It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to
the journal's editor for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following
items are present:
- One Author designated as corresponding Author:
- E-mail address
- Full postal address
- Telephone
and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded
Keywords
All figure captions
All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Figures have both been submitted as part of the main manuscript
(at their appropriate location) and separately
Provide 3 to 5 names (with e-mail addresses) of potential reviewers
with whom you have had no recent collaboration and no conflict of interest (during the last 5 years). Although not mandatory, neglecting
this point often reveals a lack of knowledge in the field of research, and might slow down the reviewing process.
Further considerations:
Manuscript has been "spelling checked"
References are in the correct format for this journal
All
references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
Colour figures are clearly marked as being
intended for colour reproduction on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white print
Permission has been obtained for
use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)
If only colour on the Web is required, black and white
versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes.
It is essential to give a fax number and e-mail address when submitting a manuscript. Articles must be written in good English.
Submission
of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published
lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors
and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published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.
Upon acceptance of
an article, authors will be asked to transfer copyright (for more information on copyright, see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright).
This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. A letter will be sent to the corresponding author confirming
receipt of the manuscript. A form facilitating transfer of copyright will be provided. 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 Global Rights Department, P.O. Box 800, Oxford, OX5 1DX, UK; phone:
(+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via
the Elsevier homepage http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions.
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 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.
Author's
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 http://www.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.
Submission to this journal
proceeds totally online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via the journal homepage (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/medima)
you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. The system automatically converts source files to
a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript
source files are converted to PDF at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance.
All correspondence, including notification of the Editor?s decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail and via the Author?s
homepage, removing the need for a hard-copy paper trail.
The above represents a very brief outline of this form of submission. It
can be advantageous to print this "Guide for Authors" section from the site for reference in the subsequent stages of article preparation.
General points
We accept most wordprocessing formats,
but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference and safety. Save your files
using the default extension of the program used.
Word processor documents It is important that the file be saved in
the native format of the wordprocessor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible.
Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the wordprocessor's options to
justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. Do not embed 'graphically designed'
equations or tables, but prepare these using the wordprocessor's facility. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use
only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The
electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/guidepublication).
Do not import the figures into the text file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on
the manuscript. See also the section on Preparation of electronic illustrations. To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised
to use the "spelling checker" function of your wordprocessor.
LaTeX documents If the LaTeX file is suitable, proofs
will be produced without re-keying the text. The article should preferably be written using Elsevier's document class 'elsart', or alternatively
the standard document class 'article'.
The Elsevier LaTeX package (including detailed instructions for LaTeX preparation) can be
obtained from: http://www.elsevier.com/latex. It consists of the files: elsart.cls (use this file if you are using LaTeX2e,
the current version of LaTeX), elsart.sty and elsart12.sty (use these two files if you are using LaTeX2.09, the previous version of LaTeX),
guidelines for users of elsart, a template file for quick start, and the instruction booklet "Preparing articles with LaTeX".
Although
Elsevier can process most wordprocessor file formats, should your electronic file prove to be unusable, the article will be typeset from
the PDF.
Preparation of text
General Medical Image
Analysis does not impose any restrictions on the length of articles. However, authors should note that longer articles usually take more
time to review.
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Italics
are not to be used for expressions of Latin origin, for example, in vivo, et al., per se. Use decimal points (not commas); use a space
for thousands (10 000 and above).
Provide the following data on the title page (in the order given).
Title. Concise
and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author
names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the
authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript
letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation,
including the country name, and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
Corresponding author. Clearly indicate
who is willing to handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone
and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.
Present / permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the
time, a "Present address" (or "Permanent address") may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address
at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for
such footnotes.
Abstract. A concise and factual abstract is required (maximum length 250 words). The abstract should state
briefly the purpose of the research, the methods used, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separate
from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. References should therefore be avoided, but if essential, they must be cited
in full, without reference to the reference list. Non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they
must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
Keywords. Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum
of up to five keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and',
'of'). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These Keywords will be used
for indexing purposes.
Abbreviations. Define abbreviations and symbols that are not standard in this field at their first
occurrence in the article: in the abstract but also in the main text after it. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.
N.B. Acknowledgements. Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article and do not, therefore, include
them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise.
Subdivision
of the article. Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1,
1.1.2,...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do
not just refer to 'the text.' Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.
Appendices.
