Ostomy Wound Management is a peer-reviewed, multispecialty journal focusing on all aspects of wound, continence, ostomy, and skin care. Manuscripts that meet our editorial purpose include but are not limited to:

1) reports of preclinical and clinical research studies that expand existing knowledge

2) case studies and reports that stimulate research and the exchange of clinical information

3) indepth reviews of clinical practice, management, prevention, reimbursement, educational, ethical, and legal issues

4) reviews and reports of contemporary topics in healthcare and healthcare practice that may affect the delivery, reimbursement, or practice of wound, continence, ostomy, or skin care

5) case studies that reflect a unique a) approach to care management or b) use of a particular product or device (Notes on Practice) or consideration of pain (Addressing the Pain)

6) reader a) response to material published in Ostomy Wound Management (Letters to the Editor) and b) thoughts or opinions on issues of interest to wound, ostomy, continence, skin care practice and its related industry (Guest Editorials and Can We Talk?).

Ostomy Wound Management is indexed in MEDLINE© and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL©).

Because the Ostomy Wound Management Editorial Board (comprised of the Editorial Advisory Board and the Editorial Review Board) recognizes the importance of a timely exchange of scientific information, authors usually receive a decision about their manuscript within 6 weeks following submission and most submissions are published within 3 to 6 months following receipt of the final manuscript (see III).

I. Submission Criteria/Ethical and Legal Considerations

A. Copyrights

In accordance with American Medical Association (AMA), American Psychological Association (APA), and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines, duplicate or redundant publication of manuscripts is generally unacceptable. Failure to disclose the existence of duplicate articles, manuscripts, or other material is unethical and may represent a violation of copyright law.1 - 4 Exceptions to this rule, providing proper attribution to the report or disclosure of presentation is provided, may include: summaries or abstracts of findings printed in conference proceedings, short reports of author findings distributed at meetings, reports from government documents or reports in the public domain, and translation of reports in another language.1 Material directly quoted from previously published work can be incorporated in a short quotation (with appropriate attribution). Approval from the copyright holder (institution, publisher or author) to use more than 40 words or any tables, figures, and photographs from previously published work must be obtained in writing and provided to the Editors.

Manuscripts submitted to Ostomy Wound Management are accepted with the understanding that they have not been previously published and are not submitted for review elsewhere. Following submission of the manuscript, authors will be asked to sign a statement that the manuscript is original and does not contain substantial amounts of information or data that has been published elsewhere or has been submitted for review and publication elsewhere (journal/book/electronic publication medium). The author(s) also will be asked to sign a copyright transfer, previous presentation/publication information, and financial support disclosure agreement. If the manuscript is not accepted for publication, the copyright transfer agreement will be returned to the author. Manuscripts accepted for publication are copyrighted in the volume and issue published. Materials reproduced without permission from HMP Communications, LLC cannot exceed 50 words. Following publication of the manuscript, the author (see “corresponding author” under Submission process) will receive five complimentary copies of the issue in which his/her article appears and a honorarium of $50.00 per published page up to $300.00 per publication. Authors receive a discount when ordering reprints of their publications.

B. Authorship and Acknowledgment

Criteria for authorship, as defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and adopted by Ostomy Wound Management include:

1. substantial contributions to the conception and design, acquisition of data and literature, or analysis and interpretation of data
2. drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content
3. final approval of the version to be published.

If the manuscript is accepted for publication, authors will be asked to sign an authorship and content responsibility statement. If a person does not meet all the above-mentioned authorship criteria but has made important contributions to the manuscript, his/her efforts should be acknowledged at the end of the manuscript. For example, if a large, multicenter study has been conducted, members of the group who do not meet the authorship criteria listed above will be identified in the acknowledgment section.

