Chinese Medicine and Culture

​​​​​Table of Contents

Email: [email protected]

AIMS AND SCOPE

Chinese Medicine and Culture (CMC) is an interdisciplinary academic journal focusing on the study of Chinese Medicine and aiming to promote communication and dialogue between researchers in the natural sciences and humanities of Chinese Medicine. The objectives are to build an interactive platform for interdisciplinary research on Chinese medicine and to comprehensively reflect the high-level and latest research results of Chinese Medicine in the fields of medical science research, cultural exchange and historical heritage conservation, with special attention to the following areas:

a) Frontier research in the field of theoretical basic science for Chinese Medicine;
b) Interdisciplinary research on Chinese medicine in the fields of history, social sciences and humanities;
c) Textual research on Chinese medical classics and literatures.
Article types include, but are not limited to: original scientific research articles, reflective essays, commentaries, book reviews, editorials, reports, conference reports and case analyses.

ONLINE SUBMISSION

All manuscripts must be submitted online at:

https://www.editorialmanager.com/cmc/

First-time Users

Please click the Register button at  https://www.editorialmanager.com/cmc/  Upon successful registration, you will be sent an email providing your username and password. Save this information for future reference. Note: If you have received an email from us with an assigned username and password, or if you are a repeat user, do not register again. Once you have an assigned username and password, you do not have to re-register.

Authors

Please click the Login button from the menu at the top of the page and login to the system as an author. Submit your manuscript according to the author instructions. You will be able to track the process of your manuscript through the system.

JOURNAL POLICIES

Duplicate Publication

Manuscripts are reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that they are being submitted only to the Chinese Medicine and Culture and have not been published, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere. The Editorial team may subject any manuscript submitted for consideration of publication in Chinese Medicine and Culture to plagiarism-detection software. 

This does not preclude consideration of a manuscript that has been rejected by another journal or a complete report that follows publication of preliminary findings elsewhere, usually in the form of an abstract. Copies of any possibly duplicate published material should be submitted with the manuscript under consideration, with a statement in the cover letter as to why the manuscript currently being submitted is not a duplicate publication.

Disclosure of Conflicts

Authors must state all possible conflicts of interest in the manuscript, including financial, consultant, institutional and other relationships that might lead to bias or a conflict of interest. If there is no conflict of interest, this should also be explicitly stated as none declared. All relevant conflicts of interest and sources of funding should be included on the manuscript with the headings "Funding" and “Conflicts of Interest”.

Authorship

Chinese Medicine and Culture expects that each person listed as an author has participated sufficiently in the intellectual content, the analysis of data, and/or the writing of the manuscript to take public responsibility for it. Each author must have reviewed the manuscript, believes it represents valid work, and approves it for submission.

Moreover, should the Editorial team request the data upon which the manuscript is based, the authors shall produce it. Each author's specific contributions to the work should be indicated; this information will be published as a footnote to the paper. For example, the areas of participation might include:

• Participated in research design
• Participated in the writing of the paper
• Participated in the performance of the research
• Contributed new reagents or analytic tools
• Participated in data analysis

An author may list more than one contribution, and more than one author may have contributed to the same aspect of the work. Any change in authorship/contributions after submission must be approved in writing by all authors and submitted to the Editorial Office for final consideration.

English Language Assistance

Appropriate use of the English language is a requirement for publication in Chinese Medicine and Culture. Authors who have difficulty in writing in English who submit manuscripts to international journals often receive negative comments from referees or editors about the English-language usage in their manuscripts, and these challenges can contribute to a decision to reject a paper. To help reduce the possibility of such problems, we strongly encourage such authors consider using Wolters Kluwer Author Services**.

Wolters Kluwer Author Services

Wolters Kluwer, in partnership with Editage, offers a unique range of editorial services to help you prepare a submission-ready manuscript. For more information regarding Wolters Kluwer Author Services, please visit http://wkauthorservices.editage.com.

**Note that the use of such a service is at the author's own expense and risk, and does not guarantee that the article will be accepted.

Plagiarism

As defined by the World Association of Medical Editors (http://www.wame.org/resources/publication-ethics-policies-for-medical-journals): Plagiarism is the use of others' published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission, and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source. The intent and effect of plagiarism is to mislead the reader as to the contributions of the plagiarizer. This applies whether the ideas or words are taken from abstracts, research grant applications, Institutional Review Board applications, or unpublished or published manuscripts in any publication format (print or electronic). 

