Aims and scope

Journal of Liver Cancer (J Liver Cancer, JLC) is the official journal of the Korean Liver Cancer Association (KLCA , https://livercancer.or.kr/eng/index.php). The aim of JLC is to provide a forum formedical doctors and basic scientists working in the field of liver cancer. Its regional scope is mainly Korea, but it welcomes submissions from researchers all over the world . The journal covers basic ,translational and clinical research on liver cancer, including its molecular and cellular biology , pathophysiology , etiology , epidemiology , prevention , surveillance , diagnosis , and treatment. JLC publishes articles in the form of original articles, case reports , review articles , and editorials . All submitted manuscripts are peer reviewed.

General information

Journal of Liver Cancer (JLC) is published and distributed by the Korean Liver Cancer Association. JLC is published online (https://www.e-jlc.org) and in print biannually in English. All authors who wish to submit to JLC must comply with these instructions, and any instructions not described in this guideline will follow the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals” (http://www.icmje.org).

All manuscripts should be written in English. Authors from non-English speaking countries are encouraged to have their manuscripts proofread by professional English editors. The Editors may return the manuscript to the authors before the review process when the content or format of the manuscript do not conform to the guidelines or when a breach of publication ethics is present. Journal of Liver Cancer (JLC) adheres to the ethical guidelines for research and publication described in Guidelines on Good Publication (http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines) and the ICMJE Guidelines (http://www.icmje.org).

All authors are advised to refer to the ethics policy of JLC at https://www.e-jlc.org/policy/ethics.php.

Journal of Liver Cancer editorial office

620 Yeoksam Heights Bldg.(FASTFIVE),151 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06132, Korea
TEL: +82-2-313-1900, E-mail: liver@klcsg.or.kr

On-line submission

All manuscripts should be submitted via our on-line manuscript submission service available at https://www.e-jlc.org.

Types of manuscripts

The types of manuscripts include original articles (research papers), case reports, review articles, editorials, special contributions, and letters to editors. Review articles, editorials, and special contributions are commissioned by the Editor. Special issues focused on specific topics may be published according to the plans of the publication committee.

It is mandatory that authors follow the reporting guidelines for each specific study design. The following are the most commonly used guidelines for this journal. Authors are requested to state the guideline used for their study in their manuscript, and are recommended to submit the checklist that is most appropriate for their manuscript type as supplementary material. The checklists are available in the links provided below

Randomized trials – CONSORT Statement (https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/consort)

Observational studies – STROBE Statement (https://www.strobe-statement.org/)

Diagnostic accuracy studies – STARD Statement (https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/stard)

Systemic reviews and meta-analyses – PRISMA Statement (https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/prisma)

Animal studies – ARRIVE Guidelines (https://arriveguidelines.org/resources)

Case reports – CARE Guidelines (https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/care)

If none of the above listed guidelines are suitable for the manuscript, the author is requested to search for the most relevant set of guidelines supplied by the EQUATOR Network (http://www.equator-network.org/home).

Formatting text

• 1. All manuscripts should be prepared in English. Manuscripts should be submitted as Microsoft Word files (doc, docx).
• 2. Texting and spacing requirements are as follows: basic fonts (Arial, Times New Roman), double-spaced, and blank space of 3 cm from every margin of A4 paper size. Page numbers should be inserted at the bottom center of the page. Please do not number the subsections. Tables or figures should not be embedded in the main manuscript file. Any supplementary material should not be included in the main manuscript file. All submitted files (including supplementary materials) should not exceed 10 MB in size.
• 3. Medical terminology applies to the glossary published by American Medical Association. Terms without proper translation, proper nouns, chemical names, units, etc. are used as they are. When the meaning of a translation is not clear, write the original word in the first parentheses and write only the translation afterwards.
• 4. Use generic names for drugs. The proprietary name may be mentioned in parentheses, together with the name, city and country of the manufacturer.
• 5. Minimize the use of the abbreviations, and when it is repeated more than 2 times, spell out fully on first usage, and write the abbreviation in parentheses.
• 6. Laboratory values should be in accordance with the International System of Units (SI).

Title page

The title page should state the type of manuscript; the title of the manuscript; running title; the first and last names, and middle initials of all authors; the names and street addresses of the institutions to which the authors belong; the street address, telephone number, fax number, and the e-mail address of the corresponding author. The running title should be less than 40 characters.

All authors should provide details of the individual authors’ positions in the affiliated institutions (e.g., professor, lecturer, graduate student, researcher, college student, post-doc, middle and high school teacher, high school student, etc.). If a contributing author is a minor, the current affiliation (school) and grade of this co-author should be stated.

