The American Thoracic Society (ATS) Website publishes material that contributes to the understanding of physiology, pathology, and treatment of conditions that affect the respiratory system, critically ill patients, and the practice of respiratory and critical care medicine. It emphasizes interactive learning programs and accepts material both from within and outside the ATS. Material may be in any language.
SUBMISSION PROCESS
All material must be submitted in electronic format to ATS (webpublishing@thoracic.org). Material too large for email may be uploaded via the ATS Web Publishing Hightail space. Along with the submission, state the intended audience and objectives.
**** As per policy of the ATS Board of Directors, no scientific or medical information can be published without author disclosure and assignment of copyright forms. An online Assignment of Copyright Form must also be completed. A Conflict of Interest Form must be completed, but it has a different submission process. Please refer to the Conflict of Interest Section below for further instructions. ****
COPYRIGHT FORM
All authors must complete an online Assignment of Copyright form.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST (COI) DISCLOSURE AND RESOLUTION
All contributors of medical and scientific content must obtain, complete and submit electronically an up-to-date ATS Disclosure Form. Author disclosures will be considered by the Editor as part of the review process. (See below for Disclosure Form instructions.) The ATS website conforms to the policies enacted by the ATS Board of Directors that require (a) the identification and disclosure of all personal or institutional “competing interests” that may cause or be perceived as causing a conflict of interest (COI) affecting the individual’s participation in the activity (here as an author/contributor) and (b) the resolution of identified conflicts of interest.
Authors should also state in a title page accompanying their submission all sources of support (sponsorship) of submitted content. Examples of support are grants, gifts, equipment, and/or drugs. Any use of content developed and/or provided by a sponsor or sponsor-provided entity such as a medical communication company must be disclosed. If the supporting source had no such involvement, the authors should state this.
The current version of the ATS Website COI Disclosure Form can be obtained here. The disclosure form is a writeable PDF form to be downloaded and saved by the user on his/her computer.
ATS definitions of conflict of interest and additional information on ATS policies on management of conflict of interest may also be obtained through the COI Management section of the ATS website.
In the event that readers contact the Editor because they have reason to believe that authors failed to disclose financial relationships with a manufacturer that has an interest in the subject of the article, the Editor will handle these inquiries consistent with the recommendations of the American Medical Association. Queries will be forwarded to authors, and authors will be required to provide a written explanation. Any new disclosures made by the authors will be added to the disclosure information published with the submitted content.
COLUMNS
The website hosts several columns that welcome new contributions including Clinical Cases, Sleep Fragments, ATS Quick Hits, and ATS Podcasts. If you would like to submit to a column, please refer to each column’s submission guidelines in conjunction with the website submission instructions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
All acknowledgments should be grouped into one paragraph and placed after the Discussion. Information about grants, funding, financial support, or previous publication of submitted content should not appear in the acknowledgements; it should appear as a footnote on the first page of the article.
WEBSITE EDITORIAL BOARD
The Website Editorial Board is comprised of a representative from each Assembly as well as individuals selected for specific capabilities. Their duties include assisting the Editor in (a) initiating and implementing projects, (b) obtaining and assuring appropriate review of website content, (c) and advising the Editor on new initiatives.
REVIEW PROCESS
All material will be reviewed within 3 weeks of receipt. Authors may recommend individuals to review their material who have not been collaborators or coauthors within the previous 3 years. If revisions to the work are requested, the author should resubmit revised material with redlined changes and with a line-by-line response to the referees’ comments. If the revision is not received within 6 months from the last decision letter sent by the Editor, it will be assumed that the author has withdrawn the material from further consideration.
Materials are accepted for publication on the basis of scientific and educational merit, significance, and suitability for publication on the ATS Website.
HUMAN AND ANIMAL RESEARCH
The ATS Website endorses the recommendations on human research that are contained in the Declaration of Helsinki. We reserve the right to reject any material containing studies that do not conform to these recommendations. All materials reporting human research must contain a statement that the institutional review board for human studies approved the protocols and that informed written consent was obtained from the subjects or their surrogates if required by the institutional review board. Any research work must pass the author’s institutional review board. Patient confidentiality must be protected in accordance with U.S. law. Use of animals in research should be compliant with all subsequent revisions of the Health Research Extension Act (public law 99-158, 1985 "Animals in Research"). All animal experiments must conform to the revised Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources, Commission on Life Sciences, National Research Council "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 1996. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/olaw.htm.
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
The writing should be clear and concise without the use of abbreviations and acronyms. Specialized jargon should also be avoided.
REFERENCES
References should comply with ATS journal style and journal names abbreviated according to Index Medicus.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Illustrations must be of good quality and in TIFF or JPG format. Illustrations in application programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Word are not accepted without prior approval from the Editor. Symbols and lettering should be in scale with the figure and should be of uniform size. Labels should be placed within the body of the figure. The abscissa and ordinate of each graph should be labeled clearly. Use sequential Arabic numbers for figure numbers and lowercase letters for subparts. Leave adequate space between the lettering and the axis. For photomicrographs, the internal scale should be used to maintain veracity despite various magnifications of the image.
The accompanying legend should be sufficient to enable a reader to understand the information in the illustration without reading the body of the text. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, each one should be identified and explained clearly in the legend.
VIDEO
Videos should be in MP4 format.
LINKS
The ATS site links to similar nonprofit organizations, government bodies, and funding organizations that have direct relationships with the ATS or share the objectives, mission, or vision of the ATS. Appropriate government links include scientific and regulatory agencies that provide essential information for ATS members and sites that provide updates on legislation. Links to both government and private funding organizations of interest to our members are appropriate. The ATS Website may link to professional and patient education sites that further the educational goals of the Society, but generally not to those sponsored by a commercial enterprise.
Commercial links will be clearly identified and should exist for the financial or in-kind gain for the ATS. Commercial links will only occur in the Corporate Partner Links pages. These links, in general, should provide information for ATS members.
Not-for-profit organizations that provide information on advocacy that would be useful to our members may be linked. Links may be used to further what ATS determines to be a worthy cause, even though it may have minimal direct benefit to the ATS or its members. Other links may be established as the need arises within the above criteria. Links might be temporary.
CALENDAR
The ATS Website keeps a calendar of events that are of interest to its members and related to their professional activities. This includes all ATS and Thoracic Societies activities and the main events of like societies, relevant governmental units, and appropriate health organizations. Members are encouraged to inform the ATS of such events. Submit events to webcalendar@thoracic.org.
ATS BUSINESS AND NEWS
The minutes of ATS meetings and other business transactions should be sent to the staff person assigned to the relevant assembly or committee. News or concerns related to the ATS or its members may be submitted to a member of the Website Editorial Board, ATS staff or to the Website Editor.
COMMENT AND CONTACT
Although the ATS Website does not have a Letters to the Editor section, it encourages you to contact the Website Editor, Column Editors or Website Directors with comments about published material, ideas for publications, or issues related to communication with ATS members. Contact webpublishing@thoracic.org.
