《生物医学期刊投稿的统一要求》

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals:Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication (Updated October2008)

Publication Ethics:Sponsorship,Authorship,and Accountability

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors

T he following information is available to be viewed/ printed in Adobe Acrobat pdf format.

I.Statement of Purpose

A.About the Uniform Requirements

B.Potential Users of the Uniform Requirements

C.How to Use the Uniform Requirements

II.Ethical Considerations in the Conduct and Report-ing of Research

A.Authorship and Contributorship

1.Byline Authors

2.Contributors Listed in Acknowledgments

B.Editorship

1.The Role of the Editor

2.Editorial Freedom

C.Peer Review

D.Con?icts of Interest

1.Potential Con?icts of Interest Related to Individual

Authors’Commitments

2.Potential Con?icts of Interest Related to Project

Support

3.Potential Con?icts of Interest Related to Commit-

ments of Editors,Journal Staff,or Reviewers

E.Privacy and Con?dentiality

1.Patients and Study Participants

2.Authors and Reviewers

F.Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Re-

search

III.Publishing and Editorial Issues Related to Publica-tion in Biomedical Journals

A.Obligation to Publish Negative Studies

B.Corrections,Retractions,and“Expressions of Con-

cern”

C.Copyright

D.Overlapping Publications

1.Duplicate Submission

2.Redundant Publication

3.Acceptable Secondary Publication

https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,peting Manuscripts based on the Same Study

a.Differences in Analysis or Interpretation

b.Differences in Reported Methods or Results

https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,peting Manuscripts Based on the Same Data-

base

E.Correspondence

F.Supplements,Theme Issues,and Special Series

G.Electronic Publishing

H.Advertising

I.Medical Journals and the General Media

J.Obligation to Register Clinical Trials

IV.Manuscript Preparation and Submission

A.Preparing a Manuscript for Submission to Biomed-

ical Journals

1.a.General Principles

b.Reporting Guidelines for Speci?c Study Designs

2.Title page

3.Con?ict-of-interest Noti?cation Page

4.Abstract and Key Words

5.Introduction

6.Methods

a.Selection and Description of Participants

b.Technical Information

c.Statistics

7.Results

8.Discussion

9.References

a.General Considerations Related to References

b.Reference Style and Format

10.Tables

11.Illustrations(Figures)

12.Legends for Illustrations(Figures)

13.Units of Measurement

14.Abbreviations and Symbols

B.Sending the Manuscript to the Journal

V.References

A.Print References Cited in this Document

B.Other Sources of Information Related to Biomedi-

cal Journals

VI.About the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors

VII.Authors of the Uniform Requirements

https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,e,Distribution,and Translation of the Uni-form Requirements

IX.Inquiries

I.S TATEMENT OF P URPOSE

I.A.About the Uniform Requirements

A small group of editors of general medical journals met informally in Vancouver,British Columbia,in1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts sub-mitted to their journals.This group became known as the Vancouver Group.Its requirements for manuscripts,in-cluding formats for bibliographic references developed by the National Library of Medicine(NLM),were?rst

pub-

lished in1979.The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Jour-nal Editors(ICMJE),which meets annually.The ICMJE has gradually broadened its concerns to include ethical principles related to publication in biomedical journals.

The ICJME has produced multiple editions of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Bio-medical Journals.Over the years,issues have arisen that go beyond manuscript preparation,resulting in the develop-ment of a number of Separate Statements on editorial pol-icy.The entire Uniform Requirements document was re-vised in1997;sections were updated in May1999and May2000.In May2001,the ICMJE revised the sections related to potential con?ict of interest.In2003,the com-mittee revised and reorganized the entire document and incorporated the Separate Statements into the text.The committee prepared this revision in2008.

The total content of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals may be re-produced for educational,not-for-pro?t purposes without regard for copyright;the committee encourages distribu-tion of the material.

Journals that agree to use the Uniform Requirements are encouraged to state in their instructions to authors that their requirements are in accordance with the Uniform Requirements and to cite this version.Journals that wish to be listed on https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html, as a publication that follows the Uniform Requirements should contact the ICMJE sec-retariat of?ce.

The ICMJE is a small working group of general med-ical journals,not an open-membership organization.Occa-sionally,the ICMJE will invite a new member or guest when the committee feels that the journal or organization will provide a new perspective.Open membership organi-zations for editors and others in biomedical publication include the World Association of Medical Editors www https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html, and the Council of Science Editors www .councilofscienceeditors.

I.B.Potential Users of the Uniform Requirements

The ICMJE created the Uniform Requirements pri-marily to help authors and editors in their mutual task of creating and distributing accurate,clear,easily accessible reports of biomedical studies.The initial sections address the ethical principles related to the process of evaluating, improving,and publishing manuscripts in biomedical jour-nals and the relationships among editors and authors,peer reviewers,and the media.The latter sections address the more technical aspects of preparing and submitting manu-scripts.The ICMJE believes that the entire document is relevant to the concerns of both authors and editors.

The Uniform Requirements can provide many other stakeholders—peer reviewers,publishers,the media,pa-tients and their families,and general readers—with useful insights into the biomedical authoring and editing process.I.C.How to Use the Uniform Requirements

The Uniform Requirements state the ethical principles in the conduct and reporting of research and provide rec-ommendations relating to speci?c elements of editing and writing.These recommendations are based largely on the shared experience of a moderate number of editors and authors,collected over many years,rather than on the re-sults of methodical,planned investigation that aspires to be “evidence-based.”Wherever possible,recommendations are accompanied by a rationale that justi?es them;as such, the document serves an educational purpose.

Authors will?nd it helpful to follow the recommen-dations in this document whenever possible because,as described in the explanations,doing so improves the qual-ity and clarity of reporting in manuscripts submitted to any journal,as well as the ease of editing.At the same time, every journal has editorial requirements uniquely suited to its purposes.Authors therefore need to become familiar with the Instructions to Authors speci?c to the journal they have chosen for their manuscript—for example,the topics suitable for that journal,and the types of papers that may be submitted(for example,original articles,reviews, or case reports)—and should follow those instructions. II.E THICAL C ONSIDERATIONS IN THE C ONDUCT AND

R EPORTING OF R ESEARCH

II.A.Authorship and Contributorship

II.A.1.Byline Authors

An“author”is generally considered to be someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a published study,and biomedical authorship continues to have important academic,social,and?nancial implications (1).In the past,readers were rarely provided with informa-tion about contributions to studies from persons listed as authors and in Acknowledgments(2).Some journals now request and publish information about the contributions of each person named as having participated in a submitted study,at least for original research.Editors are strongly encouraged to develop and implement a contributorship policy,as well as a policy on identifying who is responsible for the integrity of the work as a whole.

While contributorship and guarantorship policies ob-viously remove much of the ambiguity surrounding contri-butions,they leave unresolved the question of the quantity and quality of contribution that qualify for authorship. The ICJME has recommended the following criteria for authorship;these criteria are still appropriate for journals that distinguish authors from other contributors.

Y Authorship credit should be based on1)substantial contributions to conception and design,acquisition of data,or analysis and interpretation of data;2)drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content;and3)?nal approval of the version to be pub-lished.Authors should meet conditions1,2,and3.

Y When a large,multicenter group has conducted the

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

work,the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript(3).These individ-uals should fully meet the criteria for authorship/contribu-torship de?ned above and editors will ask these individuals to complete journal-speci?c author and con?ict-of-interest disclosure forms.When submitting a manuscript authored by a group,the corresponding author should clearly indi-cate the preferred citation and identify all individual au-thors as well as the group name.Journals generally list other members of the group in the Acknowledgments.The NLM indexes the group name and the names of individu-als the group has identi?ed as being directly responsible for the manuscript;it also lists the names of collaborators if they are listed in Acknowledgments.

Y Acquisition of funding,collection of data,or gen-eral supervision of the research group alone does not con-stitute authorship.

Y All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship,and all those who qualify should be listed.

