The International Journal for Medical and Veterinary Researchers and Practitioners

Comparative Immunology, Microbiology & Infectious Diseases consists of six issues a year and publishes original papers or reviews of the status of current research relative to the different fields of Immunology,Microbiology and Infectious Diseases of humans and animals.
Immunology: manuscripts are accepted relative to the various branches of this discipline: fundamental Immunology, experimental or comparative Immunology, clinical Immunology, Immunopathology.
Microbiology: manuscripts are accepted relative to the various branches of this discipline: Bacteriology, Virology, Mycology.
Infectious Diseases: manuscripts are accepted relative to the various branches: Etiology, Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, Prophylaxis, Treatment, Epidemiology, Epizootiology of infectious diseases of man and animal including zoonosis.

Circumstances relating to animal experimentation must meet the International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals as issued by the Council for the International Organizations of Medical Sciences. They are obtainable from: Executive Secretary C.I.O.M.S., c/o WHO, Via Appia, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland, or at the following URL: http://www.cioms.ch/frame_1985_texts_of_guidelines.htm. Unnecessary cruelty in animal experimentation is not acceptable to the Editors of Comparative Immunology, Microbiology & Infectious Diseases.

Submission of Papers
The Editors encourage electronic submission of manuscripts via e-mail to the addresses below. These must be submitted as MS Word documents, with figures/illustrations preferably in TIFF or JPEG format(as outlined later). Only where this is not possible, a hard copy of the manuscript should be sent to the appropriate address below along with an electronic copy (on disc or CD-ROM). The electronic version must match the hard copy exactly.

Manuscripts from The Americas and Australasia should be submitted to:

Dr B. I. Osburn
School of Veterinary Medicine
University of California
Davis, CA 95616
USA
e-mail: ceschore@ucdavis.edu

Manuscripts from all other countries should be submitted to:

Dr K. Yamanouchi
Laboratory Animal Research Center
Institute of Medical Science
University of Tokyo
4-6-1 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku
Tokyo 108-8639
Japan
e-mail: Yamanokazu@nifty.com

Manuscripts should be written in English or American-English. Should the use of English be inadequate for journal publication, the author may be requested to solicit linguistic help from someone more proficient in English. Elsevier's Authors Home (on 'Authors Home Page' click on 'Language services') provides details of some companies who can provide English language and copyediting services to authors who need assistance before they submit their article or before it is accepted for publication. Authors should contact these services directly. For more information about language editing services, please email: authorsupport@elsevier.com

Submission of a paper implies that it 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.

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.

Acknowledgements
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship as defined above should be listed in an acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support. Authors should disclose whether they had any writing assistance and identify the entity that paid for this assistance.

Conflict of interest
At the end of the text, under a subheading "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.

Role of the funding source
All sources of funding should be declared as an acknowledgement at the end of the text. Authors should declare the role of 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.

Types of Contributions
Original papers; review articles.

Manuscript Preparation

General: Manuscripts must be double-spaced. The corresponding author should be identified (include a Fax number and E-mail address). Full postal addresses must be given for all co-authors. Please number every manuscript page. Authors should consult a recent issue of the journal for style if possible. The Editors reserve the right to adjust style to certain standards of uniformity. Authors should retain a copy of their manuscript since we cannot accept responsibility for damage or loss of papers. Original manuscripts are discarded one month after publication unless the Publisher is asked to return original material after use.

Abstracts: The authors must provide an English summary. This should be typed on separate pages and be preceded by the author's name, year, title of paper. They should summarize the main contents and conclusions of the paper and should not exceed about 150 words. New names should be given in the abstracts. Up to 10 keywords are also required.

Text: Follow this order when typing manuscripts: Title, Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Main text (introduction; materials & methods; observations/experimental procedure; results; discussion), Acknowledgements, Appendix, References, Vitae, Figure Captions and then Tables. Do not import the Figures or Tables into your text. 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.

Units: Units of measure and abbreviations should conform to standard IUPAC-IUB nomenclature. For example:

Units of measure	Abbreviations
gram(s) g	10-1 deci d
metre m	10-2 centi c
second s	10-3 milli m
Ampere A	10-6 micro
curie Ci	10-9 nano n
equivalent Eq	10-12 pico p
molar M	103 kilo k

Nomenclature of micro-organisms. Bacteria strains used must be indicated in accordance with the rules of the International Committee of Bacterial Nomenclature.
Generic and specific names should both be underlined in the text. The specific name cannot be used without being preceded by the generic name. The first time the generic name appears in the text, it should be written in full, and thereafter, only the initial of the generic name should be written.
Viruses should be indicated in accordance with the rules of the International Committee of Viral Nomenclature.
Nomenclature of gammaglobulin. Gammaglobulin should be indicated in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation: (Bull Wld Hlth Org, 1969;41:975; Eur J Immun, 1973;3:62).

References: All publications cited in the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript. In the text refer to references by a number in square brackets on the line (e.g. Since Salih[1]), and the full reference should be given in a numerical list at the end of the paper.

References should be given in the following form:
1. Salih BA, Rosenbusch RF. Identification and localization of a 94 kDa membrane protein found in Mycoplasma bovoculi strains. Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis 1998;21(4):281-290.
2. Onions D, Testa N, Jarrett O. Growth of feline leukemia virus in haematopoietic cells in vitro. In: Hardy WD Jr, Essex M, McCelland AJ, editors. Feline leukemia virus. New York: Elsevier-North Holland, 1980. p. 507-516.
3. Snedecor GW, Cochran WG. Statistical methods, 7th ed. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1980.

Preparation of electronic illustrations
Submitting artwork in an electronic format helps reproduction to the best possible standards, ensuring accuracy, clarity and a high level of detail.
Colour: Where colour figures are required the Author will be charged at the current colour printing costs.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website: http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

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 manuscript, (e.g. in graphs).

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 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. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.

Off-prints
The corresponding author will, at no cost, be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively, 25 free paper off-prints (with an additional 75 paper off-prints for Review Articles). 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 off-prints can be ordered by the authors. An Order Form, with prices, will be sent to the corresponding author.

UNESCO coupons are acceptable in payment of extra paper off-prints.

Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a "Journal Publishing Agreement". 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 pre-printed forms for use by Authors in these cases: contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Oxford, UK: phone (+1) 215 239 3804 or +44(0)1865 843830, fax +44(0) 1865 853333, e-mail healthpermissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed on-line via the Elsevier Homepage http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.

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 the 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 in the journal

Author Services
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 articles, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.

Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors who publish in Elsevier journals 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.