Enactment revised September 19, 1998
First revision March 20, 2018
Second revision March 27, 2020
Recently revised July 27, 2020

Scope
All submissions should be written in compliance with editorial policy and guidelines before submitting to homepage (https://submission.acm.or.kr/). Two electronic files, one should be a title page with authors contacts details and other with manuscript only. Authors are requested to submit following files in electronic form HWP (Version 97 or higher) or MS Word (Version 2000 or higher)
– One completed manuscript with author identifiers
– One completed manuscript without author identifiers
– A signed letter of agreement from all authors, which can be faxed or scanned and send it via email.
– Corresponding author must sign as designated person on the agreement and provide check (v) on the list.
If email is un-available, the manuscripts can be sent to the following ad-dress:In case of homepage submission problems, the manuscripts could be sent to the following address:
Hae-Sun Chung, M.D., Editor-in-Chief. Hyundai Topix 814, 6, Wiryeseong-daero, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05544, Korea
Tel: +82-2-401-1570, Fax: +82-70-4275-1444 E-mail: kscm.office@gmail.com 

Research and Publication Ethics
1. Conflict-of-Interest statement
The corresponding author of an article is asked to inform the Editor of the authors’ potential conflicts of interest possibly influencing their interpretation of data. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. A potential conflict of interest should be disclosed in the manuscript even when the authors are confident that their judgments have not been influenced in preparing the manuscript. The disclosure form should be the same as the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest (http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-ofinterest/).

2. Statement of human and animal rights
Clinical research should be done in accordance with the Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects, as outlined in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (revised 2013) (available from: https://www.wma.net/policy).
Copies of written informed consents should be kept for studies on human subjects. For the clinical studies with human subjects, there should be a certificate, an agreement, or the approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the author’s affiliated institution. If necessary, the editor or reviewers may request copies of these documents to resolve questions about IRB approval and study conduct.

3. Registration of the clinical trial research
Any research that deals with a clinical trial should be registered with the primary national clinical trial registry site such as the Korea Clinical Research Information Service (CRiS, http://cris.nih.go.kr), other primary national registry sites accredited by the World Health Organization (http://www.who.int/ictrp/network/primary/en/) or ClinicalTrials.gov (http://clinicaltrials.gov/), a service of the United States National Institutes of Health.

4. Authorship
Authorship credit should be based on: 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; 3) final approval of the version to be published; and 4) agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that the questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Authors should meet these 4 conditions. If the number of authors is equal to or greater than 2, there should be a list of each author’s role in the submitted paper. Description of co-first authors or co-corresponding authors is also accepted if the corresponding author believes that such roles existed in contributing to the manuscript. Authors are obliged to participate in peer review process.

5. Originality and duplicate publication
Redundant or duplicate publication refers to the publication of a paper that overlaps substantially with one already published. Upon receipt, submitted manuscripts are screened for possible plagiarism or duplicate publication using Crossref Similarity Check. If a paper that might be regarded as duplicate or redundant had already been published in another journal or submitted for publication, the author should notify the fact in advance at the time of submission. Under these conditions, any such work should be referred to and referenced in the new paper. The new manuscript should be submitted together with copies of the duplicate or redundant material to the editorial committee. If redundant or duplicate publication is attempted or occurs without such notification, the submitted manuscript will be rejected immediately. If the editor was not aware of the violations and of the fact that the article had already been published, the editor will announce in the journal that the submitted manuscript had already been published in a duplicate or redundant manner, without seeking the author’s explanation or approval.

6. Process to manage the research and publication misconduct

When the Journal faces suspected cases of research and publication misconduct such as a redundant (duplicate) publication, plagiarism, fabricated data, changes in authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, an ethical problem discovered with the submitted manuscript, a reviewer who has appropriated an author’s idea or data, complaints against editors, and other issues, the resolving process will follow the flowchart provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts). The Editorial Board of ACM will discuss the suspected cases and reach a decision. ACM will not hesitate to publish errata, corrigenda, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.

