INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

World Journal of Medicine

Print ISSN: 1747-0501
Online ISSN: 1747-051X
Frequency: Quarterly

Author Guidelines

World Journal of Medicine (WJM) is an international journal of medical sciences and practice. It is academically peer-reviewed and designed for all doctors, researchers, and health workers regardless of their medical specialties, or type of employment. It is published four times a year in London. The journal is distributed worldwide. WJM delivers up-to-date, authoritative, & clinically oriented coverage of any area in medicine. Regular features include: articles by leading authorities, reports on the latest treatments for diseases, and a section discussing important advances in medical research. WJM is organized into the following sections to make material easy to find: Leading articles/editorials, Original articles, Medical progress reports, Review articles, Case report, Seminars and Special report on health related issues worldwide. The additional features are Image of the issue, book reviews, and abstracts from important basic research.

An article is reviewed for publication on the assumption that its contents have not been submitted simultaneously to another journal, have not been accepted for publication elsewhere and have not already been published. Any attempt at dual publication will lead to automatic rejection, may prejudice acceptance of future submissions, and may be highlighted within the pages of the Journal. Please submit with your manuscript copies of any other papers (including abstracts) - published, in press, or submitted for consideration elsewhere -that relate in whole or in part to the same data set; this is essential to allow assessment of any potential overlap. Indicate on the title page whether the paper is based on a previous communication to a society or meeting. Articles and their illustrations become the property of the Journal unless rights are reserved before publication.

Manuscript Submission

All articles submitted to the journal must comply with these instructions. Failure to do so will result in return of the manuscript and possible delay in publication.

Manuscripts should be written so that they are intelligible to the professional reader who is not a specialist in the particular field. Where contributions are judged as acceptable for publication on the basis of scientific content, the Editor or the Publisher reserve the right to modify typescripts to eliminate ambiguity and repetition and improve communication between author and reader. If extensive alterations are required, the manuscript will be returned to the author for revision.

The original manuscripts may be submitted via Email: submission@worldjmed.com. Submitted material will not be returned to the author unless specifically requested.

The first named author is responsible for ensuring that all authors have seen, approved and are fully conversant with the contents of the manuscript. WJM accepts the criteria for authorship proposed in the British Medical Journal (BMJ 1994; 308: 39-42) and the COPE guidelines on good publication practice (www.publicationethics.org.uk). Results of multicentre studies may be reported under the name of the organizing group. Methods of recognizing contributors have been proposed (Lancet 1995; 345: 668).

Copyright

Before publication, a copyright transfer agreement with the author(s) original signatures will be required. The Copyright Transfer Agreement form should be sent immediately following the online submission of your article. In signing the transfer of copyright it is assumed that authors have obtained permission to use any copyrighted or previously published material. All authors must read and agree to the conditions outlined in the Copyright Assignment Form, and must sign the Form or agree that the corresponding author can sign on their behalf. Articles cannot be published until a signed Copyright Assignment Form has been received.

Ethics

Human investigation and animal experiments must have local ethics committee approval. WJM will not to publish an article if appropriate ethical standards have not been met. Written consent must be obtained from the patient, legal guardian or executor for publication of any detail or photograph that might identify an individual. Submit evidence of such consent with the manuscript.

Preparation of manuscripts

WJM subscribes to the policy of uniform requirements for manuscripts; this facilitates resubmission of papers to journals without extensive recasting. Submissions should be printed, doubled-spaced, on one side only of ISO A4 paper. The top, bottom and side margins should be at least 30 mm. Laser quality print is essential. All pages should be numbered consecutively in the top right-hand corner, beginning with the title page. Indent new paragraphs. Turn the hyphenation option off, including only those hyphens that are essential to the meaning.

Manuscripts should follow the style of the Vancouver agreement detailed in the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors' revised 'Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication', as presented at http://www.icmje.org/.

The journal uses British English spelling and authors should therefore follow the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Please write in a clear, concise, direct style. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their work, including all statistical calculations and drug doses. When quoting specific materials, equipment and proprietary drugs the name and address of the manufacturer must be given in parentheses. Generic names should normally be used.

Preferred file formats

Preferred file formats for the text and tables of your manuscript are .doc, rtf. Figures should be .tiff or .eps.

Original articles

Original articles should normally be in the format of introduction, patients and methods, results and discussion. Provide a structured abstract of fewer than 200 words. Randomised clinical trials should be clearly identified as such in the title and abstract.

Reviews and meta-analyses

Priority will be given to work that addresses a topic if current interest. Before submission of a meta-analysis of randomised trials, authors are encouraged to consult the Quorum statement, designed to improve manuscript quality (Lancet 1999; 354: 1896-900). Further advice on suitability is available from the Editorial Office.

Leading articles/Editorials

The Editors commission leading articles of 800-1000 words and up to ten references. A single author is preferred. Submissions may be subjected to peer review and the Editors retain the right to alter textual style.

