Aims & Scope

The CJNS is a widely circulated, internationally recognized medical journal that publishes peer-reviewed articles across all areas of the clinical neurosciences. The Journal will consider submissions involving clinical or translational research with human participants, as well as selected preclinical articles with a clear link to neurological illness and its treatment. Articles are published in English with abstracts in both English and French. The Journal is published bimonthly in January, March, May, July, September, and November in an online format.
The CJNS is the official publication of the member societies of the Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation (CNSF); the Canadian Neurological Society (CNS), the Canadian Neurosurgical Society (CNSS), the Canadian Society of Clinical Neurophysiologists (CSCN), the Canadian Association of Child Neurology (CACN), the Canadian Society of Neuroradiology (CSNR) and the Canadian Stroke Consortium (CSC).

Article types accepted

Manuscript categories that will be considered for publication by CJNS include the following:

• Original Articles*
• Review Articles*
• Brief Communications*
• Neuroimaging Highlights*
• Editorials
• Letters to the Editor: New Observations*
• Letters to the Editor: Published Article
• Reflections
• Obituaries
• Commentaries
• Historical Reviews*
• Clinical Neuropathological Conference
• Clinical Case Conference
• Practice Pearls

*These articles types may be covered under one of the transformative agreements that Cambridge University Press has made to support open access. If funding is unavailable for the other article types, waivers are available.

Summary of Article Types and Requirements

Manuscript type	Length requirements  (excluding references, tables and/or figures)	Abstract	Max. Refs	Additional comments
Original Articles	Maximum 6,000 words.	Structured abstract that consists of four sections: Background or Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusion. Maximum of 250 words in English or French. The Journal will provide translation to the other language if required.	No	Original articles reports high quality, original research. Please note that if your article is a Systematic Review, it should be submitted to the journal as an “Original Article.” Case reports, including case report with Review of the Literature, should be submitted as Letters to the Editor (please see below).
Review Articles	Maximum 6,000 words.	Unstructured abstract of 250 words or less in English or French. The Journal will provide translation to the other language if required.	No	Review Articles should provide systematic, comprehensive review of a topic of interest to CJNS readers.
Brief Communications	Maximum 1,500 words.	Unstructured abstract of 100 words or less in English or French. The Journal will provide translation to the other language if required.	10	Brief Communications manuscripts include preliminary observations. They should report novel observations.    There should be no section headings. Please note that case reports should be submitted as Letters to the Editor (please see below), not Brief Communications.
Neuroimaging Highlights	Maximum 500 words.	No	10	Neuroimaging Highlights either make an original contribution or serve an educational purpose in demonstrating neuroimages. They may include up to two (2) figures. There should be no section headings.
Editorials	Maximum 1,000 words.	No	15	Editorials are opinion articles from the editor or an invited author, which relate to and expand upon an article in the same issue of the Journal. They should be brief and focused.
Letters to the Editor: New Observations	Maximum 1,000 words	No	8	Letters to the Editor: New Observations may present results of research, or describe a case or cases with novel findings. At the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief, Letters to the Editor: New Observations may include up to two (2) figures and tables. There should be no section headings.
Letters to the Editor: Published Article	Maximum 1,000 words	No	8	Letters to the Editor: Published Article refer to previously published articles. The letter should be received within 8 weeks of the print publication date. At the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief, Letters to the Editor: Published Article may include up to two (2) figures and tables. There should be no section headings.
Reflections	Maximum 1,500 words.	No	4	Reflections are articles of opinion or observations and reflections on topics that relate to the “humanistic” /nonmedical aspect of neurology, neurosurgery or neuroscience, usually based on personal experience.
Obituaries	Maximum 1,000 words.	No	N/A
Commentaries	Maximum 2,000 words.	No	5	Commentaries should describe an experience, express an opinion, or comment about an article that is of interest to CJNS readers. They may include up to two (2) figures and tables.
Historical Reviews	Maximum 4,000 words.	Unstructured abstract of 100 words or less in English or French. The Journal will provide translation to the other language if required.	N/A	Historical Review manuscripts should be written by someone who is recognized as an authority/expert in this area, usually but not invariably a senior member of one of the societies.
Clinical Neuropathological Conference	Maximum 2,500 words	No	20	Clinical Neuropathological Conference manuscripts present a thoroughly investigated and coherent case for discussion by a named expert in the field whose discussion gives insight into their diagnostic approach. The manuscript concludes with a clear diagnosis, substantiated by thorough pathological analysis  and a brief review of the topic. Authors are encouraged to consult previously published Clinical Neuropathological Conference papers as examples. See Alturkustani et al., 2015 as an example of this article type.
Clinical Case Conference	Maximum 2,500 words	No	20	Clinical Case Conference manuscripts are similar to Clinical Neuropathological Conference manuscripts, except that pathological analysis is not required.  Discussions of the case from named experts in the field should be included in the manuscript. Authors are encouraged to consult previously published Clinical Neuropathological Conference papers as examples.
Practice Pearls	Maximum 1,000 words	No	8	Practice Pearls discuss a focused and succinct ‘pearl’ of wisdom relevant to clinical neuroscience. It may cover any aspect of clinical neuroscience including examination or surgical technique, diagnosis, management, education, research and leadership.  There should be a learning point for each article.

Preparing your article for submission

Before submitting a manuscript, please gather the following information

• Author affiliations/Institutions
• Departments
• Phone Numbers
• E-mail Addresses
• Title. Your title must be under 120 characters (including spaces). Do not use abbreviations in the title.
• Completed Author Conflict of Interest (COI) Forms. The electronic form is also available on ScholarOne Manuscripts web site, in the Author Centre (for more information about our Conflict of Interest policy, please see below).

Conflict of interest / Disclosures

The Journal requires that an International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Conflict of Interest Form is completed by every author of the manuscript. We strongly suggest that the ICJME COI Form(s) is/are completed and submitted at the time of initial submission, however this will not be required until revision, or acceptance without revision.  If the editors request a revision from you, we will require that the forms be submitted to ScholarOne at the time you submit your revised manuscript.  If your paper is accepted for publication without revision, we will require that you submit the forms at that time.  Please note that we will not be able to move forward with your revised or accepted paper until a completed COI form for each author has been uploaded to the submission site. Additionally, each individual author should use the ICMJE disclosure form to generate the wording of their declarations. Authors should then add these declarations into their manuscript before submission. This paragraph must match all disclosures listed on the co-authors’ COI form(s).  Editors and peer reviewers must be able to refer to this information during the review process.

Information regarding actual or potential conflict of interests for each co-author must be listed.  The COI information must include actual or potential conflicts of interest for each co-author. If in doubt, disclose the relationship. Any financial interest, research grant, material support, or consulting fee associated with the contents of the manuscript must be declared.

These guidelines apply to each co-author and their immediate families. Potential conflicts of interest are not necessarily wrong, nor do they necessarily change the scientific validity of the research or opinion presented. Please note, however, that the Journal and readers should be aware of the potential conflict(s). Such conflicts will be published with the authors’ knowledge. If the editor considers any potential conflicts to compromise the validity of the content, the manuscript will not be accepted for publication.

The Publisher shall not after publication online correct any error or omission in author disclosure forms if not submitted correctly during the peer review process.

Cover Letter

A cover letter is required and must state that the manuscript has not been published elsewhere, except in abstract form, and is not under simultaneous consideration by another journal. The cover letter should also disclose if there are any potential conflicts of interest.

Titles

Titles for all manuscripts must not include abbreviations and must be under 120 characters including spaces.

Title page

Provide a word count for the abstract and the body of the manuscript in the first page.

Highlights (Original Articles only) 

Please submit 3 bullet point Highlights summarizing the key take home message(s) or novel aspects of your article. Highlights are meant to provide readers with an at-a-glance summary of an article, and to improve searchability of an article online. The total length of all 3 bullet points should not exceed 50 words. Highlights are subject to peer review.

Section Headings

Subtitles (such as Introduction, Discussion, etc.) should not be included in Letter to the Editor, Brief Communications, and Neuroimaging Highlights manuscripts.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements, including recognition of financial support, should be included at the end of the text.

Statement of authorship

A statement of authorship that outlines the roles of each author should be provided. Please provide this using author initials only. 

