Perspectives on Integrative Medicine

I. General Information
II. Editorial Policies
III. Manuscript Preparation
IV. Publication Process After Acceptance

I. General Information

Please review this Guide for Authors before submitting your manuscript. Manuscripts must be submitted through the online submission system (editorialmanager.com/integrmed), and all processes, including manuscript submissions, peer-reviews, and resubmissions to Perspectives on Integrative Medicine (PIM), shall be submitted to the system.
Manuscripts must be written in English and submitted by the corresponding author. Manuscripts submitted to PIM will be preliminarily screened by the Editorial Office. Manuscripts not conforming to the instructions will be returned to the corresponding authors without being considered for peer-review.; For issues not addressed in these instructions, authors should refer to the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/) of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).; Any inquiry concerning manuscript submission should be directed to the editorial office: editorialoffice@integrmed.org.
Perspectives on Integrative Medicine Editorial Office: Sook-Hyun Lee, Ph.D
2nd Floor, 540, Gangnam-daero, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul, Korea
Tel: 02-2222-2746
Fax: 02-2222-2737
E-mail: editorialoffice@integrmed.org

II. Editorial Policies

1. Online Submission of Manuscripts: Please submit manuscripts and materials via the Perspectives on Integrative Medicine (PIM) online submission system: editorialmanager.com/integrmed.
The instructions for Editorial Manager are provided on the submission site.; The article processing charges (APC) are fully covered by the Jaseng Medical Foundation. Authors are not required to pay any APC or publication fee for this journal.

2. Types of Articles: PIM publishes original articles, review articles, short communications, protocols, case reports, commentaries, and letters to the editor.; Original Articles
Original articles are papers containing the results of basic and clinical investigations that are sufficiently well documented to be acceptable to critical readers.
Section headings should adhere to the following format: title page; abstract and keywords; introduction; materials and methods; results; discussion; conclusion (if any); acknowledgments; references; tables and figures.
Introduction: It should provide concise yet sufficient background information about the study to provide the readers with a better understanding of the study. A detailed literature survey and summary of the results should be avoided.
Materials and methods: This section should detail the procedure of the experiment, including the investigation period, methods of subject selection, and subject information, such as age, gender, and other significant features, in order to enable the replication of the experiment. Procedures that have been previously published or standardized shall be described only briefly using literature citations. Clinical trials or experiments involving laboratory animals or pathogens must elaborate on animal care and use and experimental protocols, in addition to reporting approval from the relevant committees. The sources of special equipment and chemicals must be stated with the name and location of the manufacturer (city and country). All statistical procedures used in the study and criteria for determining significance levels must be described.
Results: The results should be presented in a logical sequence. Only the most important observations should be emphasized or summarized, with the main or the most important findings mentioned first. Tables and figures must be numbered in the order they are cited in the text; further, they should be kept to a minimum and not be repeated. Supplementary materials and other details can be separately cited in an appendix. The statistical method used to analyze the results (statistical significance of differences) with the probability values provided in parentheses should be clearly stated.
Discussion: This section should contain an interpretation and explanation of the results and important aspects of the study, followed by the conclusion drawn from them. Information already mentioned in the Introduction or Results section should not be repeated, and the main conclusions of the study may be presented in the discussion.
Conclusion: It must be linked with the purpose of the study stated in the abstract, and clearly supported by the data produced in the study. New hypotheses may be stated when warranted, but must be clearly labeled.; Manuscript length: Up to 6,000 words, including abstract, references, and figure/table legends.; Review Articles
Review articles provide concise reviews of subjects important to medical researchers, and they can be written by an invited medical expert. These follow the same format as original articles, but the details may be more flexible, depending on the content.; Manuscript length: A maximum of 6,500 words, including abstract, references, and figure/table legends. A maximum of 200 words for the abstract, with up to 100 references, 10 figures, and 10 tables.; Short Communications
Short communications are short original research articles on important issues in Integrative Medicine research. They follow the general rules of original articles.; Manuscript length: Should not exceed 3,000 words, including references, tables, and figures.; Case Reports
Case reports are intended to report practical cases and include the significance and purpose of the case presentation, the diagnostic methods of the case, the key data, and brief comments and suggestions with regard to the case. Please refer to the CARE guidelines (https://www.care-statement.org).; Manuscript length: Should not exceed 2,500 words, including references, tables, and figures. The number of references is limited to 20.; Commentaries
They are brief articles with a narrow focus. The journal commissions most commentaries, but unsolicited commentaries will also be considered.; Manuscript length: Should not exceed 1,000 words, including 10 references and 1 figure or small table.; Protocols
Protocols detail the guidelines for conducting a trial. This type of article includes descriptions of standard protocols and experimental procedures followed in a study that explain each essential part of the study and clarify how it is carried out.; Registration is recommended for any clinical trial. Approved registries for clinical trials need to meet all the ICMJE Clinical Trial Registration guidelines. Trial Registration numbers will need to be included in the abstract.; Manuscript length: Up to 3,000 words, excluding the Abstract, References, and Figure/Table Legends.; Letter to the Editor
Letters to the editor should be useful to practitioners. Constructive comments from readers regarding articles published in the journal can be published at the discretion of the editors.; Manuscript length: Should not exceed 500 words. If accepted, the "author’s reply" of the paper being discussed could be published simultaneously.

