1. General Guidelines

The Journal of Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology (JMSNI) is the official Journal of the Korean Society of Neuroimmunology.
JMSNI launched in March 2010 with volume 1 and number 1 and publishes on June and December in Korean and English. To submit a manuscript to the JMSNI, it is advised to first read the aims and scope section of this journal carefully, as it provides information on the category of papers it accepts.

JMSNI publishes papers on disorders due to immunemediated injury of the central (CNS) and peripheral (PNS) nervous systems. The journal’s goal is to advance basic and clinical knowledge on how the nervous and immune systems interact, and how those interactions can result in diseases. JMSNI features papers that investigate many disorders that have critical neuroimmune components, such as CNS/PNS inflammatory changes, neurologic infections, neurodegeneration, and systemic autoimmune/connective tissue/inflammatory conditions. Multiple sclerosis (MS) receives special attention, because it is a critical immune-mediated disorder that involves the CNS, and provides the opportunity to investigate advanced therapies in neuroimmunology.

Manuscripts should be prepared for submission to JMSNI in accordance with the following instructions. For issues not addressed in these instructions, the author is referred to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals” (http://www.icmje.org). It also adheres completely to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (joint statement by COPE, DOAJ, WAME, and OASPA; http://doaj.org/bestpractice) if otherwise not described below.

2. Types of Manuscript

The Journal publishes Original article, Review article, Case report, Brief communication, Neuroimage, Letter to the editor in multiple sclerosis and neuro-immune disorder and other articles requested by editorial board.

3. Research and publication ethics

The journal adheres to the ethical guidelines for research and publication described in Guidelines on Good Publication (http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines) and the ICMJE Guidelines (http://www.icmje.org).
The Editor-in-Chief has the right to reject a manuscript if research misconduct is suspected. When violation of publication ethics related to the papers of this journal is detected, the authors will be announced in the journal and their institutes will be informed, and there will also be penalties for the authors.

1) Conflict of interest statement

The corresponding author must inform the editor of any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the authors’ interpretation of the data. Examples of potential conflicts of interest are financial support from or connections to companies, political pressure from interest groups, and academically related issues. In particular, all sources of funding applicable to the study should be explicitly stated.

2) Statement of human and animal right

Clinical research should be done in accordance of the Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects, outlined in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (revised 2013), available from: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/. Clinical studies that do not meet the Helsinki Declaration will not be considered for publication.
Human subjects should not be identifiable, such that patients’ names, initials, hospital numbers, dates of birth, or other protected healthcare information should not be disclosed. For animal subjects, research should be performed based on the National or Institutional Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and the ethical treatment of all experimental animals should be maintained.
Articles describing research involving humans and animals must state in the “Materials and Methods” section that the work was approved by the applicable institutional ethics committee or review board. The manuscript must also state that informed consent was obtained from the subjects, when appropriate.

3) Statement of informed consent and institutional review board approval

Copies of written informed consent documents should be kept for studies on human subjects, which includes identifiable information or sensitive information. For clinical studies of human subjects, a certificate, agreement, or approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the author’s institution is required. If necessary, the editor or reviewers may request copies of these documents to resolve questions about IRB approval and study conduct.

4) Authorship

• - Authorship credit should be based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, and/or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; 3) final approval of the version to be published; and 4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Every author should meet all of these four conditions. After the initial submission of a manuscript, any changes whatsoever in authorship (adding author(s), deleting author(s), or re-arranging the order of authors) must be explained by a letter to the editor from the authors concerned. This letter must be signed by all authors of the paper. Copyright assignment must also be completed by every author.
• - Corresponding author and first author: Basically JMSNI does not allow multiple corresponding or first authors for one article. Only one author should correspond with the editorial office and readers for one article. Exceptionally, JMSNI does accept notice of equal contribution for the first author/the corresponding author when the study was clearly performed by co-first author/co-corresponding author.
• - Correction of authorship after publication: JMSNI does not correct authorship after publication unless a mistake has been made by the editorial staff. Authorship may be changed before publication but after submission when an authorship correction is requested by all of the authors involved with the manuscript.

