ISSN 1678-9199 online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO THE AUTHORS

• Scope and editorial policy
• Mandatory requirements
• Contents
• Preparation of originals
• References
• Illustrations
• Tables

The Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases (J Venom Anim Toxins incl Trop Dis), an interdisciplinary online publication in English, is devoted to research on different aspects of Toxinology (natural toxins, venomous animals, their products and derivatives) and Tropical Diseases (caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoans, helminthes etc.).

The articles published in the journal address topics from the systematics and morphology of venomous animals to the biochemistry, pharmacology and immunology of venoms; epidemiology of envenoming by different animals, algae, bacteria, fungi and plant products; molecular biology of venoms; physiology of venom action; treatment of venom effects; and preparation and evaluation of antivenoms, etc. Since January 2002, it has included subjects related to Tropical Diseases.

Editor's viewpoint, letters to the editor, review articles, original papers, short communications, case reports, book reviews, and thesis abstracts can be submitted to the journal on the understanding that the work has not been published previously in whole or in part and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

All submitted manuscripts are initially evaluated by the submission editor. After that, they are sent to two or more expert consultants for peer review. The identities of both authors and referees are kept confidential (double-blinded peer review process). The final decision on acceptance or rejection is made by the editor and/or associate editors.

By submitting a manuscript, the authors agree that the copyright for their articles are transferred to the publisher if and when accepted for publication. Copyrights on all materials published in the journal belong to CEVAP and permission must be requested for their use (in whole or in part) in other publications.

All papers must include: type of contribution (editor's viewpoint, letter to the editor, review article, original paper, short communication, case report, etc.), title, authors' names and affiliations, abstract, key words (should be based on Medical Subject Headings - MeSH), trial registration number, and the contact addresses both postal and electronic (email) of the author responsible for correspondence.

Manuscripts must be accompanied by the Conflicts of Interest Notification Page, the Ethics Committee Authorization (experiments involving humans, other animals and the environment), Copyright Permission and the Trial Registration Number (when applicable - check below).

These documents must be sent by standard mail to: CEVAP - UNESP, Caixa Postal 577, 18.618-000, Botucatu, SP, Brasil.

The journal follows the policies of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) for clinical trial registration, and recognizes the importance of these initiatives for the international dissemination of information on clinical research in an open-access system. Accordingly, only articles of trials previously registered in one of the clinical trial registries that meet WHO and ICMJE requirements will be accepted for publication. The Trial Registration Number should be published at the end of the Abstract. The list of registries recognized by WHO and ICMJE is available at the ICMJE site (www.icmje.org). At present, ICMJE accepts registration in the following registries: www.actr.org.au; www.clinicaltrials.gov; www.ISRCTN.org; www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index/htm; www.trialregister.nl and www.who.int/ictrp.

- Editor's viewpoint

Any researcher can write the editor's viewpoint since invited by the editor-in-chief or associate editors. The article should not exceed one printed page.

- Letters to the editor

Comments or useful critiques on material published in the journal are welcomed; they should not exceed three printed pages and should not be divided into an introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion sections.

- Review articles

They should cover subjects falling within the scope of the journal. These contributions should be presented in the same format as a full paper, except that they should not be divided into sections such as introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion. However, they must contain a 150 to 200-word abstract and key words. Review articles may undergo peer review.

- Original papers

These articles should report the results of original research and are supposed to contain: a 150 to 200-word abstract, key words, introduction, materials (or patients) and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgments, references, tables and/or figures, as well as audio and video clips.

- Short communications

They should include a 150 to 200-word abstract, key words, tables and/or figures, audio and video clips.

- Case reports

Brief reports of interest should include a 150 to 200-word abstract, key words, tables and/or figures, audio and video clips.

- Book reviews

Reviews on a range of relevant books will be included in the journal.

- Thesis abstracts

The journal welcomes masters and PhD thesis abstracts for publication.

Manuscripts should be written in English and submitted online (www.jvat.org.br - "Online Submission"). The copies should be typed in a Word file with 25 mm margins on all sides (on size A4 paper), Arial 12 pt font, justified, 1.5 line spacing.

Full papers should be organized in the following order:

- Title (should be clear, descriptive and not too long)

- Name(s) of author(s)

- Affiliations of author(s)

- Abstract

- Key words (indexing terms, normally 3 to 6 items)

- Conflicts of interest

- Financial source (information concerning research grants)

- Trial Registration Number (when applicable)

- Correspondence to: (complete postal address, full telephone, fax number and email of the corresponding author)

- Introduction

- Materials (or patients) and methods

- Results

- Discussion

- Conclusions (when applicable)

- Acknowledgements

- References

- Tables

- Figure captions

- Figures (separate files)

Authors must verify references against the original documents before submitting the article. The journal adopted the Vancouver style for references; therefore, all the submitted manuscripts must follow this guideline.

References should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text. The full list of references, at the end of the article, must follow the Vancouver style (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html). In the text, identify references with Arabic numerals on the line (not superscript) and in parentheses, e.g. "(7, 38)".

Examples of reference style:

- Standard journal article (list the first six authors followed by "et al.")

1. Ferreira Júnior RS, Barraviera B. Tissue necrosis after canine bothropic envenoming: a case report. J Venom Anim Toxins. 2001;7(2):302-12.

2. Almeida RAMB, Silva GF, Llanos JC, Winckler CC, Gomes MRB, Biagioni DS, et al. Cytomegalovirus and Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in a Brazilian liver transplant waiting list. J Venom Anim Toxins incl Trop Dis. 2007;13(4):881-4.

- Chapter in a book

3. Chaud-Netto J, Gobbi N, Malaspina O. Biologia e técnicas de manejo de abelhas e vespas. In: Barraviera B, editor. Venenos animais: uma visão integrada. Rio de Janeiro: EPUC; 1994. p. 173-93.

- Conference paper

4. Haddad Junior V. Clinical aspects of accidents caused by aquatic animals. In: Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium of the Brazilian Society on Toxinology (SBTx); 2002 Sep 16-20; Pirenópolis, Brazil. São Paulo: Sociedade Brasileira de Toxinologia, 2002. p. 28.

- Part of a homepage/website

5. PubMed [homepage on the Internet]. Bethesda: U.S. National Library of Medicine; c1993-2008 [updated 2008 October 22; cited 2008 October 23]. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed.

- Dissertations and theses

6. Ferreira Junior RS. Comparação da resposta imune humoral, da capacidade de neutralização dos soros anticrotálicos produzidos em ovinos jovens, avaliação clínica e ponderal entre animais inoculados com veneno de serpente Crotalus durissus terrificus nativo ou irradiado com Cobalto-60 [doctoral dissertation]. Botucatu (SP): Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Estadual Paulista; 2005. 132p.

All illustrations (line drawings, photographs and graphs) should be submitted as separate files, preferably in JPG, TIFF or XLS format. Audio or video clip should be sent separately in MP3, WMA, WAV, and AVI, MOV, WMV, MPG files, respectively.

Figures should be numbered according to their sequence in the text and each one must have a caption (included at the end of the manuscript). References should be made in the text to each illustration. Explanations should be given in the figure legends, so that drawn text in the illustrations should kept to a minimum.

Authors should take notice of the limitations set by the size and layout of the journal. Therefore, large tables should be avoided. Tables should be numbered according to their sequence in the text, where all tables must be mentioned.