Y Each author should have participated suf?ciently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate por-tions of the content.

Some journals now also request that one or more au-thors,referred to as“guarantors,”be identi?ed as the per-sons who take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole,from inception to published article,and publish that information.

Increasingly,authorship of multicenter trials is attrib-uted to a group.All members of the group who are named as authors should fully meet the above criteria for author-ship/contributorship.

The group should jointly make decisions about con-tributors/authors before submitting the manuscript for publication.The corresponding author/guarantor should be prepared to explain the presence and order of these individuals.It is not the role of editors to make authorship/ contributorship decisions or to arbitrate con?icts related to authorship.

II.A.2.Contributors Listed in Acknowledgments

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for au-thorship should be listed in an acknowledgments section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help,writing assis-tance,or a department chairperson who provided only gen-eral support.Editors should ask corresponding authors to declare whether they had assistance with study design,data collection,data analysis,or manuscript preparation.If such assistance was available,the authors should disclose the identity of the individuals who provided this assistance and the entity that supported it in the published article.Finan-cial and material support should also be acknowledged.

Groups of persons who have contributed materially to the paper but whose contributions do not justify author-ship may be listed under such headings as“clinical inves-tigators”or“participating investigators,”and their function or contribution should be described—for example,“served as scienti?c advisors,”“critically reviewed the study pro-posal,”“collected data,”or“provided and cared for study patients.”Because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions,these persons must give written permission to be acknowledged.

II.B.Editorship

II.B.1.The Role of the Editor

The editor of a journal is the person responsible for its entire content.Owners and editors of medical journals have a common endeavor—publication of a reliable,read-able journal produced with due respect for the stated aims of the journal and for costs.Owners and editors,however, have different functions.Owners have the right to appoint and dismiss editors and to make important business deci-sions in which editors should be involved to the fullest extent possible.Editors must have full authority for deter-mining the editorial content of the journal.The concept of editorial freedom should be resolutely defended by editors even to the extent of their placing their positions at stake. To secure this freedom in practice,the editor should have direct access to the highest level of ownership,not to a delegated manager.

Editors of medical journals should have a contract that clearly states his or her rights and duties,the general terms of the appointment,and the mechanisms for resolving con-?ict.

An independent editorial advisory board may be useful in helping the editor establish and maintain editorial pol-icy.

II.B.2.Editorial Freedom

The ICMJE adopts the World Association of Medical Editors’de?nition of editorial freedom.According to this de?nition,editorial freedom,or independence,is the con-cept that editors-in-chief have full authority over the edi-torial content of their journal and the timing of publica-tion of that content.Journal owners should not interfere in the evaluation,selection,or editing of individual articles either directly or by creating an environment that strongly in?uences decisions.Editors should base decisions on the validity of the work and its importance to the journal’s readers not on the commercial success of the journal.Ed-itors should be free to express critical but responsible views about all aspects of medicine without fear of retribution, even if these views con?ict with the commercial goals of the publisher.Editors and editors’organizations have the obligation to support the concept of editorial freedom and to draw major transgressions of such freedom to the atten-tion of the international medical,academic,and lay com-munities.

II.C.Peer Review

Unbiased,independent,critical assessment is an in-trinsic part of all scholarly work,including the scienti?c

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

process.Peer review is the critical assessment of manu-scripts submitted to journals by experts who are not part of the editorial staff.Peer review can therefore be viewed as an important extension of the scienti?c process.Although its actual value has been little studied and is widely debated (4),peer review helps editors decide which manuscripts are suitable for their journals and helps authors and editors to improve the quality of reporting.A peer-reviewed journal submits most of its published research articles for outside review.The number and kinds of manuscripts sent for review,the number of reviewers,the reviewing procedures, and the use made of the reviewers’opinions may vary.In the interests of transparency,each journal should publicly disclose its policies in its Instructions to Authors.

II.D.Conflicts of Interest

Public trust in the peer-review process and the credi-bility of published articles depend in part on how well con?ict of interest is handled during writing,peer review, and editorial decision making.Con?ict of interest exists when an author(or the author’s institution),reviewer,or editor has?nancial or personal relationships that inappro-priately in?uence(bias)his or her actions(such relation-ships are also known as dual commitments,competing in-terests,or competing loyalties).These relationships vary from negligible to great potential for in?uencing judg-ment.Not all relationships represent true con?ict of inter-est.On the other hand,the potential for con?ict of interest can exist regardless of whether an individual believes that the relationship affects his or her scienti?c judgment.Fi-nancial relationships(such as employment,consultancies, stock ownership,honoraria,and paid expert testimony)are the most easily identi?able con?icts of interest and the most likely to undermine the credibility of the journal,the authors,and of science itself.However,con?icts can occur for other reasons,such as personal relationships,academic competition,and intellectual passion.

All participants in the peer-review and publication process must disclose all relationships that could be viewed as potential con?icts of interest.Disclosure of such rela-tionships is also important in connection with editorials and review articles,because it can be more dif?cult to de-tect bias in these types of publications than in reports of original research.Editors may use information disclosed in con?ict-of-interest and?nancial-interest statements as a basis for editorial decisions.Editors should publish this information if they believe it is important in judging the manuscript.

II.D.1.Potential Con?icts of Interest Related to Individual Authors’Commitments

When authors submit a manuscript,whether an article or a letter,they are responsible for disclosing all?nancial and personal relationships that might bias their work.To prevent ambiguity,authors must state explicitly whether potential con?icts do or do not exist.Authors should do so in the manuscript on a con?ict-of-interest noti?cation page that follows the title page,providing additional detail,if necessary,in a cover letter that accompanies the manu-script.(See Section IV.A.3.Con?ict-of-Interest Noti?cation Page)

Authors should identify Individuals who provide writ-ing or other assistance and disclose the funding source for this assistance.

Investigators must disclose potential con?icts to study participants and should state in the manuscript whether they have done so.

Editors also need to decide whether to publish infor-mation disclosed by authors about potential con?icts.If doubt exists,it is best to err on the side of publication. II.D.2.Potential Con?icts of Interest Related to Project Support

Increasingly,individual studies receive funding from commercial?rms,private foundations,and government. The conditions of this funding have the potential to bias and otherwise discredit the research.

Scientists have an ethical obligation to submit credit-able research results for publication.Moreover,as the per-sons directly responsible for their work,researchers should not enter into agreements that interfere with their access to the data and their ability to analyze them independently, and to prepare and publish manuscripts.Authors should describe the role of the study sponsor,if any,in study design;collection,analysis,and interpretation of data;writ-ing the report;and the decision to submit the report for publication.If the supporting source had no such involve-ment,the authors should so state.Biases potentially intro-duced when sponsors are directly involved in research are analogous to methodological biases.Some journals,there-fore,choose to include information in the Methods section about the sponsor’s involvement.

Editors may request that authors of a study funded by an agency with a proprietary or?nancial interest in the outcome sign a statement,such as“I had full access to all of the data in this study and I take complete responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.”Editors should be encouraged to review copies of the protocol and/or contracts associated with project-spe-ci?c studies before accepting such studies for publication. Editors may choose not to consider an article if a sponsor has asserted control over the authors’right to publish. II.D.3.Potential Con?icts of Interest Related to Commitments of Editors,Journal Staff,or Reviewers

Editors should avoid selecting external peer reviewers with obvious potential con?icts of interest–for example, those who work in the same department or institution as any of the authors.Authors often provide editors with the names of persons they feel should not be asked to review a manuscript because of potential,usually professional,con-

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

?icts of interest.When possible,authors should be asked to explain or justify their concerns;that information is impor-tant to editors in deciding whether to honor such requests.

Reviewers must disclose to editors any con?icts of in-terest that could bias their opinions of the manuscript,and they should recuse themselves from reviewing speci?c manuscripts if the potential for bias exists.As in the case of authors,silence on the part of reviewers concerning poten-tial con?icts may mean either that con?icts exist and the reviewer has failed to disclose them or con?icts do not exist.Reviewers must therefore also be asked to state ex-plicitly whether con?icts do or do not exist.Reviewers must not use knowledge of the work,before its publica-tion,to further their own interests.

