Hygiene & Medizin

Instructions for Authors

These instructions are based on the Uniform Requirements of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. The detailed guidelines can be consulted at www.icmje.org.

Submission of the Manuscript

The manuscript should be submitted in electronic format (text as a Word or PDF file; illustrations in high-quality printable form in tiff, eps or jpg format with 300 dpi resolution) to the following address:

HYGIENE & MEDIZIN
Redaktion
mhp- Verlag GmbH
Marktplatz 13
D-65183 Wiesbaden
Tel.: 0611–50593-133
Fax: 0611–50593-130
E-Mail: HygMed@mhp-verlag.de

On submitting it, the authors affirm that the submitted Original Article has neither been
published before nor submitted for publication elsewhere.
Furthermore, the corresponding author confirms that all named authors have participated
in the execution of the work described and approve the present version of the
manuscript and consent to its publication in Hygiene & Medizin. For safety reasons, the
authors should preserve a copy of the entire manuscript. After receipt of the manuscript
the corresponding author will receive a confirmation of receipt.

Peer-Review Process

The decision as to whether a paper will be accepted for publication, declined or returned
to the author for revision will be taken anonymously in a peer-review process. At
least two experts take part in the peer-review process for Original Articles and Reviews.
Articles from the Field are reviewed by at least one expert based on criteria specific
to the respective field. In case of contrary reviews a third reviewer is involved. The editorial staff reserve the right to implement a peer review process, if necessary, in the case of guidelines that are not compiled by, or compiled in consultation with, the German Society of Hospital Hygiene (DGKH), the Association of Applied Hygiene (VAH) or the Working Group for “Hospital Hygiene” of the Association of Scientific Medical Societies (AWMF).

Publication in Hygiene & Medizin

The publisher reserves the right to edit the manuscript and change the typographic layout.
Before printing, page proofs will be sent to the author and must be checked for typesetting
and factual errors. The author will return to the publisher within the prescribed
period the copy that has been approved for print. If the period of time set by the editorial
team is not observed, the publisher reserves the right to defer publication. The corresponding author will receive free of charge 50 print run-ons of Original Articles, Reviews or of Articles from the Field.

Definitions

Original Articles

are experimental or epidemiological studies to explore a scientific issue. They are broken
down into the Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion sections. The Introduction
section should include, in addition to a brief description of the aim and purpose of the paper,
important information explaining the study. The Materials and Methods section
should be written in a style comprehensible to every reader. In the Results section the
data collected by the author(s) should be presented without commentary in text and
tables and discussed in the ensuing Discussion section, while drawing conclusions.

Reviews

contain a summary of the current literature on a specific topic and give the reader a
comprehensive picture of the current scientific status quo. The topic of the paper is addressed in an Introduction. The Review presents the pertinent scientific publications on
the topic and in a final appraisal the papers are evaluated, while possibly drawing conclusions.

Articles from the Field

Articles from the field feature case descriptions, experience reports or practice-related
studies that do not have the scope or design of an Original Article. In the Introduction section the background or reason for the article is explained. The Methods and Results sections can be combined, while in the Discussion section the conclusions drawn from observations are discussed and, possibly, corroborated by means of the author’s own
references.

Points to be Borne in Mind when Compiling the Manuscript

• The Manuscript Length should not exceed 6,000 words (contains an abstract in German and English, text, Acknowledgments section and references).
• The Title Page features the title in German and English language, the names and titles
  of all authors as well as the names and complete addresses of the institution or
  department in which the study was carried out. The corresponding author
  should be clearly indicated, together with fax number and email address. Key words
  should be given in German and English language.
• The Abstract in German and English should not exceed 250 words in either
  language. For Original Articles the abstract is broken down into Study Design,
  Methodology, Results and Conclusion, while briefly describing the basic methods,
  most important results and conclusions.
• To provide for a more transparent breakdown, headers and subheaders are used.
  Footnotes should be avoided.
• The Acknowledgements section mentions all persons who additionally participated
  in the study, provided materials, etc. or institutions that had helped finance
  the project.
• The journal Hygiene & Medizin (Infection Control and Healthcare) publishes a declaration of a potential Conflict of Interest for all articles belonging to the departments “Original Articles, Reviews, Articles from the Field”. Such a declaration of any possible conflicts of interests increases transparency for the editorial staff and, in particular, for the readers. Of course, such a conflict of interest on its own does not as a rule detract from the scientific content of a manuscript. You will find detailed information and the respective form for the declaration of a potential Conflict of Interest here: mhp-verlag.de/media/conflict_of_interest_authors.pdf
• Statement of Informed Consent must be included, if applicable.
• Statement of Human and Animal Rights must be included, if applicable.
• The References should be cited using the Vancouver style (Br Med J 1988; 286:401–405).

The cited publications are listed numerically in the order first cited in the t and designated in the text as Arabic numerals in square brackets (…was observed[1]…). The references in the illustrations and tables are numbered in the order citedin the text. All references are listed in numerical order at the end of the article. Only references of direct relevance to the publication may be cited. Only scientific publications that have already been published or accepted for publication, but not yet printed (state: ahead of print), may be featured in the list of references.

If there are six or fewer authors all names are given; if there are seven or more authors only the first three names are given, followed by et al. The authors are responsiblefor the accuracy of the references, for correct citation of the references as well as for concordance between the references cited in the text and the references given in the list of references.

Citation from Journals:

1. Fallon RJ. Nosocomial infections with Legionella pneumophila. J Hosp Infect1980; 280: 299–305.
The journal titles are abbreviated as per the Index Medicus.

Citation from Books:

1. Washington JA, Barry AL. Dilution test procedures. In: Lennette EH, Spaulding
EH, Truant JP, Eds. Manual of Clinical Microbiology, 2nd edn. Washington, DC:
American Society for Microbiology 1979; 410–417.

• When submitting the manuscript the following order must be observed: title page,
  text, references, tables, illustrations, legends.
• Tables must be presented with a descriptive or explanatory title and numbered
  using Arabic numerals (Table 1, 2, 3, etc.) consecutively as cited in the text. If necessary, explanations may be presented as footnotes.
• Illustrations should be presented in high-quality printable form as tiff, eps or
  jpg format with 300 dpi resolution. They are numbered with Arabic numerals (Figure
  1, 2, 3, etc.) in the order cited in the text. A brief legend is needed for each illustration.
  Please note: the author is responsible for obtaining permission to reprint
  tables and illustrations, etc. from other publications or from non-published
  sources.
• Text presentation: manuscripts (other than the bilingual Abstract) should be
  written in either German or English language. English manuscripts should consistently
  use either UK or US spellings as well as SI abbreviations. Genus and species names of organisms should be written in italics. The names of organisms should be written out in full on first mention and the genus name should then be abbreviated to the initial letter
  on subsequent mention (e.g. S. aureus).

Originality and Copyright

When the manuscript is approved for printing, the publisher is given an Exclusive Licence
for reproduction and distribution. However, after a period of one year after its
publication the originator/author may use the article for his/her own online publication
(Section 38(1) Copyright Law).

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