臺灣兒科醫學會 Taiwan Pediatric Association

台兒醫誌投稿須知

首頁 學會雜誌 台兒醫誌投稿須知

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

(Last updated: June 24, 2020)

Introduction

Pediatrics and Neonatology (PEDN, previously Acta Pediatrica Taiwanica) is the official peer-reviewed publication of the Taiwan Pediatric Association and Taiwan Society of Neonatology. The fundamental aim of the journal is to help Pediatricians keep abreast of the latest development in Pediatric and neonatal medicine. PEDN is an open access journal published bimonthly by Elsevier and indexed in SCIE, Medline, ScienceDirect, Scopus, SIIC Database, EMBASE, BIOSIS Previews, Acervo BBSIIC and Biological Abstracts PASCAL (2010).

Having merged with Clinical Neonatology, PEDN continues to be a forum for the presentation of new findings and insights in these fields, as well as for the continuing education for practitioners and physicians for excellence in clinical and academic Pediatrics and neonatology. Today, under the new journal title, we aim to continue this legacy, publishing original research, comprehensive reviews, clinical observations, short communications in the related fields.

Child health is the key basis for human health. The research published in PEDN is intended to encompass the needs of the field. In addition to the main focus on studies of pediatric disease entities, the journal also publishes studies on the genetic, physiologic, mental and social structures of children. PEDN is renowned among practitioners as a platform publishing research, case studies and in clinical and academic pediatrics and neonatology.

PEDN accepts review and original articles, short communications, letters to the editor and pediatric images. The Editorial Board requires authors to be in compliance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (URMs), which are compiled by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE); current URMs are available at http://www.icmje.org..

Types of article

Editorials

Editorials are short articles or comments concerning a specific paper in the Journal or a topical issue in the field. Although editorials are normally invited, unsolicited editorials may be submitted and will be given due consideration.

Review Articles

These should aim to provide the reader with a balanced overview of an important and topical subject in the field. They should cover aspects of a topic in which scientific consensus exists as well as aspects that remain controversial and are the subject of ongoing scientific research. All articles and data sources reviewed should include information about the specific type of study or analysis, population, intervention, exposure, and tests or outcomes. All articles or data sources should be selected systematically for inclusion in the review and critically evaluated.

Original Articles

These articles typically include randomized trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic tests, laboratory and animal studies, cohort studies, cost-effectiveness analyses, case-control studies, and surveys with high response rates, which represent new and significant contributions to the field.

Section headings should be: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conflicts of Interest Statement (if any), Acknowledgments (if any), and References.

The Introduction should provide a brief background to the subject of the paper, explain the importance of the study, and state a precise study question or purpose.

The Methods section should describe the study design and methods (including the study setting and dates, patients/participants with inclusion and exclusion criteria, patient samples or animal specimens used, the essential features of any interventions, the main outcome measures, the laboratory methods followed, or data sources and how these were selected for the study), and state the statistical procedures employed in the research.

The Results section should comprise the study results presented in a logical sequence, supplemented by tables and/or figures. Take care that the text does not repeat data that are presented in tables and/or figures. Only emphasize and summarize the essential features of the main outcome measures, and the main results.The Discussion section should be used to emphasize the new and important aspects of the study, placing the results in context with published literature, the implications of the findings, and the conclusions that follow from the study results.

Short Communications

These reports should be concise presentations of preliminary experimental results, instrumentation and analytical techniques, or aspects of clinical or experimental practice that are not fully investigated, verified or perfected but which may be of widespread interest or application. Interesting cases with unique features not previously described that make an important teaching point or scientific observation may also be submitted under this article category. The Editors reserve the right to decide what constitutes a Short Communication.

Letters to the Editor

These include brief constructive comments in response to previously published PEDN articles, interesting cases that do not meet the requirement of being truly exceptional, and other brief technical or clinical notes of general interest. Letters should have a title, no more than four authors, include appropriate references and the corresponding author's mailing and e-mail addresses. Letters are edited, sometimes extensively, to sharpen their focus. They may be sent for peer review at the discretion of PEDN Editors. Letters are selected based on clarity, significance, and space.

Images

Submissions to the Images section of the PEDN should succinctly illustrate clinical problems or solutions of interest to readers and must fit on one published page. At least one publishable figure is required; however, captioned photographs, brief anecdotes or analyses and supplemental figures are welcome. All material must be original, and a fresh, useful insight must be offered. Text must be less than 300 words and is subject to shortening if the text and figure(s) do not fit on one published page. Additional figure(s) may be placed as online supplemental data if the piece exceeds one published page. A signed, written permission from the patient, or parent or legal guardian of a minor or incapacitated adult, is required for publication of recognizable images (see Section 5).

Perspectives

These are comments on recent news or ground breaking work and should provide a short review of the current state of research and explain the importance of the new findings. Perspectives on papers previously published in the PEDN should add a different viewpoint to the research and should not merely be a repetitive summary of the original paper. Although many of the Perspectives published in the Journal are normally invited, unsolicited Perspectives are welcome and will be given due consideration.

Specifications for the different article categories


*Refers to the main body of text only, i.e., does not include article title, abstract, table headings/tables, figure legends and references.
**Supplementary material is published online only.

Contact details for submission

Editorial Office

Pediatrics and Neonatology (PEDN)
Taiwan Pediatric Association
10F-1, No. 69, Section 1, Hang Chow South Road
Taipei 100, Taiwan
Tel: (+886) 2-23516446; Fax: (+886) 2-23516448
E-mail: tpa98@www.pediatr.org.tw

Before You Begin

Ethics in publishing

Please see our information pages on Ethics in publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication.

Studies in humans and animals

If the work involves the use of human subjects, the author should ensure that the work described has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans. The manuscript should be in line with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. and aim for the inclusion of representative human populations (sex, age and ethnicity) as per those recommendations. The terms. sex and gender should be used correctly.

Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human subjects. The privacy rights of human subjects must always be observed.

All animal experiments should comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and should be carried out in accordance with the U.K. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 and associated guidelines, EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments, or the National Institutes of Health guide for the care and use of Laboratory animals (NIH Publications No. 8023, revised 1978) and the authors should clearly indicate in the manuscript that such guidelines have been followed. The sex of animals must be indicated, and where appropriate, the influence (or association) of sex on the results of the study.

Ethical Approval of Studies and Informed Consent

Articles covering the use of human or animal samples in research, or human or animal experiments must be accompanied by a letter of approval from the relevant review committee or authorities.

For human or animal experimental investigations, appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee approval is required, and such approval should be stated in the methods section of the manuscript. For those investigators who do not have formal ethics review committees, the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki should be followed (World Medical Association. Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. Available at: http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/17c.pdf).

For investigations in humans, state explicitly in the methods section of the manuscript that informed consent was obtained from all participating adults and from parents or legal guardians for minors or incapacitated adults, together with the manner in which informed consent was obtained (ex. oral or written).

For work involving animals, the guidelines for their care and use that were followed should be stated in the methods section of the manuscript. For those investigators who do not have formal institutional guidelines relating to animal experiments, the European Commission Directive 86/609/EEC for animal experiments (available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/legislation_en.htm) should be followed and the same should be stated in the methods section of the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual's objectivity is potentially compromised by a desire for financial gain, prominence, professional advancement or a successful outcome. PEDN Editors strive to ensure that what is published in the Journal is as balanced, objective and evidence-based as possible. Since it is difficult to distinguish between an actual conflict of interest and a perceived conflict of interest, the Journal requires authors to disclose all and any potential conflicts of interest.

Conflicts of interest may be financial or non-financial. Financial conflicts include financial relationships such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers' bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements. Non-financial conflicts include personal or professional relationships, affiliations, academic competition, intellectual passion, knowledge or beliefs that might affect objectivity.