C. Errors and Misconduct

If an author identifies an error after the manuscript has been published, he/she must contact the Editor as soon as possible and prepare a letter correcting the error(s) for publication in the journal. The Editorial Policy Committee of the Council of Science Editors4 has identified the following general areas of research misconduct: a) unethical treatment of research subjects, b) fabrication of data, c) falsification of data, and d) plagiarism. The latter includes the use of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit. When a manuscript has been accepted for publication, all authors will be asked to sign a statement related to data integrity, accuracy, and adherence to guidelines for conducting research in humans and animals. If the editors become aware of research misconduct after a manuscript has been published, the editors will contact the authors and notify the readers.

II. Submission Process

Ostomy Wound Management will work with one author (designated the “corresponding author”) who will be responsible for all correspondence regarding submission, review, revision, and acceptance. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all deadlines are met and all documents are distributed to additional authors and returned promptly. It is also the author’s responsibility to keep the Editors abreast of his/her reliable contact information.

Electronic submissions are encouraged. Manuscripts may be submitted to the Editor via email as Word documents. Tables should appear at the end of the manuscript. Photographs (high resolution) and figures should not be embedded in the Word document; they should be provided as separate files. All submissions must include: 1) a cover letter, 2) a signed financial disclosure, copyrights, and previous publication statement (see below), and 3) a title page. If submitting a hard copy, authors also must include 1) four complete, double-spaced copies of the manuscript, and 2) a 3.5" computer diskette or CD (Macintosh diskettes using Microsoft Word are preferred but others are acceptable). Electronic submission of photos must comply with current HIPAA regulations protecting patient identity.

Manuscripts should be submitted to:

Barbara C. Zeiger

Editor

Ostomy Wound Management

HMP Communications

83 General Warren Blvd.

Suite 100

Malvern, PA 19355

(800) 237-7285, ext. 244

(610) 560-0500, ext. 244

(610)560-0502 (fax)

Email: bzeiger@hmpcommunications.com

III. The Manuscript Review and Publication Process

Before writing the manuscript, authors are encouraged to contact the Editor by email or phone. In addition, prospective authors may want to discuss their ideas with our clinical editors or Editorial Board members. All manuscripts submitted go through at least two review cycles. First, the editors consider the appropriateness, timeliness, and relevance of the manuscript/manuscript topic for publication in the journal and review the content vis-à-vis the Ostomy Wound Management submission criteria. Following the first level review, the manuscript may be forwarded for peer review or the author may receive a letter indicating that the manuscript is not accepted for publication or that revisions are needed. The second level (peer) review process involves a minimum of two Editorial Review Board and one Editorial Advisory Board member. The manuscript peer review process is double-blind; the identity of the author(s) is not revealed to the reviewers and authors should not identify themselves in the manuscript. Manuscripts are reviewed for accuracy, their contribution to new knowledge, relevance to the focus of the journal, timeliness, and originality. This part of the review process takes approximately 6 weeks and the author(s) will receive a letter indicating whether the manuscript has been accepted for publication.

All reviewer comments and revision requests are shared with the author. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, authors will be asked to return the revised manuscript after approximately 2 to 3 weeks. Manuscripts will not be entered into the publication line-up until the revised manuscript has been received and reviewed.

Once galley proofs have been prepared, the author(s) will have a relatively quick turn-around time (2 to 3 business days) to approve the final manuscript and/or make minor changes. The Editors will try to provide advance notice of the month of impending publication to ensure author availability for final approval.

IV. Preparing the Manuscript

The majority of manuscripts published in Ostomy Wound Management are reports of clinical or preclinical studies, review articles, methodological articles, case studies, and theoretical articles. All follow the same general format outlined below and prospective authors are strongly encouraged to review general guidelines for preparing manuscripts in the AMA Manual of Style.1 The generally accepted manuscript length is 18 to 25 type-written, double-spaced pages (not including tables and figures).

Failure to comply with these guidelines will delay review/publication.

