Maternal & Child Nutrition

Edited by:
Victoria Hall Moran and Kathryn Dewey

Print ISSN: 1740-8695
Online ISSN: 1740-8709
Frequency: Quarterly
Current Volume: 5 / 2009
ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2008: 46/59 Nutrition & Dietetics; 68/86 Pediatrics
Impact Factor: 0.922

TopAuthor Guidelines

1. GENERAL

The high profile of maternal and child nutrition has highlighted the need for a focused, well-respected and dedicated forum for the presentation of original research findings in this field. Maternal & Child Nutrition keeps the audience fully informed about new initiatives, the latest research findings and innovative ways of responding to changes in public attitudes. Drawing from global sources, the Journal provides an invaluable source of up-to-date information for health professionals, academics and service users with interests in maternal and infant nutrition.

The scope of Maternal & Child Nutrition includes pre-conceptual nutrition, antenatal and postnatal maternal nutrition, women's nutrition throughout their reproductive years, and fetal, neonatal, infant and child nutrition, up to and including adolescence.

Topics covered include:

• Nutritional needs of mothers and their children in health and disease
• Physiological, sociocultural, psychological, economic and political aspects of
  nutrition
• Health improvement
• Health education
• Health policy and assessment in practice
• Inter-agency initiatives
• Food safety and related environmental and regulatory issues
• Nutritional risk assessment
• Evaluation of interventions aimed at improving health
• The role of nutrition in both healthy and vulnerable groups
• Development of research methods, validation of measures

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 Maternal & Child Nutrition. Authors are encouraged to visit Wiley-Blackwell's Author Services for further information on the preparation and submission of articles and figures.

2. ETHICAL GUIDELINES

Maternal & Child Nutrition 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.

Maternal & Child Nutrition 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.

2.2. Ethical Approvals
All studies using human or animal subjects should include an explicit statement in the Material and Methods section identifying the review and ethics committee, institutional council or review board approval for each study, if applicable. Editors reserve the right to reject papers if there is doubt as to whether appropriate procedures have been used.

2.3 Clinical Trials
Clinical trials should be reported using the CONSORT guidelines available at www.consort-statement.org. A CONSORT checklist should also be included in the submission material (http://www.consort-statement.org/mod_product/uploads/CONSORT 2001 checklist.doc).

Manuscripts reporting results from a clinical trial must provide the registration number and name of the clinical trial. Clinical trials can be registered in any of the following free, public clinical trials registries: www.clinicaltrials.gov, clinicaltrials-dev.ifpma.org, isrctn.org. The clinical trial registration number and name of the trial register will be published with the paper.

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).

Maternal & Child Nutrition 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 1 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.

2.5 Appeal of Decision
The decision on a paper is final and cannot be appealed.

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 Copyright 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/mcn. 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. Further assistance can be obtained from Victoria Hall Moran in the Editorial Office by telephone: (+44(0) 1772 893 830), fax (+44(0) 1772 892 914) or by e-mail (mcnjournal@uclan.ac.uk).

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 the journal's online Submission Site: http://mc.manuscripcentral.com/mcn
• 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 journals online submission system http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mcn, 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 Journal. 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 write-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
On submission, papers are reviewed by two or more members of the Editorial Board and/or by outside experts in the field. Reviewers' comments are sent to the primary author with suggestions for revision as needed. Reviews take from 6 to 10 weeks.

Maternal & Child Nutrition uses double-blinded review. The names of the reviewers will thus not be disclosed to the author submitting a paper and the name(s) of the author(s) will not be disclosed to the reviewers.

To allow double-blinded review, please submit (upload) your main manuscript and title page as separate files. Please upload:

• Your manuscript without title page under the file designation 'main document'
• Figure files under the file designation 'figures'
• The title page, Acknowledgements and Conflict of Interest Statement where
  applicable, should be uploaded under the file designation 'title page'

All documents uploaded under the file designation 'title page' will not be viewable in the HTML and PDF format you are asked to review at the end of the submission process. The files viewable in the HTML and PDF format are the files available to the reviewer in the review process.

3.5. Suggest a Reviewer
Maternal & Child Nutrition attempts to keep the review process as short as possible to enable rapid publication of new scientific data. In order to facilitate this process, it would be helpful if you could suggest names and current e-mail addresses of potential international reviewers who you consider capable of reviewing your manuscript.

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 (formerly known as Manuscript Central) 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. The Editors will endeavour to provide a decision on each paper within 2 months of receipt.

3.9. Submission of Revised Manuscripts
Revised manuscripts must be uploaded within 3 months 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. Please also remember to upload your manuscript document separate from your title page.

4. MANUSCRIPT TYPES ACCEPTED

The Journal will publish the following types of contribution:

Original research reports: This should not be more than 8000 words in length. The text should start with a structured abstract not exceeding 250 words, and thereafter: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, References, Figures and Tables.

Review Articles: Critical and systematic reviews in any area of theory, policy or research relevant to maternal and child nutrition (again not more than 8000 words in length).

Short Communications: Short communications on topical theoretical or empirical issues (not more than 2000 words). Articles referring to the publication or content of recently published official documents and a discussion or comment on the impact of legislation are welcome.

Letters to the Editor: Letters relating to materials previously published in Maternal & Child Nutrition, or to topical and internationally relevant issues.

Proceedings: Conference and workshop proceedings, usually edited by a Guest Editor, and subject to customary reviewing process.

