LASER THERAPY: NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS
Note: Before submitting or even preparing their manuscript for submission to Laser Therapy, prospective
authors should first ensure that their manuscript falls within the remit of the journal by referring to the‘Aims and Scope’ document elsewhere in the journal. Then, authors should please carefully read throughthese Notes to ensure that their article is written and presented in the style required by the journal Editorial Team, otherwise articles may be returned without review.
GENERAL NOTES
1. Original articles reporting new research of relevance toall aspects of LLLT, photobiomodulation and photosurgery
as set out in the Aims and Scope of Laser Therapy ideallyshould not exceed 8000 words with no more than 10 tables or illustrations. Review articles will be commissioned
from time to time by the Editor-in-Chief: unsolicited review articles will be returned to the authors. Copyright inpublished papers will be vested in the Publisher. Becauseof recent changes in copyright laws the transfer of copyright from author to publisher, previously implicit in thesubmission of a manuscript, must now be explicitly transferred to enable the publisher legally to publish the workand ensure full protection of the authors’ rights. A copy of
the Publishing Agreement to be used for Laser Therapy
will be sent out by email with the galley proofs whichmust be returned, signed by all authors, or by the principal author on his or her co-authors’ behalf, together withthe approved or revised galley proofs. No page charges
are levied on authors of accepted papers.
2. It is the author’s responsibility to obtain written permission to reproduce any copyrighted material which has appeared in another publication, and this should be included at the time of submission of the article.
3: Page Charges: From Volume 29:1 a page charge of US$300 will be levied on the authors of accepted manuscripts before publication. On notification of acceptance,
an invoice for this amount will be emailed to the Corresponding Author, payment for which should be made before publication of the article
3(a): Advance payment for early publication: Laser
Therapy offers authors the opportunity of having their article published as a ‘ePublication ahead of print’. The
charge for this will be US $200, in addition to the page
charge of US $300 listed above. Authors wishing to havetheir article published in this manner should please intimate this in the covering Letter to the Editor. On acceptance, an invoice will be raised for the total amount of US$500 and sent to the corresponding author, payment of
which will guarantee earliest possible publication before
the article appears in the print edition.
SUBMISSION
4: Manuscripts should be submitted in digital format.
4(a): Submission by email to lasertherapy@jmll.co.jp
is encouraged, comprising the following:• ‌A Microsoft® Word™ file of the article itself (or similar, see below, Item 4(a) – 4(c)) including references, tables and all legends following the instructions
for layout and content below• ‌All illustrations as separate image files in high-resolution JPEG or TIFF format (see detailed instructions
below, Item 4(c))• ‌A covering letter to the Editor-in-Chief by the author(or corresponding author on behalf of their co-author[s]), also in Word format, setting out why the author believes that the manuscript is suitable for publication in Laser Therapy by concretely summarizing

the gist and conclusions of the article.
• ‌Should the author(s) wish their article to appear as an
early ‘ePublication before print’, the corresponding author should intimate this in the covering letter. A chargeof US $200 applies (for details please see item 3 above)• ‌I n this letter the author must indicate in astatement that:J t‌ he article has not been published elsewhere, nor has
it been submitted for publication to any other journal;
J ‌that all authors (where appropriate) agree to publication of the article;
J ‌that no author has any conflict of interest (COI)
concerning any equipment or materials associatedwith the article. Any such COI must be disclosed should any exist.
4(b): Notwithstanding the above, submission by postal
mail will also be accepted comprising the following:• ‌One hard copy set of the manuscript, with 1.5 line
spacing on A4- or letter-sized paper, following the
instructions for layout and content below, includingtables and illustrations prepared according to the instructions below.
• ‌One hard copy of the covering letter to the Editor-in-Chief as above.
• ‌The above materials in digital format (as above) on
an appropriately formatted PC/MAC-readable USB
stick or CD-ROM/DVD.
• ‌Note that these materials will not be returned unlessotherwise requested by the author.
4(c): In the case of postal mail submission, manuscripts
and the accompanying USB may be submitted (depending on the geographical location of the author) to either
the Editor-in-Chief for authors in Japan, South-East Asiaand the Far East, Coeditor (Europe, Australasia and PacificRim), Coeditor (Eastern Europe, Asia) or Coeditor (TheAmericas), whose names and addresses appear on the title page, above the Aims and Scope of the journal.