Editors who make?nal decisions about manuscripts must have no personal,professional,or?nancial involve-ment in any of the issues they might judge.Other mem-bers of the editorial staff,if they participate in editorial decisions,must provide editors with a current description of their?nancial interests(as they might relate to editorial judgments)and recuse themselves from any decisions in which a con?ict of interest exists.Editorial staff must not use information gained through working with manuscripts for private gain.Editors should publish regular disclosure statements about potential con?icts of interests related to the commitments of journal staff.

II.E.Privacy and Confidentiality

II.E.1.Patients and Study Participants

Patients have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent.Identifying informa-tion,including names,initials,or hospital numbers,should not be published in written descriptions,photographs,or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scienti?c purposes and the patient(or parent or guardian)gives writ-ten informed consent for https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,rmed consent for this purpose requires that an identi?able patient be shown the manuscript to be published.Authors should disclose to these patients whether any potential identi?able material might be available via the Internet as well as in print after publication.Patient consent should be written and archived either with the journal,the authors,or both, as dictated by local regulations or laws.Applicable laws vary from locale to locale,and journals should establish their own policies with legal guidance.

Nonessential identifying details should be omitted.In-formed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt that anonymity can be maintained.For example,masking the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity.If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity,such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance,and editors should so note,that such alterations do not distort scienti?c mean-ing.

The requirement for informed consent should be in-cluded in the journal’s Instructions for Authors.When in-formed consent has been obtained,it should be indicated in the published article.

II.E.2.Authors and Reviewers

Manuscripts must be reviewed with due respect for authors’con?dentiality.In submitting their manuscripts for review,authors entrust editors with the results of their scienti?c work and creative effort,on which their reputa-tion and career may depend.Authors’rights may be vio-lated by disclosure of the con?dential details during review of their manuscript.Reviewers also have rights to con?den-tiality,which must be respected by the editor.Con?denti-ality may have to be breached if dishonesty or fraud is alleged but otherwise must be honored.

Editors must not disclose information about manu-scripts(including their receipt,content,status in the re-viewing process,criticism by reviewers,or ultimate fate)to anyone other than the authors and reviewers.This includes requests to use the materials for legal proceedings.

Editors must make clear to their reviewers that manu-scripts sent for review are privileged communications and are the private property of the authors.Therefore,review-ers and members of the editorial staff must respect the authors’rights by not publicly discussing the authors’work or appropriating their ideas before the manuscript is pub-lished.Reviewers must not be allowed to make copies of the manuscript for their?les and must be prohibited from sharing it with others,except with the editor’s permission. Reviewers should return or destroy copies of manuscripts after submitting reviews.Editors should not keep copies of rejected manuscripts.

Reviewer comments should not be published or oth-erwise publicized without permission of the reviewer,au-thor,and editor.

Opinions differ on whether reviewers should remain anonymous.Authors should consult the Information for Authors of the journal to which they have chosen to sub-mit a manuscript to determine whether reviews are anon-ymous.When comments are not signed,the reviewers’identity must not be revealed to the author or anyone else without the reviewers’permission.

Some journals publish reviewers’comments with the manuscript.No such procedure should be adopted without the consent of the authors and reviewers.However,review-ers’comments should be sent to other persons reviewing the same manuscript,which helps reviewers learn from the review process.Reviewers also may be noti?ed of the edi-tor’s decision to accept or reject a manuscript.

II.F.Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Research

When reporting experiments on human subjects,au-thors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the re-sponsible committee on human experimentation(institu-tional and national)and with the Helsinki Declaration of

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

1975,as revised in2000(5).If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration,the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional re-view body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.When reporting experiments on animals,authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was fol-lowed.

III.P UBLISHING AND E DITORIAL I SSUES R ELATED TO

P UBLICATION IN B IOMEDICAL J OURNALS

III.A.Obligation to Publish Negative Studies

Editors should consider seriously for publication any carefully done study of an important question,relevant to their readers,whether the results for the primary or any additional outcome are statistically signi?cant.Failure to submit or publish?ndings because of lack of statistical signi?cance is an important cause of publication bias. III.B.Corrections,Retractions,and“Expressions of Concern”

Editors must assume initially that authors are report-ing work based on honest observations.Nevertheless,two types of dif?culty may arise.

First,errors may be noted in published articles that require the publication of a correction or erratum on part of the work.The corrections should appear on a numbered page,be listed in the Table of Contents,include the com-plete original citation,and link to the original article and vice versa if online.It is conceivable that an error could be so serious as to vitiate the entire body of the work,but this is unlikely and should be addressed by editors and authors on an individual basis.Such an error should not be con-fused with inadequacies exposed by the emergence of new scienti?c information in the normal course of research. The latter requires no corrections or withdrawals.

The second type of dif?culty is scienti?c fraud.If sub-stantial doubts arise about the honesty or integrity of work, either submitted or published,it is the editor’s responsibil-ity to ensure that the question is appropriately pursued, usually by the authors’sponsoring institution.Ordinarily it is not the responsibility of the editor to conduct a full investigation or to make a determination;that responsibil-ity lies with the institution where the work was done or with the funding agency.The editor should be promptly informed of the?nal decision,and if a fraudulent paper has been published,the journal must print a retraction.If this method of investigation does not result in a satisfac-tory conclusion,the editor may choose to conduct his or her own investigation.As an alternative to retraction,the editor may choose to publish an expression of concern about aspects of the conduct or integrity of the work.

The retraction or expression of concern,so labeled, should appear on a numbered page in a prominent section of the print journal as well as in the online version,be listed in the Table of Contents page,and include in its heading the title of the original article.It should not simply be a letter to the editor.Ideally,the?rst author of the retraction should be the same as that of the article,al-though under certain circumstances the editor may accept retractions by other responsible persons.The text of the retraction should explain why the article is being retracted and include a complete citation reference to that article.

The validity of previous work by the author of a fraud-ulent paper cannot be assumed.Editors may ask the au-thor’s institution to assure them of the validity of earlier work published in their journals or to retract it.If this is not done,editors may choose to publish an announcement expressing concern that the validity of previously published work is uncertain.

Editors who have questions related to editorial or sci-enti?c misconduct may?nd it useful to consult the excel-lent?ow charts that the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)has developed(https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,). COPE,which was formed in1997,is a forum in which editors of peer-reviewed journals can discuss issues related to the integrity of the scienti?c record;it supports and encourages editors to report,catalogue,and instigate inves-tigations into ethical problems in the publication process. COPE’s major objective is to provide a sounding board for editors struggling with how best to deal with possible breaches in research and publication ethics.

III.C.Copyright

Many biomedical journals ask authors to transfer copyright to the journal.However,an increasing number of“open-access”journals do not require transfer of copy-right.Editors should make their position on copyright transfer clear to authors and to others who might be inter-ested in using editorial content from their journals.The copyright status of articles in a given journal can vary: Some content cannot be copyrighted(for example,articles written by employees of the U.S.and some other govern-ments in the course of their work);editors may agree to waive copyright on others;and still others may be pro-tected under serial rights(that is,use in publications other than journals,including electronic publications,is permit-ted).

III.D.Overlapping Publications

III.D.1.Duplicate Submission

Most biomedical journals will not consider manu-scripts that are simultaneously being considered by other journals.Among the principal considerations that have led to this policy are:1)the potential for disagreement when two(or more)journals claim the right to publish a manu-script that has been submitted simultaneously to more than one;and2)the possibility that two or more journals will unknowingly and unnecessarily undertake the work of peer review,edit the same manuscript,and publish the same article.

However,editors of different journals may decide to

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

simultaneously or jointly publish an article if they believe that doing so would be in the best interest of public health. III.D.2.Redundant Publication

Redundant(or duplicate)publication is publication of a paper that overlaps substantially with one already pub-lished in print or electronic media.

Readers of primary source periodicals,whether print or electronic,deserve to be able to trust that what they are reading is original unless there is a clear statement that the author and editor are intentionally republishing an article. The bases of this position are international copyright laws, ethical conduct,and cost-effective use of resources.Dupli-cate publication of original research is particularly prob-lematic,since it can result in inadvertent double counting or inappropriate weighting of the results of a single study, which distorts the available evidence.

Most journals do not wish to receive papers on work that has already been reported in large part in a published article or is contained in another paper that has been sub-mitted or accepted for publication elsewhere,in print or in electronic media.This policy does not preclude the journal considering a paper that has been rejected by another jour-nal,or a complete report that follows publication of a pre-liminary report,such as an abstract or poster displayed at a professional meeting.It also does not prevent journals from considering a paper that has been presented at a sci-enti?c meeting but was not published in full or that is being considered for publication in a proceedings or simi-lar format.Brief press reports of scheduled meetings are not usually regarded as breaches of this rule,but they may be if additional data or copies of tables and?gures amplify such reports.The ICMJE does not consider results posted in clinical trial registries as previous publication if the re-sults are presented in the same,ICMJE-accepted registry in which initial registration of trial methods occurred and if the results are posted in the form of a brief structured abstract or table.The ICMJE also believes that the results registry should either cite full publications of the results when available or include a statement that indicates that the results have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

When submitting a paper,the author must always make a complete statement to the editor about all submis-sions and previous reports(including meeting presenta-tions and posting of results in registries)that might be regarded as redundant or duplicate publication.The au-thor must alert the editor if the manuscript includes sub-jects about which the authors have published a previous report or have submitted a related report to another pub-lication.Any such report must be referred to and refer-enced in the new paper.Copies of such material should be included with the submitted manuscript to help the editor decide how to handle the matter.

If redundant or duplicate publication is attempted or occurs without such noti?cation,authors should expect ed-itorial action to be taken.At the least,prompt rejection of the submitted manuscript should be expected.If the editor was not aware of the violations and the article has already been published,then a notice of redundant or duplicate publication will probably be published with or without the author’s explanation or approval.

Preliminary reporting to public media,governmental agencies,or manufacturers of scienti?c information de-scribed in a paper or a letter to the editor that has been accepted but not yet published violates the policies of many journals.Such reporting may be warranted when the paper or letter describes major therapeutic advances or public health hazards,such as serious adverse effects of drugs,vaccines,other biological products,or medicinal de-vices,or reportable diseases.This reporting should not jeopardize publication,but should be discussed with and agreed upon by the editor in advance.

III.D.3.Acceptable Secondary Publication

Certain types of articles,such as guidelines produced by governmental agencies and professional organizations, may need to reach the widest possible audience.In such instances,editors sometimes deliberately publish material that is also being published in other journals,with the agreement of the authors and the editors of those journals. Secondary publication for various other reasons,in the same or another language,especially in other countries,is justi?able and can be bene?cial provided that the following conditions are met.

1.The authors have received approval from the editors of both journals;the editor concerned with secondary pub-lication must have a photocopy,reprint,or manuscript of the primary version.

2.The priority of the primary publication is respected by a publication interval of at least1week(unless speci?-cally negotiated otherwise by both editors).

3.The paper for secondary publication is intended for

a different group of readers;an abbreviated version could be suf?cient.

4.The secondary version faithfully re?ects the data and interpretations of the primary version.

5.The footnote on the title page of the secondary version informs readers,peers,and documenting agencies that the paper has been published in whole or in part and states the primary reference.A suitable footnote might read:“This article is based on a study?rst reported in the [title of journal,with full reference].”

Permission for such secondary publication should be free of charge.

6.The title of the secondary publication should indi-cate that it is a secondary publication(complete republica-tion,abridged republication,complete translation,or abridged translation)of a primary publication.Of note, the NLM does not consider translations to be“republica-

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

tions”and does not cite or index translations when the original article was published in a journal that is indexed in MEDLINE.

7.Editors of journals that simultaneously publish in multiple languages should understand that NLM indexes the primary language version.When the full text of an article appears in more than one language in a journal issue (such as Canadian journals with the article in both English and French),both languages are indicated in the MED-LINE citation(for example,Mercer K.The relentless chal-lenge in health care.Healthc Manage Forum.2008Sum-mer;21(2):4-5.English,French.No abstract available. PMID:18795553.)

https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,peting Manuscripts Based on the Same Study Publication of manuscripts to air the disputes of co-investigators may waste journal space and confuse readers. On the other hand,if editors knowingly publish a manu-script written by only some of a collaborating team,they could be denying the rest of the team their legitimate co-authorship rights and journal readers access to legitimate differences of opinion about the interpretation of a study.

Two kinds of competing submissions are considered: submissions by coworkers who disagree on the analysis and interpretation of their study,and submissions by coworkers who disagree on what the facts are and which data should be reported.

Setting aside the unresolved question of ownership of the data,the following general observations may help edi-tors and others address such problems.

III.D.4.a.Differences in Analysis or Interpretation If the dispute centers on the analysis or interpretation of data, the authors should submit a manuscript that clearly pre-sents both versions.The difference of opinion should be explained in a cover letter.The normal process of peer and editorial review may help the authors to resolve their dis-agreement regarding analysis or interpretation.

If the dispute cannot be resolved and the study merits publication,both versions should be published.Options include publishing two papers on the same study,or a single paper with two analyses or interpretations.In such cases,it would be appropriate for the editor to publish a statement outlining the disagreement and the journal’s in-volvement in attempts to resolve it.

III.D.4.b.Differences in Reported Methods or Results If the dispute centers on differing opinions of what was ac-tually done or observed during the study,the journal editor should refuse publication until the disagreement is re-solved.Peer review cannot be expected to resolve such problems.If there are allegations of dishonesty or fraud, editors should inform the appropriate authorities;authors should be noti?ed of an editor’s intention to report a sus-picion of research https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,peting Manuscripts Based on the Same Database Editors sometimes receive manuscripts from separate research groups that have analyzed the same data set(for example,from a public database).The manuscripts may differ in their analytic methods,conclusions,or both.Each manuscript should be considered separately.If interpreta-tion of the data is very similar,it is reasonable but not mandatory for editors to give preference to the manuscript that was received?rst.However,editorial consideration of multiple submissions may be justi?ed under these circum-stances,and there may even be a good reason to publish more than one manuscript because different analytical ap-proaches may be complementary and equally valid.

III.E.Correspondence

The corresponding author/guarantor has primary re-sponsibility for correspondence with the journal,but the ICMJE recommends that editors send a copy of any cor-respondence to all listed authors.

Biomedical journals should provide the readership with a mechanism for submitting comments,questions,or criticisms about published articles,as well as brief reports and commentary unrelated to previously published articles. This probably but not necessarily takes the form of a cor-respondence section or column.The authors of articles discussed in correspondence should be given an opportu-nity to respond,preferably in the same issue in which the original correspondence appears.Authors of correspon-dence should be asked to declare any competing or con-?icting interests.

Published correspondence may be edited for length, grammatical correctness,and journal style.Alternatively, editors may choose to publish unedited correspondence, for example in rapid-response sections on the Internet.The journal should declare its editorial practices in this regard. Authors should approve editorial changes that alter the substance or tone of a letter or response.In all instances, editors must make an effort to screen out discourteous, inaccurate,or libelous statements and should not allow ad hominem arguments intended to discredit opinions or ?ndings.

Although editors have the prerogative to reject corre-spondence that is irrelevant,uninteresting,or lacking co-gency,they have a responsibility to allow a range of opin-ions to be expressed.The correspondence column should not be used merely to promote the journal’s or the editors’point of view.

