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Guide for Authors
Manuscripts should be submitted online at:  http://www.ees.elsevier.com/trstmh/
Address
for Correspondence
Managing Editor
Transactions Editorial Office
Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
50 Bedford Square
London WC1B 3DP
UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7580 2127
Fax: +44 (0)20 7436 1389
e-mail: journals@rstmh.org
Article types
The Transactions publishes:
Original Articles - 3500 words, abstract 200 words, 30 references;
Short Communications - 800 words, 1 table or figure, abstract 100 words, 5 references;
Case Reports - 800 words, 1 table or figure,
abstract 100 words, 5 references;
Leading Articles - 800 words, abstract 100 words, 5 references;
Reviews - 3500 words, abstract
200 words, 30-40 references;
Mini-reviews - 800 words, abstract 100 words, 5 references;
Correspondence - 500 words, 3 references;
Images - a picture and 300 words, 3 references.
General
Authors are advised to consult the
Submission checklist
(below)to
guide their writing and submission.
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except
in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication
elsewhere, that its submission and potential 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where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other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, without the written consent of the copyright-holder.
Authors are advised to consult Appendix 1
(Special Subject
Repositories)
if their funding agency has a public access policy.
Authors are required to consult Appendix 2
(Proofs)
to ensure that they understand their role in the processing of their manuscript after acceptance.
The detailed requirements for
Manuscripts
are set out in sections 1-6 below.
Submission checklist
It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final
checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal's editor for review.
Ensure that the following items are present:
• One author designated as corresponding author
• e-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone and
fax numbers
• One or more contributors designated as guarantors of the paper
Statements on the following are included:
• Authors' contributions
• Acknowledgements
• Funding
• Conflicts of interest
• Ethical clearance
All necessary files have been uploaded in the following order:
• Manuscript file (containing title page, summary, keywords,
the main text of the manuscript, references, tables and figure legends; tables can be attached as separate files if necessary)
•
Figure file(s)
• Cover letter
• Authors' agreements
Article written in good English
Manuscript has been 'spellchecked'
References are in the correct format for this journal
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 Web)
Colour figures are
clearly marked as being intended for colour reproduction or to be reproduced in black-and-white
For further information please contact
the Author Support Department at authorsupport@elsevier.com
Editorial process
On receipt in the
Editorial Office your manuscript will be subject to detailed scrutiny with respect to both format and content. The Editors will assign
the article to subject experts for peer review. The purpose of this review is to guide the editors in their decisions. If it is considered
appropriate the comments will be made available to the authors and will guide in any revision.
Should authors be requested by the
Editor to revise the text, the revised version should be submitted within the proscribed period. After this period, the article will
be regarded as a new submission.
1. Article content
Original Articles and Short Communications
These
provide accounts of original investigations in all aspects of tropical medicine and international health including:
• Chemotherapy
and chemoprophylaxis
• Clinical tropical medicine
• Epidemiology
• Infectious diseases
• Immunology
and vaccines
• Laboratory studies
• Microbiology and virology
• Noncommunicable and chronic disease
•
Parasitology and entomology
• Public health and social medicine
• Qualitative and quantitative studies
Animal studies
and in vitro studies will be considered only in so far as the results are directly relevant to human health.
Short Communications
These are similar to original articles but do not include sufficient new information to warrant a full-length article. The Results and
Discussion sections can be combined if appropriate.
Case Reports
These report in detail significant and rare conditions.
Historically large numbers of such reports have been published but in future only those providing valuable clinical lessons or new insights
will be accepted.
Leading Articles
These set in context and illustrate the significance of articles published in the Transactions
and are usually written as a result of a specific invitation. The Editor may invite Leading Articles on other topics that highlight developments
in tropical medicine and international health.
Reviews
These give an authoritative account of an aspect of tropical medicine
and international health. The intention is that these reviews will provide the readers with an insight into topics of current interest
and to widen the scope of the journal to bring to the attention of readers emerging diseases and other developing aspects of International
Health. Reviews do not recapitulate material found in postgraduate textbooks.
