For Authors

Authors should first download the free MANUSCRIPT TEMPLATE.. Then, copy/paste on your computer within MS Word and insert the requested information into each field required.
Title your manuscript with your “last name.keywords.filetype.”
Example: mohty.hematology-case-study.doc

Article types

Clinical Hematology International journal accept articles in the broad field of clinical hematology, reporting on novel findings in clinical and translational research and covering topics such as benign & malignant hematology, hematopoietic cell transplantation and cellular therapy.

Submission requirements

Please read carefully submission requimerment. If you have any questions, please write to our Managing Editor, eamil: tetsuzan@me.com

Language must be ENGLISH.
Citations and references should adhere to the APA (American Psychological Association) style manual. For assistance, please visit the Purdue University Style Guide webpage

The title page should include a short-running title and suggested keywords.

The abstract should be a concise summary of the work, limited to 250 words, while the main body of the text (introduction, material & methods, results, discussion, and conclusions) should be at most 4,500 words.

Once a manuscript is received, we will review it to ensure it is suitable for the anonymous peer-review process. The topic should be relevant to the objectives of this journal, the format should be acceptable, and the article well written. If the manuscript lacks some areas, it may return to the author with comments from the editors for improvement before sending it for review.

Submission of articles must be original, not submitted elsewhere, except in preliminary form such as a conference presentation. Please document all of your source material. If you use somebody’s else material, use your own words, and please quote the source. Please also cite any sources from which you obtain numbers, ideas, or other material. Plagiarism is a severe offense, and therefore, we screen every newly submitted manuscript. Fortunately, it is also easy to avoid, and if you are the least bit careful about giving credit where credit is due, you should not run into any problems. Finally, if you have any questions about what does or does not constitute plagiarism, ask!

Manuscript Submission
Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before; that it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else; that its publication has been approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as by the responsible authorities – tacitly or explicitly – at the institute where the work has been carried out. The publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation.

Permissions
Authors wishing to include figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and online format and to include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting their papers. Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the authors.

Online Submission
Please follow the hyperlink “Submit manuscript” and upload all of your manuscript files following the instructions given on the screen.

Source Files
Please ensure you provide all relevant editable source files at every submission and revision. Failing to submit a complete set of editable source files will result in your article not being considered for review. For your manuscript text please always submit in common word processing formats such as .docx or LaTeX.

Title Page
Title Page
Please make sure your title page contains the following information.

Title

The title should be concise and informative.

Author information

The name(s) of the author(s)
The affiliation(s) of the author(s), i.e. institution, (department), city, (state), country
A clear indication and an active e-mail address of the corresponding author
If available, the 16-digit ORCID of the author(s)
If address information is provided with the affiliation(s) it will also be published.

For authors that are (temporarily) unaffiliated we will only capture their city and country of residence, not their e-mail address unless specifically requested.

Abstract
Please provide an abstract of 150 to 250 words. The abstract should not contain any undefined abbreviations or unspecified references.

For life science journals only (when applicable)

Trial registration number and date of registration for prospectively registered trials
Trial registration number and date of registration, followed by “retrospectively registered”, for retrospectively registered trials
Keywords
Please provide 4 to 6 keywords which can be used for indexing purposes.

Statements and Declarations
The following statements should be included under the heading “Statements and Declarations” for inclusion in the published paper. Please note that submissions that do not include relevant declarations will be returned as incomplete.

Competing Interests: Authors are required to disclose financial or non-financial interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication. Please refer to “Competing Interests and Funding” below for more information on how to complete this section.
Please see the relevant sections in the submission guidelines for further information as well as various examples of wording. Please revise/customize the sample statements according to your own needs.

Text
Text Formatting
Manuscripts should be submitted in Word.

Use a normal, plain font (e.g., 10-point Times Roman) for text.
Use italics for emphasis.
Use the automatic page numbering function to number the pages.
Do not use field functions.
Use tab stops or other commands for indents, not the space bar.
Use the table function, not spreadsheets, to make tables.
Use the equation editor or MathType for equations.
Save your file in docx format (Word 2007 or higher) or doc format (older Word versions).
Manuscripts with mathematical content can also be submitted in LaTeX.

Headings
Please use the decimal system of headings with no more than three levels.

Abbreviations
Abbreviations should be defined at first mention and used consistently thereafter.

Footnotes
Footnotes can be used to give additional information, which may include the citation of a reference included in the reference list. They should not consist solely of a reference citation, and they should never include the bibliographic details of a reference. They should also not contain any figures or tables.

Footnotes to the text are numbered consecutively; those to tables should be indicated by superscript lower-case letters (or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data). Footnotes to the title or the authors of the article are not given reference symbols.

Always use footnotes instead of endnotes.

Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section on the title page. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.

References
Citation
Reference citations in the text should be identified by numbers in square brackets. Some examples:

1. Negotiation research spans many disciplines [3].

2. This result was later contradicted by Becker and Seligman [5].

3. This effect has been widely studied [1-3, 7].

Reference list
The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished works should only be mentioned in the text.

The entries in the list should be numbered consecutively.

If available, please always include DOIs as full DOI links in your reference list (e.g. “https://doi.org/abc”).

Journal article
Smith JJ. The world of science. Am J Sci. 1999;36:234–5.

Article by DOI
Slifka MK, Whitton JL. Clinical implications of dysregulated cytokine production. J Mol Med. 2000; https://doi.org/10.1007/s001090000086

Book
Blenkinsopp A, Paxton P. Symptoms in the pharmacy: a guide to the management of common illness. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Science; 1998.

Book chapter
Wyllie AH, Kerr JFR, Currie AR. Cell death: the significance of apoptosis. In: Bourne GH, Danielli JF, Jeon KW, editors. International review of cytology. London: Academic; 1980. pp. 251–306.

Online document
Doe J. Title of subordinate document. In: The dictionary of substances and their effects. Royal Society of Chemistry. 1999. http://www.rsc.org/dose/title of subordinate document. Accessed 15 Jan 1999.

Always use the standard abbreviation of a journal’s name according to the ISSN List of Title Word Abbreviations, see ISSN.org LTWA https://www.issn.org/services/online-services/access-to-the-ltwa/

If you are unsure, please use the full journal title.

Tables
All tables are to be numbered using Arabic numerals.
Tables should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order.
For each table, please supply a table caption (title) explaining the components of the table.
Identify any previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a reference at the end of the table caption.
Footnotes to tables should be indicated by superscript lower-case letters (or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data) and included beneath the table body.

Artwork and Illustrations Guidelines
Electronic Figure Submission
Supply all figures electronically.
Indicate what graphics program was used to create the artwork.
For vector graphics, the preferred format is EPS; for halftones, please use TIFF format. MSOffice files are also acceptable.
Vector graphics containing fonts must have the fonts embedded in the files.
Name your figure files with “Fig” and the figure number, e.g., Fig1.eps.
Line Art

Definition: Black and white graphic with no shading.
Do not use faint lines and/or lettering and check that all lines and lettering within the figures are legible at final size.
All lines should be at least 0.1 mm (0.3 pt) wide.
Scanned line drawings and line drawings in bitmap format should have a minimum resolution of 1200 dpi.
Vector graphics containing fonts must have the fonts embedded in the files.
Halftone Art

Definition: Photographs, drawings, or paintings with fine shading, etc.
If any magnification is used in the photographs, indicate this by using scale bars within the figures themselves.
Halftones should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
Combination Art

Definition: a combination of halftone and line art, e.g., halftones containing line drawing, extensive lettering, color diagrams, etc.
Combination artwork should have a minimum resolution of 600 dpi.
Color Art
Color illustrations should be submitted as RGB (8 bits per channel).
Figure Lettering
To add lettering, it is best to use Helvetica or Arial (sans serif fonts).
Keep lettering consistently sized throughout your final-sized artwork, usually about 2–3 mm (8–12 pt).
Variance of type size within an illustration should be minimal, e.g., do not use 8-pt type on an axis and 20-pt type for the axis label.
Avoid effects such as shading, outline letters, etc.
Do not include titles or captions within your illustrations.
Figure Numbering
All figures are to be numbered using Arabic numerals.
Figures should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order.
Figure parts should be denoted by lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.).
If an appendix appears in your article and it contains one or more figures, continue the consecutive numbering of the main text. Do not number the appendix figures,“A1, A2, A3, etc.” Figures in online appendices [Supplementary Information (SI)] should, however, be numbered separately.
Figure Captions
Each figure should have a concise caption describing accurately what the figure depicts. Include the captions in the text file of the manuscript, not in the figure file.
Figure captions begin with the term Fig. in bold type, followed by the figure number, also in bold type.
No punctuation is to be included after the number, nor is any punctuation to be placed at the end of the caption.
Identify all elements found in the figure in the figure caption; and use boxes, circles, etc., as coordinate points in graphs.
Identify previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a reference citation at the end of the figure caption.
Figure Placement and Size
Figures should be submitted within the body of the text. Only if the file size of the manuscript causes problems in uploading it, the large figures should be submitted separately from the text.
When preparing your figures, size figures to fit in the column width.
For large-sized journals the figures should be 84 mm (for double-column text areas), or 174 mm (for single-column text areas) wide and not higher than 234 mm.
For small-sized journals, the figures should be 119 mm wide and not higher than 195 mm.
Permissions
If you include figures that have already been published elsewhere, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner(s). Please be aware that some publishers do not grant electronic rights for free and that Clinical Hematology International and the International Academy for Clinical Hematology will not be able to refund any costs that may have occurred to receive these permissions. In such cases, material from other sources should be used.

