Sections

1. 1. Submission
   2. Aims and Scope
   3. Manuscript Categories and Requirements
   4. Preparing the Submission
   5. Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations
   6. Author Licensing
   7. Publication Process After Acceptance
   8. Post Publication
   9. Editorial Office Contact Details
2. SUBMISSION

Thank you for your interest in contributing to DermpathPRO. Authors should kindly note that submission implies that the web content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium.

Once the submission materials have been prepared in accordance with the Author Guidelines, web content should be emailed to info@dermpathpro.com  

Data protection

By submitting web content to the site, your name, email address, and affiliation, and other contact details will be used for the regular communication between yourself and DermpathPRO. You can view our data protection policy (https://dermpathpro.com/privacy-policy/).

AIMS AND SCOPE

DermpathPRO is an online educational skin pathology website with contributions from across the world. The content of the website is aimed at medical practitioners with clinical cases organised in the form of quizzes, videos, and handouts with user comments to aid learning.

1. CATEGORIES AND REQUIREMENTS

The site content is organised by:

1. Spot Diagnosis

A case is posted each day. This should include a brief clinical history. The type of case can be rare conditions, unique findings, diagnostic challenges, overlapping features, uncommon presentations, or other original observations. Cases that focus on clinical findings, however unusual or striking, are generally not suitable and would be better submitted to a clinically-oriented Website. At least 4 photomicrographs should be added per case. Please be careful to number all figure legends according to the appropriate flow of text in the main part of the article. One or more figure will be selected for publication on the cover of the issue, so long as images are self-explanatory without a legend. If clinical photos are added they need appropriate consent.

Word limit: 100 words maximum

Figures/Tables: Maximum of 20 figures and/or tables.

1. 
   Special Modules

Special Modules cover selected topics in dermatopathology consisting of 15 - 25 cases illustrating a broad range of diagnoses. The module editors should be specialists in their field and not only provide high quality photomicrographs but also detailed commentary with additional pearls gained from their diagnostic experience which they have built up over many years. You can visit the site for example cases: https://dermpathpro.com/special-modules/

Word limit: 1000 words maximum per case
Figures/Tables: Maximum of 20 figures and/or tables.

iii. Case Presentations

These are video presentations and commentary on complex/ rare cases. A digital slide is required for the delegates to preview with clinical history of the case and 5 multiple choice options diagnoses for them to choose from. Visit site for more information:  https://dermpathpro.com/case-reports/

 

Word limit: 500 words maximum

Figures/Tables: Maximum of 6 figures and/or tables.

 

1. Quizzes

This format is teaching value. To invite users to participation in morphologic diagnosis of “unknown” cases. The preliminary part presents the names of authors and shows all the Figures (without legends), followed by the sentence, “What is your diagnosis?” This is followed by a second, main part that introduces, presents, and discusses the case forming the basis of the quiz; legends to all figures are presented within the second, main part of the paper. The main text of cover quizzes does not require sub-division under discrete sub-headings, but should follow the general flow: introductory paragraph, report of case, discussion, acknowledgments (if any), and references. Please be careful to number all figure legends according to the appropriate flow of text in the main part of the article. One or more figure will be selected for publication on the cover of the issue, so long as images are self-explanatory without a legend.

 

Word limit: 500 words maximum

Figures/Tables: Maximum of 6 figures and/or tables.

1. Blogs

This format is for invite experience dermatologist to discuss broad perspectives in cutaneous pathology, including discussion of current controversies, historical insights, and invited commentary on papers published in the literature. Perspectives articles may be structured into sub-headings as deemed appropriate, and should follow the general flow: discussion, acknowledgments, and references.

Word limit: 300 words maximum

Figures/Tables: Maximum of 6 figures and/or tables.

1. Reviews

This format is for publishing in-depth reviews and analyses of evolving topics in cutaneous pathology. Web content of the type “Case presentation and review of the literature” should instead be submitted in the Case Presentations format. A good review does not merely present the results of a literature search, but rather analyzes evidence-based data and presents a succinct, actionable message to the reader. Content of Review papers are typically similar to that of a lecture presented at a short or long course in a scientific meeting or symposium, and lecturers at such meetings are encouraged to consider transforming a well-received talk into a rigorous, timely paper for dissemination and future citation. Review articles may be structured into sub-headings as deemed appropriate, and should follow the general flow: introduction, discussion, acknowledgments, and references.

