Detailed Information for Authors

Updated on 20 July 2022

The mission of Clinical Diabetes is to provide primary care providers and all clinicians involved in the care of people with diabetes with information on advances and state-of-the-art care for people with diabetes. Clinical Diabetes is also a forum for discussing diabetes-related problems in practice, medical-legal issues, case studies, digests of recent research, and patient education materials. All submissions to Clinical Diabetes will be reviewed by the editorial team and considered for publication if they contain information that would be helpful to the journal’s readership. All articles, whether invited or submitted, should be written with general practice, family practice, or internal medicine providers in mind as the main audience.

HOW CAN I SUBMIT AN ARTICLE TO THE JOURNAL?

Manuscripts may be submitted via http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/clinical-diabetes. Before submitting an article, please review the information below and click on the appropriate link for further instructions related to the content and format of the article you wish to submit. The corresponding author should complete, sign, and return the manuscript submission form on behalf of all authors at the time of or soon after submitting an article. Once a manuscript is submitted, the review process generally takes 4–6 weeks. Failure to follow the manuscript preparation and submission instructions may delay the review process.

ARTICLE TYPES

Feature Articles
Feature articles on topics related to diabetes in primary practice are published in each issue of Clinical Diabetes. These articles are approximately 3,000 to 6,000 words in length, although there is no firm restriction on the word count of submitted articles. 

Feature articles should follow the guidelines below for manuscript format, style, and submission requirements. Authors should include a very short (2–4 sentences) brief summary of their article, to be used in place of a traditional abstract. Authors may also include a short, bulleted list of up to four key points of their article. If provided, these will appear in a box on the article’s first page. 

Departments

Case Studies
Articles written for the "Case Studies" department present real patient cases from the authors' practices illustrating specific points in the care of diabetes patients. Each article should be approximately 800-1600 words and should follow the guidelines for manuscript format, style, and submission requirements set forth below. "Case Studies" articles should be structured in the following format:

1. Case study title
2. Your name
3. Brief case presentation, including symptoms at presentation, significant history, physical exam, and lab results
4. Questions raised by this case
5. Commentary
6. Summary of the "clinical pearls" exemplified by this case
7. A brief list of references or suggested readings 

Clinical Pharmacology Update
Articles in “Clinical Pharmacology Update” are invited articles (no unsolicited submissions considered) summarizing pharmaceutical agents for the treatment of diabetes. Articles should be 500–1,000 words in length with less than 10 references. These articles follow a specific template, as follows:

1. Introduction
2. Indications (label and off-label)
3. Mechanism of action
4. Potential advantages
5. Potential disadvantages
6. Cost (using some standard metric or website (1 month of a middle-range dose)
7. Comments: Discussion of studies key to the disease being treated with emphasis on the diabetes population
8. Bottom line: The clinical implications for diabetes treatment

Commentary
Commentaries should be opinion articles of approximately 800 words in length. The articles should follow the guidelines for manuscript format, style, and submission requirements set forth below. Examples of each department can be found in issues on the journal website. 

Diabetes Advocacy
Articles for “Diabetes Advocacy” are written or invited by American Diabetes Association or Clinical Diabetes staff (no unsolicited submissions considered) and focus on the Association’s advocacy efforts on behalf of people with diabetes.

Editorial
Editorials are short (approximately 800 words) commentaries written or invited by the journal’s Editor-in-Chief. The articles should follow the guidelines for manuscript format, style, and submission requirements set forth below. Examples of each department can be found in issues on the journal website. 

Letter to the Editor
Letters should be brief (≤800 words) and should comment specifically on an article that has been published in the journal. Authors should provide a citation for the article on which they are commenting.

Perspectives in Clinical Diabetes
Articles in the “Perspectives in Clinical Diabetes” are longer-form commentaries that discuss exciting new diabetes-related research, innovations in diabetes care, or developments and trends related to diabetes treatment and clinical applications. Perspectives should provide additional context for, or serve as a critical and interpretational review of, recent diabetes-related research, innovations, and related issues of interest to the primary care community. Articles submitted for this department may also take the form of “calls to action” or proposals for new diabetes-related initiatives. Perspectives should be written in an essay-like format and tone, and authors should be experts or authorities on the topic discussed.

Authors are encouraged to submit a proposal for a “Perspectives in Clinical Diabetes” topic before submitting a draft of their manuscript. Proposals should be limited to 1-2 pages, approximately 2000-4000 words in length, and should describe the topic and focus of the article, the major issues to be addressed, and the importance of the topic for the diabetes community and health care professionals. The proposal should also include a brief bio of each author that includes a description of his/her expertise in the area to be discussed as well as any potential conflict of interests related to the development or topic of the manuscript. Any form of writing or editorial assistance by a third-party entity, such as a medical education company, should be acknowledged in the proposal.

All proposals should be emailed (as Word document attachments) to Joan Garrett ([email protected]) in the ADA Editorial Office. All “Perspectives in Clinical Diabetes” papers (whether invited or by query) are subject to peer review.

