Informatics for Health and Social Care

Informatics for Health and Social Care promotes evidence-based informatics applied to the domain of health and social care. It showcases informatics research and practice within the many and diverse contexts of care; it puts personal health information at the centre of an increasingly pervasive and global health system and regards information as a key resource to improve the quality of care. A major concern is how safety is combined with the ethical, efficient, and effective use of data and the tools and systems that process it within the health and social care domain. The Journal therefore welcomes research papers, case studies, evaluations, review articles, summaries of official reports, and implementation accounts of relevant standards. All areas related to Informatics within the domain will be considered, including those to do with policy, professionalism and education.

4. Preparation of Manuscripts

All submissions should be written in English. Papers, review articles, and reports should be between 5000 and 8000 words; case studies and evaluations may be shorter, but no less than 3000 words; technical notes are designed as a medium for the publication of short communications of around 1000 to 2000 words. Review articles and opinion/editorial pieces are generally commissioned by invitation of the Editor.

Text should be supplied in a format compatible with Microsoft Word for Windows (PC). Charts and tables are considered textual and should also be supplied in a format compatible with Word. All figures (illustrations, diagrams, photographs) should be supplied in JPG or TIFF format.

All manuscripts must be typed in 12 pt font and in double space with margins of at least 2.5 cm. Authors should prepare manuscripts according to Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (6th ed.), published by the Council of Biology Editors Style Manual Committee and are also referred to recent copies of the Journal (post 2005) and encouraged to copy exactly the published format of papers therein.

Manuscripts must include:

• Title Page. This should contain the article title, a running head not exceeding 50 characters (including spaces), 3-5 keywords and full contact details of the authors. One corresponding author should be identified, whose email address is provided.
• Abstract Structured abstracts of not more than 200 words are required for all manuscripts, and should be submitted following the title and author's name and address and preceding the main text.
• Text. This should in general, but not necessarily be divided into sections with the headings: primary objectives, research design, methods and procedures, experimental interventions, main outcome and results, conclusion
• Tables and Figures. Tables and figures should be referred to in text as follows: Figure 1, Figure 2; Table I, Table II. The place at which a table or figure is to be inserted in the printed text should be indicated clearly on the manuscript. Each table and/or figure must have a legend that explains its purpose without reference to the text.

The Journal has a limited number of free colour pages within its annual page allowance. Authors should consult the Editorial Office with respect to colour reproduction at submission stage. Any figure submitted as a colour original may appear in colour within the Journal's online edition. Colour reproduction in excess of the Journal's budget will only be considered on condition that authors contribute to the associated costs.

Any acknowledgements authors wish to make should be included in a separate headed section at the end of the manuscript.

 5. References

References should be indicated in the text with Arabic numbers inside square brackets, e.g., [1], [1,2] or [1-3]. References should then be listed in numerical order at the end of the article. Examples are provided as follows:

Journal article:
[1] Warkentin TE, Kelton JG. Temporal aspects of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. N Engl J Med 2001;163:2518-2524.

Book chapter:
[2] Kuret JA, Murad F. Adenohypophyseal hormones and related substances. In: Gilman AG, Rall TW, Nies AS, Taylor P, editors. The pharmacological basis of therapeutics. 8th ed. New York: Pergamon; 1990. p 1334-60.

Conference proceedings:
[3] Irvin AD, Cunningham MP, Young AS, editors. Advances in the control of Theileriosis. International Conference held at the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases; 1981 Feb 9-13; Nairobi. Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers; 1981. 427 p.

Dissertations or Thesis:
[4] Mangie ED. A comparative study of the perceptions of illness in New Kingdom Egypt and Mesopotamia of the early first millennium [dissertation]. Akron (OH): University of Akron; 1991. 160 p. Available from: University Microfilms, Ann Arbor MI; AAG9203425.

Journal article on internet:
[5] Loker WM. "Campesinos" and the crisis of modernization in Latin America. Jour of Pol Ecol [serial online] 1996; 3(1). Available: http://www.library.arizona.edu/ej/jpe/volume_3/ascii-lokeriso.txt via the INTERNET. Accessed 1996 Aug 11.

Webpage:
[6] British Medical Journal [Internet]. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ; 2004 July 10 - [cited 2004 Aug 12]; Available from: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/

Internet databases:
[7] Prevention News Update Database [Internet]. Rockville (MD): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US), National Prevention Information Network. 1988 Jun - [cited 2001 Apr 12]. Available from: http://www.cdcnpin.org/db/public/dnmain.htm

Authors of research articles should disclose at the time of submission any financial arrangements they may have with a company whose product is pertinent to the manuscript or with a company making a competing product. Such information will be held in confidence while the paper is under review and will not influence the editorial decision, but if the article is accepted for publication, a disclosure statement will appear in the Journal. The intent of this policy is not to prevent authors with these relationships from publishing work, but rather to adopt transparency such that readers can make objective judgements on conclusions drawn.

8. Authorship Contributions

Contributions must be substantial in order to warrant authorship. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. All other contributors should be listed in the acknowledgements.

9. Copyright

It is a condition of publication that authors assign copyright or licence the publication rights in their articles, including abstracts, to Taylor & Francis. This enables us to ensure full copyright protection and to disseminate the article, and the Journal, to the widest possible readership in print and electronic formats as appropriate. Authors may, of course, use the article elsewhere after publication without prior permission from Taylor & Francis, provided that acknowledgement is given to the Journal as the original source of publication, and that Taylor & Francis is notified so that our records show that its use is properly authorised. Authors retain a number of other rights under the Taylor & Francis rights policies documents. These policies are referred to at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authorrights.pdf for full details. Authors are themselves responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources.

Please note that Taylor & Francis are signatories of, and respect the spirit of, the STM Agreement regarding the free sharing and dissemination of scholarly information.

10. Electronic Proofs

When Proofs are ready, corresponding authors will receive email notification with a password and Web address from which to download a PDF. Hard copies of proofs will not be mailed. To avoid delays in publication, corrections to proofs must be returned within 48 hours, by electronic transmittal, fax or mail.

11. Offprints and Reprints

Offprints and reprints of articles published in Medical Informatics and the Internet in Medicine can be obtained through Rightslink ®. Please visit www.copyright.com to obtain a quotation or to place an order. Copies of the Journal can be purchased at the author's preferential rate of 15.00/$25.00 per copy