Contact Dermatitis

Environmental and Occupational Dermatitis

The official journal of the European Society of Contact Dermatitis

Edited by:
Ian R. White

Print ISSN: 0105-1873
Online ISSN: 1600-0536
Frequency: Monthly
Current Volume: 62 / 2010
ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2008: 6/17 Allergy; 5/43 Dermatology
Impact Factor: 3.47

TopAuthor Guidelines

Online submission of manuscripts

Authors are required to submit manuscripts online via ScholarOne Manuscript (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cod). Manuscripts must be submitted as Word (doc) files, charts as Excel (xls) files and figures submitted as JPEG, GIF or TIF files. Do not embed figures, tables and charts within the main text; apend them as separate files.

Authors for whom English is a second language may choose to have their manuscript professionally edited before submission. We are unable to accept any Manuscript submitted in inaccessible English or in a form unsuitable for effective peer review. (http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/english_language.asp)

Authors submitting a paper do so on the understanding that the work has not been published before, is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has been read and approved by all authors.

If you need further instructions for electronic submission of manuscripts please contact the Editor-in-Chief:

Ian R. White
St. John's Institute of Dermatology
St. Thomas Hospital
London SE1 7EH
England
Email: ian.white@kcl.ac.uk

Original papers and review articles should, in most cases, not exceed 8 printed pages (approx. 700 words per printed page). Additional pages must be paid for by the authors at a current rate of GBP140 per page (does not apply to review articles).

Contact Dermatitis accepts original articles, review articles, 'Contact Points' and letters to the editor.

MANUSCRIPTS

For all submissions:

Title page containing:

(1) Concise informative title;

(2) Name(s) of author(s);

(3) Name of department(s)/institution(s) to which the work is attributed;

(4) Name and address of author for correspondence about the manuscript; an email address must be provided;

(5) Disclosures: failure to disclose potential conflicts of interests will result in rejection of the manuscript.

a. Statement of all funding that supported the work must be clearly indicated;

b. All conflicts of interests must be given [Each author is responsible for disclosing all financial and personal relationships that might be perceived by others as biasing their work. Authors MUST state whether potential conflicts exist or not. This will be recorded in the publication];

(6) Author contributions.

a. Each author should have participated sufficiently to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the work. All other individuals should be named in the Acknowledgements (see below);

(7) If the title exceeds 40 characters (letters and spaces) a running head of no more than 40 characters.

For original and review articles:

Summary and key words - The summary should not exceed 200 words. Original articles should have a structured abstract, comprising the five headings:

1. Background,
2. Objectives,
3. Patients/Materials/Methods,
4. Results,
5. Conclusions.

Below the abstract, provide 3-8 key words or phrases.

Introduction - Present the background briefly, but do not review the subject extensively. Give only pertinent references. State the specific questions you want to answer.

Patients and Methods/Materials and Methods - Describe selection of patients or experimental animals, including controls. Do not use patients' names or hospital numbers.

Identify patch test materials (supplier, dilution, vehicle), chambers used, application period and days of readings (use D2, D4 not 48, 96hrs etc).

Identify methods, apparatus (manufacturer's name and address) and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Provide references and brief descriptions of methods that have been published. When using new methods, evaluate their advantages and limitations.

Identify drugs, chemicals and consumer products (including cosmetics unless a specific reason for non-disclosure is given) including generic name, dosage and route(s) of administration.

Indicate whether the procedures were approved by a properly constituted Ethics Committee in your country, or in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, and later revisions. Drug trials must be logged on a public register.

Results - Present results in logical sequence in tables and illustrations. In the text, explain, emphasise or summarise the most important observations. Units of measurement must be expressed in accordance with the Système International d'Unités (SI Units).

When appropriate, data should be statistically evaluated and the appropriateness of the statistical methodology explained. Rates should include confidence intervals. Authors are encouraged to seek advice from a statistician.

Discussion - Do not repeat in detail data given in the Results section. Emphasise the new and important aspects of the study. Relate the observations to other relevant studies. On the basis of your findings (and those of others), discuss possible implications/conclusions. When stating a new hypothesis, clearly identify it as such.

Acknowledgements - Acknowledge only persons who have made substantive contributions to the study. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from everyone acknowledged by name because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions.

Tables - Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. Type each table on a separate sheet, with titles and footnotes making them self-explanatory.

Figures (illustrations, chemical structures and photographs) - should clarify the text and their numbers be kept to a minimum. Details must be sufficient to retain their clarity after reduction of size. Colour illustrations will be accepted free of charge.

Chemical structures should be produced with a chemical structure drawing program (e.g., ChemSketch) and conform to the American Chemical Society settings.

Photographs - When there is any chance that a person may be identified from a picture, legend or other accompanying text, Contact Dermatitis requires the individual's signed consent to publication. Editors may choose to publish the photograph on the front page of the journal. Pictures with black bands across the eyes are discouraged.

Legends - Figure legends should allow interpretation of the figures without reference to the main text; they should appear according to their order of appearance in the text.

References - Number references consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in text, tables and legends by Arabic numerals (in parentheses). All authors cited, and only these, must be listed at the end of the paper. References should follow the following style examples:

1. Giwercman C, Lerbaek A, Bisgaard H, Menné T. Classification of atopic hand eczema and the filaggrin mutations. Contact Dermatitis 2008: 59: 257-260.
2. Agner T, Menné T. Individual predisposition to irritant and allergic contact dermatitis. In: Contact Dermatitis, 4th edition, Frosch P J, Menné T, Lepottevin J-P Eds): Berlin Heidelberg, Springer-Verlag, 2006: 127-134.
3. European Commission, Scientific Committee on Consumer Products. Opinion on Oak moss /Tree moss (sensitisaton only), 2008. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_sccp/docs/sccp_o_131.pdf (last accessed 01 December 2008).

Other Requirements

Abbreviations and symbols - All units must be metric.

Unfamiliar abbreviations must be defined when first used.

Avoid acronyms and excessive use of unnecessary abbreviations (e.g., atopic dermatitis not AD, hand eczema not HE, allergic contact dermatitis not ACD).

Do not use Roman numerals in the text.

In decimal fractions a decimal point, and not a comma, must be used. The minus sign is shown as --.

Use a space between digits to separate thousands (eg. million: 1 000 000)

Nomenclature - All units must be defined.

Units of measurement must be SI Units.

Chemical names and botanical extracts should be INCI, if available (http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/cosmetics/html/cosm_inci_index.htm), and in preference to other common names; CAS numbers should be provided, if appropriate (e.g., 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (bronopol; CAS 52-51-7)) (http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/cosmetics/inci/inci_2006.pdf).

For drugs, the International Non-proprietary Name (INN) should be used ( http://www.who.int/medicines/services/inn/en/).

CONTACT POINTS - Short papers not exceeding 600 words including references, 400 words with a table or figure included may be accepted for publication if they serve to promote communication between clinicians and research workers.

In contrast to Original Articles, contributes to this section will not undergo peer review but will be assessed by the editorial team. Contact points should include:

- Title page see above;

- Key words - 3-18;

- Introduction - Present the background briefly, but do not review the subject extensively;

- Case history or Methods/Materials and Results;

- Discussion - Emphasise the new and important aspects.

Figures, Abbreviations and Nomenclature should conform to the instructions for Manuscripts see above.

Publication

Note to NIH Grantees
Pursuant to NIH mandate, Wiley-Blackwell will post the accepted version of contributions authored by NIH grant-holders to PubMed Central upon acceptance. This accepted version will be made publicly available 12 months after publication. For further information, see www.wiley.com/nihmandate.

Copyright Transfer Agreement - Authors will be required to sign a Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA) for all papers accepted for publication. Signature of the CTA is a condition of publication and papers will not be passed to the publisher for production unless a signed form has been received (US Federal Government employees need to complete the Author Warranty sections, although copyright in such cases does not need to be assigned). To assist authors, an appropriate form will be supplied by the editorial office. Alternatively, authors may like to download a copy of the form from www.wiley.com/go/ctaaglobal. Please send the completed form to: Production Editor - Contact Dermatitis, Wiley-Blackwell, 600 North Bridge Road, #05-01 Parkview Square, Singapore 188778. You may also fax to +65-6511-8288 (attention: Production Editor - Contact Dermatitis), or email the scanned form to cod@wiley.com.

Proofs - Manuscripts may be revised within the editorial office. Only in case of extensive corrections will the manuscript be returned to the authors for final approval.

The corresponding author will receive an email alert containing a link to a web site. A working email address must therefore be provided for the corresponding author. Further instructions will be sent with the proof.

Author Services: http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor

Offprints/reprints - Corresponding authors will automatically receive a PDF offprint by email.

Early View - Contact Dermatitis is covered by Blackwell Publishing's Early View service.

OnlineOpen - See: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/COD_OOF.pdf