The Journal welcomes letters to the editor about articles it has published, and supports responsible academic debate as an important feature of research and science.

The Editorial Board considers letters that are received within three months of an article’s publication and reserves the right to accept, edit, abridge or decline letters.

If a letter is acceptable for publication, the author of the article is asked to provide a response. The letter and the author response are published together on the Journal Issues webpage.

The preferred word count of letters is up to 300 words and no more than five references and one small table, figure or image. In addition, correspondents are requested to include:

• the corresponding author’s email address
• all authors’ affiliations (if relevant)
• a declaration of interest statement

By submitting a letter to the editor, the author gives permission for the Journal to publish any or all of the above content.

Please send letters to the editor to research@nzcom.org.nz