Guidelines for Authors

Thank you for your interest in the Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery (QIMS, Quant Imaging Med Surg, Print ISSN 2223-4292; Online ISSN 2223-4306). QIMS adheres to the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals, issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (1), and the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (2), issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Please refer to the following guidelines to help you prepare your manuscript. Feel free to contact the editorial office by email (qims@amepc.org) should you have any questions. To ensure a swift peer review and publication process, manuscripts that do not adhere to the following instructions will be returned to the corresponding author for technical revision at preliminary review. The author instruction is updated on September 02, 2024.

1. ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery (QIMS, Quant Imaging Med Surg, Print ISSN 2223-4292; Online ISSN 2223-4306) publishes peer-reviewed original reports and reviews in medical imaging, including X-ray, ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy, nuclear medicine and related modalities, and their application in medicine and surgery. While focus is on clinical investigations, papers on medical physics, image processing, or biological studies which have apparent clinical relevance are also published. This journal encourages authors to look at the medical images from a quantitative angle. This journal also publishes important topics on imaging-based epidemiology, and debates on research methodology, medical ethics, and medical training.

QIMS is an open-access, international peer-reviewed journal, published by AME Publishing Company. It is published quarterly (Dec. 2011-Dec. 2012), bimonthly (Feb. 2013 - Feb 2018), monthly (Mar. 2018-) and openly distributed worldwide.

QIMS is indexed in PubMed/PubMed Central, Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE). The latest impact factor is: 2.9.

2. MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES 

2.1 Original Article
Word limit: there is no fixed word limit for research articles, but authors must use the most concise language possible, as well as succinct, structured sentences. The word count for the main text (excluding the abstract, references, tables, boxes, or figures) should be provided when the manuscript is submitted.
Abstract: Structured (Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions), 200-450 words max. 
Keywords: 3~5.
References: No limit.
Figures/Tables: No limit, but 10 figures are deemed sufficient.
Description: Original articles should take the following format: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and/or Conclusions. Original articles must have originality and clinical impact.

Original articles should include a section describing the contribution made by each author to the manuscript. See the “3.4 Author Contributions” section for details.

When a manuscript documents any experiment(s) involving human subjects or animals, the authors must indicate an ethical statement both in the methods section and the footnote. See the “3.7.3 Ethical Statement” section for details.

Please note that systematic review with meta-analysis will be categorized as Original Article.

2.1.1 Reporting Checklist
Apart from following the general format as indicated above, it is encouraged that Original Articles are prepared according to the EQUATOR research reporting guidelines (3), as listed below, and each submission includes a checklist (a reformatted version has been created for the journal) as a supplementary material. The relevant page/line and section/paragraph number in the manuscript are stated for each item in the checklist. A statement can be included at the end of the “Introduction” to indicate which reporting checklist was followed (e.g., “We present the following article/case in accordance with the CONSORT reporting checklist.” ). The manuscript can include a Reporting Checklist statement in the footnote (see the “3.7 Footnote”).

Please note that the application of a checklist is aimed for transparent and clear reporting to allow critical appraisal of the manuscript. The final format of the manuscript follow the author instruction requirements.

*Authors may refer to the Extensions to the CONSORT Statement based on the specific study type; if a particular study type has not been included in the above list, authors can find more reporting guidelines on EQUATOR Network (https://www.equator-network.org/home/) (3) and should indicate upon submission which guideline has been followed.

2.1.2 Selection And Description Of Participants
In study articles, the process of selection for observational or experimental subjects (healthy individuals or patients, including controls) should be clearly set out in the methods section. Any eligibility or exclusion criteria should be provided, along with a description of the population from which the subjects were sourced. Ideally, representative populations should be included in all study types and characteristics (such as age, sex, or ethnicity) of the study population should be described. Terms relating to sex (when reporting biological factors) and gender (identity, psychosocial or cultural factors) should be used correctly, and the sex and/or gender of the human participants, or the sex of animals or cells, should be reported, except where this is not appropriate. The methods used to classify sex and gender should also be described, where relevant. If the study focused on a specific population (e.g., only females), unless the reason is obvious (e.g., cervical cancer), the authors should explain their reasoning for this. For race and ethnicity, authors should describe how these were determined, and their relevance to the study should be explained. Study subjects should be described in the most neutral, exact, and respectful language possible. Any language that might cause the stigmatization of subjects must be avoided.

