Partial publication. Partial presentation of data in another medium (e.g., on a website) does not necessarily preclude publication in Fertility and Sterility, but acknowledgment of the previous presentation is required, along with identification of the source (e.g., the URL of the website). Content cannot be copied verbatim from the previous presentation, as that would constitute self-plagiarism, but must be rewritten to comply with journal standards.
Authors must declare the use of generative AI in scientific writing upon submission of the paper. The following guidance refers only to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process:
The technology must be applied with human oversight and control and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. Authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.
The use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in scientific writing must be declared by adding a statement at the end of the manuscript when the paper is first submitted. The statement will appear in the published work and should be placed in a new section before the references list. An example:
Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the published article.
Please note: to protect authors' rights and the confidentiality of their research, this journal does not currently allow the use of Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies such as ChatGPT or similar services by reviewers or editors in the peer review and manuscript evaluation process. We are actively evaluating compliant AI tools and may revise this policy in the future.
Investigation of scientific misconduct. All cases of suspected misconduct will be investigated initially by the Editor-In-Chief and the Publications Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine to determine if the evidence of misconduct is sufficient to proceed with a formal inquiry. If so, the author will be notified in writing of the allegations, and will be asked to provide information useful to the investigation, including access to all original data, notes, and copies of prior publications. The author's institution may be contacted, as well. Processing and publication of the manuscript will be delayed while the matter is resolved. Confidentiality will be maintained and care taken to protect the rights and reputations of all concerned. The final decision on disposition of the paper and any sanctions against the author will be made by the Editor-In-Chief in concert with the Publications Committee.
Potential sanctions include, but may not be limited to: rejection of a manuscript in process; a letter of reprimand to the author, copied to the author's institution; and correction or retraction of the manuscript, including a statement in the print issue detailing the nature of the misconduct.
Reviewers have the responsibility to objectively and fairly review the manuscript. If there is a conflict of interest or if the reviewer does not have the requisite expertise, then the manuscript should be immediately returned to the Editor for reassignment. Strict confidentiality is required during the review process. If any portion of a manuscript is shared before the review is completed and before acceptance and publication, written consent of the authors is required.
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright- holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service Crossref Similarity Check.
Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise to seek gender neutrality by using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as default/wherever possible to avoid using "he, she," or "he/she." We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition unless they are relevant and valid. These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive.
The cover letter should state that the material contained in the manuscript has not been published, has not been submitted, or is not being submitted elsewhere for publication. Each author's role in the manuscript should be detailed, and any other persons who contributed to the manuscript (providing writing assistance, for example) should be disclosed. Please note in the cover letter any manuscripts that have been published, submitted, or are in press that are similar to the submission to Fertility and Sterility and include in your submission copies of these so that the editors can be assured that there is no overlap. All authors' agreement to submission of the manuscript should be noted.
Author names and affiliations: Please include each author's full name and highest earned academic degree(s). Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliations below the names. Include the department (if applicable), institution name, city, and state/country. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate affiliation. If an author's affiliation has changed since the work was done, the new affiliation also should be listed.
Corresponding author: Only one corresponding author may be designated. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that phone numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.
Disclosure Statement: In the interest of transparency, we ask you to disclose all relationships/activities/interests that are related to the content of your manuscript. "Related" means any relation with for-profit or not-for-profit third parties whose interests may be affected by the content of the manuscript. Disclosure represents a commitment to transparency and does not necessarily indicate a bias. If you are in doubt about whether to list a relationship/activity/interest, it is preferable that you do so.
The author's relationships/activities/interests should be defined broadly. For example, if your manuscript pertains to stimulation for ART, you should declare all relationships with manufacturers of such medication, even if that medication is not mentioned in the manuscript. All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could influence the design, conductor or reporting of their work. Report all support for the work reported in this manuscript without time limit. For all other items, the time frame for disclosure is the past 36 months. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. If there are no competing interests, then please state this for each author: Disclosure: "none'.
All authors are required to report potential conflicts of interest on the title page of the manuscript. The Conflict of Interest form can be found at: ICMJE | Disclosure of Interest. The full form for all authors is required at revision and not submission.
CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement: List each author and their role in the paper choosing from the following options: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing
Authors need to identify what will be will be made available to others (i.e. the raw data, individual patient data, a data dictionary that defines each field in the data set, and supporting documentation such as statistical/analytic code). If data will be shared, information on when, where, and how the data will be available (eg, a link to a data repository) and if there will be any restrictions on the use of the data. Authors also have the option to explain why data may not be shared. For more information and examples of data sharing statements, please see the ICMJE data sharing guidelines.
EliranA structured abstract, by means of appropriate headings, should provide the context or background for the research and should state its purpose, basic procedures (selection of study subjects or laboratory animals, observational and analytical methods), main findings (giving specific effect sizes and their statistical significance, if possible), and principal conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations. The target word limit for the abstract is 350 words. Do not include abbreviations, acronyms or commercial names in the abstract.
The structured abstract for all study types except systematic reviews should include the sections: Objective (beginning with a phrase like "To study..."), Design, Subjects, Intervention (for RCT) or Exposure (for observational studies), Main Outcome Measures, Results, and Conclusion.
Immediately after the abstract, provide 3–5 keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.
The word limit for the text is 3,500 words. Authors are strongly encouraged to limit article length to 3,500 words for effective and efficient communication. Article length does not include the running title, cover page, capsule, abstract, or references. Only standard medical acronyms should be used and defined with the first use. Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from Elsevier's Author Services.
