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The American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD) serves clinicians and scientists who treat and investigate kidney disease and associated conditions. AJKD is dedicated to providing high-quality, clinically relevant information in the form of original research articles, case reports, narrative reviews, editorials, and features. 

Original Investigations

AJKD welcomes manuscripts in the categories listed below. Authors should adhere to the guidelines provided.

Original Investigations evaluate pathogenesis and treatment of kidney disease and hypertension, acid-base and electrolyte disorders, dialysis therapies, and kidney transplantation. AJKD considers only manuscripts that focus on clinical research; studies that focus on laboratory measurements are suitable only if they are directly linked to measurements or outcomes in humans. For clinical trials, AJKD requires registration in a public trials registry; more information about the clinical trial registration policy is provided in the online Editorial Policies (available in the For Authors section of the AJKD website; www.ajkd.org). 

An Original Investigation includes a structured abstract of 300 words or fewer and is limited to 3,500 words (excluding abstract, references, acknowledgements, tables, and figure legends). Criteria for review include validity, originality, and clinical importance. A list of study designs follows; flowcharts and checklists from the listed reporting guidelines are provided in Appendix I.

  i. Clinical Trial: A clinical trial is an experimental study that assesses the effect of an intervention or compares the effects of 2 or more interventions. Reporting guidelines vary according to the design. 

○ Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT): The CONSORT Flowchart should be consulted for reporting participant flow through enrollment, allocation, follow-up, and analysis. Customized CONSORT checklists are available for each of the study types listed below.

- Trial with Parallel Group Design

- Cluster-Randomized Trial

- Noninferiority and Equivalence Randomized Trial

- Trial of Herbal Medicine Intervention

- Pragmatic Trial

- Trial of Nonpharmacologic Treatment

Note: If appropriate, the CONSORT Checklist for Reporting of Harms in RCTs should also be consulted.

○ Nonrandomized Trial for Evaluation of Behavioral and Public Health Interventions: The TREND Checklist should be consulted for reporting guidance.

 ii. Observational Study: An observational study entails the observation and description of individuals or patients based on their exposure to an intervention or risk factor. In contrast to a trial, investigators do not deliver an intervention or manipulate its use; ie, they do not assign patients to treatment and control groups. Specific guidelines vary according to study design and are listed below. Although no dedicated guidelines are available for reports from registries, AJKD also considers observational studies of this form.

○ Cohort Study: STROBE Checklist for Cohort Studies

○ Case-Control Study: STROBE Checklist for Case-Control Studies

○ Cross-sectional Study: STROBE Checklist for Cross-sectional Studies

○ Gene-Disease Association Study: STREGA Checklist for Genetic Association Studies

iii. Diagnostic Test Study: A diagnostic test study compares the performance of 2 or more diagnostic tests. The STARD Flowchart of Diagnostic Test Results should be consulted for reporting participant flow through enrollment, testing, and results and the STARD Checklist should be consulted for format recommendations.

 iv. Systematic Review or Meta-analysis: A systematic review follows an explicit protocol to systematically identify, appraise, and synthesize the findings of studies that address a similar question; a meta-analysis, which contains a quantitative synthesis of the results of the systematic review, is preferred, whenever possible. The PRISMA Flow Diagram should be consulted for reporting study yield and selection. Specific guidelines vary according to the studies analyzed, as listed below.

○ Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials: PRISMA Meta-analysis of RCTs Checklist

○ Meta-analysis of Observational Studies: MOOSE Meta-analysis of Observational Studies Checklist

○ Meta-analysis of Gene-Disease Association Studies:

- Human Genome Epidemiology Network Review Handbook (PDF freely available)

- Ioannidis et al. Assessment of cumulative evidence on genetic associations: interim guidelines. Int J Epidemiol. 2008;37(1):120-132. (PDF freely available)

- Sagoo GS, Little J, Higgins JPT. Systematic reviews of genetic association studies. PLoS Med. 2009;6(3):e1000028. (PDF freely available)

  v. Decision Analysis or Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: A decision analysis weighs choices in a clinical scenario by modeling the projected consequences of different strategies in order to identify the optimal choice or to inform clinical decision-making or public policy. The following published recommendations for format should be consulted:

- Siegel JE, Weinstein MC, Russell LB, Gold MR; Panel on Cost-effectiveness in Health and Medicine. Recommendations for reporting cost- effectiveness analyses. JAMA. 1996;276(16):1339-1341.

