Online Submissions: wjg.wjgnet.com World J Gastroenterol 2008 January 14; 14(2): 326-328

www.wjgnet.com World Journal of Gastroenterology ISSN 1007-9327

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Instructions to authors

GENERAL INFORMATION

World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG, World J Gastroenterol ISSN 
1007-9327/ CN 14-1219/R) is a weekly journal of with a circulation 
of more than 15 707, published on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th of every 
month. WJG is a peer-reviewed journal. The number of overseas 
users with an independent IP address was 15 600, representing 123 
countries worldwide. Original research, reviews, comments, and 
case reports in esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, colon cancer, liver 
cancer, viral liver diseases, etc., from all over the world are welcome 
on the condition that they have not been published previously or 
submitted elsewhere simultaneously.

Publication model

WJG is a journal with a so-called public beneficial publication 
model, which consists of an Open Access and the commercialized 
publication model (i.e. payment by the third party). This 
publication model has been proven very effective and produced 
fruitful outcome. By 21st December 2007, the number of visit 
hits to the WJG website has reached 21 350 084. WJG advocates 
the tenet that the research funding granted to scientists be used 
to serve scientists, by which high quality scientific articles can be 
published.

Indexed and abstracted in

Current Contents®/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index 
Expanded (also known as SciSearch®) and Journal Citation 
Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, 
Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts 
Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 
CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 
2.532, 1.445 and 0.993.

Published by

The WJG Press 

SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS

Manuscripts should be typed double-spaced on A4 (297 mm × 210 
mm) white paper with outer margins of 2.5 cm. Number all pages 
consecutively, and start each of the following sections on a new 
page: Title Page, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, 
Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, References, Tables, Figures 
and Figure Legends. Neither the editors nor the publisher are 
responsible for the opinions expressed by contributors. Manuscripts 
formally accepted for publication become the permanent property 
of The WJG Press, and may not be reproduced by any means, 
in whole or in part without the written permission of both the 
authors and the publisher. We reserve the right to copy-edit and 
put onto our website accepted manuscripts. Authors should follow 
the relevant guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals 
of their institution or national animal welfare committee. For the 
sake of transparency in regard to the performance and reporting 
of clinical trials, we endorse the policy of the International 
Committee of Medical Journal Editors to refuse to publish papers 
on clinical trial results if the trial was not recorded in a publicly-
accessible registry at its outset. The only register now available, to 
our knowledge, is http://www. clinicaltrials.gov sponsored by the 
United States National Library of Medicine and we encourage all 
potential contributors to register with it. However, in the case that 
other registers become available you will be duly notified. A letter 
of recommendation from the organization in which the author(s) 
works should be provided with the contributed article to warrant 
not give away any secret and if the contributed article is completed 
in cooperation by authors from different organizations, a letter of 
recommendation from each of the organizations should be provided 
to ensure not given away any secret. 

Authors should retain one copy of the text, tables, photographs 
and illustrations, as rejected manuscripts will not be returned to the 
author(s) and the editors will not be responsible for loss or damage 
to photographs and illustrations sustained in the mailing process.

Online submissions

Manuscripts should be submitted through the Online Submission 
System at: http://wjg.wjgnet.com. Authors are highly recommended 
to consult the ONLINE INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS (http://
www.wjgnet.com/wjg/help/instructions.jsp) before attempting 
to submit online. For assistance, authors encountering problems 
with the Online Submission System may send an email describing 
the problem to submission@wjgnet.com, or by telephone: 
+86-10-85381901-600. If you submit your manuscript online, do 
not make a postal contribution. Repeated online submission for the 
same manuscript is strictly prohibited.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

All contributions should be written in English. All articles must be 
submitted using word-processing software. All submissions must be 
typed in 1.5 line spacing and 12 pt. font with ample margins. The 
preferred font is Book Antiqua. Style should conform to our house 
format. Required information for each of the manuscript sections is 
as follows:

Title page

Full manuscript title, running title, all author(s) name(s), 
affiliations, institution(s) and/or department(s) where the work was 
accomplished, author contributions; disclosure of any financial 
support for the research, and the name, full address, telephone and 
fax numbers and email address of the corresponding author should 
be included. Titles should be concise and informative (removing all 
unnecessary words), emphasize what is new, and avoid abbreviations. 
A short running title of less than 40 letters should be provided. List 
the author(s)’ name(s) as follows: initial and/or first name, middle 
name or initial(s), and full family name.

