Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition
The Official Journal of the Society for Free Radical Research Japan

INSTRUCTION TO AUTHORS
AIMS & SCOPE
Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition (JCBN) is
an international, interdisciplinary publication encompassing
chemical, biochemical, physiological, pathological, toxico­
logical and medical approaches to research on lipid peroxi­
dation, free radicals, oxidative stress and nutrition. The
Journal welcomes original contributions dealing with all
aspects of clinical biochemistry and clinical nutrition
including both in vitro and in vivo studies.
PUBLICATIONS
Original Articles: Peer-reviewed, high-quality, concise
research investigations that represent new and significant
contributions to science.
Review Articles: Reviews of major areas or sub-areas inclinical biochemistry and clinical nutrition. These articles
are peer-reviewed. Articles may be of any length.
Serial Reviews: A collection of normally invited reviews on
a specific topic.
Letters to the Editor: Letters dealing with published articles
or matters of interest to free radical researchers are invited.
They should be short (not more than 400 words), typed
double-spaced, and include references where appropriate.
Where a published article is involved, the original author(s)will be invited to submit a response.
Announcements and Calendar: Providing notices of forth­coming meetings, courses, and other events relevant toclinical biochemistry and clinical nutrition researchers. Allsuch items will be listed (free of charge) in the journal
issues preceding the event and will be updated upon request.
EDITORIAL REVIEW and ACCEPTANCE
The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality andoriginality of the research and its significance to ourreadership. Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts are
single-blind peer reviewed by two anonymous reviewers,
the Referee selected by Executive Editors, and the Editor.
Final acceptance or rejection rests with the Editor-in-Chief,
who reserves the right to refuse any material for publication.
Authors may present names of potential reviewers and ofreviewers whom they would prefer not to review themanuscript. The choice of reviewers remains the Editor’s
prerogative. A manuscript requiring revision will be returnedto the author by email, along with specific sugges­tions forrevision. Authors should follow the instructions below tosubmit revised manuscripts:• 	The author should reply to the suggestions clearly in the“Author’s Response” section by indicating places whererevisions have been made, and/or by stating reasons for
disregarding other suggestions if they are thought to beunacceptable.
• 	Modified parts should be highlighted using underline orcolored font.
Manuscripts should be written so that they are intelligible
to the professional reader who is not a specialist in theparticular field. They should be written in a clear, concise,direct style. Where contributions are judged as acceptablefor publication on the basis of scientific content, the Editor
and the Publisher reserve the right to modify typescripts toeliminate ambiguity and repetition and to improve communication between author and reader. If extensive alterations
are required, the manuscript will be returned to the author
for revision.
DUPLICATE PUBLICATION and SCIENTIFIC FRAUD
In cases of suspected scientific misconduct (fabrication
or falsification of data, double publication, or plagiarism),
the journal will conduct a preliminary investigation. If
scientific misconduct is found, the journal will contact thecorresponding author’s institution and funding agencies.
JCBN will not consider publication of any papers by theoffending authors for a period of 1 year or longer dependingon the circumstances of each case.
SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS
All articles submitted to the Journal must comply withthese instructions. Failure to do so will result in return of themanuscript and possible delay in publication. Manuscripts(Original Articles, Review Articles or Serial Reviews),
with figures and tables, should be submitted electronicallyvia our website, http://www.editorialmanager.com/jcbn/.
For assistance, please contact the Editorial Office of JCBN
below:
Editorial Secretariat
Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition
E-mail: jcbn@nacos.com
HP: http://sfrrj.umin.jp/JCBN.htm

