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Instructions for Authors

Template

Title page (Word) Manuscript (Word) Copyright Transfer Agreement (PDF) Endnote Style (ens)

Enacted March 15, 2016
Recently revised (7th) September 14, 2026

I. AIMS, SCOPE, AND ARTICLE TYPES

1. Aims and Scope

Clinical Lymphology and Lymphedema (CLL) is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to advancing scientific and clinical knowledge of the lymphatic system, lymphatic disorders, and lymphedema. As the official journal of the Korean Society of Lymphology and Lymphedema (KSLL), CLL publishes high-quality scholarly articles covering all aspects of lymphatic science and clinical lymphology, including basic, translational, clinical, and applied research.

The journal aims to provide an international platform for clinicians, researchers, therapists, nurses, educators, and other professionals engaged in the study and management of lymphatic disorders and lymphedema. CLL welcomes research spanning the full spectrum of lymphatic science and clinical lymphology, from studies of lymphatic anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology to clinical research on diagnosis, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, outcomes, long-term management, education, and healthcare delivery.

CLL publishes original articles, review articles, brief reports, case reports, clinical practice reports, clinical practice guidelines, consensus statements, letters to the editor, editorials, commentaries, and opinion articles addressing important topics in lymphology and lymphedema.

The journal is published biannually, with issues released at the end of May and November.

2. Article Types

CLL considers the following article types: Original Articles, Review Articles, Brief Reports, Case Reports, Clinical Practice Reports, Clinical Practice Guidelines, Consensus Statements, Letters to the Editor, Editorials, Commentaries, and Opinion Articles.

Original Article. Reports original basic, translational, clinical, epidemiologic, or applied research that is sufficiently well documented to permit critical evaluation.

Review Article. Provides a focused or comprehensive review of a topic of importance to readers of CLL. Review articles may be invited or considered at the discretion of the Editorial Board.

Brief Report. Presents concise original findings, preliminary observations, new methods, or clinically relevant techniques that can be communicated in a shorter format.

Case Report. Describes a clinically meaningful case or case series with educational value, unusual presentation, diagnostic or therapeutic relevance, or a lesson relevant to lymphology or lymphedema practice.

Clinical Practice Report. Describes practical approaches, service models, rehabilitation or therapeutic programs, implementation experiences, quality-improvement activities, or other clinically relevant practice-based work.

Clinical Practice Guideline. Provides systematically developed recommendations intended to assist clinical decision-making or professional practice.

Consensus Statement. Presents recommendations or positions developed through a defined consensus process by a group of experts or a professional organization.

Letter to the Editor. Provides comments, alternative interpretations, or discussion related to articles published in CLL or other matters relevant to the journal.

Editorial. Provides an authoritative perspective on a topic of current interest, a journal issue, or an important development in lymphology and lymphedema.

Commentary. Offers focused discussion or interpretation of a published article, emerging issue, policy, or clinical topic.

Opinion Article. Presents a reasoned perspective on an issue relevant to lymphology, lymphedema, clinical practice, education, or health policy.

3. Language of Manuscripts

Manuscripts may be written in English or Korean. Korean medical terminology should follow the most recent terminology recommended by the Korean Medical Association. Tables, table titles, figure legends, and text included in figures should be written in English. Authors are responsible for ensuring that the language is clear and understandable.

Abbreviations should be used sparingly and defined at first mention. Numbers should generally be written as Arabic numerals, except when a number begins a sentence. Measurements should be reported using the metric system, and hematologic and biochemical values should be reported using appropriate units, preferably International System (SI) units.

II. EDITORIAL AND PEER REVIEW POLICY

1. Initial Editorial Assessment

All submitted manuscripts are initially assessed by the Editorial Office and editors for completeness, compliance with the journal's scope and basic submission requirements, and overall suitability for peer review. Manuscripts that are clearly outside the scope of the journal, substantially incomplete, or unsuitable for publication may be returned to the authors or rejected without external review.

2. Double-Blind Peer Review

CLL uses a double-blind peer review process. Authors and reviewers are not informed of each other's identities during peer review. Manuscripts selected for external review are generally evaluated by two or more reviewers with relevant expertise. Additional review, including statistical review, may be requested when considered necessary by the editors.

3. Editorial Decisions and Revision

Based on the reviewers' comments and editorial assessment, the decision may be accept, minor revision, major revision, or reject. The Editorial Board may also request additional review when reviewers' opinions differ substantially or when further expertise is needed.

When revision is requested, the corresponding author should submit the revised manuscript through the online submission system together with a point-by-point response to the reviewers' comments. Authors should clearly describe the changes made and provide a reasonable explanation when a reviewer recommendation is not followed.

Unless an extension has been approved, a manuscript not resubmitted within 2 months after a revision request may be considered withdrawn or administratively closed. The Editor-in-Chief has final responsibility for decisions regarding publication.

4. Editorial Independence and Conflicts of Interest

Editors and reviewers should avoid handling manuscripts for which they have a conflict of interest that could reasonably be perceived to affect their judgment. When a manuscript is submitted by an editor, Editorial Board member, or other person with a potential editorial conflict, the manuscript should be handled by an independent editor and reviewed using the same standards applied to other submissions.

III. RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION ETHICS

1. General Principles

CLL follows the principles of research and publication ethics recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and the Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors (KAMJE). Questions not specifically addressed in these Instructions for Authors may be handled in accordance with these internationally accepted standards.

2. Originality and Duplicate Publication

Submitted manuscripts should be original and should not be under consideration by another journal at the same time. Previously published work, including material that substantially overlaps with the submitted manuscript, should be disclosed to the editor. Secondary publication may be considered when it is consistent with accepted publication ethics and has been approved by the editors of the journals involved.

Plagiarism, redundant publication, fabrication, falsification, inappropriate image manipulation, and other forms of research or publication misconduct may result in rejection, correction, retraction, or other action as appropriate.

3. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be based on the four criteria recommended by the ICMJE: (1) substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; (2) drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (3) final approval of the version to be published; and (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. All authors should meet all four criteria.

Persons who contributed to the work but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged, with their permission. Funding acquisition, data collection, technical assistance, or general supervision alone does not constitute authorship.

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal and for ensuring that all authors have reviewed and approved the submitted and revised versions of the manuscript. Changes in authorship after submission should be agreed upon by all affected authors and are subject to editorial approval.

Authors may provide a contributorship statement describing the specific contributions of each author. Use of the CRediT taxonomy is encouraged but not required.

4. Conflicts of Interest and Funding

Authors should disclose financial and non-financial relationships or activities that could reasonably be perceived to influence the submitted work. If there are no relevant conflicts of interest, this should be stated. All sources of financial support for the study should also be disclosed.

5. Human Research

Research involving human participants, human data, or human materials should be conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and should be reviewed by an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) or ethics committee when required. The name of the reviewing body and the approval number should be stated in the Methods section when applicable.

Written informed consent should be obtained when required. If informed consent was waived by an IRB or ethics committee, the waiver should be stated in the manuscript. The editor may request documentation of ethics approval or informed consent when necessary.

6. Consent for Publication and Patient Privacy

For case reports, clinical photographs, or other material that may permit identification of an individual, written consent for publication should be obtained from the patient or the patient's legally authorized representative when required. Authors should remove unnecessary identifying information. Masking the eyes alone may not be sufficient to protect patient identity.

7. Animal Research

Studies involving animals should comply with accepted standards for the care and use of laboratory animals and should be reviewed by an appropriate Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) or equivalent body when required. The approval information should be reported in the Methods section.

8. Clinical Trial Registration

Clinical trials should be registered prospectively in a publicly accessible primary clinical trial registry, such as the Clinical Research Information Service (CRIS) or another registry recognized by the World Health Organization or ICMJE. The registry name and registration number should be included in the manuscript.

9. Corrections, Retractions, and Research Misconduct

Suspected research or publication misconduct will be handled in accordance with applicable ethical guidelines and due process. Appropriate post-publication action will be taken when necessary.

IV. USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-ASSISTED TECHNOLOGIES

1. AI Use by Authors

If artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies, including large language models, chatbots, or image-generation tools, materially contributed to the preparation of a manuscript, authors should disclose how the technology was used in the submitted work and, when appropriate, in the cover letter or submission system.

Routine spelling, grammar, or language-editing assistance that does not generate or materially alter scientific content does not require disclosure. When AI is used for data analysis, image generation, coding, or other substantive research-related purposes, the method of use should be described in sufficient detail to permit appropriate evaluation.

2. AI Authorship and Author Responsibility

AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors and should not be cited as authors. Human authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, integrity, originality, appropriate attribution, and scientific validity of all submitted content, including content generated or modified with AI assistance.

3. Confidentiality in Editorial and Peer Review

Editors and reviewers must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts. They should not upload unpublished manuscripts, figures, data, or substantive manuscript content to external AI systems when confidentiality and data protection cannot be assured.

V. MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

1. Online Submission

All manuscripts should be submitted electronically through the CLL online manuscript submission and peer-review system at https://submission.e-cll.org. Authors should follow the instructions provided in the online system. Revised manuscripts should be submitted through the same system using the assigned manuscript number.

2. Title Page

The title page should be uploaded separately from the blinded main manuscript and should include:

• Article title and a short running title;
• Full names of all authors and their academic degrees, as appropriate;
• Institutional affiliations of all authors;
• Name, postal address, e-mail address, and telephone number of the corresponding author;
• ORCID iDs, when available;
• Funding information;
• Conflict of interest statement;
• Acknowledgments, when applicable; and
• Any other author-identifying information required by the online submission system.

3. Blinded Main Manuscript

To maintain double-blind peer review, the main manuscript should not contain author names, affiliations, acknowledgments, or other information that directly identifies the authors or their institutions. When the institutional setting is scientifically important, authors should describe it in a manner that preserves blinding as far as reasonably possible.

4. Required Declarations and Forms

Authors should complete the declarations, checklists, and publication agreements required by CLL through the online submission system or in the format requested by the Editorial Office. If a signed Copyright Transfer and Author Consent Form is required, the submitting or corresponding author should complete it on behalf of all authors in accordance with the journal's procedures.

5. Publication Charges

CLL does not charge authors a publication fee for accepted manuscripts.

VI. GENERAL MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

1. File Format and General Formatting

Manuscripts should be prepared using Microsoft Word or another editable word-processing format accepted by the online submission system. Use a standard readable font, approximately 11- or 12-point size, with double spacing and margins of approximately 1 inch (2.5 cm). Pages should be numbered consecutively, and continuous line numbering is recommended for the blinded main manuscript.

2. Manuscript Order

Unless otherwise specified for a particular article type, the blinded main manuscript should be arranged in the following order: Abstract, Keywords, Main Text, References, Figure Legends, and Tables. Figures should be uploaded as separate files. Sections such as acknowledgments and funding may be provided on the title page or through the online submission system during initial submission and incorporated into the final manuscript after acceptance.

3. Title and Running Title

The title should be concise, informative, and generally no longer than 20 words. Sentence case is preferred. A short running title of approximately 10 words or fewer should be provided.

4. Abstract and Keywords

Original Articles should include a structured abstract with the headings Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusion, limited to 250 words. Other article types should use an unstructured abstract when required, as specified in Section VII.

Up to 5 keywords should be provided for most article types. Authors are encouraged to select terms from Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) when appropriate.

5. Main Text of Original Articles

Introduction

State the purpose of the study and provide sufficient background to explain its relevance. Avoid an extensive review of the literature.

Methods

Describe participants or materials, study design, procedures, inclusion and exclusion criteria, outcome measures, and statistical analyses in sufficient detail to permit evaluation and, when appropriate, replication. Ethics approval, informed consent, and clinical trial registration information should be reported in this section when applicable.

Generic names should be used for drugs whenever possible. When a proprietary product or device is relevant to reproducibility, the brand name and manufacturer should be provided at first mention.

Results

Present the findings in a logical sequence using text, tables, and figures. Avoid unnecessary duplication of information between the text, tables, and figures. Means and standard deviations may be expressed as mean ± SD and means and standard errors as mean ± SE. P values smaller than 0.001 should generally be reported as P < 0.001.

Discussion

Interpret the findings in relation to the study objectives and previous work. Emphasize clinically or scientifically important observations, avoid unnecessary repetition of the Results, and discuss relevant limitations.

6. Acknowledgments, Funding, and Conflicts of Interest

Contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship may be acknowledged with their permission. Funding should be reported separately from acknowledgments. A conflict of interest statement should be provided for all manuscripts and included in the final published manuscript.

7. References

References should be cited in the order in which they first appear in the text and identified with Arabic numerals in square brackets, for example [1], [2-4], and [5,7,9]. Only references cited in the text should be included in the reference list.

For Original Articles, the number of references should generally not exceed 30. Exceptions may be allowed when justified by the subject matter. All authors should be listed when there are 6 or fewer; when there are 7 or more, list the first 6 followed by 'et al.' Journal names should be abbreviated according to the style used by the National Library of Medicine (NLM).

Examples:

• Journal article: Dylke ES, Ward LC, Meerkin JD, Nery L, Kilbreath SL. Tissue composition changes and secondary lymphedema. Lymphat Res Biol 2013;11:211-218.
• Journal article with more than 6 authors: Tabibiazar R, Cheung L, Han J, Swanson J, Beilhack A, Dadras SS, et al. Inflammatory manifestations of experimental lymphatic insufficiency. PLoS Med 2006;3:e254.
• Book: Sussman C, Bates-Jensen B, editors. Wound Care: A Collaborative Practice Manual for Health Professionals. 3rd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2007.
• Web source: World Health Organization. Lymphatic filariasis. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lymphatic-filariasis. Accessed September 1, 2026.

8. Tables

Tables should be simple, self-explanatory, and not duplicate information presented in the text or figures. Tables should follow the figure legends, with each table presented on a separate page. Tables should be numbered consecutively in the order cited in the text (Table 1, Table 2, etc.).

Table titles should be concise phrases written in sentence case, with only the first word and proper nouns capitalized. Abbreviations and explanatory footnotes should be defined below the table. Footnotes may be indicated by superscript lowercase letters, while statistical significance may be indicated by asterisks when appropriate.

9. Figures and Figure Legends

Figures should be numbered consecutively in the order cited in the text (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.) and uploaded as separate files. A figure containing two or more panels should be assembled as a single figure, with panels labeled using capital letters (e.g., Fig. 1A and Fig. 1B).

For initial submission, figures should be of sufficient quality for peer review. High-resolution files may be requested after acceptance. A resolution of at least 300 dpi is generally recommended for photographs and color figures; higher resolution may be requested for line art or graphs.

Figure legends should be placed after the References and provided together in numerical order. Legends should explain symbols, abbreviations, stains, and magnification when relevant. For material that may identify a patient, appropriate consent for publication is required.

10. Supplementary Materials

Authors may submit supplementary materials when they provide useful information that is not essential to the main text but supports interpretation or reproducibility of the work. Supplementary material should be cited in the manuscript and submitted in a format suitable for online publication. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and presentation of supplementary material.

VII. ARTICLE-SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

The limits below are intended to keep submissions concise and consistent. The Editorial Board may allow reasonable exceptions when justified by the nature of the work.

1. Original Article

Original Articles should report original investigations and follow the general requirements in Section VI. The abstract should be structured as Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusion.

2. Review Article

Review Articles should provide a balanced and clinically or scientifically relevant synthesis of a defined topic. The abstract should be unstructured. Authors should use clear subheadings appropriate to the subject.

3. Brief Report

Brief Reports are intended for concise original observations, preliminary studies, new techniques, or focused findings that do not require a full-length Original Article.

4. Case Report

Case Reports should emphasize the educational or clinical significance of the case rather than rarity alone. The manuscript should include an unstructured abstract, Introduction, Case Report, and Discussion. Written consent for publication should be obtained when identifiable patient information or images are included.

5. Clinical Practice Report

Clinical Practice Reports should provide information that can improve or inform real-world practice in lymphology or lymphedema care. Reports may describe clinical programs, rehabilitation or therapeutic approaches, implementation experiences, care pathways, quality-improvement activities, or service delivery models. Authors should describe the setting, intervention or practice model, relevant outcomes or experience, and practical implications.

6. Clinical Practice Guideline

Clinical Practice Guidelines should clearly identify the target population, intended users, methods used to review evidence, and process for developing recommendations. The strength or basis of recommendations should be stated when applicable.

7. Consensus Statement

Consensus Statements should describe the participating group, the scope of the consensus, and the process used to reach agreement. Key statements or recommendations should be presented clearly.

8. Letters, Editorials, Commentaries, and Opinion Articles

These article types are generally concise and do not require an abstract. Editorials may be invited. Letters concerning a published CLL article should identify the article being discussed and should focus on substantive scientific or clinical issues. The editors may invite the original authors to respond.

VIII. REPORTING GUIDELINES

Authors should follow reporting guidelines appropriate to the study design when applicable. CLL encourages use of the EQUATOR Network and established reporting standards, including:

• CONSORT for randomized controlled trials;
• STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies;
• PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
• STROBE for observational studies;
• MOOSE for meta-analyses of observational studies;
• CARE for case reports; and
• Other relevant reporting guidelines for specialized study designs.

Completed reporting checklists may be requested by the editors when they are considered useful for review, but routine submission of every checklist is not required unless specified by the journal or online submission system.

IX. AFTER ACCEPTANCE

1. Final Files

After acceptance, authors should upload the final manuscript and any requested high-resolution figure files through the online submission system or by the method instructed by the Editorial Office. Author names, affiliations, acknowledgments, funding information, and other previously blinded information should be included in the final version.

2. Copyright and Creative Commons License

The Korean Society of Lymphology and Lymphedema owns the copyright to papers published in CLL. Articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Authors of accepted papers must complete the journal's Copyright Transfer and Author Consent Form or the corresponding electronic agreement.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce or adapt copyrighted material, including text, tables, figures, photographs, scales, or other materials for which permission is required.

3. Galley Proof

Galley proofs will be sent to the corresponding author for final review. Corrections should be limited to typographical errors, factual errors, and essential clarifications. Proofs should be returned within the period specified by the Editorial Office, generally within 2 working days, to avoid delay in publication.

4. Corrections after Publication

If an important error is identified after publication, the journal may publish a correction, corrigendum, erratum, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the nature and significance of the issue.

5. Final Editorial Authority

The Editorial Board may make editorial changes to improve clarity, consistency, and journal style without altering the scientific meaning of the work. Major changes affecting scientific content will be discussed with the authors. The final decision regarding publication rests with the Editor-in-Chief.