Veterinary and Comparative Oncology

Edited by:
David J. Argyle and David M. Vail

Print ISSN: 1476-5810
Online ISSN: 1476-5829
Frequency: Quarterly
Current Volume: 8 / 2010
Impact Factor: 0.958

TopAuthor Guidelines

1. GENERAL

Veterinary and Comparative Oncology is an international, peer-reviewed journal integrating clinical and scientific information from a variety of related disciplines and from worldwide sources for all veterinary oncologists concerned with aetiology, diagnosis and clinical course of cancer in domestic animals and its prevention. With the ultimate aim of diminishing suffering from cancer, the journal supports the transfer of knowledge in all aspects of veterinary oncology, from the application of new laboratory technology to cancer prevention, early detection, diagnosis and cure.
In addition to original articles, the journal publishes solicited editorials, review articles, clinical papers, commentary, correspondence and abstracts from the published literature. Current editorial policy has been to administratively decline to publish case reports unless they contain a meaningful series of cases, or the information contained therein will change the standard of care for therapy, diagnosis, or investigation of the tumour in question. Looking ahead, it is anticipated that as the journal becomes established, there may be themed issues to cover areas of importance or debate, e.g. the management of lymphoma.
Veterinary and Comparative Oncology is the official journal of the Veterinary Cancer Society, European Society of Veterinary Oncology, Japanese Veterinary Cancer Society and British Veterinary Oncology Study Group.
Please read the instructions below carefully for details on the submission of manuscripts, the journal's requirements and standards as well as information concerning the procedure after a manuscript has been accepted for publication in Veterinary and Comparative Oncology. Authors are encouraged to visit Wiley-Blackwell Author Services for further information on the preparation and submission of articles and
figures.

2. ETHICAL GUIDELINES

Veterinary and Comparative Oncology adheres to the below ethical guidelines for publication and research.

2.1. Authorship and Acknowledgements
Authorship: Authors submitting a paper do so on the understanding that the manuscript has been read and approved by all authors and that all authors agree to the submission of the manuscript to the journal. ALL named authors must have made an active contribution to the conception and design and/or analysis and interpretation of the data and/or the drafting of the paper and ALL must have critically reviewed its content and have approved the final version submitted for publication. Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship and, except in
the case of complex large-scale or multi-centre research, the number of authors should not exceed six.
Veterinary and Comparative Oncology adheres to the definition of authorship set up by The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). According to the ICMJE authorship criteria should be based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design of, or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data, 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content and 3) final approval of the version to be published. Authors should meet conditions 1, 2 and 3.
It is a requirement that all authors have been accredited as appropriate upon submission of the manuscript. Contributors who do not qualify as authors should be mentioned under Acknowledgements.

Acknowledgements: Under Acknowledgements please specify contributors to the article other than the authors accredited. Please also include specifications of the source of funding for the study and any potential conflict of interests if appropriate. Suppliers of materials should be named and their location (town, state/county, country) included.

2.2. Ethical Approvals
Experimental Subjects: experimentation involving human subjects will only be published if such research has been conducted in full accordance with ethical principles, including the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm; 2002 version) and the additional requirements, if any, of the country where the research has been carried out. Manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and written consent of each subject and according to the above mentioned principles. A statement regarding the fact that the study has been independently reviewed and approved by an ethical board should also be included. Editors reserve the right to reject papers if there are doubts as to whether appropriate procedures have been used.
When experimental animals are used the methods section must clearly indicate that adequate measures were taken to minimize pain or discomfort. Experiments should be carried out in accordance with the Guidelines laid down by the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the USA regarding the care and use of animals for experimental procedures or with the European Communities Council Directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC) and in accordance with local laws and regulations.

Ethics of investigation: Papers not in agreement with the guidelines of the Helsinki Declaration as revised in 1975 will not be accepted for publication.

2.3 DNA Sequences and Crystallographic Structure Determinations
Papers reporting protein or DNA sequences and crystallographic structure determinations will not be accepted without a Genbank or Brookhaven accession number, respectively. Other supporting data sets must be made available on the publication date from the authors directly.

2.4 Conflict of Interest and Source of Funding
Conflict of Interest: Authors are required to disclose any possible conflict of interest. These include financial (for example patent, ownership, stock ownership, consultancies, speaker's fee). Author's conflict of interest (or information specifying the absence of conflicts of interest) will be published under a separate heading entitled 'Conflict of Interest'.
Veterinary and Comparative Oncology requires that sources of institutional, private and corporate financial support for the work within the manuscript must be fully acknowledged, and any potential conflicts of interest noted. As of 1st March 2007, this information will be a requirement for all manuscripts submitted to the journal and will be published in a highlighted box on the title page of the article. Please include this information under the separate headings of 'Source of Funding' and 'Conflict of Interest' at the end of your manuscript. If the author does not include a conflict of interest statement in the manuscript then the following statement will be included by default: 'No conflicts of interest have been declared'.

Source of Funding: Authors are required to specify the source of funding for their research when submitting a paper. Suppliers of materials should be named and their location (town, state/county, country) included. The information will be disclosed in the published article.

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

2.5 Appeal of Decision
Authors who wish to appeal the decision on their submitted paper may do so by e-mailing the editors with a detailed explanation for why they find reasons to appeal the decision.

2.6 Permissions
If all or parts of previously published illustrations are used, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder concerned. It is the author's responsibility to obtain these in writing and provide copies to the Publishers.

2.7 Copyright Assignment
Authors submitting a paper do so on the understanding that the work and its essential substance have not been published before and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. The submission of the manuscript by the authors means that the authors automatically agree to assign full copyright to Blackwell Publishing if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. The work shall not be published elsewhere in any language without the written consent of the publisher. The articles published in this journal are protected by copyright, which covers translation rights and the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute all of the articles printed in the journal. No material published in the journal may be stored on microfilm or videocassettes, in electronic databases and the like, or reproduced photographically without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Correspondence to the journal is accepted on the understanding that the contributing author assigns full copyright to the publisher to publish the letter as part of the journal or separately from it, in the exercise of any subsidiary rights relating to the journal and its contents. Upon acceptance of a paper, authors are required to assign the full copyright to publish their paper to Blackwell Publishing. Assignment of the full copyright is a condition of publication and papers will not be passed to the publisher for production unless full copyright has been assigned. (Papers subject to government or Crown copyright are exempt from this requirement; however, the form still has to be signed). A completed Copyright Transfer Agreement must be sent to the production editor, before any manuscript can be published. Authors must send the completed Copright Transfer Agreement by regular mail/fax/e-mail upon receiving notice of manuscript acceptance, i.e., do not send the form at submission. For questions concerning copyright, please visit Wiley-Blackwell's Copyright FAQ.

3. SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically via the online submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/vco. The use of an online submission and peer review site enables immediate distribution of manuscripts and consequentially speeds up the review process. It also allows authors to track the status of their own manuscripts. Complete instructions for submitting a paper are available online and below. Full instructions and support are available on the site and a user ID and password can be obtained on the first visit. Support can be contacted by phone (+1 434 817 2040 ext. 167) Monday-Friday, or at http://mcv3support.custhelp.com. If you cannot submit online, please contact the Editors: David Argyle (David.Argyle@ed.ac.uk) or David Vail
(vailm@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu).

3.1. Getting Started

• Launch your web browser (supported browsers include Internet Explorer 6 or higher, Netscape 7.0, 7.1, or 7.2, Safari 1.2.4, or Firefox 1.0.4) and go to Veterinary and Comparative Oncology's ScholarOne Manuscripts (formerly known as Manuscript Central) homepage: (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/vco)
• Log-in or click the 'Create Account' option if you are a first-time user.
• If you are creating a new account.
  - After clicking on 'Create Account', enter your name and e-mail information and click 'Next'. Your e-mail information is very important.
  - Enter your institution and address information as appropriate, and then click 'Next'.
  - Enter a user ID and password of your choice (we recommend using your e-mail address as your user ID), and then select your area of expertise. Click 'Finish'.
• If you have an account, but have forgotten your log in details, go to Password Help on the Veterinary and Comparative Oncology's online submission system (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/vco) and enter your e-mail address. The system will send you an automatic user ID and a new temporary password.
• Log-in and select 'Author Center'.

3.2. Submitting Your Manuscript

• After you have logged in, click the 'Submit a Manuscript' link in the menu bar.
• Enter data and answer questions as appropriate. You may copy and paste directly from your manuscript and you may upload your pre-prepared covering letter.
• Click the 'Next' button on each screen to save your work and advance to the next screen.
• You are required to upload your files.
  - Click on the 'Browse' button and locate the file on your computer.
  - Select the designation of each file in the drop-down menu next to the Browse button.
  - When you have selected all files you wish to upload, click the 'Upload Files' button.
• Review your submission (in HTML and PDF format) before sending to the Veterinary and Comparative Oncology. Click the 'Submit' button when you are finished reviewing.

3.3. Manuscript Files Accepted
Manuscripts should be uploaded as Word (.doc) or Rich Text Format (.rft) files (not password-protected) plus separate figure files. GIF, JPEG, PICT or Bitmap files are acceptable for submission, but only high-resolution TIF or EPS files are suitable for printing. The files will be automatically converted to HTML and PDF on upload and will be used for the review process. The text file must contain the entire manuscript including: title page, abstract, text, references, tables, and figure legends, but no embedded figures. Figure tags should be included in the file. Manuscripts should be formatted as described in the Author Guidelines below.
Please note that any manuscripts uploaded as Word 2007 (.docx) will be automatically rejected. Please save any .docx file as .doc before uploading.

3.4. Blinded Review
All manuscripts submitted to Veterinary and Comparative Oncology will be reviewed by a minimum of two experts in the field. Veterinary and Comparative Oncology uses single-blinded review. The names of the reviewers will thus not be disclosed to the author submitting a paper.

3.5. Suggest a Reviewer
Veterinary and Comparative Oncology attempts to keep the review process as short as possible to enable rapid publication of new scientific data. In order to facilitate this process, please suggest the names and current e-mail addresses of at least two potential international reviewers whom you consider capable of reviewing your manuscript. In addition to your choice the journal editor will choose one or two reviewers as well.

3.6. Suspension of Submission Mid-way in the Submission Process
You may suspend a submission at any phase before clicking the 'Submit' button and save it to submit later. The manuscript can then be located under 'Unsubmitted Manuscripts' and you can click on 'Continue Submission' to continue your submission when you choose to.

3.7. E-mail Confirmation of Submission
After submission you will receive an e-mail to confirm receipt of your manuscript. If you do not receive the confirmation e-mail after 24 hours, please check your e-mail address carefully in the system. If the e-mail address is correct please contact your IT department. The error may be caused by spam filtering software on your e-mail server. Also, the e-mails should be received if the IT department adds our e-mail server (uranus.scholarone.com) to their whitelist.

3.8. Manuscript Status
You can access ScholarOne Manuscripts any time to check your 'Author Center' for the status of your manuscript. The journal will inform you by e-mail once a decision has been made.

3.9. Submission of Revised Manuscripts
Revised manuscripts must be uploaded within one month of authors being notified of conditional acceptance pending satisfactory revision. Locate your manuscript under 'Manuscripts with Decisions' and click on 'Submit a Revision' to submit your revised manuscript. Please remember to delete any old files uploaded when you upload your revised manuscript.

4. MANUSCRIPT TYPES ACCEPTED

Editorials: A solicited Editorial relates to a manuscript in the same issue or a topic of current interest.

Review Articles: A Review Article is a timely, in-depth discussion of an issue.

Short Communications: A Short Communication includes new techniques/technology reports, etc.

Letters to the Editor: Letters should be sent to the Editors for approval, and include reference to the article being discussed and should be concise, preferably less than 450 words.

Abstracts: The editorial board selects abstracts from the published literature for publication.

5. MANUSCRIPT FORMAT AND STRUCTURE

5.1. Format
Language: The language of publication is English. Authors for whom English is a second language must have their manuscript professionally edited by an English speaking person before submission to make sure the English is of high quality. It is preferred that manuscripts are professionally edited. A list of independent suppliers of editing services can be found at http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/english_language.asp. All services are paid for and arranged by the author, and use of one of these services does not guarantee acceptance or preference for publication.

