Instructions for Authors

Last Update February 1, 2024

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

The editor-in-chief of Diabetes is David A. D’Alessio, MD. Dr. De'Alessio and his editorial team began their term with the January 2022 issue and began reviewing first submissions on July 1, 2021. Learn more about the editorial team at About the Editors.

Diabetes publishes original research about the physiology and pathophysiology of diabetes. Submitted manuscripts can report any aspect of laboratory, animal, or human research. Emphasis is on investigative reports focusing on areas such as the pathogenesis of diabetes and its complications, normal and pathological pancreatic islet function and intermediary metabolism, pharmacological mechanisms of drug and hormone action, and biochemical and molecular aspects of normal and abnormal biological processes. Studies in the areas of diabetes education or the application of accepted therapeutic and diagnostic approaches to patients with diabetes are not published.

Only material that has not been published previously (either in print or electronically) and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, with the exception of an abstract that is less than 400 words in length, will be considered for publication. Prior presentation of data (e.g., at a scientific meeting or via webcast) does not preclude publication in Diabetes, but should be disclosed in the Acknowledgments of the paper and in the author's comments to the editor upon manuscript submission. All submissions to the journal will be scanned for possible duplicate or prior publication using the CrossCheck/iThenticate plagiarism detection system (www.ithenticate.com/). Any article that eclipses a certain similarity threshold with another article will be closely reviewed by ADA. Authors who submit previously published work to the journal will be banned from submitting future manuscripts to the journal, and their funding body and/or institution will be notified.

All contributions, including solicited Perspectives on Diabetes, are critically reviewed by the editors and, if felt to be appropriate for the journal and potentially competitive, invited referees. Reviewers' comments, when available, are provided to authors. The exception are commentaries, all of which are by invitation only and reviewed only by the invited editor. The decision of the editors is final. Authors are welcome to suggest the names of individuals they consider qualified to serve as reviewers.

All human investigation must be conducted according to the principles expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki. All studies involving animals must state that guidelines for the use and care of laboratory animals of the authors' institution or the National Research Council or any national law were followed.

ADA journals require the reporting of sex for cells, tissues, and experimental animals and humans (i.e., male and female) where appropriate and suitable for the experimental design of the research effort; studies should report whether sex was considered a factor in the statistical analysis of the data.

Data Access and Responsibility

Access. Very large datasets may be submitted as supplemental material and cited in the text with a URL to the material, hosted on an author-affiliated website or data repository, or may appear with a note that the data is available upon request to the author. Additional details regarding Resource Sharing and Availablity appear below.

Guarantors. For all reports (regardless of funding source) containing original data, at least one named author (e.g., the principal investigator) who is independent of any commercial funder or sponsor must indicate that he or she is the "guarantor" of the study (i.e., he or she had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis). A statement identifying the guarantor should be included in the Acknowledgments section at the end of the manuscript. Modified statements or generic statements indicating that all authors had such access are not acceptable.

The statement should appear as follows: C.K. is the guarantor of this work and, as such, had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

For industry-sponsored studies, the editors reserve the right to request an analysis of the data (based on the entire raw dataset and evaluation of the study protocol, and prespecified plan for data analysis) by an independent statistician at an academic institution, rather than by statisticians employed by the sponsor or by a commercial contract research organization. In such cases, the independent biostatistician must be a faculty member at a medical school or academic medical center, or an employee of a government research institute, that has oversight over the person conducting the analysis and that is independent of the commercial sponsor. Details of this independent statistical analysis, the name and institutional affiliation of the independent statistician, and whether compensation or funding was received for conducting the analyses should be reported in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript. The results of this independent statistical analysis should be the results reported in the manuscript.

Data Resource Sharing and Availability

 The American Diabetes Association supports the efforts of researchers, funders, and agencies to make underlying research data and resources more accessible, more transparent, and easier to share. As part of this effort, as of January 1, 2019, Diabetes requires authors of original research studies to describe in their papers how readers can access the data and critical resources supporting their reported findings, methods, and conclusions.

Diabetes has adapted and extended to resource sharing the following guidelines from Nature Research’s Policy (go.nature.com/2bf4vqn):

All original research papers submitted to and published in Diabetes must provide statements about the availability of data and critical resources supporting the results reported in the article. The data and resource availability statements should be placed at the end of the “Research Design and Methods” section, under the subheading “Data and Resource Availability.”  The section should contain separate statements on 1) data sharing and 2) resource sharing. Please access the complete policy at diabetesjournals.org/journals/pages/data-resource-sharing-availability for more specific information and guidance related to these policies.

