Guidelines for Authors

The Editors and the Editorial Board of Wound Practice & Research have specified guidelines for prospective authors to follow when compiling an article they wish to submit to the journal.

Terms of submission
Manuscript type
Preparation of manuscripts
Submission of manuscripts

Terms of submission

The editors accept submissions in the form of research findings, clinical papers, case studies, reports, review articles, letters and product appraisals. Each submission is evaluated on its timeliness, relevance, accuracy, clarity and applicability to the journal. Submissions will be accepted from any country but must be written in idiomatic English. Accompanying each submission must be a letter signed by all authors and stating that the work has not previously been published and will not be published elsewhere. Once it is published, the article and its illustrations become the property of the journal, unless rights are reserved before publication.

All work is sub-edited to journal style. The editors reserve the right to modify the style and length of any article submitted, so that it conforms to journal format. Major changes to an article will be referred to the author for approval prior to publication. The Editor will provide assistance to first time authors and may be contacted by email.

Authorship
All authors must make a substantial contribution to the manuscript and will be required to indicate their contribution. Participation solely in the acquisition of funding, the collection of data or supervision of such does not justify authorship. All participating authors must be acknowledged as such; proof of authorship may be requested by the editors. The first-named author is responsible for ensuring that any other authors have seen and approved the manuscript and are fully conversant with its contents. If the author wishes to reproduce copyrighted work, it is the responsibility of that author to obtain written permission from the copyright holder and to submit the original copy of that permission to the editor with the work as it is to be copied.

Conflict of interest: It is the responsibility of the submitting author to disclose to the Editor any significant financial interests they may have in products mentioned in their manuscript. Conflicts of interest should also be disclosed within the manuscript before the References section.

Ethics
Investigations in human and animal subjects must conform to accepted ethical standards. Authors must certify that the research protocol was approved by a suitably constituted ethics committee of the institution within which the work was carried out and that it conforms to the Statement on Human Experimentation or the Statement on Animal Experimentation by the NHMRC.

Manuscript type

The journal publishes articles of interest to readers from the areas of wound practice and research. Submitted work may take any of the following forms:

Literature review: Narrative – describes and evaluates the current knowledge of a subject, identifies gaps or inconsistencies, and includes critical evaluation with recommendations for future research. Systematic – describes planned analysis and evaluation of all available research studies on a particular clinical issue, conducted in accordance with scientific principles and may include recommendations for future research.

Research report: Presentation of study results in an ordered fashion, based on common practice. Research reports are expected to follow the uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals, as published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 336 No. 4, 1997.

Case study: Combination of recount (retelling of events as they occurred) and information report (classification and description of something). Can be presented in different ways to give a cohesive account.

Exposition (incl letter to the Editor): Putting forward of a particular viewpoint / justification of a particular argument.

Narrative: The informing and/or entertaining account of a happening in the world (e.g. conference report).

Preparation of manuscripts

Manuscripts are to be no more than 4000 words and include an abstract of no more than 250 words. Use double spacing with Times Roman 12 font and margins 2.5cm. Title page to include title of manuscript, author’s names, qualifications and affiliations, corresponding author’s details including email address and contact phone number, total word count and up to five key words. Include title of work on the abstract page and first page of introduction. Include key points on what is already known on the topic and what your manuscript contributes. Define abbreviations in the summary and on first mention in the text. Avoid abbreviations unless terms are used repeatedly and abbreviating them will enhance clarity.

Tables and figures are to be presented on separate pages, one per page. Tables should be clearly typed, showing columns and lines. Number tables consecutively using Arabic numerals in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations used in each table.

Figures must be submitted on separate pages. Photographs of the highest quality may be included in the submission and should be in .jpeg format. Legends for any figures supplied must be typed in sequence on a separate page(s). Illustrations and figures must be clear, well-drawn and large enough to be legible when reproduced. Titles of illustrations should be supplied on a separate piece of paper, not in the figure or illustration. Each figure must include its place, its number, and the orientation of figure. Patients or other individual subjects should not be identifiable from photos unless they have given written permission for their identity to be disclosed; this must be supplied.

Referencing guidelines
The referencing format is based on the Vancouver style, the main feature of which is the use of numbers at the point of reference so as not to interfere with the flow of words. Each number corresponds to a single reference provided in the reference list at the end and, once assigned a number, a reference retains that number throughout the text, even if cited more than once. If more than one work is quoted in a reference, each work must be assigned a number. That is, at any point in the text, the reference may be one ¹ or several ^2-4 numbers. Following are some examples of references from different sources:

Articles in journals

• Standard journal article: list all authors if less than seven, if seven or more list first three:
  Whitby DJ & Ferguson MW. Immunohistochemical localization of growth factors in fetal wound healing. Dev Biol 1991; 147:207-15.
  
  Jeffrey JJ, Ehlich LS & Roswit WT. Serotonin: an inducer of collagenase in myometrial smooth muscle cells. J Cell Physiol 1991; 146:399-406.
  
  
• Organisation as author:
  The Royal Marsden Hospital Bone-Marrow Transplantation Team. Failure of syngenic bone-marrow graft without preconditioning in post-hepatitis marrow plasma. Lancet 1977; 2:742-44.
  
  
• No author given: Coffee drinking and cancer of the pancreas (editorial). BMJ 1981; 283:628.
  
  
• Volume with supplement:
  Magni F, Rossoni G & Berti F. BN-62021 protects guinea-pig from heart anaphylaxis. Pharmacol Res Commun 1988; 20(Suppl 5):75-78.
  
  
• Issue with supplement:
  Gardos G, Cole JO, Haskell D, Marby D, Paine SS & Moore P. The natural history of tardive dyskinesia. J Clin Psychopharmacol 1988; 4(4 Suppl):31S-37S.
  
  
• Issue with part:
  Reif S, Terranova VP, El-Bendary M, Lebenthal E & Petell JK. Modulation of extracellular matrix problems in rat liver during development. Hepatology 1990; 12(3pt1):619-25.
  
  
• Article containing comment:
  Piccoli A & Bossatti A. Early steroid therapy in IgA neuropathy: still an open question (comment). Nephron 1989; 51:289-91. Comment on Nephron 1988; 48:12-17.
  
  
• Article commented on:
  Kobayashi Y, Fujii K, Hiki Y, Tateno S, Kurokawa A & Kamiyama M. Steroid therapy in IgA nephropathy: a retrospective study in heavy proteinuric cases (see comments). Nephron 1989; 51:289-91.

Books and other monographs

• Personal author(s):
  Majno GA. The Healing Hand: Man and Wound in the Ancient World. Cambridge: Harvard Univ Press, 1975.
  
  
• Chapters in a book:
  Philips C & Wenstrup RJ. Biosynthetic and genetic disorders of collagen. In: Cohen IK, Diegelmann RF & Lindblad WJ (Eds). Wound Healing: Biochemical and Clinical Aspects. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1992:152-71.
  
  
• Conference proceedings:
  Harley NH. Comparing radon daughter dosimetric and risk models. In: Gammage RB & Kaye SV (Eds). Indoor Air and Human Health. Proceedings of the Seventh Life Sciences Symposium; 1984 Oct 19-31; Knoxville (TN). Chelsea (MI): Lewis, 1985:69-78.
  

Unpublished material

• In press:
  McMahon SB & Monroe JG. Role of primary response genes in generating cellular responses to growth factors. FASEB J.

Submission of manuscripts

Manuscripts are only accepted as an electronic submission with an attachment as a Word document. All tables, figures and photographs are to be included in the one attachment. Please ensure image files are no larger than 700kb. The manuscript must be accompanied by a covering letter indicating that the manuscript has not been submitted elsewhere and transferring copyright to the Journal.

Manuscripts are submitted electronically:

• Go to the publisher‘s website: www.cambridgemedia.com.au
• Click on Manuscript System
• Login
• Create and account if first time using the system – this will be retained for future enquiries and submissions
• Enter your personal details – all fields are to be completed
• Confirm your details

Follow the steps for submitting an article

• Step 1 – Type the title, type of paper and abstract. WP&R requires an abstract for all submissions. Select publication – Wound Practice & Research.
• Step 2 – Confirm author. Add co-author details (all fields) if applicable.
• Step 3 – Upload files. Only Word documents are accepted by WP&R. Please ensure your document contains the required information and is formatted according to the author guidelines.
• Step 4 – Add any comments for the editor.
• Step 5 – Review your information then click submit.

Once submitted, the manuscript is reviewed by the editor and, if acceptable, sent for peer review. You will be notified by email once your manuscript has been selected for peer review.

Peer review process
All manuscripts are initially reviewed by the Editorial committee and those deemed unsuitable (insufficient originality, serious scientific or methodological flaws, or a message that is too specialised or of limited interest to a general medical audience) are returned to the author(s), usually within 4 weeks. If the manuscript does not conform to the submission guidelines, the author will be asked to amend prior to peer review.

All manuscripts are reviewed by content and writing peers for relevance, construction, flow, style and grammar. This process can take 4-6 weeks. All reviewers spend considerable time in reviewing the manuscripts and providing feedback to the authors. The length of time of the publication process can vary and depends on the quality of the work submitted. Several revisions may be required to bring the manuscript to a standard acceptable for publication. The Editorial team undertake the final review and often have different questions for the author/s to consider. When time permits, proofs of articles about to be published will be sent to the corresponding author for review. This requires rapid response; if such a response is not forthcoming, the article will be published irrespective of the authors reply. Providing facsimile numbers facilitates this process. The final decision about publication is made by the Editor.

The peer review process is managed online. Decisions are communicated by email to the corresponding author. Authors without email are contacted by phone, fax or post. Submitted manuscripts are acknowledged by email.