Endocrine-Related Cancer provides a unique international forum for the publication of high quality original articles describing novel, cutting edge basic laboratory, translational and clinical investigations of human health and disease focusing on endocrine neoplasias and hormone-dependent cancers; and for the publication of authoritative review articles in these topics.
Endocrine neoplasias include adrenal cortex, breast, multiple endocrine neoplasia, neuroendocrine tumours, ovary, prostate, paraganglioma, parathyroid, pheochromocytoma pituitary, testes, thyroid, and hormone-dependent cancers. Neoplasias affecting metabolism and energy production such as bladder, bone, kidney, lung, and head and neck, are also considered.
All authors must abide by the standards outlined in the journal’s ethical guidelines. In particular, please note the need to avoid duplicate submission, plagiarism and self-plagiarism. Endocrine-Related Cancer is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
BioScientifica is a member of CrossRef (powered by iThenticate). CrossRef is a multi-publisher initiative to screen published and submitted content for originality. Manuscript submissions will be screened against the CrossRef database.
The iThenticate system is also available to researchers, enabling authors to verify originality prior to submission. Please note that screening is not a requirement for submission, but may assist authors to avoid plagiarism/self-plagiarism. Originality of the manuscript submitted is the author’s responsibility.
It will be assumed that submitted manuscripts carry the approval of all the authors.
Any changes to the authorship of the manuscript during the peer review process require the complete agreement of all authors in writing, as per the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines.
A preprint is a version of the article prior to submission to the journal for peer review, and has not been copyedited or typeset.
Bioscientifica allows deposition of preprints to recognized repositories, such as bioRxiv, provided that Bioscientifica is informed of this at the time of submission and it does not infringe any subsequent copyright or licence agreement.
Upon final publication, authors are required to add a link from the preprint to the published article (version of record).
An Accepted Preprint (or post-print) is the accepted version of the article, prior to copyediting or typesetting, and is usually published online within 24 hours of acceptance. Bioscientifica allows deposition of Accepted Preprints to recognized repositories provided that an embargo period of 12 months following publication is respected.
The journal also offers an Open Access option.
The journal automatically deposits articles to PubMed Central on behalf of authors who are NIH funded, for release 12 months from publication, enabling authors to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.
Articles are considered on the understanding that, if they are accepted for publication, the entire copyright shall pass to the Society for Endocrinology. The corresponding author is requested to digitally sign a copyright transfer agreement to this effect.
(Please note that when the Open Access option has been taken, copyright remains with the author(s).)
It is your responsibility to clear all copyright permissions for any work reproduced in your article and to pay any permissions fees.
If a figure/table is adapted or reproduced from a previously published work, please include wording to this effect and a citation to the original work in the figure legend. Please forward permission from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) to the editorial office with your submission.
For information on how to request permission to reproduce any part of an article published in Endocrine-Related Cancer see the journal’s permissions and commercial reprints page.
Reviews and original research papers of exceptional quality are considered.
The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to invite commentaries or critiques on articles accepted for publication.
ERC considers original research articles in two categories.
All types of hormone related cancers are considered, including those occurring in breast, prostate, pituitary, testes, ovary, pancreas, adrenal, thyroid and neuroendocrine system as well as hormone-dependent cancers elsewhere. Metabolism and cancer submissions are also considered.
Reviews are normally by invitation. Authors intending to submit unsolicited reviews should send an outline of the proposed article to the editorial office via the feedback form. Review articles should be approximately 6000 words excluding references, including an allowance for tables and illustrations.
Manuscripts containing interesting and appropriate observations concerning Endocrine-Related Cancer in general and reports on new observations or studies that do not warrant publication as a full research article will be considered as Research Letter. The Editor-in-Chief may recommend your paper is submitted as a Research Letter following initial review. Themes within Research Letters include preliminary studies (e.g. small sample sizes or a phase I / II studies), technique observations and comments on field advancements
The letter should be in the following format:
Letters to the Editor have a flexible format and may be published on occasion, where comments on a paper published in ERC or a topical issue in the field are of broad interest to the readership. Authors wishing to submit a Letter to the Editor should send an outline of the proposed article to the editorial office via the feedback form.
Submit online using the ScholarOne Manuscripts system.
Manuscripts must be written in clear, concise English. Bioscientifica offers discounted English editing services in partnership with Enago, one of the world’s leading academic editing service providers. Enago will help Bioscientifica authors ensure that their paper is suitable for submission offering two levels of service to select from: Copy Editing or Substantive Editing. To find out more and access the discounted rate, please visit www.enago.com/bioscientifica.
