Instructions to Authors

About the Journal

Submission

Manuscript Preparation

Post-Acceptance

Production

Editorial Policy

Data Policy

About the Journal 

British Journal of Dermatology (BJD) is a hybrid access peer-reviewed journal that publishes 12 issues per year. Once a paper is accepted BJD will publish a pre-copyedited, pre-proofed version of the paper online within 48 hours of receiving a signed licence. This is replaced by a copyedited, proofed version of the paper as soon as it is ready. Please read the instructions on this page carefully and follow them closely. The Editors may return manuscripts that do not follow these instructions. 

Scope of the Journal 

BJD is a high-ranked global journal advancing the understanding and management of skin disease including clinical trials, translational research and treatment guidelines to improve patient outcomes.  

Submission 

We will consider your manuscript as long as 

• it is your own original work and does not duplicate any previously published work, including your own; 
• it is not under consideration, in peer review, or accepted for publication in any journal other than BJD; 
• it has not been published in any other journal; and 
• it contains nothing abusive, defamatory, libellous, obscene, fraudulent or illegal. 

Authors should observe high ethical standards and obey publication best practices. The following are all unacceptable: 

• data falsification or fabrication 
• plagiarism, including duplicate publication of your own work without proper citation 
• misappropriation of work 

We treat any case of ethical or publication malpractice very seriously. We will address them in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. Further information about OUP’s ethical policies is available. 

Publication Criteria 

• The study has not been published elsewhere except on a preprint server or as an abstract for a conference; if published elsewhere, then this ought to be stated in the manuscript. 
• Experiments, statistics and other analyses are performed to a high technical standard and are described in sufficient detail to ensure replication of the study. 
• Conclusions are presented in an appropriate fashion and are supported by the data. 
• The article is presented in an intelligible fashion and is written in standard English. 
• The research meets all applicable standards for the ethics of experimentation and research integrity. 
• The article adheres to appropriate reporting guidelines and community standards for data availability. 

How to Submit 

You must submit your paper via our web-based submission system, which may be found at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/bjd. If you have not published with BJD before, you will need to create an account. More information is available on the ScholarOne Manuscripts FAQ and help page. Questions about submitting can be sent to the editorial office at [email protected]. 

Third-Party Permissions 

If you wish to reproduce any material for which you do not own the copyright—including quotations, tables or images—you must obtain permission from the copyright holder. The permissions agreement must include the following documents and be included at submission: 

• nonexclusive rights to reproduce the material in your BJD article  
• both print and electronic rights, preferably for use in any form or medium 
• lifetime rights to use the material 
• worldwide language rights 

Further information on obtaining permissions is available. 

Fast-Track Submission

BJD offers a fast-track process for a select number of high-priority manuscripts, such as phase II or III RCTs, and time-sensitive data. BJD will provide a first decision within 7 working days. Revisions will also be handled swiftly. Approval for fast track is entirely at the discretion of the Editor. There is no charge for the fast-track service; however, the following requirements must be met to permit the fast-track process to proceed:

• A presubmission enquiry at least 3 weeks before submission. The enquiry should include the abstract of the article and the reason for requesting fast track. Please send to the Editor of the BJD at [email protected].
• If approved for the fast-track process all correspondence should be copied to [email protected].
• Authors must specify a submission date at least 3 weeks in advance and adhere to this date, allowing the journal to prepare reviewers in advance.

To ensure a rapid time to online publication, authors must commit to responding comprehensively to reviewers’ comments within 7 working days.

Manuscript Preparation 

Presubmission Language Editing 

If you are not confident in the quality of your English, you may wish to use a language-editing service to ensure that editors and reviewers understand your paper. Oxford University Press partners with Enago, a leading provider of author services. Prospective authors are entitled to a discount of 30% for editing services at Enago, via this link: https://www.enago.com/pub/oup.  

Enago is an independent service provider, who will handle all aspects of this service, including payment. As an author you are under no obligation to take up this offer. Language editing is optional and does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted. Edited manuscripts will still undergo peer review by the journal. 

General Guidance 

• Manuscript text must be saved in Word (.doc or .docx) or rich text format (.rtf). Tables are considered textual and should be supplied in the same format. Please do not submit text in a PDF format (.pdf). 
• Figures must be saved and uploaded as separate figure files. GIF, JPEG, PICT or BMP files are acceptable for submission, but only JPEG, TIFF or EPS files are suitable for printing. After acceptance, you will be contacted to provide print-quality figures if you have not already done so. Please note that if you supply figures in PDF format only, they must be distilled using the ‘print optimized’ option. 
• Abbreviations must be defined when first used in the abstract and in the main text, as well as when first used in table and figure captions. 
• All relevant files must be included with each revision of the paper. 
• Repetition of information or data in different sections of the manuscript must be carefully avoided. 

Submission Requirements 

• Author Consent. This section of the submission process must be completed to confirm that all authors listed qualify for authorship according to the ICJME guidelines and that all authors agree to its submission to BJD. 
• Conflicts of interest. This is essential; please see the Data Policy section for complete details.  
• Funding statement. State sources of funding for the research, including a short description of involvement of the funder in the study design, data collection, data analysis and manuscript preparation. 
• Data availability statement. This is required even if no data are available. Sample data availability statements can be found on OUP's pages.
• Ethics statement. BJD requires that studies involving human or animal subjects be approved by the authors' Institutional Review Board (IRB) or its equivalent. IRB approval (or exemption) must be stated in the manuscript. 
• Patient Consent. Patient consent for publication, including for use in social media, is required for all clinical images whether or not the patient is identifiable. See our Patient Policy for full details. 
• A Plain Language Summary (for Original and Review Articles). 

Title Page 

• The first page of all manuscripts should contain the following information: 
• The title of the paper. 
• A running head not exceeding 70 characters (not needed for correspondence-type items). 
• Manuscript word, table and figure counts. 
• Names of authors as first name(s) followed by surnames. Middle names, if applicable, can be given as initials (e.g. John A. Smith).
• Names of the institutions at which the research was conducted, clearly linked to the respective authors using superscript Arabic numbers. 
• Name and email address of the corresponding author. 
• Any acknowledgements.
• A statement of all funding sources that supported the work. 
• Any conflict of interest disclosures. 
• Data availability statement.
• Ethics statement.
• Bulleted statements (maximum 70 words per question) in answer to each of the following questions: What is already known about this topic? and What does this study add? (not applicable to correspondence-type items or reviews). 
  • For translational research papers include a third set: What is the translational message? 
  • For qualitative research papers include a third set: What are the clinical implications of this work? 

Abstract 

• Authors submitting Original Articles should note that structured Abstracts are required. The Abstract should adopt the format: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions. 
• Review Articles require Abstracts, but they should not be structured. 
• Abstracts should contain no citations to previously published work. 
• Correspondence-type items do not require Abstracts. 
• Abstracts for randomized controlled trials should follow the CONSORT extension for abstracts.  
• Maximum 350 words. 

Graphical Abstract

Authors submitting Original Articles and Review Articles are encouraged to provide a Graphical Abstract.

