Official Journal of the World Federation of Neurology Research Group on Parkinsonism and Related Disorders

Manuscripts submitted without statements of ethical approval, informed consent and industry affiliation will be returned to the author/s.

Ethics of experimentation: All experiments on human subjects should be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Papers must be accompanied by a statement that all procedures were carried out with the adequate understanding and written consent of the subjects involved and with the ethical approval of the author(s)' institutional review board. If the study did not require ethical approval, the submission should include a statement that ethical approval was waived. The information on IRB approval or exemption and informed consent should be included in the Methods section of the manuscript.

All animal experiments should be carried out in accordance with the U.K. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 and associated guidelines, the European Communities Council Directive of 24 November 1986 (86/609/EEC) or National Institute of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (NIH Publications No. 80-23, revised 1978). Papers should be accompanied by a statement that all efforts were made to minimize animal suffering, to reduce the number of animals used and to utilize alternatives to in vivo techniques, if available.

Submission of Papers

Parkinsonism and Related Disorders proceeds totally online via an electronic submission system at http://ees.elsevier.com/parkreldis. You will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. When submitting a manuscript online, you need to provide an electronic version of your manuscript and any accompanying figures and tables. There is no need to line-number your manuscript since that will be done automatically by the electronic submission system.

You should select the appropriate classifications from the list of scientific classifications, which will be used to help the editors select reviewers with the appropriate expertise, and an article type for your manuscript (Reviews, Full Length Article, Short Communications or letters etc). Once the uploading is done, the system automatically generates an electronic (PDF) proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence, including the Editor's decision and request for revisions, will be processed through the system and will reach the corresponding author by e-mail.

Once a manuscript has successfully been submitted via the online submission system you may track the status of your manuscript using the online submission system (details will be provided by e-mail). If your manuscript is accepted by the journal, subsequent tracking facilities are available on Elsevier's Author Gateway, using the unique reference number provided by Elsevier and corresponding author name (details will be provided by e-mail).

Contact details Central Editorial Office:
Susan Calne, E-mail: scalne@interchange.ubc.ca

For further details on how to submit online, please refer to the EES Tutorial for authors or contact Elsevier's Author Support Team at authorsupport@elsevier.com

Submission Statement. The submitting author will be required to state that the paper has not been published previously, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and that if accepted it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the publisher.

Refereeing. All contributions are sent to external reviewers to ensure both accuracy and relevance; revisions may be required before the paper is finally accepted. In some cases you may be asked to resubmit your paper in which case it will be reviewed again. When submitting a revised manuscript, please note that you will be asked to submit both a clean manuscript (with the revisions incorporated) and a revised manuscript (with the revision highlighted)

Fast Track Review and Publication

Authors with data they wish to be considered for the fast-track procedure should present clear-cut, novel findings of unusual and timely significance. Complex studies, even those of major importance, will not qualify, because it is unlikely that reviewers can handle them quickly. Fast-track papers are expected to be acceptable for publication in essentially the form submitted. Manuscripts that require substantial revision will not fit the criteria for fast-track processing. The maximum length allowed will be 2,000 words, 20 references and 3 illustrations (figures or tables).

Submission procedure

A. Explain in the cover letter why you are requesting rapid review.
B. Explicitly state whether there is any overlap with already published or submitted work.

Review procedure

1. Within a maximum of 2 weeks the Editor-in-Chief will decide whether the paper can enter the fast track.
2. If the Editor-in-Chief denies fast-track review, the author is offered the option of having the manuscript placed in the regular review process. He or she must respond within a week or the paper is rejected. The review process and acceptance or rejection of a fast track paper will be decided within 5 weeks This decision is final (rejected manuscripts will not enter the ordinary review process).
3. If acceptance requires minor changes they must be performed by the authors within a week.
4. Accepted papers will published in the next issue.
5. All correspondence with authors and reviewers is performed by E-mail.


Preparation of Papers

Types of Papers

Review Articles of specialized topics within the scope of the journal. The maximum length allowed will be 4,000 words, including the abstract (max. 250 words) but not including the references (max. 50 references). Authors who plan to submit reviews to the journal are advised to contact the review editor Dr. Zbigniew K.Wszolek at wszolek.zbigniew@mayo.edu to discuss the suitability of the proposed topic.

Point of View Articles on challanged conventional ideas or hypotheses and which could invite further discussion or debate through correspondence or articles in the journal. Authors who plan to submit Point of View Articles to the journal are advised to contact review editor Dr. Zbigniew K.Wszolek at wszolek.zbigniew@mayo.edu to discuss the suitability of the proposed topic.

Full-length Articles reporting original results of research within the field of Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. The maximum length allowed will be 3,000 words, including the abstract (max. 250 words) but not including the references (max. 30 references).

Short Communications reporting on research that has progressed to the stage where preliminary publication is appropriate. The maximum length allowed will be 2,200 words and 12 references. There should not be more than 2 illustrations (figure/table).

Case Reports will only be considered under exceptional circumstances. Please contact the journal office with the topic before proceeding with a submission.

Letter to the Editor will be considered for publication if they relate to previously published material or describe interesting observations. The text should not exceed 1,000 words, 5 references and 2 illustrations (figure/table).

Important note regarding open label studies: Open label studies, in most cases, will only be accepted and published as letters.

Please note that Parkinsonism & Related Disorders does not accept books for review

General: Papers should be written in clear and concise English. Authors should consult a recent issue of the journal for style if possible.

Abstracts: The abstract should no exceed 250 words and should outline the purpose, scope and conclusions of the paper.

Text: Follow this order when typing Papers: Title page (Title, Authors, Affiliations, Keywords, Short Title), Abstract, Main text (suitably divided under headings), Acknowledgements, Appendix, References, Vitae, Figure Captions and then Tables. Do not import the Figures or Tables into your text; they are to be uploaded separately. The corresponding author should be identified with an asterisk and footnote. All other footnotes (except for table footnotes) should be identified with superscript Arabic numbers.

References: All publications cited in the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the paper. In the text refer to references by a number in square brackets on the line (e.g. Since Bondi [1]), and the full reference should be given in a numerical list at the end of the Paper. The references list should follow the 'Vancouver' style; if there are more than 6 authors, the first 6 should be listed followed by "et al.". Please note the shortened form for the last page number e.g., 51-9 Papers submitted with reference field codes still in place will be returned. Journal titles should be abbreviated in conformity with Index Medicus. References should be given in the following form (or delays may be experienced with your paper):

Reference to a journal publication:

[1] Wszolek ZK, Vieregge P, Uitti RJ, Gasser T,Yasuhara O, McGeer P, et al. German-Canadian Family (Family A) with Parkinsonism, Amyotrophy, and Dementia - Longitudinal Observations. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 1997; 3:125-39.

Reference to a book:

[2] Clarke CE. Parkinson's disease in practice. London: Royal Society of Medicine Press, 2001.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

[3] Troster Al, Fields JA. The role of neuropsychological evaluation in the neurosurgical treatment of movement disorders. In: Tarsy D, Vitek D, Lozano A, editors. Surgical treatment of Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, 2003. p 213-40.

Articles published online but not yet in print, and for which bibliographic details are not yet available, may be cited using the Digital Object Identifier if available:

[4] Fiala KH, Whetteckey J, Manyam BV. Malignant melanoma and levodopa in Parkinson's disease: causality or coincidence? Parkinsonism Relat Disord, published online 4 June 2003, DOI: 10.1016/S1353-8020(03)00040-3.

Removing Field Codes From A Manuscript
Electronic reference field codes are embedded in a document as a reference list is assembled. They link references in a manuscript to the reference program Only the author can remove them and they must be removed.

Reference Manager
Click Remove Field Codes on the Reference Manager tool bar. You will get a notice on screen telling you that Word is going to make another copy of your document. Save with a DIFFERENT name to your computer ready to load into your submission folder. You then save the field code document in its original form in case you need it for revisions later. The codes do not show up in the PDF version of your file but do on the word doc file in the file list

End Note
Use the Word function to remove all field codes: Ctrl+Shift+F9. You must make a back-up copy of your manuscript first as the move can not be undone . This is the reverse of Refman which forces you to save a new document but leaves the original intact.

Digital Object Identifier

The digital object identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The DOI will never change. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly Articles in Press because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information. The DOI can also be used to create an URL hyperlink to supplementary material associated to an article.

When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, they are guaranteed never to change.

Complete the following steps to resolve a DOI:

* Open the following DOI site with your browser: http://dx.doi.org
* Enter the entire DOI citation in the text box provided, and then click Go.
* The article or supplementary material that matches the DOI citation appears in your browser window.


The DOI scheme is administered by the International DOI Foundation. Many of the world's leading learned publishers have come together to build a DOI-based article linking scheme known as CrossRef.

Illustrations

Photographs, charts and diagrams are all to be referred to as "Figure(s)" and should be numbered consecutively in the order to which they are referred. They should accompany the paper, but should not be included within the text; they are to be uploaded separately. All illustrations should be clearly identified with the figure number and the author's name. Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Times, Symbol.

Tables: Tables should be numbered consecutively and given a suitable caption and each table typed on a separate sheet. Footnotes to tables should be typed below the table and should be referred to by superscript lowercase letters. No vertical rules should be used. Tables should not duplicate results presented elsewhere in the Paper, (e.g. in graphs).

Line drawings: All lettering, graph lines and points on graphs should be sufficiently large and bold to permit reproduction when the diagram has been reduced to a size suitable for inclusion in the journal. Dye-line prints or photocopies are not suitable for reproduction. Do not use any type of shading on computer-generated illustrations.

All authors wishing to use illustrations already published must first obtain the permission of the author and publisher and/or copyright holders and give precise reference to the original work. This permission must include the right to publish in electronic media. For further information regarding artwork, visit the website: http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork/parkreldis

Colourful e-Products

Figures that appear in black & white in print appear in colour, online, in Science Direct at http://www.sciencedirect.com. There is no extra charge for authors who participate.

Colour reproduction in print will have to be approved by the Editor. Upon editorial approval, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate whether you want colour in the printed paper or only on the Web.

Because of technical complications, which can arise by converting colour figures to "grey scale" (for the printed version should you not opt for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the colour illustrations.

For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork/parkreldis

Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a Journal Publishing Agreement (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). 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 or a link to the online version of this agreement.

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: phone (+1) 215 239 3804, fax (+1) 215 239 3805, e-mail healthpermissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).

Funding bodies

Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies

Proofs

Proofs accompanied by a Query Sheet, will be sent to the author (first named author if no corresponding author is identified of multi-authored papers) and should be returned within 48 hours of receipt. Please answer the publisher's queries. Corrections should be restricted to typesetting errors; any others may be charged to the author. Any queries should be answered in full. Please note that authors are urged to check their proofs carefully before return, since the inclusion of late corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofs are to be returned to the Log-in Department, Elsevier, Stover Court, Bampfylde Street, Exeter, Devon, EX1 2AH, UK, fax: +44 1392 426436.

Offprints

The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively, 25 free paper offprints. 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. Additional paper offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.

Author Enquiries

Authors can keep a track on the progress of their accepted article, and set up email alerts informing them of changes to their Paper's status, by using the "Track a Paper" feature of Elsevier's Author Gateway, http://authors.elsevier.com/journal/parkreldis. For specific enquiries on the preparation of electronic artwork, please also consult the Author Gateway.

Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided when an article is accepted for publication.