Submissions

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher. In a covering message, please identify the person responsible for editorial correspondence (address, telephone and fax numbers and e-mail address). The covering message must be signed by the corresponding author on behalf of all authors. Also include details of any previous submission. It is also useful to give any information to the Editor-in-Chief to support the submission (e.g. original or confirmatory data, relevance, topicality) or whether any text, figures or tables can be omitted. Authors should suggest up to five reviewers. These suggestions may not always be used.

Randomised controlled trials
All randomised controlled trials submitted for publication in the journal should include a completed Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flow chart. Please refer to the CONSORT statement website at http://www.consort-statement.org/ for more information. Ethics For clinical trials, details of ethical committee approval and the type of informed consent should be stated. Patients' and volunteers' names, initials, and hospital numbers should not be used.

Ethics
For clinical trials, details of ethical committee approval and the type of informed consent should be stated. Patients' and volunteers' names, initials, and hospital numbers should not be used.

Conflict of interest
At the end of the text, under a subheading "Conflict of interest statement" all authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. (See also "Review Process, Acknowledgements and Conflicts of Interest".)

Role of the funding source
All sources of funding should be declared as an acknowledgement at the end of the text.

Previous publication
No substantial part of the manuscript may have been or may be published elsewhere. This restriction does not apply to abstracts or press reports published in connection with scientific meetings. For advice on previous or simultaneous publication, contact the Editor-in-Chief.

Preparation of Manuscripts
Papers submitted for publication should be written concisely and clearly. Manuscripts should be written in English. Authors whose first language is not English are strongly advised to have their manuscripts checked by an English-speaking colleague prior to submission.

Article Types
1. Editorials are either written or commissioned by the Editors and should not exceed 1000 words (not including a maximum of 20 references; one small figure can be included).
2. Commentaries (1000 words not including a maximum of 20 references and one small figure) offer a stimulating, journalistic and accessible insight into issues of common interest. They are usually commissioned by the Editors but unsolicited articles will be considered. Debates comprise two commentaries of opposing or contrasting opinion written by two different groups of authors. Controversial opinions are welcomed as long as they are set in the context of the generally accepted view.
3. Discussions offer a concise, accessible perspective (600 words or fewer plus a maximum of five references; no figure) on a key research paper, usually published in the same or preceding issue of Primary Care Diabetes, providing context for new findings.
4. Original Research Papers should be a maximum of 3000 words (not including up to 50 references and an abstract of up to 200 words structured according to Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusions and Keywords) with no more than five tables or illustrations. Papers should cover research or any other topics relevant to common diabetes conditions, chiefly clinical research with relevance to primary care and research in implementation of evidence-based guidelines. Copies of questionnaires used in the research should also be included. The text should be divided into sections headed Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion. The Discussion should address the following issues:
a) Difficulties encountered during this study;
b) Alternative methodologies that would have been helpful in answering the research question;
c) New questions arising from the study;
d) Changes in your clinical practice as a result of the study.


5. Brief Reports should not exceed 1000 words, including a summary of no more than 50 words (but not including up to 20 references) and may be a preliminary report of work completed, a final report or an observation not requiring a lengthy write-up. A Brief Report may also be written in relation to a recent conference.

6. Review articles should be a maximum of 3000 words, including a summary of no more than 100 words (not including up to 75 references) with subheadings in the text to highlight the content of different sections. Reviews are usually commissioned by the Editors but unsolicited articles will be considered.

7. Letters to the Editor should be no more than 400 words with a maximum of five references and one illustration or table.

Title page
The first page of the manuscript should include the category and title of the manuscript, and full names (including one given name) and institutional affiliations of each author. The author to whom all correspondence should be addressed should be named, accompanied by a complete postal address, telephone, fax and email details of where the author can be contacted. The top left corner of the title and all subsequent pages should be labelled "Version 1"


Text
The text should be clear and concise; abbreviations and jargon are discouraged. Acronyms must be defined in full on first mention in the text. Drugs should be referred to by their generic names, although trade names may follow in parentheses. Data should be expressed in metric units, with Système Internationale (SI) units added. Temperature should be expressed in degrees Celsius and time of day using the 24-hour clock. Suppliers of specific instruments and compounds should be noted in parentheses, including both the company name and city.

