Submissions should be made electronically through this website. Once submitted, the author can track the submission and communicate with the editors via the online journal management system.

Please ensure that you consider the following guidelines when preparing your manuscript. Failure to do so may delay processing your submission.

All word limits include referencing and citation.

Artificial Intelligence

Authors should refer to the publisher's guidelines on acceptable use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. All submissions must comply with these guidelines.

Manuscripts submitted to TOHM should conform to the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals," which can be found on the ICMJE website.

Submission Steps

The following steps outline the process for submitting manuscripts to TOHM.

In step one, you will complete a submission checklist that includes confirming that you have obtained informed consent from any patients used in your research. You will also be required to agree to the terms of the copyright notice. The journal’s privacy statement is listed here. You will have to enter your cover letter into a box during this step. 

In step two, you will add author(s) details, set the order of authors and assign the corresponding author. The names of all authors, affiliations, contact details, biography (optional) and the corresponding author details must be completed at this stage. Individuals listed must fit within the definition of an author, as per our authorship guidelines.

In step three, you will select a journal section for your submission and enter the abstract and title of the manuscript, submission metadata and any competing interests. In addition, you will have an opportunity to recommend your reviewers and you will be asked to provide information about your supporting agencies. See our guidelines for competing interests.

In step four, you will upload the manuscript file along with any additional files such as figures, videos and supplementary material (click Add Another File). You will be able to replace the manuscript file, if necessary.

In step five, you will review the submission information and officially finish the submission. You will receive an email confirming your submission.

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

1. The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in your cover letter in Step 1).
2. The submission file is in OpenOffice or Microsoft Word document file format and has numbered lines.
3. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.

I.  Introduction to Online Submission

Tremor and Other Hyperkinetic Movements (TOHM) is an online open-access journal that uses an electronic submission system. The system can be accessed at www.tremorjournal.org.

When submitting a manuscript, the author must provide an electronic version of a manuscript, and accompanying figures or videos. The manuscript must be submitted using the online system. Hard copies will not be accepted. In addition to these guidelines, manuscripts submitted to TOHM should conform to "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals."

Once a manuscript has successfully been submitted, the review process will begin. All correspondence, including the Editor-in-Chief's decision and request for revisions, will be processed through the system and will reach the corresponding author by email. The author may track the status of a manuscript using the online submission system.

Once the Editor-in-Chief determines that the manuscript is within the scope of the journal, the contribution will be sent to external reviewers to ensure both accuracy and relevance. Even if a manuscript is favorably reviewed, revisions are usually required before the paper is officially accepted. When submitting a revised manuscript, the author must submit (1) a clean manuscript (with the revisions incorporated), (2) a revised manuscript (with the revisions highlighted), and (3) a response to the reviewers’ comments.

The editorial office reserves the right to request that professional scientific editing services be used at the expense of the author in order to improve the quality of the writing in some cases. Use of these services does not guarantee acceptance for publication. See section III below.

 

II. Items to Be Submitted Online

The following items must be submitted online:

i. Cover Letter

The cover letter should be added directly in a text box at the first step of the submission form. It should indicate why the paper should be published, why it is especially appropriate for TOHM, and how it adds to the published literature on the topic. In the cover letter, the author must confirm that all authors have read and approved the manuscript; the paper has not been published previously; and it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

If authorship is attributed to a group, all members of the group must meet the full criteria and requirements for authorship. The group must designate one or more individuals as authors or members of a writing group who meet full authorship criteria and requirements, and who take responsibility for the group. In this case, the other group members are not listed as authors but may be listed in an acknowledgment at the end of the manuscript. For the criteria to be considered an acceptable research group, please see Flanagin A, Fontanarosa PB, DeAngelis CD. Authorship for research groups. JAMA 2002;288:3166-3168.

If authorship is attributed to a group, the corresponding author must state in the cover letter that the author (1) has full access to the data, (2) has the right to publish all the data, and (3) has had the right to obtain independent statistical analyses of the data.

TOHM may showcase select work via social media, such as Twitter. If you or an affiliated lab/group/institution are connected on social media and have a preferred handle that you would like referenced, please provide these in the cover letter (ex. @JohnDoe, #JohnDoe).

ii. Manuscript

For all manuscripts, the abstract and text word counts must be displayed on the title page of the submission.

The text of the manuscript should be double-spaced, and should have numbered lines, beginning with the abstract. To number lines of text in Microsoft Word, go to the layout tab, and click on the icon for numbered lines (under the Text Layout heading), selecting "continuous" as the number format.