- Drummond MF, Jefferson TO; The BMJ Economic Evaluation Working Party. Guidelines for authors and peer reviewers of economic submissions to the BMJ. BMJ. 1996;313(7052):275-283.

 vi. Quality Improvement Report: A quality improvement report describes an activity that was conducted as an initiative to improve quality of care and that does not follow the design of a prospective research study such as a clinical trial or an observational study. The SQUIRE Checklist provides guidance on reporting. Readers interested in learning more about evaluating quality improvement studies are directed to the following resource:

- Fan E, Laupacis A, Pronovost PJ, Guyatt GH, Needham DM. How to use an article about quality improvement. JAMA. 2010;304(20):2279-2287.

vii. Case Series: A case series is a retrospective description of the clinical course of more than 10 individuals or patients. Unlike an observational study, a case series may or may not have a predictor.

Case Reports

Case Reports should be succinct and original and should have a single, well-defined message. These articles are limited to 1,400 words and no more than 2 figures or tables; an abstract (up to 200 words) is required. Case Reports consist of an Introduction, Case Report, and Discussion. The number of individuals or patients should be 10 or fewer. Criteria for review include clinical plausibility and originality. A maximum of 8 authors is generally recommended.

Special Articles

Special Articles encompass content that does not fit in the aforementioned categories and may cover any topic of interest to AJKD readers. These articles are limited to 4,000 words and must include an abstract. Abstracts are unstructured and limited to 200 words, unless the manuscript reports original research, in which case the abstract may contain up to 300 words and is structured into the following sections: Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusion.

AJKD also publishes the following features; submissions are welcome unless otherwise noted.

Core Curriculum

Core Curriculum: An outline providing readers with a basic analytical framework for approaching a topic in clinical nephrology. The feature is primarily intended for use by residency and fellowship program directors to develop educational programs. Core Curricula are written by invitation only; potential authors who wish to propose a topic should contact the Education Editor via the editorial office (AJKD@tuftsmedicalcenter.org).

Editorial

Editorial: A brief piece which provides focused commentary and analysis on an article published in AJKD or in another journal, or on a current issue in nephrology. In the Literature editorials evaluate recent articles published in non–nephrology journals which affect the nephrology community. Editorials may have up to 1,400 words and may include 1 figure or table; a maximum of 3 authors is generally recommended. Editorials are usually invited but may be submitted without invitation.

In a Few Words

In a Few Words: A nonfiction narrative essay which gives voice to the personal experiences and stories that define kidney disease. Submissions from physicians, allied health professionals, patients, or family members are welcome, and may concern the personal, ethical, or policy implications of any aspect of kidney disease in adults and children (acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disease, dialysis, transplantation, ethics, health policy, genetics, etc). Footnotes or references are discouraged. Essays may have up to 1,600 words, and should be submitted via e-mail to the editorial office (AJKD@tuftsmedicalcenter.org).

In Practice

In Practice: A review providing in-depth guidance on clinical topics beyond nephrology that affect nephrologists daily. This feature begins with a clinical vignette and then examines special considerations in the day-to-day treatment of patients with chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease. These articles may have up to 4,000 words and 6 figures or tables; an unstructured abstract of up to 200 words is required. In Practice articles are generally invited, but potential authors who wish to propose a topic should contact the Deputy Editor via the editorial office (AJKD@tuftsmedicalcenter.org).

In Translation

In Translation: An authoritative analysis of developments in basic science with diagnostic or therapeutic implications in the clinical practice of nephrology. This feature includes a clinical vignette and describes the pathogenesis of a disease process or its complications as well as recent advances in the field, giving particular attention to cellular and molecular mechanisms of disease and their relation to diagnostic approaches or therapeutic applications. These articles may have up to 4,000 words and 6 figures or tables; an unstructured abstract of up to 200 words is required. In Translation is organized into the following sections: Background (250 words), Case Vignette (300 words), Pathogenesis, Recent Advances, and Summary. A maximum of 6 authors is generally recommended.

