Supplementary material

The Journals Library is able to host additional material on your publication page as supplementary material. This allows you to reference additional material not included as appendices or as project documentation.

Material should be submitted as supplementary material rather than appendices if it:

• is indirectly related to the paper, or does not add to the understanding of the paper, but is provided for completeness
• would take the number of appendices in the paper to more than ten

We can accept different file types including .pdf documents, .tiff files, .jpg files, videos, databases and spreadsheets. Supplementary material files are not proofread, copy-edited or typeset. Therefore, it is important that the material you submit is of a suitable quality for publication. Supplementary material files supplied along with your paper will be sent for peer review.

As your paper will be amended during production (e.g., during copy-editing), you should not include cross-references to parts it (e.g., headings, tables, figures) in the supplementary material files.

Formatting

• Each supplementary material file should contain its own reference list (if required), with reference numbering starting at number one in each file and not be linked or related to the references in your paper
• Each supplementary material file should start the numbering of tables, figures or boxes from one
• Supplementary material files should be listed after the list of tables and figures within your paper. When the paper is published, the documents are available to view on the publication webpage
• Where possible, cite supplementary material chronologically in the text
• Use the award naming convention to name the files, and indicate the order in which the files should appear (e.g., project 12/34/56 supplementary file 1 should be called 12-34-56-supp1)
• ensure that there is an in-text citation (e.g., see 'Report Supplementary Material 1') to each item of supplementary material in your paper

For all supplementary material

• proofread all supplementary material files as we will not proofread or copy-edit these files after submission to the editorial office
• have the correct permissions in place for the material to appear online, send the editorial office proof of this and include these on your permission checklist
• include the relevant credit lines for any reproduced material to appear online
• check that any logos, signatures and/or contact details have been redacted, or permission granted, as necessary.

Supplementary material files should be sent by email to journals.library@nihr.ac.uk.. Please see the submission section for more guidance.

Supporting media

You may wish to include video or audio material with your paper in order to support and enhance your research. This material will need to be considered by the reviewers and editors alongside your paper to ensure that it is suitable and relevant. If you would like to include videos or audio files you should:

• submit media files at the same time as your final paper using the drop down ‘Supplementary Material’ – see the supplementary material section for further guidance
• ensure that the files include the usual acknowledgements and disclaimers required for award outputs, as well as the research award number
• submit supporting documents to show that participants have given approval to appear in the videos/podcasts and that this covers their use as part of the publication on the NIHR Journals Library website
• provide proof of permission where this is required to publish the file