Author Guidelines

1. Article Types

Type	Limits
Original research	Up to 3,500 words (excluding abstract, references), 6 figures/tables, structured abstract ≤ 300 words.
Case series	Minimum 3 cases; up to 2,500 words, 4 figures/tables.
Systematic review / meta-analysis	Up to 4,500 words; PRISMA-compliant; registered protocol (e.g., PROSPERO) preferred.
Brief report	Up to 1,200 words, 2 figures/tables.
Image in ophthalmology	1–2 images, up to 300 words of accompanying text.
Letter to the editor	Up to 600 words, in response to an article published within the last 3 months.

All submissions must fall within the Journal's scope: diseases and surgery of the macula and posterior retina. Manuscripts outside this scope are returned without review.

2. Manuscript Preparation

• Structure: Title page (separate file) · Structured abstract · Introduction · Methods · Results · Discussion · Conclusion · References · Tables/Figures with captions.
• Title page: full title, all authors with affiliations and ORCID iDs, corresponding author's contact details, word count, and any prior presentation of the work (e.g., at a congress).
• Manuscript file: must be anonymized (no author names, affiliations, or identifying acknowledgments) to support masked review.
• Units and nomenclature: SI units; drug names in generic (non-proprietary) form at first mention; standard ophthalmic abbreviations only after first spelling out in full.
• References: Vancouver style, numbered in order of citation.
• Figures: minimum 300 dpi; OCT, angiography, and fundus images must include scale/legend and de-identified patient information.

3. Reporting Guidelines

Authors must follow the EQUATOR Network guideline appropriate to their study design and submit the completed checklist as a supplementary file:

Study design	Required guideline
Randomized trial	CONSORT
Observational study	STROBE
Case report / case series	CARE
Systematic review / meta-analysis	PRISMA
Diagnostic accuracy study	STARD
Prediction model	TRIPOD

4. Ethics and Registration

• Studies involving human participants require documented approval from an institutional review board or ethics committee, cited by name and approval number in the Methods section.
• Informed consent (or a documented waiver) is required and must be stated explicitly; identifiable patient images require signed patient consent for publication.
• Clinical trials must be registered in a WHO- or ICMJE-recognized registry before enrollment, with the registration number reported in the abstract.
• Animal studies must follow the ARRIVE guidelines and report the approving institutional animal care committee.

5. Authorship

Authorship follows the ICMJE criteria. Every listed author must have:

1. Made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, or acquisition/analysis/interpretation of the work;
2. Drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content;
3. Approved the final version to be published;
4. Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Contributors who do not meet all four criteria should be named in the Acknowledgments, with their contribution specified, rather than listed as authors. AI tools cannot be listed as an author (see Section 8).

6. Conflicts of Interest and Funding

All authors must disclose financial and non-financial relationships that could be perceived as influencing the work (consulting fees, equity, patents, honoraria, employment). Funding sources must be stated, including the funder's role, if any, in study design, data analysis, or the decision to publish. A completed ICMJE disclosure form is required for each author at submission.

7. Data Availability

A data availability statement is required for every submission, specifying where the underlying data can be accessed, under what conditions, and any restrictions (e.g., patient privacy, third-party data-use agreements). "Data available on request" must name who to contact.

8. Use of AI by Authors

Authors may use generative AI tools to assist with language editing, literature searching, or code drafting, but not to generate scientific content, data, images, or conclusions attributed to the authors as original work. Any use of AI in preparing the manuscript must be disclosed in the Methods or Acknowledgments section, naming the tool and describing how it was used. AI tools do not meet the authorship criteria in Section 5 and cannot be listed as an author or co-author.

This is separate from the Journal's own use of AI in the review process — see the AI-Assisted Peer Review Policy.

9. Submission Checklist

• Cover letter, addressed to the Editor-in-Chief, stating the manuscript is original and not under consideration elsewhere
• Title page (with author details) as a separate file
• Anonymized manuscript file
• Figures and tables, with legends
• Completed reporting-guideline checklist (Section 3)
• ICMJE conflict-of-interest disclosure forms, one per author
• Ethics approval / consent statement
• Data availability statement
• AI-use disclosure, if applicable (Section 8)

10. Review Timeline

Editorial screening is typically completed within 5 business days. Full peer review — combining independent human review with AI-assisted analysis, as described in the Journal's AI-Assisted Peer Review Policy — targets a first decision within 6 weeks of a manuscript entering review. There is no fee at any stage of submission or publication.

11. License and Copyright

Accepted articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY) license. Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal a license to publish; there is no embargo period and no article processing charge.

12. After Acceptance

Authors receive proofs for a final check of typesetting (not for new data or analysis) and are asked to return corrections within 3 business days. Published articles are assigned a DOI and are immediately and permanently open access.

Questions about manuscript preparation may be directed to the editorial office at maculajournal.editor@gmail.com.