Submission
Submission of a paper to Autoimmunity Reviews is understood to imply that it has not previously been published and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere; if accepted for publication, the paper cannot be published elsewhere in the same form, in any language, without the consent of the Publisher. It will also be assumed that submission has the approval of all the authors. Before publication, authors are requested to assign copyright to Elsevier Ltd to sanction reprints and photocopies, and to authorize the reprinting of complete issues or volumes according to demand. It is the author's responsibility to obtain written permission to quote material that has appeared in another publication. The preferred medium of final submission to the accepting editor is on disk with the accompanying reviewed and revised manuscript (see "electronic manuscripts" below).

Manuscripts should be addressed to the Editor in Chief:

Yehuda Shoenfeld, Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Department of Medicine "B", Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer 52621, Israel. E-mail: shoenfel@post.tau.ac.il

In the event of rejection manuscripts will be retained in the Editorial Office for 3 months so that authors may request the return of any original material. Unclaimed material will be discarded after this time.

Informed consent
Investigations involving human subjects must include a statement indicating that informed consent was obtained after the nature and possible consequences of the studies had been fully explained.

Animal welfare
Authors using experimental animals must state that their care was in accordance with institutional guidelines. For animals subjected to invasive procedures, the anesthetic, analgesic and tranquilizing agents used, as well as the amounts and frequency of administration, must be stated.

Types of papers
Autoimmunity Reviews will publish peer-reviewed Review articles of various sizes and formats, but will focus primarily on short review articles that will be up to 6-8 double-spaced printed pages long, including up to 40 references, one figure and 1-2 tables; a list of "take-home" messages or bullet points (1-2 sentences) must be included with each manuscript. In general articles will be by invitation but submitted contributions will also be considered for publication - in this case authors are requested to first contact the Editor with an outline of the intended submission.

The submission of Technical notes (short application notes, being 4 pages of type plus up to 10 references and 2-3 display items) and Letters to the editors (in order to expedite publication of the letters no proofs will be sent to the authors) is encouraged. On occasion Autoimmunity Reviews will also publish special or thematic issues which will provide an overview of a given field or topic.

Suggestions for potential reviewers
Authors are invited to provide the names, addresses and (if possible) fax numbers and e-mail addresses of up to four potential reviewers. It would not be appropriate to nominate individuals that have had any input into the manuscripts submitted or any recent collaboration with the authors. The Editors may or may not take these suggestions into account during the reviewing process.

PREPARATION OF THE TEXT

1. Please follow directions carefully.
2. The length and guidelines are critical in order to publish timely reviews quickly.
3. All manuscripts should begin with a title page containing the title of the article, the authors' names and affiliations, any grant support and a footnote indicating the author to whom correspondence and proofs should be sent (the corresponding author), including his/her phone and far numbers and e-mail address.
4. The second page should contain:

• an abstract of no more than 200 words
• 3-6 key words
• up to 6 take-home messages - each of these messages being typed as a bullet point

In other words, page 2 should look as follows:
Abstract (200 words)
Key Words: 3-6
Take-Home messages
• bullet point
• bullet point
• bullet point
• bullet point
• bullet point
• bullet point


5. Page 3 begins the text which MUST NOT exceed 6-8 double-spaced printed pages long, including up to 40 references, one figure and 1-2 tables. The figure may be in colour (see later, under Illustrations).

Authors in Japan please note: Upon request, Elsevier Japan will provide authors with a list of people who can check and improve the English of their paper (before submission). Please contact our Tokyo office: Elsevier K.K., 1-9-15 Higashi-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0044; Tel. (03)-5561-5032; Fax: (03)-5561-5045.


References
In the text, references should be numbered consecutively within square brackets (e.g. [1]. If you cite a reference more than once in the text, use the same number each time. References in the reference list should accord with the system in Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (N Engl J Med 1991;34:424-428). Please ensure that references are complete.
Examples (journal [1], book [2] and book chapter [3]:
[1] Hess KL, Cook-Mills JM. Phagocytic recognition of apoptopic leukocytes. Clin Immunol Newslett 1999;19:102-107.
[2] Cotran RS, Kumar V, Collins T. Pathologic Basis of Disease. Philadelphia: WB Saunders Co, 1999.
[3] Booss J, Kim JH. Evidence for a viral etiology of MS. In: Cook SD, editor. Handbook of Multiple Sclerosis. New York and Basel, Marcel Dekker Inc, 1990:41-61.

Style of text
Subdivide your paper in the simplest way possible, consistent with clarity. The text should usually follow the standard sequence of Introduction. Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion. Headings and subheadings for different sections of the paper should be clearly indicated and numbered 1., 2., 2.1, etc. Ensure that all figures and tables are mentioned in the text, and that all references are cited in number order. Note that trade names should have an initial capital letter.
Units and abbreviations
All measurements and data should be given in SI units, or if SI units do not exist, in an internationally accepted unit. If you use any symbol or unit that may not be generally recognized, please include an explanatory footnote the first time it is used, to help the referees, editors and readers. It is also helpful to identify Greek symbols by name in the margin the first time they appear. Abbreviations and acronyms should only be used for unwieldy terms and names which occur frequently in the manuscript. Abbreviations should be used consistently throughout the text, and must be clearly defined in full on first use.
Mathematical and technical setting
Detailed mathematical discussion should be placed in an appendix. Equations and formulae should be typewritten wherever possible. Equations should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals in parentheses on the right hand side of the page. Special symbols should be identified in the margin, and the meaning of all symbols should be explained in the text where they first occur. If you use several symbols, a list of definitions (not necessarily for publication) will help the editor. Type or mark mathematical equations exactly as they should appear in print. Journal style for letter symbols is as follows: variables, italic type (indicated by underlining); constants; roman type; matrices and vectors, bold type (indicated by wavy underlining).
Tables
Tables should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals, and given a suitable caption. All table columns should have an explanatory heading, and, where appropriate, units of measurements. Footnotes to tables should be typed below the table, and should be referred to by superscript letters. Avoid the use of vertical rules. Tables should not duplicate results presented elsewhere in the manuscript, e.g. in graphs.
Illustrations
Four sets of figures are to be submitted. At least one set must be of publication quality and the other three sets must be clear enough to be useful to the referees. Figures should be completely lettered, the size of the lettering being appropriate, taking into account the necessary reduction in size (preferably not more than one third). The page format should be considered in designing the figures. The figures should be numbered in Arabic numerals. Photographs must be of good quality, printed on glossy paper. Photocopies of photomicrographs are not acceptable. One colour illustration (including photographs) page per article may be included free of charge at the discretion of the Editor; authors will be asked to contribute towards the cost of colour reproduction of subsequent figures. Tables, figures and photographs should be clearly marked on the reverse side with the number, author's name and orientation (top); use a soft pencil or preferably a felt-tipped pen for marking photographs. Legends should be supplied on separate sheets.

Colour illustrations with Colourful e-Product
Submit colour illustrations as original photographs, high-quality computer prints or transparencies, close to the size expected in publication, or as 35 mm slides. Please make sure the artwork is in an acceptable form (TIFF, EPS, MS Office files) and is at the correct resolution. Polaroid colour prints are not suitable. 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., Science Direct 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. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork
[Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting colour figures to "grey scale" (for printed version should you not opt for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white prints corresponding to all the colour illustrations.]


Graphs and line drawings
The minimum amount of descriptive text should be used on graphs and drawings; label curves, etc., with single-letter symbols (i.e., a, b, c, etc.) and place descriptive matter in the figure caption. Scale grids should not be used in graphs unless required for actual measurement.

Proofs and offprints
One set of proofs will be supplied for the corresponding author to check for type-setting accuracy. No changes to the original manuscript will be allowed at this stage.
25 Offprints will be provided free of charge to the corresponding author. Further copies may be ordered on the reprint order form, which he/she will receive with the proofs and the copyright transfer form.

Page charges
There will be no page charges.

Electronic manuscripts
Electronic manuscripts have the advantage that there is no need for the rekeying of text, thereby avoiding the possibility of introducing errors and resulting in reliable and fast delivery of proofs. The preferred storage medium is a 5 1/4 or 3 1/2 inch disk in MS-DOS format, although other systems are welcome, e.g., Macintosh (in this case, save your file in the usual manner, do not use the option 'save in MS-DOS format'; if you use NEC, please submit your article on a double density or high density 5 1/4 inch disk or double density 3 1/2 inch disk (not a high density 3 1/2 inch disk). Please do not split the article into separate files (title page as one file, text as another, etc.). Ensure that the letter 'l' and digit '1' (also letter 'O' and digit '0') have been used properly, and structure your article (tabs, indents, etc.) consistently. Characters not available on your wordprocessor (Greek letters, mathematical symbols, etc.) should not be left open but indicated by a unique code (e.g. gralpha, @, #, etc., for the Greek letter). Such codes should be used consistently throughout the entire text. Please make a list of such codes and provide a key. Do not allow your wordprocessor to introduce word splits and do not use a 'justified' layout. Please adhere strictly to the general instructions on style/arrangements and, in particular, the reference style of the journal. It is very important that you save your file in the wordprocessor format. If your wordprocessor features the option to save files 'in flat ASCII', please do not use it. Format your disk correctly and ensure that only the relevant file (one complete article only) is on the disk. Also, specify the type of computer and wordprocessing package used and label the disk with your name and the name of the file on the disk. After final acceptance, your disk plus one, final, printed and exactly matching version (as a printout) should be submitted together to the accepting editor. It is important that the file on disk and the printout are identical. Both will then be forwarded by the editor to Elsevier. Further information may be obtained from the Publisher.
Authors can keep track of the progress of their accepted article, and set up e-mail alerts informing them of changes to their manuscript's status, by using the "Track a Paper" feature of Elsevier's www.elsevier.com/trackarticle.