Guide for Authors

A journal affiliated to the International Society of Biomechanics, the American Society of Biomechanics, the European Society of Biomechanics and the Taiwanese Society for Biomechanics

Aims
Clinical Biomechanics aims to strengthen the link between clinic and laboratory by publishing biomechanics research which helps to explain the causes of musculoskeletal disorders and provides knowledge contributing to improved management.

Scope
Clinical Biomechanics explores all facets of musculoskeletal biomechanics with an emphasis on clinical management. The role of basic and medical science is recognized in a clinical context. The readership of the journal closely reflects its contents, being a balance of scientists, engineers and clinicians.

Authorship
All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.

Instructions for Authors
Contributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication and are accepted on the understanding that they have not been published previously, not are under consideration for publication in any other journal.

Papers - scientific reports within the scope of the journal. To ensure minimal publication delays, authors are asked to restrict the length; typically around 4000 words with no more than six figures or tables.

Brief Reports - limited to around 1500 words with minimal figures or tables.

Review Papers - authoritative, well referenced reviews of a relevant subject.

Correspondence - letters relating to matters published in the journal are encouraged.

Authors are invited to submit to the journal online http://ees.elsevier.com/clbi/. You will be guided through the creation and uploading of the various files. Once the uploading is done, the system automatically generates an electronic (PDF) proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be by e-mail.

Enquiries about the suitability of potential articles should be sent to the Editor: Prof Kim Burton, Clinical Biomechanics, 30 Queen Street, Huddersfield HD1 2SP, UK Tel: +44(0)1484 535200; fax: +44(0)1484 435744; e-mail: kim@spineresearch.org.uk

When submitting a paper you are expecting a number of colleagues to review your work. As a matter of courtesy you should ensure your manuscript is neatly presented as well as complying with the journal's requirements. Manuscripts that are poorly presented or do not follow all these guidance notes will be returned without review.
• English language; double spaced; single sided; page-numbered and line-numbered.
• A title page including name(s) of author(s), qualifications, institute and correspondence addresses should be provided. Also provide a word count for the abstract and the main text (excluding reference list), and give the number of Tables and Figures.
• When compiling the author list for a manuscript, please list only those members of the team who have made a significant contribution to the work. To assist the Editor in accepting a list of more than five authors, a statement detailing the part played by each author must be included in the cover letter.

The difficulties facing authors whose native language is not English is appreciated. Nevertheless, it is the authors' responsibility to ensure correct use of English (through a scientific translator or similar). It is also the responsibility of the author to check the manuscript carefully for errors prior to submission.

The Journal has a list of topics used to classify papers. During the online submission process, authors must select as many as are relevant to their paper. These classifications are included in issue 1 of each volume, and as a PDF file on the Journal's homepage http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30397/description#description
• An accompanying cover letter should include:
(a) information on any duplicate publication elsewhere of any part of the work;
(b) a statement of any commercial relationships which may lead to a conflict of interests;
(c) a statement that the typescript has been read and agreed by all authors; (d) name, address and e-mail of the corresponding author.
•The Abstract should start on a new page, and must be in structured format. The following section headings (in italics) should each start a new line: Background, Methods, Findings, Interpretation. Please give an idea of the effect size of the results of hypothesis tests rather than simply quoting the statistical significance. The interpretation paragraph should explain how the findings add to understanding of the topic and outline the clinical implications. Abbreviations are strictly limited to universally accepted terms. References are not permitted. The abstract should not exceed 250 words in total. Keywords should be added for indexing.
•The main text should be divided into appropriate headings, e.g. Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions. Subheadings may also be used, and review papers may use other formats. The technical basis of new experiments should be fully detailed; previously used methods should also be described briefly, together with reference to previous publications. Statistical methods should be detailed where appropriate.
•Ensure all acronyms/abbreviations are defined at first use: keep to a minimum. For products ensure the source details are complete (company, city, country) [All US addresses must include USA].
•Authors must suggest two or more referees although the choice is left to the Editors. Please supply the address and e-mail address. Papers will be reviewed by at least two referees and their comments will be made known to the corresponding author.
•In a separate file labelled "Conflict of Interest Statement" all authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding.
•All sources of funding should be declared as an acknowledgement at the end of the text. Authors should declare the role of the study sponsors, if any, in the study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data: in the writing of the manuscript; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. If the study sponsors had no such involvement, the authors should so state.

References: Must follow the Harvard style and should be listed alphabetically at the end of the text. Please consult an issue of the journal for the details of how references should be formatted.

Text: All citations in the text should be referenced:
1. Single author - the author's name (without initials unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication;
2. Two authors - both authors' names and the year of publication;
3. Three or more authors - first author's name followed by 'et al.' and the year of publication.

In-text citation styles: Citations may be made directly (or parenthically). Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically. Multiple citations to a single point are generally not required and can impact on readability: if unavoidable, they must come at the end of a sentence.

Reference list: Starting on a new page in these styles:
List all authors when six or less; when seven or more, list the first six and add et al.

Journal articles:Van der Greer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J., Lupton, R.A., 2000. The art of writing a scientific article. J. Sci. Commun. 163, 51-59.

