Aims and Objectives

HERPES, the Journal of the International Herpes Management Forum (IHMF^®), is a review journal published three times a year. The journal aims to provide clinicians with a regular update on key issues and recommendations relating to all aspects of the patient management of herpesvirus infections and their sequelae. The publication is structured to be educational, informative and up to date.

Readership

The journal communicates to a broad range of clinicians who deal with herpesvirus infection, including: general practitioners, virologists, dermatologists, venereologists, paediatricians, gynaecologists, haematologists, infectious disease physicians, obstetricians, oncologists and ophthalmologists. The publication is also used for the teaching of medical/virology students.

Article Structure

To be readily understood to such a diverse yet specialized audience, the structure of the introduction and the first part of the article is important to draw the reader’s attention to the key issues.

Contributors are requested to begin with an opening paragraph which provides some basic background information and which familiarizes the readers with the issues relevant to the topic under review. Pertinent questions/challenges should be clearly introduced so that the reader understands the motivation of the author in writing the article.

Subsequent to the general introduction, the author can assume that the readership has acquired sufficient knowledge to understand a more in-depth discussion of the issues. However, please keep the overall messages of the article clear. Illustrations (photographs, graphs, flow charts, etc.) and tables which summarize and reinforce key points in the text are of particular value.

All articles should finish with a conclusion section. This should highlight any crucial gaps in our current understanding. Further research that is either required, or is taking place, to address these issues needs to be mentioned. The conclusion should also provide an indication for future directions in the given subject area. For example, the author may wish to highlight the implications of the latest evidence for clinical trials and/or patient management.

Articles should not have been published before, or be currently submitted to any other publication. All articles are peer-reviewed by at least two independent reviewers.

Categories of Articles

Review and original articles should be of sufficient length to give adequate coverage while remaining focused. As a guide, reviews are normally in the region of 2000 words in length (excluding references, tables and figures). Colour photographs and good illustrations are especially welcome.

Case studies submitted to the journal should aim to highlight an unusual aspect of a case, for example, an atypical case presentation or treatment; however, case reports with a teaching focus will also be considered. Case studies should be structured around the following heading: Abstract; Introduction; Case presentation (including patient background, symptoms, diagnosis, treatments and outcome); Discussion; Conclusion; Acknowledgement(s); and References. This type of article should be around 1200 words in length with perhaps one table or figure and about 10 key references.

Meeting Reports: Forum for Discussion articles and Editorials should normally be between 500 and 1000 words for each contributor. Up to four illustrations may accompany this type of article.

Letters to Editors

Readers are positively encouraged to comment on the topics covered in Herpes and on any other issues related to patient management in herpesvirus infections. Decisions regarding publication of correspondence will be based on timeliness, interest to the readers of Herpes and space available. Letters may be submitted on disk or via e-mail, c/o the Publishing Editor, Editorial Office, Herpes, Cambridge Medical Publications, Wicker House, High Street, Worthing, West Sussex BN11 1DJ, UK.

E-mail: Herpes Journal

Guidelines for Article Preparation

Original manuscripts should be submitted in accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts to Biomedical Journals available at http://www.icmje.org.

Title page: The first page should include the title of the article, the name(s) of author(s) in full (including first names) together with respective titles and main degrees. The name, address, telephone/fax numbers and e-mail address for correspondence should be clearly indicated.

Text: All submissions should be in English, typed in double spacing with generous margins on one side only. Number all the pages consecutively including the references, tables, and figure legends. In general, please avoid abbreviations. If abbreviations are used, they should be fully defined. Metric SI units should be used consistently. Please use the World Health Organization International Non-Proprietary Name for drugs, which may be followed by proprietary names and laboratory codes in parentheses at the first mention.

Summary: A short summary of the article should be included. This should not exceed 150 words.

Keywords: Please include up to 10 key words.

Figures/tables: Illustrations and other line drawings need not be submitted as finished artwork; hand- or computer-generated drawings are sufficient, providing they are clear and correctly annotated. Images supplied electronically must be of a resolution of at least 300 dpi at the size at which they are to be reproduced. Please consider whether the information contained within a table may be more effectively presented as a figure. Please make copies of any slides that are to be submitted with your manuscript.

References: Up to 50 references should be included. These should be in Vancouver style with six authors and be numbered in the order in which they are cited. Reference numbers should be superscript and positioned after punctuation. Authors are responsible for the correct citation of all references.

- For example, journals: Guess HA, Broughton DD, Melton JL, Jones BA, Barrett NJ, Spencer MB et al. Population-based studies of varicella complications. Paediatrics 1986;78:723–727.

Journals cited in the references should be abbreviated according to the style used by Index Medicus. This is published annually by the National Library of Medicine or can be obtained through the web at: www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html

- For example, books: Whitley RJ. Varicella zoster virus infections. In: Antiviral Agents and Viral Disease of Man (Galasso GJ, Whitley RJ, Merigan TC, eds). New York: Raven Press 1990; pp20–25.

Copyright

A condition of publication is that all authors assign the copyright of their article to Cambridge Medical Publications (CMP) using the appropriate form which will be provided by CMP upon acceptance of the manuscript for publication. The intention of this is to prevent any unauthorized use of all or part of the article and to protect the authors’ moral rights to paternity and integrity. When using material reproduced from another source, the author is requested to enclose the appropriate written permission(s) from the copyright holder(s) at the time of submission of the manuscript.

Submission

Preferred submission is by e-mail or disk in any format which is PC or Mac compatible. Please ensure you can send (fax or post) permissions to reproduce figures and tables, and that images supplied electronically are of a resolution of at least 300 dpi at the size at which they are to be reproduced.

Please send all correspondence to: The Publishing Editor, HERPES, Cambridge Medical Publications (a division of PAREXEL MMS Europe Ltd), Wicker House, High Street, Worthing, West Sussex BN11 1DJ, UK. Telephone: +44 (0) 1903 288000; Facsimile: +44 (0) 1903 288292; E-mail: Herpes Journal