Guide for Authors

Types of article we welcome
The Editor welcomes reports of original research, systematic reviews and papers for debate. Other types of paper will also be considered and authors are welcome to contact the Editor for an opinion on the likely suitability of the paper before final submission.

Preparation of the typescript
In the interests of simplicity and standardisation, Complementary Therapies in Medicine follows the International Committee on Medical Journal Editors' Uniform Instructions in most respects, and potential authors are strongly urged to consult these at www.icmje.org/index.html and to follow the Requirements for Submission of Manuscripts (summary of technical requirements) in detail.

The only exceptions for this journal are:


1. Transfer of copyright is not required until final submission and the requisite forms will be supplied to the corresponding author by Elsevier.

2. Keywords are not printed in the journal.

3. Headings should be appropriate to the nature of the paper. In general, those for experimental papers should follow the usual conventions. Other papers can be subdivided as the author desires; the use of headings enhances readability. Normally, only two categories of heading should be used. Do not use 'he', 'his', etc. where the sex of the person being discussed is unknown: say 'the patient', etc. Avoid inelegant alternatives such as 'he/she'. Patients should not be automatically designated as 'she', and doctors as 'he'.

Submissions

Authors are requested to submit their original manuscript and figures online via http://ees.elsevier.com/ctim/. This is the Elsevier web-based submission and review system. You will find full instructions located on this site - a Guide for Authors and a Guide for Online Submission. Please follow these guidelines to prepare and upload your article. Once the uploading is done, our system automatically generates an electronic pdf proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be managed via this system.

Paper submissions are not normally accepted. If you cannot submit electronically, please email the editorial office for assistance on CTM@elsevier.com Authorship: 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.

References should include journal titles as the recognised abbreviation (available at www.nlm.nih.gov/), and should omit month and issue number.

Randomised controlled trials: All randomised controlled trials submitted for publication in Complementary Therapies in Medicine should include a completed Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flow chart. Please refer to the CONSORT statement website at http://www.consort-statement.org for more information. Complementary Therapies in Medicine has adopted the proposal from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) which require, as a condition of consideration for publication of clinical trials, registration in a public trials registry. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the article. For this purpose, a clinical trial is defined as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. Studies designed for other purposes, such as to study pharmacokinetics or major toxicity (e.g. phase I trials) would be exempt. Further information can be found at www.icmje.org.

Ethics: Work on human beings that is submitted to Complementary Therapies in Medicine should comply with the principles laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki; Recommendations guiding physicians in biomedical research involving human subjects. Adopted by the 18th World Medical Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, June 1964, amended by the 29th World Medical Assembly, Tokyo, Japan, October 1975, the 35th World Medical Assembly, Venice, Italy, October 1983, and the 41st World Medical Assembly, Hong Kong, September 1989. The manuscript should contain a statement that the work has been approved by the appropriate ethical committees related to the institution(s) in which it was performed and that subjects gave informed consent to the work. Studies involving experiments with animals must state that their care was in accordance with institution guidelines.

Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent which should be documented in your paper. Patients have a right to privacy. Therefore identifying information, including patients? images, names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be included in videos, recordings, written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and you have obtained written informed consent for publication in print and electronic form from the patient (or parent, guardian or next of kin where applicable). If such consent is made subject to any conditions, Elsevier must be made aware of all such conditions. Written consents must be provided to Elsevier on request. Even where consent has been given, identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning and editors should so note. If such consent has not been obtained, personal details of patients included in any part of the paper and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.

Laboratory experiments: The Editor and Editorial Committee of the Journal believe that the use of animals in research into CAM is rarely justified. We encourage authors to use alternative methods of answering research questions wherever possible. Where no alternative genuinely exists, and where the potential clinical benefit justifies the use of animals, Complementary Therapies in Medicine expects authors to state clearly that they have met external standards such as those described in the UK Home Office site ( www.homeoffice.gov.uk) involving designated establishments, ethical committee approval, and a licensing procedure both for the project and for the responsible individual. Where these standards have not been met, it is unlikely that the Editor will accept the paper for publication.

Peer Review Reports of original research will be sent for review by two referees, one of whom is usually external to the editorial team. Authors may be asked to make certain revisions before the paper is sent for review. The Editors' decision is final and once given, correspondence about the decision will not usually be entered.

Short reports(500-1000 words): These are appropriate for preliminary reports of work or where the study provided limited amounts of data. These reports should be presented in the same format as full papers, i.e with Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results and a short Discussion or Conclusion. A maximum of two tables may be included. For further details, please follow instructions as for Full Papers.

Further details are given here regarding format and technical requirements but authors are reminded that a complete outline of how to submit a manuscript is provided at www.icmje.org/index.html bar the exceptions listed above.

Please ensure that all sections of your article are in a single file in the order requested below and with references in the correct style. Figure legends, running heads and tables should be placed at the end of the file. If possible, figures should be supplied electronically in separate files with the name of the package used and as original artwork.

Proprietary Names: Proprietary names of drugs, instruments, etc. should be indicated by the use of initial capitals. The name and location of the manufacturer should also be given within parentheses.

In some cases, authors may be asked to make certain revisions before the paper is sent for review. A paper is accepted for publication on the understanding that it has not been submitted simultaneously to another journal in the English language. Rejected papers will not be returned to authors except on request. Typescripts that contain the results of human and/or animal studies will only be accepted for publication if it is made clear that a high standard of ethics was applied in carrying out the investigations. In the case of invasive studies in humans, typescripts should include a statement that the research protocol was approved by a local ethical committee. The Editors reserve the right to make editorial and literary corrections. Any opinions expressed or policies advocated do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Editors. The publishers reserve the right to publish accepted papers in whichever issue they decide.

General Information

Papers should be submitted in journal style, in accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors' Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals (BMJ 1991; 302: 338-341). Failure to do so may lead to significant delays in publication or to rejection of your paper. Spelling should be British. A word count should be included on the front sheet of the manuscript.

Title

The title page should give the following information: (1) Title of the article. (2) Initials and name of each author, with highest academic degree(s). (3) Name and address of the department or institution to which the work should be attributed. (4) Name, address, telephone and fax numbers of the author responsible for correspondence and to whom requests for offprints should be sent. (5) Sources of support in the form of grants.

Abstracts

The abstract should consist of 250 words summarizing the contents of the article. Structured abstracts are required for reports of original research. The following headings should be used: objectives; design; setting; interventions (if appropriate); main outcome measures; results; conclusions.

Length

Full Papers: Please add a wordcount of your paper on the title page of the typescript. The recommended wordcount is 3000-3500 words. Papers with a word count of more than 4000 words will be only be considered for publication in exceptional cases. A limit of 3500 words would be considered for reviews provided the author can justify the extra value brought to the reader. The word limit for Short Communications is 1500 words. In some cases, the editor may consider the publication of large tables, appendices, etc, as supplementary data (see guidelines below for supplementary data) in the online version of the journal. Papers should be set out as follows, with each section beginning on a separate sheet: title page, summary, text, acknowledgements, references, tables, captions to illustrations.

Reference Format

The accuracy of references is the responsibility of the author. References should be entered consecutively by Arabic numerals in parentheses or superscript numerals in the text. The references should be listed in numerical order on a separate sheet in double or triple spacing. References to journals should include the author's name and initials (list all authors where there are six or fewer; where there are seven or more, list three and add 'et al'), full title of paper, journal title, year of publication, volume number, page range of paper in full.

For example:

1. Fell M, Connolly S, Herns M et al. Mood and psychiatric disturbance in HIV and AIDS: changes over time. British Journal of Psychiatry 1993; 162: 6604-6610.

References to books should be set out as follows:

1. Meehan T C. Therapeutic touch. In: Bulechek GM, McCloskey JC, eds. Nursing interventions: essential nursing treatments, 2nd edn. Philadelphia, PA: W B Saunders, 1992: pp 201-212.

References not submitted in the approved style may be returned to the author for correction.

Figures

Line illustrations: All line illustrations should present a crisp black image on an even white background. The dimensions should be 127 x 173 mm (5 x 7") or no larger than 203 x 254 mm (8 x 10").

Photographic illustrations and radiographs: These should be submitted by post as clear, lightly contrasted black-and-white prints (unmounted), sizes as given above. Figures with labelling included should be submitted appropriately lettered in capitals. The size of the lettering should be appropriate to that of the illustration, taking into account the necessary size reduction. Please inform the Administrative Editor that you are sending figures by separate cover when you e-mail your manuscript. All illustrations should be clearly marked with the figure number and author's name (by means of a label pasted on the back or in soft crayon), and the top should be indicated by an arrow. Never use ink of any kind. Do not use paper clips, as these can scratch or mark illustrations.

Illustrations in colour cannot be accepted unless the cost of origination and printing is paid by the author.

Captions should be typed in double spacing on separate sheets from the main typescript.

The publishers cannot improve upon the quality of submitted artwork. Poor-quality originals will appear in print as inferior quality. Please ensure that artwork is clear and professional.

Tables

These should be double spaced on separate sheets and contain only horizontal rules. Do not submit tables as figures. A short descriptive title should appear above each table and any footnotes, suitably identified, below. Care must be taken to ensure that all units are included. Ensure that each table is cited in the text.

Units and Abbreviations

Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. All unusual abbreviations should be fully explained at their first occurrence in the text. All measurements should be expressed in SI units. For more detailed recommendations, authors may consult the Royal Society of Medicine publication entitled Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: A Guide for Biological and Medical Editors and Authors.

Preparation of supplementary data

Elsevier now accepts electronic supplementary material (e-components) 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

Copyright: Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a "Journal Publishing Agreement" (for more information on this and copyright see http://ees.elsevier.com/ctim/). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An email (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 preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Philadelphia, PA, USA: Tel. (+1) 215 238 7869; Fax (+1) 215 238 2239; email healthpermissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).

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

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.

Offprints: The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively, 25 free paper offprints. 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 offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.