Accessibility
In order to give people of all abilities and disabilities access to the content of your figures, please make sure that

All figures have descriptive captions (blind users could then use a text-to-speech software or a text-to-Braille hardware)
Patterns are used instead of or in addition to colors for conveying information (colorblind users would then be able to distinguish the visual elements)
Any figure lettering has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1

Supplementary Information (SI)
We accepts electronic multimedia files (animations, movies, audio, etc.) and other supplementary files to be published online along with an article or a book chapter. This feature can add dimension to the author’s article, as certain information cannot be printed or is more convenient in electronic form.

Before submitting research datasets as Supplementary Information, authors should read the journal’s Research data policy. We encourage research data to be archived in data repositories wherever possible.

Submission
Supply all supplementary material in standard file formats.
Please include in each file the following information: article title, journal name, author names; affiliation and e-mail address of the corresponding author.
To accommodate user downloads, please keep in mind that larger-sized files may require very long download times and that some users may experience other problems during downloading.
High resolution (streamable quality) videos can be submitted up to a maximum of 25GB; low resolution videos should not be larger than 5GB.
Audio, Video, and Animations
Aspect ratio: 16:9 or 4:3
Maximum file size: 25 GB for high resolution files; 5 GB for low resolution files
Minimum video duration: 1 sec
Supported file formats: avi, wmv, mp4, mov, m2p, mp2, mpg, mpeg, flv, mxf, mts, m4v, 3gp
Text and Presentations
Submit your material in PDF format; .doc or .ppt files are not suitable for long-term viability.
A collection of figures may also be combined in a PDF file.
Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets should be submitted as .csv or .xlsx files (MS Excel).
Specialized Formats
Specialized format such as .pdb (chemical), .wrl (VRML), .nb (Mathematica notebook), and .tex can also be supplied.
Collecting Multiple Files
It is possible to collect multiple files in a .zip or .gz file.
Numbering
If supplying any supplementary material, the text must make specific mention of the material as a citation, similar to that of figures and tables.
Refer to the supplementary files as “Online Resource”, e.g., “… as shown in the animation (Online Resource 3)”, “… additional data are given in Online Resource 4”.
Name the files consecutively, e.g. “ESM_3.mpg”, “ESM_4.pdf”.
Captions
For each supplementary material, please supply a concise caption describing the content of the file.
Processing of supplementary files
Supplementary Information (SI) will be published as received from the author without any conversion, editing, or reformatting.
Accessibility
In order to give people of all abilities and disabilities access to the content of your supplementary files, please make sure that

The manuscript contains a descriptive caption for each supplementary material
Video files do not contain anything that flashes more than three times per second (so that users prone to seizures caused by such effects are not put at risk)

After acceptance
Upon acceptance, your article will be exported to Production to undergo typesetting. Once typesetting is complete, you will receive a link asking you to confirm your affiliation, choose the publishing model for your article as well as arrange rights and payment of any associated publication cost.

Once you have completed this, your article will be processed and you will receive the proofs.

Offprints
Offprints can be ordered by the corresponding author.

Color illustrations
Online publication of color illustrations is free of charge.

Proof reading
The purpose of the proof is to check for typesetting or conversion errors and the completeness and accuracy of the text, tables and figures. Substantial changes in content, e.g., new results, corrected values, title and authorship, are not allowed without the approval of the Editor.

After online publication, further changes can only be made in the form of an Erratum, which will be hyperlinked to the article.

Online First
The article will be published online after receipt of the corrected proofs. This is the official first publication citable with the DOI. After release of the printed version, the paper can also be cited by issue and page numbers.

Copyright

Articles in the open access Clinical Hematology International journal do not require transfer of copyright as the copyright remains with the author. In confirming the publication of your article with open access you agree to the

Creative Commons Attribution License.

Open access articles in SAABRON PRESS journals are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material. Under Creative Commons licences, authors retain copyright of their articles.

Clinical Hematology International articles are published open access under a CC-BY licence (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence). The CC-BY-4.0 licence allows readers to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and to alter, transform, or build upon the material, providing the original author is credited.

Research Data Policy
This journal operates a type 1 research data policy. The journal encourages authors, where possible and applicable, to deposit data that support the findings of their research in a public repository. Authors and editors who do not have a preferred repository should consult with the Managing Editor.

List of Repositories

Research Data Policy

General repositories - for all types of research data - such as figshare and Dryad may also be used.

Datasets that are assigned digital object identifiers (DOIs) by a data repository may be cited in the reference list. Data citations should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite: authors, title, publisher (repository name), identifier.

DataCite

If the journal that you’re submitting to uses anonymous double-blind peer review and you are providing reviewers with access to your data (for example via a repository link, supplementary information or data on request), it is strongly suggested that the authorship in the data is also blinded. There are data repositories that can assist with this and/or will create a link to mask the authorship of your data.

Authors who need help understanding our data sharing policies, help finding a suitable data repository, or help organising and sharing research data can access our Author Support portal for additional guidance.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors
This journal is committed to upholding the integrity of the scientific record. As a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) the journal will follow the COPE guidelines on how to deal with potential acts of misconduct.

Authors should refrain from misrepresenting research results which could damage the trust in the journal, the professionalism of scientific authorship, and ultimately the entire scientific endeavour. Maintaining integrity of the research and its presentation is helped by following the rules of good scientific practice, which include:

The manuscript should not be submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration.
The submitted work should be original and should not have been published elsewhere in any form or language (partially or in full), unless the new work concerns an expansion of previous work. (Please provide transparency on the re-use of material to avoid the concerns about text-recycling (‘self-plagiarism’).
A single study should not be split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time (i.e. ‘salami-slicing/publishing’).
Concurrent or secondary publication is sometimes justifiable, provided certain conditions are met. Examples include: translations or a manuscript that is intended for a different group of readers.
Results should be presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation (including image based manipulation). Authors should adhere to discipline-specific rules for acquiring, selecting and processing data.
No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the author’s own (‘plagiarism’). Proper acknowledgements to other works must be given (this includes material that is closely copied (near verbatim), summarized and/or paraphrased), quotation marks (to indicate words taken from another source) are used for verbatim copying of material, and permissions secured for material that is copyrighted.
Important note: the journal may use software to screen for plagiarism. We are using Crossref Similartiy - Turnitin

Authors should make sure they have permissions for the use of software, questionnaires/(web) surveys and scales in their studies (if appropriate).
Research articles and non-research articles (e.g. Opinion, Review, and Commentary articles) must cite appropriate and relevant literature in support of the claims made. Excessive and inappropriate self-citation or coordinated efforts among several authors to collectively self-cite is strongly discouraged.
Authors should avoid untrue statements about an entity (who can be an individual person or a company) or descriptions of their behavior or actions that could potentially be seen as personal attacks or allegations about that person.
Research that may be misapplied to pose a threat to public health or national security should be clearly identified in the manuscript (e.g. dual use of research). Examples include creation of harmful consequences of biological agents or toxins, disruption of immunity of vaccines, unusual hazards in the use of chemicals, weaponization of research/technology (amongst others).
Authors are strongly advised to ensure the author group, the Corresponding Author, and the order of authors are all correct at submission. Adding and/or deleting authors during the revision stages is generally not permitted, but in some cases may be warranted. Reasons for changes in authorship should be explained in detail. Please note that changes to authorship cannot be made after acceptance of a manuscript.
*All of the above are guidelines and authors need to make sure to respect third parties rights such as copyright and/or moral rights.

