Instructions for Authors
The Canadian Journal of Pathology is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Pathologists. It publishes concise, peer-reviewed papers. The Journal considers for publication original research, reviews, scholarly addresses, case reports, book reviews, images in pathology, brief technical reports, guidelines, letters to the editor, and material of interest to Canadian pathologists. Articles are accepted in English and abstracts will be published in both English and French. Editorial requirements are in accordance with the “Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals” (http://www.icmje.org). The editorial policies of the journal are in line with those of the Council of Science Editors (http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/services/draft_approved.cfm).
Authors must disclose any commercial interest in the subject of study; any conflict of interest with any drugs, devices, etc. discussed in the paper; and the source(s) of support, if any. If there are no competing interests, this must be stated clearly on the title page. A covering letter must confirm that the work is original, must indicate that all authors have read and approved the version of the manuscript submitted and contain a statement that the paper is not under consideration by any other journal. The letter must include the senior author’s address for correspondence, the phone and fax numbers and e-mail address to ensure rapid processing. Authors should identify their affiliation with a hospital or university department and indicate if they are students, residents, fellows, or on staff. The contribution of each author to the paper should be stated in the covering letter. After acceptance of the manuscript, the author(s) must sign a copyright transfer agreement.
The Journal reserves the right to edit manuscripts to ensure readability and conformity with the Journal’s style. Such editing will not affect the scientific content.
Manuscript Preparation
Manuscripts must be in Word format, double-spaced, with the pages numbered in the top right-hand corner. They should follow the guidelines below for length and content:
- Scientific articles: 2,000 words, together with appropriate references, tables and figure legends;
- Review articles: up to 3,000 words with a maximum of 50 references;
- Case reports and technical reports: up to 500 words with no more than 5 authors, three images and 6 references;
- Images in pathology: 200 words with 2 references and 2 images;
- Opinion Pieces: up to 1200 words with no more than 5 references
Longer case reports may be published at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief and commissioned reviews may also be longer, subject to the agreement of the Editor-in-Chief. Scientific articles should include a structured abstract of up to 200 words with the following headings: Purpose, Study Design, Methods, Results, Conclusions. Review articles should have an unstructured abstract or a contents box. In addition, a statement that the study was approved by the relevant research ethics board should be included, where applicable. Up to 6 key words should be included on the first page. Correspondence may be shortened at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief and should be submitted by e-mail in an attached Word file.
References
References should be numbered consecutively in the text by superscript numerals after punctuation marks and listed at the end of the text. Unpublished sources such as personal communications should be cited within the text and not included in the reference list.
The sequence for journal references should be as follows: author(s); title of paper; journal name abbreviated as in Index Medicus; year of publication, volume number, first and last page numbers. When there are more than three authors, the list should be shortened to three and “et al.” added. For example:
Col NF, Eckman MH, Karas RH, et al. Patient specific decisions about hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women. JAMA 1997;277:1140–7.
The sequence for chapters of a book should be: author(s) of chapter, chapter title, author(s)/editor(s) of book, book title, edition, place of publication, publisher, year of publication, page range. For example:
Galloway AC, Colvin SB, Grossi EA, et al. Acquired heart disease. In: Schwartz SI, Shires GT, Spencer FC, eds. Principles of Surgery, 6th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1994:845–99.
Tables and illustrations
Each table should be typed on a separate page and should have a legend at the top indicating the information contained.
Illustrations should be sent via e-mail as a JPEG file only and must not be embedded within text files. (TIFF files should not be submitted). Wherever possible, clinical photographs should not allow identification of the patient. Macroscopic photographs of pathological specimens should not show identifying numbers on scales/rulers.
For photomicrographs the legend should include the stain used but need not include the magnification. For electron micrographs, a scale bar should be included where appropriate.
Numbers, units, and abbreviations
Laboratory test results must be expressed in SI units. In scientific text, physical quantities and units of time should be expressed in numerals, for example, 2 kg, 6 mmol, 5 hours, 4°C. Abbreviations should not be used in the title. In the text, only standard abbreviations should be used and these should be defined on first mention. Abbreviations in tables must be defined separately beneath the table.
Permissions
Written permission must be obtained for material that has been published in copyrighted form; this includes tables, figures, and quoted text that exceeds 150 words. Signed patient release forms are required for photographs of identifiable persons. For medico-legal studies the authors must provide a covering letter indicating that permission to report cases and publish photographs has been obtained from the appropriate authority, e.g. Chief Medical Examiner or Regional Coroner. A copy of all permissions and patient release forms must accompany the manuscript.
Proofs
Proofs for correction will be sent to authors by e-mail as a Word file. Authors are asked to fax or e-mail corrections back to the publisher within 72 hours.
Submission of manuscripts
The manuscript must be sent by e-mail attachment to the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Godfrey Heathcote at: godfrey.heathcote@dal.ca
Only electronic submissions will be acknowledged and sent out for peer review.
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