Guidelines for Contributors

The editor welcome papers that contribute toward the development and understanding of infection prevention and control theory and practice. Manuscripts up to 4,000 words (including abstract and references) that address issues of infection control clinical practice, research, education, management, case studies and projects of interest to others are encouraged. Short papers of between 1,000 and 2,000 words and correspondence (up to a maximum of 300 words) are also welcomed.

The British Journal of Infection Control (BJIC) cannot consider articles that are not original or have been submitted elsewhere. Contributors will be asked to assign copyright to the Infection Control Nurses Association.

Format of manuscripts

Articles and manuscripts should be emailed in Microsoft Word format to the editor at [email protected]

The first page should display the title of the manuscript, the author(s) name(s), qualifications, job title(s) and place(s) of work. An email address to which all correspondence should be sent must be included, as should a daytime telephone number. A fax number should also be included, if possible. The total word count of the document should also be displayed on the front page.

All manuscripts should commence with an abstract of no more than 200 words, which accurately reflects the paper’s content. Key words should also be provided.

Where approval for reproduction or modification of material is required, this must be noted on the first page, and approval obtained by the author before the manuscript is submitted. Details of sources of research funding, commercial affiliations and acknowledgements should also be included on the first page.

Illustrations

The editors encourage the inclusion of illustrations where appropriate. Both colour and black and white photographs or transparencies are suitable. If charts or graphs are to be included, original or coordinate values should also be sent. Charts and graphs must be clearly labelled, and the axes on graphs made clear. Captions should be supplied for all illustrations, which should be referred to in the text. Do not embed illustrations in Word files – supply them as individual files.

If using or adapting illustrations from another source, it is the author’s responsibility to obtain written permission to reproduce the material and to correctly credit it.

All illustrations are submitted at the owner’s risk. While we make every effort to return all illustrations, the publisher accepts no liability for loss or damage while in possession of the material.

References

All work referred to in the manuscript must be fully cited using the Harvard system of referencing. A reference list should be submitted on and should be in alphabetical and chronological order using the first author’s name. All references cited must have been previously published.

All references in the text must be cited from primary sources and should include the authors’ names and date of publication in date order, e.g. (Skelton, 1997; Edwards, 1998; Whitehead, 2000). Where there are three or more authors, the first author’s name followed by ‘et al’ is acceptable in text, e.g. (Troillet et al, 1999), but all authors must be cited in the reference list. Page numbers should be included in the text for all quotations, e.g. (Harthog, 2000: 136).

Reference to a journal article should include the author’s surname and initials, date of publication, title of the paper, name of the journal, volume and issue number and its first and last page numbers, e.g. Ayliffe G. (2000) Evidence Based Practices in Infection Control. British Journal of Infection Control 1(4): 5-9.

Reference to a book should include the author, date of publication, title, publisher and town of publication, e.g. Kirkwood E and Lewis C. (1989) Understanding Medical Immunology Second Edition: John Wiley and Sons: Chichester.

Chapters in edited books should include the additional detail of chapter title and page numbers e.g. Stevens R and Jones R. (1993) Functional Bowel Disorders. In: Gastrointestinal Problems in General Practice (Jones R. ed). Oxford University Press: Oxford: 126-35.

General advice

It is important that you write carefully and accurately, ruthlessly removing superfluous or ambiguous words. Please check your spelling, especially unusual or scientific terms or names. Start with a single sheet of paper outlining the order of your ideas and arguments. Before you start to write, read some articles in respected journals that you consider to be especially well written. Look at the way facts are presented, arguments are made and the style of language used. As a general rule articles should be no more than four pages when printed; this limits total wordcount to about 4,000 words – less if tables or illustrations are included.

Review process

All manuscripts are subject to a double blind peer review process. All material is acknowledged and reviewed to assess its suitability for publication in BJIC. The editor reserves the right to revise material or send it back to the author for amendments before accepting it for publication.

The editor also reserves the right to amend material during production in accordance with house style and demands for space and layout. However, all articles are sent to the first named author, for essential corrections only, before publication and should be returned promptly. Corrections at this proofreading stage should be kept to a minimum and references and quotations should be checked carefully. Figures and tables that have to be redrawn in-house may not be included with proofs.

Where to send your article and how to get further help

If you have any queries about presenting your article, would like to discuss an idea for a potential article, need help to start writing or require technical advice about word processing or file formats, then do not hesitate to contact the ICNA Editor Tracey Cooper, via the email addresse below. Completed articles should be emailed to:

[email protected]

Download " From ideas to action: writing for publication" British Journal of Infection Control VOL. 6 NO. 5 OCTOBER 2005 by clicking here (PDF file)

Infection Control Week 14th-20th October 2007

The Healthcare Commission has published a national study into HCAI