Information for Authors

The Lancet Neurology considers any original research contribution that advocates change in, or illuminates, neurological clinical practice,
and publishes interesting and informative reviews on any topic connected with neurology. Manuscripts must be solely the work of the
author(s) stated, must not have been previously published elsewhere, and must not be under consideration by another journal.

All original research judged eligible for fast-track publication by the journal’s editors will be peer-reviewed within 3–5 days and, if
accepted, published within 10 weeks from submission. A majority of accepted fast-track Articles are published online first before
appearing in a print journal.

The Lancet journals are signatories of the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Recommendations for the
Medical Journals, issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE Recommendations), and to the Committee on Conduct, Reporting, Editing,
and Publication of Scholarly
Publication Ethics (COPE) code of conduct for editors. We follow COPE’s guidelines.
Work in Medical Journals
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If your question is not addressed on these pages then please email the editor at [email protected].
COPE Core Practices
How to submit your paper Submissions to The Lancet Neurology sh­ould include:
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core-practices
Manuscript submission 1 Covering letter (see next section)
Manuscript submission to all Lancet journals is free. Manuscripts 2 Manuscript including tables and panels
should be submitted online via the The Lancet Neurology’s online 3 Figures
submission and peer review website (known as EM) at www. 4 Author statement form (see next section)
editorialmanager.com/thelancetneurology 5 Declaration of interests and source of funding statements
(see next section)
• Simply log on to EM and follow the onscreen instructions for all 6 In-press papers—one copy of each with acceptance letters
submissions 7 Protocols and CONSORT details for randomised controlled
• If you have not used EM before, you will need to register first. In trials (see Articles)
EM, the corresponding author is the person who enters the 8 We encourage disclosure of correspondence from other
manuscript details and uploads the submission files journals and reviewers, if previously submitted, and we
• Inclusion of illustrations (eg, photographs, graphs, diagrams) is a might contact relevant editors of such journals
prerequisite for many publication types. Submission of original 9 Research in context panel, for all primary research Articles
and editable artwork files is encouraged. Digital photography
files should have a resolution of at least 300 dpi and be at least
107 mm wide. Before and after images should be taken with the • We require that more than one author has directly accessed and
same intensity, direction, and colour of light verified the underlying data reported in the manuscript. For
• In almost all cases, if you have a finished manuscript, you should research articles that are the result of an academic and commercial
submit it, rather than contacting The Lancet Neurology to enquire partnership, at least one of the authors named as having
whether an unseen manuscript is likely to be accepted accessed and verified data must be from the academic team. The
• Unless you have been asked by the Editor to submit by email, you contributors statement should state who those authors are.
should use the online system for all types of submission, • All authors should confirm that they had full access to all the data
including Correspondence in the study and accept responsibility to submit for publication
• If you have any technical problems or questions, please contact • We encourage collaboration and coauthorship with colleagues
our dedicated journal office inbox at [email protected], the in the locations where the research is conducted
editor at [email protected], or visit our Support Center for • The Lancet Group takes a neutral position with respect to territorial
further assistance claims in institutional affiliations
• When choosing coauthors, we ask lead authors to be mindful of
Covering letter the benefits of diversity in authorship and to consider inviting
• You should upload your covering letter at the “Enter Comments” coauthors who reflect diversity in every sense, including (but not
stage of the online submission process limited to) background, career-stage, gender, geography, and race
• Use the covering letter to explain why your paper should be • The Lancet Neurology will not publish any paper unless we have
published in The Lancet Neurology—a leading international the signatures of all authors
neurology journal—rather than elsewhere (eg, a subspecialty journal • You should use the author statement form and upload the Author statement form
and state if you wish for it to be considered for fast-track publication) signed copy with your submission https://www.thelancet.com/
for-authors/forms?section=tln-
• Please include written consent of any cited individual(s) noted in
author-sig
Statements, permissions, and signatures acknowledgments or personal communications
Authors and contributors • For author groups of more than 30 members, we encourage use
• Designated authors should meet all four criteria for authorship of a collaborator or study group for any additional authors. For
in the ICMJE Recommendations this collaborator or study group, if they wish to be indexed to the ICMJE Recommendations
• All authors, and all contributors (including medical writers and paper, please provide a separate document with a table of first http://www.icmje.org

editors), should specify their individual contributions at the end names and surnames of all members of the group (this is to ensure
of the text that PubMed and similar databases encode the names correctly).