General guidance

• Graphical Abstracts should concisely communicate a paper’s main findings and reflect key parts of the Abstract (Background, Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusions).
• Text should be kept to a minimum – the Abstract is the written summary of your work; the Graphical Abstract should focus on imagery and clear statistics where relevant.
• Think about your target audience before drafting your Graphical Abstract and consider Graphical Abstracts that had captured your attention and were easily understood.
• We encourage you to use images relevant for the Graphical Abstract, rather than re-using figures from your paper.
• This example shows the key elements of a good Graphical Abstract.
• You may wish to use tools such as TidBit or Canva in preparing your Graphical Abstract.
• Please upload your Graphical Abstract as a separate document, titled ‘Graphical Abstract’ at the time of submission. Your Graphical Abstract will be peer reviewed, so please ensure you retain an editable copy. If your manuscript is accepted, then the Graphical Abstract will appear in both the print and online versions of your article.

Technical requirements

• Please refer to the BJD guidance on Figures; use a font size larger than 11 to make the Graphical Abstract more legible.
• If possible, for branding consistency, please use the following fonts: Roboto Bold (headline texts), Open Sans Semi Bold (subtitle texts), and Open Sans Regular (body text). If these fonts are not available, please use Arial.

Structure 

The text should in general be divided into sections with the headings Abstract, Introduction, Materials and methods (or Patients and methods), Results, Discussion, References, Figure Legends, and Supporting Information for most Original Articles. 

Plain Language Summary

All Original and Review Articles should include a Plain Language Summary (PLS). A PLS will not only help with dissemination but is now a funding requirement for many funders. These should be written in plain English with a non-technical audience in mind. A PLS enables research usability, reach and impact.

General guidance 

• A PLS should be around 250 words in length. 
• Start the page with a plain language title, i.e. a simplified title that briefly explains the subject of the study or summary. 
• Please include paragraph breaks. 
• Explain all scientific terms used
• Write in the first person (e.g. ‘We found that…’).

Please include in the summary: 

• The condition, what it is, and how common (e.g. x is a common skin disease that causes xxx. It affects about xx people in the UK/worldwide). 
• Country or countries in which the researchers are based and where the study took place if different. 
• What the study aimed to find out (e.g. This study, from the UK, aimed to find out if xxx). 
• How the study was done. 
• What the study found. 
• Conclusions and potential for patient benefits and harms.

About the summaries:  

• BJD publishes PLS as online-only pages as part of a regular issue, in their own specific section.
• The PLS are freely available to all and are not behind the subscription paywall.

Example PLS:  

• Risk of infections in children and adults with eczema (2022): https://doi.org/10.1111/bjd.21077
• The association between atopic dermatitis and high blood pressure (2022): https://doi.org/10.1111/bjd.20916
• Experiences of rosacea and its treatment: an interpretative phenomenological analysis (2018): https://doi.org/10.1111/bjd.16174

Manuscript Categories 

• Review Articles
• Evidence-Based Dermatology
• Original Articles
• Clinical Reports
• Correspondence

Review Articles

BJD aims to publish concise, state-of-the-art review articles of recent advances in laboratory or clinical research.

Review articles may be solicited by the Editor, as part of a set of scholarly reviews, or may be submitted by authors for publication subject to peer review.

Requirements for submission:

Review articles should include

• an unstructured abstract (maximum 350 words),
• no more than 3000 words of body text,
• illustrations and figures,
• a Plain Language Summary.
• Review Articles may also include a Graphical Abstract.

Please see the Evidence-Based Dermatology section for guidance on submission of systematic reviews.

Evidenced-Based Dermatology

BJD’s Evidence-Based Dermatology section includes systematic reviews, management guidelines, critically appraised topics (CATs) and critically appraised research papers (CARPs). Before commencing a CAT or CARP, please contact the editorial office ([email protected]) to discuss your proposal.

Article types

Systematic Reviews

Our aim is to publish concise, high-quality systematic review articles. Systematic reviews are considered Original Articles by BJD and must follow the Original Article format.

We are very interested to receive network meta-analyses. In addition, BJD accepts living systematic reviews, and authors are encouraged to contact the editorial team ([email protected]) to discuss their plans for a living systematic review before submission.

Requirements for submission:

Systematic reviews should include

• A structured abstract (maximum 350 words).
• Up to 3000 words of body text.
• Bulleted statements (maximum 70 words per question) in answer to the following questions:’ What’s already known about this topic?’ and ‘What does this study add?’
• The literature search must not be older than 12 months, preferably not older than 6 months.

Scoping Reviews

Scoping reviews synthesize evidence from a broader review objective than a systematic review, but without losing their methodological rigor. These “exploratory reviews” identify and map the available evidence, assess knowledge gaps and opportunities for research.

Requirements for submission:

• A previously registered or published protocol
• Follow the extension of the PRISMA-ScR reporting guideline
• The question of the scoping review should be based on a population-context-concept (PCC) framework; however, it is recognised that not all the elements of PCC may be relevant for the question
• A structured abstract (maximum 350 words)
• Up to 3000 words of body text

Reporting guidelines:

Reporting guidelines should be provided at the time of submission as ‘Supplementary file for review’.

• For systematic reviews and meta-analyses, follow the PRISMA statement (including the PRISMA 2020 checklist for Abstracts).
• For systematic reviews that include a network meta-analysis, follow the PRISMA-NMA extension.
• For meta-analyses and systematic reviews on observational studies, follow the MOOSE consensus statement.
• For reviews of qualitative studies, reference the ENTREQ statement.
• Prospective registration of the systematic review on PROSPERO or a similar database is compulsory. Alternatively, the protocol can be published in a peer-reviewed journal. 
• For a systematic review protocol, use a suitable tool that facilitates the development and reporting of systematic review protocols (e.g. PRISMA-P). For NMAs, please also take into account these additional considerations. 
• All systematic reviews must include an assessment of the risk of bias of the included studies. We strongly recommend authors follow the methods suggested by Cochrane or another leader in evidence synthesis.
• An evaluation of the certainty of evidence is always required: 
  • Preferably GRADE for pairwise comparisons, and
  • CiNeMA (Confidence in Network Meta-analysis) or GRADE-NMA frameworks for NMAs.

Critically appraised topics (CATs)

CATs should focus on a specific and usually controversial relevant clinical question. The CAT should be presented to help clinicians with everyday decision making. At least some evidence must be expected that would allow meaningful conclusions. In contrast to a full systematic review, a CAT may include data from different sources, trying to argue the case from different angles.

It may include results of randomized controlled trials or it can summarize registry data and also draw in pathophysiological considerations. A systematic approach on how data were generated must be pursued and appropriate critical appraisal of the evidence presented.

Submission of a PRISMA checklist is not necessary for CATs, although authors are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the PRISMA reporting guidelines before beginning their work on a CAT.

CATs can be formatted as Original Articles or Research Letters, depending on the strength of the evidence available.

Requirements for submission:

• Structured abstract including Clinical question/scenario and Recommendation for Clinical case.
• Clinical case generating a management question. 
• Background.
• The results or identified evidence should provide information on effect sizes with confidence intervals and be critically appraised to assess its quality.
• A meta-analysis can be conducted for the primary outcome pertaining to the research question.
• The discussion should critically summarize the identified evidence and discuss applicability to the clinical case.
• The clinical message or recommendation should provide clear clinical guidance and a management strategy; consider how to optimize shared decision making incorporating the patient perspective.

Reporting guidelines:

• Describe the methods used for systematic evidence gathering such as the inclusion and exclusion criteria and the methods for study quality assessment (adherence to the PRISMA guidance and use of the Cochrane risk of bias tool or AMSTAR tool are recommended.)

For further guidance, read our article on how to write a CAT. Authors are recommended to contact the Editorial Team early with their research question ([email protected]). Guidance can also be provided during the writing process, and direction given about the likely publication format.

Critically appraised research papers (CARPs)

CARPs aim to alert readers to important papers from the general medical literature that are relevant to clinical practice or research in dermatology, and to offer a critical appraisal of the methodology, findings and conclusions. CARPs are often solicited - please contact the editorial office to discuss your ideas before submitting.

Requirements for submission:

CARPs should:

• not exceed 750 words or 8 references, 
• have one small figure only with no more than 4 small panels OR one small table (the equivalent of one Word landscape page), 
• have no abstract or bulleted statements, 
• have no subheadings or supplementary material.

CARPs should include the following considerations

• What is already known about this topic?
• Strengths of the research (including a description of how the research advances the field).
• How valid are the results? Please comment on internal and external validity of the methods.
• Overall assessment. Please comment on whether the study’s conclusions are justified and on the application of the research to clinical practice.

Authors are encouraged to consult guidance for critical appraisal of the medical literature, including the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine’s Critical Appraisal tools and JAMA’s Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature.

Clinical practice guidelines

BJD welcomes submission of clinical guidelines from any geographical location covering any area of dermatology. These can be pure treatment guidelines, but they can also cover diagnosis and screening. Guidelines are usually based on a systematic review of the literature (see above guidance), as well as structured expert consensus.

All guideline submissions will undergo independent peer review. Guideline developers are encouraged to contact the BJD editorial office ([email protected]) at the time of stakeholder review (e.g. society approval) to coordinate with the BJD external peer review process.

• Reporting guidelines. Authors and guideline developers must follow the AGREE checklist and upload the form along with their manuscript. They are advised to read the BJD editorial that highlights particular quality aspects of guideline development.
• BJD gives particular emphasis to the quality of the methods used to construct the guideline, including assessment of evidence quality and a recognized method for converting to strength of recommendation (e.g. GRADE).
• Living guidelines are encouraged, and authors are encouraged to discuss their plans for a living guideline with the BJD Editorial Team prior to submission.

Requirements for submission:

• Details of any consensus methodology need to be fully reported, as well as conflicts of interest and funding sources. Authors must follow the ACCORD guidelines and upload the form along with their manuscript.
• Potential author conflicts of interest should be minimized or mitigated, for example by excluding authors from sections relevant to their conflict of interest.
• Guidelines do not have a fixed maximum word count but should be as succinct as possible and ideally have no more than 3000 words.
• Emphasis is on the methodology and transparency for rigour of guideline development.
• Details of the systematic reviews that inform the guidelines can be provided in supplementary files, or as a separate BJD paper.

Original Articles

General guidance

All Original Articles should include:

• A structured abstract with Background, Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusions (maximum 350 words). 
• Up to 3000 words of body text (4000 words for qualitative studies).
• Bulleted statements (maximum 70 words per question) in answer to the following questions: ‘What is already known about this topic?’ and ‘What does this study add?’. Translational research papers should additionally include bulleted statements answering the question ‘What is the translational message?’. Qualitative research papers should additionally include bulleted statements answering the question ‘What are the clinical implications of this work?’.
• An ethical approval statement with the name of the approving institutional review board(s) in the Materials and methods section. 
• Contributor statement.
• A statement regarding patient involvement in the research (optional). 
• A Plain Language Summary.
• Review Articles may also include a Graphical Abstract.

BJD has different subcategories of Original Articles; please see the next section for specific submission requirements.

Article types and specific requirements

Clinical trials

The BJD publishes industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated clinical trials covering pharmacological, nonpharmacological and complex interventions. Clinical trial protocols are unlikely to be considered for publication in the BJD. However, publishing a trial protocol in the public domain is good practice and the BJD encourages authors to do so in other suitable journals.

Requirements for submission:

• The manuscript should follow the format of an Original Article, but for small studies (e.g. fewer than 50 participants) or analyses of data subsets from larger clinical trials (whether planned or post hoc), consider submission as a Research Letter (please see the Correspondence section for details).
• The trial must be prospectively registered on a suitable trial registry, before any participants have been recruited into the trial. Include the trial registration number (e.g. NCT012345678) at the end of the abstract. Trials that have not been prospectively registered will be rejected. For further details about registering your trial, read this editorial. 
• Ideally, the trial protocol should be submitted alongside the main manuscript, as a ‘Supplementary file for review’. Providing the study protocol enables the editorial team to confirm that all outcomes have been clearly reported as per protocol, and will facilitate the review process, but final acceptance is subject to the final editorial decision. 
• Priority will be given to manuscripts reporting the primary outcome(s) for the trial and all registered secondary outcomes for the trial. BJD discourages the publication of secondary outcomes in separate papers (‘salami slicing’) and encourages authors to report these outcomes in the same paper as the primary outcome(s) (see this editorial).
• BJD may consider manuscripts that do not include secondary outcomes relating to very long-term follow-up, whose time points have not yet been reached.
• To avoid publication bias, BJD encourages the submission of trials even if the outcomes do not reveal a difference between the interventions being compared (so-called ‘negative’ trials, see this editorial).

Reporting guidelines:

The following checklists should be provided at the time of submission as ‘Supplementary file for review’:

• For randomized controlled trials, please follow the CONSORT statement and submit a completed CONSORT checklist as Supporting Information.
• All requirements of the CONSORT checklist should be addressed in the manuscript, including a power calculation to show how the sample size for the study was determined.
• Abstracts for randomized controlled trials should follow the CONSORT extension for abstracts. 
• For randomized controlled trials with specific designs (e.g. pilot/feasibility; noninferiority/equivalence; cluster), data (e.g. harms) or interventions (e.g. nonpharmacological), please refer to the appropriate extensions of the CONSORT statement.
• For randomized controlled trials involving artificial intelligence (AI) please refer to the CONSORT-AI extension
• For nonrandomized trials, refer to the CONSORT statement or another appropriate EQUATOR guideline to ensure that the trial is reported clearly.

Epidemiology
We welcome manuscripts based on findings of epidemiological studies that improve our understanding of skin diseases and have clinical relevance in terms of disease treatment or prevention. Please see this editorial for more information.

Requirements for submission:

• Epidemiological studies should stimulate independent thinking and challenge the status quo.
• The robustness of the data collection and methodology used is more important than whether the findings are statistically significant.
• Comprehensive studies investigating multiple (international) data sources to validate will be prioritized.
• Epidemiology manuscripts should follow the Original Article format, but for confirmatory studies or less complicated studies (which can present their findings using one table OR figure), consider submission as a Research Letter (please see the Correspondence section for details).

Reporting guidelines:

The following checklists should be provided at the time of submission as ‘Supplementary file for review’.

• For observational studies, follow the STROBE statement. Include the appropriate (cohort, case–control and cross-sectional studies) and completed STROBE checklist.
• For multivariable prediction models for diagnostic or prognostic research, follow the TRIPOD guidelines and submit a TRIPOD checklist for model development and/or model validation.
• For routinely collected health data, obtained for administrative and clinical purposes without specific a priori research goals, include a completed REporting of studies Conducted using Observational Routinely collected Data (RECORD) statement checklist.

