Revised : August 22, 2007
Revised : February 5, 2009
Revised : September 1, 2010
Revised : December 11, 2012
Revised : February 28, 2013

Endocrinology and Metabolism (Endocrinol Metab; EnM) is an official publication of the Korean Endocrine Society. The journal is devoted to the dissemination the understanding of knowledge on the field of endocrinolgy, metabolism and hormonal functions through sharing of the latest scientific information. Only manuscripts written in English are accepted. EnM follows the Open Access Journal policy. All contents are freely available in the web. Digital files can be read, downloaded, and printed freely.
  Manuscripts with the same content which were previously published in other journals are not eligible for submission to this journal. Conversely, any manusciprts that are published herein cannot be submitted to other journals.

Endocrinology and Metabolism Editorial Office
Room 901, Renaissance Tower Bldg.
14 Mallijae-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul 121-706, Korea
Tel: +82-2-714-2428
Fax: +82-2-714-5103
E-mail: endo@endocrinology.or.kr

1) In regard to the process of reviewing and assessing the manuscripts, including the ethical guidelines and plagiarism/ duplicate publication and study misconduct, it should conform to the ethical guidelines specified in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication (http://www.icmje.org), which were established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). For the policies on the research and publication ethics not stated in this instruction, “Good Publication Practice Guidelines for Medical Journals (http://www.kamje.or.kr/data/guidelines.pdf; Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors, KAMJE)” or “Guidelines on Good Publication (http://publicationethics. org/resources/guidelines; Committee on Publication Ethics, COPE)” can be applied.

2) Disclosure of conflicts of interest
Financial sponsorship should be stated in the conflicts of interest. Any other financial support associated with the study, including stocks or consultation arrangements with pharmaceutical companies should be stated at the end of the text, under a subheading “Conflicts of interest.”

3) Statement of informed consent
Human study must conform to ethical standards, and be approved by the appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB). A statement concerning IRB approval and consent procedures must appear at the beginning of the “Methods” section. Any systematic data gathering effort in patients or volunteers must be approved by an IRB or adhere to appropriate local/national regulations. Authors may be questioned about the details of consent forms or the consent process. On occasion, the Editor-in-Chief may request a copy of the approved IRB application from the author.

4) Statement of human and animal right
Clinical research studies must state that the work was done in accordance with the Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki in 1975 (revised in 2000). Clinical studies that do not meet the Declaration of Helsinki will not be considered for publication. Human subjects must not be identifiable. Patients’ name, initial, hospital number, date of birth, or other protected healthcare information must not be disclosed. Animal research studies must state that the work was performed according to National or Institutional Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and the ethical treatment of all experimental animals must be observed.

5) Authorship
Authorship credit must be based on 1) substantial contributions to the concept and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published. All authors must meet the above three conditions.

6) Originality and duplicate publication
All submitted manuscripts should be original and should not be considered by other scientific journals for publication at the same time. No part of the accepted manuscript should be duplicated in another scientific journal without permission by Editorial Board. If duplicate publications related to the papers of this journal are detected, sanctions against authors range from requesting their institutions to assess the facts, requesting a Letter to the Editor-in-Chief acknowledging the error and voluntarily withdrawing a manuscript, to a ban on publication in EnM up to 3 years.

7) Clinical trials registry
We strongly recommend, as a condition of consideration for publication, registration in a public trials registry. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrollment. This policy applies to any clinical trial starting enrollment after January 1, 2006. For trials that began enrollment before this date, we request registration by April 1, 2006, before considering the trial for publication. We define a clinical trial as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. Studies designed for other purposes, such as studies on pharmacokinetics or major toxicity (e.g., phase 1 trials), are exempt.
Registries include: 1) the registry sponsored by the United States National Library of Medicine (www.clinicaltrials.gov); 2) the International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number Registry (http://www.controlledtrials.com); 3) the Australian Clinical Trials Registry (http://www.actr.org.au); 4) the Chinese Clinical Trials Register (http://www.chictr.org); 5) the Clinical Trials Registry-India (http://www.ctri.in); 6) University hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN) (http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr); and 7) the Clinical Research Information Service-Republic of Korea (CRiS) (http://cris.nih.go.kr/ cris/index.jsp). Reporting of randomized controlled trials should follow the guidelines of The CONSORT Statement (http://www.consort-statement.org).

