Home | Site map | Elsevier websites | Alerts
Elsevier
Product information search
Search all Elsevier sites
Search
Advanced Product Search
Go to Elsevier home page
SiteStat.jsp
FOOD AND CHEMICAL TOXICOLOGY

Guide for Authors

General Information: Food and Chemical Toxicology publishes papers that fulfil the views as laid down in the Aims and Scope section. The Journal's main purpose is the publication of papers reporting and interpreting original unpublished toxicological research, particularly studies promoting an understanding of the mechanisms underlying toxic effects or improvements in methods for predicting adverse effects. Papers reporting the toxicological examination of specific foods, chemicals or consumer products will be published, irrespective of the positive or negative nature of the results, provided the tests and reporting meet current standards of acceptability. In addition, Brief Communications (see description below) will also be considered, as will concise interpretative Reviews of toxicological topics of contemporary significance. Letters to the Editor will be limited to comments on contributions already published n the journal; if a letter is accepted, a response (for simultaneous publication) will be invited from the authors of the original contribution.

Manuscripts are accepted for review with the understanding that they describe original research performed by authors, that all authors approve of the submission, and that the manuscript is not being considered for publication elsewhere. By submitting the manuscript, the authors agree that, if accepted for publication, copyright of the complete article will be assigned to the publisher.

Furthermore, it is understood that with submission of this article the authors have complied with the institutional policies governing the humane and ethical treatment of the experimental subjects, and that they are willing to share the original data and materials if so requested.

Conflict of Interest and Source of Funding. A conflict of interest exists when an author or the author's institution has a financial or other relationship with other people or organizations that may inappropriately influence the author's actions. All submissions to Food and Chemical Toxicology must include disclosure of all relationships that could be viewed as presenting a potential conflict of interest. Food and Chemical Toxicology may use such information as a basis for editorial decisions and may publish such disclosures if they are believed to be important to readers in judging the article.

Conflict of Interest Statements for Authors.Food and Chemical Toxicology requires full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest.
Please download the disclosure from the Food and Chemical Toxicology web site, http://ees.elsevier.com/fct at the 'Attach Files' stage of manuscript submission or download the form directly here. The corresponding author is responsible for downloading and sharing a copy of this form for each and every co-author listed on the manuscript. Each and every co-author must complete and sign their individual form and return to the corresponding author. The corresponding author is responsible for uploading their form and those of their co-authors (as one document) at the submission process.

Investigators should disclose potential conflicts to participants in clinical trials and other studies and should state in the manuscript whether they have done so. Food and Chemical Toxicology may decide not to publish on the basis of a declared conflict, such as the financial interest of an author in a company (or its competitors) that makes a product discussed in the paper.

Submission of Manuscripts. It is a condition of publication that all manuscripts must be submitted in English to Food and Chemical Toxicology's submission and review website, External link http://ees.elsevier.com/fct. Authors are requested to transmit the text and art of the manuscript in electronic form to this address. Each manuscript must also be accompanied by a cover letter outlining the basic findings of the paper and their significance. The Editors welcome submissions by the authors of the names and addresses of up to five individuals who could expertly review the paper, and who are not from the same institutions as the authors. The Editors, reserve the right to use these or other reviewers. Should you be unable to provide an electronic version, please contact the editorial offices prior to submission:

Managing Editor for North, Central and South America: Joseph F.Borzelleca
josephfborzelleca@comcast.net

Managing Editor for rest of the World: Alan Boobis
a.boobis@ic.ac.uk

Brief Communications
Preliminary but exciting break-through findings may be published in this expedited review process. This manuscript must be limited to eight double-spaced pages and generally follow the same format as full papers. The need for rapid publication of the data must be clearly stated in the Introduction. Brevity is not a justification for Brief Communication status.

Reviews
Informative reviews of contemporary topics in toxicology relevant to the scope of the journal are welcomed. They should be concise and, in any event, no longer than 80 pages double-spaced, including references, table and figures. Authors should follow the general advice given above for manuscripts, but reviews do not need to follow the sectional format recommended for research papers. Reviews should include a Title page, Abstract, Introduction and Discussion/Conclusions, in addition to the core of the review. A contents page is not necessary unless the author(s) consider that would be helpful in a lengthy review.

Manuscript Format
Manuscripts should be written in clear and concise English; incomprehensible manuscripts will be returned to the authors for rewriting. Manuscripts should be double spaced throughout, with at least 2.5-cm margins. All pages must be numbered, including the title page.
Title page:
• Title: Titles consisting of declarative or interrogative sentences are not acceptable. Titles may not include trademarked names or abbreviations.
• Authors: Provide surnames and initials of all authors
• Institution(s) where the work was done (with the affiliation of each author clearly indicated)
• Corresponding author: Provide full name and complete contact information including mailing address, telephone number, fax number and email.
• Running title: This will be printed at the top of each page of the manuscript; not to exceed 45 characters including spaces.
• Keywords: Please provide no more than six keywords
• Abbreviations: Any abbreviations used should be listed in alphabetical order under Abbreviations as a footnote to the title page.

