--- name: diabetes-care description: Use when targeting Diabetes Care (ADA) or deciding whether a diabetes/endocrinology manuscript fits this venue. Encodes the journal's fit, framing, method-and-evidence bar, house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics. --- # Diabetes Care (diabetes-care) ## Journal positioning Diabetes Care is the clinical flagship of the American Diabetes Association and the highest-impact clinical diabetes journal worldwide. Its editorial identity is firmly clinical and translational — randomized trials, epidemiology, clinical care delivery, and applied translational research in type 1 and type 2 diabetes, obesity, and related metabolic conditions — with an explicit emphasis on evidence that can change diabetes clinical practice or ADA Standards of Care. Unlike broader endocrinology journals, Diabetes Care does not publish basic molecular-biology studies without direct clinical application, and unlike general medical journals, it does not demand the single global significance of NEJM or JAMA. The readership is the ADA membership: diabetologists, endocrinologists, diabetes educators, and clinical researchers in cardiometabolic disease. This skill is a **fit / venue-selection / re-framing** tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the ADA / Diabetes Care platform. ## When to trigger - The author names Diabetes Care or the ADA as the target venue for a diabetes or metabolic disease manuscript. - A diabetes RCT, observational cohort, or technology study needs venue selection between Diabetes Care, Diabetologia, and broader medical journals. - A paper directly relevant to ADA Standards of Care or clinical diabetes management guidelines needs framing guidance. - The author needs Diabetes Care's desk-reject risks and alternative venues before submitting. ## Scope & topic fit - Randomized clinical trials evaluating glucose-lowering therapies, insulin delivery technologies, lifestyle interventions, or complication-prevention strategies in type 1 or type 2 diabetes or prediabetes. - Cardiovascular outcomes trials (CVOTs) and cardiorenal protection studies in diabetes cohorts where the primary endpoint has ADA clinical-care implications. - Epidemiology of diabetes incidence, prevalence, complications (retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, cardiovascular), and disparities at population or national scale. - Diabetes technology and innovation: continuous glucose monitoring, closed-loop/automated insulin delivery, diabetes self-management platforms — with rigorous clinical validation in appropriately powered trials. - Applied translational research: studies of islet biology, beta-cell function, insulin resistance mechanisms, or adipose/liver metabolism where the primary evidence layer is human samples, genetic data, or validated clinical biomarkers. - Diabetes care delivery, patient-centered outcomes, health equity, and access-to-care research at a scale and rigor consistent with ADA clinical priority. ## Method & evidence bar - RCTs must be prospectively registered, CONSORT-compliant, and powered for a pre-specified primary endpoint with clinical diabetes relevance; glycemic endpoints (HbA1c, TIR), cardiovascular outcomes, or complication endpoints are typical primary measures. - Observational and epidemiologic studies must employ validated diabetes and complication definitions (consistent with ADA diagnostic criteria), pre-specified analysis plans, appropriate confounding control, and explicit limitation discussion. - Technology evaluation studies (CGM, closed-loop systems) require randomized or rigorously controlled designs with pre-specified glycemic and safety endpoints; real-world registry analyses must address selection bias explicitly. - Translational studies using human pancreatic tissue, islets, or metabolic phenotyping data must include appropriate human-cohort validation; mechanistic animal studies without human data will not meet the bar for original research (may fit Perspectives or Brief Communications). - Prediction models must follow TRIPOD standards with external validation; ADA Standards of Care context must be explicit. - Reporting guideline checklists (CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA, TRIPOD) must be uploaded at submission. ## Structure & house style - Structured abstract (Objective / Research Design and Methods / Results / Conclusions) with quantitative results including confidence intervals in Conclusions — this is a firm ADA/Diabetes Care expectation. - The introduction must frame the gap relative to the current ADA Standards of Care or clinical diabetes landscape; "no study has examined" without connection to clinical practice is insufficient. - Articles vs. Brief Reports vs. Diabetes Care Perspectives carry different length and format norms — confirm the appropriate article type before submission; the Brief Report format does not accommodate complex multi-endpoint trials. - Tables should present clinical characteristics, primary and secondary endpoint results with effect sizes and CIs, and subgroup analyses following standard RCT or cohort reporting. - Supplementary material: protocol, pre-specified statistical analysis plan, and secondary endpoint tables go in the supplement; core results must be in the main text. - "In a nutshell" or clinical implications callout (check current format) summarizes the take-home message for the clinician reader. ## Official-submission checklist - Before giving submission-ready advice, read `../../resources/source-basis.md` and `../../resources/official-source-map.md`; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked. - Search the live site for "Diabetes Care author instructions" on the ADA / Diabetes Care platform and follow the current version. - Re-check article-type classification (Original Research, Brief Report, Perspectives in Care, Research Letter) and confirm current length and figure limits. - Confirm prospective trial registration (ClinicalTrials.gov or equivalent) and upload ethics/IRB and patient-consent documentation. - Complete and upload the applicable reporting guideline checklist (CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA, TRIPOD, or equivalent). - Verify ADA conflict-of-interest and funding disclosure requirements; pharmaceutical and device industry relationships must be explicitly disclosed for all authors. - Re-check data and code availability statement and any requirements for deposition of participant-level data. - Confirm current AI-use disclosure policy and open-access options. - If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win. ## Pre-submission self-check - [ ] One sentence stating why this finding changes or informs ADA clinical diabetes care, Standards of Care, or population-level diabetes management. - [ ] The structured abstract Conclusions contain quantitative effect sizes with confidence intervals — not just directional language. - [ ] The applicable reporting guideline checklist is complete; trial registration and ethics/consent documentation are ready for upload. - [ ] Human clinical data, patient samples, or genetic evidence constitute the primary evidence layer; any mechanistic animal data is clearly framed as supporting rather than primary. - [ ] The article type is appropriate for the scope and complexity; a large multi-endpoint RCT requires an Original Research article, not a Brief Report. - [ ] ADA and industry COI disclosures are complete for all authors; no undisclosed industry funding. ## Common desk-reject triggers - Basic or mechanistic studies (animal models, cell lines) without human clinical validation or an explicit ADA clinical-practice relevance demonstrated in the primary data. - Glycemic or metabolic studies that use non-ADA-aligned diabetes definitions or diagnostic thresholds without explicit justification. - Small exploratory pilot studies or underpowered trials presented as definitive; non-pre-specified or retrospective primary endpoints. - Technology studies lacking a randomized or rigorously controlled design; real-world CGM or device data without pre-specified hypotheses. - Missing structured abstract or absent quantitative results in the Conclusions — a frequent reason for immediate return. ## Re-routing decision - A major diabetes CVOT or cardiorenal outcomes trial with field-defining significance → `nejm`, `the-lancet`, or `jama` if the global significance warrants that level. - A diabetes mechanism or metabolic biology study with strong translational science and limited clinical trial data → `cell-metabolism` (Cell Press; metabolism mechanism in vivo) or `journal-of-clinical-investigation`. - A clinical endocrinology study spanning beyond diabetes (thyroid, adrenal, reproductive endocrinology) → Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism or Endocrinology. - An obesity pharmacotherapy trial with primary obesity endpoints → Obesity (The Obesity Society) or `nejm` if landmark-scale. ## Output format ```text [Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason) [Target] Diabetes Care [Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics> [Method/evidence] [Top risk] [Official items to re-check]
[Re-route suggestion] ```