INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS
These instructions were last updated on 11 November 2024. Download the full guidelines here (PDF format).
For earlier versions of the Information for Authors, please refer to the archive.
Manuscript Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted via the Hong Kong Journal of Radiology (HKJR) online submission system (HKAMedTrack) at www.hkamedtrack.org/hkjr.
Before submission, please ensure that your article meets the requirements detailed below.
Before Submission
General
HKJR adheres to the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE; https://www.icmje.org), and the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE; https://publicationethics.org).
Submitted manuscripts must be unpublished works that have not been published elsewhere (in whole, in part, or as a preprint) and are not under consideration by another publication.
Reporting Guidelines
To improve the quality and clarity of published articles, HKJR recommends the use of reporting guidelines in the preparation of manuscripts, such as those advocated by the EQUATOR Network (for example, CONSORT for randomised trials, or CARE for case reports).
Funding
Any sponsor(s) of the research involved, along with grant number(s) should be provided.
Conflicts of interest
All authors must provide a statement disclosing any interests related to the content of the manuscript. Where none exist, please state ‘The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.’ Authors may use the ICMJE Disclosure of Interest form.
Ethics
All studies must be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
For all studies involving living humans (including those involving human tissue, retrospective studies, and database studies), an appropriate ethics review board must be consulted. A statement must be included in the manuscript that provides the name of the review board and approval number (or waiver).
A statement on patient/guardian consent must also be included, indicating how patients provided informed consent (eg, written or verbal), or that the requirement for patient consent was waived by the review board.
It is advised to keep a signed patient consent for publication prior to manuscript submission. You may use such form available in your hospital, university or institution in any language that is understood by the patient (or authorised representative).
A template form can be downloaded here as reference.
For studies involving animals, appropriate ethics approval is required, and this should be stated in the manuscript.
Data availability
The authors shall make available the complete data on which the manuscript is based. A statement describing how the data can be accessed must be included in the manuscript. For clinical trials and other large datasets, authors are recommended to deposit data in a public repository and to share data using a permanent identifier (such as a DOI).
Preparation of Manuscripts
In general, manuscripts should be prepared following the ‘IMRaD’ structure as recommended by the ICMJE (http://icmje.org/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/preparing-for-submission.html).
Blinded Manuscript
Please provide a blinded manuscript as a single file, with figures and tables included. Any identifying information (eg, references to past publications, name of an author’s institution) should be masked or removed from the blinded manuscript. The title page (if any) should be provided separately. Manuscripts should be submitted in Word format (.doc or .docx).
Supplementary Material
The supplementary material was provided by the authors and some information may not have been peer reviewed. Accepted supplementary material will be published as submitted by the authors, without any editing or formatting. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by the Hong Kong College of Radiologists. The Hong Kong College of Radiologists disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content.
Language
Manuscripts must be written in English. For accepted manuscripts, an abstract in Traditional Chinese will also be required.
Use of Artificial Intelligence–Assisted Technology
The HKJR follows the ICMJE recommendations (www.icmje.org/recommendations/) for the use of artificial intelligence (AI)–assisted technologies.
At submission, authors should disclose whether AI-assisted technologies (such as large language models, chatbots, or image creators) were used to produce their submitted work. If so, authors should provide a description of the technologies used in both the cover letter and appropriate sections in the manuscript. For instance, authors should report the use of AI-assisted technologies in the Acknowledgement if such use is to assist in editing of the manuscript content, or in Methods if such use is a part of study design or methods, including the tool used, version and prompts if applicable.
The HKJR does not accept AI and AI-assisted technologies as credited author for they do not fulfil ICMJE authorship criteria.
Authors should carefully review and edit all manuscript content as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. The HKJR does not accept manuscript content (including text, reference citations, tables and figures) generated by AI-assisted technologies.
Authors
For each author, please provide the full name, qualifications (maximum of two), and affiliation (where the study was conducted). The authors’ names in Chinese characters, if available, should also be provided.
The full name, postal address, telephone and fax numbers, and email address of the corresponding author must be provided. The corresponding author, on behalf of the authors, is responsible for all contact with the journal.
Title
The title should concisely convey the main topic of the study. Avoid ‘a’, ‘the’ or obvious terms such as “a study of” or “novel”. If appropriate, please include the study design in the title (eg, ‘randomised controlled trial’, ‘systematic review’, ‘case report’). An abbreviated title of <45 characters is also required
Abstract
A structured abstract of ≤250 words is required for Review Articles and Original Articles. The abstract should provide a complete summary of the article, including the aims/purpose, main methods, key results, and conclusions. Abbreviations and clinical or technical jargon should be avoided. Please refer to the Categories of Manuscripts for details.