Upon request authors should be prepared to send relevant documentation or data in order to verify the validity of the results presented. This could be in the form of raw data, samples, records, etc. Sensitive information in the form of confidential or proprietary data is excluded.

If there is suspicion of misbehavior or alleged fraud the Journal and/or Publisher will carry out an investigation following COPE guidelines. If, after investigation, there are valid concerns, the author(s) concerned will be contacted under their given e-mail address and given an opportunity to address the issue. Depending on the situation, this may result in the Journal’s and/or Publisher’s implementation of the following measures, including, but not limited to:

If the manuscript is still under consideration, it may be rejected and returned to the author.
If the article has already been published online, depending on the nature and severity of the infraction:

• an erratum/correction may be placed with the article

• an expression of concern may be placed with the article

• or in severe cases retraction of the article may occur.

The reason will be given in the published erratum/correction, expression of concern or retraction note. Please note that retraction means that the article is maintained on the platform, watermarked “retracted” and the explanation for the retraction is provided in a note linked to the watermarked article.

The author’s institution may be informed
A notice of suspected transgression of ethical standards in the peer review system may be included as part of the author’s and article’s bibliographic record.
Fundamental errors
Authors have an obligation to correct mistakes once they discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published article. The author(s) is/are requested to contact the journal and explain in what sense the error is impacting the article. A decision on how to correct the literature will depend on the nature of the error. This may be a correction or retraction. The retraction note should provide transparency which parts of the article are impacted by the error.

Suggesting / excluding reviewers
Authors are welcome to suggest suitable reviewers and/or request the exclusion of certain individuals when they submit their manuscripts. When suggesting reviewers, authors should make sure they are totally independent and not connected to the work in any way. It is strongly recommended to suggest a mix of reviewers from different countries and different institutions. When suggesting reviewers, the Corresponding Author must provide an institutional email address for each suggested reviewer, or, if this is not possible to include other means of verifying the identity such as a link to a personal homepage, a link to the publication record or a researcher or author ID in the submission letter. Please note that the Journal may not use the suggestions, but suggestions are appreciated and may help facilitate the peer review process.

Competing Interests
Authors are requested to disclose interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication. Interests within the last 3 years of beginning the work (conducting the research and preparing the work for submission) should be reported. Interests outside the 3-year time frame must be disclosed if they could reasonably be perceived as influencing the submitted work. Disclosure of interests provides a complete and transparent process and helps readers form their own judgments of potential bias. This is not meant to imply that a financial relationship with an organization that sponsored the research or compensation received for consultancy work is inappropriate.

Editorial Board Members and Editors are required to declare any competing interests and may be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists. In addition, they should exclude themselves from handling manuscripts in cases where there is a competing interest. This may include – but is not limited to – having previously published with one or more of the authors, and sharing the same institution as one or more of the authors. Where an Editor or Editorial Board Member is on the author list they must declare this in the competing interests section on the submitted manuscript. If they are an author or have any other competing interest regarding a specific manuscript, another Editor or member of the Editorial Board will be assigned to assume responsibility for overseeing peer review. These submissions are subject to the exact same review process as any other manuscript. Editorial Board Members are welcome to submit papers to the journal. These submissions are not given any priority over other manuscripts, and Editorial Board Member status has no bearing on editorial consideration.

Interests that should be considered and disclosed but are not limited to the following:

Funding: Research grants from funding agencies (please give the research funder and the grant number) and/or research support (including salaries, equipment, supplies, reimbursement for attending symposia, and other expenses) by organizations that may gain or lose financially through publication of this manuscript.

Employment: Recent (while engaged in the research project), present or anticipated employment by any organization that may gain or lose financially through publication of this manuscript. This includes multiple affiliations (if applicable).

Financial interests: Stocks or shares in companies (including holdings of spouse and/or children) that may gain or lose financially through publication of this manuscript; consultation fees or other forms of remuneration from organizations that may gain or lose financially; patents or patent applications whose value may be affected by publication of this manuscript.

It is difficult to specify a threshold at which a financial interest becomes significant, any such figure is necessarily arbitrary, so one possible practical guideline is the following: “Any undeclared financial interest that could embarrass the author were it to become publicly known after the work was published.”

Non-financial interests: In addition, authors are requested to disclose interests that go beyond financial interests that could impart bias on the work submitted for publication such as professional interests, personal relationships or personal beliefs (amongst others). Examples include, but are not limited to: position on editorial board, advisory board or board of directors or other type of management relationships; writing and/or consulting for educational purposes; expert witness; mentoring relations; and so forth.

Primary research articles require a disclosure statement. Review articles present an expert synthesis of evidence and may be treated as an authoritative work on a subject. Review articles therefore require a disclosure statement.Other article types such as editorials, book reviews, comments (amongst others) may, dependent on their content, require a disclosure statement. If you are unclear whether your article type requires a disclosure statement, please contact the Editor-in-Chief.

Please note that, in addition to the above requirements, funding information (given that funding is a potential competing interest (as mentioned above)) needs to be disclosed upon submission of the manuscript in the peer review system. This information will automatically be added to the Record of CrossMark, however it is not added to the manuscript itself. Under ‘summary of requirements’ (see below) funding information should be included in the ‘Declarations’ section.

Summary of requirements
The above should be summarized in a statement and placed in a ‘Declarations’ section before the reference list under a heading of ‘Funding’ and/or ‘Competing interests’. Other declarations include Ethics approval, Consent, Data, Material and/or Code availability and Authors’ contribution statements.

Please see the various examples of wording below and revise/customize the sample statements according to your own needs.

When all authors have the same (or no) conflicts and/or funding it is sufficient to use one blanket statement.

Examples of statements to be used when funding has been received:

Partial financial support was received from […]
The research leading to these results received funding from […] under Grant Agreement No[…].
This study was funded by […]
This work was supported by […] (Grant numbers […] and […]
Examples of statements to be used when there is no funding:

The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.
No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript.
No funding was received for conducting this study.
No funds, grants, or other support was received.
Examples of statements to be used when there are interests to declare:

Financial interests: Author A has received research support from Company A. Author B has received a speaker honorarium from Company Wand owns stock in Company X. Author C is consultant to company Y.
Non-financial interests: Author C is an unpaid member of committee Z.

Financial interests: The authors declare they have no financial interests.
Non-financial interests: Author A is on the board of directors of Y and receives no compensation as member of the board of directors.

Financial interests: Author A received a speaking fee from Y for Z. Author B receives a salary from association X. X where s/he is the Executive Director.
Non-financial interests: none.

Financial interests: Author A and B declare they have no financial interests. Author C has received speaker and consultant honoraria from Company M and Company N. Dr. C has received speaker honorarium and research funding from Company M and Company O. Author D has received travel support from Company O.
Non-financial interests: Author D has served on advisory boards for Company M, Company N and Company O.

Examples of statements to be used when authors have nothing to declare:

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.
Authors are responsible for correctness of the statements provided in the manuscript. See also Authorship Principles. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to reject submissions that do not meet the guidelines described in this section.

Research involving human participants, their data or biological material
Ethics approval
When reporting a study that involved human participants, their data or biological material, authors should include a statement that confirms that the study was approved (or granted exemption) by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee (including the name of the ethics committee) and certify that the study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration or comparable standards, the authors must explain the reasons for their approach, and demonstrate that an independent ethics committee or institutional review board explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. If a study was granted exemption from requiring ethics approval, this should also be detailed in the manuscript (including the reasons for the exemption).

Retrospective ethics approval
If a study has not been granted ethics committee approval prior to commencing, retrospective ethics approval usually cannot be obtained and it may not be possible to consider the manuscript for peer review. The decision on whether to proceed to peer review in such cases is at the Editor’s discretion.

Ethics approval for retrospective studies
Although retrospective studies are conducted on already available data or biological material (for which formal consent may not be needed or is difficult to obtain) ethics approval may be required dependent on the law and the national ethical guidelines of a country. Authors should check with their institution to make sure they are complying with the specific requirements of their country.

Ethics approval for case studies
Case reports require ethics approval. Most institutions will have specific policies on this subject. Authors should check with their institution to make sure they are complying with the specific requirements of their institution and seek ethics approval where needed. Authors should be aware to secure informed consent from the individual (or parent or guardian if the participant is a minor or incapable) See also section on Informed Consent.

Cell lines
If human cells are used, authors must declare in the manuscript: what cell lines were used by describing the source of the cell line, including when and from where it was obtained, whether the cell line has recently been authenticated and by what method. If cells were bought from a life science company the following need to be given in the manuscript: name of company (that provided the cells), cell type, number of cell line, and batch of cells.

It is recommended that authors check the NCBI database for misidentification and contamination of human cell lines. This step will alert authors to possible problems with the cell line and may save considerable time and effort.

Further information is available from the International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC).

Authors should include a statement that confirms that an institutional or independent ethics committee (including the name of the ethics committee) approved the study and that informed consent was obtained from the donor or next of kin.

Research Resource Identifiers (RRID)
Research Resource Identifiers (RRID) are persistent unique identifiers (effectively similar to a DOI) for research resources. This journal encourages authors to adopt RRIDs when reporting key biological resources (antibodies, cell lines, model organisms and tools) in their manuscripts.

Examples:

Organism: Filip1tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi RRID:MMRRC_055641-UCD

Cell Line: RST307 cell line RRID:CVCL_C321

Antibody: Luciferase antibody DSHB Cat# LUC-3, RRID:AB_2722109

Plasmid: mRuby3 plasmid RRID:Addgene_104005

Software: ImageJ Version 1.2.4 RRID:SCR_003070

RRIDs are provided by the Resource Identification Portal. Many commonly used research resources already have designated RRIDs. The portal also provides authors links so that they can quickly register a new resource and obtain an RRID.

Clinical Trial Registration
The World Health Organization (WHO) definition of a clinical trial is “any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes”. The WHO defines health interventions as “A health intervention is an act performed for, with or on behalf of a person or population whose purpose is to assess, improve, maintain, promote or modify health, functioning or health conditions” and a health-related outcome is generally defined as a change in the health of a person or population as a result of an intervention.

To ensure the integrity of the reporting of patient-centered trials, authors must register prospective clinical trials (phase II to IV trials) in suitable publicly available repositories. For example www.clinicaltrials.gov or any of the primary registries that participate in the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform.

The trial registration number (TRN) and date of registration should be included as the last line of the manuscript abstract.

For clinical trials that have not been registered prospectively, authors are encouraged to register retrospectively to ensure the complete publication of all results. The trial registration number (TRN), date of registration and the words 'retrospectively registered’ should be included as the last line of the manuscript abstract.

Standards of reporting
Clinical Hematology International advocates complete and transparent reporting of biomedical and biological research and research with biological applications. Authors are recommended to adhere to the minimum reporting guidelines hosted by the EQUATOR Network when preparing their manuscript.

Exact requirements may vary depending on the journal; please refer to the journal’s Instructions for Authors.

Checklists are available for a number of study designs, including:

Randomised trials (CONSORT) and Study protocols (SPIRIT)

Observational studies (STROBE)

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) and protocols (Prisma-P)

Diagnostic/prognostic studies (STARD) and (TRIPOD)

Case reports (CARE)

Clinical practice guidelines (AGREE) and (RIGHT)

Qualitative research (SRQR) and (COREQ)

Animal pre-clinical studies (ARRIVE)

Quality improvement studies (SQUIRE)

Economic evaluations (CHEERS)

Summary of requirements
The above should be summarized in a statement and placed in a ‘Declarations’ section before the reference list under a heading of ‘Ethics approval’.

Examples of statements to be used when ethics approval has been obtained:

• All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the Medical University of A (No. …).

• This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of University B (Date…/No. …).

• Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of University C. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

• The questionnaire and methodology for this study was approved by the Human Research Ethics committee of the University of D (Ethics approval number: …).

Examples of statements to be used for a retrospective study:

• Ethical approval was waived by the local Ethics Committee of University A in view of the retrospective nature of the study and all the procedures being performed were part of the routine care.

• This research study was conducted retrospectively from data obtained for clinical purposes. We consulted extensively with the IRB of XYZ who determined that our study did not need ethical approval. An IRB official waiver of ethical approval was granted from the IRB of XYZ.

• This retrospective chart review study involving human participants was in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The Human Investigation Committee (IRB) of University B approved this study.

Examples of statements to be used when no ethical approval is required/exemption granted:

• This is an observational study. The XYZ Research Ethics Committee has confirmed that no ethical approval is required.

• The data reproduced from Article X utilized human tissue that was procured via our Biobank AB, which provides de-identified samples. This study was reviewed and deemed exempt by our XYZ Institutional Review Board. The BioBank protocols are in accordance with the ethical standards of our institution and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Authors are responsible for correctness of the statements provided in the manuscript. See also Authorship Principles. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to reject submissions that do not meet the guidelines described in this section.

Informed consent
All individuals have individual rights that are not to be infringed. Individual participants in studies have, for example, the right to decide what happens to the (identifiable) personal data gathered, to what they have said during a study or an interview, as well as to any photograph that was taken. This is especially true concerning images of vulnerable people (e.g. minors, patients, refugees, etc) or the use of images in sensitive contexts. In many instances authors will need to secure written consent before including images.

Identifying details (names, dates of birth, identity numbers, biometrical characteristics (such as facial features, fingerprint, writing style, voice pattern, DNA or other distinguishing characteristic) and other information) of the participants that were studied should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and genetic profiles unless the information is essential for scholarly purposes and the participant (or parent/guardian if the participant is a minor or incapable or legal representative) gave written informed consent for publication. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve in some cases. Detailed descriptions of individual participants, whether of their whole bodies or of body sections, may lead to disclosure of their identity. Under certain circumstances consent is not required as long as information is anonymized and the submission does not include images that may identify the person.

Informed consent for publication should be obtained if there is any doubt. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of participants is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic profiles, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort meaning.

Exceptions where it is not necessary to obtain consent:

• Images such as x rays, laparoscopic images, ultrasound images, brain scans, pathology slides unless there is a concern about identifying information in which case, authors should ensure that consent is obtained.

• Reuse of images: If images are being reused from prior publications, the Publisher will assume that the prior publication obtained the relevant information regarding consent. Authors should provide the appropriate attribution for republished images.

Consent and already available data and/or biologic material

Regardless of whether material is collected from living or dead patients, they (family or guardian if the deceased has not made a pre-mortem decision) must have given prior written consent. The aspect of confidentiality as well as any wishes from the deceased should be respected.

Data protection, confidentiality and privacy

When biological material is donated for or data is generated as part of a research project authors should ensure, as part of the informed consent procedure, that the participants are made aware what kind of (personal) data will be processed, how it will be used and for what purpose. In case of data acquired via a biobank/biorepository, it is possible they apply a broad consent which allows research participants to consent to a broad range of uses of their data and samples which is regarded by research ethics committees as specific enough to be considered “informed”. However, authors should always check the specific biobank/biorepository policies or any other type of data provider policies (in case of non-bio research) to be sure that this is the case.

Consent to Participate
For all research involving human subjects, freely-given, informed consent to participate in the study must be obtained from participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 16) and a statement to this effect should appear in the manuscript. In the case of articles describing human transplantation studies, authors must include a statement declaring that no organs/tissues were obtained from prisoners and must also name the institution(s)/clinic(s)/department(s) via which organs/tissues were obtained. For manuscripts reporting studies involving vulnerable groups where there is the potential for coercion or where consent may not have been fully informed, extra care will be taken by the editor and may be referred to the the appropriate Research Integrity Group.

Consent to Publish
Individuals may consent to participate in a study, but object to having their data published in a journal article. Authors should make sure to also seek consent from individuals to publish their data prior to submitting their paper to a journal. This is in particular applicable to case studies. A consent to publish form can be found here. (Download docx, 36 kB)

Summary of requirements
The above should be summarized in a statement and placed in a ‘Declarations’ section before the reference list under a heading of ‘Consent to participate’ and/or ‘Consent to publish’. Other declarations include Funding, Competing interests, Ethics approval, Consent, Data and/or Code availability and Authors’ contribution statements.

Please see the various examples of wording below and revise/customize the sample statements according to your own needs.

Sample statements for “Consent to participate”:

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Informed consent was obtained from legal guardians.

Written informed consent was obtained from the parents.

Verbal informed consent was obtained prior to the interview.