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 Information for Authors

Reporting sex-based and gender-based analyses The use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in scientific
Reporting guidance writing
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals, model Where authors use AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing
organisms, or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex- process, these technologies should only be used to improve
based and gender-based analyses into their research design according readability and language of the work and not used to replace
to evolving funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within researcher tasks such as producing scientific insights, analysing
a field. Authors should address their research’s sex and/or gender and interpreting data, or drawing scientific conclusions. Applying
dimensions in their manuscript. In cases where they cannot, they these technologies should only be done with human oversight and
should discuss this as a limitation to their research’s generalisability. control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result
With research involving cells and model organisms, researchers should because AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can
use the term “sex”. With research involving humans, researchers be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. Authors should not list AI and
should consider which terms best describe their data (see Definitions AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author, nor cite AI as an
Sex and Gender Equity Research section below). Authors can refer to the Sex and Gender Equity in author. Authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the
(SAGER) Guidelines Research (SAGER) Guidelines and the SAGER guidelines checklist. originality, accuracy, and integrity of the work; and should disclose
https://
They offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in a statement at the end
researchintegrityjournal.
biomedcentral.com/ sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome of the article.
articles/10.1186/s41073-016- reporting, and research interpretation. However, there is no single,
0007-6 universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender Forms and signatures
SAGER guidelines checklist or reporting sex-based and gender-based analyses. For Reviews, Personal Views, Comments, and Correspondence,
https://ese.arphahub.com/
Definitions we require you to upload your forms at submission. For original
article/86910/
In human research, the term “sex” carries multiple definitions. It research (Articles), we will request these forms after peer review. The
often refers to an umbrella term for a set of biological attributes following signed statements are required:
associated with physical and physiological features (eg, • Authors’ contributions
ICMJE COI form chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external • Conflicts of interest statements (ICMJE forms)
https://www.thelancet. anatomy). It can also signify a sex categorisation, most often • Statements of role, if any, of medical writer or editor
com/for-authors/
designated at birth (“sex assigned at birth”) based on a newborn’s • Acknowledgments—written consent of cited individual
forms?section=icmje-coi
visible external anatomy. The term “gender” generally refers to • Personal communications—written consent of cited individual
Joint ICMJE statement socially constructed roles, behaviours, and identities of women, • Use of copyright-protected material—signed permission
https://www.thelancet.com/ men, and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural statements from author and publisher
for-authors/forms?section=icmje-
statement
context, and might vary across societies and over time. Gender These statements can be scanned and submitted electronically with
influences how people view themselves and each other, how they your submission. Please note that The Lancet journals will accept
behave and interact, and how power is distributed in society. Sex hand-signed and electronic (typewritten) signatures.
and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male
or woman/man), concordant, and static. However, these constructs Declaration of interests
exist along a spectrum that includes additional sex categorisations A conflict of interest exists when professional judgement concerning
and gender identities, such as people who are intersex/have a primary interest (such as patients’ welfare or validity of research)
differences of sex development (DSD), or identify as non-binary. may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain).
In any given person, sex and gender might not align, and both Financial relationships are easily identifiable, but conflicts can also
can change. Sex and gender are not entirely discrete concepts and occur because of personal relationships or rivalries, academic
their definitions continue to evolve. Biology and society influence competition, or intellectual beliefs. A conflict can be actual or
both, and many languages do not distinguish between them. Since potential, and full disclosure to the Editor of all relationships is a
the terms “sex” and “gender” can be ambiguous, authors should requisite. Purposeful failure to disclose conflicts is a form of
describe the methods they use to gather and report sex-related and/ misconduct and might lead to publication of a correction or even to
or gender-related data (eg, self-report or physician-report, specific retraction. All submissions to The Lancet Neurology must include
biological attributes, current sex/gender, sex assigned at birth, etc) disclosure of all relationships in which there is a potential or actual
and discuss the potential limitations of those methods. This will conflict of interest, even if it not directly relevant to the submitted
enhance the research’s precision, rigor, and reproducibility, and work. The Editor may use such information as a basis for editorial
avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which decisions and will publish all disclosures that authors declare on their
they refer. Authors should use the term “sex assigned at birth” rather conflict of interests form. It is the corresponding author’s
than “biological sex”, “birth sex” or “natal sex” as it is more accurate responsibility to check that all declarations made by authors on their
and inclusive. When ascertaining gender and sex, researchers should conflicts of interest form are included at the end of the manuscript.
use a two-step process: (1) ask for gender identity allowing for Agreements between authors and study sponsors that interfere
multiple options and (2) if relevant to the research question, ask for with authors’ access to all of a study’s data, or that interfere with
Elsevier’s author guide sex assigned at birth. In addition to this defining guidance and the their ability to analyse and interpret the data and to prepare and
https://beta.elsevier.com/ SAGER guidelines, you can find further information about reporting publish manuscripts independently, may represent conflicts of
about/policies-and-standards/
sex and gender in research studies on Elsevier’s diversity, equity, and interest, and should be avoided. Authors may be required to provide
author/dei?trial=true
inclusion in the publishing author guide available here. the journal with any such agreements in confidence.

