Guidelines for Authors

The Editors and the Editorial Board of Wound Practice and Research (formally Primary Intention) have specified guidelines for prospective authors to follow when compiling an article they wish to submit to Wound Practice and Research.

• Submission of Manuscript
• Case Reports
• Letters to the Editor
• Examples of Correct References
• Books & other monographs

Submission of Manuscript

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. Three submission copies are to be supplied and these should be double-spaced and printed on one side only of white A4 bond paper, with margins of at least 2.5cm all around.

A copy of the submitted manuscript should be also be supplied on disk (please save as Microsoft Word or ASCII text file formats). The disk is to be clearly labelled with file name and format (program and version), in addition to the primary author's name.
All pages must be numbered consecutively and follow the format as outlined below. Authors are advised to retain a copy of the paper and illustrations.

Terms of Submission

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submission must be a letter signed by all authors and stating that the work has not previously been published and will not be published elsewhere.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 illus-trations become the property of the journal, unless rights are reserved before publication.
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.

Authorship

Each author must have participated sufficiently in the submission to take public responsibility for the content. 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.

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 NH&MRC.

Full Manuscripts

There is no set length for manuscripts; however, they should be structured with the following major headings, and in the format described.

• Title page: provide the following on this page -

  • title, authors' names, authors' qualifications (two major quali-fications only will be published);
  • name and address of the institution in which the work was carried out, and
  • name, full postal address, telephone and facsimile numbers of the corresponding author(s).

• Summary: state in 250 words or less the purpose, basic procedures, main findings and principal conclusions of the study.
  
• Introduction: give the background to the work (appropriately referenced) and state concisely the aim of the work.
  
• Methods: detail the design of the study, the procedures followed and those performed, such that the reader can fully understand the nature of the study. Describe any statistical methods used to analyse the study.
  
• Results: present these in a logical sequence but do not repeat in the text all the data summarised in tables or illustrations, when these are used. Do not include material appropriate to the discussion. Reference must be made to all tables and figures included in the article.
  
• Discussion: review the results with respect to the aims and methods of the study and in relation to any literature referred to. Do not intro-duce new data from the study at this point. Incorporate the main conclusions in the final paragraph.
  
• Acknowledgements: institutions or persons assisting in the study to an extent not warranting authorship may be acknowledged at the conclusion of the article. If the person acknowledged could be seen as endorsing the results or conclusions of the study, written consent for the acknowledgement must be obtained from that person.
  
• References: references must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text. Identify references in text, tables and figure legends using Arabic numerals in parentheses. References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered last. Use the style of the examples provided at the end of these notes. They are based, with slight modification, on the formats set forth in 'Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals', also known as 'Vancouver' style for biomedical journals (N Engl J Med 1991; 324:424-28). Titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. 'Unpublished observations' and 'personal communications' may not be used as references but should be inserted in parentheses in the text. Include among the references papers accepted but not yet published; designate the journal and add 'In press'.
  
• Tables: type each table, double-spaced, on a separate sheet of paper. DO NOT submit tables as photographs. 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. DO NOT use internal horizontal and vertical rules. Using too many tables in relation to the length of the text may cause difficulties with page layout. The editors may recommend removal or modification of tables if the page layout is untenable. If the table has been published, written permission must be obtained and appropriate acknowledgement made.
  
• Legends to figures: the legends for any figures supplied must be typed in sequence on a separate page(s).
  
• Figures: three copies of all figures must be submitted. Photographs of the highest reproductive quality may be submitted in either black and white or colour.
  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. On the back of each figure, place its number, name of first author and orientation of figure. Patients or other individual subjects should not be identifiable from photos unless they have given written written permission for their identity to be disclosed; this must be supplied.
  
• Units: measurements of length, height, weight and volume must be reported in metric units or decimal multiples. Temperatures must be given in degrees Celsius and blood pressure in millimetres of mercury, with haematologic and chemical measurements reported in the metric system (SI).
  
• Abbreviations: define these in the summary and on first mention in the text. Avoid abbreviations unless terms are used repeatedly and abbreviating them will enhance clarity.

Case Reports

These must not exceed 2000 words and must consist of the following headings:

• Title page (as above);
• Introduction (as above);
• Case report;
• Discussion;
• References;
• Tables, and
• Legends to figures.

The guidelines above should be followed.

Letters to the Editor

These must not exceed two double-spaced A4 pages. The point must be clearly and briefly defined and appropriately referenced. The article referred to must be identified by title, author and pages.

Proofs

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 ir-respective of the authorÕs reply. Providing facsimile numbers facilitates this process.

Run-offs (Off-prints)

The corresponding author of each paper published will be provided with five complete editions of the journal containing his or her published article. Extra journals are available at $15 per copy.

Examples of Correct References

Articles in Journals

• Standard journal article - list all authors: 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 (3 pt 1):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. In press.