Prepublication and Accessibility of Accepted Articles

 To make research readily available to subscribers, Diabetes publishes accepted articles online ahead of print weeks before the print/online issue becomes available. These articles have been copyedited, proofread, and typeset but not yet author-approved or finalized and will appear in a future issue of Diabetes in print and online.

Online Ahead of Print articles are citable by unique DOI (digital object identifier). DOIs for Diabetes articles begin with 10.2337, followed by the article number assigned when the manuscript was submitted online via the manuscript submission system. (e.g., 10.2337/db11-1234)

Example: Kohler C, Norton H, Farber K, Briggs E: How to cite a prepublished article in ADA journals. Diabetes 10.2337/db11-1234

As a courtesy to authors, the final print versions of articles funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are deposited in PubMed Central (PMC) at no additional cost. In compliance with NIH’s policy, these articles will appear on PMC 12 months after print publication in Diabetes. All articles, regardless of funding body, are delivered to PubMed for inclusion in the PubMed index. 

Full-text HTML versions of all articles are freely accessible on Diabetes online (diabetes.diabetesjournals.org) 6 months after the print publication date, and PDF content becomes freely accessible 12 months after the print publication date.

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POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

ADA's Publications Policy Committee follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for guidance on policies and procedures related to publication ethics. The policies for Diabetes have been adopted from those three advisory bodies and, where necessary, modified and tailored to meet the specific content, audiences, and aims of Diabetes. Comprehensive information related to the editorial and ethical policies of Diabetes can be found in Publication Policies and Procedures for ADA Journals. The Association's Publications Policy Committee or Panel on Ethical Scientific Programs will consider on a case-by-case basis policies that are not addressed in the policies document, which contains information related to the following topics:

• Study Design
• Originality and Prior Publication
• Authorship and Contributions
• Acknowledgments
• Conflict of Interest
• Clinical Trials, Systematic Reviews, and Meta-Analyses
• Plagiarism
• Digital Image Manipulation
• Responses to Possible Scientific Misconduct
• Peer Review
• Editorial Decisions
• Prepublication of Accepted Articles
• Reuse, Post-Prints, and Public Access
• Errata
• Media Embargos
• Advertising
• Supplements

Frequently referenced segments of the document appear below.

Manuscript Submission Form

A manuscript submission form must be completed for each article submitted. The form addresses ADA's policies on 1) originality and authorship, 2) copyright assignment, and 3) potential conflict of interest. The corresponding author should read the three sections, check the appropriate boxes, sign the document where indicated, and upload the completed form to the manuscript submission system upon article submission. ADA will accept ICMJE's Uniform Disclosure Form for Potential Conflicts of Interest.

Submissions will not be considered complete until the manusript submission form has been uploaded/received.

Statement of Originality and Authorship

Diabetes subscribes to the requirements stated in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals that authorship implies substantial contributions to conception and design or analysis and interpretation of data and drafting of the article or critical revision for important intellectual content. The editor reserves the right to query authorship contribution.

Any requested changes to authorship (addition or removal of an author) after the initial submission of a manuscript should be made in writing to the Editorial Office. The new author list must be provided, along with a justification for the change. The author(s) being added or removed should send separate correspondence consenting to the change.

ADA has adopted and modified JAMA’s instructions for authors on the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in creating content or assisting with writing or manuscript preparation. First, nonhuman artificial intelligence, language models, machine learning, or similar technologies do not qualify for authorship.

Second, if these models or tools are used to create content or assist with writing or manuscript preparation, authors must take responsibility for the integrity of the content generated by these tools.

Third, authors should report the use of artificial intelligence, language models, machine learning, or similar technologies to create content or assist with writing or editing of manuscripts in the Acknowledgments section or the Methods section if this is part of formal research design or methods, as well as in the comments to the editors at the time of submission.

This should include a description of the content that was created or edited and the name of the language model or tool, version and extension numbers, manufacturer, and (where relevant) the query or prompt to create or assist with the development of content. (Note: this does not include basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references, etc.)

Copyright Assignment

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) holds the copyright on all material appearing in Diabetes. All authors must check the appropriate boxes and sign the manuscript submission form, which transfers copyright to the ADA in accordance with the Copyright Revision Act of 1976.

Reuse and Post-Prints

ADA's manuscript submission form addresses permission policies related to reuse and post-prints. Please see below for the statement of provenance and other conditions:

Reuse. Authors are permitted to reuse portions of their ADA-copyrighted work, including tables and figures, in their own work, and to reuse portions or all of their ADA-copyrighted work for educational purposes, without submitting a request to ADA, provided that the proper citation and copyright information is given.