Abstract

The abstract of original articles must contain 250 words or less, and must be organized as follows: Backgrounds/Aims, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Five or less key words from MeSH terms (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html) should be provided at the end of the abstract. For case reports, the abstract should contain no more than 150 words, and should be presented in one paragraph without subheadings (non-structured). For review articles and special contributions, abstracts should contain no more than 250 words and should be presented in one paragraph. Any abbreviations must be spelled out fully on first usage in both abstracts and in the main text.

Introduction

The Introduction should provide 1) the background and rationale of the study and 2) the objective of the study. The former part should state pertinent background information and references that inform the reader as to why the study was performed. Please avoid an extensive review of the literature. The final paragraph of the introduction should clearly state the hypothesis and the objective of the study. Brevity and focus are important.

Methods

Authors are instructed to provide a level of detail in this section such that another investigator could repeat the work. For methods that are used without significant modification, citation of the original work will suffice. Identify and provide references for all the statistical methods used. For studies using human subjects, the detail of IRB approval and patient informed consent should be stated. For animal experiments, a statement of approval by the institutional animal care committee or appropriate substitute should be provided. Please refer to the ethics policy of JLC at https://www.e-jlc.org/policy/ethics.php

Statistical methods should be described meticulously. Authors may be requested to provide raw data to the Editorial Office if the reviewers wish to analyze the data. Softwares used for the statistical analysis should be stated with the name, manufacturer and version. Statistical results are encouraged to provide measurement error or uncertainty such as confidence intervals besides providing P-values.

Results

Present the results in logical sequence in the text, along with tables and illustrations. Do not repeat data that are already covered in the tables and/or illustrations; summarize only important observations. Do not illustrate minor details if their message is adequately conveyed by simple descriptive text. Make sure to give results for all items evaluated as mentioned in Methods section. State the statistical significance of the findings.

Discussion

Emphasize the advances in knowledge provided by the study and the conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat in detail the data given in the Results section. Include in the Discussion the implications of the findings and their limitations. Relate the observations to other relevant studies. Link the conclusions with the goals of the study, but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not supported by the data. The penultimate paragraph of this section should address study limitations. For experimental studies, describe the importance of the conclusions as they relate to potential future practical applications.

Acknowledgments

Persons who made a genuine assistance and provided special reagents may be acknowledged in this section.

Conflict of Interests

For potential conflicts of interest, a specific disclosure must be stated as following: "Author A has received a research grant from Company X.", "Author A owns stock in Company X.", or "Author A is a member of the Committee X." If there is no potential conflict of interest, the following should be stated: “The authors declare that they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

Funding statement

Grant and financial support related with the work should be specifically stated. Providing a FundRef ID is recommended including the name of the funding agency, country and the number of the grant provided by the funding agency.

ORCID information

“Open Researcher and Contributor iD” (ORCID) IDs of all authors should be clearly indicated.

Author contributions

JLC participates in the CRediT standard for author contributions (https://casrai.org/credit/). The contributions of all authors must be described using the CRediT Taxonomy of author roles. For each of the categories below, please enter the initials of the authors who contributed in that category. If listing more than one author in a category, separate each set of initials with a comma. If no one contributed in a category, you may leave that box blank.

Contributor Role	Role Definition
Conceptualization	Ideas; formulation or evolution of overarching research goals and aims.
Data Curation	Management activities to annotate (produce metadata), scrub data and maintain research data (including software code, where it is necessary for interpreting the data itself) for initial use and later reuse.
Formal Analysis	Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyze or synthesize study data.
Funding Acquisition	Acquisition of the financial support for the project leading to this publication.
Investigation	Conducting a research and investigation process, specifically performing the experiments, or data/evidence collection.
Methodology	Development or design of methodology; creation of models
Project Administration	Management and coordination responsibility for the research activity planning and execution.
Resources	Provision of study materials, reagents, materials, patients, laboratory samples, animals, instrumentation, computing resources, or other analysis tools.
Software	Programming, software development; designing computer programs; implementation of the computer code and supporting algorithms; testing of existing code components.
Supervision	Oversight and leadership responsibility for the research activity planning and execution, including mentorship external to the core team.
Validation	Verification, whether as a part of the activity or separate, of the overall replication/reproducibility of results/experiments and other research outputs.
Visualization	Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work, specifically visualization/data presentation.
Writing – Original Draft Preparation	Creation and/or presentation of the published work, specifically writing the initial draft (including substantive translation).
Writing – Review & Editing	Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work by those from the original research group, specifically critical review, commentary or revision – including pre- or post-publication stages.

