Contents

• Introduction
• Before you begin
• Preparation
• After acceptance
• Author inquiries

Introduction

Community Oncology (CO) publishes peer-reviewed articles and commentary on all aspects of clinical oncology practice and evidence-based practices for caring for patients with cancer. Article types include original clinical studies in practice-based settings, state-of-the-art review papers, peer viewpoints, commentaries, and letters to the editor. In general, case reports will be considered as case letters to the editor.

Manuscript submissions should conform to the guidelines set forth in the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication," available at http://www.ICMJE.org.

We request that all manuscripts be submitted online via the Elsevier Electronic System (EES), available at http://ees.elsevier.com/co/. If this presents a problem, please contact Renee Matthews at renee.matthews@elsevier.com.

The site provides instructions for manuscript submission, as well as a tutorial for authors. Microsoft Word files are preferred. All tracking and follow-up will be done through EES (http://ees.elsevier.com/co/). All manuscript submissions must include the copyright transfer form, the conflict of interest disclosure form, the authorship statement (attestation) form, and the manuscript submission checklist. These forms can be downloaded from EES (http://ees.elsevier.com/co/). Please scan the completed forms and upload them to EES with your submission. If this presents a problem, please contact Renee Matthews at renee.matthews@elsevier.com.

Elsevier's Authors Home (http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorshome.authors) also provides the facility to track accepted articles and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed, as well as detailed artwork guidelines, copyright information, frequently asked questions, and more.

Paper categories
The following information should be noted for these paper types:

Original Research Papers. Manuscripts should not exceed 4,500 words (including references and figure legends). Note that if you are asked to revise your paper, an alternate word limit may be specified by the Editors. The manuscript should be arranged as follows: (1) title page, (2) structured abstract and key words, (3) abbreviations list, (4) text, (5) acknowledgments (if applicable), (6) references, (7) figure titles and legends, and (8) tables. Page numbering should begin with the title page. Illustrations and tables should be limited to those necessary to highlight key data. Please provide gender-specific data, when appropriate, in describing outcomes of epidemiologic analyses or clinical trials; or specifically state that no gender-based differences were present.

Reviews and State-of-the-Art Papers. The Editors will consider both invited and uninvited review articles. Such manuscripts must adhere to preferred length guidelines and require an unstructured abstract of no more than 250 words. Authors should detail in their cover letters how their submission differs from existing reviews on the subject. Review articles include "Bench to Bedside" articles on novel approaches and cutting-edge therapies with a focus on mechanisms of action, preclinical/clinical data, and potential impact for changing cancer treatment. Also, "Community Translations" examines research findings in the context of treatment review updates for specific tumor types. Oncology Genetics articles detail new cancer gene findings and issues in genetic testing and counseling as well as patient followup and tumor surveillance recommendations.

Commentaries. Succinct opinion pieces will also be considered. These papers should have a brief unstructured abstract.

Letters to the Editor. Letters to the Editor should focus on a specific article that has appeared in CO. Letters will be sent for response to the authors of the article being commented upon. This response may be published or sent directly to the commentator at the discretion of the editor. Questions or comments that could be addressed directly to authors (including complaints about missed citations) should be sent directly to the author, rather than involving the CO as an intermediary.

Research Letters. New or preliminary research findings may be considered for publication as Research Letters. Conclusions based on uncontrolled trials and/or limited experience should be stated in appropriately tentative terms.

Case Letters. Concise descriptions detailing small numbers of patients, early reports of therapeutic trials in one or several patients, and early reports of new drug reactions will be considered for the Case Letters section. Repetition of introductory, textbook type information should be avoided. Manuscripts should center on the case at hand, and should not take the form of a lengthy "Case and Review." All patient information in Case Letters must be adequately de-identified. If identifying information or figures are included, express written permission from the patient(s) must be provided at the time of manuscript submission.

Please limit letters to 500 words and cite no more than five references. Up to two figures or tables may be included.

Before you begin

Ethics in publishing
Studies should be in compliance with human studies committees of the authors' institution(s) and US Food and Drug Administration guidelines.

Studies must be performed with the subjects' written informed consent. Authors must provide the details of this procedure and indicate that the institutional committee on human research has approved the study protocol. If radiation is used in a research procedure, the radiation exposure must be specified in the Methods.

Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent, which should be documented in your paper. Patients have a right to privacy. Therefore, identifying information, including patients' images, names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be included in videos, recordings, written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and you have obtained written informed consent for publication in print and electronic form from the patient (or parent, guardian or next of kin where applicable). Written consents must be provided to the editorial office on request. Even where consent has been given, identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning, and editors should so note. If such consent has not been obtained, personal details of patients included in any part of the paper and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.

Conflict of interestCommunity Oncology requires all authors to acknowledge, in the comments section of EES (http://ees.elsevier.com/co/), all funding sources that supported their work as well as all institutional or corporate affiliations of the authors. The title page must also include a publishable statement disclosing any associations, current and over the past 5 years, that might pose a conflict of interest. These include but are not limited to employment, royalties, consultant arrangements with a commercial entity, stock or other equity ownership, stock options, patent licensing arrangements, payments for conducting or publicizing a product or study, or consulting relationships with investment companies. In addition, authors are required to disclose similar associations with companies that make a competing product. When no conflicting or competing interests are present, this should be indicated in the publishable disclosure statement. If the authors have competing or conflicting interests that cannot be disclosed in publishable statements, authors should list them in the comments section of EES (http://ees.elsevier.com/co/). They should also explain these interests as well as the reason for the need for confidentiality in a statement to the Editor. The Editor asks each reviewer to disclose any competing interests or conflicts of interest that might interfere with one's objectivity (or to recuse oneself from acting as a reviewer). The Editors and members of the editorial staff will ensure that all conflicts are appropriately resolved. Conflicts that cannot be appropriately resolved will result in rejection of the manuscript or review. Undisclosed conflicts may result in sanctions to include published statements of retraction or removal of a manuscript from the archived journal table of contents and Medline database.

Submission declaration
The manuscripts are considered for review only under the conditions that they are not under consideration elsewhere and that the data presented have not appeared on the internet or have not been previously published (including symposia, proceedings, transactions, books, articles published by invitation, and preliminary publications of any kind except abstracts not exceeding 400 words).

Authorship
Each author must have contributed significantly to the submitted work. If there are more than four authors, the contribution of each must be substantiated in the cover letter. If authorship is attributed to a group (either solely or in addition to one or more individual authors), all members of the group must meet the full criteria and requirements for authorship. To save space, if group members have been listed in CO, the article should be referenced rather than reprinting the list. The Editors consider authorship to include all of the following: (1) conception and design or analysis and interpretation of data, or both; (2) drafting of the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (3) final approval of the manuscript submitted. Participation solely in the collection of data does not justify authorship but may be appropriately acknowledged in the Acknowledgment section.

Manuscripts must be submitted with a cover letter stating that: (1) the paper is not under consideration elsewhere; (2) none of the paper's contents have been previously published; (3) all authors have read and approved the manuscript; and (4) the full disclosure of any relationship with industry (see "Relationship with Industry Policy"). Exceptions must be explained.

The corresponding author should be specified in the cover letter. All editorial communications will be sent to this author. The corresponding author will be whom we contact for submission queries.

A short paragraph telling the editors why the authors think their paper merits publication priority may be included in the cover letter. Potential reviewers may be suggested in the cover letter, as well as reviewers to avoid.

Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement. Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions). If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: please consult http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.

Retained author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to: http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.

Role of the funding source
You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated. Please see http://www.elsevier.com/funding.

Funding body agreements and policiesElsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies. Language and language services

Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit http://webshop.elsevier.com/languageediting or our customer support site at http://support.elsevier.com for more information.

Submission
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts source files to a single PDF file of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF files at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail removing the need for a paper trail.

Referees
Please submit, with the manuscript, the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of 3 potential referees. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.

Preparation

Use of word-processing software
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. Do not embed "graphically designed" equations or tables, but prepare these using the word processor's facility. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier: http://www.elsevier.com/guidepublication). Do not import the figures into the text file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on the manuscript. See also the section on electronic illustrations.

To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the "spell check" and "grammar check" functions of your word processor.

Article structure

Subdivision - numbered sections. Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2,...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to "the text". Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.

Introduction. State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Materials and methods. Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.

Theory/calculation. A Theory section should extend, not repeat, the background to the article already dealt with in the Introduction and lay the foundation for further work. In contrast, a Calculation section represents a practical development from a theoretical basis.

Results. Results should be clear and concise.

Discussion. This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Conclusions. The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.

Appendices. If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

Essential title page information

Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.

Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name, and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.

Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.

Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a "Present address" (or "Permanent address") may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

Abstract
A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

Abstracts should not exceed 250 words and should be structured as follows:

• Background: What is the major problem that prompted the study?
• Objective: What is the purpose of the study?
• Methods: How was the study done?
• Results: What are the most important findings?
• Limitations: What are the limitations of the study?
• Conclusion: What is the single most important conclusion?

Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, "and", "of"). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Acknowledgements
Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).

Units
Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other units are mentioned, please give their equivalent in SI units.

Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article, using superscript Arabic numbers. Many wordprocessors build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

Table footnotes. Indicate each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter.

Electronic artwork

General points:

• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
• Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit each figure as a separate file.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website: http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.

Formats. Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please "save as" or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):

• EPS: Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as "graphics".
• TIFF: color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
• TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
• TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
• DOC, XLS, or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office applications, please supply it "as is".

Please do not:

• Supply embedded graphics in your word processor (spreadsheet, presentation) document;
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Figure captions. Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Text graphics. Present incidental graphics not suitable for mention as figures, plates or schemes at the end of the article and number them "Graphic 1", etc. Their precise position in the text can then be indicated. See further under Electronic artwork. If you are working with LaTeX and have such features embedded in the text, these can be left, but such embedding should not be done specifically for publishing purposes. Further, high-resolution graphics files must be provided separately.

Tables
Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.

References
Citation in text. Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication" Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Web references. As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

Reference style
Text: Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given. Example: "...as demonstrated [3,6]. Barnaby and Jones [8] obtained a different result...."

List: Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.

Journal abbreviations source. Journal names should be abbreviated according to:

• Index Medicus journal abbreviations: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html;
• List of serial title word abbreviations: http://www.issn.org/2-22661-LTWA-online.php;
• CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service): http://www.cas.org/sent.html.

Video data
Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the files in one of our recommended file formats with a maximum size of 10 MB. Video and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com. Please supply "stills" with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Note: since video and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content.

Supplementary data
Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please provide the data in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Submission checklist
It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal's Editor for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.

Ensure that the following items are present:

One author designated as corresponding author:

• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers

All necessary files have been uploaded:

• Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)

Further considerations:

• Manuscript has been "spell checked" and "grammar checked"
• References are in the correct format for this journal
• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)
• Color figures are clearly marked as being intended for color reproduction on the Web (free of charge) and in print or to be reproduced in color on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print
• If only color on the Web is required, black and white versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes

For any further information please visit our customer support site at http://support.elsevier.com.

After acceptance

Use of the Digital Object Identifier
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly "Articles in press"" because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information. The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows (example taken from a document in the journal Physics Letters B):

doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2003.10.071

When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the Web, they are guaranteed never to change.

Proofs
One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or, a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 (or higher) available free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/systemreqs.

If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return them to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or by post. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.

Offprints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use.

Author inquiries

For inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit this journal's homepage. You can track accepted articles at www.elsevier.com/trackarticle and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed. Also accessible from here is information on copyright, frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, will be provided by the publisher.

 

Last updated September 1, 2011