Instructions to Authors

The Journal of Reproduction and Development (JRD) is an international, peer-reviewed Open Access publication, and the official journal of the Society for Reproduction and Development. In six issues per year, JRD publishes basic studies of reproductive biology in vertebrates, including gametogenesis, early embryonic development, placenta development, implantation, reproductive endocrine function and reproductive organ development. JRD also welcomes applied and clinical studies that contribute to the control of reproduction in wild, domestic and laboratory animals, and to the development of new technology to address issues in the field of reproduction. Human clinical case reports are not published by the journal.

The journal publishes four article types, all of which are subject to peer review. Articles must represent original and unpublished materials.

Original Articles are full papers that report original, investigative research. Original Articles are to be arranged in the following order, and the following sections must begin on separate pages: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conflict of interest, Acknowledgments, References, Tables and Figures (including figure legends on the same page).

The abstract should be written in a single paragraph of no more than 250 words. Original Articles should contain no more than 5000 words in the main text (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conflict of interest and Acknowledgments) and no more than 6 display items. If necessary, additional information may be provided as Supplementary Material.

Technology Reports are short reports that focus on methodologies, such as new techniques or novel approaches, to solve reproductive problems. Technology Reports are succinct reports and prepared in the following order: Title page, Abstract, Text, Methods, Conflict of interest, Acknowledgments, References, Tables and Figures (including figure legends on the same page). The text should have no subheadings.

The abstract should be written in a single paragraph of up to 150 words. Up to 30 references may be cited. Technology Reports should contain no more than 2500 words in the main text (Text, Methods, Conflict of interest and Acknowledgments) and no more than 3 display items. If necessary, additional information may be provided as Supplementary Material.

Reviews present novel or unique overviews of recent or important developments in the field. Reviews must be insightful and must address the question(s) of interest using appropriate and fully presented evidence; exhaustive general summaries will not be published. Reviews are usually invited by Editorial Board members. Authors who would like to contribute Reviews should consult with a member of the Editorial Board in advance. Reviews include a Title page, Abstract, Text, Conflict of interest, Acknowledgments, References, Tables and Figures (including figure legends on the same page).

The text should be written with concise subheadings for easy reading. The abstract should be written in a single paragraph of no more than 250 words. Reviews should contain no more than 5000 words in the main text (Text, Conflict of interest and Acknowledgments) and no more than 6 display items.

Opinions and Hypotheses provide a forum for news, short-format reviews, comments on recently published papers, and unique hypotheses that should be of interest to readers of JRD. Opinions and Hypotheses articles are given the highest priority for rapid publication. Note that shortened Original Articles are not considered as Opinions and Hypotheses articles. Opinions and Hypotheses include a Title page, Abstract, Text, Conflict of interest, Acknowledgments, References, Tables and Figures (including figure legends on the same page).

The abstract should be written in a single paragraph of no more than 100 words. Opinions and Hypotheses should contain no more than 2500 words in the main text (Text, Conflict of interest and Acknowledgments) and no more than 3 display items.

All manuscripts must be submitted via the journal’s online submission system, ScholarOne: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jrd. The original or revised manuscript text may be uploaded as a PDF or Microsoft Word file, but a Word file is required for the final manuscript text. The total file size able to be uploaded is 10MB. Further, the allowable file formats are listed below:

If you encounter any problems with online submission, please contact the Editorial Office at the details provided in the Contact section. Please include the manuscript ID number with your inquiry.

The manuscripts must be typed on A4 (210 × 297 mm) or Letter (216 × 279 mm) paper with 25 mm margins using 11-point type in Times New Roman font, with 24–26 lines per page. All lines of the text should be numbered serially in the left margin, and the entire manuscript should be paginated.

Manuscripts should be written in clear, grammatically correct US English. Authors whose native language is not English are strongly encouraged to have their manuscript checked by a native English speaker or by an editing service prior to submission. If a manuscript is not clear due to poor English, it may be rejected without undergoing peer review.