3. General Style Guidelines: The following guidelines provide general advice on formatting and style.; Abbreviations
When a term/definition is referred to repeatedly (i.e., 3 times in the text), it must be written in full when it first appears, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses (even if it was previously defined in the abstract); thereafter, the abbreviation is used.; Gene Nomenclature
Current standard international nomenclature for genes should be adhered to. Genes should be typed in italic font and include the accession number. For human genes, use genetic notation and symbols approved by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (http://www.genenames.org/) or refer to PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez).; 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. There should be a space between the numerals and the unit symbol. When indicating time, the 24-hour system is to be used.; Math formulae
Present simple formulae in line with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Consecutively number any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).; Footnote
A footnote at the bottom of the first page of the article includes the received date of the manuscript, date of acceptance for publication, and the e-mail address of the corresponding author. Any changes to the affiliations of authors should be noted.; Tables and figures
The main text, tables, figures, and images should be prepared in separate files.; Figures
Figures and images that are drawn or photographed professionally should be sent as JPG or PPT files. All images must be correctly exposed, sharply focused, and prepared in files of 500 dpi or more. Perspectives on Integrative Medicine will not take responsibility for the quality of the images that appear in the journal. Each figure must have an explanatory caption. Figures should be numbered using Arabic numerals.
Figures should be cited in the text using parentheses as (Figure 1), (Figures 1 and 2), (Figures 1–3), etc.; Tables
Tables should be simple, self-explanatory, and supplemental, and should not duplicate the text or figures. Each table must be inserted on a separate page and must have a concise and informative title. Tables should be numbered with Arabic numerals in consecutive order. All units of measurements and concentrations must be indicated. Footnotes to tables should be indicated with superscript symbols in the following sequence: *; †; ‡; §; ||; ¶; **; ††; ‡‡.

4. Technical Checks: The Editorial Office of Perspectives on Integrative Medicine prescreens all submitted manuscripts, and processes all submitted manuscripts confidentially. The submitted manuscripts are initially checked for format and duplication using Crosscheck (https://app.ithenticate.com) before undergoing the peer-review process.

5. Double-Blind Peer Review Process: This journal operates a double-blind review process. Once the manuscript is prescreened for format and adherence to the aim & scope, it is sent to the two most relevant reviewers for review. The reviewers are selected by the editor from the Editorial Board's database or the board members' recommendations. The reviews are then conducted based on originality, validity, presentation, importance, interest, and, when considered necessary, statistics.; Acceptance of a manuscript depends on the evaluation, critiques, and recommended decisions of the reviewers. A reviewer’s recommendation can be "accept," "minor revision," "major revision," or "reject." If there are conflicting decisions between reviewers, the Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to decide whether the manuscript will be published in the journal.; The reviewed manuscripts, with comments, recommended directions, and revisions, are returned to the corresponding author. The corresponding author is to submit the revised manuscript along with point by point replies to the editor's comments explaining how the revisions have been made.; Each change made (point by point) in the manuscript in accordance with the reviewer’s comments should be highlighted ("yellow highlighted" or "marked in red color").; If the revised paper is not received within 2 months of the revision intimation, the manuscript is considered to have been withdrawn.; After the final decision on the acceptance of the manuscript is made, the Editorial Office notifies the corresponding author. The peer review process takes approximately 12 weeks.; Accepted manuscripts will be copyedited in house to ensure conformance to the journal's style and format.

III. Manuscript Preparation

1. Manuscript Format: All manuscripts must be written in grammatically correct English and should be created using MS Word. Only a single, 11-point font (preferably Times New Roman) should be used. Figures as separate files, in EPS, TIFF, Adobe Photoshop (PSD), JPEG, or PPT format and all table and figure numbers are found in the text.