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 Information for Authors

• At the end of the text, under a subheading “Declaration of • Do not use “blackout” bars or similar devices to anonymise
interests”, all authors must disclose any financial and personal patients in clinical images: if you have taken consent
relationships with other people or organisations, even if it does not appropriately masking is not needed.
directly relate to the submitted work. Examples of financial conflicts • For the purposes of publishing in The Lancet journals, a consent, Patient Consent form
include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, permission, or release should include, without limitation, http://www.thelancet.com/
pb/assets/raw/Lancet/authors/
paid expert testimony, patents or patent applications, and travel publication in all formats (including print, electronic, and
lancet-consent-form.pdf
grants, all within 3 years of beginning the work submitted. If there websites), in sublicensed and reprinted versions (including
are no conflicts of interest, authors should state that none exist translations), and in other works and products.
• All authors are required to provide a Conflict of Interest Statement • To respect your patient’s and any other individual’s privacy,
and should complete a standard form, which is available at https:// please do not send signed forms to The Lancet Neurology. Please
www.thelancet.com/for-authors/forms?section=icmje-coi. The instead complete the patient consent section of the Author
form has been modified by the ICMJE following consultation with statements while retaining copies of the signed forms in the
authors and editors. Further information is available in a joint event they should be needed.
ICMJE statement published on July 1, 2010. For more information • If consent, permission, or release is made subject to any
see Lancet 2009; 374: 1395–96. conditions, The Lancet Neurology must be made aware in writing
• For any Review or Rapid Review, The Lancet Neurology will not publish of all such conditions before publication.
if an author, within the past 3 years, and with a relevant company or • For more information about our policy, please visit https://www.
competitor, has any stocks or shares, equity, a contract of elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/patient-consent.
employment, or a named position on a company board; or has been
asked by any organisation other than The Lancet Neurology to write, Types of article and manuscript requirements
be named on, or to submit a similar paper (see Lancet 2004; 363: 2–3) Please ensure that anything you submit to The Lancet Neurology
follows the guidelines provided for each article type. For
Role of the funding source instruction on how to format the text of your paper, including
• All sources of funding should be declared at the end of the text tables, figures, panels, and references, please see our Formatting
• At the end of the Methods section, under a subheading “Role of guidelines
the funding source”, authors must describe the role of the study
sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis, and Red section (Articles)
interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the Articles
decision to submit the paper for publication • The Lancet Neurology prioritises reports of original research that
• If there is no Methods section, the role of the funding source are likely to change clinical practice or thinking about
should be stated as an acknowledgment. If the funding source neurology
had no such involvement, the authors should so state • All original research Articles judged eligible for consideration by
the journal’s editors will undergo fast-track peer review and, if
Role of medical writer or editor accepted, published within 8 weeks of submission. All accepted
• If a medical writer or editor was involved in the creation of your papers will be published online (Online First) before appearing in
manuscript, we need a signed statement from the corresponding the print journal
author that includes their name and information about funding • We invite submission of all clinical trials, whether
of this person phase 1, 2, 3, or 4 (see Lancet 2006; 368: 827–28). For phase 1
• This information should be added to the Acknowledgments or trials, we especially encourage those of a novel substance for a
the Contributors section novel indication, if there is a strong or unexpected beneficial or
• We require signed statements from any medical writers or editors adverse response, or a novel mechanism of action
declaring that they have given permission to be named as an • Systematic reviews of randomised trials about neurological
author, as a contributor, or in the Acknowledgments section diseases that have a major effect on human health also might
warrant rapid peer review and publication
Patient and other consents • We require the registration of all interventional trials, whether WHO's International Clinical
• Appropriate written consents, permissions, and releases must be early or late phase, in a primary register that participates in Trial Registry Platform

