Information for authors
New for 2010 – Please note that the journal now encourages authors to complete their copyright licence to publish form online
GUIDE TO CONTRIBUTORS
Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain (CEACCP) is a joint venture of the British Journal of Anaesthesia and the Royal College of Anaesthetists in collaboration with the Intensive Care Society and the British Pain Society.
The purpose of CEACCP is to publish material to support the continuous medical education and professional development of specialists in Anaesthesia, Critical Care Medicine & Pain Medicine.
Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain is published bimonthly and each issue contains structured, authoritative articles covering core knowledge, current controversies and future trends. Basic science is also included, but with a clinical emphasis. The senior authors are recognized specialists in the relevant field who also provide suggestions for further reading, key points and multiple choice questions.
The Editorial Board consists of 17 Editors plus the Editor-in-Chief, details of the Editorial board can be found here.
Please read these guidelines carefully and ensure that your manuscript conforms to the specifications exactly. This will prevent unnecessary delay and the need for extensive revisions before publication.
Publishing in CEACCP
The Editorial Board of CEACCP consists of 18 consultants who are clinically active across all areas of Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain Medicine. Therefore there is broad representation from across the speciality; in addition members of the Editorial Board are geographically distributed around the UK. The base location of Editors is published in every edition of CEACCP.
All articles published are commissioned by members of the Editorial board.
Articles that are already completed and then emailed unsolicited to the Editorial team are never accepted.
Guidance on articles that CEACCP may be interested in commissioning can be sought from members of the editorial board. They will be aware of articles that are currently in progress and of the areas that may be of interest.
Suggestions for future topics in CEACCP should be discussed with local members of the editorial board, who should be able to offer help and advice to potential authors. It is helpful to prepare a short 250 word summary of your potential article, outlining the scope of the article. You should include details of the authors and an explanation as to why you feel that you are well qualified to write such an article.
However, please note that by far the vast majority of articles are commissioned directly by the members of the Editorial Board.
All commissioned articles are subject to external peer review by experts on the Editorial Board or other experts in the field, prior to editing.
Please note that all articles submitted to CEACCP will be analysed using software to detect and prevent plagiarism of material.
ScholarOne
CEACCP uses ScholarOne (previously known as Manuscript Central) for the commissioning and tracking of articles. Once you have provisionally agreed with an Editor to write an article, you will be officially invited to write the article via ScholarOne. We will agree a timeframe for you to produce the article; this is normally 4 months from the commissioning date. The system will generate automatic email reminders for authors. Email reminders will be sent at 2 months and 1 month from the agreed date. A reminder will also be sent when an article is due. Authors will have access to their own Author centre on ScholarOne, where they can track the progress of their article through the reviewing and publishing process.
Administrative Office
CEACCP has administrative support provided within the Royal College of Anaesthetists, London. The contact at the Royal College of Anaesthetists is Dawn Pike.
Correspondence regarding your article should be with the editor who originally commissioned your article.
Where to pitch the article
The article should be a structured authoritative account of the relevant core knowledge. It should be as didactic and bold as possible. In addition, it should summarize current controversies in the area and deal with recent and future trends.
We would encourage you to discuss this or any other aspect of the article with the commissioning editor at any stage of its preparation.
Authorship
The senior author (who is ultimately responsible for the article) will normally be a consultant with expertise and knowledge of the area concerned. However, we welcome the recruitment of other post-fellowship specialists as co-authors. If one author has contributed more to the article than his/her colleague, then that person should be the first author.
We would normally expect a maximum of two authors for an article; only very exceptionally would we agree to three authors however we would expect a clear indication of the role played by each author in the production of the manuscript. We would not expect there to be more than one trainee author.
The 'corresponding author' should be the senior author i.e. not necessarily the first author.
Manuscript
Format
The submitted manuscript should include the following sections:
- Title page
- Key points
- Text of manuscript
- Key references
- Tables (including legends)
- Figures
- Legends to figures
- Multiple choice questions
- Multiple choice question answers and explanations
Please send these sections all as one complete word file rather than separate files for each part.
Title page
The title page should include:
1. Title of the article
2. Full name, qualifications, position and institution of each author
3. Name, full postal address, e-mail address, telephone number and fax number of the corresponding author who will be the senior author.
It is essential to provide the e-mail address, postal address, telephone and fax number of corresponding author as this information is essential to deliver proofs to the author.
4. Each CEACCP article is now mapped to the Royal College of Anaesthetists CPD matrix, this is available on line. For each article you need to identify which CPD matrix box it maps to. There may be more than one, either within a level or across multiple levels.
The Code for each matrix cell is made up of a 1, 2 or 3 for the Level, a letter to identify the column and a 2 digit number to represent the cell in that column.
Hence 1A01 represents Level 1, Scientific principles, and the first row (physiology & biochemistry) or put another way the top left hand cell of the Level 1 matrix sheet.
The areas of the matrix to which an article maps should be clearly indicated on the title page.
5. Keywords – please use BJA keywords, a maximum of 3 per article
Key points
The article will be published with 5 key points on the first page. Please supply these on a separate page. Each point should be concise e.g.
Preoxygenate all patients before rapid sequence induction
Succinylcholine is contraindicated in malignant hyperpyrexia
Gabapentin may be an effective treatment for neuropathic pain
The key points section should, in total, be no more than 100 words in length.
