Author Instructions

Authors submitting to one of the three ASTRO Journals, the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics, Practical Radiation Oncology and Advances in Radiation Oncology should use the instructions below when submitting a manuscript. Authors unsure of which journal to submit to should view this outline of each journal's scope. Journal-specific information such as article type descriptions can be found at the pages linked here:

• Red Journal
• Practical Radiation Oncology
• Advances in Radiation Oncology

How to Submit

ASTRO journals accept submissions and correspondence electronically through a web-based submission management system that enables authors to track their submissions online. Authors must be registered to use the system.

• Red Journal Submission Site
• PRO Submission Site
• Advances Submission Site

Our online submission system guides you through the process of entering your article details and uploading your files. The system converts your article files to a single PDF file used in the peer-review process. A portion of submissions are declined without external review if such manuscripts are judged to be inappropriate for the journal's readership. If review is required, authors can expect to learn of rejection or acceptance in approximately four to six weeks, depending on the turnaround time for reviews.

All correspondence, including editor decisions and requests for revisions, is conducted by email through Editorial Manager or by emailing:

• Red Journal
• PRO
• Advances

Copy Editing and Translation Services Available

ASTRO is pleased to partner with Editage to offer a 10% discount for authors seeking copy editing and translation services. Please use this Author Services link to receive the discount. These services are offered for the benefit of authors, and individuals who participate will remain anonymous. Copy editing and translation are provided by Editage.

Fees

IMPORTANT - Fee-free, format-free option

All three journals offer an opportunity to have preliminary ideas reviewed by a journal editor free of charge. Authors may visit any of the journals' submission sites and select "Presubmission Inquiry" as the article type to submit as much or as little information about a project as they would like, without any formatting or submission fee. If your work is of interest to an editor of that journal, you will be invited to submit a formal paper.

Red Journal

There is a $75 fee to submit full-length clinical investigations, scientific letters and critical review submissions to the Red Journal EXCEPT the following:

• Biology submissions
• Physics submissions
• Clinical investigation submissions where the lead or corresponding author resides in a low- or middle-income country (according to the World Bank)

During the submission process, authors will be directed to the Submission Start site to complete payment by a credit card, if applicable.

PRO

There is no fee to submit to PRO or to publish in the journal.

Advances

There is no fee to submit to Advances; however, if your manuscript is accepted, the following fees are charged:

Submission Checklist

Title Page Template

ASTRO provides a checklist and title page template to help facilitate new submissions and revisions.

Anonymized Peer Review

ASTRO journals use an anonymized review process. This means that authors do not know the identity of their reviewers, and the reviewers do not know the identities of the authors. Reviewers provide comments for the editors and the authors. The editor assigned to the manuscript reads all reviews and forwards a recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief, who approves all suggested changes.

All scientific papers must be anonymized including full length articles, reviews and teaching cases. Editorials and other communications do not need to be anonymized. For a full list, see the specific article type instructions for each journal linked below:

• Red Journal
• Practical Radiation Oncology
• Advances in Radiation Oncology

For submissions to the Red Journal, anonymization is not required for prospective randomized phase II and III studies as these trials have usually been presented at meetings with high visibility and are well known to the editorial teams and the reviewers.

What to Anonymize

Please anonymize the following information in the manuscript document, figures, tables, supplementary files and online submission form title and abstract fields of your submission:

• Author names and institutions, including when declaring institutional review board approval.
• Trial names, numbers and registry identifiers.
• Citations of previous works identified as belonging to the authors. For example, “In our previous study [8]” reveals the cited work as belonging to the authors. Revise to: “Recent studies show [8]”.

Anonymized text must always be removed or replaced with filler text. Examples of filler text are:

• XXXX
• Anonymized for Review
• ****

Do not electronically black out the text. When anonymizing references, please leave the in-text reference number as is, but replace the entire corresponding line in the references section except the number with “XXXX” or similar.

Example:

1.  Smith J, Jones AM. Cardiac denervation in diabetes. BMJ. 1973 Dec 8; 4: 584-586. (Not anonymized)

1.  XXXX. (Anonymized)

Reviewers see all documents submitted except the cover letter, title page and disclosure forms. Do not include acknowledgements, conflict of interest statements or funding statements in the anonymized manuscript document. For more information please refer to Elsevier. 

Clarity in Methods and Results Sections

ASTRO journals encourage diversity in research sample recruitment, as such diversity improves the generalizability of findings and serves as a crucial step in identifying and addressing disparities in health care. Authors are strongly encouraged to explain their decision making processes in sample recruitment and eligibility criteria in their Methods section and provide demographic data in their Results section when applicable. Based on your article type, please review the appropriate statement (CONSORT, PRISMA, REMARK and STROBE ) for further guidance on such reporting. The CLAIM Checklist is recommended for artificial intelligence in medical imaging.

