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Author Guide
References
Copyright
Online Submission
Editorial Policy
Author disclosure & conflict of interest policy
Ethical conduct of research
Access Tokens
Open Access Option
Self-archive policy
National Institutes of Health public access policy
Wellcome Trust open access policy compliance
We accept unsolicited manuscripts for publication in Future Medicine journals. All review articles published in the journals are subject to rigorous peer-review by independent experts in the field. If you are interested in submitting an article, please contact the Commissioning Editor of the relevant journal with a brief proposal and article outline in the first instance. We also have an active commissioning program whereby the Commissioning Editor, under the advice of the Editorial Advisory Board, solicits articles for publication by Future Medicine.
The following guidelines (in PDF format) are provided to assist authors in the preparation of their manuscript.
Author Guidelines
Management Series Author Guidelines
For authors preparing Drug Evaluations or Clinical Trial Commentaries, please contact Laura Dormer for article-specific guidelines.
References
Reference Manager style
1. Download the Future Medicine Reference Manager Style here.
2. Once the file is downloaded to your desktop, copy the file to the appropriate folder in your program directory (usually located in C:\Program Files\Reference Manager\Styles).
EndNote style
Follow the instructions that are appropriate for your version of EndNote as listed below:
Installing the style into EndNote X2 and later:
1. Download the Future Medicine EndNote style for references here (compatible with Mac EndNote 9).
2. In Windows, or using your Macintosh Finder, browse to the location where you downloaded the style. Double-click on the style file to open it. It should open in the EndNote program.
3. In EndNote, go to the "File Menu" and choose "Save as."
4. Remove the word "copy" from the end of your style's name, and then click the Save button.
5. Click on the "File Menu" and choose "Close Style."
Installing the style into EndNote 8, 9, X, or X1:
1. Download the Future Medicine EndNote style for references here (compatible with Mac EndNote 9).
2. Using Windows, or using your Macintosh Finder, browse to the location where you downloaded the style. Right-click on the style file and select Copy.
3. Browse to your Endnote Styles folder. This will typically be in following location: Windows: C:\Program Files\EndNote #\Styles (Where # is the version number for EndNote)Mac OS: Applications\EndNote #\Styles (Where # is the version number for EndNote)Note: If you modify the EndNote preferences, you can set this to another location. To check this setting, go to the "Edit" menu or EndNote menu on the Mac and select "Preferences." Click on the Folder Locations option to see the custom Style folder location and modify as needed. Keep in mind that the default location for the Styles folder may cause problems when trying to save or edit in Windows Vista and 7 with versions prior to EndNote X2. Please see this article for more information on this issue.
4. Right-click in this folder and choose Paste. Your style should now be installed in the EndNote program.
If you require further assistance or have any questions, please contact info@futuremedicine.com
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Copyright
As the author of your manuscript, you are responsible for obtaining permissions to use material owned by others. Since the permission-seeking process can be time-consuming, it is wise to request permission as soon as possible. A template permission letter is available upon request by contacting the Commissioning Editor of the relevant journal. Please send us photocopies of letters or forms granting you permission for the use of copyrighted material so that we can see that any special requirements with regard to wording and placement of credits are fulfilled. Please keep the originals for your files. Future Medicine is a signatory to the STM Permissions Guidelines produced by the International Association of Scientific, Medical and Technical Publishers. As such, permission will be, or in the case of an express permission requirement should be, granted free of charge by other signatory organizations to use up to three figures (including tables) from a journal article or book chapter and to use single text extracts of less than 400 words from a journal article or book chapter (for full details, please refer to the Author Guidelines). Authors should note that although permission may be granted without charge, authors must ensure that appropriate permission has nevertheless been obtained.
Online submission
Authors have the option to either use our online submission system or can submit an article directly to our editorial team by email.
You can access our online submission system here.
Alternatively, authors can e-mail their manuscript to the relevant member of the editorial team (see Contact Us). They will receive confirmation of receipt from a member of the editorial team and will be able to discuss the status of their article, by telephone, fax or e-mail. We aim to respond to any query (editorial or otherwise) within 24 hours.
Authors are also welcome to contact the editorial team with article outlines, to discuss their suitability for submission.
Please submit manuscripts in Microsoft Word format via e-mail to the Commissioning Editor of the relevant journal. Figures should be submitted as .jpg, .gif, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop (*.eps) formats. Graphs and charts can also be submitted in the same formats or as Microsoft Excel.
If you are uncertain who to contact or have any queries about your contribution, please contact:
Victoria Lane, Senior Manager - Commissioning, Future Medicine Ltd, Unitec House, 2 Albert Place, London, N3 1QB, UK
Tel.: +44 (0)20 8371 6090; Fax: +44 (0)20 8343 2313
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Editorial policy
Future Medicine titles endorse the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, issued by the International Committee for Medical Journal Editors, and Code of Conduct for Editors of Biomedical Journals, produced by the Committee on Publication Ethics. Our full Editorial Policy can be found in the Author Guidelines.
Manuscript submission & processing
Future Medicine titles publish solicited and unsolicited articles. Receipt of all manuscripts will be acknowledged within 1 week and authors will be notified as to whether the article is to progress to external review. Initial screening of articles by internal editorial staff will assess the topicality and importance of the subject, the clarity of presentation, and relevance to the audience of the journal in question.
If you are interested in submitting an article, or have any queries regarding article submission, please contact the Managing Commissioning Editor for the journal (see Contact Us). For new article proposals, the Managing Commissioning Editor will require a brief article outline and working title in the first instance. We also have an active commissioning program whereby the Commissioning Editor, under guidance from the Editorial Advisory Panel, solicits articles directly for publication.
External peer review
Through a rigorous peer review process, our titles aim to ensure that articles are unbiased, scientifically accurate and clinically relevant. Future Medicine titles endorse the Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers, produced by the Committee on Publication Ethics, available at http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines. All articles are peer reviewed by three or more members of the International Advisory Board or other specialists selected on the basis of experience and expertise. Review is performed on a double-blind basis - the identities of peer reviewers and authors are kept confidential. Peer reviewers must disclose potential conflicts of interests that may affect their ability to provide an unbiased appraisal (see Conflict of Interest Policy below). Peer reviewers complete a referee report form, to provide general comments to the editor and both general and specific comments to the author(s).
Where an author believes that an editor has made an error in declining a paper, they may submit an appeal. The appeal letter should clearly state the reasons why the author(s) considers the decision to be incorrect and provide detailed, specific responses to any comments relating to the rejection of the article. Further advice from members of the journal’s Editorial Advisory Panel external experts will be sought regarding eligibility for re-review.
Revision
Most manuscripts require some degree of revision prior to acceptance. Authors should provide two copies of the revised manuscript – one of which should be highlighted to show where changes have been made. Detailed responses to reviewers’ comments, in a covering letter/email, are also required. Manuscripts may be accepted at this point or may be subject to further peer review. The final decision on acceptability for publication lies with the journal editor.
Post-acceptance
Accepted manuscripts are edited by the in-house editorial team. Authors will receive proofs of their article for approval and sign-off and will be asked to sign a transfer of copyright agreement, except in circumstances where the author is ineligible to do so (e.g. government employees in certain countries).
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Author disclosure & conflict of interest policy
Authors must state explicitly whether potential conflicts do or do not exist (e.g. personal or financial relationships that could influence their actions) and any such potential conflict of interest (including sources of funding) should be summarized in a separate section of the published article. Authors must disclose whether they have received writing assistance and identify the sources of funding for such assistance. Authors declaring no conflict of interest are required to publish a statement to that effect within the article.
Authors must certify that all affiliations with or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in their manuscript have been disclosed. Please note that examples of financial involvement include: employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending and royalties. This is list is not exclusive of other forms of financial involvement. Details of relevant conflicts of interests (or the lack of) must be declared in the ‘Disclosure’ section of the manuscript for all listed authors.
External peer reviewers must disclose 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. Should any such conflict of interest be declared, the journal editor will judge whether the reviewer’s comments should be recognized or will interpret the reviewer’s comments in the context of any such declaration.
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Ethical conduct of research
Where articles include publication of original data relating to human or animal experimental investigations, appropriate institutional review board approval is required and should be described within the article. For those investigators who do not have formal ethics review committees, the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki should be followed. For investigations involving human subjects, authors should explain how informed consent was obtained from the participants involved.
Patients’ rights to privacy
Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information should not be included unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or legal guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that the patient be shown the manuscript to be published. When informed consent has been obtained it should be indicated in the manuscript.
In attempting to maintain patient anonymity, identifying details should be omitted where they are not essential. However, patient data should never be amended or falsified. Informed consent should be obtained whenever there is any doubt that anonymity can be assured.
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Access Tokens
What is an access token?
An access token allows a single user to access a certain amount of content an indefinite number of times.
Most commonly, this is a single article - but can be any set of content, up to and including access to all of our content.
Please note that access tokens are only available to authors for noncommercial purposes.
For authors or third parties wishing to host an article on a company website, please contact reprints@futuremedicine.com
Why use an access token?
An access token offers a cost-effective and time-efficient way of offering access to a targeted group of people.
It allows an author to share their work with their colleagues, peers and friends effortlessly by providing them a link to directly access the article, increasing the visibility of the article and its readership.
Costs
Access tokens can be purchased in bundles of 50 at a time at a cost of £100 per 50 tokens. By comparison, a single pay-per-view article for a single user would cost US$60 for 24 hours of access. Therefore, an author can share his work at a cost of only £2 per person - with no expiry date!
How does it work?
An author should request access tokens directly through a staff member of Future Medicine Ltd, stating the article which they wish to purchase the tokens for.
Once payment has been processed, the access tokens are immediately available for activation. The author will receive an automated e-mail that contains the details of how to share the access tokens with their colleagues, peers and friends - including an example 'blurb' which they can use as the base for any e-mail they might send.
Each user who wishes to access the content must be provided with the activation link (contained in the e-mail the author receives) - in order to access the content, they must simply click on the link, then register (or login, if already a registered user) and the content will be available to them.
There is no time limit within which the tokens must be activated, so there is no pressure on the author to ensure the content is accessed immediately.
Once all the access tokens have been used, additional bundles of 50 can be purchased and the author can continue to distribute his content in the same way as described above.
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Open Access Option
Authors who wish to publish in any Future Medicine title can opt for our Open Access Option, allowing unrestricted access to the online version of their article. The Open Access Option is available for all article types except Drug Evaluation & Device Evaluation articles.
Authors of accepted peer-reviewed articles may choose to pay a fee in order for their published article to be made accessible on an open access basis at www.futuremedicine.com and flagged as such on the website. The Open Access Option policy means that users have unrestricted rights to reuse open access content for educational and research purposes but not for commercial use.
The Open Access Option fee is £1,700 (plus VAT, where applicable)
Authors are required to complete a license form and payment form. The publication fee is charged on acceptance of the article and payment in full should be paid within 30 days (preferably by credit card) by the author or other funding body. Authors not paying by credit card may request to be invoiced in US Dollars or Euros at the prevailing equivalent rate (using www.xe.com). The source of funding for open access fees should be included in the Financial & Competing Interests Disclosure statement.
All articles are subject to our standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit.
Wellcome Trust-funded authors can opt for our Open Access Option in order to comply with the Trust's policy for open access (see below).
Use by commercial 'for-profit' organizations
Use of Open Access Option articles for commercial purposes is not permitted. However, support for free access is available to third parties subject to the appropriate permission fees (contact reprints@futuremedicine.com).
Commercial purposes include:
- Copying or downloading of articles, or linking to such articles for further redistribution, sale or licensing;
- Copying, downloading or posting by a site or service that incorporates advertising with such content;
- The inclusion or incorporation of article content in other works or services (other than normal quotations with an appropriate citation) that is then available for sale or licensing, for a fee (for example, a compilation produced for marketing purposes, inclusion in a sales pack)
- Use of article content (other than normal quotations with appropriate citation) by for-profit organizations for promotional purposes
- Linking to article content in e-mails redistributed for promotional, marketing or educational purposes;
- Use for the purposes of monetary reward by means of sale, resale, license, loan, transfer or other form of commercial exploitation such as marketing products.
- Print reprints of Open Access Option articles can be purchased from reprints@futuremedicine.com.
If you have a query regarding our Open Access Option please contact Helen McGrath (Head of Production)
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Self-archive policy
Our self-archiving policies are set out below. These differ according to the copyright status of the article. Authors should adopt the self-archiving policy corresponding to the publishing route that they have opted for. The first section sets out the policy applicable for instances where copyright is assigned to the publisher. The subsequent section explains the rights applicable where an author has chosen the open access option.
Where copyright is assigned to the publisher
The rights outlined here apply in circumstances where copyright has been assigned to the publisher.
i) Manuscripts that have been submitted for publication and entry into peer review
Once a manuscript has been submitted for publication and entered into peer review, authors may share print or electronic copies of an article with colleagues. In doing so, they should state that the article has been submitted for publication to [the specified journal]. The author(s) may also post an electronic version of an article on a personal website, the website of an employer or institution, or to free public servers.
ii) Post-acceptance
Once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, authors may share print or electronic copies of their version of an article with colleagues (not the final published version), use all or part of an article in other publications and use the article for educational or research purposes. Three months after publication, and subject to appropriate acknowledgment of the journal and full bibliographic reference for an article, authors may post their version of the article on a personal website. Twelve months after publication, and subject to appropriate acknowledgment of the journal and full bibliographic reference for an article, authors may post their version of the article on a personal website, their employer’s website or on free public servers in their subject area. Requests to post their version of the article on institutional or commercial websites, etc, within 12 months of publication should be directed to the publisher.
Requests for posting of the final published version on personal, institutional or commercial websites should be directed to the publisher.
Authors cannot reproduce an article for commercial purposes (i.e. for monetary gain on their own account or on that of a third party, or for indirect financial gain by a commercial entity). However, this does not affect an author’s rights to receive a royalty or other payment for works of scholarship.
Articles published via the open access option
The rights outlined below apply specifically to all articles published via the open access option route.
Provided that authors give appropriate acknowledgment to the journal and publisher, and cite the full bibliographic reference for the article when it is published, authors may share print or electronic copies of an article with colleagues, use all or part an article and abstract in personal compilations or other scholarly publications of their own work (and may receive a royalty or other payment for such work), use an article within their employer’s institution or company for educational or research purposes, including use in course packs.
Authors publishing via open access option route may post the final PDF of the article on their own personal website, on an employer’s website and on free public servers in their subject area. Electronic versions of an accepted article should include a link to the published version of the article together with the following: ‘For full bibliographic citation, please refer to the version available at www.futuremedicine.com’.
Third parties are entitled to use an article published via the open access option route, in whole or in part, in accordance with the conditions outlined in the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5 Non-Commercial (further details from www.creativecommons.org), which allows dissemination on an open access basis, but does not permit commercial exploitation or the creation of derivative works without permission. Please address any queries to permissions@futuremedicine.com.
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National Institutes of Health public access policy
Effective April 7, 2008, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has stated that it will “require that all investigators funded by the NIH submit, or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central an electronic version of their final peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication…”
To assist our NIH-supported authors in meeting these requirements, Future Medicine will submit the final published PDF to the NIH submission system on their behalf, within two weeks of online publication. Authors will then be asked to indicate the funding source as part of the submission process and the identified manuscripts will be transmitted to PubMed Central. The article will appear within PubMed’s index and be freely accessible no later than 12 months after publication.
If you require further assistance or have any questions, please contact Helen McGrath, Head of Production.
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Wellcome Trust open access policy compliance
In order to comply with Wellcome Trust policy for open access, Wellcome Trust-funded authors are able to opt for our Open Access Option, whereby in return for payment of an article processing fee and signing our Open Access agreement, we will make their article freely available to subscribers and nonsubscribers on our website, and arrange for the final published version to be deposited into PubMed Central and UK PubMed Central on publication of their article, providing the Open Access payment has been received. Third parties will be entitled to re-use the Article, in whole or in part, in accordance with the conditions outlined in the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 3.0 (CC-BY).
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