Author Guidelines: Current Opinion
NOTE: Current Opinion publishes commissioned articles only. We are unable to consider unsolicited manuscripts for publication.
Please ensure that you follow these guidelines when submitting your manuscript. Manuscripts must be formatted correctly before they can be accepted for publication.
Redundant or duplicate publication
We ask you to confirm that your paper has not been published in its current form or a substantially similar form (in print or electronically, including on a web site), that it has not been accepted for publication elsewhere, and that it is not under consideration by another publication. The ICMJE has provided details of what is and what is not duplicate or redundant publication. If you are in doubt, we ask you to contact the Editorial Office with details of the relevant previously published work or work under consideration by other journals. We will respond with advice on how to proceed.
Conflicts of interest: Authors must state all possible conflicts of interest in the manuscript, including financial, consultant, institutional and other relationships that might lead to bias or a conflict of interest. If there is no conflict of interest, this should also be explicitly stated as none declared. All sources of funding should be acknowledged in the manuscript. All relevant conflicts of interest and sources of funding should be included in the “Acknowledgements” section in the manuscript. For example:
Acknowledgements: A has received honoraria from Company Z. B is currently receiving a grant (#12345) from Organization Y, and is on the speaker’s bureau for Organization X. For the remaining authors none were declared.
In addition, each author must complete and submit the journal’s copyright transfer agreement, which includes a section on the disclosure of potential conflicts of interest based on the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” (www.icmje.org/update.html). The form is readily available on the manuscript submission page and can be completed and submitted electronically. Please note that authors may sign the copyright transfer agreement form electronically. For additional information about electronically signing this form, go to http://links.lww.com/ZUAT/A106.
Please do not hesitate to contact the Editorial Office if you have any questions. You can click the ‘contact us’ button at the top of the screen to email us directly.
Please refer to the submission checklist before uploading your paper. Detailed guidance on format is provided below. An example manuscript is also available from the journal website.
Aims of the Journal
The Current Opinion journals were developed out of the recognition that specialists have increasing difficulty in keeping up to date with the expanding volume of information published in their subject.
We aim to help the reader by providing in a systematic manner
- The views of experts on current advances in the field, in a clear and readable format.
- Selections, annotated by experts, of the most interesting papers from the great wealth of original publications.
- Comprehensive bibliographic listings from the major journals for the field.
Reviewers write short articles in which they present developments in their topic, emphasising the aspects that, in their opinion are the most important. In addition, they provide short annotations to the papers published in their topic during the period reviewed (during the past 12-18 months). This selected bibliography is printed at the end of each review. Papers chosen by a reviewer as being ‘of special interest’ or ‘of outstanding interest’ are clearly identified.
Selection of articles for review
You should aim to review recent articles published in your subject, with particular emphasis on those articles published during the review period (during the past 12-18 months).
The Review
Your review should be 2500 words in length and should highlight and discuss all interesting developments in your subject, as reflected in the recent literature. In addition to describing recent trends, you are encouraged to give your own opinions of the topics discussed. However, be particularly careful of expressing conclusions in a way that might be construed as biased against a particular researcher, product or manufacturer.
Manuscript Format
The review must be double-spaced and approximately 2500 words in length (excluding references).
Review structure
The review must contain the following:
Title page: stating the title, authors and their affiliations, and full contact details for the corresponding author (including phone number and email address).
This should also include disclosure of funding received for this work from any of the following organizations: National Institutes of Health (NIH); Wellcome Trust; Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI); and other(s).
Current Opinion papers should have a maximum of 3 authors.
Structured Abstract: This should be no longer than 200 words and should not contain any references. The abstract should be structured into the following subheadings:
Purpose of review: describe why this review is timely and relevant.
Recent findings: describe the main themes in the literature covered by the article.
Summary: describe the implications of the findings for clinical practice or research.
Keywords: 3-5 keywords relevant to the paper should be listed.
The abstract should not contain any references.
Introduction: This should be a paragraph outlining the scope of the review and mentioning any earlier work which will place the review in context.
Text of review: include headings and titled paragraphs to subdivide the text. Ensure that at least one sentence divides each heading (i.e. do not have a subheading directly beneath a full heading).
Conclusion: a short paragraph drawing together the implications of the review topic and, if appropriate, giving suggestions for future research.
Key points: Please include 3 to 5 key bullet points that summarise your article after the main body of text. The aim of these is to encourage others to cite your article based on the stated key points. Please ensure each bullet is no longer than one sentence.
Acknowledgements: All relevant conflicts of interest and sources of funding should be included in the acknowledgements section in the manuscript. You may also include acknowledgements of professional colleagues and funding bodies in a seperate paragraph. You should also include grants and support which are not exclusive to the Current Opinion article.
Reference section: references should be in numerical sequence (Vancouver style) and should include the first three authors or all authors if there are four or fewer. References from within the review period should be annotated and bulleted as detailed below.
Figure titles and legends: must be provided for all figures and should be included in the main body of the text following the references.
Figures and tables: must be cited in text.
Figures and Tables: important information
Please think carefully about how to illustrate your article; you are encouraged to include up to four additional elements in your review (i.e. a combination of figures and tables).
All illustrations should be labelled as figures, and figures should be cited in the main text of the review in numerical order. The figure should have a title and a legend which describes the figure in full. All abbreviations used in the figure and not in the main text should be defined at the end of the figure legend.
Tables should be used to tabulate data discussed in further detail in the review, should always be referred to in the main text of the article and should have an appropriate title.
Figures and tables must be:
- Original whenever possible
- Clearly marked as "original" or "previously published" upon submission
- Accompanied by full source details when not original
- Figures and tables should not be embedded within the text but should be submitted as separate files.
- Figures should be in JPEG, TIFF, EPS, PPT or WORD formats and should have a resolution of at least 300 dpi to be suitable for printing. Please see Creating Digital Artwork (PDF) for the full digital artwork requirements.
If you wish to use illustrations or tables that have been previously published or are derived from previously published material, please obtain the artwork from the authors and provide full source details. We will seek the Publisher's permission to reproduce such figures.
References cited in figures or tables must be numbered in sequence, according to the position of the first text citation of the figure or table.
For example, if your figure/table cites two references and the first time you refer to your figure/table is after you cite reference 15, then the two references in your figure/table should be numbered 16 and 17. The next reference you cite following the referral to the figure would then be reference 18. In the text, this example would be referenced as follows:
Dulce locum sepre [15] amrus a sentis (Table 1). Dondus rensil anpris sando [18].
Please note:
- Abbreviations should be used sparsely and should be defined on their first appearance. Any abbreviations that are not accepted by international bodies should be avoided.
- Manufactured products, equipment and drugs: give the manufacturer, town (state) and country in brackets.
- Quotations: the source should be referenced, and the page number given in brackets in the text.
- Colour figures: There is a $1000 charge to authors if figures are to be produced in colour. There is no charge for figures to be produced in black and white. If you are submitting colour figures, please indicate if you are willing to cover this cost.
Supplementary material
We have the facility to include additional or supplementary information (e.g. tables/figures/videos/audio) with articles. This supplementary material will be published online only and will not appear in the print issue. For more details, please contact the Editorial Coordinator.
Bullets and Annotations
The important references from the period reviewed must have one or two bullets and an annotation. These are a key feature of Current Opinion journals.
Bulleted references must
- Have been published during the period reviewed by the issue (during the past year).
- Have one bullet (*) for special interest and two bullets (**) for outstanding interest.
- Be annotated with a brief description of the paper's importance.
Note: Any annotations on references from outside of the review period will be removed unless a justification is submitted to the journal office.
An example of bulleted and annotated reference section is shown below.
One bullet annotations:
* Seror R, Sordet C, Guillevin L, et al. Tolerance and efficacy of rituximab and changes in serum B cell biomarkers in patients with systemic complications of primary Sjo¨ gren’s syndrome. Ann Rheum Dis 2007; 66:351–357.
This is the first clinical trial to demonstrate the efficacy of B-cell depletion in SjS.
This article highlights the importance of B cells in the pathogenesis of SjS.
Two bullet annotations:
* * Lavie F, Miceli-Richard C, Ittah M, et al. Increase of B-cell activating factor of the TNF family (BAFF) after rituximab: insights into a new regulating system of BAFF production. Ann Rheum Dis 2007; 66:700–703. This study describes the elevation in BAFF levels that occurs in serum of patients who have been treated with B-cell depleting agents. This observation may have important consequences, following treatment, in promoting the corruption of B-cell tolerance and leading to disease relapse.
Submitting your paper
Manuscripts should be submitted online. Your username and password will have been sent to you by email.
- Click ‘login’ and then enter your username and password and click ‘author login’.
- Please click ‘update my information’ from the black menu bar at the top of the screen and ensure that we have your correct address and telephone number on record.
- Click on ‘my accepted invitations’ to begin the submission process, and follow the steps onscreen.
- Figures and tables should be submitted as separate files. The manuscript file should include the text, references, structured abstract, keywords, figure legends and author address.
- We cannot publish your paper without a copy of the copyright transfer form signed by each author. Please fax this at the time of submission to +44 207 504 8296.
Open access
LWW’s hybrid open access option is offered to authors whose articles have been accepted for publication. With this choice, articles are made freely available online immediately upon publication. Authors may take advantage of the open access option at the point of acceptance to ensure that this choice has no influence on the peer review and acceptance process. These articles are subject to the journal’s standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit.
Authors of accepted peer-reviewed articles have the choice to pay a fee to allow perpetual unrestricted online access to their published article to readers globally, immediately upon publication. The article processing charge for Current Opinion in HIV and AIDS is $3,000. The article processing charge for authors funded by the Research Councils UK (RCUK) is $3,800. The publication fee is charged on acceptance of the article and should be paid within 30 days by credit card by the author, funding agency or institution. Payment must be received in full for the article to be published open access.
Authors retain copyright
Authors retain their copyright for all articles they opt to publish open access. Authors grant LWW a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher.
Creative Commons license
Articles opting for open access will be freely available to read, download and share from the time of publication. Articles are published under the terms of the Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommerical No Derivative 3.0 which allows readers to disseminate and reuse the article, as well as share and reuse of the scientific material. It does not permit commercial exploitation or the creation of derivative works without specific permission. To view a copy of this license visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0.
Compliance with NIH, RCUK, Wellcome Trust and other research funding agency accessibility requirements
A number of research funding agencies now require or request authors to submit the post-print (the article after peer review and acceptance but not the final published article) to a repository that is accessible online by all without charge. As a service to our authors, LWW identifies to the National Library of Medicine (NLM) articles that require deposit and transmits the post-print of an article based on research funded in whole or in part by the National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, or other funding agencies to PubMed Central. The revised Copyright Transfer Agreement provides the mechanism. LWW ensures that authors can fully comply with the public access requirements of major funding bodies worldwide. Additionally, all authors who choose the open access option will have their final published article deposited into PubMed Central.
RCUK and Wellcome funded authors can choose to publish their paper as open access with the payment of an article process charge (gold route), or opt for their accepted manuscript to be deposited (green route) into PMC with an embargo.
With both the gold and green open access options, the author will continue to sign the Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA) as it provides the mechanism for LWW to ensure that the author is fully compliant with the requirements. After signature of the CTA, the author will then sign a License to Publish where they will then own the copyright. Those authors who wish to publish their article via the gold route will be able to publish under the terms of the Attribution 3.0 (CCBY) License. To view of a copy of this license visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/. Those authors who wish to publish their article via the green route will be able to publish under the rights of the Attribution Non-commercial 3.0 (CCBY NC) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/).
It is the responsibility of the author to inform the Editorial Office and/or LWW that they have RCUK funding. LWW will not be held responsible for retroactive deposits to PMC if the author has not completed the proper forms.
FAQ for open access
http://links.lww.com/LWW-ES/A48
References: further information
Articles (published or in press) should be included in the reference list at the end of the review. They should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited in the text (Vancouver system). Abstracts should also be entered in the reference list with full publication details of the source.
Every study mentioned in the text must be accompanied by a relevant reference.
References cited in figures or tables must be numbered in sequence, according to the position of the first text citation of the figure or table. (See page 3 for example).
Unpublished data, submitted manuscripts and personal communications must be referenced in the text only as follows:
- Personal communication: (Churchill SW, personal communication).
- Submitted paper: (Bell S, Gordon S, unpublished data).
You are responsible for the accuracy of the references and for obtaining permission to use personal communications.
Reference format
In the text, reference citations should be typed inside square brackets, e.g.[1]. Asterisks should be used to indicate bulleted references, e.g.[1,2,3*,4**]. In the reference list, bulleted references should include the asterisk to the left of the number, with the annotation beneath the reference details (see below).
Please list the first three authors for each reference and then et al, unless there are four authors or fewer, in which case all authors should be listed. Provide full reference details (author(s), title, journal, year, volume, pages). Capitalise the first letter and all initials of authors’ names, the first letter of the title of the paper, and any proper nouns in the title.
Journal names should be abbreviated as in the Index Medicus. If you are not familiar with the appropriate abbreviation, the journal name should be given in full.
References should be structured as follows:
Journal:
* Author A, Author B, Author C. Title of the paper. Journal Abbreviation 2000; 4:25–27.
With annotation describing importance of reference, if bulleted
Book:
* Author A, Author B, Author C. Title of the book section. In: Book name. Edition number. Edited by Editor A, Editor B, Editor C (editors). Location of Publisher: Publisher; 2000. pp. 25–27.
With annotation describing importance of reference, if bulleted.
Annotations should highlight the importance of papers published during the review period. Annotations should not summarise the content of a paper. 75–80% of papers published during the annual period of review should be given one bullet and have a short (one or two line) annotation describing the paper’s interest to the reader. Papers that are of outstanding interest and are essential reading should be given two bullets and a more comprehensive annotation.
At least 80% of the references in a review should be from the period reviewed (published in the past year to 18 months). Most of these should have one or two bullets and annotations.
Any annotations on references from outside of the review period will be removed unless a justification is submitted to the journal office.
