ISSN 0258-3127

Download the instructions to authors as a pdf file.

European Science Editing welcomes contributions related to the editing and  management of publications in the sciences. Submissions in the following categories are accepted: Articles, Viewpoints, Editing around the World, Correspondence, brief Reports of Meetings (see suggestions for reports at the end of these instructions), short news items, and notes or suggestions about articles, books or websites of interest to editors of scientific journals or books.

Contributions

Contributions should be sent to the appropriate section editor, listed below. A copy may also be sent to the Chief Editor (europeanscienceediting@googlemail.com) when appropriate.

Contributions should be sent by email (see File format below). Duplicate publication (publication of items that overlap substantially with any already published) is to be avoided. All material is subject to editing/copy-editing.

Authors are asked to consult the Chief Editor if the same or very similar work has been published elsewhere, mainly for work in a language other than English. Data contained in contributions are assumed not to have been falsified. Current codes of ethics in appropriate professional fields apply.

Copyright in contributions belongs to the author.

Journal sections

Editorials are usually commissioned but spontaneous submissions are also welcome. Editorials should represent the opinions of the author and not suggest that they are those of EASE. Editorials should be submitted to Moira Johnson (europeanscienceediting@googlemail.com).

Original articles will be subject to review. Final acceptance or rejection is decided by the Publications Committee. Articles should be up to 2000 words long and should include an abstract of up to 200 words. If articles report research data, they should follow the IMRaD format (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) and include a structured abstract with four headings: Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. Original articles should be submitted to Stuart Handysides (stuart_handysides@hotmail.com)

Viewpoints represent the opinions or personal experiences of the author, rather than research. Send to Moira Johnson (europeanscienceediting@googlemail.com).

The Editing Around the World series focuses on specific aspects of editing in a particular country. Suggestions for contributions should be sent to Dario Sambunjak (dario.sambunjak@mef.hr).

Essays should be sent to Marcin Kozak (nyggus@gmail.com).

Correspondence is welcomed on items that have appeared in recent issues of the journal and matters related to the editing and management of publications (send to mcooter@bmj.com).

From the Literature is prepared by Moira Johnson (europeanscienceediting@googlemail.com) , who will be glad to receive suggestions for suitable subjects.

Reports of Meetings are coordinated by Sharon Davies (sdavies@bmj.com) and should be planned before the meeting. All proposals for such reports are welcome.

The EASE-Forum Digest is compiled by Elise Langdon-Neuner (langdoe@baxter.com). The objective is to summarize the discussions of recent months. The compiler may ask initiators of some discussions to provide a concise summary or rewrite their contributions for other sections of European Science Editing.

Books for Review should be sent to Moira Johnson, who normally  commissions reviews and coordinates the review process. Reviewers should e-mail their reviews to her at europeanscienceediting@googlemail.com.

Editors' WebWatch is coordinated by Colin Batchelor, and compiled by Paola de Castro, Penny Hubbard and Colin Batchelor. Please send details of sites and trends applicable to editing to the coordinator (BatchelorC@rsc.org).

The News Notes section is compiled by Richard Hurley (rhurley@bmj.com), who will be glad to receive short news items related to editing, publishing and managing journals, including items from non-English-speaking countries.

News from Editing Societies is under the editorship of Sharon Davies (sdavies@bmj.com).

Forthcoming Meetings and Courses: information for inclusion in this list should be sent to Sharon Davies (sdavies@bmj.com).

The Editor’s Bookshelf is co-ordinated by Paola de Castro (paola.decastro@iss.it), and compiled by Paola, Penny Hubbard and Colin Batchelor. Details of suitable articles or books should be sent to one of the compilers. Details of publications in European languages other than English are welcome. The EASE Journal Blog can be accessed via the EASE website. For an invitation to join the blog (which enables you to post to it direct) please contact the coordinator.

File format and text style

Longer items such as articles should be sent as e-mail attachments; other items may be sent either as attachments or in the body of an email message. All files must be checked for viruses before being submitted.

Text should be sent in Microsoft Word (.doc extension), preferably in 10-point Palatino Linotype or Times New Roman. Do not use any special styles.

With Word documents, accents and any text in italics or bold lettering will be recognized by the desktop publishing software. Remove any running heads, page numbers or page divisions before saving the final version of the file.

Headings other than the main title of a contribution should be title case (initial capital, caps elsewhere only if needed, and lower case), with one blank line above each heading. Use bold type for a level 1 heading and italics for a level 2 heading. Avoid level 3 headings.

Tables should be sent in a separate file from the text. Please submit tables in Microsoft Word documents, not as spreadsheets or .tif. For guidance on the presentation of Tables please refer to chapter 2-2.3, "Editing and design of tables", in the Science Editors' Handbook.

Figures should be professionally prepared and of high resolution (scanned at 300 dpi). Each figure should be sent in a separate file saved in .tif or .jpg format. For guidance on the presentation of Figures please refer to chapter 2-2.1, “Illustration basics”, in the Science Editors' Handbook.

Style

Use the spelling of the Oxford English Dictionary (Concise or Shorter), including -ize, -ization where appropriate. Use inclusive language (non-sexist, non-racist).

Avoid footnotes and abbreviations other than SI units and any others that are widely accepted and understood. Explain all other abbreviations when they are first mentioned.

Write numbers one to nine in full in the text, except when they are attached to units of measure. Use double quotation marks, with single quotation marks only for quotations within quotations.

Citations in the text

For citations in the text, use consecutive numbers, given as superscripts.

Reference list style

Please use Vancouver style (see www.icmje.org/, sectionIV.A.9). Journal titles should be written in full, as should page ranges:
Adam A, Eve Z. Eating apples can be dangerous. Journal of Food Information 1997;8(1):51–59.

References to electronic sources should include the web address (URL) and the date the reference was accessed:
Adam A, Eve Z. Eating apples can be dangerous. Journal of Food Information 1997;8(1):51–59. www.jfi.org.il/volume8(1)/Adam/apple.pdf. (Accessed 2005 January 1.)

Accuracy of references is the responsibility of the author(s).

Deadlines and proofs

Deadline dates for contributions other than articles, review articles and viewpoints are December 15, March 15, June 15 and September 15, for the February, May, August and November issues, respectively. Articles, review articles and viewpoints should be submitted one month earlier than those dates.

Proofs (PDF files) will be sent to authors of articles and viewpoints. Proofs of other contributions may be sent if authors ask for them or if there are queries.

Meeting reports: suggestions for presentation

A report should be between 100 and 800 words, depending on the length of the meeting and the novelty of the material.

Describe only those presentations and other contributions that you believe will interest ESE readers.

Concentrate on new information rather than opinion. If you quote numbers, please check them. If you can supply references, so much the better, but please limit these to about five.

If discussion of a paper reaches a consensus, record it.

Give the names and brief institutional addresses of contributors whose presentations you report.

Be prepared for your report to be edited for length and style; the organizational delights and downfalls of conferences are particularly vulnerable. You may be sent an edited text, but time constraints may limit consultation about changes.

Write up your contribution as soon as the meeting ends, to capitalize on its impact.
Send your meeting report to Sharon Davies (sdavies@bmj.com).

EASE website

All material published in ESE will be reproduced on the EASE website. The current issue of ESE will be located in the members-only area; older issues will be generally available. The version of any item on the website will reflect exactly the content of the printed issue, and no changes will be permitted to the pdf after uploading; this includes changes to contact details, which should be submitted for inclusion in the Membership List Additions and Changes section of each issue.