Guidelines for Authors

SUBMIT ONLINE HERE

Scope
The Annals of Clinical Biochemistry accepts papers that contribute to knowledge in all fields of clinical biochemistry, especially those appertaining to the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of disease in humans. It publishes papers on clinical audit, metabolic medicine, immunology, genetics, biotechnology, haematology, computing and management where they have both biochemical and clinical relevance. Papers describing evaluation or implementation of commercial reagent kits or the performance of new analysers require substantial original information. The Journal's requirements are in accordance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals as defined here by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Contributions should be submitted for publication under the following section headings:

Original Articles describe substantial original research that falls within the scope of the Journal.

Short Reports include brief technical notes and preliminary communications. These should be less than 1000 words, only have one small figure or table, and have no more than six references. Structured headings, including a conclusion, are desirable.

Reviews are of a substantial and topical nature. These are generally invited.

Personal Views pertinent to clinical and scientific developments or to the practice of clinical biochemistry. These are generally invited.

Case Reports describe clinical cases which have significant original observations, are instructive, include adequate methodological details and provide conclusions.

Letters to the Editor arise normally but not exclusively from papers published in this and other scientific journals. Letters should be submitted online.

Book Reviews are commissioned by the Book Review Editor, Dr William Marshall, c/o ACB Office, 130-132 Tooley Street, London SE1 2TU, UK.

Preparation of Manuscripts
Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the guidelines below and should be submitted online here. All submissions must be in English. Manuscripts must be submitted using double line-spaced, unjustified text throughout, with headings and subheadings in bold case. Press ENTER only at the end of a paragraph, list entry or heading. The first page should contain the full title of the manuscript, a short title, the name(s) of the author(s), their affiliation(s), and the name, postal and email addresses of the author for correspondence. Files should be entered in the following order:
(1) Main body of text, including title, authors’ addresses, abstract & references
(2) Tables
(3) Figures
(4) Supplementary files
(5) Authors’ copyright proforma (see below).

Title
The title should be short and informative, indicating the contents concisely and adequately.

Abstract
A structured abstract of no more than 250 words must accompany all Original Articles and Short Reports. The abstract should normally use four headings: Background (context and rationale); Methods (type of study, patients, materials, techniques); Results (main numerical data and statistical information) and Conclusions (main objective and verifiable conclusions). Reviews, Personal Views and Case Reports should contain an abstract of up to 250 words. Letters to the Editor do not require an abstract.

Statistical guidelines
If preparing statistical data for publication please read the Journal's statistical guidelines, which can be viewed here.

References
Only essential references should be included. Authors are responsible for verifying them against the original source material. References should be identified in the text by superscript Arabic numerals after any punctuation, and numbered and listed at the end of the paper in the order in which they are first cited in the text. Automatic numbering should be avoided. References should include the names and initials of all authors (unless there are more than six, when only the first three should be named, followed by et al.). Publications for which no author is apparent may be attributed to the organization from which they originate. Simply omit the name of the author for anonymous journal articles – avoid using 'Anonymous'. Medline abbreviations should be used for journal titles. Punctuation in references should be kept to a minimum, as shown in the following examples:
1 Baynes J, Dominiczak M. Medical Biochemistry. Philadelphia: Mosby, 1999
2 Collinson PO, John C, Lynch S, et al. A prospective randomized controlled trial of point-of-care testing on the coronary care unit. Ann Clin Biochem 2004; 41: 397–404

Abbreviations
Symbols and abbreviations should be those currently used in the Annals of Clinical Biochemistry. Authors should not create new abbreviations and acronyms. The Biochemical Society's booklet Instructions to Authors and the RSM's booklet Units, Symbols and Abbreviations both provide lists of approved abbreviations.

Units
All measurements should be expressed in SI units (see Baron DN, et al. The use of SI units in reporting results obtained in hospital laboratories. Ann Clin Biochem 1974; 11: 194-202).

Tables
Tables should not duplicate information given in the text. They should be numbered in the order in which they are mentioned in the text, be given a brief title, and each should be typed on a separate sheet in double-spacing using the Table feature of the word processor to prepare them. Vertical rules should not be used.

Figures
All figures should be numbered in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. All photographic figures should be submitted in ‘camera-ready’ form (i.e. with all extraneous areas removed) at high resolution, preferably as 600 dpi TIFF files. Line drawings should be professionally prepared and labelled (freehand lettering is not acceptable) and should also be saved at high resolution. Charts may be supplied as Excel spreadsheets (one chart per sheet). Where necessary, magnification should be shown using a scale marker. The figure legends (one per figure) should appear as a separate page at the end of the main text file. Any previously published illustrations should be accompanied by the written consent to reproduction of the copyright holder and an acknowledgement should be included in the legend. The full reference should also be included in the reference list.

Author copyright proforma
A copy of the proforma signed by all the authors must accompany each submission to the Annals. The current version of the proforma can be downloaded here. The proforma can be scanned and uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file or posted to the ACB Office, 130-132 Tooley Street, London SE1 2TU, UK.

Other information
Page proofs will be sent electronically to the author for correspondence and must be returned promptly by fax or post. Corrections should be kept to a minimum.

Offprints are available. An order form accompanies all proofs: offprints should be ordered from the publisher (Royal Society of Medicine Press) and paid for when proofs are returned. Offprints of Letters to the Editor are not available, but these may be freely copied by their authors.

Main Annals of Clinical Biochemistry Page

Main RSM Press Page

Full List of Journals
Online licensing information

Royal Society of Medicine Press Ltd
1 Wimpole Street
London W1G 0AE
UK

Tel +44 (0)20 7290 2921
Fax +44 (0)20 7290 2929

Company Number : 01572720

publishing@rsm.ac.uk

Journal subscriptions
sales@portland-services.com
Tel +44 (0)1206 796351
Fax +44 (0)1206 799331

Privacy Policy