1) Only online submission is acceptable for EnM via an online manuscript submission system (http://submit.e-enm.org), and all the reviewing and editing is also performed via this system. Any questions and answers regarding the review process and other related matters can be checked on the above online system. In addition, whenever any changes are made during the process of a review of the manuscripts, the relevant information is forwarded to the corresponding author and the first author.

2) For original articles and case reports, the manuscripts should be compared against the “EnM Submission checklist.” With the boxes ticked to show compliance, the checklist should be submitted to the Society together with the manuscript and copyright transfer agreement.
3) Those who submit the manuscript should download “Copyright transfer agreement and disclosure of conflict of interest” and complete the forms. After completing these documents, they should be forwarded to the EnM Editorial Office via fax (+82-2-714-5103) or their scanned copies uploaded on submission site.
4) Manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover letter, which should include the following information:
- A full statement to the editor about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant publication of the same or very similar work.
- A statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest.
- A statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that the requirements for authorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work.
- The name, address, and telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs.

5.1. Original articles
General principles
1) Manuscripts should be prepared using MicroSoft Word (.doc). All portions of the manuscrip should be doublespaced with the font size of 12 with 3-cm blank margin in both sides, top and bottom of A4-sized paper (21×30 cm) or North American letter-sized paper (8½×11 in). The numbers on each page of the manuscript should be placed at the center of the bottom in a sequential manner starting from the title page.
2) Acronyms should only be used when absolutely necessary for clarity. In cases in which the use of acronyms is desirable due to the repetition, the acronym should be expressed in a parenthesis when the corresponding terminology first appears in the manuscript.
3) Laboratory measurements should be used in International System of Units (SI) units. However, in some cases, non-SI units (conventional units) can also be used in a versatile manner. But the usage of units should be consistent.
4) The manuscript should be arranged in the following order: title page, abstract and keywords, main text (introduction, methods, results, discussion), conflicts of interest, acknowledgments, references, tables and figures.

Title page and abstract
1) The title page should be as follows: the title of the manuscript, a short running title less than 50 characters, names of all authors and their current affiliations. In cases in which the authors belong to multiple affiliations, the affiliations during the study being reported should be matched to the authors’ names using a superscript of Arabic numerals.
2) The title of the manuscript should be no longer than 20 English words. The first letter of each word of the title must be capitalized. Acronyms should not be used in title except for special situations.
3) At the bottom of the title page, the corresponding author’s name, address, and e-mail address should be indicated.
4) Provide the word count for the text only, excluding abstract, acknowledgments, figure legends, and references.
5) The number of figures and tables should be provided in the title page.
6) The word count for the abstract should be no more than 250 words, consisting of 4 sections: Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusion.
7) Three to ten keywords relevant to the content of a manuscript should be attached after the abstract. In principle, the keywords should be found in MeSH terms of the Index Medicus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html).

Main text
1) The main text should be structured as Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Use headings and subheadings in the Methods section and Results section. Every reference, figure, and table must be cited numerically in the order mentioned in the text.
2) Introduction: Present the research purpose briefly and clearly, together with only the background information that is relevant to the purpose.
3) Methods: Materials, methods, and study design should be presented in detail. In experimental research, methods should be described in such a manner that the experiments can be reproduced by the readers. A statement concerning IRB approval and consent procedures must appear at the beginning of the Methods section.
4) Results: A detailed description of the study results should be clearly arranged in a logical manner. In cases in which tables are used, the contents described in tables should not be redundantly described in the main text, but the important trends and points should be emphasized.
5) Discussion: New and important observations should be emphasized. A redundant description of the results is not acceptable. The significance and limitation of the observed findings should be described. There should be a link between the conclusions and the goals of the study. Conclusions not adequately supported by the data must be avoided.

Conflicts of interest
Any potential conflict of interest relevant to the manuscript is to be described. If there are no conflicts of interest, authors should state that none exist.

Acknowledgments
The acknowledgments should be presented after the main text and before the reference list. Acknowledgments should contain brief statements of assistance, financial support, and prior publication of the study in abstract form, where applicable. Any other matters associated with research funds, facilities and drugs which were used in the current manuscript should also be given in the Acknowledgments.