Author controbutions: The format of this section should be 
like this: Author contributions: Wang CL and Liang L contributed 
equally to this work; Wang CL, Liang L, Fu JF, Zou CC, Hong F and 
Wu XM designed research; Wang CL, Zou CC, Hong F and Wu XM 
performed research; Xue JZ and Lu JR contributed new reagents/
analytic tools; Wang CL, Liang L and Fu JF analysed data; and Wang 
CL, Liang L and Fu JF wrote the paper.

Peer reviewers: All articles received are subject to peer review. 
Normally, three experts are invited for each article. Decision for 
acceptance is made only when at least two experts recommend. 
Otherwise, article is rejected. Reviewers are acknowledged in the end 
of each issue. To ensure the quality of the articles published in WJG, 
reviewers of accepted manuscripts will be announced by publishing 
the name, title/position and institution of the reviewer in the 
footnote accompanying the printed article. For example, reviewers: 
Professor Jing-Yuan Fang, Shanghai Institute of Digestive Disease, 
Shanghai, Affiliated Renji Hospital, Medical Faculty, Shanghai 
Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China; Professor Xin-Wei Han, 
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhengzhou 
Univerisity, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China; and Professor 
Anren Kuang, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Huaxi Hospital, 
Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.

Abstract

An informative, structured abstract of no more than 350 words 
should accompany each manuscript. Abstracts for original 
contributions should be structured into the following sections: AIM: 
Only the purpose should be included. METHODS: The materials, 
techniques, instruments and equipment, and the experimental 
procedures should be included. RESULTS: The observed and 
experimental results, including data, effects, outcome, etc. should be 
included. Authors should present P value where necessary, and also 
include any significant data. CONCLUSION: Accurate view and the 
value of the results should be included.

The format for structured abstracts can be found at: http://
www.wjgnet.com/wjg/help/11.doc.

Key words

Please list 5-10 key words, selected mainly from Index Medicus, that 
reflect the content of the study.

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Text

For articles of these sections, original articles, rapid communicatin 
and case reports, the main text should be structured into the 
following sections: INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND 
METHODS, RESULTS and DISCUSSION, and should include 
appropriate Figures and Tables. Data should be presented in the 
body text or in Figures and Tables, but not in both. 

Illustrations

Figures should be numbered as 1, 2, 3 and so on, and mentioned clearly 
in the main text. Provide a brief title for each figure on a separate 
page. No detailed legend should be involved under the figures. This 
part should be added into the text where the figures are applicable. 
As require, figures should be either Photoshop or Illustrator 
files (in tiff, eps, jpeg formats) at high-resolution. The examples 
can be found at: http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/13/4520.
pdf; http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/13/4554.pdf; http://
www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/13/4891.pdf; http://www.
wjgnet.com/1007-9327/13/4986.pdf; http://www.wjgnet.
com/1007-9327/13/4498.pdf. Keeping all elements compiled is 
nessesary in line-art image. Scale bars should be used rather than 
magnification factors, with the length of the bar defined in the 
legend rather than on the bar itself. File names should identify the 
figure and panel. Avoid layering type directly over shaded or textured 
areas. Please use uniform legends for the same subjects. For example: 
Figure 1 Pathological changes in atrophic gastritis after treatment. A: 
...; B: ...; C: ...; D: ...; E: ...; F: ...; G: …etc. It is our principle to make 
out the high resolution-figures of E-version or the printed one.

Tables

Three-line tables should be numbered 1, 2, 3 and so on, and 
mentioned clearly in the main text. Provide a brief title for each 
table. Detailed legends should not be included under tables, but 
rather added into the text where applicable. The information should 
complement but not duplicate that already contained in the text. Use 
one horizontal line under the title, a second under column heads, 
and a third below the Table, above any footnotes. Vertical and italic 
lines should be omitted.