Mini-reviews
These do
not
reiterate accepted ideas and information but rather challenge the reader with new thoughts that will stimulate debate; lead to the emergence
of new ideas and approaches that may change policy in International Health and Tropical Medicine The purpose of a mini-review may be:
-
• To highlight and set in context a recent discovery
• To critically appraise and cast in a new light established
information and ideas
• To illustrate how information and ideas established in one place or at one time can be relevant in a
new context
• To suggest ways in which insights from other disciplines may be of value in the understanding of International
Health and Tropical Medicine
• To show how established policy in International Health and Tropical Medicine may have unintended
consequences.
Correspondence
The Transactions accepts correspondence from readers related to published papers and
from Society Fellows on other matters of current concern. Authors will be asked to respond to comments on their papers and letters will
be published together.
Images
The Transactions will publish images that illustrate all aspects of tropical medicine
and international health. An author submitting an image will provide an explanation of its significance. Copyright of the image will
become the property of the Transactions and it may be used by the Society as it sees fit. A detailed guide on electronic artwork is
available on the website http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
2. Presentation of manuscript
2.1. General
We expect documents to be prepared in Microsoft (MS) Word. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file
for reference and safety. Save your files using the default extension of Word. Files should not be saved as 'read-only'.
Manuscripts
must be written in good English and the spelling should follow that in the Oxford English Dictionaries. Italics should not be used for
expressions of Latin origin, for example, in vivo, et al., per se. A single 12-point font should be used for the whole of the manuscript,
preferably Arial. The text should be in single-column format and the pages should be numbered consecutively. Double spacing should be
used throughout including the references, tables and legends to figures. Punctuation should be consistent and only a single space should
be inserted between words and after punctuation. Each new paragraph should be clearly indicated (use two hard returns at the end of each
paragraph). The whole text, including headings and references, should be aligned left and ragged right. Formatting should be kept to
an absolute minimum as most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article, in particular, do not use the Word
options to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts, etc. where appropriate. Do not embed 'graphically
designed' equations or tables.
Authors in Japan kindly note that, upon request, Elsevier Japan will provide authors with a list
of people who can check and improve the English of their paper (before submission). Please contact our Tokyo office: Elsevier K.K., 4F
Higashi-Azabu, 1-Chome Bldg, 1-9-15 Higashi-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0044, Japan, tel.: (+81) (3) 5561 5037; fax: (+81) (3) 5561 5047,
e-mail: jp.info@elsevier.com
2.2. Title page (should include the following in the order given)
Title.
Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author names and affiliations. The forename(s) or initial(s) and surname(s) should be included for all the authors. Where
the family name may be ambiguous (e.g. a double name), please indicate this clearly. The authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual
work was done) should be listed below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lowercase 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.
Corresponding author. The post-publication corresponding author should be indicated by an asterisk after the author's name
and before 'Corresponding author' in the footnote. In the footnote, include the full postal address if it is different from that in the
affiliation or the author has more than affiliation, telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) and e-mail address.
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.
Running
title. A short informative running title of no more than 50 characters.
2.3. Summary
A concise and factual summary
is required (maximum length 200 words). Summaries for short communications, case reports, mini-reviews and leading articles are limited
to 100 words. Do not use subheadings. The summary should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions.
A summary is often presented separate from the article, so it must be able to stand alone.
No references should be included in the
summary.
Non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention
in the summary.
Keywords
Immediately after the summary, provide six keywords, 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. Authors are recommended to use keywords from the National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject List, wherever possible.
The suitability of keywords can be checked on the NLM MeSH Browser at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/
Choosing keywords in this manner
may help increase citation of your paper by making it more readily searchable.
2.4. Arrangement of the article
When
appropriate divide your article into clearly defined sections. Mini-reviews and letters are not subdivided. Each subsection should be
given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line in bold type. Subsections should be used as much as possible
when cross-referencing text: refer to the subsection by heading as opposed to simply 'the text'. The subdivisions set out below relate
to original articles, the subdivision of reviews is dictated by the subject matter and will be suggested by the author.
Introduction.
State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
Experimental/Materials and methods. Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published
should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.
Theory and/or 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. The results
should be precisely presented once in the text, tables or figures without discussion of their significance. When results are presented
in tables or figures the text should comment only on the important points. Tables and figures with legends should be able to stand alone.
Discussion. This should explore the significance of the results, not repeat them. The limitations of the study should be highlighted
where relevant.
