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European Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Instructions for Authors

Manuscripts should be sent to:

Professor Jaap Seidell
Head, Department of Chronic Diseases Epidemiology
National Institute of Public Health and the Environment
Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9
PO Box 1
3720 BA Bilthoven
The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 30 274 2470
Fax: + 31 30 274 4407
E-mail: J.Seidell@RIVM.NL

Send original plus two copies of paper and illustrations: Type preferably on A4 paper (210 x 297 mm) single-sided and double-spaced with 25 mm margins. A covering letter, which should be signed by all authors, must state that the material has not been submitted for publication elsewhere while under consideration for European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Identify the name, full postal address, and fax number, of corresponding author. Typescripts will not normally be returned to authors. The layout of the paper should be as follows;

1. Title page, giving a concise but informative title, and the names and affiliations (but not degrees) of all contributors (formerly called authors). The order in which the contributors are listed should be agreed amongst the investigators, and should indicate that the first listed made the greatest contribution to the paper, and then in decreasing order. The nature of the contribution of each investigator should be briefly described (see recent issues of the Lancet for examples). One or more contributors (not necessarily the “corresponding author”) should be identified as “Guarantor”, who must be prepared to be accountable for all parts of the completed manuscript, before and after publication (see Rennie et al. (1997) JAMA 278: 579-585).

2. Structured abstracts of not more than 250 words, under the headings;

   Objective – what was the main question or hypothesis tested?
   Design – was it randomised, case-control, retrospective, etc?
   Setting – where was the study done? primary or tertiary care?
   Subjects -how recruited, how many started, how many dropped out?
   Interventions – methods used, and duration of administration
   
   Main outcome measures:
   Results – indicate 95% confidence intervals and exact P value for effects.
   Conclusions – answer (significant or not) to main question.
   Sponsorship – University? charity? commercial organisation?
   

   Descriptors – preferably use up to 6 words chosen from MEDLINE MeSH, which best describe your paper. These will be used for indexing your paper in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and also help retrieval from computer databases.

   NOTE: Further advice on preparation of structured abstracts can be obtained from Haynes RB et al. Annals of Internal Medicine 1990; 113: 69-76. Failure to provide a structured abstract will delay editorial processing of the paper.

3. Text: organised as Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References. Number pages consecutively. Indicate where tables and figures should appear. References in text are indicated in the text by name and date eg (Pampiglione and Ricciardi, 1986) and (Kusin et al, 1994) and listed at the end of the paper in alphabetical order of first author. References should be listed and journal titles abbreviated according to the style used by Index Medicus, examples are given below.

   Friedman MI, Gil KM, Rothhopf MM and Askanazi J (1986): Post-absorptive control of food intake in humans. Appetite 7, 258 (abstract).
   
   Kusin KA, Kardjati S and Renqvist UH (1994): Maternal body mass index: the functional significance during reproduction. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 48, Suppl, 3 S56-S67.
   
   Martin JC, Bourgnoux P, Fignon A, Theret V, Antoine JM, Lamisse F and Couet C (1993): Dependence of human milk essential fatty acids on adipose stores during lactation. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 58, 653-659.
   
   Pampiglione S and Ricciardi ML (1986): Parasitological survey of Pygmy groups. In African Pygmies, ed. LL Cavalli-Sforza, pp 153-165. New York: Academic Press.

4. Tables and Figures with legends which enable them to be understood without reference to the text should be on separate sheets at the end of the text. Artwork should be suitable for direct photographic reproduction.

   Units and abbreviations. Use SI Units where possible. Energy should be given as kJ or MJ (with equivalent kcal or Mcal in parentheses).

   Statistical methods. For normally distributed data, mean (SD) is the preferred summary statistic. Relative risks should be expressed as odds ratios with 95% confidence interval. To compare two methods for measuring a variable the method of Bland & Altman (1986) Lancet i, 307 should be used; for this, calculation of P only is not appropriate.

   Ethical approval. Research studies involving human subjects should be approved by the relevant review committee, and such approval must be stated in the Methods section of the paper.

   Dietary survey methods. See guidelines published in European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1993; 47: 379-380 or apply to the Editorial office for an offprint of these guidelines.

   Publications. Proofs will be sent to the corresponding author for marking of printers’ errors, together with an order for offprints and reprints.

   Business correspondence and enquiries relating to advertising, subscriptions, backnumbers or reprints should be addressed to the relevant person at Nature Publishing Group, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, UK.

   

   Last Updated 21 March 2001