Sample statements for “Consent to publish”:

The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for publication of the images in Figure(s) 1a, 1b and 1c.

The participant has consented to the submission of the case report to the journal.

Patients signed informed consent regarding publishing their data and photographs.

Sample statements if identifying information about participants is available in the article:

Additional informed consent was obtained from all individual participants for whom identifying information is included in this article.

Authors are responsible for correctness of the statements provided in the manuscript. See also Authorship Principles. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to reject submissions that do not meet the guidelines described in this section.

Images will be removed from publication if authors have not obtained informed consent or the paper may be removed and replaced with a notice explaining the reason for removal.

Authorship principles
These guidelines describe authorship principles and good authorship practices to which prospective authors should adhere to.

Authorship clarified
The Journal and Publisher assume all authors agreed with the content and that all gave explicit consent to submit and that they obtained consent from the responsible authorities at the institute/organization where the work has been carried out, before the work is submitted.

The Publisher does not prescribe the kinds of contributions that warrant authorship. It is recommended that authors adhere to the guidelines for authorship that are applicable in their specific research field. In absence of specific guidelines it is recommended to adhere to the following guidelines*:

All authors whose names appear on the submission

1. made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work;

2. drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content;

3. approved the version to be published; and

4. agree 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.

• Based on/adapted from:

ICMJE, Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors,

Transparency in authors’ contributions and responsibilities to promote integrity in scientific publication, McNutt at all, PNAS February 27, 2018

Disclosures and declarations
All authors are requested to include information regarding sources of funding, financial or non-financial interests, study-specific approval by the appropriate ethics committee for research involving humans and/or animals, informed consent if the research involved human participants, and a statement on welfare of animals if the research involved animals (as appropriate).

The decision whether such information should be included is not only dependent on the scope of the journal, but also the scope of the article. Work submitted for publication may have implications for public health or general welfare and in those cases it is the responsibility of all authors to include the appropriate disclosures and declarations.

Data transparency
All authors are requested to make sure that all data and materials as well as software application or custom code support their published claims and comply with field standards. Please note that journals may have individual policies on (sharing) research data in concordance with disciplinary norms and expectations.

Revision
Before uploading your revised manuscript, please highlight the revised text with a yellow background. Please upload your responses to the reviewers in a separate file from the revised manuscript, and in it, construct a table showing your reply to each reviewer’s comments and suggestions.

Role of the Corresponding Author
One author is assigned as Corresponding Author and acts on behalf of all co-authors and ensures that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately addressed.

The Corresponding Author is responsible for the following requirements:

Ensuring that all listed authors have approved the manuscript before submission, including the names and order of authors;
managing all communication between the Journal and all co-authors, before and after publication;*
providing transparency on re-use of material and mention any unpublished material (for example manuscripts in press) included in the manuscript in a cover letter to the Editor;
making sure disclosures, declarations and transparency on data statements from all authors are included in the manuscript as appropriate (see above).

• The requirement of managing all communication between the journal and all co-authors during submission and proofing may be delegated to a Contact or Submitting Author. In this case please make sure the Corresponding Author is clearly indicated in the manuscript.

Author contributions
In absence of specific instructions and in research fields where it is possible to describe discrete efforts, the Publisher recommends authors to include contribution statements in the work that specifies the contribution of every author in order to promote transparency. These contributions should be listed at the separate title page.

Examples of such statement(s) are shown below:

• Free text:

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by [full name], [full name] and [full name]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [full name] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Example: CRediT taxonomy:

• Conceptualization: [full name], …; Methodology: [full name], …; Formal analysis and investigation: [full name], …; Writing - original draft preparation: [full name, …]; Writing - review and editing: [full name], …; Funding acquisition: [full name], …; Resources: [full name], …; Supervision: [full name],….

For review articles where discrete statements are less applicable a statement should be included who had the idea for the article, who performed the literature search and data analysis, and who drafted and/or critically revised the work.

For articles that are based primarily on the student’s dissertation or thesis, it is recommended that the student is usually listed as principal author:

A Graduate Student’s Guide to Determining Authorship Credit and Authorship Order, APA Science Student Council 2006

Affiliation
The primary affiliation for each author should be the institution where the majority of their work was done. If an author has subsequently moved, the current address may additionally be stated. Addresses will not be updated or changed after publication of the article.

Changes to authorship
Authors are strongly advised to ensure the correct author group, the Corresponding Author, and the order of authors at submission. Changes of authorship by adding or deleting authors, and/or changes in Corresponding Author, and/or changes in the sequence of authors are not accepted after acceptance of a manuscript.

Please note that author names will be published exactly as they appear on the accepted submission!
Please make sure that the names of all authors are present and correctly spelled, and that addresses and affiliations are current.

Adding and/or deleting authors at revision stage are generally not permitted, but in some cases it may be warranted. Reasons for these changes in authorship should be explained. Approval of the change during revision is at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. Please note that journals may have individual policies on adding and/or deleting authors during revision stage.

Author identification
Authors are recommended to use their ORCID ID when submitting an article for consideration or acquire an ORCID ID via the submission process.

Deceased or incapacitated authors
For cases in which a co-author dies or is incapacitated during the writing, submission, or peer-review process, and the co-authors feel it is appropriate to include the author, co-authors should obtain approval from a (legal) representative which could be a direct relative.

Authorship issues or disputes
In the case of an authorship dispute during peer review or after acceptance and publication, the Journal will not be in a position to investigate or adjudicate. Authors will be asked to resolve the dispute themselves. If they are unable the Journal reserves the right to withdraw a manuscript from the editorial process or in case of a published paper raise the issue with the authors’ institution(s) and abide by its guidelines.

Confidentiality
Authors should treat all communication with the Journal as confidential which includes correspondence with direct representatives from the Journal such as Editors-in-Chief and/or Handling Editors and reviewers’ reports unless explicit consent has been received to share information.

Research involving human embryos, gametes and stem cells
Manuscripts that report experiments involving the use of human embryos and gametes, human embryonic stem cells and related materials, and clinical applications of stem cells must include confirmation that all experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations (See also Research involving human participants, their data or biological material.

The manuscript should include an ethics statement identifying the institutional and/or national research ethics committee (including the name of the ethics committee) approving the experiments and describing any relevant details. Authors should confirm that informed consent (See also Informed Consent) was obtained from all recipients and/or donors of cells or tissues, where necessary, and describe the conditions of donation of materials for research, such as human embryos or gametes. Copies of approval and redacted consent documents may be requested by the Journal.

We encourage authors to follow the principles laid out in the 2016 ISSCR Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation

In deciding whether to publish papers describing modifications of the human germline, the Journal is guided by safety considerations, compliance with applicable regulations, as well as the status of the societal debate on the implications of such modifications for future generations. In case of concerns regarding a particular type of study the Journal may seek the advice from an appropriate Research Integrity Group.

The decision to publish a paper is the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal.

Editorial procedure
Single-blind peer review
This journal follows a single-blind reviewing procedure.

Additional Information
Clinical Hematology International has established a very stringent and rigorous peer-review process to assess the quality of a submitted manuscript before it is published. Independent and expert researchers/clinicians in the relevant research/clinical area assess submitted manuscripts for originality, validity and significance to help editors determine whether the manuscript should be published in the journal.

Clinical Hematology International operates a single-blind peer-review system, where the reviewers are aware of the names and affiliations of the authors, but the reviewer reports provided to authors are anonymous. We chose this model because this is the traditional model of peer review that many reviewers are comfortable with, and it facilitates a dispassionate critique of a manuscript. Submitted manuscripts will generally be reviewed by two or more experts who will be asked to evaluate whether the manuscript is scientifically sound and coherent, whether it duplicates already published work, and whether or not the manuscript is sufficiently clear for publication. The Editors will reach a decision based on these reports and, where necessary, they will consult with other members of the Editorial Board.

Presenting your work in a well-structured manuscript and in well-written English gives it its best chance for editors and reviewers to understand it and evaluate it fairly. Many researchers find that getting some independent support helps them present their results in the best possible light. The experts at Scholastica can help you with manuscript preparation—including English language editing, developmental comments, manuscript formatting, figure preparation, translation, and more.

Please note that using these tools, or any other service, is not a requirement for publication, nor does it imply or guarantee that editors will accept the article, or even select it for peer review.

