Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics

The Journal of the College of Optometrists

Edited by:
Christine Dickinson

Print ISSN: 0275-5408
Online ISSN: 1475-1313
Frequency: Bi-monthly
Current Volume: 30 / 2010
ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2008: 37/48 Ophthalmology
Impact Factor: 1.0

TopAuthor Guidelines

Processing times

For more information about the Journal's manuscript processing times, please click here.

Submission

Manuscript submission is carried out in a simple step-by-step process via a computer with internet connection and a Web browser. As long as you save your work at the end of each step, you do not have to complete your submission in a single visit. Your "unsubmitted manuscripts" will be held in your Corresponding Author Center where you can return to them at any time, and when you re-enter the submission process you can immediately click on the appropriate stage.

If it is your first visit to the site, you need to select "create an account" on the upper right of the log-in screen. If you have previously worked with the journal as a reviewer or author, you may already have an account. In this case enter your e-mail address into the "password help" to receive details of your account (the password you have been given can be changed later via the "edit account" tab).

To submit the manuscript you should assemble all parts of your manuscript in electronic format: ScholarOne Manuscripts will combine these into single pdf and HTML documents. The covering letter, title page and main text should each be prepared as separate Word documents. The main text should include: Abstract (approximately 200 words) and Keywords; Introduction; Methods; Results; Discussion; Acknowledgements; References; Tables with their accompanying captions; and Figure captions.
Each figure should be submitted in a separate file. You will be given the option to provide a "File Tag": this is what you have called the Figure in the main document. If you enter this exactly with the correct formatting (e.g., is it "Figure 1" or "Fig 1"), the image will automatically be linked to the correct point in the HTML presentation.

A figure produced in Excel or Powerpoint should be copied and pasted into a graphics program and saved as a .TIFF file. Line drawings, charts and graphs should be saved in .TIFF format with a minimum resolution of 600 dpi. Gray scale or colour images should be saved as .TIFF or .EPS files with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.

Although you can upload as many files as you wish, they will be uploaded in groups of three. You can load them in any order, but you should then use the drop-down lists to put them in the order you wish them to appear in the final document. Captions can be provided with each of the figure/image files uploaded, but it is recommended that the captions also be listed at the end of the main text. In both cases, it is essential that you begin each caption with "Figure" and the figure number.

When submitting the manuscript you will also need to enter name and address details of all your co-authors. They will then also have an account created in ScholarOne Manuscripts, and will automatically receive information concerning the progress of the manuscript. You can also suggest preferred or non-preferred reviewers for your manuscript. In order to register such a preference you will need the e-mail address of the reviewer.
Having assembled the manuscript, log-in to ScholarOne Manuscripts, and enter the Corresponding Author Center to upload your manuscript files.
A completed manuscript submission is confirmed immediately by automatic e-mail. Your manuscript will have a unique reference number and you can check its progress at any time by returning to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/opo. Decisions and reviewers' comments will be sent by e-mail, and revisions and responses can be submitted online.

Peer review is also a fully online process. Referees are invited by e-mail, and are given full instructions and access to the paper at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/opo. Reviewers' comments (called "score sheets") are completed and submitted to the Editor online.
Full support for both authors and reviewers is available at all times.

Each page has a 'Get Help Now' icon on the site connecting directly to the online support system at http://blackwellsupport.custhelp.com. Queries can also be sent to support@scholarone.com and telephone support is available through the US Scholar ONe support office between 8:00 and 22:30 GMT on +1 434-817-2040 ext 167

If you cannot submit online, the Editorial Office will continue to receive postal submissions in electronic form. These should be sent to:

Professor Chris Dickinson
Editor-in-Chief, OPO
Faculty of Life Sciences, Moffat Building
University of Manchester
PO Box 88, Sackville Street
Manchester
M60 1QD, UK
e-mail: chris.dickinson@manchester.ac.uk

Any correspondence regarding manuscripts should be sent to the same address.

