Author Guidelines

Preparing for submission in Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine (JRM) 

Interested in submitting to this journal? We recommend that you review information regarding: 

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). 
  • The journal emphasizes the need for randomized controlled studies of various rehabilitation interventions, the use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) as a background for reports when appropriate, and the use of modern psychometric methodology in treating and reporting data from ordinal scales. Reports using qualitative methodology are also accepted, providing that the length of the paper is within the stipulated range.  

Reporting guidelines 

Information on the design, use, and array of reporting guidelines can be found on the website for the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research (EQUATOR) network and they should be used for JRM manuscripts when applicable. 

Manuscript checklists 

  • For observational studies, please follow the STROBE statement and submit a completed STROBE checklist as supporting information. 
  • For randomized controlled trials, please follow the CONSORT statement and submit a completed CONSORT checklist as supporting information. 
  • For systematic reviews and meta-analyses, please follow the PRISMA statement and submit a PRISMA checklist as supporting information. 

Submission Template 

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. We strongly recommend that you use this for your submission. 

JRM submission template 

Submission Instructions 

General 

Submission of a manuscript should be accompanied by a cover letter that briefly explains the impact and novelty of the manuscript. Additional materials may be provided as supplementary materials.  

A complete submission should contain:

  1. Cover letter
  2. Metadata/information regarding the manuscript
  3. Manuscript (complete with Tables and Figures)
  4. Figures (stating the figure number) in separate EPS, JPEG or TIFF.
  5. Supplemental material

Cover Letter 

  • The cover letter should explicitly certify that the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere and that no part of the work has been published elsewhere. 
  • If the manuscript is an invited manuscript this should be highlighted. 
  • Authors are encouraged to suggest up to five potential and impartial reviewers though reviewer selection is the responsibility of the journal’s editors.
  • Please inform to exclude potential reviewers because of a conflict (of interest) or other reasons.

Metadata/Information Regarding the Manuscript 

In connection with the submission of a manuscript, you are asked to provide some metadata/information in the publication system, such as information regarding all authors, keywords and supporting agencies. This is important in order to get correct information to PubMed, when/if the article is accepted. 

Manuscript 

The manuscript file should be divided into sections: 
A. Title page 
B. Abstract 
C. Lay abstract 
D. Introduction 
E. Methods 
F. Results 
G. Discussion 
H. Acknowledgements 
I. Data availability statement 
J. Ethics declarations & trial registry information 
K. Disclosure statements 
L. References 
M. Tables 
N. Figures/illustrations 

A. Title page

  • The title should be informative, reflecting the content of the study and should preferably be expressive.
  • Please include a word count of the abstract.
  • Please include a lay abstract word count.
  • Please include a word count of your manuscript on the title page, excluding word count associated with tables, references, figures, and all information held on the title page.
  • Please include information regarding all authors, with the following information:
    • Authors should be listed with first name, middle initial(s), and last name with department affiliations.
    • Please also add ORCID identifiers.
    • A complete postal address to the corresponding author(s), with an institutional e-mail address, should be provided.
    • Shared authorship of a maximum of two authors is allowed.

B. Abstract

  • Abstracts should be provided for Original Reports, Special Reports and Review Articles.
  • Abstracts should be structured (Objective, Design, Subjects/Patients, Methods, Results, and Conclusion)
  • The abstract should not exceed 200 words.
  • It should state the reason that prompted the study, purpose, methods, the most important findings and as a conclusion the single most important finding.
  • A list of from 3-8 keywords 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

C. Lay Abstract 

  • Include a lay abstract of a maximum of 150 words.
  • It should be easily read and understood also by non-scientific readers.
  • Please avoid medical and statistical terms and try to explain your work to your “neighbour”.
  • Emphasize the relevance of your work, how it will contribute to existing research and also how it will benefit society.

D. Introduction

  • The introduction should focus on the state of knowledge at the beginning of the study and should define the research gap.
  • The aims and main hypothesis of the study should be stated clearly.

E. Materials and methods

  • Study type should be defined with reference to the relevant EQUATOR
  • The manuscript should be formatted accordingly and as a minimum, the relevant EQUATOR guideline checklist should be provided as supplementary information.
  • Describe the selection of the subjects.
  • Give details about randomization.
  • Present characteristics of the subjects/patients; if pertinent use ICF terms from corresponding short forms of core sets (J Rehabil Med 2004; Suppl 44 and Disabil Rehabil 2005; 27: issues 7 & 8).
  • Describe methods for any blinding of the observations.
  • Identify methods, equipment/materials, and procedures in sufficient detail, including pertinent references, to allow others to reproduce the study.
  • Names and addresses of the manufacturers and/or suppliers of equipment and/or materials used in a study must be identified by names, town, and stated the first time the equipment/material is mentioned.

F. Results

  • Results should be structured into a logical flow.
  • Results should be presented either in the running text or in Tables and/or Figures without repeating all data.
  • Interval data should be presented with means and 95% confidence intervals.
  • Ordinal data from categorical (rating) scales are presented with medians, quartiles and range (if necessary and to compare to clinical praxis, means and SD may be given in addition). Please do not use “average” but rather "mean" or "median" and please always write SD as “mean (SD)” and not “mean±SD.

G. Discussion

  • Start with a one-paragraph summary of the main findings.
  • Any limitations of the study should be highlighted.
  • The discussion should critically discuss the findings, including data quality, and analytical limitations and should put the findings into perspective with reference to relevant literature.
  • Address the issue of effect magnitude, in terms of both the statistics reported and the implications of the results.
  • You should not use a specific headline for the conclusion, but if pertinent, start the last paragraph with "In conclusion".

H. Acknowledgements

  • Authors are responsible for recognising and disclosing financial and other conflicts of interest that might bias their work.
  • Relevant funding should be reported and technical support may be acknowledged.
  • Please include agency grants: “ This work was supported by the [Funding Agency], [grant number].”
  • If authors have no interests to declare, this should be stated (recommended wording: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare).

I. Data availability statement

  • Authors are required to provide a data availability statement that provides information on where data used for the paper can be found and how it can be accessed.
  • If data cannot be made open, authors should state why in the data availability statement.
  • If the data is open, please deposit the data in a recognized data repository prior to or at the time of submission and include the DOI, pre-reserved DOI, or other persistent identifier for the data set.

J. Ethics declarations & trial registry information

  • Please ensure that all research reported in submitted papers has been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and is in full compliance with all relevant codes of experimentation and legislation.
  • All original research papers involving humans, animals, plants, biological material, protected or non-public datasets, collections or sites, providing the approval number from the appropriate ethics committee or Institutional Review Board and that where relevant, informed consent has been obtained.
  • For clinical studies, please provide trial registry identifiers/approval numbers in ClinicalTrials.gov.

K. Disclosure statements

  • Any financial or non-financial interest that has arisen from the direct applications of your research should be reported.
  • If there are no relevant competing interests to declare please state “The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.”

L. References

  • The style of references must follow the Vancouver system.
  • The number of references should be limited in accordance with article type.
  • References should be consecutively numbered and referred to in the text by their number within brackets.
  • When available, DOI numbers should be added to the references.
  • If there are six or fewer authors, state all in the reference list. If there are more than six, state the first six and use et al. for additional authors.
  • Please note that only published findings, and manuscripts in press should be cited in the reference list.
  • Unpublished findings, i.e. research findings which have not been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal or other formal publication (including preprints), must be shown as footnotes only and should not be included in the reference list.
  • For the abbreviations of journal titles: please consult the Journals database, hosted at www.nlm.nih.gov

M. Tables

  • Tables should present new information rather than duplicating what is in the text.
  • Readers should be able to interpret the table without reference to the text.
  • Tables should be provided as editable files in the manuscript file.
  • Each table should be typed on a separate sheet.
  • Tables are to be numbered consecutively with Roman numerals.
  • Do not submit tables as photographs.
  • Supply a brief title for each table.
  • Each column should have a short heading.
  • Explanatory matters should be placed in notes above the table.

N. Figures/illustrations

  • All illustrations should be considered as figures.
  • Illustrations should be of high quality (1200 dpi for line art, 600 dpi for grayscale and 300 dpi for colour, at the correct size).
  • Letters and numerals should be large enough to allow the reduction of illustrations to one column.
  • Illustrations should preferably be provided in colour (CMYK colours).
  • Each graph, drawing, or photograph should be numbered in sequence with Arabic numerals.
  • Highlight an introductory sentence in bold and list footnotes below the table, using a, b, c for referencing.
  • Asterix is used for probability values.
  • The use of symbols should be consistent between figures.
  • Illustrations should be submitted as separate files (stating the figure number) in the formats EPS, JPEG or TIFF.
  • Illustrations should also be included on the last page of the manuscript (including the figure legend).
  • 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 be data, images, video or other relevant information that supports and is pertinent to the paper.
  • Please submit all supplementary materials as one separate Word file.
  • Please make sure to include any supplementary files at the same time as you submit your manuscript.
  • Supplementary 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 a smaller publication fee to cover administration costs, but video files will be published free of charge. 

Graphical Abstract 

  • The graphical abstract serves as a visual summary that encapsulates the essence of the study, making it easier for readers to quickly understand the key points and the significance of the research.
  • The provision of a graphical abstract is optional and encouraged.
  • The image should have a maximum width of 525 pixels and should be provided as a separate file in the formats .jpg, .png, or .gif. 

Video Abstracts 

  • Video abstracts is also optional but an excellent way of getting others to engage with your research, ultimately increasing the visibility and impact of your work.
  • Please keep the video abstract short and to the point (no more than 3-4 minutes).
  • Please use the video formats MP4, MOV or MPEG4.
  • The minimum dimension is 426 x 240 and the max dimension is 3840 x 2160.
  • 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. 

Grammar and Writing Instructions 

  • Please use British or US spelling style consistently throughout your manuscript.
  • Manuscripts are expected to have a high standard of English and should typically have undergone professional English review.
  • Please select Times New Roman as the font, and 12pt as the font size.
  • As subheadings, use lower case letters italicized.
  • Abbreviations, which are not generally accepted, should be spelt out when first used in the text. Never use abbreviations in the article's title or in the Abstract.
  • Please use SI units (non-italicized) when relevant.
  • Footnotes should be numbered and indicated using superscript in the text.