The first page of each manuscript should contain: Title, Authors’ full names, Affiliations, Key words, Running Head, Creative Commons license (see the ‘Copyright and licensing’ section) and the name and full address (including telephone number, facsimile number, and e-mail address) of the corresponding author.

Titles should be concise, specific, informative and clear and should emphasize the main point of the article. Avoid abbreviations or symbols that are not easily understood by general scientific readers. Titles should include key words or phrases that are useful for indexing. Subtitles may be used to amplify the title; however, they should be able to stand alone.

The authors should be listed immediately below the title or subtitle. Include each author’s full name and address with postal code of the institution where the study was performed.
An e-mail address with the name of an author to whom all correspondence regarding the manuscript is to be directed must be provided at the bottom of the title page. The e-mail address will appear on the first page of the published article for readers who may want to request additional information.

Three to five key words that represent key concepts of the paper should be provided at the end of the Abstract in alphabetical order.

The running head should not exceed 40 characters, including spaces.

The Abstract summarizes the main points of an article: (1) the purpose of the study, (2) basic procedures, (3) main findings and (4) principal conclusions. The abstract should be clearly understandable in isolation. Avoid abbreviations or symbols that are not easily understood by general scientific readers. References should not be cited in the abstract.

The Introduction should provide sufficient background information to allow the reader to understand the purpose of the investigation and its relationship with other research in related fields. It should not include an extensive review of the literature.

This section should provide readers with sufficient information to replicate the work. Although it is not necessary to give details of published methodology if appropriately cited, any modifications must be described. Information regarding statistical analysis of the data should be included.

The Results section should briefly present the experimental data in text, tables or figures. Details about the preparation of tables and figures are provided below.

The Discussion should focus on the interpretation and significance of the findings with concise objective comments that describe their relation to other work in that area. The Discussion should not reiterate the Results.

All authors should declare any competing or conflicts of interest in relation to their submitted manuscript. A conflict of interest exists when there are actual, perceived or potential circumstances that could influence an author’s ability to conduct or report research impartially. Potential conflicts include (but are not limited to) competing commercial or financial interests, commercial affiliations, consulting roles, or ownership of stock or equity.

This section should be brief and note any financial support, gifts of materials, technical help, editorial assistance, and so forth. Authors should list all funding sources for their work in the Acknowledgements section.

References should be cited in the text by Arabic numeral in square brackets, e.g. [1, 2–5, 7]. They should be listed in the order of appearance in the text. Articles included in the reference list must appear in publications that are accessible to most scientists. Reference material that has been accepted for publication must be listed as “in press”; the listing must include journal title and anticipated year of publication, or, for books, the publisher and year of publication.
Journal names should be abbreviated according to Serial Sources for the BIOSIS Database or Index Medicus. Sources of reference that are “in preparation,” “submitted for publication,” “personal communication” or “unpublished data” should not be included in the reference list; they should appear in the text parenthetically immediately following the names of the authors or the source of information.

1. Lee VH, Fields PA. Rabbit relaxin: The influence of pregnancy and ovariectomy during pregnancy on the plasma profile. Biol Reprod 1991; 45: 209-214.

2. Desjardins C, Lopez MJ. Sensory and nonsensory modulations of testis function. In: Steinberger A, Steinberger E (eds.), Testicular Development, Structure and Function. New York: Raven Press; 1980: 381-388.

3. Yanagawa T, Shirasu K, Uemura T, Minaguchi H. Effects of chronic administration of GnRH analog to the pituitary and the ovary. In: Program of the 8th International Congress of Endocrinology; 1988; Kyoto, Japan. Abstract 189.

4. Bravo PW, Stabenfeldt GH, Fowler ME. Ovarian follicular activity in llamas. Biol Reprod 1989; 40 (Suppl 1): 51 (abstract 11).4. Bravo PW, Stabenfeldt GH, Fowler ME. Ovarian follicular activity in llamas. Biol Reprod 1989; 40 (Suppl 1): 51 (abstract 11).

When citing an article published in a non-English language, use the English translation of the title, if available. If necessary, translate the title into English with the consent or confirmation of the article’s authors. In all cases, a description of the original language should be added in parentheses, e.g., (In Japanese), to the end of the reference.