Post-prints. Authors are permitted to submit the final, accepted version of their manuscript to their funding body or institution for inclusion in their funding body or institution's database, archive, or repository, or to post the final, accepted version on their personal website. These manuscripts may be made freely accessible to the public upon acceptance, provided that the following two conditions are observed:

First, post-prints must include the following statement of provenance and, once the final version has been published in the journal, a link to the final published version of the paper on the journal's website:

This is an author-created, uncopyedited electronic version of an article accepted for publication in Diabetes. The American Diabetes Association (ADA), publisher of Diabetes, is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it by third parties. The definitive publisher-authenticated version will be available in a future issue of Diabetes in print and online at http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org.

Second, the version of the manuscript deposited or posted must be identical to the final accepted version, with the exception of the addition of the above statement and any changes necessary to correct errors. Authors may make changes to the posted version to correct mistakes or may issue an erratum at any time. However, the final published version of the manuscript may not be deposited, posted, or later substituted for the post-print.

Duality of Interest

All authors must read the ADA Policy Statement on Duality of Interest and check the appropriate box on the manuscript submission form, which can be found online and in every issue of Diabetes. Any author who has duality of interest to disclose must attach an additional statement that explains the nature of the duality or conflict of interest. Relevant duality or conflict of interest (or lack thereof) should also be disclosed in the authors' comments to the editor during the submission process.

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 discussion and reviewed/edited manuscript. N.B. researched data and contributed to discussion. V.G. wrote the manuscript."

In addition, when authors cite the "editorial assistance" of a colleague, or help provided by a colleague "with preparing the manuscript," 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., etc."; "The authors thank Mark Smith, Global Informatics, Inc,. for help with preparing the manuscript." 

Clinical Trials

All clinical trials submitted to Diabetes for consideration of publication must be registered. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) defines a clinical trial as "any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. Studies designed for other purposes, such as to study pharmacokinetics or major toxicity (e.g., phase 1 trials), are exempt."

For definitions and further information, please see the section titled Obligation to Register Clinical Trials found in ICMJE's Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. Please note, however, that unlike ICMJE, ADA does not require trials to be registered before enrollment begins, although Diabetes does encourage this practice. When submitting your manuscript, please include the unique trial number and the name of the registry (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov or ISRCTN) at the end of the abstract and in your cover letter.

Registries must be approved by ICJME. Approved registries include ClinicalTrials.gov, www.ISRCTN.org, www.actr.org.au, www.umin.ac.jp, and www.trialregister.nl.

Reporting on Human Islets

Diabetes requires authors of papers reporting data obtained from studies on human islets to report critical characteristics of the human islets used for research (download the Human Islet Checklist). Such information will facilitate comparisons among studies using isolated human islets and, to the extent possible, standardization of the preparations and methods used by individual laboratories. These objectives are aligned with the current emphasis placed on scientific rigor and reproducibility in research by a number of major funding organizations (1,2). For full details, see the complete Human Islet Policy.

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MANUSCRIPT FORMAT

Articles must be in clear and understandable English. Non-native English authors are encouraged to seek the assistance of an English-proficient colleague, or a communications agency such as “American Journal Experts”, to help improve the clarity and readability of a paper before it is submitted to the journal.

Every manuscript must have an accompanying title page. In addition to the full title, the title page should include a short running title (less than 47 characters and spaces); the first name, middle initial, and last name of each author; the affiliation (in English) of each author during the study being reported; the name, current affiliation, telephone number, and email address of the corresponding author; and the word count and number of tables and figures. The text on the title page should be center aligned.

The main text and tables must be saved in Microsoft Word document format, with 12 pt Times New Roman font, and the main text should double spaced.

Please do not use headers, footers, or endnotes in your paper.

Original Articles

Original Articles are expected to present a significant advance in diabetes research and should be arranged in the following order: title page (first page), abstract (see below), introduction (no heading necessary), Research Design and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments (including Author Contributions, Guarantor Statement, Conflict of Interest statement, funding, and Prior Presentation information), references, tables (each including a title and legend), and figure legends. Figure files and online supplemental files should be uploaded separately. Note: Methods should not be placed in the supplemental material in order to circumvent word count limits. 

• A Graphical abstract is encouraged but not required. Graphical abstracts are a visual summary of the article. The image should capture the main points in a simple visual format, offering a quick understanding of the research. Graphical abstracts are intended to encourage browsing and offer easy identification of papers relevant to a readers research interests. Graphical abstracts will be published as part of the article online and the article PDF. They are excluded from the printed monthly edition of the journal. Authors submitting a graphical abstract should provide an original image clearly summarizing the focus and findings of the article. A landscape layout is preferred for image orientation. Graphical abstracts are uploaded to the submission website individually, and the file name should be simple and descriptive, e.g., graphical_abstract.tiff. Please use text sparingly and choose common fonts, such as Times, Arial, or Courier. Most image file types are acceptable.

