Journal of Hospital Infection

1.1	About the Journal of Hospital Infection
1.2	Scope of the journal
1.3	Article types
2	Format of articles
3	Language
4	UK FOI requests
5	Authorship
6	Conflict of interest
7	Funding and sponsorship
8	Submitting your paper
8.1	Following progress
9	Peer review and the Editorial process
10	Copyright
11	Open access
12	Permissions
13	Offprints
14	Editorial Manager submission procedure
15	Queries & contact information

1.1 About the Journal
The Journal of Hospital Infection is the scientific publication of the Healthcare Infection Society (formerly known as the Hospital Infection Society). Although HIS is UK based, the JHI is an international publication, and all papers should be of potential relevance to an international audience.

1.2 Scope of the Journal
The JHI focuses on healthcare-associated infection in both community and hospital settings. For example:-

• Outbreak prevention in hospital or community settings
• Healthcare-associated infection surveillance
• Methods of prevention of healthcare-associated infection
• Prevention of infection in immunosuppressed patients
• Infection hazards associated with medical devices
• Role of medical equipment in healthcare-associated infection
• Disinfection and sterilization
• Cleaning, environmental contamination and its surveillance
• Management of clinical waste
• Laboratory diagnostics in relation to infection prevention and control
• Use of antibiotic prophylaxis in infection prevention
• Use of IT systems in infection surveillance
• Design of hospitals and healthcare premises
• Infection hazards associated with critical care units, or other specific healthcare departments

Papers whose main focus is on antimicrobial chemotherapy or antibiotic resistance mechanisms be better suited to a journal like the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Outbreak reports- we welcome these, but there should be something new about them, e.g with a new organism, associated with a new piece of equipment, a new way of dealing with it, or have a definite message.

Audits should have a clear message or learning point associated with them.

1.3 Article types

The Journal invites articles of the following types:

Full-length, original research articles
Should contain up to a maximum of 4000 words, which includes the structured summary, text, acknowledgements and references. Each figure and/or tables counts as 200 words towards the total. Separate Figures or Tables labelled 1A, 1B, 1C etc would count as three separate tables, not one.

Reviews
We welcome reviews, but please check the topic with the office first, before you spend hours on this. Reviews still go through a peer review process. Reviews should contain up to 5000 words and up to 150 references. This limit does not apply to national guidelines and may be waived at the Editor's discretion depending on the topic. Suitable review articles will be required to provide a few questions and answers for Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Letter to the Editor
Letters should contain up to 700 words and no more than 5 references. Letters should not contain structural headings nor a summary. The correspondence section will include letters discussing topics raised by papers already published either in the Journal of Hospital Infection or elsewhere, or could be a Eureka type of new idea. Letters will not normally be peer-reviewed, but may be shown to the authors of the article being commented on, who will be invited to respond, should they wish to.

Case reports
Case reports are not normally published unless they illustrate some exceptional point in the field of infection control. When published, case reports usually appear as a short report.

Short reports
should contain up to 1500 words, no more than two small figures or tables, and up to ten references, to take up no more than two printed pages of the journal. The same format should be used as for a full length article, ie Introduction or background/methods/results/discussion and conclusion. The article should begin with an unstructured abstract (ie no subheadings) of up to 100 words only. The same rules apply for declaring conflicts of interest & funding, and also getting a signed agreement from all listed authors. Short reports will be subject to the same peer review process as full-length articles.

2. Format of articles
Please note that it is the authors' responsibility to get the manuscript into the required format before submission. Papers that are submitted with references or other features that do not comply with these instructions will be returned to their authors and will not be considered for publication until they have been resubmitted.

Title Page . This should show the title, names of all authors (but not their degrees) and the name of the institution or department where the work was done, as well as the name, address, telephone and email address of the author to whom the proofs and correspondence should be sent. A running title not exceeding 40 characters and spaces should be provided on the title page.

Summary . This should explain briefly what was done, what was observed and what was concluded. Summaries should be structured, with the following headings:-

• Background
• Aim
• Methods
• Findings
• Conclusion

Summaries must not exceed 250 words.
This is arguably the most important part of the entire paper, and will be the first, and perhaps the only, part of your paper that is read.

Keywords . Authors should provide Keywords from their summary; listing them immediately after the summary.

Text
Headings and subheadings may be used in the text. Footnotes should be avoided. All pages of the manuscript should be numbered consecutively in the order: title page, text, references, tables, figures, legends.

Introduction . A brief statement outlining the purpose and context of the paper, but leaving discussion for the Discussion section.