Text of manuscript
Articles should be 3500 words not including references (but see tables and figures below) and written in Microsoft Word. The manuscript should be double-spaced, font size 12, paginated and with wide margins.
Please submit your manuscript using the ScholarOne system. Remember to retain your own copy in case of loss and in order to check proofs.
Please use no more than 3 ranks of headings and label them A, B or C in the manuscript.
Tables, figures & illustrative clinical examples
Each article should include at least 2 tables or figures (or 1 of each.). The average table or figure is equivalent to 250 words. Therefore, if you include 2 tables and 1 figure, the word count for the text of the article should be no greater than 2750 words (i.e. 3500 - (250 x 3)).
We also strongly encourage the inclusion of illustrative clinical examples (to appear as a box in the text) of up to 1000 words; if you include one of these, please allow for this text in your final total word count.
Tables
Each table should be on a separate page and should be of simple text with no complex formatting. Please insert a legend at the top of the page.
Figures
Ideally, the proportions of each figure should correspond to those of an A5 sheet of paper. As well as providing a paper copy, we ask if you can submit each figure electronically on the same disc as the manuscript in any of the following formats: PowerPoint, .eps, .tif or .jpeg.
Please note that we can reproduce colour photographs, and we encourage the use of colour in figures/diagrams. Please indicate clearly permissions obtained for use of published material, and permissions obtained should be forwarded to the editor commissioning the article.
If any of the above formats are not possible we may be able to reproduce pencil or ink drawings. If there are any queries about the format of any figures (including photographs) please discuss this with the commissioning editor at an early stage in the preparation of the manuscript.
Please include legends to figures on a separate page.
References
Please cite a maximum of 10 references in the text (numbered in order of citing, superscript). List the numbered references in the order you have cited them in the text. References should be cited using the format adopted by the British Journal of Anaesthesia:
Journal
Name all authors, journal title in italics and abbreviated, volume number in bold, only give the change in the last page number and no full stop at the end of the reference e.g.
1. Brown AB, White SJ, Green BG. Efficacy of acupuncture in septic shock. Br J Anaesth 2000; 99: 223-7
Chapter in a Book
1. Anaesthetist A.N. The safe use of volatile anaesthetics in space craft. In: Blogg F, Doe J, eds. Anaesthesia in Space. London: Medical Press Ltd, 2000; 155-79
Monographs
1. Stabber, AN. Regional Anaesthesia, 5th Edn. London: Medical Press Ltd, 1998
Units and doses
Use SI units at all times and use superscript as follows:
mg ml-1
µg ml-1
mg h-1
Before sending your manuscript please check doses of drugs very carefully, especially µg and mg.
Multiple-choice questions
MCQs are used for self-assessment via a web-based system. A certificate and CPD points are awarded to a participant provided 80% of the available marks are obtained. It is of paramount importance that your MCQs are of high quality.
Number: please provide 4 questions.
Location: MCQs should be typed on separate pages at the end of the manuscript.
Content: the subject matter should be from most, if not all sections of the manuscript. Please avoid asking questions from only one or two sections of your manuscript.
Standard: MCQs should be suitably demanding and require the reader to have studied the article carefully. Please test key facts and application of knowledge.
Type: MCQs should be of the true-false variety. Each MCQ comprises a stem (e.g. the complications of succinylcholine include) and 5 parts (e.g. a. bradycardia b. hypokalaemia c. increased intraocular pressure etc).
Language: the stem of the question should be written in such a way that it flows into each of the 5 parts, as a sentence. The language must be simple and concise rather than aimed at confusing the participant. Brief scenarios and numerical values may be included in the stem. MCQs are likely to be ambiguous to a participant when they contain double negative expressions and words such as “always”, “never”, “may” and “except”.
Order of each part: the 5 parts of a MCQ after the stem should be written in alphabetical order.
Answers and explanations: please provide the answers and an explanation for each MCQ part. Explanations should be concise and clear.
Layout of the MCQs: your questions and answers will contain several rows and columns. To ensure that words are aligned correctly, please create tables with rows and columns. There should be a table for each question and answer as shown here.
Copyright
If a table or figure from another publication is used, it is the author's responsibility to obtain written permission from the holder of the copyright for that material. This is usually the publisher. The commissioning editor of your article will advise you on this if necessary. Please supply this permission when you submit your article.
In addition, the inclusion of clinical photographs will require consent to have been obtained.
The copyright of the commissioned article will be held by the Board of the British Journal of Anaesthesia.
Copyright licence to publish
Upon receipt of accepted manuscripts at Oxford Journals authors will be invited to complete an online copyright licence to publish form.
Please note that by submitting an article for publication you confirm that you are the corresponding/submitting author and that Oxford University Press ("OUP") may retain your email address for the purpose of communicating with you about the article. Please notify OUP immediately if your details change, otherwise OUP will contact you using the email address you have used in the registration process.
Proofs
Preferably, the proofs will be emailed in .pdf format to the corresponding author. If this is not possible they will be faxed or posted. Ideally, these should be corrected electronically on the proof and returned to the publisher by email within 48 hours of receipt. Alternatively, the proof may be printed, corrections marked on it clearly, and returned by fax or post.
If there is a problem, contact by telephone, email or fax either the publisher (contact details will be sent with the proof), the commissioning editor or the Editor-in-Chief (Dr J.A. Langton, email: jeremy.langton@btinternet.com & ceaccp@pcmd.ac.uk).