The journals’ editorial teams encourage authors to familiarize themselves with JAMA’s Updated Guidance on the Reporting of Race and Ethnicity in Medical and Science Journals and follow JAMA’s recommendations.

For submissions to the Red Journal, authors are encouraged to submit the Generalizability Table Template as supplementary material. If "Generalizability Table" is selected as the file type, only editors will see the table.

File Types

ASTRO journals accept title page, anonymized manuscript and table files submitted only as Word documents. The anonymized manuscript can also be submitted as a LaTeX document. Information on submitting a manuscript using LaTeX is available here. LaTeX submissions must still conform to the guidelines listed on this page and the specific article type guidelines for each journal. Figure file requirements are detailed in the Artwork section.

Do:

• Use single-column format
• Double-space the entire manuscript document including the abstract and references
• Use boldface, italics, subscripts, superscripts and special characters where appropriate
• Do a spelling and grammar check before submitting
• Save in the file format of the word processing program used

Don’t:

• Use the word processor’s line-numbering tool; the submission system will automatically include line numbers
• Use the word processing program’s justify text or hyphenate words features
• Include tables or figures in the manuscript document

Word Counts

Article word limits include the abstract, body and figure captions. References are not included, though authors should note any limits on the number of references for their article type.

Word limits for each journal's specific article types can be found on the pages linked below:

• Red Journal
• Practical Radiation Oncology
• Advances in Radiation Oncology

Article Structure

Cover Letter

You may include a letter to the Editor-in-Chief introducing your manuscript or explaining matters not conveyed elsewhere in the submission process.

Title Page (With Author Details)

• The title and short running title (46 characters or fewer, including spaces)
• The authors' names and affiliations
• The name, telephone number, mailing address and e-mail address of the corresponding author and the author(s) responsible for statistical analyses
• A conflict of interest statement
• A funding statement
• A data sharing statement
• Acknowledgments (if any)

Anonymized Manuscript (No Author Details)

The main body of the paper should not include any identifying information, such as the authors' names, affiliations, or direct references to their previous work.

The anonymized manuscript should include the following:

• Abstract: A brief, structured overview of the research conducted, including its purpose, the methods and materials used, the results and the conclusions.
• Introduction: State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background; avoid a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
• Methods and Materials: Provide enough detail so that the work can be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference; only relevant modifications should be described. Please explain decision-making processes in sample recruitment and eligibility criteria when applicable.
• Results: Should be clear and concise. Please provide demographic data when applicable.
• Discussion: This should explore the significance of the results, not repeat them. Results may be combined with Discussion. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.
• Conclusions: The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.
• References: List the references in the order in which they appear in the text, making sure each reference cited is provided and vice versa.
• Figure Captions: Include a caption for each figure. The caption should consist of a brief title and a description of the illustration. Be sure to explain all symbols and abbreviations used within the figure. Do not include figures or tables in the anonymized manuscript document.

Table File (Anonymized)

Include all tables in one Word document with no identifying information.

Number tables consecutively with their appearance in the text. Footnotes in tables can include definitions of abbreviations, designated footnotes and table legends, in that order. Designated footnotes take standard symbols (*, †, ‡, §, ¦, ¶, #, **, ††, for example). Place footnotes to tables below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.

Figure Files (Anonymized)

• Number the figures sequentially as in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Size the figures close to the desired dimensions of the printed version.
• Submit each figure and sub-figure (1a, 1b) as a separate file.
• Instructions on figure composition:
  • For survival curves, include the number-at-risk at each time point and identify when patients were censored on each curve.
  • For figures in which there are multiple cohorts displayed on the same graph (e.g. survival curves, cumulative bar graphs, etc.), the individual groups should be distinguishable by other means than color alone.
  • Each axis must be labeled, and the units of measure on the axes must be labeled. Error bars may be labeled in the figure itself or described in the legend.
  • All symbols and abbreviations should be defined in the legend.
  • Include a title with each figure (may be placed in the legend).
  • For figures involving isodose lines and/or contours, the lines should be sufficiently thick and contrast against the underlying image for easy viewing.
  • Figures should not have more than six panels.
  • Digital adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color applied uniformly to a scientific image are permissible, but selective adjustments applied to individual elements in an image are unacceptable.

Supplementary Material (Anonymized)

This material could be in the form of tables, figures, appendices, extraneous methods, data sets, etc. with no identifying information.

If there is more than one supplementary file/appendix, identify as A, B, etc. Formulas and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A1), Eq. (A2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B1) and so on. Similarly, for tables and figures: Table A1; Fig. A1, etc.

If you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. Source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on Electronic artwork.

(See also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier:).

Uniform Disclosure Form

Each author must complete and submit an International Committee of Medical Journal Editors uniform disclosure form, available for free download. Please upload these forms individually in PDF format for each author.

Footnotes

Use footnotes sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article, using superscript Arabic numbers. Many word processors build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list. Footnotes in tables can include abbreviations, designated footnotes, and table legends, in that order, as needed. Designated footnotes take standard symbols (*, †, ‡, §, ¦, ¶, #, **, ††, and so on).