A. Title

The title of the manuscript should convey the topic (eg, clinical condition or concern) and method (eg, literature review, randomized controlled clinical study)

B. Abstract

All manuscripts should be accompanied by a 150 to 200 word abstract containing:

1. an introductory statement about the topic and/or concern
2. purpose of the paper or study
3. method used
4. most salient findings, results, or observations
5. conclusion.

To ensure appropriate indexing, authors are also encouraged to provide three to five keywords using the MESH vocabulary of the National Library of Medicine. Authors can use the MESH Section tool for searching the vocabulary using the MESH Browser at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html. Start with specific words or short expressions. Consider using two or three terms to best describe the essential subject(s) of the manuscript. It is best to avoid entering a sentence or article title — the results may not be useful.

C. Introduction and/or Literature Review

Generally, the purpose of an introduction and/or literature review is to describe the topic, summarize previous research and existing evidence, and identify relationships, contradictions, gaps and inconsistencies.

When summarizing previous research, it is important to use pertinent, primary/original references and sources of information. Secondary information sources (eg, review articles) may be appropriate at times but should be identified as such. For example, one can identify a secondary source by describing the statement as based on “a literature review or meta-analysis conducted by…….”.

Similarly, to help readers understand the strength of existing evidence, authors should describe the study type, design, and sample size of studies reviewed in their manuscript.

D. Study/publication purpose

The study/publication purpose or hypothesis flows from and follows the introduction or literature review and can be included at the end of that section or be described under a separate heading.

E. Methods and Procedures

The study design is described and all procedures used in the process of gathering the information/data are included in this section and should include (as appropriate):

1. study enrollment criteria and study or data collection duration
2. enrollment or literature search methods used
3. description of all variables, methods and instruments
4. data collection, management and analysis methods used.

References for existing instruments as well as information about their validity and reliability must be included. Furthermore, methods used to ensure that the rights and dignity of all subjects involved in the study were protected and applicable animal rights procedures were followed need to be described in this section (See Ethical Considerations).

If the study itself or data collection/retrieval/analysis involved the use commercially available products, the proprietary product name and applicable copyright or trademark information should be included in this section. If a product is described/mentioned again in the manuscript, the generic name can be included in parentheses following the proprietary product name in the Methods section and only the generic name or product code should be used thereafter.

F. Results

Detailed findings and results of all variables collected and analyzed are described in the text and, if appropriate, presented in tables and figures. Tables and figures are an efficient way to present a large amount of data supplementing, not duplicating, the text. All numbers (not just percentages, averages, and the like) must be included in both tables and text. Figures are usually reserved for showing data patterns. Color photographs also can be very helpful for illustrating observations.

Tables, figures, and illustrations should be numerically labeled in the order in which they are cited in the text (eg, “see Figure 1”) and should be labeled clearly. Titles and legends can be printed above, below, or next to the figure or table, or on a separate page following the conclusion. Legends should provide enough detail to make illustrations comprehensible without reference to the text. When needed, a label indicating the top of the illustration may be affixed to the back. Illustrations and tables should not be embedded within the text. Examples of submissions include:

1. photos: one set of photographs should be submitted. They may be emailed as high-resolution JPG files or submitted as glossy black and white or color prints. The preferred size is 13 cm x 17 cm (5 inches x 7 inches). If the photo file is too large for email, the Editor may be contacted for instructions on upload to our FTP site
2. drawings and graphics: line drawings, graphs, and charts are acceptable. A JPG file may be created and emailed or hard copies may be sent and should be should be printed in crisp black ink on white paper, or photographed and sent as prints. Do not send original artwork.
3. tables: tables, submitted on a separate page, should be printed in crisp black ink on white paper and may be included at the end of the Word document.

See AMA manual of style for guidance on using and developing tables and figures.

G. Discussion

The discussion section contains an evaluation and interpretation of the results and observations, especially with respect to the study or project hypothesis or purpose. The most salient findings are highlighted while similarities and differences between the results described and previously published studies and observations are examined.

Limitations of the project or study (eg, small sample size, methodological limitations) are also described in the discussion section.