Please ensure that the name of each author listed in your manuscript appears in either Section I or Section II on page 2 of the PEDN Authorship & Conflicts of Interest Statement form (an author's name cannot appear in both Section I and Section II of the form).

Since it is difficult to distinguish between an actual conflict of interest and a perceived conflict of interest, the PEDN requires authors to disclose all and any potential conflicts of interest and let readers judge for themselves. Therefore, please ensure that you provide information about any potential financial and non-financial conflicts of interest in a concise paragraph after the main text. All financial and material support for the research, work, writing and editorial assistance from internal or external agencies, including commercial companies, should be clearly and completely identified in a Funding/Support Statement.

Declaration of interest

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places: 1. A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file (if double-blind) or the manuscript file (if single-blind). If there are no interests to declare then please state this: 'Declarations of interest: none'. This summary statement will be ultimately published if the article is accepted. 2. Detailed disclosures as part of a separate Declaration of Interest form, which forms part of the journal's official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches. More information

Submission declaration and verification

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), 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 in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service Crossref Similarity Check.

Use of inclusive language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Articles should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader, should contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of race, sex, culture or any other characteristic, and should use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, for instance by using 'he or she', 'his/her' instead of 'he' or 'his', and by making use of job titles that are free of stereotyping (e.g. 'chairperson' instead of 'chairman' and 'flight attendant' instead of 'stewardess').

Authorship

When a manuscript is accepted for publication in the PEDN, each author's contribution to the manuscript should be listed.

Changes to authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.
Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum.

Reporting Clinical Trials

All randomized controlled trials submitted for publication should include a completed Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flow chart (please go to http://www.consort-statement.org for more information). The PEDN has adopted the ICMJE proposal that requires, as a condition of consideration for publication of clinical trials, registration in a public trials registry. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the article.

For this purpose, a clinical trial is defined as any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects of health outcomes. Health-related interventions include any intervention used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome (for example drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, dietary interventions, and process-of-care changes). Health outcomes include any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants, including pharmacokinetic measures and adverse events.

Purely observational studies (those in which the assignment of the medical intervention is not at the discretion of the investigator) will not require registration. Further information can be found at http://www.icmje.org.

Identification of Patients in Descriptions, Photographs and Pedigrees

Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent, which should be documented in the paper. Appropriate consents, permissions and releases must be obtained where an author wishes to include case details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication. Written consents must be retained by the author and copies of the consents or evidence that such consents have been obtained must be provided to Elsevier on request. For more information, please review the Elsevier Policy on the Use of Images or Personal Information of Patients or other Individuals, https://www.elsevier.com/patient-consent-policy. 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.

A signed statement of informed consent to publish (in print and online) patient descriptions, photographs and pedigrees should be obtained from all persons (parents or legal guardians for minors) who can be identified (including by the patients themselves) in such written descriptions, photographs or pedigrees. Please use the PEDN Consent Form for Publication of Photographs/Information of Identifiable Patients. Such persons should be shown the manuscript before its submission. Omitting data or making data less specific to de-identify patients is acceptable, but changing any such data is not acceptable. State explicitly in the methods section of the manuscript that informed consent was obtained from all participating adult subjects or from parents or legal guardians for minors or incapacitated adults, together with the manner in which informed consent was obtained (i.e., oral or written).

Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (see more information on this). 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.

Author rights

As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.

PEDN is the official peer-reviewed publication of the Taiwan Pediatric Association (and The Society of Neonatology ROC). Manuscripts published in the PEDN become the permanent property of the Taiwan Pediatric Association. All articles published in the Journal are protected by copyright, which covers the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article, as well as translation rights. No PEDN article, in part or whole, may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, by photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the Taiwan Pediatric Association.

Open Access

This Journal is a peer reviewed, subsidized open access journal where the Taiwan Pediatric Association pays for the publishing costs incurred by the Journal.