2.1.3 Research Resource Identifiers (RRID)
QIMS is pleased to be a part of the Research Resource Identification Initiative (12), a project aimed at clearly identifying key research resources, aka materials, used in the course of scientific experiments. These include antibodies, cell lines, model organisms, and software tools. To help authors quickly find the correct identifiers for their materials there is a single website (https://scicrunch.org/resources) (12) where all resource types can be found and a 'cite this' button next to each resource that contains proper citation text that should be included in the methods section of the manuscript. Several examples of properly formatted methods sections with RRIDs can be found below:

• Antibodies: "antibody against ERK1 (Abgent Cat# AP7251E, RRID:AB_2140114)."
• Cell Lines: "we used the following cell lines: RRID: CVCL_1H60,..."
• Genetically modified organisms: "Fgf9Eks/Fgf9+ mice (RRID:MGI_3840442)..."
• Software tools: "...terminals were mapped (Neurolucida, v10, RRID:SCR_001775)."

2.2 Review Article
Word limit: there is no fixed word limit for review articles, but authors must use the most concise language possible, as well as succinct, structured sentences.
Abstract: Unstructured (structured for 2.2.1 systematic reviews without meta-analysis, 2.2.2 narrative reviews and 2.2.4 scoping review), 350 words max.
Keywords: 3~5.
References: No limit.
Figures/tables: No limit.
Description: Review articles should present a timely, comprehensive analysis of a specific topic. We welcome the submission of proposals for review articles for initial consideration.

Review articles should entail a section describing the contribution made by each author to the manuscript. See the “3.4 Author Contributions” section for details.

Besides the conventional review article, there are some typical classifications of review article listed below.

2.2.1 Systematic Reviews Without Meta-analysis
A systematic review consists of searching, screening, and selecting all eligible literature following predetermined eligibility criteria, and appraising and synthesizing the literature to answer a specific research question. A systematic review requires a rigorous and systematic approach to reduce bias and produce more trusted evidence to facilitate decision making (https://www.cochranelibrary.com/about/about-cochrane-reviews) (13) . Systematic reviews without meta-analysis are categorized as Review Article. In addition to following the general format of a review article described above, this type of reviews should also adhere to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) (8) and each submission should include the PRISMA Checklist (a reformatted version has been created for the journal can be downloaded here) as a supplementary material. The relevant page/line and section/paragraph number in the manuscript should be stated for each item in the checklist. A statement “We present the following article in accordance with the PRISMA reporting checklist” should be included at the end of the “Introduction”. The manuscript should also include a Reporting Checklist statement in the footnote (see the “Footnote” section). Failure to do so will result in the manuscript being returned to the authors for amendment.

Structure: (1) Abstract: Structured with Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. (2) The text: Arranged as Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions.

2.2.2 Narrative Review
A narrative review aims to provide readers with a cutting-edge, scholarly, evolving developments and evidence-based overview on a clinical or mechanistic subject by searching, selecting, compiling, and summarizing the available literature. Through a narrative review, readers could gain a more comprehensive and enlightening knowledge on a particular field.

Abstract: Structured with Background and Objective (describe relevant background, reasons for conducting this review and primary objectives of this review), Methods (briefly describe the search strategy, including databases, time frame, and language considerations), Key Content and Findings (describe what the literature review will mainly contain and any key findings), and Conclusions (describe the main conclusions and how the review may potentially impact future researches, clinical practice and policy making).

The text: Arranged as Introduction, Methods and Main Body. The Methods section should include a completed table as follows:

Table X The search strategy summary

In addition to following the general format of a review article described above, narrative reviews should also adhere to the narrative review checklist (available here) and each submission should include the Checklist as a supplementary material. The relevant page/line and section/paragraph number in the manuscript should be stated for each item in the checklist. A statement “We present the following article in accordance with the narrative review reporting checklist” should be included at the end of the “Introduction”. The manuscript should also include a Reporting Checklist statement in the footnote (see the “Footnote” section). Failure to do so will result in the manuscript being returned to the authors for amendment.

2.2.3 Clinical Practice Review
A clinical practice review is often shorter than a systematic review or a narrative review. It mainly provides a summary of clinical issues involving clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, etc. It often requires perspective and expert opinion along with evidence-based review, and may include early or unpublished observations. For example, it can be a detailed step-by-step and empirical summary of certain surgical techniques or approaches; it can be a comparative summary of several treatment approaches; it can also be a review of a controversial clinical issue to sort out the controversy and the possible best approach, and so forth.