Methods . Preliminary results may be included in the Methods section if necessary.

Results . A statement of results, without discussion of their significance or relationship to those of others. Information may be conveyed in text or in figures or tables but not in both.

Discussion . Do not introduce new results here. Include any weaknesses or limitations of the study.

Acknowledgements . Authors should acknowledge help received in carrying out the work, including supply of bacterial strains, permission to study patients, phage or biotyping of strains, according to accepted custom.

Funding . When the work included in a paper has been supported by a grant or supplies from any source, including a manufacturer or commercial company, this must be indicated. It will be printed at the end of the article.

References . References should be set out in line with the 'Vancouver' style. For a full explanation of this see the Br Med J 1988; 296: 401–405.

Please note that it is the direct responsibility of the authors rather than the Editorial team to list the references accurately, and in the right order and format in the first place.

In the text, references must be consecutively numbered in the order in which they are first mentioned, and must be identified by superscript arabic numerals, after punctuation, e.g. 'as noted by Smith.⁴' References are better placed at the end of sentences so that they don't break up the flow.

The quoted references should be listed in numerical (not alphabetical) order at the end of the article. References cited in tables or in figure legends should be numbered sequentially according to the first mention in the text of the particular table or illustration.

Lists of up to six authors should be fully listed. For seven or more authors list the first three and add et al. The journal title (not the article title) should be italic font and the volume number should be shown in bold font.

Journal references should be set out as below:

Elizabeth T. Houang, I.S. Lovett, F.D. Thompson et al. Nocardia asteroides infection—a transmissible disease. J Hosp Infect 1980; 1: 31–40

C. J. Noble, P. Morgan-Capner, M. Hammer, C. Sivyer, P. Wagstaff, J.R. Pattison. A trial of povidone iodine dry powder spray for the prevention of infusion thrombophlebitis. J Hosp Infect 1980; 1: 47–45

Titles of journals should be abbreviated in accordance with Index Medicus (see list printed annually in the January issue of Index Medicus).

Article in press
Please include the digital object identifier (DOI) as in the following examples:

1. Russell AD, McDonnel G. Concentration: a major factor in studying biocidal action. J Hosp Infect 2000; 44: 1–3. doi:10.1053/jhin.1999.0654.

2. Jacobsson B-M, Hijelte L, Nystyröm B. Low level of bacterial contamination of mist tents used in home treatment of cystic fibrosis patients. J Hosp Infect 2000. doi:10.1053/jhin.1999.0658.

Web addresses
www addresses must not be used as references. Please use the DOI for a permanent web article.

Books and chapters
1. Washington JA, Barry AL. Dilution test procedures. In: Lennette EH, Spaulding EH Truant JP, Eds. Manual of Clinical Microbiology, 2nd edn. Washington, DC: American Society for Microbiology 1979; 410–417.

Tables . Tables should be numbered in Roman numerals (e.g. Table III). Each table should be on a separate sheet after the references and should include a title which makes the meaning clear without reference to the text. Use '-' for 'no observation', or 'not measured'.

Figures . Illustrations should be in finished form suitable for reproduction, as large or larger than the final size on the page. Photographs should have strong contrast and be trimmed to exclude unnecessary background. Figures should be planned to fit the proportions of the Journal pages, and details should be easily discriminated at the final size. Colour photographs will be considered only if essential.

All illustrations are to be numbered with arabic numerals as Figures 1, 2, 3 etc. without abbreviation, in the order of their first mention in the text.

A short explicit legend must be provided for each figure. All such legends should be listed together in the final section of the manuscript.

Bacterial nomenclature . Organisms should be referred to by their scientific names according to the binomial system. When first mentioned the name should be spelt in full and written in italics. Afterwards the genus should be abbreviated to its initial letter, e.g. 'S. aureus' not 'Staph. aureus'. If abbreviation is likely to cause confusion or render the intended meaning unclear the names of microbes should be spelt in full. Only those names which were included in the Approved List of Bacterial Names, Int J Syst Bacteriol 1980: 30: 225–420 and those which have been validly published in the Int J Syst Bacteriol since 1 January 1980 have standing in nomenclature. If there is good reason to use a name that does not have standing in nomenclature, the names should be enclosed in quotation marks and an appropriate statement concerning the nomenclatural status of the name should be made in the text (for an example see Int J Syst Bacteriol 1980; 30: 547–556). When the genus alone is used as a noun or adjective, use lower case roman not underlined, e.g.'organisms were staphylococci' and 'acinetobacter infection'. If the genus is specifically referred to, use italics, e.g. 'organisms of the genus Staphylococcus'. For genus in plural, use lower case roman e.g. 'salmonellae'; plurals may be anglicized e.g.'salmonellas'. For trivial names, use lower case roman e.g. 'meningococcus'.

