Submission checklist
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 (essential)
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
• Cover letter stipulate in a cover letter whether Invited or unsolicited/ Focus or General article. If focus issue please select Name of Focus
• Keywords maximum 5
• Please supply 5 MCQs', 1 short answer question, 1 clinical scenario with accompanying questions and answers
• Supply a maximum of 40 references
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
• All necessary files have been uploaded
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been "spellchecked"
• References are in the correct format for this journal
• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)
• Colour figures are clearly marked as being intended for colour reproduction or to be reproduced in black-and-white

For any further information please contact the Author Support Department at authorsupport@elsevier.com


SUBMISSION OF ARTICLES

General
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and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher.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. 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, healthpermissions@elsevier.com

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

Submission to the journal prior to acceptance

Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts source files to a single PDF file of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF files 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 removing the need for a paper trail.

Please submit your article via http://www.ees.elsevier.com/cacc

Electronic format requirements for accepted articles
General points
We accept most wordprocessing formats, but Word or WordPerfect 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.
Wordprocessor 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 also the Artwork instructions). 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 'spellchecker' function of your wordprocessor.

PREPERATION OF TEXT

Presentation of manuscript
General
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).
Authors in Japan kindly note that, upon request, Elsevier Japan will provide a list of people who can check and improve the English of an article before submission. Contact our Tokyo office: Elsevier K.K., Editorial Service, 1-9-15 Higashi Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0044, Japan; tel.: +81-3-5561-5032; fax: +81-3-5561-5045; e-mail: info@elsevier.co.jp
International Science Editing and Asia Science Editing can provide English language and copyediting services to authors who want to publish in scientific, technical and medical Journals and need assistance before they submit their article or, before it is accepted for publication. Authors can contact these services directly: International Science Editing ( http://www.internationalscienceediting.com) and Asia Science Editing ( http://www.asiascienceediting.com) or, for more information about language editing services, please contact authorsupport@elsevier.com who will be happy to deal with any questions.
Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our terms & conditions by visiting http://www.asiascienceediting.com and clicking 'terms and conditions' at the very bottom of the page.

Use double spacing and wide (3 cm) margins. (Avoid full justification, i.e., do not use a constant right-hand margin.) Ensure that each new paragraph is clearly indicated. Present tables and figure legends on separate pages at the end of the manuscript. If possible, consult a recent issue of the journal to become familiar with layout and conventions. Number all pages consecutively.
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 200 words). An abstract is often presented separate from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. References should 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 5 keywords, to be chosen from the standard thesaurus. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes. List of keywords may also be obtained as checked using the Medline and Embase databases.

Abbreviations
Define abbreviations 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.

Arrangement of the article
Subdivision of the article.
Divide your article into clearly defined sections. Each subsection is given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. Subsections should be used as much as possible when cross-referencing text: refer to the subsection by heading as opposed to simply 'the text.'
Conclusions.
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.
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 (maximum 40).
See separate section, below.
Figure legends, tables, figures, schemes.
Present these, in this order, at the end of the article. They are described in more detail below. High-resolution graphics files must always be provided separate from the main text file (see Preparation of illustrations).
Text graphics.
Present incidental graphics not suitable for mention as figures, plates or schemes at the end of the article and number them 'Graphic 1', etc. Their precise position in the text can then be defined similarly (both on the manuscript and in the file). See further under the section, Preparation of illustrations. Ensure that high-resolution graphics files are provided, even if the graphic appears as part of your normal wordprocessed text file.

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., X/Y rather than
X
Y
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.
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.
DNA sequences and GenBank Accession numbers. Many Elsevier journals cite "gene accession numbers" in their running text and footnotes. Gene accession numbers refer to genes or DNA sequences about which further information can be found in the databases at the National Center for Biotechnical Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine. Elsevier authors wishing to enable other scientists to use the accession numbers cited in their papers via links to these sources, should type this information in the following manner:
For each and every accession number cited in an article, authors should type the accession number in bold, underlined text. Letters in the accession number should always be capitalised. (See Example below). This combination of letters and format will enable Elsevier's typesetters to recognise the relevant texts as accession numbers and add the required link to GenBank's sequences.
Example: "GenBank accession nos. AI631510 , AI631511 , AI632198 , and BF223228) , a B-cell tumor from a chronic lymphatic leukemia (GenBank accession no. BE675048) , and a T-cell lymphoma (GenBank accession no. AA361117) ".
Authors are encouraged to check accession numbers used very carefully. An error in a letter or number can result in a dead link. In the final version of the printed article, the accession number text will not appear bold or underlined. In the final version of the electronic copy, the accession number text will be linked to the appropriate source in the NCBI databases enabling readers to go directly to that source from the article.

REFERENCES

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:
Indicate references by superscript numbers in the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.
List: Number the references in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
1. Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun 2000;163:51-9.
Reference to a book:
2. Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of style. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan; 1979.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
3. Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In: Jones BS, Smith RZ, editors. Introduction to the electronic age, New York: E-Publishing Inc; 1999, p. 281-304
Note shortened form for last page number. e.g., 51-9, and that for more than 6 authors the first 6 should be listed followed by 'et al.' For further details you are referred to "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals" (J Am Med Assoc 1997;277:927-934) (see also http://www.nejm.org/general/text/requirements/1.htm.

PREPERATION OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Preparation of electronic illustrations
Submitting your artwork in an electronic format helps us to produce your work to the best possible standards, ensuring accuracy, clarity and a high level of detail.

General points
• Always supply high quality artwork, in case conversion of the electronic artwork is problematic.
• 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 as separate files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
Please see the detailed guide on electronic artwork.
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 embedded graphics in your wordprocessor (spreadsheet, presentation) document;
• 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.

Non-electronic illustrations
Provide all illustrations in high quality, suitable for reproduction (which may include reduction) without retouching. Number illustrations consecutively in the order in which they are referred to in the text. They should accompany the manuscript, but should not be included within the text.
Mark the appropriate position of a figure in the article.

Captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions on a separate sheet, 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.

Line drawings
Supply high quality line drawings. 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.

Photographs (halftones)
Please 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 legend.
Note that photocopies of photographs are not acceptable.

Colour illustrations
Submit colour illustrations as original photographs, in high quality, close to the size expected in publication, or as 35 mm slides. 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., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, please discuss in advance with the editor. 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 note: 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 prints corresponding to all the colour illustrations.

PROOFS

When your manuscript is received by the Publisher it is considered to be in its final form. Proofs are not to be regarded as 'drafts'.
One set of page proofs in PDF format 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 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 5 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.

Electronic offprints (e-offprints)
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. 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.