Preparing an article for anonymous review

To ensure a fair and unbiased review process, all submissions are to include an anonymised version of the manuscript. The exceptions to this requirement are Editorials, Correspondence, Book reviews and Obituary submissions.

Submitting a manuscript that needs additional blinding can slow down your review process, so please be sure to follow these simple guidelines as much as possible:

• An anonymous version should not contain any author, affiliation or particular institutional details that will enable identification.
• Please remove title page, acknowledgements, contact details, funding grants to a named person, and any running headers of author names.
• Mask self-citations by referring to your own work in third person.

General article format/layout

Submitted manuscripts that are not in the correct format specified in these guidelines will be returned to the author(s) for correction prior to being sent for review, which will delay publication.

General:

• Manuscripts must be written in UK English (this includes spelling).
• The manuscript must be in Microsoft Word or RTF document format. Text must be 1.5 line spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman font, and contain no unnecessary formatting (such as text in boxes). Pages and lines should be numbered consecutively.
• Please make your article concise, even if it is below the word limit.
• Qualifications, full affiliation (department, school/faculty, institution, city, country) and contact details of ALL authors must be provided in the manuscript and in the online submission process.
• Abbreviations should be spelt out when first used and thereafter used consistently, e.g. 'intravenous (IV)' or 'Department of Health (DoH)'.
• Scientific measurements must be expressed in SI units except: blood pressure (mmHg) and haemoglobin (g/dL).
• Litres is denoted with an uppercase L e.g. 'mL' for millilitres).
• Units should be preceded by a space (except for % and ºC), e.g. '40 kg' and '20 cm' but '50%' and '19ºC'.
• Please be sure to insert proper symbols e.g. µ not u for micro, a not a for alpha, b not B for beta, etc.
• Numbers should be written as grouped per thousand-units, i.e. 4 000, 22 160.
• Quotes should be placed in single quotation marks: i.e. The respondent stated: '...'
• Round brackets (parentheses) should be used, as opposed to square brackets, which are reserved for denoting concentrations or insertions in direct quotes.

If you wish material to be in a box, simply indicate this in the text. You may use the table format –this is the only exception. Please DO NOT use fill, format lines and so on.

 

SAJCH is a Journal on child health, therefore for articles involving genetics, it is the responsibility of authors to apply the following:

-               Please ensure that all genes are in italics, and proteins/enzymes/hormones are not.

-               Ensure that all genes are presented in the correct case e.g. TP53 not Tp53.

**           NB: Copyeditors cannot be expected to pick up and correct errors wrt the above, although they will raise queries where concerned.

-               Define all genes, proteins and related shorthand terms at first mention, e.g. ‘188del11’ can be glossed as ‘an 11 bp deletion at nucleotide 188.’

-               Use the latest approved gene or protein symbol as appropriate:

• Human Gene Mapping Workshop (HGMW): genetic notations and symbols
• HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee: approved gene symbols and nomenclature
• OMIM: Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (MIM) nomenclature and instructions
• Bennet et al. Standardized human pedigree nomenclature: Update and assessment of the recommendations of the National Society of Genetic Counselors. J Genet Counsel 2008;17:424-433: standard human pedigree nomenclature.