Presenting Data

The SI system (système international d'unités) should be used in reporting all laboratory data, even if originally reported in another system. Please report exact p-values where possible (e.g., p = 0.03) or use "<" if p-values are below a particular significance threshold (e.g., p < 0.0001). Do not write p = 0.000

Reference style

References

References should be numbered in the order of their citation in the text. Those cited only in tables and legends for illustrations are numbered according to the sequence established by the first identification in the text of a particular table or illustration.

• Titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus.
• List all authors when there are six or fewer; for seven or more, list only the first three and add "et al".
• Provide the full title, year of publication, volume number and inclusive pagination for journal articles. Do not include issue numbers. Including DOI is strongly encouraged.
• Unpublished articles should be cited as [in press]. Do not reference unpublished or "submitted" papers; these can be mentioned in the body of the text.
• Reference citations should not include unpublished presentations or other non-accessible material.
• Books or chapter references should also include the place of publication and the name of the publisher. For Uniform Requirements for Sample References go to http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html.

Examples of correct forms of references:

Journals

1. Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002;935:40-6. doi: 10.1016/s0006-8993(02)02445-9

Chapter in a book

1. Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

Permissions and Releases

Photographs of recognizable persons must be accompanied by a signed release from the legal guardian or patient authorizing publication. If you have any questions please consult our standard guidance on Core.

Supplemental Data Files 

Authors have the ability to upload media files of various kinds along with their articles for all manuscript categories. These are hosted and made available to end-users as Supplementary Materials. Please note that supplementary materials appear outside of the manuscript. Authors should ensure that an in-text citation to each Supplementary file has been made in the article. They will include a URL address to be assigned by Cambridge.

Cambridge will not edit or typeset Supplementary Material, or modify audio or video files in any substantive way. It will be posted online exactly as supplied. Cambridge will notify the author/editorial office if a submitted file does not meet our quality and size requirements. If deemed unacceptable, in most cases, the author will be responsible for rectifying the problem and supplying an acceptable file. In some rare instances, we can, by arrangement, convert audio and movie files to FLV format for streaming on the understanding that this may affect the resolution.

The Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences accepts the following types of Supplementary Materials:

 Audio files

 Video files

 On occasion: exceptionally large datasets or tables that are to be presented outside of the manuscript.

Audio Files

 Preferred formats: mp3 or mp4

 Accepted formats: AAC, AIFF or WAV Maximum file size 300Mb

Video Files

 Preferred formats: mpg/mpeg, mp4 or mov

 Acceptable formats: wmv or avi

 Maximum file size: 300Mb

 Minimum dimensions: 320 pixels wide by 240 pixels deep

 Verify that the videos are viewable in QuickTime or Windows Media Player

For each video, please provide a citation in the appropriate place in the manuscript text and include a title limited to 20 words.

This citation will appear in print as a boxed text and also specify the video file format. In the case of multiple video files, number them in the order in which they should be viewed.

If associated with a figure, please include a citation at the end of the figure caption explaining the video’s function, its file format, and that it is accessible at journals.cambridge.org.

The video will be posted at the site of the appropriate journal title, volume, issue number, and article. At the article’s title, the video can be accessed via a link which states "Supplemental Materials"

Media Clip Specifications

Submitted Manuscripts, containing media clips to be considered for online publication are to include the following items:

• Manuscript
• Media Clip
• Title of Media Clip
• Legend for Media Clip
• Size of Media Clip (maximum file size for upload is 300 MB)
• Viewing Length of Media Clip (maximum view time is 12 minutes)
• Patient Release For media clips that involve patients, provide documentation within your cover letter showing informed consent for the taping and display of the clip in an online format.

Colour Specifications

All manuscripts published only online and all graphics included in manuscript may be uploaded in full colour, if full colour graphics provided by authors. No additional charges will apply.

Other acceptable file formats

Accepted formats: pdf, doc/docx, xls/xlsx, ppt/pptx, jpeg, tiff, png, and zip

Naming supplementary files

Supplementary files should be named in such a way that it is clear what they are, which article they belong to, and what they contain. For instance, if John Smith includes a series of Supplementary Material tables to be published with his article, the file should be labeled <<Smith_supp.pdf>>.

e.g.

J.Smith_appendix_table_1.xls

J.Smith_supplement-movie1.mov

Cambridge University Press Copyright Requirements for Supplementary Material

At Cambridge University Press, all supplementary material is subject to the same copyright requirements as primary material.