Abstract
The abstract should be a self-contained summary of the objectives, results and significance of the study, not exceeding 200 words. Uninformative sentences such as "the significance of the results is discussed" are not acceptable.
Introduction
Provide a concise and clear statement on the background,purposes and significance of the work including objectives.
Materials and Methods
This section should be a description of the experimental design and of any new or improved methods. Provide sufficient detail such that experienced researchers would be able to duplicate the experiments. Well established methods and techniques may be identified by reference only.
Test substances must be adequately characterized and should include chemical name, CAS registry Number, EU Number, common or usual name and purity. If the test substance is an extract, the following information must be provided: scientific and common name of the source, detailed extraction procedure, concentration of active principle(s) (if known), standardization of batches, and stability. Details are necessary to permit clear identification and to allow replication of results by other investigators.
Animals must be specified by species, strain, sex, age, weight (mean ± SD or SE), housing conditions and number per group.
It is recommended but not required that safety evaluation studies that conform to recognized existing guidelines (e.g. OECD) and follow GLP or GCP procedures should be so noted.
Results
Should be presented concisely, with the aid of tables or figures where appropriate. Tables should include indications of statistical significance. Duplication between this section and the Discussion must be avoided.
Discussion
A succinct interpretation of the data. Appropriate speculation and a brief discussion of further research are encouraged but must be brief. Extensive literature reviews and highly speculative comment are discouraged.
Acknowledgements
Provide recognition of sources of funding and donations of materials, and including any thanks the authors may wish to accord for advisory, technical or other assistance, since authorship should be limited to those who have made a major contribution to the study and to the preparation of the paper. Authors are advised to obtain approval for the wording of any acknowledgement from those whose help is noted.
All sources of funding (for example, contracts, grants, bequests and/or agencies) supporting the work are to be declared.
Tables and Figures
Each Figure should be in one of the following preferred formats: Tiff, JPEG, PDF, and EPS. Please refer to External link http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions for detailed instructions on preparing electronic artwork.
These must be intelligible without reference to the text and should be planned to fit the page size of the Journal. Authors should indicate in the text where they would prefer each table and figure to appear (e.g. <Insert table 1 here>). Tables and figures should be numbered, in arabic numerals, in the sequence in which they are mentioned in the text. The same data may not be reproduced in both a table and a figure. Each table must have a title and on each column there should be a heading that clearly identifies the data therein. Data should be expressed as mean + SE or SD, and noted as such. Tables consisting of negative data only (no statistically significant dose-dependent effects) are strongly discouraged. Illustrations and diagrams should be avoided. For figures, no information that can be included in the legend should appear on the figure. The following standard symbols are preferred for line drawings: (closed triangle), (open triangle), (closed circle), (open circle), (circle with dot), (closed box), (square), (open box), (x), (diamond). The legends for photomicrographs must state the staining method and magnification. If figures that have already been published under copyright are to be reproduced in the Journal (e.g. in reviews), copies of letters from the first publisher and the original author giving permission for such reproduction must always accompany the submitted manuscript.
Footnotes
These should include the definitions of any abbreviations used in the text and any author's current address, if different from that given below the title. Other footnotes, as distinct from literature references, should be avoided in the text as far as possible. When they are essential, they should be identified by superscript numbers. All the footnotes except those for tables should be printed on a separate sheet, with an indication of the manuscript page to which the footnote refers.
Nomenclature
All measurements should be expressed in metric, preferably SI, units. Test chemicals and enzymes must be clearly identified, IUPAC and CAS names being used, wherever possible with the aid of CAS Registry and EC numbers. Pesticides should be referred to be their ISO names and human and veterinary drugs by their INNs.
Gene accession numbers In the electronic version of a published manuscript, gene accession numbers will be linked directly to the gene's description in NCBI's Nucleotide sequence database. The accession number should be formatted as follows:
Accession no. AJ315850
and in the text e.g. ". . . at the amino acid sequence level to the human IDN3 gene (Accession No. AJ315850)."
The production department will then link this reference when they find it in the text. Authors should DOUBLE-CHECK the number they use to make absolutely sure that it is correct before referring to it in their paper. Accession numbers in proofs should also always be checked for correctness. The number is an essential part of the link.
Abbreviations
These should be used sparingly; they should be defined when first used in the paper but also listed in alphabetical order under Abbreviations as a footnote to the title page (see above).

Preparation of Supplementary Material: Elsevier now accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier web products, including ScienceDirect http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data is provided in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit http://www.elsevier.com/authors.

References should be cited in the text by the authors' names and year of publication (Harvard system).• For books: authors' names and initials, year of publication, title of article, title of book preceded by 'In:', first and last page numbers.
• For edited volumes: lnitial(s) and name(s), followed by '(Eds)', publisher's name and city, then first and last page numbers. Reference to a work by more than two authors should give the name of the first author only followed by 'et al.'
• References cited in the text should be given at the end of the paper, arranged in alphabetical order of first author. Citations must include names and initials of all authors, year, full title of paper, abbreviated title of periodical, and volume and first and last page numbers.
• More than one paper from the same author(s) in the same year should be identified by the letters a,b,c, etc., after the year of publication.
Examples:
• Pereira, M.A. and Chang, L.W., 1981. Binding of chemical carcinogens and mutagens to rat hemoglobin. Chem.- Biol. Interact. 22, 301-305.
• Weisburger, E.K., 1988. Carcinogenic halogenated aliphatic compounds. In: P. Politzer and F.J. Martin, Jr. (Eds), Chemical Carcinogens. Activation Mechanisms, Structural and Electronic Factors, and Reactivity, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 91-113.

English language help service: Upon request, Elsevier will direct authors to an agent who can check and improve the English of their paper (before submission). Please contact authorsupport@elsevier.com for further information.

Proofs, Reprints and Author Inquiries: One set of proofs of accepted manuscripts will be sent to the corresponding author. No alteration of the substance of the text, tables or figures will be allowed at this stage. Corrected proofs should be returned to the publisher within two days of receipt. Twenty-five reprints are provided free of charge, and additional copies (minimum 100) can be ordered at prices shown on the price list accompanying the Reprint Order Form which will be sent with the proofs. Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as possible. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Subsequent corrections will not be possible, so please ensure your first sending is complete.

US National Institutes of Health (NIH) voluntary posting (" Public Access") policy.
Elsevier facilitates author response to the NIH voluntary posting request (referred to as the NIH "Public Access Policy"; see
External link http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm) by posting the peer-reviewed author's manuscript directly to PubMed Central on request from the author, 12 months after formal publication. Upon notification from Elsevier of acceptance, we will ask you to confirm via e-mail (by e-mailing us at NIHauthorrequest@elsevier.com ) that your work has received NIH funding and that you intend to respond to the NIH policy request, along with your NIH award number to facilitate processing. Upon such confirmation, Elsevier will submit to PubMed Central on your behalf a version of your manuscript that will include peer-review comments, for posting 12 months after formal publication. This will ensure that you will have responded fully to the NIH request policy. There will be no need for you to post your manuscript directly with PubMed Central, and any such posting is prohibited.

Authors' rights:
As an author you (or your employer or institution) may do the following:

  • make copies (print or electronic) of the article for your own personal use, including for your own classroom teaching use
  • make copies and distribute such copies (including through e-mail) of the article to research colleagues, for the personal use by such colleagues (but not commercially or systematically, e.g., via an e-mail list or list server)
  • post a pre-print version of the article on Internet websites including electronic pre-print servers, and to retain indefinitely such version on such servers or sites
  • post a revised personal version of the final text of the article (to reflect changes made in the peer review and editing process) on your personal or institutional website or server, with a link to the journal homepage (on elsevier.com)
  • present the article at a meeting or conference and to distribute copies of the article to delegates attending such a meeting
  • for your employer, if the article is a 'work for hire,' made within the scope of your employment, your employer may use all or part of the information in the article for other intra-company use (e.g. training)
  • retain patent and trademark rights and rights to any processes or procedure described in the article
  • include the article in full or in part in a thesis or dissertation (provided that this is not to be published commercially)
  • use the article or any part thereof in a printed compilation of your works, such as collected writings or lecture notes (subsequent to publication of your article in the journal)
  • prepare other derivative works, to extend the article into book-length form, or to otherwise re-use portions or excerpts in other works, with full acknowledgement of its original publication to the journal.
Author enquiries:
For enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available), please visit http://www.elsevier.com/authors.
Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided when an article is accepted for publication.

Authors of Food and Chemical Toxicology please note: there is no page charge for this journal. The cost of printed colour pages will be the responsibility of the author(s), please note all illustrations are reproduced in colour on ScienceDirect.

Sponsored Articles:
Food and Chemical Toxicology offers authors or their institutions the option to sponsor non-subscriber access to their articles on Elsevier's electronic publishing platforms. For more information please click here.
Printer-friendly version   Printer-friendly version
 Home | Site map | Privacy policy | Terms and Conditions | Feedback | A Reed Elsevier company
 Copyright © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.