INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE MUSCULOSKELETAL (THE MUSCLE, LIGAMENT, TENDON, CARTILAGE, BONE UNIT) AND NERVOUS SYSTEMS AT THE ORGAN, TISSUE, CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR LEVELS

• Innervation, function and adaptation of the musculoskeletal system in normal and pathological states
• Characterization of the mechanisms of actions of hormones, cytokines, growth factors, neurotransmitters, pharmaceuticals, nutrition, physical activity and environmental factors on the musculoskeletal system at the organ, tissue, cellular and molecular level
• Role of angiogenesis in local physiological events in the musculoskeletal system
• Primary and metastatic cancers of the musculoskeletal system

PRECLINICAL AND CLINICAL STUDIES OF THE PATHOPHYSIOLOGY, PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF OSTEOPOROSIS, OSTEOARTHRITIS AND METABOLIC MUSCULOSKELETAL DISEASES

• Pre-clinical models and therapies of experimental musculoskeletal system strength loss from osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and metabolic musculoskeletal diseases
• Pre-clinical models of musculoskeletal system interactions and experimental therapies, including pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions
• Approaches to mitigate musculoskeletal and neuronal decline with aging and disease states
• Clinical and interventional studies
• Exercise studies and effects on the musculoskeletal system
• Role of soft tissue (e.g. muscle, tendons, ligaments, synovium etc.)
• Specific technologies for evaluation of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems (e.g. muscle, tendon, ligament, cartilage, bone and nervous tissues) properties

PROCEEDINGS AND ABSTRACTS OF CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS AND SYMPOSIA WHICH EMPHASIZE THE INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN THE ABOVE AREAS
(e.g. the biennial meetings of the International Society of Musculoskeletal and Neuronal Interactions and the annual International Sun Valley Hard Tissue Workshops).

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

Editorial Policies and Practices

Authorship: To qualify for authorship, each author should contribute substantially to the intellectual content of the work. Such contribution consists of: 1) participating in the conception and design or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or critically revising it; and 3) approving the final version submitted, and approving any subsequent revisions.

Conflict of Interest: Authors are required to disclose any financial interests, direct or indirect (dual commitment), that might affect the conduct or reporting of the work they have submitted. Such financial interests should be disclosed on the conflict of interest forms accompanying the article at the time of submission. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all co-authors provide the necessary disclosure information.

Copyright: Authors submitting manuscripts to JMNI retain the copyright of the article if it is published.

Disclaimer: All material published in JMNI regarding medical procedures, choice of drugs and drug dosages represents the opinions of the authors and should not be construed to reflect the opinions of the Editors or the Publisher. No responsibility is assumed by JMNI, the Editors, the Publisher or ISMNI for any injury or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise or from any use of operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in JMNI. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, independent verification of diagnosis and drug dosages should be made. Although all advertising material is expected to conform to ethical (medical) standards, their inclusion in JMNI does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement of the quality or value of such product or of the claims made for it by its manufacturer.

Responsibilities of Reviewers: The review should comprise a critical but impartial scientific and literary appraisal in the fields of the reviewer's knowledge and skills. A reviewer should not review a manuscript outside his or her expertise or where a personal, scientific or financial interest could be considered likely to bias judgment. In case of doubts about these matters please contact the Editorial Office. A reviewer may not use or disclose any unpublished content of a manuscript under review without the express written permission of the Authors obtained through the Editorial Office. Under special circumstances, a reviewer may wish to consult a collaborator or colleague on some special point. This should be cleared beforehand with the Editorial Office, and the name of the collaborator or consultant should be mentioned in the comments to the Editor of the review.

Types of Manuscripts Accepted

JMNI provides a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary forum for quarterly publication of articles that focus on the interactions between tissues and organs of the musculoskeletal system. It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to this journal be original, unpublished, and not simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere; further, that submission for publication has been approved by all of the authors and by the institution where the work was carried out. Only manuscripts written in English will be accepted.

Manuscripts submitted to JMNI should fall into one of the following categories:

• Original Articles: These report new and important experimental or clinical information. Manuscripts are limited to 6000 words.
  
  
• Case Reports: Presents brief description of a single case or small case series of interesting diagnostic or therapeutic problems, unusual complications or unexplained observations. Manuscripts are limited to 2500 words.
  
  
• Review articles: They must present a review of existing literature, consolidate old ideas and may suggest new ones. Manuscripts are limited to 6000 words.
  
  
• Perspective articles: Perspective articles highlight new ideas. They re-examine the available evidence in light of concepts that deviate markedly from conventional wisdom in a field. Perspective manuscripts are limited to 4000 words. If more than 4000 words are necessary to explain your idea, you have probably written a review.
  
  
• Proceedings: These are the written records of presentations made at a conference. They are usually invited by the conference organizer or a JMNI Editor. Manuscripts should not exceed 2000 words.
  
  
• Editorials: Editorials on special topics should be limited to 1000 words.
  
  
• Letters to the Editor: Letters commenting on published articles will be published at the discretion of the Editorial Board. They should be brief (up to 500 words) and directly related to a recently published article.

The limitations in the number of words refer to the main text of a manuscript and figure legends. Title page, abstract, tables and references are not included in the word count.