Publication Charge to Authors
Authors will be charged for the excess of pages and the color pages in the print journal if applicable. Please refer to the "Publication Charges and Reprints" section in the Guide for Authors.

User Rights
All articles published open access will be immediately and permanently free for everyone to read, download, copy and distribute. Permitted reuse is defined by the following user license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND): for non-commercial purposes, lets others distribute and copy the article, and to include in a collective work (such as an anthology), as long as they credit the author(s) and provided they do not alter or modify the article.

Elsevier supports responsible sharing

Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

Funding Body Agreements and Policies

All financial and material support for the research, work, writing and editorial assistance from internal or external agencies, including commercial companies, should be clearly and completely identified in a Funding/Support Statement.

Open access

Please visit our Open Access page for more information.

Elsevier Researcher Academy

Researcher Academy is a free e-learning platform designed to support early and mid-career researchers throughout their research journey. The "Learn" environment at Researcher Academy offers several interactive modules, webinars, downloadable guides and resources to guide you through the process of writing for research and going through peer review. Feel free to use these free resources to improve your submission and navigate the publication process with ease.

Language (usage and editing services)

Articles should be written in English, using American English spelling. Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from Elsevier's WebShop http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageediting or visit our customer support site https://service.elsevier.com/ for more information.

Submission

Manuscripts (meaning all submission items, including all text, tables, artwork, cover letter, conflicts of interest disclosures, and any other required documents/material) must be submitted online to PEDN through the Editorial Manager (EM) at https://www.editorialmanager.com/PEDN. If assistance is required, please refer to the tutorials and/or customer support that are available on EM website; you may also contact the Editorial Office. Please do not post, fax or e-mail your manuscripts to the Editorial Office.

Additional information

Articles should be in Microsoft Word document format and prepared in the simplest form possible. We will add in the correct font, font size, margins and so on according to the Journal's style. You may use automatic page numbering, but do NOT use other kinds of automatic formatting such as footnotes, headers and footers. References especially should NOT be formatted using the MS Word "endnotes" or "footnotes" function; instead, you may use the commercially available EndNote® or Reference Manager® software to manage your references. Put text, references, table headings and tables, and figure legends in one file. Figures must be submitted as separate picture files, at the correct resolution and named according to the figure number, e.g., "Fig1.tif", "Fig2.jpg".

Preparation

Peer review

This journal operates a double blind review process. All contributions are typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. More information on types of peer review.

Double-blind review

This journal uses double-blind review, which means the identities of the authors are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa. More information is available on our website. To facilitate this, please include the following separately:
Title page (with author details): This should include the title, authors' names, affiliations, acknowledgements and any Declaration of Interest statement, and a complete address for the corresponding author including an e-mail address.
Blinded manuscript (no author details): The main body of the paper (including the references, figures, tables and any acknowledgements) should not include any identifying information, such as the authors' names or affiliations.

Introduction

Text should be typed double-spaced on one side of white A4 (297 × 210 mm) paper, with outer margins of 2.5 cm. A manuscript should include a title page, abstract, text, conflicts of interest statement (if any), acknowledgments (if any), references and figures and tables as appropriate. Each section of the manuscript should begin on a new page. Pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the title page.

The text for Original Articles should be organized into the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conflicts of Interest Statement (if any), Acknowledgments (if any), and References. Each section should begin on a new page.

Title Page

The title page should contain the following information (in order, from the top to bottom of the page):
‧ article category
‧ article title
‧ running title not exceeding 50 characters

Abstract

An abstract and 3–5 relevant keywords (in alphabetical order) are required for the following article categories: Review Articles, Original Articles and Invited Articles.

Abstracts for Review Articles and Original Articles should be no more than 300 words in length. Abstracts for Invited Articles can be up to 400 words long.

Abstracts for Original Articles should be structured, with the section headings Background, Methods, Results and Conclusion. Abstracts for Review Articles and Invited Articles should be unstructured, in one single paragraph with no section headings. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

No abstracts are required for Editorials, Short Communications, Letters to the Editor, Pediatric Images, and Reflections: Pediatrics and the Humanities.

Keywords

Keywords will be used for indexing purposes and should be taken from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html). Avoid 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.

No keywords are required for Editorials, Short Communications, Letters to the Editor, Pediatric Images, and Reflections: Pediatrics and the Humanities.

Acknowledgements

After the Conflicts of Interest Statement and/or Funding/Support Statement, general acknowledgments for consultations and statistical analysis should be listed concisely, including the names of the individuals who were directly involved. Consent should be obtained from those individuals before their names are listed in this section. Those acknowledged should not include secretarial, clerical or technical staff whose participation was limited to the performance of their normal duties.

Numbers

Numbers that begin a sentence or those that are less than 10 should be spelled out using letters. Centuries and decades should be spelled out, e.g. the Eighties or nineteenth century. Laboratory parameters, time, temperature, length, area, mass, and volume should be expressed using digits.

Units

Système International (SI) units must be used, with the exception of blood pressure values which are to be reported in mmHg. Please use the metric system for the expression of length, area, mass, and volume. Temperatures are to be given in degrees Celsius.

Names of drugs, devices and other products

Use the Recommended International Nonproprietary Name (rINN) for medicinal substances, unless the specific trade name of a drug is directly relevant to the discussion. Generic drug names should appear in lowercase letters in the text. If a specific proprietary drug needs to be identified, the brand name may appear only once in the manuscript in parentheses following the generic name the first time the drug is mentioned in the text.

For devices and other products, the specific brand or trade name, the manufacturer and their location (city, state, country) should be provided the first time the device or product is mentioned in the text, for example, "…IBM SPSS Statistics 21.0 was used (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA)". Thereafter, the generic term (if appropriate) should be used.

Gene nomenclature

Current standard international nomenclature for genes should be adhered to. For human genes, use genetic notation and symbols approved by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (http://www.genenames.org). You may also refer to the resources available on PubMed at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/guide/genes-expression. The Human Genome Variation Society has a useful site that provides guidance in naming mutations at http://www.hgvs.org/mutnomen/index.html. In your manuscript, genes should be typed in italic font and include the accession number.

Statistical requirements

Statistical analysis is essential for all research papers. Use correct nomenclature for statistical methods (e.g., two sample t test, not unpaired t test). Descriptive statistics should follow the scales used in data description. Inferential statistics are important for interpreting results and should be described in detail.

All p values should be presented to the third decimal place for accuracy. The smallest p value that should be expressed is p < 0.001, since additional zeros do not convey useful information; the largest p value that should be expressed is p > 0.99.

Figures

The number of figures should be restricted to the minimum necessary to support the textual material. Figures should have an informative figure legend and be numbered in the order of their citation in the text. All symbols and abbreviations should be defined in the figure legend in alphabetical order. Items requiring explanatory footnotes should follow the same style as that for tables.

Unless you have written permission from the patient (or, where applicable, the next of kin), the personal details (such as their name and date of birth) of the patient must be removed. If their face is shown, use a black bar to cover their eyes so that they cannot be identified (for further information, see https://www.elsevier.com/patientphotographs).

All lettering should be done professionally and should be in proportion to the drawing, graph or photograph. Photomicrographs must include an internal scale marker, and the legend should state the type of specimen, original magnification and stain.

Figures must be submitted as separate picture files at the correct resolution. The files should be named according to the figure number, e.g., "Fig1.tif", "Fig2.jpg".

Formats

Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalized, 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: combination of bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale) — use a minimum of 600 dpi.
‧ 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 files that do not meet the resolution requirements detailed above;
‧ Supply files that are optimized for screen use (such as GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG) as the resolution is too low;
‧ Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available at https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Please note that the cost of color illustrations will be charged to the author.

