The Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research is the official peer-reviewed publication of Dietitians of Canada

The Journal considers manuscripts for publication that focus on applied food and nutrition research with direct application to the Canadian healthcare system and other contributions relevant to Canadian dietetic practice. The Journal does not publish market research studies, author opinions or animal studies. Manuscripts may be in English or French.

Article Categories

The Journal accepts manuscripts in the following four peer-reviewed categories: Original Research, Review, Perspectives in Practice, Short Reports/Case Reports.  Abstracts that have been presented at a scientific meeting do not preclude a manuscript from consideration for publication. 

Original Research (not to exceed 3,000 words)

Research papers must be systematic and rigorous quantitative or qualitative studies. If studies involve human subjects, they must have received institutional research ethics board approval. Original research submissions must provide new and important information that has the potential to advance dietetic research, education, or Canadian dietetic practice. 
 
Manuscripts describing original research should include the following sections:

Abstract - Provide a brief overview of study methodology, findings, and main conclusion, including practice application. Prepare a structured abstract including the following bolded headings: Purpose, Methods, Results, Conclusions.
 
Introduction - Give a brief statement of the current literature and/or practice that informs the work, relevance of the issue to be researched, and purpose of the research supported by pertinent references. Extensive literature reviews should be avoided, although discussion of key theories/ issues/variables to support purpose and methods should be provided.  
 
Methods - Describe clearly the selection (eligibility, inclusion/exclusion criteria) of the subjects/research participants; justify the sample size. Identify the data collection methods, apparatus, and/or procedures in sufficient detail to allow other researchers to reproduce results; give references to established methods; provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known; describe in detail new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them, and articulate their limitations. When reporting studies involving human subjects, indicate that the study was reviewed by an ethics review board and list the name of the board. Describe statistical methods in sufficient detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. When possible and appropriate, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). 

For qualitative research:  Provide contextual information on the participants. Describe and give the rationale for the sampling strategy and methodological/theoretical approach (e.g., ethnography, grounded theory, phenomenology, etc.). Describe data collection procedures, including a description of the types of questions asked in interviews. Describe the process of analysis in detail, emergence and evolution of themes, and use of qualitative analysis software. Describe the steps taken to ensure trustworthiness of the findings. Describe the author's perspective, theoretical orientations, values, interests, and assumptions, and how these may have changed during the research process. 

Results - Present results in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. Restrict tables and illustrations to those required for clarification. When data are presented either in a tabular or graphic form, emphasize or summarize in the text only important observations.

For qualitative research:  Use examples from the material gathered to illustrate the meaning and key findings. Present the findings in a way that is coherent and integrated, while preserving the nuances of the data. Tables may be used to display quotes or figures to outline key concepts. Examples should allow readers to discern alternative meanings and understanding. 

Discussion - Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat, in detail, data or other material given in the Introduction or Results section. Include in the Discussion section the implications of the findings, including those for future research. Discuss the limitations of the research. Relate the observations to those of other relevant studies. Link the conclusions with the goals of the study and avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by your data. Recommendations, when appropriate, may be included.

For qualitative research:  Specify considerations for extending the findings to other contexts and informants. You may include questions and/or hypotheses generated by the study or emerging theories. 
Relevance to Practice - Relate the findings to dietetic practice.  

Review (not to exceed 3,000 words)

Systematic reviews are preferred over expert reviews, when feasible. Some topics do not lend themselves well to a systematic review and a more general review of current literature may therefore be appropriate. Manuscripts should include the following: 1. an unstructured abstract (without headings); 2. an introduction; 3. the methods, which describe the search strategy and selection criteria; 4. the body, which develops the subject in a logical order using appropriate subheadings and presents a balanced and critical review of the literature and, where relevant, balanced recommendations; 5. a statement about relevance to practice. 

Perspectives in Practice (not to exceed 2,000 words)

Manuscripts describing innovative programs, new tools or approaches, current issues, or other aspects relevant to Canadian dietetic practice should include the following: 1. an unstructured abstract (without headings); 2. an introduction; 3. the body, which includes a statement of purpose, and reflects a systematic approach to the investigation of the issue or description of the program, including supporting information and a statement of conclusions; 4. a statement about relevance to practice.