In the interests of fairness and to keep correspondence within manageable proportions,journals may want to set time limits for responding to published material and for debate on a given topic.Journals should also decide whether they would notify authors when correspondence bearing on their published work is going to appear in stan-dard or rapid-response sections.Journals should also set policy with regard to the archiving of unedited correspon-

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

dence that appears online.These policies should be pub-lished both in print and electronic versions of the journal. III.F.Supplements,Theme Issues,and Special Series Supplements are collections of papers that deal with related issues or topics,are published as a separate issue of the journal or as part of a regular issue,and are usually funded by sources other than the journal’s publisher.Sup-plements can serve useful purposes:education,exchange of research information,ease of access to focused content,and improved cooperation between academic and corporate en-tities.Because funding sources can bias the content of sup-plements through the choice of topics and viewpoints, journals should consider adopting the following principles. These same principles apply to theme issues or special se-ries that have external funding and/or guest editors.

1.The journal editor must take full responsibility for the policies,practices,and content of supplements,includ-ing complete control of the decision to publish all portions of the supplement.Editing by the funding organization should not be permitted.

2.The journal editor must retain the authority to send supplement manuscripts for external peer review and to reject manuscripts submitted for the supplement.These conditions should be made known to authors and external supplement editors before beginning editorial work on the supplement.

3.The journal editor must approve the appointment of any external editor of the supplement and take respon-sibility for the work of the external editor.

4.The sources of funding for the research,publica-tion,and products of the funding source that are consid-ered in the supplement should be clearly stated and prom-inently located in the supplement,preferably on each page. Whenever possible,supplements should be funded by more than one sponsor.

5.Advertising in supplements should follow the same policies as those of the rest of the journal.

6.Journal editors must enable readers to distinguish readily between ordinary editorial pages and supplement pages.

7.Journal editors and supplement editors must not accept personal favors or remuneration from sponsors of supplements.

8.Secondary publication in supplements(republica-tion of papers published elsewhere)should be clearly iden-ti?ed by the citation of the original paper.Supplements should avoid redundant or duplicate publication.Supple-ments should not republish research results,but republica-tion of guidelines or other material in the public interest might be appropriate.

9.The principles of authorship and disclosure of po-tential con?icts of interest discussed elsewhere in this doc-ument should be applied to supplements.III.G.Electronic Publishing

Most biomedical journals are now published in elec-tronic as well as print versions,and some are published only in electronic form.Because electronic publishing (which includes the Internet)is the same as publishing in print,in the interests of clarity and consistency the recom-mendations of this document should be applied to elec-tronically published medical and health information.

The nature of electronic publication requires some special considerations,both within and beyond this docu-ment.At a minimum,Web sites should indicate the fol-lowing:names,appropriate credentials,af?liations,and rel-evant con?icts of interest of editors,authors,and contributors;documentation and attribution of references and sources for all content;information about copyright; disclosure of site ownership;and disclosure of sponsorship, advertising,and commercial funding.

Linking from one health or medical Internet site to another may be perceived as an implicit recommendation of the quality of the second site.Journals thus should ex-ercise caution in linking to other sites;when users are link-ing to another site,it may be helpful to provide an explicit statement that they are leaving the journal’s site.Links to other sites posted as a result of?nancial considerations should be clearly indicated as such.All dates of content posting and updating should be indicated.In electronic layout as in print,advertising and promotional messages should not be juxtaposed with editorial content,and com-mercial content should be clearly identi?ed as such.

Electronic publication is in?ux.Editors should de-velop,make available to authors,and implement policies on issues unique to electronic publishing.These issues in-clude archiving,error correction,version control,choice of the electronic or print version of the journal as the journal of record,and publication of ancillary material.

Under no circumstances should a journal remove an article from its Web site or archive.If a correction or re-traction becomes necessary,the explanation must be la-beled appropriately and communicated as soon as possible on a citable page in a subsequent issue of the journal.

Preservation of electronic articles in a permanent ar-chive is essential for the historical record.Access to the archive should be immediate and should be controlled by a third party,such as a library,instead of the publisher.Dep-osition in multiple archives is encouraged.

III.H.Advertising

Most medical journals carry advertising,which gener-ates income for their publishers,but advertising must not be allowed to in?uence editorial decisions.Journals should have formal,explicit,written policies for advertising in both print and electronic versions;Web site advertising policy should parallel that for the print version to the ex-tent possible.Editors must have full and?nal authority for approving advertisements and enforcing advertising policy.

When possible,editors should make use of the judg-

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

ments of independent bodies for reviewing advertising. Readers should be able to distinguish readily between ad-vertising and editorial material.The juxtaposition of edi-torial and advertising material on the same products or subjects should be avoided.Interlea?ng advertising pages within articles interrupts the?ow of editorial content and should be discouraged.Advertising should not be sold on the condition that it will appear in the same issue as a particular article.

Journals should not be dominated by advertising,but editors should be careful about publishing advertisements from only one or two advertisers,as readers may perceive that these advertisers have in?uenced the editor.

Journals should not carry advertisements for products that have proved to be seriously harmful to health—for example,tobacco.Editors should ensure that existing reg-ulatory or industry standards for advertisements speci?c to their country are enforced,or develop their own standards. The interests of organizations or agencies should not con-trol classi?ed and other nondisplay advertising,except where required by law.Finally,editors should consider all criticisms of advertisements for publication.

III.I.Medical Journals and the General Media

The public’s interest in news of medical research has led the popular media to compete vigorously for informa-tion about research.Researchers and institutions some-times encourage reporting research in the nonmedical me-dia before full publication in a scienti?c journal by holding a press conference or giving interviews.

The public is entitled to important medical informa-tion within a reasonable amount of time,and editors have a responsibility to facilitate the process.Biomedical jour-nals are published primarily for their readers,but the gen-eral public has a legitimate interest in their content:An appropriate balance between these considerations should guide the journal’s interaction with the media.Doctors in practice need to have reports available in full detail before they can advise their patients about the reports’conclu-sions.Moreover,media reports of scienti?c research before the work has been peer reviewed and fully vetted may lead to dissemination of inaccurate or premature conclusions.

An embargo system has been established in some countries to prevent publication of stories in the general media before publication of the original research in the journal.The embargo creates a“level playing?eld,”which most reporters appreciate since it minimizes the pressure on them to publish stories which they have not had time to prepare carefully.Consistency in the timing of public re-lease of biomedical information is also important in mini-mizing economic chaos,since some articles contain infor-mation that has great potential to in?uence?nancial markets.On the other hand,the embargo system has been challenged as being self-serving of journals’interests and an impediment to rapid dissemination of scienti?c informa-tion.

Editors may?nd the following recommendations use-ful as they seek to establish policies on these issues.

Y Editors can foster the orderly transmission of med-ical information from researchers,through peer-reviewed journals,to the public.This can be accomplished by an agreement with authors that they will not publicize their work while their manuscript is under consideration or awaiting publication and an agreement with the media that they will not release stories before publication of the orig-inal research in the journal,in return for which the journal will cooperate with them in preparing accurate stories.

Y Editors need to keep in mind that an embargo sys-tem works on the honor system;no formal enforcement or policing mechanism exists.The decision of a signi?cant number of media outlets or biomedical journals not to respect the embargo system would lead to its rapid disso-lution.

Y Very little medical research has such clear and ur-gently important clinical implications for the public’s health that the news must be released before full publica-tion in a journal.However,if such exceptional circum-stances occur,the appropriate authorities responsible for public health should decide whether to disseminate infor-mation to physicians and the media in advance and should be responsible for this decision.If the author and the ap-propriate authorities wish to have a manuscript considered by a particular journal,the editor should be consulted be-fore any public release.If editors acknowledge the need for immediate release,they should waive their policies limiting prepublication publicity.

Y Policies designed to limit prepublication publicity should not apply to accounts in the media of presentations at scienti?c meetings or to the abstracts from these meet-ings(see Redundant Publication).Researchers who present their work at a scienti?c meeting should feel free to discuss their presentations with reporters,but they should be dis-couraged from offering more detail about their study than was presented in the talk.