Numbers and measurements . Numbers one to nine are written unless they are measurements (e.g. 5 mL). Numbers greater than nine are spelled out if they begin a sentence, or when clarity requires it. Numbers above and including 10 000 have a space, not a comma. A decimal point is preceded by a number or cypher, e.g. '0.5'. Decimal points in columns should be aligned vertically.

Measurements may be expressed in SI or non-metric units. Use 10 mL/h rather than ^-1 or per. When referring to microbial concentrations use expressions such as '10x', not 'x log10'. When referring to changes in microbial concentration, use expressions such as 'reduced by a factor of 10x', not 'reduced by x log10'; 'a log10 reduction factor of x' may also be used.

Statistics . P values and confidence intervals should be included where appropriate. The name and version of any statistical computer package should be written out in full.

Abbreviations . Use capitals for: MIC, MBC, WBC, RBC, DNA, RNA, Group A, B etc. for antigenic or other groups, HPA, CDSC, CDC, WHO, CSF, MSU, EMU, CSU. Use cfu, pfu, mm, m, min, h, in, ft, g, kg, mL, L, im, iv, iu, P (probability). Use sp. and spp. (species, singular and plural). Use Gram's stain and Gram-negative bacillus.

Drugs . These should be referred to by their approved generic names. Do not use the proprietary name, as this may vary between countries.

Date format . Dates are usually provided in full, e.g. 11^th September 2001. Otherwise, use European Date Format, i.e. 11/9/2001, not 9/11/2001.

Additional points to note

• Use two carriage returns to end headings and paragraphs.
• Type text without end of Iine hyphenation, except for compound words.
• Do not use the lower case letter 'l' (el) for '1' (one) or 'O' for '0'. (They have different typesetting values.)
• Be consistent with punctuation and only insert a single space between words.
• Please include a list of any special characters you have had to use, e.g. Greek letters used in mathematical equations.

The Editor retains the customary right to make changes in style and language without consultation.

3. Language
The language of the JHI is British English.
Please adjust your spell checker if necessary. British spellings include diarrhoea, Haemophilus, haematology, paediatrics, leucocyte, leukaemia, bacteraemia, sulphonamides, aetiology. Please note the journal uses UK 'z' spelling (e.g., colonizes).

Always write in plain English- many of our readers are from overseas and are not native English speakers. The clarity of the message is very important. The best science in the world is useless if it is not communicated clearly. The meaning is usually clearer if you write succinctly. Two hundred words is probably better than 300, although this may well take you longer to write.

Please avoid excessive use of the passive tense, obscure or pseudo-scientific language, and very long sentences.

If English is not your first language, please get a native English speaker to look over it for you before you complete the final draft. If you are from a commercial company from a non-English speaking country, we will expect you to have had it professionally translated before submission.

The Editorial team will make minor adjustments, but if the paper requires too much work, it may be returned to you for re-writing.

A list of language and copyediting services to authors who need assistance before they submit their article for peer review or before it is accepted for publication can be found at: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/languagepolishing.

Special note for authors from England
Please remember that the JHI is an international journal, and must be readily understood and accessible for readers all over the world. Readers overseas complain sometimes that the JHI comes across as too NHS-focused.

Please avoid using specifically English NHS-jargon, which includes terms like-NHS Trust (or even worse, NHS Foundation Trust) which would not necessarily conjure up the idea of a hospital to someone based in Berlin or Bogota. "Hospitals Trust" or even just "Hospital/s" should be used instead. If you have to put in the name of your institution, make it clear what you are talking about, e.g."The Fitzherbert NHS Foundation Trust is a district hospital with 600 beds, including acute medical, surgical (general and orthopaedic), elderly care, women's services and intensive care".

"Caldicott Guardian" - this is a purely NHS invention of recent years, and will mean absolutely nothing to anyone outside England. References to "High-impact interventions", "Saving Lives", MRSA-BSI or CDI targets should not be made unless absolutely necessary, and may have to be defined.