Clinical Hematology International Article Policies

Publication of any material in Clinical Hematology International denotes that all its authors have agreed to its content and have ensured that the Clinical Hematology International’s policies has been fully adhered to. Non-compliance with these policies may mean an article fails the pre-publication checks and cannot be published.
Suppose an article is accepted for publication by the Clinical Hematology International. In that case, Clinical Hematology International will publish your article on the Clinical Hematology International website before any peer review is performed on the article. We seek to ensure that the content we produce, publish, and for which we provide a platform is responsible and has been selected and produced without bias. We respect the intellectual property rights of our contributors and seek to avoid unethical publishing behaviors such as plagiarism, defamation, and cultural misappropriation.
Our Publication Terms and Conditions set out the publishing standards by which we operate. We require that all work sets out to be fair and accurate, differentiates between fact and opinion, is obtained by straightforward and ethical means, and is promptly corrected where inaccurate or misleading. Clinical Hematology International shall decide the acceptability of any article at its discretion. Clinical Hematology International reserves the right, at its discretion, to not proceed with publication at any time or to remove the Content following publication if there are legal or ethical concerns with the article.
Authors of posters and slides must ensure that their research and presentations adhere to the policies outlined for them.

1. Originality
   All articles submitted to Clinical Hematology International must be original; the work, or large parts, must not have been published previously or currently under consideration or reviewed elsewhere. If there is any significant overlap with another paper, this must be cited in the article and mentioned on submission. Clinical Hematology International uses Crossref’s similarity checker (iThenticate) to check for plagiarism in articles; if apparent plagiarism (including self-plagiarism) is identified, the article will be rejected.
   Clinical Hematology International strongly discourages excessive or inappropriate self-citation.
   Articles previously posted on a preprint server, such as ArXiv, bioRxiv, agriRxiv, or PeerJ PrePrints, can be submitted for publication in the Clinical Hematology International. Posters and slides already posted in Clinical Hematology International can be written up as articles, following our guidelines, and submitted to the Clinical Hematology International.
   Submitted articles with content that infringes a copyright may only be accepted if the problematic sections are removed.
   Authors who wish to reproduce a figure or table from a previous copyrighted publication are responsible for obtaining copyright holders’ permission and referencing the source. Figures that were previously published under a creative commons license may be reused under the condition of the specific license that applies to those figures.
2. Publication criteria and authorship
   Clinical Hematology International platform is set up to make it easy for research scholars in appropriate scientific fields to share their research rapidly and to facilitate a constructive academic discussion. Clinical Hematology International does not have Editors who make an editorial judgment on whether results and data presented in a given article are ‘valid’; this is ultimately the authors’ responsibility and assessed by expert reviewers.
   However, articles in Clinical Hematology International must represent scholarly work suitable for formal peer review. Only authors formally affiliated with an accredited institution or recognized organization can publish. Therefore, an objective requirement for publishing an article presenting research is primarily based on affiliation, as outlined below.
   Publication criteria for research outputs presenting original data and results:
   • Authors must be formally affiliated with an accredited institution or recognized organization.
   • Author affiliation is verified through institutional/organizational email address AND institutional/organizational website profile (or other means).
   • At least one author of the article (who should have made a pivotal contribution to the article) must meet these critical criteria for it to be suitable for publication in the Clinical Hematology International.
   • If authors believe they need to meet the publication criteria, please contact the editorial office (ija.editor@aquaculturehub.org) to discuss this further.
   Publication of Reviews and Opinion articles
   Clinical Hematology International encourages open, scholarly review and debate of research findings, trends, and topics directly relevant to researchers in the form of Reviews and Opinion articles. Submissions of this type must represent a valuable addition to the scientific literature and be presented in a format suitable for peer review. While researchers who meet the criteria outlined above are entitled to publish any article presenting new research and data, whether a submitted review or opinion article is suitable for publication and subsequent open peer review by experts ultimately lies with the Clinical Hematology International’s Editorial Director.
   Editorials are published by invitation only.

CRediT
All authors should have made a clear contribution to the published article. Authors should refer to the authorship criteria developed by The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) as a guide. Each author’s contribution must be detailed by selecting CRediT roles on the article submission form.
Anyone who has contributed but does not meet the criteria for authorship (for example, purely technical or writing assistance) should be listed in the ‘Acknowledgments’ section. The involvement of any professional scientific or medical writer assistance must be declared. Authors should obtain permission to include the name and affiliation of all those mentioned in the Acknowledgments section.
Correspondence with authors: If an author requires a change to the article, the editorial office will require confirmation of the identification of the individual. Usually, this will be via email, the email address Clinical Hematology International has stored on the system. If this is no longer possible, please get in touch with the editorial team, who will be able to assist with confirmation of identification.
Changes in authorship: If the author list of an article changes following its publication, a new version of the article can be published with an explanation included in the ‘Amendments’ section at the top of the new version. All authors must confirm any changes in authorship. The corresponding author facilitates communication if the editorial team cannot contact an author. In agreement with COPE guidelines, the editorial team cannot take responsibility for resolving any authorship disputes; the authors’ institution(s) must settle any disagreements amongst the authors.
Changes to author names: Clinical Hematology International understands that authors, reviewers, or commenters may wish to change their names for many reasons, including gender identity recognition, marriage, divorce, and other personal reasons. Following a name change request, the editorial team will require confirmation of the identification of the individual, as per all communications with authors, as we will need to check that you are requesting the name change on your behalf. To avoid any distress this process may cause, Clinical Hematology International is keen to work with researchers to enable them to provide identification on their terms. We do not require legal or official proof of a name change.
Researchers should note that the corresponding author will be contacted to inform them of a name change. Researchers may wish to inform their co-authors of the change, for example, so that they use an updated offline copy or change the way they cite the publication. Or researchers can rely on a notification from us to the corresponding author alone and the updated online version. Please inform us if we should wait until a particular date to enact the name change to give researchers time to communicate with co-authors if desired. Please let us know if there are any reasons why the corresponding researcher should not be contacted.
For articles, any name change will not require a new version of the article; all existing versions will be edited to reflect the change, and the DOI will remain the same. A Notice of Change will not be posted to articles unless requested by the researcher; if requested, the following standard text will be used: ‘A name change in the author list of this article was requested. The change was implemented on ’.
Clinical Hematology International will exert all efforts to propagate the change to indexer websites if an article is indexed. However, please note that Clinical Hematology International cannot control the use or appearance of third-party websites.
Please note that Clinical Hematology International considers it a violation of publishing and personal ethics to request to change the name of another individual without their explicit consent. If an author, reviewer, or commenter requires a name change, please get in touch with tetsuzan@me.com. To protect the identity and personal data of the researcher requesting the name change, all correspondence will be treated in confidence. Only team members required to implement the name change will be made aware, and the information will not be used apart from name change implementation.
3. Competing interests
Authors must include a ‘Competing interests’ statement. A competing interest will not preclude publication but provides full transparency for the reviewers and readers. If there are no competing interests to declare, the following standard statement is added: ‘No competing interests were disclosed’.
A competing interest may be of non-financial or financial nature. Examples of competing interests include (but are not limited to):
• individuals receiving funding, salary, or other forms of payment from an organization or holding stocks or shares from a company that might benefit (or lose) financially from the publication of the findings;
• individuals or their funding organization or employer holding (or applying for) related patents;
• official affiliations and memberships with interest groups relating to the content of the publication;
• political, religious, or ideological competing interests.
Authors from pharmaceutical companies or other commercial organizations that sponsor clinical trials should declare these as competing interests on submission. Each author’s relationship to such an organization should be explained in the ‘Competing interests’ section. Publications in Clinical Hematology International must not contain content advertising any commercial products.
The International Society for Medical Publication Professionals provides to ensure that “clinical trials sponsored by pharmaceutical companies are published responsibly and ethically.”
Reviewers are also required to declare any competing interests in their reports, as are readers who contribute comments on the site.
If an undisclosed competing interest is brought to the attention of the editorial office after publication, Clinical Hematology International will follow the COPE guidelines.
4. Ethical Policies
Clinical Hematology International adheres to the COPE guidelines relating to ethical oversight.
4.1 Research involving humans
Ethics approval
All studies involving humans (individuals, human data, or material) must have been conducted according to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval must have been obtained for all protocols from the authors’ institutional or other relevant ethics committee (Institutional Review Board, IRB) to ensure they meet national and international guidelines. Details of this approval must be provided when submitting an article, including the institution, review board name, and permit number(s).
Human studies categorized by race/ethnicity, age, disease/disabilities, religion, sex/gender, sexual orientation, or other socially constructed groupings should include a justification of the choice of definitions and categories, including whether the relevant funding agencies required any rules of human categorization. Appropriate non-stigmatizing language should be used when describing different groups.
Ethics approval must be obtained before the research is conducted; retrospective approval can usually not be obtained and it may not be possible to publish the study.
Patient privacy and informed consent for publication
As stated in the Recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors: “Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that the patient be shown the manuscript to be published. When informed consent has been obtained, it should be indicated in the published article.”
Consent to participate: For all studies involving human participants, including personal genomics studies, case reports, clinical trials, questionnaires, observations, etc, informed written consent to take part in the research must have been obtained, and this should be stated in the article in a section entitled ‘Consent’. If only oral consent was obtained (rather than written), the reasons need to be explained, confirmation of IRB approval that oral consent was adequate must be provided, and a statement of how it was documented must be included in the Consent section.
Consent for publication of identifiable data: For any articles that include information that could potentially identify an individual, please ensure that you have obtained written, informed consent from all patients or healthy participants (or their legal guardians for minors or next of kin if the participant is deceased), confirming that the results and any accompanying images can be published. This includes large clinical datasets with direct or indirect identifiers (see this article for information), specific details about individuals, images, etc.
If your article contains identifiable images of individuals, you must include a statement confirming that you have permission to publish these images. Suppose your article contains any clinical images or identifiable data. In that case, you must include an explicit consent statement under a separate heading of the ‘Consent’ section (we suggest: “We confirm that we have obtained permission to use [images/data] from the participants/patients/individuals included in this presentation”). Please also state the conditions under which the permission was obtained.
Alternatively, suppose no consent for publication was required (e.g., the data has been anonymized). This should be clearly stated in that case, and a note confirming that such alterations have not distorted scientific meaning.
If requested, signed consent forms should be available to the Clinical Hematology International editorial office.
4.2 Research involving animals
Authors describing studies involving animals must have consulted the ‘Animal Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments’ (ARRIVE) guidelines, developed by the NC3Rs to improve reporting standards, ensuring that the data from animal experiments can be thoroughly scrutinized and utilized. Articles reporting in vivo experiments must adhere to the ARRIVE Essential 10 checklist as a minimum, and we encourage authors to use the full ARRIVE 2.0 checklist. The relevant information outlined in these guidelines should be included in the appropriate section of the article.
Experiments involving vertebrates or regulated invertebrates must be carried out within the ethical guidelines provided by the authors’ institution and national or international regulations. Where applicable, a statement of ethics permission granted or animal licenses should be included. If animals were used but ethical approval was not required, a clear statement stating why this approval was unnecessary should be included.
In all cases, a statement should be made to confirm that all efforts were made to ameliorate any suffering of animals, and details of how this was achieved should be provided.
Authors should comply with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
4.3 Research involving plants
Plant studies must be carried out within the guidelines provided by the authors’ institution and national or international regulations. Where applicable, a statement of permissions granted or licenses should be included. Authors should comply with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
5. Inappropriate image manipulation
Photographic images published in Clinical Hematology International should accurately reflect the original image. As such, we require that all images, whether submitted as figures or uploaded as data, are not manipulated so that readers are not misled about what the images indicate. We understand that it is standard practice to use software to modify images to make them clearer and easier to interpret. However, any modifications that are made to images should be minor and must be made uniformly to the whole image.
Modifications that alter the scientific meaning of the image, whether conducted on specific regions or the whole image, are not permitted. Where parts of the same gel are spliced together, this should be indicated on the figures with a dividing line, making it clear where the image has been joined. Areas from different gels should not be spliced together. Where loading controls are present, these should always be included in the image; if spliced together, any modifications to the loading control and area of interest must be identical.
Authors must include details of all modifications made to images published as figures or uploaded as data in an article’s Methods section, including the software’s name (with version number) used to make these modifications.
Examples of improper image manipulation are well described in an article in the Journal of Cell Biology (Rossner & Yamada, 2004), published by the Rockefeller University Press.