Tables and illustrations
Each table should be formatted as double-spaced in a separate document to the manuscript and numbered (using Arabic, not Roman numerals) in the order of appearance in the text, with a short but comprehensive caption. Each table column should have a short heading. Abbreviations may be used, but must be explained in full as footnotes. Units of measure must be clearly indicated. Data reported in tables should not be repeated in the text. Illustrations should be prepared to a professional standard, with lettering/numbering that is sufficiently large as to ensure legibility after reduction for publication. If the subjects of photographs are identifiable, their eyes should be masked or their written permission to use the photograph submitted with the manuscript. All illustrations must be provided as high resolution JPEG files (at least 300dpi). Illustrations may be reduced, cropped or deleted at the discretion of the Editor. A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available at http://ees.elsevier.com/pcd/

Colour reproduction
Submit colour illustrations as original photographs, high-quality computer prints or transparencies, close to the size expected in publication, or as 35mm slides. Polaroid colour prints are not suitable. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding any costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article.

Review Process, Acknowledgements and Conflicts of Interest
All papers will be acknowledged and sent for peer review. All authors will be required to sign a declaration of consent to publish, including listing sources of funding and conflicts of interest as part of the online manuscript submission process. The Editor will decide whether to publish these details. If a manuscript (or part) has been previously presented at a meeting, this must be stated with the name, location and date of the meeting. Only those who have made substantial contributions to the study and/or preparation of the manuscript should be acknowledged and named in full. Papers accepted for publication become the copyright of Primary Care Diabetes Europe. Any reasonable request by an author for permission to reproduce a contribution will not be refused.

References
The author(s) is/are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the references, which should be identified in the text by Arabic numerals within square brackets in the order of first citation (i.e. [1,2]) and listed in numerical order at the end of the text. References must include author(s) last name(s), preceded by initials (listing all authors if four or fewer, or the first three authors followed by et al. if five or more), title of article, title of journal abbreviated according to the Index Medicus, volume (and supplement if appropriate), year of publication in parentheses, and first and last page numbers.

References to books must include author(s) last name(s) preceded by initials, title of chapter, editor(s) last name(s) and initials, title of book, place of publication, publisher, year of publication, and first and last page numbers. 'Articles in press' can be included in the reference list but submitted work under consideration at a publisher must be cited in the main text as 'Author X, unpublished data'. Draft analyses can be referred to in the main text as 'Author X, personal communication'.

Journal Reference Example
1. A. Ramachandran, C. Snehalatha, V. Vijay et al. Derivation and validation of diabetes risk score for urban Asian Indians. Diab. Res. Clin. Prac. 70 (2005) 63-70.

Book Reference Example
1. P. Drury, W. Gatling, Diabetes: Your Questions Answered, Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 2005.

Electronic Publication
Full text of all papers, as well as supplementary material, is published online at www.sciencedirect.com and http://www.intl.elsevierhealth.com. Elsevier offers an "Articles in Press" service, where accepted articles appear online in advance of print publication.

Proofs
The Publisher reserves the right to proceed with publication if corrections are not communicated. Authors should return corrections within five working days of receipt of the PDF proof. Please note that only one set of corrections will be accepted. Should no corrections be required, please confirm this.

Final article PDF/Offprints
1. A final, formatted PDF for published papers will be supplied to authors free of charge for personal use.
2. Offprints can be printed on request and completion of an offprint order form. Information about Primary Care Diabetes is available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.primary-care-diabetes.com/

All manuscripts should be submitted to http://ees.elsevier.com/pcd/

Please send any enquiries to the Publisher:
Andrew Miller
Executive Publisher
Elsevier, Health Sciences
The Boulevard
Langford Lane
Kidlington, Oxford
OX5 1GB
UK
Tel.: +44 (0)1865 843823
Fax: +44 (0)1865 843997
andrew.miller@elsevier.com