Chinese Medicine and Culture​ is a member of CrossCheck by CrossRef and iThenticate. iThenticate is a plagiarism screening service that verifies the originality of content submitted before publication. iThenticate checks submissions against millions of published research papers, and billions of web content. Authors, researchers and freelancers can also use iThenticate to screen their work before submission by visiting http://www.ithenticate.com. 

All allegations of plagiarism are investigated in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines detailed at https://publicationethics.org/files/u7140/plagiarism%20A.pdf. When plagiarism is detected at any time before or after publication, the journal editorial office will take appropriate action as directed by the standards set forth by COPE. If plagiarism is found, the author, the author's institution and funding agencies, and the original publication will be notified. A statement noting the plagiarism, providing a reference to the plagiarized material, and linking to the original paper may follow. Depending on the extent of the plagiarism, the paper may also be formally retracted. For additional information, please visit http://www.publicationethics.org.

Retraction Policy​​

Journal editors should consider retracting a publication if:

• they have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g. data fabrication) or honest error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error) (accident or misconduct)
• the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission or justification (i.e. cases of redundant publication)
• it constitutes plagiarism
• it reports unethical research 
  

All allegations of plagiarism will be investigated in accordance with COPE guidelines:

https://publicationethics.org/files/u7140/plagiarism%20A.pdf. 

Retractions will be done as per COPE guideline:​ https://www.medknow.com/documents/COPE%20Retraction%20Guidelines.pdf

Reporting of Randomized Clinical Trials

Registration of Clinical Trials is an essential requirement for publication of clinical trials in Chinese Medicine and Culture. On the title page of your manuscript, provide the name of the trial registry and the registration number/identifier of the trial.

Acceptable web-based clinical trial registries include the following:

• EudraCT at https://eudract.ema.europa.eu for EU trials
• ClinicalTrials.gov at www.clinicaltrials.gov  for US trials
• Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, found at http://www.chictr.org.cn
• Current Controlled Trials found at www.controlled-trials.com
• WHO International Trial Registry Network found at https://www.who.int/clinical-trials-registry-platform/network
• Australian & New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, found at http://www.anzctr.org.au/
• And any publicly available primary registry of clinical trials 

Reports of randomized clinical trials should follow the recommendations given in the Con-solidated Standards of Reported Trials (CONSORT) statement. In brief, this statement comprises a checklist and flow diagram to help improve the quality of reports of randomized controlled trials and offers a standard way for researchers to report trials.

Optional Reporting Guidelines

The following resources may be helpful to authors:

• PRISMA –Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses
• STROBE - Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology
• CARE  - Strengthening the reporting of Clinical Case Report

For further information regarding reporting guidelines, authors should consult the EQUATOR Network web site (http://www.equator-network.org), which maintains a useful, up-to-date list of guidelines as they are published, with links to articles and checklists.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research provides in-depth insights about people's values, attitudes, beliefs, and experiences. Qualitative methodology informs approaches to data collection and analysis, and includes grounded theory, ethnography, and phenomenology. Open-ended interviews and focus groups are commonly used to collect data. Authors are advised to follow the COREQ guidelines for reporting primary qualitative research. Please visit: http://intqhc.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/6/349.full.pdf

Systematic review and/or synthesis of primary qualitative studies can provide a broader understanding of people's perspectives across different healthcare contexts. Methodologies for synthesis of qualitative research include thematic synthesis, meta-ethnography and critical interpretive synthesis. Authors can refer to the ENTREQ statement at

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2288-12-181.pdf

Financial Support and Competing Interests

A financial disclosure section is part of the submission process and must be completed by each author at first revision. This information is for review by the Editors but will be published if relevant to the content of the accepted manuscript.

The primary purpose of the disclosure section is to determine whether authors have received any commercial financial support that could create a conflict of interest. In addition to monetary interests, a potential for conflict of interest can exist whether or not an indi-vidual believes that a relationship (such as dual commitments, competing interests, or competing loyalties) affects his or her scientific judgment. Please review ICMJE Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals at the following link: http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest.

