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Author Instructions

To submit an article, select Submit Article from the left toolbar. You will need to sign up for an author account. Once you've created and logged into your account, you'll have access to the submission portal where you can upload your work.

AUTHOR INSTRUCTIONS

AUTHOR INSTRUCTIONS

ARTICLE TYPES

ACE-QI publishes a wide variety of articles types.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Original Research Articles present novel findings derived from original data. They should be in IMRAD format (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion/Conclusion). Quality improvement articles may also use the SQUIRE guidelines as a framework. Original research articles should be no longer than 5,000 words (excluding Title Page, Abstract, and References) and have a structured abstract up to 400 words. They can have up to eight total tables and figures; additional figures and tables can be submitted as supplemental material. Research articles should include any of the following that are applicable: acknowledgments, conflicts of interest, and data sharing/availability.

Narrative Reviews summarize and synthesize current literature on a topic. They should be no longer than 5,000 words (excluding Title Page, Abstract, and References), have no more than eight tables or figures, and have an abstract of up to 250 words. They should include any of the following that are applicable: acknowledgments, conflicts of interest, and data sharing/availability.

Brief Reports are concise descriptive summaries of new programs, innovations, or research projects. Topics often include development, implementation, outcomes, lessons learned, challenges encountered, and implications for other institutions. They should follow a logical structure (e.g., Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion [IMRAD] or Introduction, Project Description, Conclusion). Brief reports should be no longer than 1,500 words (excluding Title Page, Abstract, and References) and the abstract should be no more than 250 words. Reports can have up to five tables/figures and ten references and should include any of the following that are applicable: acknowledgments, conflicts of interest, and data sharing/availability. Peer reviewers evaluate them on clarity, transparency, relevance, and usefulness to readers, rather than strict methodological rigor.

Case reports describe individual cases or case series and include an abstract, introduction/background, case description, discussion, and conclusion. They should be no longer than 2,500 words (excluding Title Page, Abstract, and References) and have no more than four total tables and figures and twenty references. They should include a structured abstract up to 250 words and any of the following that are applicable: acknowledgments, conflicts of interest, and data sharing/availability.

Other Types of Articles

The non-peer reviewed article types below should be no longer than 1,000 words, unless otherwise indicated, and have no abstract.

  • Announcements
  • Letters
  • Commentary
  • Viewpoints are thoughtful perspectives, insights, or informed opinions. They may address emerging issues, challenges, innovations, or areas of debate and should provide a clear, well-supported perspective that is useful and thought-provoking for readers.
  • Conference material
  • Media This category includes video and other non-text material related to oncology education.
  • Corrections When necessary, corrections to or retractions of published articles are made by the authors and journal editors.
  • Creative Expressions This category includes original works that convey personal or emotional experiences through artistic or narrative forms. They should reflect the lived experiences of cancer and education. Submissions are reviewed for clarity, emotional and narrative impact, and appropriateness for a professional and interdisciplinary audience. Contributions are welcome from health care workers, students, patients, and caregivers. Each piece should include a brief description of the work, and optionally, a one-sentence author bio. Accepted formats include:
    • Written works: includes first-person reflective essays, prose, narrative nonfiction, and poetry (max 2,000 words)
    • Visual media: includes photography, illustration, painting, and mixed media. (high-resolution TIFF or EPS files (minimum: 300 dpi).
    • Audio: includes spoken-word, poetry, interviews, and soundscapes. (aac, ac3, aiff, flac, m4a, mp3, wav, wma, max 5 minutes; must include a written transcript.)
    • Video: includes live action, animation, interviews, and whiteboard (3gp, asx, avi, f4v, flv, mkv, mov, mp4, mpg, wmv, max 5 minutes. We may need to upload large files for you.)

ARTICLE SUBMISSION AND PRESUBMISSION INQUIRIES

Submit articles using the online submission system. You will need to sign up for an author account. Once you've created and logged into your account, you'll have access to the submission portal where you can upload your work.

Authors may submit presubmission inquiries to the editors. Please only send an abstract or summary of your proposed paper; do not send the entire manuscript. Please note that a positive response to your inquiry is not a guarantee of acceptance.

ACE-QI supports open access and applies the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Sharealike (BY-NC-SA) 4.0 license to the articles and other works we publish. This allows the articles to be freely accessed and increases readership and citation rates. When you submit your manuscript for publication in ACE-QI, you agree to have the CC BY-NC-SA license applied to your work. This open access license allows the author to retain copyright and allows the public to reuse the work under the following conditions:

  • BY: reuse is only allowed if the original work is appropriately credited
  • NC: reuse is only allowed for non-commercial purposes
  • SA: reuse is only allowed if the new work is made available under the same license as the original

PEER REVIEW

All original research articles submitted to the journal are reviewed by at least two peer reviewers to determine their suitability for publication. ACE-QI uses a double-anonymized peer review process. Reviewers are not aware of the authors’ identities, and the reviewers’ names will not be shared with the authors. Anonymized reviews will appear in the editorial decision letter and will be accessible to the authors and other reviewers. Final decisions will be made by the editor-in-chief.

Authors are welcome to suggest peer reviewers to include or exclude at the time of submission. This can be done in the cover letter. Recommended reviewers should not have a conflict of interest with the authors or their work.

STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES

By submitting an article to ACE-QI, the authors agree that the manuscript has not been previously published, is not being considered for publication elsewhere, and has been approved by all co-authors and the institution at which the study was conducted.

Authors should adhere to the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) for all articles submitted to ACE-QI. Please review the journal's Generative AI policy.

Authors should adhere to the appropriate reporting guidelines for reporting research, available from the EQUATOR Network.

Authors are responsible for obtaining any necessary permissions to use copyrighted materials in their work and for completing any necessary informed consent and release forms. All such forms should be submitted with the manuscript.

All articles must be written in American or British English. Non-native speakers are encouraged to seek professional editing help before submitting their article. The journal follows the AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition.

FORMAT AND STYLE

All submissions should include:

  • Cover letter
  • Manuscript including:
    • Abstract
    • Title page with:
      • Title
      • Running title (50 characters, including spaces)
      • Full name, highest academic degree(s), ORCID ID, and affiliations of each author
      • Corresponding author, indicated by an asterisk (*) with their name, address, and email address
      • Acknowledgments, funding, conflicts of interest, and data sharing/availability
      • Suggested article type
    Please format your manuscript according to these typesetting and layout requirements:
    • Include the abstract
    • Do not include page numbers, headers, or footers. These will be added by the editors.
    • Format your manuscript, including tables, figures, etc., as a single file (Word, RTF, and PDF files are accepted).
    • Figures: Use high-resolution figures, preferably encoded as encapsulated PostScript (eps).
    • Page size should be 8.5 × 11 inches.
    • All margins (left, right, top, and bottom) should be 1 inch (2.54 cm), including your tables and figures.

    Font

    • Title page, abstract and main body—12 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available.
    • Figure legends—10 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available.
    • Tables—10-12 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available.
    • Footnotes—10 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available.

    Indenting, Line Spacing, Justification

    • Single space the text.
    • All text should be left-justified (i.e., flush with the left margin—except where indented). Where possible, it should also be right-justified (i.e., flush with the right margin).
    • Indent all paragraphs except those following a section heading. Indents should be 0.5 inches (1.27 cm).
    • Do not insert extra space between paragraphs of text except for long quotations, theorems, propositions, special remarks, etc. These should be set off from the surrounding text by additional space above and below.

    Headings

    Headings (e.g., start of sections) should be distinguished from the main body text by their fonts:
    • Use bold font for first-level headings
    • Use bold italic font for second-level headings
    • Use italic font for third-level headings
    • Insert a line space above headings.

    Footnotes

    Footnotes should be avoided. If used, footnotes should:
    • appear at the bottom of the page on which they are referenced rather than at the end of the paper with a footnote separator rule (line).
    • be labeled with superscript lower case letters (a, b, etc.) after punctuation.
    • be left and right-justified (i.e., flush with the right margin), unless this creates awkward spacing

    ADDITIONAL FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS FOR ACCEPTED ARTICLES

    • Do not include page numbers, headers, or footers. These will be added by the editors.
    • Format your manuscript, including tables, figures, appendices, etc., as a single file (Word, RTF, and PDF files are accepted).
    • Page size should be 8.5 x 11 inches.
    • All margins (left, right, top, and bottom) should be 1 inch (2.54 cm), including tables and figures.
    • Single-space the text.
    • Use a single-column layout with both left and right margins justified.
    • Use high-resolution figures, preferably encoded as encapsulated PostScript (eps).

    Colored Text

    • Set the font color to black. We encourage authors to take advantage of the ability to use color in the production of figures; however, color should be avoided where its conversion to black and white would render the material illegible or incomprehensible.
    • Please ensure that there are no colored mark-ups or comments in the final version, unless they are meant to be part of the final text. (You may need to "accept all changes" in track changes or set your document to "normal" in final markup.)

    Emphasized Text

    • Whenever possible, use italics to indicate text you wish to emphasize rather than underlining it. The use of color to emphasize text is discouraged.

    Foreign Terms

    • Whenever possible, foreign terms should be set in italics rather than underlined.

    Titles

    • Whenever possible, titles of books, movies, etc., should be set in italics rather than underlined.

    Tables and Figures

    • Original research articles can have up to eight total tables and figures; additional figures and tables can be submitted as supplemental material.
    • To the extent possible, tables and figures should appear in the document near where they are referenced in the text. Large tables or figures should be put on pages by themselves.
    • Avoid the use of overly small type in tables.
    • All tables and figures must fit within 1.5" margins on all sides (top, bottom, left and right) in both portrait and landscape view.

    Mathematics

    • Roman letters used in mathematical expressions as variables should be italicized. Roman letters used as part of multi-letter function names should not be italicized. Whenever possible, subscripts and superscripts should be a smaller font size than the main text.
    • Short mathematical expressions should be typed inline. Longer expressions using many different levels (e.g., fractions) should be set as display math. Important definitions or concepts can also be set off as display math.
    • Equations should be numbered sequentially. Equation numbers can be placed on the right or left but should be consistent.
    • Symbols and notations in unusual fonts should be avoided. This will not only enhance the clarity of the manuscript, but will also help ensure that it displays correctly on the reader's screen and prints correctly. When proofing your PDF document, pay particular attention to the rendering of the mathematics, especially symbols and notations drawn from other than standard fonts.

    References

    The journal follows the AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition. Please include DOIs or URLs for all references.