissioned by the Editorial Committee. The manuscripts are subject to peer review. Identities of peer reviewers and authors are kept confidential. Final decisions regarding manuscript publication are made by the Editor.

Original Articles

Original Articles include reports on original clinical and translational research and related topics. Although there is no set limit for the length of Original Articles, it is highly recommended that they be no longer than 4000 words excluding the Abstract, tables, figure legends, and references. The Abstract should be no longer than 250 words, and should contain the following headings: Background and Purpose, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. A combined total of seven figures and tables are allowed; additional tables and figures may be provided as online Supplementary Data.

Reviews

Reviews are usually solicited by the Editor-in-Chief, and are subject to the same review process as the other types of manuscript prior to being accepted for publication. Reviews must have an Abstract, but there is no structured format for it. It is recommended that Reviews have a minimum length of 3000 words excluding the Abstract, tables, figure legends, and references.

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor should be no longer than 750 words, including the title page and references. Only one figure or table is allowed, and subheadings should not be used.

Editorials

Editorials are accepted by invitation only (from the Editor-in-Chief), and are commentaries on timely and important topics. Editorials express the personal views of the authors and do not represent the opinions of DND. Words counts are not limited, and subheadings should not be used.

No guarantee of manuscript acceptance

All submitted manuscripts are subject to editorial review and peer review. Submission does not guarantee acceptance.

Manuscript Submission

DND offers authors Web-based manuscript submission and peer review at https://www.editorialmanager.com/dnd/. Please review the instructions at the website carefully and take note of the additional instructions provided at the top of each screen of the five-stage submission process. Submit your manuscript and all figures exactly as instructed to avoid rejection or a delay in processing.

Users must register when accessing the DND online submission system for the first time, by clicking on "Register." Three steps are involved in obtaining a personal account.

ID/Password

We strongly recommend using your email address as your ID, since this represents a unique and easy-to-remember identifier that will be needed each time you log onto the system (as a reviewer or author). The password will be encrypted for security reasons, and will not be known to any of the DND staff. A verification message will be emailed to you at the email address you used to register.

Profile

Once you have verified your email address, you will be asked to provide a basic profile consisting of your contact information.

Uploading a Manuscript

Once logged onto the DND online submission system, click on "Submit a new manuscript." You will be presented with a series of fields for entering information about your manuscript and uploading the manuscript and any images and supplementary files.

The system will automatically convert your files into a single PDF file for the review procedure. You will be asked to approve the converted file before your manuscript is formally accepted for submission to DND. The conversion process can take up to 30 minutes, and an email will be sent informing you when the conversion is complete. Click on "Ready for you to proof" in the author area to check that the manuscript has been converted correctly.

You may begin a submission or continue the process at a later date by clicking on "Save/Continue" at the bottom of the screen when entering your manuscript information. This enables you to save that page or continue to the next page. If you choose not to complete the submission during a particular session, your manuscript will appear in the "incomplete submission" queue under "My Manuscript."Do not submit the same manuscript more than once.

After completing the submission, the manuscript number will be sent to the email address specified, and this should be quoted in all subsequent communications. This email notification will be sent after we have confirmed that the format of the submitted manuscript is consistent with the DND style. Manuscripts that do not conform to this style might be returned to you so that you can correct the style before further review.

Supplementary Data

Supplementary Data are contents (such as raw data, figure, table, and video file) that the authors wish to make available online if the manuscript is accepted for publication.

Manuscript Status

Authors who submit online using the DND online submission system can keep track of the progress of their manuscript throughout the peerreview process by visiting the DND online submission page and clicking on "My Manuscript."

Submitting a Revision

To submit a revised manuscript via the DND online submission system, click on "Submit a revised manuscript." You will be presented with information about the original version of your manuscript, which should be edited as necessary. You will then be required to upload the files related to the revised version (see "Manuscript Submission"for further details). Please include your point-by-point responses to the reviewer comments and a cover letter to the Editor-in-Chief. In addition, please submit a copy of the revised manuscript indicated new text using red colored type (without a change of the font type or underlining).

