What Is An Obl In Healthcare?

What Is An Obl In Healthcare
Jim Melton, DO Vascular Surgeon Cofounder Cardiovascular Health Clinic Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Disclosures: Paid consultant to Philips. Michael Ferguson VP of Sales, Procedural Solutions Philips Newnan, Georgia Disclosures: Employee of Philips. As more cardiovascular procedures are moved to an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) setting, we have seen the emergence of a “hybrid” business model, which combines an office-based lab (OBL) with an ASC.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) explains the difference between an OBL and an ASC in its Place of Service Code Set. An OBL is a location where the health professional routinely provides examinations, diagnosis, and treatment of illness or injury on an ambulatory basis, whereas an ASC is a freestanding facility, other than a physician’s office, where diagnostic and surgical services are provided on an ambulatory basis.1 In the hybrid model, an appropriately equipped facility typically operates as an OBL on certain days of the week and as an ASC on other days.

This model allows a broader range of cardiovascular services to be provided in the hybrid facility. Driven to reduce health care costs, insurers had started steering procedures to ASCs and OBLs instead of higher-cost hospitals before COVID-19. With infection concerns and a near halt in hospital-based elective procedures, the outpatient market has become an even more popular option for patients, and it is likely to remain so after the pandemic’s end.

An additional disruption in the hospital industry has been the implementation of CMS’s new price transparency regulation, which was effective January 1, 2021.
The United States Department of Health and Human Services now requires hospitals to publish 70 stipulated services and 230 others online or face a fine up to $300 per day.

This ruling does not yet apply to OBLs or ASCs, but it is best to be prepared. Ultimately, price transparency will benefit OBLs and ASCs in that it will enable patients to make more informed decisions regarding their care, highlighting the value proposition of high-quality care at lower costs in both sites of service.

What does OBL stand for in healthcare?

To an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) setting, we have seen the emergence of a ‘hybrid’ business model, which combines an office- based lab (OBL) with an ASC. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) explains the difference between an OBL and an ASC in its Place of Service Code Set.

What procedures can be done in an OBL?

What are the major procedures you perform in your hybrid OBL/ASC? – Dr. Cross: By far, the most prevalent procedures in the OBL part of our hybrid lab are diagnostic heart catheterizations and peripheral angiograms/ interventions. Something we’ve started to do more of is intervening through radial artery access.

Although not new to us, we decided to increase our use of this technique versus the femoral approach.
While it is technically challenging, we are more experienced now, and the benefits to our patient—including less discomfort, improved time to ambulation, reduced costs, and a reduction in potentially life-threatening complications—are too compelling to pass up.

It was purely a patient satisfaction decision. Our patient profile is pretty similar on both sides of our model, with the ASC enabling us to treat patients who require slightly more complex therapies than the OBL (but less complex than the hospital) and with general anesthesia when required.

On the ASC side of our hybrid lab, we primarily perform the device cases, such as pacemaker and defibrillator implantations.
In fact, patients oftentimes need a procedure in the OBL and subsequently need a device implantation in the ASC.
Additionally, there are times that we’ll perform peripheral procedures in the ASC because a patient’s insurance will authorize a peripheral procedure in the ASC but not in the OBL.

By in large, the ASC has really enabled us to capture a larger percentage of procedures outside of the hospital.

What does OBL mean in cardiology?

Office-Based Labs (OBL) – Office-based labs, also known as office interventional suites (OIS), treat certain diseases with the latest technology. Most procedures performed in these facilities are elective, non-emergent, and low-risk. Most endovascular procedures, including angiograms and peripheral interventions, fall under this classification.

How many office-based labs are there in the US?

It is estimated that nearly 700 office-based labs exist in the United States to date, and that number is growing rapidly.

What does OBL mean in logistics?

An original bill of lading (OBL) is a document that serves as proof of ownership of the importer’s goods. It’s typically issued by the origin forwarder on the origin manufacturer’s behalf.

What does stand by mean in medical terms?

Introduction – Medical standby is a branch of pre-hospital care medicine. As emergency physician we are expected to be an “emergency planner” for any mass gathering event ( 2 ). Medical standby is the provision of emergency medical care and first aid for participants and/or spectators in a pre-planned event ( 5 ).

