Double spacing
Margins 2.5 cm from all four sides
Page numbers included at bottom
Title page contains all the required information
Running title (not more than 50 characters)
Abstract page contains the full title of the manuscript
Abstracts: For all articles, structured abstracts of 200 words or fewer; Letters to the Editor do not require an abstract.
Key words in English (three to eight)
Introduction (of 75–100 words)
Headings in title case (not ALL CAPITALS)
References cited in the text should be before punctuation marks, within square brackets
References listed according to the journal’s instructions, punctuation marks checked
Send the article file without ‘Track Changes’
Uniformly American English
Write the full term for each abbreviation at its first use in the title, abstract, keywords and text separately unless it is a standard unit of measure
Spell out numerals from 1 to 10, unless used in conjunction with an SI unit.
Spell out numerals at the beginning of the sentence
Check the manuscript for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors
If a brand name is cited, supply the manufacturer’s name and address (city and state/country)
Species names should be in italics
Length of articles: 4,000 words; case reports 1,500

Main Text

Certain types of articles should be structured using the IMRAD format.

Language and Grammar

Uniformly American English
Write the full term for each abbreviation at its first use in the title, abstract, keywords and text separately unless it is a standard unit of measure
Spell out numerals from 1 to 10, unless used in conjunction with an SI unit.
Spell out numerals at the beginning of the sentence
Check the manuscript for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors
Species names should be in italics

Title

The title page should include a clear and concise title (please avoid abbreviations), author names and affiliations, as well as corresponding author information (email address must be included).

Authorship

A researcher should make substantive intellectual contributions to each of the following aspects to qualify for authorship:

Concept and design of the study, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data.
Critically drafting or revising of the manuscript for important intellectual content.
Final approval of the version to be published. Each author should participate sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not justify authorship.

Abstract

A structured abstract includes four sections:

Objective, the purpose of the study;
Methods, the study process and statistical methods;
Results, the main findings of the study;
Conclusion, the significance and implications of the findings.

Please minimize use of abbreviations and avoid using references in the abstract.

The abstract should not exceed 250 words.

Papers by Chinese authors may also be accompanied by a Chinese translation of the abstract which will be used to promote the article on Chinese language social media platforms.

Significance Statement (120 words maximum)

We ask authors of research papers to prepare a short, 120-word-maximum, statement about the significance of their article written at a level understandable to an undergraduate-educated scientist outside their field of speciality.

The primary goal of the Significance Statement is to explain the relevance of the work in broad context to a broad readership. The Significance Statement will appear within the paper below the abstract and is required for all research papers.

By highlighting the scientific merit of your research, these statements will help make your work more visible to our readership. We will then be in a position to use these statements to further promote your article and potentially enhance the overall impact of your research.

Data and Materials Sharing

CVIA is committed to improving scholarly communications and as part of this commitment, authors may make materials, data and associated protocols available to readers. The preferred way to do this is to publicly deposit the data as noted below. Supplemental material can mean anything from tables to datasets, filesets to presentations, video to audio files. Including supplemental material with your article makes it more discoverable, and CVIA will ensure it is effectively linked to, within your article abstract.

Why include supplemental material with your journal article?

It makes your article more discoverable, giving people another route to find your research.
Other researchers can cite your supplemental material, increasing the impact of your work.
Funders are able to identify clear links to data, ensuring you meet your funding requirements.
Your supplemental data is effectively preserved.
Research shows that articles with supplemental material are downloaded and cited more often.

To support this, if you wish, CVIA can include links on your article abstract to the associated data.

How do I link my article to its data?

If you are considering publishing an article with us, and wish to link to supplemental material hosted in a particular data bank, please follow these steps:

Submit your datasets to an appropriate public data repository. Data should be submitted to discipline-specific, community-recognized repositories where possible, or to generalist repositories if no suitable community resource is available.
Where suitable domain-specific repositories do not exist, authors may deposit in, for example, Dryad, Dataverse, the Open Science Framework, or an institutional repository and provide the correct access information with the manuscript. Alternatively, authors may choose to deposit non-standard data (including figures, posters, rich media) on Figshare for example. In all cases, the correct data DOI reference (where applicable) should be provided when submitting the final version of your article.
In all cases, the correct accession/deposition reference numbers/data DOIs must be provided in the manuscript.
Remember to check that the licensing policies of the data repository that you choose are suitable for your purposes. The DataCiteorganisation has a growing list of repositories for research data.
Please remember to update your chosen data bank with the article DOI on publication.

Are my data files subject to peer/editorial review?

No, we don’t expect that the data files will be subject to any special data review or scrutiny.

Key words

Please list three to eight key words representing the main content of the paper.

Introduction

The author should provide background knowledge in the related field and important literature on the issue under discussion. The section should end with a brief statement on what is being reported in the article and the expected contribution to the study.

Methods

The author should clearly state the study design, the setting, any materials and/or subjects involved, any sampling and/or grouping methods, any interventions, and methods for statistical analysis. The author should generally use generic names instead of trade names. However, if there are critical differences among proprietary products, trade names should be used followed by generic descriptions, both in parentheses.

If human subjects are involved in the study, an ethical approval by the appropriate committee should be noted and an “informed consent” statement should be included in the manuscript.

Results

The author should state only the main findings of the study in a clear and simple way, always remembering to avoid repetitive presentation of the data through text and tables.

Results of statistical analyses should include, where appropriate, relative and absolute risks or risk reductions, and confidence intervals.

Mean differences in continuous variables, proportions in categorical variables and relative risks including odds ratios and hazard ratios should be accompanied by their confidence intervals.

Specify the computer software used. For all P values include the exact value, not < 0.05 or 0.001.

Discussion

The author should give an interpretation of the results, and point out the relevance and significance of the implications.

You may also modestly admit the limitations of the study and point out a direction for further research in the related field.

Acknowledgements

Major contributors to the study who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be given thanks in the Acknowledgements section.

Make sure to obtain permissions prior to citing any names/organizations here. Please also include the sources of funding for the study.

Conflicts of Interest

All authors must disclose any and all conflicts of interest they may have with the publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or the outcome of the study presented.

Authors should also disclose conflicts of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

For more detailed information on our Conflict of Interest Policy please click here.

References

All references should be numbered consecutively in the order that the citations appear in the text.

Up to six of the author names can be listed and followed by “et al.”.

The journal titles should be abbreviated according to the style used in the list of Journals Indexed for MEDLINE.

Examples of References

Standard journal article: Shukla N, Husain N, Agarwal GG, Husain M. Utility of cysticercus fasciolaris antigen in Dot ELISA for the diagnosis of neurocysticercosis. Indian J Med Sci 2008;62:222–7.
Standard journal article (for more than six authors): List the first six contributors followed by “et al.”.
Volume with supplement: Shen HM, Zhang QF. Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung cancer. Environ Health Perspect 1994;102 Suppl 1:275–82.
Issue with supplement: Payne DK, Sullivan MD, Massie MJ. Women’s psychological reactions to breast cancer. Semin Oncol 1996;23(1, Suppl 2):89–97.
Books and Other Monographs
Personal author(s): Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany (NY): Delmar Publishers; 1996.
Editor(s), compiler(s) as author: Norman IJ, Redfern SJ, editors. Mental health care for elderly people. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 1996.
Chapter in a book: Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, editors. Hypertension: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press; 1995. pp. 465–78.

Electronic Sources as Reference

Journal article on the Internet

Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12]; 102(6): [about 3 p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm

Monograph on the Internet

Foley KM, Gelband H, editors. Improving palliative care for cancer [monograph on the Internet]. Washington: National Academy Press; 2001 [cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074029/html/.

Homepage/Website

Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000–01 [updated 2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org/.

Part of a Homepage/Website

American Medical Association [homepage on the Internet]. Chicago: The Association; c1995–2002 [updated 2001 Aug 23; cited 2002 Aug 12]. AMA Office of Group Practice Liaison; [about two screens]. Available from: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1736.html

Figures and Tables

Please number tables consecutively in the order of their appearance in the text.
Provide a clear and concise title above the table and use footnotes for explanatory matters below the table.
Please use double-spacing and do not use internal horizontal or vertical lines.
Make sure each column has a short heading.
Use the following symbols in footnotes in sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ‖, ¶, **, ††, ‡‡, §§, ‖‖, ¶¶, etc.
Please also number the figures consecutively in the order of their appearance in the text.
The figures should be of high quality and be self-explanatory with symbols, arrows or letters indicating the important areas in the figure.
Provide titles and detailed explanations in the legends below the figures.

Units of Measurement

Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter).
Temperatures should be in degrees Celsius. Blood pressures should be in millimetres of mercury.
Please refer to International System of Units (SI) for more information.

Abbreviations and Symbols

Use standard abbreviations. In the case of non-standard abbreviations, on first mention please write out the term in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.