Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to ...

1 Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to BiomedicalJournals: Writing and Editing for biomedical Publication(Updated October 2008)Publication Ethics: Sponsorship, Authorship, and AccountabilityInternational Committee of Medical Journal EditorsThe following information is available to be viewed/printed in Adobe Acrobat pdf Statement of PurposeA. About the Uniform RequirementsB. Potential Users of the Uniform RequirementsC. How to Use the Uniform RequirementsII. Ethical Considerations in the Conduct and Report-ing of ResearchA. Authorship and Contributorship1. Byline Authors2.

2 Contributors Listed in AcknowledgmentsB. Editorship1. The Role of the Editor2. Editorial FreedomC. Peer ReviewD. Conflicts of Interest1. Potential Conflicts of Interest Related to IndividualAuthors Commitments2. Potential Conflicts of Interest Related to ProjectSupport3. Potential Conflicts of Interest Related to Commit-ments of Editors, Journal Staff, or ReviewersE. Privacy and Confidentiality1. Patients and Study Participants2. Authors and ReviewersF. Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Re-searchIII. Publishing and Editorial Issues Related to Publica-tion in biomedical JournalsA.

3 Obligation to Publish Negative StudiesB. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Con-cern C. CopyrightD. Overlapping Publications1. Duplicate Submission2. Redundant Publication3. Acceptable Secondary Publication4. Competing Manuscripts based on the Same Studya. Differences in Analysis or Interpretationb. Differences in Reported Methods or Results5. Competing Manuscripts Based on the Same Data-baseE. CorrespondenceF. Supplements, Theme Issues, and Special SeriesG. Electronic PublishingH. AdvertisingI. Medical Journals and the General MediaJ. Obligation to Register Clinical TrialsIV.

4 Manuscript Preparation and SubmissionA. Preparing a Manuscript for Submission to Biomed-ical Journals1. a. General Principlesb. Reporting Guidelines for Specific Study Designs2. Title page3. Conflict-of-interest Notification Page4. Abstract and Key Words5. Introduction6. Methodsa. Selection and Description of Participantsb. Technical Informationc. Statistics7. Results8. Discussion9. Referencesa. General Considerations Related to Referencesb. Reference Style and Format10. Tables11. Illustrations (Figures)12. Legends for Illustrations (Figures)13. Units of Measurement14. Abbreviations and SymbolsB.

5 Sending the Manuscript to the JournalV. ReferencesA. Print References Cited in this DocumentB. Other Sources of Information Related to Biomedi-cal JournalsVI. About the International Committee of MedicalJournal EditorsVII. Authors of the Uniform RequirementsVIII. Use, Distribution, and Translation of the Uni-form RequirementsIX. InquiriesI. STATEMENT OFPURPOSEI. A. About the Uniform RequirementsA small group of editors of general medical journalsmet informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978to establish guidelines for the format of Manuscripts sub-mitted to their journals.

6 This group became known as theVancouver Group. Its Requirements for Manuscripts , in-cluding formats for bibliographic references developed bythe National Library of Medicine (NLM), were first pub-1rich4/zai-aim/zai-aim/zai22208/zai0 001d08aneurockc S55 10/13/08 10:35 Art:M08-9999 This archived document is no longer current. The current document is available at in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded andevolved into the International Committee of Medical Jour-nal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually. The ICMJEhas gradually broadened its concerns to include ethicalprinciples related to publication in biomedical ICJME has produced multiple editions of theUniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Bio-medical Journals.

7 Over the years, issues have arisen that gobeyond 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 in 1997; sections were updated in May 1999 andMay 2000. In May 2001, the ICMJE revised the sectionsrelated to potential conflict of interest. In 2003, the com-mittee revised and reorganized the entire document andincorporated the Separate Statements into the text. Thecommittee prepared this revision in total content of the Uniform Requirements forManuscripts Submitted to biomedical Journals may be re-produced for educational, not-for-profit purposes withoutregard for copyright; the committee encourages distribu-tion of the that agree to use the Uniform Requirementsare encouraged to state in their instructions to authors thattheir Requirements are in accordance with the UniformRequirements and to cite this version.

8 Journals that wish tobe listed on as a publication that followsthe Uniform Requirements should contact the ICMJE sec-retariat 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 guestwhen the committee feels that the journal or organizationwill provide a new perspective. Open membership organi-zations for editors and others in biomedical publicationinclude the World Association of Medical Editors and the Council of Science Editors B. Potential Users of the Uniform RequirementsThe ICMJE created the Uniform Requirements pri-marily to help authors and editors in their mutual task ofcreating and distributing accurate, clear, easily accessiblereports of biomedical studies.

9 The initial sections addressthe ethical principles related to the process of evaluating,improving, and publishing Manuscripts in biomedical jour-nals and the relationships among editors and authors, peerreviewers, and the media. The latter sections address themore technical aspects of preparing and submitting manu-scripts. The ICMJE believes that the entire document isrelevant to the concerns of both authors and Uniform Requirements can provide many otherstakeholders peer reviewers, publishers, the media, pa-tients and their families, and general readers with usefulinsights into the biomedical authoring and editing C.

10 How to Use the Uniform RequirementsThe Uniform Requirements state the ethical principlesin the conduct and reporting of research and provide rec-ommendations relating to specific elements of editing andwriting. These recommendations are based largely on theshared experience of a moderate number of editors andauthors, collected over many years, rather than on the re-sults of methodical, planned investigation that aspires to be evidence-based. Wherever possible, recommendationsare accompanied by a rationale that justifies them; as such,the document serves an educational will find it helpful to follow the recommen-dations in this document whenever possible because, asdescribed in the explanations, doing so improves the qual-ity and clarity of reporting in Manuscripts Submitted toany journal, as well as the ease of editing.