New Submission Policies for Journals

Starting January 1, 2008, Gastroenterology and Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology (CGH) will enforce two new submission policies. The enforcement of these policies follows a year-long transition period whereby the policies were introduced to prospective authors of the journals via the journals' instructions to authors and online manuscript management system.

Reporting Clinical Trials
Authors who submit manuscripts that describe results of a clinical trial(s) will be required to have registered the trial(s) in a public repository before submission. A clinical trial is defined as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention and comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. The trial must have at least one prospectively assigned concurrent control or comparison group in order to trigger the requirement for registration.

This policy is in line with the standards established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. By adhering to these standards, the editors of Gastroenterology and CGH aim to foster a comprehensive and publicly available database of clinical trials, thereby sharing the results with the very individuals who volunteer to participate in the trials.

Manuscripts that describe clinical trials must comply with the above policy upon submission as a condition for publication in Gastroenterology and CGH. The clinical trial registry URL and clinical trial registration number must be provided with the original submission or the manuscript will be returned prior to the start of the peer review process. Appropriate online trial registries include www.clinicaltrials.gov, www.isrctn.org, www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index.htm, www.actr.org.au, www.trialregister.nl, or any primary registers that participate in the World Health Organization's International Clinical Trials Platform.

Reporting Meta-Analyses of Genetic Studies
Manuscripts that include meta-analyses of genetic studies will be required to follow the Human Genome Epidemiology Network™ (HuGENet) guidelines for reviews. HuGENet is a global collaboration of individuals and organizations committed to the assessment of the impact of human genome variation on population health and how genetic information can be used to improve health and prevent disease. To review the guidelines, go to http://www.cdc.gov/genomics/hugenet/reviews/guidelines.htm.

The boards of editors of both Gastroenterology and CGH anticipate the increasing use of reviews and meta-analysis of genetic association studies in the field of gastroenterology and thus believe it is necessary to standardize the way in which these studies are conducted and reported. Adoption of the HuGENet guidelines will achieve this end.

Upon submission of meta-analyses of genetic studies, authors will be asked if their manuscripts follow the HuGENet guidelines. If a manuscript does not follow the guidelines, it will be returned to the authors before further processing.

To submit a manuscript to Gastroenterology or CGH, go to www.editorialmanager.com/gastro or www.editorialmanager.com/cgh.