Author Guidelines

  1. Preparing for submission
  2. Acceptable use of AI-assisted technologies in articles
  3. Article types
  4. Formatting your article
    A: Narrative Articles
    B: Case Reports
  5. Formatting Revisions
  6. Figures, tables, file size and formatting
  7. English language
  8. Data and supporting information
  9. Depositing availability statement
  10. Referencing style
  11. House style

Preparing for submission

Editors welcome educational articles related to any aspect of perioperative medicine and recognise the importance of attracting a wide variety of professional participants to reflect the multi-disciplinary nature of this growing specialty.

Examples of topics:

  • Pharmacy interventions in surgical patient care
  • An interesting clinical case focussing on a single aspect of management
  • Bedside nursing skills, tricks and tips
  • Clinical management
  • The use of data
  • Therapies to improve recovery and wellbeing of patients

Submissions should be written for clinical staff across specialities, whether they be doctors, nurses or allied health professionals who care for patients contemplating, undergoing or recovering from surgery. The article should be accessible to a novice and engaging to a senior clinician.

All authors submitting to APOC must read and accept the UCL Press Journals Editorial Policy and consent to the Journal Contributor Agreement.

When you are ready you can submit here:

Start Submission

Anonymisation

The journal operates double anonymised peer review, where both the reviewers and authors are anonymised to each other during review. Authors should submit an anonymous version of the manuscript, stripped of all identifying references to the author(s) for peer review. Authors should submit their manuscript as:

  1. The complete manuscript not blinded, as a word file (.doc/.docx, etc.) and;
  2. An anonymous PDF version of the manuscript, stripped of all identifying references to the author(s) for peer review (anonymisation includes references to authors, acknowledgements, self-references, and any electronic author identification., etc.). Manuscripts may be returned before peer review if manuscripts are not sufficiently anonymised.

ORCiD

ORCiD helps researchers record and report their work by providing researchers with a personal unique identifier that can be kept throughout their career. UCL Press journals implement ORCiD in publications and authors are encouraged to register with ORCiD and enter their ORCiD details into their submission as a URL link or ORCiD number. To register, follow the instructions on the ORCiD web pages at https://orcid.org.


Acceptable use of AI-assisted technologies in articles

Please refer to UCL Press's Principles on the use of AI-assisted technologies in articles here.

Broadly, the use of AI-assisted technologies and tools should not replace key authoring tasks and applying AI technology should be done with transparency and human oversight. All the work should be reviewed and edited carefully, because AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased.

Any use of AI assisted technologies in an article must be made apparent by way of clear disclosure of its use. Authors must declare how and where they have used AI-assisted technologies in their work by including an appropriate statement, for example: 'AI-use disclosure: Artificial intelligence tools were used solely for language polishing and formatting. All clinical content, interpretation, references and final revisions were undertaken and verified independently by the authors.'


Article types

Article type Description
Narrative Articles Narrative articles are based on clinical vignettes and created to provide a framework for discussion and maximise learning. These are not based on real individual patients and do not describe discrete patient interactions or outcomes. The objective is to summarise an interesting topic in perioperative medicine in response to a specific clinical question posed by the author(s).

Before submitting, authors are requested to please refer to the journals Narrative Articles (clinical vignettes) formatting guidelines here and to use the Narrative Article Template, an already-formatted Word file for authors to add their text.
Case Reports
 Case reports involving novel or educational series of one to five patients within any aspect of perioperative medicine. Consent for publication and CARE checklist are requirements for submission. The goal is to use the real or the case of interest to illustrate an interesting finding, shared learning to improve educational uptake.

Before submitting, authors are requested to please refer to the journals Case Reports formatting guidelines here and to use the Case Report Template, an already-formatted Word file for authors to add their text.
Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor (500 words) are welcome for submission and should focus on previous published articles in the journal that are of general interest to the community and field. Letters to the Editor may be subject to peer-review after initial consideration by the Editors and therefore should be requested with the Editors by email before formal submission at apoc@ucl.ac.uk

Formatting your article

It makes a huge difference to the ease of production if you read and adhere to these author guidelines when preparing your manuscript. This will ultimately aid authors by ensuring submissions are formatted properly and are ready for peer review.