  A free graphical abstract template is available for download: Graphical Abstract Template (.ppt). Several free tools are available online to aide in the creation of graphical abstracts, including Canva, Venngage, Inkscape, and Mind the Graph, among others.

  See Digital Art Guidelines for image specifications. As with all materials submitted to ADA, the copyright is transferred to ADA via the manuscript submission form.

• An abstract is required for all Original Articles. The abstract should be unstructured, concise and precise and should convey the essential findings of the manuscript. The abstract may not exceed 200 words. It should state the rationale, objectives, findings, and conclusions of the manuscript. References, primary data, and statistical significance should not be presented in the abstract, and nonstandard abbreviations must be defined. Authors are encouraged to include a statement that describes the potential translational impact of the study results.

• Article Highlights are a list of four bulleted points summarizing the key findings and/or significance of the work described in the paper. Article Highlights should answer the following questions:
  
     a.     Why did we undertake this study?
     b.     What is the specific question(s) we wanted to answer?
     c.     What did we find?
     d.     What are the implications of our findings?
  
  Article Highlights are required for Original Articles, Brief Reports, and Reviews and should be placed immediately after the abstract. This section should be 75 to 100 words or fewer and should be written in complete sentences.

• The word limit for the main text of Original Articles that will appear in the print version of the journal is 4,000 words. (The total word count excludes the title page, abstract, acknowledgments, references, tables and figures, and table/figure legends.) However, word limit should not prevent authors from providing sufficient methodological and data analysis detail. Authors are encouraged to put additional needed detail into supplemental material. While this will not appear in print, it will be available online and as an addendum to the PDF when downloaded from the site.  It should be labeled “Supplemental Material” or “Supplemental Data”.

• The main text should be double spaced.

• An Author Contributions paragraph should list each author's contributions as shown on the manuscript submission forms and should be placed in the Acknowledgments.

• The Acknowledgments are located after the main text and before the reference list. Acknowledgments should contain the author contributions paragraph, brief statements of assistance, the guarantor's name (person or persons taking responsibility for the contents of the article), funding/financial support, and reference to prior publication of the study in abstract form, where applicable.

• The article should contain no more than 50 references and the reference section should be single spaced with justified margins.

• The article should contain no more than a combination of 8 tables and/or figures.

• Supporting documents/data may be uploaded for review purposes and will not be published. (When uploading, be sure each file is clearly labeled "supporting document/data.")

• Online supplemental material should be uploaded in a separate file for publishing in an online-only supplement. Please do not include supplemental material or supplemental figure legends in the main document. Very large datasets may be submitted as supplemental material and cited in the text with a URL to the material, hosted on an author-affiliated website or data repository, or may appear with a note that the data is available upon request to the author. Please see the corresponding sections below for further formatting information on supplemental online-only material, acknowledgments, references, tables, and figures. 

Brief Reports

The Brief Report category can be used for any original research pertinent to the journal. The purpose of the category is to permit publication of very important, high-quality mechanistic studies that can be concisely presented. Brief Reports should be arranged in the following order: title page, abstract (see below), introduction (no heading necessary), Research Design and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, references, tables (each including a title and legend), and figure legends.

• A graphical abstract is encouraged but not required for Brief Reports. (Please follow the formatting guidelines listed under Original Articles.)
• An abstract is required for all Brief Reports. (Please follow the formatting guidelines listed under Original Articles.)
• The word limit for the main text of Brief Reports is 2,000 words. (The total word count excludes the title page, abstract, acknowledgments, references, tables and figures, and table/figure legends.) However, word limit should not prevent authors from providing sufficient methodological and data analysis detail. Authors are encouraged to put additional needed detail into supplemental material. While this will not appear in print, it will be available online and as an addendum to the PDF when downloaded from the site.
• The report should contain no more than 25 references and the reference section should be single spaced with justified margins.
• The article should contain no more than a combination of 4 tables and/or figures.
• Supporting documents/data can be uploaded for review purposes and will not be published. (When uploading, be sure each file is clearly labeled "supporting document/data.")
• Online supplemental material may be uploaded for publishing in an online-only supplement. Very large datasets may be submitted as supplemental material and cited in the text with a URL to the material, hosted on an author-affiliated website or data repository, or may appear with a note that the data is available upon request to the author. Please see the corresponding sections below for further formatting information on supplemental online-only material, acknowledgments, references, tables, and figures, and online supplemental material.

