1. AIMS AND SCOPE

NDT – Basic and Clinical Science is an official publication of the European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association. NDT publishes Editorials, Reviews and original research. Rapid communications, exceptional cases and selected letters to the Editor commenting on papers previously published in the journal are also considered.

Only single patient and small case-series providing novel insights – ranging from cellular or molecular levels to the clinical level – or papers describing novel clinical observations will be accepted for publication in NDT.

NDT may accept high-quality, peer-reviewed supplements. Please contact supplements@oup.com in the first instance for further information. Abstracts from the annual ERA-EDTA congress are published as a supplement to NDT each year.

NDT only accepts online submissions. Please visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ndt.
You will also find more complete submission instructions at this site.

2. AUTHORS: ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. This participation must include:

1. Conception or design, or analysis and interpretation of data, or both.
2. Drafting the article or revising it.
3. Providing intellectual content of critical importance to the work described.
4. Final approval of the version to be published. (See Br Med J 1985; 291: 722-723.)

Manuscripts should bear the full name and address, with telephone, fax, and email of the author to whom the proofs and correspondence should be sent (corresponding author). For all authors, first name and surname should be written in full.

In a covering letter, the individual contribution of each co-author must be detailed. This letter must contain the statement: 'the results presented in this paper have not been published previously in whole or part, except in abstract form'. Should your manuscript be accepted for publication, you will be required to give signed consent for publication (see copyright section).

On acceptance, the corresponding author will be advised of the approximate date of receipt of proofs. Proofs must be returned by the author within 48 hours of receipt.

To accelerate publication, only one set of PDF proofs is sent to the corresponding author by email. This shows the layout of the paper as it will appear in the Journal. It is, therefore, essential that manuscripts are submitted in their final form, ready for the printer. Proof-reading must be limited to the correction of typographical errors. Any other changes involve time-consuming and expensive work and may not be permitted at this stage. If additions are necessary, these may be made at the end of the paper in a Note in Proof. Major changes may be subject to editorial approval.

Authors are referred to the statement on uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals prepared by an international committee of medical journal editors. (Br Med J 1982; 284: 1766-1770, Ann Intern Med 1982; 96: 766-771.)

Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Research

When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

3. TABLES

All tables must be numbered consecutively and each must have a brief heading describing its contents. Any footnotes to tables should be indicated by superscript characters. Tables must be referred to in the main text in running order. All tables must be simple and not duplicate information given in the text.

4. FIGURE PREPARATION

Please be aware that the requirements for online submission and for reproduction in the journal are different: (i) for online submission and peer review, please upload your figures either embedded in the word processing file or separately as low-resolution images (.jpg, .tif, .gif or. eps); (ii) for reproduction in the journal, you will be required after acceptance to supply high-resolution .tif files (1200 d.p.i. for line drawings and 300 d.p.i. for colour and half-tone artwork) or high-quality printouts on glossy paper. We advise that you create your high-resolution images first as these can be easily converted into low-resolution images for online submission.

We would encourage authors to generate line figures in colour using the following colour palette:

Blue (CMYK definition - 96/60/2/1 / RGB definition – 0/101/172)
Orange (CMYK definition - 0/71/88/0 / RGB definition – 243/110/53)
Pink (CMYK definition - 0/100/50/0 / RGB definition – 237/20/90)
Yellow (CMYK definition - 1/29/94/0 / RGB definition – 249/185/40)
Green (CMYK definition - 77/10/96/2 / RGB definition – 59/162/75)
Magenta (CMYK definition - 65/98/28/25 / RGB definition – 97/33/94)


In order to have consistency throughout the journal, the publishers reserve the right to re-draw figures, where necessary, with the appropriate colours from the palette. Authors will have an opportunity to correct inappropriate changes at the proof correction stage.

