JAIM publishes articles and papers that emphasize research, clinical therapies, and historical data in acupuncture and East Asian medicine. The Journal seeks to provide information that enables practitioners toevaluate therapies and integrate into their practices those that are appropriate. The Journal does not attempt to promote any one therapy over another.

Examples of areas covered by JAIM include, but are not limited to: acupuncture; integrative medicine; East Asian herbal medicine; East Asian nutritional therapy; and Qi cultivation techniques, including tai ji, qi gong, and East Asian therapeutic massage techniques.

All manuscripts should be original, not previously published, and not submitted simultaneously to another publication. JAIM reserves exclusive rights to publish articles for a six-month period following publication in the Journal.

Manuscripts are reviewed by the Editorial Board. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and brevity. Articles with substantial edits will be returned to the author for revision.

ARTICLE SUBMISSION

Submissions are encouraged from individuals who can present accurate, detailed information that can be clinically useful to licensed acupuncturists.

We strongly recommend you have your paper reviewed by an editor prior to submission. Papers edited for grammer and content have a higher chance of being accepted.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Articles should be no more than 3,000 words. Use the following formatting in Word:

H1: Title
H2: Section titles
H3: Subdivisions under section titles

Do not use all-caps.

Lines should be single-spaced. Double spacing should be used between paragraphs. Do not indent paragraphs. Do not use automatic formatting. Do not use headers/footers.

The manuscript must be submitted as a Word document. PDF is not accepted. 

The manuscript should be presented in the following order:

• Title page
• Abstract, or a summary for case reports (Note: references should not be included in abstracts or summaries)
• Main text separated under appropriate headings and subheadings
• Tables should be in Word format and placed in the main text where the table is first cited. Tables should also be cited in numerical order
  • Acknowledgments, Competing Interests, Funding and all other required statements
  • References. All references should be cited in the main text in numerical order

Figures must be uploaded as separate files (view further details under the Figures/illustrations section). All figures must be cited within the main text in numerical order and legends should be provided at the end of the manuscript.

Abbreviations and acronyms should be spelled out when first used.

TITLE PAGE

The title page must contain the following information:

• Title of the article
• Full name, postal address and e-mail of the corresponding author
• Full name, department, institution, city and country of all co-authors
• Word count, excluding title page, abstract, references, figures and tables

STYLE

Acronyms and abbreviations should be used sparingly and fully explained when first used. Abbreviations and symbols must be standard. SI units should be used throughout, except for blood pressure values which should be reported in mm Hg.

Acupuncture point spelling should adhere to those found in Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (CAM), also know as Essentials of Chinese Medicine.

Insert a single hard space between the meridian and the point number. When using Microsoft Word, a hard space may be inserted by pressing “shift” and “ctrl” while pressing the spacebar.

Examples Lu 5 Sp 4 H 7 K 6 P 6 Liv 3 LI 4 St 36 SI 3 UB 62 SJ 5 GB 41

All Chinese should utilize pinyin romanization. All pinyin words, except for proper nouns, must be italicized and in lower case. When referencing zangfu organs, capitalize the organ name to differentiate from the biological organ, which should be lowercase. To write out ‘traditional Chinese medicine’, traditional and medicine should be lowercase as they are not proper nouns. Chinese diagnosis terms such as ‘dampness’ and ‘wind’ should be written as lowercase.

Whenever possible, drugs should be given their approved generic name. Where a proprietary (brand) name is used, it should begin with a capital letter.

ABSTRACT

Manuscripts should include an abstract at the beginning of the article containing a brief synopsis of the major points of the article. Abstract length should be approximately 150 words.

FIGURES & ILLUSTRATIONS

Images must be uploaded as separate files. All images must be cited within the main text in numerical order and legends must be provided (ideally at the end of the manuscript)

FILE TYPES

All files should be submitted in high resolution PNG or JPEG formats. Histograms should be presented in a simple, two-dimensional format, with no background grid.

For figures consisting of multiple images/parts, please ensure these are submitted as a single composite file for processing. We are unable to accept figures that are submitted as multiple files.

Ensure that the files are labeled with a short, descriptive filename.

Figures are checked using automated quality control and if they are below the minimum standard you will be alerted and asked to resupply them.

Please ensure that any specific patient/hospital details are removed or blacked out (e.g. X-rays, MRI scans, etc). Figures that use a black bar to obscure a patient’s identity are not accepted.

REFERENCES

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of cited references and these should be checked before the manuscript is submitted.

Citing in the text References must be numbered sequentially as they appear in the text. References cited in figures or tables (or in their legends and footnotes) should appear at the end of the reference list to avoid re-numbering if tables and figures are moved around at peer review/proof stage. Reference numbers in the text should be inserted immediately after punctuation (with no word spacing)—for example,[6] not [6].

Where more than one reference is cited, these should be separated by a comma, for example,[1, 4, 39]. For sequences of consecutive numbers, give the first and last number of the sequence separated by a hyphen, for example,[22-25]. References provided in this format are translated during the production process to superscript type.

Please note that if references are not cited in order the manuscript may be returned for amendment before it is passed on to the Editor for review.

Preparing the reference list References must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text.

Only papers published or in press should be included in the reference list. Personal communications or unpublished data must be cited in parentheses in the text with the name(s) of the source(s) and the year. Authors should request permission from the source to cite unpublished data.

Reference style List the names and initials of all authors if there are 3 or fewer; otherwise list the first 3 and add ‘et al.’. Use one space only between words up to the year and then no spaces. The journal title should be in italic and abbreviated according to the style of Medline. If the journal is not listed in Medline then it should be written out in full.

Check journal abbreviations using PubMed Check citation information using PubMed

Example references

• Journal article: 13 Koziol-Mclain J, Brand D, Morgan D, et al. Measuring injury risk factors: question reliability in a statewide sample. Inj Prev 2000;6:148–50.
• Book: 15 Howland J. Preventing Automobile Injury: New Findings From Evaluative Research. Dover, MA: Auburn House Publishing Company 1988:163–96.
• Chapter in a book: 14 Nagin D. General deterrence: a review of the empirical evidence. In: Blumstein A, Cohen J, Nagin D, eds. Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences 1978:95–139.
• Abstract/supplement: 16 Roxburgh J, Cooke RA, Deverall P, et al. Haemodynamic function of the carbomedics bileaflet prosthesis [abstract]. Br Heart J 1995;73(Suppl 2):P37.
• Preprints: Rostami A, Sepidarkish M, Leeflang M, et al. First snap-shot meta-analysis to estimate the prevalence of serum antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in humans. MedRxiv 20185017 [Preprint]. September 02, 2020 [cited 2020 Sep 20] https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.31.20185017.
• Electronic citations: Websites are referenced with their URL and access date, and as much other information as is available. Access date is important as websites can be updated and URLs change. The “date accessed” can be later than the acceptance date of the paper, and it can be just the month accessed.
• Electronic journal articles: Morse SS. Factors in the emergency of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis 1995 Jan-Mar;1(1). www.cdc.gov/nciod/EID/vol1no1/morse.htm (accessed 5 Jun 1998).
• Electronic letters: Bloggs J. Title of letter. Journal name Online [eLetter] Date of publication. url eg: Krishnamoorthy KM, Dash PK. Novel approach to transseptal puncture. Heart Online [eLetter] 18 September 2001. http://heart.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/86/5/e11#EL1
• Legal material: Toxic substances Contro Act: Hearing on S776 Before the Subcommittee of the Environment of the Senate Comm. on Commerce, 94th Congress 1st September (1975).
• Law references: The two main series of law reports, Weekly Law Reports (WLR) and All England Law Reports (All ER) have three volumes a year e.g. Robertson v Post Office [1974] 1 WLR 1176

There are good historical precedents for the use of square and round brackets. Since 1891, round ones have referred to the date of the report, square ones to the date of publication of the report. Apart from not italicising the name of the case, we use the lawyers’ style; be careful with punctuation, e.g. Caparo Industries plc v Dickman and others [1990] 1 All ER 568-608.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI) A DOI is a unique string created to identify a piece of intellectual property in an online environment and is particularly useful for articles that are published online before appearing in print (and therefore have not yet been assigned the traditional volume, issue and page number references). The DOI is a permanent identifier of all versions of an article, whether raw manuscript or edited proof, online or in print. Thus the DOI should ideally be included in the citation even if you want to cite a print version of an article. Find a DOI.