5. Email Submission
5(a): Manuscript.
• ‌T he manuscript should be prepared in Microsoft
Word (or a similar word processing program) in a
DOC or DOCX format file) using portrait orientation,in either A4 or Letter size using Times New Romanor a similar normal black (not bold) font at 12 pointwith 1.5 line spacing, and with 2 cm (or 1”) margins
all round. Do not submit articles in an Italic font.
‌A suitable ready-made template for Microsoft
Note:
Word documents can be found at http://www.
jmll.co.jp/lasertherapy/notes/notes.html.
5(b): Tables.
• ‌Prepare tables as part of the main manuscript DOC
or DOCX file in Microsoft Word, using the ‘Insert –Table’ command on the toolbar. Separate table rows
with a horizontal line and remove vertical lines, unless they aid the quick understanding of the table.
• ‌Number all tables consecutively and place all tables,
each on a separate page with a short legend for thetable placed above the table, starting the tables on a
new page after the References section. For extra-long tables that will not fit in a standard portrait-oriented A4 page, format them in landscape orientation as separate files.
• ‌Do not use the TAB key to prepare tables.
• ‌Do not send tables in portable document format(PDF) or as images ( JPEG): they cannot be typeset
or copyedited.
• ‌Do not send tables as PowerPoint slides (PPT or
PPTX files).
5(c): Figures.
• ‌Prepare illustrations as separate high resolution image files ( JPEG or TIFF) preferably at their final
printed size and format up to 81 mm (3.25”) for single column width, or up to 167 mm (6.625”) for fullpage width. The page print depth is a maximum of
246 mm (9.625”). .
• ‌Do submit each figure as a separate image file. Do
not embed illustrations in the manuscript file: it lowers the resolution.
• ‌Number figures consecutively and indicate in the
text where they occur (use the format ‘Figure 1’,‘Figure 2’, and so on). Prepare a legend for each figure that will enable the reader to understand the figure as a stand-alone entity, and list the legends inorder in the manuscript file starting on a separate
page following the tables, if any.
• ‌Photographs, X-ray, MRI images and photomicrographs should be in high contrast, clear black andwhite or greyscale images, trimmed at right angles
and set out in their final printed format. In the caseof photomicrographs, a labelled scale bar on the image is recommended, as they will often be printed
larger or smaller than the original. Color images are
permissible, but will incur printing fees (see Item
17 below). Apply all labelling (a, b, c and so on)
and call-outs (arrows, arrowheads, etc.,) with an appropriate graphics program (e.g., Adobe ® Photoshop™, Corel® PhotoPaint™, etc.,) and ensure they
are explained in the figure legend.
• ‌Prepare line drawings and graphs preferably at firstusing a vector graphics program (e.g., Adobe® Illustrator™, Corel® Draw™): then export to a high resolution graphics file in the final printed size if possible. This prevents the jagged appearance of curvedlines. Line drawings may also be prepared by hand,and photographed or scanned with a high resolution scanner: do not use a photocopier. Alternatively, graphs may be generated from spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft® Excel™, then saved as a
JPEG or TIFF file. Ensure that all text in the illustrations is legible. Note that color images will incur
printing fees.
Important: ‌The author must guarantee that the reproduction of clinical photography inwhich a patient is recognizable is either approved by the patient him/herself or by his/her legal representatives.
6. Postal Mail Submission• ‌In the first instance, prepare the manuscript (complete with references, tables and figure legends) ona word processor exactly as detailed above for email
submission, and save the documents and image files
to a USB stick (thumb drive).
• ‌Print out one copy of the manuscript, references, tables and figure legends on one side of single sheetsof paper (A4 or Letter as appropriate). Print out hardcopies of the figures, each on separate sheets ofnormal copy paper, for reference.
• ‌Place the manuscript and figures in a plastic document
holder, and mail to the appropriate address as in item
3(c) above. The use of an appropriate mail service
with ‘signed for’ requirements is recommended, andwith the ability to track the package as an option.
Note: ‌The responsibility is on the author to ensure a secure method when sending theirmanuscript by postal mail, if email submission is not used. The journal will not be responsible for manuscripts lost in the mail.