We also require the original, uncropped, unannotated, and unprocessed versions of all gel and micrograph images, which we consider underlying data, to be deposited to an approved online.

The Editorial Team will conduct checks of randomly selected figures and data using Adobe Photoshop and forensic image analysis software developed by the US Office of Research Integrity. In line with COPE guidelines, where images suspected of improper manipulation are detected, clarification with the authors will be sought. Where the reasons for these suspected manipulations are not explained satisfactorily, the article will likely be rejected, and the author’s institution may be contacted.

6. Standards of reporting
   For articles in the life sciences, there are standards of reporting guidelines devised to help authors to ensure that they have provided a comprehensive description of their research, making it easier for others to assess and reproduce the work; for more detail and a comprehensive overview, see the FAIRSharing initiative.
   Articles that report in vivo experiments involving animals must adhere to the ARRIVE Essential 10 must be fully reported in the manuscript, and a completed checklist must be provided. We encourage authors to conform to the full ARRIVE guidelines.
   Where completed reporting checklists are required, a copy should be uploaded to an online repository as extended data. Details of the repository, the DOI, and the license should be included in the Data Availability statement under the heading ‘Reporting Guidelines.’ As the online version of your article will not have page numbers, please use section names rather than page numbers when completing the checklist.

7. Standards of reporting
   For articles in the life sciences, there are standards of reporting guidelines devised to help authors to ensure that they have provided a comprehensive description of their research, making it easier for others to assess and reproduce the work; for more detail and a comprehensive overview, see the FAIRSharing initiative. Comprehensive lists of available reporting guidelines for health research can be found on the EQUATOR network website.
   Specifically, articles in Clinical Hematology International that report clinical trials must adhere to the CONSORT reporting guidelines. We ask authors to include a copy of the original trial protocol and a completed CONSORT checklist and flow diagram as supporting files, which will be published alongside the article. The Methods section must include the trial registration number and registration date. Any deviation from the original trial protocol must be explained in the article.
   Articles that report systematic reviews must adhere to the PRISMA guidelines, and authors should also include a completed PRISMA checklist and flow diagram as supporting files. Study protocols of systematic reviews must adhere to the PRISMA-P guidelines. We ask authors to include a completed PRISMA-P checklist.
   Articles that report in vivo experiments involving animals must adhere to the ARRIVE Essential 10. Authors should also include a completed checklist to be uploaded to a repository as extended data. The ARRIVE Essential 10 must be fully reported in the manuscript, and a completed checklist must be provided, and we encourage authors to conform to the full ARRIVE guidelines.
   Where completed reporting checklists are required, a copy should be uploaded to an online repository as extended data. Details of the repository, the DOI, and the license should be included in the Data Availability statement under the heading ‘Reporting Guidelines.’

