Table of Contents

• 1. Scope
• 2. Research and Publication Ethics
• 3. Copyright Transfer
• 4. Manuscripts text format
• 5. Manuscript preparation
• 6. Title page
• 7. Korean summary
• 8. Abstract in English
• 9. Text
• 10. References
• 11. Illustrations
• 12. Tables
• 13. Language
• 14. Peer review
• 15. Case report
• 16. Costs
• 17. Other requirements for manuscript submission
• 18. Submission

1. Scope

The Annals of Optometry and Contact lens (AOCL), the official journal of the Korean Optometry Society and the Korean Contact Lens Study Society, is published quarterly (March, June, September, December) on the 25th day of month. This journal publishes manuscripts describing both clinical and basic science research or case reports, letters to the Editor, reviewer and commentaries requested by editor in optometry, contact lens and subspecialty fields of ophthalmology. Submitted manuscript should not contain any data that has been published elsewhere and not be reviewed simultaneously for publishing in other journals. The copyright of the article, once published, is held by the Korean Optometry Society and the Korean Contact Lens Study Society and the article shall not be published elsewhere without prior written permission of the Korean Optometry Society and the Korean Contact Lens Study Society.

2. Research and Publication Ethics

• For the policies on research and publication ethics that are not stated in these instructions, the Good Publication Practice Guidelines for Medical Journals or the Guidelines on Good Publication Practice, Council of Science Editors, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, World Association of Medical Editors, or Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors can be applied.

  Clinical trial registration: Any research that deals with a clinical trial should be registered with a primary national clinical trial registration site accredited by the WHO or the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

  Conflict of interest: Authors are required to disclose commercial or similar relationships to products or companies mentioned in or related to the subject matter of the article being submitted. Sources of funding for the article should be acknowledged before the reference section under the title of "Conflict of Interest". Affiliations of authors should include corporate appointments relating to or in connection with products or companies mentioned in the article.

  Ethical consideration:

  • ① Informed Consent ‐ Manuscripts reporting the results of experimental investigation on human subjects must include a statement that informed consent was obtained.
  • ② Declaration of Helsinki ‐ A statement is required that the described research adhered to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.
  • ③ When doing research on animal subjects, efforts should be made to minimize the pain and discomfort of experimental animals according to the guidelines of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Statement for Use of Animals in Ophthalmic and Vision Research, and that should be stated.
  • ④ Ensure correct use of the terms sex (when reporting biological factors) and gender (identity, psychosocial or cultural factors), and, unless inappropriate, report the sex and/or gender of study participants, the sex of animals or cells, and describe the methods used to determine sex and gender. If the study was done involving an exclusive population, for example in only one sex, authors should justify why, except in obvious cases, (e.g., prostate cancer)." Authors should define how they determined race or ethnicity and justify their relevance.

  Description of participants:Ensure correct use of the terms sex (when reporting biological factors) and gender (identity, psychosocial or cultural factors), and, unless inappropriate, report the sex or gender of study participants, the sex of animals or cells, and describe the methods used to determine sex or gender. If the study was done involving an exclusive population, for example in only one sex, authors should justify why, except in obvious cases (e.g., prostate cancer). Authors should define how they determined race or ethnicity and justify their relevance.

  Publication ethics:Studies should pursue the fundamental principles of honesty, truthfulness, and accuracy in all research activities, and reject dishonest acts such as fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. Secondary publication: It is possible to republish manuscripts if it satisfies the condition of secondary publication of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals.

  Secondary publication: It is possible to republish manuscripts if it satisfies the condition of secondary publication of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals.