obtained where you wish to include any case details, personal WHO’s International Clinical Trial Registry Platform (see http://www.who.int/ictrp/
network/trds/en/index.html
information, and/or images of patients or other individuals in Lancet 2007; 369: 1909–11) or in ClinicalTrials.gov, in accord
Clinical trials
The Lancet journals in order to comply with all applicable laws with ICMJE recommendations. We also require full public
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and regulations concerning privacy and/or security of personal disclosure of the minimum 24-item trial registration dataset at
ICMJE recommendations
information. Studies on patients or volunteers need approval the time of registration and before recruitment of the http://icmje.org/
from an ethics committee and informed consent from first participant (see Lancet 2006; 367: 1631–35). The registry recommendations/browse/
participants. These should be documented in your paper. must be independent of for-profit interest publishing-and-editorial-issues/
• Since the consent form needs to comply with the relevant legal • Reports of trials must conform to CONSORT 2010 guidelines, clinical-trial-registration.html

requirements of your particular jurisdiction, we do not provide and should be submitted with their protocols CONSORT 2010 guidelines
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sample forms; this is your responsibility. Your affiliated • All reports of randomised trials should include a section
org/consort-2010
institution should be able to provide an appropriate form. entitled Randomisation and masking, within the Methods

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 Information for Authors

Formatting guidelines for section. Please refer to The Lancet’s formatting guidelines for Novel gene sequences should be deposited in a public database
randomised trials randomised trials (GenBank, EMBL, or DDBJ), and the accession number provided.
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• Cluster-randomised trials must be reported according to Authors of microarray papers should include in their
for-authors/forms?section=rct
CONSORT extended guidelines CONSORT extended guidelines submission the information recommended by the
http://www.consort-statement. • Randomised trials that report harms must be described MIAME guidelines. Authors should also submit their
org/extensions/extensions/ according to extended CONSORT guidelines experimental details to one of the publicly available databases:
STARD guidelines • Studies of diagnostic accuracy must be reported according to ArrayExpress or GEO
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STARD guidelines • Include any necessary additional data as part of your
org/reporting-guidelines/stard/
• Observational studies (cohort, case-control, or cross-sectional EM submission
STROBE statement
http://www.strobe-statement. designs) must be reported according to the STROBE statement, • All accepted Articles should include a link to the full study
org/ and should be submitted with their protocols protocol published on the authors’ institutional website
Formatting guidelines for • We encourage the registration of all observational studies on a (see Lancet 2009; 373: 992 and Lancet 2010; 375: 348)
randomised trials WHO-compliant registry (see Lancet 2010; 375: 348) • We encourage researchers to enrol women and ethnic groups
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• Genetic association studies must be reported according to into clinical trials of all phases, and to plan to analyse data by sex
for-authors/forms?section=rct
STREGA guidelines and by race
STREGA guidelines
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• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses must be reported
org/reporting-guidelines/ according to PRISMA guidelines. Please refer to The Lancet’s Putting research into context
strobe-strega/ formatting guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. • All research papers (including systematic reviews/meta-
PRISMA guidelines • Reports of studies of global health estimates should be analyses) submitted to any journal in The Lancet family must
http://www.prisma-statement. reported according to the GATHER statement (see Lancet 2016; include a panel putting their research into context with previous
org/
388: e19–23) work in the format outlined below (see Lancet 2014; 384: 2176–
Formatting guidelines for
• Clinical trials that report interventions using artificial intelligence 77, for the original rationale). This panel should not contain
meta-analyses
https://www.thelancet. must be described according to the CONSORT-AI Extension references. Editors will use this information at the first
com/for-authors/ guidelines and their protocols must be described according to assessment stage and peer reviewers will be specifically asked to
forms?section=meta-analysis the SPIRIT-AI Extension guidelines check the content and accuracy
GATHER statement
• To find reporting guidelines see http://www.equator-network.org • The Discussion section should contain a description of the
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journals/lancet/article/ • When using a study group, collaborator group, or Consortia context. Authors should either report their own, up-to-date
PIIS0140-6736(16)30388-9/ instead of authors' names, please be aware that individuals' systematic review or cite a recent systematic review and put
fulltext names will not explicitly appear when your published Article their study into context of the review
CONSORT-AI Extension is uploaded to MEDLINE/PubMed. Your Article will still be
guidelines
discoverable via a search for a specific named author, but only Research in context
https://doi.org/10.1016/
S2589-7500(20)30218-1 the collective name given to the study will appear on that Evidence before this study
SPRIT-AI Extension guidelines platform. If you need more information, please contact us. This section should include a description of all the evidence
https://doi.org/10.1016/ that the authors considered before undertaking this study.
S2589-7500(20)30219-3 All Articles should, as relevant: Authors should briefly state: the sources (databases, journal
To find reporting guidelines, see • Be up to 3500 words (4500 for randomised controlled trials) with or book reference lists, etc) searched; the criteria used to
http://www.equator-network. 30 references (the word count is for the manuscript text only)
org include or exclude studies (including the exact start and end
• Include an abstract (semistructured summary), with five dates of the search), which should not be limited to English
MIAME guidelines
http://fged.org/projects/
paragraphs (Background, Methods, Findings, Interpretation, language publications; the search terms used; the quality (risk
miame/ and Funding), not exceeding 300 words. Our electronic of bias) of that evidence; and the pooled estimate derived
Array and GEO submission system will ask you to copy and paste this section at from meta-analysis of the evidence, if appropriate.
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ the “Submit Abstract” stage Added value of this study
microarray-as/ae/ • For randomised trials, the abstract should adhere to CONSORT Authors should describe here how their findings add value to
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. extensions: abstracts (see Lancet 2008; 371: 281–83) the existing evidence.
gov/geo
• When reporting Kaplan-Meier survival data, at each timepoint, Implications of all the available evidence
Human Gene Organisation authors must include numbers at risk, and are encouraged to
http://www.genenames.org/ Authors should state the implications for practice or policy
include the number of censored patients. and future research of their study combined with existing
• For intervention studies, the abstract should include the primary evidence.
outcome expressed as the difference between groups with a Research in context panels should not contain references; key
confidence interval on that difference (absolute differences are studies mentioned here should be referenced in the main text.
more useful than relative ones). Secondary outcomes can be
included as long as they are clearly marked as secondary and all
such outcomes are reported Data sharing
• Use the recommended international non-proprietary name (rINN) From September 21, 2020, all submitted research Articles must
for drug names. Ensure that the dose, route, and frequency of contain a data sharing statement, to be included at the end of the
administration of any drug you mention are correct manuscript. Data sharing statements must include:
• Use gene names approved by the Human Gene Organisation. • Whether data collected for the study, including individual

