About Cover Art
Images for the cover of Emerging Infectious Diseases are selected for artistic quality, technical reproducibility, stylistic continuity, communication effectiveness, and audience appeal. The images, which are published with permission of the artists or other copyright holders, are drawn from many cultures, historical periods (ancient to contemporary), and geographic areas.
EID seeks for its cover images and their accompanying essays to evoke compassion for human suffering, expand the science reader's literary or artistic scope, provide context related to the theme assigned to the issue, and link the art with public health and science. Although accurate scientific information should be mentioned in About the Cover essays, these are not research articles.
Cover essays are intended to relate science and the human condition, or how people perceive and cope with infection and illness. Essays typically include a biographical sketch of the artist, background about the time period and origin of the art, and description of the artwork, as well as a brief interpretation links the art and the human elements and goals of public health.
Each issue’s theme is typically decided and assigned two to ten months before the publication date. Common themes include zoonotic infections, vectorborne infections, respiratory infections, emerging viruses or emerging pathogens, fungal infections, bacterial infections, parasitic diseases, or some variation of those general themes. EID also publishes issues with other themes related to specific diseases, pathogens, or health topics.
Potential contributors are encouraged to contact the journal before submitting an essay to see if their proposed image and idea for an essay are within the scope and interest of the journal. Contributors should note these tips and guidelines specific to About the Cover submissions:
- One high-resolution image is used on the cover of the journal; up to two secondary images might be permitted to accompany the essay.
- Authors are responsible for obtaining any approvals or releases for use of images that are not in the public domain, copyrighted, or otherwise restricted.
- Examples of cover essays may be found in every issue of the journal from 2002 forward (https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/past-covers). Pay attention to format and tone of the essays.
- Essays are a maximum of 900 words text.
- Essays are not published with an abstract or summary line (although both are required in Scholar One as part of the submission process.)
- First author biography is not required.
- Provide a figure legend with information similar to that published with other EID About the Cover essays.
- Essays do not typically include sequentially numbered references but instead use in-text citations and a bibliography. Again, read essays from the last 10 years for examples.
- Submit the EID Author Checklist.
- All essays are peer reviewed, and the editor-in-chief makes the final decision regarding publication.
If you would like to consult about any aspect of an About the Cover essay for upcoming issues of EID, contact the journal at eideditor@cdc.gov.