Guidance on preparing manuscripts and figures

Authors are encouraged to write their manuscript as concisely as possible. For authors whose first language is not English, or who are new to writing scientific articles, the Editor-in-Chief would be happy to provide guidance on style and grammar. For submissions reporting on the evaluation of diagnostic tests for potential clinical use, the attention of authors is drawn to guidelines contained in the current version of the STARD statement (http://www.consort-statement.org/Initiatives/newstard.htm). Those reporting parallel group randomised trials are directed to the CONSORT statement (http://www.consort-statement.org).
The captions for Tables and Figures should be as brief as possible, simply explaining the symbols and abbreviations used. More detailed description and analysis of the results should be in the body of the text. Column headings in a table, and axes on a graph, should be as brief as possible; the units of measurement should be given in parentheses. Graphs, line drawings, pie charts and histograms should be produced in black-on-white where possible, with suitable shading or texture (rather than colour) to distinguish different areas. In general, shaded backgrounds, 3-D presentation, and legends or titles on the figure itself, should be avoided. Detailed information on the publisher's digital illustration standards is available on the BPL homepage at http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/illustration.asp.
Illustrations can be reproduced in colour if required. If this is necessary to convey adequate information, such as in photographs of the eye, the cost of this will be borne by the College of Optometrists. In other cases, authors will be asked to pay the cost of this, or seek sponsorship to cover it.

There should be a uitable caption at the top of each table. Column headings should be kept as brief as possible, and indicate units of mesurement in parantheses. References

Referencing should follow the Harvard style.
(a) In the text, references should be quoted by giving the author's name followed by the year of publication. For more than two authors, the name of the first author is given followed by the words 'et al.' .

(b) The reference list should be typed separately at the end of the manuscript in alphabetical order and arranged as follows: author's name and initials, year, title of the article, abbreviated title of the journal, volume, first and last page numbers. Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the rules adopted in the World List of Scientific Periodicals. For example:

Stone, J. (1976). The possible influence of contact lenses on myopia. Br. J. Physiol. Optics 31, 89-114.

References to books should include the author's name and initials, year, title of book, volume, page numbers, publisher and place of publication. Where relevant, the title of a paper within a book, and the editor's names, should be given. For example:

Pitts, D. G. (1993). Ocular effects of radiant energy. In: Environmental Vision (eds D. G. Pitts and R. N. Kleinstein), Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, MA, USA, pp. 151-220.

(c) A paper which has been accepted for publication but which has not appeared may be cited in the References with the abbreviated title of the journal followed by the words 'in press'.

(d) A 'personal communication' or 'unpublished data' should be cited as such in the text with full author names. These citations should NOT be included in the reference list.

References in articles

We recommend the use of a tool such as EndNote or Reference Manager for reference management and formatting.
EndNote reference styles can be searched for at http://www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp.

Reference Manager reference styles can be searched for at http://www.refman.com/support/rmstyles.asp.

Proofs

The corresponding author will receive an e-mail alert containing a link to a website. A working e-mail address must therefore be provided. The proof can be downloaded as a pdf (portable document format) file from this site. Acrobat Reader is required in order to read this file and the software can be downloaded (free of charge) from the following website http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. This will enable the file to be opened, read on screen and printed out in order for any corrections to be made to the hard copy. The Journal also welcomes corrections sent in e-annotated proof format. Further instructions will be sent with the proof. Authors should note that corrections should be marked clearly and kept to a minimum.The Publishers reserve the right to charge for any changes made at the proof stage (other than Typesetter's errors) since the insertion or deletion of a single word may necessitate the resetting of whole paragraphs. Please note that lower-resolution figures are used in the e-proof and the final electronic online version to facilitate pdf proofing and keep download times to a minimum.