4. UK Freedom of Information Requests
Studies from England compiled as result of Freedom of Information Requests must be clearly indicated as such, and justified. Please note that such studies may often be considered too parochial and specific to England to be suitable for publication in an international journal. You must declare how the data were gathered, and the participating institutions listed (and thanked) in the acknowledgment section. Please note that such papers can cause considerable resentment amongst reviewers and readers alike.

5. Authorship
All authors included on a paper must fulfill the criteria of authorship as set out under the Uniform Requirements of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (see www.icmje.org) and every one who fulfils these criteria should be listed as an author.

Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contribution to the conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and final approval of the version to be published.

All these conditions must all be met. Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship.

Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, data collection, or a department chair who provided only general support.

The JHI requires a signature from every individual author listed confirming that they have read and agree to the final draft before submission. Additional authors cannot usually be added after the paper has been accepted for publication.

6. 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.

7. Funding and sponsorship
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. When the work included in a paper has been supported by a grant from any source this must be indicated.

Commercial interest, funding or sponsorship must be declared, and will be printed below the article.

8. Submitting your paper
Contributions should be submitted online at http://jhi.edmgr.com and should conform to the format as set out below. A submission check list can be found here.

Manuscripts must be accompanied by a declaration letter signed by all authors at the time of submission. This should be submitted electronically with the rest of the submission files. Please click here for required declaration statements.

A mobile telephone number and e-mail address must be provided to aid processing of manuscripts.

Authors should retain a copy of all material as the editors cannot accept responsibility for loss.

8.1 Following progress
Please login to Editorial Manager at any time to check the status of your submitted article. The status of your submission reflects its progress in the peer-review process.

'With Editor' submissions are being assessed for suitability.

When 'under review' the submission is deemed a suitable subject and we are trying to obtain reviews.

'All reviews complete' have reviewer recommendations which are being assessed by the Assistant Editor. If there are conflicting reviews or the need for a statistical analysis the submission will return to 'under review'. The editorial office is unable to give an indication of these recommendations until the final decision has been made.

Following an Assistant Editor recommendation the submission returns to 'with Editor' for the Editor's consideration and final decision.

Time to reach a decision
Please note that the JHI has no full-time staff other than the Editorial Coordinator. The Editor and Assistant Editors all have busy hospital or academic jobs. There may be unavoidable delays if we receive an unusually high number of submissions and at peak holiday times, including the second half of December, July and August.

Proofs
Elsevier, the publisher of the Journal of Hospital Infection, will be in touch when they have prepared a proof for inspection by the corresponding author. At this stage you will be asked to clarify any queries and make any amendments necessary. Major alterations will be charged to the author.

The journal office is unable to accept any changes or clarifications following the acceptance letter please wait for Elsevier to contact you.

9. Peer review and editorial process
All newly submitted papers are considered by the Editor on arrival.

Papers whose content is not suited to the JHI, or appears to be an attempt at duplicate publishing (other than in special, pre-arranged circumstances), or which, in the Editor's opinion, would require too much editorial work to get it into a publishable state, will be returned within a few days. Please refer again to the list and notes above.

In common with many other journals, we have two systems of review, internal and external.

External review is where the paper is sent out to one or more external reviewers for comment. We ask for reviews to be returned within 28 days, but this isn't always possible.

External reviewers are all unpaid volunteer experts from the UK and overseas, who, like many in the field, are increasingly busy. Because of the steady increase in submissions over recent years, we no longer have capacity to send out all papers for external review. In common with many other scientific journals, external review is now mainly reserved for what we consider to be the papers that we think that we may be interested in publishing.

Internal peer review is where the paper is reviewed by one or more members of the Editorial Team. The Assistant Editors are only recruited from the ranks of the top reviewers in the first place, and are amongst the most experienced expert reviewers available.

We do this to ensure that unsuccessful authors get a decision quickly (often in a matter of days) and we are spending most Editorial and external reviewer time on papers that we do want to publish.

Can you demand that your paper be sent for external review?
No. This is entirely at the discretion of the Editorial Team.

10. Copyright Information
Authors submitting a manuscript do so on the understanding that, if it is accepted for publication, exclusive copyright of the paper shall be assigned to The Healthcare Infection Society.

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to agree a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail (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; e-mail healthpermissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).

When submitting material related to commercial products it may, in some circumstances, be appropriate for the author to forward a copy of the contribution to the manufacturers before publication.

11. Open Access
Open access publishing is available to JHI authors for $3,000 per article. This is optional, please contact the editorial office for more information. Please note that there is no charge for submission of non-open access articles.