8. Data and software availability
   Data availability
   All articles in Clinical Hematology International that report original results should provide access to all research data underlying the results and details of any software used to process the results. It is essential that others can see the data to ensure that your research and methods are transparent and that your results can be reproduced where relevant.
   Provide access to the research data with reasonable justification to avoid the article being rejected. For detailed information about the type of datasets authors must include when publishing an article in the Clinical Hematology International.
   We recognize that there may be cases where openly sharing data may not be feasible (because of copyright, ethical or security considerations, or data protection issues). If you think this applies to your article, please inform the editorial team at the submission stage. We have policies in place to allow the publication of papers associated with such data while maintaining the appropriate level of security.
   We expect all qualitative and quantitative data to be shared in English.
   Exceptions to the policy on data availability may be made for:
   Ethical and security considerations
   If data access is restricted for ethical or security reasons, the manuscript must include:
   • a description of the restrictions on the data;
   • what, if anything, the relevant Institutional Review Board (IRB) or equivalent said about data sharing; and
   • all necessary information required for a reader or reviewer to apply for access to the data and the conditions under which access will be granted.
   Data protection issues
   Where human data cannot be effectively de-identified, it must not be shared to protect patient/participant privacy unless the individuals have given explicit written consent that their identifiable data can be publicly available.
   In instances where the data cannot be made available, the manuscript must include:
   • an explanation of the data protection concern;
   • any intermediary data that can be de-identified without compromising anonymity;
   • what, if anything, the relevant Institutional Review Board (IRB) or equivalent said about data sharing; and,
   • where applicable, all necessary information required for a reader or reviewer to apply for access to the data and the conditions under which access will be granted.
   Social media data
   Where data has been obtained from social media sites, we ask that authors do not share this data due to ethical and copyright restrictions. This includes reproductions of the data in the manuscript, e.g., images of representative posts, unless you have explicit written informed consent to publish from the author of the social media post. The manuscript should include:
   • a Methods section containing a detailed description of the methodology to allow replication by others, including sources, search dates, full search strategies/terms, eligibility criteria, and data selection processes; and
   • a description of the data in the Data Availability section, including any variables assessed; and
   • the following disclaimer in the Data Availability section: The underlying data to this research cannot be shared due to the ethical and copyright restrictions surrounding social media data. The Methods section contains detailed information to allow replication of the study. Any queries about the methodology should be directed to the corresponding author.
   Large data
   It is only sometimes feasible to share large data sets. In these cases, authors should include a description of the data, including the file types and sizes, when submitting their manuscript. The editorial team can then advise on hosting.
   Where data is too large to be feasibly hosted by a recommended repository, the manuscript should include:
   • any intermediary data that can be easily shared; and
   • all necessary information required for a reader or reviewer to access the data, alongside a description of this process.
   Data under license or provided by a third party
   In cases where data has been obtained from a third party, and restrictions apply to the availability of the data, the manuscript must include:
   • all necessary information required for a reader or reviewer to access the data by the same means as the authors;
   • any intermediary data that can be shared legally; and
   • publicly available data representative of the analyzed dataset can be used to apply the methodology described in the manuscript.
   In cases where data from human studies have been obtained from government-level organizations (e.g., a Ministry of Health), and strict restrictions regarding the availability of the data apply, the authors must include a clear explanation about the restrictions and all the necessary information required for a reader or reviewer to request access from the data owners. This option will be discussed with authors on a case-by-case basis. It can only be considered if there are no discernible competing interests, especially if they are commercial.
   Proprietary software
   Where third-party proprietary software has been used, an open-source alternative must be provided in the article to allow all readers to replicate the analysis or research. Please check Alternativeto.net to identify available open-source alternatives.
   Exceptions may be made if the chosen proprietary software performs specific functions and no open-source alternative can carry out these functions in the same manner.
   If this applies to your article, your manuscript should include:
   • A statement in the ‘Software Availability’ section clearly describes the third-party proprietary software used, including the name and version number and its use in the research.
   • A detailed ‘Methods’ section allows for replication; for example, the mathematics underpinning any simulations or calculations run using the proprietary software.
   • Any output data or analysis code generated during the research. This should be provided openly and in an open file format. If an open file format is not possible, this can be provided in the proprietary format. See our data guidelines for more information on uploading datasets.

9. Licenses
   Clinical Hematology International articles are usually published under a CC BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and leaves the copyright of the article with the current copyright holder (usually the author or his/her institution). Additional waivers are used for some governmental employees, as appropriate.

10. Permanency of content
    All articles published in Clinical Hematology International receive a DOI and are permanently published. This applies regardless of the outcome of the peer review that follows after publication.
    All content, including articles that still need to pass peer review, is permanently archived in Portico. All versions of all articles that have passed peer review will be archived in PubMed, Scopus, and elsewhere.
    Authors can revise, change and update their articles by publishing new versions, which are added to the article’s history; however, the individual versions, once published, cannot be altered or withdrawn and are permanently available in the Clinical Hematology International website. Clinical Hematology International participates in the CrossMark scheme, a multi-publisher initiative that has developed a standard way for readers to locate the current version of an article. By applying the CrossMark policies, Clinical Hematology International is committed to maintaining the content it publishes and to alerting readers to changes if and when they occur.
    Clicking on the CrossMark logo (at the top of each Clinical Hematology International article) will give you the current status of an article and direct you to the latest published version; it may also give you additional information such as new peer review reports.
    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:

10.1 Correction to an Article
In traditional journals, 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.
By contrast, articles in Clinical Hematology International undergo peer review post-publication and publication is not ‘final’ as new versions can be added at any stage. Possible mistakes that come to light during the peer review process may be highlighted in the published peer review reports, which are part of the article. Authors can publish revised versions and any errors that become apparent during peer review or later can be corrected by publishing new versions. Corrections and changes relative to the previous version are always summarized in the ‘Amendments’ section at the start of a new version.

10.2 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 authors’ request or by the publisher in response to an institutional investigation. In the context of the Clinical Hematology International’s publication model, it is essential to note that ‐ as in traditional journals ‐ a retracted article is not ‘unpublished’ or ‘withdrawn’ for it to be published elsewhere. The reasons for retraction are usually so severe that the whole study, or significant parts, are not appropriate for inclusion in the 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 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 severe health risk, the original incorrect version(s) may be removed and a corrected version published. The reason for this partial removal will be clearly stated in the latest version.

10.3 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. Such an Editorial Note may be added, for example, if Clinical Hematology International receives information that research or publication misconduct might have occurred or that there is a severe 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).

10.4 Expression of Concern
In rare cases, Clinical Hematology International may decide to publish an Expression of Concern, which is linked to the problematic article, if there are serious concerns about an article but no conclusive evidence can be obtained that would unequivocally justify a Retraction. This may include:
• if there is inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct
• there is evidence that there are problems with the article, but the authors’ institution will not investigate the case
• an investigation into alleged misconduct has not been impartial or conclusive

11. Allegations of misconduct
    Clinical Hematology International is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and provides an ethical publishing framework in accordance with COPE’s codes of conduct for editors and publishers.
    If a case of suspected research or publication misconduct is brought to our attention, we will follow the guidance and workflows recommended by COPE. In the first instance, this will usually involve contacting the person/persons about whom the allegations have been raised to request an explanation. We may also need to contact the involved party’s research institution, an ethics committee, or other third parties.
    Research misconduct includes data fabrication, falsification, or cases where research involving animals or humans has not been carried out within an appropriate ethical framework. Publication misconduct includes duplicate publication of articles or apparent plagiarism. Honest errors or differences of opinion are not considered ‘misconduct.’
    If you suspect potential misconduct in an article published in the Clinical Hematology International, please get in touch with the editorial team. An editorial team member will contact you within ten working days to confirm the details you provided and ask any additional questions we need to investigate. Please be aware that it may not be possible to keep you updated throughout the process. However, we will endeavor to let you know the outcome where appropriate.

12. Appeals and complaints
    Clinical Hematology International follows the COPE guidelines about complaints and appeals. You should contact the editorial to appeal an editorial decision or complain.

13. Policy for Comments on Articles
    We encourage unsolicited open scientific discussion on all research outputs. Such contributions are published through our Comment system. To ensure that comments contribute to and focus on the scholarly debate, we usually only allow comments from readers formally affiliated with a research institution or other relevant organization. Alternatively, we may also allow comments from readers with demonstrable expertise in a relevant area of research. Consistent with our commitment to transparency, the reader’s full name and affiliation appear on their public comment.
    Comments should focus on the scholarly content presented in the article with which they are associated.
    Comments that appear to be advertising, are potentially libelous, or legally problematic (including comments revealing patient information) are not permitted. We will not accept Comments that are offensive, indecent or contain negative comments of a personal, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, or religious character.
    All Comments must be written in good English; a Comment may be rejected if deemed unintelligible.
    Readers who wish to comment on an article are asked to declare any competing interests. Competing interests can be financial (e.g., holding a patent or receiving fees from a company that may lose or gain financially from the publication of the Comment), or they can be personal, religious, political, or other non-financial interests. When completing your declaration, please consider the issues summarized in a Declaration of Competing Interests.
    While we welcome open scientific debate and discussion, we will not tolerate abusive behavior towards our authors and reviewers via our Comment system or social media. In extreme cases, we will consider contacting the affiliated institution to report the abusive behavior of individuals.

14. The peer review model
    All articles undergo formal anonymous peer review by invited experts who meet our criteria for reviewers; these criteria ensure that reviewers have sufficient expertise and qualifications to judge the article’s content and have no conflicts of interest.
    The anonymous peer-review process is completely transparent: the reviewer’s names and reports are published alongside the article. The author’s responses to the reviewers should be sent to our editors in a separate document from the revised manuscript.
    Revisions and updates are published as new versions, with clear explanations (in an “Amendments” section) of the changes the authors made.
    Usually, an article receives 2 or 3 peer-review reports. The reviewers choose an approval status, which contributes to determining whether the article has ‘passed peer review’ and is indexed in bibliographic databases, such as PubMed.