Instructions for Authors

Asia Pacific Family Medicine welcomes high quality, relevant articles covering the broad range of interests within the field of family medicine. Papers in any of the following fields will be considered: original research articles, reviews, book reviews, concept papers, family case reports, letters to the editor and guidelines for practice. Papers accepted for publication become the copyright of the journal.

The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research/ manuscripts and its significance to our readership. Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts are peer reviewed by two anonymous reviewers. The Editorial Board reserves the right to refuse any material for publication and advises that authors should retain copies of submitted manuscripts and correspondence as material cannot be returned. Final acceptance or rejection rests with the Editors.

SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS

All articles submitted to the journal must comply with these instructions. Failure to do so will result in return of the manuscript and possible delay in publication.

Manuscripts should be written so that they are intelligible to the professional reader, mostly the general practitioners and family physicians. Where contributions are judged as acceptable for publication on the basis of scientific content, the scientific editors and the copy editor reserve the right to modify typescripts to eliminate ambiguity and repetition and improve communication between author and reader. If extensive alterations are required, the manuscript will be returned to the author for revision.

Covering Letter

Papers are accepted for publication in the journal on the understanding that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. This must be stated in the covering letter.

Authors must also state that the protocol for the research project has been approved by a suitably constituted Ethics Committee of the Institution within which the work was undertaken and that it conforms to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki in 1995 (as revised in Edinburgh 2000). All investigations on human subjects must include a statement that the subject gave informed consent and patient anonymity should be preserved.

In general, submission of a case report should be accompanied by the written consent of the subject (or parent/guardian) prior to publication; this is particularly important where photographs are to be used or in cases where the unique nature of the incident reported makes it possible for the patient to be identified.

Any experiments involving animals must be demonstrated to be ethically acceptable and where relevant conform to guidelines for animal usage in research.

Authors should declare any financial support or relationships that may pose conflict of interest.

Submission

The original manuscript and three copies and a soft copy of the manuscript in a diskette, should be submitted to: Editorial Office, Asia Pacific Family Medicine, PAFP National Secretariat, 2336 Marconi Street, Makati City 1234, Philippines. (Tel: +632 889 8053; Fax: +632 844 3436; Email: afm_wonca@pacific.net.ph)

As a rule, courier or registered mail should be used.

Copyright

Papers accepted for publication become copyright of Wonca and authors will be asked to sign a transfer of copyright form. In signing the transfer of copyright it is assumed that authors have obtained

permission to use any copyrighted or previously published material. All authors must read and agree to the conditions outlined in the Copyright Assignment Form, and must sign the Form or agree that the corresponding author can sign on their behalf. Articles cannot be published until a signed Copyright Assignment Form has been received.

PREPARATION OF THE MANUSCRIPT

Submissions should be printed, doubled-spaced, on one side only of A4 paper. The top, bottom and side margins should be 30mm. Laser or near-letter quality print is essential. All pages should be numbered consecutively in the top right-hand corner, beginning with the title page. Indent new paragraphs. Turn the hyphenation option off, including only those hyphens that are essential to the meaning.

Style

Manuscripts should follow the style of the Vancouver agreement detailed in the 'Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals", as presented in JAMA 1997; 277: 927-34 (www.acponline.org/journals/annals/01jan97/unifreqr.htm). The journal uses US spelling and authors should therefore follow the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

All measurements must be given in SI units as outlined in the latest edition of Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: A guide for Medical and Scientific Editors and Authors (Royal Society of Medicine Press, London).

Abbreviations should be used sparingly and only where they ease the reader's task by reducing repetition of long, technical terms. Initially use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviation.

Drugs should be referred to by their generic names, rather than brand names or trade names.

Parts of manuscript

Manuscripts should be presented in the following order: (i) title page, (ii) abstract and key words, (iii) text, (iv) acknowledgments, (v) references, (vi) figure legends, (vii) tables (each table complete with title and footnotes) and (viii) figures.

Footnotes to the text are not allowed and any such material should be incorporated into the text as parenthetical matter.

Title page

The title page should contain (i) the title of the paper, (ii) the full names of the authors and (iii) the addresses of the institutions at which the work was carried out together with (iv) the full postal and email address, plus facsimile and telephone numbers, of the author to whom correspondence about the manuscript, proofs and requests for offprints should be sent.

The title should be short, informative and contain the major key words. A short running title (less than 40 characters, including spaces) should also be provided.

In keeping with the latest guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, each author's contribution to the paper is to quantified.

Abstract and key words

Articles must have a structured abstract that states in 250 words or less the purpose, basic procedures, main findings and principal conclusions of the study. Divide the abstract with the headings: Aim, Methods, Results, Conclusions. The abstract should not contain abbreviations or references. Unstructured abstracts of not more than 250 words should be provided for review articles and case reports.

Five key words should be supplied below the abstract and should be taken from those recommended by the Index Medicus Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) browser list (www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html).

Text

Authors should use subheadings to divide the sections of their manuscript: Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, References.

Summary of implications for GP's

Each article should be accompanied by a summary of not more than 150 words listing the implications of the research/article for practicing GP's.

Acknowledgements

The source of financial grants and other funding should be acknowledged, including a frank declaration of the author's industrial links and affiliations. The contribution of colleagues or institutions should also be acknowledged. Thank to anonymous reviewers are not allowed.


References

The Vancouver system of referencing should be used.

In the text, references should be cited using superscript Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear. If cited only in tables or figure legends, number them according to the first identification of the table or figure in the text.

In the reference list, the references should be numbered and listed in order of appearance in the text. Cite the names of all authors when there are six or less; when seven or more list the first three followed by et al. Names of journals should be abbreviated in the style used in Index Medicus.

Reference to unpublished data and personal communications should appear in the text only.

References should be listed in the following form.

Journal article

1 Soter NA, Wasserman SI, Austen KF. Could urticaria: release into
the circulation of histamine and eosinophil chemotactic factor of
anaphylaxis during cold challege. N. Engl.J.Med. 1976; 294: 687-90.

Book

2 Kaufmann HE, Baron BA, McDonald MB, Waltman SR (eds). The
Cornea. New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1988.

Chapter in a book

3 McEwen WK, Goodner IK. Secretion of tears and blinking. In:
Davson H (ed). The Eye, Vol. 3, 2nd edn. New York: Academic
Press, 1969; 34-78.

Tables

Tables should be self-contained and complement, but not duplicate, information contained in the text. Tables should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. Each table should be presented on a separate sheet of A4 paper with a comprehensive but concise legend above the table. Tables should be double-spaced and vertical lines should not be used to separate columns. Column headings should be brief, with units of measurement in parentheses; all abbreviations should defined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: † ‡ § , should be used (in that order) and *, **, *** should be reserved for p-values. The table and its legend/footnotes should be understandable without reference to the text.

Figures

All illustrations (line drawings and photographs) are classified as figures. Figures should be cited in consecutive order in the text. Each figure should be labeled on the back in very soft marker or chinagraph pencil , indicating name of authors(s), figure number and orientation. (Do not use an adhesive label as these will have to be removed during scanning and this may damage the figure.) Figures should be sized to fit within the column (75mm) , intermediate (105mm) or the full text width (160mm).

Line figures should be supplied as sharp, glossy, black and white graphs or diagrams, drawn professionally or with a computer graphics package; lettering should be included.

Photographs should be supplied as sharp, glossy, black and white photographic prints and must be unmounted. Individual photographs forming a composite figure should be of equal contrast, to facilitate printing, and should be accurately squared. Photographs need to be cropped sufficiently to prevent the subject being recognized, or an eye bar used; otherwise, written permission to publish must be obtained. Magnifications should be indicated using a scale bar on the illustration.

If supplied electronically, graphics should be supplied as high resolution (at least 300 d.p.i.) files, save as .eps or .tif format. A high-resolution print-out must also be provided. Digital images supplied only as low-resolution print-outs cannot be used.

Color figures

Color photographs should be submitted as good quality, glossy color prints. There is no charge for on line version but charges will be made for printed version.

Figure legends

Legends should be self-explanatory and typed on a separate sheet. The legend should incorporate definitions of any symbols used and all abbreviations and units of measurements should be explained so that the figure and its legend is understandable without reference to the text. (Provide a letter stating copyright authorization if figures have been reproduced from another source.)

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor should be no more than 400 words in length and may contain up to five (5) references.

Book reviews

Book reviews should be no more than 400 words in length and must include the title of the book, author's and publisher's name.

MANUSCRIPTS ON DISK

Authors are required to provide their manuscripts on disk; however, disks should not be sent until the manuscript has been accepted.

Use a new disk rather than a reformatted disk; the disk must contain the relevant file(s) only. Authors should supply their accepted paper as formatted text. It is essential that the hardware and the word processing package are specified on the disk (e.g. IBM, Word 7), as well as the first author's surname, the journal title and the manuscript number.

The entire article (including tables) should be supplied as a single file; only electronic figures should be supplied as separate files. The following instructions should be adhered to.
· It is essential that the final, revised version of the accepted
manuscript and the file saved on disk are identical.
· Do not use the carriage return (enter) at the end of lines within a paragraph.
· Turn the hyphenation option off.
· Specify any special characters used to represent non-keyboard characters.
· Take care not to use 1 (ell) for 1 (one), O (capital o) for 0 (zero) or ß (German esszett) for b (Greek beta).
· Use a tab, not spaces, to separate data points in tables.

· If you use a table editor function, ensure that each data point is contained within a unique cell, i.e. do not use carriage returns within cells.
· Digital figures must be supplied as .tif or .eps files at a resolution of at least 300 d.p.i. (high-resolution print-outs are also required).

On-line guidelines

Asia Pacific Family Medicine is available on line via www.apfmj.com Further information on the preparation and submission of articles and figures and access to the Medi+WORLD International guide are available at www.globalfamilydoctor.com

PROOFS AND PAGE CHARGES

Proofs

Proofs will be sent via email as an Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) file and should be returned within 3 days of receipt. Alterations to the text and figures (other than the essential correction of errors) are unacceptable at proof stage and authors may be charged for excessive alterations.

Acrobat Reader will be required in order to read the PDF. This software can be downloaded (free of charge) from the following web site: www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. 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.

Authors should therefore supply an email address to which proofs can be emailed. Proofs will be faxed if no email address is available. If absent, authors should arrange for a colleague to access their email, retrieve the PDF proof and check and return them to the publisher on their behalf.


Global Family Doctors

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