Letters to the Editors and items for the Announcements andCalendar section may be sent by e-mail to the Editorial
Secretariat (address above).
All pages should be numbered consecutively in the top
right-hand corner, beginning with the title page.
COVERING LETTER
A covering letter should be attached and the following
information should be included:• 	A declaration that the paper is being submitted forconsideration for publication in JCBN. The content has
not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere
except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientificmeeting or symposium.
• 	All authors’ agreement: acknowledgment that all authors
have contributed significantly, and that all authors are inagreement with the content of the manuscript. In keepingwith the latest guidelines of the International Committeeof Medical Journal Editors, each author’s contribution to
the paper is to be quantified.
• 	Contact details at which the corresponding author canbe contacted, including mailing address, telephone andfax numbers, and an email address.
• 	If tables or figures have been reproduced from anothersource, a letter from the copyright holder (usually the
Publisher), stating authorization to reproduce the material,must be attached to the covering letter.
• 	The salient and novel findings of the paper should be
described in a concise paragraph.
• 	The names and addresses of at least three potential
reviewers (including telephone and fax numbers and e-­
mail address). If there are compelling reasons for exclud­ing particular individuals as potential reviewers, details
can be mentioned. However, the ultimate reviewer selec­tion is at the Editors’ discretion.
AUTHOR MATERIAL ARCHIVE POLICY
Authors who require the return of any submitted material
that is accepted for publication should inform the Editorial
Office after acceptance. If no indication is given that authormaterial should be returned, Nakanishi Printing Co. Ltd.
will dispose of all hardcopy and electronic material twomonths after publication.
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
Authors should declare any financial support or relation­
ship that may pose conflict of interest as Financial Disclo­sure. Financial Disclosure format can be obtained from our
website. Click here.
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Authors must state that the protocol for the research

proj­ect has been approved by a suitably constituted Ethics
Committee of the institution and has therefore been per­formedin accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.
All investigations on human subjects must include a state­ment that the subject gave informed consent. Patientanonymity should be preserved. Photographs need to be
cropped sufficiently to prevent human subjects being
recognized (or an eye bar should be used).
Any experiments involving animals must be demon­
strated to be ethically acceptable and where relevant con­form to national guidelines for animal usage in research.
Generally, diethyl ether should not be used for animal
anesthesia. When diethyl ether is inevitably used foranesthesia, the authors must clearly explain the reason touse it in the manuscript.
CLINICAL TRIALSJCBN requires that all clinical trials submitted for its
consideration are registered in a publicly accessible data­base. Authors should include the name of the trial registerand their clinical trial registration number at the end of
their summary. If you wish the editor(s) to consider anunregistered trial, please explain briefly why the trial has
not been registered.
COPYRIGHT
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked totransfer copyright. This transfer will ensure the widest
possible dissemination of information. An e-mail will besent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of themanuscript. A form facilitating transfer of copyright will be
provided after acceptance.
STYLE OF THE MANUSCRIPT
Manuscripts should follow the style of the Vancouveragreement detailed in the International Committee ofMedical Journal Editors’ revised ‘Uniform Requirements
for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writingand Editing for Biomedical Publication’.
General rules: The following instructions should be adheredto:• 	Lines should be double-spaced• 	Do not use the carriage return (Enter) at the end of lines
within a paragraph.
• 	Turn the hyphenation option off; include only thosehyphens that are essential to the meaning.
• 	Specify any special characters used to represent nonkeyboard characters.
• 	Take care not to use l (ell) for 1 (one), O (capital o) for 0(zero) or ß (German esszett) for β (Greek beta).
• 	Use a tab, not spaces, to separate data points in tables. Ifyou use a table editor function, ensure that each data
point is contained within a unique cell (i.e. do not use
carriage returns within cells).
Spelling: The Journal uses US spelling and authors should
therefore follow the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster’s
Collegiate Dictionary.
Units: All measurements must be given in SI or SI-derived
units. Please go to the Bureau International des Poids etMesures (BIPM) website for more information about SI
units. Temperatures denoted by an unqualified degree
symbol are assumed to be Celsius. For solution strengths,
percentages should be expressed by the sign %, followed incases of ambiguity by w/w, w/v, or v/v [e.g., 5% (w/v)
means 5 g/100 ml].
Abbreviations and Nomenclature: Stylistic details must
be kept constant. For example, P450 is not typed P450;
electron spin resonance is abbreviated either ESR or EPR(for electron paramagnetic resonance). Either can be used,
but both should be given and stated as equivalent at the firstmention. (This is the recommendation of the International
EPR Society.) Formulae for radicals follow IUPAC recom­
mendations and contain a superscripted (not centered) dot
that precedes a charge, if any. Thus, superoxide is repre­
sented by O2•−, not O2−, O2••, or some other permutation.
Other examples are: HO• or •OH (not OH•), RO•, ROO•/•NO2,•
CH2OH, etc. In the text, names of radicals are preferred,rather than using formulas in the middle of sentences. For
names of radicals, use alkoxyl, peroxyl, and hydroxyl andnot alkoxy, peroxy, etc. (correct nomenclature requires the‘l’ on the end of radicals, as in methyl, hydroxyl, etc.). Use
tert, not t-, etc., for abbreviations.
For example, CORRECT: tert-butoxyl, sec-peroxyl;
INCORRECT: t-butoxy, s-peroxy.
Where possible, nomenclature and abbreviations should
be in accordance with internationally agreed rules. When an
enzyme or compound is first mentioned in the text, specifi­
cation by its code number accompanied by its systematicname (as distinct from its trivial name) is requested by the
Editors, but not checked for correctness.
Official names of drugs are preferred to trade names.
Standard three-letter codes for the common amino acids
may be used freely and without definition, but the one-letter
codes should be restricted to comparisons of long protein
sequences. Similar considerations apply to nucleosides andnucleotides. Standard three-letter codes for carbohydrates
and for purine and pyrimidine bases may also be used. Allother abbreviations should be defined when they first
appear in the text. If an extensive list of abbreviations isused, please provide an alphabetical list with definitions
followed by the references at the end of the article.
Genetic nomenclature: Standard genetic nomenclature
should be used. For further information, including relevant