Ethics

When reporting studies on human beings, author should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration. For prospective studies involving human participants, authors are expected to mention about approval of regional/national/institutional or independent ethics committee or review board, obtaining informed consent from adult research participants and obtaining assent for children aged over 7 years participating in the trial. The age beyond which assent would be required could vary as per regional and/or national guidelines. Ensure confidentiality of subjects by desisting from mentioning participants' names, initials or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institution's or a national research council's guide for, or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Evidence for approval by a local ethics committee (for both human as well as animal studies) must be supplied by the authors on demand. Animal experimental procedures should be as humane as possible, and the details of anesthetics and analgesics used should be clearly stated. The ethical standards of experiments must be in accordance with the guidelines provided by the CPCSEA and World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Humans for studies involving experimental animals and human beings, respectively. The journal will not consider any paper which is ethically unacceptable. A statement on ethics committee permission and ethical practices must be included in all research articles under the “Methods" section.

Protection of Patients' Rights to Privacy

Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, sonograms, CT scans, etc., and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian, wherever applicable) gives written informed consent for publication. Authors should remove patients' names from figures unless they have obtained written informed consent from the patients. The journal abides by ICMJE guidelines: (1) Authors, not the journals nor the publisher, need to have the patient consent form before the publication related to patient privacy and have the form properly archived by the author. (2) If the publication includes some facial images that make the patients identifiable, a statement about the patient's consent needs to be present in the manuscript.

Peer Review

Chinese Medicine and Culture operates a double-blind external peer review process, wherein the names of the reviewers are hidden from the author. Brief introduction on peer review process of the journal:

On submission, editors review all submitted manuscripts initially for suitability for formal review. Manuscripts with insufficient originality, serious scientific or technical flaws, or lack of a significant message are rejected before proceeding for formal peer-review. Manuscripts that are unlikely to be of interest to the readers of the journal are also liable to be rejected at this stage.

Manuscripts that are found suitable for potential publication of the journal are sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the manuscript. Authors submitting manuscripts to Chinese Medicine and Culture may propose suitable reviewers or oppose reviewers who may have competing interests. The proposed reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institutes as the contributor(s). However, the selection of these reviewers is at the sole discretion of the editor, who selects reviewers to reflect relevant expertise, diversity, and geographical backgrounds.

Peer reviewers have access to the submitted manuscript and any appendices included by the authors. If the paper is a randomized controlled trial, peer reviewers will also have access to the trial protocol. Peer review assists editors in their decision on whether to publish an article and helps authors revise and improve their manuscripts. Peer reviewers make suggestions for improvements, critique the analysis, point out relevant published work which is not yet cited, and provide recommendations to the authors and the editors. At Chinese Medicine and Culture, reviewer comments are sent to the authors anonymously. Details of peer review including dates and peer review comments are not shared publicly. Reviewed articles are treated confidentially prior to their publication.

Based on the comments from the reviewers, the handling editor takes an acceptance decision on the manuscript and convey the comments and suggestions (acceptance/ rejection/ amendments in manuscript) to the corresponding author, who is requested to provide a point-by-point response to reviewers’ comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript. This process is repeated until reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript. Manuscripts are accepted on the basis of quality, originality, significance, novelty and importance for the field.

The authors do have the right to appeal if they have a genuine cause to believe that the editorial board has wrongly rejected the paper. If the authors wish to appeal the decision, they should email the editorial office (email: [email protected]) explaining in detail the reason for the appeal. The appeals will be acknowledged by the editorial office and will be investigated in an unbiased manner. The processing of appeals will be done within 6–8 weeks. While under appeal, the said manuscript should not be submitted to other journals. The final decision rests with the Editor-in-Chief of the journal. Second appeals are not considered.

Manuscripts received from Editorial Board Members will be screened by the Editor-in-Chief and sent to external peer reviewers. In case, Editor-in-Chief is the author, then the article will be screened by Assistant Editor/Co-Editor-in-Chief and sent to external peer reviewers. The Editorial Board Members, who are authors, will be excluded from publication decisions.

Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or whoever relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to the journal's standard procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups.

* All special issue articles follow the same peer review process as above.

Types of Manuscripts Published

• Editorial: Editorials are invited articles to explain the importance of specific articles or to provide opinions on general concepts in practice, research or policy. Editorials have no abstract and a minimum length of 800 words.
• Research Articles: reports of data from original research. These articles must describe significant and original observations. Consideration for publication is based on the article's originality, novelty, and scientific soundness, and the appropriateness of its analysis.