For all epidemiological studies, we assess:

• Use of clinically relevant outcomes.
• Presence of clear sample-size calculations based on the primary outcome.
• Clear distinction between association and causality in the interpretation of the results.
• Temporality and dose–response relationship, along with the other Bradford–Hill criteria to gauge the likelihood of causality.
• The extent and dealing with (residual) confounding, in particular for studies using routinely collected data or claims data, or large population-based cohorts that were not created to study the studied association.
• Selective subgroup analyses with sufficient power avoiding data dredging.
• Appropriate statistical testing, please see the Reporting Statistics section for details.

Translational research

BJD encourages submission of basic research that has the potential to improve clinical practice in the foreseeable future. Authors should clearly communicate the potential clinical relevance of their findings.

BJD adopts the definition of translational research as described by the National Institutes of Health:

‘Translational research includes two areas of translation. One is the process of applying discoveries generated during research in the laboratory, and in preclinical studies, to the development of trials and studies in humans. The second area of translation concerns research aimed at enhancing the adoption of best practices in the community. Cost-effectiveness of prevention and treatment strategies is also an important part of translational science’ (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-07-007.html).

Requirements for submission:

In addition to the usual bulleted statements for Original Articles (What is known and What is new), all manuscripts describing translational studies must also include a third set of bulleted statements (maximum 70 words) in answer to the following question: ‘What is the translational message?’.

• Laboratory-based studies should show direct relevance to the understanding of the clinical features, pathogenesis or treatment of skin diseases in humans. 
• Studies performed exclusively with nonprimary or patient-unrelated cell lines and studies using animals will be considered for peer review only if accompanied by data showing their direct and genuine relevance to human dermatological conditions (read the editorial by Eli Sprecher).
• Manuscripts should be written with a clinical audience in mind. Authors are encouraged to provide one or more summary diagrams to complement their written text to explain complex or novel scientific concepts.
• Provide data from multiple laboratory techniques that support the conclusions (data generated using a single technique are usually insufficient).
• Novel DNA or amino acid sequences should be deposited in a public database such as GenBank or the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), including the accession number in the submission.

Please refer to the Data Presentation section to see how the data should be presented.

Reporting guidelines:

Reporting checklists should be provided at the time of submission as a ‘Supplementary file for review’, but if there are no guidelines, we have provided some reporting guidance.

• Immunohistochemistry/immunofluorescence. Provide all antibody sources, preferably with clone names for clear identification and details of secondary antibodies and their conjugated fluorochromes or enzymes. Clearly state negative controls along with the data. Include dilutions, incubation conditions, detection methods and methods of data analysis in the methodology. Support expression data by Western blotting and/or reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (PCR). 
• Quantitative PCR data. Follow the MIQE guidelines. This should include details on RNA quality, reverse-transcription conditions, PCR conditions including PCR primer sequences, how reference genes were chosen and how the data were analysed.
• Proteomics and genomics. Full and comprehensive description of all methods used should be provided as Supporting Information along with a detailed list of all software, as well as all details pertaining to the quality of the data obtained (e.g. reading depth).
• Genetic association studies. Please include an estimation of the effect size and statistical significance, as well as an estimation of the study power, to allow readers to interpret the findings appropriately. Consider the issues of multiple testing, which are inherent in genome-wide analyses (including transcriptome analysis). Novel genetic associations should be replicated in an independent collection.
• Biomarker association studies. Follow the REMARK guidelines.
• Flow cytometry. Data plots should be included in the main article or in Supporting Information. The data could be compiled (in addition to plots) into table format for ease of interpretation. Types of plot, labelling of plots, labelling of plot axes, and information required in figure legends are given in Alvarez et al.’s Publishing flow cytometry data.

Mutation reports

Mutation reports will only be considered for publication when they represent substantial advances in our understanding of disease pathogenesis or manifestations as follows:

• Variants in a new gene associated with a well-defined phenotype, including at least two different variants in two unrelated families. Bioinformatics analysis and biological functional assays are required.
• Reports describing previously reported mutations with a markedly different phenotype.
• Large (n > 20) series of patients carrying mutations in known genes associated with typical phenotypes that provide new, novel insights into genotype–phenotype correlations. Exception will be made in the case of the first confirmatory report after the initial report of a new gene.
• Reports of novel disease-causing mutations in a gene known to be associated with the disease must contain novel functional data explaining the function of the gene and/or mechanisms of action of the mutations.

In all cases, mutation pathogenicity should be assessed according to established guidelines such as recommendations from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics.

Outcomes and qualitative research

We are interested in publishing studies that provide substantial insight into the perspectives and/or experiences of individuals or groups (e.g. patients, carers, clinicians) in relation to the context, process and outcomes of dermatology or dermatological care.

This includes but is not restricted to:

• Qualitative studies exploring psychological wellbeing; social functioning; patient–professional communication; treatment decision making; clinician training; and service content, organization and delivery of care. 
• Interventional studies where qualitative components may inform the intervention, or its implementation, or serve to evaluate outcomes and process issues.
• Studies on the development and/or validation of outcomes measures that are useful for clinical trials, observational studies, clinical audits and routine care, particularly patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and patient-reported experience measures (PREMs). 
• Studies on the development of core outcome sets in dermatology to improve the reporting of clinical trials, particularly papers defining core outcome domains and validation studies for instruments to measure the core domains.
• Outcomes from consensus meetings. These may also be submitted, provided they progress the core outcomes set, and the methodology employed is fully and transparently reported.
• Mixed-methods studies: studies incorporating both qualitative and quantitative elements. 
• Studies reporting methodological perspectives in qualitative or mixed-methods research and outcomes research (e.g. item response theory, classical test theory, consensus seeking).

Requirements for submission:

• In addition to the usual bulleted statements for Original Articles (What is known and What is new), manuscripts describing qualitative or mixed-method studies must also include a third set of bulleted statements (maximum 70 words) in answer to the following question: ‘What are the clinical implications of this work?’
• Any quotations or images used should not contain unique contextual features that would enable participants to be identified. 
• Demonstrate that due consideration has been given to problem formulation, researcher characteristics and reflexivity, sampling strategy, units of study, techniques to enhance trustworthiness and transferability in qualitative research.
• Demonstrate that due consideration has been given to formulation of a clear aim of an instrument or core outcomes set development process, the conceptual framework underlying instrument development, the qualitative research in the development process of an instrument, the clinimetric analyses involved in the validation of an instrument, and aspects of feasibility and interpretability (instrument development or validation research).
• When reporting on the development and/or validation of an instrument, do submit the instrument of interest itself for review. Please ensure that you have valid copyright permission relating to the development or validation of the instrument. As a minimum requirement, our reviewers must be able to judge the face validity of the instrument of interest.

Reporting guidelines:

When appropriate, reporting checklists should be provided at the time of submission as a ‘Supplementary file for review’.

• Consider, for the content of a core outcome set development study protocol, the COS-STAP statement.
• Consider and address, for qualitative research, the SRQR (Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research) recommendations.
• For mixed-methods studies, consider the SRQR and the appropriate EQUATOR checklist for the methodology of the quantitative element of the mixed methods (for example, the STROBE or CONSORT checklist).

Global health and equity

The Global Health and Equity Section of the BJD showcases and cultivates rigorous equity-oriented research and scholarly work in the area of global health and equity. We take global health dermatology to mean an area of research and practice ‘that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide’,¹ both on an individual and public health level. Global health dermatology particularly prioritizes skin conditions affecting vulnerable people around the world. Health equity is the ‘commitment to reduce—and, ultimately, eliminate—disparities in health and in its determinants, including social determinants […] striving for the highest possible standard of health for all people and giving special attention to the needs of those at greatest risk’.²

• Research will be evaluated from all regions of the world, including research related to vulnerable populations within the authors’ own country.
• This section welcomes submissions in all article categories, including original articles, systematic reviews, clinical trials, rapid responses, perspectives, and letters. Please follow our formatting guidelines for those article types.
• All topics related to global health and equity research conducted in a rigorous and ethically sound manner are welcome, and include, but are not limited to capacity building, race and health, sexual and gender minority health, indigenous health, climate change, healthcare policy, global burden of disease, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases including cancers, HIV/AIDS, neglected tropical diseases, telemedicine for access to care, training programs, humanitarian crises, and global healthcare delivery and innovation.

Guidelines for authors: The BJD follows ICMJE Authorship guidelines³

• If you are interested in submitting to the Global Health and Equity section, please indicate this in your cover letter.
• Please read the Authorship Reflexivity statement^4,5 and complete the checklist, and upload with your submission as supporting information (required for submissions reviewed by the Global Health and Equity section). Please refer to the following resources regarding Authorship Reflexivity statements:  
  • Consensus statement on measures to promote equitable authorship in the publication of research from international partnerships - Morton - 2022 - Anaesthesia
  • Explaining the rationale for reflexivity statements.
  • Example reflexivity statement (from: Morton, B., Vercueil, A., Masekela, R., Heinz, E., Reimer, L., Saleh, S., Kalinga, C., Seekles, M., Biccard, B., Chakaya, J., Abimbola, S., Obasi, A. and Oriyo, N. (2022), Consensus statement on measures to promote equitable authorship in the publication of research from international partnerships. Anaesthesia, 77: 264-276. https://doi.org/10.1111/anae.15597).
• For research involving primary data analysis (e.g. patient recruitment, treatment in existing facilities, and follow-up), locally based researchers and/or researchers who identify as being from the affected community should be included in all stages of the research process, and should be included in the authorship.
• For work involving secondary data analysis, we align with Lancet Global Health and “strongly encourage those embarking on secondary analyses [e.g. publicly available data] to recruit, and involve at all stages of the research and publication process, suitably qualified local researchers.”
• If research involves data, participants, infrastructure, or personnel from a particular country or countries, papers reviewed by the BJD Global Health and Equity section require that at least one author from that country needs to be included in the research process and meet criteria to be a co-author on that paper (e.g. we will not publish a paper about Kenya if it does not include a Kenyan co-author who was involved in the research process).
• We additionally encourage authors to consider how authorship can affect capacity building in their particular setting, and to consider engaging early career investigators, women, and minorities in the research process and ultimately in authorship.
• In addition to authorship inclusion and order, authors should consider, and address where applicable: buy-in from local stakeholders prior to funding; ensuring sustainability; including true collaborators on the ground; understanding historical, cultural, political and sociological contexts; acknowledgement of efforts of local teams and community groups.
• The following is a helpful resource on this topic: Using scientific authorship criteria as a tool for equitable inclusion in global health research.

Clinical Reports

BJD publishes clinical reports that make a substantial contribution to our understanding of clinical dermatology. Clinical reports can be case reports, case series or small cohorts. We expect clinical reports published in the BJD to raise new hypotheses, as described by the CARE guidelines and serve our readership by 'Offering early signals of benefits, harms, and value' in the context of skin disease. We seek to ensure that such improvements to skin health are broad in scope, and we welcome manuscripts that bring novel insights that would benefit diverse communities. Reports demonstrating different presentations of skin disease in skin of colour and other reports that will have an impact on global health are of interest to our international readership. An overview of tools to improve clinical reports can be found here.

Clinical reports can be submitted in different formats, depending on their novelty and relevance. We ask authors to carefully consider these factors and to submit their paper in the right format, to decrease the need for reformatting.

Original Article

This format is reserved for a few large case series, usually describing new or not-well known diseases. We expect them to be prospectively planned and describing consecutive cases. If they report the results of a therapeutic intervention, they will benefit from using standardised outcomes, ideally reported with methods that reduce bias, such as blinded assessors. Please see the general guidance for Original Articles section of the instructions to authors for full details.

Research Letter

Most clinical reports will be published in this format.  When they raise new safety signals, we suggest that authors check they comply with the requirements described in this editorial. Please see the Research Letters section of the instructions to authors for full details.

Image Correspondence

This is the required format for exemplar clinical photographs that illustrate a new clinical presentation in a single or few patients. The best submissions may be selected for the cover image of the journal. Please see the Image Correspondence section of the instructions to authors for full details.

Please also see the Editorial Policies section for details on our patient privacy policy. Regarding clinical images, please do not place eye bars on patient photographs as they do not protect their privacy, and instead ensure you have patient consent for publication.

Requirements for submission

• It is mandatory to submit BAD’s Patient Consent form for publication at the time of submission for all clinical reports or ensure you have emailed a copy to [email protected] by the time your paper is accepted. 

Reporting guideline

• Follow the CARE guidelines as a guiding framework for your manuscript.

Correspondence

Types of letters:

Research Letters

Research Letters are the most prestigious form of BJD correspondence and are for publishing preliminary research findings that may lead to more substantial research studies. They could also be short summaries of primary research. We would like them to be concise, thought-provoking and of interest to clinicians.

Examples include:

• pilot studies whose aim is to test research methodology,
• preliminary data to inform subsequent study design,
• small observational or experimental studies,
• studies that extend what has recently been published by others,
• studies whose results provide a focused message that can be presented in a concise format,
• studies that use a single research method, where two or three complementary methods would be the norm for an Original Article.

Requirements for submission:

BJD research letters should

• not exceed 750 words or 8 references, 
• have one small figure only with no more than four small panels OR one small table (the equivalent of one landscape page in Word),
• have no abstract or bulleted statements,
• have no subheadings or supplementary material.

To make it easier, we recommend using this template for Research Letters.

Rapid responses

Rapid responses allow readers to participate and debate recently published BJD articles. We encourage rapid responses to be sent when the paper is online in the Accepted Article or Early View section so that the letter can be published in the same issue as the article itself, with a response from the authors if possible.

They should add to the authors’ interpretation, enrich the original paper and increase the value for readers. They should be objective, referenced, respectful to other authors, and concise.

Requirements for submission:

Rapid responses should

• not exceed 450 words,
• have a maximum of 4 references,
• have at most one table or figure.

Perspectives articles

These articles provide an opportunity to address any topic relevant to dermatology by articulating a new point of view that is based on evidence or experience from patients and physicians alike, particularly those that may generate philosophical debate.

We especially encourage perspectives from dermatology patients, which could be cowritten with your clinician.

We encourage them to be concise and thought-provoking, and prompt new ways of thinking, but they should be written in a simple and easily accessible format that a wide international audience can understand.

We welcome submissions on all topics relevant to dermatology, and encourage diversity of gender, race/ethnicity, country of origin and background among Perspectives authors.

Our goal is to publish Perspectives relevant to the skin health of all communities, including previously understudied groups and vulnerable populations. This includes the health of the LGBTQ community, people with skin of colour, older patients and those with understudied diseases, as described in this editorial.

Requirements for submission:

Perspectives should

• not exceed 750 words, 
• have at most 8 references,
• have no more than one table or figure,
• be formatted in one continuous section, with no bulleted statements or abstract.

Patient-led submissions:

We especially encourage perspectives from dermatology patients, which could be co-written with your clinician. These pieces may be on a broad range of topics relating to the patient experience, but their primary aim is to inform and educate clinicians about the patient’s viewpoint on either the condition, challenges faced or treatment.

To further promote and champion the patient viewpoint, we are expanding the Perspectives submission type for patients, carers and patient societies. Although these groups are welcome to submit written papers, we also encourage their submissions in a different format. These may include (but are not limited to) images (e.g. artwork, cartoons, infographics, photographs, illustrations, diagrams), poems, videos, stories, essays and mixed media.
If you are thinking about submitting a patient Perspectives piece, please read this editorial.

We would like to support patients who wish to submit to the Perspectives section, so please contact [email protected] with any questions. Our Patient Associate Editors will support these submissions through the editorial process.

Correspondence: Image Gallery

BJD welcomes submissions of exemplar clinical photographs and novel scientific images for the BJD Image Gallery section. As champions of global skin health, we will consider clinical images that reflect the presentation of dermatological disease across all skin types. In particular, we seek to redress the balance in the lack of representative images of skin of colour in the existing literature, where there is evidence presented to support the clinical diagnosis proposed. Please see this editorial.

Requirements for submission:

• Composite images with up to three panels are permitted, for example providing histopathology, immunohistochemistry or electron microscopy to accompany the clinical image.
• Submit each panel as a separate file as TIFF or JPEG up to 300 DPI, and remove any labels such as A, B, C, but please label the legends carefully.
• Please do not place eye bars on patient photographs as they do not protect their privacy, and instead ensure you have patient consent for publication. Please see the Editorial Policies section for details on our patient privacy policy.
• Include a concise, scholarly caption of up to 100 words and up to two references. Photographs or images should be of high quality and have potential to alter dermatology practice.

A separate figure legend should not be submitted. Images will be selected based on scientific merit, originality, relevance to the journal readership and value added to our understanding of dermatological science. Essential supplementary files may be supplied for review, but not for publication, to best support the proposed diagnosis in the submission.

Additionally, some of the accepted Image Gallery submissions may be adapted to appear on BJD’s social media platforms, and the best submissions may be selected for the cover image of the journal.

References  

References should be in Vancouver format and appear as consecutive, unbracketed superscript numbers in the text, e.g. in our previous reports^1,2 and those of Smith et al.,^3–5and should be listed numerically in the reference list at the end of the article.

Format references as below, using standard (MEDLINE) abbreviations for journal titles. If there are more than four authors, include the first three authors followed by et al. If there are more than six editors of a book, include the first five authors followed by et al. 

1. de Berker DAR, Baran R, Dawber RPR. The nail in dermatological diseases. In: Baran and Dawber’s Diseases of the Nails and Their Management (Baran R, Dawber RPR, de Berker DAR, Haneke E, Tosti A, eds), 3rd edn. Oxford: Blackwell Science Ltd, 2001; 172–92. 
2. Shuster S. The nature and consequence of Karl Marx’s skin disease. Br J Dermatol 2008; 158:1–3. 
3. Graham-Brown R, Burns T. Lecture Notes: Dermatology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2006. 
4. Smith A. Select committee report into social care in the community. Available at: http://www.dhss.gov.uk/reports/report015285.html (last accessed 7 November 2003). 

If a reference falls into a different category (e.g. conference proceedings, prescribing information), or if in doubt, please provide as much information as possible. 

We recommend the use of a tool such as EndNote for reference management and formatting 

Tables   

• Include tables at the end of the manuscript, each on a separate page. 
• Tables should be no more than 1.5 pages long in Word (or 1 page for Research Letters).
• The font size in tables should be 11 point. 
• Please submit tables in an editable format in Word and not as an Excel file, image or PDF. 
• Include a brief legend for each table.
• Number each table consecutively as cited in the text as Table 1, Tables 2 and 3 etc.
• Number supplementary tables consecutively starting at Table S1. 
• If the Editor considers that there are too many tables in an original article, they may either request some of the tables be moved to supporting information or request a summary table. 

Figures  

• Submit figures as separate files.
• If a figure has more than one panel, each panel should be submitted as a separate file with a brief description of each panel given in the figure legend. Please ensure that each file is named appropriately (e.g. Figure 1a, Figure 1b). 
• Please include all figure legends at the end of the manuscript (and not the figure itself).
• Number each figure consecutively as cited in the text: Figure 1, Figures 2, 3 etc.
• Number supplementary figures consecutively starting at Figure S1.
• Figures in Original Articles and Review Articles should have a maximum of six panels. 
• Figures in Research Letters and Image Correspondence should have a maximum of four panels (exceptions can be made at the Editor’s discretion) and figure panels should NOT contain a table.
• Ensure that all text in figures is easily readable (font size 11) when the figure is printed on an A4 page. 
• Colour illustrations are welcomed, and all colour is published free of charge in BJD. 
• Please obtain permission to reproduce previously published figures or tables. Please provide any accreditation text required by the copyright holder. 
• Digital images should not be manipulated (e.g. contrast, brightness) unless the manipulation is applied to the whole image and does not modify the information in any way. Where images have obviously been cropped the full image should be submitted as a supplementary file for review (for example an entire image of a Western blot with molecular-weight markers). 
• A certain degree of image processing is acceptable, but the final image must faithfully represent the original data. Image acquisition and processing software must be included in the methods. Authors should be prepared to supply the editors with original images on request. 
• Histopathology slides should provide scale bars or the level of magnification used. 
• Vector graphics (e.g. line artwork) should be saved in encapsulated postscript format (.eps) at a minimum of 800 dpi. 
• Bitmap files (e.g. photographs) should be saved in tagged image file format (.tif) or JPEG at a minimum of 300 dpi. 
• We require all clinical images to have patient consent for publication (see Editorial Policies on patient privacy). Please specify whether patient consent includes use in social media. Eye bars or masking of the eyes should be avoided as they do not protect the anonymity of the patients. All case reports must have patient consent for publication before submission. 

Figure accessibility and alt text

Incorporating alt text (alternative text) when submitting your paper helps to foster inclusivity and accessibility. Good alt text ensures that individuals with visual impairments or those using screen readers can comprehend the content and context of your figures. The aim of alt text is to provide concise and informative descriptions of your figure so that all readers have access to the same level of information and understanding, and that all can engage with and benefit from the visual elements integral to scholarly content. Including alt text demonstrates a commitment to accessibility and enhances the overall impact and reach of your work.  

Alt text is applicable to all images, figures, illustrations, and photographs. 

Alt text is only accessible via e-reader and so it won’t appear as part of the typeset article. 

Detailed guidance on how to draft and submit alt text. 

Supporting Information  

BJD encourages the submission of underlying datasets, appendices, video files etc. as online-only Supporting Information. Supporting Information should be uploaded during manuscript submission using the file designation ‘Supplementary file for review’. BJD has no restriction around the amount of Supporting Information. 