The text should be presented in the following sequence: (1) Title page (2) Structured Abstract, (3) Introduction, (4) Methods, (5) Results, (6) Discussion, (7) Acknowledgments, (8) Financial Disclosures, (9) Ethics Statement, (10) References, (11) Tables, (12) Figure Legends, (13) Video Legend. Pages should be numbered in succession, with the title page being page number one. 

Case reports substitute a case description for the Methods and Results sections.

Reviews may wish to combine the Results and Discussion sections.

Viewpoints may wish to remove the Methods and Results sections.

Letters do not require an abstract, a Methods section or a Results section. There is no set structure for the text.

All manuscripts (except for Letters) must include a summary (50 words or less) highlighting the paper's importance and main findings. This summary (labeled "Highlights") should appear as a separate page after the title page. It will be utilized if the submission is selected for inclusion in the quarterly "Editor's Picks" email.

a. Title Page.

The title page should include each of the following elements: (1) Title. This should not exceed 150 characters (including spaces and punctuation). Do not use abbreviations or acronyms in the title. (2) Authors’ first names, middle initial(s), and last names, degrees and institutional affiliations (indicate the specific affiliation of each author by superscript, Arabic numerals). (3) Key Words. List up to six key words, separating each by a semicolon. (4) Abstract word count and text word count. (5) Reference count. (6) Table and figure count. (7) Running title not exceeding 45 letters and spaces. (8) Name, address, telephone and fax numbers and email address of the person to whom proofs should be addressed.

b. Structured Abstract

The page following the title page should include a structured abstract. For Articles, Brief Reports, and Reviews, the abstract should include sections entitled Background, Methods, Results, and Discussion. For Case Reports the structured abstract should be organized as follows: Background, Case Report, Discussion. Video Abstracts should have abstracts with three sentences in this structure: Background (one sentence), Phenomenology Shown (one sentence), Educational Value (One sentence). Editorials, Viewpoints, and Letters should not have structured abstracts but all other submissions do require an abstract. Abbreviations and acronyms must be spelled out.

c. Introduction.

The author should provide a brief description of the background and rationale for the scientific contribution. The author is encouraged to test specific hypotheses. This section should indicate how the work contributes to the currently available literature.

d. Methods.

The author is encouraged to provide a separate “data analysis” section and a separate “sample size calculation” section toward the end of the Methods section. If multivariate modeling was performed, a specific statement as to how confounding factors were considered and entered into the models should be included.

For experimental investigation of human subjects, the author must state in this section that an appropriate institutional review board approved the project. For those investigators who do not have formal ethics review committees, the principles outlined in the “Declaration of Helsinki” should be followed. The author should state in this section the manner in which informed consent was obtained from the subjects. A letter of consent must accompany all photographs, patient descriptions, and pedigrees in which a possibility of identification exists; this letter should be kept on file with the patient's case notes. The author is responsible for proper anonymization of patients.

TOHM also requires authors to register all clinical trials in a public registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment. Clinical trials may be registered in any public registry, though TOHM suggests utilizing those recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Authors must include the trial registration number within manuscripts submitted to the journal. Registration numbers should be referenced (1) within the Methods section and (2) the first time an acronym is used to refer to the trial within the body of the manuscript. More information can be found on the ICMJE's Clinical Trial Registration page.

Experiments using animals must follow national standards of care. For further information, see the ICMJE Recommendations for Protection of Research Participants. Papers should be accompanied by a statement in the methods section that all efforts were made to minimize animal suffering, to reduce the number of animals used and to utilize alternatives to in vivo techniques, if available. Authors must also include the name of the ethics committee that approved their study.

e. Results.

For all statistical tests, the author should provide the test name, result, and p value (e.g., “t test = 4.57, p = 0.02”). For odds ratios and relative risks, provide both a 95% confidence interval and a p value. All figures to be included with the paper should not be in the text. They should be uploaded separately, with callouts in the text referencing each figure.

f. Discussion.

Toward the end of the Discussion, the author is encouraged to provide a section on the limitations and strengths of his or her work. Also, authors are encouraged to highlight the clinical applicability, if any, of their findings.

g. Acknowledgments.

The author must receive the approval of any person listed in the acknowledgements section.

h. Financial Disclosures.