• Reviews: comprehensive, authoritative, descriptions of any subject within the scope of the journal.  They are state-of-the-art papers covering a current topic by experts in the field. These articles should give evidence on and provide answers to a well-defined aspect or question in a particular area. Review Articles must include a critical discussion of the reported data and give a clear conclusion with potential impacts on the standard of care.
• Case reports: reports of clinical cases that can be educational, describe a diagnostic or therapeutic dilemma, suggest an association or present an important adverse reaction. Authors should clearly describe the clinical relevance or implications of the case. All case report articles should indicate that informed consent to publish the information has been granted from the patients or their guardians.
• Commentaries: short, focused, opinion articles on any subject within the scope of the journal. These articles are usually related to contemporary issues, such as recent research findings, and are often written by experts in the field who have been invited by the Editorial Board.
• Letter to the Editor: these can take three forms: a substantial re-analysis of a previously published article; a substantial response to such a re-analysis from the authors of the original publication; or an article that may not cover 'standard research' but that may be relevant to readers.

Manuscript Preparation and Formatting Instructions

Manuscripts must be written in clear, grammatical English. If English is not the native language of the authors, it is author's responsibility to enlist the help of an English-speaking colleague for the correct use of the language throughout the manuscript before submission. Manuscripts with poor language quality will be returned to authors without review. For editors and reviewers to accurately assess the work presented in your manuscript you need to ensure the English language is of sufficient quality to be understood.

Please note: CMC conducts blinded peer-review. When uploading your manuscript you will need to upload a manuscript file (designate as Main Document) with no identifying author information and a separate title page (designate as Title Page) with author details. Please double space the entire main body document and number each page. Do not add line numbers as the system will generate those when the PDF is built. Acceptable document file types for text and tables include .DOC and .DOCX; do not submit a PDF. Manuscripts not conforming to Journal format will be returned to authors for modification. 

1. Title page:

The following elements are required for every submission:

Title. Include a descriptive title of the work; the title should not be a sentence. No proprietary or brand names for drugs or agents may be used in article titles.

Authors. The full first name, middle initials, and family name of each author should be listed. For Chinese name, please list given name first and then surname in pinyin. Affiliations and addresses of authors should be provided, including the name(s) of the department(s) and institution(s), city, postcode and country. 

Address for Correspondence. A current email and full mailing address for the corresponding author must be provided.

ORCID. the ORCID number of the corresponding author must be provided.

2. Main Document:

Make sure information of the authors does not appear in the Main Document. 

Abstract. 

Abstracts of original experimental and clinical research papers should consist of four paragraphs, Objective, Methods, Results and Conclusion. The other types of manuscripts abstract are unstructured. They should briefly describe, respectively, the problem being addressed in the study, how the study was performed, the salient results, and what the authors conclude from the results. The length of 200-300 words is preferred. ​

Keywords.  

Include three to eight key words.

Main Body: 

1. Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections (numbered 1, 2, ...). Subsections should be numbered as 1.1 (and then may be further divided into subsections numbered as 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.

2. For the format of names, books, herbs, acupoints and prescriptions, please refer to “Appendix".

3. References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (not in alphabetic order). Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript after the punctuation marks.

Tables.

Tables should be numbered and cited in the text in sequence using Arabic numerals (i.e. Table 1, Table 2 etc.). Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables less than one A4 or Letter page in length can be placed in the appropriate location within the manuscript. Larger tables can be uploaded as supplementary material. Table titles should be included above the table, and legends should be included underneath the table.​

 Photographs of tables are not acceptable. Type each table, double-spaced throughout (including column headings, footnotes, and data), on a separate page. Tables may be included as part of the Main Body file and placed after the References section. Number the tables in sequence in Arabic numerals and supply a concise, informative title for each one. Each column in the tables should carry a concise heading describing the data in the column. Use lowercase superscript letters to designate footnotes and type the footnotes below the tables to which they refer. Tables are cited in the text in numerical order. Each table should be able to be understood without consulting the text.

Like text, tables should be prepared using a standard word-processing program and may be included within the main body text document or uploaded separately. Do not upload table files more than once (that is, in the main document and in separate files).
Acceptable document file types for tables include .DOC and .DOCX; do not submit PDF, XLS or XLSX type files.

Figures and Legends.

Figures should be numbered and cited in the text in sequence using Arabic numerals (i.e. Fig.1, Fig 2 etc.). Please note that it is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures (or tables) that have previously been published elsewhere.

Figures should be uploaded in the highest resolution available. Legends should be supplied for all figures. They are numbered to correspond with the figures and typed double-spaced on a separate page. Figure legends for any supplemental figures being submitted are to be provided separately; see section, Supplemental Digital Content (SDC).

Acceptable figure file formats

• Do not embed figures into the main body file
• All final digital figures for accepted manuscripts must be submitted in EPS, TIFF, JPG. PowerPoint PPT format is permitted when the image resolution is very high.
• Each figure must be uploaded as a separate file.
• Histology figures must be in color.
• Monochrome images (such as line graphs) should be prepared at a resolution of 1200 DPI.
• Halftones images (black/white or color) should be prepared at a resolution of 300 DPI.
• Combination halftones (images containing both pictures and text labeling) should be prepared at 600 DPI.
• Color images must be saved as ''CMYK''. Images saved as ''RGB'' are not acceptable for printing.
• Your manuscript may be returned to you for correction if the images are of insufficient quality.
• Artwork submitted to the Journal will be checked for quality. Authors submitting a revised paper will have the opportunity to check the quality of their images and make the necessary changes. This step is required for all revisions.
  
  

Notes (optional). 

Notes should be collected and placed after the text and before the reference section with the heading "Notes". Please provide  concise and informative sentence(s) for each one. Within the paper, the numbers should be cited in numerical order beginning with (Note 1). 

Acknowledgments (optional).

This section normally includes the names of collaborators who are not listed as coauthors, or of any others who contributed to the manuscript. Where a medical writer or editorial assistant has been used to write or edit the article, the writer must be identified and named.

Funding. 

This section discloses the funding received for this work, for example: “Funding: This study is financed by the grant from the … (No.123456 ).” If there is no funding, this should also be explicitly stated as “None".

Ethical approval.  

Refer to “Ethics" above. If there is no Ethical Approval of Studies and Informed Consent, please indicate, "This study does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors."​ 

Author Contributions. 

This section lists each author's specific contributions to the work. An author may list more than one contribution, and more than one author may have contributed to the same aspect of the work. Any change in authorship/contributions after submission must be approved in writing by all authors and submitted to the Editorial Office for final consideration.For example, the areas of participation might include:

Participated in research design
Participated in the writing of the paper
Participated in the performance of the research
Contributed new reagents or analytic tools
Participated in data analysis

Conflicts of Interests. 

Authors must state all possible conflicts of interest in the manuscript, including financial, consultant, institutional and other relationships that might lead to bias or a conflict of interest. If there is no conflict of interest, this should also be explicitly stated as none declared. Please include the phrase, “The author(s) declare (s) no financial or other conflicts of interest."

References.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and for correct text citation. The journal uses American Medical Association (AMA) style. References should begin on a separate page and numbered in the order in which they are cited in the text, where they are designated by superscript numbers placed outside periods and commas, and inside colons and semicolons. Only published works and manuscripts that have been accepted for publication should be listed in the References. Manuscripts in preparation, unpublished observations, and personal communications should be referred to in parentheses in the text. Completed manuscripts submitted for publication may be cited as notes to the text (see above, Notes). If these are subsequently accepted, the author may transfer them to the reference section in galley proof.

References Format.  

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (not in alphabetic order). Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript after the punctuation marks. In reference lists, use the author's surname followed by initials without periods. No more than six authors should be listed. If there are seven or more, only the first three followed by ''et al.'' should be included. 

Journal reference:

Book reference:

Walker RV, Betts NJ. Oral and Maxillofacial Trauma. PA: Saunders Elsevier; 2005. p. 583-94.

*The book title should be italic and the first letter of each major word should be capitalized. ​

References to a Chapter in a Book:

Ellis E. Fractures of the Zygomatic Complex and Crch. In: Fonseca RJ, Walker RV, Betts NJ, eds. Oral and Maxillofacial Trauma. Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier; 2005. p. 583-94.

*When citing a chapter of a book, capitalize as for a journal article title.

