Author Guidelines

Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica

1. Aims and Scope

With the aim of furthering the development of psychiatry, psychiatric practice, mental health, and mental welfare, ‘Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica (Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi)’ publishes creative reviews, original articles, case reports, debates, statistical compilations, and special features addressing these areas. Although the primary emphasis is put on clinical research, it also publishes translational or basic research papers if they are clearly relevant to the clinical aspect.

2. Submission and Review

• 1) Members of the Japanese Society of Psychiatry as well as non-members are eligible to submit papers.
• 2) Papers which have been published, have been accepted for publication, or are under review elsewhere are prohibited for submission.
• 3) Papers should be submitted in Japanese or English.
• 4) When submitting reviews or special feature articles that have been requested by the Editorial Board of the Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica, ensure that they are not redundant or duplicate publications.
• 5) The acceptance or rejection of submitted papers is to be decided by the Editorial Board based on the opinions of two or more reviewers, which must include outside reviewer(s).
• 6) Date of receipt: Date when the paper is submitted. Date of acceptance: Date when the paper is accepted.
• 7) Accepted papers will be published in printed and digital versions of the journal.

3. Compliance with medical research guidelines and the protection of personal information

• 1) Research involving human subjects must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki (and its revisions) and the latest national laws and guidelines related to medical research including “The Ethical Guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects”. Research plans must undergo screening conducted by the ethics committee of their research facilities, and the approval of the study obtained from the committee and the subjects’ agreement to it must be stated in the paper. If a research ethics committee is not established in the facilities, the person in charge of the study shall ask facilities or organizations that have ethics committees to conduct a review of the study proposal for its approval. When submitting papers on retrospective clinical observation studies, in principle, the author(s) must obtain approval by the ethical committee as well.
• 2) If clinical cases are presented in papers, the acquisition of the patients’ agreement and considerations for privacy protection must be stated in the papers, referring to the following guidelines published on the website of the society:
  「症例報告を含む医学論文及び学会発表におけるプライバシー保護に関するガイドライン」，Guidelines for privacy protection in medical papers and conference presentations, including case reports
  
  「倫理審査が必要な『研究として扱う症例報告』についてのガイドライン」，Guidelines concerning “case reports examined in studies” that require ethical review
  
  「症例報告を含む医学論文及び学会発表におけるプライバシー保護に関するガイドライン Q&A」 Q & A on the guidelines for privacy protection in medical papers and conference presentations, including case reports
  
  
• 3) Papers involving animal experiments shall include the following description: the experiments were conducted in accordance with the scientific and ethical norms for the implementation of animal experiments.

4. Conflict of Interest (COI) Disclosure Information

• 1) Download the “Submission application, Consent form, COI Disclosure” via our online submission system. All authors must complete the Forms.
• 2) All authors must report COI disclosure information at the end of the paper.
• 3) See the following policies of COI on our Website.
  臨床研究の利益相反（COI）に関する指針
  Guidelines on Conflict of interest (COI) in clinical research
  
  臨床研究の利益相反（COI）に関する指針の細則
  Bylaws on Conflict of interest (COI) in clinical research
  
  日本精神神経学会臨床研究の利益相反（COI）に関する指針および細則に関するQ&A
  Q&A concerning Guidelines and Bylaws on Conflict of interest (COI) in clinical research
  
  
• 4) Regarding business-academia collaborative research, the Editorial Board shall conduct strict COI assessment of expected bias risks to the quality and reliability of editing and publication.

5. Categories

Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica has the following categories:

• 1) Reviews: Novel discussion based on literature reviews.
• 2) Original articles: Academic papers with originality or study reports presenting clinical knowledge, findings, and results.
• 3) Case Reports: New findings, Case Studies presenting unique clinical cases
• 4) Debates: New presentations or proposals
• 5) Statistical compilations: Data of the number of patients or dynamic statistics of patients. Status reports of mental health and welfare medical care.
• 6) Letter to the editor: Opinions of the published paper. General opinions.
• 7) Special Feature Articles: Several short reviews that offer novel perspectives on a specific topic
  In principle, there is no word limit for “Original articles” or “Statistical compilations”. Maximum words allowed per article are as follows: Reviews up to 5,000 words, Case Reports 5,000 words, Debates 6,000 words, Letter to the editor 1,000 words, and Special Feature Articles 5,000 words, including text, tables and figures (one figure/table is equated to 200 words), and English abstract. The title, subtitle, author(s), affiliation(s), and references are not part of the maximum words. Up to 30 references are allowed for Case Reports and 10 for Letter to the Editor, respectively. For Special Feature Articles, the representing author should submit the purport and overview of the Special Feature according to the designated format, and submit papers after approval is granted.
• 8) Requirements for local association reports and reviews/Special Feature Articles requested by the Editorial Board are separately established.

