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JAOA Information for Contributors
Manuscript Submission
Previous Publication and Simultaneous Submission
Article Categories
Peer Review and Publication Process
Manuscript Preparation
Reprints
CME Credit
These guidelines for contributors to JAOA—The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association are in accordance with the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication" established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). These guidelines are also in accordance with the 10th edition of the AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors (2007). Manuscripts submitted to the JAOA can be prepared using the JAOA’s, the ICMJE’s, or the AMA’s guidelines.
JAOA—The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association is the official scientific publication of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and the premier peer-reviewed, indexed, scholarly publication of the osteopathic medical profession. It provides a forum for communicating research findings, clinical practice observations, philosophic concepts, and other biomedical advances.
The JAOA's mission is to advance medicine through the timely publication of peer-reviewed osteopathic medical research.
The JAOA publishes article types as described in the "Article Categories" section of this document. The Journal gives priority to original research, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses.
The JAOA prefers to receive submissions electronically. Authors may e-mail manuscripts and accompanying materials to the JAOA's jaoa{at}osteopathic.org. Manuscripts and materials submitted via regular mail should be addressed to the JAOA Editorial Assistant, American Osteopathic Association, 142 E Ontario St, Chicago, IL 60611-2864. When mailing submissions, authors must provide all manuscript components on an IBM-compatible CD-ROM. Each CD-ROM should be clearly labeled with the submission date, document title, and the corresponding author's full name and complete contact information.
Whether submitting a manuscript by e-mail or regular mail, the corresponding author should retain a copy of the manuscript's electronic files for future reference. The JAOA does not require authors to provide hard copies of manuscripts. However, authors are required to have electronic or hard copies of all materials cited in their manuscripts. Failure to make these materials available upon request during the publication process may result in delayed publication.
Manuscripts should be formatted in Microsoft Word for Windows format (.doc), text document format (.txt), or rich text format (.rtf).
For specifications regarding electronically generated graphic elements, consult the section titled "Graphic Elements" in these guidelines.
Authors are encouraged to use the JAOA's "Manuscript Checklist" as a reference for required materials when preparing a manuscripts for submission.
Submitted materials will not be returned to corresponding authors unless self-addressed, stamped envelopes are included with the original submissions.
Previous Publication and Simultaneous Submission
The JAOA accepts manuscripts for consideration with the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere in print or online and that they are not simultaneously under consideration by any other print or electronic publication. Any duplicative materials (eg, an abstract, material published using the same or similar data, graphic elements) should be described in the cover letter and identified as such in the submitted materials.
Because the JAOA’s volunteer peer reviewers invest a considerable amount of time in the peer review process, manuscripts must be withdrawn from consideration at the JAOA if they (1) have already been published in any print or online medium or (2) are currently under review by another biomedical journal.
Authors submitting original contributions and reviews are encouraged to follow the Annals of Internal Medicine. Links to this journal's guidelines are provided where applicable. However, the word limits and abstract requirements of the Annals of Internal Medicine are not applicable to JAOA submissions. The JAOA's abstract requirements are described later in this document.
The JAOA welcomes submissions in the following categories:
Original Contributions
Manuscripts in this category document original clinical or applied research. Original contributions include controlled trials, observational studies, diagnostic test studies, and cost-effectiveness studies. The JAOA will accept basic scientific research only if the work has clear clinical applications. For randomized controlled trials, study flow diagrams must be submitted. For all other types of original contributions, flow diagrams are encouraged.
Reviews
Manuscripts of this type are detailed, critical surveys of published research relevant to clinical problems. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are preferred and will receive a higher publication priority than other reviews.
Narrative reviews should include a clear objective and a description of the data-selection and -exclusion process. Such reviews should also provide a description of the condition being reviewed, a summary of common problems in diagnosis and treatment, and a discussion of new theories in the medical literature for improving patient care.
Clinical Practice Although often similar to review articles in both content and structure, clinical practice articles emphasize findings and recommendations based on authors' clinical experience.
Brief Reports Brief reports should be structured as original contributions and should include at least the following sections: (1) a brief introduction to the topic, (2) an outline of study methods, (3) a description of results, and (4) a conclusion.
Case Reports A case report should include the following: (1) a brief narrative abstract; (2) an introduction to the topic (eg, prevalence, implications, differential diagnoses); (3) a description of the patient’s presentation, medical history, treatments, and outcomes; (4) a discussion of the case in the context of relevant medical literature; and (5) a conclusion.
Medical Education Medical education submissions may be structured as original contributions, review articles, or special communication articles. They should focus on curricular developments, standardized tests, or programs specific to osteopathic medical education.
Special Communication Submissions based on survey data will be considered for publication in this article category only. Manuscripts that report the results of survey-based studies are structured in a manner that is similar to that of original contributions, but they have additional requirements, particularly related to the "Methods" section. All articles based on survey data must (1) describe the validation process used and (2) detail how the survey was distributed and collected, including any follow-up mechanisms that were used. A copy of the original survey and the cover letter that accompanied the survey must be included with the manuscript submission.
Student Contributions Letters to the Editor Book Reviews We ask that all JAOA book reviewers address each book’s value to osteopathic physicians, assess the premise and content of the book, and substantiate those assessments with concrete examples from the book. In addition, reviewers should make a clear recommendation about whether JAOA readers should read the book and indicate which audiences would benefit most from reading it. To accomplish these tasks, book reviewers generally write at least 3 pages (double-spaced, set in 12-point font).
Readers are encouraged to submit to the JAOA's offices notification or copies of recently published books that they wish to be considered for review.
Notification of recently published books should be sent electronically to jaoa{at}osteopathic.org. Review copies should be addressed to the JAOA's editorial assistant at 142 E Ontario St, Chicago, IL 60611-2864.
A complete list of book reviews the JAOA has published is available here.
Peer Review and Publication Process
All manuscripts submitted to the JAOA are first reviewed by the AOA's editor in chief. Submissions are then reviewed by two or more experts in specialties or subspecialties relevant to the manuscripts.
The JAOA usually notifies authors of manuscript acceptance, revision requests, or rejection within 3 months of acknowledging receipt of manuscripts. Authors are encouraged to contact the JAOA if they have not received a status update in that period.
As a means of maintaining editorial and other quality standards, all accepted manuscripts are subject to editing and abridgment. Such editing takes place after manuscripts undergo peer review and author revision. During this editing process, the JAOA's staff editors revise all accepted manuscripts for clarity, organization, grammar, conformity to house style and format, and adherence to AOA-preferred terminology, nomenclature, and spelling. Staff editors also conduct basic fact checking, including verifying referenced statements. As a consequence, they may request copies of referenced materials that were not provided on submission. As noted under "Manuscript Submission," failure to provide copies of referenced material upon request may result in delayed publication.
Corresponding authors will receive galley proofs of edited manuscripts for review and comment before publication. Corresponding authors are responsible for responding to peer reviewers' comments and concerns and staff editors' queries. Corresponding authors are also responsible for verifying all statements in their articles, including confirming the accuracy of changes made by the JAOA’s staff editors. Failure to respond fully to peer reviewers' comments and concerns before manuscript acceptance, to address staff editors' queries, or to verify statements may result in publication delay.
Accepted manuscripts are scheduled for publication based on (1) article type (eg, original contributions are assigned the highest priority followed by systematic reviews and meta-analyses), (2) the timeliness of the topics the manuscripts address, and (3) the priority assigned by the AOA's editor in chief and the JAOA's associate editors.
Authors who would like their manuscripts considered for rapid review should justify that request in their cover letters.
Authors who are considering submitting multiple manuscripts that will convey the progression of a study or that are part of a series of articles intended to be published at the same time are strongly encouraged to contact JAOA staff in advance of submitting such articles.
Although tentative publication dates are provided to corresponding authors in advance as a courtesy, those dates are subject to change—with due notice—based on changes in priority made by the editor in chief, the associate editors, and the JAOA Editorial Advisory Board.
Public Registration Authors may register their studies with any trials registry that is electronically searchable and accessible to the public for free. In addition, the registry must be nonprofit, it must be open to all registrants, and it must have a mechanism to ensure the validity of the registration data.
Authors must provide the JAOA with the name of the public registry they used. The registry listings for research submitted to the JAOA must include information on the 20 items that the World Health Organization identified in 2004 as the minimal registration data set.
Manuscript Components
Cover letter—A cover letter addressed to AOA Editor in Chief Gilbert E. D'Alonzo, Jr, DO, must accompany each submission. The cover letter should provide the corresponding author's full name and contact information, including that author's full professional titles and affiliations, preferred mailing address, preferred e-mail address, day and evening telephone numbers, and preferred fax number.
The cover letter should specify the type of article being submitted for consideration (eg, original contribution), all of the relevant practice focus areas addressed in the manuscript (eg, gynecology, oncology, gynecologic oncology, gynecologic surgery), and the name of the institution from which the work initiated.
Finally, authors are encouraged to suggest reviewers for the AOA editor in chief and the JAOA's associate editors to consider. Title page—In addition to providing the title of a submission, the title page should state the date of submission.
The title page should list the full names of all authors according to the authors' preferred usage. Authors' names should include all doctoral and master degrees in the order in which they were earned. For authors without doctoral or master degrees, their highest earned academic degrees should be listed. In addition, the full professional titles and affiliations of all of the manuscript’s authors should be included on the title page.
To conform with the AOA's policy statement "Uniform Title for Osteopathic Medical Students" (Resolution 298 [A/2006]), the names of osteopathic medical students should include the OMS designation with the year of training in Roman numerals (eg, "OMS IV" should appear after the names of fourth-year osteopathic medical students).
Any manuscript submitted by osteopathic medical students, interns, or residents must include at least one trainer's name in the byline. The trainer should be a clinician or basic scientist who has a thorough understanding of the research or other work associated with the manuscript.
The title page should describe any financial support provided for the work on which the manuscript is based, and grant numbers should be provided.
For each author, the title page should include a financial disclosure statement (eg, employment, funding, or stock ownership with the manufacturer of the product studied) and a conflict of interest statement (eg, any nonfinancial affiliation with a group that may benefit from the study, such as serving on a formulary committee). In the event that authors do not have any potential conflicts to disclose, a statement to that effect must be made on the title page. A list of potential conflicts of interest is included in the "Manuscript Checklist". Abstract—The JAOA requires structured abstracts for original contributions, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and brief reports. Unstructured abstracts are acceptable for all other article types. Structured abstracts are limited to 350 words and unstructured abstracts are limited to 150 words. All abstracts are subject to abridgment before publication.
Structured abstracts for original contributions and brief reports should include at minimum the following four sections: context, methods, results, and conclusions. Structured abstracts for systematic reviews and meta-analyses should consist of at least the following six sections: objective, data sources, study selection, data extraction, data synthesis, and conclusions. Introduction—Authors should briefly introduce the topic of their manuscript. Methods—For a clinical trial with at least one prospectively assigned concurrent control or comparison group, the methods section must state the name of the public registry in which the trial was listed before subject recruitment began (see "Public Registration").
For a human or experimental animal investigation, the methods section must identify the institutional review board that approved the project. It must also state the manner in which informed consent was obtained from human subjects.
Authors must also clearly describe the basic study design; list measurement instruments and other tools used for independent and dependent variables, and clearly identify any modified or novel interventions that did not comply with approved or standard use.
In addition, authors must define the masking or blinding protocol and any statistical methods used, providing the full name of each method at first mention (eg, "Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient" rather than "Pearson's correlation coefficient") Results—Authors must report all outcome data and other results as they relate to the study's objectives and to the manuscript's "Methods" section. Where appropriate, authors should discuss the relevance and importance of their findings specific to osteopathic medicine. Comment—Authors should interpret the significance of the findings as they relate to other relevant literature, describe any limitations of the study, and make recommendations for future research. Conclusion—Authors should clearly indicate the study's major findings, outcomes, and lessons learned. Acknowledgments—Authors should limit acknowledgments to people who substantially contributed to either the study or the preparation of the manuscript.