• Cite an article with a DOI before published in print: Alwick K, Vronken M, de Mos T, et al. Cardiac risk factors: prospective cohort study. Ann Rheum DisPublished Online First: 5 February 2004. doi:10.1136/ard.2003.001234
• Cite an article with a DOI once published in print: Vole P, Smith H, Brown N, et al. Treatments for malaria: randomised controlled trial. Ann Rheum Dis2003;327:765–8 doi:10.1136/ard.2003.001234 [published Online First: 5 February 2002].

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Include a brief biographical description of the author(s). Biographies must be limited to 50 words or less. Please refrain from stating promotional contact information. Provide a labeled photograph of the author(s), devices used, and treatments applied. Photos will not be returned. Electronic files in jpeg format required.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

Additional information such as figures, tables, raw data and methodology statements, may be submitted and published alongside your manuscript as ‘supplemental material’. Supplemental material shall only be accepted subject to the following criteria:

• Content: Supplemental material should be used to support and enhance the content of your manuscript. Content should be directly relevant to the content of your manuscript.
• Publication: Supplemental material will be published online only. This content may or may not be peer-reviewed, depending on the requirements of the relevant publication’s editorial office.
• Citation: The use of any supplemental material should be cited within the main text of the manuscript.
• Formatting: Supplemental material will only be published on an ‘as supplied’ basis, without checking for accuracy, copyediting, typesetting or proofing. You are responsible for proofing the content and for ensuring that the style and formatting of your content is consistent with the corresponding manuscript.
• File submission: Supplemental material may be submitted in PDF file format. Files should not exceed 350MB and should be uploaded using the file designation “Supplemental Material [Description]”.
• Translated Abstract: Where a translated version of the abstract in the author’s local language is submitted, this file should be uploaded using the file designation “Abstract in local language”.
• Restrictions: Supplemental material hosted on a third party website or platform will not be accepted.
• Liability Disclaimer: The relevant publication’s Author Licence will apply in respect of any supplemental materials submitted. You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of that content. A disclaimer of JAIM’s liability will appear on the published supplemental material.

JAIM reserves all rights to published articles. Articles may be reprinted with permission and with citation of JAIM.

FORMATTING CHECKLIST

1. Author information: Have you provided up-to-date details of all of your co-authors? In the final published article author names, institutions and addresses will be taken from these completed fields and not from the submitted Word document.
2. Manuscript length and formatting: Have you provided your abstract in the correct format? Have you supplied any required additional information for your article type, such as key messages? Have you checked that your manuscript doesn’t exceed the requirements for word count, number of tables and/or figures, and number of references?
3. Tables: Are your tables in an editable format? Have you embedded them into the main word document? Have they been cited in the text? Have you provided appropriate table legends? Have you uploaded any lengthy tables as supplementary files for online publication?
4. Figures: Have you uploaded figures separately from the text? Have they been supplied in an acceptable format and are they of sufficient quality? Have the files been labelled appropriately? Have the figures been cited in the text? Have you provided appropriate figure legends?
5. References: Have all of the references been cited in the text?
6. Supplementary files: Have you supplied these in an acceptable format? Have they been cited in the main text?
7. Statements: Have you included the necessary statements relating to author contributorship, competing interests and funding, data sharing, patient consent and ethical approval?
8. Acknowledgements: Have you acknowledged all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship? Have you acknowledged if your work has been previously presented at a conference/published as a conference abstract?
9. Reproducing figures: Have you obtained permission from the copyright holder to re-use any previously published material? Has the source been acknowledged?