Tables

Tables should supplement, not duplicate, the text. They should have a concise table heading, be self-explanatory, and numbered consecutively in the order of their citation in the text.
Items requiring explanatory footnotes should be denoted using these superscripted symbols (in order of appearance in the table): *,†, ‡, §, ||, , #, **, ††, ‡‡. The corresponding footnotes should be arranged under the table in the same order. However, if there are more than 10 items requiring footnotes, then you should use superscripted lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.) to denote them.

Abbreviations used in the table must be defined and placed in alphabetical order after the explanatory footnotes. If you include a block of data or table from another source, whether published or unpublished, you must acknowledge the original source.

References

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and for correct in-text citation. Please use the PEDN References Confirmation & Publication Charges Statement form to certify that the references in the manuscript adhere to the format as detailed below and to confirm that you understand and agree that if massive corrections to the references are found to be necessary, PEDN Editors reserve the right to rescind the accept decision and reject the article. Also on this form, authors are required to read and understand that they will need to pay for the publication of extra pages and color figures/tables.In the main text, tables, figure legends

‧ References should be indicated by superscripted numbers in sequential order, and placed after punctuation. [The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.]
‧ References cited in tables or figure legends should be included in sequence at the point where the table or figure is first mentioned in the main text.
‧ Do not cite abstracts unless they are the only available reference to an important concept.
‧ Do not cite uncompleted work or work that has not yet been accepted for publication (i.e., "unpublished observation", "personal communication") as references.

In the references list

‧ References should be compiled at the end of the manuscript according to the order of citation in the text.
‧ References should be limited to those cited in the text only.
‧ Journal references should include, in order, authors' surnames and initials, article title, abbreviated journal name, year, volume and inclusive page numbers.
‧ The surnames and initials of all the authors up to 6 should be included, but when authors number 7 or more, list the first 6 authors only followed by "et al".
‧ Abbreviations for journal names should conform to those used in MEDLINE.
‧ If citing a website, provide the author information, article title, website address and the date you accessed the information.
‧ Reference to an article that is in press must state the journal name and, if possible, the year and volume.

Examples are given below.

Standard journal articles
Huang MS, Lin MC, Chen HH, Chien KL, Chen CH. Risk factor analysis for late-onset neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in Taiwanese Infants.Pediatr Neonatol 2009;50:261–5.
Shen YM, Wu JF, Chen HL, Hsu HY, Chang MH, Hsieh TK, et al. Characteristics and incidences of pediatric Crohn's disease in the decades before and after 2000. Pediatr Neonatol 2011;52:317–20.

Journal supplement
Kaplan NM. The endothelium as prognostic factor and therapeutic target: what criteria should we apply? J Cardiovasc Pharmacol 1998;32 Suppl 3:S78–80.

Journal article not in English but with English abstract
Hofele C, Schwager-Schmitt M, Volkmann M. [Prognostic value of antibodies against p53 in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma-five years survival rate.] Laryngorhinootologie 2002;81:342–5.

Book with edition
Bradley EL. Medical and surgical management. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Saunders; 1982, p. 72–95.

Book with editors
Letheridge S, Cannon CR, editors. Bilingual education: teaching English as a second language. New York: Praeger; 1980.

Book chapter (section) in book with editor and edition Greaves M, Culligan DJ. Blood and bone marrow. In: Underwood JCE, editor. General and systematic pathology. 4th ed. London: Churchill Livingstone; 2004, p. 615–72.

Book series with editors
Wilson JG, Fraser FC, editors. Handbook of teratology, vols. 1-4. New York: Plenum Press; 1977–1978.

Bulletin
World Health Organization. World health report 2002: reducing risk, promoting healthy life. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2002.

Electronic publications
Duchin JS. Can preparedness for biological terrorism save us from pertussis? Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2004;158:106–7. Available at http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/158/2/106. Accessed June 5, 2004.

