The Journal of Health Science is published by the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, and covers all aspects of health science. The Journal will publish high quality original research related to health, as affected by nutrients, endogenous factors, chemicals (including drugs), and microorganisms, employing the techniques of biochemistry, molecular biology, toxicology, and epidemiology. Reports on analytical methods and experimental techniques are also within the scope of the Journal.

The Journal will accept original and innovative submissions in English from both members and non-members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, on the understanding that the work is unpublished and is not being considered for publication elsewhere.

Only manuscripts that are written in clear and concise English will be accepted for review. For non-native English-speaking authors, please note that only manuscripts that have already been checked and edited by a native English-speaking person with sufficient scientific knowledge will be accepted. English editing and revision will be conducted on manuscripts whose English grammar, spelling, etc. is judged to be inadequate by the Editorial Board of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan. A fee for the revision to be paid by the authors will be applied.

Types of Manuscript

The Journal publishes Regular Articles, Rapid Communications, Research Letters, Reviews, and Minireviews. With the exception of Reviews and Minireviews, manuscripts will be reviewed by two or more referees, whose opinions will form the basis of the final decision by the Editor.

1  Regular Articles

New, significant, innovative, and original findings are suitable as Regular Articles. While the Journal does not publish Short Communications, relatively short Regular Articles are also acceptable if the work is of a high quality.

2  Rapid Communications

These articles should be 4 or less printed journal pages. Manuscripts are reviewed rapidly. Authors are informed of the editor's decision by e-mail within 2 weeks after reception of the manuscript. The editor's decision is either acceptance or rejection for publication, and no revision process will take place. Responsibility for the scientific content of a manuscript remains with the author. In the case of rejection, a short explanation only will be provided.

3  Research Letters

Research Letters should occupy a maximum of 3 printed pages of the Journal. Manuscripts containing interesting findings without adequate discussion, research results of narrow scope or of a predominantly negative nature may nevertheless be suitable for publication as a Research Letter if they are considered sufficiently important. Subjects of relevance to health science, for example DNA sequences of unknown genes and transcriptional regulation regions, etc., are also suitable as a Research Letter. Manuscripts containing valuable data obtained in field work are also acceptable. When it is necessary to present a relatively large amount of data in field work, the number of pages may exceed the 3 printed pages mentioned above.

4  Reviews and Minireviews

Reviews and Minireviews are submitted by invitation from the Editorial Board, and encompass recent important scientific discoveries. Minireviews mainly involve a description of recent research results from the author's laboratory, while Reviews are more broad-based. While there is no page limit for a Review, Minireviews should be a maximum of 3 pages of printed Journal space.

Submission Guidelines

The manuscript should be submitted as a PDF file through the "Online Submission" section in our Web site (http://jhs.pharm.or.jp).

Manuscript Preparation

1  Manuscript Form: The manuscript, including figures and tables, should be contained in one PDF file. It should be single-spaced and typed in Times New Roman 12 point font on A4-sized paper (approx. 30 lines per page and 2.5 cm margin on each side). Since one Journal page contains about 4300 characters, please prepare your manuscript so its length does not exceed the allowed length for the specific type of manuscript. The top (title) page should be numbered 1 in the bottom center. All subsequent pages should be numbered consecutively.

2  Cover letter: The cover letter should include information on the corresponding author (the corresponding author's name, affiliation and address, telephone/fax numbers, and e-mail address). For non-native English-speaking authors, the name of the native English speaker or company that checked the manuscript for correct English usage should also be included. For contributions from Japan, the corresponding author's name and address should be written in Japanese as well as English. (The cover letter should be sent as a PDF file.)

3  Title Page: The title page (page 1) should start with the name of the journal (Journal of Health Science). This should be followed by the type of manuscript (Regular Article, Research Letter, etc.), the title, name(s) of the author(s) and affiliation and mailing address. An asterisk (*) should be added to the right of the corresponding author's name. Please indicate the corresponding author's affiliation and address, telephone/fax numbers, and e-mail address in the footnote. When there are two or more authors and they belong to more than one affiliation, the connection between authors and affiliations should be indicated by italicized superscripts a, b, c..... placed after each author's name and before each affiliation. If the present address is different, please place a superscripted number (starting from 1, 2,... etc.) after the author's name, and indicate the present address in the footnote.

4  Summary and Key words: Page 2 should contain a summary of up to 250 words and 3 to 6 descriptive key words, listed in decreasing order of importance. The first 3 key words must be independent, as they will be used in a key-word combination in the index (less than 80 characters).

5  Main Text: The main text should start from page 3 and be divided into the following sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, and References. It is also acceptable to merge the Results with the Discussion in the form: Results and Discussion. The main text, acknowledgments, references, figure legends, tables, and figures should be presented in this order.

