Bipolar Disorders

The Official Journal of The International Society for Bipolar Disorders

Edited by:
K.N. Roy Chengappa and Samuel Gershon

Print ISSN: 1398-5647
Online ISSN: 1399-5618
Frequency: Eight times a year
Current Volume: 12 / 2010
ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2008: 20/156 Clinical Neurology; 51/219 Neurosciences; 22/101 Psychiatry
Impact Factor: 3.959

TopAuthor Guidelines

Bipolar Disorders - An International Journal of Psychiatry and Neurosciences will consider for publication full length research papers, brief reports, invited editorials, new and views, review articles, rapid communications, case reports, and letters to the editors.

Full length research papers and review papers should generally not exceed a total of 7,500 words. Brief reports, news and views, invited editorials and case reports should generally not exceed 2,000 words. Letters to the editors should be less than 600 words. Rapid communications may have the length of either a full length paper or a brief report.

Manuscripts with all tables and figures may be submitted electronically to kocandj@upmc.edu and any written correspondence should be addressed to:
Donna Kocan
Managing Editor, Bipolar Disorders
Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
3811 O'Hara St
Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Tel. +1 412 802 6930
Fax +1 412 802 6931

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. The submission of the manuscript by the authors means that they automatically agree to grant Blackwell Munksgaard the exclusive license to publish it if and when it is accepted for publication. The license is a condition of publication and papers will not be passed to the publisher for production unless it has been granted.

Download the Copyright Transfer Agreement in a PDF format.

As a general rule, papers will be evaluated by four independent reviewers. One copy of the manuscript will be kept in the editorial office in case revision is recommended. Revised manuscripts should be accompanied by a point-by-point reply to the recommendations of reviewers and editor, specifying the changes made in the revised version.

Authors should include in a cover letter the names and complete addresses, including fax or email, of five potential reviewers, which will be used at the discretion of the editors.

The journal does not hold itself responsible for loss or damage to mailed manuscripts, or for statements made by contributors.

Rapid Communications will be considered for important scientific contributions; authors should explain in their accompanying letter why they intend to publish their paper as a rapid communication.

ABOUT MANUSCRIPTS

Manuscripts with all tables and figures may be submitted electronically to kocandj@upmc.edu. The following rules are in general agreement with 'Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals' accepted by an International Steering Committee (see ref. 1 below).

The paper should be submitted in English. Begin each manuscript component (title page, etc.) on separate pages. The pages of the manuscript - text, reference list, tables and legends to figures, in that order, should be numbered consecutively.

Title page
The title page should contain: 1. a concise informative title; 2. author(s)'s names; 3. name of department(s)/ institution(s) to which the work is attributed; 4. name, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the author to whom correspondence about the manuscript, and requests for offprints should be referred; 5. if the title exceeds 40 characters (letters and spaces), a running head of no more than 40 characters; 6. a word count for the whole paper.

Funding Sources
All funding sources supporting the work submitted should be properly acknowledged. Authors are expected to disclose any commercial associations that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted manuscript or indicate that there are no conflicts. This information will be published as a footnote on the title page of the published manuscript.

Abstract and key words
The abstract should not exceed 250 words and should be arranged in a structured fashion to include objectives, methods, results and conclusions. It should state the purpose of the study, basic procedures (study subject /patients / animals and methods), main findings (specific data and statistical significance), and principal conclusions. For the News and Vies articles, a short (up to 100 words) non-structured abstract should be provided. Below the abstract, provide 3-10 key words that will assist indexers in cross-indexing your article. Use terms from the Medical Subject Headings list from Index Medicus, whenever possible.

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 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 and chemicals, including generic name, dosage and route(s) of administration. Authors must indicate that the procedures were approved by the Ethical Committee of Human Experimentation in their country, and are in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975. All papers reporting experiments using animals must include a statement in the Materials and Methods section giving assurance that all animals received humane care. The authors accept full responsibility for the accuracy of the whole content, including findings, citations, quotations and references contained in the manuscript.

Results
Present results in logical sequence in tables and illustrations. In the text, explain, emphasize or summarize the most important observations. Units of measurement should be expressed in accordance with Système International d'Unite (SI Units).

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

Acknowledgements
Acknowledge only persons who have made substantive contributions to the study. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from everyone acknowledged by name because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions. Authors are expected to disclose any commercial or other relationships that could constitute a conflict of interest. All funding sources supporting the work should be acknowledged.

