Official Journal of the International Society for Affective Disorders

Submission of a manuscript implies that it contains original work and has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. It also implies the transfer of the copyright from the author to the publisher. Authors should include permission to reproduce any previously published material. Any potential conflict of interest should be disclosed in the cover letter. Authors are also requested to include contact information (name, address, telephone, fax, and e-mail) for three potential peer reviewers, to be used at the Editor's discretion. The review process requires 2 to 5 months.

Manuscript Submission

The Journal of Affective Disorders now proceeds totally online via an electronic submission system. Mail submissions will no longer be accepted. By accessing the online submission system through the Author Gateway, http://ees.elsevier.com/jad/, you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. When submitting a manuscript online, authors need to provide an electronic version of their manuscript and any accompanying figures and tables.

The author should select from a list of scientific classifications, which will be used to help the editors select reviewers with appropriate expertise, and an article type for their manuscript. 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 authors may track the status of their 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).

Authors may send queries concerning the submission process or journal procedures to the appropriate Editorial Office:

For Europe, Asia (except Japan), and Australasia: C. Katona, Wingham Barton Manor, Westmarsh, Canterbury CT3 2LW, UK; E-mail: journalaffdis@googlemail.com.

For the American Hemisphere, Africa, and Japan: H.S. Akiskal, University of California at San Diego, V.A. Psychiatry Service (116A), 3350 La Jolla Village Dr., San Diego, CA 92161, USA; E-mail: hakiskal@ucsd.edu.

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

Types of Papers

The Journal primarily publishes
full-length Research Reports describing original work (4000-5000 words, excluding references and up to 6 tables/figures)
Brief Reports (1500-2000 words, excluding references and a msximum of 2 tables/figures)
evidence-based Review Articles (up to 8000 words, excluding references and up to 10 tables/figures). Reviews should be systematic and give details as to search strategy used.
Rapid Communications (1500-2000 words, excluding references and a maximum of 2 tables/figures).
Preliminary Communications (up to 3000 words, excluding references and maximum 3 tables/figures).
Books for review should be sent to the appropriate editorial office (see above).

At the discretion of the accepting Editor-in-Chief, and/or based on reviewer feedback, authors may be allowed fewer or more than these guidelines.

Preparation of Manuscripts

Articles should be in English. The title page should appear as a separate sheet bearing title (without article type), author names and affiliations, and a footnote with the corresponding author's full contact information, including address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address (failure to include an e-mail address can delay processing of the manuscript).

Papers should be divided into sections headed by a caption (e.g., Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion). A structured abstract of no more than 250 words should appear on a separate page with the following headings and order: Background, Methods, Results, Limitations, Conclusions (which should contain a statement about the clinical relevance of the research). A list of three to six key words should appear under the abstract.

Author Disclosure - NEW!!

Role of Funding Source. Authors are kindly requested to briefly describe the role of the study sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, authors should so state.

eg, Funding for this study was provided by NIMH Grant XXXXXXX; the NIMH had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

The second aspect of the Journal's new policy concerns the Conflict of Interest. ALL authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three (3) years of beginning the work submitted that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.

Examples of potential conflicts of interest which should be disclosed include employment, consultancies, stock ownership (except for personal investment purposes equal to the lesser of one percent (1%) or USD 5000), honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications, registrations, and grants. If there are no conflicts of interest, authors should state that there are none.

eg, Author Y owns shares in pharma company A. Author X and Z have consulted for pharma company B. All other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Finally, before the references, the Journal will publish Acknowledgements, in a separate section, and not as a footnote on the title page.

eg, We thank Mr A, who kindly provided the data necessary for our analysis, and Miss B, who assisted with the preparation and proof-reading of the manuscript.

The submitting author is also required to make a brief statement concerning each named author's contributions to the paper under the headingng Contributors. This statement is for editorial purposes only and will not be published with the article.

eg, Author X designed the study and wrote the protocol. Author Y managed the literature searches and analyses. Authors X and Z undertook the statistical analysis, and author W wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.

NB. During the online submission process the author will be prompted to upload these four mandatory author disclosures as separate items. They will be automatically incorporated in the PDF builder of the online submission system. Please do not include in the main manuscripts.

References

References should be cited in text by authors' names and year of publication (Harvard system). When referring to a work of more than two authors, the name of the first author should be used with 'et al.'(examples: Brown, 1992; Brown and Bifulco, 1992; Brown et al., 1993, a, b).

All references cited in text should be listed at the end of the paper (double spaced) arranged in alphabetical order of first author. More than one paper from the same author in the same year should be identified by the letter (a, b, c, etc.) after the year of publication.

The reference list should contain names and initials of all authors, year, title of paper referred to, abbreviated title of periodical (per Index Medicus), volume, and inclusive page numbers. This Journal should be cited in the list of references as J. Affect. Disord. Periodicals, books, and multi-author titles should accord with the following examples:

Bauer, M.S., Shea, N., McBride, L., Gavin, C., 1997. Predictors of service utilization in veterans with bipolar disorder: a prospective study. J. Affect. Disord. 44, 159-168.

Gelenberg, A.J., Bassuk, E.L., Schoonover, S.C., 1991. The Practitioner's Guide to Psychoactive Drugs. Plenum Medical Book Company, New York, NY.

Willner, P., 1995. Dopaminergie mechanisms in depression and mania. In: Bloom, F.E. and Kupfer, D.J. (Eds.), Psychopharmacology: The Fourth Generation of Progress. Raven Press, NY, pp. 921-931.

Figures and Photographs

Figures and Photographs of good quality should be submitted online as a separate file. Please use a lettering that remains clearly readable even after reduction to about 66%. For every figure or photograph, a legend should be provided. 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.

Tables

Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals and must be cited in the text in sequence. Each table, with an appropriate brief legend, comprehensible without reference to the text, should be typed on a separate page and uploaded online. Tables should be kept as simple as possible and wherever possible a graphical representation used instead. Table titles should be complete but brief. Information other than that defining the data should be presented as footnotes.

Please refer to the generic Elsevier artwork instructions: http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork/jad.

Colour reproduction

The Journal of Affective Disorders is now also included in a new initiative from Elsevier: 'Colourful e-Products'. Through this initiative, figures that appear in black & white in print can appear in colour, online, in ScienceDirect at http://www.sciencedirect.com.
There is no extra charge for authors who participate.

For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for colour in print or on the Web only. 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/jad.

Copyright Transfer

Upon acceptance of an article, you will be asked to transfer copyright (for more information on copyright see http://authors.elsevier.com/journal/jad. This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included in the submission, 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) 215 238 7869, fax (+1) 215 238 2239, e-mail healthpermissions@elsevier.com.

Requests for materials from other Elsevier publications may also be completed on-line via the Elsevier homepage http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions

Proofs

One set of proofs in PDF format will be sent by email to the corresponding Author, to be checked for typesetting/editing. No changes in, or additions to, the accepted (and subsequently edited) manuscript will be allowed at this stage. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. A form with queries from the copyeditor may accompany your proofs. Please answer all queries and make any corrections or additions required. The Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated. Return corrections within 2 days of receipt of the proofs. Should there be no corrections, please confirm this.

Elsevier will do everything possible to get your article corrected and published as quickly and accurately as possible. In order to do this we need your help. When you receive the (PDF) proof of your article for correction, 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. Note that this does not mean you have any less time to make your corrections, just that only one set of corrections will be accepted.

Reprints

Twenty-five reprints are provided free of charge. Additional copies may be ordered via the reprint order form sent with the proofs. There are no page charges.

Author enquiries For enquiries relating to the submission of articles please visit Elsevier's Author Gateway at http://authors.elsevier.com/journal/jad . The Author Gateway also provides the facility to track accepted articles and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed, as well as detailed artwork guidelines, copyright information, frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication