Authors
Author Guidelines
These guidelines summarize the requirements for preparing and submitting manuscripts to iCancer. They are part of Apex Science Publication's standard journal requirements for transparent peer review, research integrity, complete metadata, and durable online publication.
Submission and peer review
All manuscripts must be submitted through the iCancer online submission system. The editorial office screens each submission for scope, completeness, ethics, reporting quality, metadata, authorship, conflict of interest, data availability, and potential research integrity concerns before peer review. Suitable manuscripts are assigned to editors and external reviewers.
Publisher requirements
These requirements are used across Apex Science Publication journals to make each accepted article easier to review, produce, preserve, cite, and reuse. They also help keep journal content consistent with common international standards for biomedical publishing.
Editorial transparency
iCancer requires clear peer review, editorial policies, author and ethics declarations, data availability statements, complete references, and production files that can later support XML/JATS, PDF, figures, and supplementary files.
Article metadata
Every article should have an English title, English abstract, clear author affiliations, publication ethics declarations, peer-review traceability, readable text, complete references, and transparent AI-use disclosure where applicable.
Journal consistency
Articles and journal pages should show a coherent scope, editorial oversight, ethical publishing practices, accurate author and affiliation metadata, international readability, appropriate citations, and consistent publication information.
Article types
| Type | Scope | Typical content |
|---|
| Research Article | Original cancer research with complete methods and data. | Abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, references, figures and tables. |
| Review | Balanced synthesis of an important oncology topic. | Structured narrative review, figures, tables, and future directions. |
| Systematic Review or Meta-analysis | Evidence synthesis using transparent search and analysis methods. | Protocol or registration when available, PRISMA-style reporting, methods, results, and limitations. |
| Brief Report | Focused original findings that can be reported concisely. | Short abstract, limited figures or tables, and concise discussion. |
| Perspective or Commentary | Expert analysis of emerging concepts, methods, or policy issues. | Clear argument, evidence base, and implications for oncology research or practice. |
| Methods or Resources | Tools, datasets, protocols, or analytical resources useful to cancer research. | Technical description, validation, access statement, and use cases. |
Manuscript files and metadata
- Submit a manuscript file with title page, abstract, keywords, main text, references, tables, figure legends, and supplementary material callouts.
- Provide complete author names, institutional affiliations with country or region, corresponding author details, funding information, and ORCID identifiers where available.
- Include a structured or clearly organized abstract, 3-8 keywords, complete references, DOI links where available, and Roman-script bibliographic information.
- Upload figures, tables, supplementary files, reporting checklists, trial registration records, data availability notes, and ethics documents when required.
- Use clear English throughout. Titles and abstracts should be accurate, concise, and understandable to an international biomedical audience.
Reference style and citation tools
References should be complete, accurate, numbered in the order cited, and include DOI links whenever available. Authors may use the files below to prepare or export references before submission.
- Zotero and Mendeley users may install the iCancer CSL style.
- EndNote users may import or export references through the provided RIS file.
- BibTeX users may use the sample file to review the required bibliographic fields.
A dedicated EndNote output style is not currently provided. Authors may submit consistently formatted numbered references.
Research integrity and ethics
iCancer follows the general principles of ICMJE, COPE, WAME, and discipline-specific reporting standards. Authors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, transparency, and integrity of the submitted work.
- All listed authors must meet authorship criteria, approve the submitted version, and agree to be accountable for their contributions.
- Human studies must include ethics approval, informed consent where applicable, and patient privacy protection. Animal studies must state approval and humane care standards.
- Clinical trials must be registered in a public trial registry before or at participant enrollment whenever required by the study type and applicable policy.
- Conflicts of interest, funding sources, sponsor roles, author contributions, acknowledgements, and prior presentation or preprint status must be declared.
- Images must not be selectively enhanced, duplicated, spliced, or altered in a misleading way. Editors may request original image or data files.
Reporting guidelines
Authors should select the appropriate reporting guideline before submission and upload the checklist when relevant.
| Study type | Expected guideline | Core requirement |
|---|
| Randomized or interventional trial | CONSORT; CONSORT-AI or SPIRIT-AI when relevant | Trial registration, participant flow, outcomes, protocol details, harms, and statistical plan. |
| Systematic review or meta-analysis | PRISMA | Search strategy, eligibility criteria, screening process, risk of bias, synthesis method, and protocol when available. |
| Observational or registry study | STROBE or RECORD | Study design, data source, cohort selection, variables, missing data, bias, and statistical methods. |
| Diagnostic, prognostic, or prediction model study | STARD, TRIPOD, CLAIM, or related AI guidance | Model development or validation, ground truth, performance metrics, calibration, limitations, and reproducibility. |
| Animal or preclinical experiment | ARRIVE | Randomization, blinding, sample size, inclusion/exclusion criteria, welfare, and statistical analysis. |
Data, code, and materials
- A data availability statement is required for every submission, even when data cannot be shared publicly.
- High-throughput datasets, sequences, structures, proteomics, imaging, or other reusable research outputs should be deposited in a recognized repository with accession identifiers.
- Software, code, model weights, prompts, analysis scripts, and computational environments should be shared when they are necessary to reproduce the work, unless legal or ethical restrictions apply.
- Restrictions on patient-level data, third-party datasets, proprietary tools, or controlled-access repositories must be explained clearly.
AI disclosure
- AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Human authors are responsible for all submitted content.
- Authors must disclose meaningful use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools in writing, image generation, data processing, analysis, code generation, translation, or figure preparation.
- The disclosure should name the tool, version or provider when available, purpose of use, and the part of the manuscript or workflow affected.
- Confidential patient data, unpublished manuscripts, reviewer comments, or third-party proprietary material should not be entered into AI tools unless permissions and data protections allow it.
Figures, tables, and supplementary material
- Figures and tables should be cited in order, have clear legends, define abbreviations, and remain readable after resizing.
- Use scale bars, labels, units, sample sizes, and statistical annotations where relevant.
- Color choices should remain interpretable when printed or viewed by readers with color-vision differences.
- Supplementary material should be directly relevant to the manuscript and submitted as separate files when possible.
After acceptance
Accepted manuscripts enter production for copyediting, proof preparation, publication metadata checks, DOI/Crossref preparation, JATS/XML preparation when available, and online publication. Authors should review proofs promptly and report only essential corrections at proof stage.
Pre-submission checklist
- The manuscript fits the aims and scope of iCancer.
- All authors have approved the submitted version.
- Ethics approval, informed consent, trial registration, reporting checklist, data availability, conflicts, funding, author contribution, and AI-use statements are complete where applicable.
- English title, abstract, keywords, affiliations, country or region, ORCID identifiers where available, references, figures, tables, and supplementary files are complete.
- References are accurate, complete, and appropriate to the topic. DOI links should be included when available.
- Third-party material permissions have been obtained where required.
- No confidential information, patient identifiers, unsupported claims, or undisclosed image manipulation remains in the submission.