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

Illustrations
All figures should clarify the text and their numbers be kept to a minimum. Details must be large enough to retain their clarity after reduction in size. Illustrations should preferably fill single column width (81 mm) after reduction, although 2/3 page width (112 mm) or full page width (168 mm) will be accepted if necessary. Submit five unmounted copies of each illustration, identifying them with a label on the back which indicates the number, author's name and the top edge. Magnifications should be indicated in the legends rather than inserting scales on prints. Line drawings should be professionally drafted and photographed; halftones should exhibit high contrast. Where possible, authors should send digital versions of each figure saved as a separate file in TIFF or EPS format. Click here for more information on submitting electronic artwork. Color illustrations in small numbers may be accepted free of charge at the discretion of the Editors. Otherwise the author must pay for color reproduction and printing of the illustrations at a rate of GBP 150 for the 1st figure, and GBP 50 each for all subsequent figures. Decisions regarding free color illustrations will be made at the time of acceptance of the article. Authors required to pay for color must complete a color work agreement form and fax it to the production editor on +44 (0)131 226 3803 as soon as the manuscript has been accepted.

Legends
Legends should be typed double-spaced in consecutive order on a separate page. They should be brief and specific. If micrographs are used, information about staining methods and magnification should be given.

Abbreviations, symbols and nomenclature
They should be standardized and in accordance with ELLIS G (ed.). Units, symbols and abbreviations. The Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London W1M 8AE, 1975.

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 references cited, and only these, must be listed at the end of the paper. References should be according to the style used in Index Medicus and International list of periodical title word abbreviations (ISO 833).

Examples:
1. International Steering Committee. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. N Engl J Med 1997; 336: 309.
2. Gershon S, Soares JC. Current therapeutic profile of lithium. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1997; 54:16-20.
3. Soares JC, Mann JJ. The anatomy of mood disorders--review of structural neuroimaging studies. Biol Psychiatry 1997; 41: 86-106.
4. Post RM, Weiss SRB. Kindling and stress sensitization. In: Young LT, Joffe RT ed. Bipolar Disorder - Biological Models and Their Clinical Application. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1997: 93-126.

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 here:
http://www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp

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

Supporting Information (Supplementary Material)
Supporting Information, such as data sets or additional figures or tables that will not be published in the print edition of the Journal but which will be viewable in the online edition may be submitted. If your submission includes supporting information, this should be pointed out to the Editor at submission stage. Please see www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor/suppmat.asp for further information on the submission of Supporting Information.

Online Open
OnlineOpen is available to authors of primary research articles who wish to make their article available to non-subscribers on publication, or whose funding agency requires grantees to archive the final version of their article. With OnlineOpen the author, the author's funding agency, or the author's institution pays a fee to ensure that the article is made available to non-subscribers upon publication via Wiley InterScience, as well as deposited in the funding agency's preferred archive. For the full list of terms and conditions, see here.

Any authors wishing to publish their paper OnlineOpen are required to send a completed Online Open payment form to the Production Office upon acceptance. Prior to acceptance there is no requirement to inform the Editorial Office that you intend to publish your paper OnlineOpen. All OnlineOpen articles are treated in the same way as any other article. They go through the journal's standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit. Please send the completed and scanned Online Open payment form to bdi@wiley.com.

Proofs
All manuscripts will be carefully revised by the publisher's desk editor. Page proofs together with separate block 'pulls' to indicate quality of photographic reduction will be sent to the author's address on the title page and should be returned within 3 days of receipt. Alterations to the text, other than corrections, may be charged to the author.

Offprints
A PDF offprint of the online published article will be provided free of charge to the corresponding author. Additional offprints may be ordered on the offprint order form which will be sent with the proof.

Author Services

Author Services enables authors to track their article - once it has been accepted - through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated e-mails at key stages of production so they don't need to contact the production editor to check on progress. Visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.

CHECKLIST FOR AUTHORS

Complete this checklist before sending your manuscript:

- Letter of submission with names and complete addresses (including fax or email) of five suggested reviewers

Title page: Title (short title of less than 40 spaces), Author(s) and affiliation(s), Address, telephone and fax numbers and e-mail address of corresponding author, Word count

• Article proper (double spaced)
• Structured abstract (arranged in objectives, methods, results and conclusions)
• Key words
• Introduction
• Materials and methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Acknowledgements
• References
• Tables
• Figure legends
• Figures
• Permission to reproduce any previously published material, and patient permission to publish photographs

Authors must make sure that their article is written in idiomatic English and that typing errors have been carefully eliminated.