Word limit: 2,500 words maximum (excluding references, acknowledgements, tables, and figure legends).
Abstract: Abstracts of Reviews may be structured or unstructured.
Figures/Tables: Maximum of 6 figures and/or tables.

vii. Comments section

Brief remarks commenting on material on the site will be available to all members. Please do not include an epistolary phrase such as “To the editor.” The authors of the web content can decide whether to respond at their discretion. Comments should be of compelling general interest to our readers. Please direct any questions or comments directly to the authors regarding such matters as complaints about missed citations, rather than involving the Website as an intermediary.

1. PREPARING THE SUBMISSION

Web Content

The web content should be submitted in separate files for each clinical case: title page; main text file; figures etc.

Title page

The title page should contain:
i. A short running title of less than 40 characters;
ii. The full names of the authors;
iiii. The author's institutional affiliations

Authorship

The list of authors should accurately illustrate who contributed to the work and how. All those listed as authors should qualify for authorship according to the following criteria:

1. Have made substantial contributions
2. Been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
   3. Given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content; and
   4. Agreed to be 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.

Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, in an Acknowledgments section (for example, to recognize contributions from people who provided technical help, collation of data, writing assistance, acquisition of funding, or a department chairperson who provided general support). Prior to submitting the article all authors should agree on the order in which their names will be listed in the manuscript.

Acknowledgments

Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, in an Acknowledgments section. Financial and material support should also be mentioned. Thanks to anonymous reviewers are not appropriate.

Conflict of Interest Statement

Authors should disclose any conflict of interest during the submission process.

Main Text File

The main text file should be presented in the following order:

1. Title, abstract and key words;
   ii. Main text;
   iii. References;
   iv. Tables (each table complete with title and footnotes);
   v. Figure legends;
   vi. Appendices (if any).

Figures and supporting information should be supplied as separate files.

Keywords

Please provide a maximum of 5 keywords, preferably taken from those recommended by the US National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) browser list at https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/.

Main text

The main text file should not include any information that might identify the authors. For example, do not refer to your institution by name, nor identify your own previous work when citing previously published literature you may have presented or published.

References

All references should be numbered consecutively in order of appearance and should be as complete as possible. In text, citations should cite references in consecutive order using Arabic superscript numerals. For more information about AMA reference style please see the AMA Manual of Style.

Sample references follow:

Website article

1. King VM, Armstrong DM, Apps R, Trott JR. Numerical aspects of pontine, lateral reticular, and inferior olivary projections to two paravermal cortical zones of the cat cerebellum. J Comp Neurol1998;390(4):537-551.

Book

1. Voet D, Voet JG. Biochemistry. New York: John DermpathPRO & Sons; 1990. 1223 p. Please note that Website title abbreviations should conform to the practices of Chemical Abstracts.

Internet Document

1. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2003. http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/CAFF2003PWSecured.pdf. Accessed March 3, 2003.

Tables

Tables should be self-contained and should complement, not duplicate, information contained in the text. They should be supplied as editable files, not pasted as images. Legends should be concise but comprehensive; the table, legend and footnotes must be understandable without reference to the text. All abbreviations must be defined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: †, ‡, §, ¶, should be used (in that order) and *, **, *** should be reserved for P-values. Statistical measures such as SD or SEM should be identified in the headings.

Figure Legends

All figure legends should begin with the name of the condition or disease being depicted, and should be concise but comprehensive; each figure and its legend must be understandable without reference to the text. Include definitions of any special symbols used, and define/explain all abbreviations and unusual units of measurement. Legends to photomicrographs must include the total original magnification for each image; e.g., a photomicrograph originally taken with a 10x ocular lens and a 40x objective lens should be described as having magnification “400x.” Include the stain used for each figure or panel thereof; for routine hematoxylin-eosin stained specimens, abbreviate as (H&E).

Preparing Figures

Composite figures must have a black border clearly separating the individual cells (e.g., a border must clearly separate the elements of a Figure 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D). Individual cells of composite figures must additionally have a black corner box, with white-font, bolded text identifying the individual cells (e.g., A, B, C, and D). Clinical photographs must be cropped or otherwise masked so as not to disclose patients’ identities.

To clarify figures, authors may include helpful features (arrows, size bars, etc.) in the image. We strongly encourage authors to send us the highest-quality figures possible, from the beginning. TIFF files are the publication-standard format for figures including all photomicrographs. As a less desirable alternative, and for initial peer-review purposes only, we can accept a variety of formats, sizes, and resolutions. However, authors should be aware that submission of poor-quality photomicrographs is one of the main causes for rejection of manuscripts, and submission of suboptimal pictures can only delay publication of an otherwise acceptable paper. Authors are asked to pay particular attention to achieving good white-balancing in photomicrographs. If this proves difficult using a conventional digital camera, authors should consider performing digital scanning of their glass slides in order to achieve excellent, publication-quality photomicrographs.

Figure Preparation Guidelines and Tips:

• Preferred standards for peer review and required standards for production.
• Are all figures included in your submission as separate files or in a single PDF/Word
• document/LaTeX suite? Tip! Single, original, unconverted files are best.
• Do all figures have an accompanying legend that describes the content and explains any
• abbreviations or symbols? Tip! Include your figure legends as a separate section in your
• main text file.
• Are all figures cited in the main text of your article? Tip! Ensure all figures are numbered in the order in which they appear.
• Are all words or symbols in your figures large enough for easy reading by your audience?
• Tip! Closely follow the preferred resolution guidelines for best presentation.
• Are all figures saved in an acceptable file type? Tip! Use the preferred file types for best
• image quality. If in doubt, submit a PDF for initial review.
• Is each individual figure file less than 10 MB? Tip! Remove excess white space surrounding figures for smaller file sizes.
• Were figures created between 80 and 180 mm width? 300 to 600 DPI? Tip! Higher quality figures are more useful to readers.
• Are all figure files named with their appropriate figure number? Tip! Using only figure numbers in the file names ensures correct typesetting.

 

Color figures: Figures submitted in color may be reproduced in color free of charge. Please note, however, that it is preferable that line figures (e.g., graphs and charts) be supplied in black and white so that they will be legible if later printed in black and white.

Clinical images: If clinical photos are added they need appropriate consent. This is the responsibility of the author and should be explicit consent for use of educational purposes for the DermpathPRO website (and not general consent for teaching/ education). The author confirms that appropriate consent has been obtained on submitting the image. DermpathPRO reserves the right to request a copy of the original consent if required. If adequate consent is not in place the image will not be published on the website. The author should anonymise all clinical images submitted.

 

Supporting Information

Supporting information is information that is not essential to the article, but provides greater depth and background. It is hosted online and appears without editing or typesetting. It may include tables, figures, videos, datasets, etc.

General Style Points

The following links provide general advice on formatting and style.

• American usage:Please follow standard USA, not British, conventions with regard to spelling. Thus, for example, write “nevus” not “naevus”; “localize” not “localise”; “tumor” not “tumour.” Before initial submission, authors who are not native-English-speakers are strongly encourage to have their papers rigorously vetted for grammar, spelling, etc. by a qualified colleague, preferably a dermatopathologist. Papers that do not meet basic standards of English usage cannot be accepted.
• Abbreviations:In general, terms should not be abbreviated unless they are used repeatedly and the abbreviation is helpful to the reader. Initially use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviation only.
• Units of measurement:Measurements should be given in SI or SI-derived units. Visit the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) website at http://www.bipm.fr for more information about SI units.
• Numbers:numbers of ten and under are spelt out, except for: measurements with a unit (8 mmol/l); age (6 weeks old), or lists with other numbers (11 dogs, 9 cats, 4 gerbils). Numbers over 10 are presented as numerals except at the beginning of a sentence. Numbers less than 1 should have a zero placed before the decimal point (e.g., “P< 0.05” not “P<.05”). In accordance with USA practice, please use points, not commas, to denote decimal position (e.g., “0.254” not “0,254”). Please separate the number from the unit by a single space (e.g., “8 mmol/l” not “8mmol/l.”
• Trade Names:Chemical substances should be referred to by the generic name only. Trade names should not be used. Drugs should be referred to by their generic names. If proprietary drugs have been used in the study, refer to these by their generic name, mentioning the proprietary name, and the name and location of the manufacturer, in parentheses.

1. 
   EDITORIAL POLICIES AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Peer Review and Acceptance

The acceptance criteria for all web content are the quality of the teaching material and its significance to our readership. The content is reviewed by nominated editorial members and Editor-in-Chief to determine if the material meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements. 

Conflict of Interest

DermpathPRO requires that all authors disclose any potential sources of conflict of interest. Any interest or relationship, financial or otherwise that might be perceived as influencing an author's objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest. These must be disclosed when directly relevant or directly related to the work that the authors submit to the site. Potential sources of conflict of interest include, but are not limited to: patent or stock ownership, membership of a company board of directors, membership of an advisory board or committee for a company, and consultancy for or receipt of speaker's fees from a company. The existence of a conflict of interest does not preclude publication. If the authors have no conflict of interest to declare, they must also state this at submission. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to review this policy with all authors and collectively to disclose with the submission ALL pertinent commercial and other relationships.

Authorship

The list of authors should accurately illustrate who contributed to the work and how. All those listed as authors should qualify for authorship according to the following criteria:

1. Have made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
   2. Been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
   3. Given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content; and
   4. Agreed to be 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.

Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, in an Acknowledgments section (for example, to recognize contributions from people who provided technical help, collation of data, writing assistance, acquisition of funding, or a department chairperson who provided general support). Prior to submitting the article all authors should agree on the order in which their names will be listed in the manuscript.

 

Additional Authorship Options. Joint first or senior authorship: In the case of joint first authorship, a footnote should be added to the author listing, e.g. ‘X and Y should be considered joint first author’ or ‘X and Y should be considered joint senior author.’

Figures Ethical Considerations

Changes to images can create misleading results when research data are collected as images. It may, however, be legitimate and even necessary to edit images. We ask authors to declare where manipulations have been made.

Specific features within an image should not be enhanced, obscured, removed, moved, or

introduced.

Original unprocessed images must be provided by authors should any indication of

enhancement be identified.

Adjustments to brightness or contrast are only acceptable if they apply equally across the entire

image and are applied equally to controls, and as long as they do not obscure, eliminate, or

misrepresent any information present in the information originally captured.

Excessive manipulations, such as processing to emphasize one region in the image at the

expense of others, are inappropriate, as is emphasizing experimental data relative to the

control.

Nonlinear adjustments or deleting portions of a recording must be disclosed in a figure legend.

Constructing figures from different gels, fields, exposures, and experimental series is discouraged. When this is necessary the component parts of composite images should be indicated by dividing lines clearly demarcated in the figure, and described in the legend

1. AUTHOR LICENSING

DermpathPRO holds a copyright license agreement on behalf of all authors of the web content on its site.

Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA) or Exclusive Licenses

It is a legal requirement for DermpathPRO to receive either a signed Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA) or an Exclusive License Agreement (ELA) before publication of your contribution can proceed. Signed forms are required for all contribution types (apart from letters and correspondence). This policy also facilitates international protection against infringement, libel or plagiarism; enables the most efficient processing of publishing licensing and permissions in order that the contribution be made available to the fullest extent both directly and through intermediaries, and in both print and electronic form; and enables DermpathPRO to maintain the integrity of a contribution once refereed and accepted for publication by facilitating centralized management of all media forms including linking, reference validation and distribution.

In the majority of cases, your article must be accepted first, then you should receive information related to the specific license signing process for the Website to which you have submitted your work, including the contact to whom you should return the signed form (usually the DermpathPRO Production Editor for that individual Website).

When signing "Contributor Representations," you confirm that:

The contribution is your own work

All individuals identified as contributors have actually contributed to the article

All individuals who contributed are listed

You have informed your fellow contributors of the terms of the Agreement and obtained their permission in writing to enter into it on their behalf

The contribution is submitted only to the specified Website and has not been published before

You have obtained written permission from the copyright owners to reproduce any material owned by third parties, and that you have included appropriate acknowledgement within the text of your contribution

That the contribution contains no libelous or unlawful statements, does not infringe upon the rights or the privacy of others, and does not contain any material or instructions that might cause harm or injury

The Contributor or, if applicable, the Contributor's Employer, retains all proprietary rights other than copyright, such as patent rights, in any process, procedure or article of manufacture described in the contribution. Contributors may re-use unmodified abstracts for any non-commercial purpose. For online use of the abstract, DermpathPRO encourages but does not require linking back to the final published contribution. Contributors may use the articles in teaching duties and in other works such as theses. Contributors may re-use figures, tables, data sets, artwork, and selected text up to 250 words from their contributions without seeking permission, provided the following conditions are met:

Full and accurate credit must be given to the contribution

Modifications to the figures, tables and data must be noted. Otherwise, no changes may be made

The reuse may not be made for direct commercial purposes, or for financial consideration to the Contributor

Re-use rights shall not be interpreted to permit dual publication in violation of Website ethical practices. Additional re-use rights are set forth in the actual copyright Agreement

1. PUBLICATION PROCESS AFTER ACCEPTANCE

Accepted article received in production

When an accepted submission is received by DermpathPRO’s production team, the corresponding author will receive an email from DermpathPRO admin.

1. 
   POST PUBLICATION

Access and sharing

When the web conent is published online:

• The author receives an email alert (if requested).
  • The link to the published content can be shared through social media.
  

1. EDITORIAL OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS

For queries about submissions, please contact dermpathpro.com

 

Author Guidelines Updated March 2021