Authors will be provided with electronic offprints of their paper. Paper offprints may be ordered at prices quoted on the order form which accompanies proofs provided that the form is returned at the same time as the proof. Note that this form should not be returned with your proofs, but to the address at the bottom of the form. The cost is more if the order form arrives too late for the main print run. Offprints are normally despatched within 3 weeks of publication of the issue in which the paper appears. Please contact the publishers if offprints do not arrive: however, please note that offprints are sent by surface mail, so overseas orders may take up to 6 weeks to arrive. Electronic offprints are sent to the corresponding author at his or her first e-mail address on the title page of the paper, unless advised otherwise; therefore please ensure that the name, address and e-mail of the receiving author are clearly indicated on the manuscript title page. Copyright

Submission of a paper will be taken to imply that it presents original, unpublished work, not under consideration for publication elsewhere. By submitting a manuscript, authors agree to assign the College of Optometrists exclusive licence to publish their paper if and when the article is published. To enable this each paper should be accompanied by an exclusive licence form. It is a condition of publication that authors grant the College of Optometrists the exclusive licence to publish all articles including abstracts. Papers will not be passed to the publisher for production unless the exclusive licence to publish has been granted. To assist authors an exclusive licence form is available from the editorial office or by clicking here.

Accompanying all papers should be a statement that they have not been published elsewhere and that, if accepted for publication in Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics, they will not be submitted elsewhere without the consent of the Editor-in-Chief.

Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics offers authors the opportunity to publish their paper OnlineOpen. OnlineOpen is a pay-to-publish service from Wiley-Blackwell that offers authors whose papers are accepted for publication the opportunity to pay up-front for their manuscript to become open access (i.e. free for all to view and download) via the Wiley-Blackwell InterScience website. Each OnlineOpen article will be subject to a one-off fee of $3,000 to be met by or on behalf of the Author in advance of publication. Upon online publication, the article (both full-text and PDF versions) will be available to all for viewing and download free of charge. The print version of the article will also be branded as OnlineOpen and will draw attention to the fact that the paper can be downloaded for free via the Wiley-Blackwell InterScience service.

Any authors wishing to publish their paper OnlineOpen will be required to complete the combined payment and OnlineOpen copyright form. (Please note this form is for use with OnlineOpen material ONLY).Once complete this form should be sent to the Production Editor (address on the form) at the time of acceptance or as soon as possible after that (preferably within 24 hours to avoid any delays in processing). Prior to acceptance there is no requirement to inform the Production Editor that you intend to publish your paper OnlineOpen if you do not wish to. Authors wanting to publish their paper OnlineOpen should complete the Online Open Copyright Licence Form and not the Exclusive Licence Form.

For questions concerning copyright, please visit Blackwell Publishing's Copyright FAQ.

OnlineOpen

OnlineOpen is an optional pay-to-publish service from Wiley-Blackwell that offers authors whose papers are accepted for publication the opportunity to pay up-front for their manuscript to become open access (i.e. free for all to view and download) via the Blackwell Synergy website. Each OnlineOpen article will be subject to a one-off fee of $3,000 to be met by or on behalf of the Author in advance of publication. Upon online publication, the article (both full-text and PDF versions) will be available to all for viewing and download free of charge. The print version of the article will also be branded as OnlineOpen and will draw attention to the fact that the paper can be downloaded for free via the Wiley-Blackwell InterScience service.

Any authors wishing to send their paper OnlineOpen will be required to complete the combined payment and copyright licence form (Please note this form is for use with OnlineOpen material ONLY.) Click here for a form.

Once complete this form should be sent to the Editorial Office along with the rest of the manuscript materials at the time of acceptance or as soon as possible after that (preferably within 24 hours to avoid any delays in processing). Prior to acceptance there is no requirement to inform an Editorial Office that you intend to publish your paper OnlineOpen if you do not wish to.

The copyright statement for OnlineOpen authors will read:

© [date] The Author(s)
Journal compilation © [date] [The College of Optpmetrists]

Author material archive policy

Please note that unless specifically requested not to, Wiley-Blackwell will dispose of all hardcopy or electronic material submitted 2 months after publication. If you require the return of any material submitted, please inform the editorial office or production editor as soon as possible if you have not already done so.

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/go/nihmandate