Please read and follow these instructions carefully; doing so will ensure that the publication of your manuscript is as rapid and efficient as possible. The Publisher reserves the right to return manuscripts that are not prepared in accordance with these instructions.

Submission of manuscripts

Authors should submit Word or rich-text files by the journal’s preferred method. TeX and LaTeX files are also acceptable. Please consult the journal’s home page for more information.

Licence and permissions

It is a condition of publication that authors grant an exclusive licence to Oxford Journals or the society of ownership. This ensures that requests from third parties to reproduce articles are handled efficiently and consistently, and will also allow the article to be as widely disseminated as possible. In assigning copyright, authors may use their own material in other publications, provided that the journal is acknowledged as the original place of publication, and Oxford Journals is notified in writing and in advance.

On acceptance, copyright licence forms should be returned immediately by fax to us, and a copy must be posted by airmail/first class within 24 hours. If we have not received the form by the time the manuscript arrives, your manuscript may be delayed.

Work submitted for publication must be original, previously unpublished, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. If previously published figures, tables, or parts of text are to be included, the copyright-holder’s permission must have been obtained prior to submission. For more information on how to obtain permissions, please consult Rights and Permissions.

Preparation of the manuscript

General: Papers must be clearly written in English. If you would like additional help with the quality of your written English, including grammar, spelling, and language usage, visit Oxford Journals Language Services. Please see the individual journal’s Instructions to Authors for more detailed instructions on journal and reference style. View a full list of Journals.

Figures: Figures should be supplied in an electronic format at a suitable size for printing with the following resolutions: 600 dots per inch (dpi) for line drawings and combinations; 300 dpi for greyscale and colour. Colour figures must be supplied in CMYK not RGB colours. Please ensure that the prepared electronic image files print at a legible size and are of a high quality for publication. For useful information on preparing figures, visit http://dx.sheridan.com where you can also test whether your figures are suitable for production by using the preflight tool at http://dx.sheridan.com/onl/

Authors should consult the journal’s home page for guidance on colour figures.

Proofs

All manuscripts will undergo some editorial modification, so it is important to check proofs carefully. PDF page proofs will be sent via e-mail to the corresponding author for checking. To avoid delays in publication, proofs should be checked and returned within 48 hours. Corrections should be returned by annotated PDF, e-mail or fax. Extensive changes to the text may be charged to the author.

Post-production corrections

Corrections are made if the publication record is seriously affected by the academic accuracy of published information. Where these amendments concern peer-reviewed material, the correction will be published as a formal notice (erratum) in a subsequent issue.

Advance Access constitutes definitive publication and is not subject to informal changes. If a very significant error (as outlined above) is discovered after publication of an Advance Access article, which necessitates correction to the online version, a new version will be published online with a footnote to outline the changes made. Both versions will be available online. (Authors publishing in journals that use the 'accepted manuscript' model of Advance Access will have the opportunity to make changes at proof stage as normal.)

Authors' corrections to Supplementary Data are made only in exceptional circumstances (for example major errors that compromise the conclusion of the study). Because the Supplementary Data is part of the original paper and hence the published record, the information cannot be updated if new data have become available or interpretations have changed.

Offprints

The corresponding author for all articles will automatically receive a free link to the full text of their article. Corresponding authors may also purchase offprints. Please see offprints for complete ordering and pricing information. Please visit the journal site to learn whether the journal provides complimentary offprints.