Review Articles

Commentaries

Commentaries are brief articles presenting the authors' views on a topic of current interest. Commentaries (and Editorials) are by invitation only.

• Commentaries should be limited to 1,000 words, no more one than table and/or figure, and no more than 20 references. For further information regarding Commentaries, please read Commentaries in Diabetes, instructions for authors.

Manuscript Submission Tip: To bypass the Abstract field when submitting a Commentary, type None in the Abstract field. For more tips on uploading your manuscript, see the Manuscript Submission Tips section.

Online Letters to the Editor

Online Letters to the Editor are intended to provide an opportunity to comment on articles published within the previous three months in Diabetes. Online Letters to the Editor are not intended as a platform for presenting unpublished data, research, or observations.

While Online Letters are only published online, they are listed in the table of contents of the print version, and will be assigned an "E" page number. Citations for Online Letters should include the letter's unique DOI (digital object identifier) number, which is available in the footnote section of each letter (e.g., 10.2337/db08-XXXX).

• Letters do not have abstracts and should not exceed 500 words and 5 references. The inclusion of tables or figures in letters is discouraged. As with all submissions, letters should be double-spaced with 12 pt. Times New Roman font and justified margins.
• Letters must include a title page with the authors' full names and affiliations and the corresponding author's contact information.
• For comments on or responses to another article or letter, the article or letter on which the letter comments or responds to should be included as reference 1 in the reference list. The editor reserves the right to ask authors of the cited article to respond.

Manuscript Submission Tip: To bypass the "Abstract" field when submitting a Letter to the Editor, type "None" in the "Abstract" field. For more tips on uploading your manuscript, see the Manuscript Submission Tips section.

Perspectives in Diabetes

Perspectives in Diabetes are invited by the Editorial Board or submitted independently. Perspectives may highlight recent exciting research, not primarily that of the author(s), and may provide context for the findings within a field or explain potential interdisciplinary significance. Perspectives commenting on papers in Diabetes should add a dimension to the research and not merely be a summary of the experiments presented in the paper.

The formatting requirements for Perspectives in Diabetes are similar to those for Original Articles.

• An abstract is required for Perspectives articles. The abstract should be an unstructured, concise synopsis and may not exceed 200 words. References, primary data, and statistical significance should not be presented in the abstract, and nonstandard abbreviations must be defined.
• The word limit for the main text is 4,000 words and 50 references. (The total word count excludes the title page, abstract, acknowledgments, references, tables and figures, and table/figure legends.) The main text should be double spaced with justified margins.
• Perspectives may include a combination of no more than eight tables and/or figures.

Please see the corresponding sections below for information on acknowledgments, references, tables, and figures.

Supplemental Data (Online Supplemental Material)

If you upload supplemental material intended for publishing online only it should be labeled as an "Online Supplemental Materials" file. If you upload supporting data intended for review purposes only it should be uploaded as "Supporting Data or Supporting Document". Files uploaded as supporting data/supporting document will not be published in print or online if the paper is accepted.

Online-only supplemental material contains only supplemental information that is in addition to the main document (additional writing group members/investigator lists, supplemental tables and/or figures, short videos, etc.). It should not be excessively long. Files should be clearly marked and uploaded individually. Please do not include supplemental figure legends or material in the main document.

Very large datasets may be submitted as supplemental material and cited in the text with a URL to the material, hosted on an author-affiliated website or data repository, or may appear with a note that the data is available upon request to the author.

Note: If you have online-only supplemental material, you must include justification on the necessity of the online supplement in your cover letter. The main document must contain all relevant material. Sections (i.e., Research Design and Methods, Results, Discussion) and/or portions thereof cannot be moved to an online-only supplemental file to accommodate word limits in the main document. Each section must be complete, without exception.

Please be aware that online-only material is not copyedited. You will want to provide clear, clean final version of any supplemental files.

References

The reference list should go at the end of the document, after the main text and acknowledgments (if applicable) 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 the footnote/endnote functions found in some word processing programs. Reference software is permissible (e.g., EndNotes). Reference lists should be single spaced (no space between citations), and the margins should be justified.

For examples of how to style various citations in the reference list, see "References" in the Manuscript Style section.

Tables

Tables should be placed at the end of the main document, after the references, with each table starting on a new page. The table number, title, and legend go above or below the table and not within actual table rows.  Tables should be created in Word using the "Insert Table" command; please do not use tabs, hard returns, and/or spaces to create tables, columns, or rows. Tables with internal divisions (Tables 1A and B) should be submitted as individual tables, i.e., Tables 1 and 2. Symbols for units should be confined to column headings. Abbreviations should be kept to a minimum and defined in the table legend. Please avoid the use of shading. If a table includes data that require explanation in the legend, apply the following symbol sequence, from top to bottom, left to right: *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, #, **, ††, ‡‡, etc.