For useful information on preparing your figures for publication, go to http://cpc.cadmus.com/da/index.jsp. Figures will not be relettered by the publisher. The journal reserves the right to reduce the size of illustrative material. Any photomicrographs, electron micrographs or radiographs must be of high quality. Wherever possible, photographs should fit within the print area of 169 x 235 mm (full page) or within the column width of 82 mm. Photomicrographs should provide details of staining technique and a scale bar. Patients shown in photographs should have their identity concealed or should have given their written consent to publication. Normally no more than six illustrations will be accepted for publication in the print issue without charge.

Image acquisition and analysis

If primary experimental data are presented in the form of a computer-generated image any editing must be described in detail. A linear (rather than sigmoidal) relationship between signal and image intensity is assumed. Unless stated otherwise, it will be assumed that all images are unedited.

Inappropriate manipulation of images to highlight desired results is not allowed. Please adhere to the following guidelines to accurately present data:
• No specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced.
• The grouping of images from different parts of the same gel, or from different gels, fields, or exposures (ie, the creation of a "composite image") must be made absolutely explicit by the arrangement of the figure (ie, using dividing lines) and explained in the figure legend.
• Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or colour balance are acceptable if they are applied to the whole image and as long as they do not obscure, eliminate, or misrepresent any information present in the original, including the background.
• Non-linear adjustments (eg, changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend.
• Alteration of brightness or contrast that results in the disappearance of any features in a gel (either bands or cosmetic blemishes) or similar alterations in other experimental images is strictly forbidden.

Authors should retain unprocessed images and metadata files, as the Journal may request them during manuscript evaluation, and/or after publication should there be a query relating to a specific figure. Files that have been adjusted in any way should be saved separately from the originals, in a non-compressed format. Compressed formats, such as JPG, should only be used for presentation of final figures, when requested, to keep file sizes small for electronic transmission. The Journal reserves the right to use image analysis software on any submitted image.

5. ABBREVIATIONS

Authors should not use abbreviations in headings and figure legends should be comprehensive without extensive repetition of the Subjects and Methods section. Authors are advised to refrain from excessive use of uncommon abbreviations, particularly to describe groups of patients or experimental animals.

6. TRADE NAMES

Non-proprietary (generic) names of products should be used. If a brand name for a drug is used, the British or International non-proprietary (approved) name should be given. The source of any new or experimental preparation should also be given.

7. REFERENCES

The references should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text. References to published abstracts should be mentioned in the text but not in the reference list.

At the end of the article the full list of references should give the name and initials of all authors unless there are more than six, when only the first three should be given followed by et al. The authors' names should be followed by the title of the article, the title of the Journal abbreviated according to the style of Index Medicus, the year of publication, the volume number and the first and last page numbers. References to books should give the title of the book, which should be followed by the place of publication, the publisher, the year and the relevant pages.

EXAMPLES
1. Madaio MP. Renal biopsy. Kidney Int 1990; 38: 529-543

Books:
2. Roberts NK. The cardiac conducting system and the His bundle electrogram. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, NY: 1981; 49-56

Chapters:
3. Rycroft RJG, Calnan CD. Facial rashes among visual display unit (VDU) operators. In: Pearce BG, ed. Health hazards of VDUs. Wiley, London, UK: 1984; 13-15

Note: In the online version of NDT, there are automatic links from the reference section of each article to Medline. This is a useful feature for readers, but is only possible if the references are accurate. It is the responsibility of the author to ensure the accuracy of the references in the submitted article. Downloading references direct from Medline is highly recommended.

8. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

Supporting material that is not essential for inclusion in the full text of the manuscript, but would nevertheless benefit the reader, can be made available by the publisher as online-only content, linked to the online manuscript. There is no charge for the publication of online-only supplementary data/tables/figures. Such material should not be essential to understanding the conclusions of the paper, but should contain data that is additional or complementary and directly relevant to the article content. Such information might include more detailed methods, extended data sets/data analysis, or additional figures (including colour).

All text and figures must be provided in suitable electronic formats (instructions for the preparation of Supplementary material can be viewed here). All material to be considered as Supplementary material must be submitted at the same time as the main manuscript for peer review. It cannot be altered or replaced after the paper has been accepted for publication. Please indicate clearly the material intended as Supplementary material upon submission. Also ensure that the Supplementary material is referred to in the main manuscript where necessary.

9. COLOUR ILLUSTRATIONS

Colour illustrations are accepted, but the authors will be required to contribute to the cost of the reproduction. Colour figures will incur a printing charge of £350/$600/€525 each (this does not apply to invited contributions).

Orders from the UK will be subject to the current UK VAT charge. For orders from elsewhere in the EU you or your institution should account for VAT by way of a reverse charge. Please provide us with your or your institution’s VAT number.

Illustrations for which colour is not essential can be reproduced as black and white images in the printed journal and, additionally, in colour as online Supplementary material. This option is not subject to colour charges. Authors should indicate clearly that they would like to take up this option in the covering letter and on the figures. The availability of additional colour images as Supplementary material should be mentioned where relevant in the main text of the manuscript. Instructions on how to submit colour figures as Supplementary material can be viewed online.

10. COPYRIGHT

Please note that the journal now encourages authors to complete their copyright licence to publish form online

Upon receipt of accepted manuscripts at Oxford Journals authors will be invited to complete an online copyright licence to publish form.

Please note that by submitting an article for publication you confirm that you are the corresponding/submitting author and that Oxford University Press ("OUP") may retain your email address for the purpose of communicating with you about the article. You agree to notify OUP immediately if your details change. If your article is accepted for publication OUP will contact you using the email address you have used in the registration process. Please note that OUP does not retain copies of rejected articles.

It is a condition of publication in the Journal that authors grant an exclusive licence to the Journal, published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association. This ensures that requests from third parties to reproduce articles are handled efficiently and consistently and will also allow the article to be as widely disseminated as possible. In assigning the licence, authors may use their own material in other publications provided that the Journal is acknowledged as the original place of publication and Oxford University Press is notified in writing and in advance.

If any tables, illustrations or photomicrographs have been published elsewhere, written consent for re-publication (in print and online) must be obtained by the author from the copyright holder and the author(s) of the original article, such permission being detailed in the cover letter.

11. TRANSPARENCY DECLARATION

All authors must make a formal declaration at the time of submission indicating any potential conflict of interest. This is a condition of publication and failure to do so will dealy the review process. Such declarations might include, but are not limited to, shareholding in or receipt of a grant, travel award or consultancy fee from a company whose product features in the submitted manuscript or a company that manufactures a competing product.

You will be required to provide this information during the online submission process.

In addition, in the interests of openness, ALL papers submitted to NDT MUST include a ‘Transparency declarations’ section (which should appear at the end of the paper, before the ‘References’ section) within the article. We suggest authors concentrate on transparency declarations (i.e. conflicts of interest) of a financial nature, although relevant non-financial disclosures can also be made.

Authors should either include appropriate declarations or state ‘None to declare’. Importantly, the declarations should be kept as concise as possible, should avoid giving financial details (e.g. sums received, numbers of shares owned etc.), and should be restricted to declarations that are specific to the paper in question. Authors will of course need to consider whether or not the transparency declarations need to be amended when revisions are submitted.

Please click here to consult the COPE guidelines on conflict of interest. The editors’ declarations of interest statements can also be viewed online.

12. CROSSCHECK

The NDT editorial team reserves the right to use CrossCheck. CrossCheck is an initiative started by CrossRef to help its members actively engage in efforts to prevent scholarly and professional plagiarism.

13. PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPTS TO BE PUBLISHED IN NDT

Original Articles

Word count: maximum 3500 words, including abstract but excluding references, tables and figures.
Keywords: maximum 6
References: maximum 60

The order of original articles should be as follows:

1. Title page including the title (please bear in mind that we prefer a title to be concise yet eye-catching) and details of all authors, including first or given name, and affiliation;
2. On a separate page an abstract of ~250 words. It should consist of four paragraphs labelled `Background', `Methods', `Results' and `Conclusions'. They should briefly describe, respectively, the problems being addressed in this study, how the study was performed, the salient results and what the authors conclude from the results.
3. Keywords: no more than 6, in alphabetical order, characterizing the scope of the paper, the principal materials, and main subject of work.
4. Provide a short summary of max 3-4 sentences pointing out the main message of the paper.
5. On a new page: Introduction, Subjects and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, References, Tables, Legends to figures and Figures. All pages should be numbered consecutively commencing with the title page. Headings (Introduction; Subjects and Methods, etc) should be placed on separate lines. It is important that authors number their pages prior to submission as reviewers will refer to particular pages when providing their comments on the manuscript.

Any statistical method must be detailed in the Subjects and Methods section, and any not in common use should be described fully or supported by references.

Special Communications

Word count: maximum 3500 words, including abstract but excluding references, tables and figures.
Keywords: maximum 5
References: maximum 60

For this section, original basic and clinical research with a preliminary character will be accepted. Organisation of these papers is the same as for Original Articles.

CUTTING EDGE RENAL SCIENCE

Editorials/Commentaries: In Focus (on invitation)

Word count: maximum 2500; authors may include up to 2 figures or tables
Keywords maximum 5
References: max 30
(The editor may slightly change the number of words/ references according to the particular commentary he will commission)

These editorials are usually solicited by the editors but may also be submitted without invitation on topics published in NDT; they should be topical and highly focused.

Reviews: Basic science and translational nephrology (on invitation)

Word count: maximum 3500; authors may include up to 4 figures or tables
Keywords: maximum 5
References: max 50

These reviews are usually solicited by the editors and are intended to highlight a recent basic science article, discussing the potential clinical relevance of the research developments.

Reviews: Clinical science and outcome research in nephrology (on invitation)

Word count: maximum 3500 words Keywords: maximum 5 and subheadings are required
References: max 20

All reviews in CUTTING EDGE RENAL SCIENCE are usually on invitation by the editors.

NDT PERSPECTIVES

Education Series on Clinical Epidemiology

Series Editors: Friedo Dekker & Kitty Jager

Word count: maximum 3000 words; authors may include up to 4 figures or tables
Keywords: maximum 5
References: max 30

Guidelines endorsements and updates, guidelines commentaries and position statements

Series Editor: Wim Van Biesen

Word count: maximum 3000; authors may include up to 4 figures or tables
Keywords: maximum 5
References: max 30

A multi-centric group of authors can propose to adapt an existing guidelines from another guideline issuing body to guidelines@era-edta.org. This adaptation can be done to make it more suitable for the specific area of nephrology, or the European context. An update on existing guidelines can also be done if new evidence with substantial impact becomes available. A position statement is a document wherein a group of experts express its view on a topic where there is no strong evidence basis and differing views among experts.

In the introduction of the paper, the authors should clearly state why an update/commentary/adaptation is needed, and what the precise scope of the document is. It should be clearly indicated what the original guideline is, and what the adapted version is (statements with grading). After each statement, a rationale should be provided.

All papers will be evaluated by 3 members of the ERBP advisory board and 3 external reviewers.

All reviews in NDT Perspectives are usually on invitation by the editors.

Polar Views in Nephrology

This new section will comprise invited reviews of controversial issues developed by two opponents, each taking their point of view.

Polar Views will be organized as follows:

1. Two authors will be invited to write a review on a given topic (up to 2000 words, no more than 30 references, up to 2 tables or figures);

2. Both articles will be reviewed and briefly commented on by the author of the opposite view point (up to 400 words);

3. Subsequently the reviews and opposing author comments will be passed to a moderator, who will appraise the two reviews and comments, and summarize the content of the controversy (up to 2000 words, up to 20 refs and 1 table or figure).

Readers with an idea for a Polar View article should feel free to contact the Editor-in-Chief with their suggestion.

