Published since 1884 by the Society for the Study of Addiction.
Addiction welcomes unsolicited research reports, reviews, and letters relating to clinical, epidemiological, human experimental, policy-related and historical aspects of any behaviours that have addictive potential including, but not limited to, use of alcohol, opiates, stimulants, cannabis, tobacco, and gambling. The acceptance rate is about 20%. A list of the types of articles Addiction publishes, with definitions and word limits, is available via our website. We are willing to make exceptions to word length stipulations in rare cases but otherwise we encourage authors to make use of our facility to store supplementary material with the online version of the article. Basic information is outlined below, but please also see this list of the types of articles that Addiction publishes.
Addiction also publishes invited editorials, articles ‘for debate’, commentaries on articles, interviews with leading figures in the field, and book reviews. Authors who are interested in contributing one of these invited papers may make a proposal to Commissioning Editor Peter Miller via molly@addictionjournal.org.
Addiction will not normally commission commentaries, editorials or reviews from authors with a specific conflict of interest as defined in our conflict of interest policy. Neither will it consider unsolicited reviews written by authors with a specific conflict of interest relating to the topic of the review.
Research reports should present original findings and should not exceed 3500 words excluding abstract, tables and references. Qualitative manuscripts may be up to 4500 words to facilitate the inclusion of direct quotations within the main text, but this is in lieu of any tables. There is no minimum length.
Reviews should normally be ‘systematic’ (i.e. adopt standard systematic review procedures) and should not exceed 4000 words excluding abstract, tables and references.
Letters should not exceed 500 words.
Monographs: Addiction occasionally publishes monographs of up to 10,000 words, including references. Monographs should be major pieces of writing, such as an extensive systematic review of a major topic or a series of linked studies addressing a common research question. Authors who are interesting in submitting such a piece should contact the Editor-in-Chief first via gill@addictionjournal.org.
Series papers: Authors submitting manuscripts intended for one of our series (e.g. Global Diversion of Pharmaceutical Drugs, Policy Case Studies, Vested Interests) should in the first instance contact the Commissioning Editor via molly@addictionjournal.org for a concept review. If invited to submit, please choose “Series” as the Manuscript Type, and be sure to select “Europe, Africa & Asia” as the Regional Office.
Supplements: Addiction welcomes the opportunity to publish contributions to its supplement series and views supplements as an important service to our readership. To put forward a supplement proposal or to view our supplement guidelines, please contact the Commissioning Editor via molly@addictionjournal.org.
To submit an article to Addiction please read our requirements and ethical principles below and submit your paper using our online system. We aim to get a response to authors within 12 weeks.
For further guidance on Addiction’s acceptance policy please see West, R et al. (2011) Addiction’s priorities when evaluating submissions. Addiction 106:463–465.
For information on how to write articles for Addiction, authors should look at recent articles of the type they are proposing to submit. They should pay special attention to the following:
Manuscript (general): The manuscript should comprise a single Word file unless it is essential to put figures in other files. It should be double spaced with all pages numbered. All tables and figures should be cited in the text.
Abstracts: Abstracts for research reports and case studies use the following headings: Background and Aims, Design, Setting, Participants, Measurements, Findings, Conclusions. Where it seems more appropriate, abstracts for research reports can be structured under the following headings: Background and Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusions. Abstracts for review articles use the following headings: Background and Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusions. Abstracts should generally be no more than 250 words. Any numbers provided in the abstract must match exactly those given in the main body of the text or tables. With quantitative studies involving statistical tests, abstracts must provide p values or confidence intervals for key findings. The conclusion must provide the main generalisable statement resulting from the study; i.e. the sentence(s) that someone citing the study might use to describe the findings. Do not use abbreviations in the abstract conclusion. See also our guide to writing conclusions in abstracts.
P-values: Authors should cite exact p values for primary statistical tests. Addiction adopts the conventional 5% value for statistical significance and does not accept terms such as ‘trend’ for cases where p<0.10.
References: References should follow the basic numbered Vancouver style. Provide up to the first six authors and then follow by et al. Issue/part numbers are not required. Do not include citations to conference abstracts or unpublished work. Please ensure that the introduction and discussion sections of your article cite the most recent relevant literature and not just literature from your own research group, region or country. Papers may include systematic reviews and one or two of the pivotal studies that a review has summarised. We recommend the use of a tool such as Endnote for reference management and formatting (http://endnote.com/downloads/style/addiction).