Notes in tables and illustrations

Data that are not statistically significant should not be noted. 
aP < 0.05, bP < 0.01 should be noted (P > 0.05 should not be 
noted). If there are other series of P values, cP < 0.05 and dP < 0.01 
are used. A third series of P values can be expressed as eP < 0.05 
and fP < 0.01. Other notes in tables or under illustrations should 
be expressed as 1F, 2F, 3F; or sometimes as other symbols with a 
superscript (Arabic numerals) in the upper left corner. In a multi-
curve illustration, each curve should be labeled with ., ., ¦, ., ., ., 
etc. in a certain sequence.

Acknowledgments

Brief acknowledgments of persons who have made genuine 
contributions to the manuscripts and who endorse the data and 
conclusions should be included. Authors are responsible for 
obtaining written permission to use any copyrighted text and/or 
illustrations.

REFERENCES

Coding system

The author should number the references in Arabic numerals 
according to the citation order in the text. Put reference numbers in 
square brackets in superscript at the end of citation content or after 
the cited author’s name. For citation content which is part of the 
narration, the coding number and square brackets should be typeset 
normally. For example, “Crohn’s disease (CD) is associated with 
increased intestinal permeability[1,2]”. If references are cited directly 
in the text, they should be put together within the text, for example, 
“Fom references [19,22-24], we know that...”

When the authors write the references, please ensure that the 
order in text is the same as in the references section and also ensure 
the spelling accuracy of the first author’s name. Do not list the same 
citation twice. 

PMID requirement

PMID roots in the abstract serial number indexed by PubMed 
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed). 
The author should supply the PMID for journal citation. For those 
references that have not been indexed by PubMed, a printed copy of 
the first page of the full reference should be submitted. 

The accuracy of the information for journal citations is 
very important. Using the reference testing system, the authors 
and editor should check the authors name, title, journal title, 
publication date, volume number, start page, and end page. We will 
interlink all references with PubMed in an ASP file so that the readers 
can immediately access the abstract of the citations online.

DOI requirement

DOI roots in the serial number indexed by CrossRef (http://www.
crossref.org/guestquery/). DOIs are required for journal articles, 
conference papers and book titles but are optional for journal titles, 
volumes and issues and book chapters/entries and components. 
CrossRef is currently working on expanding the types of content it 
registers DOIs for to include theses and dissertations and database 
records. The author should supply the DOI for journal citation. 

The accuracy of the information of the journal citations is very 
important. We will interlink all references with DOI in ASP file 
so that the readers can read the abstract of the citations online 
immediately. 

Style for journal references

Authors: the name of the first author should be typed in bold-faced 
letters. The family name of all authors should be typed with the 
initial letter capitalized, followed by their abbreviated first and middle 
initials. (For example, Lian-Sheng Ma is abbreviated as Ma LS, Bo-
Rong Pan as Pan BR). The title of the cited article and italicized 
journal title (journal title should be in its abbreviated form as shown 
in PubMed), publication date, volume number (in black), start page, 
and end page [PMID: 11819634 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.13.5396].

Style for book references

Authors: the name of the first author should be typed in bold-faced 
letters. The surname of all authors should be typed with the initial 
letter capitalized, followed by their abbreviated middle and first initials. 
(For example, Lian-Sheng Ma is abbreviated as Ma LS, Bo-Rong 
Pan as Pan BR) Book title. Publication number. Publication place: 
Publication press, Year: start page and end page.

Format

Journals 

English journal article (list all authors and include the PMID where applicable)

1 Jung EM, Clevert DA, Schreyer AG, Schmitt S, Rennert J, 
Kubale R, Feuerbach S, Jung F. Evaluation of quantitative 
contrast harmonic imaging to assess malignancy of liver 
tumors: A prospective controlled two-center study. World J 
Gastroenterol 2007; 13: 6356-6364 [PMID: 18081224 DOI: 
10.3748/wjg.13.6356]

Chinese journal article (list all authors and include the PMID where applicable)

2 Lin GZ, Wang XZ, Wang P, Lin J, Yang FD. Immunologic effect 
of Jianpi Yishen decoction in treatment of Pixu-diarrhoea. 
Shijie Huaren Xiaohua Zazhi 1999; 7: 285-287

In press

3 Tian D, Araki H, Stahl E, Bergelson J, Kreitman M. Signature of 
balancing selection in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2006; 
In press

Organization as author

4 Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, 
insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose 
tolerance. Hypertension 2002; 40: 679-686 [PMID: 12411462]

Both personal authors and an organization as author 

5 Vallancien G, Emberton M, Harving N, van Moorselaar RJ; 
Alf-One Study Group. Sexual dysfunction in 1, 274 European 
men suffering from lower urinary tract symptoms. J Urol 2003; 
169: 2257-2261 [PMID: 12771764]

No author given

6 21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ 
2002; 325: 184 [PMID: 12142303]

Volume with supplement

7 Geraud G, Spierings EL, Keywood C. Tolerability and safety 
of frovatriptan with short- and long-term use for treatment of 
migraine and in comparison with sumatriptan. Headache 2002; 
42 Suppl 2: S93-99 [PMID: 12028325]

Instructions to authors 327



Issue with no volume

8 Banit DM, Kaufer H, Hartford JM. Intraoperative frozen 
section analysis in revision total joint arthroplasty. Clin Orthop 
Relat Res 2002; (401): 230-238 [PMID: 12151900]

No volume or issue

9 Outreach: Bringing HIV-positive individuals into care. HRSA 
Careaction 2002; 1-6 [PMID: 12154804]

Books 

Personal author(s)

10 Sherlock S, Dooley J. Diseases of the liver and billiary system. 
9th ed. Oxford: Blackwell Sci Pub, 1993: 258-296

Chapter in a book (list all authors)

11 Lam SK. Academic investigator’s perspectives of medical 
treatment for peptic ulcer. In: Swabb EA, Azabo S. Ulcer 
disease: investigation and basis for therapy. New York: Marcel 
Dekker, 1991: 431-450

Author(s) and editor(s)

12 Breedlove GK, Schorfheide AM. Adolescent pregnancy. 2nd 
ed. Wieczorek RR, editor. White Plains (NY): March of Dimes 
Education Services, 2001: 20-34

Conference proceedings

13 Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. 
Proceedings of the 5th Germ cell tumours Conference; 2001 
Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer, 2002: 30-56

Conference paper

14 Christensen S, Oppacher F. An analysis of Koza's computational 
effort statistic for genetic programming. In: Foster JA, Lutton E, 
Miller J, Ryan C, Tettamanzi AG, editors. Genetic programming. 
EuroGP 2002: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference 
on Genetic Programming; 2002 Apr 3-5; Kinsdale, Ireland. 
Berlin: Springer, 2002: 182-191

Electronic journal (list all authors)

 Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. 
Emerg Infect Dis serial online, 1995-01-03, cited 1996-06-05; 
1(1): 24 screens. Available from: URL: http//www.cdc.gov/
ncidod/EID/eid.htm

Patent (list all authors)

16 Pagedas AC, inventor; Ancel Surgical R&D Inc., assignee. 
Flexible endoscopic grasping and cutting device and positioning 
tool assembly. United States patent US 20020103498. 2002 Aug 1

Inappropriate references

Authors should always cite references that are relevant to their 
article, and avoid any inappropriate references. Inappropriate 
references include those linked with a hyphen when the difference 
between the two numbers is greater than five. For example, [1-6], 
[2-14] and [1, 3, 4-10, 22] are all considered inappropriate references. 
Authors should not cite their own unrelated published articles.

Statistical data

Present as mean ± SD or mean ± SE.

Statistical expression

Express t test as t (in italics), F test as F (in italics), chi square test as 
.2 (in Greek), related coefficient as r (in italics), degree of freedom 
as . (in Greek), sample number as n (in italics), and probability as P 
(in italics).

