Note: These instructions comply with those formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. For further details, authors should consult their article: Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. N Engi J Med 1991, 324:424-428.

Scope
Reviews in depth
Reviews in depth on major topics of current interest are published in each issue of the journal. These reviews are prepared under the Editorship of an invited specialist, who commissions a group of five to six leading workers in the field to contribute in-depth reviews. The Editors welcome suggestions from research workers and clinicians with proposed subjects for review.

Original articles
Original articles are invited for publication. Emphasis is on clinical research in coronary artery disease, including observational studies, clinical trials, and advances in applied and basic laboratory cardiovascular research; the journal accepts for publication important basic research that contributes to the understanding of coronary artery disease.

Rapid communications
Rapid communications of promising preliminary observations will undergo prompt in-house review as described below.

Submission of manuscripts
Manuscripts should be sent to
Burton E. Sobel, MD, Editor
Coronary Artery Disease
Rapid Science Publishers
2-6 Boundary Row
London
SE1 8HN, UK

Submissions should consist of four copies, three of which may be photocopies. Authors must also supply four copies of all figues and tables.

Manuscripts submitted to Coronary Artery Disease will be considered for publication on the understanding that the author must not have previously submitted the paper to another journal or have published the material elsewhere.

Review procedures
Submitted papers will undergo full peer review, and authors will receive a decision
from the Editors within 6 weeks of submission. Written comments, when available, will be returned with all refereed manuscripts. The final decision on the acceptance or rejection of a manuscript will be made by the Editors.

Accepted papers will be published immediately upon completion of the editorial process, usually within 12 weeks of acceptance. Authors of accepted papers should submit a computer disk with the file containing the text, tables and illustrations in their paper as soon as they are notified of its final acceptance.

Presentation of papers
All original papers must be arranged in sections under the headings and in the order indicated below:

Title page
The title page should carry

• the full title of the paper, consisting of no more than 20 words (only common abbreviations should be used if absolutely necessary); titles should be clear and brief, conveying the message of the paper
  
• a brief short title, which will be used as running head (consisting of not more than 40 characters, including spaces)
  
• all authors' names: the full first name, middle initial and last name of each author should appear; if the work is to be attributed to a department or institution, its full name and location should be included. Persons listed as authors should be those who substantially contributed to the study's conception, design, and performance
  
• information about previous presentations of the whole or part of the work presented in the article
  
• the sources of any support, for all authors, for the work in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or any combination of these
  
• a statement on potential conflicts of interest: if authors have financial interests relevant to the research or constituting a conflict of interest, these must be stated. If not applicable, state NONE
  
• disclaimers, if any
  
• the name and address of the author responsible for correspondence concerning the manuscript, and the name and address of the author to whom requests for reprints should be made. If reprints are not to be made available, a statement to this effect should be included. The peer-review process as well as publication will be delayed if you do not provide up-to-date telephone and fax numbers, and E-mail address, if available
  
• wordcount: please list full wordcount (including references)
  

Structured abstract
The second page should carry an abstract not exceeding 250 words and should include sections on Background, Design, Methods, Results and Conclusions.

Keywords
The abstract should be followed by a list of 3-10 keywords which will assist the cross-indexing of the article and will be published. The terms used should be from the Medical Subject Headings list of the Index Medicus.

Text
Full papers of an experimental or observational nature should be divided into sections headed Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion.

Use of abbreviations should be kept to an absolute minimum; abbreviations and abbreviated phrases should be written out at first mention followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Avoid those not accepted by international bodies. Systeme Internationale (SI) units should be used where appropriate.

Acknowledgements
Acknowledge only those who have made a substantial contribution to the study. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from people acknowledged by name in case readers infer their endorsement of data and conclusions.

References
Text citation
References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the text. They should be assigned Arabic numerals which should be given in square brackets, e.g. [17], not superscript. Cite the reference number immediately after the author's name in the text (e.g. Smith et al.[17] studied 40 patients... not Smith et al. studied 40 patients... [17]).

Reference list
The reference list should include the names of all authors when six or fewer; list only the first six names and add et al. for seven or more authors. References should also include full title and source information. Journal names should be abbreviated as in the Index Medicus.

Example I (journal article): Siche JP, Tremel F Comparat V de Gaudemaris R, Mallion JM: Examination of variability in arterial blood pressure at rest using spectral analysis in hypertensive patients. J Hypertens 1995,13:147-153.

Example II (journal supplement article): Siche JP Tremel F Comparat V, de Gaudemaris R, Mallion JM: Examination of variability in arterial blood pressure at rest using spectral analysis in hypertensive patients. J Hypertens 1995, 13 (suppl 3):147-153.

