Submissions
Submission Preparation Checklist
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
- The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
- The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
- Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
- The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
Author Guidelines
What is the UTMJ looking for?
All manuscripts submitted to the UTMJ should be original work, not published previously or currently under consideration elsewhere, written for a general medical audience. Manuscripts should be well-written, coherent, focused, and demonstrate scientific rigour, sound methodology and strong ethical conduct. The UTMJ publishes articles that cover all areas of basic, clinical, translational, and epidemiological medical research, as well as medical education, medical ethics, and the history of medicine.
What types of articles does the UTMJ accept?
The UTMJ accepts:
- Original research articles
- Review articles
- Case reports
- Commentaries
Further details about frequently published article types are provided below. A template for submission with instructions specifying required formatting is available here. All submissions must follow the specific formatting guidelines presented in the template. Submissions that fail to follow these guidelines will not be considered for review.
Studies of all designs are encouraged to adhere to the corresponding guidelines available from the EQUATOR network (e.g. PRISMA for systematic reviews, CONSORT for randomised trials, CARE for case reports) and should be submitted with the corresponding checklist and flow diagram, where available.
Original Research Articles:
The UTMJ will consider original research articles including (but not limited to) observational studies, surveys, clinical trials, case-control studies, epidemiological studies, intervention studies, evaluations, and qualitative studies. Topic areas include (but are not limited to) all areas of basic, clinical, translational, and epidemiological medical research, as well as medical education, medical ethics, and the history or philosophy of medicine.
Requirements:
- Manuscript Sections: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, References, Tables, Figures, Acknowledgments, Conflicts of Interest
- Structured Abstract: Up to 300 words
- Keywords
- Manuscript Length: Up to 5000 words (excluding references, figure captions, table captions, acknowledgements, or conflicts of interest)
- Tables/Figures: Up to 5
- References: No maximum. See template above for formatting guidelines
- Supplementary Material: Optional and permitted
- Three recommended reviewers (note: identified conflicts of interest may result in automatic rejection) and any unrecommended reviewers
Review Articles:
The UTMJ considers literature reviews (narrative, systematic, and meta-analytical) on all areas of basic, clinical, translational, and epidemiological medical research, as well as medical education, medical ethics, and the history or philosophy of medicine.
Requirements:
- Manuscript Sections: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, References, Tables, Figures, Acknowledgments, Conflicts of Interest
- Structured Abstract: Up to 300 words
- Keywords
- Manuscript Length: Up to 5000 words (excluding references, figure captions, table captions, acknowledgements, or conflicts of interest)
- Tables/Figures: Up to 5
- References: No maximum. See template above for formatting guidelines
- Supplementary Material: Optional and permitted
- PRISMA-style flow diagram
- Three recommended reviewers (note: identified conflicts of interest may result in automatic rejection) and any unrecommended reviewers
Case Reports:
The UTMJ welcomes clinical reports describing the signs and symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, or other clinical parameters of unusual or interesting cases.
Requirements:
- Manuscript Sections: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, References, Tables, Figures, Acknowledgments, Conflicts of Interest
- Structured Abstract: Up to 300 words
- Keywords
- Manuscript Length: Up to 3000 words (excluding references, figure captions, table captions, acknowledgements, or conflicts of interest)
- Tables/Figures: Up to 3
- References: No maximum. See template above for formatting guidelines
- Supplementary Material: Not permitted
- Authors must adhere to the UTMJ ethical guidelines
- Three recommended reviewers (note: identified conflicts of interest may result in automatic rejection) and any unrecommended reviewers
Commentaries:
The UTMJ will consider commentaries on controversial and/or current issues in all areas of basic, clinical, translational, and epidemiological medical research, as well as medical education, medical ethics, and the history or philosophy of medicine.
Requirements:
- Unstructured Abstract: Up to 300 words
- Keywords
- Manuscript Length: Up to 3000 words (excluding references, figure captions, table captions, acknowledgements, or conflicts of interest)
- Manuscript Style: Avoid first-person perspective
- Tables/Figures: Up to 3
- References: No maximum. See template above for formatting guidelines
- Supplementary Material: Not permitted
- Acknowledgments
- Conflicts of Interest
- Three recommended reviewers (note: identified conflicts of interest may result in automatic rejection) and any unrecommended reviewers
Letters to the Editor:
Correspondence relating to (or in response to) previously published articles is welcomed. Responses to published work will be reviewed as described in the policy “Responses to published work.”
Requirements:
- Letter Length: Up to 1000 words
- Tables/Figures: Up to 1
- References: No maximum. See template above for formatting guidelines
- Supplementary Material: Not permitted
- Acknowledgments
- Conflicts of Interest
- Three recommended reviewers (note: identified conflicts of interest may result in automatic rejection) and any unrecommended reviewers
How should I submit my manuscript?
Articles can be submitted online. All submissions must be in the English language. In addition, please provide the name and highest degree obtained for all authors of the manuscript. For further details regarding manuscript preparation, section headings, and word counts, please see the sample template.
Informed consent
From "Ethical Considerations in the Conduct and Reporting of Research: Privacy and Confidentiality" by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors:
Patients have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information, including names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that an identifiable patient be shown the manuscript to be published. Authors should disclose to these patients whether any potential identifiable material might be available via the Internet as well as in print after publication.
Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. Informed 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 scientific meaning.
When informed consent has been obtained, it should be indicated in the published article.
Conflict of Interest
From "Ethical Considerations in the Conduct and Reporting of Research: Conflicts of Interest" by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors:
When authors submit a manuscript, whether an article or a letter, they are responsible for disclosing all financial and personal relationships that might bias their work. To prevent ambiguity, authors must state explicitly whether potential conflicts do or do not exist. Authors should do so in the manuscript on a conflict-of-interest notification page that follows the title page, providing additional detail, if necessary, in a cover letter that accompanies the manuscript.
Authors should identify Individuals who provide writing or other assistance and disclose the funding source for this assistance.
Investigators must disclose potential conflicts to study participants and should state in the manuscript whether they have done so.
Human and Animal Testing
From "Ethical Considerations in the Conduct and Reporting of Research: Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Research" by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors:
When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. 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 review 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 followed.
Copyright Notice
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Privacy Statement
Please be advised that we may collect and/or store the information from website users and/or journal readers. These include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
- author information such as your name, title, and institutional affiliation(s)
- your contact information including your name and email address/phone number
- any information you provide us through online communication (through OJS or email)
- details about which articles you have accessed and when they have been accessed
This information may be collected through several sources. These include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
- filling in website forms including contact forms and manuscript submission forms
- communication directly with UTMJ through email and other electronic means
- website cookies
We may use this information for several purposes. These include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
- website quality improvement
- assessing the performance and popularity of published articles
- recording a way to reply to users who have initiated communication with us
While we will take appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access or use, transmission over the internet (through OJS or email) is not completely secure and therefore we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your information. Please note, we will not share any personal information with third parties unless required by law.
For any concerns or questions, please feel free to fill in our contact form or email us directly at editors.utmj@utoronto.ca