Submission of manuscripts

New manuscripts for initial review should be submitted in Word or pdf format as E-mail attachments. If possible, the entire manuscript should be contained in a single file. The E-mail with the attachment should be sent to the Editorial Office at: jmni@ismni.org

Revised manuscripts (i.e., those that have undergone the review process and are now submitted for publication) should be sent as follows: Text, references, tables and legends should be contained in a single Word file that is sent as an E-mail attachment. Figures should be attached to the same E-mail but must be sent as original digital art files (see instructions under 'Figures' below). To facilitate identification, art files should be named Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.
Manuscripts should be double spaced with at least 1-inch (2.5 cm) margins. Use a font size of 10 to 12 points throughout the manuscript. Number all pages consecutively. Type tables, footnotes, and figure legends double spaced on separate pages.

Manuscripts should be prepared in the following format:

Title Page: It should include the article title, a short running title (no more than 45 characters), the list of authors (give first name, middle initial and last name of each author), and the complete name of the department and institution of each author. In addition, the title page should contain the address, telephone number, fax number and E-mail address of the corresponding author.

Abstract: An abstract is required for original articles, case reports, review articles and perspective articles. The abstract of original articles should be written in a structured format using the following headings: Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions. The abstracts of articles not presenting original data do not have to adhere to this format. Abstracts should be no more than 200 words long.

Key Words: Five key words should be listed at the bottom of the abstract page.

Text: The text of original articles (but not necessarily of other types of manuscripts) should be structured as follows:

• Introduction: Should clearly and concisely review the rationale for the study and identify what issues were addressed in the study. It should clearly place the report within the area being studied. Do not repeat the results and conclusions in the Introduction.
• Materials and Methods: This section should carefully describe the materials and methods used including sample size and statistical approaches. Commonly used techniques should not be described in detail but should be referred to citing appropriate references. However, unique experiments should be described in adequate detail to allow repetition by others. Please provide the manufacturer name of all products mentioned in the paper. It is not necessary to specify the geographical location of the manufacturer.
• Results: This section should succinctly state the results without any lengthy discussion or interpretation of individual data. Statistical tests should be clearly defined and statistical significance should be shown in both figures and tables by superscripts of a, b, c, etc.
• Discussion: This section should summarize but not repeat the Results. It should distinguish between logical explanations of the results reported and hypotheses drawn from the results. The Discussion should end with a succinct summary of the data and conclusions. Where possible and reasonable, some conclusion should be made about the wider implications of the study findings.

Acknowledgements: Authors should acknowledge in the manuscript all support for the work, including funding, equipment and drugs. Individuals should be acknowledged before institutions. The acknowledgement should specify the nature of the contribution of each individual or organisation that is mentioned in this section.

References: References should be listed consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. In the text, they should be indicated by upper case numbers. Use the Index Medicus reference style (see: "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals". N Engl J Med 1997;336:309-15). Accuracy of reference data is the responsibility of the authors. Examples:

• Journal article: Fricke O, Schoenau E. Examining the developing skeletal muscle: Why, what and how? J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact 2005;5:225-31.
• Chapter in book: Rittweger J. Physiological targets of artificial gravity: adaptive processes in bone. In: Clement G, Bukley A, editors. Artificial Gravity. Berlin: Springer; 2007. p. 191-231.

Book: Martin RB, Burr DB, Sharkey NA. Skeletal tissue Mechanics. New York: Springer; 1998.

Tables: Each table must be on a separate page in double spacing, numbered consecutively and have a title. All abbreviations should be defined in the legend. The table should be understandable independently of the text.

Figures: Figures should be submitted close to publication size. Most figures will be set at single column width (approximately 8 cm). For the initial submission of a manuscript, Figures can be included in the Word or pdf document that also contains the other parts of the manuscript. For final submission, original figure files need to be submitted. Please adhere to the following guidelines when submitting digital art for publication:

• Line art, such as bar graphs, must be submitted in TIFF, PowerPoint or EPS format. The minimum resolution for line art is 900 dpi (dots per inch). Use clean black lines, preferably no finer than 1 point. For vector EPS images, embed fonts or convert to outlines.
• Grayscale (black and white) or color figures must be submitted in TIFF, PowerPoint or EPS format. The minimum resolution is 300 dpi. For color art, please use the CMYK color mode.

A separate list of figure legends should be supplied at the end of the manuscript. Please submit figures that are close to publication size to insure that clarity and legibility will be maintained when the figure is reproduced. Figure legends should be brief and should not restate information that is already contained in the Materials and Methods section.
The authors must obtain permission to reproduce figures, tables, text, and abstracts from previously published material. Written permission must be obtained from the original copyright holder (generally the publisher or the sponsoring society, not the author) of the journal or book concerned. An appropriate credit line should be included in the figure legend or table footnote, and full publication information in the reference list. Written permission must be obtained from the author of any unpublished material cited from other laboratories, and should accompany the manuscript.

Revised Manuscripts

Every effort will be made to reduce the time between submission and first response and between submission of revised manuscript and second response. In general, failure to adequately deal with issues raised by reviewers with one revision will preclude acceptance of a manuscript. If a revision is not submitted within 6 months, the file on that manuscript will be considered closed.

Proofs

Proofs will be sent to the author electronically together with reprint order forms and reprint price list. Any corrections must be returned within 48 hours. Please remember authors are responsible for errors appearing in their manuscript.

Author Fees

Page charges: Payments for page charges are not a prerequisite for publication. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, page charges must be paid by all groups of authors who have funds available from research grants or from their institutions. Manuscripts over 8 printed pages will incur page charges of 45 Euros per printed page if the authors have funding for page charges.
Color charges: Authors are required to pay for publication of color illustration.
Contact Editorial Office for current reproduction costs.