I. TYPES OF MANUSCRIPTS ACCEPTED

Physiotherapy Canada will consider manuscripts in English or French providing the work has not been published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Physiotherapy Canada accepts systematic reviews, meta analyses, meta syntheses, public/health policy research, clinical practice guidelines, case reports, evidence-based practice articles, and brief reports.

Letters to the editor will not be acknowledged. However, correspondents will be notified if a letter is chosen to be published. Authors of any article discussed in a letter will be invited to respond. The accepted letter to the editor will be printed with the author response whenever possible. Letters and responses must be signed and dated.

II. GENERAL FORMATTING

A. Word Length: A manuscript should be no more than 20 to 25 pages (12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins) and submitted as a Microsoft Word file. Brief Reports are limited to 1,250 words of text (or 1,000 words plus one figure or table) with no more than 10 references. Evidence-Based Practice articles are limited to 1,250 words also with a limited number of references.

B. Language: Focus on patients as people. Avoid using labels. For example, “people with arthritis” is preferred over “arthritis patients.”

C. Footnotes: Information on all mentioned equipment and/or product manufacturers must be provided as footnotes. A full address, including the postal code, should be supplied. Footnotes in the manuscript and in tables must include: Company name, Address, City, Province/state, Postal code/ZIP

D. Units of Measure: The International Metric System of Units must be used. (Imperial or standard units may be supplied in parentheses if desired.)

E. Statistics: Report p-values less than 0.05 to three decimal places (e.g., p = 0.028) and p-values greater than 0.05 to two decimal places (e.g., p = 0.44). P-values less than 0.001 should be reported as p < 0.001. When making comparisons between groups, provide estimates of effect sizes and the corresponding confidence interval and p-value.

F. Page Numbering: Manuscript pages should be numbered consecutively.

III. MANUSCRIPT STRUCTURE

A. COVER PAGE: The cover page should list the name, address, facsimile and telephone numbers, and e-mail address of the corresponding author. Authors must also include ethics, disclosure, and conflict of interest statements.

i. Disclosure and Conflict of Interest: Authors have a responsibility to readers to fully disclose any and all conflicts of interest that do, or may, influence or bias their research or findings. A conflict of interest occurs when the interpretation of data or presentation of research findings are influenced by financial or personal relationships.

Conflicts of interest may occur in many areas. For example, if authors:

• Receive research support provided by a manufacturer
• Are employed by the manufacturer of a product under study
• Have equity or stock ownership in the company of a product or method being studied
• Are paid as consultants or ghost authors for a study
• Have public or foundation funding
• Are provided equipment for research
• Have grants or patents received or pending related to research reports

Authors must also disclose all sources of funding, regardless of amount or source (e.g., commercial firms, foundations, institutions, government, etc.).

Authors that have no funding or conflict of interest to declare must indicate this fact.

Authors who are unsure of what constitutes a conflict of interest and want guidance on what to report may contact the Scientific Editor at editor@physiotherapy.ca.

ii. Ethics Review: Where applicable, a statement should be included indicating that a study has been approved by the appropriate ethics review board(s) and that informed consent has been obtained for all participants.

B. TITLE PAGE: The title page should indicate the manuscript title, the author(s) name(s), and a footnote of biographical data about the author(s). A notation should be included if the work was adapted from a conference presentation or other speech.

i. Abstract: An abstract of 200 or fewer words must accompany research manuscripts using the following headings: Purpose, Method (subjects, design, and procedure), Results, and Conclusions (including clinical implications).

Case report abstracts should include: Purpose, Client Description, Intervention, Measures and Outcome, and Implications.

Abstracts for other papers should include: Purpose, Summary of Key Points, and Conclusions or Recommendations.

ii. Keywords: At least five keywords must be included with the manuscript.

iii. Acknowledgements: Major contributors to the work should be identified in the Acknowledgment section, included as a separate paragraph under the biographical data about the author(s).

C. MANUSCRIPT

i. Headings are used to designate the major divisions of the paper. Headings for research articles should include: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Limitations, and Conclusion. Up to three levels of subheadings may be used.

Headings for case reports should include: Introduction, Case Description, Intervention, Outcome Measures, Patient Outcomes, Discussion, Implications, and Future Directions.

References, tables, and figures should follow the text, in that sequence.

ii. Key Messages: At the end of the manuscript but before the references, please add the following sub-sections under the heading “Key Messages”: (1) What is already known on this subject and (2) What this study adds. In these sections, please summarize the relevant literature on your topic and state what your study, in particular, has added to the knowledge base.

iii. References: References should follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. In-text references should be cited by superscript Arabic numbers consecutively in order of appearance. Superscript numbers should appear after a comma or period. End-of-text references must appear on a separate sheet following the text of the article. For example:

Book: McArdleWD, Kath FL, Katch VL. Exercise physiology: Energy, nutrition, and human performances. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger; 1986.

Chapter in book: Guccione AA, Cullen KE, O’Sullivan SB. Functional assessment. In: O’Sullivan SB, Schmitz TJ, editors. Physical rehabilitation: assessment and treatment. Philadelphia: FA Davis Co; 1988. p. 219–35.

Journal article: Malouin F, Prefontaine J, Richards CL. Quantitative evaluation of head posture and movements with a triaxial electrogoniometer: a reproducibility study. Physiother Can. 1989;40:294–301.

Conference paper: Bengtsson S, Solheim BG. Enforcement of data protection, privacy and security in medical informatics. In Lun KC, Degoulet P, Piemme TE, Reinhoff O, editors. MEDINFO 92. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Medical Informatics; 1992 Sep 6–10; Geneva, Switzerland. Amsterdam: North-Holland; 1992. p.1561–5.

Journal on the Internet: Morse SS. Factors in the emergence of infectious disease. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online]. 1995 [cited 1999 Dec 25];1:[24 screens]. Available from www.cdc/gov/ncidc/EID/eid.htm.

Website: Health on the net foundation. Health on the net foundation code of conduct (HON code) for medical and health websites [cited 1998 Jun 30]. Available at www.hon.ch/conduct.html.

For each reference, up to six authors may be listed. For more than six authors, list the first six and then use et al.

For details on formatting references, visit www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html.

Use PubMed for journal abbreviations.

iv. Tables: Tables must be double-spaced using the Tables function in Microsoft Word, provided with a title, and numbered consecutively in the text using Arabic numbers. Each table should be placed on a separate page, following the references. Do not duplicate data in results and tables.

v. Figures: A figure legend should be provided in the manuscript, on a separate page following the tables, to the following specifications:

• Line drawings are scanned at 900-1,200 dpi at a minimum of 12.5 cm (5 inches) in width and saved as a TIF or EPS file (flow charts must not exceed 7 inches [18 cm] in width)
• Colour photographs must be saved in an RGB colour space, and black and white photographs saved in a greyscale colour space. Either file must be saved as a TIF at 300 dpi at 5 inches (12.5 cm) in width (1,500 pixels).

Graphics are to be included in the manuscript and sent as separate files in their source program (e.g., Excel, PowerPoint, Illustrator, Photoshop).

For previously published figures, written permission must be included from both the author and the original publisher.

vi. Photographs: All patient photographs must be accompanied by a statement of permission for reproduction. This statement must be signed by the patient, parent, or guardian.

D. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

The following statement, signed by all authors, must accompany each manuscript:

‘‘The undersigned authors warrant that they have sole ownership of the work submitted, that the work is original and has never been published, and the authors have full powers to grant such rights. In consideration of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association (CPA) journal, Physiotherapy Canada, taking action and reviewing and editing our submission, the authors undersigned hereby transfer and assign all copyright ownership to CPA and Physiotherapy Canada. The authors hereby grant the CPA journal, Physiotherapy Canada, the right to edit, revise, abridge, condense, and translate the submitted work.’’

The copyright statement can be e-mailed, faxed or mailed to the Scientific Editor, Physiotherapy Canada, Canadian Physiotherapy Association, 955 Green Valley Crescent, Suite 270, Ottawa, ON  K2C 3V4; fax: 613-564-1577; e-mail: information@physiotherapy.ca.

IV. SUBMISSION PROCESS

A. Original Manuscripts: Manuscripts should be submitted as two Microsoft Word files by e-mail: one blinded file and one unblinded file. In the blinded copy, all identifying information (i.e., references to authors, specific research facilities, acknowledgements, or any other information that could identify the authors, including references to previous work) must be removed. Apply Microsoft Word’s continuous line-numbering feature to the blinded document.

Authors should suggest five potential reviewers for the manuscript and provide their e-mail addresses. Potential reviewers should be considered experts, have published in the area of research, and not be in a position of conflict. Authors must not suggest individuals from the same institutions or individuals whom they have collaborated or published with in the past.

B. Revised manuscripts: When submitting a revised manuscript, please indicate so in your e-mail accompanying the revised submission and quote your assigned manuscript number. Include any changes in the corresponding author’s address, e-mail address, telephone and facsimile numbers. Include a blind copy of both the revised manuscript, with continuous line numbering applied, and the author’s comments to the reviewers.

All submissions are to be e-mailed to the editor at information@physiotherapy.ca.

V. EDITING/PROOFS AND ALTERATIONS

The journal reserves the right to edit for style and clarity, and to format accepted manuscripts for publication.

The editor and the author of any article have the right to correct typographical errors to an article submitted to Physiotherapy Canada on the proofs provided by the publisher, but major content changes will not be accommodated at this stage of the production process.

VI. REPRINTS

Indicate the name and address of the person who is requesting the reprints. Reprints in quantities over 100 may be ordered from University of Toronto Press Inc., Journals Division, 5201 Dufferin Street, North York, ON M3H 5T8; Phone: 416-667-7810; Fax: 416-667-7881; Toll Free Fax: 800-221-9985; e-Mail: journals@utpress.utoronto.ca.