Style Matters Uniform - ICMJE

1 StyleMattersUniformrequirementsformanusc riptssubmittedtobiomedicaljournalsIntern ationalCommitteeofMedicalJournalEditorsI nthe12yearssincetheywerefirstpublishedth e"Uniformrequirementsformanuscriptssubmi ttedtobiomedicaljournals"(theVancouverst yle)haveprovedpopularwithbothauthorsande ditors; ,publishedhere, (AnnalsofInternalMedicine),LaurelThomas( MedicalJournalofAustralia),StephenLock(B ritishMedicalJournal),GeorgeDLundberg(7o urnaloftheAmericanMedicalAssociation),Ro binFox(Lancet),MagneNylenna(Tidsskriftfo rdenNorskeLaegeforening),LoisAnnColaiann i(IndexMedicus),ArnoldSRelman,MarciaAnge ll(NezvEnglandjournalofMedicine),PovlRii s(7ournaloftheDanishMedicalAssociation,D anishMedicalBulletin),RichardGRobinson(N ewZealandMedicalJournal),BrucePSquires(C anadianMedicalAssociationJournal),LindaC lever(WesternjournalofMedicine)Correspon denceto:Editor,BMJ,orEditor.

2 302:338-41 InJanuary1978agroupofeditorsfromsomemajo rbiomedicaljournalspublishedinEnglishmet inVancouver,BritishColumbia, ,in-cludingformatsforbibliographicrefere ncesdevelopedfortheVancouvergroupbytheNa tionalLibraryofMedicine, ; ,therequirementsareinstructionstoauthors onhowtopreparemanuscripts,nottoeditorson publicationstyle.(Butmanyjournalshavedra wnontheserequirementsforelementsoftheirp ublicationstyles.)Secondly, , ,authorssendingmanuscriptstoapartici-pat ingjournalshouldnottrytopreparetheminacc ordancewiththepublicationstyleofthatjour nalbutshouldfollowthe"Uniformrequirement sformanuscriptssubmittedtobiomedicaljour nals.

3 "Neverthelessauthorsmustalsofollowtheins truc-tionstoauthorsinthejournalastowhatt opicsaresuitableforthatjournalandthetype sofpapersthatmaybesubmitted-forexample,o riginalarticles,reviews, ,thejournal'sinstructionsarelikelytocont ainotherrequirementsuniquetothatjournal, suchasnumberofcopiesofmanuscripts,accept ablelanguages,lengthofarticles, "Uniformrequirementsformanuscriptssubmit tedtobipmedicaljournals" ,NezvEnglandJournalofMedicine,10 ShattuckStreet,Boston,MA02115,USA;thosef romotherregionsshouldbesenttotheEditor,B ritishMedical7ournal,BritishMedicalAssoc iation,TavistockSquare,LondonWCIH9JR, ; ,includingtitlepage,abstract,text,acknow ledgments,references,tables, ,inthefollowingsequence:titlepage;abstra ctandkeywords;text;acknowledgments;refer ences;tables(eachtable,completewithtitle andfootnotes,onaseparatepage); ,unmountedglossyprints,usually127x173mm( 5x7in)butnolargerthan203x254mm(8x10in).

4 Submittherequirednumberofcopiesofmanuscr iptandfigures(seejournal'sinstructions) ,asdescribedunderSubmissionofmanu-script s, ' , , ,thepublicationmorethanonceofthesamestud y, ,providedthefollowingconditionsaremet.(1 )Theeditorsofbothjournalsconcernedareful lyinformed;theeditorconcernedwithseconda rypublicationshouldhaveaphotocopy,reprin t,ormanuscriptoftheprimaryversion.(2)The priorityoftheprimarypublicationisrespect edbyapublicationintervalofatleasttwoweek s.(3)Thepaperforsecondarypublicationiswr ittenforadifferentgroupofreadersandisnot simplyatranslatedversionoftheprimarypape r;anabbreviatedversionwilloftenbesuffici ent.

5 (4)Thesecondaryversionreflectsfaithfully thedataandinterpretationsoftheprimaryver sion.(5)Afootnoteonthetitlepageoftheseco ndaryversioninformsreaders,peers,anddocu mentingagenciesthattheBMJVOLUME3029 FEBRUARY1991338 This archived document is no longer current. The current document is available at ,andisbeingpublished, :"Thisarticleisbasedonastudyfirstreporte dinthe[titleofjournal,withfullreference] ." ,usuallytopublicmedia, ,andonlybyarrangementwiththeeditor,preli minaryreleaseofdatamaybeacceptable-forex ample,towarnthepublic ,216x279mm(8/2x11in)orISOA4(212x297mm),w ithmarginsofatleast25mm(1in).

6 ,includingtitlepage,abstract,text,acknow ledgments,references,tables, :titlepage,abstractandkeywords,text,ackn owledg-ments,references,individualtables , , (a)thetitleofthearticle,whichshouldbecon cisebutinformative;(b)firstname,middlein itial,andlastnameofeachauthor,withhighes tacademicdegree(s)andinstitutionalaffili ation;(c)nameofdepart-ment(s)andinstitut ions(s)towhichtheworkshouldbeattributed; (d)disclaimers,ifany;(e)nameandaddressof authorresponsibleforcorrespondenceaboutt hemanuscript;(f)nameandaddressofauthorto whomrequestsforreprintsshouldbeaddressed orstatementthatreprintswillnotbeavailabl efromtheauthor;(g)source(s)ofsupportinth eformofgrants,equipment,drugs,orallofthe se;and(h)ashortrunningheadorfootlineofno morethan40characters(countlettersandspac es) (a)conceptionanddesign,oranalysisandinte rpretationofdata;andto(b)draftingthearti cleorrevisingitcriticallyforimportantint ellectualcontent;andon(c) (a),(b),and(c) (collective)authorshipmustspecifythekeyp ersonsresponsibleforthearticle;otherscon tri-butingtotheworkshouldberecognisedsep arately(seeAcknowledgments).

7 (ofnomorethan150wordsforunstructuredabst racts,250wordsforstructuredabstracts).Th eabstractshouldstatethepurposesofthestud yorinvestigation,basicprocedures(selecti onofstudysubjectsorexperimentalanimals;o bservationalandanalyticalmethods),mainfi ndings(givespecificdataandtheirstatistic alsignificance,ifpossible), ,andidentifyassuch, (MeSH)listofIndexMedicus; ,methods,results, , ,reviews, , (patientsorexperimentalanimals,including controls) ,apparatus(manufacturer'snameandaddressi nparentheses), ,includingstatisticalmethods(seebelow);p rovidereferencesandbriefdescriptionsform ethodsthathavebeenpublishedbutarenotwell known.

8 Describeneworsubstantiallymodifiedmethod s,givereasonsforusingthem, ,includinggenericname(s),dose(s),androut e(s) (institutionalorregional)orwiththeHelsin kiDeclarationof1975, usepatients'names,initials,orhospitalnum bers, 'sortheNationalResearchCouncil'sguidefor ,oranynationallawon, (suchasconfidenceintervals).Avoidsolerel ianceonstatisticalhypothesistesting,such astheuseofpvalues, ,andsuccessof, (suchasdropoutsfromaclinicaltrial).Refer encesforstudydesignandstatisticalmethods shouldbetostandardworks(withpagesstated) ; ,suchas"random"(whichimpliesarandomising device),"normal,""significant,""correlat ions,"and"sample.

9 "Definestatisticalterms,abbreviations, ,tables, ; , ,butclearlylabelBMJVOLUME3029 FEBRUARY1991339 This archived document is no longer current. The current document is available at ,whenappropriate, (titlepagefootnoteorappendixtothetext;se ethejournal'srequirement)oneormorestatem entsshouldspecify(a)contributionsthatnee dacknowledgingbutdonotjustifyauthorship, suchasgeneralsupportbyadepartmentalchair man;(b)acknowledgmentsoftechnicalhelp;(c )acknowledgmentsoffinancialandmaterialsu pport,specifyingthenatureofthesupport;(d ) ,"scientificadviser,""criticalreviewofst udyproposal,""datacollection,""participa tioninclinicaltrial.

10 " ,tables, , (1)Standardjournalarticle(Listallauthors ,butifthenumberexceedssixgivesixfollowed byetal)YouCH,LeeKY,CheyRY, , ;79(2) ,ifajournalcarriescontinuouspaginationth roughoutavolumethemonthandissuenumbermay beomitted:YouCH,LeeKY,CheyRY, , ;79 ,HaynesAR,OwenMJ,FarrallM,JamesLA,LaiLY, ' ;1:352-5.(2) ;2:742-4.(3)NoauthorgivenCoffeedrinkinga ndcancerofthepancreas[editorial].BMJ1981 ;283:628.(4)ArticleinaforeignlanguageMas soneL,BorghiS,PestarinoA,PicciniR, ;114:1545-7.(5)VolumewithsupplementMagni F,RossoniG, ;20 Suppl5:75-8.(6)IssuewihsupplementGardosG ,ColeJO,HaskellD,MarbyD,PaineSS, ;8(4 Suppl):31S-37S.