An international journal on Diabetes, Atherosclerosis and Human Nutrition
Official Journal of the Italian Society of Diabetology, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis and the Italian Society of Human Nutrition

INTRODUCTION • COVER LETTER, ARTICLE TYPES BEFORE YOU BEGIN • Ethics in Publishing • Conflict of interest • Submission declaration • Copyright • Retained author rights • Role of the funding source • Funding body agreements and policies • Language and language services • Submission • Referees PREPARATION • Language • Use of wordprocessing software • Artwork • Tables • References • Reference style • Supplementary material • Online Submission • Submission checklist AFTER ACCEPTANCE • Use of the Digital Object Identifier • Proofs • Offprints AUTHOR INQUIRIES

COVER LETTER, ARTICLE TYPES



COVER LETTER
Cover letters must state that all authors have seen and approved the study submitted.
Provide a statement that no part of the submitted work has been published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere (except in the form of abstract).
Provide a statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest.
In case of clinical trials, starting July 1st 2009, provide registration number and date.

TYPES OF MANUSCRIPT

Original Articles should report original clinical studies or research not previously published or being considered for publication elsewhere. The text should not exceed 3000 words, with a list of ideally no more than 30 references, and 5 figures/tables (see below for more details on the layout).
Viewpoints and review articles, including institutional reviews of recent developments, are welcome and will undergo peer review. These are generally upon invitation but interested authors may contact the editors.The length of a review should not exceed 3500 words and should have an abstract of up to 250 words. A limit of 70 references is recommended.
Letters to the Editor should be no longer than 500 words and may include discussions on material previously printed in the Journal or short communications of preliminary findings. Letters to the Editor are published online only, although they appear in the index of the print copy.

Guidelines on Clinical Trials Registration
1. Beginning July 1, 2009, NMCD will no longer consider articles dealing with clinical trials that were not registered. The letter accompanying manuscript submission must state trial registration date and number.
2. Registration must be done on a publicly available database, such as www.clinicaltrials.gov or any other registry meeting WHO and ICTRP criteria (please refer to http://www.who.int/ictrp/en/ or http://www.icmje.org/). Further information about these sites can be obtained through http://prsinfo.clinicaltrials.gov and http://www.controlled-trials.com. Registration must include completion of all items on the list recommended by the WHO advisory group.



Ethics in Publishing

For information on Ethics in Publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication see http://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and http://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.

Conflict of interest

All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. See also http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.

Submission declaration

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 copyright-holder.

Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete 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 will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.
Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions). 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: please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.

Retained author rights

As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to: http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.

Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated. Please see http://www.elsevier.com/funding.

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.

Language and language services

Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit http://www.elsevier.com/languagepolishing or our customer support site at http://epsupport.elsevier.com for more information. 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: http://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions.

Submission

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.

Referees

Please submit, with the manuscript, the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of 3 potential referees. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.



Language

Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Use decimal points (not decimal commas); use a space for thousands (10 000 and above).

Use of wordprocessing software

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 Guide to Publishing with Elsevier: http://www.elsevier.com/guidepublication). 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 Electronic illustrations.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the "spell-check" and "grammar-check" functions of your wordprocessor.

FORMAT


Essential Title page Information

Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author names and affiliations. Provide last name followed by the initial(s) of the first name. 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 will 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.
Clinical Trials. In case of clinical trials, starting July 1st 2009, registration number and date.
Word counts for abstract and text, and number of references, figures and tables.

Abstract
An abstract (maximum 250 words) is typed double spaced on a separate page. The abstract for original articles should be structured under the headings (1) Background and Aims, (2) Methods and Results (3) Conclusion. The abstract of review and viewpoint articles should be structured under the headings (1) Aims, (2) Data Synthesis, (3) Conclusion, (4) registration number for clinical trials (starting July 1st, 2009)

Text
The following subheads should be included in all research articles: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, References, Appendices, Tables, Figure Legends.

The Methods section should include a statement that the experimental protocols and the process for obtaining informed consent (in human studies) were approved by the appropriate institutional review committee.