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 Information for Authors

participant data and a data dictionary defining each field in Correspondence

the set, will be made available to others ("undecided" is not an • We welcome correspondence on content published in
acceptable answer); The Lancet Neurology or on other topics of interest to our
• What data will be made available (deidentified participant readers
data, participant data with identifiers, data dictionary, or other • Letters for publication in the print journal must reach us within
specified data set); 8 weeks of publication of the original item and should be
• Whether additional, related documents will be available (eg, no longer than 300 words
study protocol, statistical analysis plan, informed consent • Letters of general interest, unlinked to items published in the
form); journal, can be up to 300 words long
• When these data will be available (beginning and end date, or • Correspondence letters are not usually peer reviewed, but we
“with publication”, as applicable); might invite replies from the authors of the original publication,
• Where the data will be made available (including complete URLs or pass on letters to these authors
or email addresses if relevant); • There should be no more than five references and five authors
• By what access criteria data will be shared (including with • All accepted letters are edited, and proofs will be sent out to
whom, for what types of analyses, by what mechanism – authors before publication
eg, with or without investigator support, after approval of
a proposal, with a signed data access agreement - or any Corrections
additional restrictions). • Any substantial error in any article published in The Lancet Neurology
See table for examples. Clinical trials that begin enrolling participants should be corrected as soon as possible. Blame is not apportioned;
on or after Jan 1, 2019, must include a data sharing plan in the trial’s the important thing is to set the record straight
registration. If the data sharing plan changes after registration, this • The Lancet journals have a policy for types of errors that
should be reflected in the statement submitted and published, and we do and do not correct. We will always correct any error
updated in the registry record. Mendeley Data is a secure online affecting a non-proprietary drug name, dose, or unit, MENDELEY data
repository for research data, permitting archiving of any file type any numerical error in the results, or any factual error https://data.mendeley.com