2.2.4 Scoping Review
Similar to systematic review, a scoping review also contains systematic literature searching, screening and selecting. However, it differs in not requiring a quality appraisal of the included literature. The report of a scoping review should follow PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) (14) Checklist and each submission should include the PRISMA-ScR Checklist (can be downloaded here) as a supplementary material. The relevant page/line and section/paragraph number in the manuscript should be stated for each item in the checklist. A statement “We present the following article in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR reporting checklist” should be included at the end of the “Introduction”. The manuscript should also include a Reporting Checklist statement in the footnote (see the “Footnote” section). Failure to do so will result in the manuscript being returned to the authors for amendment.

Structure: (1) Abstract. Structured with Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. (2) The text. Arranged as Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions.

2.3 Case Report
We only usually publish case report very selectively, commonly on topic of first testing of a new technique or a new intervention, or on a topic of significance.

For most of case report materials, we publish in the letter format. While case report is published together with an abstract, letter is without an abstract.

In the title of a letter, QIMS uses the phrase of ‘a case description ’ instead of ‘a case report’, and ‘literature analysis’ instead of ‘literature review ’. For example:

Li Y, Sun Y, Xu K, Han Y. Cardiac magnetic resonance-guided recanalization for left anterior descending artery chronic total occlusion: a case description. Quant Imaging Med Surg. 2024;14:1282-1287.

Li J, Zhao P, Lin Y, Wang L, Luo Y, Li Q. Rosai-Dorfman disease of the kidney: a case description and literature analysis. Quant Imaging Med Surg. 2024;14:1219-1224.

Keywords: 3~5.
References: 20 max.
Figures/tables: 8 max. (combined)
Description: Case studies should present observations of diseases, clinical findings, or novel/unique treatment outcomes that are relevant to practitioners in related fields. The text should be arranged as follows: Introduction, Case Presentation, and Discussion. Only cases of exceptional interest and novelty are considered.

For case series, regardless of specialty, authors are encouraged to prepare the manuscript according to the AME Case Series Checklist (adapted from CARE and PROCESS checklist). Of note, for case series in surgery, authors are recommended to prepare the manuscript according to the PROCESS Checklist. Filled checklist and statement requirements for case series are similar as described for case reports above.

The reformatted CARE, AME Case Series and PROCESS checklists can be downloaded here: CARE, AME Case Series, PROCESS.

An ethical statement indicating whether written consent has been obtained from the subject (or their parent/guardian) is required for both case report. See the “3.7.3 Ethical Statement” section for details.

2.4 Mini-Review
Keywords: 3~5.
Description: Mini-Review is shorter reviews of topics that may be controversial or unresolved.

2.5 Brief Reports
Word limit: 2,500 words including abstract but excluding references, tables and figures.
Abstract: 250 words, unstructured (no use of sub-headers).
Keywords: 3~5.
References: Up to 35.
Figures/tables: Up to 8 in total.
Description: Manuscripts containing pertinent and interesting observations concerning quantitative imaging research in medicine and surgery and reports on new observations or studies that do not warrant publication as a full research article will be considered for the Brief Reports. These submissions will undergo full peer review.

2.6 Editorial
Word limit: 2500 words max. (excluding references, tables, and figures)
Abstract: Not required.
Keywords: 3~5.
References: 25 max. (including the article being discussed)
Figures and Tables: 2 max. (combined)
Description: An Editorial is defined as a comment on an article or articles published in QIMS. Editorials are generally solicited by the editorial office and written by recognized leader(s) in the field. 

2.7 Editorial Commentary
Word Limit: 2,500 words max. (excluding references, tables, and figures).
Abstract: Not required.
Keywords: 3~5.
References: 25 max.
Figures/Tables: 2 max in total.
Description: An editorial commentary features an expert’s comment on a paper, report, or event from within the past few months, or in the near future. The problems addressed by the relevant paper/report/event should be considered within the wider context of the field. Editorial Commentaries are usually invited by the editorial office. Authors are also welcome to contact the editorial office if they are interested in contributing.

2.8 Letter To The Editor
Word limit: 4,000 words max. (excluding references, tables, and figures)
Abstract: Not required.
References: 50 max.
Figures/tables: 10 max. (combined)
Description: We welcome the submission of letters regarding the content of the journal or other topics of interest to our readers. The journal may invite replies from the authors of the original publication, or forward letters to these authors. Correspondence is also referred to as a ‘Letter to the Editor’.