5) Originality, plagiarism and duplicate publication

Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. No part of the accepted manuscript should be duplicated in any other scientific journal without the permission of the Editorial Board. Submitted manuscripts are screened for possible plagiarism or duplicate publication by Similarity Check upon arrival. If plagiarism or duplicate publication is detected, the manuscripts may be rejected, the authors will be announced in the journal, and their institutions will be informed. There will also be penalties for the authors.

6) Secondary publication

It is possible to republish manuscripts if the manuscripts satisfy the conditions of secondary publication of the ICMJE Recommendations (http://www.icmje.org/urm_main.html).

7) Process for managing research and publication misconduct

When the journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fraudulent or fabricated data, changes in authorship, an undisclosed conflict of interest, ethical problems with a submitted manuscript, a reviewer who has appropriated an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and so on, the resolution process will follow the flowchart provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The discussion and decision on the suspected cases are carried out by the Editorial Board.

8) Process for handling cases requiring corrections, retractions, and editorial expressions of concern

Cases that require editorial expressions of concern or retraction shall follow the COPE flowcharts available from:http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts. If correction needs, it will follow the ICMJE Recommendation for Corrections, Retractions, Republications and Version Control available from:http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/corrections-and-version-control.html as follows: Honest errors are a part of science and publishing and require publication of a correction when they are detected.
Corrections are needed for errors of fact. Minimum standards are as follows: First, it shall publish a correction notice as soon as possible detailing changes from and citing the original publication on both an electronic and numbered print page that is included in an electronic or a print Table of Contents to ensure proper indexing; Second, it shall post a new article version with details of the changes from the original version and the date(s) on which the changes were made through CrossMark; Third, it shall archive all prior versions of the article. This archive can be either directly accessible to readers; and Fourth, previous electronic versions shall prominently note that there are more recent versions of the article via CrossMark.

9) Editorial responsibilities

The Editorial Board will continuously work to monitor and safeguard publication ethics: guidelines for retracting articles; maintenance of the integrity of the academic record; preclusion of business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards; publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed; and excluding plagiarism and fraudulent data. The editors maintain the following responsibilities: responsibility and authority to reject and accept articles; avoiding any conflict of interest with respect to articles they reject or accept; promoting publication of corrections or retractions when errors are found; and preservation of the anonymity of reviewers.

4. Copyright and Creative Commons Attribution license

A submitted manuscript, when published, will become the property of the journal. Copyrights of all published materials are owned by Korean Society of Neuroimmunology.

5. Author qualifications, language requirement, and reporting guideline

1) Author qualifications

Any researcher throughout the world can submit a manuscript if the scope of the manuscript is appropriate.

2) Language

Manuscripts should be submitted in good scientific English or Korean.

3) Reporting guidelines for specific study designs

Research reports frequently omit important information. As such, reporting guidelines have been developed for a number of study designs that some journals may ask authors to follow. Authors are encouraged to also consult the reporting guidelines relevant to their specific research design. A good source of reporting guidelines is the EQUATOR Network (http://www.equator-network.org/home/) and the United States National Institutes of Health/National Library of Medicine (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/research_report_guide.html).

6. Submission and peer review process

1) Submission

All manuscripts should be submitted via e-submission system available from: https://submit.jmsni.org If any authors have difficulty in submitting via e-submission system, please send a manuscript to ksms1594@daum.net by the corresponding author.

2) Peer review process

JMSNI reviews all manuscripts received. A manuscript is first reviewed for its format and adherence to the aims and scope of the journal. If the manuscript meets these two criteria, it is checked for plagiarism or duplicate publication with Similarity Check. After confirming its result, it is dispatched to three investigators in the field with relevant knowledge. Assuming the manuscript is sent to reviewers, JMSNI waits to receive opinions from at least two reviewers. In addition, if deemed necessary, a review of statistics may be requested. The authors’ names and affiliations are removed during peer review (double-blind peer review). The acceptance criteria for all papers are based on the quality and originality of the research and its scientific significance. Acceptance of the manuscript is decided based on the critiques and recommended decision of the reviewers. An initial decision will normally be made within 4 weeks of receipt of a manuscript, and the reviewers’ comments are sent to the corresponding author by e-mail. The corresponding author must indicate the alterations that have been made in response to the reviewers’ comments item by item. Failure to resubmit the revised manuscript within 4 weeks of the editorial decision is regarded as a withdrawal. If further revision period is required, author should contact editorial office through form mail available from: https://jmsni.org/. A final decision on acceptance/rejection for publication is forwarded to the corresponding author from the editor.

3) Peer review process for handling submissions from editors, employees, or members of the editorial board

All manuscripts from editors, employees, or members of the editorial board are processed same to other unsolicited manuscripts. During the review process, submitters will not engage in the selection of reviewers and decision process. Editors will not handle their own manuscripts although they are commissioned ones.

4) Review and publication fee

All manuscripts except requested papers by the editorial board may be charged with prescribed review fee and publication fee. Cost of special printing and extra issue publication will be charged to the author.

7. Manuscript preparation

1) General requirements

The main document with manuscript text and tables should be prepared in a MS Word (docx) file format.
The text must be written in double-spaced 10-point font, preferably in Times New Roman on A4-sized (21.0×29.7 cm) paper with a minimum of 2.5 cm margins on each side.All manuscript pages are to be numbered at the bottom consecutively, beginning with the abstract as page 1. Neither the author’s names nor their affiliations should appear on the manuscript pages.
The authors should express all measurements according to International System (SI) units with some exceptions such as seconds, mmHg, or °C. Only standard abbreviations should be used. Abbreviations should be avoided in the title of the manuscript. Abbreviations should be spelled out when first used in the text—for example, extensible markup language (XML)—and the use of abbreviations should be kept to a minimum.
The names and locations (city, state, and country only) of manufacturers should be given.
When quoting from other sources, a reference number should be cited after the author’s name or at the end of the quotation. Manuscript preparation is different according to the publication type, including original articles, reviews, case studies, essays, training materials, editorials, book reviews, correspondence, and video clips. Other types are also negotiable with the Editorial Board.

2) Original articles

Original articles are reports of basic investigations. The manuscript for an original article should be organized in the following sequence: title page, abstract and keywords, main text (introduction, methods, results, and discussion), conflict of interest, acknowledgments, references, tables, figure legends, and figures. The figures should be received as separate files. Maximum length: 2,500 words of text (not including the abstract, tables, figures, and references)

Title page: The following items should be included on the title page: 1) the title of the manuscript, 2) author list, 3) each author’s affiliation, 4) the name and e-mail address of the corresponding author, 5) when applicable, the source of any research funding and a list of where and when the study has been presented in part elsewhere.

Abstract and keywords: The Abstract must appear on a separate page and should be prepared in English. All original articles must include abstract that do not exceed 250 words, and be organized into Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Between three and six keywords should be provided at the bottom of abstract. For the selection of keywords, refer Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) in National Center for Biotechnology Information (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/)