The main conclusions of the study should be presented in a short concluding paragraph at the end of the Discussion
section.
Declarations. Statements on the authors' contributions, acknowledgements, funding, conflicts of interest and ethical
approval must be placed after the Discussion section (see paragraphs below for more detail).
If you have no declaration to make
for funding, conflicts of interest and ethical approval please insert the following statements:
Funding: None.
Conflicts
of interest: None declared.
Ethical approval: Not required.
Please note the statement that ethical approval is not
required, should not reflect the authors' opinion but indicate that advice has been properly sought and that the approval has been deemed
unnecessary.
2.5. References
Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic citations lies entirely with the authors.
The style of citation and referencing was changed in June 2008. Authors may find it helpful to refer to a copy of the Lancet to familiarize
themselves with the new style. This will be similarly helpful to those using a reference manager system.
Citations in the text.
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Unpublished results and
personal communications should not be in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. Citation of a reference as 'in press'
implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
Text. Indicate the references by superscript numbers in the text.
The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.
List. Number the references in
the list in the order in which they appear in the text.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
1.Van der
Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun 2000, 163: 51-9.
Reference
to a book:
2.Strunk Jr W, White EB. The Elements of Style. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan; 1979.
Reference to a chapter
in an edited book:
3.Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In: Jones BS, Smith RZ. Introduction
to the Electronic Age. New York: E-Publishing Inc; 1999, p 281-304.
Please note the shortened form of the last page number
e.g., 51-9 and that for more than 6 authors the first 6 should be listed followed by 'et al'. For further details you are referred to
"Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals" (J Am Med Assoc 1997, 277: 927-34). See also
http:/www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/terms_cond.html
Online references
Such article citations should include DOI (digital
object identifier). The DOI is a persistent identifier, which remains with the article even after it is published in print. See http://www.dx.doi.org
For example:
4.Boutayeb A, Twizell EH, Achouayb K, Chetouani A. A mathematical model for the burden of diabetes and its complications.
Biomed Eng Online 2004, DOI: 10.1186/1475-925X-3-20.
2.6. Tables
Number tables consecutively in accordance with their
appearance in the text. Each table must have a self-explanatory title and abbreviations that are not standard in this field must be defined.
Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with lowercase superscript letters. Avoid vertical and horizontal rules
apart from the horizontal rules above and below the Table, and one below the column headings extending over the full width of the Table.
Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.
Tables must be prepared using a spreadsheet or the Tables function of Microsoft Word, i.e. they must be cell based [tabs and hard returns
must not be used to separate columns and rows].
2.7. Figure legends
Number figures consecutively in the order in which
they are referred to in the text. Subdivided figures should be marked A, B, C, etc. and referred to in the text as 1A, 1B, 1C, etc. Each
figure must have a self-explanatory legend which should comprise a brief title and description of the figure. Keep text in the figures
themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used. Figure legends should be listed on a separate page of the end
of the manuscript file, not attached to the figure(s).
2.8. Figures
See detailed note below.
3. Specific
journal style
Abbreviations. Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field at their first occurrence
in both the summary and the main text. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.
Mathematical formulae.
Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Use the solidus
(/) instead of a horizontal line, e.g. Xp/Ym.
Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp.
Number consecutively
any equations that have to be displayed separate from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).
Nomenclature and units.
Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned,
give their equivalent in SI. You are urged to consult IUB: Biochemical Nomenclature and Related Documents http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iupac/bibliog/white.html
for further information.
Organisms should be referred to by their scientific names according to the Linnaean binomial system.
Italics must be used for generic and specific names and for genes.
Generic names should be given in full and in italics when first
used and subsequently abbreviated to a single letter in italics followed by a full stop and a space, e.g. Plasmodium vivax and P. vivax. The full generic name should always be used at the beginning of a sentence or in a heading or subheading. Use one
letter for genus abbreviation except when a two letter abbreviation is needed to avoid confusion, e.g. when Aedes and Anopheles,
are mentioned in same paper. However, when several unusual genera are being discussed with only a few references to each spread throughout
the manuscript it is better to use the whole generic name.
Numbers one to nine are spelt unless they are measurements, e.g. 5 mg.
Numbers (and units if appropriate) are spelled out if they begin a sentence, e.g. Five microlitres. Large numbers should be set without
commas, i.e. 10 000 not 10,000. Decimal points must be indicated by a full point on the line (not commas). Decimal fractions should always
be preceded by a zero, e.g. 0.05.
When reporting percentages in the text both the numerator and denominator should be included.
When the sample size is greater than 100 percentages should be reported to no more than one decimal place. When the sample size is 100
or less, percentages should be reported in whole numbers.
Statistical methods with which readers may not be familiar should be fully
referenced and details of any statistical software packages used should be given, e.g. Epi Info (CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA). Precise values
of P should be given where possible, to no more than two significant figures, but P less than 0.001 should be used instead of smaller
values.
Drug names. Generic names of drugs should be used. The proprietary name may be used together with the generic name
where it is first mentioned in the text and details of the manufacturer should be given (name, city, state, country).
DNA sequences
and GenBank Accession numbers. Gene accession numbers refer to genes or DNA sequences about which further information can be found
in the databases at the National Center for Biotechnical Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine. Authors wishing to enable
other scientists to use the accession numbers cited in their papers via links to these sources, should type this information in the manner
set out below.
For each and every accession number cited in an article, authors should type the accession number in bold, underlined
text. Letters in the accession number should always be capitalised. (See Example below). This combination of letters and format will
enable Elsevier's typesetters to recognize the relevant texts as accession numbers and add the required link to GenBank's sequences.
Example: '(GenBank accession nos.
AI631510
,
AI631511
,
AI632198
and
BF223228
),
a B-cell tumor from a chronic lymphatic leukemia (GenBank accession no.
BE675048
), and a T-cell lymphoma (GenBank accession
no.
AA361117
)'.
Authors are encouraged to check accession numbers very carefully. An error in a letter or number can
result in a dead link. In the final version of the printed article, the accession number text will not appear bold or underlined. In
the final version of the electronic copy, the accession number text will be linked to the appropriate source in the NCBI databases enabling
readers to go directly to that source from the article.
Preparation of supplementary data. We welcome submission of electronic
supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities
to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary
files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier web products, including ScienceDirect
at http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that
data are provided in our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with
the article
and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit http://www.elsevier.com/authors
4. Preparation of electronic illustrations
Submitting your artwork in an electronic format helps us to produce your
work to the best possible standards, ensuring accuracy, clarity and a high level of detail.
General points
•
Make sure you use uniform lettering, symbols and sizing in your original artwork
• Arial font should be used in illustrations
if possible
• Where possible figures should be designed to fit a single column (80 mm width) with the degree of reduction to
be determined by the Publisher
• The axes of graphs should be carefully chosen so as to occupy the space available to the best
advantage
• Line drawings should be as simple as possible: many computer-generated figures, e.g. three-dimensional graphs,
fine lines, gradations of stippling and unusual symbols, cannot be reproduced satisfactorily when reduced
• The lettering and
symbols, as well as other details, should have proportionate dimensions, so as not to become illegible or unclear after reduction
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork
files
• Provide all illustrations as separate files
• Provide legends to illustrations separately
A detailed
guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
You are urged
to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Regardless of the application
used, 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: Vector drawings. Embed the font
or save the text as 'graphics'
• TIFF: Colour or greyscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi
•
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi
• TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (colour or greyscale):
a minimum of 500 dpi is required
• DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office
applications please supply 'as is'
Please do not: • Supply embedded graphics in your document
• Supply files that
are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low
• Supply files that are too low in resolution
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content
Colour illustrations
If, together with your
accepted article, you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear
in colour on the web (e.g. ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in
the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of
your accepted article.
Please note: Because of technical complications that can arise by converting colour figures to 'grey scale'
(for the printed version should you not opt for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white illustrations corresponding
to all the colour illustrations.
5. Online submission to the journal
These instructions apply to all articles
submitted to the journal. Variations applicable to some types of article are noted in the appropriate sections.
Authors should upload
their article via the journal's homepage ( http://ees.elsevier.com/trstmh/), where you will be guided stepwise through the
creation and uploading of the various files. Once the uploading is done, the system generates an electronic (PDF) version of the article
which is used for the reviewing process. Authors, Reviewers and Editors send and receive all correspondence by e-mail and no paper correspondence
is necessary.
The above represents a very brief outline of online submission. It can be advantageous to print this 'Guide for Authors'
section from the site for reference in the subsequent stages of article preparation.
Please submit, with the manuscript, the names
and e-mail addresses of two potential referees. You may also mention persons who you would prefer not to review your paper.
6.
Formal requirements
These matters relate to the integrity of the publication process. You need to be aware of these matters.
6.1. Authorship
For articles published in this journal, a person listed as an author must have made a substantial contribution
to:
• the conception and design of the study, or the analysis and interpretation of data
• drafting the article or
revising it critically for intellectual content
• giving final approval of the version to be published
ALL these conditions
must be met.
Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, alone, does not justify authorship.
Designation as an author infers a responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of all the data published. One or more of the authors
should be listed as guarantors of the paper. The guarantor accepts full responsibility for the conduct of the study, had access to the
data and controlled the decision to publish. Normally the corresponding author will be a guarantor but this must be explicitly stated.
At the end of each paper the contributions of each author to the study and its publication must be listed. We encourage intending authors
to discuss this amongst themselves and agree the precise nature of each person's contribution. Authors must ensure that all authors listed
meet the above criteria for authorship and that there is no one else who fulfils the criteria but has not been included as an author.
When a large, multi-centre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility
for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship defined above.
It is the duty of the corresponding
author/guarantor to ensure that each author has signed a declaration concerning his or her individual contribution. Any consequences
that result from failure to do so will be the sole responsibility of the author/guarantor who is advised to keep copies of these declarations
on file in case of dispute.
The following format is suggested "I declare that in this article entitled {title of article} I participated
in {here list contributions made to the study} and that I have seen and approved the final version. I have the following competing interests
{here list competing interests}." You will be required to send us signed copies of these statements. These signatures need not be dated
and the documents must be submitted via the online submission system.
Authors' contributions. The contributions of each
author to the study and its publication must be listed (see detailed note above). We suggest the following format (please use initials
to refer to each author's contribution): BJA and CJ designed the study protocol; BJA and HGM carried out the clinical assessment; CJ
and FT carried out the immunoassays and cytokine determination, and analysis and interpretation of these data. BJA and CJ drafted the
manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. BJA and CJ are guarantors of the paper.
Acknowledgements.
You should acknowledge here anyone who has contributed towards the study by providing study materials or helped in data acquisition or
analysis, or helped care for patients, but who does not meet the criteria for authorship. Persons providing purely technical help or
writing assistance should be listed in this section.
Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those named in the
Acknowledgements.
Alterations to authorship or acknowledged contributors. All authors must approve any change in authors
and acknowledged contributors after initial submission. This applies to additions, deletions, change in order of authors, or contributions
being attributed differently. The editor may contact any of the authors or contributors to ascertain whether they have agreed to any
alteration.
6.2. Funding
Please list the source(s) of funding for the study and for each author, and for the manuscript
preparation. If the funding body contributed in any way to study design, or the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, or
the writing of the manuscript, and/or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication, this should be explicitly stated. Full details
of the funding bodies must be given, i.e. name, city, state, country and any grant/reference numbers or other identifiers included.
6.3. Conflicts of interest
A competing interest arises when a professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such
as the conduct of a trial, a patient's welfare or the validity and interpretation of the research) tends to be unduly influenced by financial
gain or other self-interested motive which may be at odds with professional obligations. Authors should disclose at the time of submission
information on financial competing interests that may influence the manuscript and summarise these interests under the competing interests
declaration in the final manuscript. Authors must declare other interests that could influence the results of the study or the conclusions
of the manuscript (e.g. employment, academic links, family relationships, political or social interest group membership, deep personal
conviction, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other
funding). For further information, see the web site of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors at http://www.icmje.org/sponsor.htm.
6.4. Ethical issues
Work on human beings that is submitted to Transactions should comply with the principles laid down in
the Declaration of Helsinki; Recommendations guiding physicians in biomedical research involving human subjects. Adopted by the 18th
World Medical Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, June 1964, amended by the 29th World Medical Assembly, Tokyo, Japan, October 1975, the 35th
World Medical Assembly, Venice, Italy, October 1983, and the 41st World Medical Assembly, Hong Kong, September 1989. The manuscript should
contain a statement that the work has been approved by the appropriate ethical committees related to the institution(s) in which it was
performed and that subjects gave informed consent to the work. Studies involving experiments with animals must state that their care
was in accordance with institution guidelines.
Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent
which should be documented in your paper.
Patients have a right to privacy. Therefore identifying information, including patients? images,
names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be included in videos, recordings, written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees
unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and you have obtained written informed consent for publication in print and
electronic form from the patient (or parent, guardian or next of kin where applicable). If such consent is made subject to any conditions,
Elsevier must be made aware of all such conditions. Written consents must be provided to Elsevier on request.
Even where consent has
been given, identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity,
such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning and editors should
so note.
If such consent has not been obtained, personal details of patients included in any part of the paper and in any supplementary
materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.
6.5. Clinical trials registration
All randomised controlled trials submitted for publication in Transactions should include a completed Consolidated Standards of Reporting
Trials (CONSORT) flow chart. Please refer to the CONSORT statement website at http://www.consort-statement.org for more
information. Transactions has adopted the proposal from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) which require,
as a condition of consideration for publication of clinical trials, registration in a public trials registry. Trials must register at
or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the summary and in
the Materials and Methods section of the text. For this purpose, a clinical trial is defined as any research project that prospectively
assigns human subjects to intervention or comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention
and a health outcome. Studies designed for other purposes, such as to study pharmacokinetics or major toxicity (e.g. phase I trials)
would be exempt. Further information can be found at www.icmje.org.
Which trial registries are acceptable to the Transactions?
Acceptable registries must:
• be accessible to the public at no charge
• open to all prospective registrants, i.e.
investigators are able to register without restriction by geographic location, academic affiliation, patient demographics, or clinical
condition
• managed by a not-for-profit organization
• have a mechanism to ensure the validity of the registration
data
• be electronically searchable
• include the required data elements
The following registries have been reviewed
by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and met their criteria as of January 2006. These are currently the
registries which are acceptable to the Editor of the Transactions. This list will be updated when the ICMJE revises its list of registries
in April 2007.
1. http://www.actr.org.au
2. http://www.clinicaltrials.gov
3. http://www.ISRCTN.org
4. http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index/htm
5. http://www.trialregister.nl
The World Health Organization
is also working towards the implementation of an international trials registration process. Its most recent statement (May 2006) can
be accessed at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2006/pr25/en/index.html
Registration of clinical trials
Publication of the results of trials beginning on or after 1 July 2005 will only be considered if registration occurred before the first
patient was enrolled.
What do we do about trials that began before 1 July 2005?
Investigators wishing to publish their work
in the Transactions should register trials that began enrolling patients before 1 July 2005 as soon as possible. We will accept retrospective
registration of trials that began before 1 July 2005, i.e. registration occurred after patient enrolment began.
A trial will be
considered as ongoing if investigators were still collecting, cleaning or analysing data as of 1 July 2005. All ongoing trials require
registration before being submitted to the Transactions.
6.6. Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be
asked to sign a "Journal Publishing Agreement'' (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights).
Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail (or letter) will be sent to the corresponding
author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form.
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 preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases : contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Philadelphia, PA, USA: Tel. (+1) 215 238
7869; Fax (+1) 215 238 2239; e-mail healthpermissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier
homepage ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).
Appendix 1
Funding body agreements
and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose articles appear in journals
published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To
learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies
Appendix
2
Proofs
One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author,
to be checked for typesetting/editing. No changes in, or additions to, the accepted (and subsequently edited) manuscript will be allowed
at this stage. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. A form with queries from the copyeditor may accompany your proofs. Please
answer all queries and make any corrections or additions required. Return corrections within 5 days of receipt of the proofs. Should
there be no corrections, please confirm this. The Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated.
When the edited manuscript is received by the Publisher it is considered to be in its final form. Proofs are not to be regarded as 'drafts'.
Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as possible. In order to do
this we need your help. When you receive the (PDF) proof of your article for correction, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections
are returned to Elsevier in one communication. Subsequent corrections will not be possible, so please ensure your first sending is complete.
Note that this does not mean you have any less time to make your corrections just that only one set of corrections will be accepted. |
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