• Supporting Information should be important ancillary information that is relevant to the main article and is published online only. 
• Reference to Supporting Information in the manuscript should be sufficiently specific to allow readers to understand what is being referenced. All tables and figures included in the Supporting Information should be cited in the manuscript. 
• Please label Supporting Information in the format ‘Table S1’, ‘Figure S1’. Any Supporting Information consisting of just text should be ‘Appendix S1’ etc. 
• Supporting Information will be published as submitted and will not be corrected or checked for scientific content, typographical errors or functionality. 
• Supporting Information is not permitted for correspondence, including Research Letters. 

Data Presentation  

• It is recommended that data are displayed in their raw form and not in a way that conceals their distribution. Individual data should be presented as dot plots next to the average for the group with appropriate error bars. The methods should be described in enough detail that the experimental conditions can be repeated in another laboratory. If any equipment or specific reagent used is detailed, provide the name of the manufacturer, city, state (if applicable) and country.  
• Any materials generated during the study (e.g. cell lines, animals, plasmids or antibodies) should be made available to other researchers, where this is practicable. 
• Novel DNA or amino acid sequences should be submitted to a public database such as GenBank or the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the accession number quoted. 

Reporting Statistics  

Good reporting is important as it ensures a manuscript can be understood by a reader, replicated by a researcher, used to make a clinical decision, and included in a systematic review. 

Reporting methods 

• Describe the type of study, e.g. randomized clinical trial phase III, pilot, case–control, meta-analysis etc. 
• Indicate the aim of the statistical analysis (primary objective, secondary objective, exploratory or ancillary analysis). 
• Describe the statistical methods in the order in which they are used in the results. 
• Make it clear which statistical test was used for which variable. 
• State if any assumptions were checked and how. 
• Describe how missing data were handled (if data are missing). 
• Describe any planned sensitivity or subgroup analyses. 
• If relevant, include a sample-size calculation, with sufficient detail so it can be verified, and report the minimal clinically important difference (if possible). 
• Report the alpha level (one or two sided) and the statistical package. 
• Describe with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. For more details about reporting standards, please see the ICJME recommendations. 

Reporting results 

• Present in the same order of importance as described in the methods. 
• Include effect sizes and their 95% confidence intervals with the appropriate degree of precision, in addition to P-values.  
• Present adjusted data for multiple testing. 
• Include both absolute and relative measures. 
• Provide enough detail that the results can be incorporated into other analyses; for example, in future meta-analytical studies if reporting a continuous outcome, provide mean (standard deviation), while for categorical outcomes when reporting relative summary statistics, please include the frequency of the outcome (numerator) over the total sample observed (denominator). In addition to these recommendations, all applicable general and study-specific SAMPL guidelines should be followed. Further guidance on statistical reporting in the BJD is available in this editorial: Guidelines for statistical reporting in the British Journal of Dermatology.

Sex and gender reporting

Please ensure that the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are used correctly.

We recommend following the SAGER guidelines for reporting of sex and gender.

Post-Acceptance 

Once your manuscript has been accepted, you will receive a final decision letter along with a request for the following:  

• An author video. 
• A set of journal club slides. 

All of the above are optional and you can choose to submit them or not. The reason we ask for these additional elements is to add value to your article. 

Author Video 

BJD has the option for authors to embed video and audio files within their final article. These files should be uploaded using either the ‘Embedded Video’ or ‘Embedded Audio’ file designation during submission. Authors should upload a transcript of any speech within the video and/or audio files, using the ‘Transcription’ file designation. 

• Embedded Video: A video file that would be embedded within the final article. These files will be subject to peer review. 
• Embedded Audio: An audio file that would be embedded within the final article. These files will be subject to peer review. 
• Transcription: A typed version of any speech within the video and/or audio files.  

If you have additional video or audio files, which are not intended to be part of the final article, these can be upload using the ‘Supporting Information’ file designation. The maximum file size is 350 MB. 

General guidance for BJD videos 

We do recommend that authors submit video files. Videos are great promotional tools and are another way for you to explain your research to a wider audience. Generally, we recommend that videos be limited to 2 minutes in length for ease of distribution on the BJD social media channels. They may recapitulate 'What is already known about this topic' and 'What does this study add,' or similarly summarize the article. 

Tips for recording 

• Set the camera or phone on a stable surface or a tripod if you have access to one. 
• Record in a well-lit area. 
  • Professional lighting equipment is not required.  
  • Ensure that the light source is not behind the subject as this may cause a silhouette effect.  
• Ensure that there is minimal background noise. 
  • If you have access to a microphone then consider using this rather than the built-in microphone in the camera or phone. 

Journal Club Slides 

We need your help in preparing a set of PowerPoint slides, using the standard BJD template. The slides include the following: 

• Title slide, with authors and institutions; an introductory slide on ‘What is already known about this topic?’; and a slide on ‘What does this study add?’ highlighting the incremental knowledge that your study generates. The ‘What is already known’ and ‘What does this study add?’ sections can be populated directly from the corresponding sections of the paper.  
• The final slide in the presentation invites readers to contribute a rapid response to the article with a link to the author instructions for the BJD Letters to the Editor section.  
• Please aim to include about three bullet points per slide. The methods and results section can be spread over three slides each. None of the text should be smaller than 18 point. Please avoid adding references to the slides because these can be difficult to read. 
• If you would like to use particular images from your paper, please add them to your presentation. Please bear in mind that complicated tables containing lots of data may not project well in a presentation and may be best described in a few bulleted statements, rather than including the whole table. It is interesting for your colleagues to see who has done the research, and we have included slides in our template for photographs of the lead researcher at the start of the presentation and the whole team at the end. 

Once ready, please submit to the BJD Editorial Office ([email protected]). You may need to respond to queries from the editorial team. 

Once accepted, your BJD journal club PowerPoint slide set will be available from the BJD website, alongside your article. The slide set is free for readers of the journal to use for their local journal club presentations worldwide. 

Production 

Licence to Publish and Open Access Options 

You will have the option to pay an open access fee so that your paper will be made freely available online immediately upon publication. 

After your manuscript is accepted, you must sign a licence to publish agreement on our Author Services website. You may choose between the open access options, which carry a charge and allow your paper to be freely accessibly to all users; or a standard licence, which does not carry a charge and makes your paper available to journal subscribers. 

BJD articles can be published under the following types of licences: 

• Standard licence to publish (Oxford University Press (OUP) Journals, Standard Publication Model) 
• Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY)  
• Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial licence (CC BY-NC) 
• Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives licence (CC BY-NC-ND) 

Your funding agencies may have specific requirements for what type of open access licence to use. Please see Creative Commons licences for more information, and please see the Licences, copyright and re-use rights page for more information about our standard licence to publish. Please check with your funding body if you are unsure of any licence requirements. 

Manuscript Charges 

Author Services 

You can pay open access, page and colour charges on the same Author Services site you used to sign your licence to publish. You can pay immediately online or request an invoice by email or post. You may also refer the charges to an institutional prepayment account. Any applicable discounts can also be applied prior to payment. 

You can pay your open access charges immediately after you sign your licence. You cannot pay page or colour charges until production of your manuscript is complete. 

OA Licence Charges 

Charges for the open access licence options offered by BJD are listed below. The standard licence to publish does not carry a charge.  