websites, authors should refer to the genetic nomenclature
guide in Trends in Genetics (Elsevier Science, 1998).
Nucleotide sequence data can be submitted in electronic
form to any of the three major collaborative databases:
DDBJ, EMBL or GenBank. It is only necessary to submit to
one database as data are exchanged between DDBJ, EMBL
and GenBank on a daily basis. The suggested wording forreferring to accession-number information is: ‘These
sequence data have been submitted to the DDBJ/EMBL/
GenBank databases under accession number U12345’.
Links are as follows: DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ)
EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Submissions GenBank
PARTS OF THE MANUSCRIPT
Responsibility for the accuracy of the material in the
manuscript, including bibliographic citations, lies entirely
with the authors.
Manuscripts parts should be presented in the following
order: (i) title page, (ii) summary, abbreviations, and clinical
trial register and their clinical registration number at the endof summary, (iii) text (including Introduction, Material andMethods, Results, Discussion), (iv) acknowledgments (ifany), (v) references, (vi) appendices (if any), (vii) figurelegends, (viii) tables (each table complete with title andfootnotes) and (ix) figures. Footnotes to the text are notallowed and any such material should be incorporated into
the text as parenthetical matter.
File Format: All manuscript, including main text, tables,
figures and figure legends, should be submitted in one
pdf file.
Please note that we cannot accept Word files, andPowerPoint files. These files must be converted to pdf
file type. Converting PowerPoint files frequently results in
unexpected changes to the figures (e.g. missing or shifted
text; shifted image elements). We recommend you not tocreate figures by PowerPoint. If you do try to convert fromPowerPoint to pdf file type, be very careful to compare thefinal version to your original.
Title page: The title page should contain: (i) the title of thepaper, (ii) the full names of the authors, (iii) the addressesof the institutions at which the work was carried out, (iv)the full postal and email address, plus facsimile andtelephone numbers, of the author to whom correspondence
about the manuscript should be sent. The present addressof any author, if different from that where the work was
carried out, should be supplied in a footnote, (v) the precise
word count of the manuscript (excluding references for
Original Articles; including references for Review Articles,
and Letters to the Editor), (vi) number of tables/figures.
The title should be short (preferably less than 120 letters),
informative and contain the major key words. Do not use

unnecessary words such as ‘Study of’ or ‘Results on’, or
abbreviations in the title. This page also should provide ashort descriptive statement detailing the contributions of eachco-author (e.g., study concept and design; acquisition of data;
analysis and interpretation of data; drafting of the manuscript;
critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual
content; statistical analysis; obtained funding; administrative,
technical, or material support; study supervision).
Summary: All articles must have a summary in bold stylethat states in 200 words or fewer the purpose, basic proce­dures, main findings and principal conclusions of the study.
Data such as the number of test subjects and controls,
strains of animals or viruses, drug dosages and routes ofadministration, tumor yields and latent periods, length ofobservation period, and magnitude of activity should be
included. The summary should not contain abbreviations orreferences.
Keywords: Authors are requested to select about 5 key­words (each character of the keywords should be in boldstyle and should not be capitalized) in new line immediately
below the summary for indexing. These keywords should
cover precisely the contents of the submitted paper andshould give readers sufficient information as to the rele­vance of the paper to their particular field.
Text: Authors should use the following subheadings todivide the sections of their manuscript: Introduction,
Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion.
Introduction: The introduction should mention the purposeof the investigation, its relation to other work in the field,
and the reasons for undertaking the research. Brief refer­ence to the most relevant papers is sufficient.
Materials and Methods: Description of methods should be
brief, but with sufficient detail to enable others to reproduce
the experiments. When published procedures are used, theappropriate references should be cited. Only new andsignificant modifications of previously published proce­dures require complete description. Names of products andmanufacturers with their locations (city and state/country)
should be given and sources of animals and tumors should
always be indicated. Duncan’s multiple range test should
not be used for post-hoc data analysis. Fisher’s LDS can not
be employed for the test for more than 4 groups.
Results: The results should be described concisely. Tables
and figures should be used only if they are indispensable forthe comprehension of data.
Discussion: The results should be interpreted and related toexisting knowledge in the field. Information already givenin the introduction or results should not be repeated.
Acknowledgments: The source of financial grants and otherfunding must be acknowledged, including a frank declara­tion of the authors’ industrial links and affiliations. The
contribution of colleagues or institutions should also be
acknowledged. Personal thanks and thanks to anonymous
reviewers are not appropriate.
Conflict of Interest: All authors are requested to disclose
any actual or potential conflict of interest including any
financial, personal or other relationships with other people ororganizations within three years of beginning the submitted
work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived
to influence, their work.
References: The Vancouver system of referencing should
be used (examples are given below). In the text, references
should be cited using superscript Arabic numerals in theorder in which they appear. If cited in tables or figurelegends, number according to the first identification of thetable or figure in the text. In the reference list, cite thenames of all authors when there are six or fewer; whenseven or more, list the first three followed by et al. Do notuse ibid. or op cit. Reference to unpublished data andpersonal communications should not appear in the list but
should be cited in the text only (e.g. Smith A, 2000,
unpublished data). All citations mentioned in the text, tables
or figures must be listed in the reference list. When areference is accepted but still in press, authors must submit
it to reviewers if requested. If authors refuse to submit, themanuscript might be rejected because reviewers cannot
review the context of the articles in press. Names ofjournals should be abbreviated in the style used in Index
Medicus. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of thereferences.
Examples of reference style are as follows
Journal article:
1		Takagi T, Naito Y, Yoshikawa T. The expression ofheme oxygenase-1 induced by lansoprazole. J Clin
Biochem Nutr 2009; 45: 9–13
Journal articles published ahead of issue (print or online):
An online article that has not yet been published in anissue (therefore has no volume, issue or page numbers) canbe cited by its Digital Object Identifier (DOI). The DOI willremain valid and allow an article to be tracked even after its
allocation to an issue.
2		Omatsu T, Naito Y, Handa O, et al. Reactive oxygen
species-quenching and anti-apoptotic effect of polaprezinc
on indomethacin-induced small intestinal epithelial cell

injury. J Gastroenterol 2010. DOI: 10.1007/s00535010-0213-9
Book:
3		Papas AM. The vitamin E factor: the miraculous
antioxidant for the prevention and treatment of heartdisease, cancer, and aging. New York: Harper Collins
Publishers, Inc., 1999; 123–125.
Chapter in a Book:
4		Kokura S and Aw TY. Anoxia/reoxygenation induced
inflammatory response: Role of cellular thiol redox
stutas in NFκB activation and endothelial cell adhesion
molecule expression. In: Yoshikawa T, Toyokuni S,
Yamamoto Y, and Naito Y, eds. Free Radicals in
Chemistry, Biology and Medicine, London: OICA
International (UK) Limited, 2000; 495–500.
Published on the World Wide Web:
Online journal can be sited only when they have DOI
number.
5		Schriger DL, Ouk S, Altman DG. The use of the World
Wide Web by medical journals in 2003 and 2005: anobservational study. Pediatrics. 2007 Jan; 119(1): e53–e60. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2006-1538
Online document:
6		WHO helps Nigeria control cholera in Borno state.
World Health Organization. http://www.afro.who.int/
news/who-helps-nigeria-control-cholera-borno-state.
Accessed 12 Jan 2018.
Appendices: These should be placed at the end of the paper,
numbered in Roman numerals and referred to in the text. If
written by a person other than the author of the main text,
the writer’s name should be included below the title.
Figure legends: Type figure legends on a separate sheet.
Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the figure
and its legend must be understandable without reference tothe text. Include definitions of any symbols used anddefine/explain all abbreviations and units of measurement.
Tables: Tables should be self-contained and complement,
but not duplicate, information contained in the text. Number
tables consecutively in the text in Arabic numerals. Typetables on a separate sheet with the legend above. Legends
should be concise but comprehensive – the table, legend
and footnotes must be understandable without reference tothe text. Vertical lines should not be used to separate
columns. Column headings should be brief, with units ofmeasurement in parentheses; all abbreviations must be
defined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: *, †, §, should be

used (in that order) and *, #, † should be reserved for pvalues. Statistical measures such as SD or SEM should be
identified in the headings. Tables should be submitted in
Microsoft word or excel. Image files and groupings of text
boxes should be avoided.
Figures: All illustrations (line drawings and photographs)
are classified as figures. Figures should be cited in consecu­
tive order in the text. Figures should be used to illustrateexperimental results clearly. Illustrations for reproduction
should normally be about twice the final size required as
figures are often reduced to a one-column width. Symbols,
lettering and lines should be sufficiently large and clear tobe legible after reduction. Photographs of tissues, cells, or
subcellular components should be included only when they
are essential. Figures should be supplied as separate files,
with the figure number incorporated in the file name.
Text presented in tables and figures should be 8–12 point
Verdana and Symbol. Panel labels of Figures must be 16
point Verdana bold letters (A, B, C). Please avoid placing
panel labels over images. For image quality specifications,please refer the end of Instruction to Authors.*
PROOFS
It is essential that corresponding authors supply an email
address to which proofs can be emailed. Authors of OriginalContributions and Review Articles will receive proofs.
Because acceptance is based upon the submitted version of
the paper, it is essential that no new material be inserted
in the text at the time of proofreading; furthermore, noalteration to style or meaning will be permitted at this stage.
Any new material that the authors wish to introduce forreasons of scientific accuracy will be checked by the
Editors and a charge may be made for corrections. Authors
are encouraged to return their proof corrections by e-mail.
Authors will be given within 2 working days (48 hours)
turn-around time to return proof corrections. Any newmaterial that the authors wish to introduce for reasons ofscientific accuracy will be checked by the Editors and acharge may be made for corrections. Authors who will not
be available to check their proofs should appoint someone
to proofread their article. If the proof is not returned by theappointed date, it may be signed off on by the Editor or held
over to the next issue.
OFFPRINTS
A minimum of 100 offprints will be provided uponrequest, at the author’s expense. If you have queries about
offprints please email: jcbn@nacos.com.
PUBLICATION
For information concerning your accepted manuscript,
proofs, etc., please contact the Issue Manager at Nakanishi

Printing Co. Ltd. (Contact details provided on letter of
acknowledgment sent to author after receipt of the manu­
script by the Publisher.) Always quote JCBN and the article’s
Production Number.