STYLE AND PRESENTATION
7. Papers must be in good, grammatical English. Although
American English is preferred, manuscripts submitted in
British English will have the spelling maintained on publication. Please do not mix up styles or American English
will be used throughout. The Editor reserves the right toreject papers on ethical grounds. Manuscripts should be
prepared in accordance with the uniform requirements
for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals using
the Vancouver style for references (see Item 15 below).
Note: ‌Authors from non-English speaking countries orregions are recommended to have their papers
checked by a native English speaker familiar
with the field to prevent rejection of an otherwise scientifically acceptable paper through language and usage grounds.
8. All pages should be numbered consecutively, startingwith the title page.
• ‌The title page should include in separate paragraphs:
the title of the paper; the authors’ full names; and affiliations (abbreviated address). Please indicate affiliations with superscript numbers following thename(s) of the author(s) and the same numbers preceding the affiliation, separated by a colon (:).
• ‌The name, qualifications, and email and full postal
addresses of the author to whom all correspondence should be addressed should be indicated separately at the bottom of the title page. Please also
provide daytime telephone numbers, including international access codes.
• ‌A short running title of not more than 40 characters, including spaces, should be placed on the title
page, between the affiliation of the author(s) andthe contact address for correspondence and proofs.
9. The second page should contain the Abstract.
• ‌The Abstract should ideally not exceed 200 ~ 250
words, and should be structured under the subheadings Background and Aims, Materials (or Subjects) and Methods, Results and Conclusions.
• ‌The Abstract should be comprehensible and a complete stand-alone entity without reference to thetext. Remember that the abstract, together with thecovering letter to the Editor-in Chief, will go a long
way to determining if the article is worth considering for publication. When the article is published,
the abstract will appear in any relevant PubMed
search which will influence the reader regarding accessing the entire article.
• ‌Do not include references in the abstract.
• ‌See Item 14 below regarding the use of abbreviations or acronyms in both the abstract and the bodyof the article.
• ‌Below the abstract provide 3-8 key words for indexing
purposes using where possible words from the medical subject headings (MESH) list of the National Li-

brary of Medicine (https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/).
• ‌The remainder of the manuscript should begin on
the third page with the Introduction, Materials (orSubjects) and Methods, Results, and Discussion sections as follows. There may also be a brief Conclusions section.
10. Introduction:
Expand on what you have already written in the‘Background and Aims’ subsection of the abstract, andlay the groundwork on which your paper is based. Go
into the history and background of the problem orcondition in much more detail than in the abstract,and provide some references from the literature toshow that the situation you are considering exists,
what it consists of, and that the solution you are proposing has already attracted attention or at least has
some potential merit in the study you have designed.
Be careful not to have any editorializing or discussion
in the Introduction section, or give even an abbreviated version of the results. The former belongs in the
Discussion and the latter in the Results sections.
11. Materials (Subjects) and Methods:• ‌Describe your study materials or subjects. In thecase of human subjects, say how they were recruited and from where. Summarize patient demographics in a table, if appropriate.
• ‌A statement about ethical considerations, including obtaining written informed consent toparticipate in the study for human subjects andfor the use of clinical photography, if appropriate, is essential. If it is appropriate, information
regarding approval of the study, human or otherwise, by an Institutional Review Board (IRB)or Ethics Committee is highly recommended. If
no Ethics Committee or IRB approval is quoted,
a statement must be included that the study
was performed under the precepts of the World
Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki,
as adopted in 2013 in Brazil.
• ‌In the case of animal subjects, give the kind of animal, numbers and strains if appropriate, and from
where they were obtained. Describe how the animals were looked after and maintained before andduring the trial.
•‌A statement about humane handling and the local or international regulations under which any
animals were handled and cared for is essential.
• ‌In the case of cellular targets, Give all necessary information about lines, handling and so on so that
others can produce the same type of cells under thesame conditions.
• ‌State your methods clearly, logically and in detail sothat others may replicate your trial or experiment.
Give all steps and details of systems and settings, particularly all of the parameters used for light-based
treatments: wavelength, beam mode, pulse width, incident power, spot size (irradiated area), exposure time,
irradiance (power density) and dose (energy density).
• ‌Additionally in this section give details about thestatistical tests used in the study, if any.
12. Results:•A‌ s the section name suggests, lay out the results of thestudy or trial in detail, which are usually ordered basedon the subsections you may have listed in the Materials
and Methods section. Provide any illustrations, tables
or clinical photography that will clearly illustrate theresults. Do not duplicate information in the text whichis shown in the tables, and vice versa. Avoid any dis-cussion of the results: that belongs in the next session.
13. Discussion:• ‌In this section, first list any limitations in the paper.
For example, small subject populations can be discussed, or if the study was retrospective and should
be backed up by a prospective study.
• ‌Any potential bias in subject selection should bestated.
• ‌Say if the study design could be open to misinterpretation.
•‌The Discussion section contains the meat of your paper, and should be written clearly and simply. This iswhere you take the data from your results and analyze therm to show what has been proved, or notproved, by your trial or experiment. If hypotheses
are required to explain why your results have notfollowed the usual trend, or if your results are newdata with no previous studies, discuss these here.
• ‌Do not confuse a trend with concrete statisticallysignificant results.
• ‌If the results are from a preliminary study, state
whether or not further studies are justified, and why.
• ‌If there is not a separate Conclusions section, draw
the conclusions of the subject matter of the article
based on the results obtained. If there is a separate
Conclusions section, itemize these there, but do notstate them twice. The conclusions should echo
those in the abstract, but in more detail and summarizing the arguments in the Discussion section.
• ‌Begin each section, including the References, on a
new page.
14. Abbreviations:• ‌All abbreviations and acronyms should be preceded
the first time they appear in the abstract and then in
the body of the article by the full name. The exception is the SI symbols for these units which can beused without explanation. Please employ the meter/
kilogram (m/kg) system of units and derivatives.
• ‌In the case of SI units, please insert a space between
the number and the unit (e.g., 3 kg rather than 3kg)
• ‌Mathematical symbols should be selected from theappropriate font set, as should Greek letters and unusual symbols. Careful distinction should be madebetween capital and lower case letters: between theletter O and zero: between the letter ‘1’ (lower caseL) and the number one and prime: plus (+) andplus/minus (±): and between the Roman letter k and
the Greek letter kappa (k).
15. Generic and chemical names should be used for allcompounds: materials and products should be identified,
together with the manufacturer or supplier where appropriate, with an abbreviated address and country. The species of any animals used should be stated precisely.
Sources of unusual materials and chemicals, and the manufacturer and model of laser or other equipment usedshould be indicated, with location. Materials and products
should be identified in the text by the generic name followed by the trade name in brackets.
15. Taxonomy for bacteria and viruses
Please observe the correct form of the taxa when writing
the names of bacteria and viruses. Note that ‘bacteria’ is theplural form, and ‘bacterium’ is the singular form. The correct
bacterial taxonomy, from upper to lower, is [kingdoms, phyla, classes, orders, families, genera (singular form: genus),
species, and subspecies]. Note that the genus and below are
written in italics. Normally, only the genus and subspecies
are required in most articles in Laser Therapy. When writing
the name of a bacterium for the first time in both the Ab-stract and again in the body of the text, write it out in full,for example ‘Escherichia coli’. Note the upper-case for the
genus ‘Esherichia’ and the lower-case for the species ‘coli’,both in italics Thereafter, abbreviate to E. coli maintaining
the upper-case for the first letter in italics followed by a fullstop and a space. Note that ‘E.coli’ is incorrect, because thespace has been omitted. The full taxonomy for E. Coli is:
Domain:Bacteria
Kingdom: Eubacteria
Phylum:Proteobacteria
Class:
Gammaproteobacteria
Order:
Enterobacteriales
Family:Enterobacteriaceae
Genus:
Escherichia
Species:Escherichia coli (E. coli)
When a genus has more than one species, the species areabbreviated and written as in this example. “The Enterococcus species (or Enterococcus spp) are facultative anaerobic organisms. E. faecalis and E. faecium are the mostprevalent species cultured from humans.” However, notethe use of italics in the following; “Enteroccus is a large
genus of lactic acid bacteria”. But; “Enterococci aregram-positive cocci.” In other words, the actual genus isitalicized, but the general term is not.
In the case of genes and proteins, in general, symbols for genes are italicized (e.g., IGF1, full name: immunoglobulin factor 1 gene), whereas symbols for proteinsencoded by the gene are not italicized (e.g., IGF1: immunoglobulin factor 1). Note that the full names of genes
and proteins start with a lower-case letter unless they begin with a person’s name.
