Instructions for Authors

For guidelines on BMJ's general policies and submission instructions please click on links below. Manuscript formatting Editorial policies Patient consent forms Licence forms Peer review process Online First process

Editorial policies
Scope and editorial priorities The principal concern of Tobacco Control is to provide a forum for research, analysis, commentary, and debate on policies, programmes, and strategies that are likely to further the objectives of a comprehensive tobacco control policy. In papers submitted for review the introduction should indicate why the research reported or issues discussed are important in terms of controlling tobacco use, and the discussion section should include an analysis of how the research reported contributes to tobacco control objectives. Papers firmly anchored to a strategic policy and programme context are more likely to be accepted for publication. As the journal seeks to reach an international readership, authors should consider whether their intended submissions address issues or themes, which are likely to be of interest to researchers working in other nations. Overly parochial issues, which contain few lessons for tobacco control policy outside a paper's local context, are unlikely to be given high priority. The manuscripts editors will generally not give high priority to:

Studies of smoking prevalence and its correlates . These are best suited to national journals. Few people living outside a country are interested in whether that country has 30% or 35% of smokers.

Knowledge, attitudes, behaviour (KAB) studies of particular population groups or health professionals. Again, these are better suited to national journals or to health professional speciality journals. Few people in other countries are likely to be interested in (for example) whether nurses in a regional hospital are interested in helping patients quit. National studies, and those taking such studies into original areas are of more interest.

Reports that evoke unanimous "so what?" responses from the editors. These are papers with findings that seem to hold no obvious importance for changing policy or practice in tobacco control. They often display methodological finery, but don't take us anywhere important or interesting.

Opinion pieces where the opinions are unoriginal, poorly argued, nave or disregard for important ethical issues in favour of sloganeering.

Papers that show the authors have never opened Tobacco Control and do not understand its primary focus on tobacco control rather than on tobacco and its use and health consequences. We are interested in such papers, but only if their authors address the implications of their findings for tobacco control.

Papers with glaringly obvious, fatal methodological problems. Papers on subjects that require highly technical or discipline-specific language unlikely to be understood by the majority of readers.

Papers which are replications of already well-established findings or offer little new information. Local studies where the implications for the journal's international audience are unclear. Reports written for governments or local health authorities that someone thought might be given a quick make-over and submitted as a journal paper.

Tobacco industry funded work Tobacco Control will not consider for publication papers reporting work funded, in whole or in part, by a tobacco company or tobacco industry organization. Nor will the journal consider papers by authors who accept tobacco industry funding, including funding for research costs, for all or part of any authors salary, or other forms of personal remuneration. For further information, please read this editorial giving the reasoning behind the journals policy. Failure to declare competing interests at submission, or when an article is commissioned, can result in immediate rejection of the paper. If a competing interest comes to light after publication, Tobacco Control will issue a formal correction to or retraction of the whole paper, as appropriate. Material previously published online Tobacco Control is willing to consider papers based wholly or in part on material previously published online. However authors should consider an editorial on this subject: Prior publication on the web: new journal policy. The editor retains the customary right to make changes in style and if necessary to shorten, with the approval of the author(s), material accepted for publication. Fast tracking Under special circumstances where a papers findings have immediately relevant policy implications warranting urgent publication, manuscripts may be fast tracked ahead of the normal

queue of papers. Should you feel that you have good reasons why this is true for your paper, please detail these in a cover letter, explaining the importance of your work for the field and the reason you feel it is of sufficient importance to be handled urgently. This request does not guarantee that the editors will agree, and only a few papers a year will be expedited on this basis, but it may help the editors to evaluate the papers importance in the current context. Terms Papers on electronic cigarettes should use the term electronic cigarettes on first use, after which the abbreviation 'e-cigarettes' may be used. Papers on other nicotine delivery systems may continue to use the term electronic nicotine delivery systems followed by the abbreviation 'ENDS' after first use. Research reporting guidelines BMJ requires compliance to the following reporting guidelines. Please upload the relevant completed checklist for your study type with your submission, and label it "Research checklist". If no relevant checklist is available for your study type, this can be indicated on the submission form. CONSORT statement - Required for all randomised controlled trials PRISMA statement - Required for all systematic reviews EVEREST statement - Required for all economic evaluations STARD statement - Required for all diagnostic research papers STROBE statement - Required for all observational studies SQUIRE statement - Required for all quality improvement studies Guidance and forms are available from EQUATOR.

Open Access
Authors can choose to have their article published Open Access for a fee of 1950 (plus applicable VAT).

Colour figure charges

During submission you will be asked whether or not you agree to pay for the colour print publication of your colour images. This service is available to any author publishing within this journal for a fee of 250 per article. Authors can elect to publish online in

colour and black and white in print, in which case the appropriate selection should be made upon submission.

Revised manuscripts
When uploading a revised manuscript, authors should also include a separate manuscript file highlighting the tracked changes to show the editors the difference from the previous version. The tracked changes document should be uploaded as asupplementary file.

Article types and word counts

Research papers Special communications Review articles Commentaries News analysis Ad watch Industry watch Advocacy in action Perspectives Covers and cover essays Brief reports Cartoons (The Lighter Side) Letters to the editor (original research) Correspondence Supplements

The word count excludes the title page, abstract, tables, acknowledgements and contributions and the references. Please include the word count of your manuscript on the title page. For non-native English speakers a professional editing service is offered.

Research papers
Articles reporting research work may be full length or brief reports. Papers should generally be a maximum of 3500 words in length, excluding references, abstract and "what this paper adds". Exceptions can be made to this, particularly in the case of review articles, qualitative research and tobacco industry document

research where the inclusion of important quotations can expand length. The editors will consider the merits of the case for longer papers on a case-by-case basis. In the case of very long papers (more than 5000 words), the editors at their discretion may offer authors the option of page charges for excessive material judged necessary to the integrity of the paper. However, authors are strongly encouraged to observe the recommended length limitations, as excessive length may disadvantage an otherwise acceptable paper given the space limitations of the journal. Word count: generally up to 3500 words Tables/Illustrations: up to 5 References: up to 25 This article type is subject to internal and external peer review.

Special communications
Special communications are papers that do not report original research data but which provide a discussion, analysis, or review of a particular subject. This article type is subject to internal and sometimes external peer review.

Review articles
Review articles provide a review of the literature, usually concerning a particular subject, country, or geographical region. Review manuscripts, including meta-analyses, should include an abstract with the following headings: objective, data sources, study selection, data extraction, data synthesis, and conclusions Authors submitting review manuscripts and reports of the results of meta-analyses should prepare an abstract of no more than 250 words under the following headings:

Objective - The abstract should begin with a precise statement of the primary objective of the review. The focus of this statement should be guided by whether the review emphasises factors such as cause, diagnosis, prognosis, therapy, or prevention. It should include information about the specific population, intervention, exposure, and test or outcome that is being reviewed.

Data sources - A succinct summary of data sources should be given, including any time restrictions. Potential sources include experts or research institutions active in the field, computerised databases and published indexes, registries, abstract booklets, conference proceedings, references identified from

bibliographies of pertinent articles and books, and companies or manufacturers of tests or agents being reviewed. If a bibliographic database is used, the exact indexing terms used for article retrieval should be stated, including any constraints (for example, English language or human subjects).

Study selection - The abstract should describe the criteria used to select studies for detailed review from among studies identified as relevant to the topic. Details of selection should include particular populations, interventions, outcomes, or methodological designs. The method used to apply these criteria should be specified - for example, blind review, consensus, multiple reviewers. The proportion of initially identified studies that met selection criteria should be stated.

Data extraction - Guidelines used for abstracting data and assessing data quality and validity (such as criteria for causal inference) should be described. The method by which the guidelines were applied should be stated: for example, independent extraction by multiple observers.

Data synthesis - The main results of the review, whether qualitative or quantitative, should be stated. Methods used to obtain these results should be outlined. Meta-analyses should state the major outcomes that were pooled and include odds ratios or effect sizes and if possible, sensitivity analyses. Numerical results should be accompanied by confidence intervals, if applicable, and exact levels of statistical significance. Evaluations of screening and diagnostic tests should address issues of sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, receiver operating characteristic curves, and predictive values. Assessments of prognosis should include summarisations of survival characteristics and related variables. Major identified sources of variation between studies should be stated, including differences in treatment protocols, co-interventions, confounders, outcome measures, follow up, and dropout rates.

Conclusions - The conclusions and their applications should be clearly stated, limiting generalisation to the domain of the review. The need for new studies may be suggested.

Word count: by negotiation This article type is subject to internal and external peer review.

Commentaries
Commentaries are opinion pieces, which are generally one to two journal pages (1000 to 1500 words) in length. This article type is subject to internal peer review.

News analysis
News articles should be sent by email to the News Editor. Submissions from, or concerning, developing countries are particularly welcome. We encourage the inclusion of appropriate, high-quality illustrations to accompany news articles. NB. If you don't own the copyright to the illustrations(s), please provide full details of their origination.

Ad watch
Ad Watch is a section of the journal where tobacco advertising and promotional techniques, campaigns, and strategies are profiled and analysed. The text of these articles may be brief (letting the pictures "speak for themselves") or may be more indepth. Word count: typically less than 500 words.

Industry watch
Articles appearing in this section review, analyse, and comment on tobacco industry activities and strategies. Word count: usually less than 500 words.

Advocacy in action
The objective of the section, which will be limited to one article per issue is to encourage people working in tobacco control advocacy to write up accounts of advocacy episodes in which they have been engaged in such a way that readers would gain insights into strategic thinking about advocacy planning, what was done and achieved by a course of action or campaign, and what was learnt from it. All articles should address the following questions:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. What did you set out to do? Why is this important to tobacco control? What are the actions and reactions (What you did and how the other side reacted)? What did you achieve (or fail to achieve)? Are there any lessons for advocates?

The maximum word count is 2000 words, plus references. This article is subject to internal and sometimes external peer review

Perspectives
Features two divergent views on a tobacco control issue. These articles are usually commissioned, but unsolicited manuscripts may also be submitted. This article type is subject to internal peer review; sometimes additional commentaries are commissioned.

Covers and cover essays

Ideas and contributions for covers of Tobacco Control should be sent to the Editor. Covers should be colourful and creative, with a tobacco control theme. Original artwork, anti-tobacco posters, photographs, and cartoons may all be considered. Material with an international flavour is particularly desirable. NB. If you don't own the copyright to the illustrations(s), please provide full details of their origination.

Brief reports
Brief reports are shorter versions of original articles, should not exceed 1500 words, and may include one table or figure. This article type is subject to internal and external peer review.

Cartoons (The lighter side)

The Lighter Side reproduces anti-tobacco cartoons. Ideas and submissions should be sent to the Editor. Written permission to reproduce the cartoon should be obtained from the artist, publication, or company holding the copyright, and should be submitted with the cartoon. Parodies, satires, and other humorous material may also be submitted for this section.

Letters (original research)

Research letters intended for publication should be a maximum of 500 words, 10 references, and one table or figure. [Those responding to articles published in the journal should be submitted as described below under Correspondence.] Research letters should not duplicate information given in the text of an article. They should have a title, a brief methods section, results and a discussion. This article type is subject to internal and external peer review.

Correspondence
Comments arising from recent articles published in Tobacco Control are welcomed and should be submitted electronically via the website. Contributors should go to the abstract or full text of the article in question. In the right hand column on the article webpage, click on the "Submit a Response link and complete the online form. Responses are not peer reviewed, are subject to

editing, and if published are permanently linked electronically to the original paper. Word count: up to 400 words.

Supplements
Tobacco Control is willing to consider publishing supplements to regular issues. Supplement proposals may be made at the request of a group of researchers or the editorial team. In all cases, it is vital that the journal's integrity, independence and academic reputation are not compromised in any way. A guest editor will usually be appointed by the Editor-in-Chief to manage the peer review process. Please note that Tobacco Control does not publish conference abstracts. Those interested in exploring potential supplements should contact the Editor. The proposal should include a table of contents with provisional article titles and authors, an indication of the expected length of each paper, and the details of the key contact at the sponsoring organisation. For further information, please read BMJ's supplements guidelines (PDF).

Plagiarism detection
BMJ is a member of CrossCheck by CrossRef and iThenticate. iThenticate is a plagiarism screening service that verifies the originality of content submitted before publication. iThenticate checks submissions against millions of published research papers, and billions of web content. Authors, researchers and freelancers can also use iThenticate to screen their work before submission by visiting www.ithenticate.com.

Scopus EXPORT DATE:21 Feb 2014 Novotny, T.E.a , Hardin, S.N.a , Hovda, L.R.b , Novotny, D.J.c , McLean, M.K.d , Khan, S.d Tobacco and cigarette butt consumption in humans and animals (2011) Tobacco Control, 20 (1 SUPPL), pp. 17-20. Cited 7 times.

http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.079960640093&partnerID=40&md5=71ad645b0ce86501edb45621bfa74cf1 AFFILIATIONS: Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, United States; SafetyCall International, PLLC and Pet Poison Helpline, Bloomington, MN, United States; San Diego State University Research Foundation, San Diego, CA, United States; ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, Urbana, IL, United States ABSTRACT: Discarded cigarette butts may present health risks to human infants and animals because of indiscriminate eating behaviours. Nicotine found in cigarette butts may cause vomiting and neurological toxicity; leachates of cigarette butts in aquatic environments may cause exposure to additional toxic chemicals including heavy metals, ethyl phenol and pesticide residues. This report reviews published and grey literature regarding cigarette butt waste consumption by children, pets and wildlife. Although reports of human and animal exposures number in the tens of thousands, severe toxic outcomes due to butt consumption are rare. Nonetheless, the ubiquity of cigarette butt waste and its potential for adverse effects on human and animal health warrants additional research and policy interventions to reduce the stream of these pollutants in the environment. INDEX KEYWORDS: heavy metal; nicotine; pesticide residue; phenol derivative, animal; dangerous goods; environmental exposure; hazardous waste; human; infant; pet animal; review; risk; smoking; tobacco; water pollution; wild animal, Animals; Animals, Wild; Environmental Exposure; Hazardous Substances; Hazardous Waste; Humans; Infant; Metals, Heavy; Nicotine; Pesticide Residues; Pets; Phenols; Risk; Smoking; Tobacco; Water Pollution CHEMICALS/CAS:nicotine, 54-11-5; Hazardous Substances; Hazardous Waste; Metals, Heavy; Nicotine, 54-11-5; Pesticide Residues; Phenols REFERENCES: Novotny, T.E., Lum, K., Smith, E., Cigarettes butts and the case for an environmental policy on hazardous cigarette waste (2009) Int J Environ Res Public Health, 6, pp. 1691-1705; (2008) Marine Debris: More Than An Eye Sore, , http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/DocServer/Marine_Debris_finalrevi se.pdf?docID1/44504, Ocean Conservancy, Washington, DC: Ocean Conservancy, accessed 21 Nov 2010; (2004) The Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General, , U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, GA, USA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; Harris, B., The intractable cigarette 'filter problem (2011) Tob Control, 20 (Supp 1), pp. i9-i15; Moerman, J.W., Potts, G.E., Analysis of metals leached from smoked cigarette litter (2011) Tob Control, 20 (Supp 1), pp. i28-i32; Micevska, T., Warne, M., Pablo, F., Variation in, and causes of, toxicity of cigarette butts to a cladoceran and microtox (2006) Arch Environ Contam Toxicol, 50, pp. 205-212; Slaughter, E., Gersberg, R., Watanabe, K., Toxicity of cigarette butts, and their chemical components, to marine and freshwater fish (2011) Tob Control, 20 (Supp 1), pp. i23-i27; Hoffmann, D., Hoffmann, I., Chemistry and toxicology (1998) Department of Health and Human Services, pp. 55-104., National Cancer Institute, Cancer Control and Population Sciences. Bethesda, MD, USA: U.S. Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No. 9; Malazia, M., Andreucci, G., Alfani, F., Acute intoxication with nicotene alkaloids and cannabinoids in children from ingestion of cigarettes (1983) Hum Toxicol, 2, pp. 315-316;

Hulzebos, C.V., Walhof, C., de Vries, T.W., Accidental ingestion of cigarettes by children [Abstract] (1998) Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd, 142, pp. 2569-2571; Johnson, C.P., Blasco, P.A., Infant growth and development (1997) Pediatr Rev, 18, pp. 224-242; Salomon, M.E., Nicotine and tobacco preparations (2006) Goldfrank's Toxicologic Emergencies, pp. 1221-1230., In: Goldfrank LR, Nelson LS, Howland MA, et al, eds., 8th edn. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; Spoo, W., Nicotine Toxicosis (2008) Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy, pp. 135-138., In: Bonagura J, ed. (XIV); Hackendahl, N.C., Sereda, C.W., Toxicology brief: The dangers of nicotine ingestion in dogs (2004) Veterinary Med, pp. 218-224; Sakas, P.S., (2007) Keeping Your Bird HealthyeBasic Pet Bird Care Part I, , http://www.gccbc.org/ARTICLES/articles.htm, Article II, Section H, (accessed Retrieved on Nov 21, 2010; Survey Monkey, , http://www.surveymonkey.com/?cmpid=eng:us:ps:google&gclid=CIWJy6zJ8qYC FVBe2godG1v-Bg; Smolinske, S.C., Spoerke, D.G., Spiller, S.K., Cigarette and nicotine chewing gum toxicity in children (1988) Hum Toxicol, 7, pp. 27-31; McGee, D., Brabson, T., McCarthy, J., Four-year review of cigarette ingestions in children (1995) Pediatr Emerg Care, 11, pp. 13-16; Bonadio, W.A., Anderson, Y., Tobacco ingestions in children (1989) Clin Ped, 28, pp. 592-593; Petridou, E., Polychronopolou, A., Kouri, N., Childhood poisoningsfrom ingestion of cigarettes (1995) Lancet, 346, p. 1296; Ingestion of cigarettes and cigarette butts by childrendRhode Island, January 1994eJuly 1996 (1997) Morb Mortal Wkly Rep, 46, pp. 125-128., CDC; Sisselman, S.G., Mofenson, H.C., Caraccio, T.R., Childhood poisonings from ingestion ofCigarettes (1996) Lancet, 12, pp. 200-201; Kubo, K., Chishiro, T., Six-year review of cigarette ingestion in childrenegastric lavage versus medical observation [Abstract] (2008) Chudoku Kenkyu, 21, pp. 115-122; Quirk, J.T., Cigarette-related injuries to young children in the USA, 2002e2007 (2009) Public Health, 123, pp. 628-629; Bronstein, A.C., Spyker, D.A., Cantilena, J.R., 2007 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poison Data System (NPDS) (2008) Clin Toxicol, 46, pp. 927-1057; Connolly, G.N., Richter, P., Aleguas, A., Unintentional child poisonings through ingestion of conventional and novel tobacco products (2010) Pediatrics, 125, pp. 896-899; Vig, M.M., Nicotine poisoning in a dog (1990) Vet Hum Toxicol, 32, pp. 573-575; Kaplan, B., Acute nicotine poisoning in a dog (1968) Vet Med Small Anim Clin, 63, pp. 1033-1034; Stanley, K., Stabenau, E., Landry, A., Debris ingestion by sea turtles along the Texas coast (1988) Eighth Annual Workshop On Sea Turtle Conservation and Biology, pp. 119-121., In: Schroeder BA, ed., Fort Fisher, NC, USA: NOAA Technical Memorandum; Top 10 Ways to Keep Children Safe From Poison, , http://www.calpoison.org/public/top_10_prevent.pdf, California Poison Control System, San Francisco: University of California, accessed 21 Nov 2010; (2011) Rio Declaration On Environment and Development, , http://www.unep.org/Documents.multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=78&A rticleID=1163, United Nations Environment Program, accessed 5 Feb; (2010) Extended Product Responsibility State Laws As of October 2010, , http://www.productstewardship.us/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr= 280, Product Stewardship Institute, accessed 28 Oct

CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS: Novotny, T. E.; Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, Hardy Tower 119, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92186, United States; email: tnovotny@mail.sdsu.edu ISSN: 09644563 DOI: 10.1136/tc.2011.043489 PUBMED ID: 21504918 LANGUAGE OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENT: English ABBREVIATED SOURCE TITLE: Tob. Control DOCUMENT TYPE: Article SOURCE: Scopus