5. Ushijima H, Tsunoda Y, Eto T, Imai H. In vitro development of bovine reconstituted eggs after fusion with a blastomere from 8-cell to blastocyst stage embryos. Jpn J Anim Reprod 1991; 37: 15–19 (In Japanese).

Screenshots of figures and tables are not accepted for submission. Figures and tables should be prepared in editable formats before PDF conversion.

Figures should be cited in the text in numerical order. Titles and legends of figures should be written below the respective figures.

For peer review purposes, figures should have sufficient resolution to be legible. For final production, figures should be supplied at a width of 8.4 cm (single column) or 17.5 cm (double column) and a height of less than 22 cm.

The font used for figures should be Arial or Helvetica. Numbers, letters and symbols should be no smaller than 6 points (2 mm) and no larger than 12 points (7 mm).

Different sections in each figure should be labeled by A, B, C, etc., and placed in the upper left corner.

Tables should be cited in the text in numerical order. Avoid using vertical separators within tables. Times New Roman must be used for all text in the Tables. Text, numbers, letters and symbols should be no smaller than 6 points (2 mm) and no larger than 12 points (7 mm). Any explanation essential to the understanding of the table should be given as a footnote designated by symbols in order, such as a), b), c). Note that Tables should be supplied at a width of 8.4 cm (single column) or 17.5 cm (double column) and a height less than 22 cm.

The format for color figures should be RGB. The minimum resolution for digital figure files for final published size are:

Line images/graphs:1200 dpi
Grayscale images:600 dpi
Color images:300 dpi

Abbreviations in the body of the paper should be used after having been explained on first use. Authors should use abbreviation in figures or tables if it appears a second time. Common recognizable abbreviations (such as M, mM, μM, °C, N, m, cm, mm, μm, nm, pm, cm2, l, ml, μl, kg, g, mg, μg, ng, pg, h, min, sec, msec, rpm, Hz, GBq, MBq, kBq, cpm, dpm, ppm, J, lx, etc.) can be used without definition.

Use the metric system of weights and measures and the 24-hour clock to express time (e.g. 0500 h or 1900 h).

Ensure that the nomenclature and/or abbreviations of genes or proteins are correct. For genes or DNA, use italicized letters (e.g., Sry, SRY or lacZ). For proteins, use Roman letters with at least the first letter capitalized (e.g., Hprt, HPRT, Gpi, GPI or Gal). Note that in names of restriction enzymes, only the first 3–4 letters are italicized (EcoRI, EcoR124/3, HindIII or StySBI). Use lower case k for ‘kilo’, such as in kDa or kb.

The nomenclature and abbreviations will be checked by the responsible Editor and peer reviewers.

SI or SI-derived units should be used. More information on SI units is available at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) website.

Supplementary Material adds, but is not essential, to a reader’s understanding of a manuscript. Authors are encouraged to submit supplementary material for publication. Supplementary Material may comprise data, text or video files, and is published online-only alongside the accepted manuscript. Supplementary Material should be less than 50 MB.

As Supplementary Material is peer-reviewed, authors must submit it in its final form as part of their manuscript submission. After a manuscript has been accepted for publication, authors may not make any changes to the Supplementary Material.

The following file formats may be used for Supplementary Material:
MS Word documents:.doc or .docx
MS Excel Spreadsheets:.xls or .xlsx
MS PowerPoint presentations:.ppt or .pptx
JPEG images:.jpg
Graphical images:.gif
Portable Document Format documents:.pdf
Video:.avi, .mov, .mp4 or .wmv
Plain ASCII files:.txt

JRD upholds the highest standards in scholarly publishing.

Before submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors must ensure that they have read and complied with the journal’s policies. The journal reserves the right to reject without review, or retract, any manuscript that the Editor believes may not comply with these policies.

The responsibilities of the journal’s authors, editors, reviewers and publisher regarding research and publication ethics are described in full below.

Submission to the journal implies that the manuscript has not been previously published (in part or in whole, in any language), is not in press, and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Authors must inform the editors if any related manuscripts are under consideration, in press or published elsewhere. Although the availability of a manuscript on a publicly accessible preprint server does not constitute prior publication (see ‘Preprints’), authors must inform the editors if a manuscript has been posted to a preprint server.

If authors choose to submit their manuscript elsewhere before a final decision has been made on its suitability for publication in the journal, they should first withdraw it from JRD and inform the Editorial Office before submitting to another journal.

JRD welcomes manuscript submissions from authors based anywhere in the world.

Submission of a manuscript to the journal implies that all authors: have approved it, warrant it is factual, have agreed to its submission, and have the right to publish it.

Submission to the journal implies that the manuscript is original work. The journal may use software to screen manuscripts for unoriginal content. By submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors agree to this screening. Any manuscript with an unacceptable level of unoriginal material may be rejected or retracted at the editors’ discretion.

To support the wide dissemination of research, the journal allows authors to post their research manuscripts on community-recognized preprint servers such as bioRxiv, either before or alongside submission to the journal. This policy applies only to the original version of a manuscript that describes primary research. Any version of a manuscript that has been revised in response to reviewers’ comments, accepted for publication or published in the journal should not be posted on a preprint server. Instead, forward links to the published manuscript may be posted on the preprint server.

Authors should retain copyright in their work when posting to a preprint server.

When assessing the novelty of a manuscript submitted to the journal, the editors will not be influenced by manuscripts published elsewhere after the date of submission to JRD.

Submission to the journal implies that all authors have seen and approved the author list. Changes to the author list after manuscript submission – such as the insertion or removal of author names, or a rearrangement of author order – must be approved by all authors and the editor.

Authors are encouraged to consider the Council of Science Editors (CSE) principles governing authorship. According to the CSE guidelines (and references therein), each author is expected have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data; or have drafted the work or substantively revised it. Authors have also agreed to be held accountable for their own contributions to the work; can identify which co-authors are responsible for other parts of the work; have confidence in the integrity of the work; and have reviewed and approved the final manuscript and any resubmissions. Contributors who do not qualify for authorship may be included in the Acknowledgements section instead.

All images in a manuscript must accurately reflect the original data on which they are based. Authors must not move, remove, add or enhance individual parts of an image. The editors reserve the right to request original, unprocessed images from the authors. Failure to provide requested images may result in a manuscript being rejected or retracted.

If a manuscript includes material that is not under the authors’ own copyright, the authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder(s) to reproduce it.

If a manuscript includes previously published material, the authors must obtain permission from the copyright owners and the publisher of the original work to reproduce it. The authors must cite the original work in their manuscript.

Copies of all reproduction permissions must be included with the manuscript when it is first submitted.

Authors must disclose the source of publicly available data and materials, such as public repositories or commercial manufacturers, by including accession numbers or company details in their manuscript, as appropriate.

Authors may make their own data and materials available in Supplementary Material, or by linking from their manuscript to relevant community-recognized public databases or digital repositories. All data sets must be made available in full to the editors and reviewers during the peer review process, and must be made publicly available by the date of publication.

Investigators should follow the highest standards for the humane care and use of animals in research. This includes, but is not limited to:

All experiments involving animals should be carried out under the approval of an institutional animal experiment ethics committee, and this approval must be stated and documented in the manuscript.

Authors of manuscripts describing experiments involving humans or materials derived from humans must demonstrate that the work was carried out in accordance with the principles embodied in the Declaration of Helsinki, its revisions, and any guidelines approved by the authors’ institutions. Where relevant, the authors must include a statement in their manuscript that describes the procedures for obtaining informed consent from participants regarding participation in the research and publication of the research. Experiments must be approved by an institutional human research committee, and this approval must be stated and documented in the manuscript.

Manuscripts describing the collection of archaeological, geological, paleontological or wildlife specimens or samples should include detailed information on their provenance and collection methods. Authors must include a statement in their manuscript describing the relevant ethics guidelines, local laws and collection permits under which the research was conducted.