17. References• ‌References should be supplied in the Vancouver
style modified as below, using sequential square
bracketed ([]) numbers on the same line as the text,
outside the punctuation, and a numerical (not alphabetical) listing at the end of the chapter, as in
the examples below.
• ‌Start the References section on a new page.
• ‌Please note the punctuation used; list all authors up
to 5, and et al. thereafter; and use the abbreviated title for the journal cited as approved in the list from
Index Medicus, refer to (http://images.webofknowledge.com/WOK46/help/WOS/A_abrvjt.html).
• ‌Note that; for web-based items, the date when theitem was accessed should be stated.
Examples• Book reference:
1: ‌Steinbusch HWM and Tilders FJH: Immunohistochemical techniques for light-microscopical localization of dopamine, noradrenaline, adrenaline,
serotonin and histamine in the central nervous
system. In: (Steinbusch HWM, ed.) Monoaminergic Neurons. Light Microscopy and Ultrastructure.
1987, John Wiley, Chichester. pp 125 ~ 166.
• Journal reference:
2: ‌Crook RB, Farber MG, Pruisner SB (1984): Hormones and neurotransmitters control cyclic AMP
metabolism in choroid plexus epithelial cells ofchoroid plexus. J Neurochem, 1984; 46: 489-493.
• Website:
3: ‌N ational Center for Health Statistics. National

Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Version
current 1 October 2003. Internet: http://www.cdc.
gov/nchs/nhanes.htm (accessed 13 October 2016).
• Online journal article
4: ‌Sinha A, Madden J, Ross-Degnan D, Soumerai S,
Platt R. Reduced risk of neonatal respiratory infections among breastfed girls but not boys. Pediatrics [serial online] 2003;112:e303. Internet: http://
pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/
full/112/4/e303 (accessed 14 October 2016).
18. Color illustrations: A reasonable number of color illustrations will be accepted free of charge, included in the
Page Charges as laid out in item 3 above. For details of
the limits on color illustrations without charge, or forcosts regarding an excessive number of color illustrations,please contact the Managing Editor or Business Manager(email to them at lasertherapy@jmll.co.jp).
GENERAL
19. No hard copy manuscript or figures will be returned
following publication unless a request for return is madewhen the manuscript is originally submitted by postal mail.
20. An email will be sent from the Editorial Team to the first(or corresponding) author as soon as possible after receipt ofan article by the journal office to confirm safe and full arrivalof all documents and attachments. If such a confirmation
email is not received within a reasonable time after sending,please email the journal to enquire (lasertherapy@jmll.co.jp).
21. The journal Editorial Team guarantees that all original
materials received via email or on a USB will be deleted
once the article has been published. Any hard copy materials will be destroyed unless otherwise requested.
22. If hard copies of additional offprints are required, andindividual copies or back issues of the journal, they may
be purchased: an offprint order form will be sent out withthe galley proofs (Item 23 below). For PDF copies see
the following. All correspondence including galley proofs
will be sent to the first-named author (or corresponding
author if indicated).
Note: ‌Downloadable and printable PDF files of all published articles are available on a pay-per-view basis from the date of publication till 6 months
thereafter. From longer than 6 months post-publication, printable PDF downloads are free ofcharge under the journal’s open access policy. Articles can be retrieved by key word or author athttps://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/islsm.
23. Galley proofs• ‌Galley proofs in PDF format, with any queries fromthe Editorial Team, will be sent by email to the firstauthor (or corresponding author where appropriate), but only for checking the typesetting accuracy.
• ‌Galley proofs should be checked, any queries fromthe Editorial Team answered if applicable, and any
errors marked up. The proofs and/or comments
should be returned via email to the journal as soon
as possible after receipt to ensure a smooth publication process.
• ‌No major changes to the original manuscript will be
accepted at this stage which are not the result of anerror in typesetting the manuscripts. Any majorchanges requested by the author in the proof
stage may well be subject to a typesetting charge.

NOTE:
To avoid delays in the production of the journal, and ensure prompt publication, the full postal address and email address should be given for the author to whom correspondence is to be addressed, complete with postal (ZIP) code, telephone and facsimile numbers where appropriate.