For studies on animals, the Methods section should include the species, strain, and supplier/source.

For studies on humans, the Methods section should include a Study Population subheading, under which demographics of study population are defined.

Acronyms should be spelled out in full (in the abstract or text) the first time they are cited. If more tha 5 acronyms are used, they should be listed on the title page after the keywords. Avoid jargon.

Measurement units should be reported as standard SI units with traditional units in brackets.

Suppliers of specific instruments or drugs should be given, including the company name and city. All drugs should be referred to by their generic names.

Artwork

Electronic artwork
General points
• 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, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit each figure as a separate file.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
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: color or grayscale 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 (color or grayscale): 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.

Color artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for color in print or on the Web only. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting color figures to "gray scale" (for the printed version should you not opt for color in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the color illustrations.

Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, 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.

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.

References

Citation in 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 are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication" Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Web references
As a minimum, the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (DOI, 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.

References in a special issue
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.

Reference style

References are identified in the text by arabic numerals and numbered in the order cited. The Vancouver style should be adopted, e.g. Birnbaum Y, Sclarovsky S, Mager A, Strasberg B, Rechavia E, ST segment depression in aVL: a sensitive marker for acute inferior myocardial infarction. Eur Heart J 1993; 14: 4-7
Personal communications, manuscripts in preparation and other unpublished data are not cited in the reference list but are mentioned in the text in parentheses. Titles of journals should be abbreviated in accordance with Index Medicus (see list printed annually in the January issue of Index Medicus. Complete information should be given for each reference, including title of article, abbreviated journal title and inclusive pagination. List all authors for up to six authors. For more than six authors, the first six should be listed followed by et al.
When citing an Elsevier journal, include the digital object identifier (DOI), if noted, from the article's title page. Please note the following examples.
Roelandt JRTC. Seeing the invisible: a short history of cardiac ultrasound. Eur J Echocardiography 2000; 1: 8-11, doi:10.1053/euje.2000.0006
D'hooge J, Bijnens B, Jamal F, Pislaru C, Pislaru S, Thoen J, Suetens P, Van de Werf F,
Angermann C, Rademakers FE, Herregods M-C, Sutherland GR. High frame rate myocardial integrated backscatter. Does this change our understanding of this acoustic parameter – Eur J Echocardiography, doi:10.1053/euje.2000.0004

Journal abbreviations source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to
Index Medicus journal abbreviations: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html;
List of serial title word abbreviations: http://www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php;
CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service): http://www.cas.org/sent.html.

Supplementary material

Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material 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 are 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. Video files: please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your supplementary information. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Online Submission

Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases uses an online submission and review system. Authors can upload their article via the Elsevier Editorial System at http://ees.elsevier.com/nmcd. By accessing the website Authors will be guided stepwise through the uploading of the various files. Editable file formats are necessary. We accept most word-processing formats, but Word, WordPerfect or LaTeX is preferred. Figure files (TIFF, EPS, JPEG) should be uploaded separately. Always keep a backup copy of the electronic file for reference and safety. Save your files using the default extension of the program used. The system generates an Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article which is used for the reviewing process. Authors, Reviewers and Editors send and receive all correspondence by e-mail and no paper correspondence is necessary. For assistance contact the Author Support at authorsupport@elsevier.com.

The instructions also apply to authors of papers appearing in supplements.

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
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded
• Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been "spellchecked" and "grammar-checked"
• 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)
• Color figures are clearly marked as being intended for color reproduction on the Web (free of charge) and in print or to be reproduced in color on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print
• If only color on the Web is required, black and white versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes
For any further information please visit our customer support site at http://epsupport.elsevier.com.



Use of the Digital Object Identifier

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles in press' because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information. The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows (example taken from a document in the journal Physics Letters B):
doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2003.10.071
When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, they are guaranteed never to change.

Proofs

One set of page proofs (as PDF files) 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) or, a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 (or higher) available free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). 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 them 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. 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.



For inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit this journal's homepage. You can track accepted articles at http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed. Also accessible from here is information on copyright, frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, will be provided by the publisher.