• Funding: This is a statement that documents for each author all funding sources that relate to the research covered in the article. This will be published with the paper.
• Financial Disclosures: This is a statement that documents for each author any commercial associations (e.g., consultancies, speakers bureaus, stock ownership, equity interest, patent-licensing arrangements). This will be published with the paper.
• Conflict of Interest: If any of the authors have any competing interests then these must be declared. A short paragraph should be placed before the references. See our guidelines for competing interests. guidelines. If there are no competing interests to declare then the following statement should be present: The author(s) has/have no competing interests to declare.

 

i. Ethics Statement

• • Statement of Human and Animal Rights: For experimental investigation of human subjects, the author must state in the Methods section that an appropriate institutional review board approved the project. For those investigators who do not have formal ethics review committees, the principles outlined in the “Declaration of Helsinki” should be followed. When reporting experiments on animals, authors must indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed. Authors must also include the name of the ethics committee that approved their study on animals.
  • Statement of Informed Consent:The author must state in the Methods section the manner in which informed consent was obtained from the subjects. A letter of consent must accompany all photographs, patient descriptions, and pedigrees in which a possibility of identification exists; this letter should be kept on file with the patient's case notes. The author is responsible for proper anonymization of patients.

j. References.

TOHM complies with the Vancouver reference style given in “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals.” These guidelines are available online at http://www.icmje.org/.

If using a reference manager (such as EndNote) the author may select "Vancouver" from the list of citation styles in order to format all references in the style of the journal.

References are to be cited in the text by superscript number (following punctuation), and in the list of references they are to be numbered in the order in which they are cited. Accuracy of reference data is the responsibility of the author.

k. Tables.

Tables should be included in the manuscript. They must be created using a word processor's table function, not tabbed text. They should be typed neatly, each on a separate page. All abbreviations should be explained.

In order to enhance understanding and accessibility for all readers (including screen readers), tables should be kept as simple as possible without compromising the value of presenting the table.

The final layout will place the tables as close to their first citation as possible. All tables must be cited within the main text, and numbered with Arabic numerals in consecutive order (e.g. Table 1, Table 2, etc.).

Each table must have an accompanying descriptive title. This should clearly and concisely summarise the content and/or use of the table. A short additional table legend is optional to offer a further description of the table. The table title and legend should be placed underneath the table.

Tables should not include: Rotated text, colour to denote meaning (it will not display the same on all devices), images, vertical or diagonal lines, multiple parts (e.g. ‘Table 1a’ and ‘Table 1b’). These should either be merged into one table, or separated into ‘Table 1’ and ‘Table 2’.

NOTE: If there are more columns than can fit on a single page, then the table will be placed horizontally on the page. If it still can't fit horizontally on a page, the table will be broken into two.

l. Figure Legends.

Double-space figure legends and include a title and a descriptor. Figures should not be imported into the manuscript but should be uploaded as separate files. For photomicrographs, the author should include the type of specimen, original magnification, and stain type.

Sample figure legend:

Figure 1. Photographs of Three Subjects with Blepharospasm and Anterocollis. Frontal, lateral, and posterior views of subjects #1 (A–C) and #2 (D–F). Subject #5 before (H) and after ([I] 1 month; [J] 2 months) bilateral GPi DBS.
 

m. Video Legends.

If there is a video, then the author must also supply a video legend, which describes the content of the video clip. If the video is comprised of several different clips, then the legend should describe the content of each clip in order.  Legends should include a title and a descriptor.

Sample video legend:

Video Segment 1B. The Patient from Segment 1 at Initial Follow-up. Movements are markedly diminished in amplitude and intensity. Subsequent examinations showed no movements.

III. Figures

If applicable. The author should upload each figure as a separate image file, not as part of the manuscript file. See section VII below.

IV. Video

If applicable, see section VIII below.

 

III. Editorial Services

Authors for whom English is a second language may choose to have their manuscript professionally edited before submission to improve the English. All such services would be paid for and arranged by the author, and use of one of these services would not guarantee acceptance or preference for publication.

In some instances, during the review of a manuscript, the editorial office will request that the authors use one of these professional services in order to improve the quality of the English in their revised manuscript. All such services would be paid for and arranged by the author. Failure to comply with this request could result in the rejection of the revised manuscript.

Here we list several scientific editing services:

• American Journal Experts
• Bioedit Ltd
• Journal Prep
• Scribendi
• Editage
• Charlesworth Author Services
• Eloquenti

•  

 

IV. Waivers and Funding Sources

Article fees and waiver information may be found under publication fees.

