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European Journal of Cancer Prevention
Online Submission and Review System
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Guidance for Authors on the Preparation and Submission of Manuscripts to European Journal of Cancer Prevention
Note: These instructions comply with those formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. For further details, authors should consult the following article: International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. ‘‘Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals’’ N Engl J Med 1997;336:309-315. The complete document appears at http://www.icmje.org.
Aims and scope
With its fast publication of the latest developments and discoveries in this important field of medicine, the European Journal of Cancer Prevention aims to promote an increased awareness of all aspects of cancer prevention and to stimulate new ideas and innovations. The journal has a wide-ranging scope, covering such aspects as descriptive and metabolic epidemiology, histopathology, lifestyle issues, environment, genetics biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, clinical medicine, intervention trials and public education, basic laboratory studies and special group studies. Although affiliated to a European organization, the European Journal of Cancer Prevention addresses issues of international importance.
Points to consider before submission
We have prepared a standard covering letter (available from the journal website) to accompany your submission. Whether you use this letter or your own wording, please think carefully about the following points and make the appropriate declarations.
Redundant or duplicate publication
We ask you to confirm that your paper has not been published in its current form or a substantially similar form (in print or electronically, including on a web site), that it has not been accepted for publication elsewhere, and that it is not under consideration by another publication. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors has provided details of what is and what is not duplicate or redundant publication (http://www.icmje.org). If you are in doubt (particularly in the case of material that you have posted on a web site), we ask you to proceed with your submission but to include a copy of the relevant previously published work or work under consideration by other journals. In your covering letter to the editors, draw attention to any published work that concerns the same patients or subjects as the present paper.
Conflicts of interest
We ask authors to state all possible conflicts of interest, including financial and other relationships. If you are sure that there is no conflict of interest, please state this. Remember that sources of funding should be acknowledged in your paper.
Permissions to reproduce previously published material
Authors should include with their submission copies of written permission to reproduce material published elsewhere (such as illustrations) from the copyright holder. Authors are responsible for paying any fees to reproduce material.
Patient consent forms
Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying details (written or photographic) should be omitted if they are not essential, but patient data should never be altered or falsified in an attempt to attain anonymity. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve, and a consent form should be obtained if there is any doubt. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity. When informed consent has been obtained it should be indicated in the published article.
Ethics committee approval
You must state clearly in your submission in the Methods section that you conducted studies on human participants must with the approval of an appropriate named ethics committee. Please also look at the latest version of the Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm). Clinical studies should be in accordance with the latest publication of ‘Good Clinical Practice’. Similarly, you must confirm that experiments involving animals adhered to ethical standards and must state the care of animal and licensing guidelines under which the study was performed.
Authorship
All authors must sign the letter accompanying their submission to confirm that they have read and approved the paper, that they have met the criteria for authorship as established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, that they believe that the paper represents honest work, and that they are able to verify the validity of the results reported.
Compliance with NIH and Other Research Funding Agency Accessibility Requirements
A number of research funding agencies now require or request authors to submit the post-print (the article after peer review and acceptance but not the final published article) to a repository that is accessible online by all without charge. As a service to our authors, LWW will identify to the National Library of Medicine (NLM) articles that require deposit and will transmit the post-print of an article based on research funded in whole or in part by the National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, or other funding agencies to PubMed Central. The revised Copyright Transfer Agreement provides the mechanism.
Copyright assignment
Papers are accepted for publication on the understanding that exclusive copyright in the paper is assigned to the Publisher. Authors are asked to sign a copyright assignment form after acceptance of their papers. They may use material from their paper in other works published by them.
Submissions
Four types of manuscripts will be considered: Original research articles; Review articles in which a specific topic is extensively reviewed; Short communications, i.e. new findings which merit quick dissemination; and Letters to the Editor. In addition, the Editorial Office can expedite the publication of manuscripts as a ‘Rapid communication’. Articles are considered for publication on the understanding that neither the article nor its essential substance has been or will be published elsewhere before appearing in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention. Abstracts and press reports published in connection with scientific meetings are not considered to be prepublications.
Authors are strongly encouraged to submit their manuscripts through the web-based tracking system at http://www.editorialmanager.com/ejcp/. Signed author forms may be included in the submission as a 'supporting document' or mailed to the journal office. The site contains instructions and advice on how to use the system. Authors should NOT in addition then post a hard copy submission to the editorial office, unless you are supplying artwork, letters or files that cannot be submitted electronically, or have been instructed to do so by the editorial office. Include the following where appropriate: subject consent forms; transfer of copyright form; permission to reproduce previously published material; checklist. For those authors who have no option but to submit by mail please contact the editor Dr Jaak Janssens janssens.ecp@skynet.be.
Double spacing should be used throughout the manuscript, which should include the following sections, each starting on a separate page: title page, abstract and keywords, text, acknowledgements, references, individual tables and captions. Margins should be not less than 3 cm. Pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the Title Page, and the page number should be placed in the top right hand corner of each page. Abbreviations should be defined on their first appearance in the text; those not accepted by international bodies should be avoided.
Presentation of papers
Title Page
The Title Page should carry the full title of the paper and a short title, of no more than 45 characters and spaces, to be used as a ‘running head’ (and which should be so identified). The first name, middle initial and last name of each author should appear. If the work is to be attributed to a department or institution, its full name should be included. Any disclaimers should appear on the Title Page, as should the name and address of the author responsible for correspondence concerning the manuscript and the name and address of the author to whom requests for reprints should be made. Finally, the Title Page should include the sources of any support for the work in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or any combination of these. Disclose funding received for this work from any of the following organizations: National Institutes of Health (NIH); Wellcome Trust; Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI); and other(s).
Abstracts
The second page should carry a structured abstract of no more than 250 words. The abstract should state the Objective(s) of the study or investigation, basic Methods (selection of study subjects or laboratory animals; observational and analytical methods), main Results (giving specific data and their statistical significance, if possible), and the principal Conclusions. It should emphasise new and important aspects of the study or observations.
Key Words
The abstract should be followed by a list of 3–10 keywords or short phrases which will assist the cross-indexing of the article and which may be published. When possible, the terms used should be from the Medical Subject Headings list of the Index Medicus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html).
Text
Full papers of an experimental or observational nature may be divided into sections headed Introduction, Methods (including ethical and statistical information), Results and Discussion (including a conclusion), although reviews may require a different format.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements should be made only to those who have made a substantial contribution to the study. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from people acknowledged by name in case readers infer their endorsement of data and conclusions.
References
References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the text. They should be assigned Arabic numerals, which should be given in brackets, e.g. [17]. References should include the names of all authors when six or fewer; when seven or more, list only the first six names and add et al. References should also include full title and source information. Journal names should be abbreviated as in the Index Medicus (http://www.nlm.nih.gov). Some sample reference styles follow:
Articles in journals
Standard journal article:
Simopoulos AP. The traditional diet of Greece and cancer. Eur J of Cancer Prev 2004; 13: 219-230.
More than six authors:
Kaaks R, Toniolo P, Akhmedkhanov A, Lukanova A, Biessy C, Dechaud H, et al. (2000). Serum C-peptide, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, IGF-binding proteins, and colorectal cancer risk in women. J Natl Cancer Inst 2000; 92: 1592-600.
Supplements:
Goulis J, Burroughs AK. Role of vasoactive drugs in the treatment of bleeding oesophageal varices. Digestion 1999; 60(Suppl 3):25–34.
Letter/Abstract:
Ozsoylu S, Kocak N. Naloxone in hepatic encephalopathy [Letter]. Am J Dis Child 1985; 139:749–750.
Lankisch PG, Assmus D, Pflichtohofer D.: The burden of pancreatic disease in a well-defined population [Abstract]. Gastroenterology 1998; 114:A24.
Books
Book:
Faivre J, Hill MJ. Causation and Prevention of Colorectal Cancer. Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica; 1987.
Chapter in a book:
Wyllie AH (1987). Oncogenes: correlates or controls of tumour progression.
In: Causation and Prevention of Colorectal Cancer. (eds Faivre J, Hill MJ); Amsterdan: Excerpta Medica; 1987. pp. 121-132.
Personal communications and unpublished work should not feature in the reference list but should appear in parentheses in the text. Unpublished work accepted for publication but not yet released should be included in the reference list with the words ‘in press’ in parentheses beside the name of the journal concerned. References must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents.
Tables
Each table should be typed on a separate sheet in double spacing. Tables should not be submitted as photographs. Each table should be assigned an Arabic numeral, e.g. (Table 3) and a brief title. Vertical rules should not be used. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table. Identify statistical measures of variations, such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean.
Be sure that each table is cited in the text. If you use data from another published or unpublished source, obtain permission and acknowledge the source fully.
Illustrations
References to figures and tables should be made in order of appearance in the text and should be in Arabic numerals in parentheses, e.g. (Fig. 2). Most file formats are accepted, but TIFF and EPS files, with fonts embedded, are preferred. If scanned, line art should be at a resolution of 800 dpi, and halftones and colour at 300 dpi. All colour values should be CMYK. If hard copies are submitted they should have a label pasted to the back bearing the figure number, the title of the paper, the author’s name and a mark indicating the top of the figure. Illustrations should be presented to a width of 82 mm or, when the illustration demands it, to a width of 166 mm. Photomicrographs must have internal scale markers. If photographs of people are used, their identities must be obscured or the picture must be accompanied by written consent to use the photograph. If a figure has been published before, the original source must be acknowledged and written permission from the copyright holder for both print and electronic formats should be submitted with the material. Permission is required regardless of authorship or publisher, except for documents in the public domain. Figures may be reduced, cropped or deleted at the discretion of the editor. Colour illustrations are acceptable but authors will be expected to cover the extra reproduction costs (for current charges, contact the publisher).
Legends for illustrations
Captions should be typed in double spacing, beginning on a separate sheet of paper. Each one should have an Arabic numeral corresponding to the illustration to which it refers. Internal scales should be explained and staining methods for photomicrographs should be identified.
Units of measurement
Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (metre, kilogram, or litre) or their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius. Blood pressures should be given in millimetres of mercury.
All haematologic and clinical chemistry measurements should be reported in the metric system in terms of the International System of Units (SI). Editors may request that alternative or non-SI units be added by the authors before publication.
Abbreviations and symbols
Use only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.
Offprints
Offprints may be purchased using the appropriate form that will be made available with proofs. Orders should be sent when the proofs are returned; orders received after this time cannot be fulfilled.
