Submissions

Author Guidelines

Authors are invited to make a submission to this journal. All submissions will be assessed by an editor to determine whether they meet the aims and scope of this journal. Those considered to be a good fit will be sent for peer review before determining whether they will be accepted or rejected.

Before making a submission, authors are responsible for obtaining permission to publish any material included with the submission, such as photos, documents and datasets. All authors identified on the submission must consent to be identified as an author. Where appropriate, research should be approved by an appropriate ethics committee in accordance with the legal requirements of the study's country.

An editor may desk reject a submission if it does not meet minimum standards of quality. Before submitting, please ensure that the study design and research argument are structured and articulated properly. The title should be concise and the abstract should be able to stand on its own. This will increase the likelihood of reviewers agreeing to review the paper. When you're satisfied that your submission meets this standard, please follow the checklist below to prepare your submission.

1. REQUIRED FILES

Each submission must include:

• Title Page File (separate Word document)
• Main Manuscript File (blinded)
• Tables File(s)
• Figures (PowerPoint format)
• Manuscript Highlights File
• Required Documentation (as applicable to study type)

2. TITLE PAGE FILE SPECIFICATIONS

• 1. Manuscript Title:
  • Clear, concise, and reflective of content
  • No abbreviations unless standard
• 2. Author Information:
  • Full names with academic degrees
  • Institutional affiliations
  • Complete institutional addresses
  • Email addresses
  • ORCID identifier (mandatory for corresponding author, optional for others)
• 3. Corresponding Author Details:
  • Complete contact information
  • Institutional address
  • Telephone number
  • Email address
  • ORCID identifier (mandatory)

3. MAIN MANUSCRIPT STRUCTURE

• 1. Blinding Requirements:
  • Remove all author identification
  • Delete self-referential phrases
• 2. Required Sections:
  • Abstract (250 words maximum):
    • Structured format: Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusions
    • No undefined abbreviations
    • No citations
  • b) Keywords:
    • 3-6 keywords
  • c) Main Text:
    • Introduction
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Conclusions
  • d) Declarations:
    • Conflicts of Interest (if no write N/A)
    • Ethics Approval/IRB Statement (if no write N/A)
    • Informed Consent Statement (if no write N/A)
    • Clinical Trial Registration (if no write N/A)
    • Funding Sources (if no write N/A)
    • Acknowledgements (if no write N/A)
    • Data Availability Statement (if not applicable, write the reason)
    • Large-Language Model (LLM) – Generative AI Use Statement (if applicable, if no write N/A)
      • Example LLM Statement: "We have employed an advanced Large Language Model (LLM) to enhance and refine the English-language writing. This process focused solely on improving the text's clarity and style, without generating or adding any new information to the content."
    • Authors Contribution Statement (mandatory)
      • Example Authors Contribution Statement:List each author's specific contributions using Credit taxonomy (e.g., Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, etc.)
    • e) References:
      

      • Vancouver citation style formatting, every reference should have DOI, and PMCID/PMID if not available please add URL. 

      • Chronological citation order

4. FIGURES AND TABLES SPECIFICATIONS

• 1. Figures:
  • Format: PowerPoint files only (mandatory)
  • Dimensions:
    • Minimum: 1200 x 1200 pixels
    • Maximum: 3000 x 3000 pixels
    • Resolution: minimum 300 dpi
  • Each figure on separate slide
  • Legend requirements:
    • Place below figure
    • Define all abbreviations
    • Explain any symbols or markers
    • Include scale bars where applicable
  • Color usage must be scientifically justified
• 2. Tables:
  • Format: Word document
  • Structure:
    • Clear, descriptive titles
    • No vertical lines
    • Consistent cell formatting
  • Legend requirements:
    • Place below table
    • Define all abbreviations
    • Explain any symbols or statistical notations
    • Include additional notes if necessary

5. REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION BY MANUSCRIPT TYPE

• Editorial, Review, Frontier, Field of Vision, Minireview, Letter to The Editor, Correction, Retraction Note
  • None required.

• Basic Science / Pre-Clinical Study
  • Clinical Trial Registration Statement
    • It is recommended that the authors register their clinical trials in a public trials registry.
  • Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Statement
    • Required for research involving animals.
  • The ARRIVE Guidelines
    • Required for basic research using animals.

• Retrospective Study, Clinical Practice Study
  • Clinical Trial Registration Statement
    • Required for any clinical research study.
  • Signed Informed Consent Form(s)
    • Required for research involving human subjects.

• Case Control Study, Observational Study, Retrospective Cohort Study
  • Clinical Trial Registration Statement
    • Required for clinical research studies.
  • Signed Informed Consent Form(s)
    • Required for research involving human subjects.
  • STROBE Statement
    • Required for observational, case control, and retrospective cohort studies.