Many universities offer assistance for those publishing in an open-access journal such as TOHM. If you are employed by one of the following institutions, you may be eligible to apply to your institution’s open-access publication fund. 

• Cornell: http://www.library.cornell.edu/compact/coap.html
• Dartmouth:http://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/schcomm/OAComPolicy.html
• Duke: http://library.duke.edu/openaccess/cope.html
• Harvard: http://osc.hul.harvard.edu/hope
• Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center:http://library.mskcc.org/scripts/portal/services/SKOAPmain.pl
• MIT: http://info-libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/mit-open-access/open-access-at-mit/mit-open-access-publishing-fund/
• Simon Fraser: http://www.lib.sfu.ca/node/10281
• University of California, Berkeley:http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/brii/
• Universitat de Barcelona:http://www.ub.edu/gaper/gapeicat.html
• University of Calgary: http://library.ucalgary.ca/services/-faculty/open-access/open-access-authors-fund-0
• University of Michigan: http://www.lib.umich.edu/cope
• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill:http://guides.hsl.unc.edu/content.php?pid=121319&sid=1262572
• University of Oregon:http://libweb.uoregon.edu/scis/sc/oaps.html
• University of Ottowa: http://www.oa.uottawa.ca/uo-initiatives-afund.jsp?language=en
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville:http://www.lib.utk.edu/openpub/apply.html
• University of Wisconsin-Madison:http://www.library.wisc.edu/scp/openaccess/oafund.html
• Wake Forest University: http://zsr.wfu.edu/services/scholarly/openaccess/fund.html

A complete list can be obtained from the Open Access Directory: http://oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/OA_journal_funds. New funds are created all the time, so please check with your institution’s library to inquire as to your own institution’s policy.

V. Guidelines for Reviews

It is important for all authors of review articles to acquaint themselves with the guidelines for preparing a review article. If you'd like to download a PDF copy of these review guidelines please click here.

A brief guide to preparation of a review article:

1. Organize information and relate it to your proposed topic
2. Synthesize results into a summary of what is and isn’t  known
3. Identify contradictions, inconsistencies in the literature
4. Develop questions for further research
5. Draw conclusions based upon your own evaluation of the studies presented 

Methods section requirements:

It is required that you include, at a minimum, each of the following elements in your Methods Section: 

1. The database searched (e.g., PUBMED)
2. The date the search was conducted (month and year)
3. The time period searched
4. Each of the specific search terms used (e.g., “tremor”, “mechanisms”) and the specific combinations of search terms that were used (e.g., "tremor" AND "mechanisms")
5. The exact number of articles that each search term (and combination of search terms) identified
6. The total number of articles that all search terms identified
7. The number of articles identified through a review of the reference list of these articles
8. The number of articles you selected for review
9. The criteria for selecting these articles (e.g. language, size of study, nature of study, etc.)

A table and/or flow diagram figure of this search strategy is preferred. For an excellent example of the methods section please see here. For an excellent example of a table, please see here. For an excellent example of a flow diagram, please see here. 

Common Problems to Avoid When Preparing Your Review:

1. Poor organization. The sections and subsections of your paper should follow a logical sequence that is easy to follow. Furthermore, the content of each section or sub-section should be consistent with the title of that section or sub-section.
2. Lack of transparency. Complete transparency about the choice of material included in your review is required. A section, within the Methods, should describe in detail the search terms.
3. Superficial review of the literature. The piece that you write should be considered the most definite treatment of the topic at the time of publication. Referencing of prior literature should be detailed and dense.Avoid statements such as "Walker et al. found xxxxx", "Louis et al. reported yyyyyyy"; emphasis should be upon the conclusions of these articles and the interpretations of their results in the context of the current review (rather than upon the authors).
4. Relying excessively on opinions rather than data. Evidence-based statements are preferable to anecdotal or imprecise remarks that are not supported by citable data. If you wish to submit a paper primarily based upon opinion, a Viewpoint article might be more appropriate.
5. Summary without synthesis. The paper should include a section with a thoughtful attempt at synthesis. While you may not be contributing new data to the field, your article should nevertheless be a contribution to the literature.  Things to aim for - discuss the approaches, limitations, and conclusions of past reviews; find a new angle that has not been covered adequately in the previous reviews; incorporate new material that has inevitably accumulated since their appearance.
6. All authors have not critically contributed to the paper. All authors are responsible for the contents of the article. If the article is being co-authored by a junior author and a senior author, the senior author is responsible for guiding the junior author to produce an article of appropriate standard.
7. Selection of too broad a topic. This often results in point 3. Ensure that your topic something that can be comprehensively addressed in this form of article. It may be necessary to reduce the scope to something more manageable.

 

VI. Other Elements of Style

Units of measure: Conventional units of measure according to the Systeme International (SI) are preferred.

Drug Names: Only generic names should be used in referring to drugs.

Abbreviations: The author should follow the list of abbreviations given in "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" (see section on References). For additional abbreviations, consult the CBE Style Manual (available from the Council of Biology Editors, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20814, USA) or other standard sources.

Spelling: American spelling is used throughout the Journal.

Avoid statements such as "Walker et al. found xxxxx", "Louis et al. reported yyyyyyy"; emphasis should be upon the conclusions of these articles and the interpretations of their results in the context of the current review (rather than upon the authors).

Hyperlinks Our accessibility policy determines that links, when used within the article, should ideally be descriptive and understandable from the link text alone or from its context. This is crucial for screen readers, so please avoid “click here” or “read more” links, but instead e.g. “View PMC page”. 

Links, like images, also require alt text to improve clarity, especially when the link text alone isn’t descriptive enough. Please provide us with one for each link to assist with improving overall accessibility. It should be short and clear - e.g. “View the article [article title]” if you’re linking to another article.

It isn’t necessary to provide alt text for links in the reference list (e.g. DOIs) as this will be added by the production team.

 

VII. How to Prepare and Submit Figures

For best reproduction, electronic artwork files must be in TIFF or JPG format, at a resolution of 300 dpi for black and white or color images, or 600 dpi or higher for lined art, flow charts, and spiral images, sized to print. The figures should not be imported into the text. They will be uploaded separately.

Please avoid using scans/images of text if possible, since these are not machine-readable and are thereby inherently inaccessible. We permit this only in cases where a scan/image of a text is required for the content of the article. Please reach out to the production editors after the article has been accepted to discuss these requirements.

Each figure must have accompanying alt text, which is different from the title or caption. This will function as a textual substitute for the image, in cases where this is needed, and should be a short description of the image. We recommend the alt text is no longer than 10 words. For guidance on how to write appropriate alt text, see the WebAIM guide: https://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/

For Teaching NeuroImages: each image may have more than one panel, but they should be clear and legible, and of sufficient size. Images may take up 2 full columns and half a page in PDF format, or two images that take up one column each.

Each file should not be more than 20MB. Standard formats accepted are: JPG, TIFF, GIF, PNG, EPS. For line drawings, please provide the original vector file (e.g. .ai, or .eps).

VIII. How to Prepare and Submit Video

The video must be in a digital format (.mp4, H.264 encoding, 5000 kbps or 1000 kbps). The video clip must be limited to 120 seconds unless specific approval is obtained from the editorial office. As part of the manuscript, the author must also supply a video legend, at the end of the article, which describes the content of the video clip. If the video is comprised of several different clips, then the legend should describe the content of each clip in order.  

As noted above, the video should be less than 120 seconds total, except for very special instances, which must be cleared beforehand with the editorial office.  The video should be high quality and the author is expected to edit it before submission in order to ensure that is makes a specific point with maximal efficiency. The use of text between video clips or subtitles is possible.

The corresponding author must confirm in writing that he or she has received a signed release form from each patient videotaped authorizing the online distribution of this video material. Videos will not be sent out for review until this documentation is received.

The Editors reserve the right to request additional video editing by the authors and to edit video submissions prior to posting and/or distribution.

The video is uploaded as a separate file from the manuscript and figures. 

 

IX. Preparing a Revised Manuscript

Papers that are submitted to TOHM generally undergo more than one rounds of peer review. After the initial round, authors will be asked to revise their paper based on reviewer comments. These materials should be uploaded onto the journal website when they are ready: (1) A clean copy of the revised paper, (2) a copy of the revised paper that clearly highlights all changes, (3) a detailed letter that both reproduces these changes and clearly notes the exact lines in which they appear in the highlighted version of the revised paper. During the revision process, the authors may need to add additional text in order to address reviewer comments. In this case, the word restrictions will be relaxed by the editor, who will allow up to a 20% increase in word count to accommodate changes. 

 

X. Proofs

Proof corrections must be made within two days of receipt; late return may cause a delay in publication of an article. The author must check text, tables, legends, alt text, and references carefully. To expedite publication, page proofs rather than galleys will be sent electronically to the authors, and it may be necessary to charge for alterations other than correction of typesetting errors.