and assigning a permanent and unique digital object identifier in interpretation of results. Authorship format changes For The Lancet journals’ policy
(DOI) so that the files can be easily referenced. If authors wish to after publication to facilitate a different visualisation in on correction of errors see
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share their supporting data, and have not already made alternative MEDLINE/PubMed will not be done. com/for-authors/
arrangements, a Mendeley DOI can be referred to in the data sharing forms?section=correction
statement. Green section (Reviews, Rapid Reviews, Personal
Views, Commissions)
Blue section (Comment, In Context, Reviews
Correspondence, etc) • Reviews should be either definitive overviews of a major topic in
Editorial neurology or an update of knowledge in a narrower field of
• Editorials are the voice of The Lancet Neurology, and are written current interest
in-house by the journal’s editorial-writing team and signed • Most Reviews are commissioned, but unsolicited one-page
“The Lancet Neurology” outlines, consisting of a synopsis and a list of recent references,
can be directed to the Editor at [email protected]. If you
Comment have already written the paper, please submit it for consideration
• Commentaries may discuss Articles in The Lancet Neurology via our online system For our online system
or in other journals. Most commentaries are commissioned, • Complete transparency about the choice of material included is www.editorialmanager.com/
thelancetneurology
but spontaneous commentaries are also welcome on a paper important. Therefore, all Reviews should include a brief section
or other report or event within the past month or so, or in entitled “Search strategy and selection criteria” stating the sources
the near future. Unsolicited commentaries may be peer (including databases, MeSH and free text search terms and filters,
reviewed and reference lists from journals or books) of the material covered,
• Comments should be about 750 words and ten references and the criteria used to include or exclude studies. As these papers
• The place to respond to something we have published is in our should be comprehensive, we encourage citation of publications
Correspondence section in non-English languages. An example is shown below:

In Context Search strategy and selection criteria

• Features, profiles, reviews of books and other media, and lifelines References for this Review were identified by searches of
are often commissioned, but suggestions for contributions are PubMed between 1969 and May, 2019, and references from
welcome via [email protected] relevant articles. The search terms “leukoencephalopathy”,
• Most of the writers of feature articles are professional journalists, “MLC”, “MLC1”, “HEPACAM”, “GlialCAM”, “ClC-2”, and
but an important event in your country that might be of wider “CLCN2” were used. There were no language restrictions. The
interest can be brought to the attention of the editors via final reference list was generated on the basis of relevance to
[email protected] the topics covered in this Review.