If tables are taken from other sources, it should be noted in the legend, and the author must be able to provide written permission for reproduction obtained from the original publisher and author.

Figures

All figures should be properly numbered and uploaded as separate files. Please place the main figure legends at the end of the main document after the references and tables. 

Data presentation.  In place of bar graphs, for small datasets (n<7-10) show the full data as univariate scatter plots that also show mean and standard deviation, as summary statistics are only meaningful if there are enough data to summarize. For larger data sets, use box and whisker plots or histograms.  While many of these types of graphs can be produced with standard software packages such a GraphPad PRISM, other approaches to creating such plots have been described (see Weissgerberet al. [2015] PLoS Biol 13(4): e1002128. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1002128). For other graphs not amenable to scatter plots, box plots, or histograms, display standard deviation, rather than SEM, with plungers.

Figures should be created in black and white or color, not shades of gray, which are difficult to reproduce in even tones.

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 or two columns in width. Multi-paneled figures should be assembled in a layout that leaves the least amount of blank space.

1 column = 21 picas wide, 3.5 in, 8.9 cm
2 columns = 43 picas wide, 7.1 in, 18 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.

Reproductions. If materials (e.g., figures and/or tables) are taken from other sources, it should be noted in the legend, and the author must be able to provide written permission for reproduction obtained from the original publisher and author. For more information, refer to Permissions: Help for Authors.

ADA has adopted and modified JAMA’s instructions for authors on the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in reproducing and re-creating material for publication. In particular, the submission and publication of content created by artificial intelligence, language models, machine learning, or similar technologies is discouraged, unless part of formal research design or methods, and is not permitted without clear description of the content that was created and the name of the model or tool, version and extension numbers, manufacturer, and (where relevant) the query or prompt to create or assist with the development of content. Authors must take responsibility for the integrity of the content generated by these models and tools. 

Figure legends. Figure legends should be clearly numbered. For review and production processes, figure legends should be included beneath the image as well as in a section at the end of the manuscript, clearly labeled as Figure Legends. 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 figure files for print and online 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).

The Diabetes Editorial Office can properly convert digital figure files as a courtesy for authors who are unable to provide files that meet the specifications. To facilitate this process, please indicate the type of software application(s) used to generate the figure in the form of an email to the Editorial Office (address below) and make sure original source files (the initial images created by the original software application) are either uploaded to the submission site or emailed to the Editorial Office (diabetesjournal@diabetes.org. If figure files are too large to upload or email, please either upload them on a free web server (http://www.yousendit.com/).

It is strongly recommended that authors converting their own digital files also send the original source files (what the figures were created in and saved in that program format) to the Diabetes Editorial Office in the event that the converted files are not acceptable for publication for any reason. Unacceptable files include those of poor quality due to improper conversion and/or incorrect resolution (dpi) and/or the use of too many software applications in the creation of the file.

Digital image manipulation. The American Diabetes Association has adopted the statement developed by the Journal of Cell Biology as its policy on the manipulation of digital images:

“No specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. The grouping of images from different parts of the same gel, or from different gels, fields, or exposures must be made explicit by the arrangement of the figure (i.e., using dividing lines) and in the text of the figure legend. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if they are applied to the whole image and as long as they do not obscure, eliminate, or misrepresent any information present in the original, including backgrounds. Without any background information, it is not possible to see exactly how much of the original gel is actually shown. Non-linear adjustments (e.g., changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend.”

All digital images in manuscripts accepted for publication will be scanned using image forensics software for any indication of improper manipulation. Cases of questionable or inappropriate image alterations will be referred to the Association’s Panel on Ethical Scientific Programs (ESP). The ESP may request the original data from the authors for comparison to the prepared figures. If the authors fail to provide the original data, the acceptance of the manuscript will be revoked. Cases of deliberate misrepresentation of data will result in revocation of acceptance, and will be reported to the corresponding author's home institution and/or funding agency as appropriate.

For examples of what constitutes improper digital manipulation (as well as other forms of scientific misconduct), ADA encourages authors to refer to the 2006 editorial by the Journal of Clinical Investigation titled “Stop Misbehaving!” In addition, authors are encouraged to refer to Adobe’s white paper on using Photoshop CS3 Extended in biomedical imaging. The paper provides useful information on maintaining image integrity, editing nondestructively, and the medical and scientific image workflow.