2. Main Manuscript Preparation: Title page; The title page should include 1) the title of the article (less than 50 words); 2) names of the authors (first name, middle initial, last name in capitals) and institutional affiliation including the names of the department(s) and institution(s) of each author; 3) name, highest academic degree, full address (including the postal code) of the institutional affiliation, telephone numbers, and email address of the corresponding author; 4) a running title of 50 characters or less, including spaces and; 5) any disclaimers.; The ORCID of all authors should be provided. Authors should register on the ORCID website (http://orcid.org/) for their ORCID. Registration is free for all researchers.; Abstract and Keywords; An abstract and 3–6 relevant keywords (in alphabetical order) are required. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words in length. Abstracts for Original Articles should be structured, with the following section headings: Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusion.; Abstracts for Review Articles and Case Reports should be a single unstructured paragraph. However, Case Reports should include the significance and purpose of the case presentation, the diagnostic methods of the case, the key data, and brief comments and suggestions with regard to the case.; To select keywords, refer to the Index Medicus Medical Subject Headings (National Library of Medicine (US), MeSH [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); 1954 [updated 2009, cited Nov 1, 2009]. Available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh).; Article Structure; Main Text
The main text for Original Articles, for example, should include the following sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion.; (1) Introduction
The Introduction should be written as concisely as possible, without subheadings. The background and objective of the study should be described briefly here.; (2) Materials and methods
This section should provide sufficient detail to enable the replication of the work. Previously published methods should be indicated by a reference; only relevant modifications should be described. The research plan, materials (or subjects), and methods used should be described in that order. The names and locations (city, state, and country) of manufacturers of equipment and software should be provided. Methods of statistical analysis and criteria for statistical significance should be described.
The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board of #### (IRB no. ##-##-###). Informed consent was confirmed (or waived) by the IRB.; (3) Results
The Results section should be clear and concise.; (4) Discussion
This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.; (5) Conclusion
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusion section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of the Discussion or Results and Discussion section.; (6) Acknowledgments
Contributions for consultations, statistical analysis, etc. from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed.; (7) Author Contributions
The author contribution section is mandatory and all contributors should be listed.; Example: Conceptualization: xxx. Methodology: JN. Formal investigation: JY, AH, and IM. Data analysis: JN, AH, and IM. Writing original draft: JN. Writing - review and editing: JN, AH, and IM.; (8) Conflicts of Interest
Any potential conflict of interest that could influence the authors’ interpretation of the data, such as financial support from or connections to pharmaceutical companies, political pressure from interest groups, or academically related issues, must be stated. Please consult the COPE guidelines (http://www.publicationethics.org/) on conflict of interest. Even if no conflict of interest exists, it should be stated.; (9) Funding
Authors should list all funding sources. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation. If in doubt, please check the Open Funder Registry for the correct nomenclature (https://www.crossref.org/services/funder-registry/).; (10) Ethics Statement
Studies on humans or animals require relevant ethics committee approval and the approval number should be stated. For studies not involving human or animal, it should be stated that no ethics approval was needed.; (11) Data Availability
Authors may include a data accessibility statement, with the link to the repository they have used, in order that this statement can be published alongside their paper.; (12) References
Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and for correct in-text citations. References should be cited in the text using non-superscript Arabic numerals in square brackets ([ ]). The reference format should conform to the NLM style (the National Library of Medicine for Authors, Editors, and Publishers : http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine).
A numbered list of references must be provided at the end of the paper, following the order of the citations in the text.; In the main text, tables, and figure legends; In the references list; Examples; Journal Articles
Author(s) – Family name and initials. Title of article. Title of journal – abbreviated. Publication year, month, day (month & day only if available);volume(issue):pages.; Books
Author(s) – Family name and initials, Multiple authors separated by a comma. Title of book. Edition of book if later than 1st ed. Place of Publication: Publisher Name; Year of Publication. Pages.; Websites
Author(s). Title of publication [type of medium – Internet]. Place of publication (if available): Publisher (if available). Date of publication – year month day (supply year if month and day not available) [updated year month day; cited year month day]. Available from: web address.; (13) Appendices
If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc.; (14) Supplementary materials
Any supplementary materials that help the understanding of readers or contain too great an amount of data to be included in the main text may be provided as supplementary data.

IV. Publication Process After Acceptance

The corresponding author will be provided with galley proofs for correcting the manuscript. Before publication, corresponding authors will receive a PDF file of the typeset pages for copyediting. Perspectives on Integrative Medicine (PIM) recommends that authors keep their corrections to a minimum. The modifications made to the page proofs should be sent to the PIM Editorial Office via email within 5 working days. The Editorial Office may contact the corresponding author regarding the modifications made to the page proof. If the corresponding author fails to submit the page proof within 5 working days, the manuscript may be rescheduled to be published in the subsequent issue.

Guide for authors

Table of Contents

I. General Information

II. Editorial Policies

III. Manuscript Preparation

IV. Publication Process After Acceptance