Acknowledgments should list contributors' full names; highest earned academic degrees, including all doctoral and master degrees; and professional titles at academic and other institutions. Acknowledgments of osteopathic medical students should include the OMS designation after their names as indicated under "Title Page" of this section. Authors are required to obtain permission to name in print for all individuals listed in the acknowledgements section. Failure to submit permission to name individuals acknowledged in print may delay publication. References—References are required for all material derived from the work of others and should follow the guidelines described in the 10th edition of AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors (2007). References should include direct, open-access URLs (uniform resource locators) to full-text versions of the referenced articles. A URL to an abstract in the National Library of Medicine's PubMed database does not meet this requirement.
For journal articles that are not accessible online for free, authors must send photocopies via e-mail, fax or mail once their manuscripts are accepted for publication. For additional requirements and examples of reference style, click here.
When comparing the work of the manuscript with published studies, authors must refer to original documents rather than secondary sources. Graphic Elements Table headings should appear on the tables themselves. Labeled captions for figures, including illustrations, should be provided at the end of the manuscript. A full bibliographic citation should be provided in each caption for reprinted or adapted graphic element.
All patient information must be removed from or blocked out of graphic elements. Radiologic images in particular should be checked for patient information before being submitted to the JAOA.
Please note that although charts created in Microsoft Excel (.xls), Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt), or Microsoft Word (.doc) can be used in the peer-review process, once manuscripts are accepted for publication, JAOA staff cannot use these files for production purposes. The JAOA must recreate charts submitted in these formats before publication to ensure that the images are of reproduction quality. Authors, therefore, must provide data points on photocopies of charts if they are not accessible in the submitted formats. Subsequently, manuscripts that require these additional steps in the production phase may need to be rescheduled accordingly on the JAOA's editorial calendar. Failure to provide data points on request may delay publication.
Electronic tables—Authors should not insert, embed, or copy any graphic elements into word-processed manuscripts. Instead, they should prepare graphic elements as separate documents. Electronic line art and charts—Although electronic line art saved in encapsulated postscript format (.eps), such as Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop documents, is preferred for production purposes, .eps files cannot be used for review purposes. Therefore, authors who submit .eps files should also submit electronic line art in an alternate format, such as .pdf. Files saved to joint photographic experts group format (.jpg or .jpeg) can be used for both production and review purposes. (See resolution requirements in "Digital and Scanned Photographs.")
Any artwork that is not prepared in .eps or .jpg format will be re-created by the JAOA. For line art and charts that are not saved in either of the preferred formats, the JAOA will ask authors to provide data points if they are not discernable from the submitted electronic documents. The time required for re-creating charts may affect when manuscripts are scheduled for publication. Nondigital tables and figures—Tables and figures of this type should be sent to the JAOA's editorial assistant by regular mail, as should other nondigital graphic elements.
Authors should submit two sets of all nondigital illustrations. A self-adhesive label should be affixed to the back of each illustration, indicating the corresponding author's full name, the figure number, and which side is the top of the figure. Corresponding authors should retain copies of the original illustrations for future reference.
For hand-drawn illustrations, the JAOA strongly encourages authors to have them professionally created and to submit to submit good-quality glossy color photographs.
Digital and scanned photographs—Photographs taken with digital cameras and scanned photographs should be saved at the highest resolution setting. The minimum resolution that the JAOA can accept is 1024 × 768 pixels, and the minimum image resolution it can accept is 300 dpi (dots per inch). Authors should not enlarge photographs of lesser pixel sizes and dpi to meet these resolution requirements.
The JAOA prefers that images be saved in .jpeg format. However, high-resolution digital and scanned photographs in tagged image file format (.tif or .tiff) are acceptable, as long as they are compressed using a compression utility (eg, PKZIP, Aladdin StuffIt). The AOA’s e-mail server, however, may not accept files larger than 1 megabyte. Larger files should be mailed to the JAOA on CD-ROMs or DVDs.
The JAOA cannot accept photographs created for the World Wide Web (eg, photographs saved in graphics interchange format [.gif]).
If the quality of scanned photographs is poor, authors will be asked to provide the JAOA with the original film photographs.
Glossy print photographs—Print photographs should be of high contrast, and they should be on 5-inch × 7-inch color or black-and-white photographic paper.
The placement of arrows, symbols, letters, numbers, and other markers should be indicated on photocopies, not the original photos. In addition, authors should not write on the back of original photographs.
Authors should convert 35-mm slides to glossy prints and submit the prints along with the original 35-mm slides. The slides should be clearly labeled, with the top orientation marked on the front frames. Radiographic images and photomicrographs—For radiographic images, authors should provide positive-reading glossy prints. For photomicrographs, authors should indicate the original magnification and the staining methods used in the images' captions.
Supplemental Material For randomized controlled trials, authors must submit study flow diagrams.
Permissions Authors must also obtain written permission from patients to use their photographic images if those patients are identifiable in the images. If a patient is younger than 18 years, authors must obtain permission from one of the patient's parents or guardians. Authors are encouraged to use the JAOA's "Patient-Model Release" form for this purpose.
Authors must submit signed permissions from publishers, authors, and patients once their manuscripts are accepted for publication in the JAOA. Likewise, authors must submit signed permission from anyone explicitly named in their studies, including named sources for unpublished data and individuals listed in the acknowledgments.
Authors serving in the US military must obtain armed forces' approval for their manuscripts and provide military or institutional disclaimers when submitting manuscripts.
Failure to submit appropriate permission forms may delay publication.
Corresponding authors will receive six copies of the JAOA issues in which their articles appear. Authors who wish to receive additional copies should contact the JAOA's jaoa{at}osteopathic.org (800-621-1773, extension 8166) within 6 months after their articles are published.
No material published in the JAOA may be reprinted without the written permission of the AOA's director of publications.
All DO authors of articles published in the JAOA earn AOA Category 1-B continuing medical education credit for their contributions. The amount of credit varies based on the article type, ranging from 15 credit hours for writing original contributions and medical education articles to 3 credit hours for original authors responding to letters to the editor.
[Updated January 6, 2010, AKD]
Manuscripts in this category consist of expert critical viewpoints with practical applications for osteopathic physicians.
Submissions in this category substantively but briefly document clinical information, early-phase investigations and small pilot studies, clinical "pearls," and similar scholarly insights.
Case reports describe clinical presentations with newly recognized or rarely reported features or with strong relevance to osteopathic medicine.
Manuscripts in this category focus on osteopathic undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education.
Manuscripts in this category provide informed commentaries and hypotheses on biomedical topics, especially controversial issues.
Submissions that fall into any of the preceding categories and are written by osteopathic medical students, interns, or residents fall under this article category.
Osteopathic physicians, faculty members at osteopathic medical colleges, osteopathic medical students, and others in the healthcare professions are encouraged to submit comments related either to articles published in the JAOA or to the mission of the osteopathic medical profession. The JAOA's editors are particularly interested in letters that discuss recently published original research.
The JAOA is especially interested in books written by members of the osteopathic medical profession and books that address the profession’s mission. Book reviewers should send submissions to the JAOA's Book Review Editor Frederick J. Goldstein, PhD, at jaoa{at}osteopathic.org.
For manuscripts on phase 3 clinical trials, the trials must have been registered with at least one public registry before subject enrollment in the study. Other trials involving human subjects, including pilot studies, must meet this requirement if they have at least one prospectively assigned concurrent control or comparison group.
All accompanying tables and figures should be numbered, and they should be cited sequentially in the text.
For manuscripts based on survey data, copies of the original surveys and the cover letters that accompanied the surveys must be included with the other manuscript components at the time of submission.
Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from publishers and authors to adapt or reprint previously published tables, illustrations, and other graphic elements. Authors must specifically obtain permission to reprint or adapt graphic elements for both the JAOA’s print and online versions.
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