The journal maintains the confidentiality of all unpublished manuscripts. By submitting their manuscript to the journal, the authors warrant that they will keep all correspondence about their manuscript (from the Editorial Office, editors and reviewers) strictly confidential.

Self-archiving, also known as Green Open Access, enables authors to deposit a copy of their manuscript in an online repository. JRD allows authors of original research manuscripts to upload their article to an institutional or public repository immediately after publication in the journal.

J-STAGE preserves its full digital library, including JRD, with Portico in a dark archive (see https://www.portico.org/publishers/jstage/). In the event that the material becomes unavailable at J-STAGE, it will be released and made available by Portico.

The journal uses single-blind peer review. When a manuscript is submitted to the journal, it is assigned to the Editor-in-Chief or a co-Editor-in-Chief, who perform the initial screening. Manuscripts that do not fit the journal’s scope or are not deemed suitable for publication are rejected without review. The remaining manuscripts are assigned to an Editor who assigns two or more reviewers to assess each manuscript. Reviewers are selected based on their expertise, reputation and previous experience as peer reviewers.

Upon receipt of the two or more reviewers’ reports, the Editor makes a recommendation on the manuscript to the Editor-in-Chief or the responsible co-Editor-in-Chief. If the decision is to request revision of the manuscript, authors have 3 months to resubmit their revised manuscript. Revised manuscripts submitted after this deadline may be treated as new submissions. The Editor may send revised manuscripts to peer reviewers for their feedback or may use his or her own judgement to assess how closely the authors have followed the Editor’s and the reviewers’ comments on the original manuscript.

The Editor then makes a recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief or the responsible co-Editor-in-Chief on the manuscript’s suitability for publication. The Editor-in-Chief or the responsible co-Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision on each manuscript.

The members of the Editorial Board act in advisory roles, providing feedback as reviewers and making suggestions to improve the journal. The Editor-in-Chief acts as an arbitrator when necessary.

Reviewers are selected without regard to geography and need not belong to the journal’s Editorial Board. Reviewers are selected based on their expertise in the field, reputation, recommendation by others, and/or previous experience as peer reviewers for the journal.

Reviewers are invited within 7 days of an article being assigned to the Editor. Reviewers are requested to return their reports within 2 weeks. Reviewers who anticipate any delays are asked to inform the Editorial Office as soon as possible.

When submitting a manuscript to the journal, authors may suggest reviewers that they would like included in or excluded from the peer review process. The Editor may consider these suggestions but is under no obligation to follow them. The selection, invitation and assignment of peer reviewers is at the Editor’s sole discretion.

It is the journal’s policy to transmit reviewers’ comments to the authors in their original form. However, the journal reserves the right to edit reviewers’ comments, without consulting the reviewers, if they contain offensive language, confidential information or recommendations for publication.

If a manuscript satisfies the journal’s requirements and represents a significant contribution to the published literature, the Editor may recommend acceptance for publication in the journal.

Articles, and the work described in JRD articles, must be:

Authors who believe that an editorial decision has been made in error may lodge an appeal with the Editorial Office. Appeals are only considered if the authors provide detailed evidence of a misunderstanding or mistake by a reviewer or editor. Appeals are considered carefully by the handling Co-Editor-in-Chief, whose decision is final.

The journal maintains the confidentiality of all unpublished manuscripts. Editors will not:

A conflict of interest exists when there are actual, perceived or potential circumstances that could influence an editor’s ability to act impartially when assessing a manuscript. Such circumstances might include having a personal or professional relationship with an author, working on the same topic or in direct competition with an author, or having a financial stake in the work or its publication.

Members of the journal’s Editorial Board undertake to declare any conflicts of interest when handling manuscripts. An editor who declares a conflict of interest is unassigned from the manuscript in question and is replaced by a new editor.

The journal recognizes the importance of maintaining the integrity of published literature.

A published article that contains an error may be corrected through the publication of an Erratum. Errata describe errors that significantly affect the scientific integrity of a publication, the reputation of the authors, or the journal itself. Authors who wish to correct a published article should contact the Editorial Office with full details of the error(s) and their requested changes.

