The Visible Human Journal of Endoscopy (VHJOE) is an electronic, peer-reviewed journal to provide a forum for the publication of original case reports which employ endoscopy and imaging, original work in endoscopy and imaging, and reviews regarding endoscopy imaging and related therapy. The journal emphasizes the relation of clinical findings to normal human anatomy utilizing the Visible Human Database located at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Formatting Information: The formatting of VHJOE complies with the guidelines recommended by the “Uniform Requirements Submitted to Biomedical Journals” (Ann Intern Med. 1997;126:36-47). In general VHJOE uses a journal format similar to Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. (See, “Instructions To Authors” Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. 2001;53:29A-35A.)

Title Page: The title page should include title, full name(s) of author(s), academic degrees, current location by city and state or country; institution, hospital or practice where work was performed; location and date and publication citation for material presented at a meeting or published as an abstract; and list of grant support; address for corresponding author including address, phone, fax, and email.

Structured Abstract: A structured abstract is only required for “Original Articles” and “New Methods and Materials.” The abstract should use no abbreviations, footnotes, trade names, or references and strictly adhere to word count < 150 words. Abstracts should be structured in four parts: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.

Text: The organization of the text for “Original Articles” and “New Methods and Materials” should be: Introduction, Patients/Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and References. The organization for Brief Case Reports and Case Series should be Introduction, Case Report(s), Discussion, and References. Case Reports should begin with a brief introduction of the topic. Cases should include a brief clinical summary. This should include pertinent history and physical examination supporting laboratory, radiology, pathology and endoscopic or related images. The written information should be in English and generally succinct. At the discretion of the Editor, longer summaries may be accepted. Discussion should follow with a focused reference list.

Product and Drug Names: Generic drug names should be used; trade may be inserted in parentheses after the initial mention of the drug. Product or device names should be treated similarly, listing the manufacturer’s name city and state in parentheses.

Laboratory values: Laboratory values should be reported in SI units. For conversion of non-SI units see http://www.techexpo.com/techdata/techcntr.html. Normal values should be included in parentheses.

Specific Types of Submissions

Case reports should be brief, and include a title, introduction, body of the report (pertinent history, physical exam supporting laboratory evidence, radiologic information, pathologic information) and details on the endoscopy findings and related images. These should include methods utilized during the generation of images, to include equipment type, settings and methods of image capture. The journal is interested in publishing correlative radiologic, histologic and photographic (including endoscopic) images. A summary statement should follow and appropriate references utilized. The reference list can be concise and need not be comprehensive.

Original work should have a title, abstract, introduction, methods, results (including images, tables and links to the Visible Human as appropriate), discussion and references.

Review articles should emphasize the role of endoscopy rather than provide a comprehensive review of a disease state. Example: The role of EUS in staging rectal cancer would be more appropriate than Rectal Cancer. A review should have an introduction, body and summary.

Letters to the editor should be concise and refer to previous editions of VHJOE.

The written information should be in English and submitted as a word document. Digital images can be submitted as jpeg, bitmap or tiff files, and submitted on floppy disc or CD-ROM. Hardcopy images (photographs) will also be accepted, and should be high resolution at least 3” x 5” in size.

The authors are encouraged to locate and submit representative images of corresponding normal anatomy from the digital human database at http://www.visiblehumanexperience.com as html files.

Citations:

Examples of proper format for citations are given below. Use Index Medicus for journal title abbreviations. Authors will be responsible for accuracy of all citations.

References should be verified by using PubMed’s citation Matcher at http://www.bcbi.nlm.gov/PubMed/wgetcit.html. References cited in the text should be listed in consecutive order under the bibliography Citation format:

Journal Article (list all authors, unless number exceeds six, then give six followed by “et al.”)

1. Meltzer SJ, Ahnen DJ, Battifour H, Yokokota J, Cline MJ. Protooncogene abnormalities in colon cancers and adenomatous polyps. Gastroenterol 1987;92:1174-80.

Book

Personal Author(s)

2. Day RA. How to write and publish a scientific paper. Philadelphia: Institute of Scientific Information, 1979.

Chapter in a Book

3. Costa M, Furness JB, Llewellyn-Smith IF. Histochemistry of the enteric nervous system. In, Johnson LR, ed. Physiology of the gastrointestinal tract. Vol 1. 2nd ed. New York:Raven, 1987:1-40.

Computer Software and Manuals

4. SigmaPlot. Version 4.0, Corte Madera, CA: Jandel Scientific: 1990.

Disclosure Statement: The author(s) must include a separate disclosure statement indicating any financial or other interests in the manufacture or distribution of any device or drug mentioned in the manuscript.

Ethics of Treatment: Investigators reporting on research involving human subjects or animals must have prior approval from an institutional review board. This approval should be mentioned in the methods section of the manuscript. In countries where institutional review boards are not available, the authors must include a statement that research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Delectation as revised 1989.

Authors should include a minimum of 2 keywords, of which at least one refers to anatomic location and another refers to the lesion or finding.

Copyright Transfer: Manuscripts will be accepted with the understanding that they are contributed to VHJOE. Authors warrant that a manuscript is original, it has not been previously published in any language, and none of the material is contained in any other manuscript under consideration for publication elsewhere.

The attached copyright transfer form must be completed and submitted to the editorial office. The signature of the corresponding author must be an original.

All submissions will be evaluated by two independent reviewers for content, accuracy, and quality.

Submit manuscripts, figures, and video clips on CD-ROM to:

VHJOE Editorial Office
John Deutsch, MD, Editor
C/O UCHSC at Fitzsimons
Center for Human Simulation
Building 500,Room N5201
PO Box 6508, MS F435
Aurora, Colorado 80045-0508
Tel 303-724-0500 Fax 303-724-0911

Or electronically at: pubvhjoe@uchsc.edu.

Abbreviations: Abbreviations should be spelled out the first time they appear in the text. The AMA Manual of Style, 9th Edition (Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1998 p. 319-28) provides a list of standard abbreviations.

Legends: Legends should be typed on separate page labeled “Figure Legends” and include enough information so that figures can be interpreted without reference to the text.

Revisions: Revised manuscripts should be re-submitted per the instructions above. The corresponding author should address a point by point response to comment(s) from each reviewer.

Galley Proofs: Proofs can be e-mailed to the corresponding author. Upon prompt review, proofs should be returned to the editorial office via e-mail to pubvhjoe@uchsc.edu.

Citing Article/Review: Based on the Chicago Manual of Style, your article/review should be cited as follows: LastName AA. Article/Review Title. In VHJOE (Journal vol. #, no. #) [electronic journal]. Aurora, CO, 2003. Available at www.vhjoe.org; INTERNET.