Units

Use SI units. For example: body mass, m (B) = 78 kg; blood 
pressure, p (B) = 16.2/12.3 kPa; incubation time, t (incubation) = 
96 h, blood glucose concentration, c (glucose) 6.4 ± 2.1 mmol/L; 
blood CEA mass concentration, p (CEA) = 8.6 24.5 µg/L; CO2 
volume fraction, 50 mL/L CO2, not 5% CO2; likewise for 40 g/L 
formaldehyde, not 10% formalin; and mass fraction, 8 ng/g, etc. 
Arabic numerals such as 23, 243, 641 should be read 23 243 641.

The format for how to accurately write common units and 
quantums can be found at: http://www.wjgnet.com/wjg/help/15.doc.

Abbreviations

Standard abbreviations should be defined in the abstract and on first 
mention in the text. In general, terms should not be abbreviated 
unless they are used repeatedly and the abbreviation is helpful to 
the reader. Permissible abbreviations are listed in Units, Symbols 
and Abbreviations: A Guide for Biological and Medical Editors and 
Authors (Ed. Baron DN, 1988) published by The Royal Society of 
Medicine, London. Certain commonly used abbreviations, such as 
DNA, RNA, HIV, LD50, PCR, HBV, ECG, WBC, RBC, CT, ESR, 
CSF, IgG, ELISA, PBS, ATP, EDTA, mAb, can be used directly 
without further explanation.

Italics

Quantities: t time or temperature, c concentration, A area, l length, 
m mass, V volume.

Genotypes: gyrA, arg 1, c myc, c fos, etc.

Restriction enzymes: EcoRI, HindI, BamHI, Kbo I, Kpn I, etc.

Biology: H pylori, E coli, etc.

SUBMISSION OF THE REVISED MANUSCRIPTS AFTER 

ACCEPTED

Please revise your article according to the revision policies of WJG. 
The revised version including manuscript and high-resolution image 
figures (if any) should be copied on a floppy or compact disk. 
Author should send the revised manuscript, along with printed high-
resolution color or black and white photos, copyright transfer letter 
and responses, to reviewers by courier (such as EMS/DHL).

Editorial Office 

World Journal of Gastroenterology

Editorial Department: Room 903 

Ocean International Center, Building D 

No. 62 Dongsihuan Zhonglu 

Chaoyang District, Beijing 100025, China

E-mail: wjg@wjgnet.com

http://www.wjgnet.com

Telephone: +86-10-59080039

Fax: +86-10-85381893

Language evaluation 

The language of a manuscript will be graded before it is sent for 
revision. (1) Grade A: priority publishing; (2) Grade B: minor 
language polishing; (3) Grade C: a great deal of language polishing 
needed; (4) Grade D: rejected. Revised articles should reach Grade 
A or B.

Copyright assignment form

Please download a CAF from http://www.wjgnet.com/wjg/help/9.
doc.

Responses to reviewers

Please revise your article according to the comments/suggestions 
provided by the reviewers. The format for responses to the reviewers’ 
comments can be found at: http://www.wjgnet.com/wjg/help/10.doc.

Proof of financial support

For paper supported by a foundation, authors should provide a copy 
of the document and serial number of the foundation.

Links to documents related to the manuscript 

WJG will be initiating a platform to promote dynamic interactions 
between the editors, peer reviewers, readers and authors. After 
the manuscript goes online, links to PDF edition of submitted 
manuscript, peer-reviewers’ report and revised manuscript will be 
created. Readers can make comments on the peer reviewer’s report, 
authors’ responses to peer reviewers, and the revised manuscript. We 
hope that authors could benefit from the feedbacks and revise the 
manuscript according to the comments in real time.

Science news releases

Authors of accepted manuscripts are suggested to write science 
news to their articles as both following guidelines and samples, and 
the news will be released soon at EurekAlert/AAAS --http://www.
eurekalert.org. The title for news is less than 90 characters. The 
summary for news is less than 75 words, and main body less than 
500 words. The science news should be lawful, ethical, and tightly based 
on your original contents with attractive title and amusing pictures.

Publication fee

Authors of accepted articles must pay a publication fee.

EDITORIAL, TOPIC HIGHLIGHTS, BOOK REVIEWS and 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR are published free of charge.

328 ISSN 1007-9327 CN 14-1219/R World J Gastroenterol January 14, 2008 Volume 14 Number 2



