American Journal of Kidney Diseases
Information for Authors and Journal Policies
EDITORIAL OFFICE CONTACT INFORMATION
Office E-mail: AJKD@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Direct Line to Managing Editor Nijsje Dorman:
+1 215-746-4467
The AJKD Editorial Office is based at the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The American Journal of Kidney Diseases, published monthly by Elsevier on behalf of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), serves clinicians and scientists who treat and investigate kidney disease and associated conditions. AJKD is dedicated to providing high-quality, clinically relevant information in the form of original research articles, case reports, and a rich variety of educational features.
ARTICLE TYPES
Original Investigations
Original Investigations may evaluate pathogenesis, consequences, and treatment of kidney disease; kidney transplantation and dialysis therapies; and disorders of blood pressure and electrolyte and acid-base balance. Manuscripts must focus on clinical research; laboratory studies are suitable only if they are directly linked to measurements or outcomes in humans. Criteria for review include validity, clinical importance, and interest. An expedited consideration pathway, AJKD Express, is available for select manuscripts redirected from high-profile publications.
An Original Investigation includes a structured abstract of up to 300 words and is limited to 3,500 words (excluding abstract, references, the article information section, tables, and figure legends); most Original Investigations have no more than 50 references and 8 figures/tables/boxes in total. The body of the manuscript is organized into Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections.
Further information on subtypes of Original Investigation, organized alphabetically by study design, is provided in the remainder of this section. Authors should follow the listed reporting guidelines or consult materials at the Equator Network for guidance. Also, if reporting company-sponsored research, authors should consult the Good Publication Practice recommendations (GPP3). For studies using laboratory testing of biomarkers, AJKD endorses following the recommendations of the Consortium of Laboratory Medicine Journal Editors.
Case Series
A description of the clinical course of 11 or more actual individuals with a condition of interest. A case series typically focuses on the description of variations in clinical presentation and, unlike an observational study, does not pursue evaluation of research hypotheses.
Clinical Trial
An experimental study that assesses the effect of an intervention or compares the effects of 2 or more interventions. AJKD requires clinical trials to be registered (see clinical trial registration policy) and requires that the study protocol (with any amendments identified with date) be included in the initial submission as part of the confidential review process (publication of the protocol as supplementary material or its availability for data sharing would be at the authors’ discretion).
For randomized controlled trials, authors should include a CONSORT flowchart and follow the CON-SORT guidelines matching the study design, eg:
• Trial With Parallel Group Design (more info)
• Cluster-Randomized Trial
• Noninferiority and Equivalence Trial
• Pragmatic Trial
• Trial of Nonpharmacologic Treatment
• Trial With Patient-Reported Outcomes
• N-of-1 Trial (more info)
Authors should consider following the TIDieR guidance to describe the intervention. If appropriate, authors should follow CONSORT’s recommendations for reporting of harms.
For nonrandomized trials evaluating behavioral and public health interventions, authors should follow the TREND guidelines.
Because adopting a shared set of key trial outcomes can help prevent selective reporting and facilitate comparisons and pooling of results across trials, AJKD recommends authors determine whether there is a core outcome set relevant to their trial; if so, AJKD encourages authors to include such outcomes in their trial or briefly mention the rationale for not adopting them. The COMET Initiative maintains a searchable database of core outcome sets.
Decision Analysis or Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
An analysis that weighs choices in clinical care by modeling the projected consequences of different strategies to identify the optimal choice and/or to inform clinical decision making or public policy. Authors should follow the recommendations of the Second Panel on Cost Effectiveness in Health and Medicine (JAMA 2016) or the CHEERS guidelines to report economic evaluations of health interventions.
Diagnostic Test Study
A study that compares the performance of 2 or more diagnostic tests or strategies. Authors should follow the STARD guidelines.
Observational Study
Cohort, Case-Control, Cross-sectional, Case-Cohort, and Ecological Studies
These studies observe and describe individuals or patients based on their exposure to a potential risk factor or an intervention with the purpose of assessing the validity of research hypotheses. In contrast to a trial, investigators do not deliver an intervention or manipulate its use; ie, they do not assign patients to treatment or control groups.
Authors should follow the STROBE guidelines (more info), using the appropriate checklist for the design:
• Cohort Study
• Case-Control Study
• Cross-sectional Study
For case-cohort studies, authors may wish to review Sharp et al (PLOS One 2014) for reporting suggestions.
For ecological studies, authors may wish to review Dufault and Klar (Am J Epidemiol 2011) for reporting suggestions.
Genetic Association Study
A study that investigates associations between genetic factors and clinical measurements or disease outcomes. Authors should follow the STREGA guidelines.
Prediction Study
A study that describes the development or use of a model designed to estimate risk of reaching a specific clinical end point within a defined period of time. Prediction models may also be referred to as prognostic (or predictive) indices, rules, tools, or instruments. Authors should follow the TRIPOD guidelines (more info); for risk prediction models involving genetic risk factors, authors should consult the GRIPS guidelines (more info).
Qualitative Study
A study used to gain an understanding about people’s behaviors, attitudes, and values. Qualitative approaches include focus groups, in-depth or semi-structured interviews, observations, or document analysis. For qualitative research based on interviews and focus groups, authors should follow the COREQ guidelines.
Registry or Health Care Database Study
A study using routinely collected health or health care administrative data that seeks to draw inferences about patterns of health care delivery, clinical decision making, and their relationship to health outcomes. Authors may wish to review the RECORD guidelines for reporting suggestions.
Quality Improvement Study
A description of an initiative conducted to improve quality of care. The purpose of quality improvement studies is to modify human activities and not to produce new, generalizable knowledge. Improvement interventions are often adjusted in response to outcomes. These studies do not typically address the mechanisms through which interventions work. Authors should follow the SQUIRE guidelines (more info).
Systematic Review or Meta-analysis
A systematic review follows an explicit protocol to systematically identify, appraise, and synthesize the findings of studies that address a similar question; a meta-analysis (a quantitative synthesis of the results of the systematic review) is preferred whenever possible.
Authors should include a PRISMA flow diagram to report study yield and selection (if relevant, the format should be adapted according to the specific reporting guidelines being followed).
In addition, authors should consult the PRISMA guidelines (more info) and the MOOSE guidelines, along with relevant extensions (see below). For systematic reviews/meta-analyses of health care interventions, authors should be sure to evaluate risk of bias in the included studies (eg, using the tools at riskofbias.info).
For meta-analyses of gene-disease association studies, AJKD encourages authors to review the following resources: the Human Genome Epidemiology Network Review Handbook, Evangelou & Ioannidis (Nat Rev Genet 2013), and Sagoo et al (PLOS Med 2009).
For systematic reviews of prediction model studies, authors should use the PROBAST tool (more info) to assess these studies’ risk of bias and applicability.
For synthesis of primary qualitative studies (including by thematic synthesis, meta-ethnography, and critical interpretive synthesis) authors should report the approach for conducting the literature search and selection, appraisal, and synthesis of findings in accordance with the ENTREQ framework.
For systematic reviews and meta-analyses of individual participant data, authors should follow the PRISMA-IPD guidelines.
For network meta-analyses, authors should follow the PRISMA network meta-analysis extension.
Authors of systematic reviews should prospectively register study protocols at the PROSPERO international registry, reporting the registration number at the end of the abstract. Authors submitting systematic reviews that were not prospectively registered must explain why; the editors will take this information into consideration when deciding whether to grant an exception to the registration requirement.
Research Letters
Research Letters report findings relevant to clinical practice or research in a concise format comprising up to 800 words of body text, 10 references, and a total of 2 figures or tables. Criteria for review include validity, clinical importance, and interest. Research Letters include an introduction, brief methods, key results, and a discussion, but no subheadings are used. Authors should use online supplementary material for detailed methods or supporting data. Reports of cases are not suitable as Research Letters.
Case Reports
Case Reports present interesting, rare, and/or novel situations that bring to the attention of the experienced practitioner and others newly described clinical presentations, diagnostic dilemmas, or treatment responses that provide insights into mechanisms of disease. Criteria for review include clinical importance, originality, and the clarity of the case presentation. Limited to 1,500 words of body text and requiring an unstructured abstract (150-200 words), most Case Reports have no more than 20 references and 2 figures/tables/boxes in total. The format comprises an Introduction, Case Report, and Discussion.
In preparing Case Reports, authors should consult the CARE guidelines, with the understanding that certain items may not apply to all reports of cases.
Authors must ensure that Case Reports comply with AJKD’s policies regarding Patient/Participant Protections.
Features
AJKD features are designed to strengthen knowledge in the field of nephrology and to provide physicians with information enhancing their ability to provide patients the highest standard of care. Feature types for which ad hoc submissions are considered are described in this section.
Editorial
A focused commentary and narrative analysis concerning a current issue in nephrology. Editorials are limited to 1,500 words of body text and 1 figure, table, or box; in most cases, editorials have no more than 20 references.
Authors of Editorials discussing issues of payment policy, social policy, demographics, politics, and ethics should select the “Policy Forum” Section/Category during manuscript submission.
In a Few Words
An evocative work that illuminates the personal experiences and stories that define kidney disease. Submissions may be in the form of a nonfiction narrative essay (up to 1,000 words); poetry; or a striking image with explanatory caption (100-200 words; images may not include recognizable faces). Select images may be published as a journal cover rather than within the feature.
Submissions from physicians, allied health professionals, patients, or family members are welcome. Details may be omitted to preserve patient confidentiality, but fictionalized depictions may not be included. If a patient may be identifiable, the patient will need to sign the journal’s consent form prior to publication. For images selected for publication, the copyright will remain with the creator, who will be asked to grant Elsevier a nonexclusive license to reproduce the work.
Review
An authoritative exploration of a clinical, translational, or basic science topic of interest to practitioners. Clinically focused Reviews should describe the treatment, diagnosis, or pathogenesis of a disease process or its complications, emphasizing recent advances in the field. Articles pertaining to basic science topics should give particular attention to cellular and molecular mechanisms of disease and their relation to diagnostic approaches or therapeutic applications. Criteria for review include clinical relevance, comprehensiveness, and balance. These articles are limited to 3,500 words of body text; an unstructured abstract (150-200 words) is required, and most Reviews have no more than 80 references. The editors encourage the use of figures, tables, and boxes (up to 8 in total) to help convey the central concepts.
Perspective
An in-depth discussion of an issue of significance to the nephrology community that may be based in part on the author’s opinions or professional experiences. Rarely, a Perspective may present new descriptive data used to support an opinion (data included to substantiate a conclusion related to a research hypothesis is not permitted). Criteria for review include originality, rigor of argument, and clinical relevance. Perspectives are limited to 3,000 words of body text and 4 figures/tables/boxes in total; an unstructured abstract (150-200 words) is required, and most Perspectives will have no more than 70 references.
Quiz
An educational feature that allows readers to test their knowledge of unusual but clinically important diagnostic or therapeutic problems. Cases may focus on evaluation of clinical findings, interpretation of laboratory values, or assessment of pathologic material or radiologic images. The first section includes a brief description of the case (200 words or fewer), a maximum of 4 figures/tables, and 1-4 brief questions that help elucidate the underlying problem. An answer to each question, further information regarding the clinical entity, and a brief statement of the final diagnosis are provided in the discussion section, which may include an additional 2-4 figures, tables, or boxes, and in most cases has no more than 400 words and 5 references.
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