Practical Pointers
Articles in the "Practical Pointers" department offer a discussion of the basics of some aspect of diabetes care. These articles should be approximately 2400-4000 words long and should follow the guidelines for manuscript format, style, and submission requirements set forth below.

Quality Improvement Success Stories
This series, published in collaboration with the American College of Physicians and the National Diabetes Education Program, highlights best practices and strategies from programs and clinics that have successfully improved the quality of care for people with diabetes. Diabetes health care professionals who wish to share information about their quality improvement initiatives are encouraged to do so by completing a template (.docx download); and submitting it through the journal’s online submission system. All submissions will be reviewed by the journal’s editorial team. All accepted articles will be published online; selected articles will also be published in print. 

Translating Research to Practice
Articles written for the "Translating Research to Practice" department offer summaries and discussions of current research studies related to diabetes clinical care. Each article should be approximately 1600 words long and should follow the guidelines for manuscript format, style, and submission requirements set forth below. "Translating Research to Practice" articles should be structured in the following format:

1. Title of your article
2. Citation for the research study on which you are writing, including all author names, full title of the research article, journal of publication, volume, page range, and year of publication
3. Reviewed by (your name)
4. Summary of the research article, including brief descriptions of the study objective, design, subjects, methods, results, and conclusion
5. Discussion of the significance of this research, including its applicability to clinical diabetes care, especially in the primary practice setting
6. References

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MANUSCRIPT FORMAT
All text and tables should be saved in Word document format. Doing so will allow our Editorial Office to verify the word count and our production staff to compose your manuscript (if accepted) into a published article. Please do not use headers, footers, or endnotes in your submitted manuscript. 

Title Page
Every manuscript must have an accompanying title page. The title page should include the title; the first name, middle initial, last name, and the highest academic degree of each author; affiliation (in English) of each author; and name, current address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the corresponding author. 

Acknowledgments
The acknowledgments are located after the main text and before the reference list. Acknowledgments should contain the author contributions paragraph (see below), brief statements of assistance, the guarantor’s name (person[s] taking responsibility for the contents of the article), funding/financial support, conflict of interest statement, and reference to prior publication of the study in abstract form, where applicable.

Author Contributions. Authors are required to include a paragraph in the Acknowledgments section listing each author’s contribution.
Example: “C.K. researched data. L.R. wrote the manuscript and researched data. H.N. reviewed/edited the manuscript. V.S. contributed to the discussion and reviewed/edited the manuscript. N.B. researched data and contributed to discussion. V.G. wrote the manuscript.”

Writing Groups. The names of members of writing groups should be listed at the end of the Acknowledgments section (if no more than two or three short paragraphs); otherwise, please upload these in a separate supplemental material online-only file.

Editorial Assistance. When citing “editorial assistance” or help provided by a colleague, authors are required to list the employer/institution with which that colleague is affiliated.
Example: “The authors acknowledge the editorial assistance of Mark Smith, Global Informatics, Inc.”
Example: “The authors thank Mark Smith, Global Informatics, Inc., for help with preparing the manuscript.”

References
The reference list should go at the end of the document, after the main text and acknowledgments and before the tables. References should be numbered in the order that they are cited in the text.

Reference numbers in the text should be in normal type and in parentheses [e.g., “In the study by Norton et al. (23)...”]. Please do not use programs such as EndNote or footnote/endnote functions found in some word processing programs.

See below for examples of how to style each reference in the reference list. 

Tables
Tables should be included at the end of the text document, with the table number and title indicated. Tables should be created using Word and the “Insert Table” command; please do not use tabs or spaces to create tables, columns, or rows. Tables with internal divisions (Tables 1A and B) should be submitted as individual tables (i.e., Table 1 and Table 2). Symbols for units should be confined to column headings. Abbreviations should be kept to a minimum and defined in the table legend. For footnotes, use the following symbols consecutively, left to right, top to bottom of the table: *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, #, **, ††, etc.

If tables are taken from other sources, the author must be able to provide written permission for reproduction obtained from the copyright holder. 

Figures
Clinical Diabetes uses digital publishing methods throughout the journal production process. If your article is accepted, it will be published both in the printed journal and online. The following sections provide information on how to format your figures to ensure the best possible reproduction of your images.

Size. Figures should be produced at the size they are to appear in the printed journal. Please make sure your figures will fit in one, two, or three columns in width. Multi-paneled figures should be assembled in a layout that leaves the least amount of blank space.

1 column = 13 picas wide, 2.2 in, 5.6 cm
2 columns = 28 picas wide, 4.6 in, 11.7 cm
3 columns = 41 picas, 6.8 in, 17.3 cm 

Font. At 100% size, fonts should be 8-10 points and used consistently throughout all figures. 

Text. Information on the axes should be succinct, using abbreviations where possible, and the label on the y-axis should read vertically, not horizontally. Key information should be placed in any available white space within the figure; if space is not available, the information should be placed in the legend. In general, figures with multiple parts should be marked A, B, C, etc., with a description of each panel included in the legend rather than on the figure. 