At the Bench to Bedside Transition (Exceptional Cases)

Exceptional cases should provide unique insight into the pathophysiology of disease or describe novel clinical observations. Descriptions of rare diseases will only be considered if they provide new information about the condition. All other case reports should be submitted to CKJ.

Word count: maximum 1000 words; authors may include maximum 1-2 figures or tables
Keywords: maximum 5
References: max 10

The order of case reports should be as follows:
1. Title page giving details of all authors, including first or given name, and affiliations.
2. On a separate page an abstract of 100 words summarizing the case and its importance.
3. Keywords (not more than 4), in alphabetical order, characterizing the case.
4. On a new page: Background, Case Report(s), Discussion, Acknowledgements, References, Tables, Legends to figure and Figures. All pages should be numbered consecutively commencing with the title page. Headings (Introduction; Case Report(s), etc) should be placed on separate lines. It is important that authors number their pages prior to submission as reviewers will refer to particular pages when providing their comments on the manuscript.

Letters to the Editor

Word count: maximum 450 words
References: maximum 5, including the reference to the original source

Letters to the editor will only be considered for publication in NDT when they relate to papers recently published in NDT. They will be sent to the authors of the original source for reply.

15. OPEN ACCESS OPTION FOR AUTHORS

NDT authors have the option to publish their paper under the Oxford Open initiative; whereby, for a charge, their paper will be made freely available online immediately upon publication. After your manuscript is accepted the corresponding author will be required to accept a mandatory licence to publish agreement. As part of the licensing process you will be asked to indicate whether or not you wish to pay for open access. If you do not select the open access option, your paper will be published with standard subscription-based access and you will not be charged.

You can pay Open Access charges using our Author Services site. This will enable you to pay online with a credit/debit card, or request an invoice by email or post. Open access charges can be viewed here in detail; discounted rates are available for authors based in some developing countries (click here for a list of qualifying countries).

Orders from the UK will be subject to the current UK VAT charge. For orders from the rest of the European Union, OUP will assume that the service is provided for business purposes. Please provide a VAT number for yourself or your institution and ensure you account for your own local VAT correctly.

The above Open Access charges are in addition to any page charges and colour charges that might apply.

16. PAGE CHARGES

Authors will be charged £70/$133/€105 for every excess page. Excess page charges will be charged for articles that exceed: 5 pages for an Original Article, 3 pages for an Exceptional Case or Special Communication, and 1 page for a Letter.

Exceptional Cases must be 3 pages or less, and the standard length of a Letter to the Editor is 450 words. A printed page is ~850 words, but pro rata reductions in the length of the text must be made for tables, figures and illustrations.

It is the authors’ responsibility to check their proof page extent and act accordingly if they are do not wish to be charge for excess pages. Orders from the UK will be subject to the current UK VAT charge. For orders from elsewhere in the EU you or your institution should account for VAT by way of a reverse charge.  Please provide us with your or your institution’s VAT number.

17. OFFPRINTS

The authors will receive electronic access to their paper free of charge. Additional printed offprints may be obtained in multiples of 50. Rates are indicated on the order form, which must be returned with the proofs.

18. AUTHOR SELF-ARCHIVING/PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY

For information about this journal's policy, please visit our Author Self-Archiving policy page.

19. EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES:

C Zoccali
c/o CNR
Azienda Ospedaliera “Bianchi-Melacrino-Morelli” di Reggio Calabria
Unità Operativa di Nefrologia, Dialisi e Trapianto di Rene
Via Vallone Petrara snc
89124 Reggio Calabria
Italy

Fax:+39-0965-56005
Email: zoccali.NDT.editor@era-edta.org

For all general enquiries concerning submissions to NDT, please contact ndt@ugent.be or amodeo@era-edta.org

20. PRODUCTION ENQUIRIES

Production Editor, Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation
Journals Production
Oxford University Press
Great Clarendon Street
Oxford OX2 6DP, UK
Tel: +44 1865 354957
Fax: +44 1865 353798
Email: Oxford Journals NDT