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Call for Papers

Papers are invited for the American Journal of Critical Care (AJCC), a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary journal. AJCC publishes papers in all areas of high acuity, progressive, and critical care. The following topic areas are provided as a general guide, but authors should not feel limited to investigating these areas:

Advanced practice issues
• Collaboration with other healthcare professionals
• Effective employment of advanced practice nurses in critical care

AIDS
• Advances in the understanding of the disease and its treatment in the critical care setting

Cardiovascular medicine
• Hemodynamic monitoring
• Telemetry and progressive care
• Intra-aortic balloon pump and left ventricular assist devices
• Management of acute myocardial infarction
• Management of acute and chronic heart failure

Cardiovascular surgery
• New surgical procedures
• Use of chest tubes and drains
• Femoral sheaths

Complementary therapies
• Efficacy of complementary therapies in the care of the critically ill
• The impact of spirituality on outcome

Cultural diversity
• Cultural aspects of patient and family care
• Race-specific conditions

ECGs and pacemakers
• Unique cases

Ethics
• Ethical and legal aspects of practice
• End-of-life care issues

Geriatrics
• Special needs of the critically ill geriatric patient

Immunology
• Advances in understanding immune system disorders
• Immunosuppression
• Management of immunologic emergencies

Infection control
• Unique case studies in infectious diseases
• Antibiotic-resistant organisms

Management
• Outcomes management and research
• Case management and critical pathways for specific patient populations
• Staff education
• Staff recruitment and retention

Neonatal
• Management of neonatal emergencies
• Transport of neonates

Neurologic
• Sedation and pain management
• Acute care of the patient with stroke
• Intracranial pressure monitoring

• Nutrition
• Enteral nutrition
• Nutritional requirements of critically ill patients

Obstetrics
• Care of the critically ill obstetric patient
• Postpartum issues

Pediatrics
• Management of pediatric emergencies
• Age-related care of the pediatric patient

Pharmacology
• Pharmacological issues in the care of the critically ill

Postanesthesia recovery
• Comparisons of anesthetic agents
• Management of postanesthesia recovery emergencies

Psychiatric issues
• Family issues
• Psychiatric complications in the critically ill
• Management of substance abuse issues

Pulmonary
• Advances in the care of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, or pneumonia
• Acute respiratory distress syndrome
• Management of patients on mechanical ventilation
• Suctioning

Toxicology
• Case studies of unique toxicology cases
• Research on the pathophysiology of toxic ingestions
• Management of toxic ingestion

Transplantation
• Advances in organ and tissue transplantation
• New pharmacologic therapies for transplant patients

Trauma
• Multisystem trauma
• Interfacility transport issues

General topic areas
• Point-of-care testing
• Multidisciplinary collaboration in patient care
• Advance directives
• Cutting-edge medical or surgical therapies

Author Guidelines for the American Journal of Critical Care (AJCC)

The Editors of the American Journal of Critical Care (AJCC) invite authors to submit original manuscripts describing investigations, advances, or observations from all specialties related to the care of critically and acutely ill patients. Papers promoting collaborative practice and research are encouraged. Manuscripts will be considered on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere and have been submitted solely to AJCC. (This restriction does not apply to abstracts.)

Manuscripts should be submitted online via the AJCC online manuscript submission and review system at www.editorialmanager.com/ajcc. At the time of submission, complete contact information (postal address, e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers) for the corresponding author is required. First and last names, e-mail addresses, and institutional affiliations of all coauthors also are required, (Print copies of the journal will be sent only to those coauthors who provide their postal address.) Manuscripts submitted through the online system should not also be submitted by mail or e-mail

After the manuscript is submitted online, the corresponding author will receive a manuscript number. Each author should complete an "Authorship, Financial Disclosure, Copyright Transfer, and Acknowledgement Form" and submit the completed forms by fax or e-mail as a [ PDF ] attachment. Please include the manuscript number on the Authorship Form in the space provided.

Quality improvement studies help maximize the integrity and safety of critical care. AJCC welcomes such articles. However, due to their subjective relationship to context and social processes, such articles are difficult to evaluate using traditional empirical standards. For this reason, AJCC asks that quality improvement studies adhere to the Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) Guidelines. For more information about SQUIRE, please see http://qshc.bmj.com/content/vol17/Suppl_1 or doi:10.1136/qshc.2008.029058.

Editorial Office Contact Information
AJCC Editorial Office
Attn.: Peer Review Coordinator
Phone: (949) 448-7340 or (800) 394-5995, ext 242
Fax: (949) 448-6633
E-mail: ajcc.editorialoffice@aacn.org

For help submitting your manuscript online, visit www.editorialmanager.com/ajcc and click "Author Tutorial." For technical help or questions not addressed by the Author Tutorial document, e-mail ajcchelp@aacn.org.

AJCC cannot accept responsibility for lost or mislaid manuscripts; please keep a copy for your files. The following types of manuscripts are published in AJCC:
• Research articles (1500-4000 words)
• Review articles (1500-4000 words)
• Case reports (500-1500 words; no more than 1 table, 1 figure)
• Letters (250-500 words)
• Guest editorials (500-1000 words)
• Commentaries (500-1000 words)

Peer Review
All submissions are subject to peer review. To ensure a blinded review, do not include the author’s name or institution in the running head or anywhere in the manuscript after the title page. This includes references in the first person to the author’s own work. Manuscripts that do not meet this requirement will not be reviewed. Two or more authorities will judge the validity, originality, and significance of the work presented. This process takes roughly 3 months, but delays are sometimes unavoidable. After the manuscript has been reviewed, the author will be informed whether the manuscript has been accepted for publication, has been accepted or rejected, or requires revision before publication.

Accepted manuscripts become the property of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) and may not be published without the written permission of AACN. Accepted manuscripts are subject to editing to conform to the American Medical Association Manual of Style, 10th edition (2007). Authors will be asked to review galley proofs and PDFs of page proofs prior to publication.

Manuscript Content
Manuscript content should be laid out in accordance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals www.icmje.org.

Authorship, Financial Disclosure, Copyright Transfer, and Acknowledgment Form [ PDF ]
Please include a cover letter with the AJCC Authorship, Financial Disclosure, Copyright Transfer, and Acknowledgment Form, signed and dated by each author. Be sure to fill in the title of your manuscript and the manuscript number on the Authorship, Financial Disclosure, Copyright Transfer, and Acknowledgment Form (see below). All financial disclosures—including disclosures of no financial conflicts of interest—will be published.

Title Page
This is page 1, should occupy only 1 page, and should contain the following:
• Title (should be concise yet informative)
• Running title (usually 2 to 5 words)
• The authors’ full names in preferred publishing order, with degrees, credentials, ranks, and affiliations
• The name, address, e-mail address, and telephone (home and office) and fax numbers of the author to whom all correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed
• The institution(s) at which the work was performed
• Key words consistent with those found in the most recently published CINAHL Subject Heading List
• Grant or other financial support used in the study

Abstract
Abstract format varies as follows:

Review articles - abstracts need not be structured.

Clinical and basic research studies - must have structured abstracts of no more than 250 words (Haynes RB, Mulrow CD, Huth EJ, Altman DG, Gardner MJ. More informative abstracts revisited. Ann Intern Med. 1990;113:69-76). Abstracts must be written in the 3rd person. Abstracts for clinical studies should have the following subheadings: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions.

Laboratory studies and new apparatuses and techniques - a shorter form is requested (Relman AS. New “information for authors”––and readers. N Engl J Med. 1990;323:356). These abstracts should have the following subheadings: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions.

Preliminary/short communications and case reports - an unstructured abstract of no more than 150 words is required.

Ethics
When human experimentation is being reported, a statement must be included confirming that the work was done in accordance with the appropriate institutional review body and carried out with the ethical standards set forth in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975. When laboratory animals are used, provide a statement that the work was carried out according to the National Research Council’s protocol for, or any national law on, the care and use of laboratory animals.

Releases
If any material in the manuscript is from a prior copyrighted publication, the manuscript must be accompanied by a letter of permission from the copyright holder. However, we prefer not to publish figures that have been published elsewhere. If applicable, permission to use unpublished data and personal communications must be included.

Patient Descriptions, Photographs, and Pedigrees
Include a signed statement of informed consent to publish (in print and online) patient descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees from all persons (parents or legal guardians for minors) who can be identified in such written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees. Such persons should be shown the manuscript before its submission.

References
These should start on a separate page following the text. They must be numbered consecutively by their order of appearance in the text. References cited in figures and tables must be numbered sequentially as if they are cited where the figure or title is first cited in the text. In the text, designate reference numbers either as superscripts or on the line in parentheses. Do not use a word processor’s footnote or endnote function. Check all references for accuracy and completeness. Abbreviate journal titles as found in Index Medicus. If in doubt as to the correct abbreviation, cite the complete journal name. Do not use periods in abbreviations of journal titles. List all authors, but if the number exceeds 6, list only the first 3 authors followed by et al. Please follow the format and punctuation shown in the following examples: