International Journal on Disability and Human Development

Information for Authors

1. Scope and policy of the Journal
The International Journal on Disability and Human Development (IJDHD) is a peer-reviewed journal aimed at the scientific community interested in the broad area of ability, disability and human development. The Journal provides an international forum with a holistic approach to public health issues, health and medicine, health and social policy, service aspects, developmental aspects, epidemiology, rehabilitation, family and social issues, quality of life, genetics and all other aspects of human development over the whole age spectrum. IJDHD covers all aspects of disability and human development in the form of review articles, original articles, case reports, short communications, letters to the editor, editorials and book reviews. Manuscripts will be reviewed from disciplines all over the world. IJDHD aspires to notify authors about the decision within 3-4 weeks from submission date. When manuscripts are accepted subject to revision, the revised manuscript should be returned within approx. 6 weeks. Accepted articles are published online ahead of print approx. 4 weeks after acceptance.
Reviewers: The authors should provide the names and e-mail addresses of up to 3 potential reviewers. Authors may also indicate names of reviewers whom they wish to be excluded from reviewing their manuscripts.
Unpublished material: Submission of a manuscript to IJDHD implies that the work described has not been published previously, except in the form of an abstract, academic thesis or lecture; that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that publication of the work is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out; and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere, in English, German, or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher.
Ethical conduct of research: Work involving humans should comply with the principles laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki, adopted by the 18th World Medical Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, June 1964, and recently amended at the 59th World Medical Assembly, Seoul, Korea, October 2008. If applicable, the manuscript should contain a statement that the study has been approved by the Ethical Committee of the institution where the study was performed, and that the study subjects, or their legal guardians, gave informed consent for participation in the study.
Conflict of interest: Submission to IJDHD requires a Conflict of Interest Declaration. Upon submission, you will be required to complete and upload a form to declare any conflicts of interest, funding, employment, or leadership and honorarium. This information must also be included in your manuscript before the Reference section. If you have no declaration to make, please insert None declared. A conflict of interest for a given manuscript exists when a participant in the peer review and publication process – author, reviewer, and editor – has ties to activities that could inappropriately influence his or her judgment, regardless of whether judgment is, in fact, affected. Financial relationships with industry (for example, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, expert testimony), either directly or through immediate family, are usually considered the most important conflicts of interest. However, conflicts can occur for other reasons, such as financial support of the study, ties to health insurance, politics or other stakeholders, personal relationships, academic competition, and intellectual passion.
Copyright: Manuscripts are accepted on condition of transfer of copyright (for U.S. government employees: to the extent transferable) to the publisher. Once the manuscript has been accepted, it may not be published elsewhere without the consent of the copyright holders.

2. Submission of manuscripts
Please submit manuscripts exclusively online at:
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/IJDHD

Preparation of manuscripts
Language: Manuscripts should be written in clear and concise English. Please have your text proofread by a native English speaker before you submit it for consideration. At proof stage, only minor changes other than corrections of printers’ errors are allowed.
Cover letter: Each manuscript should be accompanied by a cover letter containing a brief statement by the authors describing the novelty and importance of their research.
General format and length: Type the manuscript (including table legends, figure legends and references) double-spaced using 12 font size. Do not use footnotes in the text, use parentheses instead.
Review articles
1. The topic must be current.
2. The scope of the manuscript should not exceed 7500 words, excluding references, captions and Tables.
3. The composition is not defined, however, the following parts are required: Title page, Abstract (unstructured; 250 words maximum), Keywords, Introduction, Acknowledgments and List of non-standard abbreviations, if applicable, References (150 references maximum), Tables and Figures, if applicable, including titles and legends, and a Conflict of interest statement.
Original articles
1. The manuscript should not exceed 3500 words, excluding references, captions and Tables.
2. The manuscript should have Title page, Abstract (structured into Background, Methods, Results and Conclusions; 250 word maximum), Keywords, Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments and List of non-standard abbreviations, if applicable, References (50 references maximum), Tables and Figures, if applicable, including titles and legends (8 Tables/Figures maximum), and a Conflict of interest statement. The title should be short and precise. In the Discussion, the results should be interpreted and critically reviewed and judged compared to the work of other laboratories working in the same scientific area. The clinical relevance of the research should also be presented.
Short communications and case studies
1. The manuscript should not exceed 1500 words, excluding references, captions and Tables.
2. The manuscript should have Title page, Abstract (structured into Background, Methods, Results and Conclusions; 250 word maximum), Keywords, text (without cross headings), Acknowledgments and List of non-standard abbreviations, if applicable, References (15 references maximum), Tables and Figures, if applicable, including titles and legends (2 Tables or 2 Figures, or 1 Table and 1 Figure maximum), and a Conflict of interest statement. Experimental procedures should be described in the legends to Figures and Tables.
Letters to the editor and editorials
1. The manuscript should not exceed 1200 words, excluding references, captions and Tables.
2. The manuscript should have Title page, Keywords, text (without cross headings), Acknowledgments and List of non-standard abbreviations, if applicable, References (10 references maximum), Table and Figure, if applicable, including titles and legends (1 Table or 1 Figure maximum), and a Conflict of interest statement.
References: Adhere strictly to the reference style of the Journal (Vancouver; recommendations of the "International Committee of Medical Journals Editors" (see N Engl J Med 1991;324:421_8). All references mentioned in the Reference list must be mentioned in the text, and vice versa. List and number the references consecutively in the order that they appear in the text, including Tables and Figures. In the text, identify references by Arabic numerals in square brackets. Italic and boldface font type in the Reference section is not allowed. List all authors; if the number is 7 or more, list the first 6 names followed by et al. Identify authors by last name first, followed by up to 2 initials, without period, indicating the authors’ first name. Only the first name of the title is capitalized, as well as proper names within the title. Journal names are abbreviated according to the World List of Scientific Periodicals, without periods. After the abbreviated journal name, give the year of publication, followed by a semicolon, volume number (but no issue number), followed by a double colon, and the page numbers, with the last page number in shortened format. Meeting abstracts may be cited only if published in journals. Unpublished observations and personal communications are cited only in the text. Correct linking of the references depends on strict adherence to Journal style.
• Articles in journals: Au AM, Lam R, Teng Y , Lau K-M, Lai MK, Chan CC, et al. The relevance of executive functioning to academic performance in Hong Kong adolescents. Int J Disabil Hum Dev 2011;10:179-85.
• Articles ahead of print: Murgia A, Wolff R, Sharkey PM, Clark B. Low-cost optical tracking for collaborative applications in immersive virtual environments. Int J Disabil Hum Dev 2011;10. Epub ahead of print 30 Nov 2011. DOI: 10.1515/IJDHD.2011.055.
• Books and Monographs: Kahn CR, Weir GC, editors. Joslin’s diabetes mellitus, 13th ed. Philadelphia: Lea and Febiger, 1994:1068.
• Chapters: Karnofsky DH, Burchenal JH. The clinical evaluation of chemotherapeutic agents in cancer. In: Macleod CM, editor. Evaluation of chemotherapeutic agents. New York: Columbia University Press, 1949:191–205.
• Website: World Health Organization. WHO information for laboratory diagnosis of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus in humans update. Available at: http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/swineflu/WHO_Diagnostic_RecommendationsH1N1_20090521. pdf. Accessed: 6 Nov 2009.
Tables: Submit Tables on separate pages and number them consecutively using Arabic numerals. Provide a short descriptive title, column headings, and (if necessary) footnotes to make each Table self-explanatory. In the footnote, refer to information within the Table with superscript lowercase letters, and do not use special characters or numbers. Separate units with a comma and use parentheses or square brackets for additional measures (e.g., %, range, etc). Refer to Tables in the text as Table 1, etc. Use Table 1 (boldface), etc. in the title of the Table.
Figures: General requirements All illustrations must be of reproduction-ready quality. They will be reduced in size to fit, whenever possible, the width of a single column. Lettering of all Figures within the article should be uniform in style (preferably a sans serif typeface like Helvetica) and of sufficient size (ca. 10 pt.). Uppercase letters A, B, C, etc. should be used to identify parts of multi-part Figures. In the legend, these letters are included in parentheses. Cite all Figures in the text in numerical order. Indicate the approximate placement of each Figure. Do not embed Figures within the text body of the manuscript; submit Figures in separate files.
Halftone figures and line drawings Figures should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (halftone figures) and 1200 dpi (line drawings) and be of good contrast. Faint shading may be lost upon reproduction. When drawing bar graphs, use patterning instead of grey scales.
Color plates Authors are encouraged to submit illustrations in color if necessary for the scientific content of their work. Publication of color Figures is provided free of charge both in online and print editions.
Figure legends Provide a short descriptive title and a legend, either below the Figure or on separate pages, to make each Figure self-explanatory. Explain all symbols used in a Figure. Remember to use the same abbreviations as in the text body.
Supplemental material: You may submit additional tables, figures, videos, appendices or other additional material (e.g. references) that exceeds the limitation of the article as Supplemental data for online only publication. Supplemental data should be uploaded as separate files during submission. Within the text, Supplemental data must be cited consecutively and be referred to as Supplemental data (e.g. see Supplemental data, Figure 1). Supplemental data is subject to peer review as part of the manuscript. If the manuscript is accepted and the Supplemental data is posted online, it will be referenced at the and of the article of the printed version together with the URL where it can be found.
Nomenclature: Follow the rules of the IUPAC-IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature, as in IUB Biochemical Nomenclature and Related Documents, 3rd edition, obtainable from Biochemical Society Book Depot, P.O. Box 32, Commerce Way, Colchester, CO2 8HP, U.K. Enzyme names should be in accordance with the recommendations of the IUPAC-IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature, 1978, as in Enzyme Nomenclature, published by Academic Press, New York, 1992. Genotypes should be given in italics, phenotypes should not be italicized. Nomenclature of bacterial genetics should follow Damerec et al. Genetics 1966; 54:61–76.
Measurands should be given in SI units or with conversion factor to SI units.
Note for authors of NIH-funded research: De Gruyter acknowledges that the author of an US-agency-funded article retains the right to provide a copy of the final manuscript to agency upon acceptance for publication or thereafter, for public archiving in PubMed Central 12 months after publication in IJDHD. Note that only the accepted author's version of the manuscript, not the PDF file of the published article, may be used for NIH archiving.
Permissions: It is the authors’ responsibility to obtain permission to reproduce original or modified material that has been previously published elsewhere.
Proofs: The corresponding author of an article will receive the proofs in electronic form to check for editing and type-setting accuracy. Major changes to the article as accepted for publication will not be considered at this stage, unless the authors pay for these changes.
Offprints: The electronic files of typeset articles in Adobe Acrobat PDF format are provided free of charge; corresponding authors receive notification that their article has been published online. Paper offprints can be ordered in addition; an offprint order form will accompany the page proofs and should be completed and returned with the corrected proofs immediately if offprints are requested.

Please contact the Editorial Office with any further questions:
Heike Jahnke, T: +49 30 26005-220, F: +49 30 26005-325, E-mail: IJDHD.editorial@deGruyter.com
We will do our best to assist you.