Y When an article is soon to be published,editors should help the media prepare accurate reports by provid-ing news releases,answering questions,supplying advance copies of the journal,or referring reporters to the appro-priate experts.This assistance should be contingent on the media’s cooperation in timing the release of a story to coincide with publication of the article.

Y Editors,authors,and the media should apply the above-stated principles to material released early in elec-tronic versions of journals.

III.J.Obligation to Register Clinical Trials

The ICMJE believes that it is important to foster a comprehensive,publicly available database of clinical trials. The ICMJE de?nes a clinical trial as any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or concurrent comparison or control groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical interven-

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

tion and a health outcome.Medical interventions include drugs,surgical procedures,devices,behavioral treatments, process-of-care changes,and the like.

The ICMJE member journals will require,as a condi-tion of consideration for publication in their journals,reg-istration in a public trials registry.The details of this policy are contained in a series of editorials(see Editorials,under Frequently Asked Questions).The ICMJE encourages ed-itors of other biomedical journals to adopt similar policy.

The ICMJE does not advocate one particular registry, but its member journals will require authors to register their trial in a registry that meets several criteria.The reg-istry must be accessible to the public at no charge.It must be open to all prospective registrants and managed by a not-for-pro?t organization.There must be a mechanism to ensure the validity of the registration data,and the registry should be electronically searchable.An acceptable registry must include at minimum the data elements listed in Table 1.Trial registration with missing?elds or?elds that con-tain uninformative terminology is inadequate.

It is important to note that the ICMJE requires regis-tration of trial methodology but does not require registra-tion of trial results;it recognizes the potential problems that could arise from the posting of research results that have not been subjected to an independent peer-review process.However,the ICMJE understands that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of2007 (FDAAA)does require researchers to register results.The ICMJE will not consider to be previous publication results posted in the same primary clinical trial registry as the initial registration if the results are posted in the tabular form dictated by the FDAAA.Researchers should be aware that editors of journals that follow the ICMJE recommen-dations may consider more detailed description of trial re-sults and results published in registries other than the pri-mary registry(in the case of FDAAA,https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,)to be prior publication.The ICMJE anticipates that the cli-mate for results registration will change dramatically over coming years and the ICMJE may need to amend these recommendations as additional agencies institute other mandates related to results registration.

The ICMJE recommends that journals publish the trial registration number at the end of the abstract.The ICMJE also recommends that,whenever a registration number is available,authors list the registration number the?rst time they use a trial acronym to refer to either the trial they are reporting or to other trials that they mention in the manuscript.

IV.M ANUSCRIPT P REPARATION AND S UBMISSION

IV.A.Preparing a Manuscript for Submission to a Biomedical Journal

Editors and reviewers spend many hours reading manuscripts,and therefore appreciate receiving manu-scripts that are easy to read and edit.Much of the infor-mation in a journal’s Instructions to Authors is designed to accomplish that goal in ways that meet each journal’s par-ticular editorial needs.The following information provides guidance in preparing manuscripts for any journal.

IV.A.1.a.General Principles

The text of observational and experimental articles is usually(but not necessarily)divided into the following sec-tions:Introduction,Methods,Results,and Discussion. This so-called“IMRAD”structure is not an arbitrary pub-lication format but rather a direct re?ection of the process of scienti?c discovery.Long articles may need subheadings within some sections(especially Results and Discussion)to clarify their content.Other types of articles,such as case reports,reviews,and editorials,probably need to be for-matted differently.

Electronic formats have created opportunities for add-ing details or whole sections,layering information,cross-linking or extracting portions of articles,and the like only in the electronic version.Authors need to work closely with editors in developing or using such new publication for-mats and should submit supplementary electronic material for peer review.

Double spacing all portions of the manuscript—in-cluding the title page,abstract,text,acknowledgments,ref-erences,individual tables,and legends—and generous mar-gins make it possible for editors and reviewers to edit the text line by line and add comments and queries directly on the paper copy.If manuscripts are submitted electronically, the?les should be double-spaced to facilitate printing for reviewing and editing.

Authors should number all of the pages of the manu-script consecutively,beginning with the title page,to facil-itate the editorial process.

IV.A.1.b.Reporting Guidelines for Speci?c Study Designs Research reports frequently omit important informa-tion.Reporting guidelines(Table2)have been developed for a number of study designs that some journals may ask authors to follow.Authors should consult the Information for Authors of the journal they have chosen.

The general requirements listed in the next section relate to reporting essential elements for all study designs. Authors are encouraged also to consult reporting guidelines relevant to their speci?c research design.For reports of randomized,controlled trials,authors should refer to the CONSORT statement.This guideline provides a set of recommendations comprising a list of items to report and a patient?ow diagram.

IV.A.2.Title Page

The title page should have the following information:

1.Article title.Concise titles are easier to read than long,convoluted ones.Titles that are too short may,how-ever,lack important information,such as study design

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

(which is particularly important in identifying randomized, controlled trials).Authors should include all information in the title that will make electronic retrieval of the article both sensitive and speci?c.

2.Authors’names and institutional af?liations.Some journals publish each author’s highest academic degree(s), while others do not.

3.The name of the department(s)and institution(s)to which the work should be attributed.

4.Disclaimers,if any.

5.Contact information for corresponding authors. The name,mailing address,telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the author responsible for correspon-dence about the manuscript(the“corresponding author;”this author may or may not be the“guarantor”for the integrity of the study).The corresponding author should indicate clearly whether his or her e-mail address can be published.

6.The name and address of the author to whom re-quests for reprints should be addressed or a statement that reprints are not available from the authors.

7.Source(s)of support in the form of grants,equip-ment,drugs,or all of these.

8.A running head.Some journals request a short run-ning head or footline,usually no more than40characters (including letters and spaces)at the foot of the title page. Running heads are published in most journals,but are also sometimes used within the editorial of?ce for?ling and locating manuscripts.

9.Word counts.A word count for the text only(ex-cluding abstract,acknowledgments,?gure legends,and ref-erences)allows editors and reviewers to assess whether the information contained in the paper warrants the amount of space devoted to it,and whether the submitted manuscript ?ts within the journal’s word limits.A separate word count for the Abstract is useful for the same reason.

10.The number of?gures and tables.It is dif?cult for editorial staff and reviewers to determine whether the?g-ures and tables that should have accompanied a manuscript were actually included unless the numbers of?gures and tables are noted on the title page.

IV.A.3.Con?ict-of-Interest Noti?cation Page

To prevent the information on potential con?icts of interest from being overlooked or misplaced,it needs to be part of the manuscript.However,it should also be in-cluded on a separate page or pages immediately following the title page.Individual journals may differ in where they include this information,and some journals do not send information on con?icts of interest to reviewers.(See Sec-tion II.D.Con?icts of Interest.)

IV.A.4.Abstract

The abstract(requirements for length and format vary) should follow the title page.It should provide the context or background for the study and should state the study’s pur-pose,basic procedures(selection of study subjects or labora-tory animals,observational and analytical methods),main ?ndings(giving speci?c effect sizes and their statistical signif-icance,if possible),and principal conclusions.It should em-phasize new and important aspects of the study or observa-tions.Articles on clinical trials should contain abstracts that include the items that the CONSORT group has identi?ed as essential(https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,/??1190).

Because abstracts are the only substantive portion of the article indexed in many electronic databases,and the only portion many readers read,authors need to be careful that they accurately re?ect the content of the article.Un-fortunately,the information contained in many abstracts differs from that in the text(6).The format required for structured abstracts differs from journal to journal,and some journals use more than one format;authors need to prepare their abstracts in the format speci?ed by the jour-nal they have chosen.

The ICMJE recommends that journals publish the trial registration number at the end of the abstract.The IC-MJE also recommends that,whenever a registration number is available,authors list that number the?rst time they use a trial acronym to refer to either the trial they are reporting or to other trials that they mention in the manuscript.