By definition, a mass gathering event is a preplanned event, involved a gathering of many people (usually 1,000 or more) and confined to a single site ( 8 ).
Being a teaching hospital, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM) is seldom called to provide medical coverage to mass gathering event.
We were very lucky in August 2004 when the Department of Emergency Medicine Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia was invited by the Civil Servants Sports and Welfare Organisation or Majlis Kebajikan dan Sukan Anggota-anggota Kerajaan (MAKSAK) from the very beginning to provide medical coverage for the 4 th National Youth Camping and Motivation Program held in Taman Rehlah, Pantai Bisikan Bayu, Semarak, Pasir Puteh, Kelantan.

Although this event didn’t fulfill the criteria for a mass gathering event, it is still was a pre-planned event involving a large number of participants (165 participants and 52 teachers and trainers) and confined to a single site. This was a good opportunity for the emergency medicine residents to understand and practice the principals of medical standby.

The 4 th National Youth Camping and Motivation Program was held from 30 th July until the 3 rd August 2004 in Taman Rehlah, Pasir Puteh, Kelantan.
It was an annual event held by the Civil Servants Sports and Welfare Organisation or Majlis Kebajikan dan Sukan Anggota-anggota Kerajaan (MAKSAK).
It was a national event where by 165 students between the age of 15 to 16 year olds from all over Malaysia gatherered in Taman Rehlah, a training and recreational center at the shores of Tok Bali beach about 20 kilometers from the town of Pasir Puteh.

These students were all children of the members of the MAKSAK. It involved indoors and outdoor programs. Indoor programs were restricted in the classrooms and the outdoor programs involved orienteering, abseiling, flying fox and kayaking. Such programs promote unity and team spirit amongst the participants.

What is an OBL list?

Featured Topics – What is an original bill of lading (OBL)? An original bill of lading (OBL) is a shipping document or a contract of carriage which serves as the title of the cargo and a shipment receipt. This document confirms the carrier’s receipt of the cargo.

When an original bill of lading is issued, two other identical original bills of lading are printed and issued together as one single contract of carriage.
In order for the consignee or the receiver to gain the release of the shipment upon reaching the destination, at least one of the original bills must be signed by the importer or their agent.

This document must be surrendered to the carrier. As long as the shipper retains the original bills, they may receive payment prior to the release of the originals to the consignee or buyer. In these cases, most importers either prepay or fix credit terms with their suppliers, which allows them to enable shipments to be released on “express bills.” When your cargo is released, the original bills of lading must also be provided before the delivery of cargo to its final destination.

What is the difference between an office and an OBL?

Jim Melton, DO Vascular Surgeon Cofounder Cardiovascular Health Clinic Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Disclosures: Paid consultant to Philips. Michael Ferguson VP of Sales, Procedural Solutions Philips Newnan, Georgia Disclosures: Employee of Philips. As more cardiovascular procedures are moved to an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) setting, we have seen the emergence of a “hybrid” business model, which combines an office-based lab (OBL) with an ASC.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) explains the difference between an OBL and an ASC in its Place of Service Code Set. An OBL is a location where the health professional routinely provides examinations, diagnosis, and treatment of illness or injury on an ambulatory basis, whereas an ASC is a freestanding facility, other than a physician’s office, where diagnostic and surgical services are provided on an ambulatory basis.1 In the hybrid model, an appropriately equipped facility typically operates as an OBL on certain days of the week and as an ASC on other days.

An additional disruption in the hospital industry has been the implementation of CMS’s new price transparency regulation, which was effective January 1, 2021. The United States Department of Health and Human Services now requires hospitals to publish 70 stipulated services and 230 others online or face a fine up to $300 per day.

What is the meaning of cath lab?

A cath lab is where tests and procedures including ablation, angiogram, angioplasty and implantation of pacemakers / ICDs are carried out. Usually you’ll be awake for these procedures. A cath lab is staffed by a team of different specialists, usually led by a cardiologist.

What does OBL stand for in business?

What is an original bill of lading? – An original bill of lading (OBL) is a contract of carriage that serves as a title of the cargo and confirms the carrier’s receipt of the cargo. When an original bill of lading is issued, two other identical original bills of lading are also printed, and all three original bills of lading are issued together as one contract of carriage.

What does OOB stand for in medical terms cardiac?

OOB – out of bed. R/O – rule out. C – with. CPAP – continuous positive airway pressure.

What is the acronym for heart surgery?

Contents. A coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) is a surgical procedure used to treat coronary heart disease. It diverts blood around narrowed or clogged parts of the major arteries to improve blood flow and oxygen supply to the heart.

Who are the largest US reference labs?

Reference Labs-Fastest Growing Segment in Industry Any analysis of how independent reference laboratories became the fastest growing segment of the clinical testing industry is framed by three factors: consolidation, computerization, and coordination.

