FOR AUTHORS

Manuscript Preparation Guidelines

Manuscripts should be submitted to: Editorial Office/PPAD
MONTAGE MEDIA CORPORATION
1000 Wyckoff Avenue
Mahwah, NJ 07430-3164
Phone: (201) 891-3200
E-mail: rgroves@montagemedia.com

Submissions should include the following:

Articles will be considered for publication only on the condition that they have not been published elsewhere in part or in whole and are not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere. Manuscripts will be edited, in consultation with the author, to fit the space available and ensure conciseness, clarity, and stylistic consistency. All manuscripts will be peer-reviewed as described below.

Manuscript Preparation

Feature articles should be 2,000 to 2,500 words in length, excluding references, figures, and figure legends. Use of color illustrations is encouraged. Authors should provide approximately one illustration, clinical slide, or table for each 120 words (18 to 23 total images per article). For information on Clinical Realities, Laboratory Realities, editorial commentaries, letters to the editor, or review articles, please contact the Editorial Office.

Text

Pages should be numbered consecutively, starting with the cover page. The cover page should include the title of the manuscript and the name, degree, current professional or academic affiliation (including city and state), and emphasis/specialty of private practice or research program for all authors. Also included should be the full postal address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address of the primary or contact author. The second page should contain an abstract that summarizes the article in approximately 90 words. Manuscripts can be organized in a manner that best fits the specific goals of the article, but should always include an introductory section, the body of the article, and a conclusion. Authors unfamiliar with the style of the journal may want to browse previous issues to learn by example.

Figures and Tables

For color photographs (which may not be retouched either manually or electronically), a set of 18 to 23 original color figures should be submitted. The Journal accepts images in an electronic format (eg, JPG, TIFF), and they should be saved at a minimum resolution of 300dpi. Any 35mm slides will be returned to the author after publication. Slides should be numbered on the mount in the sequential numerical order in which they appear in the text (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.). The name of the primary author should be written on each mount. Radiographs, charts, graphs, and drawn figures are also accepted and will be redesigned by the production staff if necessary.

Figure legends should be brief one- or two-line descriptions of each figure, typed on a separate sheet following the References. Legends should be numbered in the same numerical order as the figures.

Tables should be typed on separate sheets and numbered consecutively, according to the citations within the text. The title of the table and its caption should be on the same sheet as the table itself.

References

Each article should contain a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 30 references. All listed references must be cited in the text and should be from indexed, peer-reviewed journals. Citations in the body of the text should be made by numerical superscripts. The reference list (arranged not by alphabetical order but by order of citation in the text) should be typed on a separate sheet and should provide complete bibliographical information in the format exemplified below:

Continuing Education Exercise

Authors are asked to provide a set of 10 Continuing Education (CE) multiple-choice questions and answers (ie, a, b, c, d). The format can be seen in previous issues of the journal. A sample form will be mailed to the author while the manuscript is being reviewed.

Review Process

Manuscripts will be reviewed by three members of the editorial board or ad hoc reviewers. Reviews are double-blind (ie, authors are not informed of the identity of the reviewers, and reviewers are not provided with the identity of the author). The review cycle (ie, from the receipt of a complete submission to the final editorial decision) will be completed within 90 days. Publication is expected within 9 months of acceptance.

Page Charges and Reprints

There are no page charges. The publisher will cover all costs of production, including those of reproducing color illustrations. The journal will provide the primary author with 20 to 25 tear sheets and a free copy of the journal issue in which the article appears. Additional reprints can be ordered from the publisher for a fee.

Editorial Policies

Rights of the Publisher

Upon acceptance of a submission, author(s) transfers copyright to the publisher, Montage Media Corporation. The Company has the right to use copyrighted work for reproduction, derivation, and distribution by sale, license, or other means. This includes adaptation for use with online publishing systems, syndication, and merchandising in print, electronic, and other media. Transfer of copyright does not constitute transfer of patent or trademark rights or rights to any process or procedure described in the work. Reproduction of the work, other than that outlined in rights to authors, requires permission of the publisher. A work falls under the public domain only if all authors are employed or working on behalf of the U.S. government at the time a study is conducted and prepared for publication.

Rights of Authors

After an article has been accepted for publication in PPAD, author(s) have permission: 1) to photocopy or make single electronic copies of the work for personal use, provided that copies are not sold or distributed outside one’s institution; 2) post a PDF copy of the work on a secure network for internal use within the author’s institution; 3) create a “non-fee-bearing” link from an author’s personal or institutional Website; 4) use part or all of the work in a compilation of the author’s works provided that the compilation is authored solely by the author(s) and the work or included portions are not distributed separately from the compilation as a whole; 4) to submit the work to a publicly accessible (ie, Internet) institutional archive, hosted either by the author’s academic institution, employer, or funding entity such as National Institutes of Health. For more details regarding the Company’s policies regarding rights and permissions, contact the Vice President of Editorial Services (rgroves@montagemedia.com).

Financial Disclosure

PPAD and Montage Media require detailed disclosure by all authors of any potential or actual interests relevant to the topic(s) discussed in submitted manuscripts. This policy is not intended to prevent authors with financial or other interests from publishing their work. It is, however, the responsibility of the Journal to provide reviewers and readers with full disclosure to ensure scientific integrity. As applicable, disclosures will be shared in full with reviewers. Disclosures will be published with accepted articles if deemed appropriate by the editors. If no potential or actual interests are disclosed, a statement to that effect will be published. For more information on the journal's disclosure policies, please contact the Editorial Office.

Authorship & Acknowledgments

PPAD adheres to the guidelines for authorship developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. An author is defined as a contributor who has participated in the work to the extent that he or she takes responsibility for a meaningful share of the manuscript’s content. Other contributors should be listed in an acknowledgment along with their specific contributions. Such contributors might include those persons who provided technical help, writing assistance, data collection, or general support.
If a change in authorship (eg, addition or deletion of an author; change in author order) is requested, ALL authors must sign a letter conveying that ALL have agreed to the change and a rationale for this alteration should be provided. The change is left to the discretion of the Editor of PPAD.

Patients & Research Participants

Information that could potentially reveal the identity of a patient or study participant should not be included unless this information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or the patient’s parent or legal guardian) provides written informed consent. Informed consent requires that the patient (or the patient’s parent or legal guardian) be provided a copy of the manuscript to be published before providing consent. If informed consent is required, it must be stated that written informed consent was obtained, or the authors must state that, to the best of their knowledge, no information that could identify patients or research participants is contained in the article.
Authors are also required to affirm that any research involving human subjects submitted to the journal was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of all applicable national and institutional committees (eg, IRB protocols) and with the World Medical Association’s Helsinki Declaration.
For research involving animal subjects, the journal requires the authors affirm that a study submitted for consideration was conducted in accordance with relevant institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory and other animals.

Copyright Forms
To download a Copyright Release form for submission to PPAD, please click here. To download a copy of a PPAD Financial Disclosure form, please click here.

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