H. Conclusion

The results and examination of earlier research support the conclusion of the paper. Potential implications for clinical practice and future research should also be described.

I. Acknowledgment (optional)

Additional contribution of human or financial resources are included here.

J. References

AMA style dictates that references are numbered chronologically as they appear in the text. If a reference is cited multiple times, it is noted using the number of its initial appearance. References are listed at the end of manuscript and in the numerical order in which they appear in the text. Choose references judiciously and include only those that were important in the work reported. All information needed to identify and retrieve the source must be included. For example:

References to publications in journals, magazines, and other periodicals must include (please note appropriate punctuation):

Author name(s) — last name and initials. Title of the article/work. Title of the periodical. Year; volume (issue number): page numbers.

References to book chapters include:

Author name(s). Title of the chapter. In: Editor(s) name(s) (ed[s]). Title of the book. Location of publisher: Publisher name; Year: page numbers,

Reference to an online source of information:

Author name(s). Title of the work. Available at: provide htttp://site. Accessed month, day, year.

V. Cover Letter and Disclosures

The cover letter should indicate the manuscript title and the corresponding author and provide a complete address, daytime telephone number, fax number, and email address when available. If the manuscript contains case study or research information, the corresponding author should explain in the cover letter how the rights and dignity of all subjects involved were protected. Photographs will not be published without a signed statement of consent from the subject (or if the patient is a minor, from both parents or the legal guardian).

Recently announced Standards for Commercial Support by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, coupled with current market dynamics, have impacted the review/disclosure/publication process. Please note that Ostomy Wound Management has and will continue to uphold these standards in its articles (see I, II and III).

The following disclosures/information signed by all authors must be included in the cover letter or on a separate page:

Financial disclosure. When no financial support has been, or will be, received: “The author(s) herewith certifies that he/she have no commercial, proprietary, or financial interest in the products or companies described in the manuscript. The author(s) did not receive grants or a consultant honorarium to conduct the study, write the manuscript or otherwise assist in the development of the above-mentioned manuscript.” When financial support has been received, sponsorship should be acknowledged. For example: “The author(s) herewith certify that he/she has received monetary compensation to… (eg, conduct the study, write the manuscript, lecture for the company producing the products discussed, or similar activity) from… (name of company or organization that provided the grant).”

Ethical considerations. “The author(s) herewith certifies that he/she is responsible for the contents of the manuscript. He/she has complied with the guidelines for conducting research in human subjects (and, if appropriate, FDA guidelines).” Authors submitting results of preclinical research should inform the editor about methods used to adhere to animal welfare regulations.

Disclosure of publication/copyright transfer. “The author(s) herewith certifies that the manuscript has not been submitted for review and publication to any other journal and that the material has been prepared specifically and solely for Ostomy Wound Management.” Or, “The author(s) herewith inform the editors that…(eg, the results of this study were presented at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care, Miami Beach, Fla, 1998 and the abstract published; or, a synopsis of the enclosed manuscript has been distributed during a staff meeting at Mercy General Hospital in May 1998).”

“In consideration of the action of the Editors of Ostomy Wound Management in reviewing and editing this submission, the author(s) hereby transfers, assigns, or otherwise conveys all copyright ownership to Ostomy Wound Management in the event that such work is published in Ostomy Wound Management.”

Acknowledgment

Ostomy Wound Management editorial policies for authors, reviewers, and editorial staff are based on the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication.3 For complete guidelines, please visit: http://www.icmje.org/

References

1. American Medical Association. Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors, 9th ed. Chicago, Ill: Williams & Wilkins;1998.

2. American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association;1994.

3. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Available at: http://www.icmje.org/. Accessed January 22, 2007.

4. Editorial Policy Committee (2005-2006), Council of Science Editors. CSE’s White paper on promoting integrity in scientific journal publications. Available at: http://www.CouncilScienceEditors.org. Accessed January 22, 2007.