Instructions to Authors

Instructions to Authors

Clinical Radiology is published under the auspices of The Royal College of Radiologists which appoints the Editor who selects all material for publication. No responsibility is accepted by The Royal College of Radiologists or the Editor for opinions expressed by the contributors.

The instructions below accord with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (www.icmje.org/). The journal supports the guidelines published by the Committee on Publication Ethics and the recommendations of the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy steering group and requires that authors do the same. The guidelines can be found at www.publicationethics.org.uk and www.consort-statement.org/stardstatement.htm respectively.

The right is reserved to introduce any changes necessary to make contributions conform to the editorial standards and format of the journal. Original manuscripts will be accepted only on the understanding that they have been submitted exclusively to Clinical Radiology.

Clinical Radiology invites submission of the following:

Original Papers should be no more than 4,000 words in length, and should contain no more than 10 illustrations (single frames), which will be printed at single column width.
Review Articles* should not exceed 5,000 words and should include no more than 10 illustrations (single frames), which will be printed at single column width.
Pictorial Reviews* should not exceed 2,500 words and should include no more than 20 illustrations (single frames) which will be printed at single column width.
Case Reports must be original and carry an important message. They should contain no more than 6 illustrations (single frames), which will be printed at single column width. For further guidance on the criteria for accepting case reports, refer to Clin Radiol 1999;54:557. Authors should note that acceptance of case reports is exceptional (less than 10% of submitted case reports are published).
Technical Reports should be no more than 2,000 words in length.
Letters to the Editor concerning papers published in the journal, and other points of interest to readers, are welcomed by the Editor and are published at his or her discretion.

Additional illustrations: Illustrations in excess of the numbers specified above, including video clips, may be included in the online version of the paper at the discretion of the Editor. This will only be considered if the additional material clearly adds value for readers of the paper, and the author will be responsible for identifying which key images he or she wishes to appear in the paper version. Despite the availability of this facility, the uncritical inclusion of large numbers of illustrations should be avoided, as it may reduce the likelihood of acceptance.

* To avoid duplicating review articles and pictorial reviews please contact the Editorial Office (crad@editorialoffice.co.uk) if you are planning to write a review article for Clinical Radiology. Please include a short précis (100 words or less) describing the intended review and any novel aspects. Specify how many figures you will intend to include, referring to the Instructions to Authors for current requirements. Please note that a favorable response does not mean that the journal has commissioned the review, simply that there is no clash with other papers in the pipeline Submitted review articles are subjected to peer review, so publication is not guaranteed.

Peer Review
All papers, including review articles that have been commissioned (but with the exception of some case reports), are subjected to peer review. Manuscripts are assessed by the Editor or Deputy Editor, an Assistant Editor and an independent referee; the latter receives an anonymised version. Where necessary, papers are also assessed by a statistician. Case reports may be evaluated by the Editor or Deputy Editor and Assistant Editor only and may be rejected by the Editor without undergoing full peer review. The mean turnaround time was 49 days for 2004. The average time taken between acceptance and publication is 6 months. Clinical Radiology has a fast track system for the publication of papers that report important findings.

Ethics
Manuscripts reporting the results of studies on human subjects must include a statement in the Materials and Methods section to confirm that informed consent was obtained. Furthermore, original papers must also include a statement to confirm that institutional ethics committee (or equivalent) approval has been obtained; or that such approval was not deemed to be necessary by the committee chairperson. Where there is any uncertainty concerning the ethical basis of a research paper, or the approval process, the Editor reserves the right to contact the guarantor of the study for further information, and this may include a request to see written confirmation of ethics committee approval. A signed letter of permission must be included with the manuscript for any individual who might be identified due to written descriptions, photographs, or otherwise; in this context, informed consent requires that the individual be shown the manuscript.
Authors must disclose any indirect or direct financial interest they have in the subject matter of a submitted manuscript, or any other potential conflict of interest.

Plagarism
Instances of suspected plagiarism or duplicate publication will be taken seriously, and will be dealt with according to guidelines laid down by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). This may include the use of anti-plagiarism software to analyse the manuscript in question.

Submission of Manuscripts
Manuscripts should be submitted online at http://crad.edmgr.com and the instructions on this site should be closely followed. To use the site, authors need an up-to-date web browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) and Adobe Acrobat Reader (version 6 or later) which is available free at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. 

Manuscript Format
Separate files should be uploaded for each of the following manuscript sections. Please note that failure to submit files as requested will result in the manuscript being returned for amendment and will delay the review process.

Title Page
This page should include the title of the manuscript, full names of the authors, the name and address of the institution from which the work originates, the telephone number, fax number and e-mail address of the corresponding author, and information concerning grants.
Acknowledgement of those who have contributed substantially to the work reported in the manuscript, such as editorial and writing assistance, but who are not included as authors should also be included.

Author Contributions Authors are required to identify the contributions for which they are responsible. The author responsible for the integrity of the entire study should be identified. Please list the following phrases and beside each indicate the name(s) of the author(s) to whom they apply:

1. guarantor of integrity of the entire study
2. study concepts and design
3. literature research
4. clinical studies
5. experimental studies / data analysis
6. statistical analysis
7. manuscript preparation
8. manuscript editing

Where there is any uncertainty concerning authorship, the Editor reserves the right to contact the guarantor of the study for further information.