• • Introduction: The purpose of the investigation, including relevant background information, should be described briefly. Conclusions should not be included in the Introduction.
• • Methods: The research plan, materials (or subjects), and methods used should be described in that order. The names and locations (city, state, and country only) of manufacturers of equipment and software should be given. Methods of statistical analysis and criteria for statistical significance should be described.
• • Results: The results should be presented in logical sequence in the text, tables, and figures. If resulting parameters have statistical significance, p-values should be provided, and repetitive presentation of the same data in different forms should be avoided. The results should not include material appropriate for the discussion.
• • Conclusions: Observations pertaining to the results of the research and other related work should be interpreted for readers. New and important observations should be emphasized rather than merely repeating the contents of the results. The implications of the proposed opinion should be explained along with its limits, and within the limits of the research results, and the conclusion should be connected to the purpose of the research. In a concluding paragraph, the results and their meaning should be summarized.
• • Conflict of interest: Any potential conflict of interest that could influence the authors’ interpretation of the data, such as financial support from or connections to companies, political pressure from interest groups, or academically related issues, must be stated.
• • Acknowledgments: All persons who have made substantial contributions, but who have not met the criteria for authorship, are to be acknowledged here. All sources of funding applicable to the study should be stated here explicitly.
• • Appendix: If any materials are not enough to be included in the main text such as questionnaires, they can be listed in the Appendix.
• • Supplementary materials: If there are any supplementary materials to help the understanding of readers or too great amount data to be included in the main text, it may be placed as supplementary data. Not only text, audio or video files, but also data files should be added here.

References: In the text, references should be cited with Arabic numerals in the text using superscript, numbered in the order cited. In the references section, the references should be numbered and listed in order of appearance in the text. The number of references is limited to 40 for original articles. All authors of a cited work should be listed if there are six or fewer authors. The first six authors should be listed followed by “et al.” if there are more than six authors. If a reference has a digital object identifier (DOI), it should be supplied. Other types of references not described below should follow The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine).

• • Journal articles:
• - Lee KS, Choi IS. A clinical study of brain tuberculomas based upon 20 case records. J Korean Neurol Assoc 1985;3:241-253. (In case number of authors is over 6)
• - Jeon SH, Chung EJ, Oh S, Ann JW, Kim SJ, Kim JS, et al. Adult-onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented gila (ALSP) with novel CSF1R mutation. J Korean Neurol Assoc 2019;37:408-413.
• • Books and book chapters:
• - Wyllie E. The treatment of epilepsy. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1997;97-98.
• - Calne CB, Duvoision RFC, McGeer E. Speculation on the etiology of Parkinson’s disease. In: Hassler RG, Christ JF. Advances in neurology. 2nd ed. Vol. 40. New York: Raven Press, 1984;353-360.
• • Online sources:
• - Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 1995 Jan-Mar [cited 1996 Jun 5]; 1(1): [24 screens]. Available from: URL:http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/eid.htm.
• • Conference papers:
• - Toschi N, Indovina I, Riccelli R, Valenza G, Passamonti L, Barbieri R. Altered autonomic response in patients with persistent postural perceptual dizziness during simulated vertical self-motion. In: 2020 11th Conference of the European Study Group on Cardiovascular Oscillations (ESGCO). IEEE, 2020;1-2.

Tables: Tables are to be numbered in the order in which they are cited in the text. A table title should concisely describe the content of the table so that a reader can understand the table without referring to the text. Each table must be simple and typed on a separate page with its heading above it. Cite and number tables in the order they are mentioned in the text. The total number of tables should not exceed more than five. Use horizontal lines only above and below column headings and at the bottom of a table. Do not use vertical lines. Within a table, if a non-standard abbreviation is used or description may be necessary, then list them under annotation below. Use lower case letters in superscripts a, b, c … on the right side of the part that needs explanation, and the annotation should be recorded according to the lower-case letters listed below the table. Statistical measures such as SD or SE should be identified. Vertical rules and horizontal rules between entries should be omitted.

Figures and legends for illustrations: Figures should be numbered, using Arabic numerals, in the order in which they are cited. Each figure should be uploaded as a single image file in either uncompressed TIFF and PPT format over 600 dots per inch (dpi) or 3 million pixels (less than 10 megabytes). Written permission should be obtained for the use of all previously published illustrations (and copies of permission letters should be included). In the case of multiple prints bearing the same number, English letters should be used after the numerals to indicate the correct order (e.g. Fig. 1-A; Fig. 2-B, C). Photographs of recognizable persons should be accompanied by a signed release from the patient or legal guardian authorizing publication. Legends for figures must appear on a separate page at the end of the manuscript file. Tables and figures are limited to ten in total.