Key Words
A maximum of five relevant index terms should be provided, selected from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH; www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh).
Tables
Tables should be typed double-spaced on separate pages in as simple a format as possible. They should be numbered and concisely titled. Abbreviations should be defined in footnotes.
Figures
The number of illustrations should be restricted to the minimum necessary to support the textual material. The illustrations should be carefully marked with the figure number. Illustrations should be submitted in .jpg format with a resolution of 350 dpi or above. Reproduction of colour illustrations will be charged to the author. Legends should be provided to indicate the anatomical area and pathological condition shown. All symbols and abbreviations should be defined in the legend. Please ensure that legends and illustrations correspond.
References
The references should be numbered in the order in which they are first cited in the text. Each reference citation should be in superscript Arabic numerals after full-stops and commas. At the end of the article, the full list of references should be presented in Vancouver style. Include the complete title, and names and initials of all authors. Examples are shown below:
Periodicals
- Ngan H, Fok M, Wong J. Role of lymphography in chylothorax following thoracic surgery. Br J Radiol. 1988;61:1032-6.
Books
- Fan ST, Ngan H, Wong J. Hepatocellular carcinoma. In: Pitt HA, Carr-Locke DL, Ferrucci JT, editors. Hepatobiliary and pancreatic disease: the term approach to management. Boston: Little Brown; 1995. p 135-48.
Books edited by author
- Osborn AG. Diagnostic neuroradiology. Chicago: Mosby-Year Book; 1994. p 284-329.
Please refer to the latest ICMJE recommendations for further information on references and style:
http://icmje.org/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/
Acknowledgement(s)
Any individuals who contributed substantially to the study but do not qualify for inclusion as authors should be acknowledged. Written permission from acknowledged individuals is required.
After Submission
Copyright
On acceptance of an article by the journal, the corresponding author will be asked to transfer copyright of the article to the Journal. The Copyright Transfer Form can be downloaded here. HKJR has a fully Open Access policy, and publishes all articles under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For any use other than that permitted by this license, written permission must be obtained from HKJR.
Editing
Accepted manuscripts undergo technical editing and copyediting, so that style and language are consistent with international standards and HKJR style, and to ensure that the journal can be clearly understood by our international readers. The corresponding author is sent the edited manuscript (galley proof). A few days are usually given for the authors to check the paper, respond to any queries, and to suggest changes. After acceptance, only minimal changes will be allowed; substantial changes will incur charges, and addition of new material may require a new round of peer review. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made by the copyeditor.
Proofs
The corresponding author is sent the final version (page proof) of the manuscript to proofread. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all authors read and approve the final version of the manuscript.
Reprints
Authors with papers published in HKJR are entitled to receive 20 complimentary offprint copies of their published paper. These will be sent to the address of the corresponding authors. Authors who do not want to receive the offprint copies should inform the Editorial Office at hkjr@hkam.org.hk while checking the page proofs. Quotes for extra copies of reprints are available from the Editorial Office.
Costs to Authors
There are no submission or page charges for publication in HKJR. However, the journal may charge for the following author requests:
(a) colour printing - HK$3,500 per colour photo or figure; or
(b) substantial alterations or excess figure(s) or table(s) added after acceptance - HK$200 per layout page.
Sharing Your Article
Authors are encouraged to share their articles as widely as possible, to maximise readership and impact. Authors are recommended to always share articles with the DOI. This is a number beginning ‘10.12809/hkjr’ that should be shared as a URL (eg, https://doi.org/10.12809/hkjr). This will always link to the most recent version of the manuscript.
Preprints
Preprint servers, such as medRxiv and ResearchSquare, are becoming a popular way to disseminate research early. However, these papers are not peer reviewed before being made available to the public. Submissions of papers previously posted to a preprint server will be considered only in exceptional circumstances.
Author Accepted Manuscript
For selected high-priority papers, authors will receive a copy of the ‘Accepted Manuscript’. This version of the manuscript can be shared freely on personal websites and social media. The following text is recommended, using the article DOI included in the manuscript:
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Hong Kong Journal of Radiology, available at [article DOI].
Please do NOT publish this version of the manuscript on any public websites, such as institutional repositories or scholarly networking sites such as ResearchGate or Mendeley until after the embargo (the final publication date).
Version of Record
This is the final published version of the manuscript. This can be downloaded from the HKJR website and shared freely, including uploading to an institutional data repository. Please be aware that certain types of re-use are restricted by the Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) used by HKJR. It is recommended that the article DOI is used to share.