Correspondence

Correspondence: A Letter to the Editor may be in response to an article in AJKD or may concern a topic of current interest in nephrology. In general, letters should not exceed 250 words (up to 10 references and 1 figure or table may also be included) and should not list more than 3 authors. For responses to AJKD articles, the letter must be received no more than 4 weeks after the article’s date of print publication. There is no guarantee that letters will be published, and they are subject to editing and abridgment without notice. For  correspondence discussing research findings, authors may submit a Research Letter, which may include up to 800 words, 10 references, and a total of 2 figures or tables. Research Letters evaluate topics relevant to clinical practice, and include an introduction, concise methods/results, and a discussion in separate paragraphs (no subheadings are used); online supplementary material is encouraged for detailed methods or supporting information. As reports of cases do not include methods, they are not suitable for the Research Letters section. There is no author limit for Research Letters.

Narrative Review

Narrative Review: A review which covers a clinical, translational, or basic science topic of interest to practitioners. Criteria for review include originality, comprehensiveness, and balance of viewpoints. These articles may have up to 4,000 words and must include an unstructured abstract of up to 200 words. The editors encourage the use of figures and tables (up to 8 combined) to assist in the presentation of the central concepts. A maximum of 6 authors is generally recommended.

Quiz Page

Quiz Page: An image-based educational feature that recurs monthly; images from the page often appear on the cover of AJKD. The first section includes a concise clinical history (100 words or fewer), a maximum of 4 figures, and 1 to 4 brief questions pertaining to the case. An answer to each question, further information regarding the clinical entity, and a brief statement of the final diagnosis should be provided in a separate answer section, which may include an additional 2 to 4 figures and in most cases should have no more than  400 words. For initial submission, Quiz Pages should include a standard title page. A maximum of 4 authors is generally recommended.

Teaching Cases (Kidney Biopsy, Imaging, and Acid-Base & Electrolyte)

Teaching Cases:

Kidney Biopsy Teaching Case: A case report to educate clinicians on pathologic correlates of clinical presentations, with key educational points well delineated in the discussion. These teaching cases may have up to 1,800 words and no more than 4 figures or tables, must include an abstract, and are organized into the following sections: Introduction, Case Report (with 4 subsections: Clinical History and Initial Laboratory Data, Kidney Biopsy, Diagnosis, and Clinical Follow-up), and Discussion. A maximum of 4 authors is generally recommended.

Imaging Teaching Case: A case report to educate clinicians on interpretation and applications of imaging in clinical nephrology. Key educational points should be clearly delineated in the discussion. These teaching cases may have up to 1,800 words and no more than 4 figures or tables, must include an abstract, and are organized into the following sections: Introduction, Case Report (with 4 subsections: Clinical History and Initial Laboratory Data, Imaging Studies, Diagnosis, and Clinical Follow-up), and Discussion. A maximum of 4 authors is generally recommended.

Acid-Base and Electrolyte Teaching Case: A case report to educate clinicians on the pathophysiology of various acid-base and electrolyte disorders and the interpretation of laboratory studies. Key points should be clearly delineated in the discussion. These teaching cases may have up to 1,800 words and no more than 4 figures or tables, and must include an abstract. The case discussion should be divided into the following sections: Introduction, Case Report (with 4 subsections: Clinical History and Initial Laboratory Data, Additional Investigations, Diagnosis, and Clinical Follow-up), and Discussion. A maximum of 4 authors is generally recommended. Acid-Base and Electrolyte Teaching Cases are often invited by the editors; each case is chosen specifically to emphasize either diagnosis or treatment of a particular disorder and to illustrate the most efficient and practical approach utilized by an expert in the field. Potential authors who wish to propose a topic should contact the Feature Editor via the editorial office (AJKD@tuftsmedicalcenter.org).

World Kidney Forum

World Kidney Forum: A narrative review that explores the socioeconomic, geopolitical, ethical, and historical issues related to kidney disease and the wider world of nephrology. Submissions may have up to 4,000 words, and an unstructured abstract of up to 200 words is required. A maximum of 6 authors is generally recommended.

Two editors will review all manuscripts submitted to AJKD, generally within 1 week. If the editors deem that the manuscript is unlikely to be published in AJKD, it may be rejected at this stage. With the exception of Letters to the Editor, Quiz Pages, invited editorials, and In a Few Words, manuscripts will then undergo external review. Further details on the review process are available in the online Editorial Policies.

Conditions of Submission

Manuscripts are considered for publication if and only if the article and its key features (1) are not under consideration elsewhere, (2) have not been published, and (3) will not appear in print or online prior to appearing in AJKD. This restriction does not apply to abstracts or posters published in connection with scientific meetings; in addition, press reports arising from a conference will not be considered prior publication, provided that authors who discuss their conference presentation or poster with reporters are careful not to offer more detail about their work than was contained in the oral or poster presentation.

Submission of a manuscript is understood to indicate that the authors have complied with all policies as delineated in this document and the online Editorial Policies. Individuals who violate these policies are subject to editorial action including but not limited to (1) disclosure of violations to employers, funding agencies, or other journal offices and/or (2) publication of a retraction, correction, editorial expression of concern, or editorial.

Informed Consent, Quality Improvement Activities, and Privacy

Regardless of country of origin, all studies in humans must include a description of appropriate safeguards (eg, local Institutional Review Board, Ministry of Health approval) in the Methods section. If investigators have potential conflicts of interest, these must be disclosed to study participants, and a statement should be included in the Methods section to indicate that such disclosure was made.

When submitting a quality improvement report, authors should indicate whether the plan for the quality improvement activity has been approved by the clinical leadership of the organization whose experience is reported.

Whenever possible, any information identifying individual study participants should be avoided. If identifying information is necessary, the patient must be shown the manuscript and provide written informed consent before publication.

Conflicts of Interest

The online Editorial Policies detail the journal’s conflict of interest policies and procedures, which generally follow the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. The implications of these policies for the submission and consideration process are provided in the following.

Potential Author Conflicts

As specified in the “Manuscript Preparation and Submission” subsection of this document, authors should disclose within the manuscript document all financial relationships that could be viewed as presenting a potential conflict of interest. If there are relevant nonfinancial associations (personal, professional, political, institutional, religious, or other) that a reasonable reader would want to know about in relation to the submitted work, authors should include this information in the text box provided during the ‘Enter Comments’ step of the manuscript submission process. Authors should disclose information even when there is a question as to whether a relationship constitutes a conflict.

Authorship of editorials and reviews requires interpretation of the literature and therefore is inherently subject to bias, thus AJKD requests that authors of such manuscripts not have a significant financial interest in the subject matter of the manuscript.

Potential Reviewer Conflicts

Authors may provide editors with the names of persons they feel should not review their manuscript because of a potential conflict. However, when possible, authors should explain the reason(s) for their concerns. Editors will try to avoid selecting reviewers who have potential conflicts of interest, and will ask those who are invited to review to declare any relevant competing interests.

Potential Editor Conflicts

Manuscripts which have an author who is associated with the Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editor, Co-Editors, Statistical Editors, Education Editor, or Pathology Editor are handled by a separate workflow; detailed information on the journal’s comprehensive policies and procedures for the treatment of such submissions is available in the online Editorial Policies.

Authorship

In accordance with International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations, all authors must have a significant role in the manuscript. This means that all 3 of the following conditions must be met:

(1) the individual made a substantial contribution to conception and design of the study, to data acquisition, or to data analysis and interpretation; and

(2) the individual wrote the article and/or revised the article for important intellectual content; and

(3) the individual approved the final version of the submitted manuscript.

Note: If revision is requested, the individual must also approve any subsequent versions submitted to the journal.

All individuals who contributed to the writing of the manuscript must be identified either as an author or in the acknowledgements section of the manuscript. In particular, if medical writer(s)/editor(s) have been involved, their role must be explicitly acknowledged, and their affiliation/source of funding must be listed.

At the editor’s discretion, a description of the contribution of each individual listed as an author may be requested by the journal.

With the exception of invited editorials and submissions for In a Few Words, all manuscripts are submitted and processed using Editorial Manager, an online manuscript handling system accessible at www.editorialmanager.com/ajkd. Assistance with Editorial Manager is available from the editorial office staff, who may be contacted at +1 617-636-0599 or AJKD@tuftsmedicalcenter.org.

Manuscript Length and Text Format

Word limits are provided in the “Categories of Articles” section of this document. If following the recommended formats for reporting original research causes the manuscript to exceed the stated length limitation, the authors need not reduce the manuscript length before submission. If revision is requested, the editors will provide guidance on appropriate reductions or the use of supplementary online material.

Manuscripts must be double-spaced using 12-point type (preferably Times New Roman) and unjustified margins. Pages must be numbered starting with the title page.

Title Page

The title page should include the following: (1) title (concise and descriptive); (2) each author’s first and last names and highest degree; (3) institution of each author; (4) corresponding author’s name, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address; (5) word counts for the abstract and the body of the manuscript; and (6) a short title (45 characters or fewer, including spaces) to be used as a running head.

Note: All individuals listed as authors must fulfill the journal’s definition of authorship. The author who is named as the corresponding author on the manuscript’s title page must be the individual to whom all Editorial Manager–related correspondence is directed.

Support and Financial Disclosure Declaration

The second page of each manuscript should acknowledge support and any relevant financial interests; authors should disclose information even when there is a question as to whether a relationship constitutes a conflict.

Note: If the manuscript is accepted for publication, editorial office staff will transfer a summary of the relevant information to the Acknowledgements; authors will be able to verify this information at proof.

Support

By AJKD policies, this section should report any support for the work described in the submission, whether directed to an author or that individual’s institution. Types of support include, but are not limited to: consulting fees or honoraria related to the study; funds for writing or reviewing the manuscript; funding of travel related to the study; fees related to data monitoring boards, statistical analysis, end point committees, etc; grants; nonmonetary support such as writing or administrative assistance, or provision of medicines or equipment.

Authors should specify whether or not the study sponsor had any role in study design; collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; writing the report; and the decision to submit the report for publication.

Financial Disclosure

AJKD defines the financial disclosure statement as a list of financial relationships with entities that did not support the study, but that that might reasonably be considered to be stakeholders in the overall research topic. For manuscripts that discuss tests or treatments, relationships with entities offering alternatives to those tests or treatments would be considered pertinent information. The beneficiary may be an author or that individual’s institution, and the types of relationship include, but are not limited to: board membership; consultancy; employment; expert testimony; industry grants (active or pending); gifts; honoraria; payment for manuscript preparation; patents (planned, pending, or issued); royalties; stock/stock options; reimbursement for travel or accommodation expenses; payment for development of educational presentations (including service on speakers’ bureaus).

The relevant time period is the 36 months prior to submission of the manuscript under consideration, unless there are relationships that fall outside of this window that readers may want to know about and could reasonably criticize an author for omitting (eg, long-term financial relationships that have now ended). A financial disclosure statement must be provided for each author; if no financial conflict of interest is identified, ‘none’ should be written next to the author’s name.

Abstract

Original Investigations must include a brief (300 words or fewer) structured abstract followed by a short list of index words. Formats for abstracts differ according to type of study and should follow the guidelines listed in the following table.

Clinical Trial	Background	Study Design	Setting & Participants	Intervention	Outcomes	Measurements	Results	Limitations	Conclusions
Observational Study	Background	Study Design	Setting & Participants	Predictor or Factor	Outcomes	Measurements	Results	Limitations	Conclusions
Diagnostic Test Study	Background	Study Design	Setting & Participants	Index Test	Reference Test or Outcome	Other Measurements (if applicable)	Results	Limitations	Conclusions
Systematic Review or Meta-Analysis	Background	Study Design	Setting & Population	Selection Criteria for Studies	Intervention, Predictor or Factor, or Index Tests (select 1)	Outcomes or Reference Tests (select 1)	Results	Limitations	Conclusions
Decision Analysis/Cost-Effectiveness Analysis	Background	Study Design	Setting & Population	Model, Perspective, & Timeframe	Intervention	Outcomes	Results	Limitations	Conclusions
Quality Improvement Report	Background	Study Design	Setting & Participants	Quality Improvement Plan	Outcomes	Measurements	Results	Limitations	Conclusions
Case Series	Background	Study Design	Setting & Participants	Predictor or Factor (if applicable)	Outcomes	Measurements	Results	Limitations	Conclusions

Although the abstract headings listed above are not identical to CONSORT recommendations, authors interested in further guidance on abstract preparation are referred to the following article: Hopewell S, Clarke M, Moher D, et al. CONSORT for reporting randomized controlled trials in journal and conference abstracts: explanation and elaboration. PLoS Med. 2008;5(1):e20 (PDF freely available).

Abstracts for Case Reports, In Practice, In Translation, Narrative Reviews, teaching cases, and the World Kidney Forum are unstructured and are limited to 200 words. Abstracts for Special Articles are unstructured and limited to 200 words, unless original research is being reported, in which case they may contain up to 300 words and should be structured into Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions sections.

Manuscript Body

Original Investigations should be organized into the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. The Introduction and Discussion sections should not include any subheadings. In writing each section, authors should refer to the recommended formats for reporting as described in Appendix I of this document.

Information on the organization of other article types is available in the individual article descriptions in the “Categories of Articles” section of this document.

Acknowledgements

If authors wish to express thanks or acknowledge assistance, an acknowledgements section should be inserted after the manuscript text and before the reference list. In addition, all individuals who contributed to the writing of the manuscript but who do not qualify as authors must be named in this section. Authors are responsible for informing all listed individuals/parties that they are being mentioned in the manuscript and for obtaining their approval prior to publication.

Note: Support and financial disclosure information should remain on the page following the title page throughout the manuscript consideration process; once accepted, this information will be placed in the Acknowledgements section by the editorial office staff.

References

References should be compiled at the end of the manuscript according to the order of citation in the text and should follow the style and format recommended by the American Medical Association. A summary of the most common reference types is provided below. Authors using reference handling software (eg, EndNote, Reference Manager) should use the American Medical Association output style (equivalent to the JAMA style). Further information may also be found in the AMA Manual of Style.

Examples

Journal article (6 or fewer authors):

MacKinnon M, Shurraw S, Akbari A, Knoll GA, Jaffey J, Clark HD. Combination therapy with an angiotensin receptor blocker and an ACE inhibitor in proteinuric renal disease: a systematic review of the efficacy and safety data. Am J Kidney Dis. 2006;48(1):8-20.

Journal article (more than 6 authors):

Ponticelli C, Passerini P, Salvadori M, et al. A randomized pilot trial comparing methylprednisolone plus a cytotoxic agent versus synthetic adrenocorticotropic hormone in idiopathic membranous nephropathy. Am J Kidney Dis. 2006;47(2):233-240.

Journal article which has been published online but is not yet available in print:

St. Peter WL, Liu J, Weinhandl E, Fan Q. A comparison of sevelamer and calcium-based phosphate binders on mortality, hospitalization, and morbidity in hemodialysis: a secondary analysis of the dialysis clinical outcomes revisited (DCOR) randomized trial using claims data [published online ahead of print February 21, 2008]. Am J Kidney Dis. doi:10.1053/j.ajkd.2007.12.002.

Supplement:

National Kidney Foundation. KDOQI Clinical Practice Guidelines and Clinical Practice Recommendations for Anemia in Chronic Kidney Disease. Am J Kidney Dis. 2006;47(5)(suppl 3):S1-S145.

Item presented at a meeting but not yet published:

Richardson MM, Saris-Baglama, RN, Anatchkova MD, et al. Patient experience of chronic kidney disease (CKD): results of a focus group study. Poster presented at: National Kidney Foundation 2007 Spring Clinical Meeting; April 10-14, 2007; Orlando, FL.

Published meeting abstract:

Pudur S, Savin VJ, McCarthy ET, Sharma M. Albumin permeability (Palb) in focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) is associated with rapid progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) [NKF abstract 127]. Am J Kidney Dis. 2006;47(4):B50.

Website:

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). National Kidney Foundation. Available at: http://www.kidney.org/kidneyDisease/ckd/index.cfm. Accessed January 4, 2008.

Complete book:

Ahmad S. Manual of Clinical Dialysis. London, England: Science Press Ltd; 1999.

Book chapter:

Batlle D. Metabolic acidosis. In: Greenberg A, ed. Primer on Kidney Diseases. 2nd ed. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 1998:71-79.

Government or agency bulletin:

US Renal Data System. USRDS 2007 Annual Data Report: Atlas of Chronic Kidney Disease and End-Stage Renal Disease in the United States. Bethesda, MA: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; 2007.

Tables and Figures

Tables and figures should be cited in numerical order in the text using Arabic numbering.

Each table should be on a separate page of the manuscript file, and should appear immediately after the references. The table number and title should be included above the table on the same page. Any additional information, including conversion factors for international units, should be included in notes below each table.

Figure legends (figure title and other explanatory text) should be grouped on a separate page at the end of the manuscript file (immediately following the references and tables, if present). Each figure should have a legend. Titles and legends should not appear in the figure files themselves.

Figures should not be embedded within the manuscript file; instead they should be uploaded in the Editorial Manager system as separate files. For the purposes of initial evaluation, figures must be of sufficient quality to be legible and interpretable. If revision is requested, production-quality figures will be required, for which advice will be given. In general, authors should minimize conversions between file types. Resolution should not be reduced except in cases where file size would otherwise be impractically large; in most cases, pixel-based images should have a resolution of at least 1,200 dpi for line art (eg, graphs, flow charts) or 500 dpi for photographs, micrographs, computed tomography scans, and related images. Color images should use CMYK color mode. In rare cases, the journal may request hard copies of figures; however, no materials, including photomicrographs, can be returned.

Authors are responsible for applying for permission from the relevant publisher(s) for both print and electronic rights to all borrowed material and are responsible for paying any fees related to applying for these permissions. In addition to providing proof of permission to the AJKD editorial office, authors should include appropriate wording in the figure legend or table note to indicate the source of the material. Photographs of identifiable persons must be accompanied by a signed release that indicates informed consent.

Supplementary Material for Online Publication

When essential information associated with an article is too extensive for print publication (eg, a lengthy study questionnaire), this content can be included as online-only information. Supplementary material file(s) should be provided at the time of manuscript submission, and should be called out in the text (eg, Table S2, Fig S1, Item S4). Titles and/or legends for each supplementary figure or item should be included as the final page of the manuscript document. Information on copyright assignment for supplementary material can be found in the online Editorial Policies.

Abbreviations

To improve readability, only standard abbreviations should be used and all abbreviations should be expanded at first mention. Abbreviations in titles, abstracts, and running heads should generally be avoided. Expansions of all abbreviations used in tables and figures should be provided.

Generic Names

Generic names for drugs should be used throughout; if necessary, a proprietary name and the name and location of the drug manufacturer may be included in parentheses at first mention.

Units of Measurement

For Original Investigations, Special Articles, Narrative Reviews, and Editorials, units should be expressed in US conventional units throughout; international equivalents or conversions are not necessary in running text (the abstract and body of the manuscript). For Case Reports, teaching cases, letters, and case-related content (eg, a clinical vignette), units of measurement should be expressed in US conventional units, with international units provided in parentheses, eg: “Serum creatinine at 3 months was 0.62 mg/dL (54.8 µmol/L)”. For a complete list of values requiring unit conversions, as well as the conversion factors, authors may consult the Unit Converter (also available as PDF in the For Authors section of the AJKD website).

In all cases, conversion factors must be provided in figure legends and table notes, as appropriate, as shown in the following examples.

In figure legends:

Conversion factors for units: serum creatinine in mg/dL to mol/L, ×88.4; urea nitrogen in mg/dL to mmol/L, ×0.357. No conversion necessary for serum potassium in mEq/L and mmol/L, ferritin in ng/mL and μg/L, and PTH in pg/mL and ng/L.

In tables:

	Patient 1	Patient 2
Serum creatinine (mg/dL)	0.6	1.2
Serum urea nitrogen (mg/dL)	8	18
Serum sodium (mEq/L)	139	141

Note: Conversion factors for units: serum creatinine in mg/dL to mol/L, ×88.4; serum urea nitrogen in mg/dL to mmol/L, ×0.357. No conversion necessary for serum sodium in mEq/L and mmol/L.

Reporting P Values

Numerical values should always be reported for P, even if they are nonsignificant. If the P value is greater than or equal to 0.9, it should be reported as 0.9, eg, 0.91 and 0.97 become 0.9. P values from 0.001 through 0.9 (inclusive) should be rounded to one nonzero digit, eg, 0.0105 rounds to 0.01 and 0.0452 rounds to 0.05. P values less than 0.001 should be reported as <0.001, eg, 0.0009 and 1.92 x 10^-6 become <0.001.

Because AJKD receives many more meritorious papers than can be published in the print edition, some Case Reports may be accepted for publication solely on the AJKD website. The initial decision letter sent to the authors will indicate if the manuscript is being considered as an online Case Report. Articles that are published exclusively online will be listed in the printed table of contents and indexed in MEDLINE. Online Case Reports will incur no page charges or charges for color figures, but will be subject to the same copyright laws as the printed edition.

Copyright Transfer

The copyright will be assigned exclusively to the National Kidney Foundation, including the right to reproduce the article in all forms and media. Permission requests are handled by the publisher, Elsevier; information on how to request permission is available in the For Authors section of the AJKD website. Elsevier will not refuse any reasonable request by the author for permission to reproduce any of his or her contributions following publication in AJKD. Further information on copyright policies can be found in the online Editorial Policies.

Page Charges

AJKD holds all authors responsible for payment of excess page charges for published manuscripts. Authors may publish up to 4 printed pages without any page charges; for each page in excess of the 4 free pages, authors are responsible for paying $75.00 per page or partial page. One printed text page is approximately equivalent to 2.5 double-spaced manuscript pages, 35 references, or 2 tables/figures. The letter of acceptance e-mailed to the author will provide an estimate of the page charges. The actual invoice for page charges will be sent to the corresponding author after the manuscript is published in print. If no response to the invoice or subsequent reminders is received, the editorial office will place a publication hold on all further papers from the corresponding author and all listed co-authors until the outstanding invoice is paid in full. Page charges and color reproduction costs are billed separately.

Color Reproduction Charges

Authors must bear all costs connected with printed color illustrations, with the exception of those appearing in Quiz Pages. The first color figure will cost $650 and each additional figure will cost $100; multipart figures generally will be considered as 1 figure. After a manuscript with color illustrations is accepted, the issue manager at Elsevier will contact the corresponding author, provide a cost estimate, and give a choice of publication in color or black and white. In some cases, authors may be able to have their color figure(s) produced in black and white for the print version of AJKD, but the figure(s) will appear in color for the online version. The issue manager will contact the author if there is a problem reproducing a figure. If the author chooses color reproduction, Elsevier (not the editorial office) will send the bill to the author. Color reproduction costs and page charges are billed separately.

Public Access and Sponsored Articles

AJKD complies with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy; further information is available in the online Editorial Policies.

Authors may sponsor nonsubscriber access to their articles for a fee; additional details are available in the online Editorial Policies.

Proofreading

Corresponding authors are provided with proofs via e-mail and are asked to proofread them for typesetting and/or copyediting errors. Important changes in data are allowed, but authors will be charged for excessive alterations to proofs. Corrections must be returned to Elsevier within 48 hours.

Reprints

Reprints of articles can be ordered before or after publication. Elsevier will send information on ordering reprints to authors by e-mail. Individuals wishing to obtain reprints of an article that appears in AJKD may do so by contacting the author at the address given in the article.

Andrew S. Levey, MD, Editor-in-Chief 

Daniel E. Weiner, MD, MS, Deputy Editor 

Nijsje Dorman, PhD, Managing Editor 

Amy Sibley, Associate Managing Editor 

Elizabeth Bury, MFA, Features Manager
Barbara Saper, Editorial Office Assistant

Phone: +1 617-636-0599 

Fax: +1 617-636-0598 

E-mail: AJKD@tuftsmedicalcenter.org 

US Postal Mail Address 

[recipient’s name] 

AJKD Editorial Office 

Division of Nephrology 

Tufts Medical Center, Box 391 

800 Washington St 

Boston, MA 02111, USA