If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate
numbering: (Eq. A.1), (Eq. A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, (Eq. B.1) and so forth.
Acknowledgements. Place acknowledgements,
including information on grants received, before the references, in a separate section, and not as a footnote on the title page.
References. See separate section, below.
Figure captions, tables, figures, schemes. Present these twice:
- Firstly, for reviewing purposes, in a 'light', low resolution version, inserted in the article itself, at the appropriate locations.
- Secondly, for productional purposes, in high-resolution versions, as separate files.
Figures are described in more detail below.
If you are working with LaTeX and have such features embedded in the text, these can be left, but such embedding should not be done specifically
for publishing purposes. Further, high-resolution graphics files must be provided separately (see Preparation of illustrations).
Specific remarks
Mathematical formulae. Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible.
In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line,
e.g., Xp/Ym rather than
Xp Ym Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to
be displayed separate from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).
Footnotes. Footnotes should be used sparingly.
Number them consecutively throughout the article, using superscript Arabic numbers. Many wordprocessors build footnotes into the text,
and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves
on a separate sheet at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.
Table footnotes. Indicate
each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter.
Tables. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their
appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical
rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the
article.
Nomenclature and units. Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of
units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI.
Preparation of supplementary data. Elsevier
accepts 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 our artwork instruction pages
at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
References
Responsibility for the accuracy of bibliographic
citations lies entirely with the authors.
Citations in the text: Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is
also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results
and personal communications should not be in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. Citation of a reference as 'in press'
implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
Citing and listing of web references. As a minimum, the full URL
should be given. Any further information, if known (author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given.
Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in
the reference list.
Text: All citations should refer to:
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 authors' name followed by 'et al.' and the year of publication. Citations may be made directly
(or parenthetically). Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, the chronologically.
Example: "as demonstrated
(Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995). Kramer et al. (2000) have recently shown..."
List: References should
be arranged first alphabetically and the further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s)
in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication.
Examples:
Reference
to a journal publication:
[1] J. van der Geer, J.A.J. Hanraads, R.A. Lupton, The art of writing a scientific article, J. Sci. Commun.
163 (2000) 51-59.
Reference to a book:
[2] W. Strunk Jr., E.B. White, The Elements of Style, third ed., Macmillan, New York, 1979.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
[3] G.R. Mettam, L.B. Adams, How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in:
B.S. Jones, R.Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age, E-Publishing Inc., New York, 1999, pp. 281-304.
Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
Only use the following fonts in your illustrations:
Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Times, Symbol.
Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
Use
a logical naming convention for your artwork files, and supply a separate listing of the files and the software used.
Provide
all illustrations twice. Firstly, upload them as part of the main manuscript, in a 'light', low resolution version suitable for reviewing,
inserted at the appropriate location. Secondly, in a high-resolution version, uploaded as a separate file.
Provide captions
to illustrations separately.
Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
You are
urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Regardless of the application
used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please "save as" or convert the images to one of the following formats (Note the resolution
requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below.):
EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or
save the text as "graphics". TIFF: Colour or greyscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi. TIFF: Bitmapped
line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi. TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (colour or greyscale): a minimum of 500 dpi
is required. DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office applications please supply "as
is".
Please do not: • Supply files that are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is
too low; • Supply files that are too low in resolution; • Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the
content.
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to
the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text
in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.
The
lettering and symbols, as well as other details, should have proportionate dimensions, so as not to become illegible or unclear after
possible reduction; in general, the figures should be designed for a reduction factor of two to three. The degree of reduction will be
determined by the Publisher. Illustrations will not be enlarged. Consider the page format of the journal when designing the illustrations.
Photocopies are not suitable for reproduction. Do not use any type of shading on computer-generated illustrations.
Remove non-essential areas of a photograph. Do not mount photographs unless they form part of a composite figure.
Where necessary, insert a scale bar in the illustration (not below it), as opposed to giving a magnification factor in the caption.
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office
files)and the correct resolution. 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. Please indicate your preference for colour in print or on the
Web only For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Proofs
When the Publisher has received your manuscript it is considered to be it in its final form. Proofs are not to
be regarded as 'drafts'.
One set of PDF proofs will be sent by e-mail 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
the author's 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 the indicated time 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.
Author Benefits
• No page charge is due. • Authors receive a 30% discount on Elsevier books. •
Authors receive 25 free offprints.
