These guidelines generally follow the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals". The complete document appears at http://www.icmje.org.

Submission
The Journal now accepts online submissions only. Manuscripts can be submitted at http://ees.elsevier.com/ijaa/. Once the manuscript has been uploaded, our system automatically generates an electronic pdf proof, which is then used for reviewing. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revisions, will be managed via this system. Authors may also track the progress of their paper using this system to final decision.

If you have any problems submitting your paper through this system, please contact the Editorial Office on: e-mail: ijaa@elsevier.com; tel: +44 (0)1865 843270; fax: +44 (0)1865 843992.

Journal Publishing Agreement
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a "Journal Publishing Agreement'' (for more information on this and copyright see http://www.elsevier.com/authors). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail (or letter) will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form.
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: contact Elsevier's Rights Department, Philadelphia, PA, USA: phone (+1) 215 239 3804, fax (+1) 215 239 3805, e-mail healthpermissions@elsevier.com. Requests may also be completed online via the Elsevier homepage ( http://www.elsevier.com/locate/permissions).
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication 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and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher.

Authorship
All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.

Article types
The following types of manuscripts are routinely accepted (please note that word count is from abstract to references but excluding references):
Original Articles: The form of these articles is discussed fully below; an abstract is required. They should be no longer than 4000 words and 30 references (as above, please note that word count also excludes tables, figures and legends). IJAA will be happy to consider papers of veterinary origin as long as there is some linkage of the scientific work back to human antibiotic use.
Letters: Headings should not be used in a letter; no abstract or keywords are required. The text should be no more than 800 words; there should be a maximum of 5 references and one table or figure may be included.
Reviews: An abstract and keywords are required. The text should be divided into sections by suitable headings. Tables and figures may be used as appropriate for the text. They should be no longer than 5000 words.
Opinions and Commentaries: These take the same form as a review.
Short Communications: These should be no more than 2,500 words, with up to 15 references and a maximum of 3 figures or tables.
Leaders: These tend to be invited papers but unsolicited Leaders are welcome. There are no abstract, keywords or section headings.

It is strongly advised that Authors provide a list of 4 or 5 potential reviewers (e-mail, phone and fax numbers) who are knowledgeable in the subject matter, have no conflict of interest, and are likely to agree to review the manuscript. Please ensure that 1 of the potential reviewers is from a different country to the authors.

Submission Checklist
Please ensure that the following are including in your submission:

" One author designated as corresponding author:
" Their E-mail address
" Full postal address
" Telephone and fax numbers
" Keywords
"Cover letter addressed to the Editor, introducing the manuscript and confirming that it is not being submitted concurrently elsewhere"
" All figure captions
" All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
" All necessary files have been uploaded as attachments to the e-mail
" Manuscript has been spell checked
" All text pages have been numbered
" 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)
" Colour figures are clearly marked as being intended for colour reproduction or to be reproduced in black-and-white

Manuscripts
Please type all pages with double spacing and wide margins on one side of the paper. Title page, abstract, tables, legends to figures and reference list should each be provided on separate pages of the manuscript.

Use a true type font such as Times New Roman or Arial. The text should be in single-column format. Number the pages. In order to help our reviewers please number each line of the manuscript. 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 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 facility in Word or as a separate file in Excel. 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. Do not prepare tables in Powerpoint. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also: http://www.elsevier.com/authors). 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 illustrations.

To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the spellchecker.

The title page should include: the title, the name(s) and affiliation(s) of the author(s), an address for correspondence, and telephone/fax numbers for editorial queries. All articles should include an Abstract (a single paragraph) of no more than 250 words and 3-6 key words for abstracting and indexing purposes.

Please do not split the article into separate files (title page as one file, text as another, etc.). Ensure that the letter 'l' and digit '1' (also letter 'O' and digit '0') have been used properly, and structure your article (tabs, indents, etc.) consistently. Characters not available on your computer (Greek letters, mathematical symbols, etc.) should not be left open but indicated by a unique code (e.g., gralpha, @, #, etc., for the Greek letter). Such codes should be used consistently throughout the entire text. Please make a list of such codes and provide a key. Do not allow your computer to introduce word splits and do not use a 'justified' layout. Please adhere strictly to the general instructions on style/arrangement and, in particular, the reference style of the journal. It is very important that you save your file in the standard format for the program you are using. If your computer features the option to save files 'in flat ASCII', please do not use it.

Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Italics are not to be used for expressions of Latin origin, for example, in vivo, et al., per se. Use decimal points (not commas); use a space for thousands (10 000 and above).

Provide the following data in your submission (in the order given). This is required for all types of paper submitted.

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.

Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who is willing to 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.

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 (maximum length 250 words). 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. Do not cite references in the abstract. Non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided in the abstract, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

Keywords. Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using British 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 at their first occurrence in the article: in the abstract but also in the main text after it. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Subdivision of the article. 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.

Experimental/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.
Include in figure legends and table texts technical details of methods used, while describing the methods themselves in the main text.

Results/Discussion. This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate in a Short Communication but not in an Original Article. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Acknowledgement. Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. When the work included in a paper has been supported by a grant from any source, this must be indicated. A connection of any author with companies producing any substances or apparatus used in the work should be declared. Authors will be asked to respond to a form e-mailed to them when their paper is accepted (see the 'conflict of interest' section below). All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship as defined above should be listed in an acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support. Authors should disclose whether they had any writing assistance and identify the entity that paid for this assistance.

References. References should be numbered consecutively (with parentheses) as they appear in the text. Type the reference list with double spacing on a separate sheet. References should accord with the system used in Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals (N Engl J Med 1991;324:424-428).

Examples:

1 Taylor DN, Sanchez JL, Candler W et al. Treatment of traveller's diarrhea: ciprofloxacin plus loperamide compared with ciprofloxacin alone. Ann Intern Med 1991;114:731-734.

2 Mackowiak PA, ed. Fever. Basic Mechanisms and Management. New York: Raven Press, 1991.

3 Rubin M, Pizzo PA, Monotherapy in neutropenic cancer patients. In: Peterson PK, Verhoef J, eds. Antimicrobial Agents Annual 3. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1988.

Please note that all authors should be listed when six or less; when seven or more, list only the first six and add 'et al.'. Do not include references to personal communications, unpublished data or manuscripts either 'in preparation' or 'submitted for publication'. If essential, such material may be incorporated into the appropriate place in the text. Recheck references in the text against reference list after your manuscript has been revised.

Illustrations. Photographs should be presented as high quality jpg (jpeg) or tiff files with high contrast. Magnification should be indicated by a line representing the actual scale of reproduction (0.1 mm, 1mm or 10 mm); the use of magnification factors is to be avoided where possible. Illustrations will not be redrawn by the Publisher: line figures should be suitable for direct reproduction. They should be prepared with black on white background, or be black-and-white images; they should be completely and consistently lettered, the size of the lettering being appropriate to that of the illustration, taking into account the necessary reduction in size.

Illustrations should be designed to fit either a single column (84 mm wide) or the full text width (175mm). However, if specifically requested by the author(s), plates may be reproduced larger than the typeset area; all originals for these should have the same proportions to achieve uniformity in their presentation. N.B. When plates are required to fill the entire page, the originals should have the dimensions 215 x 285 mm and contain no essential information or labelling near the edges. Further information about artwork can be found on the World Wide Web: access under http://www.elsevier.com/locate/authorartwork

Colour figures. Colour figures will be included subject to the authors' agreement to defray the cost.

Specific remarks Mathematical formulae. Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line,

e.g., Xp/Ym

Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separate from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

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.

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

DNA sequences and GenBank Accession numbers. Many Elsevier journals cite 'gene accession numbers' in their running text and footnotes. Gene accession numbers refer to genes or DNA sequences about which further information can be found in the databases at the National Center for Biotechnical Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine. Elsevier authors wishing to enable other scientists to use the accession numbers cited in their papers via links to these sources, should type this information in the following manner:

For each and every accession number cited in an article, authors should type the accession number in bold, underlined text . Letters in the accession number should always be capitalised. (See example below.) This combination of letters and format will enable Elsevier's typesetters to recognise the relevant texts as accession numbers and add the required link to GenBank's sequences.

Example: GenBank accession nos. AI631510 , AI631511 , AI632198 , and BF223228 ), a B-cell tumour from a chronic lymphatic leukaemia (GenBank accession no. BE675048 ), and a T-cell lymphoma (GenBank accession no. AA361117 ).

Authors are encouraged to check accession numbers used very carefully. An error in a letter or number can result in a dead link. In the final version of the printed article, the accession number text will not appear bold or underlined. In the final version of the electronic copy, the accession number text will be linked to the appropriate source in the NCBI databases enabling readers to go directly to that source from the article.

Editorial Review
All manuscripts are subject to peer review. If changes are requested, revisions received later than 3 months after this request will be treated as new submissions.

Accepted Papers
Once a paper has been accepted, the only changes possible are in relation to any queries raised by the Technical Editor or Typesetter.

Proofs
One set of page proofs in PDF format 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). Elsevier now sends PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 available free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win. If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return 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.


Language and language services

Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit http://www.elsevier.com/languageediting or our customer support site at http://epsupport.elsevier.com for more information.


Page charges
The Journal does not charge a submission fee.

Offprints
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. 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.

Queries
All questions arising after acceptance of a manuscript by the editor, especially those relating to proofs, publication and reprints should be directed to the publishers, Elsevier Ireland Ltd., Elsevier House, Brookvale Plaza, East Park, Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland. Tel: +353 61 709600, Fax: +353 61 709100, E-mail: support@elsevier.com. In the USA and Canada: For further information, contact Elsevier Inc., Attn: Journal Information Center, 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010, USA. Tel: +1 212 6333750; Fax: +1 212 6333990; Telex: 420-643 AEP Ui; E-mail: usinfo-f@elsevier.com.

Policy and Ethics

Declarations
Upon submission you will be required to complete and upload this form (pdf version or word version) to declare funding, conflict of interest and to indicate whether ethical approval was sought. This information must also be inserted into your manuscript under the acknowledgements section with the headings below. If you have no declaration to make please insert the following statements into your manuscript:
Funding: None
Competing interests: None declared
Ethical approval: Not required

Ethics
Work on human beings that is submitted to IJAA should comply with the principles laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki; Recommendations guiding physicians in biomedical research involving human subjects. Adopted by the 18th World Medical Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, June 1964, amended by the 29th World Medical Assembly, Tokyo, Japan, October 1975, the 35th World Medical Assembly, Venice, Italy, October 1983, and the 41st World Medical Assembly, Hong Kong, September 1989. The manuscript should contain a statement that the work has been approved by the appropriate ethical committees related to the institution(s) in which it was performed and that subjects gave informed consent to the work (see declarations section above). Studies involving experiments with animals must state that their care was in accordance with institution guidelines. Patients' and volunteers' names, initials, and hospital numbers should not be used.

Competing interests
See the declarations section above. All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding.

Role of the funding source
See the declarations section. All sources of funding should be declared. Authors should declare the role of study sponsors, if any, in the study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. If the study sponsors had no such involvement, the authors should so state.

Randomised controlled trials
All randomised controlled trials submitted for publication in IJAA should include a completed Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) flow chart. Please refer to the CONSORT statement website at http://www.consort-statement.org for more information. IJAA has adopted the proposal from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) which require, as a condition of consideration for publication of clinical trials, registration in a public trials registry. Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. The clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the article. For this purpose, a clinical trial is defined as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. Studies designed for other purposes, such as to study pharmacokinetics or major toxicity (e.g. phase I trials) would be exempt. Further information can be found at www.icmje.org.revisions received later than 3 months after this request will be treated as new submissions.

Authors in Japan please note: If you would like information about how to have the English of your paper checked, corrected and improved (before submission),please contact our Tokyo office who will inform you of the services provided by language correctors: Elsevier Japan, 9-15 Higashi-Azabu 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 106 Japan, Tokyo; Tel: +81-3-5561-5032; Fax: +81-3-5561-5032.

Proofs will be sent to the authors to be carefully checked for printer's errors.Changes or additions to the edited manuscript cannot be allowed at this stage. Corrected proofs should be returned to the publisher by email within two days of receipt.

Page charges will not be made.

Twenty-five free reprints will be supplied. The publisher will send authors a form enabling further reprints to be ordered at prices listed on the form.

Illustrations Photographs should be presented as high quality jpg (jpeg) or tiff files with high contrast. Magnification should be indicated by a line representing the actual scale of reproduction (0.1 mm, 1mm or 10 mm); the use of magnification factors is to be avoided where possible. Illustrations will not be redrawn by the Publisher: line figures should be suitable for direct reproduction. They should be prepared with black on white background, or be black-and-white images; they should be completely and consistently lettered, the size of the lettering being appropriate to that of the illustration, taking into account the necessary reduction in size.

Illustrations should be designed to fit either a single column (84 mm wide) or the full text width (175mm). However, if specifically requested by the author(s), plates may be reproduced larger than the typeset area; all originals for these should have the same proportions to achieve uniformity in their presentation. N.B. When plates are required to fill the entire page, the originals should have the dimensions 215 x 285 mm and contain no essential information or labelling near the edges. Further information about artwork can be found on the World Wide Web: access under http://www.elsevier.com/locate/authorartwork

Colour figures will be included subject to the authors' agreement to defray the cost.

Tables All tables must be cited in the text and have titles. Number them consecutively with Arabic numerals. Table titles should be complete but brief. Information other than that defining the data should be presented as footnotes.Only horizontal rules should be included, and kept to a minimum.

All questions arising after acceptance of a manuscript by the editor, especially those relating to proofs, publication and reprints should be directed to the publishers, Elsevier Ireland Ltd., Elsevier House, Brookvale Plaza, East Park, Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland. Tel: +353 61 709600, Fax: +353 61 709100, E-mail: Editors@elsevier.ie. In the USA and Canada: For further information, contact Elsevier Inc., Attn: Journal Information Center, 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010, USA. Tel: +1 212 6333750; Telefax: +1 212 6333990; Telex: 420-643 AEP Ui; E-mail: usinfo-f@elsevier.com.

Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier 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 the existing agreements and policies please visit http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies

Sponsored Articles:
International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents offers authors the option to sponsor non-subscriber access to their articles on Elsevier's electronic publishing platforms. For more information please view our Sponsored Articles information page. http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/sponsoredarticles.