IV.A.5.Introduction

Provide a context or background for the study(that is, the nature of the problem and its signi?cance).State the speci?c purpose or research objective of,or hypothesis tested by,the study or observation;the research objective is often more sharply focused when stated as a question.Both the main and secondary objectives should be clear,and any prespeci?ed subgroup analyses should be described.Pro-vide only directly pertinent references,and do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported.

IV.A.6.Methods

The Methods section should include only information that was available at the time the plan or protocol for the study was being written;all information obtained during the study belongs in the Results section.

IV.A.6.a.Selection and Description of Participants Describe your selection of the observational or experimen-tal participants(patients or laboratory animals,including controls)clearly,including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population.Because the relevance of such variables as age and sex to the object of research is not always clear,authors should explain their use when they are included in a study report–for example, authors should explain why only participants of certain ages were included or why women were excluded.The guiding principle should be clarity about how and why a study was done in a particular way.When authors use such

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

variables as race or ethnicity,they should de?ne how they measured these variables and justify their relevance.

IV.A.6.b.Technical Information Identify the meth-ods,apparatus(give the manufacturer’s name and address in parentheses),and procedures in suf?cient detail to allow others to reproduce the results.Give references to estab-lished methods,including statistical methods(see below); provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well-known;describe new or substantially modi?ed methods,give the reasons for us-ing them,and evaluate their limitations.Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used,including generic name(s), dose(s),and route(s)of administration.

Authors submitting review manuscripts should include a section describing the methods used for locating,select-ing,extracting,and synthesizing data.These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.

IV.A.6.c.Statistics Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results.When possible,quantify?ndings and present them with appro-priate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty(such as con?dence intervals).Avoid relying solely on statistical hypothesis testing,such as P values,which fail to convey important information about effect size.References for the design of the study and statistical methods should be to standard works when possible(with pages stated).De?ne statistical terms,abbreviations,and most symbols.Specify the computer software used.

IV.A.7.Results Present your results in logical se-quence in the text,tables,and illustrations,giving the main or most important?ndings?rst.Do not repeat all the data in the tables or illustrations in the text;emphasize or sum-marize only the most important observations.Extra or sup-plementary materials and technical detail can be placed in an appendix where they will be accessible but will not interrupt the?ow of the text,or they can be published solely in the electronic version of the journal.

When data are summarized in the Results section,give numeric results not only as derivatives(for example,per-centages)but also as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated,and specify the statistical meth-ods used to analyze them.Restrict tables and?gures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess supporting https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,e graphs as an alternative to ta-bles with many entries;do not duplicate data in graphs and tables.Avoid nontechnical uses of technical terms in statis-tics,such as“random”(which implies a randomizing de-vice),“normal,”“signi?cant,”“correlations,”and“sample.”

Where scienti?cally appropriate,analyses of the data by such variables as age and sex should be included.

IV.A.8.Discussion

Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them.Do not repeat in detail data or other information given in the Introduc-tion or the Results section.For experimental studies,it is useful to begin the discussion by summarizing brie?y the main?ndings,then explore possible mechanisms or expla-nations for these?ndings,compare and contrast the results with other relevant studies,state the limitations of the study,and explore the implications of the?ndings for fu-ture research and for clinical practice.

Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unquali?ed statements and conclusions not ade-quately supported by the data.In particular,avoid making statements on economic bene?ts and costs unless the manuscript includes the appropriate economic data and analyses.Avoid claiming priority or alluding to work that has not been completed.State new hypotheses when war-ranted,but label them clearly as such.

IV.A.9.References

IV.A.9.a.General Considerations Related to References Although references to review articles can be an ef?cient way to guide readers to a body of literature,review articles do not always re?ect original work accurately.Readers should therefore be provided with direct references to orig-inal research sources whenever possible.On the other hand,extensive lists of references to original work on a topic can use excessive space on the printed page.Small numbers of references to key original papers often serve as well as more exhaustive lists,particularly since references can now be added to the electronic version of published papers,and since electronic literature searching allows readers to retrieve published literature ef?ciently.

Avoid using abstracts as references.References to pa-pers accepted but not yet published should be designated as“in press”or“forthcoming”;authors should obtain writ-ten permission to cite such papers as well as veri?cation that they have been accepted for https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,rmation from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as“unpublished observations”with written permission from the source.

Avoid citing a“personal communication”unless it pro-vides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communi-cation should be cited in parentheses in the text.For scienti?c articles,obtain written permission and con?rmation of accu-racy from the source of a personal communication.

Some but not all journals check the accuracy of all reference citations;thus,citation errors sometimes appear in the published version of articles.To minimize such er-rors,verify references against the original documents.Au-thors are responsible for checking that none of the refer-ences cite retracted articles except in the context of referring to the retraction.For articles published in jour-nals indexed in MEDLINE,the ICMJE considers PubMed the authoritative source for information about retractions. Authors can identify retracted articles in MEDLINE by

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

using the following search term,where pt in square brack-ets stands for publication type:Retracted publication[pt] in PubMed.

IV.A.9.b.Reference Style and Format The Uniform Requirements style for references is based largely on an American National Standards Institute style adapted by the NLM for its databases.Authors should consult NLM’s Cit-ing Medicine for information on its recommended formats for a variety of reference types.

References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are?rst mentioned in the text.Identify references in text,tables,and legends by Arabic numerals in parentheses.References cited only in tables or?gure legends should be numbered in accordance with the se-quence established by the?rst identi?cation in the text of the particular table or?gure.The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in the list of Journals Indexed for MEDLINE,posted by the NLM on the Library’s Web site.Journals vary on whether they ask authors to cite electronic references within parentheses in the text or in numbered references following the text.Au-thors should consult with the journal to which they plan to submit their work.

IV.A.10.Tables

Tables capture information concisely and display it ef?ciently;they also provide information at any desired level of detail and precision.Including data in tables rather than text frequently makes it possible to reduce the length of the text.

Type or print each table with double spacing on a separate sheet of paper.Number tables consecutively in the order of their?rst citation in the text and supply a brief title for each.Do not use internal horizontal or vertical lines.Give each column a short or an abbreviated heading. Authors should place explanatory matter in footnotes,not in the heading.Explain all nonstandard abbreviations in footnotes,and use the following symbols,in sequence: *,?,?,§,||,?,**,??,??

Identify statistical measures of variations,such as stan-dard deviation and standard error of the mean.

Be sure that each table is cited in the text.

If you use data from another published or unpublished source,obtain permission and acknowledge that source fully.

Additional tables containing backup data too extensive to publish in print may be appropriate for publication in the electronic version of the journal,deposited with an archival service,or made available to readers directly by the authors.An appropriate statement should be added to the text to inform readers that this additional information is available and where it is located.Submit such tables for consideration with the paper so that they will be available to the peer reviewers.IV.A.11.Illustrations(Figures)

Figures should be either professionally drawn and pho-tographed,or submitted as photographic-quality digital prints.In addition to requiring a version of the?gures suitable for printing,some journals now ask authors for electronic?les of?gures in a format(for example,JPEG or GIF)that will produce high-quality images in the Web version of the journal;authors should review the images of such?les on a computer screen before submitting them to be sure they meet their own quality standards.

For x-ray?lms,scans,and other diagnostic images,as well as pictures of pathology specimens or photomicro-graphs,send sharp,glossy,black-and-white or color pho-tographic prints,usually127x173mm(5x7inches). Although some journals redraw?gures,many do not.Let-ters,numbers,and symbols on?gures should therefore be clear and consistent throughout,and large enough to re-main legible when the?gure is reduced for publication. Figures should be made as self-explanatory as possible, since many will be used directly in slide presentations.Ti-tles and detailed explanations belong in the legends–not on the illustrations themselves.

Photomicrographs should have internal scale markers. Symbols,arrows,or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background.

Photographs of potentially identi?able people must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.

Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been cited in the text.If a ?gure has been published previously,acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the?gure.Permission is re-quired irrespective of authorship or publisher except for documents in the public domain.