A clinical trial is a research project that prospectively and randomly assigns human participants to intervention or comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between an intervention and a health outcome. Interventions include but are not limited to drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, educational programs, dietary interventions, quality improvement interventions, and process-of-care changes. Trials must be prospectively registered, prior to patient enrollment, in a publicly accessible database such as clinicaltrials.gov.
Required elements to be reported in the manuscript include: The primary hypothesis of the trial must be clearly stated. All outcomes should be clearly specified as primary, secondary or exploratory. Primary outcome must be reported in the abstract. Deviation or amendments from the protocol or original statistical plan should be listed. Target samples size (with underlying assumptions) and final sample should be reported. Inclusion and exclusion criteria should be clearly stated. The essential features of the intervention, blinding (if applicable) and allocation of subject should be clearly delineated. Dates of trial activation, first and last subject enrolled and database lock should be reported in the manuscript. Data for all specified outcomes should be listed, preferably as absolute numbers as well as relative difference (with 95% confidence intervals). The number needed to treat/harm should be presented (when applicable). Post Hoc analysis much be labeled as such. Unexpected and expected adverse events need to be reported. The discussion section should place the results in c ontext with the published literature and address study limitations.
Authors of manuscripts reporting clinical trials must submit trial protocols (including the complete statistical analysis plan) along with their manuscripts. Protocols in non-English languages should be translated into English. The protocol may be redacted of proprietary information, but must include information on the patient flow, statistical plan, samples size and outcomes. Journal editors may ask for more information on redacted protocols.
Cohort and case control studies are observational research when subjects are characterized by a specific exposure and outcome without randomization. The study design, if prospective or retrospective, should be clearly stated along with the a priori hypothesis. A cohort study compares exposed to non-exposed participants to evaluate a specific outcome. A case-control study selects participants based on the outcome (for example pregnant versus non-pregnant participants) and then looks back at exposure, such as a treatment or a risk factor. Each study should include specified detail about the population studied including clear inclusion and exclusion criteria (including the study setting and dates). The exposure and outcome must be clearly defined. If there are multiple exposures or outcomes each must be clearly identified and primary, secondary or exploratory. The data source should be clearly described and data validation methods explicitly stated. Confounding variables available (and pertinent variables not available), should be described. The rationale for the sample size or the power of the study should be stated (even if the study is a sample of convenience). The amount of missing data and how it was managed in the analysis should be stated. Results should be presented clearly and include both crude and adjusted associations with 95% confidence intervals. Statistical methods should be concisely and clearly reported. Causal language should not be used in describing results. The discussion section should place the results in context with the published literature and address study limitations.
Each manuscript should clearly state an objective or hypothesis. The design and methods should be clearly stated. Important information (as applicable to each study type) should include the study setting and dates, patients or participants with inclusion and exclusion criteria, participation or response rates, or data sources (and how the data was validated) should be clearly presented. The essential features of any interventions or exposures and the main outcome (including those a priori noted as primary, secondary or exploratory) must be clearly described. Statistical methods should be concisely and clearly presented. The main results of the study should include crude and adjusted analyses (as applicable). The discussion section should place the results in context with the published literature and address study limitations. Data included in research reports must be original and should be as timely and current as possible.
The EQUATOR Reporting Guidelines should be followed including: STARD for a report of diagnostic test, CHEERS for reports of cost-effective analysis and decision analysis, STREGA for a genetic association study, CHEERS for reporting economic evaluation of health intervention, SQUIRE for reporting on quality improvement in health care.
A meta-analysis is a systematic, critical assessment of literature and data sources pertaining to clinical topics that includes a statistical technique for quantitatively combining the results of multiple studies that measure the same outcome into a single pooled or summary estimate. In absence of statistical pooling, such a systematic assessment of the literature is called a systematic review (see below). We encourage these studies to be prospectively registered (prior to literature search) on a publicly accessible database such as PROSPERO.
All articles or data sources searched, and selected systematically for inclusion and critically evaluated, and the search and selection process should be described in the manuscript. The specific type of study or analysis, population, intervention, exposure, and tests or outcomes should be described for each article or data source. The data sources should be as current as possible, ideally with the search having been conducted within several months of manuscript submission. Meta-analyses of observation studies should include adjustment for pertinent confounding variables. Heterogeneity, publication bias, as well as quality and trustworthiness of evidence from the source studies should be assessed and reported.
As it is becoming more and more apparent that a substantial part of the medical literature, including randomized clinical trials, is not trustworthy, Fertility and Sterility now has the policy that published and unpublished randomized clinical trials that are included in meta-analysis should be assessed for their quality.
The EQUATOR Reporting Guidelines should be followed. Authors of reports of meta-analyses of clinical trials should submit the PRISMA flow diagram and checklist. Authors of meta-analyses of observational studies should submit the MOOSE checklist. Checklists are not required but attestations that checklists were followed should be listed in the title page.
A systematic review (without meta-analysis) is a critical assessment of the literature and data sources pertaining to clinical topics. Systematic Reviews should address a specific question or issue that is relevant for clinical practice and provide an evidence-based, balanced, patient-oriented review on a focused topic.
A research letter is a concise, focused report of original research. A research letter can include any of the study types listed under Original Investigation and is not a review, case report, or editorial content. Original research may include sub-analyses or updates of previously published research, pilot studies or pre-clinical research but must not duplicate other material published or submitted for publication. A research letter is considered a scientific publication; authors must meet all requirements regarding responsible conduct of research (e.g. appropriate IRB approval, data integrity, data retention) and the policies outlined in the journal's Instructions for Authors likewise apply.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
0 Comments