Information for authors
Call for papers
Submissions are welcome to all journals at any time. To submit a manuscript you must first create a My LA account. My LA contains all the information you need before you submit your manuscript. It also allows you to track the status of your manuscript as it moves through editorial production.
Preparing your manuscript
Information on how to prepare your manuscript is provided within My LA.
NIH Public Access Policy compliance
As of April 7 2008, the US NIH Public Access Policy requires that all peer reviewed articles resulting from research carried out with NIH funding be deposited in the Pubmed Central archive.
If you are an NIH employee or grantee Libertas Academica will ensure that you comply with the policy by depositing your paper at Pubmed Central on your behalf.
Publication processing fees
Publication procesing fees cover the cost of editorial processing, typesetting, XML creation, as well as on-going hosting, archiving, journal promotion, and website enhancements.
The fee is a set per-manuscript charge. It does not vary according to word count, page count, number of figures or tables, or any other factor. There are no additional charges for colour figures and no limit on the quantity or resolution of colour figures. It is the only compulsory charge that will apply to your submission.
Upon acceptance of a submission for publication the processing fee will be payable. Fees will be charged for all papers unless a waiver or discount has been agreed before the manuscript was submitted. Waivers or discounts are not given after a manuscript is submitted.
Fees for each journal are listed on each journal's "Publication Processing Fees" page, in the "About this journal" section.
Methods of payment
Payment may be made by credit card (Visa or Mastercard), cheque or bank transfer. Further information on payment methods is given at the time of invoicing.
Fee waivers or discounts
Waivers or discounts are available in the following circumstances:
- Hardship
- Authors working in developing countries
Please note the following conditions:
- Waivers or discounts are given at the sole discretion of the Managing Editor
- Waivers or discounts must be requested prior to submitting your manuscript. Waivers or discounts may not be applied for at any other time.
Hardship:
Fee waivers or discounts may be granted to authors where hardship prevents the payment of the publication fee.
Authors working in developing countries:
Authors working in developing countries (with GDP of less than US$1,000/individual) will, at the discretion of the Publisher, be granted discounts or complete waivers.
Applying for a waiver or discount:
Please email the Managing Editor (editorial@la-press.com) with the following information:
- Your name and institution
- Title of journal you wish to submit a manuscript to
- Reason for applying for a waiver
- If you are an author in a developing country, the country you are working in
Manuscript style guide
Required information
Ensure that the front page of your submission contains the following information:
- Forename(s) and surnames of all authors.
- Author affiliations for each author. Department, institution, city, state, country should be stated.
- An abstract of about 200 words.
- 3 to 6 keywords.
- A running header: a shorted version of the submission's title.
- The corresponding author's name, physical address, phone, email.
Manuscript length
There are no specific restrictions as to manuscript length; authors should use the word or page count they consider reasonable to adequately address the topic of their manuscript. However, authors should be aware that excessively long or short manuscripts may attract adverse comments from reviewers and readers.
In exceptional cases the publisher also reserves the right to suggest a reduction in manuscript size where it seems probable that readers may experience difficulty in downloading an article owing to grossly excessive length.
General manuscript formatting
Ensure that through-out your manuscript you use the following:
- Page numbers.
- Clear concise language: if you are not fluent in written English we strongly recommend having your work revised by someone who is fluent before submitting your work.
- American spelling.
- Indications of placement of tables and figures.
General style
Ensure that your submission conforms to the following requirements:
- Use International Systems of Units (SI) symbols and recognized abbreviations for units of measurement.
- Do not punctuate abbreviations eg, et al, ie.
- Spell out acronyms in the first instance in the abstract and paper.
- Word counts are not specified, but in general, shorter items range from 1000 to 3000 words and reviews from 3000 to 10,000.
- Generic drug names are used in text, tables, and figures.
- Suppliers of drugs, equipment, and other brand-name material are credited in parentheses (company, name, city, state, country).
- If molecular sequences are used, provide a statement that the data have been deposited in a publicly accessible database, eg, GenBank, and indicate the database accession number.
- All authors must read and comply with the Conflict of Interest Statement.
Referencing
We use the Harvard (author, date) style of referencing.
Textual references:
Textual references include the name of the author(s) and the year of publication:
(Greenstreet 1992)
(Greenstreet and Lorre 2000)
(Bogart et al 2001)
(Greenstreet 1992; Greenstreet and Lorre 2000; Bogart et al 2001)
*(Astor 2001, p 234-7)
Page numbers
Page numbers must accompany all direct quotations. Page numbers are spanned.
Multiple names
Multiple names that occur at one point are listed from oldest to youngest and separated by a semicolon.
References
References are listed at the end of the work alphabetically by authors' surnames. If there is more than one paper for a given year by the same authors, these are to be listed:
Fox 2001a; Fox 2001b
In the reference list, cite the first three authors and then "et al."
References to unpublished works
References to papers ‘in preparation' or ‘submitted' are not acceptable.
Examples of the aforementioned
- Journal articles: Fay WA, Hill P, Frost P, et al. 2000. Policy and program analysis. Appl Bioinics, 127:722-9.
- Books: Adams D, Adams JG. 1990. Biology. New York: Publisher.
- Chapter or part in book: Barclay JA, Pilman F. 1990. Adenohypophyseal hormones. In Frost AG, ed. Pharmacology therapeutics. 4th ed. New York: Publisher. p 1334-60.
- Electronic citations: Libertas Academica. 2004. Style Guide [online]. Accessed 14 March 2004. URL: http://www.libertasacademica.com/style.html
- Computer programs: Author. Title [computer program]. Date of publication. Edition. Place of publication: publisher. Physical description. Accompanying material. Notes.
File formats
Manuscripts and other text files:
Please use the following formats:
- Microsoft Word (.DOC file extension)
- Adobe Acrobat (.PDF file extension)
- LaTex with a PDF output file (.TEX file extension)
- Rich Text (.RTF file extension)
Figures and graphics:
Figures may be submitted in the following graphics formats:
- JPG
- GIF
- EPS
- PDF
Please ensure before submitting your graphics files that they contain a clear, complete image of the figure it represents. Unclear figures may delay completion of peer review and attract adverse comments from reviewers.
Graphics files should be clear and legible but not so large as to preclude being emailed to peer reviewers. If your submission is accepted for publication you will have the opportunity to send us higher resolution graphics if necessary. You must be able to supply images at 900 DPI resolution if your submission is accepted for publication.
When presenting your figures please take into consideration their legibility to people with limited colour-vision. An article on this is available here.
Guide to using My LAMy LA is designed to be simple to use. However, if you have any questions please consult our downloadable PDF guide (below) or send an email to the Managing Editor.
Guide To My LA For New Authors