Author Guidelines

Preparing for submission of an article

Please note that submission of a manuscript is held to imply that it has not previously been published and is not otherwise submitted for publication (except as an abstract, which in that case has to be stated).

Authorship: All persons designated as authors in a paper must participate sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility in its contents. Everyone meeting the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) requirements for authorship should be included as an author of a paper. Any individuals who have contributed to the article but who do not meet these criteria for authorship should be listed by name and affiliation in an ‘Acknowledgments’ section instead. If there are 5 authors or more, a statement on each author's contribution must be described in the accompanying letter. In multicenter trials, group members not meeting these criteria should be listed, with their permission, in the acknowledgement or appendix. All persons mentioned in the Acknowledgement should have accepted this to the responsible author.

Language for the writing: High-quality English language is of primary importance when you submit your manuscript, so that reviewers and editors can fully understand the contents and give your work a fair review. All papers should be written in English (British English is preferable but American English can be accepted if written by Americans). Before you submit your manuscript we strongly recommend that you have it checked by an English-speaking colleague and/or use a professional language editing service, to ensure that it reads well. Upon acceptance, all papers will undergo English language editing for minor issues and style consistency. Any more extensive editing necessary at this stage will be invoiced to the authors in addition to the regular publication charges. Please note that the use of professional language editing services is not a requirement for publication, and does not guarantee that the article will be selected for peer review or accepted

Deposit of manuscript: When submitting a paper to our journal you are allowed to deposit the paper in a manuscript form at your website or university repository with acknowledgement where it is considered for publication.

Conflict of interest and funding: Conflict of interest and funding: Authors are responsible for recognising and disclosing financial and other conflicts of interest that might bias their work. They should acknowledge in the manuscript all financial support for the work and other financial or personal connections to the work. If they have no interests to declare, this should be stated (recommended wording: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare).

UN Declaration of Human Rights: JRM-CC makes a statement against war and violence, in all parts of the world, and therefore requires all authors to confirm that they accept and agree with the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights when submitting a manuscript to the journal.

Article length: Articles in JRM-CC should be short and consice: max 2500 words + figures/illustrations/graphics.

Suggestions for reviewers: It is advisable to give suggestions of up to 5 reviewers that are well versed in the area of the manuscript. However, it is the Editor who will make the final decision on the choice of reviewers.

Arrangement of manuscript

In order to make the editorial and peer review process as efficient as possible as well as save authors time, we have prepared a manuscript template to help authors when submitting their manuscripts to JRM-CC. We strongly recommend that you use this for your submission.

JRM-CC Submission Template

In writing your paper, you are encouraged to review articles in the area you are addressing including those that have been previously published in the journal, and to reference them where you feel it is appropriate. This will enhance context, coherence, and continuity for our readers. After revision, the references should be checked to see if there are new references available.

Submission: Submit the manuscript as one Microsoft Word file; using 12-point font (Times New Roman); 1.5-spacing; and employs italics, rather than underlining. All tables are placed at the end of the paper, after the references. Photographs and illustrations are submitted and as separate EPS or TIFF files (resolution of at least 300 dpi).

Abbreviations: All abbreviations should be explained the first time they are used - unless it is a standard unit of measurement - and thereafter the use of abbreviations should be consistent throughout the paper. Avoid excessive use of abbreviations. Never use abbreviations in the article's title or in the Abstract.

Abstract: JRM-CC requires structured abstracts for all original articles. The following headlines should be used where appropriate: Objective, Design, Subjects/Patients, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. Please make sure the abstract provides an answer to the aim of the study, and that the total number of words does not exceed 200. A list of from 3-8 key-words or terms from Medical Subject Headings www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html suitable for indexing terms should be typed at the bottom of the abstract page.

Lay abstract: Include a lay abstract of a maximum of 150 words, which is easily read and understood by also non-scientific readers. Please avoid medical and statistical terms and try to explain your work to your “neighbour”. Emphasize the relevance of your work for clinical practice.

Preparing for submission of PhD thesis: The following should be included:
Title
Name
Institute / affiliation
Date of defense
Promotor(es)
A summary
A box with the 5 most important conclusions
Figures with the most prominent outcomes
A bibliography of publications on which the thesis is based
A photo of the defendant

It is recommended to avoid too much text and to focus on the main results, using graphical support when possible. An example of a suitable format of a PhD thesis is available here. 

References: References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in the text by Arabic numerals in parenthesis as follows: "as shown by Smith (5)":... if two authors; "Smith & Jones (6)";... if more than two authors; "Smith et al. (7)". The style of references must follow the Vancouver system, and for the abbreviations of journal titles: please consult the Journals database, hosted at www.nlm.nih.gov.

Accepted but still unpublished material should be referred to as "In press". (References to submitted but not accepted material are not permitted but should be mentioned as footnotes.) Please use the reference guide below when preparing your paper (an EndNote output style is also available to assist you).

The most common types of references are exemplified below:

1. Standard journal article (if a journal carries continuous pagination throughout a volume the month and issue number should be omitted)
   Up to six authors:
   Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med 2002; 347: 284–287.
   More than 6 authors:
   Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res 2002; 935: 40–46.
2. Chapter in a book
   Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002, p. 93-113.
3. Journal article in electronic format: Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12];102(6):[about 3 p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm.

Tables and figures: In general, JRM-CC recommends the use of graphics rather than tables, as graphics are easier to read and understand. All illustrations should be considered as figures and uploaded as separate files. Each graph, drawing, or photograph should be numbered in sequence with Arabic numerals. All figures should have legends, listed on one separate sheet. Line drawing and lettering should be large enough to sustain photoreduction.

Tables are to be numbered consecutively with Roman numerals. Each table should be typed on a separate sheet and should have a descriptive, self-explanatory title (i.e. no unexplained abbreviations). Highlight an introductory sentence in bold and list footnotes below the table, using a, b, c for referencing. Asterix is used for probability values. Place other explanatory text above the table.

Authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary permission to reuse any third-party material in the article. Where such permission is needed, you will need to obtain written permission from the copyright owner prior to submission.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material can include for example video- and audio files but also figures, tables, and datasets. Including supplementary material with your article can make it more discoverable, and help maximizing downloads and citations. For supplemental video content please adhere the instructions provided in the section below.

Please make sure to include any supplementary files at the same time as you submit your manuscript, although a video abstract can be sent upon acceptance instead.

Supplemental material will be published as submitted, and will thus not be checked for scientific content, it will not be copyedited and it will not be typeset. Please note that publishing supplementary material involves a fee of 25 €/file to cover administration costs, but video files will be published free of charge.

Video Abstracts

Video abstracts is an excellent way of getting others to engage with your research, ultimately increasing the visibility and impact of your work. Through a video abstract you can introduce the article in your own words, telling readers what the unique contribution of your article is and why they should read it. We recommend keeping a video abstract short and to the point (no more than 2-3 minutes) and that you use images, charts or tables to help explain the focus of your article. Consider the aim of the video throughout – to get people to read your article. The best video format is MP4 although other video formats such as MOV and MPEG4 are also supported. The minimum dimension is 426 x 240 and the max dimension is 3840 x 2160.

Since people have wide-screen computers, please use the 16:9 format for your recording. The video abstract should be prepared and finalized only after formal manuscript acceptance. The Video Abstract will not be peer-reviewed and will be published free of charge.