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In Practice Instructions for Authors
The majority of the clinical and business/management articles published in In Practice are commissioned by the In Practice Editorial Board. However, suggestions for articles to be considered by the board are welcome. These should be sent to In Practice, BMJ Group, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JR, UK, or emailed to inpractice{at}bva-edit.co.uk, and accompanied by a brief (up to 200 word) synopsis.
The intended audience is the general veterinary practitioner who may be unfamiliar with the specific subject of the article. The approach should be simple and straightforward, with the emphasis on readability and the use of illustrations to make the article visually attractive.
Articles are peer-reviewed.
All material published is the copyright of The British Veterinary Association.
Text
Length
Clinical articles should not exceed 3000 words. The maximum word length for business/management articles is 2000 words. Word limits do not include tables or diagrams.
Format
Manuscripts should be submitted to the editorial office via inpractice{at}bva-edit.co.uk or in hard copy format, typed, double-line spaced and on one side of the paper only. All pages should be numbered.
References/Further reading
As the article should be in the form of an ‘opinionated review’, any references should be kept to a minimum. References should, however, be included if there is a point of contention, or when referring to new work (within the past two years) or specific results of studies. A short selection of key texts can be provided separately as a further reading list.
References
In the text, references should be cited as follows: Smith (1995) described.../...recorded earlier (Brown and Jones 1994, Smith and others 1997). Lists of references should be given in date order in the text, but alphabetically in the reference list.
In the reference list, all authors’ names and initials should be given followed by the date, title of the paper, full title of the journal, volume number and full page range, eg: SMITH, A. B., JONES, C. D. & BROWN, E. F. (1995) How to list your references. Veterinary Record xxx, 71-76
Book references should include the chapter title if appropriate, the full title of the book, the edition, the editors, the town of publication, publisher and page numbers of material referred to, eg: SMITH, A. B., JONES, C. D. & BROWN, E. F. (1993) How to list your references. In Getting It Right. 3rd edn. Eds S. Adams, J. Alexander. London, Society of Reference Publishers. pp 23-37
Proceedings should include the title of the paper given at the meeting, proceedings title, the editors (if applicable), town, country, month date a to b, year, and page numbers (if applicable), eg: MILLER, W. (1976) A state-transition model of epidemic foot-and-mouth disease. Proceedings of an International Symposium: New Techniques in Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics. Reading, UK, July 12 to 15, 1976. p 56
Websites should include the title of the page, website address and date accessed, eg: DEFRA (2001) Explanation of Foot and Mouth Restrictions. www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/fmd/disease/restrictions/explanation.asp. Accessed August 24, 2001
Personal communications should be cited within the text and follow the form ‘A. B. Smith, personal communication’.
Medicines
Drugs should be referred to by their Recommended International Non-Proprietary Name, as used in the sixth edition of The Veterinary Formulary (London, Pharmaceutical Press 2005) and listed on the website of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. When referring to a specific commercial product, the manufacturer’s name should be given. If an article refers to medicinal products not licensed for use in animals, or not for the application described, this must be made clear.
Parasitic infections
Parasitic infections should be referred to according to the Standardised Nomenclature of Parasitic Diseases (SNOPAD) guidelines, which are summarised by the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology.
Units
All units of measurement should be given in the metric system or in SI units. Temperatures should be in °C.
Ethics
Where applicable, a brief discussion of any ethical considerations should be included, with a view to raising awareness and guiding the veterinary practitioner in the principles of ethical decision-making.
What’s new?
Current lines of research that are likely to have significant practical applications in the future may be discussed in a ‘What’s new?’ section at the end of the article. These more ‘cutting edge’ developments should be summarised briefly in the context of the topic under discussion.
Illustrations
Two hard copy print-outs of all illustrations should be supplied, in colour if possible. Please send these even if you have also supplied electronic versions.
Illustrations may be supplied in the form of:
Endoscopy images should ideally be taken using an endoscope camera, rather than scanned from a monitor or screen. Details of the original magnification and stain used should be included for histology or cytology images.
Pictures of individual medicinal products should be avoided. Where it is desirable to illustrate therapeutic agents, a composite image showing a selection of available products is preferable.
If images require arrows, labels etc, please indicate these on the hard copy only, so that the journal can ensure a consistent style in print.
Where illustrations loaned by a third party, or already published in another work, are used within an article, the author should ensure that express permission has been obtained and should supply an appropriate acknowledgement.
Further guidelines for authors submitting electronic illustrations were published in In Practice, January 2006, volume 28, page 46.
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