For illustrations in color,ascertain whether the journal requires color negatives,positive transparencies,or color prints.Accompanying drawings marked to indicate the re-gion to be reproduced might be useful to the editor.Some journals publish illustrations in color only if the author pays the additional cost.

Authors should consult the journal about require-ments for?gures submitted in electronic formats.

IV.A.12.Legends for Illustrations(Figures)

Type or print out legends for illustrations using dou-ble spacing,starting on a separate page,with Arabic nu-merals corresponding to the illustrations.When symbols, arrows,numbers,or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations,identify and explain each one clearly in the legend.Explain the internal scale and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.

IV.A.13.Units of Measurement

Measurements of length,height,weight,and volume should be reported in metric units(meter,kilogram,or liter)or their decimal multiples.

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

Temperatures should be in degrees Celsius.Blood pressures should be in millimeters of mercury,unless other units are speci?cally required by the journal.

Journals vary in the units they use for reporting hema-tologic,clinical chemistry,and other measurements.Au-thors must consult the Information for Authors of the par-ticular journal and should report laboratory information in both local and International System of Units(SI).Editors may request that authors add alternative or non-SI units, since SI units are not universally used.Drug concentra-tions may be reported in either SI or mass units,but the alternative should be provided in parentheses where appro-priate.

IV.A.14.Abbreviations and Symbols

Use only standard abbreviations;use of nonstandard abbreviations can be confusing to readers.Avoid abbrevia-tions in the title of the manuscript.The spelled-out abbre-viation followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis should be used on?rst mention unless the abbreviation is a stan-dard unit of measurement.

IV.B.Sending the Manuscript to the Journal

An increasing number of journals now accept elec-tronic submission of manuscripts,whether on disk,as an e-mail attachment,or by downloading directly onto the journal’s Web site.Electronic submission saves time and money and allows the manuscript to be handled in elec-tronic form throughout the editorial process(for example, when it is sent out for review).For speci?c instructions on electronic submission,authors should consult the journal’s Instructions for Authors.

If a paper version of the manuscript is submitted,send the required number of copies of the manuscript and?g-ures;they are all needed for peer review and editing,and the editorial of?ce staff cannot be expected to make the required copies.

Manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover letter, which should include the following information.

Y A full statement to the editor about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant publication of the same or very similar work.Any such work should be referred to speci?cally and referenced in the new paper.Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper to help the editor address the situation.

Y A statement of?nancial or other relationships that might lead to a con?ict of interest,if that information is not included in the manuscript itself or in an authors’form.

Y A statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors,that the requirements for au-thorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes that the manuscript repre-sents honest work if that information is not provided in another form(see below).

Y The name,address,and telephone number of the corresponding author,who is responsible for communicat-ing with the other authors about revisions and?nal ap-proval of the proofs,if that information is not included in the manuscript itself.

The letter should give any additional information that may be helpful to the editor,such as the type or format of article in the particular journal that the manuscript repre-sents.If the manuscript has been submitted previously to another journal,it is helpful to include the previous edi-tor’s and reviewers’comments with the submitted manu-script,along with the authors’responses to those com-ments.Editors encourage authors to submit these previous communications.Doing so may expedite the review pro-cess.

Many journals now provide a presubmission checklist to help the author ensure that all the components of the submission have been included.Some journals now also require that authors complete checklists for reports of cer-tain study types(for example,the CONSORT checklist for reports of randomized,controlled trials).Authors should look to see if the journal uses such checklists,and send them with the manuscript if they are requested.

Letters of permission to reproduce previously pub-lished material,use previously published illustrations,re-port information about identi?able persons,or to acknowl-edge people for their contributions must accompany the manuscript.

V.R EFERENCES

A.References Cited in This Document

1.Davidoff F,for the CSE Task Force on Authorship. Who’s the author?Problems with biomedical authorship, and some possible solutions.Science Editor.2000; 23:111-9.

2.Yank V,Rennie D.Disclosure of researcher contri-butions:a study of original research articles in The Lancet. Ann Intern Med.1999;130:661-70.

3.Flanagin A,Fontanarosa PB,DeAngelis CD.Au-thorship for research groups.JAMA.2002;288:3166-8.

4.Godlee F,Jefferson T.Peer Review in Health Sci-ences.London:BMJ Books;1999.

5.World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects.JAMA.2000;284:3043-5.

6.Pitkin RM,Branagan MA,Burmeister LF.Accuracy of data in abstracts of published research articles.JAMA. 1999;281:1110-1.

B.Other Sources of Information Related to Biomedical Journals

World Association of Medical Editors(WAME)

Council of Science Editors(CSE)

European Association of Science Editors(EASE)

Cochrane Collaboration

Committee on Publication Ethics(COPE)

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

VI.A BOUT THE I NTERNATIONAL C OMMITTEE OF

M EDICAL J OURNAL E DITORS

The ICMJE is a group of general medical journal ed-itors whose participants meet annually and fund their work on the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts.The IC-MJE invites comments on this document and suggestions for agenda items.

VII.A UTHORS OF THE U NIFORM R EQUIREMENTS FOR M ANUSCRIPTS S UBMITTED TO B IOMEDICAL J OURNALS The ICMJE participating journals and organizations and their representatives who approved the revised Uni-form Requirements for Manuscripts in September2008 include Annals of Internal Medicine,British Medical Jour-nal,Canadian Medical Association Journal,Croatian Medi-cal Journal,Journal of the American Medical Association, Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde(The Dutch Medi-cal Journal),New England Journal of Medicine,New Zea-land Medical Journal,The Lancet,The Medical Journal of Australia,Tidsskrift for Den Norske L?geforening(The Jour-nal of the Norwegian Medical Association),Ugeskrift for Lae-ger(Journal of the Danish Medical Association),the U.S. NLM,and the World Association of Medical Editors. VIII.U SE,D ISTRIBUTION,AND T RANSLATION OF THE U NIFORM R EQUIREMENTS

Users may print,copy,and distribute this document without charge for not-for-pro?t,educational purpose. The ICMJE does not stock paper copies(reprints)of this document.

The ICMJE policy is for interested organizations to link to the of?cial English language document at www https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,.The ICMJE does not endorse posting of the document on Web sites other than that of the ICMJE.

The ICMJE welcomes organizations to reprint or translate this document into languages other than English for nonpro?t purposes.However,the ICMJE does not have the resources to translate,back-translate,or approve reprinted or translated versions of the document.Thus, any translations should prominently include the following statement:“This is a(reprint/(insert language name)lan-guage translation)of the ICMJE Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals.(insert name of organization)prepared this translation with sup-port from(insert name of funding source,if any).The IC-MJE has neither endorsed nor approved the contents of this reprint/translation.The ICMJE periodically updates the Uniform Requirements,so this reprint/translation pre-pared on(insert date)may not accurately represent the cur-rent of?cial version at https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,.The of?cial ver-sion of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals is located at https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,.”

We do not require individuals or organizations that reprint or translate the Uniform Requirements for Manu-scripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals to obtain formal, written permission from the ICMJE.However,the ICMJE requests that such individuals or organizations provide the ICMJE secretariat with the citation for that reprint or translation so that the ICMJE can keep a record of such versions of the document.

IX.I NQUIRIES

Before sending an inquiry,please consult Frequently Asked Questions at https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,,as this section of the Web site provides answers to the most commonly asked questions.

Inquiries about the Uniform Requirements should be sent to Christine Laine,MD,MPH at the ICMJE Secre-tariat of?ce,American College of Physicians,190N.Inde-pendence Mall West,Philadelphia,PA19106-1572,USA. e-mail claine@https://www.wendangku.net/doc/2e8418604.html,.Please do not direct inquiries about individual studies,individual journal styles,or indi-vidual journal policies to the ICMJE secretariat of?ce.The ICMJE does not archive individual journal contact infor-mation.Manuscripts intended for submission to a journal must be sent directly to the journal,not to the ICMJE.

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals