INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS
Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases is a peer-reviewed journal. It includes papers on diseases transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, ticks, and other arthropod vectors or directly by other animals. The Journal will emphasize the following topics: ecology, entomology, microbiology, immunology, and wildlife biology, as well as other subjects relevant to the transmission of infectious diseases to humans directly from the environment or through vectors.
A primary goal of this peer-reviewed journal is the integration of field, laboratory, and clinical sciences for the purpose of establishing causal relationships between clinical medicine and the environment that will lead to improved understanding of this group of neglected but important diseases and contribute to their successful management and prevention. The Journal will develop and encourage publication standards to foster effective and reliable data collection, analysis, interpretation, and communication. The Journal does not publish papers that have been submitted elsewhere.
Formats. Original research manuscripts should not exceed 3,000 words and must be presented in the standard format described below. Short reports and case studies should not exceed 1,000 words with no more than ten references and one table or figure. Editorials and commentaries may be on any issue relevant to the field, but must be brief and appropriately documented by data. Reviews papers, of up to 5,000 words in length, are summaries of developments in the field. All submissions may be subject to peer-review.
SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS
Manuscripts must be submitted online using the following url:
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/vbz
To help defray the cost of printing as we publish more papers and increase our frequency to 10 issues per year in 2010, the Journal is implementing page charges of $75 per printed page on manuscripts. Please note that payment of page charges can be waived under certain circumstances and is not a prerequisite for publication.
Please read all the instructions to authors before submitting.
Authorship. All authors, including the co-authors, should be responsible for a significant part of the manuscript. All authors and co-authors should have taken part in writing the manuscript, reviewing it, and revising its intellectual and technical content, and all must sign the cover letter accompanying the manuscript. Any author whose name appears on a paper assumes responsibility and accountability for the results.
Manuscript Submission and Copyright Agreement Form
The Copyright Agreement form (available from web site at transfer_of_copyright.pdf) should be submitted once your paper has been accepted for publication. Manuscripts cannot be published without this form. The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining signatures of coauthors. Authors not permitted to release copyright must still return the form signed under the statement of the reason for not releasing the copyright. Upon acceptance of your paper, please fax the Copyright Agreement form to 914-740-2108.
Preparation of Manuscripts
Manuscripts should be submitted double-spaced and leave ample margins on both sides, top and bottom.
Submit a running title of about 45 characters (including spaces), and the full contact information for the corresponding author. Also provide a structured abstract of no more than 300 words.
As part of your text file, include a title page that con- tains the title of your paper, all authors’ names, affil- iations, email addresses and keywords.
Text. Organize the text as follows: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, and References. At the first usage of a term, spell out the term and give the abbreviation or acronym in parentheses. Thereafter, use the abbreviation/acronym alone. Use generic names for drugs where possible. If you wish to use a proprietary drug name, the first time it appears use the generic name followed by the proprietary name, manufacturer, and city in parenthesis. If propriety names must be used, include trademark information. Scientific names for species must appear with genus spelled in full on first occurrence and abbreviated thereafter. Family names should appear on first occurrence of uncommon species.
Please do NOT upload a PDF of your text file.
Acknowledgments. The author should acknowledge only those people and institutions that have made significant contributions to the study. Details of sources of funding must be given and any potential conflicts of interest declared, e.g., financial, personal, political or academic.
Disclosure Statement Immediately following the Acknowledgments section, include a section entitled “Author Disclosure Statement.”
In this portion of the paper, authors must disclose any commercial associations that might create a conflict of interest in connection with submitted manuscripts. This statement should include appropriate information for EACH author, thereby representing that competing financial interests of all authors have been appropriately disclosed according to the policy of the Journal. It is important that all conflicts of interest, whether they are actual or potential, be disclosed. This information will remain confidential while the paper is being reviewed and will not influence the editorial decision.
Please see the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals at http://www.icmje.org/index.html#conflicts for further guidance.
If no conflicts exist, the authors must state “No competing financial interests exist.”
References. The references should be cited in the text using the name/date system. The reference list at the end of the paper should be double-spaced and organized alphabetically by name and year. List only the first four authors followed by "et al." For accepted papers not yet published, cite the journal and add "in press". If references to personal communications or unpublished data are used, cite them parenthetically in the text, not in the references. Sources for personal communications must provide written approval at the time of submission. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references. References should be presented in the Vancouver style, as shown below:
Journal example: Chadee, DD, Kitron, U. Spatial and temporal patterns of imported malaria cases and local transmission in Trinidad. Am J Trop Med Hyg 1999; 61:513-517.
Book example: Fish, D. Population ecology of Ixodes dammini. In: Ginsberg, H, ed. Ecology and Environmental Management of Lyme Disease. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press; 1993:25-42.
Reprint address. After the references, provide the name, address, and E-mail of the person to whom reprint requests should be directed.
Tables. Submit each table, with its title, as a separate file. Use Arabic numerals to number tables. Details of experimental conditions should be included in the table footnotes. Table legends and footnotes should be double-spaced.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Prepare a separate list of figure legends, double-spaced, at the end of the manuscript. Magnifications should be included when appropriate.
Please follow these guidelines for submitting figures.
- Do NOT embed art files into a Word or PDF document.
- Line illustrations should be submitted at a minimum of 600 dpi.
- Halftones and color should be submitted at a minimum of 300 dpi.
- Black and White art must be submitted as grayscale—not RGB.
- Save as either TIFF or EPS files.
- Color art must be saved as CYMK—not RGB.
- Do NOT submit PowerPoint, PDF, Bitmap or Excel files.
Please name your artwork files with the submitting authors name i.e. SmithFig1.tif, SmithTable2.tif etc. Authors who do not follow these guidelines may experience a delay in processing.
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IMPORTANT:
Please do NOT upload a single PDF file containing all of the text, figure, and table files of your paper. Once all of your files are uploaded on to Manuscript Central, the system will automatically create a PDF proof for you.
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In order to expedite your submission as quickly and efficiently as possible we ask that all artwork be checked using Digital Expert before submitting. This is a free tool that will ensure that you prepare and submit quality digital materials suitable for print.
Go to http://dx.sheridan.com to check your image files. You will be given directions on how to correct any files which do not pass.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT ART FILES
Converting Word or Excel files: Perhaps the best and easiest way to convert Word or Excel files into a format which is suitable for print is to scan them using the below guidelines:
- All files should be scanned at 100% size
- 300 dpi
- Final color mode: cmyk
- Save file as: .tif or .eps
- If you need directions on how to convert a Power Point slide to acceptable format go to Www.liebertpub.com/MEDIA/pdf/ppconvert.pdf
PERMISSIONS
Figures, tables, and text taken from other sources must be accompanied by a written statement from both author and publisher granting permission for reproduction. Include written permission from authors to cite unpublished data or papers still in press.
REPRINTS
Reprints may be ordered by using the reprint order form that accompanies page proofs. Reprints ordered after the issue is printed will be charged at a substantially higher rate.
PUBLISHER
The Journal is published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.,140 Huguenot Street, 3rd Floor, New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215. Telephone: (914) 740–2100; fax: (914) 740–2108.; E-mail: info@liebertpub.com; Web site: www.liebertpub.com