SUPPLEMENTAL DATA CHARGE
It will be possible to add the supplemental data (figures
and tables) that enhances the quality of the article; the extra
charge ($20 per figure) will be added.

PUBLICATION FEES and COLOR FIGURE CHARGE
Color figures may be included in your article, but
generally this expense must be borne by the authors forprint publication. Color figures are not charged for online
publication. For color reproduction in print, you will
receive information regarding the costs from the Editorial
Secretariat after receipt of your accepted article. Please
note: Because of technical complications that can arise inconverting color figures to “gray scale” (for the printed
version should you not opt for color in print), please submit
in addition usable black-and-white files corresponding to allcolor illustrations. As only one figure caption may be used
for both color and black and white versions of figures,
please ensure that figure captions are meaningful for bothversions, if applicable.
Since articles of JCBN are published in both printed andonline version, and JCBN depends, in part, on the paymentof page charges for its publication, payment of $150 per
printed page along with $800 per online article aremandatory. The failure of payment by authors results in therejection of publication.

ACCEPTED ARTICLES PUBLISHED ONLINE AHEAD
OF PRINT
Articles in this journal which have been peer-reviewed
and accepted, but not yet copy-edited, are published in
Advance Publication online through our website. Pleaserefer to our web site indicated below.

CORRECTION CHARGE FOR ERRORS IN FIGURES
Authors should carefully prepare the manuscripts. Failure
to do so especially in figures will result in the extensive
correction by the Publisher. As a correction charge for errors
in figures, $20 per figure will be added.

http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/jcbn/advpub/0/_contents
Articles are therefore available as soon as they are ready,rather than having to wait for the next scheduled print issue.
Advance Publication articles are complete and final, andrepresent official publication of the article and may be citedthus in patent applications, etc. They have been fully
reviewed, revised and edited for publication, and theauthors’ final corrections have been incorporated. Because
they are in final form, no changes can be made after online
publication. The nature of Advance Publication articles
means that they do not yet have volume, issue or page
numbers, so Advance Publication articles cannot be cited in
the traditional way. They are therefore given a DigitalObject Identifier (DOI), which allows the article to be citedand tracked before it is allocated to an issue. After print
publication, the DOI remains valid and can continue to be
used to cite and access the article (more information about
DOIs).

*IMAGE QUALITY SPECIFICATIONSAll Images Must be Submitted At or Above Intended Display Size
Image Type

Description

FormatColor Mode

Resolution

Line Art

An image composed of lines and text, which does notcontain tonal or shaded areasai, ppt(x),xls(x), pdf

Monochrome
1-bit or RGB—

Halftone

A continuous tone photograph, which contains no text

tif, jpg, psd

RGB orGrayscale

300–350 dpi

Combination

Image contains halftone + text or line art elements

ai, ppt(x),xls(x), pdf

RGB orGrayscale—as of March 30, 2016as of July 1, 2017as of March 1, 2018as of May 1, 2018as of May 17, 2018as of July 1, 2020
as of May 1, 2021
as of July 1, 2023

Financial Disclosure
Check the appropriate box and sign where indicated. All Authors must sign one of the statements below.
I, the undersigned Author, certify that I have no financial arrangements (e.g., consultancies, stock ownership, equity interests,
patent-licensing arrangements, research support, major honoraria, etc.) with a company whose product figures prominently inthe submitted manuscript or with a company making a competing product except as disclosed on a separate attachment. All
funding sources supporting the work are acknowledged on the title page.

I, the undersigned Author, certify that I have included on the title page of the manuscript any financial arrangements(e.g., consultancies, stock ownership, equity interests, patent-licensing arrangements, research support, major honoraria, etc.)that I have with a company whose product figures prominently in the submitted manuscript or with a company making acompeting product. All funding sources supporting the work are acknowledged on the title page.