editor's perspective

We Want Your Submissions

BY JASON J. NICHOLS, OD, MPH, PHD, FAAO

Our mission at Contact Lens Spectrum is to provide you with the most timely, informative, provocative and comprehensive coverage of clinical topics relating to contact lenses and the ocular surface as well as the latest company and product news announcements. We have a strong tradition in providing this coverage to you, and we believe that we are one of the world's premier and most respected sources in this regard. This is likely due to the fact that we maintain high standards relative to the materials we publish in addition to the strong support we get from our readership.

I am often asked how one can contribute something to the publication; I'd like to emphasize that we provide a forum such that anyone can submit a manuscript to us. You do not have to be a "recognized" name in the field. You do not have to be associated with an entity such as company or a university. You can simply submit your idea, clinical observations or even study data to our editorial office.

That being said, we'd like to offer some general guidance that you should consider. First, we have no specific requirements for length of articles — they can range from 500 words to 3,000 words, or more if the subject warrants it. We like clinical images, figures and tables, as these visual tools help convey a message. Although we are not a peer-reviewed journal, we do publish clinical research topics. For any submission that qualifies as human subjects-based research, it is critical that the research was conducted in accordance with the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. Lastly, our editorial team reviews all materials submitted to ensure that they meet appropriate standards in the field. Although we try to work with authors as much as possible to ensure that a submission would be of value to our readers, unfortunately not all submissions can be published. Please note that we post our author guidelines on the homepage of our Web site at www.clspectrum.com to help provide further guidance on specific areas required in submissions.

In addition to article submissions, we are also often asked by companies how they can get news and product announcements into our publication. If you have a press release prepared, please send it to managing editor Lisa Starcher at lisa.starcher@wolterskluwer.com. We understand that many companies do not have the resources to generate press releases for distribution. If that is the case for your company, please feel free to e-mail or call the editorial office so one of our editors can work with you on getting your information into print.

We look forward to providing you with the most comprehensive and up-to-date clinical, scientific, company and product information that will allow continued growth and expansion of your practices and knowledge.