Line and bar graphs. Lines in graphs should be bold enough to be easily read after reduction, as should all symbols used in the figure. Data points are best marked with the following symbols, again assuring that they will be readily distinguishable after reduction: In the figure legend, please use words rather than the symbols; e.g., “black circles = group 1; white squares = group 2; black bars = blood glucose; white bars = C-peptide.” Bars should be black or white only, unless more than two datasets are being presented; additional bars should be drawn with clear bold hatch marks or stripes, not shades of gray. Line or bar graphs or flow charts with text should be created in black and white, not shades of gray, which are difficult to reproduce in even tones. 

Reproductions. If materials (e.g., figures and/or tables) are taken from other sources, the author must be able to provide written permission for reproduction obtained from the copyright holder. In addition, the source should be cited at the end of the figure legend. 

Figure legends. Figure legends should be clearly numbered and included at the very end of your main text document and should not be included on the separate figure/image files. Please use words to describe symbols used in the figure; e.g., “black circles = group 1; white squares = group 2; black bars = blood glucose; white bars = C-peptide.”

Formatting digital files for print reproduction. To meet ADA’s quality standards for publication, it is important to submit digital art that conforms to the appropriate resolution, size, color mode, and file format. Doing so will help to avoid delays in publication and maximize the quality of images, both online and in print. Please refer to ADA's Digital Art Guidelines when preparing your files. If you are unable to provide files that meet the specifications outlined in the Guidelines, you may submit your original source files (files from the program in which they were originally created).

Authors may be asked to prepare new figures if those submitted are not suitable for reproduction.

Video
Authors are encouraged to submit videos to be published in the online version of the article, with a still image from the video to appear in the PDF and print versions. Still images are encouraged, but not required, and should represent as best as possible the main subject of the video. Video files should be clearly labeled as "Video 1," "Video 2," etc., and still images should be named "Video 1 Still Image," etc.

Videos should be cited in numerical order in the text (Video 1, Video 2, etc.), and if a still image is supplied, please include a corresponding legend in a section labeled "Video Legends" placed at the end of the manuscript.

Videos can also be submitted as supplementary material and should be appropriately labeled, e.g., "Online Supplemental Video 1." Supplemental material videos are not required to have legends.

Most video formats are acceptable, including .avi, .flv, .mov, .mp4, .swf, .wav, .wma, .wmv, and more. For helpful information about creating videos, please visit the Video Creation Guide.

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MANUSCRIPT STYLE
Terminology and Style
Articles should be written in clear, concise English following the recommendations for scientific writing found in Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (8th edition) for scientific style conventions. All accepted manuscripts will be edited according to:

• Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (8th edition) for scientific style conventions
• Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) for American English grammar and usage
• Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition) for spelling
• Stedman’s Medical Dictionary (28th edition) for medical terminology
• AMA Manual of Style (10th edition) for units of measure

Authors are responsible for all statements made in their articles or editorials, including any editing changes made by staff Proof pages will be sent to the corresponding author and should be read carefully.

The designations type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes should be used when referring to the two major forms of diabetes. Abbreviations for diabetes, such as T2D for type 2 diabetes, should not be used. The term diabetic should not be used as a noun. Pharmaceutical agents should be listed by generic name. 

Abbreviations
Abbreviations should be used only when necessary, e.g., for long chemical names (HEPES), procedures (ELISA), or terms used throughout the article. Abbreviate units of measure only when used with numbers. Abbreviations may be used in tables and figures. The CSE style manual contains lists of standard scientific abbreviations. 

Units
Clinical laboratory values should be in Système International (SI) form. Kilocalories should be used rather than kilojoules. Glycated hemoglobin should be expressed as percentage of total and as standard deviation from mean control levels.

References
References should be numbered in the order that they are cited in the text. For articles with less than seven authors, include all author names. For those with seven or more authors, include the first three names, followed by “et al.” Journal titles should be abbreviated as in the National Library of Medicine’s List of Journals Indexed for Medline; for unlisted journals, complete journal titles should be provided. Material that is in press may be cited, but copies of such material may be requested. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. Click here for examples of how references should be formatted.

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REQUIREMENTS
Copyright Assignment
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) holds the copyright on all material appearing in Clinical Diabetes. The corresponding author must sign, check the appropriate box(es) on, and submit, on behalf of all authors, a manuscript submission form, which transfers copyright to the ADA.

Duality of Interest
The corresponding author must indicate on the manuscript submission form that any potential conflicts of interest for any author will be disclosed in the manuscript (see Acknowledgements section under MANUSCRIPT FORMAT, above).

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPTS
Accepted manuscripts will be copyedited, processed, and scheduled for publication as soon as possible. Correspondence concerning the copyediting and production of accepted manuscripts should be e-mailed to , Managing Editor, Clinical Diabetes.

Once an article has been peer-reviewed and accepted, it will then be forwarded to Clinical Diabetes staff for copyediting. The copyedited article will be e-mailed to the corresponding author for any needed revisions and/or approval of the copyedited version. Typesetting and page design then occur. The corresponding author’s final review will be a galley proof e-mailed from the production vendor. Galley proofs should be reviewed and returned within 2 days of receipt.

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