12. Permissions Information
Any material which has been published elsewhere and is contained in a contribution to the Journal must be accompanied by a statement giving permission to reproduce the material signed by the author(s) and publishers concerned. When submitting material related to commercial products it may, in some circumstances, be appropriate for the author to forward a copy of the contribution to the manufacturers before publication.


13. Offprints
Electronic offprints (PDF file) are sent via email to the corresponding author, at no cost. 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.

Printed Offprints can be ordered at proof stage when a scale of costs will be supplied.

14. Editorial Manager submission procedure

Manuscripts should be submitted to the journal online via the Editorial Manager website, http://jhi.edmgr.com.

Authors need to register before submitting their first manuscript online. Click 'REGISTER' on the main navigation menu at the top of the screen; a screen will open, requesting First and Last names and e-mail address. Click "OK" upon completion to access the Registration Page. Authors must enter their personal information to begin the process. Note that information fields marked with asterisks can not be left empty. At the bottom of the form is a field where authors must pick a preferred username which is required to access the Editorial Manager system thereafter. Confirm that the information entered is correct on the subsequent "Registration Confirmation" page and click the "Continue" button at the bottom.

Upon registering with the Editorial Manager system, a notification will be sent to the e-mail address specified in the registration information. It will contain the username and password required to log in. To log in, click 'LOGIN' on the main navigation menu at the top of the screen. Enter the username and password in the appropriate fields then select 'Author Login' to access the Author Main Menu – a list of functions authors are enabled to perform in the system.

Click 'Submit new Manuscript' to begin the submission process and access the interface via which all the data that comprises the manuscript – text, images and descriptions – is submitted. The text of the article should conform to the arrangement and format detailed in the instructions to authors and should be uploaded to the website as a Microsoft Word or Word Perfect document. PDF files must not be uploaded. Figures can be submitted in a variety of formats, although JPEG (.jpg) or TIFF (.tif) files at a resolution of at least 300 dots per inch (dpi) for colour images and 1000 dpi for black and white images are preferred. Illustrations should be planned at their final size. Line illustrations should be in a separate file and not embedded in the text.

Once you have logged in to the system, you will be brought to the Author Main Menu (see below).



Click 'Submit new Manuscript' to begin the submission process. You will be brought to the Submit New Manuscript menu (see below).



It is from this interface that you will submit all the data that comprises your manuscript – text, images and descriptions.

Enter Article Title
Enter the title of your article in the space provided. Click 'Next' when you're ready to move forward.

Select Article Type
Using the drop-down menu, select the article type that best describes your manuscript. Click 'Next' to proceed.

Add/Edit/Remove Authors
You may add the names of other people who were involved in the creation of the manuscript. Only you as the Corresponding Author will receive any e-mail notifications from the system. You may change the person designated as the Corresponding Author, but this person must be a registered Editorial Manager user, as they will need to be contacted throughout the submission process. Other Authors do not need to be registered with the system, but may be included for the purpose of appearing in the printed version of the manuscript if it is selected for publication. A first name and last name are required – affiliation information isn't a required entry, however it will aid an Editor who wishes to select Reviewers who aren't affiliated with those who are involved in the creation of the manuscript. You don't need to re-enter yourself in the list of authors, as you are listed already as the corresponding author. Click 'Next' to proceed.

Submit Abstract
Insert a copy of the text of your abstract into the box ensuring a copy remains within your manuscript text file. Abstract should not contain any structured headings and should not exceed 250 words.

Select Classifications
Click 'Select Document Classifications' to open a window containing a list of the classifications pertaining to this journal. Click the checkbox next to any classification which is relevant to your submission. You may select as many classifications as is appropriate and these will be utilised to find appropriate reviewers only. Please ensure specific classifications are selected, this should expedite reviewer selection. Click 'Submit' when you are done. Click 'Next' to proceed. Please note these will not be published and do not replace 'key words'.

Additional Information
Please enter your total word count which includes summary, text, acknowledgements and references. Enter the number of figures and tables submitted and detail information regarding any conflict of interest and/or sources of funding.

Enter Comments
These comments do not appear in your manuscript. Click 'Next' to proceed.

Select Region of Origin
Please select the submissions region of origin from the list provided.

Attach files
For each item you want to provide choose the Item (Items that are required will be marked with an asterisk (*)), enter a Description, locate the file with the 'Browse' button, then click 'Attach This File' to upload the file (uploading may take several minutes for larger files). If you have saved your manuscript on your desktop or C drive of your computer you'll be able to select it and attach it. Manuscripts MUST conform to the arrangement and format detailed in the instructions to authors. Please attach Figures as separate TIFF or JPG files to make for ease in publishing. As each item from the drop-down menu is attached, you'll see that a list of what you'll be sending to the Editorial Office is building at the bottom of the screen.

