Author Guidelines for the Journal of Analytical Toxicology

6600 W. Touhy Ave.
Niles, IL 60714
Tel: 847.647.2900
Fax: 847.647.1155
circulation@jatox.com

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Purpose

The Journal accepts original, full-length manuscripts, short communications, and commissioned review articles relating to the isolation, identification, quantitation, and interpretation of potentially toxic substances and their biotransformation products in specimens of human, animal, or environmental origin. The articles should pertain especially to the monitoring of drugs and therapeutic agents and environmental and industrial contaminants, clinical reports of poisonings (with analytical data), the development of analytical techniques, and the interpretation of the results of toxicological investigations. The methods should be applicable to the fields of forensic science, therapeutic drug monitoring, drugs-of-abuse testing, clinical and forensic toxicology, and industrial hygiene.

The Journal is published nine times per year in January/February, March, April, May, June, July/August, September, October (Society of Forensic Toxicologists’ Special Issue), and November/December.

All manuscripts and correspondence should be directed to
Managing Editor, Editorial Offices,
Journal of Analytical Toxicology,
6600 West Touhy Avenue,
P.O. Box 48312, Niles, Illinois 60714 U.S.A.
phone: 847.647.2900 x1301, fax: 847.647.1155,
e-mail: jweber@jatox.com

Queries regarding the suitability of manuscripts for publication in the Journal should be directed to
Editor-in-Chief, Bruce A. Goldberger, Ph.D.,
University of Florida,
P.O. Box 100275, Gainesville, Florida 32610-0275 U.S.A.
e-mail: bruce-goldberger@ufl.edu

Correspondence from the editorial office or the Editor-in-Chief will be with the corresponding author, unless otherwise indicated.

Form

The style of the manuscript should conform to currently acceptable usage in matters of grammar and syntax. Further information can be found in The ACS Style Guide: A Manual for Authors and Editors, 2nd ed. American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., 1997.

Language
The Journal accepts manuscripts in English only.

Manuscript Submission

The Journal prefers to receive all manuscript submissions electronically. To submit a manuscript, please follow the instructions below:

Getting Started

Launch your web browser (Internet Explorer 5 or higher, Netscape 6 or higher, or Safari) and go to the Journal’s Manuscript Central homepage (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jat).

Log-in or click the “Create Account” option if you are a first-time user of Manuscript Central.

If you are creating a new account:

After clicking on “Create Account” enter your name and e-mail information and click “Next”. Your e-mail information is very important.

Enter your institution and address information as prompted then click “Next.”

Enter a user ID and password of your choice (we recommend using your e-mail address as your user ID) and then select your area of expertise.

Click “Finish” when done.

Log-in and select “Author Center.”

Submitting Your Manuscript

After you have logged in, click the “Submit a Manuscript” link in the menu bar.

Enter data and answer questions as prompted

Click on the “Next” button on each screen to save your work and advance to the next screen.

You will be prompted to upload your files:

Click on the “Browse” button and locate the file on your computer.

Select the description of the file in the drop down next to the Browse button.

When you have selected all files you wish to upload, click the “Upload” button.

NOTE: you have a limit of 100 MB combined for all files you upload.

Review your submission (in both PDF and HTML formats) before sending to the Editors. Click the “Submit” button when you are done reviewing.

You may stop a submission at any phase and save it to submit later. After submission, you will receive a confirmation via e-mail. You can also log-on to Manuscript Central any time to check the status of your manuscript. The Editors will inform you via e-mail once a decision has been made.

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Abstracts

Each manuscript, with the exception of short technical notes and letters to the Editor, must be accompanied by an abstract of 200 words or less stating, in a short, concise manner, the objectives of the study, the techniques used, and what was accomplished. The abstract will be transferred in its entirety to abstracting services such as PubMed (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed).

Text

Articles should be organized using some or all the following headings: Introduction, Experimental, Apparatus, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgments, and References. The text should describe the equipment and method(s) in sufficient detail to permit duplication of the results.

Abbreviations and Units

Abbreviations that are accepted and recognized as common scientific terminology may be used without definition. All nonstandard abbreviations should be defined at that point in the text where they first appear.
The international system of units (IUPAC) is the preferred system for expressing measurements. Some examples of the abbreviations for these units are:

Area: m2, cm2, mm2
Length: m, cm, mm
Mass: kg, g, mg, µg, ng, pg
Mass concentration: g/L, mg/L, µg/L
Volume: L, mL, µL

The preferred concentration units for volatiles such as ethanol are g/100 mL, g/dL, or mg/dL.

Figures

Graphs, diagrams, chromatograms, photos, etc. should be prepared as clear, black and white (no color), original positives, suitable for reproduction. All graphs should be produced in two dimensions. Glossy prints or high-resolution (600 dpi minimum) laser prints are preferred. (See Electronic Submissions section for digital format information.) Captions will be typeset and should be clearly indicated on a separate piece of paper. Only one original set of artwork is necessary, and photocopies are acceptable for informational purposes. The editorial offices should be advised if original artwork is to be returned.

Digitally enhanced data should be accompanied by a set of original data.

Tables and Equations

Tables should be submitted on a separate piece of paper and not placed within the text. Tables are typically reserved for tabulation of numerical data; other information should be included in the text.

Equations should be typed clearly showing superscripts and subscripts. The equations should be marked Eq. 1, Eq. 2, etc.

Method Validation

All analytical methods described must be validated. This includes, when appropriate, the assessment of intra- and inter- accuracy and precision, recovery, limits of detection (sensitivity) and quantitation, range of linearity, specificity, and stability. When appropriate, methodology papers should include clinical data. Authentic samples must be analyzed and their sources described, and relevant data should be presented. Additional information can be found at www.fda.gov/cder/guidance/4252fnl.htm.

References

All references should be cited at the end of the paper and listed consecutively as they appear in the text. References should be listed in the text by number in parentheses, for example, (1) or (1–5). The following are formats and examples for citing references:

Journals: (A) first author’s initials followed by the last name; (B) additional authors are listed in the order in which they appear in the original work; (C) title of article (no subtitles) in lower case; (D) Chemical Abstracts Journal abbreviation; (E) volume number, followed by a colon; (F) inclusive page numbers of article; (G) year of publication in parentheses. Example:

1. B.K. Logan and S. Distefano. Ethanol content of various foods and soft drinks and their potential for interference with a breath-alcohol test. J. Anal. Toxicol. 22: 181–183 (1998).

Books: (A) first author’s initials followed by last name; (B) additional authors (as above); (C) if author is editor, Ed. should follow name; (D) title of book, italicized and upper case; (E) editor, if not listed with authors; (F) publisher; (G) city and state or country of publication; (H) year of publication; (I) specific page numbers or chapters referred to. Examples:

1. R.C. Baselt. Disposition of Toxic Drugs and Chemicals in Man, 7th ed. Biomedical Publications, Foster City, CA, 2004, pp 1024–1025.
2. E.J. Cone and A.J. Jenkins. Saliva drug analysis. In Handbook of Analytical Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Toxicology, S.H.Y. Wong and I. Sunshine, Eds. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1997, pp 303–333.

Unpublished works: If an article has been submitted, but has not been published, as much information as possible should be included, such as authors, title, journal, and year. The use of unpublished works is restricted to works “in press”. The volume and page numbers can be added shortly before publication on the laser proofs. The Journal prohibits the use of personal communications.

Patents: (A) list initials followed by last name of person who applied for the patent; (B) country where patent application was filed; (C) patent number; (D) year. Example:

1. S.T. Preston. U.S. Patent 1234, 1998.

Internet sites: (A) author (if applicable); (B) title of the site; (C) URL; (D) date <month and year> accessed. Example:
1. Journal of Analytical Toxicology. Current contents, www.jatox.com/current.htm, December 2001.

Publication Procedure

Submission of a paper to this journal implies that the manuscript has not been published in, or submitted to, any other journal and that the author(s) have obtained appropriate permission to use data obtained for and contained in the manuscript. Previous presentation at professional meetings should be mentioned in a footnote.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that studies with human subjects are conducted in accordance with the World Medical Association’s “Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects”, and applicable institutional or national law. Authors are also responsible for ensuring that studies with laboratory animals are conducted in accordance with the National Research Council’s “Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals” and applicable institutional or national law. Statements attesting to the compliance with these rules must be included in the manuscript.

All manuscripts are subject to review by two or more independent, anonymous referees chosen by the Editor-in-Chief.

If revision is necessary, the author is asked to resubmit the dated, revised manuscript incorporating the suggestions and recommendations of the referees within three months. Revisions not received within three months from the date of notice must be resubmitted as a new manuscript with reference to the previous submission. All revisions must be accompanied with a letter detailing the changes made to the original document; changes should also be indicated directly on the manuscript (e.g., underlined or colored text). Revisions will be re-reviewed at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

The author of an accepted manuscript will be notified. He/She will receive page proofs for proofreading prior to publication. Responsibility for accuracy in the final copy lies with the author.

The Editor-in-Chief and/or Managing Editor reserve the right to return a manuscript to the corresponding author without peer review if the manuscript does not comply with the Journal’s Guide for Authors.

All submissions are subject to final approval and acceptance for publication by the Editor-in-Chief.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors must explicitly acknowledge all sources of funding and include this information in the Acknowledgment section of the manuscript. Authors must also state other potential conflicts of interest, including financial and non-financial, in the cover letter that accompanies the manuscript submission.

Reprints

Reprints are available to the authors at a nominal cost and can be ordered when the laser proofs are returned. Reprint orders are processed upon receipt of payment.

The publisher of the Journal will secure copyright protection on each issue. Any reproduction of articles, or parts thereof, requires written permission from the publisher. As a matter of policy, this permission is usually granted.

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