Short Reports/Case Reports (not to exceed 1,000 words)

Short reports include preliminary data that suggest a research study is required, quality improvement activities and their evaluation, evaluations of a program or service, brief surveys, and additional data from work already published. Short reports should include the same subheadings as research articles.  

Case reports should illustrate useful new approaches to the nutrition assessment and management of an individual or situation, or identify unexpected findings or offer new insight into dietetic practice. The acceptable case report has the following headings: 1. Introduction, which provides a summary of the background literature; 2. Presentation of the current practice or case (e.g., summarization of the current practice or clinically relevant details of the patient’s medical history); 3. Activities undertaken (e.g., a change in practice or therapeutic plan, which describes the rationale for the plan and how it was applied); 4. Outcomes, which summarize evaluation of the activity or patient outcomes; 5. Discussion, which describes new learning and applications to dietetic practice; 6. Relevance to Practice. 

How to Submit a Manuscript for Peer Review

Authors must submit each manuscript using the online manuscript submission system at http://www.editorialmanager.com/dcjournal. Follow the instructions provided on the website. Hard copies of manuscripts are not required. All submitted manuscripts are acknowledged and will be judged by at least two anonymous peer reviewers for soundness, intrinsic merit, interest, value, clarity, and readability. Manuscripts are accepted at the discretion of the reviewers and the editor. After peer review, the corresponding author will be notified whether the manuscript is accepted with revision or rejected. The corresponding author will receive the reviewers' comments to assist in revision, if the article has been accepted, or to assist in future writing projects, if the article has been rejected. Authors whose manuscripts that have been accepted pending revisions are to resubmit them using the online manuscript submission system, by clicking on the web link sent in an e-mail to the corresponding author by the Journal office. Authors will be advised if their revised submissions are accepted for publication.

Author Responsibilities

Manuscript content and accuracy are the responsibility of the author(s). Authors submitting manuscripts online are required to sign an agreement granting Dietitians of Canada an irrevocable, royalty-free, exclusive licence to publish the manuscript. Ownership of the copyright in the material contained in the Manuscript remains with the Author(s).  Manuscripts in the research category must be original contributions. However, a manuscript adapted from work published elsewhere may be considered for one of the remaining categories at the discretion of the editor. When submitting this type of article, the author must indicate this on the manuscript submission system by identifying all submissions and prior reports that might be seen as prior or duplicate publication of the same or very similar work. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted manuscripts.    

Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when an author (or the author’s institution or employer), a reviewer, or an editor has financial or personal relationships that may inappropriately influence his or her actions. All submitted manuscripts should include a full disclosure of financial relationships (e.g., employment, consultancies, honoraria) and personal relationships (e.g., academic, intellectual, political, religious) that could be viewed as potential conflicts of interest. Authors should err on the side of full disclosure.  Some conflicts are unavoidable and a conflict of interest is not an admission of wrongdoing; however, failure to declare a real or perceived conflict may lead to refusal of a submitted manuscript. If there are no conflicts of interest this must be stated: “The authors declare that they have no competing interests.” Conflicts of interest should be identified on the Authors’ Page (see next page).

If authors suggest or oppose a reviewer, an explanation should be provided to explain or justify their choice or their concerns.   

Acknowledgements

Authors may wish to acknowledge, with their permission, persons who have made a substantial contribution to the work through technical help or advice. Authors must inform the editor that such permission has been obtained by including the names of individuals, where indicated on the online manuscript submission system. Authors should also disclose financial support in the form of grants, gifts, equipment, or supplies in the acknowledgement. Acknowledgments and sources of financial support should be identified on the Authors’ Page (see below). 

License to Publish and Waiver of Moral Rights

Authors submitting manuscripts online are required to complete and sign a license agreement granting Dietitians of Canada an irrevocable, royalty-free, exclusive licence to publish the manuscript. Where there are multiple authors, all authors must complete and sign the license agreement. 