I/we hereby assign to Cambridge University Press, full copyright in all formats and media in the said contribution, including in any supplementary materials that I/we may author in support of the online version.

Seeking permission for copyrighted material

If your article contains any material in which you do not own copyright, including figures, charts, tables, photographs or excerpts of text, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder to reuse that material. As the author it is your responsibility to obtain this permission and pay any related fees, and you will need to send us a copy of each permission statement at acceptance.

When do I need to request permission?

You need to request permission to reuse any material for which you are not the copyright holder. This can include anything created, published, owned, held or produced by a third party, but also other published material that you authored, as the original publisher may hold the copyright.

If you make minor changes to the original material, you still need to seek permission to use it. Cosmetic changes such as tinting, relabelling, or redrawing as is are not enough; material needs to be substantially modified to avoid needing permission to reproduce, and even then the original source still needs to be acknowledged.

Who do I send a permission request to?

Usually the publisher of the original work holds the copyright, unless explicitly stated otherwise. We recommend that you approach the original publisher first, and they will inform you if you need to contact the author.

How do I request permission?

Most publishers have forms on their websites that can be completed electronically, or use automated electronic permissions services like Rightslink® to grant permissions automatically online.

If no electronic form or service is available, you must send an email or letter to the copyright holder. A template permissions request is included below; note for emails no signature is required.

Dear <rightsholder>

<Article title>

I am writing/editing/contributing to an academic work under the provisional title above, to be published by Cambridge University Press in <title of journal>, in <month (if known) and year of publication>.

I request your permission to include the following material in this work:

Author:
Title:
Date of publication: <volume and issue if applicable>:
ISBN <ISSN if journal>:
Page no.(s):
Illustration no.(s):
Table no.(s):

Unless otherwise informed, permission will be assumed to grant the nonexclusive right to use the material in print and electronic editions of the work throughout the world, in all revised editions of the work and as part of a sample of the work made available online for promotional purposes only.

I further request permission for the material to be included in any reprint published under licence from Cambridge University Press.

The source of the material will be fully acknowledged in the usual way. Please indicate below if you have any special requirements: ..............................................................

..............................................................

Please indicate your agreement to this request by <way of reply to this email/signing and returning one copy of this letter>:. The duplicate is for your own records. By your countersignature, you warrant that you control these rights and are authorised to grant this permission.

If this is not the case, I would be grateful if you could let me know to whom I should apply.

Yours sincerely

<Signature lines>:

I/we hereby grant the permission detailed above.

Signed:............................. Date: ..................

When do I not need to request permission?

• Creative Commons – where third party content is published under a Creative Commons licence (CC-BY / CC-BY-NC / CC-BY-NC-ND etc.), you may not need to request permission to reuse the content as long as you fully acknowledge the original source. Please check carefully the terms of the license before reusing material. More information about Creative Commons licenses can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/.
• Content in the public domain – material that is not under copyright is considered to be in the public domain, and you do not need to request permission to use such material. This includes works for which the copyright has expired and has not since been renewed.

My article includes third party materials and will be published Gold Open Access. What type of permissions do I need to request?

If your article is to be published Gold Open Access, you will have to make sure all of the permissions requested from third party copyright owners includes the non-exclusive right to use the third party materials in the open access version of your article and under an equivalent creative commons licence.

If your article is transformed to a Gold OA publication post-submission, you will need to review the current permissions already in place and determine whether or not the rights originally granted cover the open access version of your article. If not, then you will need to request further permissions from the copyright holder.

How do I acknowledge permission in my paper?

Even if written permission is not required, you must fully acknowledge the original source of any material where you do not hold copyright in your article. The copyright holder will inform you if there is any specific wording required for this acknowledgement. For figures or tables from other sources, you should place this acknowledgement at the end of the caption.

What permissions information do I need to provide to my journal?

You will be asked to supply copies of any emails or letters granting permission to reuse material with your transfer of copyright or license to publish form.

Patient photographs

Please note that hospitals usually hold copyright for any photographs taken during the course of work done on their premises. Permission to use the photograph in your article also needs to be obtained from the patient in the photograph if the subject of the photograph can be recognised.

Material from the internet

Please be aware that even if a copyright notice is not displayed, content on websites is still protected by copyright and so permission to reuse material will need to be obtained from the copyright holder.