Manuscript Preparation

A. Article Types

DND publishes the following categories of publications:

• • Original Articles
• • Review Articles
• • Case Reports
• • Health Statistics
• • Guidelines
• • Protocols
• • Data Paper
• • Images and Solutions
• • Editorials
• • Opinions
• • Correspondence
• • Letters to the Editor
• • Others

Original Articles: Present results of basic and clinical investigations that are well-documented and meet the scrutiny of critical readers.

Review Articles: Provide comprehensive analysis of specific topics. Both invited reviews and systematic reviews/meta-analyses covering topics of interest are welcomed.

Case reports: Case reports are published under exceptional circumstances to illustrate rare occurrences of clinical significance. They should address important issues for medical researchers and preferably include helpful illustrations.

Health statistics: Health statistics primarily focus on presenting and analyzing quantitative data related to health, healthcare, and public health. The content should contain numerical data, statistical analyses, and trends related to various health indicators, disease prevalence, healthcare utilization, mortality rates, and other health-related metrics. Data sources are usually from national health surveys, registries, administrative databases, or other large-scale data collection efforts.

Guidelines: Clinical practice guidelines and other types of guidelines are welcomed. Clinical practice guidelines are systematically developed statements designed to assist practitioners and patients in making decisions about appropriate healthcare for specific clinical circumstances. Reporting Guidelines provide structure for reporting research studies to improve the quality and transparency of research reporting Ethics guidelines address ethical considerations in clinical practice or research.

Protocols: Protocols comprehensively and precisely describe a planned or ongoing research study. It typically includes background and rationale for the study, specific objectives or hypotheses, detailed methodology (study design, participants, interventions, outcomes), statistical analysis plan, ethical considerations, and dissemination plans for results.

Data paper: Data papers aim to provide detailed descriptions of datasets, making them discoverable, citable, and reusable by other researchers. A data paper typically includes description of the dataset, methods used to collect the data, data validation and quality control procedures, information on how to access the data, any limitations or caveats about the data.

Images and solutions: These manuscripts are published for educational purposes only under exceptional circumstances, when they illustrate rare occurrences of clinical importance.

Editorials: Editorials are invited comments on recently accepted manuscripts, published subjects, present emerging topics, or interesting events.

Opinions: Opinion pieces offer creative perspectives on medical issues.

Correspondence: Correspondence typically provides a platform for readers to discuss current issues in medicine or share brief observations and opinions. Correspondence includes brief reports of novel findings, discussions of timely medical issues, professional opinions on current topics in medicine, or other topics not dealt as a formal article.

Letters to the editor: Letters provide rapid publication of new findings of unique importance in clinical settings, recent opinions on articles, or topics of interest published in the journal.

Others: Other publication types, such as important announcements in medicine or medical education, may be accepted. Contact the editorial office to discuss the required format with the Editorial Board. Articles from medical students are accepted at the editors' discretion.

B. General Requirements

Language: All manuscripts must be written in English. Proper proofreading is required.

File Format: Submissions should be uploaded as Microsoft Word files, with figures in separate files. Manuscripts must be double-spaced in 12-point font, preferably Times New Roman, with 2.5 cm margins on all sides. Use left-justification only (i.e., the right margin should not be justified). Number all manuscript pages consecutively, starting with the title page.

Anonymization: Submit the author information page and manuscript as separate files, ensuring the manuscript is anonymized for double-blind peer review. Units & Terms: Use SI units and standard medical terminology.

Abbreviations: Only use abbreviations for terms that appear at least twice. Define all abbreviations separately on first use in both the Abstract and main text.

Automated Formatting: Remove any automatic formatting features before submitting the manuscript (e.g., when using EndNote, remove the field codes before submission).

C. Key Features

Key features and limits of articles are summarized in Table 1 below. However, the limits are negotiable with the editor.

Table 1. Key features and limits of articles

Type of article	Abstract (words)	Text (words)*	References	Tables and figures (combined)
Original article	Structured, 250	4,000	50	Maximum 7
Review article	Unstructured, 250	3,000	Not limited	Not limited
Editorial	NR	Not specified	Not limited	Not limited
Letter to the editor	NR	750	Not limited	Not limited

NR, not required.
*Text length should be appropriate to the content while remaining concise. The above counts are recommended; however, they may be negotiable under certain circumstances.

D. Reporting Guidelines

Authors should follow the relevant reporting guidelines for their study design. DND requires compliance with the reporting guidelines summarized below:

Initiative	Type of study	Source
CONSORT	Randomized controlled trials	https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/consort/
STROBE	Observational studies	https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/strobe/
STARD	Diagnostic/prognostic studies	https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/stard/
PRISMA	Systematic reviews and meta-analyses	https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/prisma/
CARE	Case reports	https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/care/
COREQ	Qualitative research	https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/coreq/
TREND	Non-randomized controlled trials	https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/improving-the-reporting-quality-of-nonrandomized-evaluations-of-behavioral-and-public-health-interventions-the-trend-statement/

For additional guidance, authors can consult the EQUATOR Network (https://www.equator-network.org/) and the National Library of Medicine (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/research_report_guide.html).

A sample Word template for observational studies is also available for download here. Use of this template is optional; authors are not required to follow the exact format as long as they comply with appropriate reporting guidelines for their study design.

E. Manuscript Organization

Please follow the manuscript structure below:

Tile page: Although not required as a separate file, please include the title page as the first page of your manuscript file.
Abstract & keywords
Body text
References list (beginning on a new page)
Tables (each beginning on a new page)
Figure legends (figures uploaded separately)
Supplementary materials (upload separately)

General Style
The manuscript must contain the author information page, title page, Abstract, main text, references, tables, and figure legends, and should be written in English. Margins of 2.5 cm are required on each side. The main text of the manuscript and all tables included in the submission must be provided as Microsoft Word files. The text must be written in doublespaced, 12-point font, preferably Times New Roman, and left-justified only (i.e., the right margin should not be justified). Abbreviations should only be used for terms that are used at least twice, and should be defined separately on first use in both the Abstract and main text. Place the page number in the middle of the bottom of each page from the title page onwards. Any automatic formatting features should be removed before submitting the manuscript (e.g., when using EndNote, remove the field codes before submission).

Cover Letter
The cover letter accompanying the manuscript must specify the type of manuscript and include statements on ethical issues and conflicts of interest, and complete contact information for the corresponding author.

Author Information Page
Include the following information:

• • Manuscript title
• • Full names of all authors and their affiliations where the work was performed
• • A running title (less than 50 characters including spaces)
• • Complete contact information for the corresponding author (postal address, telephone number, fax number, email address)
• • ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) of all authors
• • Acknowledgements and sources of funding
• • All potential conflicts of interest

When there are multiple authors with multiple affiliations, these can be referenced using lower-case superscript letters in the order in which they appear (e.g., "1,2,3").

Title Page
The title page is considered the first page of the manuscript and should contain:

• • Title
• • Running title
• • Number of characters in the title
• • Number of words in the manuscript (excluding references, tables, and figure legends)
• • Number of figures and tables

Do not include author information on the title page for a blind peer review.

Abstract & Keywords
Abstract: All Original Articles must include structured abstracts not exceeding 250 words, organized under the headings: Background and Purpose, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. These subheadings should be terminated with a colon and in boldface.

Reviews require an abstract, but not in the structured format of Original Articles. Editorials and Letters to the Editor do not require an abstract.

Keywords: Provide 3-6 keywords at the end of the abstract page. Select important terms from the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) of Index Medicus.

Main Text
The main text of an Original Article must be prepared under the following subheadings:
Introduction: Provide a brief background and describe the specific questions addressed by your investigation.