The book title should be italic and the first letter of each major word should be capitalized.

Electronic References:

Parasuraman SR. Computer-aided prediction of biological activity spectra, pharmacological and toxicological properties of cleistanthin A and B. Available from: http://www.libsearch.com/view/914189. [Accessed on December 18 2012].

*For the title, use journal style for articles and book style for monographs.

Theses and Dissertations:

Borkowski MM. Infant Sleep and Feeding: A Telephone Survey of Hispanic Americans [dissertation]. Mount Pleasant: Central Michigan University; 2002.

*Titles of theses and dissertations are given in italics. The first letter of each major word should be capitalized.

Meeting Presentations:

Pasternak B. Carvedilol vs metoprolol succinate and risk of mortality in patients with heart failure: national cohort study. Paper presented at: European Society of Cardiology Congress; August 31 2014; Barcelona, Spain.

*For the title, capitalize as for a journal article title.

Government/Organization Reports:

Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics. Older Americans 2012: key indicators of well-being. Available from: http://www.agingstats.gov. [Accessed on March 3 2016].

World Medical Association. Declaration on alcohol. Updated October 2015. Available from: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-onalcohol/. [Accessed on March 3 2016].

*These reports are treated much like electronic journal and book references: use journal style for articles and book style for monographs.

Patent:

Hu D, Fong K, Pinto M, et al, inventors; Spiracur Inc, assignee. Reduced pressure therapy of the sacral region. US patent 8,361,043. January 29 2013.

*For the title, capitalize as for a journal article title.

Classical References:

Shakespeare W. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act 2, scene 3, line 24.

Donne J. Second Anniversary. Verse 243.

*References to classical works may deviate from the usual forms in some details. In many instances, the facts of publication are irrelevant and may be omitted. Date of publication should be given when available and pertinent. 

Newspaper article:

Tynan T. Medical improvements lower homicide rate: study sees drop in assault rate. The Washington Post. Aug 12 2002; Sect. A:2 (col. 4).

*For the title, capitalize as for a journal article title.

For the newspaper title, it should be italic and please capitalize the first letter of each major word.

Non–English-language references:

Ma JX. Studies of Chinese Medical Literature (Zhongyi Wenxian Xue 中医文献学). Shanghai: Shanghai Scientific & Technical Publishers; 1990. page numbers. Chinese.

*For non–English-language references, both the non–English-language title and the English translation should be provided.The non–English-language title should be put in parentheses. Indication of the original language should be given at last. For Chinese reference, both Chinese characters and pinyin should be put in parentheses.

For more information on AMA style, please visit http://www.amamanualofstyle.com.

Supplemental Digital Content (SDC)

Authors may submit Supplemental Digital Content to supplement the information provided in the manu¬script. It is preferable to include all significant figures and tables in the manuscript, since there is not a limit on the number of items in this online journal. Nonetheless, SDC may include the following types of content: text, tables, figures, references peripheral to information provided as SDC, audio, and video. SDC should be consecutively cited in the Main Body text of the submitted manuscript. SDC files will be available via URL(s) placed at the citation points within the article and are not copyedited by the publisher. Note that Journal policies for manuscript sub¬mission relating to peer review, patient anonymity, ethics, financial disclosure, copyright, and permissions also apply to SDC. Authors should mask patients' eyes and remove patients' names from supplemental digital content unless they obtain written consent from the patients and submit them as supplemental files at the time of the manuscript submission.

Format, File Type and Size Requirements: SDC must be provided in one Word or PowerPoint file. Each SDC in the file should have a visual header in the following name format (e.g., ''SDC, Figure 1''; ''SDC, Materials and Methods'') and a corresponding citation must appear in the Main Body text. Note that SDC is numbered separately from non-SDC material. If providing SDC figure(s), a figure legend should be included on the figure itself. When uploading SDC select ''Supplemental Digital Content'' as the file designation. For audio and video files, also include the author name, videographer, participants, length (minutes), and size (MB). Video files should be formatted with a 320x240 pixel minimum screen size. For each submission, the SDC file cannot exceed a total size of 10 MB.

ONLINE MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

New Submissions

Once the manuscript has been created, visit the submission site at  https://www.editorialmanager.com/cmc/ to upload the manuscript. Once the manuscript has been vetted for compliance to the Journal's requirements, a manuscript number will be assigned to the submission. Failure to adhere to these guidelines will result in your manuscript being returned to you for correction. Faxed, scanned or emailed copies of manuscripts will not be accepted.

Revised Submissions

All revised submissions require a point-by-point response to the reviewers' comments. Please upload this document as file type Response to Reviewers.

Changes made in the revised manuscript should be indicated using highlighted, bold or underlined text. Upload both a MARKED and a CLEAN version of the revised manuscript. File types are provided for both versions.

A requirement of all revisions is the artwork quality check as described above (see Figures and Legends).

Revised manuscripts should be submitted within the deadline specified in the decision letter. Please contact us for an extension of the due date if it is not possible to submit the revision within that period, or should you desire to withdraw the manuscript from further consideration.

Revisions should adhere to original specifications for the submission type. Sometimes changes made in response to the decision/critiques may bring the revised manuscript out of compliance (e.g., over the word count and/or table/figure limit) with original specifications. This may be allowed by the Editor but must be noted in the point-by-point response.

Submitting Invited Videos

Authors may want or be invited to submit videos to the Journal's website. The videos will serve to emphasize key aspects of the research findings reported in their soon to be published manuscript. Please visit Stand Alone Video Format Requirements http://bit.ly/VMxbrb to download full specifications and instructions for preparing these invited videos.

Post Acceptance

Editing

Accepted manuscripts will be edited by scientific editor and language editor. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made during editing and production that are authorized by the corresponding author.

Typesetting & Epub ahead of print

After editing, manuscript accepted by CMC will be sent to Wolters Kluwer for typesetting. During this process, the accepted version of the manuscript will be published online first as Epub ahead of print. These manuscripts are available to authors and readers under the category of “Latest Articles" at https://journals.lww.com/CMC/toc/publishahead

Page proofs

The publisher's Journal Production Editor will contact you when page proofs are ready for your review. The figures included on author's proofs are high resolution. Please inform the Journal Production Editor immediately if you have any questions concerning the quality of the figures on the proofs. For information regarding proofs, or the status of publication of your accepted manuscript, please contact [email protected].

Changes in corresponding author's contact information

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APPENDIX

Guidelines for the format of Names, Books, Herbs, Acupoints and Formulas Names​ 

Names

Expressions in the text, figure and Table (first appearance)：pinyin (Chinese name)

e.g.：Li Shizhen (李时珍)

Expressions in the text, figure and Table (except for the first appearance)：pinyin

e.g.：Li Shizhen

Expressions in the title, abstract, and keywords: pinyin

e.g.：Li Shizhen 

Book

Expressions in the text, figure and Table (first appearance): pinyin (《Chinese title》English title)

e.g.：Huangdi Neijing (《黄帝内经》Huangdi's Inner Classic)

Expressions in the text, figure and Table (except for the first appearance)：pinyin

e.g.：Huangdi Neijing

Expressions in the title, abstract, and keywords：pinyin (English title)

e.g.：Huangdi Neijing (Huangdi's Inner Classic) 

Herb

Expressions in the text, figure and Table (first appearance)：pinyin（Chinese  Latin） 

e.g.：Fan Xie Ye（番泻叶 Cassia acutifolia Del.)

Expressions in the text, figure and Table (except for the first appearance)：pinyin

e.g.：Fan Xie Ye

Expressions in the title, abstract, and keywords：pinyin（Latin）

e.g.：Fan Xie Ye（Cassia acutifolia Del.)

Formula

Expressions in the text, figure and Table (first appearance)：pinyin + dosage form (Chinese)

e.g.：Zhi Gan Cao Decoction (炙甘草汤)

Expressions in the text, figure and Table (except for the first appearance)：pinyin + dosage form  

e.g.：Zhi Gan Cao Decoction

Expressions in the title, abstract, and keywords：pinyin + dosage form

e.g.：Zhi Gan Cao Decoction

Acupoint

Expressions in the text, figure and Table (first appearance)：pinyin（Chinese code）

e.g.：Yangxi (阳溪 LI 5)

Expressions in the text, figure and Table (except for the first appearance)：pinyin

e.g.：Yangxi

Expressions in the title, abstract, and keywords：pinyin (code)

e.g.：Yangxi (LI 5)