Artificial intelligence and image development. ADA has adopted and modified JAMA’s instructions for authors on the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning on the development of images presented for publication. In particular, the submission and publication of images created by artificial intelligence, machine learning tools, or similar technologies is discouraged, unless part of formal research design or methods, and is not permitted without clear description of the content that was created and the name of the model or tool, version and extension numbers, manufacturer, and (where relevant) the query or prompt to create or assist with the development of content. Authors must take responsibility for the integrity of the content generated by these models and tools.

Manuscript Submission Tip: Figures are to be uploaded individually as separate files. They should be in their original source format (what they were created in) if you are unable to convert figures properly. For more tips, please see the Manuscript Submission Tips section.

Video

Videos can now be published in the online article, with a still image from the video appearing in the PDF and the print version. 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. Each video must be cited in the text, and a legend must accompany each video. Video legends should include labels that correspond with the in-text citation and should be placed after the figure legends in the manuscript.

Videos can also be submitted as supplementary data and should be labeled "online supplemental video 1," etc. Supplementary 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.

Cover Art

Authors are invited to submit images for use on the cover of Diabetes. Black and white or color photographic or photomicrographic images are acceptable. Examples of recent covers can be found on the Diabetes archive page. Cover image submission and selection is completely independent of article submission and the peer review process. Images sent for consideration on the cover are not required to be related to an article submitted to or published in the journal. The author must own copyright to the image and, if chosen, must grant ADA unrestricted free use of the image to be published on the cover of the journal as well as in other ADA publications and marketing materials. If your image is selected, you must be able to provide the file in TIFF or EPS format, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi and no larger than 2 MB.

Cover image submissions should be sent to productionmanager@diabetes.org with a brief caption and complete credit information (e.g., photograph courtesy of...). Please limit inquiries regarding the status of your cover image submission. You will be notified in a timely manner if your image has been selected to appear on a cover of Diabetes.

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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 Council of Science Editors (CSE) style manual (7th ed., 2006, Reston, VA, Council of Science Editors). All accepted manuscripts will be edited according to the CSE style manual and The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed., 2003, Chicago, IL, The University of Chicago Press) by ADA professional publications staff. The authors are responsible for all statements made in their articles or editorials, including any editing changes made by staff.

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.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be used only when necessary, e.g., for long chemical names (HEPES), procedures (ELISA), or terms used throughout the article. See the list of abbreviations that need not be defined; all others must be defined at first use. Abbreviate units of measure only when used with numbers. Abbreviations may be used in tables and figures. The American Medical Association 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. HbA1c values should be dually reported as “% (mmol/mol).” Please use the NGSP’s HbA1c converter at http://www.ngsp.org/convert1.asp to calculate HbA1c values as both % and mmol/mol.

Materials

Authors should provide the name and location (city and state/country) of the source for specified chemicals and other materials only if alternate sources are considered unsatisfactory.

References

References should be listed according to the following examples and should be numbered in the order that they are cited in the text. All authors must be listed and inclusive page numbers provided. 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.

When citing the prepublished version of a Diabetes article, please use the DOI (digital object identifier) in place of volume, page range, and year (see below for an example). The DOI of a Diabetes article will begin with 10.2337, followed by an article number (assigned at submission via the online manuscript submission system) (e.g., 10.2337/db08-XXXX).

Example: Kohler C, Norton N, Farber K, Briggs E: How to cite a prepublished article in ADA journals. Diabetes 10.2337/db08-9999

Scientific Sessions abstracts from 2003 to present can be found using the link provided at the bottom of the Diabetes archive page (http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/contents-by-date.0.shtml).

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MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

Diabetes takes only online manuscript submissions. The submission site can be found at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/diabetes. Please read all instructions carefully. Failure to follow the submission instructions may delay the review process.

• Your manuscript should be submitted under the name of the designated corresponding author's user account (the contact person listed on the title page of the manuscript); the corresponding author is the only author who will receive notification of proof availability. (The system automatically recognizes the user account as the corresponding author, even if another name is designated.)
• Be sure to review the proofs of your submitted files after uploading them.
• To bypass the "Abstract" field when submitting a Letter to the Editor or a Commentary, type "None" in the "Abstract" field, and when submitting a Perspectives, paste the introduction into the "Abstract" field.
• Use simple file names when saving your documents, and do not use special characters such as [brackets], (parentheses), punctuation marks (?, !, .), or symbols (@, #, &, etc.). In addition, avoid spaces in files names, e.g., use "Figure1.tif" rather than "Figure 1.tiff."
• Do not upload .pdf files, Excel files, or zipped files (unless you are uploading original source files of figures). You may, however, upload .pdf copies of the signed manuscript submission form, which can be found in the Editorial Policies section and must be provided for all manuscript submissions.
• The text of your manuscript should be prepared using a word processing program and saved as a .doc, .txt, or a .rtf file.
• When uploading each file, you will be asked to choose a designation from a pull-down menu that describes the content of the file (e.g., "Main Document," "Figure," "Table," etc.). In addition to this designation, please ensure that the name of each file clearly describes the content of the file (e.g., "figure1.tiff," "table2.doc," "coverletter.rtf," etc.).

