We are able to offer fast and free publication and encourage authors to cite the articles they publish with us. Instructions on referencing are included with each article. To help us assist you and avoid delay, we would be grateful if authors would comply with the following requirements.

Procedures

Authors may find it helpful to refer to the Checklist for Submission at the end of this document when preparing to submit a manuscript.

Please submit your contribution online at http://uij.edmgr.com. Authors will need their entire manuscript in an electronic format. The manuscript itself MUST be a Microsoft Word document (.doc). Full instructions, and the required user ID and password can be obtained by visiting the site. Support is provided through the Editorial Manager's Help section.

All manuscripts should start with a title page detailing: (1) the title of the article, (2) full first names, middle initials and surnames of each author, (3) the name(s) of their institution(s), (4) the postal and email addresses of the corresponding author, and (5) any financial, research, or writing contributors. Correspondence during submission will be with the submitting author. A maximum of five authors can be listed on the Editorial Manager submission screen. However, all authors should be listed with their institutions on the title page of the manuscript. An e-mail address is essential.

Manuscripts must conform to the standards of the International Conference of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). A complete breakdown of the ICMJE requirements, as well as manuscript preparation tips, can be accessed at:

www.icmje.org

Editorial correspondence should be sent to:

The Editor
UroToday International Journal
1802 5th Street
Berkeley, CA 94710, USA
Fax +1-941-391-6314
E-mail This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Open Access

Open access publishing proposes a new model for scholarly journal publishing that provides immediate, worldwide, barrier-free access to the full text of all published articles. Open access allows all interested readers to view, download, print, and redistribute any article without a subscription, enabling far greater distribution of an author's work than the traditional subscription-based publishing model. Many authors in a variety of fields have begun to realize the benefits that open access publishing can provide in terms of increasing the impact of their work.

UroToday International Journal DOES NOT CHARGE article processing fees to authors. Authors who publish in our open access journals retain the copyright of their work, which is released under a “Creative Commons Attribution License,” enabling the unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction of an article in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.

Author Agreements

Download the forms

A cover letter and author agreement are required with each submission. The cover letter should confirm that neither the paper itself nor any of its sections or original data have been submitted elsewhere. The Author Agreement is comprised of the Submission form, License form, and Conflict of Interest form. There are three options to submit the form:

1. Fill out PDF and upload via submission portal (digital signatures required)
2. Print and Scan the form, then upload into the online submission portal
3. Print and Fax the form to the Journal Office +1-941-391-6314

Submission Form

The submission form is within the Author Agreement and should confirm that the paper has not been submitted elsewhere. It should be signed by all the authors on the paper.

License Form

Papers accepted must be licensed for publication in the Journal. The License form is included in the Author Agreement form. Authors will be required to license copyright in their paper to UroToday, Inc. Copyright licensing is a condition of publication, and papers will not be passed to the publisher for production unless copyright has been licensed. To assist authors, an appropriate exclusive license form will be supplied by the Editorial Office.

Conflict of Interest Form

All authors and reviewers must disclose any potential conflict of interest relevant to the subject of the investigation. Conflicts are indicated in the Conflict of Interest form signed by all authors as part of the author agreements. Conflicts for each author should also be stated in an Acknowledgment section at the end of the manuscript.

A conflict of interest may occur when an author or the author’s employer has financial or personal connections with the study. Such competing interests could potentially influence or bias the design or report of the investigation. The potential for conflict of interest can exist even if an individual believes that the relationship does not affect his or her scientific judgment.

Financial relationships (eg, employment, consultancies, honoraria, paid expert testimony) are examples of conflicts of interest that must be reported. Other examples include board membership with the sponsor, equity or stock ownership, patent inventor for mentioned product, or any financial relationship with competitors of a mentioned product.

Some conflicts of interest are not financial. Examples include personal relationships or academic competition. Authors should err on the side of full disclosure and should contact the editors if they have any questions. Additional information about what constitutes a conflict of interest can be found here on the ICMJE web page. In the event of no declared interests, the Editor will publish: 'Conflict of Interest: None declared'.

Informed Consent to Participate; Human and Animal Rights

Authors of all manuscripts reporting investigation of human or animal participants should describe the review procedure used to assure ethical standards. Formal review and approval or formal review and waiver by an institutional review board, national review board, or ethics committee should be described in the Methods section. If there is no access to a formal review committee, the authors need to provide evidence that the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 guidelines were followed. Please refer here to the ICMJE guidelines for a complete discussion of researcher responsibility.

Authors may be asked to provide documentation of the institutional or national review or detailed explanation as to how the Helsinki standards were met. Authors of all investigations involving human participants should explain how informed consent was obtained.

Informed Consent to Publish; Identification of Participants

Informed consent to publish assures participants that their right to privacy has been maintained. Identifying information such as the participant’s name, initials, or hospital number should not be used in any participant descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent/guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that a patient who is identifiable be shown the manuscript prior to signing the consent form. When informed consent is obtained, it should be stated in the Methods section of the manuscript. If identifying characteristics such as genetic pedigrees are altered to protect anonymity, authors should provide assurance that the alterations did not distort scientific meaning.

Peer Review

The Editor in Chief will assign papers considered for publication to one Associate Editor who will communicate with the author and expert reviewers. Any statistics included will be analyzed by a statistician. Other experts may be invited to comment where appropriate. Similar procedures may be used for other contributions to the Journal. All manuscripts are subject to copyediting and formating to conform with UIJ standards.

If a manuscript is sent for revision to an author, whether major or minor, the revised manuscript must be returned within 30 days. If it is not received at the Editorial Office within this time frame, it will be treated as a new submission and sent out for review to different reviewers.

Types of Contributions

Authors are welcome to send manuscripts on various aspects of urology and its associated specialties. Please choose the type of contribution that best fits the content of the manuscript, based on the descriptions that follow:

• Original Study and Mini Report

  The original study and mini report formats are used to report original research investigations. They may include clinical trials, observational or intervention studies, survey research, or other types of investigational research. The original study and mini report differ from each other in length. Both should contain the following components:

  Original articles and mini reports on various aspects of urology and its associated specialties should include the following:

  1. Title Page
  2. An Abstract, subdivided into:
     • Introduction
     • Methods
     • Results
     • Conclusion
     • 3-6 specific keywords
  3. Text, subdivided into:
     • Introduction
     • Methods
     • Results
     • Discussion
     • Conclusion
     • Acknowledgements
     • References
  4. Legends to Tables and Figures
  5. Tables
  6. Figures (upload separately)

• Case Report

  The case report may be based on patients with unique or uncommon characteristics, or focused on a unique or uncommon diagnostic or management procedure. The author should address the patient’s history and clinical evidence, including outcome. Literature related to the case should be discussed. The author should provide a structured abstract with subdivisions described previously if the case report involved comparison of data. Otherwise, an unstructured abstract may be appropriate.

• Review

  Systematic reviews of the literature on a topic that is relevant to the content of this journal may be considered. The review must be evidence-based and provide an unbiased discussion of relevant literature. Authors should include a description of how the literature was selected and assessed. Discussion of controversial or unresolved issues and their importance for the medical community is appropriate. Guidelines for meta-analysis research should be reviewed prior to writing the manuscript. A structured abstract should be provided.

• Rapid Communication

  The rapid communication category is reserved for an important issue in medicine or public health that needs to reach readers quickly. The information must be evidence-based and thoroughly referenced. The format of the manuscript may be narrative and the author may choose an unstructured abstract. These topics are exceptionally timely and receive expedited review.

• Letter to the Editor

  Letters discussing a recent UroToday International Journal article or offering an opinion on a topic of interest to readers may be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief. Documentation supporting the expressed views is required. Readers may comment on a focal article that was published in the journal. For example, a reader may challenge the position described in the focal article, elaborate on the findings or conclusions, explain the reader’s own experiences related to the topic, or comment on the application of the topic to other settings or cultures. Letters will be published at the discretion of the editors. Questions or comments concerning published papers may be sent to the original authors for comment. The readers' comments and authors' replies may be subsequently published together.

• Commentary

  Commentaries are brief manuscripts that advance the knowledge base of the readers by addressing an important topic related to the profession of urology. They are generally not related to a specific article that was published in a previous journal issue (see Letter to the Editor category). Commentaries should have a specific focus and be supported by literature citations.

• Editorials

  Editorials are usually commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief or Associate Section Editors, but the Editor-in-Chief will consider potential editorials from authors who would like to contribute.

Manuscript Preparation

Authors should consult the American Medical Association's manual of style [1] for all questions related to manuscript preparation, style, terminology, measurement and quantification, and technical information. An on-line version of the manual is available.

[1] Iverson C, Christiansen S, Flanagin A, et al. AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors. 10th ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2007. An electronic version is available at www.amamanualofstyle.com.

Units / Abbreviations
Authors should follow the SI system of units (except for blood pressure which will continue to be expressed in mmHg) (see Grange RI.BJU 1996; 78: 961–963). Numbers are written in full up to nine; numerals are used from ten upwards. Authors should limit their use of abbreviations and they should be used consistently throughout the text. There is a list of standard (common) abbreviations published in each issue. These can be used without definition, but all others must be defined on first mention and listed at the end of the paper. A conversion table is available in the AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors.

Financial Support for the Research

All funding, support, or sponsorship for the research should be identified in an Acknowledgment section at the end of the manuscript. The specific role of the funding organization or sponsor should be specified.

Names of Drugs, Products, and Equipment

Capitalize brand names of drugs, manufactured products, and equipment; do not capitalize names of generic drugs. References to brand names should include the city and state or country of the manufacturer. For example: The patient was given 1 tablet of acetaminophen (Tylenol; Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, New Jersey).

Presentation of Statistics

The research design and statistical tests used to analyze the data should be described in the Methods section. Power calculations should be performed as part of the study design if appropriate to the data analysis. Results of statistical tests should include the groups and variables compared, the statistical test used, value obtained, degrees of freedom, and the probability (if appropriate to the test). An example of how to present results from a t test with 15 degrees of freedom is:

The difference between the mean scores for groups 1 and 2 was significant by a 2-tailed test for paired samples (t₁₅ = 2.78; P = .05). Group 1 had a higher mean score.

Other examples are provided in the AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors.

References

References should conform to the American Medical Association Manual of Style. The references in the text should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear and indicated by arabic numerals in brackets [1,2]. There should be no more than 30 references except for review articles. Examples are given below.

1. Gratzke C, Streng T, Park A, et al. Distribution and function of cannabinoid receptors 1 and 2 in the rat, monkey, and human bladder. J Urol. 2009:181(4):1939-1948.
2. Wein AJ. Lower urinary tract dysfunction in neurologic injury and disease. In: Wein AJ, Kavoussi LR, Novick AC, Partin AW, Peters CA, eds. Campbell-Walsh Urology. 9th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders; 2007:2011-2044.

Provide the names of all authors if there are 6 or fewer. If there are more than 6, list the first 3 followed by "et al". Abbreviate names of journals according to the listings in PubMed. Journal listings should include the issue number in parentheses after the volume number and the full range of page numbers.

We recommend the use of a tool such as EndNote or Reference Manager for reference management and formatting. All references should be retrievable.

EndNote reference styles can be searched for here:

Endnote

Reference Manager reference styles can be searched for here:

Reference Manager

Illustrations

UroToday International Journal accepts the following formats for figure files:

• EPS (preferred format for diagrams),
• PDF (also especially suitable for diagrams)
• TIFF (for photographs and screen dumps, 300 dpi if possible
• PNG (for photos or images)
• JPEG
• BMP

All histological illustrations should be supplied in color. Arial or Helvetica font is preferred for text within figures; Courier may be used if a monospaced font is required. Text should be designed to be legible when the illustration is scaled to a width of 600 pixels. Quality should be sufficient for viewing on-screen and desktop printing. For histological sections, magnification should be given with a scale bar or in the legend; magnification values in captions should be correct for enlargement/reduction of the illustration. Any key should appear in the legend, as should details of staining techniques. Figures or tables reproduced from a published work must have the original source quoted and the permission of the author and publisher. Color photographs may be submitted and will be published free of charge.

Each figure should be submitted as a separate graphics file. If a figure consists of separate parts, it is important that a single composite illustration file is submitted that contains all parts of the figure.

All PowerPoint slides should be submitted in their original form as .ppt files. Please e-mail these files directly to the Journal Office.

Proofs
Proofs will be sent by e-mail as an Acrobat PDF (portable document format) file. All manuscripts will have been formatted to conform with UIJ standards of content and style. Requests for corrections should be kept to a minimum. Authors are asked to return their corrected proofs to the Editor within 3 business days of receipt. Manuscripts will not be published without final approval.

Offprints
Authors will be provided with electronic offprints of their article. Paper offprints may be ordered if large quantities (typically over 100) are needed.  Contact the journal office for more information.

Electronic offprints are sent to the corresponding author at his or her first email address, unless advised otherwise; therefore please ensure that the name, address and email address of the corresponding author are clearly indicated on the manuscript title page.

Checklist for Submission

1. Review the guidelines for all aspects of manuscript submission contained in this document.
2. Obtain signatures from all authors on the 3 Author Agreement Forms so that the forms are ready to upload with the manuscript. Include a description of each author’s potential conflict of interest, if applicable.
3. Include the names and institutional affiliations of all authors on the title page of the manuscript. The number of authors is limited to 6 unless the first author provides justification for additional inclusions.
4. Include the full postal and email addresses of the corresponding author on the title page of the manuscript.
5. Choose the type of contribution that best matches the content of the manuscript. A description of each type is listed above under "Types of Contributions".
6. Insert page numbers for the manuscript document.
7. Provide a structured abstract for all research investigations. An unstructured abstract may be used for some types of contributions.
8. Include 3-6 very specific key words or short phrases that are used often in the manuscript. Choose a specific term such as “transobturator sling” or “suburethral sling” rather than a general term such as “sling”.
9. If appropriate, include information on institutional review board or ethics committee approval and informed consent in the methods section of the manuscript.
10. Abbreviations should be in parentheses following the full description the first time they are used.
11. Include the make, model, and manufacturer of all instruments used.
12. The research design and statistical tests used to analyze the data are presented in the methods section. Results of statistical analyses include the groups and variables compared, statistical test used, and the full report of the analysis (see Presentation of Statistics in this document).
13. Number the references as they appear in the text.
14. Check all references for accuracy and completeness. Include the issue number and the full page range for each citation. Use “et al” in the text if there are more than two authors. Use “et al” in the reference citations if there are more than six authors; list the first 3 authors followed by “et al”.
15. Limit the title/legend of figures and tables to 10-15 words.
16. Upload figures and photographs separately from the manuscript. List the title/legend of the figures at the end of the manuscript. Original material should be used; reproduction of figures or photographs that were previously published is discouraged. Copyright agreement may be required for documents that are not original. Patient identification information should be removed from any figure or photograph, unless signed consent is provided.
17. Include tables in the body or the end of the manuscript. Tables should not be uploaded separately.
18. Acknowledge any project support or funding at the end of the document.