Journal Guide

The Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice aims to promote the evaluation and development of clinical practice across medicine, nursing and the allied health professions. All aspects of health services research and public health policy analysis and debate are of interest to the Journal whether studied from a population-based or individual patient-centred perspective. Of particular interest to the Journal are submissions on all aspects of clinical effectiveness and efficiency including evidence-based medicine, clinical practice guidelines, clinical decision making, clinical services organisation, implementation and delivery, health economic evaluation, health process and outcome measurement and new or improved methods (conceptual and statistical) for systematic inquiry into clinical practice. Papers may take a classical quantitative or qualitative approach to investigation (or may utilise both techniques) or may take the form of learned essays, structured/systematic reviews and critiques.

The Journal of Evolutionary Biology is a bimonthly, peer-reviewed, international journal. It covers both micro- and macro-evolution of all types of organisms. The aim of the Journal is to integrate perspectives across molecular and microbial evolution, behaviour, genetics, ecology, life histories, development, palaeontology, systematics and morphology. To fulfil its integrative role, the Journal gives preference to papers that bring together two or more fields. The Journal seeks a balance, even a tension, between theory and data. The Editorial Board reflects the multidisciplinary role of the Journal and its international focus. Please note: papers that are narrow in scope, and/or address an issue from a circumscribed taxonomically-oriented view rather than emphasise general evolutionary issues, are liable to editorial rejection.

The Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological Genetics and Physiology publishes articles at the three-way interface between Physiology, Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics. Contributions that help to elucidate how molecular, functional and ecological variation relate to one another are particularly welcome. The Journal publishes original research in the form of rapid communications or regular research articles, as well as perspectives and reviews on topics pertaining to the scope of the Journal. Acceptable articles are not limited to studies on animals, but also include research on plants and microbes.

MOLECULAR AND DEVELOPMENTAL EVOLUTION (MDE) welcomes papers that contribute to a causal understanding of the evolution of development and how development influences patterns of molecular and phenotypic evolution. Papers that take diverse disciplinary approaches, including developmental, molecular, genetic, evolutionary, systematic, ecological, and paleontological, will be published. MDE seeks research articles without page restriction or charges, review articles, invited commentaries, and book reviews. The Editor-in-Chief has discretion over the use of a number of free color plates. Only color illustrations that highlight the text and convey essential scientific information will be considered for reproduction free of charge, subject to the recommendations of the reviewers and Associate Editors.

The Journal of Family Therapy is published on behalf of the UK Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice. It advances the understanding and treatment of human relationships constituted in systems such as couples, families, professional networks, and wider groups, by publishing articles on theory, research, clinical practice and training. The high-profile editorial board includes leading academics and professionals from around the world in keeping with the high standard of international contributions which make it one of the most widely read family therapy journals. The editors welcome contributions representing all schools of thought within family therapy, especially those from established authors and new contributors within Europe.

The Journal of Field Robotics seeks to promote scholarly publications dealing with the fundamentals of robotics in unstructured and dynamic environments. Articles describing robotics research with applications to the environment, construction, forestry, agriculture, mining, subsea, intelligent highways, search and rescue, military, and space (orbital and planetary) are encouraged. Papers in sensing, sensors, mechanical design, computing architectures, communication, planning, learning, and control, applied to field applications are encouraged. The Journal focuses on experimental robotics and encourages publication of work that has both theoretical and practical significance. Authors will be encouraged to implement their work and demonstrate its utility on significant problems with emphasis on the underlying principles. That is, the Journal will encourage reporting on what was learned in doing the work, rather than merely on what was done. Also encouraged are comparative or meta-studies and verification of previously published results as well as reports of extended field experiments that seek to validate autonomous systems in representative environments. Systems papers will be welcome but they must include analysis and insight into why approaches work and the challenges still to be addressed. Studies of systems that have been fielded over extended durations are encouraged. The journal will publish only articles of high quality rather than achieving a particular number of papers or a ratio of accepted papers to those submitted. The Journal will push the frontiers of electronic publishing in the following ways: 1. Exploitation of the medium via multimedia that accompanies articles . JFR will publish code, models, data, and animations (either synthetic or actual video demonstrations) as appendices to articles. Such appendices will not be a requirement for publication but will be encouraged. 2. Low-cost access to articles and appendices . JFR will be deliberately structured so as to reduce the costs of publication. Fast and easy access to the journal will accelerate the pace at which new results can be absorbed by other researchers. It will also allow access to new results by a large population across the globe currently not privileged to the infrastructure required to support robotics research and, in some cases, who do not have easy access to archival quality printed journals. 3. Reduced time to publication . JFR will organize the reviewing and publication process in such a way that a short turnaround time is possible. Reviews will be led by members of the Editorial Board and by notable researchers. Papers and reviews will be managed via a Web interface and a paid managing editor will be in charge of ensuring the process of submission and resubmission runs smoothly. Before being asked to review a paper, reviewers will be asked whether they have the time to review the paper, and if they do not, they will not be sent the paper. Free Online Access in the Developing World Access to this journal is available free online within institutions in the developing world through the Research4Life collective. For information visit, www.research4life.org.

The Journal of Fish Biology is a leading international journal for scientists engaged in all aspects of fish and fisheries research, both freshwater and marine. The journal publishes high-quality papers relevant to the central theme of fish biology and aims to bring together under one cover an overall picture of the research in progress and to provide international communication among researchers in many disciplines with a common interest in the biology of fish. Research Areas Include: Aquaculture; Behaviour; Biochemistry; Diseases; Distribution; Ecology; Genetics; Growth; Immunology; Migration; Morphology; Parasitology; Physiology; Pollution; Population studies; Reproduction; Taxonomy; Toxicology.

Journal of Fish Diseases enjoys an international reputation as the medium for the exchange of information on original research into all aspects of disease in both wild and cultured fish and shellfish. Areas of interest regularly covered by the journal include:

The Journal of Food Biochemistry publishes fully peer-reviewed original research and review papers on the effects of handling, storage, and processing on the biochemical aspects of food tissues, systems, and bioactive compounds in the diet. 

Researchers in food science, food technology, biochemistry, and nutrition, particularly based in academia and industry, will find much of great use and interest in the journal. Coverage includes:

• Biochemistry of postharvest/postmortem and processing problems
• Enzyme chemistry and technology
• Membrane biology and chemistry
• Cell biology
• Biophysics
• Genetic expression
• Pharmacological properties of food ingredients with an emphasis on the content of bioactive ingredients in foods

Examples of topics covered in recently-published papers on two topics of current wide interest, nutraceuticals/functional foods and postharvest/postmortem, include the following:

• Bioactive compounds found in foods, such as chocolate and herbs, as they affect serum cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease
• The mechanism of the ripening process in fruit
• The biogenesis of flavor precursors in meat
• How biochemical changes in farm-raised fish are affecting processing and edible quality

The journal presents readers with the latest research, knowledge, emerging technologies, and advances in food processing and preservation. Encompassing chemical, physical, quality, and engineering properties of food materials, the Journal of Food Processing and Preservation provides a balance between fundamental chemistry and engineering principles and applicable food processing and preservation technologies.

This fully peer-reviewed international journal provides microbiologists, food processors, and food researchers with essential information on microbial food safety.

The goal of the Journal of Food Science is to offer scientists, researchers, and other food professionals the opportunity to share knowledge of scientific advancements in the myriad disciplines affecting their work, through a respected peer-reviewed publication. The Journal of Food Science serves as an international forum for vital research and developments in food science.

The Journal of Forecasting is an international journal that publishes refereed papers on forecasting. It is multidisciplinary, welcoming papers dealing with any aspect of forecasting: theoretical, practical, computational and methodological. A broad interpretation of the topic is taken with approaches from various subject areas, such as statistics, economics, psychology, systems engineering and social sciences, all encouraged. Furthermore, the Journal welcomes a wide diversity of applications in such fields as business, government, technology and the environment. Of particular interest are papers dealing with modelling issues and the relationship of forecasting systems to decision-making processes. New concepts of modelling are especially encouraged as well as practical details of actual applications of particular models. Apart from research reports and review articles, other materials of interest that will be published include book reviews, software reviews, descriptions of data sources and notices of general interest.

The Journal of Forensic Sciences is the official publication of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS). It is devoted to the publication of original investigations, observations, scholarly inquiries, and reviews in the various branches of the forensic sciences. These include Pathology and Biology, Toxicology, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, General, Odontology, Physical Anthropology, Jurisprudence, Criminalistics, Questioned Documents, Engineering Sciences, and Digital & Media Sciences. Similar submissions dealing with forensic-oriented aspects of the social science are also published. All papers are peer-reviewed. As papers clear the peer review and editorial processes, they will be included in this electronic version of the journal. The printed version of the journal will be distributed the first week of the month that the publication is issued. The official publication of this journal for citation purposes is the online version.