2.9 Surgical/Interventional  technique
Word limit: 5500 words max. (excluding references, tables, video and figures)
Abstract: unstructured, 200-350 words max. 
Keywords: 3~5.
References: No limit.
Figures/Tables: No limit, but 10 figures are deemed sufficient.
Description: This section is designed to be presented as a detailed "how to" multimedia manual for operative procedures. The text should include at least three aspects– Introduction, Surgical techniques, and Comments. The main section on Surgical techniques should include detailed descriptions of the procedures in a step-by-step format. Expert opinions regarding possible pitfalls and the comparison of the described procedure with other methods are encouraged.

Surgical videos are encouraged for this section. We will accept digital files in MP4, Flash video (.flv), MPEG (MPEG video file), mov, avi, and wmv formats or videos on CD/DVD. Check the video for more details. The corresponding author must confirm in the Copyright Transfer Agreement, that he/she has received a signed release form from each patient recorded on the submitted video. Patients must not be identifiable in these videos. If required, additional video editing by the authors, including the insertion of a voice-over, may also be requested by the editorial office.

Surgical/Interventional technique should include an ethical statement indicating whether written consent has been obtained from the subject (or their parent/guardian). See the “Ethical Statement” section for details.

2.10 Others
In general, QIMS does not accept article types that fall outside the above-mentioned categories. If you have any questions regarding the article category for submission to QIMS, please contact the Editorial Office at: qims@amepc.org.

3. MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

The length of manuscripts must adhere to the specifications under the section “2. MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES”.

Manuscripts should be presented in the following order: (i) Title page (title, running title, authors, institutions and affiliations); (ii) abstract and keywords; (iii) the main text; (iv) Acknowledgments; (v) Footnote; (vi) References; (vii) Supplementary material; (viii) Figure legends; (ix) Tables (titled and with footnotes); (x) Figures (it is recommended that figures, tables and videos are provided in separate files).

Please note that changes to author information (except for the correction of grammatical errors) are not permitted after the manuscript has been accepted, nor can the manuscript be withdrawn after this point unless sufficient reasons are given.

3.1 Title Page
The title page should include: a) the title of the article; b) the authors’ full names and institutional affiliations; c) the address, telephone and fax numbers, and effective e-mail address of the corresponding author(s) (extremely important for subsequent timely communication); d) a running title of no more than 60 characters (including spaces); e) disclaimers (if applicable); f) word count; g) number of figures and tables.

3.2 Abstract And Keywords
The abstract must adhere to the specifications under the section ‘2. Manuscript Categories’. The abstract should not contain any abbreviations or acronyms, citations, figures, or tables. General statements (e.g., “the significance of the results is discussed’’) should be avoided. After the Abstract, 3-5 keywords should be provided.

Where relevant, the clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract. For studies that have a registration number, this number should be included initially when a trial acronym is used to refer to the trial in the report or to other trials discussed in the paper. For data that have been deposited in a public repository and/or are the subject of analysis elsewhere, the distinctive, persistent data set identifier, the repository name, and the number should be included at the end of the abstract.

3.3 Text
Format: Text should be double-spaced throughout. The pages should be numbered.
Font: A clearly readable font (e.g., Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, or Verdana) with 10 or 12 pt. font size.
Language: English. British or American spelling is acceptable but must be consistent throughout.

3.4 Author Contributions
This section is only required for original articles, review articles, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses. It describes the contribution each author made to the manuscript. Authorship credit should be based on: 1) substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study, acquisition of the data, or analysis and interpretation of the data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) the final approval of the version to be published. Authors should meet all three of these conditions.
Note: acquisition of funding, collection of data, language editing, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship.

The ‘Author contributions’ section should be presented as follows:
(I) Conception and design:
(II) Administrative support:
(III) Provision of study materials or patients:
(IV) Collection and assembly of data:
(V) Data analysis and interpretation:
(VI) Manuscript writing: All authors
(VII) Final approval of manuscript: All authors

Note: 1. With VI and VII, “All authors” is obligatory, while the other credits are case-based; 2. The ‘Author contributions’ section is not required when there is only one author.

3.5 Data Citation
We are committed to improving openness, transparency, and reproducibility of research, and believe research data citation through standard reference lists offers an easy way to access data for reproducible research.

To support best practice in data citation, AME has endorsed the FORCE11 Data Citation Principles (https://www.force11.org/datacitationprinciples) (15). According to the FORCE11 Data Citation Principles, data can be cited in the same way as article, book, and web citations, and authors are required to include data citations as part of their reference list.