Abstract An abstract of 250 words or less must be submitted with each paper. Review articles and case reports should have a brief, unstructured abstract. Otherwise, abstracts should be divided into paragraphs with the following headings:
Aim: Briefly state the hypothesis being tested or the procedure being evaluated.
Materials and Methods: State what was done and what materials were used, including number of subjects. Also include the methods used to assess the data.
Results: The findings of the study, including indicators of statistical significance. Include actual numbers, as well as percentages.
Conclusion: Summarise in one or two sentences the conclusion made on the basis of the findings.

Manuscript
Your manuscript should be double-spaced. To allow for anonymity in the review process, do not include the names of authors or your institution in the abstract or body of the manuscript.

Introduction
The introduction should be concise and include only strictly pertinent references. Clearly state the hypothesis or purpose of the study.

Materials and Methods
Describe clearly the number and selection of the subjects studied (patients or experimental animals, including controls). For studies of the diagnostic accuracy of new imaging tests, authors should refer to the STARD recommendations (www.consort-statement.org/stardstatement.htm). Identify the methods, instrumentation (manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods that have been published but are not well known; describe new or substantially modified methods and give reasons for using these techniques. Detailed statistical analyses, mathematical derivations and similar should be presented in one or more appendices.

Results
Present the results in a logical sequence with tables where appropriate. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables and/or illustrations; summarise only important observations.

Discussion
Emphasise the new and important aspects of the study and conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat in detail the data given in the Results section. Include in the Discussion the implications of the findings and their limitations, in particular with reference to the use of modified methods, statistical or otherwise. Relate the observations to other relevant studies. Link the conclusions with the goals of the study, but avoid unwarranted statements and conclusions not supported by the data. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. State new hypotheses when appropriate, but clearly label them as such. For experimental studies, please describe the potential importance of your conclusions as they relate to future practical applications. Do not repeat the conclusion stated in the abstract.

Figure and Table Legends
Figures and table legends should be listed in numerical order and included at the end of the manuscript.

Reference Format
Number references consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned. The abbreviations used for periodicals cited in the references should follow the following style:

For journal articles, list surnames and initials of all authors when six or less, such as: 1 Stuart MJ, Elrad H, Graeber JE, Hakanson DO, Sunderji SG, Barvinchak MK. Increased synthesis of prostaglandin endoperox-ides and platelet hyperfunction in infants of mothers with diabetes mellitus. J Lab Clin Med 1979;94:1226. When seven or more authors are listed, only the first three names need to be identified, followed by 'et al'.

Abstracts, editorials and letters to the Editor should be noted as such. In the case of books, the authors of a chapter, title of the chapter, editor(s), title of the book, edition, city, publisher, year, and specific pages must be provided: 1 Brown M, Gray L. Indications for hematology. In: Wintrobe MM, ed. Clinical Hematology. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, USA: Lea & Febiger, 1975;1146-1167.

It is the responsibility of the author(s) to ensure the accuracy of all references.
A reference to any article published online only should list the authors, title, journal name, year of publication and Digital Object Identifier (DOI).
A reference to any website containing background information should list the authors and title (if appropriate), the date it was accessed and the DOI if possible. At the very least, the URL of the website and the date it was accessed should be given.

Units and Abbreviations
Radiation measurements and laboratory values should be given in the International System of Units (SI)
(see: SI Units in Radiation Protection and Measurements. NCRP Report no. 82 [August 1985], found at http://www.ncrponline.org/Publications/82press.html).
Abbreviations should be used sparingly and only when the term appears more than 10 times in the following text. Abbreviations should be spelled out when first used in the text such as 'cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)'. Laboratory slang, clinical jargon, and uncommon abbreviations should be avoided.

Permissions Information
Written permission must be granted by the publisher and author to reproduce any previously published figures, including permission to reproduce in both print and electronic formats; any such material must be clearly noted and its source given in the manuscript. A copy of the written permission must be sent to the Editorial Office. If reference is made in the text to personal communication (oral or written) as a source of information, a signed statement of permission is required from each source.

Figures and Tables
Images should not contain irrelevant data, particularly anything which might lead to identification of an individual.
Illustrations should be limited to those required to show the essential features described in the text. It is important that each illustration show only the area(s) of interest with enough surrounding area for orientation purposes.
Images to be combined in one array, such as posteroanterior and lateral views, should be the same height or the same width to facilitate reproduction. They should correspond in appearance to the tonal relations of the original. If an image has been enhanced electronically, explain the alterations that have been made and send an original image along with the enhanced one.
A caption must be supplied for each illustration see Instructions for Manuscript: Figures and Tables above). All illustrations should be numbered and the top indicated. Ensure that you type the figure number in the Description box when uploading figures online. Tables should be numbered and should have a title. All abbreviations used in the table should be explained in a footnote. Bar charts should be formatted with flat bars in monochrome patterns. Coloured and 3-D bar charts are not acceptable.
Figures should be saved in .tif format at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. Avoid compressed .jpeg files. For advice on correctly formatting electronic images, visit http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructionsand click on 'Artwork Instructions'.

Copyright/Submission Form
An original copy of the completed copyright form must be received in the editorial office. Faxed copies are not acceptable. Download this form by clicking on the COPYRIGHT/SUBMISSION FORM link http://www.editorialmanager.com/cradand return it by post to the editorial office, signed by all the authors.