• 2) All manuscripts should be prepared in strict observance of the research and publication ethics guidelines (http://kamje.or.kr/publishing_ethics.html) recommended by the Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors.
  • ① Fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism
    The theme, subjects, size of the study, selection of control group, and method of collectin samples should be in accordance with research ethics. Research misconduct includes fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. Authors have to follow the rules about publication ethics.
  • ② Ethical approval and consent form
    Ethical approval and consent form IRB/Ethics Committee - Human subjects/materials/medical records - If the study involved human subjects, human derived materials or human medical records, please include one of the following statements in the Methods section: "Institutional Review Board (IRB)/Ethics Committee approval was obtained" OR "IRB/Ethics Committee ruled that approval was not required for this study." If an IRB approved the study, IRB approval number should be written in the manuscript.
  • ③ Process for Managing Research and Publication Misconduct:
    When the journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fraudulent or fabricated data, changes in authorship, an undisclosed conflict of interest, ethical problems with a submitted manuscript, a reviewer who has appropriated an author's idea or data, complaints against editors, and soon, the resolution process will follow the flowchart provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The discussion and decision on the suspected cases are carried out by the Editorial Board.
• 3) Authorship

  The AOCL adheres to the Uniform Requirements set by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (http://www.icmje.org/) for authorship. Authorship credit should be based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published; and 4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Authors should meet these four conditions. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to confirm that each coauthor meets the requirements for authorship. The corresponding author is primarily responsible for all issues to the editor and audience. Any comment of the corresponding author is regarded as opinion of all coauthors.

• 4) Person with special relationship (PSR)
  • ① When minors (under age 19) or family members (spouse, offspring, collateral blood relatives within the fourth degree) (a.k.a. person with special relationship; PSR) participated in submitting manuscript, the roles of PSR must be clearly stated.
  • ② A "Pre-release form for Co-authoring a Publication with Person with Special Relationship" must be submitted, if PSR are included in the authors.

3. Copyright Transfer

The copyright on all published articles will be held by the Korean Optometry Society and the Korean Contact Lens Study Society. At the time of submission, each manuscript should be accompanied by an original Copyright Transfer Agreement signed by all authors.

4. Manuscripts text format

All manuscripts (Microsoft office word) must be submitted on A4 paper (21.0 × 29.8 cm), and text should be typed double- spaced using 10 point font size. Margins should be 2.5 cm at the top and bottom and on both sides of the text. The short paper title (within 20 words including blank space) in Korean and page number should appear at the top right of each page. No abbreviations should be included in the title.

5. Manuscript preparation

• The manuscript should include ① title page (Korean & English, authors), ② abstract in Korean and English, ③ introduction, ④ materials and methods, ⑤ conclusion, ⑥ discussion, ⑦ reference, ⑧ illustrations and explanatory captions, and ⑨ tables.
• Sections of text should not be numbered using Arabic numerals.

6. Title page

• 1) The Korean title should be brief and meaningful by using less than 50 words and two lines. The English title should not exceed 15 words and two lines. The first letter of each word should be capitalized except for a particle and preposition.
• 2) The Korean title should be fully presented in Korean, if possible. The title should not include any abbreviation and product name.
• 3) This page should contain the title of the article, full name(s) of author(s), department(s) and institution(s), and the name, address, e-mail address, and telephone and fax numbers of the corresponding author.

7. Korean summary

• The summary should be fully informative without reference to the text by stating the purpose of the study, research findings and their scientific value. The summary section should not exceed 800 letters, including blank space, and must be in a structured form in which each paragraph starts with the headings - purpose, materials and methods, results and conclusion typed in bold style. Summary should be brief and clear with specific data. There should be less than five Korean keywords listed in order, and sort in the same order as the English keyword. For review articles, there should be an unstructured abstract equal to or less than 800 letters in Korean.

8. Abstract in English

• 1) The abstract must be concise less than 300 words and provide an overview of the text’s structure.
• 2) The abstract must be written in a structured form in which each paragraph starts with the headings - purpose, materials and methods, results and conclusions typed in bold style. Summary should be brief and clear with specific data.
• 3) There should be less than five keywords listed in alphabetical order. The first letter of each word should be capitalized.
• 4) For review articles, there should be an unstructured abstract equal to or less than 300 words in English.

9. Text

• 1) Introduction: The purpose of the study should be described in a brief and concise manner. An author should include background information that is related to the purpose but omit irrelevant information in the text.
• 2) Materials and methods: The design of the study should be followed by the description of materials and methods explaining how subjects are composed and surveyed. In case the study method is critical, experimental procedure should be specific and detailed to make the replication of the experiment possible.
• 3) Results: The results of study should be described concisely and logically. When an experiment is performed, the significance of biological measurements should be statistically evaluated. Tables should avoid a duplication of information that is mentioned in the text but be used to highlight numerical information and key points.
• 4) Discussions: The discussion section is to discuss elements related to the purpose of the study, to describe the results of analysis performed to draw a conclusion and to interpret the meaning of these results with references to the literature. Historical facts, textbook content and irrelevant information should not be included.

10. References

• 1) The list of references should be arranged in numerical order according to the sequence of citations in the text. That is, the citation number in the reference list and the superscript number cited in the text should be identical for the same reference.
  • ① List name or names to cite a reference in the text as follows:

    ex) one author: Kim¹, two authors: Kim and Park¹, Three or more: Kim et al¹

  • ② References not cited in the text should not be included in the reference list. Unpublished papers can be listed in the reference list as “to be published in (month)” instead of issue no. (vol. no.) and page range.
  • ③ Any source marked as “cited from” cannot be valid. Abstract, poster, word of mouth and manuals, web page cannot be cited as reference.
  • ④ When the reference is at the end of a sentence, the period (.) should punctuate the sentence, not the superscripted citation number. The citation number comes after the author’s name in the text, if any, otherwise follows the period.
    

    ex) - described^1,2).(×), - described.^1,2(○) Kim¹(○), Kim and Park¹,(○)

  • ⑤ If more than one work is involved in the same citation, each number is followed by coma (,). If a sequence of three citation numbers occurs, a single range separated by a hyphen should be used as follows:

    ex) - described.^1,2,7, - described.^1-3

• 2) Other requirements for reference listing.
  • ① The family name of the author should be followed by the capitalized English initials of the first name. The first letter of each word should be capitalized. List names of all authors when four or less. When five or more, list only the first three names and add et al.
  • ② References to journal articles list the author(s), the full title of the article, the journal title, the year of publication, the volume number and page range without using the Italic emphasis.

    ex, 1) 4 or less of author
    Jun SY, Park JI, Sohn J, Hwang DJ. Effects of calcium dobesilate on visual acuity and macular thickness in nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy. Ann Optom Contact Lens 2021;20:62-6.

    ex, 2) more than 5 author
    Lee YJ, Kwak JH, Park YG, et al. Refractive outcomes after primary vitrectomy combined with cataract surgery. Ann Optom Contact Lens 2021;20:55-61.

  • ③ Book reference list the author(s), chapter title, the book editor (the last two are applied when a chapter is cited), full title of book, edition of book, the place of publication, publisher, the year of publication and page range without using the Italic emphasis.
    

    ex, 1) In case of Book : Miller NR, Newman NJ, Biousse V, Kerrison JB. Walsh and Hoyt’s clinical neuro-ophthalmology. 6th ed. Vol. 4. Baltimore: Lipponcott Williams & Wilkins, 2005;15-20.

    ex, 2) A part of book (chapter)Parks MM, Mitchell PR. Cranial nerve palsies. In: Tasman W, Jaeger EA, eds. Duane’s Clinical Ophthalmology, revised ed. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott, 1993; chap. 19.

  • ④ References in electronic format
    

    ex, 1) Journal article available only online.
    Duchin JS. Can preparedness for biological terrorism save us from pertussis? Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2004;158:106-7. http://archpedi.amaassn.org/cgi/content/full/158/2/106. Accessed June 1, 2004.

    ex, 2) DOI journal
    Smeeth L, Iliffe S. Community screening for visual impairment in the elderly. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2002;(2):CD0010 54. doi:10.1002/14651858. CD1001054.

    ex, 3) Monograph in electronic format.
    Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K, Walter P. Molecular Etiology of the cell [CD-ROM]. 4th ed. New York, NY:Garland Science, 2002.

• 3) The titles of journals should be abbreviated, according to the styles used in Index Medicus. If the abbreviation you are seeking is not listed in the list of journals indexed in Index Medicus, the original title can be used.
• 4) All references must be written in Vancouver English style.

11. Illustrations

• 1) Drawings or photographic prints used in the text should appear on a separate page (5 million pixels, at least 300 dpi) and JPG, TIFF, or PSD format only are acceptable. The figures should be numbered in the same order in which they appear in the text.
• 2) The originals that were used for manuscript review should be published.
• 3) The size of photographs should be 7.5 cm or 15 cm in width while there is no cap for length.
• 4) Illustrations can be marked with arrows, letters or other symbols, if necessary. Multiple figures under one figure number should be marked on the photographs using capital alphabet letters, at the upper left corner.
• 5) All the legends for figures should be written in English, and be self-explanatory. All the abbreviations should be described in each figure. The legends for each light microscophic photographs should include name of the stains and magnification (ex, H&E stain, ×400). Electron microscopic photographs should have an internal scale marker and magnification(ex, original bar length 100 μm, × 5,000).
• 6) The author who submits the photograph should ensure that the patient's personal information is not exposed or personally identified. Also patient informed consent shall be submitted if at least one of the following items is applicable.
  • ① When specific areas or places are exposed and personal identification is sufficient.
  • ② When specific areas or places relating to a national event or an accident are exposed and personal identification is sufficient.
  • ③ Personal identification is possible through the patient photographs
  • ⓐ The whole face is exposed.
  • ⓑ The patient is exposed to more than 2 corneal diameters from the upper eyebrow margin, 1 corneal diameter from the lateral canthus, or 2 corneal diameters from the lower eyelid margin.
  • ⓒ Patient identification is possible full of obvious tattoos, scars, or etc. on the face, even if they don't correspond to above.
  • ⓓ Exposure of skin lesion in the genital area, even if personal identification is difficult.

12. Tables

• 1) The title should be marked at the top of the table in the order of its citation with a serial number and a title. The title should be a phrase and the first letter should be capitalized. The title should not end with a period.
• 2) Use alphanumeric text written in the same font used in the main text. The line spacing should be just one line.
• 3) Each table should have a brief title so that the reader can understand what is being displayed in the table without reference to the text. Single table should not be numbered.
• 4) When using abbreviation, write these symbols (*, †, ‡, §, Π, ＃) in order and concisely explain them at the bottom of the table.
• 5) When statistical data is required, please mention the p-value and describe the statistical method, which was used. The units of all the data must be written and the decimal point of the data must be unified. (ex, second decimal place, third decimal place)
• 6) Do not use diagonal or vertical lines within the table. Horizontal lines must be put at the top and the bottom of the table, and also just below the parameters.
  • ① The thickness of the outermost horizontal line should be 1.25, and for the line under the parameter 1.0.
  • ② The parameter at the left side of the table must be aligned to the left.
  • ③ The data should be aligned at center.
  • ex,) Table 2. Concave surface roughness of contact
    measured by atomic force microscope (AFM)

  	Average Roughness (Ra)			RMS* Roughness (Rq)
  	Conventional	Cosmetic	p-value†	Conventional	Cosmetic	p-value†
  Daily	9.68	34.03	0.067	12.39	54.86	0.031
  Extend	10.89	51.69	0.022	14.27	73.14	0.006

  *Root mean square; ^†Student t-test.

13. Language

• 1) Manuscripts must be in Korean or English language. For medical terms and nouns that cannot be accurately translated into Korean, the original words can be used. When a term is not understandable in Korean alone, it should be followed by its English or Chinese equivalent in parenthesis.
• 2) Authors are recommended to refer to the Glossary of Medical Terms published by the Korean Medical Association to use correct medical terms. For any medical terms not found in the glossary, please refer to the Dictionary of Ophthalmological Terms published by the Korean Ophthalmological Society and use headwords.
• 3) Except for units of measurement, abbreviations are strongly discouraged. Do not use abbreviations in the title or abstract and limit their use in text. The spelled-out abbreviation followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis should be used on first mention.
• 4) Names of Drugs, Devices, and Other Products. Generic names should be used. When proprietary brands are used, include the brand name, the name of the manufacturer, the city name, the state name, and the country name in parenthesis after the first mention of the generic name.

  ex, 1) In case of drug
  1% prednisolone acetate (Pred forte®, Allergan, Inc., Irvine, CA, USA)

  ex, 2) In case of instrument or device
  Optical coherence tomography (Cirrus™ HD-OCT Model 400, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Jena, Germany)

• 5) Units of measure should be presented according to the International System (SI) of units. All units must be preceded by one space except slash(/), range(-), ratio(:), percentage (%), degree (°) and celsius (°C).
  ex) 2 kg (O), 2kg (X), 3/15(O), 20-30(O), 5:6(O), 50% (O), 50° (O), 36℃ (O).

14. Peer review

All submitted manuscripts are subject to peer review, which is usually conducted by two or more reviewers who have credentials in the field of ophthalmology. The acceptance or rejection of the manuscript depends on the review results. Revision or addition of information can be also requested by reviewers, if necessary.

15. Case report

• 1) Requirements for submission of case reports are identical to those applied to original articles unless they are mentioned below.
• 2) The manuscript should be in the following sequence: title page (Korean and English, author), abstract (Korean and English) and keywords, introduction, case description, discussion, references, figures and figure legends.
• 3) Korean summary must be in a structured form in which each paragraph starts with the headings-Purpose (or introduction), Case summary, and Conclusions (can be omitted) typed in bold style. The summary section should be brief and specific and not exceed 600 words, including space between words.
• 4)Abstract in English should be concise less than 250 words and provide an overview of the text’s structure. Abstract must be in a structured form in which each paragraph starts with headings-purpose, case summary, and conclusions typed in bold style.
• 5) Keywords are listed in the same order, with fewer than five in both Korean and English. In English, the first letter of each word shall be capitalized, in alphabetical order.
• 6) The main sections of case report (introduction, case, discussion and reference) except title, abstract in English and figures should be submitted on no more than A4 8 pages and typed using 10 point font size.
• 7) Manuscripts that meet at least one of the following conditions will be considered.
  • ① A rare illness was handled.
  • ② Abnormal symptoms were presented.
  • ③ A new diagnosis or treatment was provided.
  • ④ The case is the first of its kind in Korea.
  • ⑤ Culture-specific symptoms were presented.
  • ⑥ The case has an academic significance.
• 8) The numbers of all the reference should be written on no more than 15, and less than 4 in figures.

16. Costs

Costs of manuscript publication will be charged to authors. When an author wants printed copies of published manuscript, the author is responsible for additional publication costs for copies.

17. Other requirements for manuscript submission

• 1) All manuscripts should conform to the guidelines stated above. The publication can be delayed if manuscripts are not consistent with the standard thesis format and not verified for spelling errors.
• 2) Manuscripts should not be altered after peer-review
  ex) colored photos cannot be transformed into black and white photographic prints.
• 3) The corresponding author will be responsible for the manuscript. A resident cannot serve as a responsible author, when multiple authors are involved in a study.
• 4) If authors request the withdrawal or addition of a specific author after the paper has been submitted or published, the journal editor must request the reason and a document signed by all authors recorded in the paper and the author to be withdrawn or added.
• 5) The name of author and institution address should not be stated within the text.
• 6) After the paper is withdrawn, it is impossible to resubmit it within three months. When re-submitting a paper, it must be revised.
• 7) Please disclose funding source of material used in the study. Please provide the agency name and city, company name and city. Please state also one of the two following, “The sponsor had no role in the design or conduct of this research.” or “The sponsor participated in the design or conduct of this research. ”The conduct of research, e.g., the design of the study, data collection, data management, data analysis, interpretation of the data, preparation, review or approval.
• 8) Authors' revision should be done within 30 days after editorial decision. If the authors want to submit the revised manuscript after 30 days, they must submit a revision extension request form. The extension must be less than 90 days. If revision is delayed without a revision extension request form, the manuscript is regarded as abandonment and the revised manuscript cannot be submitted.

18. Submission

Authors are requested to submit their papers electronically by using the online manuscript submission system, available at http://www.annocl.org/submission/.

Sung Kun Chung, MD, PhD
The Korean Optometry & Contact Lens Study Society
5F Dongju building, #49-2 Chungmu-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul 04550, Korea
E-mail: journal@annocl.org