REVISED July 2010

The following instructions are about the style of the manuscripts that are accepted for evaluation for publication in Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology. Please read the instructions carefully and make sure your work is in accordance with them.

It is recommended that you print these instructions and refer to them as a checklist BEFORE submitting your manuscript. Failure to comply FULLY with these instructions will delay the processing of your manuscript.

It is also recommended that you refer to the articles already published online in order to best employ the following instructions because online articles―in whatever type and category yours is―already feature what these instructions try to achieve.

Manuscript submission is online at www.dirjournal.org/submit

This journal is in compliance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, as published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (updated October 2008,www.icmje.org).

Scope
Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology is a medium for disseminating scientific information based on research, clinical experience, and observations pertaining to diagnostic and interventional radiology.

The author(s) MUST sign, scan and e-mail the Copyright Transfer Form within three days AFTER their manuscript's acceptance for publication (info@dirjournal.org). Otherwise online or print publication will not be made.

Type of your article
1. Your manuscript may be in one of the following types:

Category of your article
2. Your manuscript may be in one of the following categories:

Title of your article
3. Title of your manuscript should be prepared in "sentence case":

3a. "US", "CT" and "MRI" (not "MR imaging") should be used as abbreviations. MDCT should not be used  in the title (instead use "multidetector CT"), but may be used in the body of the manuscript.

3b. After colon (:), start with lower case unless there is a proper noun or abbreviation.

Author names
4. Write author names in "title case" (e.g., John Doe) the way you want them to appear in the journal. If you use two or more surnames, underline them.

Department names
5. Make clear whether yours is a department or a clinic.

Institution names
6. Make clear whether yours is a school of medicine.

Abstract
7. For original articles write a structured report in the following order:

8. For other types of articles write a paragraph (single paragraph).

9. Abstracts should contain 250 words or less.

10. Refrain from using abbreviations in the Abstract (exceptions are MRI and CT).

Key words
11. Select three to five of them from the U.S. Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) browser (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh)

11a. DO NOT make up key words. If they are not from MeSH, your manuscript will not be processed. 

Order of your manuscript
12. Arrange your manuscript in the following order:

12a. For original articles:
12b. For case reports:
12c. For other types of articles:
Text of your manuscript
13. Use Times New Roman font (size 12) throughout with 1.5 line spacing.

13a. Make paragraphs with first line tabs throughout the main body of manuscript (excluding Title, Abstract, Headings, Subheadings, References, Tables, and Figure Legends).

14. Describe abbreviations the first time you use them. Use "MRI", not "MR imaging". However, do not say "MRI images" (say "MR images" instead).

15. Make sure you make reference in the text to every reference, figure and table.

16. Mention references within parantheses (not within brackets or as superscripts) separated by commas and a space: (1, 4, 7–9).

17. For consecutive references more than two, and for any statement where the numbers show an interval, use "n dash, –", not a "dash, -": "(7–9)" or "100–200 ms" or "Groups II–V".

18. If a reference has only one author, do not put "et al." after his name in the text: "Kim (7) stated that…".

19. If a reference has only two authors, do not put "et al." after the first author's name in the text. Instead list both names: "Kim and Williams (7) stated that …".

20. If a reference has more than two authors, then put "et al." after the first author's name in the text. "Kim et al. (7) stated that …".

21. When a sentence ends with a reference to a Figure or Table, give the reference after, not before, Figure or Table parantheses.

22. When mentioning Figures in the text use abbreviations: "… (Fig. 1)", "…. shown in Figs. 2 and 4".

23. Figure parts should be identified by lowercase letters (e.g., Fig. 1a).

24. If you mention two or more Figures use "(Figs. 2, 7a and 9)" or "Figs. 1a and 1b".

25. Use comma (",") not a colon (":") after phrases like:"… aged between 16–74 years (mean, 43 years)."

26. For species names use italics: "…caused by Schistosoma haematobium". Bear in mind that the scientific name (species name) of any plant, animal, fungus, alga or bacterium consists of two Latinized words. The first word (beginning in uppercase regardless of its position within a sentence) is the name of the genus to which the organism belongs. The second word (beginning in lowercase) is the specific epithet or specific term of the species. Together, the genus plus the specific epithet make up the species name. The species name and scientific name are synonyms.

27. "P" regarding statistical analysis should be uppercase and italic: P < 0.05. Use a space before and after ">""<", or "=" next to a P. This is also true for P in tables and figure legends.

27a. Elsewhere DO NOT put a space after ">""<", and before and after "=" or "±".

28. Use SI units: "mL" (not "cc"), "dL", "s" (not "sec"). Liter should be abbreviated in uppercase.

29. Make sure that you are not disclosing your identity to the blinded reviewers by mentioning your institution or initials, or explicitly referring to one of your works published earlier. When such disclosure needs to be made, write it (institution name, initials, or reference) in bold and red. Likewise, make sure your Figures do not reveal the identity of a patient or your institution.

30. Mention in parantheses, where appropriate, the producer of a drug, product, hardware, or software followed by a semicolon (;), city of the company followed by a comma (,), and country of the company: "… 1.5 T MR unit (This and That Medical Systems, New York, USA) …".

31. In "Discussion", make sure you mentioned the limitations, drawbacks or shortcomings of your original article.

Research ethics standards compliance
32. All manuscripts dealing with human subjects must contain a statement indicating that the study was approved by the Institutional Review Board or comparable formal research ethics review committee. If none is present at your institution, there should be a statement that the research was performed according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. There should also be a statement about whether informed consent was obtained from research subjects.

Conflict of interest disclosure
33. Each author must disclose at the time of submission any commercial associations or financial disclosures that might pose or create a conflict of interest with information presented in any submitted manuscript. Such associations include consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interests, patent licensing arrangements, and payments for conducting or publicizing a study described in the manuscript. Authors must disclose any funding received for this work from any organizations.

References
34. Make sure that all references are referred to in the text. A common error is using the same reference twice.

35. Only essential references should be cited.

36. If there are six or fewer authors, all should be listed. If there are seven or more, list the first three and then ", et al." the rest (use "et al." after a comma).

37. The list should be in order of first appearance in the text.

38. Journal names should be abbreviated according to MEDLINE (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/journals).

39. Journal article:

39a. Use "sentence case" for article titles.
39b. Use lowercase after a colon (:) in the article title.
39c. Do not use a period after journal abbreviation.
39d. Do not use a month abbreviation before or after the publication year.
39e. Use a space following the semicolon after the publication year.
39f. Do not use an issue number within parentheses following the publication volume.
39g. Do not use a space following the colon after the publication volume.
39h. Use an "n dash, –", not a "dash, -", in between page numbers.
39i. Write the ending page number in full: "914–916.", not "914–6." or "914–16."
39j. Put a period (".") at the end of the reference.