title page

• The manuscript title (please include the title on the 1st page of the manuscript as well)
• The name(s) of the author(s)
• A concise and informative title
• The affiliation(s) and address(es) of the author(s)
• The e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers of the corresponding author
• Acknowledgments
• A non-blinded version of the statement on Compliance with Ethical Standards

Please always include a section titled Compliance with Ethical Standards at the end of your title page. Include all five official statements (even if one or more are not applicable), as well as the exact statement order and wording as described below.

“This study was funded by X (grant number X)”

In this paragraph all sources of funding for the research reported should be declared. The role of the funding body in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript should be declared.

If not applicable, please add the following sentence:
“This study was not supported by any funding.”

“Author A has received research grants from Company A. Author B has received a speaker honorarium from Company X and owns stock in Company Y. Author C is a member of committee Z.”

If not applicable, please add the following sentence:
“The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.”

In this paragraph all financial and non-financial competing interests must be declared. If you are unsure whether you or any of your co-authors have a competing interest please contact the editorial office.

For studies involving patients, please add the following sentence:
“All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.”

For retrospective studies, please add the following sentence:
“For this type of study formal consent is not required.”

For studies with animals, the following statement should be included in the text: “All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.”
If applicable (where such a committee exists): “All procedures performed in studies involving animals were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted.”

If articles do not contain studies with human participants or animals by any of the authors, please select one of the following statements:
“This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.”
“This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.”
“This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.”

A statement on the Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval of your study must be also included in this section.

“Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.”
For all research involving human subjects, informed consent to participate in the study should be obtained from participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 16).

If not applicable, please add one of the following sentences:

“For this type of study informed consent is not required.”
“This study has obtained IRB approval from (indicate the relevant board) and the need for informed consent was waived.”

“Consent for publication was obtained for every individual person’s data included in the study.”

All case reports must have consent to publish.

If your manuscript contains any individual person’s data in any form (age, gender, additional personal information), consent to publish must be obtained from that person, or in the case of children, their parent or legal guardian. 

If no patient data were presented in the article and it is not applicable, please add the following sentence:

“For this type of study consent for publication is not required.”