Creative Commons Attribution licence £3,552.64

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial licence £3,552.64

Editorial Policy 

Authorship

General Guidance 

BJD follows the ICMJE criteria for authorship and requires authors to adhere to it based on the following four criteria:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Corresponding authorship

BJD's policy is to allow only one corresponding author for an article and they should be designated at the time of submission. Changes to authorship are not allowed after acceptance unless there are exceptional circumstances, in which case an email will need to be sent to the Editor at [email protected] explaining the rationale for such a change. The Journal will then follow COPE’s process to ensure all authors agree to the changes before making such changes.

Group authorship

For large groups of authors (e.g. more than 100 authors), a smaller group should be designated as the authors acting on behalf of the group. All named authors must fulfil the ICMJE authorship criteria and fill in both the disclosures and author consent forms. If the large multiauthor group would like to be listed as a group name rather an individual, please follow the recommendation provided by the ICMJE.

Acknowledging contributors

Please do ensure you have permission in writing from anyone you choose to acknowledge in your paper.

Artificial intelligence

BJD follows COPE’s policy that artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, cannot be a named author. These tools can neither meet the requirements for authorship as defined by the ICMJE criteria nor declare conflicts of interest or manage copyright and license agreements.

If AI tools have been used to write the paper, for the production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, please disclose it in the Materials and Methods section of the paper including what tool was used and how. Authors are responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics.​

Ethical approval

For studies on people

All clinical investigations reported must be conducted according to the principles expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki.

All studies must conform to appropriate ethical standards and must have been approved by the relevant ethical committees and institutional review board(s). A statement to this effect with the exact name of the approving institutional review board(s) should be included in the Materials and methods section of all papers. This information may be relevant for Research Letters or Letters to the Editor.

Patients’ names, initials or hospital numbers should not be used, especially in illustrative material. Moreover, if your study is based in a single centre or in a small-hospital setting and the study is based on a case series with a detailed description of each patient, please ensure that you have informed consent for publication unless the data have been suitably anonymized.

Observational studies using routinely collected anonymous data from regional or national cancer registries, claims data from insurance companies, or data from other national registries do not need ethical approval. If that is the case, please state accordingly in the methods.

For studies on animals

All animal studies should have the relevant approval and follow the ARRIVE guidelines. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institution’s or a national research council’s guide for, or any national law on, the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.

Conflicts of interest

Authors are responsible for disclosing all financial and personal relationships between themselves and others that might be perceived to conflict with their current work in the past 36 months. To prevent ambiguity, authors must state explicitly whether potential conflicts do or do not exist. If no conflicts exist, state ‘The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest’. For more details, please refer to the ICMJE website about reporting conflicts of interest.

Patient Policy 

Patient involvement in research

One of BJD’s missions is to ensure that patients are involved in the research process, and hence we encourage authors to provide a short statement in the methods describing how patients were involved in the research.

Patient privacy

Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. 

Identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential, but patient data should never be altered or falsified to attain anonymity. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve and informed consent for publication should be obtained if there is any doubt. Masking the eye region in photographs of patients is not allowed and offers inadequate protection of anonymity. 

Authors must take adequate measures to protect participants’ privacy in the reporting of any qualitative research submitted to the BJD, for example by anonymizing the names of individuals and locations. 

The journal requires that informed patient consent for publication is obtained for all clinical images, whether or not the patient is identifiable. Confirmation of patient consent for publication in accordance with the BAD publications patient consent form is required at the time of submission. 

The BAD publications patient consent form can be downloaded  here. If the patient is a minor then the parent or guardian’s consent must be obtained. For any patient who is deceased, where possible patient consent for publication from the next of kin must be taken. 

Data Policy 

Availability of Data and Materials 

Where ethically feasible, BJD strongly encourages authors to make all data and software code on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to readers. Authors are required to include a Data Availability Statement in their article. 

We suggest that data be presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files or deposited in a public repository whenever possible. Information on general repositories for all data types, and a list of recommended repositories by subject area, is available here.

Data Availability Statement 

The inclusion of a Data Availability Statement is a requirement for articles published in BJD. Data Availability Statements provide a standardized format for readers to understand the availability of data underlying the research results described in the article. The statement may refer to original data generated in the course of the study or to third-party data analysed in the article. The statement should describe and provide means of access, where possible, by linking to the data or providing the required unique identifier. 

The Data Availability Statement should be included in the end matter of your article under the heading ‘Data availability’. 

More information and example Data Availability Statements can be found here.

Data Citation 

BJD supports the Force 11 Data Citation Principles and requires that all publicly available datasets be fully referenced in the reference list with an accession number or unique identifier such as a digital object identifier (DOI). Data citations should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite:  

[dataset]* Authors, Year, Title, Publisher (repository or archive name), Identifier 

*The inclusion of the [dataset] tag at the beginning of the citation helps us to correctly identify and tag the citation. This tag will be removed from the citation published in the reference list. 

Duplicate or redundant publication

Any manuscript submitted to the BJD must be original. Authors should declare any potentially overlapping publications on submission. Any overlapping publications should be cited. Any ‘in press’ or unpublished manuscript cited, or relevant to the Editor’s and reviewers' assessment of the manuscript, should be made available if requested by the Editor. BJD follows the ICMJE criteria for overlapping publication.

Plagiarism

BJD takes plagiarism very seriously and follows COPE’s guidance if plagiarism is suspected. All accepted papers are put through plagiarism checking software and any flagged manuscripts are manually checked.

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)

BJD is a member of COPE and follows the processes as outlined by COPE. Occasionally the journal may seek the advice of COPE on certain ethical matters, and if deemed appropriate may choose to contact the authors’ institutions, following COPE’s guidance.

Peer review 

BJD follows a single-blind process of peer review, where the reviewers know who the authors are, but the authors are not aware of the reviewers. Members of the editorial team, including the Editor, who submit papers (with the exception of editorials and commentaries) are anonymised from the process and are not involved in the peer review or any aspect of decision making. 

BJD’s peer review process is as outlined in this flowchart. We aim to provide fast first triage, and all papers that undergo peer review are assessed by at least two members of BJD’s editorial team. 

Preprint Policy 

Authors retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels, and this does not prevent submission to the journal. For further information see our Online Licensing, Copyright and Permissions policies. If accepted, the authors are required to update the status of any preprint, including your published paper’s DOI, as described on our Author Self-Archiving policy page.

Self-Archiving Policy 

You may self-archive versions of your work on your own webpages, on institutional webpages, and in other repositories. If you want more information about the reuse rights you retain if you publish with us, please visit our Author Self-Archiving Policy page. 

Transfer of papers

BJD facilitates transfer of papers to Clinical and Experimental Dermatology (CED), and Skin Health and Disease (SHD)  if the Editor believes that the paper is better suited to CED or SHD’s audience. This offer is provided as an author service, if authors agree, to help save resubmission to another journal and further peer review, with a seamless transfer system.

The authors will have the option to opt into the transfer before the paper can be transferred. However, once the authors have accepted the transfer, they will be asked to ensure that they fulfil the relevant journal’s requirements after submission, which may involve a degree of reformatting of the manuscript. Any peer reviews conducted by BJD will also be transferred across. Independent reviewers may also be invited by the Editor of CED or SHD if they deem it appropriate.

Appeal process

BJD allows authors to appeal the decisions made by the Editor. Please provide a brief outline of the grounds for your appeal and details of the paper to [email protected]. 

Complaints policy

Complaints about journal processes should be submitted to the Head of Publishing at the BAD. Please e-mail the details of your complaint to [email protected].

 

Details of Oxford University Press’s editorial policies are available.