Smeeth L, Iliffe S. Community screening for visual impairment in the elderly. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2002(2):CD001054. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD1001054.

Items presented at a meeting but not yet published (conference proceedings)
Khuri FR, Lee JJ, Lippman SM. Isotretinoin effects on head and neck cancer recurrence and second primary tumors. In: Proceedings from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, May 31-June 3, 2003; Chicago, IL, abstract 359.

Item presented at a meeting and published (conference paper)
Cionni RJ. Color perception in patients with UV- or bluelight-filtering IOLs. In: Symposium on cataract, IOL, and refractive surgery. San Diego, CA: American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery; 2004, abstract 337.

Thesis
Ayers AJ. Retention of resin restorations by means of enamel etching and by pins. MSD thesis, Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, 1971.

Website
Glueckauf RL, Whitton J, Baxter. Videocounseling for families of rural teens with epilepsy—project update. Telehealth News 1998;2. Available at http://www.telehealth. net/subscribe/newslettr_4a.html#1. Accessed November 15, 2008.

Company/manufacturer publication/pamphlet
Eastman Kodak Company, Eastman Organic Chemicals. Catalog no. 49. Rochester, NY: Eastman Kodak Company; 1977, p. 2–3.

Data references

This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

Abbreviations

Where a term/definition will be continually referred to, it must be written in full when it first appears in the text, followed by the subsequent abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter, the abbreviation may be used. An abbreviation should not be first defined in any section heading; if an abbreviation has previously been defined in the text, then the abbreviation may be used in a subsequent section heading. Restrict the number of abbreviations to those that are absolutely necessary and ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

RESEARCH DATA

This journal encourages and enables you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate, and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings. To facilitate reproducibility and data reuse, this journal also encourages you to share your software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project.

Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article or make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. If you are sharing data in one of these ways, you are encouraged to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. Please refer to the "References" section for more information about data citation. For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the research data page.

Data linking

If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described.

There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. For more information, visit the database linking page.

For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect.

In addition, you can link to relevant data or entities through identifiers within the text of your manuscript, using the following format: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).

Data statement

To foster transparency, we encourage you to state the availability of your data in your submission. This may be a requirement of your funding body or institution. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you will have the opportunity to indicate why during the submission process, for example by stating that the research data is confidential. The statement will appear with your published article on ScienceDirect. For more information, visit the Data Statement page.

Supporting Documents

The following documents must be included in your submission (refers to the Checklist). Items (1) and (2) are mandatory. Items (3), (4), (5) and (6) are required only if they are applicable to your manuscript.

1. Cover Letter. This must include the following information:
•title of the manuscript
•names (spelled out in full) of all authors, and the institutions with which they are affiliated; indicate all affiliations with a superscripted lowercase letter after the author's name and in front of the appropriate affiliation (the name of each author should be written with the family name last, e.g., Wan-Lin Chang)
•corresponding author details (name, e-mail, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers)
•a statement that the material contained in the manuscript has not been previously published and is not being concurrently submitted elsewhere
•persons who do not fulfill the requirements to be listed as authors but who nevertheless contributed to the manuscript (such as those who provided writing assistance, for example) should be disclosed
•list of manuscripts that have been published, submitted, or are in press that are similar to the submission to the PEDN (and include in your submission copies of those similar manuscripts so that PEDN Editors can be assured there is no overlap)
•your signature and those of ALL your coauthors
•Optional: if you have a list of reviewers who you wish to review or not to review your manuscript, you may include this list in the cover letter

2. Copyright Transfer Agreement. In the event that your manuscript is accepted for publication in the PEDN, you are required to transfer all copyright ownership in and relating to the work to the Taiwan Pediatric Association. Please use the PEDN Copyright Transfer Agreement form. Your signature and those of ALL your coauthors must be included.

3. Ethics Statement. Articles covering the use of human or animal samples in research, or human or animal experiments must be accompanied by a letter of approval from the relevant review committee or authorities.

4. Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flow chart for randomized controlled trials submitted for publication.

5. Signed Statement of Informed Consent. Articles where human subjects can be identified in descriptions, photographs or pedigrees must be accompanied by a signed statement of informed consent to publish (in print and online) the descriptions, photographs and pedigrees from each subject who can be identified. Please use the PEDN Consent Form for Publication of Photographs/Information of Identifiable Patients.

6. Copyright Permission. If you have reproduced or adapted material from other copyrighted sources, the letter(s) of permission from the copyright holder(s) to reproduce or adapt the copyrighted sources must be supplied. Otherwise, such material must be removed from your manuscript.

The Editorial and Peer Review Process

As a general rule, the receipt of a manuscript will be acknowledged within 1 week of submission, and authors will be provided with a manuscript reference number for future correspondence. If such an acknowledgment is not received in a reasonable period of time, the author should contact the Editorial Office.

Manuscripts are reviewed by the Editorial Office to ensure that the submission contains all parts. The submission will not be accepted if the author has not supplied all parts of the manuscript as outlined in this document.

Manuscripts are then forwarded to the Editor-in- Chief, who makes an initial assessment of it. If the manuscript does not appear to be of sufficient merit or is not appropriate for the Journal, then the manuscript will be rejected without review. Rejected manuscripts will not be returned to authors unless requested.

Manuscripts that appear meritorious and appropriate for the Journal are reviewed by at least two Editorial Board members or expert consultants assigned by the Editor-in-Chief. The PEDN follows a double-blind peer review process. Authors may submit a list in their cover letter of reviewers who they wish to review or not to review their manuscript. However, the actual peer reviewers invited will remain anonymous and may or may not be the reviewers suggested by the authors as the selection of reviewers is at the sole discretion of PEDN Editors. The editors and reviewers will not disclose any information about a manuscript or its review to anyone except the manuscript's corresponding author.

The corresponding author will usually be notified within 8 weeks of whether the submitted article is accepted for publication, rejected, or subject to revision before acceptance (however, do note that delays are sometimes unavoidable). If revisions are required, authors are asked to return a revised manuscript to the Editorial Office via EM within 30 days. Please notify the Editorial Office in advance if additional time is needed or if you choose not to submit a revised manuscript.

Personal communications and unpublished data

These sources cannot be included in the references list but may be described in the text. The author(s) must give the full name and highest academic degree of the person, the date of the communication, and indicate whether it was in oral or written (letter, fax, e-mail) form. A signed statement of permission should be included from each person identified as a source of information in a personal communication or as a source for unpublished data.

Publication Charges

The Journal will bear the cost of publication for articles of 10 printed pages or less for Review Articles and Original Articles, and 2 printed pages or less for Short Communications, Letter to the Editor and Images. Authors will be charged US$250 per extra page. Authors will also be charged US$250 per page that has color figures or tables. Authors are required to clearly list the figure/table numbers that should be published in color in the PEDN References Confirmation & Publication Charges Statement form. Otherwise, all figures/tables will be published in grayscale as default.

After Acceptance

Preparation for Publication

Once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, authors should submit the final version of their manuscript in MS Word format, with all tables/figures as applicable, in addition to the two forms described earlier via https://www.editorialmanager.com/PEDN.

Accepted manuscripts are then copyedited according to the Journal's style and the galley proofs in the form of a PDF file are sent by the Publisher to the corresponding author for final approval. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made by the copy editor.

Proofreading is solely the authors' responsibility. Note that the Editorial Board reserves the right to make revisions to the manuscript and the Publisher may proceed with the publication of your article if no response from the author(s) is received.

Offprints

The corresponding author will be notified and receive a link to the published version of the open access article on ScienceDirect. This link is in the form of an article DOI link which can be shared via email and social networks. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Both corresponding and co-authors may order offprints at any time via Elsevier's Author Services.

FORMS