Reference labs now account for more than $11 billion of the estimated $35 billion clinical laboratory market and their share is growing.
In contrast to the 1990s, the year 2000, according to The Dark Report, proved relatively uneventful for reference labs.
The number of commercial laboratory/hospital joint ventures fell; lab compliance programs were credited with reducing the number of fraud and abuse investigations.

Fewer but bigger labs Consolidation flourished over the last decade. The more than 7,000 independent clinical laboratories in the United States in 1985 have shriveled to fewer than 4,500 today. In 1995, National Health and Roche Biomedical combined to form LabCorp, the country’s largest lab system.

Four years later, Quest edged out LabCorp for the No.1 spot when it acquired SmithKline Beecham Clinical Labs. Computerization continues to surge. A recent survey of public health labs by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicates reference labs are adding lab information systems (LIS) much faster than public health labs.

Lab representatives, medical schools and pathologists have been working on a universal coding system to encompass at least 98 percent of an average lab’s results. Also, labs are forming alliances with health insurers (LabCorp and Humana; Specialty Labs and VHA) to streamline the transmission of patient billing.

National Reference/Esoteric Laboratories

Rank	Laboratory	1999 Revenue*
1.	Quest Diagnostics, Teterboro, N.J.	$400
2.	Laboratory Corp of America, Burlington, N.C.	$175
3.	Specialty Laboratories, Santa Monica, Calif.	$148
4.	American Medical Laboratories, Chantilly, Va.	$129
5.	ARUP Laboratories, Salt Lake City	$116
6.	Mayo Medical Laboratories, Rochester, Minn.	$92
7.	Esoterix, Austin, Texas	$55
Total		$1,114
Source: 1999 Dark Report Reference Lab Rankings	*in millions

/td> NOTES : 1. Provided by Quest Diagnostics based on pro-forma testing revenue.2. LabCorp does not track hospital send-out testing as a separate category. It provided a number of $105.6 million for molecular testing and $156.6 million for esoteric testing which includes physician office referral and hospital send-out tests. TDR estimates $175 million originates from hospitals.3. Source is recent public filings.4. Source is American Medical Laboratories. This number is for hospital send-out testing only and does not include its revenues from physician offices.5. Source is ARUP Laboratories for fiscal year ending June 30, 1999.6. Mayo declined to provide numbers. Estimate is based on corporate investment rating services and other sources.7. Source is Esoterix. Numbers include direct physician testing services.

Quest Diagnostics With over $3 billion in annual revenues, Quest is the nation’s largest reference lab network. It continues to expand. Four months ago, it announced an equity investment in Structural Bioinformatics Inc., a technology company involved in the large scale generation and use of protein structure and protein structural information.

In January, Quest entered an agreement with HIV pharmacogenomics pioneer Virco to offer the VirtualPhenotype test for predicting resistance to antiviral drugs.
Gary Samuels, vice president of external communications at Quest, said his company is committed to getting closer to its customers.
The Quest Results-On-Line service provides confidential test results online.

The company also is joining with MedPlus to develop software that provides medical records electronically. The goal, Samuels said, is to give customers more options for gaining access to lab information. “The faster doctors get test results, the better they can care for and treat patients,” he said.

Gene-based testing, said Samuels, represents the greatest potential for growth.
Quest expects that segment to continue increasing by as much as 25 percent or more annually.
According to Samuels, Quest has been able to increase revenue per requisition by strong leadership on quality and pricing discipline.

“We have insisted that we be reimbursed appropriately for testing. In a number of cases, we have walked away from business that didn’t make economic sense for us,” Samuels said. An aging population, more consumer involvement in healthcare and new gene-based testing are all trends pointing to a promising future for reference labs, he said.

Laboratory Corporation of America LabCorp performs diagnostic procedures on specimens from more than 260,000 patients each day, from routine blood workups to advanced testing at the molecular level.Pam Sherry, vice president of investor relations, said LabCorp expects the Internet to play a growing role in its business into the 21st Century.”Certainly, this form of communication can be very efficient and cost effective as well as a good educational vehicle,” she said.

Demand for all testing, routine and esoteric, is likely to increase in the future. A key driver, according to Sherry, is the mapping of the human genome. “As research on the human genome progresses and disease-causing genes are identified, demand for high-value genomic tests (at the DNA/RNA level) is expected to increase,” she said.

LabCorp pioneered new testing technologies and was the first commercial laboratory to offer polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology.
In addition to PCR, testing for infectious disease (HIV and hepatitis C), genetic disorders, such as cystic fibrosis, and cancers such as colon and breast cancer are also increasing.

Last year, LabCorp acquired six laboratories including the National Genetics Institute (NGI) in Los Angeles. The NGI acquisition enhances LabCorp’s leadership in genomic testing, and its reputation in infectious disease should expand LabCorp’s opportunities to participate in clinical trials, Sherry said.

While the laboratory reimbursement picture has not been pretty in recent years, Sherry noted that a recent study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies offered some hope for the future. The study identified a need to reduce the complexities of the payment system and urged regular reviews and updates of fees.

“We view this report as a positive for the industry but recognize it will take time to cause favorable changes at HCFA (Health Care Finance Administration),” Sherry said. She said managed-care providers over the past 18 months have been shifting their approach to delivering healthcare by more frequently using diagnostic testing to improve outcomes and gain greater economic benefit.

“This recognition of the predictive value of early diagnostic testing should positively impact our volumes in both routine and esoteric testing,” Sherry predicted. Specialty Laboratories Specialty Laboratories serves more than 10,000 clients across the United States. The company concentrates on cutting-edge research and development of new assays with greater sensitivity, specificity, efficiency and clinical value.

What is an OBL? How does it compare to a hospital?

With more than 3,500 tests and panels, Specialty is the largest single source of specialized laboratory testing in the nation. Information technology has become a core initiative for the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company which partners with more than 2,000 hospitals, said Ron Blum, Ph.D, director of medical communications.

Specialty introduced its Web-based DataPassportMD program in 1998 and today the company has installed more than 1,400 systems.
Currently, more than 90 percent of orders are transmitted electronically,” Blum said.
While reimbursements and pricing concern all testing labs, Blum said, Specialty is focused on delivering the services doctors and hospitals need to provide the best care.

“Our focus is on science and service, specifically, conducting high-quality testing and getting the results to doctors quickly — especially when fast turnaround is a critical concern,” Blum said. Nicholas Borgert is a freelance writer based in Charlotte, N.C.

What is the biggest laboratory in the US?

Footnotes –

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What is an in office laboratory?

A physician office laboratory (POL) is a laboratory where only a small set of laboratory tests are offered. The tests usually pertain to the physician’s specialty or the types of patients the physician typically sees. POLs were not regulated prior to CLIA, which now regulates them to address the quality of work performed.

What is the difference between OBL and BL?

HBL (House Bill of Lading) VS OBL (Original Bill of Lading) If you are dealing in the Ocean Freight Forwarding Industry and confused about the Bill of lading then you have come to the right place to understand it. There is no denying the fact that BL is the most difficult and confusing document while dealing with the industry.

HBL	OBL
The document of HBL is prepared either by an Ocean Trade Intermediary OTI or a non-vessel operating company NVOCCfor their customers. The OTI can include a freight forwarder or a third-party logistics and a respective MBL will be issued by the Ocean Shipping Carrier to the OTI or NVOCC.	This document is also known as the Ocean or Carrier Bill of Lading prepared by the shipping line, shipping carrier to be handed over to the Shipper or Consignee or a Freight forwarder working on behalf of the respective party.
Usually will involve when the terms of the shipment are Exworks, FOB or DDU, where the consignee is dictating the terms of the shipment.	Usually will involve when the terms of the shipment as CIF, CFR, where the shipper is dictating the terms of the shipment.
Since the HBL is released by the consignee’s Freight Forwarder, so, it generally works between the original seller and the original buyer, it confirms that the seller has handed over the cargo to the consignee	While in the case of OBL, the document is released by the shipping line to the Shipper or Consignee.
In HBL the shipper is the actual exporter and the receiver is the actual customer.	The same things are listed in the Original Bill of Lading and HBL.
The document contains the following things – Billing of the goods to be shipped. – The name and address of the supplier (who delivers the shipment to the freight forwarder) – The name and address of the consignee (who the freight forwarder delivers the shipment to) – Value of the shipping contract. – Specification about the items to be shipped.	The Bank only accepts OBL
As soon as the cargo is received by the NVOCC after all the custom work is completed, the document is issued to the shipper.	It is issued by the shipping carrier to the NVOCC
In this document, the NVOCC, OTI, freight forwarder or any other 3PL is not listed	It is issued by the shipping carrier to the NVOCC
It is issued by NVOCC to customer	It is issued on the pre-printed form of the Bill of Lading by the shipping carrier.
The Bank usually does not accept HBL unless otherwise mentioned on their L/C It is issued on the pre-printed form of NVOCC’s Bill of Lading

Also Read: Now that we have talked about all the differences before we wrap it up let’s talk about some of their similarities too. The name and the assailing of the vessel are written on both of the bills of lading. The numbers and the seals of the containers are prominent.

Receipt It shows the purchase of goods and it tells that the mentioned cargo has been transferred into the vessel for departure. Contract of carriage It has the type of cargo, amount, the terms and conditions and destination point in black and white. Title of goods It contains the name, grade, and condition of the cargo.

: HBL (House Bill of Lading) VS OBL (Original Bill of Lading)

What is the difference between OBL and Express BL?

What is an express bill of lading? – An express bill of lading is a type of bill of lading (B/L) in which the carrier is obligated to deliver the goods to the named consignee and no original bills of lading (OBL) are issued at all. Express B/Ls are non-negotiable and not a document of title to the goods; transfer of title should be documented elsewhere in the sales contract.

What is the difference between OBL and telex?

An original Bill of Lading is a paper bill of lading issued to a customer whereas a Telex Release is an electronic release issued in return for the surrender of an original Bill of Lading.

What is UW in medical terms?

University of Wisconsin solution a normokalemic, intracellular colloid injected into vital organs during harvesting to preserve function before transplantation. Synonym(s): UW.

What is the medical abbreviation for lab?

Lab. laboratory (in health care, usually referring to clinical laboratory) LABA. long-acting beta agonist. LABBB.

What does UHN stand for in medical terms?

University Health Network >Patients & Families>Health Information>Medical Dictionary.

Is there an abbreviation for healthcare?

The ISO4 abbreviation of Healthcare is Healthc (Amst).

What does UHC stand for in medical terms?

Overview – Universal health coverage (UHC) means that all people have access to the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship. It covers the full continuum of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care across the life course.

The delivery of these services requires health and care workers with an optimal skills mix at all levels of the health system, who are equitably distributed, adequately supported with access to quality assured products, and enjoying decent work. Protecting people from the financial consequences of paying for health services out of their own pockets reduces the risk that people will be pushed into poverty because unexpected illness requires them to use up their life savings, sell assets, or borrow – destroying their futures and often those of their children.

Achieving UHC is one of the targets the nations of the world set when they adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. At the United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on UHC in 2019, countries reaffirmed that health is a precondition for and an outcome and indicator of the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work aims to have 1 billion more people benefit from UHC by 2025, while also contributing to the targets of 1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies and 1 billion more people enjoying better health and well-being. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was worldwide progress towards UHC.

The UHC service coverage index (SDG indicator 3.8.1) increased from 45 in 2000 to 67 in 2019, with the fastest gains in the WHO African Region. However, 2 billion people are facing catastrophic or impoverishing health spending (SDG indicator 3.8.2). Inequalities continue to be a fundamental challenge for UHC.

Even where there is national progress on health service coverage, the aggregate data mask within-country inequalities.
For example, coverage of reproductive, maternal, child and adolescent health services tends to be higher among those who are richer, more educated, and living in urban areas, especially in low-income countries.

On financial hardship, people living in poorer households and in households with older family members (those aged 60 and older) are more likely to face financial hardship and pay out of pocket for health care. Monitoring health inequalities is essential to identify and track disadvantaged populations in order to provide decision-makers with an evidence base to formulate more equity-oriented policies, programmes and practices towards the progressive realization of UHC.

Better data also are needed on gender inequalities, socioeconomic disadvantages, and specific issues faced by indigenous peoples and refugee and migrant populations displaced by conflict and economic and environmental crises.
During COVID-19, 92% of countries reported disruptions to essential services.

Some 25 million children under 5 years missed out on routine immunization. There were glaring disparities in access to COVID-19 vaccines, with an average of 24% of the population vaccinated in low-income countries compared to 72% in high-income countries.

Potentially life-saving emergency, critical and operative care interventions also showed increased service disruptions, likely resulting in significant near-term impact on health outcomes.
As a foundation for and way to move towards UHC, WHO recommends reorienting health systems to primary health care (PHC).

PHC enables universal, integrated access in everyday environments to the full range of quality services and products people need for health and well-being, thereby improving coverage and financial protection. Most (90%) essential UHC interventions can be delivered through PHC and there are significant cost efficiencies in using an integrative PHC approach.

What is the abbreviation for operations research for health care?

Guide for Authors Operations Research for Health Care (ORHC) focuses on the development and use of operations research and analytics in health and health care, The journal publishes high-quality operations research and/or analytics approaches to problems in health care from researchers and practitioners.

ORHC encourages contributions related to typical problem areas of health care such as: hospitals, practices, care (including home care and long-term care), emergency management systems, as well as blood and organ logistics or population health policy and economic analysis.
Typical OR/Analytics topics are therefore: forecasting, capacity planning, layout planning, transport and logistics, scheduling, and appointment planning among others – using methods such as: heuristics, machine learning, stochastic modelling, mathematical optimization, and simulation.
Case studies or numerical experiments should be based on real world data.
In addition to original research articles, ORHC publishes:

Review Papers: The content and presentation of this international journal is such as to provide maximum utility to researchers, teachers and practitioners who have an interest in operations research techniques for good health care delivery. Review papers will be presented from time to time, as deemed suitable.

Emphasis will be given to those areas in which significant advances are being made. Review Papers are by invitation only. Focused Issue Papers: ORHC also publishes focused issues on topics of interest related to its editorial mission. Such issues typically contain between six and twelve articles. They are put together under the responsibility of one or several guest editors.

However, the final decision on all papers will be made by the Editor-in-Chief. Prospective guest editors should provide a call for papers as well as an informative CV for each guest editor. Prospective review authors or guest editors of focused issues are encouraged to contact the Editor-in-Chief, Professor Stefan Nickel.

Ensure that the following items are present:
One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:• E-mail address
• Full postal address
All necessary files have been uploaded: Manuscript :• Include keywords• All figures (include relevant captions)• All tables (including titles, description, footnotes)• Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided• Indicate clearly if color should be used for any figures in print
Graphical Abstracts / Highlights files (where applicable)

Supplemental files (where applicable)

Further considerations• Manuscript has been ‘spell checked’ and ‘grammar checked’• All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)• A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare• Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed
• Referee suggestions and contact details provided, based on journal requirements
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Ethics in publishing
Please see our information on,
Declaration of interest

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding.

Authors must disclose any interests in two places: 1. A summary declaration of interest statement in the title page file (if double anonymized) or the manuscript file (if single anonymized). If there are no interests to declare then please state this: ‘Declarations of interest: none’.2. Detailed disclosures as part of a separate Declaration of Interest form, which forms part of the journal’s official records.

It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches.

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,
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 in order to,
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. Submission declaration and verification Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder.

To verify compliance, your article may be checked by and other originality or duplicate checking software. Preprints Please note that can be shared anywhere at any time, in line with Elsevier’s, Sharing your preprints e.g. on a preprint server will not count as prior publication (see ” for more information).

Preprint posting on SSRN In support of, this journal offers its authors a free preprint posting service. Preprints provide early registration and dissemination of your research, which facilitates early citations and collaboration. During submission to Editorial Manager, you can choose to release your manuscript publicly as a preprint on the preprint server once it enters peer-review with the journal.

Your choice will have no effect on the editorial process or outcome with the journal. Please note that the corresponding author is expected to seek approval from all co-authors before agreeing to release the manuscript publicly on SSRN. You will be notified via email when your preprint is posted online and a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is assigned.

Your preprint will remain globally available free to read whether the journal accepts or rejects your manuscript. For more information about posting to, please consult the and, Use of inclusive language Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities.

Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout.

Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise to seek gender neutrality by using plural nouns (“clinicians, patients/clients”) as default/wherever possible to avoid using “he, she,” or “he/she.” We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition unless they are relevant and valid.

Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses
Reporting guidance

For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article.

In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research’s generalizability.
Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below).

Authors can refer to the and the, These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation – however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Definitions Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth (“sex assigned at birth”), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn.

Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society.

Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary.

Moreover, the terms “sex” and “gender” can be ambiguous—thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

Author contributions For transparency, we encourage authors to submit an author statement file outlining their individual contributions to the paper using the relevant CRediT roles: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing – original draft; Writing – review & editing.

Authorship statements should be formatted with the names of authors first and CRediT role(s) following. Changes to authorship Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission.

Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author : (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement.

In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. 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 requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum. Article transfer service This journal uses the Elsevier Article Transfer Service to find the best home for your manuscript.

This means that if an editor feels your manuscript is more suitable for an alternative journal, you might be asked to consider transferring the manuscript to such a journal. The recommendation might be provided by a Journal Editor, a dedicated, a tool assisted recommendation, or a combination.

If you agree, your manuscript will be transferred, though you will have the opportunity to make changes to the manuscript before the submission is complete.
Please note that your manuscript will be independently reviewed by the new journal.
Copyright Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a ‘Journal Publishing Agreement’ (see on this).

An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a ‘Journal Publishing Agreement’ form or a link to the online version of this agreement. Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions.

Of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article.

Elsevier has for use by authors in these cases. For gold open access articles: Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a ‘License Agreement’ (). Permitted third party reuse of gold open access articles is determined by the author’s choice of,

Author rights As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work.
Elsevier supports responsible sharing Find out how you can published in Elsevier journals.
Role of the funding source You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, it is recommended to state this.

Open access
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Elsevier Researcher Academy is a free e-learning platform designed to support early and mid-career researchers throughout their research journey. The “Learn” environment at Researcher Academy offers several interactive modules, webinars, downloadable guides and resources to guide you through the process of writing for research and going through peer review.

Feel free to use these free resources to improve your submission and navigate the publication process with ease. Language (usage and editing services) Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the available from Elsevier’s Author Services.

Submission Our online submission system guides you stepwise 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. Editable files (e.g., Word, LaTeX) are required to typeset your article for final publication.

Submit your article Please submit your article via of the submission system
Suggesting reviewers Please submit the names and institutional e-mail addresses of several potential reviewers.

You should not suggest reviewers who are colleagues, or who have co-authored or collaborated with you during the last three years. Editors do not invite reviewers who have potential competing interests with the authors. Further, in order to provide a broad and balanced assessment of the work, and ensure scientific rigor, please suggest diverse candidate reviewers who are located in different countries/regions from the author group.

Queries
For questions about the editorial process (including the status of manuscripts under review) or for technical support on submissions, please visit our,
Peer review

This journal operates a single anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper.

The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor’s decision is final. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest.

Any such submission is subject to all of the journal’s usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups. Use of word processing software It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used.

The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor’s options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc.

When preparing tables, 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. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the ).

Note that 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.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the ‘spell-check’ and ‘grammar-check’ functions of your word processor.

Article structure Subdivision – numbered sections Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2,,), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to ‘the text’.

Any subsection may be given a brief heading.
Each heading should appear on its own separate line.
Introduction State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
Material and methods Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher.

Methods that are already published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.

Theory/calculation A Theory section should extend, not repeat, the background to the article already dealt with in the Introduction and lay the foundation for further work.
In contrast, a Calculation section represents a practical development from a theoretical basis.
Results Results should be clear and concise.

Discussion This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. 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.

Appendices If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig.A.1, etc. Essential title page information • Title.

Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible. • Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled.

You can add your name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration. Present the authors’ affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author’s name and in front of the appropriate address.

Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication.

This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials.
Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
Present/permanent address.
If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a ‘Present address’ (or ‘Permanent address’) may be indicated as a footnote to that author’s name.

The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes. Highlights Highlights are optional yet highly encouraged for this journal, as they increase the discoverability of your article via search engines.

They consist of a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any). Please have a look at the examples here:, Highlights should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use ‘Highlights’ in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).

Abstract A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone.

For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself. Graphical abstract Although a graphical abstract is optional, its use is encouraged as it draws more attention to the online article.

The graphical abstract should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels (h × w) or proportionally more.

The image should be readable at a size of 5 × 13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi.
Preferred file types: TIFF, EPS, PDF or MS Office files.
You can view on our information site.
Eywords Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, ‘and’, ‘of’).

Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes. Abbreviations Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article.

Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article. Acknowledgements Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise.

List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.). Formatting of funding sources List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder’s requirements: Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health ; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA ; and the United States Institutes of Peace,

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding. If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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 have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text). Footnotes Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors can build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used.

Otherwise, please indicate the position of footnotes in the text and list the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list. Artwork Electronic artwork General points • Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.

Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.
Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or use fonts that look similar.
Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.

• Provide captions to illustrations separately. • Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version. • Submit each illustration as a separate file. • Ensure that color images are accessible to all, including those with impaired color vision.

A detailed is available. You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here. Formats If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply ‘as is’ in the native document format. Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please ‘Save as’ or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below): EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.

TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi. TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi. TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.

Please do not:
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors; • Supply files that are too low in resolution; Color artwork Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF) or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution.

If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color online (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) in addition to color reproduction in print.
Figure captions Ensure that each illustration has a caption.

Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title ( not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Tables Please submit tables as editable text and not as images.
Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end.
Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body.
Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.

Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells. References Citation in text Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full.

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 to allow 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.

Please note that 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 highly encouraged. A DOI is guaranteed never to change, so you can use it as a permanent link to any electronic article.

An example of a citation using DOI for an article not yet in an issue is: VanDecar J.C., Russo R.M., James D.E., Ambeh W.B., Franke M. (2003). Aseismic continuation of the Lesser Antilles slab beneath northeastern Venezuela. Journal of Geophysical Research, 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, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed.
Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given.

Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list. Data references This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data 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 immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The identifier will not appear in your published article.

Preprint references Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced.

Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided. References in a special issue Please ensure that the words ‘this issue’ are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.

Reference management software Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support, such as, Using citation plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal’s style.

If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide.
If you use reference management software, please ensure that you remove all field codes before submitting the electronic manuscript.
Reference formatting There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission.

References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the article number or pagination must be present.

Use of DOI is highly encouraged. The reference style used by the journal will be applied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage. Note that missing data will be highlighted at proof stage for the author to correct. If you do wish to format the references yourself they should be arranged according to the following examples: Reference style Text: Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text.

The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given. Example: ‘. as demonstrated, Barnaby and Jones obtained a different result,’ List: Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.

Examples: Reference to a journal publication: J. van der Geer, J.A.J. Hanraads, R.A. Lupton, The art of writing a scientific article, J. Sci. Commun.163 (2010) 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.Sc.2010.00372.Reference to a journal publication with an article number: J. van der Geer, J.A.J. Hanraads, R.A. Lupton, 2018.

The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon.19, e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00205.Reference to a book: W. Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, fourth ed., Longman, New York, 2000. Reference to a chapter in an edited book: G.R.

Mettam, L.B.
Adams, How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: B.S.
Jones, R.Z.
Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc., New York, 2009, pp.281–304.Reference to a website: Cancer Research UK, Cancer statistics reports for the UK.
Http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/, 2003 (accessed 13 March 2003).Reference to a dataset: M.

Oguro, S. Imahiro, S. Saito, T. Nakashizuka, Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions, Mendeley Data, v1, 2015. https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.Reference to software: E. Coon, M. Berndt, A. Jan, D. Svyatsky, A. Atchley, E.

Journal abbreviations source Journal names should be abbreviated according to the,
Video

Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article.

This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file’s content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the file in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB per file, 1 GB in total.

Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including, Please supply ‘stills’ with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image.

These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our, Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.

Data visualization Include interactive data visualizations in your publication and let your readers interact and engage more closely with your research. Follow the instructions to find out about available data visualization options and how to include them with your article.

Supplementary material Supplementary material such as applications, images and sound clips, can be published with your article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Please 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 make sure to provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the ‘Track Changes’ option in Microsoft Office files as these will appear in the published version.

Research data This journal requires and enables you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate, and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles.
Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings.
To facilitate reproducibility and data reuse, this journal also encourages you to share your software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project.

Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article or make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. When sharing data in one of these ways, you are expected to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list.

Please refer to the “References” section for more information about data citation.
For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the,
Data linking If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset.

Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described. There are different ways to link your datasets to your article.

Research Elements
This journal enables you to publish research objects related to your original research – such as data, methods, protocols, software and hardware – as an additional paper in a,

Research Elements is a suite of peer-reviewed, open access journals which make your research objects findable, accessible and reusable. Articles place research objects into context by providing detailed descriptions of objects and their application, and linking to the associated original research articles.

Research Elements articles can be prepared by you, or by one of your collaborators.
During submission, you will be alerted to the opportunity to prepare and submit a manuscript to one of the Research Elements journals.
More information can be found on the,
Data statement To foster transparency, we encourage you to state the availability of your data in your submission.

This may be a requirement of your funding body or institution. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you will have the opportunity to indicate why during the submission process, for example by stating that the research data is confidential. Online proof correction To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. Corresponding authors will receive an e-mail with a link to our online proofing system, allowing annotation and correction of proofs online.

The environment is similar to MS Word: in addition to editing text, you can also comment on figures/tables and answer questions from the Copy Editor.
Web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing you to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.If preferred, you can still choose to annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version.

All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail we send to authors, including alternative methods to the online version and PDF. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures.

Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed.

Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Offprints The corresponding author will, at no cost, receive a customized providing 50 days free access to the final published version of the article on, The Share Link can be used for sharing the article via any communication channel, including email and social media. Visit the to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch. You can also or find out, : Guide for Authors