Review of submitted papers
All submitted manuscripts will be considered confidential and will be initially overviewed by the editor before proceeding to the review process. All manuscripts will be reviewed by peer-reviewers who are appointed by the editorial board. Peer-reviews will be processed for three times. First peer-review will be conducted by two appointed reviewers. The reviewers will be asked to return a prompt review and comments within 10 days from the manuscript submission. Second peer-review process are expected to take 7 days The issues listed below will be considered during the review process.

 ∙ Significance to the area of research

 ∙ Originality of the research

 ∙ Appropriateness of the approach or experimental design

 ∙ Appropriateness of the statistical analysis

 ∙ Validity of the conclusions and interpretation

 ∙ Relevance of the discussion

 ∙ Adherence to correct scientific nomenclature

 ∙ Appropriateness of the references cited

 ∙ Adherence to the Instructions for Authors

 ∙ Adequacy of the title and abstract

 ∙ Appropriateness of the included tables and figures

 ∙ Length of the manuscript

In case of decision to accept the manuscript, editor will send the letter of confirmation to corresponding author. If further correction of the manuscript is needed, detailed comments will be provided. Corresponding author is asked to provide corrected manuscript and return it within 10 days from the date of notification. The overall correction period should be finished within 2 months. Upon final acceptance of a manuscript, English abstract, explanation of tables and figures will be corrected for proper English usage by professional English editor. In addition, references and overall manuscripts will be professionally edited.

Reviewer Assignment
This regulation aims to ensure fairness and impartiality in the paper evaluation process by preventing the assignment of reviewers who are affiliated with the same institution as the authors. By avoiding potential conflicts of interest, this regulation promotes an unbiased assessment of the submitted papers.

When assigning reviewers for paper evaluation, the following principle should be strictly adhered to: reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institution as the authors of the paper under review.

 ∙ Reviewer Selection Process: The editorial board should implement a comprehensive reviewer selection process. This process should include measures to identify potential conflicts of interest, such as cross-checking reviewer affiliations with author institutions.

 ∙ Alternative Reviewer Assignment: If it is discovered that a reviewer and an author share the same institution, the reviewer should be replaced with another qualified individual who does not have a conflicting affiliation.

 ∙ Transparency and Disclosure: Any instances where a reviewer had to be replaced due to institutional affiliation conflicts should be transparently documented and disclosed in the review process.

Reviewers should uphold the highest standards of integrity and impartiality in evaluating the submitted papers. They should evaluate the work solely based on its merits and scholarly quality, disregarding any personal or institutional affiliations.

Failure to comply with this regulation may result in consequences such as re-evaluation of the paper, replacement of the reviewer, or other appropriate actions determined by the editorial board or responsible committee. These actions are taken to ensure the integrity and objectivity of the paper evaluation process.

Proofreading
Edited manuscripts will be sent to authors in .PDF format by the publishers. It is author’s responsibility to check the final manuscripts. The corrected proof should be replied within 2 days via email or registered post. In order to prevent any mistakes and to improve quality of the paper, editorial board should be involved during the editing process.

Publication
The Annals of Clinical Microbiology (ACM) is published four times a year, on 20 March, 20 June, 20 September, and 20 December. Article processing charges are required for publication in the ACM. The sequence of the content will be determined by the editorial board. These cover some of publishing costs, including the processing costs in journal website (https://www.acm.or.kr), Synapse (https://synapse.koreamed.org/search.php?where=jvolume&id=1105&code=1105ACM). Support from article processing charges helps your articles attract worldwide attention through free online access. An invoice for article processing charge will be sent to the corresponding author before publication. Your prompt payment of article processing charges will make your manuscripts published more quickly and efficiently, and we appreciate it.
Article: ₩250,000 (US$210.00) per article.

Copyright policy
To maintain and protect the Society’s ownership and rights and to continue to afford scientists the opportunity to publish in high-quality journals, the ACM reserves the right to request that authors do not submit duplicate manuscripts to other publications. Exceptions may be granted for conference proceeding papers on the condition that all necessary information is provided.
If the submission of a duplicate manuscript is discovered before the editors have been notified, the authors must send a letter explaining the incident to the editor before publication in the journal will be permitted. The ACM holds the copyright on all manuscripts accepted for publication.

HOW TO SUBMIT A MANUSCRIPT

1. Types and style of manuscripts
Manuscripts may be original articles, case reports, symposium proceedings, entrusted topic reviews, book reviews, and editorials. One of the acceptance criteria for case reports is that the case has not been presented more than three times in Korea. Manuscripts should be prepared in the designated format with the appropriate sections and headings.
Manuscripts should be typed double-spaced in font size 12 with all four page margins set at 25 mm and should be printed on A4 size paper.
Manuscripts should be no longer than 15 pages, excluding tables and figures, and case reports should be no longer than 10 pages on A4 size paper.

2. Language, numbers, and numerical data
Manuscripts should be written in Korean or English. Manuscripts written in Korean should include an abstract in English, and manuscripts written in English should include an abstract in Korean.
The use of academic terminology should be in accordance with the medical glossary published by the Korean Medical Association. Where there is no adequate term in Korean, the English term may be used.
The names of people, geographical locations, and other words of foreign origin may be written in their respective languages. Numbers should be expressed as Arabic numerals. Length, weight, and volume should be reported according to International System of Units, with liter indicated by a capital letter L.

3. Abbreviations
Abbreviations should be used as an aid to the reader rather than as a convenience for the author. For English abbreviations, the term should be spelled out at first use, with the abbreviation appearing in parenthesis. Abbreviations are not to be used in the title. The reliance measurement P should be written in capital italics as P.

4. Nomenclature
To facilitate accurate communication, it is important that standard nomenclature be used whenever possible. It is advisable to use the full terminology at first mention in the English and Korean abstracts and in the main body of the text (for example, Escherichia coli).
An abbreviated version of the genus name may be used subsequently, for example, E. coli, except where the abbreviated version could create confusion with other microorganisms or at the beginning of a sentence. All scientific names should always be written in italics or underlined. No other definition of names should be in italics.
Example 1. Always written in italics: E. coli, Papovaviridae, Hepadnavirus, Simplexvirus
Example 2. Not written in italics: Streptococci, Coagulase-negative staphylococci, Epstein-Barr virus, Hepatitis B virus, Herpes simplex virus.
Example 3. Mixed case: Chlamydia spp., Achromobacter xylosoxidans subsp. xylosoxidans, Leptospira interrogans serovar icterohemorrhagieae, Ehrlichia sennetusu Nakazaki strain.

5. Use of parentheses and brackets
When writing in English, place a space between the English letter or number and the left and right parentheses; no space is needed between the right parenthesis and a punctuation mark (like this). When writing in Korean, no space is needed before parentheses or before brackets ([ ]) used for reference.

6. Description of materials and equipment
When describing materials and equipment, include in parentheses the model number, manufacturer, city, state, and country. Provide generic names for reagents. When using brand names, provide the manufacturer, city, state, and country in parentheses at first use. It is not necessary to include TM after a name when it is clear that it is a product name.
Examples: Coulter STKS (Coulter Electronics, Inc., Hialeah, FL, USA); vancomycin (Sigma Chemical Company, St. Louis, MO, USA).

7. Description of participants
Ensure correct use of the terms sex (when reporting biological factors) and gender (identity, psychosocial or cultural factors), and, unless inappropriate, report the sex or gender of study participants, the sex of animals or cells, and describe the methods used to determine sex or gender. If the study was done involving an exclusive population, for example in only one sex, authors should justify why, except in obvious cases (e.g., prostate cancer). Authors should define how they determined race or ethnicity and justify their relevance.

8. Original articles
Original articles should include 1) a title page; 2) a title; 3) English contents (title, abstract, keywords); 4) the main body of the text with an introduction, material and methods, results, and discussion; 5) references; 6) tables, figures, and pictures; and 7) a Korean abstract. Each section should start on a new page, and all pages should be consecutively numbered. For the purpose of anonymity, no information that could identify an author may be written except on the title page. English versions of names and affiliations are not required on the title page.

1) Title page
The title page should list the following in sequence: the type of manuscript (e.g., original work or case report), manuscript title, authors’ names and affiliations (or posts), a shortened title (for titles longer than 30 Korean words or 40 English words), corresponding author with contact details (address, postal code, telephone and facsimile numbers, e-mail address), and acknowledgment.

2) English title, abstract, and key words
Place the English title at the beginning of the abstract. Provide 250 words of English abstract on both Korean and English manuscripts.
The abstract should follow the form of background, method, results, and conclusion. Write each section concisely to help readers’ comprehension. Provide three to five keywords used in Index Medicus (Medical subject headings, MeSH) below the English abstract.

3) Main body of the text
The main body of text should comprise the introduction, material and methods, results, and discussion. Excluding tables and figures, the manuscript should be no longer than 10 pages of A4 paper.
The introduction should supply sufficient background information to allow the reader to understand and evaluate the results of the presented study without referring to previous publications on the topic.
The material and methods section should clearly describe the subjects, material, and methods to enable the result to be reproduced. Well-known research methods may be described briefly, but new methods and major modifications of research techniques should be thoroughly reported. Case reports must indicate confirmation from the relevant institutional review board (IRB). For biometric research reports, the statistical details and methods must be illustrated.
In the results section, result of the study should be presented in logical order; reserve extensive interpretation of the results for the discussion section. Present the results as concisely as possible in one of the following ways: text, table(s), or figure(s). Avoid extensive use of graphs to present data that can be more concisely presented in the text or as tables.
The discussion section should provide an interpretation and limitations of the results in relation to previously published work and to the experimental system used. It must not contain extensive repetition of the results section or reiteration of the introduction. In short papers, the results and discussion sections may be combined.
Recognition of personal assistance, and any statements disclaiming endorsement or approval of the views reflected in the paper should be remarked. Tables and figures should be concisely presented in English. Avoid any duplication of table and figure data. Within the main body of the text, refer to the tables and figures following the format ‘Table 1’ and ‘Fig. 1’. Mark the insertion positions for tables and figures in the right margin of the text.

(1) Conflict of interest
It should be disclosed here according to the statement in the Research and publication ethics regardless of existence of conflict of interest. If the authors have nothing to disclose, please state: “The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.”

(2) Acknowledgments
Any persons that contributed to the study or the manuscript, but not meeting the requirements of an authorship could be placed here. For mentioning any persons or any organizations in this section, there should be a written permission from them.

(3) Funding
Funding to the research should be provided here. Providing a FundRef ID is recommended including the name of the funding agency, country and if available, the number of the grant provided by the funding agency. If the funding agency does not have a FundRef ID, please ask that agency to contact the FundRef registry (e-mail: fundref.registry@crossref.org). Additional detailed policy of FundRef description is available from http://www.crossref.org/fundref/. Example of a funding description is as follows:The study is supported by the Hallym University (FundRef ID: 10.13039/501100002632) research fund (HRF-G-2015-4) and the Korea Health Personnel Licensing Examination Institute (FundRef ID: 10.13039/501100003647) research fund (2016).

(4) ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID)
All authors are recommended to provide an ORCID. To obtain an ORCID, authors should register in the ORCID web site: http://orcid.org. Registration is free to every researcher in the world. 

3-1) References
All references should be listed in English in the order in which they are cited in the main body of the text. References in the main text, tables, and figures should be referred to using sequential Arabic numbers in brackets (e.g., [1-3]).
References used only to explain tables and figures should be numbered according to the order in which the table or figure is first cited in the main text. Authors should give preference to references that have been published in the Annals of Clinical Microbiology and the Annals of Laboratory Medicine.
Reference formats should follow the examples given below, as used in Index Medicus. For the abbreviations of journal titles, please consult ‘List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus’ or the content list in the January volume of Index Medicus, which can be obtained through the National Library of Medicine Web site (http://www.nlm.nih.gov).
The reference list should not include abstracts. When citing an accepted but not yet published work, refer to the reference as ‘in press’ or ‘forthcoming.’ In this case, the author should confirm that the referenced work has been accepted for publication and should obtain a letter approving the citation.
Information from work submitted but not yet accepted should be referred to as an ‘unpublished observation,’ and a letter of citation approval should be obtained. Do not cite ‘personal communication’ unless absolutely necessary. If this is the case, state the name of the informant and the date of correspondence in brackets in the main body of the text. In addition, the author should confirm the accuracy of the information and should obtain a letter of citation approval from the ‘personal communicator.’ Authors are liable for verifying the citation against the original reference work.
In the reference list, give the names of all authors if six or fewer. For papers with seven or more authors, list only the first six authors followed by et al. For papers with two authors, use the word ‘and’ between the authors’ names. Write last names first, in English, followed by initials. In the case of a supplementary volume, use (S) after the volume number.

Reference examples
journal article:
Author(s). Title. Abbreviated name of journal Year of publication;Volume number:Inclusive page numbers.
Kim JM, Jeong SH, Seo DY, Park EH, Song EJ, Choi JC, et al. Molecular strain typing of Legionella isolates from water in cooling towers of big buildings in Busan, Korea. Korean J Clin Microbiol 2004;7:38-42.
Book:
Author (Editor). Title. Edition number. Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication:Inclusive page numbers. Note: If there are three or more authors or editors, name only the first two followed by et al.
Murray PR, Baron EJ, et al. eds. Manual of Clinical Microbiology. 8th ed. American Society for Microbiology; 2003: 502-3.
Book chapter:
Author. Title. In: Author. Title. Edition number. Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication:Inclusive page numbers. Hall GS and Woods GL. Medical Bacteriology. In: McPherson RA and Pincus MR, eds.
Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods. 21th ed, Philadelphia; WB Saunders, 2007:1016-47.
Web site:
Author. Title. Name of journal. Web site address [Online] (Last date accessed). WHO. WHO Web site on infectious diseases. Weekly Epidemiological Report. http://www.who.int/wer/2004/en/ [Online] (last visited on 28 January 2005).

3-2) Table format
Tables should be double-spaced and written in English. Each table should appear on a new page. All tables should be referred to within the text and numbered according to their order of citation. The title should be positioned above the table itself and should be written with no terminal period. Capitalize only the first letters of titles and proper nouns in the title and content of the table. Avoid unnecessary vertical and horizontal lines.
The first column of a table must be aligned left, and the words may be centered above the second column. Numbers should be aligned vertically along decimal points or symbols (e.g., -, =, or ×) in the center of a column. If parentheses are inserted, the left parenthesis and the last letter before it should be aligned.
When reporting case numbers in tables, use only numbers, with no parentheses, brackets, or decimal points, under the column heading ‘No. Case’.
Explanations of the superscripts used in a table should precede the explanations of non-standard abbreviations, with each set of explanations placed on a separate line below the table.
Superscripts signifying explanations should be placed to the right of the word or number to be explained and should be used in the following sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, **, ††, ‡‡. Numbers and letters should not be used.
The explanations of superscripts should follow the example: *Not tested; †P<0.05. The explanations of non-standard abbreviations should follow the format: Abbreviation: Abbreviation, explanation; Abbreviation, explanation. As an example: Abbreviations: NT, not tested; VRE, Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci.
Abbreviations explained in a previous table can be explained as, for example, ‘see Table 1.’ Uppercase and lowercase letters may be used to designate specific features of nucleic acid sequences, such as exon-intron borders and transcribed regions.(example of table)
Table 3. Number of isolates of Enterococcus species
Specimens Departments Species No. of isolates Urine OPD EFA 49 EFM 19 IPD EFA 32 EFM 34 Blood OPD EFA 5 EFM 14 IPD EFA 16 EFM 40 Abbreviations: OPD, outpatient department; IPD, inpatient department; EFA, E. faecalis; EFM, E. faecium.

3-3) Artwork format
Each picture and figure should be placed on a separate page with a brief explanation.
All pictures and figures should be referred to within the main body of the text and numbered according to their order of citation. Captions for pictures and figures are to be positioned below the pictures and figures, with a period at the end of the caption.
Capitalize only the first letter of the heading, each sentence, and proper nouns.Photographs could be submitted by electronic forms or by printed paper. In case of electronic submission, RGB tiff format or RGB eps format is recommended with resolution above 300 dpi All photographs must be submitted as prints sized 4×6 inches.
On a separate label on the back of each photograph, provide the picture or figure number, first author’s name, page number, and whether color publication is intended.
Place the photograph on a piece of white paper with the necessary explanation given below the photograph.
It is extremely important to use sufficiently high resolution. Black-and-white photographs are published only in black and white, whereas color photographs may be submitted for publication in color. Words, numbers, and symbols in photographs should be sufficiently distinguished from the background to allow for reduction or enlargement when necessary.
For pictures and figures from microscopic slides, the staining method and magnification level must be provided. For pictures composed of two or more parts, the explanation can refer to the parts separately as ‘A) B)’ or together as (A, B). Pictures or photographs can be submitted by the file.

4) Abstract in Korean
An Korean abstract is to be included in both English and Korean manuscripts.
Abstracts should follow a similarly structured style, with separate paragraphs for the background, material and methods, results, and conclusions.
The results and summary of the results should reflect the research purpose described at the beginning of the manuscript.
Abstract in Korean should concord with English abstract. The recommended length of the abstract is approximately 250 words. No keywords are required.

9. Notes
If the amount of the paper is not sufficient for an original article, authors are advised to write in note format. The notes are following the same instruction with the original articles except
1) Korean abstract are limited within 50 words.
2) materials, methods, results and conclusions within the main body of text should be described in one paragraph without separation.
3) The overall length should not exceed 3 pages or 1500 words and contents should be described as simple as possible. Review processes are same as the full paper.

10. Case reports
For a case report to qualify for publication, it must not have been presented more than three times in Korea. Case reports are prepared in the same way as original manuscripts with some exceptions: the abstracts, both Korean and English, are each written as one paragraph (not divided into four sections) with a 200-word maximum, and the research subjects, material and methods, and results sections of an original manuscript are replaced with the case report. Including references, the suggested length of a case study is within 5 pages of A4 paper. Up to 15 references and three

11. Review articles and editorials
Review articles and editorials are to be submitted only at the request of the editorial board and will be reviewed subject to their criteria. The subjects, methodologies, and results included may be modified according to the author’s intention. Manuscript preparation and submission procedures should follow the procedures outlined in the Instructions for Authors.

12. Symposium proceedings
Symposium proceedings should cover topics discussed at KSCM conferences. Manuscript preparation and submission should follow the procedures outlined in the Instructions for Authors.

13. Book reviews
Books on the topic of clinical microbiology can be reviewed in this section. The subjects, methodologies, and results included may be modified according to the author’s intention. Manuscript preparation and submission should follow the procedures outlined in the Instructions for Authors.

14. Letters to the editor
Letters to the editor may express comments or opinions on issues specific to our coverage area, review new books, provide general information, and review published papers.

15. Erratum
The erratum provides a means of correcting errors that occurred during the process of writing, typing, correcting, or printing. Authors should send a request for an amendment to the editor, followed by a letter illustrating the detailed amendment of the manuscript, file, and photographs.

16. Others
The other types of manuscripts could be submitted under the approval of the editorial board. Any matters not included in this instruction are referred to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and other medical terms are referred to the guideline of Korean Medical Association.