3) Manuscript other than the original book

(1) Reviews
Reviews are invited by the editor and should be comprehensive analyses of specific topics. They are to be organized as follows: title page, abstract and keywords, main text (introduction, text, and conclusion), conflict interest, acknowledgments, references, tables, figure legends, and figures. There should be an unstructured abstract of no more than 250 words. The length of the text excluding references, tables, and figures should not exceed 5,000 words. The number of references is limited to 60. Commissioned articles are reviewed by the Editorial Board.

(2) Editorial
The editor-in-chief or editorial board members may present their opinions on the articles published on the same volume and number of the journal. Editorial should be written in Korean or English with a title and text with no more than 600 words. For editorial, only one author is listed. The number of table or figure is limited to one, and the references no more than 5. In addition, an editorial can be invited by the editor-in-chief or editorial board members

(3) Case report or case series
The abstract should be no more than 80 words in English in one sentence. Up to three keywords should be listed. The main text should be no more than 1,050 words. In the main text, first describe the general background and significance regarding the case with no subheading. The case and its related results are to be described under the subheading of “Case”, and authors’ opinions and speculations under “Conclusion”. Tables and figures are limited to three in total, and the numbers of references are limited no more than ten.

(4) Brief Communication
Brief communication reports the case or studies that has already been reported, but that is unusual or of exemplifying value. Abstract is not required and recommended to be written in a maximum of 700 words counts, less than 7 references, less than 3 keywords, and no more than 1 table or figures.

(5) Neuroimage
NeuroImages are interesting, previously unpublished photomicrographs, patient photographs, neuroradiologic images, or other pictorial material. Neuroimage is written without abstract within 100 words, and no more than 2 references.

(6) Letters to the editor
Letters to the editor is a type of brief communication on any paper that published in JMSNI within the last 6 months. It should be brief, clear and conclusive. Body of the letter has no structure and the word count is limited to 300 words. It should be written in a less than 5 references.

8. Final preparation for publication

1) Final version

After the paper has been accepted for publication, the author(s) should submit the final version of the manuscript. The names and affiliations of the authors should be double-checked, and if the originally submitted image files were of poor resolution, higher resolution image files should be submitted at this time. Color images must be created as CMYK files. The electronic original should be sent with appropriate labeling and arrows. The EPS, TIFF, Adobe Photoshop (PSD), JPEG, and PPT formats are preferred for submission of digital files of photographic images. Symbols (e.g., circles, triangles, squares), letters (e.g., words, abbreviations), and numbers should be large enough to be legible on reduction to the journal’s column widths. All of the symbols must be defined in the figure caption. If the symbols are too complex to appear in the caption, they should appear on the illustration itself, within the area of the graph or diagram, not to the side. If references, tables, or figures are moved, added, or deleted during the revision process, they should be renumbered to reflect such changes so that all tables, references, and figures are cited in numeric order.

2) Manuscript corrections

Before publication, the manuscript editor may correct the manuscript such that it meets the standard publication format. The author(s) must respond within 2 days when the manuscript editor contacts the author for revisions. If the response is delayed, the manuscript’s publication may be postponed to the next issue.

3) Proof

The author(s) will receive the final version of the manuscript as a PDF file. Upon receipt, within 2 days, the editorial office (or printing office) must be notified of any errors found in the file. Any errors found after this time are the responsibility of the author(s) and will have to be corrected as an erratum.

※ Delegation

Other items that are not stated on this guideline follow the decision of the editorial board.

※ Supplementary Provisions

1) This guideline enforces from January 1st, 2010.
2) This guideline enforces from March 1st, 2014 (modification).
3) This guideline enforces from March 6th, 2020 (modification).