Methods: Describe study design, participants, procedures, and statistical analysis. Ensure correct use of the terms "sex" (biological factors) and "gender" (identity, psychosocial, or cultural factors). Report the sex and/or gender of study participants, the sex of animals or cells, and describe the methods used to determine these. If the study involves an exclusive population (e.g., only one sex), provide justification except in obvious cases. Define how race or ethnicity was determined, if applicable, and justify their relevance.

Results: Present findings logically using text, tables, and figures. Avoid excessive repetition of table or figure contents.

Discussion: Interpret data concisely without repeating material from the Results section. Speculation is allowed if supported by the data.

Editorials and Letters to the Editor should not contain subheadings.

Author Contributions
Describe what each author has done in the study. To qualify for authorship, all contributors must meet at least one of the seven core contributions by CRediT (conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, data curation), as well as at least one of the writing contributions (original draft preparation, review, and editing).

Conflicts of Interest
Disclose any potential conflicts of interest. If none exist, include the statement: "The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose."

F. References

References should be numbered numerically in the text using superscript, unparenthesized numbers (e.g., 3,7,10-12), and then listed at the end of the manuscript in the same numerical order.

Unpublished data and personal communications may be cited in the text but should not be listed as references.

The format should conform with the NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=citmed). Journal abbreviations should conform to the style used in the Cumulated Index Medicus.

References with six or fewer authors should list all of them, while those with seven or more authors should list only the first six, followed by "et al."

Sample References
1. Journal article: Kim SH, Han SW, Kim EH, Kim DJ, Lee KY, Kim DI, et al. Plasma fibrinolysis inhibitor levels in acute stroke patients with thrombolysis failure. J Clin Neurol 2005;1:142-147.

2. Book: Wyllie E. The Treatment of Epilepsy. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1997;97-98.

3. Book chapter: Calne CB, Duvoision RFC, McGeer E. Speculation on the etiology of Parkinson's disease. In: Hassler RG, Christ JF, editors. Advances in Neurology. 2nd ed. Vol 40. New York: Raven, 1984;353-360.

4. Website: References to websites should give authors if known, title of cited page, URL in full, and year of posting in parentheses.

G. Tables and Figures

Tables: Each table and its title should appear on a separate page, provided as a Microsoft Word table. Tables must be cited in numerical order (Table 1, Table 2, etc.) in the main text.
Use horizontal lines only above and below column headings and at the bottom of a table; vertical lines should not be used at all. All abbreviations should be spelled out when they first appear in tables.
For footnotes, use the following symbols as superscripts in sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ∥, ¶, **, ††, and ‡‡. Include statistical significance indicators where appropriate.

Figures: Figures must be cited in numerical order (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.) in the main text and submitted as separate files in JPEG, TIFF, EPS, or PPT format. Do not embed figures in the manuscript file.
Minimum resolutions: line art (an image composed of lines and text), 1000 dpi; halftone (a continuous-tone photograph that contains no text), 300 dpi; and combined line art and halftone, 600 dpi.
Photographs of recognizable persons should be accompanied by signed releases authorizing publication.
Figure legends must appear on a separate page at the end of the manuscript file.
All color figures will be reproduced in full color in the online edition at no cost to authors, but the cost of reproducing color figures in the printed version will be charged to the authors.

Accepted Manuscripts: Materials Required for Publication

Proofs and Reprints

Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt; late return might delay the publication of a manuscript. Please check the text, tables, figure legends, and references very carefully. To expedite publication, page proofs (rather than galley proofs) will be sent electronically to the corresponding author. Substantial alterations by the authors other than the correction of printing errors might incur additional charges.

Postpublication Discussion

Postpublication discussion, such as if a reader has concerns about any manuscript published in DND, can be performed by submitting a Letter to the Editor. If any errors are found in a published manuscript, it can be corrected through an erratum, corrigendum, or retraction. Corrections are reviewed by authors and editors responsible for the manuscript, published promptly, and linked online to the original manuscript.