Guide for CET Authors
Additional info at foot of pageDispensing Optics is the professional journal of ABDO published monthly.
The principle aim of our CET articles is to provide continuing education for dispensing opticians in practice. Therefore articles must include implications and applications of theory to practise. They also include multiplechoice questions (MCQs), which may be completed and returned to gain CET credits.
1. CET articles may be either commissioned or submitted for consideration of publication. They should be approximately 4000-5000 words in length. Each CET article will have twelve multiple-choice questions (MCQs). These may be set by the CE Review Panel, or the author may submit fourteen draft MCQs for selection by the Panel. Each MCQ should have four answer options. A guide to setting MCQs is available from the ABDO CET Office. Each correct answer must have a supporting sentence, explaining the answer, which will be published with the answers at a later date.
Articles of approximately 2000-3000 words, submitted with seven draft MCQs, will also be accepted for publication.
2. Every article is subject to anonymous review by members of the CE Review Panel and comments are returned to the author who should then make rewrites/amendments as so advised, in good time for the journal deadlines.
3. A plan for the article, consisting of the article title and approximate length, with an abstract or outline, a short CV, keywords, a set of learning objectives should first be submitted to the ABDO CET Officer or Dispensing Optics (there is a standard form for this, available on request), so that an application can be made to the General Optical Council for CET approval. If approved for CET credits, a publication date is set and a final draft submission deadline issued. If not approved for CET credits, the article may still be eligible for inclusion in the journal.
4. Article text (see bullet points below) should be submitted as a Microsoft Word document (.doc) or plain text document (.txt), on disk or by email, together with a hard copy.
Illustrations, pictures and tables MUST be supplied as good quality hard copy for scanning. These should be produced in a CLEAR format, in black and white or colour, each on separate sheets, numbered sequentially and referred to in the text, remembering that they will probably be reduced when published. In addition to the hard copies, illustrations, pictures, boxes and tables may be submitted as high quality jpg, tiff or EPS files on compact or floppy discs. When using digital cameras the image should be recorded at 300dpi (set camera to fine-max size). A PC screen is only 72dpi; therefore an image that looks good on screen can be very poor when it is published in the journal at 300dpi. Good quality original photographs are preferable.
Please note:
- The text must not contain any diagrams, boxes or tables
- Presentation slide files such as those created with Microsoft Powerpoint or Lotus Freelance cannot be accepted
- Please avoid sending large picture files by email
All technical terms and units should be spelt in full. If they are shortened or given acronyms, please spell them out in full on the first occasion of use and give the shortened form/acronym in parenthesis. Use the shortened form subsequently. Use of abbreviations should be minimised, so only abbreviate words that are most frequently referred to in this way. Minimise the use of capitalisation and hyphenation.
6. The use of the term ‘dispenser’ is deprecated. Please use ‘dispensing optician’ or DO instead.
7. The publishers reserve the right to amend/edit CET articles on the advice of the Editor or CE Review Panel, but will always seek to inform the author before publication. The author will not be required to sign over copyright of the article draft to Dispensing Optics.
8. All articles must be appropriately referenced, and wherever possible, to original research papers. A superscript numbering system throughout the text is preferred, with references listed by number at the end of the article in the following form:
- If referring to an article in a journal, the format should be: Smith C, Smith FH, and Jones J. The effect of ice cream on children. Journal of Optical Studies 1988;36(3):42-52.
- If referring to an entire book, the format should be: Smith C. Ice Cream. 3rd ed. London: Butterworths;1988.
- If referring to an article or chapter in a book, the format should be: Smith C, Smith FH, and Jones J. The effect of ice cream. In: C Smith and J Jones, editors.Ice Cream, London: Butterworths, 2005; pp 42-52.
- If referring to an electronic source, the format should be: Smith C and Smith FH. The effect of ice cream. [online] 2000. Available from http://www.icecream.org.uk/cornets/strawberry.pdf (accessed 2 April 2007)
Papers that do not follow the standard referencing style of the journal will be returned to the author for amendment.
9. Authors should include a brief biography of themselves for publication, including their qualifications, of 50-100 words, and a few keywords relating to the topic.
10. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, text, pictures and tables.
11. Sponsorship of CET articles. If you could arrange sponsorship for your article, or suggest who we might approach, we would be very grateful. We charge £275 for a company logo to appear on the title page of the CET article only and £825 for a company logo to appear on each page of the CET article, plus a box with a supporting statement.
Revised April 2009
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