Survival curves must be accompanied by a table giving the actual numbers of patients involved. Include in the legends to illustrations and the footnotes to tables brief but comprehensive explanations of all the information presented. Look at recent issues of the Journal for examples of accepted layout. Any table or illustration reproduced from a published work must give the original source in full. You must obtain permission from the original author and the publisher before submission.
Abbreviations Use abbreviations sparingly .
Terms that are mentioned frequently may be abbreviated but only if this does not impair comprehension. Abbreviations must be used consistently and must be defined on first use. Numbers and units Use the decimal point, not a comma, for example 5.7. Use a space and not a comma after thousands and multiples thereof, for example 10 000. In evaluating a manuscript the Editors and statistical referees will consider the design of the study, the presentation and analysis of data and the interpretation of results.