Manuscript Preparation

The manuscript should be typed double-spaced using standard 12-point type, left margin justified in Microsoft Word, no older than version 97-2003. Do not submit manuscripts with tracked changes or upload manuscript text files in pdf format. The body of the manuscript should not exceed 3,000 words, excluding the abstract, references, and tables/figures. Perspectives in Practice should not exceed 2,000 words and Short Reports/Case Studies should not exceed 1,000 words plus one or two short tables and pertinent references. Number each page of the manuscript consecutively and include continuous line numbering in the margin.

Manuscripts that do not comply with these specific guidelines will be returned to authors for revision prior to being sent out for review. 

• Author's Page - All manuscripts must include a separate authors’ page that lists 1. the title of the manuscript (no more than 15 words); 2. full names including first name, highest academic degree(s), department and institutional affiliation for all authors in the order in which they should appear in the published article; 3. the name and contact information (address, telephone and e-mail address) of the corresponding author (responsible for correspondence about the manuscript during the publication process); 4. a short title (eight words or fewer); 5. three to 10 key words or short phrases that will assist indexers in cross-indexing the article; 6. the source(s) of financial support; 7. acknowledgements; 8. conflicts of interest. 
• Title - The title should be specific and informative, conveying the findings of the research or review within 12-15 words. The manuscript title should appear on the Authors’ Page, abstract, first page of the manuscript text, and all correspondence. 
• Abstract - The abstract should not exceed 200 words. Manuscripts submitted to the Original Research or Short Report/Case Report category should contain structured abstracts that include the key headings: Purpose, Methods, Results, Conclusions. Manuscripts submitted to the Perspectives in Practice or Review category should contain unstructured abstracts. The abstract should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations and relevance to practice. 
• Text - The text should be prepared in accordance with the requirements of the manuscript category to which it is being submitted for publication, as described above. 
• Footnotes - Footnotes and endnotes should be avoided, and the information included parenthetically in the text.   
• References - Authors are responsible for the accuracy of all references cited in the manuscript. Incomplete references will be returned to authors for completion. References should be cited numerically in the text, numbered in sqaure parentheses in order of citation. If there is more than one reference cited, separate the list using commas within the parentheses i.e., [1-3, 5, 7]. The full references are listed at the end of the manuscript. Cite the makers of software parenthetically in the text after the first mention, not in the list of references. Software citations should include the name, version number name and location of the manufacturer, and year of release. List databases, but not software, with the references. Personal communications may not be cited as references but may be noted parenthetically in the text if a specific date (day, month, and year) is included. Permission must be obtained from the person quoted. Articles accepted for publication but not yet published can be designated in the list of references with the notation "Forthcoming" at the end of the reference. If the date of future publication is known, this should be included. Information from manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted should be cited in the text as “unpublished data.” For more information on references, see the Reference Style section. 
• Tables and Figures - A table is a list of numbers or words. A figure is the graphical depiction of data. The terms are not interchangeable. Tables and figures should be numbered in order of their appearance in the text. It is recommended that no more than 3 tables and 1 figure be included in a Research manuscript; fewer or none for other manuscript categories. Set up each table or figure on a separate page of the document at the end of the file. Number tables and figures separately in the order in which they are cited in the text. Supply a brief title for each table or figure. For tables, give each column a short or abbreviated heading. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Ensure all tables and figures are cited in sequential order within the text.
• Supplementary material - Additional tables, figures or other material (e.g. questionnaires) can be included as supplementary material and identified in the text (e.g. Supplementary file).  This material is published ‘as is’  (i.e. not edited or formatted) alongside the final pdf version of the article. 
• Numbers, Abbreviations, and Units of Measure - Use standard abbreviations, including statistical notations. Length, height, weight, volume, temperature, and clinical chemistry should be reported in metric units, according to the International System of Units. Energy values should be expressed in both kilocalories and Joules. 

Journal Style

Editors of the Journal have the right to edit articles for clarity and style.

The Journal uses the following resources to guide on style, usage, and spelling:

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE Recommendations). http://www.icmje.org/index.html; updated 2013.

American Medical Association. AMA manual of style: a guide for authors and editors. 10th ed.  New York: Oxford University Press; 2007.   

Reference Style

The Journal follows the Uniform Requirements style for references. Refer to ICMJE sample references at:  https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html. List all authors when there are six or fewer; when there are six or more, list only the first six and add “et al.” Abbreviate journal titles according to the styles used in the Journals database created by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/journals); if a title does not appear in the NLM, provide the complete title. The Journal of The Canadian Dietetic Association is abbreviated J Can Diet Assoc. and the Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research is abbreviated Can J Diet Pract Res. If you are using reference citation software, choose ‘National Library of Medicine’ as the output citation style.  

Examples of references:

Journal article:

Desroches S, Lapointe A, Deschênes SM, Bissonnette-Maheux V, Gravel K, Thirsk J, et al. Dietitians' perspectives on interventions to enhance adherence to dietary advice for chronic diseases in adults. Can J Diet Pract Res. 2015 Sep;76(3):103-8. 

Book:

Gibson RS. Principles of nutritional assessment. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2005.

Chapter in a book:

Heubi J, Carlsson. Celiac disease. In: Ekvall SW, Ekvall VK, editors. Pediatric nutrition in chronic diseases and development disorders: prevention, assessment, and treatment. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2005.  p. 493-515. 

Electronic book: 

Committee to Review Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin D and Calcium; Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for calcium and vitamin D.  Washington: National Academy Press; 2011 [cited 2015 Nov 10]. Available from:  http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13050  

Agency publication:

Health Canada. Nutrient value of some common foods. Ottawa: Health Canada; 2008.

Electronic Agency publication:

Health Canada. Prenatal nutrition guidelines for health professionals—fish and omega-3 fatty acids; 2009 [cited 2015 Nov 10]. Available from: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/pubs/nutrition/omega3-eng.php 

How to Submit Letters

Letters to the Editor written in response to an article published in the Journal should clearly outline the writer's point of view and be accompanied by supportive evidence. Such letters should be educational and provide constructive criticism or support to the authors. Original authors will review letters in a timely manner; their response may be printed in tandem with a letter. Critiques of articles presented in the Journal should be received within three months of publication and, if accepted, will be published in the forthcoming issue of the Journal. Letters should be no longer than 400 words, with a maximum of five references (including the article under discussion). Send submissions using the online manuscript submission system outlined under “How to Submit a Manuscript for Peer Review.” Follow applicable sections of this Guide for Authors for reference style. Submissions should be double-spaced and provide permission for publication in the Journal. The editor reserves the right to reject submissions.  

Editorial Process

Accepted manuscripts are copyedited to conform to the Journal style and space limitations. The copyeditors reserve the right to make editorial changes and these changes should not be altered by the corresponding author unless a scientific error has been introduced. The corresponding author will receive a galley proof of the article and have an opportunity to review editorial changes and to double-check accuracy of content. At this stage, any change, other than correction of typographical errors, should be minimal and may be charged to the author.    

Early Publication (e-First)

To expedite publication, the full text of manuscripts that have been edited will be released online as e-First articles to make their content available to users as soon as possible.  Once all articles for an issue are ready, the articles will be moved into the appropriate issue. e-First articles are considered the official version of record and may be cited.

Resources for Writing Manuscripts

• The EQUATOR Network (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) [Internet]. Oxford: University of Oxford [no date; cited 2015 Jan 15]. Available from: http://www.equator-network.org/
• Citing medicine. The NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers. 2nd ed. [Internet]. Bethesda, MD: United States National Library of Medicine; 2007 [updated 2015 Oct 2; cited 2015 Nov 10]. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7256/
• Day RA. How to write and publish a scientific paper. 4th rev. ed. Phoenix: Oryx Press; 2005.

Download a copy of the Guide for Authors here: ENGLISH FRANCAIS

For further information:
Naomi Cahill PhD, RD
Editor, Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice & Research 
c/o Dietitians of Canada 
99 Yorkville Avenue, Second Floor
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5R 1C1
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.dietitians.ca
CJDPR Website: www.dcjournal.ca