The corresponding author is responsible for completing this information at submission, and it is expected that all authors would have reviewed, discussed, and agreed to their individual contributions ahead of this time.

Examples of authors' contributions are as followings:

• Conceptualization: AB
• Data curation: AB
• Formal analysis: XY
• Funding acquisition: AB
• Investigation: AB, XY
• Methodology: AB, CD, EF, XY
• Project administration: AB
• Resources: EF
• Software: EF
• Supervision: XY
• Validation: CD, XY
• Visualization: AB, CE, EF
• Writing – original draft: AB, CD, XY
• Writing – review & editing: AB, CD, EF, XY
• Approval of final manuscript: all authors

References

The references must be written in English, in the order of citation, and should be numbered in the text. References with up to 6 authors must list all names; for those with more than 6 authors, list the names of the first 6 authors followed by “et al.” Periodical abbreviations should follow those used by Index Medicus.

The reference style for JLC can be download at EndNote Style. Examples of reference style for JLC are as follows:

1. Journal articles:

Ahn SH, Han KH, Park JY, Lee CK, Kang SW, Chon CY, et al. Association between hepatitis B virus infection and the HLA-DR type in Korea. Hepatology 2000;31:1371-1373.

2. Books:

Fraser RG, Pare JAP. Diagnosis of disease of the chest, 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1979:1420-1430.

3. Book chapters:

Gumucio JJ, Berkowitz CM. Structural organization of the liver and function of the hepatic acinus. In: Kaplowitz N, ed. Liver and Biliary Diseases. Vol I. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1992:2-17.

4. Abstracts or articles in a supplement:

• A. Bellentani S, Marino M. Epidemiology and natural history of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Ann Hepatol 2009;8(Suppl 1):S4-S8.
• B. Cho YJ, Lee SH, Kim BH, Yang SK, Jo YH, Lee DH. Characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma with reference to ages in Korean patients [Abstract]. Hepatology 1998;28:246A.
• C. Benhamou JP. Indications for liver transplantation in primary biliary cirrhosis. Hepatology 1994;20(Suppl):11-13.

5. Internet resources:

National Cancer Information Center. Cancer incidence in Korea, 2010 [Internet]. Goyang (KR): National Cancer Information Center; [cited 2013 May 15]. Available from: http://ncc.re.kr/english/infor/kccr.jsp.

Tables

Prepare tables on individual sheets of paper, double-spaced and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in the order of their appearance in the text. The title of tables should be written concisely in clauses and phrases, and should be selfexplanatory, i.e. the reader should be able to understand the table without referring to the main text. The first letter of the table title should begin with a capital letter. Explain all abbreviations and symbols such as *, †, ‡, §, Π, #, **, ††, ‡‡, §§, ΠΠ, ## in alphabetical order at the bottom of the table. Specify the statistical method used in the footnote at the bottom of the table (e.g. * Mann-Whitney U-test). Do not duplicate the material presented in a figure.

Figure legends

Number the figures with Arabic numerals in the order they are mentioned in the text. All figures should have a short self-explanatory caption. Define any abbreviations used in the figures. When quoting the figure in the text, refer to “Figure 1”. For any copyrighted material, indicate that permission has been obtained. Figure legends should be typed consecutively on a separate sheet of paper.

Figures

Figures should be prepared in a resolution of at least 300 dpi, with good contrast and sharpness. The preferred file formats are JPEG, TIFF or PowerPoint (ppt, pptx). All figures may be uploaded together as one ppt (pptx) file: in this case, the figures should be arranged in order of appearance in the manuscript (e.g. Figure 1, 2, 3, 4).

Guideline for manuscript types

Original articles

Manuscripts are expected to be well organized and clearly written. They should not exceed 6,000 words, including the abstract, references, tables, and figure legends. No more than 8 figures and tables, with a maximum of 6 panels per figure. It is possible to submit additional methodological details, non-essential figures or portions of your manuscript as supplementary material for online publication only. References cited in the main text may not be listed in the supplementary materials. The only references to be listed in the supplement are those cited exclusively in the supplement. References should not exceed a maximum of 40. Original articles must be arranged as follows: (1) title page (2) abstract (250 words or less with a list of 5 or less key words), (3) introduction, (4) methods, (5) results, (6) discussion, (7) acknowledgements, (8) conflict of interest statement, (9) funding statement, (10) ORCID information, (11) author contributions, (12) references, and (13) figure legends. Tables and figure files should be uploaded separately.

