Dermatology Online Journal: Information for authors.

Dermatology Online Journal

INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS

Editorial policies

Dermatology Online Journal is a refereed publication designed to meet the continuing education needs of the international dermatologic community. This journal was created in an effort to explore the educational potential of distributed hypermedia served via the World Wide Web.

Statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communica- tions herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Editor(s), the University of California, and any other university with which the Editors are affiliated. The Editors and the University of California disclaim any responsibility or liability for the material in the Journal.

Features of Dermatology Online Journal

Continuing Medical Education: Substantial educational articles presenting core in- formation for the continuing medical education of the practicing dermatologist.
Therapy: In-depth critical revies of a therapeu- tic modality or treatment procedure.
Clinical and Laboratory Studies: Original, in-depth clinical and investigative laborato- ry research articles.
Case Reports: Brief individual case re- ports of unusual interest.
Editorials: Brief, substantiated commentary on subjects of topical interest.
Correspondence: Brief letters to the Editor that comment on previous articles. Computers and Medicine:
Articles relevant to the use of comput- ers and the Internet in continuing medical education, or in the practice of medicine/dermatology.
Book Reviews: Books and mono- graphs will be reviewed depending on their interest and value to subscribers. Send two books to the Editor, Phil Fleckman MD. No books will be returned.

Preparation of Manuscripts

In addition to being a resource for eduational material, Dermatology Online Journal is an experiment in the process of presenting this type of information on-line. Although there is a great deal of variation in format which could result here, we have chosen a rather traditional format for editorial consideration, and then allow a great deal of latitude in subsequent less refereed sections.

Prospective authors may not have experience in preparing material for the Web. For that reason, the Editors can accept for review material which is not Internet-ready. We can also offer limited support with the conversion to WWW format. For most contributors, this is the suggested path:

PHASE ONE: THE PRIMARY TEXT DOCUMENT. First create an English language document in standard scientific format. This is the core material which is used to support any ancillary material. It is also the basis for comment by reviewers and editors.

TITLE

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

METHODS

RESULTS

CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES

FIGURES

TABLES

Send your manuscript in digital format as a Microsoft Word 6.0 document to the Editor. Editorial comments and annotations will be made on the document and it will be returned to you with those remarks. Tables and figures may be included in the document, however Images will need to be transferred as separate files. (See the subsequent section for a discussion of options for transmitting these files.)

PHASE TWO: THE FINAL MANUSCRIPT. Once the core manuscript has passed editorial review, you will be asked to provide additional material. The content of the additional material will not be subject to the same stringent review, and is considered unrefereed. The following should be included with the final paper:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. An executive summary is like an expanded abstract with appropriate graphics material. Generally it presents problems and conclusions.

BIOGRAPHY. This is professional information about you. Multiple authors may each submit a biography.

YOUR IMAGE. This will be included in the biography.

TITLE/TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE. When you have prepared all of the ancillary files, you will need to prepare the top page of your work which lists the resources presented.

Here are examples of additional material which lend themselves well to WWW format and which you may be encouraged to inclue:

PARALLEL TEXT: You are permitted to provide more than one version of your work, such as in another language, or another level of discussion. With parallel text you are offering the reader the option of replacing a section of the document with another version. One special form of parallel text is an executive summary (which replaces the entire document).

AMPLIFICATION INSERTION: You may provide an optional in-depth discussion about any of the points of your work. This additional material is anchored at the approprite point in the text, and the end returns the reader to the same point. Conceptually it is a loop that will lengthen the text.

REFERENCE MATERIAL: This may also provide amplification about an issue in the primary work, but differs in that the reader is not expected to go through the entire work as an expansion or substitution of the core discussion. Conceptually it is more like the material now given as end-notes or foot-notes. The Web format allows you a great deal more flexibility in the use of reference material. Instead of simply giving a citation of another work, it would be possible to append the full article. The reference could even be at another site.

