MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Instructions to Authors

The main emphasis of the journal is on original research. Analytical reviews of research, brief scientific reports, scholarly case studies, and commentaries are also considered for publication. The Web site (http://www.jpepsy.oxfordjournals.org) includes book reviews in addition to general information on the journal. Submissions are welcomed from authors in psychology and other disciplines serving children and families.

Instructions to Authors Regarding JPP Policy Concerning Submissions to Other Journals and Inclusion of Information from the Same or Related Data Sets

Manuscripts that are submitted to JPP should not have been published or currently submitted elsewhere or contain data that is currently submitted or published elsewhere.

If a manuscript contains data that is part of a larger study, authors should describe the larger study and provide relevant references for the study. Authors should clarify the relationship between the study and data described in their manuscript and the larger study. In addition, authors should indicate the new value-added scientific contribution of their study relative to any previously published research that was derived from the same study or data set.

Manuscript preparation

Manuscripts (text, references, tables, figures, etc.) should be prepared in detailed accord with the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). There are two exceptions:

(a) The academic degrees of authors should be placed on the title page following their names, and

(b) a structured abstract of not more than 150 words should be included. The abstract should include the following parts:

Objective (brief statement of the purpose of the study);
Methods (summary of the participants, design, measures, procedure);
Results (the primary findings of this work); and
Conclusions (statement of implications of these data).

Key words should be included, consistent with APA style. Submissions should be double-spaced throughout, with margins of at least 1 inch and font size of 12 points (or 26 lines per page, 12-15 characters per inch). Authors should remove all identifying information from the body of the manuscript so that peer reviewers will be unable to recognize the authors and their affiliations. E-mail addresses, whenever possible, should be included in the author note.

Original research articles should not exceed 25 pages, in total, including title page, references, figures, tables, etc. In the case of papers that report on multiple studies or those with methodologies that necessitate detailed explanation, the authors should justify longer manuscript length to the Editor in the cover letter.

Brief scientific reports should not exceed 12 pages, including a maximum of two tables and/or figures. This format should be considered for papers with scientific merit, but utilizing small samples or introducing new methodologies. It is also appropriate for reports of replication or application of an existing approach to a novel sample or problem.

Scholarly reviews should not exceed 30 pages total.

Case reports should not exceed 20 pages. Case reports are appropriate to document the efficacy of new treatment applications; to describe new clinical phenomena; to develop hypotheses; to illustrate methodological issues, difficult diagnoses, and novel treatment approaches; and to identify unmet clinical or research needs. Guidelines for case study submissions can be found in Drotar, D. (2009). Editorial: Case Studies and Series: A Call for Action and Invitation for Submissions, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 34, 795-802.

Commentaries should not exceed 4 pages, including references. Commentaries are invited on all topics of interest in pediatric psychology.

The clinical relevance of research should be incorporated into the manuscripts. There is no special section on clinical implications, but authors should integrate implications for practice, as appropriate, into papers.

Authors should indicate in the Method section of relevant manuscripts how informed consent was obtained and report the approval of the study by the appropriate Institutional Review Board(s). Authors will also be asked to sign a statement, provided by the Editor, that they have complied with the American Psychological Association Ethical Principles with regard to the treatment of their sample.

Terminology should be sensitive to the individual who has a disease or disability. The Editors endorse the concept of "people first, not their disability." Terminology should reflect the "person with a disability" (e.g., children with diabetes, persons with HIV infection, families of children with cancer) rather than the condition as an adjective (e.g., diabetic children, HIV patients, cancer families). Nonsexist language should be used.

Removal of Identifying Information

This journal conducts double-blinded peer reviews. When uploading your manuscript, include no identifying author information (designate file as "Main Document"). A separate title page (designated as "Title Page") should be uploaded with author details, any acknowledgements, and an address for correspondence with readers. Figures and tables should be blinded. "Supplementary" files are for online publication only and will be requested by the editor during the review process if necessary.

In order to save time and energy (yours and ours), we ask all authors to carefully review their manuscript before submission to remove all information that could identify the authors to reviewers. The following instructions should be followed:

In the main document:

• Remove the authors' names and addressess.
• Remove acknowledgements and funding information that involve identifying information.
• When an author's name is mentioned in a study that clearly links back to the larger project from which the manuscript’s data are drawn, please substitute the names with letters, e.g. XXX, in the text and citations.
• When the project from the data are drawn has a specific name or are collected at an identifiable place, please substitute letters.

Names will be inserted upon final acceptance of the manuscript.

Submit a separate title page which should contain authors, affiliations, acknowledgements, and an address for correspondence.

Manuscripts that do not conform to these guidelines will be returned to the authors for revision prior to peer review.

Manuscript submission is exclusively online. Authors are required to submit their manuscript online through the journal's online submission Web site.

Submission is a representation that the work has not been published previously and is not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. Authors should indicate in their cover letter that these conditions have been met. The relationship of the submitted manuscript with other publications or submissions of the author(s), if any, should be explained. The cover letter should also include a statement indicating that the paper has been seen and approved by all authors. The full mailing address, telephone, fax, and e-mail address should be included in the cover letter.

The journal makes no page charges. Authors will receive a URL (via e-mail) for free online access to their article. Additional reprints may be ordered when page proofs are sent to authors.

It is a condition of publication in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology that authors grant an exclusive license to Oxford University Press. This ensures that requests from third parties to reproduce articles are handled efficiently and consistently and will also allow the article to be as widely disseminated as possible. In granting an exclusive license, authors may use their own material in other publications provided that the Journal of Pediatric Psychology is acknowledged as the original place of publication and Oxford University Press is notified in writing and in advance.

Editorial Policies 2009

Please make sure to check the following guidelines: Editorial Policy, Authors' Checklist, Guidelines for Reviews, Mentoring Policy, Suggestions for Mentored Reviews, Descriptions of Special Sections, "People First," Measure Development Checklist, Checklist for Preparing and Evaluating Review Articles, and the NIH policy.

Conflicts of Interest

At the point of submission, the Journal of Pediatric Psychology's policy requires that each author reveal any financial interests or connections, direct or indirect, or other situations that might raise the question of bias in the work reported or the conclusions, implications, or opinions stated - including pertinent commercial or other sources of funding for the individual author(s) or for the associated department(s) or organization(s), personal relationships, or direct academic competition. When considering whether you should declare a conflicting interest or connection please consider the conflict of interest test: Is there any arrangement that would embarrass you or any of your co-authors if it was to emerge after publication and you had not declared it?

As an integral part of the online submission process, Corresponding authors are required to confirm whether they or their co-authors have any conflicts of interest to declare, and to provide details of these. If the Corresponding author is unable to confirm this information on behalf of all co-authors, the authors in question will then be required to submit a completed Conflict of Interest form to the Editorial Office. It is the Corresponding author’s responsibility to ensure that all authors adhere to this policy.

If the manuscript is published, Conflict of Interest information will be communicated in a statement in the published

Conflict of Interest in Industry Sponsored Research

Authors whose manuscripts are submitted for publication must declare all relevant sources of funding in support of the preparation of a manuscript. The Journal of Pediatric Psychology requires full disclosure of financial support as to whether it is from the tobacco industry, the pharmaceutical or any other industry, government agencies, or any other source. This information should be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript.

Authors are required to specify sources of funding for the study and to indicate whether or not the text was reviewed by the sponsor prior to submission, i.e., whether the study was written with full investigator access to all relevant data and whether the sponsor exerted editorial influence over the written text. This information should be included in the cover letter.

In addition to disclosure of direct financial support to the authors or their laboratory and prior sponsor-review of the paper, submitting authors are asked to disclose all relevant consultancies within the 12 months prior to submission, since the views expressed in the contribution could be influenced by the opinions they have expressed privately as consultants. This information should be included in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript.

In the event that a previously undisclosed potential competing interest for an author of a published paper comes to the attention of the editors and is subsequently confirmed with the authors, the undeclared interest will be published as an erratum in a future issue.

Conflict of Interest Policy: Reviewers and Editors

Reviewers must disclose to editors any conflicts of interest that could bias their opinions of the manuscript, and they should disqualify themselves from reviewing specific manuscripts if they believe it to be appropriate. As in the case of authors, silence on the part of reviewers concerning potential conflicts may mean either that such conflicts exist that they have failed to disclose, or that conflicts do not exist. Reviewers must therefore also be asked to state explicitly whether conflicts do or do not exist. Reviewers must not use knowledge of the work, before its publication, to further their own interests.

Conflict of interest for a given manuscript exists when a participant in the peer review and publication process—author, reviewer, and editor—has ties to activities that could inappropriately influence his or her judgment, regardless of whether judgment is, in fact, affected. Financial relationships with industry (for example, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, expert testimony), either directly or through immediate family, are usually considered the most important conflicts of interest. However, conflicts can occur for other reasons, such as personal relationships, academic competition, and intellectual passion. External peer reviewers should disclose to editors any conflicts of interest that could bias their opinions of the manuscript and they should disqualify themselves from reviewing specific manuscripts if they believe it appropriate. The editors must be made aware of reviewers' conflict of interest to interpret the reviews and judge for themselves whether the reviewer should be disqualified.” (From the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Annals of Internal Medicine 118, (8) 646-647).

Specific Policies

Submission by an editor. A paper submitted by an editor will be handled by one of the other editors who does not have a conflict with the review and who is not at the same institution as the submitting editor. The other editor will select referees and make all decisions on the paper.

Submission by author at same institution as one of the editors. A paper submitted by an author for which there is a potential conflict with who is at the same institution as one of the editors will be handled by one of the other editors. The other editor will select referees and make all decisions on the paper.

Submission by family member of editor or by author whose relationship with editor might create the perception of bias. A paper submitted by a family member of one of the editors, or by an author whose relationship with one of the editors might create the perception of bias (e.g. in terms of close friendship or conflict/rivalry), will be handled by another editor. The other editor will select referees and make all decisions on the paper. If in doubt, the editors will consult with the Journal editor.

Potential conflict of interest for reviewers. The invitation letter to reviewers will include the following paragraph: ‘If you know or think you know the identity of the author, and if you feel there is any potential conflict of interest in your refereeing this paper because of your relationship with the author (e.g. in terms of close friendship or conflict/rivalry) or for any other reason, please declare it. By accepting this invitation, it is assumed there is no potential conflict of interest.’ Standard policy will be not to use a referee if a conflict of interest has been declared, but the editors may use their discretion after consulting with one another.

NIH Policy

As of April 7, 2008, the NIH has initiated a public access policy that requires all investigators whose manuscripts arise from NIH funds to submit or have submitted for them to PubMed Central. Please read the extensive policy and procedures for the journal.

Funding

Details of all funding sources for the work in question should be given in a separate section entitled 'Funding'. This should appear before the 'Acknowledgements' section.

The following rules should be followed:

• The sentence should begin: ‘This work was supported by …’
• The full official funding agency name should be given, i.e. ‘the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health’ or simply 'National Institutes of Health', not 'NCI' (one of the 27 subinstitutions) or ‘NCI at NIH’ (full RIN-approved list of UK funding agencies) .
• Grant numbers should be complete and accurate and provided in parentheses as follows: ‘(grant number xxxx)’
• Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma as follows: ‘(grant numbers xxxx, yyyy)’
• Agencies should be separated by a semi-colon (plus ‘and’ before the last funding agency)
• Where individuals need to be specified for certain sources of funding the following text should be added after the relevant agency or grant number 'to [author initials]'.

An example is given here: 'This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (P50 CA098252 and CA118790 to R.B.S.R.) and the Alcohol & Education Research Council (HFY GR667789).'

Oxford Journals will deposit all NIH-funded articles in PubMed Central. See http://www.oxfordjournals.org/for_authors/repositories.html for details. Authors must ensure that manuscripts are clearly indicated as NIH-funded using the guidelines above.

Permission for Illustrations and Figures

Permission to reproduce copyright material, for print and online publication in perpetuity, must be cleared and if necessary paid for by the author; this includes applications and payments to DACS, ARS, and similar licensing agencies where appropriate. Evidence in writing that such permissions have been secured from the rights-holder must be made available to the editors. It is also the author's responsibility to include acknowledgements as stipulated by the particular institutions. Oxford Journals can offer information and documentation to assist authors in securing print and online permissions: please see the Guidelines for Authors section. Information on permissions contacts for a number of main galleries and museums can also be provided. Should you require copies of this, please contact the editorial office of the journal in question or the Oxford Journals Rights department.

Author Self-Archiving/Public Access policy from May 2005

For information about this journal's policy, please visit our Author Self-Archiving Policy page.

Journal of Pediatric Psychology authors have the option, at an additional charge, to make their paper freely available online immediately upon publication, under the Oxford Open initiative. After your manuscript is accepted, as part of the mandatory licence form required of all corresponding authors, you will be asked to indicate whether or not you wish to pay to have your paper made freely available immediately. If you do not select the Open Access option, your paper will be published with standard subscription-based access and you will not be charged.

For those selecting the Open Access option, the charges for Journal of Pediatric Psychology vary depending on the institution at which the Corresponding author is based. See http://www.oxfordjournals.org/oxfordopen/charges.html for details.

The above Open Access charges are in addition to any page charges and color charges that might apply.

If you choose the Open Access option you will also be asked to complete an Open Access charge form online. You will be automatically directed to the appropriate version of the form depending on whether you are based at an institution with an online subscription to the Journal of Pediatric Psychology. Therefore, please make sure that you are using an institutional computer when accessing the form. To check whether you are based at a subscribing institution please use the Subscriber Test link for the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.

Orders from the UK will be subject to a 15% VAT charge. For orders from the rest of the EU, we will assume that the service is provided for business purposes; please provide a VAT number for yourself or your institution and ensure you account for your own local VAT correctly.

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