Case reports

Case reports are screened at initial submission to determine whether they are appropriate. Only those cases that are new, and judged to have sufficient clinical impact, will undergo peer review procedures.
Case reports must be arranged as follows: (1) title page (2) abstract (non-structured, 150 words or less with a list of 5 or less key words), (3) introduction, (4) case report, (5) discussion, (6) acknowledgments, (7) conflict of interest statement, (8) funding statement, (9) ORCID information, (10) author contributions, (11) references, and (12) figure legends. Tables and figure files should be uploaded separately.
The case report section should include the clinical findings, imaging and pathology findings, and diagnosis and treatment progress. Clinical findings should include a brief description of the patient’s sex, age, address (chief complaints), major medical findings, and laboratory findings. The diagnosis should include Child-Pugh grade and TNM stage, and important treatment progress should be summarized.
The discussion should focus on the clinical significance associated with the case, and should avoid redundant literature review. The number of references should not exceed 20, and the number of tables/figures should not exceed 6.

Review articles

Review articles on selected topics will be solicited by the Editors. Review articles are expected to be clear, concise and updated. The maximum length is 5,000 words. The inclusion of a maximum of 8 high quality tables and/or colored figures to summarize critical points is highly desirable. Abstracts should contain no more than 250 words and should be non-structured (no subheadings).

Editorials

This section consists of brief editorial comments on articles published in JLC. The length of an editorial should not exceed 1,500 words and 2 tables are allowed. References should not exceed a maximum of 20.

Special contribution

Special contributions are solicited by the Editor, and consist of manuscripts containing some original data but not a complete scientific research study (original article). Abstract should contain no more than 250 words; 30 references, 8 pictures, 4 tables.

Letters to the editor

Letters to the Editor consist of constructive criticism and questions about articles published in JLC within the last two years. Authors submitting Letters should refer to the article to be discussed. The manuscript will be forwarded to the authors of the relevant articles. Letters to the Editor must arranged as follows: (1) title page, (2) body, and (3) references (maximum of 8). Tables and figures are not included in these manuscripts. There are no word limits, but authors are encouraged to report within 2,500 words. An abstract is not required.

Peer review and decision

The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to the journal readership. All manuscripts, including solicited manuscripts, are screened upon submission. Only those which fully comply with the submission requirements outlined, including ethics statements, and in which the level of English is of an acceptable standard will enter the peer review process. The Editors reserve the right of early rejection without further external review if the manuscript is judged unlikely to be accepted.
JLC adopts a single-blind peer review process. Manuscripts are evaluated by at least 2 independent reviewers and by the Editors. The final decision letter is sent to the corresponding author by e-mail within approximately 6 weeks after submission. All articles are published ahead-of-print within 2 months after final acceptance by the Editorial Office, and the final print version published within 6 months after final acceptance.
For more details on the peer review policy of JLC, please visit Peer review policy.

Resubmission of manuscripts

The authors may be requested to revise the contents. Revised manuscripts are peer reviewed in the same manner as for the initial submission. This invitation does not imply, in any case, that the revised version will be accepted for publication. In general, revised manuscripts must be received in the Editorial Office within 4 weeks of the date of the first decision. Authors should submit both a marked and unmarked version of the revised manuscript, with all changes in the marked copy underlined. The resubmitted manuscript should be accompanied by a cover letter stating that the manuscript has been revised according to the comments made by the Editor and the Reviewers. Figures and tables must be uploaded in the recommended formats. Revised manuscripts should be accompanied by a point-by-point reply to the critiques, specifying the changes made in the revised version, which should be highlighted. Please do not send revised manuscripts to the Editorial Office via e-mail.

Article processing charges

Page charges, article processing fees or submission fees will not be applied to the authors. JLC publishes all contents open access and makes the content freely available online.

Copyright transfer

Copyright for all material published in JLC is vested in the Korean Liver Cancer Association (KLCA). In accordance with the copyright act, all manuscripts must be accompanied by a copyright transfer form signed by all authors. Articles cannot be published until a signed copyright transfer agreement form has been received. Statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communications in the JLC are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor(s) or publisher, and the editor(s) and publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for such material. Neither the editor(s) nor the publisher guarantees, warrants or endorses any product or service advertised in the journal; nor do they guarantee any claim made by the manufacturer of such product or service. Advertisements in publications are not authorized by the KLCA, so all legal liability lies with the advertiser.