Archiving of source material: Authors are required to archive any web references before citing them, using WebCite ® technology. This free service ensures that cited webmaterial will remain available to readers in the future.
Permission to reprint source material: If a paper uses all or parts of previously published material, the author must obtain permission from the copyright holder concerned. It is the author’s responsibility to obtain these permissions in writing and provide copies to Addiction.
Randomised controlled trials: Report randomised controlled trials using the CONSORT guidelines. Authors should include with their manuscript a completed checklist and flow diagram in accordance with the guidelines. Reporting guidelines (STROBE, TREND, and PRISMA): We expect authors who wish to communicate results from cohort, case-control, cross-sectional, non-randomised evaluations, or systematic reviews and meta-analyses to review guidelines concerning their analysis and reporting. Please consult the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE), the Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs (TREND), or the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). A completed checklist and flow diagram should be included as an appendix to the submitted manuscript following the appropriate guideline. If particular items in the checklist are not applicable then just put ‘n/a’.
Prevalence surveys: Addiction welcomes such studies but does not publish surveys that primarily focus on describing prevalence that is already known to a large degree. Studies that document the start of a new ‘epidemic’ of a particular drug use might be considered, but largely descriptive data on the prevalence of a particular type of drug use in a particular place is not encouraged. We do encourage surveys that use a cross-sectional study to describe an association where that association is not well established.
Clinical trials: Addiction normally requires clinical trials to be registered in a publicly accessible database. The name of the trial register and the clinical trial registration number should appear on the front page of the manuscript. A full list of registers can be found via the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP).
Behavioural interventions: Evaluations involving behavioural interventions must include full manuals or protocols (or at least very detailed descriptions) of those interventions as supplementary files to be included published with the online version of the article.
Histograms: Do not include histogram figures with three-dimensional blocks or shading as this can make interpretation difficult.
Figures: Figures should normally be included in the Word document but where necessary they can be sent as additional files. All photographs, graphs and diagrams should be referred to as figures in the text and should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals (e.g. ‘Fig. 3’). A list of legends for the figures should be submitted on a separate sheet; legends should include keys to any symbols. In the full-text online edition of the journal, figure legends may become truncated in abbreviated links to the full-screen version. Therefore, the first 100 characters of any legend should inform the reader of key aspects of the figure.
Colour illustrations: It is the policy of Addiction for authors to pay the full cost for reproducing colour artwork. Therefore, please note that if there is colour artwork in your manuscript when it is accepted for publication, Wiley-Blackwell require you to complete and return a colour work agreement form before your paper can be published. The form must be returned to the Production Editor Rona Gloag at the address above. Please note we can only accepted original copies of the form. Faxed or scanned forms are not acceptable.
Preparation of Electronic Figures for Publication: Although low quality images are adequate for review purposes, print publication requires high quality images to prevent the final product being blurred or fuzzy. Submit EPS (lineart) or TIFF (halftone/photographs) files only. MS PowerPoint and Word Graphics are unsuitable for printed pictures. Do not use pixel-oriented programmes. Scans (TIFF only) should have a resolution of 300 dpi (halftone) or 600 to 1200 dpi (line drawings) in relation to the reproduction size (see below). EPS files should be saved with fonts embedded (and with a TIFF preview if possible). For scanned images, the scanning resolution (at final image size) should be as follows to ensure good reproduction: lineart: >600 dpi; half-tones (including gel photographs): >300 dpi; figures containing both halftone and line images: >600 dpi. Further information can be obtained at Wiley-Blackwell ’s (Electronic Artwork Guidelines)[http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/illustration.asp].
English-language editing: If English is not the first language of authors, they are advised to have their manuscript edited by a native English speaker before submission. However, we will do our best to accommodate papers from authors in countries where the resources do not exist for this.
A manuscript that does not comply with journal requirements will be unsubmitted and returned to the author. A useful guide to writing up papers for journals such as Addiction can be found in West R, A checklist for writing up research reports.
The journal supports the ethical principles enshrined in The Farmington Consensus. As such, when submitting papers online, authors ill be asked to state that
Addiction adheres to the definition of authorship set up by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which requires authorship to be based upon) substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; b) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and c) final approval of the version to be published. Every author should meet conditions a, b and c.
Declarations of interest are required for all submissions and should appear after the list of authors and addresses. These should declare sources of funding, direct or indirect, and any connection of any of the researchers with the tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceutical or gaming industries or any body substantially funded by one of these organisations. Authors are also required to declare any financial conflict of interest arising from involvement with organisations that seek to provide help with or promote recovery from addiction. Any contractual constraints on publishing imposed by the funder must also be disclosed.
As a precaution against fraud and violation of ethical principles, Addiction may ask authors for original data or copies of original supporting paperwork during the review process.
If serious violation of these ethical standards has been found to occur (e.g. fraud, attempts at duplicate publication or failure to declare obvious and major conflicts of interest), Addiction may take action beyond rejecting the manuscript, including barring authors from submitting to the journal or reporting authors to appropriate authorities.
Addiction will not normally commission commentaries, editorials or reviews from authors with a specific conflict of interest as defined in our conflict of interest policy. Neither will it consider unsolicited reviews written by authors with a specific conflict of interest relating to the topic of the review.
Addiction receives 800+ manuscripts each year and it is not practicable for all of these to undergo full review. Therefore we operate the following system. Each manuscript is read by a Senior Editor and those that are considered clearly uncompetitive or unsuited to this journal will be turned down without going to full review. This happens to approximately 30% of manuscripts. This process should take no more than 4 weeks.
Manuscripts that pass this stage are sent to an Assistant Editor who invites reviews and on the basis of these makes a recommendation to the Senior Editor. The Senior Editor will then communicate his or her own decision to the authors, taking account of the comments and recommendations received from the Assistant Editor and reviewers. This process should take no more than 12 weeks.
If authors are invited to revise a manuscript and resubmit it, they should aim to submit the revised version within 3 months. A decision on the revised version may by taken by the Senior Editor or he or she may consult an Assistant Editor or put the revision through another full review process, depending on the nature of the revisions that had been requested. A decision on the revised version should normally take less time than the original review process.
When proofs are ready, the corresponding author will receive an email alert containing a link to a web site. It is therefore important that the corresponding author provide a current, working email address. The proof can be downloaded as a PDF (portable document format) file from this site. Acrobat Reader will be required in order to read this file. This software can be downloaded free of charge from the Adobe website The file can be opened, read on screen, and printed out in order for any corrections to be added. Further instructions will be sent with the proof. In your absence, please arrange for a colleague to access your e-mail to retrieve the proofs. Proofs must be returned to the Production Editor within three days of receipt.
As changes to proofs are costly, we ask that you only correct typesetting errors. Excessive changes made by the author in the proofs, excluding typesetting errors, will be charged separately.
Other than in exceptional circumstances, all illustrations are retained by the publisher. Please note that the author is responsible for all statements made in his or her work, including changes made by the copy editor.
Free access to the final PDF of your article will be available via Author Services only. Please therefore sign up for Author Services if you would like to access your article PDF offprint and enjoy the many other benefits this service offers. Additional author offprints may be ordered online. The corresponding author will be sent a complimentary copy of the issue in which his or her paper is published.
Copyright Assignment It is a condition of publication that authors grant copyright to the Society for the Study of Addiction for all articles, including abstracts. Papers will not be passed to the publisher for production unless the Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA) form has been completed. To assist authors, a CTA is available from the editorial office or by clicking here.
Authors must send the completed CTA by email upon receiving notice of manuscript acceptance to ADD@wiley.com - i.e., do not send the CTA at submission.
Alternatively, the CTA can be mailed to:
Alexander Bell
Production Editor, Addiction
Wiley-Blackwell
9600 Garsington Road
Oxford OX4 2DQ
United Kingdom
Authors are themselves responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources.
UK Online Production Tracking Online production tracking is available for your article through Wiley-Blackwell’s Author Services Via Author Services, authors track their accepted articles through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can choose to receive automated e-mails at key stages of production.
Author Material Archive Policy Unless specifically requested, Wiley-Blackwell will dispose of all hardcopy or electronic material submitted two months after publication. If you require the return of any material you submitted, please inform the editorial office or production editor.
