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Instructions to Authors

New for 2010 – Please note that the journal now encourages authors to complete their copyright licence to publish form online

Feature articles are aimed at GPs in Training. It is important that they are easy to read, give the AiTs a strategy for dealing with problems/situations that they might encounter during the course of their work in primary care, provide an accurate and full knowledge base on the topic, and are closely linked to the GP curriculum.

Preparation of Manuscript

Articles should be between 2000 and 6000 words in length (4-6 pages of A4 12 font) and use summary boxes, flow charts, tables and pictures to illustrate the text and highlight the most important points for the readers. We will reject articles over 6000 words in length without sending them out for review.

Articles should be written with 5 main sections:

  1. Introduction - a single paragraph summarising the topic and aims of the article. Please do not use a heading for this section.
  2. A curriculum box defining how the article is applicable to and addresses specific statements within the GP curriculum. Details of the GP curriculum statements can be accessed via this website. This should not state what you think GPs should know - only what the curriculum requires.
  3. Main section covering the topic material - please use headings and subheadings to break the text up. We have just 2 heading levels - we will reject your article without sending it out for review if you introduce any more.
  4. Key points - these should summarize the major learning points from the article in the form of 5-6 brief bullet points. We will reject your article without sendng it out for review if there is no key point box or if your article has more than 6 key points
  5. References and further information - these should include all the key references for the topic and their sources, and additional sources of information that may be helpful to the reader

Curriculum box

An example of a curriculum box formatted correctly can be found here

Title Page

A separate title page should contain the title, name and affiliation of each author. Corresponding authors should also include their email addresses.

This separate title page document should be given the file designation of ‘Title Page’ when you upload your manuscript.

Text

To facilitate the journal's double-blinded peer review policy, the manuscript file should contain no identifying author information.

Articles must not be written in note format and will not be accepted until they are in prose form. It is acceptable to use bullet points in the main text to make specific points clearer but we cannot accept whole sections consisting simply of bullet points. Single sentence paragraphs must not be included.

Numbers under 10 should be spelt out, except for measurements with a unit (8 mmol/l) or age (7 weeks old) Define all abbreviations used within the text. . Use only standard abbreviations. Use words rather than mathematical symbols i.e. less than 12 cm (not <12 cm).

We have a ‘reference-light’ policy and will not accept articles with every statement referenced. However, the source of statistics, guidelines and any contentious statements should be referenced in text.

If you refer to a specific reference in the text, references with one or two authors should be cited within the article thus (Smith & Brown, 2011). When a work has three, four, or five authors, cite all authors the first time the reference occurs; in subsequent citations, include only the surname of the first author followed by et al. and the year (Patterson et al., 2010). Papers with 6 or more authors should always be cited thus (Anderson et al., 2008)

Please do not use footnotes within the text.

NOTE: Cutting and pasting from other sources is illegal and a breach of copyright. We cannot publish any articles containing information copied directly from other sources, with the exception of limited quotes which should be referenced in-text and at the end of the article appropriately

Boxes, figures, tables and pictures

Boxes, figures, tables and pictures must be referred to within the text. We will not accept stand alone boxes, figures and tables. Any boxes, figures or tables that you wish to be included should be included at the end of the text with the preferred location indicated by a textual note (i.e. Insert Box 1 here). Number all boxes, figures and tables consecutively, as they should appear in the text.

All photographs should be of the highest quality possible as reproduction reduces the quality.

Resolution – figures should be supplied at a minimum resolution of 600 dpi for line drawings (charts/graphs in black and white), and 300 dpi for colour or greyscale images.

Most figure file formats are acceptable, although TIFF is preferable.

Please do not include more than five figures and pictures combined.

If diagrams, figures, tables, assessment tools or pictures are not original, the source of those items must be stated so that the editorial office may seek permission for their use. Non-original figures without this information cannot be printed. Please ensure as much information as possible about the source of the material is included.

If the material you would like to reproduce is from a book please supply the following information:

Publisher
Book title
Authors' names
Volume number, issue date, page numbers (provide all that apply)
Specific figure numbers or portion of text

Non-original figures without this information cannot be printed.

References and further information

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the References. Published articles and those in press (state the journal which has accepted them) may be included.

The journal uses the American Psychological Association (APA) style as laid out in the APA Publication Manual (6th edition). At the end of the article, the references should be listed in alphabetical order, with the author's surname followed by the initial. References should include in the following order: author, (year), paper title, journal name, volume number, inclusive page numbers and the digital object identifier (DOI) should be included if one has been assigned.

When there are two to seven authors, include all authors’ names; use an ampersand & before the last author’s name.

When there are more than seven authors, include the first six authors’ names, then insert three ellipsis points … and add the last author’s name.

For book references, names and initials of all authors, year of publication, the full title, publisher and the location of publisher should be given. If you wish to refer to a specific page please include this here and not in the main text.

Web references should include the name of the website, date, title of the work, and the full URL.

The number of references should be limited to 30.

Examples of how references should be cited are presented below:

For references with seven or less authors:

Simon, C., & Slatcher, C. (2011). Young carers. InnovAiT, 4 (8), 458-463. doi: 10.1093/innovait/inr040

Nicholson, B.D., Reid, C., & Albuerne, C. (2012). Primary care for asylum seekers. InnovAiT, 5(2), 112-121. doi:10.1093/innovait/inr141

For references with eight or more authors:

Gilbert, D, McClernon, J, Rabinovich, N, Sugai, C, Plath, L, Asgaard, G,... Botros, N. (2004). Effects of quitting smoking on EEG activation and attention last for more than 31 days and are more severe with stress, dependence, DRD2 A1 allele, and depressive traits. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 6, 249-267. doi: 10.1080/14622200410001676305

If no DOI is assigned to the content and you retrieved it online, include the URL for the journal. Use this format: Retrieved from www:xxxxxxxx

Free DOI lookup
The CrossRef website provides a number of ways for you to locate a DOI.

Book References

Haydon, J. (2007) Genetics in practice: a clinical approach for health care practitioners. John Wiley & Sons, UK.

Simon, C. (2006). Oxford General Practice Library: Neurology. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Note: If you wish to refer to a specific page please include this in the reference and not in the main text.

Website references

Department of Health. (2002). National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England. Retrieved from: www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_4019548.pdf

NICE. (2006). Brief Interventions and Referral for Smoking Cessation in Primary Care and Other Settings Retrieved from: www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/PH001_smoking_cessation.pdf

RCGP Curriculum statement 11: Sexual Health. Retrieved from: www.rcgp-curriculum.org.uk/PDF/curr_11_Sexual_Health.pdf

Patient consent

Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without prior informed consent. InnovAiT follows the ICMJE guidelines for reporting about patients.

For articles where examples are included based on real patients, all identifying information must be omitted.

For articles where examples are included based on real patients, all identifying information must be omitted.

Conflict of interest

During the submission stage authors are required to complete a declaration of conflict of
interest. All conflict of interests that are declared will be listed at the end of published articles.

If you are in any doubt as to what constitutes a conflict, please check Oxford Journals website.

Submission

All material to be considered for publication in InnovAiT should be submitted in electronic form via ScholarOne Manuscripts the journal's online submission site.

If you experience any problems during the online submission process please consult the Author's User Guide which provides detailed submission instructions on how to submit your paper. Alternatively, please contact the journal's editorial office who will be pleased to assist you.

On acceptance

InnovAiT includes a short summary of all its feature articles on the InnovAiT blog page when the print-issue of the journal that the article will appear in is published. Summaries should be under 200 words in length and designed to provide an overview of the content of the article. Authors of successful submissions to InnovAiT will be asked to produce a summary on acceptance of their article.

Copyright

Upon receipt of accepted manuscripts at Oxford Journals authors will be invited to complete an online copyright licence to publish form.

Please note that by submitting an article for publication you confirm that you are the corresponding/submitting author and that Oxford University Press ("OUP") may retain your email address for the purpose of communicating with you about the article. You agree to notify OUP immediately if your details change. If your article is accepted for publication OUP will contact you using the email address you have used in the registration process. Please note that OUP does not retain copies of rejected articles.