Math Formulae

Please submit math equations as editable text and not as images. Present simple formulae in line with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that must be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

Units

Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other units are mentioned, please give their equivalent in SI.

Artwork

View a detailed guide on electronic artwork. 

If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), please send it in that format. Images not made in Microsoft must be:

• Vector drawings, with all fonts embedded.
• Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi.
• Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.
• Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.

Color Artwork

If you submit usable color figures, Elsevier will, at no additional charge, display them in color online. For color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for color: in print or online only. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see Elsevier’s artwork instructions.

Illustration Services

We offer complimentary illustration services for line drawings and graphs in all accepted articles. Elsevier's production group will redraw and enhance labels and drawings as needed for clarity and consistency. Authors will be able to review these figures when they receive the article.

References

Reference Style

Number references in the order they appear in text using a consistent style. Where applicable, include author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the pages. Use of DOI is highly encouraged. Missing data will be highlighted for the author to correct. If you wish to format the references yourself, use AMA Style. The following are examples:

Davis JT, Allen HD, Powers JD, et al. Population requirements for capitation planning in pediatric cardiac surgery. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1996;150:257-259.

Champlin RER, Feig SA, Ho WG, et al. Bone marrow transplantation for acute lymphoblastic leukemia in remission: Importance of extramedullary involvement [Abstract]. Blood. 1982;60 (Suppl 1):165a.

Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and Leadership Skills for Nurses. 2nd ed. Albany, NY: Delmar Publishers; 1996.

Phillips SJ, Whisnant JP. Hypertension and stroke. In: Laragh JH, Brenner BM, eds. Hypertension: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Management. 2nd ed. New York, NY: RavenPress; 1995:465-478.

Journal Abbreviations

Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Journal Title Abbreviations.

Citations in Text

Every reference cited in the text should appear in the reference list (and vice versa). Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list, they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either “Unpublished results” or “Personal communication.” Citation of a reference as “in press” implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Reference Links

Increased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. In order for us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such as Scopus, CrossRef and PubMed, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is encouraged.

A DOI can be used to cite and link to electronic articles where an article is in-press and full citation details are not yet known, but the article is available online. A DOI is guaranteed never to change, so you can use it as a permanent link to any electronic article.

An example of a DOI citation for an article not yet published is:

VanDecar JC, Russo RM, James DE, Ambeh WB, Franke M. Aseismic continuation of the Lesser Antilles slab beneath northeastern Venezuela. J Geophys Res. 2003. https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JB000884.

Please note the format of such citations should be in the same style as all other references in the paper.

Web References

As a minimum, give the full URL and the date last accessed. Also give, if known: DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc. List web references separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or in the reference list.

Data References

Cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by including them in your text and as a reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as such. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

Supplementary Material

Supplementary material such as applications, images and sound clips can enhance your article and are published exactly as they are received. Submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make changes to supplementary material during any stage of the process, please provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the “Track Changes” option in Microsoft Office files to avoid their appearing in the published version.

Video

ASTRO Journals accept videos and animation to support and enhance your research. Include links to these within the body of the article, noting where they should be placed. Name files according to their content. We accept files with a maximum size of 150 MB per file. Video and animation files will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect.

Please supply an image of your video content: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. This image will be used to personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages. Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text that refers to the content for both the electronic and the print version.

Revisions

Revisions must include the following elements:

• Detailed Response to Reviewers (anonymized)
• Marked version of the revised manuscript (tracked changes preferred)
• Clean version of the revised manuscript
• Clean versions of supporting documents

Please do not include:

• Identifying information on the Detailed Response to Reviewers document
• The original, unrevised manuscript document
• Marked version only of all supporting documents (tables, figures, supplemental files)

Authorship

Authorship, according to ICMJE recommendations, is based on the following criteria:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work 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.

Disclosure Verification

All authors should review the final manuscript prior to submission. Co-authors should ensure all disclosures are reported.

Changes to Authorship

Authors should carefully consider the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the final list of authors with the original submission.

Make any addition, deletion or rearrangement in the authorship list before the manuscript has been accepted. Only in exceptional circumstances will the editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any changes approved by the editor will result in a corrigendum.

Statistical Analyses

In addition to the corresponding author, specify the name of the author(s) responsible for any statistical analyses and who may be contacted in case of questions.

The Use of AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in Scientific Writing (Elsevier Policy)

Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing

The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process. 

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.

Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Disclosure instructions

Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

Ethics

For ASTRO Journals publishing ethics information, please see our ethics page here.

Production Information

For information on production and publication of ASTRO journal articles, please see our production information page.

Author Inquiries

Please address any inquiries to our editorial office:

• Red Journal
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Phone: 703-286-1588
• PRO
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Phone: 703-286-1588
• Advances
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Phone: 703-286-1588