Data citation is applicable for data held within institutional, subject-focused, or more general data repositories. When citing or making claims based on data, authors should refer to the data at the relevant place in the main text of the manuscript and include a formal citation in the reference list. We recommend the format proposed in the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles (15).

Below is an example of an in-text data citation:
[dataset] Authors; Year; Dataset title; Data repository or archive; Version (if any); Persistent identifier (e.g. DOI)

“[dataset]” should be included immediately before the reference so it can be properly identified as a data reference.

3.6 Acknowledgments
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the ‘Acknowledgments’ section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include an individual who provided purely technical help, writing or language editing assistance, or a department chairperson who provided only general support. If a part of the manuscript has been presented elsewhere (e.g. meeting presentation/poster history), a corresponding statement should be provided in the acknowledgment section. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.

The ‘Acknowledgments’ section should also detail all funding sources for the work in question. There must be a section “Funding” within the “Acknowledgments” section. If the research was carried out without funding, "None" should be stated in this section.

In providing details of funding, authors should adhere to the following guidance:

• The sentence should begin: ‘This work was supported by …’
• The full official funding agency name should be given, (i.e., ‘National Institute of Health’, not ‘NIH’). Grant numbers should be given in brackets [e.g., (grant number xxxx)].
• Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma [e.g. (grant numbers xxxx, yyyy)].
• Agencies should be separated by a semi-colon (with ‘and’ before the last funding agency)
• Where certain sources of funding were received by a specific author, the following text should be added after the relevant agency or grant number: ‘to [author initials]’.

Example: ‘This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (AA123456 to C.S., BB765432 to M.H.); and the Alcohol & Education Research Council (hfygr667789).’

3.7 Footnote

3.7.1 Reporting Checklist
For articles written in accordance with specific reporting guidelines, the author can include the “Reporting Checklist” section in the footnote and indicate, “The authors have completed the XXXX reporting checklist.”

If the manuscript is accepted for publication, the author’s completed checklist will be published online alongside the manuscript.

3.7.2 Conflicts Of Interest
All authors will be asked to fill in the ICMJE’s unified disclosure form (the latest version). The form could be downloaded at: https://cdn.amegroups.cn/static/public/coi_disclosure.docx. Each author should submit a separate form and is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the submitted information. The corresponding author should use the information in the form completed by each author to create the COI statement for the manuscript. The statement (but not the forms) must be included along with the submission. The statement should include the initials of the author along with the conflicts of interest. The following examples show the format in which the Conflicts of Interest statement should appear in the manuscript:

“Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.”

“Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form. KSS and VS are former employees of Scanco Medical AG. NV is a current employee of Scanco Medical AG. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.”

If the paper is accepted, the completed ICMJE’s unified disclosure forms will be required and will be published alongside the article.

For more about the journal’s policy on conflicts of interest, visit: https://qims.amegroups.org/page/about/conflicts-of-interest.

3.7.3 Ethical Statement
Statement #A is a must for every article, followed by statement #B.
Statement #B should be described ①based on the type of experimental research and article type; ②both in the Methods section and the “Ethical Statement” section of Footnote.

#A. (a Must) Statement for every article

Please note that all articles submitted to our journal must include an Ethical Statement in the Footnote, containing the following wording: “The authors are 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.”

#B. (Based on research experiments type and article type)

(a) Human Experiments
For research involving human experiments, the article must include a statement that ethical approval was obtained (or a statement that it was not required and why), including the name of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s), and a statement that the participants gave informed consent before taking part (or a statement that it was not required and why). Authors should also state that the study conformed to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in 2013), available at: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects (16). For example:

(For prospective experiments) Ethical Statement: The authors are 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. The trial was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in 2013). The study was approved by institutional/regional/national ethics/committee/ethics board of ******* and informed consent was taken from all individual participants.

(For retrospective experiments) Ethical Statement: The authors are 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. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in 2013). The study was approved by institutional/regional/national ethics/committee/ethics board of ******* and individual consent for this retrospective analysis was waived.

(b) Animals Experiments
For any experiments involving animals, the authors must indicate the nature of the ethical review permissions, relevant licenses (if applicable), and national or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals by which the research was conducted. Describe this information in both the “Method” section and the “Ethical Statement” section on Footnote. For example:

Ethical Statement: The authors are 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. The study was approved by institutional/regional/national ethics/committee/ethics board of *******, in compliance with ******* national or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals.