6. Requirements

• 1) Authorship
  Authors shall fulfill all of the following four requirements in accordance with the standards established by the ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) (published in December 2019).
  A researcher who has:
  • i) Substantially contributed to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work.
  • ii) Been involved in drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
  • iii) Approved the final manuscript.
  • iv) Agreed to be held 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.
• 2) Submitting Author and Corresponding Author
  In principle, the first author is the Submitting Author, who submits the paper through the submission system and is responsible for the paper after it has been published, including the submission, peer review process and publication. The Corresponding Author is the person who is contacted regarding the published paper and is listed in the paper, and is primarily responsible for correspondence with the journal during the process of submitting, reviewing and publishing the paper. The Submitting Author and Corresponding Author may be the same person.
• 3) Body text and headings
  Use a unified style of writing and terms to write the body text.
  • a) In principle, names of persons, places, and chemicals shall be written in the original language. Numerical quantities shall be written using the CGS system of units.
  • b) As for the names of drugs, generic names shall be used in principle, and the names of products shall be accompanied on an as-required basis.
• 4) Abstract
  Abstracts shall be written in English (up to 600 words) and undergo proofreading by native English speakers.
• 5) Tables and Figures
  Tables and figures shall be created in Word^®, Excel^®, or PowerPoint^® file format and be of printable quality in terms of sharpness. The titles and legend of the tables and figures shall be written in the body text of a Word file.
  
  - The number of tables and figures shall be up to ten for reviews, original articles, debates, and statistical compilations, and the number of those for case reports shall be up to five (up to 5 MB for each table or figure); letter to the editor shall have no tables or figures.
  - The accurate positions of tables and figures shall be indicated in the body text.
• 6) Acknowledgements
  If there are researchers who have contributed to the production of the manuscript but have not fulfilled the qualifications for the authors, the names of the researchers, their affiliations, and contributions shall be stated. The sources of funds used to conduct research shall also be stated on an as-required basis.
• 7) Enter the lists of references on the “Word^® form”. List the references alphabetically by last name of the author. Cite references in the text using numbers in parentheses (e.g., “1)”, “2, 3)”, “4, 6-8)”. List all authors by last name and fist name, when there are 3 authors (2 editors). If there are 4 authors (3 editors) or more, list the first 3 names (2 editors) followed by “et al”. For references, type full last name followed by a comma and the initial letter of the first name. Journal name abbreviations must be in accordance with the Index medicus, or an official one. Avoid personal communications, paper in submission or in press for citing as references.

  [Examples]

  • - 1) Asperger, H.: Die "Autistischen Psychopathen" im Kindesalter. Archiv fur Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, 117; 76-136,1944 (Translated by Takemoto Takuma: Autistic psychopathy in childhood. Psychiatry. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Related Fields, 34; 180-197, 282-301, 1993)
  • - 2) Blankenburg, W.: Der Verlust der naturlichen Selbstverstandlichkeit: Ein Beitrag zur Psychopathologie symptomarmer Schizophrenien. Enke F, Stuttgart, 1971 (Translated by Bin Kimura, Susumu Okamoto, Hiroshi Shima: Loss of obviousness - A phenomenological study of schizophrenia -. Misuzu Shobo, Tokyo, 1978)
  • - 3) Ibid., p.98
  • - 4) Kasai, K., Shenton, M.E., Salisbury, D.F., et al.: Progressive decrease of left Heschl gyrus and planum temporale gray matter volume in first-episode schizophrenia: a longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging study. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 60; 766-775, 2003

7. Methods for Submission of Papers

• 1) Authors wishing to submit manuscripts shall download the Word form and type in it. Authors shall also download 「投稿申込・承諾書・COI申告書フォーム」“Submission application, Consent form, COI Disclosure”, include the signatures of all authors and state whether or not they have conflicts of interest, and convert the document into PDF format. An email including the following information: submission category, the title of the paper, the numbers of characters or words, tables, and figures, shall be sent to edit@jspn.or.jp; the manuscript of the paper (body text, tables, and figures) and Submission Application, Consent Form, COI Disclosure shall be attached to the email.

8. Proof, Publication, Reprints, Copyright:

• 1) The author is entitled to the first proof only. We may ask for minor changes such as letters, figures, and tables when necessary.
• 2) The author must bear the excess cost if the publication costs exceed 200,000 yen. Reprint costs are fully on the author.
• 3) Although the copyright belongs to the authors, a license to reprint and copy for third parties belongs to the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.
• 4) Papers will be made digitally available for open access one year after they are first published. However, papers involving clinical cases will be carefully screened.

9．Inquiries

Contact below for inquiries regarding the submission, edition, publication of the paper.
The Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology
Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica Editorial Office
E-mail edit@jspn.or.jp

(Effective as of November 25, 2024)