References
1) References should be listed in the sequence cited in the paper, and sequential numbers should be attached in the middle or at the end of the corresponding sentences in the body of the text. The reference list should be given at the end of the document, after the main text and acknowledgments (if applicable) and before the tables. Original articles are limited to 40 references. Reference numbers in the text should appear in chronological order in normal type and in square brackets, e.g., “In the study by Norton et al. [23]...”.
2) The names of all authors must be listed by the last name and the initials of first and middle names in each reference. Inclusive page numbers must be provided. The notation of academic journal names should be used with acronyms approved by Index Medicus. The description of the references should follow the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (Patrias, K. Citing medicine: the NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers [Internet]. 2nd ed. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); 2007 [updated 2009 Dec 21; cited 2012 Dec 11]. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine).
3) All the references should be described in the following format:

Journals: authors’ names (including all co-authors), title, journal name, year, volume, and page numbers.

1. Jeong HS, Kim HJ, Kim HS, Kim SW, Shin CS, Park DJ, Park KS, Jang HC, Kim SY, Cho BY, Lee HK. Clinical characteristics for 132 patients with adrenal incidentaloma. J Korean Endocr Soc 2007;22:260-5.
2. Iitaka M, Momotani N, Ishii J, Ito K. Incidences of subacute thyroiditis recurrences after a prolonged latency: 24-year survey. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1996;81:466-9.

Book: authors’ name(s), title, number of editions, place of publication, publisher, year of publication, and page numbers.

Imura H. The pituitary gland. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1974. p. 453-90.

Chapter in a book: authors’ name(s), title, number of editions, place of publication, publisher, year of publication, chapter number and title, and page numbers.

Speroff L, Fritz MA. Clinical gynecologic endocrinology and infertility. 7th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2005. Chapter 29, Endometriosis; p. 1103-33.

Conference proceedings: author(s), paper title, In: editor(s), conference title, the year, place, place of publication, publisher, year of publication, and page numbers.

Virolainen A, Saxen H, Leinonen N. Antibody response to pneumolysin in children with acute otitis media. In: Lim DJ, Bluestone CD, Klein JO, Nelson JD, Ogura PL. Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Recent Advances in Otitis Media; 1991 May 20-24; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Hamilton: Decker Periodicals; 1993. p. 205-6.

Dissertation: author, title [book type], place of publication, publisher, year of publication.

Kaplan SJ. Post-hospital home health care: the elderly’s access and utilization [dissertation]. [St. Louis]: Washington University; 1995.

Web sites: author(s), title [type of medium], place of publication, publisher, year of publication [date of update, date of citation], URL.

International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Recommendations on biochemical & organic nomenclature, symbols & terminology etc. [Internet]. London: University of London, Queen Mary, Department of Chemistry; 2006 [updated 2006 Jul 24; cited 2007 Feb 22]. Available from: http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iubmb/.

Tables
1) Tables should be double-spaced and inserted on a separate page at the end of the text document, with the table number, table title and legend given above the table.
2) Titles of tables should be concise using a phrase and a clause. The first letter of each word of the title should be capitalized.
3) The numbers should be allocated accordingly in order in which the table was quoted in the main text.
4) For acronyms, provide the full names below the corresponding table. Symbols should be marked with small alphabet letters in the order of its usage, such as, ^{a, b, c, d,} e with their respective descriptions in the footnote.
5) Tables should be easy to understand while functioning independently.
6) Unnecessary longitudinal lines should not be drawn. Horizontal lines should be refrained from being used as much as possible.

Figures and figure legends
1) Submit the figures separately from the main text. The resolution power of the pictures and photographs is expected to exceed 300 dpi. Figures should be included with online submissions, either as JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PICT with RTF manuscripts or embedded in the PDF file.
2) If two or more figures require the same number, Arabic numerals should be followed by letters (e.g., Fig. 1A, Fig. 1B)
3) An author may request pictures to be printed in color, but the cost of this will be charged to the author.
4) Assign sequential numbers (Arabic numerals) in the order referenced in the paper.
5) Figures legends should be written at the end of the manuscript, should be described with complete sentences rather than incomplete phrases or a clause.
6) For microphotographs, describe the dyeing method and magnification ratio.
7) The description of footnotes below the figure should follow the order of that of acronyms and then symbols. Symbols should be marked with small alphabet letters in the order of its usage, such as, ^{a, b, c, d, e}, in superscript.