6  Abbreviations: Abbreviations must be spelled out in full at their initial appearance, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter, the abbreviation only may be used. However, the following need not be defined: ADP(adenosine 5'-diphosphate),AIDS(acquired immunodeficiency syndrome),AMP(adenosine 5'-monophosphate or adenylic acid),ATP(adenosine 5'-triphosphate),cAMP(adenosine 3', 5'-cyclic monophosphate),cDNA(complementary DNA),CoA(coenzyme A),DNA(deoxyribonucleic acid),ED₅₀(50% effective dose),ESR(electron spin resonance),FAB-MS(fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry),FAD(flavin adenine dinucleotide),GC-MS(gas chromatography-mass spectrometry), GLC(gas-liquid chromatography),GMP(guanosine 5'-monophosphate),HPLC(high-performance liquid chromatography, high-pressure liquid chromatography),IC₅₀(inhibitory concentration, 50%), IR(infrared),LC(liquid chromatography),LC/MS(liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry), LD₅₀(50% lethal dose),mRNA(messenger RNA),MS(mass spectrum),NMR(nuclear magnetic resonance), P450(as in cytochrome P450),RNA(ribonucleic acid),TLC(thin-layer chromatography),tRNA(transfer RNA),UV(ultraviolet)

7  Units: The following units should be used: length (m, cm, mm, μm, nm, A), mass (kg, g, mg, μg, ng, pg, mol, mmol), volume (l, ml, μl), time (s, min, h, d), temperature (℃, K), radiation (Bq, Ci, dpm, Gy, rad), and concentration (M, mM, mol/l, mmol/l, mg/ml, μg/ml, %, % (v/v), % (w/v), ppm, ppb).

8  Figures: Only one figure should appear on one page of an A4 paper (both portrait and landscape paper orientations are acceptable) and numbered consecutively with Arabic numbers (e.g. Fig. 1). The list of figure titles and legends should appear on a separate page.

9  Tables: Only one table should appear on one page of an A4 paper (both portrait and landscape paper orientations are acceptable) and numbered consecutively with Arabic numbers (e.g. Table 1). Any explanations of data or methods in the table should appear immediately below the table.

10  References: References should be placed and numbered in the order of appearance in the text. Each number is to be positioned after the last relevant word with a right-half parenthesis mark, and all references should be listed at the end of the text. Abbreviations for journals should conform to Chemical Abstracts (cf. The ACS Style Guide. A Manual for Authors and Editors).

Examples of References are as follow:

1) Kubo, U., Hwang, G. H. and Suzuki, H. (2000) Cloning and functional characterization of copper transporter. J. Health Sci., 46, 135-140.

2) Albert, B. and Hardin, T. D. (1998) Metal Toxicology in Mammals, Madison Press, New York.

3) Meister, B., Revel, T. M. and Caprio, M. N. (1999) Molecular mechanism of cell death. In Handbook of Health Science (Clarke, A. and Young, T. A., Eds.), Carrie Press, Tokyo, pp. 135-137.

In the list of references in the References section, include the last names and initials of the first and middle names for all authors.

For references appearing in the main text, the last names of the first 2 authors only should be written. For references with 3 or more authors, write the name of the first author followed by et al. (Example: Jones, A. B., et al.).

11  Notes: Notes should be given in parentheses at the appropriate place in the text. Footnotes are not permitted.

Ethics

1  For manuscripts dealing with scientific investigations involving human subjects and/or human tissues, the experiments should be performed in accordance with the ethical standards formulated in the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 (revised in 2004, http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm), while experiments dealing with the human genome should be conducted according to the Japanese government's "Ethical Standards for Human Genome and Genetic Analysis Research" (http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shinkou/seimei/genomeshishin). Furthermore, only studies that have been performed after receiving approval from the appropriate ethics committee of an institution will be accepted for publication. Finally, please clearly state in the manuscript that the study was performed according to these guidelines and attach to the manuscript a copy of the certificate from the ethics committee (a PDF file of the scanned certificate is acceptable).

2  Manuscripts describing animal experiments should be conducted in accordance with the experimental animal guidelines of the institution as well as the appropriate government guidelines, such as those published by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Only manuscripts of experiments conducted in accordance with the appropriate guidelines will be eligible for publication. Finally, please state clearly within the manuscript which guidelines were followed and that the study was indeed conducted in accordance with the guidelines.

Page Charges

Authors are required to pay charges, as outlined below:

1  Page Charge: 4000 yen per printed page (not including applicable taxes). Charges may be changed without prior notice.

2  Reprint Charges

3  Color Figures: Actual cost.

4  English Revision: Actual cost

5  Payment of the page charge is required, but is not a condition for publication, since the decision for publication is made on the basis of scientific significance only. The publication charge may be waived upon request for authors who may not have sufficient funds. No free reprints of the article will be provided in such cases.

Miscellaneous

1  Please submit the revised manuscript to the appropriate person in the Editorial Office no later than two months from the date of notification of manuscript revision by the editor, by logging onto "Author Login" under "Online Submission." A manuscript that is submitted after the two-month period will be treated as a new submission.

2  When the manuscript is accepted for publication, soft copies of the text and tables (Microsoft Word file) and figures (TIFF or EPS format file, ChemDraw file, etc.) should be submitted to the Editorial Office.

3  The authors are given an opportunity to proofread the galley of an accepted manuscript. No additions or revisions other than the correction of typographical errors will be allowed.

4  Copyrights: The copyrights of all manuscripts published in Journal of Health Science belong to the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan. The author must submit a Copyright Transfer form to the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan.