Thyroid Science: An Online Journal Dedicated to Truth in Thyroid Science and Clinical Practice

Thyroid Science

A journal dedicated to truth in thyroid science and clinical practice

Authors' Guidelines

Below are general guidelines for a variety of types of submissions to Thyroid Science. We are committed to keeping the format and content of Thyroid Science typical of most scholarly journals. However, we do not want our guidelines to appear so rigorous and draconian that they drive away contributors. Authors who have previously published in journals will not have difficulty adapting their submissions to our guidelines. Those who have not previously published can adapt their manuscripts to our guidelines by reading the relevant guidelines and using as models letters or papers already published in Thyroid Science.

It is our policy to follow the exemplary example of the late Dr. David Horribin, Editor-in-Chief of Medical Hypotheses. His policy was to reject the ad hominem practice of most medical journals. That practice, which is irrational, involves valuing who submits a manuscript over the merit of the manuscript's content. This practice places fraternal loyalty (a euphemism for "good-ol'-boyism") over truth seeking. The practice is an obstacle to the advance of science, for as history has shown, great advances in particular scientific fields have often come from the fresh, parallactic views of individuals outside that field. Hence, we, like Dr. Horribin, could not care less what a contributor's credentials are, or whether in fact he or she has a formal credential. What is important in Thyroid Science is reason and the pursuit of truth in thyroid science and thyroid clinical practice.

Types of Manuscripts

Criticism Papers. In criticism papers, the author addresses an idea, opinion, belief, or hypothesis. For the purposes of criticism, all of these are called "propositions." A proposition is a statement that we can either affirm or deny, thereby characterizing it as either true or false. The process of criticism involves evaluating the full available evidence relevant to the proposition at issue. The intention should be to arrive at a conclusion that the evidence shows the proposition to be true or false.

Clinical Case Reports. Clinical case reports are for an author to report unusual findings, new treatments, or new uses of a treatment. These reports are intended to have heuristic value, serving to stimulate interest among patients, clinicians, or researchers. Such reports may lead other clinicians and/or researchers to confute or confirm the report. If confirmed, the author's initial report may turn out to be a major contribution to the field.

Clinical case reports seem especially important for sharing different treatment protocols for hypothyroid or thyroid hormone resistant patients. Today's conventional thyroid hormone therapy, T4-replacement, has been documented to be ineffective and harmful to many patients. Resistance to abandoning T4-replacement, or limiting its use to particular appropriate cases, is strong. The strength of the resistance derives mainly from financial incentives from corporations, particularly to the endocrinology specialty. However, physicians in many countries are experimenting with different treatment protocols in their clinical practices. Many of these physicians keep a low profile to avoid retaliation by endocrinologists who may file complaints against them to medical regulatory boards. Because of this disgraceful and deplorable state of affairs, if an author/physician requests it, Thyroid Science will publish his or her clinical case paper anonymously.

Debate. Of all the types of submissions, our requirements for debate submissions are the least rigorous. However, the submitted paper should conform to our standard format. In general, you should include the following five components in your letters or papers of debate: (1) a statement of the issue you are debating; (2) the place where the issue you are debating was published; (3) a brief statement of your position on the issue, that is, whether you agree or disagree; (4) the evidence for your position; and (5) a clearly stated conclusion. Below is an example, with numbers inserted to show the necessary components of debate:

(2) In his June 6, 2006 letter to Thyroid Science, (1) Dr. Mark Weed argued that the best measure of a patient's metabolic rate is his or her TSH level. (3) I am baffled by Dr. Weed's public expression of such as easily refutable notion. At most, we might consider the TSH level a measure of the metabolism of the thyrotroph cells of the anterior pituitary gland, but even that is a stretch of the imagination. (4) To suggest that the TSH is a reliable gauge of the metabolism of any other tissue is totally without experimental support. I challenge Dr. Weed to cite a single study showing that the TSH reliably correlates with legitimate measures of the metabolic rate, such as calorimetry. In fact, as the references I cite below demonstrate, studies have failed to show enough of a correlation between the TSH and the resting metabolic rate for the TSH to be of any clinical use in finding a thyroid hormone dosage that gives patients normal metabolic rates. (5) Therefore, not only is the TSH level not the best way to measure a patient's metabolic rate; it in fact doesn't measure it at all.

We must make a point emphatically about debating: As wicked a person as your opponent may in fact be, attacking him or her personally may constitute libel. Because of this, you must deal strictly with his or her beliefs, opinions, propositions, or hypotheses—not him or her personally.

Editorials. An editorial is simply the expression of someone's opinion. When one of our editors or review board members gives his or her opinion in Thyroid Science, we classify it as an "Editorial." We classify an editorial as a "Guest Editorial" when we requested that someone outside Thyroid Science write it for us, or when the someone else submitted the editorial without our solicitation.

An aim of Thyroid Science is reason and scholarship. In an editorial, however, the author may utter any nonsensical or scientifically-unsupported dogmatic belief he or she wishes—as long as he or she doesn't libelously attack another person, and as long as the nonsense or dogmatism is relevant to the science or clinical practice of thyroidology. Of course, we encourage anyone who writes an editorial for Thyroid Science to be reasonable in expressing his or her beliefs, appraisals, and judgments. By "reasonable," we mean that an author presents relevant evidence for his or her opinions. But alas, by definition, an editorial is the expression of an opinion! So if an author so wishes, he or she can, without a dab of evidence, simply say "Here is what I believe."

Hypothesis Papers. The standards for hypothesis papers are more flexible than for those for original studies and reviews. In hypothesis papers, you may be more flexible and original in your use of literary methods, techniques of presentation, or information, if you believe these enable you to better express your thesis. However, you must uphold a high standard of scholarship by basing your hypothesis on relevant evidence.

Reviews. Review papers are strictly evidence based. They must be referenced with citations from the area of research they address. In review papers, the author may evaluate the available evidence and describe the state of the area of research based on the evidence or the author's evaluation of that evidence. The author should include any tables or figures that support his or her conclusion(s). If the tables or figures have been published before, the author must secure written permission to reprint them and provide Thyroid Science with a copies.

Reports of Original Studies. Reports of original studies must contain the following sections:

Abstract. The Abstract should state with 250 words: (1) The problem that was studied. (2) The hypothesis tested. (4) Methods used. (5) Results of the study. (6) Conclusion(s) based on the results. (7) Ten or fewer key words (these will be used by our website search engine and by abstract indexing services).

Introduction. The Introduction should include a relevant literature review, a description of the problem studied, and the hypothesis that was tested.

Materials and Methods. In this section, the author(s) should describe study subjects, inclusion and exclusion criteria for subjects, and the protocol for processing subjects during the study. The protocol should be described clearly enough so that other researchers can use the description to replicate the study. The author(s) should describe any equipment used, including brand names, the marketing companies, and the cities, states, and countries in which the companies operate. The statistical tests used should be listed in a separate subsection of this section titled "Statistical Analysis."

Results. In this section, authors should describe the results of the tests conducted in the study. The results should be stated in terms of the outcome of statistical analyses. Conclusions should not be included in this section.

Discussion. Authors should describe the relevance of your study findings in terms of the specific hypothesis they tested. The discussion should also related the findings to any area of the field of thyroidology that is relevant. When the authors state opinions, they should concede this. Other types of statements should be justified based on previous studies or published evidence. The discussion should end with any limitations to the study that the authors are aware of.

Acknowledgments. Any person, group, or organization that contributed to the study but does not warrant authorship can be cited in this section.

References. Each reference referred to in the text of the paper should be give a number in brackets. The reference should be listed in the References section by that number. In the text of the paper, reference numbers do not have to appear in sequence. References do not have to be listed in the References section in alphabetical order. We strongly encourage authors to refer to and use the format of previous papers published in Thyroid Science and adapt their papers to that format. Journal and book titles should be in italics. The paragraph below shows how references should be place within the text of the paper:

"Although clinicians commonly state that transthyretin transports only T4 across the blood brain barrier,[1,2][6,p.39] the protein also transports T3[3,4] and other molecules, such as dioxins and PCBs.[7-9]" As Mason stated in his textbook Thyroid Transport Proteins, "Transthyretin is far from the an exclusive T4 transporter."[20,p.657-8]

Notice that brackets can appear within a sentence immediately following the statement they document. When brackets appear at the end of a sentence, the should follow the period. Authors can include two or more reference numbers separated by comma within brackets, but when a page number is give for a reference number, the reference and page numbers should be set off within brackets from other bracketed reference numbers.

Giving page numbers is not absolutely necessary, but we strongly prefer that authors include them whenever possible. The preference is in the vein of good scholarship. Their presence of page numbers will make it easier for readers to find the exact page in a journal or book where a statement is made or where a point is documented.

Authors should use the following format for listed papers and books.

Journal papers:

[One author] 1. Silva JE. Thyroid hormone control of thermogenesis and energy balance. Thyroid, 5:481-492, 1995.

[Two authors] 1. Kunos, G. and Ishac, E.J.N.: Mechanism of inverse regulation of α₁- and β-adrenergic receptors. Biochem. Pharmacol., 36: 1185-1191, 1987.

[Three authors] 1. Geenen, R., Jacobs, J.W., and Bijlsma, J.W.: Evaluation and management of endocrine dysfunction in fibromyalgia. Rheum. Dis. Clin. North Am., 28(2):389-404, 2002.

[More than three authors] 1. Starlanyl, D.J., Jeffrey, J.L., Roentsch, G., et al.: The effect of transdermal T3 (triiodothyronine) on geloid masses found in patients with both fibromyalgia and myofascial pain: double-blinded, crossover N of 1 clinical study. Myalgies Internat., 2-2: 8-18, 2001.

Books: DeGroot, L.J., Larsen, P.R., Refetoff, S., and Stanbury, J.B.: The Thyroid and Its Diseases, 5th edition. New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1984.

Book chapters: Sonkin, L.S.: Endocrine disorders and muscle dysfunction. In Clinical Management of Head, Neck, and TMJ Pain and Dysfunction. Edited by B Gelb. Philadelphia: WB Saunders Co. 1985: p.137-170.

Electronic (Internet) journals: Machu, T.K.: Alcohols and the anesthetic, halothane, enhance glycine receptor function. Neuroscience-Net, July 15, 1996. http://www.neuroscience.com/manuscripts-1996/1996-004-machu/1996-004-machu.html.

Proceedings: Lawton, K.J. An analysis of two methods of indirect calorimetry for measuring the basal metabolic rate. In 2001 Conference of the Euroamerican Endocrinology Society, edited by J.P. Howser. Philadelphia, Williams and Wilkins, 2002, pp.234-250.

Tables and Figures. Authors must designate tables and figures. For example, the first table should be designated "Table 1," and the first figure should be "Figure 1." Immediately after the designation, the authors should provide an appropriate legend, such as "Table 1. Sex, age, height, and weight of control subjects." If a table or figure previously has been published elsewhere, the authors must secure written permission to reproduce them and provide Thyroid Science with a copy.

Letters. In letters to Thyroid Science, authors can address any topic that is likely to be of interest to the journal's readers. The letters section is appropriate for (1) responses to papers published in the journal, and (2) criticisms and points of debate too short for us to publish as a formal criticism or debate paper. If your letter is a response to a publication in Thyroid Science, we will submit your letter to the author(s) for a possible reply. We publish letter in our letters section. Please send your letters to Editor@ThyroidScience.com.