Manuscript Guidelines

Content

• Manuscripts should contain a cover page with the following information:
• corresponding author’s mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail
• short title of manuscript
• key words
• List all financial support for the project, including consultancies and other potential conflicts of interest, have been listed and included in the Acknowledgments section.
• Manuscripts may contain a total of 4 tables and figures.

Layout

• Manuscripts should contain between 2,500 and 3,000 words, including an abstract of 150–200 words.
• Manuscripts will be accepted in the following file formats:
• Macintosh: Framemaker, MacWrite, Word, WordPerfect, Works WP, or WriteNow.
• IBM PC: DCA-RFT, FrameMaker, MultiMate, Office Writer, Text, Word for Windows, WordPerfect, WordStar, Works WP, or XYWrite.
• Manuscripts should be double-spaced (a minimum of 6 mm or 16 pts between lines). This applies to the text as well as to all tables, legends, and footnotes.
• Figures and tables should not exceed 8 1/2 x 11 inches.
• Manuscripts should be “clean”, i.e. free of tabs and codes.
• Manuscripts should use bold and italic type face exactly as they will appear on the printed page.
• Use italic type for such items like the genus and species of an organism, g (for gravitational force), Latin words and abbreviations (for example, e.g., i.e., in vitro, in vivo, et al.), and journal names in the References section.
• Page numbers in the manuscript should appear in the top right-hand corner. Number all pages consecutively including the title page.
• Type no more than 10 characters per inch or use a font size of 12 pt.

Manuscript Components

The components of a manuscript, in the order that they should be arranged, are:

• Title Page
• Abstract
• Body Text
• Acknowledgments
• References
• Tables
• Figures

Title Page

The first page of the manuscript is the title page. The title page should contain the following items:

1. Title of the paper.
• The title should be brief (not to exceed 80 characters) and illustrative of the topic of the paper.
• Use bold type and capitalize only the first letters of the main words.
2. Short title of the paper (running head). Up to 45 characters.
3. Three to five key words, preferably from the Medical Subject Headings.
4. Number of words in the abstract.
5. Number of words in the abstract and the text (excluding tables, figure legends, Acknowledgments, and cited References).
6. Number of tables and figures.
7. Number of cited references.
8. If applicable, list source footnotes to indicate prior preliminary publication. For example, state that the work was “Based on a thesis submitted to the graduate faculty, Azimuth University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD degree” or that a preliminary report was presented at X, or published in X.
9. Report all sources of funding in a later section, “Acknowledgments.”
10. Contributors’ names with initials and last names in upper- and lower-case letters.
11. Contributors’ addresses.
    • Use superscript numbers to relate contributors to different departments or institutions, or to indicate a change in address.
    • For the corresponding author who will receive reprint requests, provide the full postal (including ZIP or Postal Code) and e-mail addresses, telephone and fax numbers, as available.
    • If the corresponding author is not the first author, indicate by a number superscript, and use the phrase “corresponding author”, and that individual’s e-mail address.

Abstract

The second page of the manuscript is the abstract. The abstract should be a self-standing summary of the text. It should not exceed one typed page and have been 150 – 200 words. The abstract will be re-published separately by information retrieval services. The abstract should concisely describe the:

• background and rationale
• hypothesis or study objective
• design and key methods
• essential results
• conclusions

Body Text

The body text of the manuscript begins on the third page. The body text of the manuscript should cover the content of the presentation given at the conference, and, if appropriate, any subsequent discussions. The organization of the body text is left to the discretion of the author(s).

Use the following formatting for headings in the manuscript:

• Heading 1: bold, and all upper-case letters.
• Heading 2: bold, and upper and lower-case letters.
• Heading 3: bold, upper and lower-case letters, indented.
• Heading 4: italicized, upper and lower-case letters, indented.

The following guidelines illustrate how to cite references in the text:

• Provide attribution for the subject under discussion. For example, “Cold fusion has been difficult to replicate (Williams and Jones, 1988), but some recent modifications in experimental design (Jones et al., 1989) continue to stimulate new investigation.” Avoid “Jones et al. (1989) found...” or “In a recent study, Jones (1990) found...”, which creates vague statements because the subject is shifted from “cold fusion” to the names of the cited contributors.
• Use “et al.” (in italics) when the cited work is by three or more contributors.
• When the cited work is by two contributors, use both surnames separated by “and.”
• When citing multiple references by the same author(s) in the same year, use “a”, “b”, etc. (e.g., Jones, 1980b). Multiple references should be listed in chronological order of publication, separated by semi-colons.
• “Unpublished observations” and “personal communications” may be inserted into and cited in parentheses in the text with written permission from the correspondents, but not listed as references.

Acknowledgements

In the Acknowledgements section, recognize individuals or institutions who provided assistance to the project. Report all sources of grant and other support for the project or study, including funds received from contributors’ institutions and commercial sources. Consultancies and funds paid directly to investigators must also be listed. Please include the following statement: “The development of this manuscript was supported in part by award 1R13DE014611-01 from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research/National Library of Medicine.”

References

[Examples of References (.pdf)]

The References section lists all sources cited in the paper.

• References should be double-spaced.
• List the citations in alphabetical order by last name of the first author without numbering.
• Abbreviate journal names according to the style used in Index Medicus.
• Other titles should be formatted with slight modifications of the style used by the US National Library of Medicine in Index Medicus.
• Avoid using abstracts as references.
• Designate accepted but not yet published papers with the journal name and add “(in press).”
• Information from manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted should be cited in the text as “(unpublished observations).”
• References must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents and checked for correspondence between references cited in the text and listed in the References section.

Tables

Manuscripts may contain a total of 4 tables and figures. Tables will usually be printed either 3-1/4 or 7 inches wide. The following guidelines illustrate content and layout of tables in the manuscript.

• Place each table on a separate page.
• Design tables to highlight key results and comparisons.
• Make every effort to make the presentation of data clear, simple, and uncluttered.
• Table Heading
• Number each table in the order it is mentioned in the text.
• Use Arabic numerals for table headings.
• Follow the table number with a brief descriptive title, generally highlighting the key result.
• Columns
• Use accurate descriptors instead of symbols, acronyms, and abbreviations.
• Column headings should be simple and clear so that table will be understandable without consulting the text.
• In tabular columns and the text, decimals less than unity must have the decimal point preceded by a zero.
• Generally, column headings identify dependent variables, while independent variables are identified by row descriptors on the left.
• Footnotes
• To avoid long titles and cumbersome tables, use explanatory footnotes whenever possible.
• To indicate the order of footnotes, use superscript letters (a,b,c,d,e,f, etc.)
• Cite the short form of references in parentheses in footnotes.
• Report only the number of significant digits appropriate to the sensitivity and discrimination of the measure and the differences to be illustrated.
• Tabs should be used to separate columns within tables.

Figures

Manuscripts may contain a total of 4 tables and figures. Figures are any illustrative materials, including photomicrographs, radiographs, charts, and graphs. Figures must be discussed thoroughly in the text. Figures will be published in black-and-white only. Figures will generally be printed column-width, 1-1/2 columns’ width, or page-width.

The following guidelines illustrate content and layout of figures in the manuscript.

• Preferably submit black-and-white photographic prints, laser-quality reproductions, and original drawings on opaque white paper.
• Label each figure, oriented upright (indicated by an arrow), with contributors’ names and figure number (and letter) in sequence corresponding to the order it is mentioned in the text.
• Crop extraneous material should be cropped out to ensure minimal reduction.
• Graphs should be labeled briefly and clearly at the abscissa and ordinate, including the units of measure.
• Sizing of figures
• All figures must be labeled to allow for easy readability and visualization if reduced by 50% or more.
• If possible, determine the percentage reduction at which the figure will be reproduced (e.g., 3-1/4 or 7 inches wide). Print a copy at that percentage to see how all elements will be affected.
• Consider that any line or rule thinner than 1/2 point may not reproduce. Patterns used in bar charts can become illegible, thus rendering useless any keys provided for graphs.
• Ideally, all figures should be provided at the optimum size for publication.
• Legends
• The title and other identification may appear in the legend.
• Legends for all figures, including charts and graphs, must be typed together on a separate page and should be understandable without consulting the text.
• Include a title highlighting the key result and a key for any symbols or abbreviations used in the figure.