Supplemental data
Nonessential tables and figures may accompany articles as online-only supplemental files. All online-only supplementary files should be combined in one document file (whenever possible) and uploaded separately during the submission process. This file must be clearly labeled as “Online-Only Supplemental Material.” In addition, supplemental online only files must be referenced in the main text of the manuscript at least once (e.g., “Supplemental Table S1”).
  All online-only supplemental files are subject to review, but such files will not be copyedited or proofread by EnM production staff. As such, authors are encouraged to review their supplemental files carefully before submitting them.
  Lists that include names of principal investigators or writing groups may also be submitted as online-only supplements if they exceed 150 words. Otherwise, the names of principal investigators or writing groups should be listed in an appendix at the end of the main document, before the references.

5.2. Review article
A review article is a review focusing on a specific title and commissioned by the Publication Committee for publishing. Manuscripts submitted as review articles will be subjected to the same review process as original research articles. Instructions for original articles should be followed for review articles. A review article should include an abstract not exceeding 200 words, for which the number of references should not exceed 60.

5.3. Editorial
Editorials are commissioned for the purpose of commenting on a specific paper published by the journal, not to reflect the views of the Society. There is no limitation on the format. But an editorial should be written in no more than 4 pages (A4) with the number of references limited to 20.

5.4. Brief report
Short communications of original research are published as brief report. The purpose of the category is to permit publication of very important, high-quality mechanistic studies that can be concisely presented. These manuscripts should include a short nonstructured abstract (150 words maximum), introduction, methods, results, and discussion.
  The total manuscript length should not exceed 1,200 words, excluding references and abstract. Brief reports can include a maximum of 20 references and 2 figures or tables.

5.5. Case report
A case report should be composed of title page, English abstract and keywords, main text (introduction, case report(s), discussion), conflicts of interest, acknowledgments, references, tables and figures. The word count of abstract should be no more than 200 words. The number of keywords is limited to 3 and the number of references 20. For the other requirements, follow the same procedure as for original articles.

5.6. Image
Images that may help make clinical decisions while being interesting and educational in terms of the treatment of endocrinology and metabolism should be prepared with a manuscript. The manuscript should not be more than 1 page (A4), with the number of references limited to 5.

5.6. Letters to the editor
A letter should contain constructive criticisms or comments on a specific paper published by the journal within the previous 6 months. The manuscript should be no more than 1 page (A4), with the number of references limited to 5.

1) Submitted manuscripts are first reviewed by journal editors. If a manuscript fails to comply with the submission guidelines or the checklist (EnM Submission Checklist), it will be rejected for review and then returned to the author, to be re-written and re-submitted according to the submission guidelines.
2) All submitted manuscripts are peer-reviewed by three anonymous reviewers who are specialists in the relevant field, and the review period would not exceed 3 months. Publishing will be determined based on the review result and revisions or additions will be recommended to the authors as appropriate. Editorial Board determines whether manuscripts are acceptable. If changes are needed, the authors are recommended to revise and amend the manuscripts within 3 months. If the revised manuscript is not returned within this period, it will be deemed that the author has decided not to pursue publication.
3) If necessary, the Editorial Board may consult statisti-cians during the review process.
4) Authors of a revised manuscript must describe on a linebyline basis how the manuscript was revised according to the instructions of the referees.
5) The finally accepted manuscript will be reviewed by manuscript editor for the consistency of the format and the completeness of references. The manuscript may be revised according to the style guides of the journal.
6) Before publication, the galley proof will be sent via email to the corresponding author for approval. Galley changes must be returned within 48 hours. Changes should be limited to those that affect the accuracy of the information presented.

1) If it is necessary to revise a manuscript, the Publication Committee may do so insofar as it does not impact the original text, and according to its editing policy on wording and formats.
2) There is no author’s submission fee or other publication related fee since all article processing cost is supported by Korean Endocrine Society until there is a policy change. However, if designing, plating or special printing is required for the publication, the actual expenses for these shall be paid for by the author.
3) Publication by the journal shall be deemed to mean that the author has consented that the copyright thereof will be transferred to the journal.