HYPERTEXT IMAGES: Sometimes the amplification is visual rather than as text. Liberal use of hypertext images is encouraged.

HOW TO TRANSMIT YOUR WORK TO THE EDITORS

TEXT: The core text material should be sent in Microsoft Word 6.0 format. We have chosen this as a standard format in order to allow for comments by the reviewers will be given as annotations and additions/deletions on that document. This document may be sent:

(1) as an email attachment (preferred method)

(2) via ftp to a public site

(2) on diskette through the mail (3.5 inch formatted for DOS with the file in WORD 6.0)

IMAGES: We prefer receiving graphical material in digital format. If your tables and graphs are computer generated, they can usually be saved in Compuserve.GIF format. Drawings which originate on paper and photographs may be transferred to digital format using a flat-bed scanner. Digital images may be made from transparencies using a special scanners which are common on University campuses. If you don't have access to such a scanner, many photographic developers now offer this service. In-line images should be in Compuserve.GIF format, whereas hypertext images, (those which are downloaded by clicking with the mouse), should be in JPEG/JFIF format.

Current addresses for sending manuscripts:

Phil Fleckman MD (fleck@u.washington.edu)
Editor Dermatology Online Journal

for submitting via ftp: contact achuntley@ucdavis.edu for server address and password.

Style

Manuscripts should conform to acceptable English usage. The authors may offer a parallel translation into another language or languagues, but the editorial review will be done on the English manuscript. Abbreviations must be limited primarily to those in general usage. Generic names must be used. If a trade name is included, it should follow the generic name in parentheses the first time mentioned. Thereafter, generic names only should be used. Weights and measurements should be expressed in metric units, and temperatures in degrees centigrade.

The article should be broken into pages which fit into one or two computer screeens. Each page should be accompanied by a title for the page and and a number to indicate the primary suggested sequence of the material.

Title/Summary Page

This page should include the title of the article, and the authorsU full names and a summary of approximately 150 words.

Expanded Title Page

This page should include the title of the article, the author's full names, institutional affiliations and locations.

Author Information

Additional information about the authors should be given, a separate pate per author, including a short biography and optional image and/or link to the authors home page.

References

References should be cited in the current format returned in a MEDLINE search.

Example of journal citation: Kautsky MB; Fleckman P; Dale BA. Retinoic acid regulates oral epithelial differentiation by two mechanisms. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 1995 Feb, 104(2):224-30.

Example of text citation Kopf, Alfred W Robert S. Bart,Rafael Andrade. Atlas of tumors of the skin: Saunders, 1978. pp 123.

The author may wish to use the reference section to give more extensive information. This is generally done in one of two methods: if the material exists elsewhere on the Inetenet, supply the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for that material. If the material is not on the Internet, then a summary or, with permission, full text may be quoted as a seperate document.

Additional Information

The Editors encourage the use of more than one pathway of presentation of the material which might allow the reader greater flexibility in viewing. Items which are given as linked material may link back to the primary manuscript path and/or provide additional linked material, however after the first level of linked material, pages should also include an optional link to return to the primary manuscript path.

Preparing the final form of manuscripts for submission: Preferably manuscripts should be submitted in HTML format. If you are unfamiliar with that script, it simply involves code indications of type size, paragraphs, line breaks, line, and links to hypermedia. Athough there exist tools to translate wordprocessed documents into HTML, the basic scripting language is actually quite simple to use and a primer of the commands is available.

Copyright

The following statement needs to be received by the Journal before a work can be published: "If accepted for publication, the author(s) of this manuscript assign to Dermatology Online Journal the right to distribute their work electronically and to archive and make it permanently retrievable electonically. The author(s) retain copyright to this work, however if it is republished the author(s) will clearly acknowledge Dermatology Online Journal as its original locus of publication."

More Information

Authors who have a new concept for online presentation, but who wish to discuss the mechanics of process are welcome to contact the Editors by email to initiate a discussion.

All contents copyright (C), 1995.
Dermatology Online Journal
University of California Davis