• Clinical Trials Study, Prospective Study, Randomized Controlled Trial, Randomized Clinical Trial
  • Clinical Trial Registration Statement
    • Required for any clinical research study.
  • Signed Informed Consent Form(s)
    • Required for research involving human subjects.
  • CONSORT 2010 Statement
    • Required for clinical trials and randomized studies.

• Evidence-Based Medicine, Scientometrics, Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis
  • PRISMA 2020 Checklist
    • Required for systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

• Case Report
  • Signed Consent for Treatment Form(s)
    • Required for case reports involving patient data.
  • CARE Checklist
    • Required for all case reports.

6. REVISION REQUIREMENTS

• 1. Revised Manuscript Versions:
  • Version 1: Changes highlighted in yellow
  • Version 2: Clean copy
• 2. Response to Reviewers:
  • Point-by-point response
  • Page/line numbers for changes
  • Justification for declined suggestions

COMPLIANCE STATEMENT

Manuscripts that do not conform to these specifications will be returned without review. Authors are required to verify compliance with all requirements before submission. The editorial office maintains the right to reject manuscripts that do not meet these standards even after initial screening.

Author Charges Policy

No Charges: Our journal does not impose any fees at any stage of the manuscript processing, from submission to publication, including:

• Submission fees
• Editorial processing charges
• Article processing charges (APCs)
• Page charges
• Color charges

Fee Waivers: We do not currently offer fee waivers, as there are no charges applicable.

Withdrawal Charges: There are no fees for withdrawing an article post-submission. However, authors are encouraged to consider carefully before submitting their manuscripts to avoid unnecessary processing.

Plagiarism Policy:

Commitment to Originality: We are committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and integrity. As part of this commitment, all submissions are thoroughly checked for plagiarism before publication.

Plagiarism Checking Process: We use advanced plagiarism detection tools (Turnitin) to analyze each manuscript. Authors are strongly encouraged to check their work for originality before submission to ensure compliance with our plagiarism policy.

Acceptance Criteria: The similarity score must be less than 20% to meet our criteria for publication. Manuscripts exceeding this threshold may be rejected or returned to the author for modification.

Publication Timeline:

- Journal Frequency: Quarterly publication (4 issues annually)
- Average time from submission to first decision: 2 weeks.
- Average time from acceptance to publication: 3 weeks.
- Fast-track review is available upon request at no additional cost. 

Authors can submit manuscripts at any time throughout the year. Accepted articles will be  published online ahead of print.

Repository & Self-Archiving Policy:

Authors are permitted to deposit all versions of their article in any institutional, subject, or general-purpose repository of their choice, as well as on personal or departmental websites: Preprint (Author’s Original), Author’s Accepted Manuscript (AAM), and the Published Article/Version of Record (VoR). No embargo applies. Clearly label the deposited file with its version (e.g., “Preprint,” “Accepted Manuscript,” or “Version of Record”).

Deposit may occur immediately upon submission, acceptance, or publication. No embargo is required or imposed by the journal.

Deposits may be made in institutional repositories (e.g., university repositories), subject repositories (e.g., discipline-specific servers), general repositories (e.g., Zenodo), and recognized preprint servers. Posting to an author’s personal or departmental webpage is also allowed.

Deposited versions must display the article’s open-access license and copyright notice exactly as shown on the journal website. Authors should include the full citation and DOI of the Version of Record wherever available.

Linking & citations:

• For preprints and AAMs, authors must add a prominent link to the Version of Record (VoR) once available, using the article DOI and a note such as “Now published in ASIDE Gastroenterology; see Version of Record.”
• Cite the VoR when referring to the final publication.
  These practices support proper versioning and scholarly attribution.

Version terminology: The journal follows NISO Journal Article Versions (JAV) definitions. In short:

• Preprint (Author’s Original/Submitted Manuscript): before peer review.
• Author’s Accepted Manuscript (AAM): after peer review, accepted, before publisher layout.
• Version of Record (VoR): the final, formally published version on the journal site.
  Please use these labels in repository records and on PDF coversheets.

Preprints & prior posting: Posting a preprint does not count as prior publication. Authors may submit manuscripts previously posted as preprints; we ask that repository records be updated to link to the VoR after publication.

Generative AI (GenAI) and AI-assisted Technologies Policy

This policy applies to authors, peer reviewers, editors, and editorial staff. “Generative AI / AI-assisted technologies” include large language models (LLMs), chatbots, image generators, and code assistants.

1) Authorship and accountability

- AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors.

- All listed authors remain fully responsible for the integrity, originality, accuracy, and proper citation of the entire work, including any content created or edited with AI tools.

2) Acceptable vs. unacceptable use by authors

Acceptable (with disclosure when used beyond routine spelling/grammar tools):

- Language editing (improving clarity, grammar, and style), translation, or formatting assistance.

- Technical assistance (e.g., code drafting) when fully verified by the authors and clearly described.

Not acceptable:

- Using AI to fabricate or falsify data, results, analyses, or clinical/experimental observations.

- Using AI to generate or alter images/figures that represent original data (e.g., microscopy, radiology, gels) in a way that could mislead. Any AI-assisted enhancement of data-derived images must be transparently described and the original data must be available upon request.

- Using AI to create references/citations that the authors have not personally verified. Authors must ensure every citation is real and accurately supports the statement.

3) Mandatory disclosure at submission (where and what to report)

At submission, authors must disclose any use of GenAI/AI-assisted tools in:

- The Cover Letter (briefly)

- The Manuscript in the appropriate section(s), as follows:

  - Acknowledgements: if AI was used for writing/language editing.

  - Methods (and Abstract, when applicable): if AI was used for analysis, statistical workflows, code generation used in the study, or for creating tables/figures from data.

  - Figure legends / Method: if AI was used to generate or materially modify any images/graphics (must not misrepresent data).

Minimum disclosure details:

- Tool name (and provider), version/model if applicable, date(s) used, and the specific purpose (e.g., “language editing only,” “code drafting for analysis,” stated sections affected).

- A statement confirming that the authors reviewed and take responsibility for all AI-assisted content.

Suggested disclosure statement (edit as needed):

“AI-assisted technology (Tool/Provider, version/model, date) was used for [purpose]. The authors reviewed and verified all content and take full responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and originality of the manuscript.”

 4) Confidentiality and data protection

- Do not enter identifiable patient information, confidential third-party content, or proprietary/unpublished materials into AI tools that could store, reuse, or learn from inputs.

- Authors remain responsible for ensuring compliance with privacy, consent, and confidentiality obligations.

5) Editorial checks and actions

- The journal may use screening tools (e.g., plagiarism checks and other integrity checks) when appropriate.

- Undisclosed or inappropriate use of AI-assisted technologies may result in rejection, correction, retraction, and/or notification of institutions, consistent with publication ethics best practices.

ASIDE Crossmark Policy

Permanency of content:

All articles published in ASIDE Journals receive a DOI and are permanently published. 

All content, including articles that have not (yet) passed peer review, is permanently archived. All versions of all articles that have passed peer review will be archived in databases.

By applying the Crossmark policies, ASIDE Journals is committed to maintaining its content and alerting readers to changes if and when they occur.

Clicking on the Crossmark logo will display an article's current status and direct you to the latest published version; it may also provide additional information.

To maintain the integrity and completeness of the scholarly record, the following policies will be applied when published content needs to be corrected; these policies take into account current best practices in the scholarly publishing and library communities:

Correction to an Article

Where articles are peer-reviewed before publication, Corrections (or Errata) are published to alert readers to errors in the article that became apparent following the publication of the final article.

Retraction

Articles may be retracted for several reasons, including:

• honest errors reported by the authors (for example, errors due to the mixing up of samples or use of a scientific tool or equipment that is found subsequently to be faulty)
• research misconduct (data fabrication)
• duplicate or overlapping publication
• fraudulent use of data
• clear plagiarism
• unethical research

For any retracted article, the reason for retraction and who is instigating the retraction will be clearly stated in the Retraction notice. The retraction notice will be linked to the retracted article (which usually remains on the site), and the article will be clearly marked as retracted (including the PDF).

An article is usually only retracted at the author’s request or by the publisher in response to an institutional investigation. In the context of ASIDE Journals' publication model, it is essential to note that a retracted article is not 'unpublished' or 'withdrawn' in order for it to be published elsewhere. The reasons for retraction are usually so serious that the whole study, or large parts, are not appropriate for inclusion in scientific literature anywhere.

The content of a retracted article would only be removed where legal limitations have been placed upon the publisher, copyright holder, or author(s), for example, if the article is clearly defamatory or infringes others' legal rights or if the article is the subject of a court order. In such cases, the bibliographic information for the article will be retained on the site, along with information regarding the circumstances that led to the removal of the content.

Under rare circumstances, for example, if false or inaccurate data have been published that, if acted upon, pose a serious health risk, the original incorrect version(s) may be removed and a corrected version published. The reason for this partial removal would be clearly stated in the latest version.

Editorial Note

If there is a potential, not yet resolved, problem with an article, it may be appropriate to alert readers with an Editorial Note. For example, such an Editorial Note may be added if ASIDE Journals receives information that research or publication misconduct might have occurred or a serious dispute between authors or between the authors and third parties. The Editorial Note will usually be posted while further investigations occur and until a more permanent solution has been found (e.g., the publication of a revised 'corrected' version or a Retraction).