Books:Strunk Jr., W., White E.B., 1979. The elements of style, third ed. Macmillan, New York

Chapter in an edited book:Mettam, G.R., Adams L.B., 1999. How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: Jones, B.S., Smith R.Z., (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281-304.

References should be restricted to those that are retrievable through normal library sources. References to conference proceedings, internal reports and theses are only appropriate when they have been published and readily can be retrieved. Otherwise the reference should be in-text as (Author name, year, personal communication). Around 30 references is typical for original papers, though review papers will be more extensively referenced.

Tables
These must be provided as a separate file. Each table should begin on a separate page and should be numbered as Table 1, Table 2 etc., each with its fully explanatory title above the table with footnotes (if any) beneath. Vertical rules and shading should be avoided.

Figures
The final reproduction will be either single or double column; single column is preferred: please scale your originals accordingly. Ensure legibility of all components, and avoid excessive "white space". All figures to be referred to as Figure 1, Figure 2 etc. Legends to figures to be listed together on a separate page.
If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article.

Figures and Tables must be constructed and labelled in such a way that they may be understood without reference to the text.

Scientific measurements
Avoid the +/- symbol both in tables and text - use for example "mean xx (SD yy)". Ensure statistical abbreviations are in correct case and style (e.g., capital italic for P). Use n for number. SI units must be used. Conventions for abbreviations can be found in Units, Symbols and Abbreviations (available from the Royal Society of Medicine, www.rsmpress.co.uk ). Confidence intervals are preferred over just P values; their use is described in Statistics with Confidence (BMJ Books, 2000).

Randomised controlled trials
All randomised controlled trials submitted for publication in Clinical Biomechanics should include a completed Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flow chart. Please refer to the CONSORT statement website at http://www.consort-statement.org for more information. Clinical Biomechanics has adopted the proposal from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) which require, as a condition of consideration for publication of clinical trials, registration in a public trials registry. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the article. For this purpose, a clinical trial is defined as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. Studies designed for other purposes, such as to study pharmacokinetics or major toxicity (e.g. phase I trials) would be exempt. Further information can be found at http://www.icmje.org.

Ethics
Work on human beings that is submitted to Clinical Biomechanics should comply with the principles laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki; Recommendations guiding physicians in biomedical research involving human subjects. Adopted by the 18th World Medical Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, June 1964, amended by the 29th World Medical Assembly, Tokyo, Japan, October 1975, the 35th World Medical Assembly, Venice, Italy, October 1983, and the 41st World Medical Assembly, Hong Kong, September 1989. The manuscript should contain a statement that the work has been approved by the appropriate ethical committees related to the institution(s) in which it was performed and that subjects gave informed consent to the work. Studies involving experiments with animals must state that their care was in accordance with institution guidelines. Patients' and volunteers' names, initials, and hospital numbers should not be used.

Finite element simulations
The journal has strict requirements for papers in which results obtained from numerical models are used to draw clinically relevant recommendations - submissions involving finite element simulations will need to comply with those requirements (see Viceconti et al. Extracting clinical data from finite element simulations. Clin Biomech 2005;20:451-454. Click here to access the paper. Authors must confirm in their covering letter that their paper complies with the journal's requirements and for the benefit of the readers they may wish to cite Viceconti et al.

Preparation of Supplementary Data
Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material. Supplementary files offer the author 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: 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. In order to allow peer review, it is essential that any supplementary material is included with your submission and/or revision. It is important within your manuscript to point to the supplementary material on the website, in much the same way as you would point to a normal figure. For more detailed instructions please visit: http://ees.elsevier.com/clbi/ and click on Artwork Guidelines. Please upload supplementary files together with your initial submission of your manuscript via the electronic system.

Proofs
One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post). Elsevier now sends PDF proofs which can be annotated: for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 available free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win.
If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting the line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or by post. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proof reading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.

Offprints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use.

Copyright Guidelines
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see http://ees.elsevier.com/clbi/). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail (or letter) will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases : contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Philadelphia, PA, USA: Tel. (+1) 215 238 7869; Fax (+1) 215 238 2239; e-mail healthpermissions@elsevier.com . Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).

Agreements with Funding Bodies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors who publish in this journal to comply with manuscript archiving requirements of the following funding bodies, as specified as conditions of researcher grant awards. Please see www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/fundingbodyagreements for full details of the agreements that are in place for these bodies

• Arthritis Research Campaign (UK)
• British Heart Foundation (UK)
• Cancer Research (UK)
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute (USA)
• Medical Research Council (UK)
• National Institutes of Health (USA)
• Wellcome Trust (UK)

These agreements and policies enable authors to comply with their funding body's archiving policy without having to violate their publishing agreements with Elsevier. The agreements and policies are intended to support the needs of Elsevier authors, editors, and society publishing partners, and protect the quality and integrity of the peer review process. They are examples of Elsevier's ongoing engagement with scientific and academic communities to explore ways to deliver demonstrable and sustainable benefits for the research communities we serve.

Authors who report research by funding bodies not listed above, and who are concerned that their author agreement may be incompatible with archiving requirements specified by a funding body that supports an author's research are strongly encouraged to contact Elsevier's author support team Authorsupport@elsevier.com. Elsevier has a track-record of working on behalf of authors to ensure authors can always publish in Elsevier journals and still comply with archiving conditions defined in research grant awards.