Repeat this process until all items in your submission have been attached. You can see everything you've attached in the list at the bottom. When all Items have been attached ensure they are in correct order by editing the order number for the attached files and click 'update file order' button. When all the items are listed correctly, click 'Next' at the bottom of the page. You'll again be able to see what you're sending to the Editorial Office, and can make sure that everything you want to include is listed. A message will prompt you if you've left out any of the required pieces of the submission.

Click 'Build PDF for my approval'.

A message will appear on the screen, and an email verification will be sent when the PDF is built. You manuscript will now be filed in the 'Submissions Waiting for Author's Approval' in your Author Main Menu. To complete the process you'll need to approve the PDF before the Editorial Office receives your submission. (See 'Reviewing and approving your manuscript' in the following section).

If you are unable to complete the submission process, your data will not be lost. You can access your unfinished submission in the 'Incomplete Submissions' folder on your Author Main Menu.

Reviewing and approving your manuscript
You must approve your submission before it is sent to the journal office. Click 'Submissions Waiting for Author's Approval' to bring up a table containing all manuscripts that are waiting to be viewed and approved by you (see below).



Once the PDF version of your manuscript has been created by the system, you will see a set of links in the Action column of the table. 'View Submission' allows you to view the PDF version of your submission (if you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your system, simply click the 'Get Acrobat Reader' icon at the bottom of the Submissions Needing Approval menu and follow the instructions from Adobe's web site). You may choose to make alterations to your submission such as spelling corrections, description changes, extra graphics, etc. – you can do this by selecting 'Edit Submission'. If there is a problem creating the PDF you're viewing, there will be a message in the PDF explaining what may have caused the problem. Edit Submission will bring you to the same interface you used when you initially submitted the manuscript. You can remove or add files at the Attach Files portion of the submission if you need to change anything. If you do make changes, a new PDF file for you to view and approve will be built. Once you are satisfied with your submission and are ready to send it to the journal office, click 'Approve Submission'. You may also choose to remove your manuscript from the system by selecting 'Remove Submission' (the Manuscript will not be submitted to the journal office for review). When you approve your submission, it will now be filed in the 'Submissions Being Processed' list in your Author Main Menu.

Tracking the progress of your submission
Once your manuscript has been submitted to the journal, you can track its progress by viewing your submission in the 'Submissions Being Processed' folder (see below).



You will be notified when the journal has made a decision.

Instructions to submit a revised manuscript
Files you must have available:

• Revised manuscript file. Use a short file name, such as revised.doc for your revised manuscript file.
• Revision letter file containing a list of all changes or a rebuttal against each point which has been raised.

Steps to Revise Your Manuscript:

1. Log in to Editorial Manager.
2. Click Author Login.
3. This will take you to the Author Main Menu.
4. Click 'Submission Needing Revision'. DO NOT CLICK SUBMIT NEW MANUSCRIPT. (If you start your revision, and get interrupted/have a problem, your paper will move into your "Incomplete" box.)
5. Once you've clicked the link to "Revise Manuscript" it will take you to the same interface that you used to submit a new manuscript.
6. You'll see all the components of your original manuscript. DO NOT INCLUDE ORIGINAL FILES WHICH YOU HAVE REVISED. You'll just need to upload your revised files and Revision letter.
7. Click the Item in the drop-down box. Select Manuscript. Browse for your revised File. "Attach" revised.doc (or whatever you have named your revised manuscript).
8. Click the Item drop-down box to attach your "Revision letter", using the same steps as #7.
9. After attaching all revised files and ensuring the files are in the correct order, click Next at the bottom of the page.
10. If everything you attached is listed, click "build PDF for my approval". Go to the "Submissions Waiting Author's Approval" folder to view the PDF. This may take a few minutes before the actions appear. You must click "Approve Submission" for your revision to be sent it to the editorial office.

Changing your password
You may change your password at any time. To do so, log in to the system and select 'Update My Information' from the main navigation menu at the top of the screen (see below).



This will bring you to the Update My Information page were you can change your password and enter new contact details. Please ensure these details are up to date in case we need to contact you regarding your submission.

15. Queries and contact information
For any Journal or submission queries please contact the journal office:

Nichola Atherton
Editorial coordinator
Email: jhi@his.org.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1778 571 965