If accepted, your article will be included in the Accepted Preprint service. Please ensure that the details entered in ScholarOne Manuscripts match those in the manuscript itself, as the Accepted Preprint is generated from ScholarOne Manuscripts. In particular, ensure that affiliations are included and that the order, spelling and middle initials of authors are entered as you want them to appear online, as the Accepted Preprint will be indexed in PubMed until the final typeset version is published.
Please prepare the content of your article as described below.
Include a covering letter containing the following:
Articles quoted as ‘in press’ that are not available online as part of the Accepted Preprint service or a similar scheme must be provided as supplementary files for reviewing purposes.
Give the names of up to five reviewers with email addresses. One of these scientists may be asked to referee the article.
Authors should keep copies of everything submitted.
Endocrine-Related Cancer understands that manuscripts may have undergone previous peer review by highly regarded oncology or endocrinology journals, but was not accepted for publication for reasons of priority. ERC will now evaluate such papers in light of the previous reviewer comments for an expedited review. Corresponding authors wishing to submit their manuscript for consideration are required to submit a presubmission request to the editorial office via the feedback form, with the information outlined below. Each presubmission enquiry will be evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief and a member of our expert editorial board before indicating an articles suitability for the journal. Manuscripts considered suitable for the journal will be subjected to expedited peer review.
Information Required:
Endocrine-Related Cancer is committed to keeping costs to authors to a minimum. Consequently, there are:
Charges would only be incurred if you are publishing colour figures in print, publishing supplementary data or making your article Open Access. Please note the option to print in greyscale is subject to editorial approval, if the meaning of your image is unclear you will be asked to print in colour and a charge will apply.
Manuscripts should be concise and clear. Text for research papers is limited to 5000 words. Please provide a word count on the title page of your manuscript. We recommend a maximum of 10 figures and 60 references.
Manuscripts should be divided into the following sections:
Please format your manuscript as follows:
For further advice on manuscript preparation see the Guidelines published by the European Association of Science Editors.
Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with approved gene nomenclature.
Follow species-specific formatting standards as follows:
Gene symbols should be in italics with only the first letter capitalised. Protein designations should be the same as the gene symbols except that all letters should be capitalised and in roman (i.e. not italicised). For example:
Use symbols approved by the International Committee on Standardized Genetic Nomenclature for Mice and the Rat Genome and Nomenclature Committee, which can be queried at the MGI website.
Gene symbols should be in italics with all letters capitalised; protein designations should be the same as the gene symbols but not italicised. For example:
Use symbols approved by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC).
Include a separate title page with:
The abstract should be a single paragraph of not more than 250 words, clearly stating the objective of the study or review, the methods used (where applicable), and summarizing results and conclusions.
Avoid abbreviations and references.
The introduction should set the study in context by briefly reviewing relevant knowledge of the subject; follow this with a concise statement of the objectives of the study.
Provide sufficient information for other workers to repeat the study. If well-established methods are used give a reference to the technique and provide full details of any modifications.
Experiments with animals must be performed in accordance with UK legal requirements. Include a statement that investigations have been approved by the local ethical committee.
Authors are encouraged to refer to the ARRIVE guidelines, and in particular the checklist within them, when preparing manuscripts detailing animal experiments.
In inbred mice, genetic strain effects can have significant effects on phenotype. Because of this the following controls for experiments with genetically-manipulated mice should be used: parental inbred strain, or wild-type littermates.
In general, studies that are based on observations performed in a single cell line will not be considered for publication if other lines of the same general lineage and characteristics are available. If at all possible, observations should be replicated in multiple cell lines.
We require that all cell lines are authenticated for correct origin. Specifically, the author should include the following information supporting the authentication of lines:
The Society for Endocrinology has produced guidelines for genetic association case/control studies in order to ensure they are methodologically sound and readers can fully assess their significance.
All Society for Endocrinology journals require data from such studies to be deposited in public databases (eg MIAME or GEO) or the manuscript will not be published. Endocrine-Related Cancer supports the public dissemination of gene expression data.
Papers reporting clinical trials will only be considered if the trials have been pre-registered according to the guidelines set out in The Lancet 364 (9438) 911-912.
Authors should also refer to the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and in particular the checklist within it, when preparing manuscripts detailing clinical trials.
Include a statement that consent has been obtained from each patient or subject after full explanation of the purpose and nature of all procedures used.
All research articles must state that the investigation was approved by a named independent ethical committee (or include a statement that approval was not required and why). We will be unable to accept research papers without this statement.
Where possible, identifying information, including names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent requires that an identifiable patient be shown the manuscript to be published. Authors should disclose to these patients whether any potential identifiable material might be available via the internet as well as in print after publication. Informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt that anonymity can be maintained. We no longer publish pictures with black bands across the eyes without a signed consent form, because bands fail to mask someone’s identity effectively.
The patient (or parent or guardian) must give written informed consent for publication by signing our consent form. Signed consent forms should then be retained in the patient’s clinical notes for future reference, and a copy should be made available for review by the Editor on request.
The manuscript reporting this patient’s details should state that ‘Written informed consent for publication of their clinical details and/or clinical images was obtained from the patient/parent/guardian/ relative of the patient.
If the patient is deceased the authors should seek permission from a relative and include a statement to this fact. If neither the patient or a relative can be traced, we can only publish if we are satisfied the information has been sufficiently anonymised, making it impossible to identify the patient with any certainty.
Permission is not required to publish the ‘recordings’ listed below, provided that, the recordings are effectively anonymised by the removal of any identifying marks, and patient details (i.e. patient name, date of birth, name of hospital) from images before submission:
When such an image is accompanied by text that could reveal the patient’s identity through clinical or personal detail, however, a signed consent form and declaration as listed above, will be required before publication.
Authors are strongly encouraged to deposit data sets in appropriate public databases. Authors should include the relevant database identifiers and accession numbers for deposited sequences within the manuscript using the following format: Database: xxxx, e.g: GEO: GSE6364. Authors are also required to provide the URL for the sequence(s).
Below is a list of public databases:
This list is not exhaustive. Please contact the editorial office if you have a query about relevant databases.
It is the author’s responsibility to document that the results are reproducible and that the differences found are not due to random variation. No absolute rules can be applied but, in general, quantitative data should be from no fewer than three replicate experiments. Appropriate statistical methods should be used to test the significance of differences in results. The term ‘significant’ should not be used unless statistical analysis was performed, and the probability value used to identify significance (e.g. P < 0.05) should be specified.
When several t-tests are employed, authors should be aware that nominal probability levels no longer apply. Accordingly, the multiple t-test, multiple range test, or similar techniques to permit simultaneous comparisons should be employed. Also, in lieu of using several t-tests, it is often more appropriate to utilize an analysis of variance (ANOVA) to permit pooling of data, increase the number of degrees of freedom, and improve reliability of results. Authors should use appropriate nonparametric tests when the data depart substantially from a normal distribution.
In presenting results of linear regression analyses, it is desirable to show 95% confidence limits.
When data points are fitted with lines, specify the method used for fitting (graphical, least squares, computer program). If differences in slopes and/or axis intercepts are claimed for plotted lines, these should be supported by statistical analysis.
Give sufficient details of the experimental design and analysis so that the reader can assess their adequacy and validity for testing the hypotheses of interest.
In particular:
Your article may be sent to the Statistical Advisor for comments.
Actual or perceived conflicts of interest for all authors must be declared in full.
Please either (a) declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported; or (b) fully declare any financial or other potential conflict of interest.
Conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to:
Please detail all of the sources of funding relevant to the research reported in the following format:
This work was supported by the Medical Research Council (grant numbers xxxx, yyyy); the Wellcome Trust (grant number xxxx); and Tommy’s Baby charity (grant number xxxx).
Where research has not been funded please state the following:
This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.
Please include a statement specifying the contribution of each co-author.
Please be as brief as possible.
All references cited in the text must be included in the reference list and vice versa. However, if a reference consists of only a web address do not include it in the reference list but cite it in the text, giving the date the page was accessed.
Any unpublished work (personal communications, manuscripts in preparation and manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted for publication) must be referred to in the text and not listed in the references.
Give the full list of authors, including their initials. For example:
(A Stone, J Brown & M R Smith, unpublished observations)
(J Brown, personal communication)
Articles accepted for publication but not yet published may be listed as ‘in press’ in the reference list, using the current year as the publication year. If an ‘in press’ article is included in the Accepted Preprint service or a similar scheme, then the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) should be included; otherwise, provide a copy of the article as a supplementary file for reviewing purposes. Details of how to cite such articles can be found here.
Cite references in the text using the authors’ names and publication year. Use et al. for articles with more than two authors. Where there are several citations, list them in chronological order.
List references in alphabetical order. Give articles by the same author in the order:
List a maximum of ten authors. Where there are more than ten authors, list the first ten and then use et al.
Reference in the following format:
See RH, Calvo D, Shi Y, Kawa H, Luke MP & Yuan Z 2001 Stimulation of p300-mediated transcription by the kinase MEKK1. Journal of Biological Chemistry276 16310–16317.
Harvey SS 1975 Hypnotics and sedatives. The barbiturates. In The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, edn 5, pp 102–123. Eds LS Goodman & A Gilman. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.
An EndNote style for Endocrine-Related Cancer is available. To download the style,
Tables should be concise. Tables too large for print publication should be submitted as supplementary data.
Colour figures will be published online at no charge to the author. Publication of colour figures in the print version will incur a charge that must be paid before publication. Please note the option to print in greyscale is subject to editorial approval, if the meaning of your image is unclear you will be asked to print in colour and a charge will apply.
The journal has produced digital image guidelines in order to clarify the standards expected by the journal. All submitted digital images must adhere to these guidelines.
Endocrine-Related Cancer is committed to publishing high quality figures.
EPS or TIFF files are preferred. Files should be exported in Illustrator compatible format. Avoid using PowerPoint or Word files for figures.
Additional information regarding the submission of figures can be found here.
No specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. The groupings of images from different parts of the same gel, or from different gels, fields or exposures must be made explicit by the arrangement of the figure (e.g. using dividing lines) and in the text of the figure legend. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or colour balance are acceptable if and as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g. changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend. Adjustments should be applied to the entire image. Threshold manipulation, expansion or contraction of signal ranges and the altering of high signals should be avoided.
This policy is adopted from The Journal of Cell Biology.
Microscope images should be made available to referees in images that are at least 300 dpi at the size which they will be published. 'Pseudo-colouring' and nonlinear adjustment (for example 'gamma changes') are only allowed if unavoidable and must be disclosed.
Western blot analyses must include molecular weight markers and appropriate loading controls. Where appropriate, band intensity can be quantified from several independent experiments. If only a ’typical’ western blot experiment is shown in the figure, authors should be prepared to provide the other blots used for quantification upon request. As the validity of these analyses relies heavily on antibody specificity, an appropriate control (such as tissue from knockout mice or protein knockdown in cell lines) must be included, or alternatively a reference should be given in the methods section referring to such a control.
Manipulation of western blot images such as the pasting together of lanes or removal of unspecific bands is not acceptable. In extenuating circumstances, when lanes need to be pasted from different experients, white space should be left between the pasted lanes and a notation made in the figure legends. In cases where comparions are made across different blots this should be clearly indicated in the image and figure legend. Reuse of loading controls from other experiments or previous publications is unacceptable. Authors may be required to provide the original blots at the request of the Editor-in-Chief.
Supplementary data too large for print publication or exceeding the bounds of the manuscript may be submitted for online publication.
Supplementary data files intended for online publication should be submitted online via ScholarOne Manuscripts as ‘Supplemental File for Review’, and referred to as supplementary data in the text:
(Supplementary Table 1)
(Supplementary Figures 1 and 2)
Supplementary information will be reviewed as part of the manuscript, evaluated for its importance and relevance and, if accepted, will be referenced in the text of the article, directing readers to the website.
There is a charge for publication of supplementary data.
Readers are invited to submit their endocrinology images for entry into the Endocrine-Related Cancer cover art competition. Winners will be selected by the Editor-in-Chief and will have their imagery featured on the cover of an issue of Endocrine-Related Cancer, both in print and online. Winners will be cited in the journal and will receive a professionally printed copy of the journal cover featuring their scientific image.
To submit an image please email your images to erc-prod{at}endocrinology.org accompanied with a short caption of 25–30 words explaining what the image depicts, its magnification and who should be acknowledged for its production. Images should be of high quality and resolution of at least 300 dpi at the final published size (220 mm (W) × 100 mm (H)).
By submitting an image you warrant that you own the copyright and agree that images may be used in promotional material. Images not selected for use may still be used by the Society for Endocrinology and Bioscientifica for promotional purposes.
The Society for Endocrinology awards a prize for the best paper published in Endocrine-Related Cancer annually. All published papers will automatically be considered for the prize. Further details can be found here.
Where appropriate, published articles are promoted to scientists and clinicians from all over the world to ensure maximum reach and visibility of our authors’ work.
Did you know that a Tweeted article is 11 times more likely to be cited up to 29 months after publication than an un-Tweeted article (source: Eysenbach 2011)?
Get the most out of your published article by considering the following:
Bioscientifica is working with Kudos to help our authors maximize the impact of their published work.
Kudos provides a free set of tools to help you explain your work in new ways and share it both within your networks, and more widely. You can measure the results of these actions and track the resulting increase in downloads, readership and, ultimately, citations.
Authors using Kudos sharing tools receive on average 19% more downloads for their articles than those who don't.
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Article level metrics are available for articles published in Endocrine-Related Cancer. This feature provides traditional usage data (number of article downloads/views) as well as Altmetric data for individual articles published in the journal. Altmetric provide non-traditional data by tracking a selection of online indicators (both scholarly and non-scholarly) to give a measurement of digital impact and reach. This information is used to generate an article’s Altmetric score.
These article level metrics allow authors to monitor the impact of their research in academia and beyond.