Title page

All submissions should have attached as the first page(s) a title page in the non-anonymised word file and include all of the information below, in the same order. No further information should be included:

  1. Title of the manuscript
  2. Full name(s) of contributing authors including their job title, institutions/affiliation, their institutional email address and ORCiD IDs (where available).
  3. The corresponding author should be clearly identified and include their contact email address (this should be your professionally designated email address).

Headings and sub-headings

Up to three level headings may be present and must be clearly identifiable using different font sizes, bold or italics. We suggest using Headings 1, 2 and 3 in MS-Word’s ‘Style’ section.


Guidance for submitting Narrative Articles (clinical vignettes)

Please read through the following specific guidance on formatting Narrative and Clinical Vignettes articles only. Submissions that are not formatting accordingly may be returned after submitting to the journal and requested to re-format according to these guidelines.

A template for Narrative Articles is available here.


Formatting your Narrative Article (clinical vignettes)


  1. Abstract

    Present the abstract as an overview of your clinical vignette (100-150 words), giving a summary of the clinical problem, discussion and intended learning outcomes.


  2. Keywords

    All articles must list a minimum of four key words to a maximum of ten.

  3. Intended learning outcomes

    All articles must list up to four learning outcomes in bullet point form.
    Stating the intended learning outcomes (ILOs) of your case study or clinical vignette allows readers to focus on clear messages in your manuscript.
    ILOs will:

    • Include only the most important outcomes.
    • Include summaries from the main body of text of your manuscript so readers understand from the outset what learning opportunities your case study or clinical vignette will provide.

    Advances in Perioperative Care presents ILOs in a standardised format to help clear communication. For examples of ILOs in published work see here: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444/apoc.3527.


  4. Main text

    The body of the submission should be structured in a logical and easy to follow manner, under the following sequence:

    Clinical vignette/case history. Max of 200 words (no minimum).
    This should be brief and lead naturally into the topic of discussion. End your case history by asking a specific question, it should flow from the case history. Limit the question to one sentence.

    Discussion (1,500 words)
    The discussion section is limited to 1500 words (+/- 10%) to encourage authors to write in a concise narrative. The discussion section is not expected to be a review of the whole subject area, but an answer to a focused question. Authors can include figures, illustrations and tables in this section. Figures and illustrations should be titled, and the caption should include the original source. Permission should be sought to reproduce figures and illustrations before submission.


  5. Funding and acknowledgements

    Funding
    All sources of funding for the research reported should be declared, including any project and grant codes and details.

    Acknowledgements
    Mentions everyone whose contribution to the work you wish to recognise.


  6. Declarations and conflicts of interest

    Clearly state the following in the article as sub-headings under the following headings.

    Conflicts of interest
    Clearly declare any possible conflicts of interest, including but not limited to financial and non-financial competing interests. Where there are no conflicts or competing interests, authors must clearly declare this under the same heading. For further information, please refer to the journal’s Editorial Policy at https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/site/editorial_policy.

    Ethics approval
    Authors are required to show in their articles that they have received ethical approval for their research from all relevant institutional review boards and that they have followed appropriate personal data protection regulations (e.g. EU General Data Protection Regulation and the UK Data Protection Act 2018) in the handling of personal data. Where such committees do not operate, authors are responsible for providing evidence of their adherence to relevant ethical guidelines for the subject. Where ethics approval is not applicable (e.g. due to the type of article) please indicate this as "N/A".

    Consent for publication
    For all articles involving human subjects, including any images, videos, and any other personal and identifiable information, authors must have secured informed consent to publication before submitting to the journal, and a statement declaring this must be included in the article. Where consent for publication is not applicable (e.g. no such data is included) please indicate this as "N/A". An up to date statement is available in the article template.

    If patient images are included for illustrative purposes: written informed consent for publication must be secured before including in your article, and a statement to clarify this must be included in your article under a consent for publication heading, as above. An up to date statement is available in the article template.

    Artificial intelligence declaration: Authors must declare how and where they have used AI-assisted technologies in their work by including an appropriate statement, for example: 'AI-use disclosure: Artificial intelligence tools were used solely for language polishing and formatting. All clinical content, interpretation, references and final revisions were undertaken and verified independently by the authors.' Please refer to UCL Press's Principles on the use of AI-assisted technologies in articles here for more information.


  7. Data availability statement, supporting information and appendices

    Articles in APOC do not feature end-article appendices or supplementary information. All data, figures and tables should be included in the body of the text or referenced appropriately to their original source. Please see the section on Data and supporting information for further guidance on how to include this in your manuscript.

    Authors are required to confirm a data availability statement to indicate how fellow readers can access any software and data and link to data sets in repositories. See the section on Data availability statements.


  8. References

    A full reference list should contain all sources cited in the text, including any used in figures or illustrations. APOC follows the ‘Vancouver’ system for referencing and citation.


Guidance for submitting Case Reports

Please read through the following specific guidance on formatting Case Report articles only. Submissions that are not formatting accordingly may be returned after submitting to the journal and requested to re-format according to these guidelines.

A template for Case Reports is available here.


Important information prior to submission

Clinical cases should be reported in a way that provide evidence that adequate steps have been taken to minimize harm, to avoid coercion or exploitation, to protect confidentiality, to minimise the risk of physical and psychological damage, and to respect autonomy.


Use of images

Any images should protect the patient’s anonymity as far as possible. Any photos or medical imaging should not show the patient's name, medical record number, or date of birth. Images should be cropped only to show the key feature. Images with patient faces or patient facial features will not be accepted. If an image of a face must be published, this should be cropped so that only the affected area is shown.

Written informed consent for publication of any/all patient images must be secured from the patient before including in your manuscript and a statement to declare this has been secured must be included in your manuscript – see the below section on Consent for Publication. Further information about this policy can be found in our Editorial Policies.


Consent for publication

Consent for publication is a mandatory journal requirement for all case reports. Written informed consent for publication must be obtained from the patient (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 18, or from the next of kin if the patient has died). For more information, please see our editorial policies. A statement to this extent must be provided in the manuscript. Further information can be found in our Editorial Policies. As an example, the following can be used to outline this, or an up to date statement is available for use in the Case Reports template:

Consent for publication statement
The author(s) declares that all research participants’ written informed consent to publication of findings – including photos, videos and any personal or identifiable information – was secured prior to publication.


CARE Guidelines

APOC is CARE compliant. For case reports, authors must follow the CARE guidelines. The CARE checklist should also be provided as an additional file and submissions received without these elements will be returned to the authors as incomplete and required to complete this form before proceeding with review.

The checklist will not be used as a tool for judging the suitability of manuscripts for publication, rather it is intended as an aid for authors to clearly, completely and transparently let reviewers and readers know what authors did and found. Using the CARE guideline to write the case report and completing the CARE checklist are likely to optimize the quality of reporting and make the peer review process more efficient.


Formatting your Case Report


  1. Abstract

    Present the abstract as an overview of your case report (100-150 words), giving a summary of the clinical problem and discussion.


  2. Keywords

    All articles must list a minimum of four key words to a maximum of ten.


  3. Intended learning outcomes

    All articles must list up to four learning outcomes in bullet point form.
    Stating the Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) of your case study or clinical vignette allows readers to focus on clear messages in your manuscript.
    ILOs will:

    • Include only the most important outcomes.
    • Include summaries from the main body of text of your manuscript so readers understand from the outset what learning opportunities your case study or clinical vignette will provide.

    Advances in Perioperative Care presents ILOs in a standardised format to help clear communication. For examples of ILOs in published work see here: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444/apoc.3527


  4. Main text

    The body of the submission should be structured in a logical and easy to follow manner, under the following sequence:

    Introduction (300 words)
    The introduction should provide a background to the case.

    Report (500 words)
    The case summary should anonymise the patient thoroughly. The section should include a concise patient history (medical, anaesthetic, and operative context), description of the event, and the patient(s)'s subsequent clinical course.

    Discussion (1,000 words)
    The discussion should not reiterate the case but rather present your interpretation and analysis against existing knowledge and evidence. Feel free to incorporate a concise literature review.
    The discussion should end with a concluding statement drawn from the content of the report.
    Authors can include figures, illustrations and tables in this section. Figures and illustrations should be titled and the caption should include the original source. Permission should be sought to reproduce figures and illustrations before submission.


  5. Funding and acknowledgements

    Funding
    All sources of funding for the research reported should be declared, including any project and grant codes and details.

    Acknowledgements
    Mentions everyone whose contribution to the work you wish to recognise.


  6. Declarations and conflicts of interest

    Clearly state the following in the article as sub-headings under the following headings.

    Conflicts of interest
    Clearly declare any possible conflicts of interest, including but not limited to financial and non-financial competing interests. Where there are no conflicts or competing interests, authors must clearly declare this under the same heading. For further information, please refer to the journal’s Editorial Policy at https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/site/editorial_policy.

    Ethics approval
    Authors are required to show in their articles that they have received ethical approval for their research from all relevant institutional review boards and that they have followed appropriate personal data protection regulations (e.g. EU General Data Protection Regulation and the UK Data Protection Act 2018) in the handling of personal data. Where such committees do not operate, authors are responsible for providing evidence of their adherence to relevant ethical guidelines for the subject. Where ethics approval is not applicable (e.g. due to the type of article) please indicate this as "N/A".

    Consent for publication
    Authors of case reports must have secured informed consent to publication before submitting to the journal and a statement declaring this must be included in the article. An up to date statement is available in the article template.

    Artificial intelligence declaration: Authors must declare how and where they have used AI-assisted technologies in their work by including an appropriate statement, for example: 'AI-use disclosure: Artificial intelligence tools were used solely for language polishing and formatting. All clinical content, interpretation, references and final revisions were undertaken and verified independently by the authors.' Please refer to UCL Press's Principles on the use of AI-assisted technologies in articles here for more information.


  7. Data availability statement, supporting information and appendices

    Articles in APOC do not feature end-article appendices or supplementary information. All data, figures and tables should be included in the body of the text or referenced appropriately to their original source. Please see the section on Data and supporting information for further guidance on how to include this in your manuscript.

    Authors are required to confirm a data availability statement to indicate how fellow readers can access any software and data and link to data sets in repositories. See the section on Data availability statements.


  8. References

    A full reference list should contain all sources cited in the text, including any used in figures or illustrations. APOC follows the ‘Vancouver’ system for referencing and citation.


Formatting Revisions

Should your manuscript be requested for revision to raise the acceptability for publication in the journal, please ensure that you follow below points when revising your manuscript and responding to peer review comments.

Please provide your timely revisions along with a response letter to any reviewer reports, within the specified revision period to the Editor as instructed in your revision request email. Namely:

  • Clearly show and/or highlight the revisions you have made in the text. This can be accommodated by making use of either a different colour text, highlighting the text, or by using Microsoft Word's Track Changes function.
  • Outline what revisions you made to your manuscript by way of a response letter, addressing all points raised by the editor and reviewers, preferably sequentially (e.g. Editor comments response, Reviewer 1 comments response, Reviewer 2 comments response) and in a bullet point list.
  • Where applicable, perform any additional analyses or experiments the reviewers recommend (unless you feel that they would not make your paper better; if this is the case, explain why in your response letter).
  • Provide a polite objective rebuttal to any points or comments you disagree with.

Figures, tables, file size and formatting

No single file should exceed 200Mb.


Patient images

Images of patients used for illustrative or any other purposes that are included in your manuscript must have secured written informed patient consent before submitting to the journal.

Any images should protect the patient’s anonymity as far as possible. Any photos or medical imaging should not show the patient's name, medical record number, or date of birth. Images should be cropped only to show the key feature. Images with patient faces or patient facial features will not be accepted. If an image of a face must be published, this should be cropped so that only the affected area is shown.

Written informed consent for publication of any/all patient images must be secured from the patient before including in your manuscript and a statement to declare this has been secured must be included in your manuscript – please refer to the guidance Consent for Publication on how to include this in your article. Further information about this policy can be found in our Editorial Policies.


Figures
  • Figures should be included within the main text file in sequential order and should be set in the document as a .png file.
  • For large figures (e.g. larger than a single page), see the below heading on Very large figures and tables.
  • Figures such as graphs and charts should also be submitted as separate files during submission as an Excel file with the original data (if they were created in Excel).
  • Line art: where specialist software was used to produce any line art (e.g. diagrams, flow-charts) authors are requested to additionally submit these as individual figures as vector files (e.g. .eps or .ai).
  • Please provide a caption to label and explain each figure. If the figure is sourced from elsewhere, please provide reference to the source in the caption and reference list.

Examples of captions

Figure 1. The diagnostic first and last occurrences of Cretaceous planktonic foraminiferal species, calibrated against the most recent biostratigraphic time scale and radio-isotope data [2].

Figure 2. AN MSP dendrogram based on MSPs of the 19 species of xerophilic/xerotolerant Aspergillus, using the MALDI Biotyper Compass Explorer module. The distance level [arbitrary unit (a.u.), normalised to a max of 1000], reflects the differences between species and how related the MSPs are to one another. Clade designation based on genomic data is indicated by clade-specific colours and marked on the right-hand side of the image [16].


Alt text

As part of our commitment to accessibility, we require authors to provide alternative text – ‘alt text’ – for all figures, graphs, and images, in their article (alongside captions). Alt text describes the content of an image for those who cannot see it. This text will be embedded in the article metadata so it can be accessed via assistive technology (such as screen readers).

Please include your alt text as an additional sentence/paragraph, below each figure caption and clearly labelled.

For more information about how to write alt text and to see examples of this, please see our alt text guidelines here. For any further help, please contact us at apoc@ucl.ac.uk.


Tables

Tables should be included within the main text file. For large tables (e.g. larger than a single page), see the below heading on ‘Very large figures and tables’.


Supporting or supplementary information and data

Data or information should not be submitted as supplementary information alongside the manuscript, but instead be included in the manuscript or deposited into a publicly available repository, depending on the type of data or information concerned.

Where supporting information is included in the article that has no persistent identifier (for example, a Google survey), authors may be requested to deposit the information into a relevant data repository to ensure persistent access, assign it a DOI and then cite the DOI in the article.

Please see the below heading on ‘Depositing your data’ for further guidance.


Very large figures and tables

Where figures and data sets/tables are very large and cannot be included in the main text file as above (e.g. are larger than a single page) authors are encouraged to deposit the figure/data set/table in its original file format to a relevant data repository to assign it a DOI that can then be cited in the main text article.

If authors do not have access to a suitable data repository a request can be made to the journal to deposit the figure/data set/table into the journal’s own data repository for this purpose. To enquire and make a request, please contact the Editorial office by email at apoc@ucl.ac.uk.

Please see the below heading on ‘Depositing your data’ for further guidance.


English language

All articles published in the journal are in British English.

In order to facilitate rigorous and high quality peer-review, all manuscripts should be submitted to a high and coherent level of English language. Should you require help when writing your manuscript, a native English language colleague may be well suited to help edit the level of English language in the manuscript. You may also want to consider using a professional English language editing service to improve the level of English language.

Please note that by using professional English language editing services does not guarantee manuscript acceptance in the journal, and you may be charged for these services.


Data and supporting information

Advances in Perioperative Care strongly encourages authors to make all data and datasets on which the conclusions of the manuscript rely to be publicly available either in publicly open repositories (where available and appropriate) or presented in the main paper in machine-readable format (such as formatted tables rather than flat images) whenever possible.

Data or information should not be submitted as supplementary information alongside the manuscript, but instead be included in the body of the text as a table/figure/etc. or deposited into a publicly available repository, depending on the type of data or information concerned. Where supporting information is included in the article that has no persistent identifier (for example, a Google survey), authors may be requested to deposit the information into a relevant data repository to ensure persistent access, have it registered to a DOI, and cite the DOI in the article.

Authors are encouraged to follow the FAIR data principles – to make data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable.

Further information and guidance on these principles is outlined at https://www.force11.org/group/fairgroup/fairprinciples.


Data availability statement

Authors must clearly state in their manuscript where their data are made available at time of submission. In circumstances where ethical and legal issues dictate any restrictions on sharing data (including research using personal data), a statement to this effect must be included for clarity. Where a widely established research community expectation for data archiving in public repositories exists, submission to a community-endorsed, public repository is mandatory. Persistent identifiers (such as DOIs and accession numbers) for relevant data must be provided in the manuscript as a citation/reference.

Authors are required to confirm the data availability statement to indicate how fellow readers can access any software and data and link to data in repositories, by selecting one of the following statements:


  1. The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available in the repository: *[source]
  2. The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
  3. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
  4. All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).
  5. The data that support the findings of this study are available from * but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of * [source]

* You may add a link here to your data sets and/or software at a standard data repository. We also strongly encourage you to cite your data in the reference section according to the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles.


Referencing style

Advances in Perioperative Care follows the ‘Vancouver’ system for referencing and citation. We do not generally require authors to format their manuscripts in this style for peer review, so long as references and citations are written in a clear, concise and complete manner. If editorially accepted, the manuscript will go through the production process and reference and citation formatting will be applied.

See https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/libraryskills-ucl/guides-and-elearning/references-citations-and-avoiding-plagiarism#vancouver for a guide to the Vancouver reference system.


House style

The following guidelines list our preferred conventions for spelling, punctuation, abbreviations, numbers/dates, etc. Please follow them closely.


Spelling

  • Authors should consistently adopt British spelling conventions (except in quotations from other sources, where the spelling convention of the original should be retained, or where stipulated specifically in by the journal – for example World Health Organization).

Punctuation

  • Systems should consistently follow British conventions (except in quotations from other sources, where the punctuation convention of the original should be retained). British style uses single inverted commas, except for quotations within quotations (which have double inverted commas).
  • Punctuation should follow closing inverted commas (except for grammatically complete sentences beginning with a capital).
  • Punctuation should precede closing quotation marks (except for dashes, colons and semicolons, unless these are part of the quoted matter).

Hyphenation

  • Use a hyphen when two words form a compound adjective: middle-class families.
  • Hyphenation must be used consistently throughout your text.
  • Please follow Collins English Dictionary for guidance.

Contractions and abbreviations

  • If you need to use them please write in full at the first appearance with the abbreviation in brackets. You may repeat an abbreviation if it reappears later in your article.
  • Abbreviations are usually expressed without full stops, e.g. GNP, USA, PhD
  • British style contractions will have no full points (e.g. Mr, St, edn), though abbreviated words, which do not end with their final letter, will (e.g. vol., vols., ed., eds.)

Commas

  • An Oxford comma (also known as a serial comma) is a comma used after the penultimate item in a list of three or more items, before ‘and’ or ‘or’. We do not use the Oxford comma – commas should be omitted before the final ‘and’ or ‘or’. E.g. red, white and blue. The exception is if the meaning is ambiguous without one, E.g. The menu choices were fish and chips, steak and chips, or pie and mash. E.g. The dog, Jack, and Sasha.

Dashes

  • Spaced en dashes – not em dashes or hyphens – should be used.
  • Use unspaced en dashes not hyphens for ranges of pages or dates, e.g.11–12, 22–9.

Semicolons and colons

  • A semicolon should be used to separate items in a complicated list (i.e. if the items in the list have internal commas or very long descriptions), or to separate two related but grammatically independent clauses.
  • Use semicolons sparingly in the main text.
  • Colons should primarily be used to introduce block quotations or lists.

Translations

  • If quoting from a non-English source, the quotation should usually be in the original language. Give translation (either author’s or from a published translation) if reader is unlikely to understand original language. The translation should usually appear in the text in parentheses immediately following the quotation but can be given in a numbered note if preferred. Alternatively, the translation can be given in the text and the original quotation in a numbered note. You can indicate in the Preface your general editorial policy in regard to translations.

Capitalisation

  • Keep capitalisation to a minimum and use only for proper nouns and formal names of organisations, etc.

Numbers and dates

  • Spell out numbers up to but not including 10.
  • Elide numbers to minimum digits, e.g. 233-4; dates, e.g. 1993-4. Do not elide in titles and headings.
  • Centuries should be written as words not numbers, e.g. eighteenth century. Hyphenate if used as an adjective, e.g. eighteenth-century masterpiece.
  • Dates as British usage: 18 August 2015.

Quotations

  • Quotations should be indicated by single quotation marks but use double quotation marks for quotations within quotations.
  • Indent quotations of more than 50 words.
  • Quotations should remain exactly as they are in the original.

Acceptable language

Please be sensitive to the use of terms that might cause offence or be interpreted as racist or sexist. Please also avoid gender-specific pronouns where possible. Here are some examples of how to do this:

  • Use plural rather than singular pronouns in examples, e.g. ‘when children play, they…’ rather than ‘when a child plays, he…’
  • Alternate ‘he’ and ‘she’ throughout the manuscript when using a singular pronoun in examples, such that the reader perceives no bias.
  • Use ‘they’ as a singular pronoun in examples, e.g. ‘when a child plays, they…’