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 Information for Authors

• The word count should be no more than 4500 words, with a research papers published in our journals. The Lancet Neurology
maximum of 100 references. Citations to papers published in does not provide direct financial support to Commissioners for
supplements that are not peer reviewed are discouraged. the research or writing of the reports. Funding is sought directly
A 150 word unstructured summary should be included. by authors, with oversight from our editors.
These papers should include about five illustrations to aid the
reader Series
• Series are collections of papers (usually between three and five)
Rapid Review on a broad topic within the neurology field. They are generally
• These short reviews aim to put research findings published in the commissioned by the editors, but suggestions are welcome by
preceding 6–12 months into context email.
• An abstract of up to 400 words should include text under the
headings Background, Recent developments, and Where next? Formatting guidelines
• The word count should be no more than 3000 words Language
(not including the summary panel), with a maximum of • Manuscripts should be submitted in English. Authors writing in
75 references and two tables or figures Chinese, Portuguese, or Spanish may wish to use the Webshop
(http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageservices) to provide an
Personal View English translation of their manuscript for submission.
• The aim of a Personal View is to present a new way of thinking
about research findings, a new interpretation of data, or a new Title page
scientific model. Although an opinion piece, the arguments • A brief title, author name(s), preferred degree (one only),
should be presented in the context of a balanced review and affiliation(s), and full address(es) of the authors must be included.
discussion of the literature. Papers in this category should be The name and address of the corresponding author should be
forward looking and provide a platform for debate and an separately and clearly indicated with email and telephone details.
opportunity to challenge current thinking
Formatting guidelines for text, • Personal Views should include a Search strategy and selection Formatting of text
tables, and figures criteria panel, as for Reviews. Please note that we do not consider • Type a single space at the end of each sentence
Guidelines on formatting of text,
Hypothesis papers • Do not use bold face for emphasis within text
tables, and figures can be found at
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the number pad, or on a Mac: ALT shift 9
Position Paper • Numbers one to ten are written out in words unless they are used
• Position Papers should follow the same guidelines as a Review as a unit of measurement, except in figures and tables
(no more than 4500 words, with a maximum of 100 references, • Use single hard-returns to separate paragraphs. Do not use tabs
and a 150-word unstructured Summary). or indents to start a paragraph
• The aim of these pieces is to represent a consensus put forward • Do not use the automated features of your software, such as
by a large group of experts that is likely to signify a major turning hyphenation, endnotes, headers, or footers (especially for
point in a field. They are generally commissioned by the editors, references). Pages should be numbered
but suggestions are welcome by email. • Guidelines on formatting tables are available in the artwork
guidelines
Policy View
• Policy Views are narrative reviews, sometimes with a descriptive Formatting of figures
study, of a particular topic relevant to policy makers. They should • Submission of original and editable artwork files is encouraged.
be no more than 3000 words, with up to 75 references and a Digital photography files should have a resolution of at least
150-word unstructured Summary. 300 dpi and be at least 107 mm wide
• They are generally commissioned by the editors, but suggestions
are welcome by email. References
• Cite references in the text sequentially in the
Commissions Vancouver numbering style, as a superscripted number after any
• Topics for The Lancet Neurology Commissions are selected by our punctuation mark. For example:
editors, who work with academic partners to identify the most "…as reported by Saito and colleagues.15"
pressing issues in science, medicine, and global health with the • Two references are cited separated by a comma, with no space.
aim of producing recommendations to change public policy Three or more consecutive references are given as a range with
or improve practice. Projects usually last 2–3 years, and author an en rule. To create an en rule on a PC: hold down CTRL key and
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The Lancet Neurology Commissions are academic publications and • References in tables, figures, and panels should be in numerical
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• Here is an example for a journal reference (note the use of tab, are unable to supply files in any these formats, our in-house
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"…15[tab]Saito N, Ebara S, Ohotsuka K, Kumeta J, Takaoka K. export or convert the file into another format, or to redraw from
Natural history of scoliosis in spastic cerebral palsy. scratch. When files are exported to eps files, we would prefer text
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of the section, and the page numbers accompanied by a statement indicating permission to reproduce
• For online material, please cite the URL, together with the date the image. If required, further assistance can be obtained from
you accessed the website the editorial team. If you have used previously published images,
• Online journal articles can be cited using the DOI number you must obtain permission from the copyright holder of the
• References that are in press can be cited in the reference list with paper, which might be the authors or the publisher. If all the
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• For personal communications and unpublished work, please cite this requirement does not apply
in-text rather than in the reference list in the format
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• Do not put references in the Summary or Research in context Material will be published at the discretion of The Lancet journals’
and Search strategy and selection criteria panels editors. For clinical trials, we encourage authors to include a copy of
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the topic(s) covered in your paper, but are not yet formally published,
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Our in-house illustrators redraw most figures into Lancet style. The Tables
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following notes are a summary of our ideal requirements, but a single spaced
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• For images (photographs or photographic images) that are used
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file formats are TIF or JPG if % is shown
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drawing) we require editable vector files that contain selectable Drug names Drug names
geometry and fonts (editable text). The editability of files depends • Recommended international non-proprietary name (rINN) is For more on neuroscience-
based nomenclature see
on the package they were created in, but as a rule we would prefer required
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to receive any of the following: Adobe Illustrator (.ai) file; Adobe • We encourage use of neuroscience-based nomenclature for com/pdfs/journals/lanpsy/
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References medical research to inform public debate. As such, we ask that

• Vancouver style—eg, authors and their institutions refrain from actively seeking
media attention for articles that have been submitted to The
—Smith A, Jones B, Clements S. Clinical Lancet Neurology or that are available as a preprint. The important
transplantation of tissue-engineered airway. steps of thorough peer review and experienced editorial scrutiny
Lancet 2008; 372: 1201–09. and guidance, together with putting research findings into a
wider context and highlighting implications for clinical practice,
—Hourigan P. Ankle injuries. In: Chan D, ed. Sports will make the final published paper in The Lancet Neurology very
medicine. London: Elsevier, 2008: 230–47. different to the submitted or preprint version. Coverage that
• Numbered in order of mention in appendix and numbered results from pre-publication communication can impact media
separately from references in the full paper interest at the time of publication and our ability to support
responsible journalism
Figures • For more information on Preprints with The Lancet, please see
• All images must have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi, www.thelancet.com/preprints. For additional questions
width 107 mm regarding media, please contact [email protected]
• Main figure heading should be in 10 point Times New Roman
font BOLD Fast-track publication
• Legends should be in 10 point, single spaced • All Articles judged eligible by the journal's staff for expedited
review will be peer-reviewed within 3–5 days and, if accepted,
Audio and video material published in 10 weeks from submission
• The paper to which the audio or video clip relates should be • A majority of accepted fast-track Articles are published online
mentioned in the recording first before appearing in a print journal
• Audio clip and video files should be accompanied with brief text • The online article does not differ from the version subsequently
explaining the content of the audio, names of interviewers and published in print and is citable by the DOI assigned at the time
interviewees, date of recording, and place of recording if relevant of online publication
• Written consent from all parties must be supplied at • All other manuscripts will be peer-reviewed via our standard
submission process

Audio Online First publication

• Audio material submitted as an mp3 files, no larger than • The Lancet Neurology usually publishes articles online ahead of
50mb print publication. You will be informed at least a week in advance
of the Online First publication date
Video • The online article is identical to the version subsequently
• Video material should be submitted in .mp4 format with published in the print journal, and is citable by the DOI assigned
aspect ratio of 16:9, and be no larger than 50 Mb at the time of online publication
• We welcome your videos and invite you to submit any
video material (reports, interviews, scans, imaging) for How The Lancet Neurology handles your paper
consideration in the online journal. Please ensure that all those Acknowledgment
featured in the video have given permission for publication • Receipt of your paper will be acknowledged by an email
(see also the previous section on Patient and other consents) containing a reference number, which should be used in all
• All video files can be submitted alongside your article in EM future communications

Disclosure of results before publication Checking for plagiarism, duplicate publication, and text
• Presentation of data at a scientific meeting, as a poster, recycling
abstract, orally, on a CD, or as an abstract on the web, or on a • All Reviews, Rapid Reviews, Personal Views, and other non-
preprint server does not conflict with submission to the Lancet research material that we are interested in publishing will be
journals. As a member journal of the International Committee checked by editors using CrossCheck (see Lancet 2011; 377:
for Medical Journal Editors, The Lancet Neurology does not 281–82). We expect that such papers are written in a way that
regard results that are posted in the same clinical trials registry offers new thinking without recycling previously published text
in which primary registration resides as a previous publication,
if the results are presented in the form of a brief structured Peer review
abstract or table • The Lancet Neurology operates a single-anonymised review
• The Lancet journals operate an embargo system, whereby process
journalists are given access to papers and press releases ahead of • Every Article, Review, Rapid Review, and Personal View published
publication, allowing them a protected window to develop their in The Lancet Neurology has been peer reviewed
stories. We believe that this window can help encourage • On submission to The Lancet Neurology, your report will first be
balanced and accurate coverage of peer-reviewed scientific and read by one or more of the journal’s editors. Most of our Reviews

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are commissioned, which means that we have to turn down want your paper entered into such a study, please let us know in
many of the spontaneous submissions we receive. Our your covering letter. Your decision to take part or not will have
acceptance rate for original research is about 5% and it is an no effect on the editorial decision on your paper
important feature of our selection process that many papers are
turned away on the basis of in-house assessment alone. That Open access and funding
decision will be communicated quickly Open access
• Research papers and most other types of paper that receive • The Lancet Neurology is committed to support authors in making
positive in-house reviews are followed by peer review by at least their research publicly and freely available. The editors encourage
three reviewers. You will receive notification of which editor is all authors to post their peer-reviewed, accepted article on their
handling the peer review of your paper. personal or institutional websites any time after publication in
print or online. Your document should indicate the article’s
Revision citation and a link to the published article on The Lancet website.
• Submissions that survive in-house and peer review might be • The Lancet Neurology is a hybrid journal. In this journal, we offer
referred back to authors for revision. This is an invitation to authors of research Articles with funding that requires open
present the best possible paper for further scrutiny by the access publication either a gold open access or a subscription
journal; it is not an acceptance green open access solution for their submission. Open access
• Authors should give priority to such revisions; the journal will publication in our hybrid journals is available for authors whose
reciprocate by making a final decision quickly research is funded by specific funders. Find out more about open
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open-access
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or to editors of other relevant journals within Elsevier’s portfolio accepted version of their paper in any repository they choose
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• Sometimes editors make mistakes. When we do, we like to hear published paper free to access on our websites 6 months after
about them. If an author believes that an editor has made an error publication. See below for copyright and reuse information.
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Proofs
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content published in our journals. You will be advised in advance if
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