The Official Publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.


Editor
Elaine L Larson, RN, PhD, FAAN, CIC
Columbia University School of Nursing
630 W 168th St
New York, NY 10032
Tel: 212-305-0723
Fax: 212-305-0722
E-mail: ajic@columbia.edu

Managing Editor
Manuel Cortazal
Tel: 212-305-0723
E-mail: ajic@columbia.edu

Editorial policies. American Journal of Infection Control is a professional, peer-reviewed journal and the official scientific publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. It welcomes original articles in English pertaining to the prevention, surveillance, and control of infections and related complications in health care facilities and the community, and the application of epidemiologic principles to reduce risks among patients and health care professionals. American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) uses a Web-based online manuscript submission and review system. Please visit http://ees.elsevier.com/ajic to submit your manuscript electronically. The website guides authors stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. Note that original source files, not PDF files, are required. Authors may send queries concerning the submission process manuscript status or journal procedures to the Editorial Office. Inquiries should be directed to ajic@columbia.edu. Once the submission files are uploaded the system automatically generates an electronic (PDF) proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence, including the Editor's decision and request for revisions, will be by e-mail.

The Editor assumes that articles from a particular institution are submitted with the approval of the requisite authorities, including all matters pertaining to human studies.

Visit Elsevier's Author Gateway ( http://authors.elsevier.com ) to track accepted articles and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed. The Author Gateway also provides detailed artwork guidelines, copyright information, frequently asked questions, and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.

Statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communications herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Editor, Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc, or Publisher, and the Editor, Association, and Publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for such material. The Editor, Association, and Publisher do not guarantee, warrant, or endorse any product or service advertised in this publication; neither do they guarantee any claim made by the manufacturer of such product or service.

Copyright transfer form. An original copyright transfer letter (language below) signed by all authors must be sent by mail or fax, to the Editorial Office for every submission.

"The undersigned author(s) transfer all copyright ownership of the manuscript entitled [title of article] to the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc, in the event the work is published. Each undersigned author warrants that he or she has participated sufficiently in the work described to justify authorship as defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. It is further warranted that the article is original, that it is not under consideration by another journal at this time, and that neither the text nor the data reported have been published previously. It is understood that the statements and opinions expressed in this manuscript are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the editor(s) or publisher(s); the editor(s) and publisher(s) disclaim all responsibility or liability for this material."

Editorial disclosure policy. Authors are requested to disclose to the editors receipt of financial and/or material support from an organization that may either gain or lose financially from the results or conclusions of their study or invited editorial. Such disclosure(s) will not be released to peer reviewers, but the Editor may request that the author(s) draft a disclosure statement to accompany a published article. In addition, authors who have received financial support from a manufacturer or been given a product free of charge to use in a study should acknowledge this support on a separate sheet.

Institutional Review Board. When research involves human participants, authors should state in the "Methods" section the procedure used to ensure ethical conduct of research.

Preparation of manuscripts. The following guidelines for submission of manuscripts will expedite the review process and ensure that publication is not delayed.

Manuscripts must conform to acceptable English usage. For current usage consult the 9th edition of AMA's Manual of Style. Standard abbreviations should be used consistently throughout the article. Unusual or coined abbreviations should be spelled out the first time they appear in text, with abbreviation in parentheses. Generic drug names should be used; however, proprietary names may be inserted in parentheses after the generic name. If equipment must be identified by proprietary name, provide the manufacturer name and city/state. Weights and measures should be expressed in metric units. Temperatures should be expressed in degrees centigrade.

Length. An article of 12 double-spaced typewritten pages with 4 illustrations, 3 tables, and 15 references makes about 7 journal pages. Brevity and clarity increase the likelihood that an article will be accepted because they enhance readability. Authors should stay within 7 journal pages as the maximum except under unusual circumstances.

Title pages. The first title page should include the title; name(s) and academic degree(s) of the author(s); name(s) of the department(s) and institution(s) in which the work was done; and name, address, business and home telephone numbers, and e-mail address of the author to whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed. Save this title page as a separate file for your submission via the Web-based system. A second title page without any author information should begin the full manuscript file. This page will be used for double-blind peer review.
Abstract. A structured abstract of 150 to 200 words should follow the title page. Structured abstracts should include Background, Methods, Results (including some data), and Conclusions. An abstract of 50 to 75 words should accompany Brief Reports and other articles in special departments. Nonexperimental articles can have summary abstracts.

References. Place the reference list in the file after the main text. Number references consecutively in order of their mention in the text; all references must be cited in the text. Personal communications and unpublished data should be cited in the text in parentheses; they should not appear in the reference list. Follow the format of the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" (Ann Intern Med 1997;126:36-47). Use journal abbreviations as listed in the Cumulated Index Medicus.

EXAMPLES OF REFERENCES (if 6 or fewer authors, list all; if 7 or more, list first 6 and et al):

Format for journal articles:
You CH, Lee KY, Chey WY, Menguy R. Electrogastrographic study of patients with unexplained nausea, bloating and vomiting. Gastroenterology 1980;79:311-4.

Format for books:
Eisen HY. Immunology: an introduction to molecular and cellular principles of the immune response. 5th ed. New York: Harper & Row; 1974. p. 406.

Format for chapters:
Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathogenic properties of invading microorganisms. In: Sodeman WA Jr, Sodeman WA, editors. Pathologic physiology: mechanisms of disease. Philadelphia: WB Saunders; 1974. p. 457-72.

Submission. Manuscripts may be submitted in one of two methods outlined below: mail or electronically. When submitting by mail, please include a diskette whenever possible.

Keyboarding the electronic manuscript.

• Do not input special typesetting codes. The publisher will handle all design considerations for typefaces and page layout after the editorial office transfers an accepted paper to the publisher.
• Do use your word processor's capabilities for bold, underline, italic, subscript, and superscript. Text that will be italic in published form (eg, genus, species) may be keyboarded as italics or as underlined text.
• Use a "hard return" only to end a paragraph or for titles, headings, separate items in a list, etc. Rely on the word processor's word wrap ("soft return") for all other line endings. A hard return results from tapping the "Enter" key on the keyboard.
• Do not right justify or center text or heads.
• Be sure to key the letter O, the number 0, the letter l, and the number 1 correctly.
• Use only one space after colons and periods.
• Use the default hyphenation of your word processor. Use 2 hyphens for long dashes.
• Key in the reference list at the end of the text. Do not use your word processor's footnote or endnote feature to create references.
• Use the table format or use only tables, not spaces, to align columns in preparing tables. Submit tables as separate files.
• Save the text of the article, along with references and figure legends, as one file. Save each tables as a separate file.

Illustrations. Figures should be submitted in electronic format. All images should be at least 5 in wide. Images should be provided in EPS or TIF format. Graphics software (such as Photoshop and Illustrator) not presentation software (such as PowerPoint, CorelDraw, or Harvard Graphics) should be used in the creation of the art. Special arrangements must be made with the Editor for color illustrations. Color images need to be CMYK and at least 300 DPI. Gray scale images should be at least 300 DPI. Combinations of gray scale and line art images should be at least 1200 DPI. Gray scale line art should be at least 1200 DPI. Line art (black and white) should be at least 1200 DPI. Please include hardware and software information, in addition to file names, with the disk. Legends should be typed on a separate page of the main manuscript file, be labelled "Figure legends," and include enough information so that the figures can be interpreted without reference to the text. Give staining and magnification for photomicrographs of histologic slides. If a figure has more than 1 part, label as A, B, C, etc using uppercase letters; in the legend, present as "Fig 1. A,... B,..." If either figures or tables (or data therein) are taken from previously copyrighted material, the legends must give full credit to the original source.

Copyrighted material and informed consent. Direct quotations, tables, or illustrations from copyrighted material must be accompanied by written permission for their use from the copyright owner and original author, along with complete information as to source. Photographs of identifiable persons must be accompanied by signed releases showing informed consent.

Reprints. Individual reprints of an article may be obtained from the author.

Requirements for featured sections.

Brief reports. Articles in this category should be limited to 1000 words or less and may include two illustrations or tables and a maximum of 10 references.

Commentary. Opinions, philosophy, or comments related to infection control practice should be sent to the Editor for review. They should be brief and referenced whenever appropriate.

Correspondence. Letters pertaining to articles published in the Journal or concerned with issues of current interest to readers should be sent directly to the Editor. They are subject to review and/or responses by authors of the pertinent papers.

Practice forum. Reports of infection prevention and control practices and related applications of epidemiology will be published. Items should be limited to two to five typed double-spaced pages, referenced whenever appropriate.