5.2. Structure
All manuscripts submitted to Veterinary and Comparative Oncology should include: title page; a self-contained synopsis of the paper (150 words in length); the text; acknowledgements (if any); references; tables; and abbreviated title for use as a running headline; captions to figures (on a separate page).

Title Page: title of paper; names of the authors; address of the place at which the work was carried out (including postal and email addresses for corresponding author).

Abstract: 150 words in length and between four and six keywords

Optimizing Your Abstract for Search Engines: Many students and researchers looking for information online will use search engines such as Google, Yahoo or similar. By optimizing your article for search engines, you will increase the chance of someone finding it. This in turn will make it more likely to be viewed and/or cited in another work. We have compiled these guidelines to enable you to maximize the web-friendliness of the most public part of your article.

5.3. References
References should be cited in the text by superscript numbers, in order of citation. All authors should be listed. The editor and publisher recommend that citation of online published papers and other material should be done via a DOI (digital object identifier), which all reputable online published material should have - see www.doi.org for more information. If an author cites anything which does not have a DOI they run the risk of the cited material not being traceable.

Articles: References to articles should include: all author names and initials, title of the article, title of the journal in full, year, volume, page numbers. For example:

1 Mauldin GN, Foster TP, Waddell CW and Egan ME. Cloning,
expression and in vitro evaluation of recombinant canine Tum5,
an angiostatic domain of mammalian type IV collagen. Veterinary
and Comparative Oncology 2003; 1: 36-47.

Book chapter/Proceedings: References to books should include: the author's name(s) and initials, title of chapter (where applicable), title of book, edition, name of editor(s), place of publication, publisher, year, page numbers. For example:

2 Muir P, Johnson KA and Manley PA. In: Saunders Manual of Small
Animal Practice, 2nd edn., SJ Birchard and RG Sherding, eds.,
Philadelphia, WB Saunders Co, 2000: 1126-1132.

Papers yet to be published: References to papers which have been accepted but not yet published should be cited in the list with the title of the journal followed by the words 'in press'.

Websites: Where the reference is a website, details in the text should show the author's name followed by the year of publication. The reference list at the end of the manuscript should be in alphabetical order and arranged as follows: authors' names and initials (or organisation name), year, website address and the date on which it was accessed. For example:

3 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (2003)
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse.html
[accessed 24 February 2005].

Reagents and manufacturers: Reagents and manufacturers should be identified in the text followed by the product name, manufacturer, city (and state if in the USA) and country.

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

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

5.4. Tables, Figures and Figure Legends

Tables: Tables should be input on separate pages together with a suitable caption at the top of each table. Column headings should be kept as brief as possible, and indicate units of measure in parentheses.

Figures: Drawings and graphs should be supplied as electronic files. Label axes appropriately and clearly. Please use a selection of the following symbols: +,´,£,¡,r,¢, ˜, p, q. Authors are asked where possible to draw diagrams to one of the following widths, including lettering: 168 mm, 354 mm. During reproduction, the diagrams can be reduced to half of their original size; please ensure, therefore, that lettering can withstand such a reduction. Authors are asked to use the minimum amount of descriptive matter on graphs and drawings but rather to refer to curves, points, etc., by symbols and place the descriptive matter in the caption. The figures should be numbered in a consecutive series of figures using Arabic numerals.

Preparation of Electronic Figures for Publication: Although low quality images are adequate for review purposes, print publication requires high quality images to prevent the final product being blurred or fuzzy. Submit EPS (line art) or TIFF (halftone/photographs) files only. Microsoft PowerPoint and Word Graphics are unsuitable for printed pictures. Do not use pixel-oriented programs. Scans (TIFF only) should have a resolution of at least 300 dpi (halftone) or 600 to 1200 dpi (line drawings) in relation to the reproduction size (see below). Please submit the data for figures in black and white or submit a Colour Work Agreement Form (see Colour Charges below). EPS files should be saved with fonts embedded (and with a TIFF preview if possible). For scanned images, the scanning resolution (at final image size) should be as follows to ensure good reproduction: line art: >600 dpi; halftones (including gel photographs): >300 dpi; figures containing both halftone and line images: >600 dpi.

Further information can be obtained at our guidelines for figures: http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/illustration.asp
Check your electronic artwork before submitting it: http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/eachecklist.asp

Permissions: If all or parts of previously published illustrations are used, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder concerned. It is the author's responsibility to obtain these in writing and provide copies to the Publisher.

Colour Charges: It is the policy of Veterinary and Comparative Oncology for authors to pay the full cost for the reproduction of their colour artwork. Therefore, please note that if there is colour artwork in your manuscript when it is accepted for publication, the Publisher requires you to complete and return a Colour Work Agreement Form before your paper can be published. Any article received by us with colour work will not be published until the form has been returned. If you are unable to access the internet, or are unable to download the form, please contact the Production Editor (vco@wiley.com).

Figure Legends: Legends should be provided in double spacing on a separate page but grouped together.

5.5. Supporting Information
Publication in electronic formats has created opportunities for adding details or whole sections in the electronic version only. Authors need to work closely with the editors in developing or using such new publication formats.
Supporting Information, such as data sets or additional figures or tables, that will not be published in the print edition of Veterinary and Comparative Oncology, but which will be viewable via the online edition, can be submitted.
It should be clearly stated at the time of submission that the Supporting Information is intended to be made available through the online edition. If the size or format of the Supporting Information is such that it cannot be accommodated on the journal's website, the author agrees to make the Supporting Information available free of charge on a permanent website, to which links will be set up from the journal's website. The author must advise Wiley-Blackwell if the URL of the website where the Supporting Information is located changes. The content of the Supporting Information must not be altered after the paper has been accepted for publication.
The availability of Supporting Information should be indicated in the main manuscript by a paragraph, to appear after the References, headed 'Supporting Information' and providing titles of figures, tables, etc. In order to protect reviewer anonymity, material posted on the author's website cannot be reviewed. The Supporting Information is an integral part of the article and will be reviewed accordingly.

Extra issues: Larger papers or monographs may be published as additional issues (numbered as the ordinary issues), the full cost being paid by the author. Further information may be obtained from the editors.

6. AFTER ACCEPTANCE

Upon acceptance of a paper for publication, the manuscript will be forwarded to the Production Editor who is responsible for the production of the journal.

6.1 Proof Corrections
The corresponding author will receive an e-mail alert containing a link to a website. A working e-mail address must therefore be provided for the corresponding author. The proof can be downloaded as a PDF (portable document format) file from this site. Acrobat Reader will be required in order to read this file. This software can be downloaded (free of charge) from the following website: http://get.adobe.com/reader/. This will enable the file to be opened, read on screen, and printed out in order for any corrections to be added. Further instructions will be sent with the proof. Hard copy proofs will be posted if no e-mail address is available; in your absence, please arrange for a colleague to access your e-mail to retrieve the proofs.
Proofs must be returned to the Production Editor within three days of receipt.
As changes to proofs are costly, we ask that you only correct typesetting errors. Excessive changes made by the author in the proofs, excluding typesetting errors, will be charged separately. Other than in exceptional circumstances, all illustrations are retained by the publisher. Please note that the author is responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made by the copy editor.

6.3 Author Services
Online production tracking is available for your article through 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. The author will receive an e-mail with a unique link that enables them to register and have their article automatically added to the system. Please ensure that a complete e-mail address is provided when submitting the manuscript. Visit http://authorservices.wiley.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.

6.3 Author Material Archive Policy
Please note that unless specifically requested, the Publisher will dispose of all hardcopy or electronic material submitted two months after publication. If you require the return of any material submitted, please inform the editorial office or production editor as soon as possible.

6.4 Offprints
A PDF offprint of the online published article will be provided free of charge to the corresponding author, and may be distributed subject to the Publisher's terms and conditions. Additional paper offprints may be ordered online. Please click on the following link, fill in the necessary details and ensure that you type information in all of the required fields: http://offprint.cosprinters.com/
If you have queries about offprints please e-mail offprint@cosprinters.com