9th September 2010 @ 10:22am
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Instructions to Authors

The Primary Care Cardiovascular Journal (PCCJ) is pleased to consider original research papers, review articles, case histories, short clinical updates, editorials and letters relating to all aspects of cardiovascular disease in primary care. The journal also publishes news, congress updates, summaries of clinical data and major guidelines in cardiovascular disease.

Submission

All manuscripts must be submitted online via Manuscript Central at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pccj

Types of manuscripts

Review articles provide in-depth surveys of recent advances in a field. Suggestions for review articles should be provided in the form of a one-page synopsis or discussed with the editor prior to submission. Reviews should be a maximum of 3000 words (excluding references).
Original articles may appear as full-length reports (maximum 2000 words excluding references and figure legends) or short clinical updates (approximately 1000 words) which are less heavily referenced practical reports of new developments in the clinic.
Letters are encouraged to provide comments on previously published papers or on important or novel aspects of research in the field. They should be no more than 400 words with a maximum of 5 references and one illustration.
Case reports should be up to 1000 words and detail specific learning points for clinicians.

Manuscripts

All material is assumed to be exclusively submitted to PCCJ unless otherwise stated in writing. Papers accepted for publication become the copyright of Sherborne Gibbs Ltd. Original manuscripts should include:

  • Title page: full names, position and university/hospital affiliation of each author (please provide address, telephone number, fax number and email address for corresponding author)
  • Abstract (up to 200 words) which should include Hypothesis/Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Conclusions, Keywords (Keywords should be from the medical subject headings [MeSH] list in Index Medicus, where possible)
  • Key messages (three or four bullet points to summarise the article for the busy reader)
  • Introduction
  • Materials and methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • References (Vancouver style, see References below)
  • Tables
  • Figures (see Illustrations, artwork and photographs below)
  • Acknowledgements
  • List all sources of support for research

    References

    Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the references, which should be identified in the text by superscript Arabic numerals and listed in numerical order at the end of the text. Wherever possible, please include DOI citation information, which will enable readers of the on-line documentation to easily trace referenced materials.

    Example of typical reference:
    Alberti KG, Zimmet P, Shaw J. The metabolic syndrome – a new worldwide definition. Lancet 2005;366:1059–62.

    Example of reference for a book chapter:
    Després JP, Couillard C, Bergeron J, Lamarche B. Regional body fat distribution, the insulin resistance-dyslipidemic syndrome, and the risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease. In: Ruderman N, Devlin JT, Schneider SH (eds). Handbook of Exercise in Diabetes, 2nd ed. Alexandria, VA: American Diabetes Association, 2002:197–234.

    Illustrations, artwork and photographs

    Illustrations should preferably be supplied by email or on CD as either eps, tiff or jpeg files (minimum resolution 300 dpi) along with the original file they were created in. Any lettering/numbering should be sufficiently large to ensure legibility in the journal.

    Abbreviations in tables and figures should be explained in full in footnotes. Units of measurement must be clearly indicated. Data reported in tables should not be repeated in the text.

    Selection of manuscripts for publication

    Manuscripts are selected for publication according to reports from two or three independent referees. All manuscripts are acknowledged on receipt.

    Electronic publication

    Full text of all papers will be published online at http://www.pccj.eu

    Authors additionally benefit from Sherborne Gibbs ‘Articles in Press’ service which allows accepted articles to appear on-line in advance of print publication.

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