Title page

On the title page give: (1) the title of the article; (2) the name and initials of each author; (3) the department and institution to which the work should be attributed; (4) the name, postal and e-mail addresses, telephone and facsimile numbers of the author responsible for correspondence and to whom requests for reprints should be addressed; (5) sources of financial support; and (6) the category in which the manuscript is being submitted (original article, review, etc.).

Abstract

This must contain fewer than 200 words in a structured format. Background: state why the study was done and its main aim. Method: describe patients, laboratory material and other methods used. Identify the nature of the study, e.g. randomised controlled trial, retrospective review, experimental study, etc. Results: state the main findings including important numerical values. Conclusion: state the main conclusions, highlighting controversial or unexpected observations.

Main text

The main text of the paper may have separate Introduction, Patients and Methods, and Discussion sections. A short Acknowledgements paragraph may also be included.

Tables and illustrations

Submit each illustration as a separate file except compound figures e.g. 1a, 1b, 1c etc, which should be supplied as a single file. Type each table on a separate page with a brief title. Supply artwork at the intended size for printing. Line drawings are acceptable as clear black on white graphics and must be high quality. Use hatchings, not tints. All illustrations must be supplied at the correct resolution black and white and colour photos – 300dpi. Graphs, drawings, etc – 800dpi preferred; 600 dpi minimum. Combinations of photos and drawings (black and white and colour) – 500dpi. Label each illustration with the figure number and lead author’s name. Indicate the top of the illustration and a measure of magnification for photomicrographs. Include explanations of symbols and shading within the figure. Survival curves must be accompanied by a table giving the actual numbers of patients involved. Include in the legends to illustrations and the footnotes to tables brief but comprehensive explanations of all the information presented. Look at recent issues of the Journal for examples of accepted layout.

Abbreviations

Avoid using abbreviations. Terms that are mentioned frequently may be abbreviated but only if this does not impair comprehension. Abbreviations must be used consistently and must be defined on first use.

Numbers and units

Provide absolute numbers always; percentages may be given in addition, but never be on their own. Use the decimal point, not a comma, for example 5.7. Use a space and not a comma after thousands and multiples thereof, for example 10 000. Use SI units (International System of Units) except for the measurement of blood pressure (mmHg).

Statistics

Clearly describe methods used for analysis; methods not in common usage should be referenced. Report results of statistical tests by stating the value of the test statistic, the number of degrees of freedom and the P value. Actual P values should be reported to three decimal places, especially when the result is not significant. The results of the primary analyses should be reported using confidence intervals instead of, or in addition to, P values.

Design

Set out clearly the objectives of the study, identify the primary and secondary hypotheses, the chosen end-points and justify the sample size with a power calculation. Investigators embarking on randomised controlled trials may wish to consider the CONSORT statement (www.consort-statement.org).

References

Use double spacing in the Vancouver style. Reference to abstracts and personal communications is discouraged. In the text, number references consecutively by superscript: ¹ or ^1-3. References cited only in tables or figures should be numbered in sequence.

Genetic Nomenclature

Standard genetic nomenclature should be used. For further information, including relevant websites, authors should refer to the genetic nomenclature guide in Trends in Genetics (Elsevier Science, 1998).

Sequence Data Submission

Nucleotide sequence data can be submitted in electronic form to any of the three major collaborative databases: DDBJ, EMBL or GenBank. It is only necessary to submit to one database as data are exchanged between DDBJ, EMBL and GenBank on a daily basis. The suggested wording for referring to accession-number information is: ‘These sequence data have been submitted to the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases under accession number U12345.’

Addresses are as follows:

DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp
EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Submissions www.ebi.ac.uk
GenBank www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Clinical trials registry

In accordance with the guidelines published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), WJM will require, as a condition of consideration for publication, that all clinical trials be registered in a public trials registry (for example, at www.clinicaltrials.gov). Trials must register at or before the onset of patient enrolment. This policy applies to any clinical trial starting enrolment after July 1, 2005. For more information, see www.icmje.org and go to Section III.J.

Cover illustrations

Cover illustrations are chosen by the Editors. Authors who submit a manuscript are encouraged to include a color image they consider suitable for the cover of WJM (author must own copyright to the image.) The image must be sharp enough to allow magnification to the full size of the A4 image area. Add a brief caption explaining the content of the figure. Authors will be notified by e-mail letter if their illustration has been selected.

Proofing

Proofs will be sent via e-mail as an Acrobat portable document format (PDF) file. The e-mail server must be able to accept attachments up to 4 MB in size. Acrobat Reader will be required in order to read this file. This software can be downloaded (free of charge) from the website: http://www.adobe.com/product s/acrobat/readstep2.html. This will enable the file to be opened, read on screen, and printed out in order for any corrections to be added. Further instructions will be sent with the proof. Absent authors should arrange for a colleague to access the e-mail to retrieve the proof.

Offprints

A minimum of 50 offprints will be provided upon request, at the author’s expense. An Offprint Order Form will be sent to the corresponding author with the PDF proofs. Offprints will be provided only if a completed Offprint Order Form is returned to the publisher by the specified date.