Revisions

In addition to following the above listed guidelines for submission:

• When submitting a revised manuscript, all changes should be indicated with red font and underlined. Deletions need not be indicated within the article itself but should be noted in the author responses to reviewers.
• If the "track changes" function of a word processing program is used to show additions and deletions, make sure that all changes are "accepted" before submitting the clean revised version. Once the changes are accepted, deactivate the track changes function before saving and uploading the file.
• Please provide both a marked version showing corrections and a "clean" final version.
• Do not "lock" or "page protect" documents.
• Please adhere to word count, table, and figure limits as previously instructed.

At the revision stage, all authors are required to submit, together with the revised manuscript, a PDF file including all of the original, uncropped, and unedited images representing gels, Western blots, microscopic photos, etc., that are intended to be published as figures in the final version of the article, if accepted. Each gel/blot should be labeled as "Full unedited gel/blot for Figure 1, 2, etc.," and the authors should highlight which lanes of the unedited gel/blot correspond to those shown in the cropped images presented as figures in the manuscript. This file will be temporarily archived in the manuscript submission site if the manuscript is accepted; it will not be available to readers unless specifically requested by the authors to be published online. Please note that the PDF file of unedited images is required in addition to the final individual figure files composed as intended for print/online publication, if accepted. Failure to provide such original photographs will delay, or even preclude, publication of a manuscript in ADA journals.

Failure to follow instructions may result in publication delays if your manuscript is accepted.

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPTS

Accepted manuscripts will be scheduled for publication as soon as possible.

Correspondence concerning the copyediting and proofreading of accepted manuscripts should be addressed to:
Tessa Cooper, Editorial Content Manager, Scholarly Journal Publishing
American Diabetes Association
2451 Crystal Drive, Suite 900
Arlington, VA 22202
Email: TCooper@diabetes.org

Correspondence concerning the production of accepted articles should be addressed to:
Production Coordinator, Scholarly Journal Publishing
American Diabetes Association,
2451 Crystal Drive, Suite 900
Arlington, VA 22202
Email: ADA_Pubs@diabetes.org

The designated corresponding author will receive notification of availability of page proofs by email. Corrections should be returned within 24 hours of receipt of the proof. Failure to do so may delay the publication of the article to another issue. 

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FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS FOR ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPTS

Article-processing charges are assessed for non-invited articles to help defray the costs related to the peer review, editorial production and publication, access and dissemination, and archiving and indexing of articles published in Diabetes.

For articles submitted on or after February 1, 2024, article processing charges will be assessed at $175 per typeset journal page.

In addition, Diabetes offers an “Open Choice” option for authors who wish to make their published article immediately accessible to nonsubscribers. By paying an additional article-processing charge of $250 per page, authors may elect to have their articles freely available on the journal's website immediately upon publication online. Upon receipt of payment and on behalf of the author, ADA will also deposit the final version of the published paper into PubMed Central. 

Authors will receive an invoice for publication fees, as well as a reprint order form, when page proofs become available. Unless otherwise indicated, it is assumed that the corresponding author takes responsibility for payment. Questions regarding billing or payment should be directed to aubilling.djs@kwglobal.com.

ADA recognizes that authors, their institutions, or their funding bodies, particularly those from low-income countries, may be unable to meet these financial obligations. In such cases, authors should submit requests for discounts or waivers of article-processing charges via the following form: Request for Page Fee Waiver.

It should be noted that payment of publication fees or waiver status does not in any way influence the editorial decision-making process or the publication of any paper submitted to ADA journals. 

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ADA Professional Publications Personnel and Contacts

ADA professional publications include books, clinical compendia, scholarly journals, professional news, podcasts, and multimedia. Contact Us With Questions.

Peer-Review Office Contact Information

Correspondence concerning manuscript submission/peer review should be addressed to:

Email: DiabetesJournal@diabetes.org
Phone: (317) 354-1508 Ext: 1782

Shannon Potts, Director, Scholarly Journals Peer-Review
Zora Nazarei, Peer-Review Manager, Diabetes  

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