If you wish your article to be freely available online immediately upon publication (as some funding bodies now require), you can opt for it to be included in SAGE Open subject to payment of a publication fee. Manuscript submission and refereeing procedure is unchanged. On acceptance of your article, you will be asked to let SAGE know directly if you are choosing SAGE Open. For further information, please

visit http://www.uk.sagepub.com/sageopen.sp

The editor welcomes papers that contribute toward the development and understanding of infection prevention and control theory and practice. Manuscripts up to 4,000 words (including abstract and references) that address issues of infection control clinical practice, research, education, management, case studies and projects of interest to others are encouraged. Short papers of between 1,000 and 2,000 words and correspondence (up to a maximum of 3000 words) are also welcomed.

Journal of Infection Prevention cannot consider articles that are not original or have been submitted elsewhere.

Conflict of Interest and Funding: Authors are responsible for recognising and disclosing financial and other conflicts of interest that might bias their work. They should acknowledge in the manuscript all financial support for the work and other financial or personal connections to the work.

Journal of Infection Prevention has a fully web-based system for the submission and review of manuscripts. All submissions should be made online at the Journal of Infection Prevention SAGETRACK website

Note: Online submission and review of manuscripts is now mandatory for all types of papers.

New User Account

Please log onto the website. If you are a new user, you will first need to create an account. Follow the instructions and please ensure to enter a current and correct email address. Creating your account is a three-step process that takes a matter of minutes to set up. When you have finished, your User ID and password is sent via email immediately. Please edit your user ID and password to something more memorable by selecting 'edit account' at the top of the screen. If you have already created an account but have forgotten your details type your email address in the 'Password Help' to receive an emailed reminder. Full instructions for uploading the manuscript are provided on the website.

New Submission

Submissions should be made by logging in and selecting the Author Center and the 'Click here to Submit a New Manuscript' option. Follow the instructions on each page, clicking the 'Next' button on each screen to save your work and advance to the next screen. If at any stage you have any questions or require the user guide, please use the 'Get Help Now' button at the top right of every screen. Further help is available through ScholarOne's® Manuscript CentralTM customer support at +1 434 817 2040 x 167.

To upload your files, click on the 'Browse' button and locate the file on your computer. Select the designation of each file (i.e. main document, submission form, figure) in the drop down next to the browse button. When you have selected all files you wish to upload, click the 'Upload Files' button

Review your submission (in both PDF and HTML formats) and then click the Submit button

You may suspend a submission at any point before clicking the Submit button and save it to submit later. After submission, you will receive a confirmation e-mail. You can also log back into your author centre at any time to check the status of your manuscript.

Please ensure that you submit editable/source files only (Microsoft Word or RTF) and that your document does not include page numbers; the Journal of Infection Prevention SAGETRACK system will generate them for you, and then automatically convert your manuscript to PDF for peer review. Furthermore, it is imperative that authors remove from their submissions any information that will identify them or their affiliations to reviewers. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be by email.

If you would like to discuss your paper prior to submission, or seek advice on the submission process please contact the Editor, Paul Weaving, at the following email address: editor@ips.uk.net

Submitting a Revised Submission

Authors submitting revised manuscripts should follow the instructions above to submit through the SAGETRACK system. To create a revision, go to the 'Manuscripts with Decisions' option in your Author Dashboard and select 'create a revision in the 'Action' column. Authors of all revised submissions should, when prompted, provide information explaining the changes in your manuscript. As this will be provided to reviewers, it is important that authors do not identify themselves in these responses

Format of manuscripts

Journal of Infection Prevention conducts blinded peer-review. When uploading your manuscript you will need to upload a manuscript file with no identifying author information (designate as Main Document) and a separate title page (designate as Title Page) with author details. The title page must include an email address to which all correspondence should be sent must be included, as should a daytime telephone number. A fax number should also be included, if possible. The total word count of the document should also be displayed on the front page of the manuscript (Main Document).

Alongside these details any Conflict of interest or funding must also be stated on the title page. Authors are responsible for recognising and disclosing financial and other conflicts of interest that might bias their work. They should acknowledge in the manuscript all financial support for the work and other financial or personal connections to the work

All manuscripts should commence with an abstract of no more than 200 words, which accurately reflects the paper's content. Key words should also be provided. Where approval for reproduction or modification of material is required, this must be noted on the first page, and approval obtained by the author before the manuscript is submitted. Details of sources of research funding, commercial affiliations and acknowledgements should also be included on the first page.

Figures

The editors encourage the inclusion of figures where appropriate. Please ensure that electronic copies of all figures are available for review. Authors should submit figure files as high resolution EPS or JPEG files, and send those files along with the main manuscript files.

All figures (line drawings, graphs and photographs) should be referred to in the text. Figures are often reduced in size when appearing on the printed page - allowance for this should be made when selecting text and symbol size. Symbols and keys should be given as a key on the artwork, not in the legend. The magnifications should be indicated by a scale bar on the photograph, not as a magnification factor in the legend

Once the publisher receives an accepted paper they will request hard copies of photographs and other figures if necessary.

Figure Legends

Figure legends should be supplied for all figures. Please ensure that your figure legends are saved separately to the figures. Do not embed illustrations in Word files - supply them as individual files.

Tables

If tables, charts or graphs are to be included, original or coordinate values should also be sent. Charts and graphs must be clearly labelled, and the axes on graphs made clear. Tables should be self-explanatory and include a brief descriptive title.

References

All work referred to in the manuscript must be fully cited using the Harvard system of referencing. It is essential that you use the Harvard system. Any articles that do not will be immediately returned for correction which will cause delays to the processing of your article. A reference list should be submitted on and should be in alphabetical and chronological order using the first author's name. All references cited must have been previously published.

All references in the text must be cited from primary sources and should include the authors' names and date of publication in date order, e.g. (Skelton, 1997; Edwards, 1998; Whitehead, 2000). Where there are three or more authors, the first author's name followed by 'et al' is acceptable in text, e.g. (Troillet et al, 1999), but all authors must be cited in the reference list. Page numbers should be included in the text for all quotations, e.g. (Harthog, 2000: 136).

Reference to a journal article should include the author's surname and initials, date of publication, title of the paper, name of the journal, volume and issue number and its first and last page numbers, e.g. Ayliffe G. (2000) Evidence Based Practices in Infection Control. Journal of Infection Control 1(4): 5-9.

Reference to a book should include the author, date of publication, title, publisher and town of publication, e.g. Kirkwood E and Lewis C. (1989) Understanding Medical Immunology Second Edition: John Wiley and Sons: Chichester.

Chapters in edited books should include the additional detail of chapter title and page numbers e.g. Stevens R and Jones R. (1993) Functional Bowel Disorders. In: Gastrointestinal Problems in General Practice (Jones R. ed). Oxford University Press: Oxford: 126-35.

General advice

It is important that you write carefully and accurately, ruthlessly removing superfluous or ambiguous words. Please check your spelling, especially unusual or scientific terms or names. Start with a single sheet of paper outlining the order of your ideas and arguments. Before you start to write, read some articles in respected journals that you consider to be especially well written. Look at the way facts are presented, arguments are made and the style of language used. As a general rule articles should be no more than four pages when printed; this limits total word count to about 4,000 words - less if tables or illustrations are included.

Published Statement of Informed Consent Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information, including patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that a patient who is identifiable be shown the manuscript to be published. Authors should identify Individuals who provide writing assistance and disclose the funding source for this assistance.

Identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve, however, and informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning and editors should so note.

The requirement for informed consent should be included in the journal's instructions for authors. When informed consent has been obtained it should be indicated in the published article.

Published Statement of Human and Animal Rights When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach, and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should be asked to indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Review process

All manuscripts are subject to a double blind peer review process. All material is acknowledged and reviewed to assess its suitability for publication in Journal of Infection Prevention. The editor reserves the right to revise material or send it back to the author for amendments before accepting it for publication.

The editor also reserves the right to amend material during production in accordance with house style and demands for space and layout. However, all articles are sent to the first named author, for essential corrections only, before publication and should be returned promptly. Corrections at this proofreading stage should be kept to a minimum and references and quotations should be checked carefully. Figures and tables that have to be redrawn in-house may not be included with proofs.

Permissions

It is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain written consent to use any material published previously from the original publisher and copyright holder. As a courtesy, please also inform the original author of the material of your intentions.

How to get further help

If you have any queries about presenting your article, would like to discuss an idea for a potential article, need help to start writing or require technical advice about word processing or file formats, then do not hesitate to contact the IPS Editor Paul Weaving (editor@ips.uk.net).

Proofs

Authors will be emailed proofs as PDF files. Please check for typographical errors. Corrected proofs must be returned to the publisher within 3 days of receipt. Submitted material will not be routinely returned to authors unless specifically requested when returning proofs.

Offprints

Access to 25 free e-prints will be provided; the corresponding author will receive one complimentary copy of the journal for each contributor.

Business Matters

Business correspondence and enquiries relating to advertising or reprints should be addressed to:

STM Journal Production Department

SAGE Ltd.

1 Oliver's Yard

55 City Road

London, EC1Y 1SP

UK.

Tel: +44 (0)20 7324 8500

Fax: +44 (0)20 7324 8600.

E-mail: info@sagepub.co.uk

Correspondence and enquiries relating to subscriptions and back issues should be addressed to: Customer Services Department, SAGE Ltd., 1 Oliver's Yard, 55 City Road, London, EC1Y 1SP, UK.

Tel: +44 (0)20 7324 8701

Fax: +44 (0)20 7324 8700

Email: subscriptions@sagepub.co.uk

Version Issued: June 2007

English Language Editing Services: Please click here for information on professional English language editing services recommended by SAGE.