Editorials: Editorials or commentaries commissioned by the Editors.

Special Issues: Part or whole Special Issues bringing together collections of papers on a particular theme, usually edited by a Guest Editor, and subject to customary reviewing process.

Book reviews and conference reports: Commissioned book reviews and conference reports which are likely to be of general interest to an international readership.

5. MANUSCRIPT FORMAT AND STRUCTURE

5.1. General
Manuscripts should be prepared with 1.5 line spacing and wide margins (2 cm) with a font size of 10 or 12 pt. Pages should be numbered. In order to assist the review process, authors should include continuous line numbers for their entire document. This can be done simply and quickly in all standard word processing packages. (For example, in MS Word, go to: File, Page setup, Layout, Line numbers, Add line numbers, Continuous, and click 'OK'.)

The editors reserve the right to adjust style to certain standards of uniformity. Authors should retain a copy of their manuscript since no responsibility can be accepted for damage or loss of papers.

5.2. Format
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.

5.3. Structure
All manuscripts submitted to Maternal & Child Nutrition should include: title page, abstract and keywords, main text, key messages, acknowledgements, conflict of interest statement, source of funding, references, tables and figures.

Title Page: This should include the title and the corresponding author's full name, affiliation, full postal address, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address. The names, full postal addresses and affiliations of all co-authors should be clearly indicated. Please ensure that these details are shown on the cover page only, and do not appear on any other page of the manuscript.

Abstract and keywords: Supply an abstract (without subheadings) of up to 250 words. Below the abstract, provide up to six keywords that will assist indexers in cross-indexing your article.

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.

Main text: For empirical work this should include the following sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion. The introduction should conclude with a clear expression of the question and purpose of the study addressed in the paper. We appreciate that in some circumstance authors may wish to amalgamate the results with their discussion.

Presentation of statistical results: Please click here for guidance on how to present statistical results.

Key Messages: A key message box should be provided with each manuscript. This should include up to 5 messages on key points of practice, policy or research. This also applies to articles solicited for themed issues.

Acknowledgements: Please specify all contributors to the article other than the authors accredited (please refer to point 2.1).

Conflict of Interest Statement: Please refer to point 2.4.

Source of funding: Please refer to point 2.4.

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

5.4. References
All publications cited in the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript. Authors should follow the Harvard style of referencing.

In the text refer to the author's name (without initials) and year of publication (e.g. Kramer 2000). If there are two authors, give both surnames (e.g. Rasmussen & Kjolhede 2004). For more than two authors, the surname of the first author should be given followed by 'et al.' (e.g. Hall et al. 2006).

The list of references should be arranged alphabetically by authors' names. The first six authors should always be listed, but if there are more than six authors list only the first six, followed by 'et al.' The manuscript should be carefully checked to ensure the spelling of authors' names and dates are exactly the same as in the text as in the reference list. References should be given in the following form:

Naidoo S. & Myburgh N. (2007) Nutrition, oral health and the young child. Maternal & Child Nutrition 3, 312-321.

Pathak P., Kapil U., Kapoor S.K., Saxena R., Kumar A., Gupta N. et al. (2004) Prevalence of multiple micronutrient deficiencies amongst pregnant women in a rural area of Haryana. Indian Journal of Pediatrics 71, 1007-1014.

Institute of Medicine (2000) Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, and Carotenoids. National Academy Press: Washington DC.

Gibson R.S. (2005) Principles of Nutritional Assessment, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

Dewey K.G. (2004) Impact of breastfeeding on maternal nutritional status. In: Protecting Infants through Human Milk: Advancing the Scientific Evidence Base (eds L.K. Pickering, A.L. Morrow, G.M. Ruiz-Palacios & R.J. Schanler), pp. 91-100. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers: New York.

References are only acceptable if already published or if formal acceptance has been given for publication. Accepted papers not yet published may be cited as references in the text, and in the reference list should include the title, the designated journal and the words 'in press' in parentheses. Unpublished work, personal communications, and information from unpublished sources must only be cited where absolutely necessary, and only in the text as 'unpublished observations' in parentheses.

The Editors 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.

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

5.5. Tables and Figures
Tables: Tables should be numbered consecutively and referred to 'Table(s)' in the text. Each table should have a title. Footnotes to tables should be typed below the table and should be referred to by superscript lowercase letters. No vertical rules should be used. Tables should not duplicate results presented elsewhere in the manuscript (e.g. in graphs).

Figures: Figures should be no larger than A4 and should be in a suitable form for reproduction. Photographs, charts and diagrams are all to be referred to as 'Figure(s)' and should be numbered consecutively in the order to which they are referred. They should accompany the manuscript, but should not be included within the text. Each figure should have a title and a legend and all legends should be typed together on a separate sheet and numbered correspondingly. Please send electronic versions of your figures. For more information please visit http://authorservices.wiley.com/authors/digill.asp.

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. MS 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 Wiley-Blackwell's 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 Maternal & Child Nutrition 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, Wiley-Blackwell require you to complete and return a Colour Work Agreement Form before your paper can be published. Any article received by Wiley-Blackwell with colour work will not be published until the form has been returned.

Plagiarism: Any material reproduced or quoted from other sources must be clearly indicated as such. The editors will advise whether or not the original author's or copyright holder's consent is needed.

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 (3) days of receipt.

As changes to proofs are costly, we ask that you only correct typesetting errors. 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 copyeditor.

6.2 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, Wiley-Blackwell 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 and Extra Copies
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