Example III (book chapter): Harshfield GA, Pickering TG, Blank S, Laragh JH: How well do casual blood pressures reflect ambulatory blood pressure? In Blood Pressure Recording in the Clinical Management of Hypertension. Edited by Germano G. Rome: Edizioni L. Pozzi; 1985:50-54.

Example IV (meeting abstract): HoIm D, Lupo E, Vetter W: Conventional and modern blood pressure measuring procedures in the diagnostic work-up of hypertension. 15th Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Hypertension. Melbourne, June 1995 [abstract 132].

Personal communications and unpublished work should not be included in the reference list but should be cited in parentheses in the text, as should work submitted for publication. Work accepted for publication but not yet released should be included in the reference list with the words 'in press' in parentheses beside the name of the journal concerned. References must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents.

Illustrations
Please see following page.

Tables
Each table should be typed on a separate sheet in double spacing. Tables should not be submitted as photographs. Each table must have a title and should be assigned an Arabic numeral, e.g. (Table 3). Vertical rules should not be used. Tables should not duplicate the content of the text. Each table should consist of at least two columns.

Table headings
If applicable, table headings should indicate whether the figures used represent percentages, by (%) after the figure, or units. Columns should always have headings.

Table footnotes
Information should be listed in the following order:

1. abbreviations and symbols should be defined in the order in which they appear in the table (reading across each line rather than down columns); spell out all abbreviations and symbols used in the table, even if they have already been listed in previous tables or the text itself - when giving a key, use a comma rather than =, e.g. H, hypertensive not H=hypertensive
   
2. any additional comments should follow the explanation of abbreviations and symbols
   
3. keys to the P values should be listed in the following order (note the use of asterisks for probability): *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001; astericks are the only symbols that should be used with P values; do not use @ or #.

Checklist for data in tables

• the data are consistent with those cited in the relevant parts in the text
  
• totals add up correctly
  
• percentages have been calculated correctly

Permissions
If a table or figure has been published before, the authors must obtain written permission from the copyright holder, which should be submitted with the material. The request for permission must clearly state that the material will appear in both print and electronic formats (including Internet and CD-ROM). Publication of accepted manuscripts whose authors have not obtained such permission will be delayed.

Units: the Systeme Internationale (SI)
Coronary Artery Disease employs SI Units (see Quantities, Units, and Symbols, 2nd edn. London: The Royal Society of Medicine; 1975). All submitted papers should use this system, which should only be departed from where long-established clinical usage demands it (e.g. the measurement of blood pressure in mmHg). Where helpful, other units of measurement may be included in parentheses. Whenever possible, renin should be expressed in terms of the International Standard Renin Unit [Bangham et al.: Clin Sci 1975,48 (suppl):135s-159s]. Derived SI units may also be used, and for basic and derived units prefixes to denote multiples and submultiples may be used.

Authors' proofs and offprints
Accepted manuscripts will be edited for consistency of style, clarity, and correct grammatical construction. Authors will receive page proofs. Changes limited to correction of typographical errors or errors in the presentation of data can be made only if the material is returned to the Publishers' office within 48 hours. Offprints may be purchased at terms to be made available with proofs. Orders should be sent when the proofs are returned; orders received after this time cannot be fulfilled.

Editorial and business communications
Editorial and business communications (subscriptions, advertising, etc.) should be addressed to The Publishing Editor, Coronary Artery Disease, Rapid Science Publishers, 2-6 Boundary Row, London SEl 8HN, UK (Tel: 0171 8650198; Fax: 0171 4106600).

Illustrations

Size and presentation
Figures should be professionally drawn and photographed; freehand or typewritten lettering is unacceptable. Line illustrations should be submitted as original artwork or prints to a width of 82 mm or, when the illustration demands it, to a width of 173 mm. All illustrations should have a label pasted on the back bearing the figure number, the title of the paper, the author's name and an arrow indicating the top of the figure. Avoid writing directly on the back of prints. Do not mount illustrations.

Photographs
Supply halftone illustrations (photographs) as sharp, glossy, black-and-white prints,
preferably to a width of 82 mm. Photomicrographs must have internal scale markers. If photographs of people are used, their identities must be obscured or the picture must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph. Photographs may be cropped or deleted at the discretion of the Editors.

Legends for illustrations
All illustrations must have legends. These should be typed using double spacing, beginning on a separate page, each with an Arabic numeral corresponding to the illustration to which it refers. All abbreviations used in the illustration must be defined in the legend. Internal scales should be explained, and staining methods for photomicrographs identified.

Colour reproduction
The cost of colour reproduction will be borne by the author. An estimate will be provided before the illustration is processed.

Line drawings
Artwork should be submitted either as glossy prints or as high-quality laser prints; dot-matrix printers do not produce artwork suitable for pubilcation.