(c) Case Report
In general, the submission of a Case Report should be accompanied by written consent from the subject (or their parent/guardian) before publication; this is particularly important where photographs are to be used or in cases where the unique nature of the incident being reported makes it possible for the subject to be identified. Authors should also state that the study conformed to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in 2013), available at: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects (16). Please describe this information in both the “Case Presentation” section and the “Ethical Statement” section in Footnote. For example:

Ethical Statement: The authors are 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. All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee(s) and with the Helsinki Declaration (as revised in 2013). Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report and accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the editorial office of this journal.

#C. Informed Consent
Written informed consent for the publication of details relating to an individual person must be obtained from that person (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 18) for all manuscripts that include images, details, or videos. If the person has deceased, consent for publication must be acquired from their next of family. A statement that written informed consent for publication was obtained must be included in the manuscript, or if informed consent was waived such as in case of retrospective analysis, justification has to be explained in the manuscript.

To get consent for publication, authors can use the consent form (download the form for patient or the form for participant ) or a consent form from their own institution or region, if suitable. Authors do not need to provide a copy of the consent form to the editorial office; however, if the Editor requests it, the consent form must be provided and will be kept confidential. Consent for image publication may not be necessary in circumstances where photographs are completely unidentified and there are no details on persons mentioned within the text. The Editor has the final say on whether or not consent to publish is required.

The Editorial Office may request copies of the informed consent documentation at any time. While the Editorial Board recognizes that it might not always be possible or appropriate to seek such consent, the onus will be on the authors to demonstrate that this exception applies in their case.

The Journal retains the right to reject any manuscript on the basis of unethical conduct in either human or animal studies.

3.8 References
Sources should be referenced according to the Vancouver reference style. In-text references should be identified using numbers in round brackets. Where more than one number is required, they should appear consecutively [e.g., "cancer-related mortality (19)”; “denocarcinoma (29,30)”]. References (including in the text, tables and figure legends) should be numbered consecutively and consistently according to the order in which they first appear in the text.

The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. For reports with up to twenty authors, all the author names should be listed. However, if a report has more than twenty authors, the first six authors should be listed followed by “et al.” For example:

• Jang H, Carl M, Ma Y, Searleman AC, Jerban S, Chang EY, Corey-Bloom J, Du J. Inversion recovery zero echo time (IR-ZTE) imaging for direct myelin detection in human brain: a feasibility study. Quant Imaging Med Surg 2020;10:895-906.
• Wáng YXJ, Aparisi Gómez MP, Ruiz Santiago F, Bazzocchi A. The relevance of T2 relaxation time in interpreting MRI apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map for musculoskeletal structures. Quant Imaging Med Surg. 2023 doi: 10.21037/qims-23-1392. (if page number is not available yet, please provide the DOI).

For other styles of publication or Internet articles, see https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html (17).

Below are two examples for the management of the reference:
a.     If you manage references manually or in other way, you could refer to the reference example below:
Jang H, Carl M, Ma Y, Searleman AC, Jerban S, Chang EY, Corey-Bloom J, Du J. Inversion recovery zero echo time (IR-ZTE) imaging for direct myelin detection in the human brain: a feasibility study. Quant Imaging Med Surg 2020;10:895-906.
b.     If you use “Endnote” (a commercial reference management software package produced by Clarivate Analytics, used to manage bibliographies and references when writing essays and articles), the reference style file for QIMS can be directly downloaded here: https://qims.amegroups.org/public/addition/qims/reference-style.ens.

3.9 Tables
Tables are recommended to be provided in separate files. Tables should be self-contained and complement, but not duplicate, the information contained in the text. All tables should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. Each table should be on a separate page; tables must be typed and editable in a tabular format that is convenient for copyediting and typesetting; they should not be inserted as images. Please refer to the examples for different cases.

Each column must have an appropriate heading and, if measurements are given, the units should be provided in the column heading. Column headings should be brief, with units of measurement in parentheses; all abbreviations must be defined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: †, ‡, §, ¶, should be used (in this order), and *, **, *** should be reserved for P values. Statistical measures such as SD or SEM should be identified in the headings.

If the tables have been reproduced from another source, a letter or permission from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) authorizing the reproduction of the material must be submitted as supplemental material along with the manuscript.

3.10 Figures
Figures should be provided in separate files. All illustrations (line drawings and photographs) are classified as figures. Figures should be cited in the order in which they appear in the text. Magnifications should be indicated using a scale bar on the illustration.

• File types, resolution, size: Please refer to the specification (file types, resolution, image size, file size, etc.) for more detailed requirements. For the flow diagram of a study/trial (e.g. CONSORT diagram), please provide the diagram in an editable form, e.g. Word (.doc) or PowerPoint (.ppt) file, etc.
  For photographs, clinical images, photomicrographs, gel electrophoresis, and other types that include labels, arrows, or other markers, please submit 2 versions: one version with the markers and one without. An explanation for all labels, arrows, or other markers should be included in the figure legend.
• Figure legends: Legends should be provided for figures, including the figure title, the full name of any abbreviation in the figure, a detailed description of any symbol in the figure (e.g., some color notation or arrows), and a separate description of each figure if it is a combination of several figures, etc.
• Copyright: If the figures have been reproduced from another source, a letter from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) authorizing the reproduction of the material must be attached to the cover letter (see the “COPYRIGHT AND PERMISSION ” section).
• Patient Privacy: Where illustrations include recognizable individuals, living or deceased, great care must be taken to ensure that consent for publication has been given (see the “Ethical Statement” section). A statement like “This image is published with the patient/participant’s consent.” should be included at the end of the figure legend. Patient anonymity should be preserved. Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. For example, photographs need to be cropped sufficiently to prevent human subjects from being recognized and the eyes and eyebrows (at a minimum) must be masked using Coarse Pixilation to make the individual unrecognizable. However, masking the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are de-identified, authors should ensure that such changes do not distort scientific meaning.

In-text citations

• Cite figures with the format: Figure 1A, Figure 1B, Figure 2, Figure 3, etc. When consecutive subparts of a figure are cited, they should be cited as Figure 1A-1D, Figure 2B-2L, etc.
• Cite figures in ascending numeric order upon the first appearance in the manuscript file. This includes citations to text boxes and tables. In the published article, figures are inserted according to the placement of their first citation and caption in the article.
• Lettered subparts of whole figures may be cited in any order in the text if the first mention of each whole figure is in numerical order. For example, Figure 1 contains 4 subparts (i.e., Figure 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D). These subparts should be cited consecutively unless Figure 1 as a whole is already cited before Figure 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D.

3.11 Videos
Videos should be provided in separate files. The journal will accept digital files in mp4, flash video (flv.), MPEG (MPEG video file), DVD video, mov., avi., and mwv. formats or videos on CD / DVD. Contributors are asked to be succinct, and the editorial office reserves the right to request a shorter video if necessary. Video files can be submitted online at: https://qims.amegroups.org/pages/view/submit-multimedia-files

• Duration: Video files should be limited to 20 minutes.
• Quality: Please set the video aspect ratio as 4:3 or 16:9 (widescreen). The original video should be of high quality with the resolution ≥1280×720, the frame rate ≥24 frames per second, and the bit rate ≥5 Mbps.
• In-video text and audio: Videos should have text or symbols or audio descriptions. All text notes, explanations, descriptions, etc. in the video must be provided in English. The logo or watermark of the hospital/institution should not appear on the screen. Any patient information should be erased from the video.
• Video legends: Legends should be provided for the video files. The video files should be numbered consecutively in their order of reference in the text.
• Copyright: If the videos have been reproduced from another source, a letter from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) authorizing the reproduction of the material must be attached to the cover letter. It is especially worth noting that if background music appears in a video, the author should also obtain authorization from the copyright owner of that music if that music is involved in copyright licensing (see the “COPYRIGHT AND PERMISSION ” section).
• File name: please name the videos as Video 1, Video 2, Video S1, Video S2, etc. upon submission.

In-text citations

• Cite videos with the format: Video 1, Video 2, Video S1, Video S2, etc.
• Cite videos in ascending numeric order upon the first appearance in the manuscript file.

For promotion, all accepted videos will be subsequently included in AME Surgical Video Database (ASVIDE: https://www.asvide.com) and its youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA4NnVYmMW2NS5QrnLEVQNg).

3.12 Abbreviations And Symbols
Use only standard abbreviations; All abbreviations should be defined when they are first used in the text unless the abbreviation is a standard unit of measurement and a list of full terms should be provided in the manuscript.

3.13 Supplementary Appendix
The Supplementary Appendix should be paginated, with a table of contents, followed by the list of investigators (if there are any), text (such as methods), figures, tables, and then references. The supplementary appendix should not be included in the article’s reference list.

The Appendix must be submitted in a Word file. The Appendix will not be edited for style. It will be presented online as additional information provided by the authors.

The published article will contain a statement that supplementary material exists online and will provide the reader with a URL and/or link. Refer to the following example for how to reference the supplementary appendix in the text of the article: “Many more regressions were run than can be included in the article. The interested reader can find them in a supplementary appendix online.”

3.14 Equations
Equations should be numbered sequentially with Arabic numerals; these should appear right in parentheses. All variables should appear in italics. Use the simplest possible form for all mathematical symbols. For example:

• “a2+b2=c2” equations: normal text format.
• All other equations: a graphic of the entire equation should be produced using MathType and inserted into the main body of the text as an object.

4. STYLE OF THE MANUSCRIPT

Manuscripts must follow the style of the Vancouver agreement detailed in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ revised ‘Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication’, as presented at: http://www.ICMJE.org/ (1).

• Author name: Each author’s given name should be followed by their surname. The first letter of the surname should be capitalized. A hyphen can be used in the surname depending on the rule in the author’s region.
  Note: Author names will be published exactly as they appear in the manuscript file. Please double-check the information carefully to make sure it is correct. If applicable, an ORCID should be placed after the name of the author.
  
• When abbreviating an author’s name, the first letter of each capitalized word will be used for the name’s abbreviation, i.e., “Shaoling Li” becomes “SL.” The first letter of the second name SHOULD NOT be capitalized, or else it will be included in the abbreviation. However, if the author wishes to use an abbreviation that includes their second name, they should write their second name using a hyphen to connect it with its anterior word, i.e., “Shao-Ling Li” to become “SLL.”
• Spelling: British or American spelling is acceptable but must be consistent throughout.
  
• Units: All measurements must be given in SI or SI-derived units.
  
• Abbreviations must be used sparingly and only where they ease the reader’s task by reducing the repetition of long, technical terms. Initially, the full term should be given, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter, only the abbreviation should appear.
  
• Trade names: Drugs should be referred to by their generic names. If proprietary drugs have been used in the study, these should be referred to by their generic name, with the proprietary name and the name and location of the manufacturer mentioned in parentheses.

5. AUTHORSHIP AND CONTRIBUTORSHIP

For specification, please refer to: https://qims.amegroups.org/page/about/authorship-and-contributorship

6. COPYRIGHT AND PERMISSIONS

For specification, please refer to: https://qims.amegroups.org/page/about/copyright-and-permission

7. PEER REVIEW PROCESS

For specification, please refer to: https://qims.amegroups.org/pages/view/peer-review-process

8. ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGES

For specification, please refer to: https://qims.amegroups.org/pages/view/article-processing-charges

9. PROOFS
Page proofs will be sent to the author via e-mail. Page proofs should be returned within three working days, preferably by e-mail. Corrections should be marked on the actual proof and provided in a numbered list. Lengthy additions should be avoided but, when necessary, should be provided in an MS Word file with explicit instructions regarding placement.

10. OFFPRINTS AND REPRINTS
Authors will be sent a free URL link to the published online article for their personal use. Authors who wish to purchase hard-copy offprints should fill in the offprint order form, which will be sent with the author’s proof. Orders should be sent to the Editorial Office. Orders for reprints should be sent to the Publisher’s Office.

11. SUBMITTING AND TRACKING MANUSCRIPTS
All articles are submitted and the entire review process is managed electronically through the OJS system (https://qims.amegroups.org/login), which has been developed to provide authors with a straightforward online submission process.

For any questions, please contact our Editorial Office by e-mail: qims@amepc.org.

References
1. https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/
2. https://publicationethics.org/
3. https://www.equator-network.org/
4. https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/consort/
5. https://www.cdc.gov/trendstatement/
6. https://www.strobe-statement.org/
7. https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/stard/
8. http://www.prisma-statement.org/
9. https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/our-portfolio/arrive-animal-research-reporting-vivo-experiments
10. http://www.right-statement.org/
11. https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/tripod-statement/
12. https://scicrunch.org/resources
13. https://www.cochranelibrary.com/about/about-cochrane-reviews
14. https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/prisma-scr/
15. https://force11.org/info/joint-declaration-of-data-citation-principles-final/
16. https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/
17. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html

*Please note for better guidance and illustration, external links are included in the references but the journal does not endorse or take responsibility or liability for any content, advertising, products, or other materials on the externally linked sites, and does not take responsibility for the sites' availability.