A published article that contains invalid or unreliable results or conclusions, has been published elsewhere, or has infringed codes of conduct (covering research or publication ethics) may be retracted after investigation.

The decision to publish Errata or Retractions is made at the sole discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

Any member of the journal’s Editorial Board, including the Editor-in-Chief who is an author on a submitted manuscript is excluded from the peer review process; an independent member of the Editorial Board is responsible for making the final decision on the manuscript’s suitability for publication in the journal. Within the journal’s online manuscript submission and tracking system, they will be able to see their manuscript as an author but not as an editor, thereby maintaining the confidentiality of peer review.

The journal will respond to allegations of ethical breaches by following its own policies and, where possible, the guidelines of COPE.

As part of their responsibilities, reviewers agree to maintain the confidentiality of unpublished manuscripts at all times. By accepting the invitation to review a manuscript, reviewers agree not to:

A conflict of interest exists when there are actual, perceived or potential circumstances that could influence a reviewer’s ability to assess a manuscript impartially. Such circumstances might include having a personal or professional relationship with an author, working on the same topic or in direct competition with an author, having a financial stake in the work or its publication, or having seen previous versions of the manuscript.

Editors try to avoid conflicts of interest when inviting reviewers, but it is not always possible to identify potential bias. Reviewers are asked to declare any conflicts of interest to the Editor, who will determine the best course of action.

All communication regarding accepted manuscripts is with the corresponding author.

Upon acceptance, the Editorial Office will request the final text data (including tables) and original figures for publication.

Manuscripts that are accepted for publication are copyedited and typeset by the journal’s production team before publication. The journal is published 6 times per year, and each article is posted online when available as an Advance Online Publication.

Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author, who should check and return them within 10 days. Only essential corrections to typesetting errors or omissions are accepted; excessive changes are not permitted at the proofing stage.

JRD is fully Open Access and uses a Creative Commons (CC) license. Within the specified conditions, users are allowed to use and reuse the material published in the journal without charge or the need to ask prior permission from the SRD or authors.

Authors are required to assign all copyrights in the work to the Society, who then publish the work under the CC license.
(1) Authors need to submit a completed Affirmation of Originality and Assignment of Copyright Form (signed by all authors) for the accepted paper to the Editorial Office. The form can be downloaded here.
(2) Authors may choose one of three CC licenses:

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International) license. This license allows users to read and share unmodified articles, non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given.
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International) license.
This license allows users to read, share, and remix articles, non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and any derived creations are licensed under the identical terms.
CC BY 4.0 (Attribution 4.0 International) license.
This license allows users to read, share, and remix articles, as long as appropriate credit is given.

Some funding bodies require articles funded by them to be published under a specific CC license. Before submitting your work to the journal, check with the relevant funding bodies to ensure that you comply with any mandates.

There are many costs associated with publishing scholarly journals, such as article editing, article processing and online hosting. To cover these costs, authors (or their representatives) are asked to pay fees. JRD has no submission fee. The publication fees per article are as follows:

Original Articles: 110,000 JPY
Technology Reports: 63,000 JPY
Reviews: 110,000 JPY
Opinions and Hypotheses: 63,000 JPY
There are no charges for publication of color figures and Supplementary Material.

Authors of accepted manuscripts will be invoiced for all relevant charges before publication of their manuscript.

The publication fee for an accepted manuscript is automatically waived when the corresponding author is from a ‘Group A’ Research4Life country. In cases of demonstrated financial hardship, the journal will consider a pre-submission application for a waiver from any corresponding author to the Editorial Office (see Contact section for email address details). Applications for publication fee waivers cannot be made after the peer review process has begun.

The ability of an author to pay the publication fee does not influence editorial decisions. To avoid any possibility of undue influence, Editors involved with the decision-making process for articles are not involved in any deliberations on waivers.

To contact the Editorial Office or the Editor-in-Chief, please write to:

JRD Editorial Office
1-24-12 Sugamo
Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-0002
Japan

e-mail: jrd@ipec-pub.co.jp

Updated: April 13, 2022