Aims and scope Annals of Medicine is a general medical journal that aims to bridge the gap between molecular medicine and clinical practice and to keep the readers abreast of recent developments across the major medical specialties.
Two regular series are published to serve this cause: “Trends in Clinical Practice” and “Trends in Molecular Medicine” that both report on clinically relevant achievements of basic science. In addition, compact Review and Mini Review Articles are published regularly. Special Sections provide the latest knowledge on current themes and Supplements are often based on an international symposium.
Annals of Medicine also publishes high-quality Original Articles that are of interest to a general medical audience, especially those that have emphasis on pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms of disease.
Submission Manuscripts should be submitted online at our Manuscript Central site:
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sann. New users should start by creating an account, and then follow the instructions provided. Manuscripts are submitted through the Author Centre. Authors for invited articles should follow the instructions given in the invitation e-mail.
All authors are required to fill in and sign a manuscript Submission Form which is available via the online submission service or upon request from annmed@informa.com.
Preparing the Article
Manuscript files should be structured as follows: 1) Title page, 2) Abstract, 3) Keywords, 4) 1-3 Key messages, 5) Abbreviations 6) Main text, including; a) Introduction, b) Material and Methods, c) Results and Discussion; 7) Acknowledgments, Disclosure of Interest; 8) References, 9) Legends of Figures and Tables, 10) Tables and/or Figures.
- Title page - should include: a) Full title (avoid abbreviations or proprietary names in the title) b) Running title (for page heading, max 50 characters), c) All contributing authors with full name, title and affiliation, d) Corresponding author details (to whom all decision letters and page proofs will be communicated, and to be noted in the printed manuscript), the e-mail address is the most important information. The titles should be short, clear, specific and suitable for indexing.
- Abstract - A structured abstract of no more than 200 words is required for all types of articles. For Original Articles please provide the abstrat subdivided into the appropriate sequential sections correlating to the subheadings in the article. Review Articles should include a “block style” non-structured abstract.
- Keywords - After the abstract, please include 3-10 Key Words placed in alphabetical order and according to the Medical Subject Headings list of Index Medicus.
- Key Messages - Please make a list of 1-3 Key Messages from the article, each forming a complete sentence, and include both in the manuscript text file but also entered in the designated area in the online submission form.
- Abbreviations - used in the text should all be explained and listed on a separate page after the Abstract.
- Main text - The text for articles and short communications should be structured with the following headings: Introduction, Material and Methods (including statistics, ethics and consent issues), Results and Discussion (bold, lower case). Reviews and Trend articles should have headings appropriate for the article type.
- Acknowledgements/ Disclosure of interests - Include only those who have made a valuable contribution to the work presented but who do not qualify as authors, with their contribution described. This may include a patient population and funding bodies. Use plain language and avoid adjectives. If appropriate, funding for publication, for writing or editorial assistance may be added.
- References - in Vancouver style (see details below).
- Figure and Table legends - Clearly marked with the heading of each table/figure.
- a) Tables - Can be included in the main document if created with the table tool in the word processing software. The number of tables and figures should be kept to a minimum. There should preferably not be repetition/overlap of information given in tables/figures/text. b) Figures - should be submitted as separate files in the best possible quality. Read more about accepted formats and quality requirements below.
A Cover Letter should be provided, where authors vouch for the accuracy of the manuscript according to the guidelines given here. This is also the place where authors may inform the Editors of any special circumstances or details regarding the submitted material, including prior publication of the material/parts of the material in a minority language.
Manuscript Style The text should be double-spaced with generous margins. Times New Roman in 12 pt size is the preferred font style. Smaller spacing and font may be used for references, tables and figure legends.
Subheadings may be used for clarification in the Material and Methods and Results sections, and must clearly differentiate from the main text using appropriate font style.
Language. English or American spelling is accepted if used consistently throughout the manuscript. Authors who do not use English as a first language should enlist the help of a colleague or translator who is proficient in medical English before submitting the manuscript for consideration. The quality of the language is the author's responsibility. All manuscripts will undergo copy-editing before printing, but language editing can only be undertaken to a limited extent at that point.
Length
Review Articles should not be longer than 30 pages in the style described above, Mini Reviews is allowed to be 10-15 pages and Original Articles not more than 25 A4 pages, including references. Remember that manuscripts are usually too long, not too short.
Main Text
Original Articles should be set out with the following subtitles: Introduction, Materials (or Patients) and Methods, Results, Discussion, References. The Materials (or Patients) and Methods should present a study protocol. In experimental studies of human subjects a statement should be included which indicates that the informed consent of the subjects and acceptance of the study protocol by a local ethics committee has been obtained. The results should be quantified and presented with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (e.g. confidence intervals). The mean and standard deviation (SD) should be given at a minimum; a sole reliance on the use of P values is not acceptable. The statistical method(s) and/or package used should also be stated. The Results should be presented in a logical sequence, and the Discussion should commence with a presentation of the major findings of the study and conclude with the implications and/or applications of the findings. Review Articles are structured more freely, yet the above instructions on statistics should be applied, when relevant.
Abbreviations and units
A phrase is spelt out when used for the first time followed by an appropriate abbreviation in parentheses. Abbreviations must be spelt out in figure legends and footnotes of tables. If the article contains many non-standard abbreviations, a separate list with explanations must be provided. A list of standard abbreviations is given at our website. All values should be expressed in SI units. For a list of standard abbreviations, see list at the bottom of this page.
Illustrations
Should be numbered and quoted consecutively in the text. Please capitalize only the first letter of a label, not every word, and define scale bars in figure legends, not on figures. Legends should be intelligible without reference to the text. For illustrations in colour in the hard copy of the journal, the authors are required to pay the full cost, USD 200 for the first colour page and USD 100 for any subsequent page. However, colour illustrations printed in black and white in the hard copy will be published in colour free of charge in the online version of the journal.
Format: EPS or TIFF preferred. Resolution: 1200 dpi greyscale mode for black and white images such as graphs and log scales, 600 dpi greyscale mode for images such as gels or blots, and 300 dpi CMYK mode for colour images. A figure should be no larger than 160mm in width and 200mm in height at the appropriate resolution. Figures with resolution lower than specified will not reproduce correctly and could delay publication. Please upload figures images as separate files in Manuscript Central.
Tables
Should be intelligible without reference to the text and should supplement, not duplicate it. Each table should be included in the main manuscript file on a separate page after the references. The legend should be typed above the first line of the table. If a table has to be continued, a second page should be used and all column headings repeated. All tables should be numbered (Roman) and each must have a caption/legend. Footnotes are indicated by using lower case alphabets as superscripts (e.g., Table Ia). P values are given as numbers (not as *, **, ***).
References The total number of references should not exceed 100. Number references consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Identify references in the text, tables and legends by Arabic numerals within parentheses, i.e. (1). References cited in tables and legends to figures should be numbered in accordance with a sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or illustration. See examples below. The titles of the journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus (see
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/libprog.html). The reference style is “Vancouver”.
List all authors when 6 or fewer; when 7 or more, list the first six and add 'et al'. If a journal carries continuous pagination throughout a volume the month and issue number are omitted in the reference list. Page numbers are given as “2284-90”, not “2284-2290”. The use of abstracts in the list of references should be avoided. Manuscripts accepted but not yet published are designated 'in press'. Unpublished observations as well as manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted should be cited in the text only as 'unpublished observations' with the authors' initials, surname and institution as well as the year when the observation was made. The references must be verified by the authors against the original documents.
- Janatuinen T, Friberg J, Viljanen MK, Raitakari OT, Nuutila P, Vainionpaa R, et al. Early impairment of coronary flow reserve is not associated with Chlamydia pneumoniae antibodies. Ann Med. 2002;34:284-90.
- The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Clinical exercise stress testing. Safety and performance guidelines. Med J Aust. 1996;164:282-4.
- Ringsven MK, Bond D. Gerontology and leadership skills for nurses. 2nd ed. Albany, NY: Delmar Publishers; 1996.
- Thapar A, McGuffin P. Quantitative genetics. In: Gelder MG, L
pez-Ibor JJ Jr, Andreasen NC, editors. New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2000. p. 242-55. - Kimura J, Shibasaki H, editors. Recent Advances in Clinical Neurophysiology. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical Neurophysiology; 1995 Oct 15-19; Kyoto, Japan. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier; 1996.
Example of reference style in figure legend Figure 1. Schematic representation of the respiratory chain. From reference (42) with permission.
Peer review Processs
The Editor-in-Chief and/or Corresponding Editor will screen and decide on suitability of submitted manuscripts with reference to the main aims of the journal. A manuscript may be declined/rejected before a peer-review process, if deemed out of scope or if it does not meet general standards of the journal. This may include reasons such as lack of scientific originality and poor design or execution. All other articles will be subject to peer-review by the Editor-in-Chief, the Corresponding Editor, the Technical Editor and representatives of the Editorial Board or selected experts within each field of expertise. This will ensure the quality and importance of published research. Usually, two reviewers will be invited to evaluate each manuscript and the Corresponding Editor and the Editor-in-Chief will take their comments under consideration when making a final decision. The review process is single-blinded, which means that the reviewers know the identity of the authors, but the authors will not know the identity of the reviewers. Manuscript handling times will be kept as short as possible.
Author proofs - final approval
Authors will be notified via e-mail when a manuscript is ready for final approval before publication. This e-mail provides instructions on how to log on to the online author service, where the final version of the manuscript can be downloaded as a printer ready PDF file.
To avoid delays of publication, proofs should be checked immediately and returned electronically through the online service, following the instructions given. Corrections submitted via the telephone are not accepted. Authors are advised that they are responsible for proof-reading of the author information, the text, references, tables and figures for absolute accuracy. Additional material or major corrections cannot be accepted at this stage, nor is substantial rewriting of paragraphs permitted. Such extensive changes may result in a delay or withdrawal of the article from publication. Any costs arising from major additional changes may also be charged to the authors.
Copyright It is a condition of publication that authors assign copyright or license the publication rights of the contents of their articles, including abstracts, to Informa Healthcare. This enables full copyright protection and dissemination of the article and the Journal, to the widest possible readership in electronic and print formats. A document to verify this will be sent upon acceptance for publication. This document should be signed by the corresponding author and returned to the publisher for archiving. To read more about Informa Healthcare's policy and guidelines regarding copyright, consult the online author service pages:
./authors_journals_copyright
Permissions
Permission to reproduce material published in other journals must be sought by the authors before publication of the article. Note about permissions granted should be included in the cover letter submitted together with the manuscript.
Permission to re-publish material from Annals of Medicince can be sought directly online with the Rightslink tool. Simply look for the article at the journal website, and then use the link 'Request permissions' located just above the abstract text on the article page. For mor information, please click this link: ./authors_journals_copyright_permissions_rightslink~db=all
Ethics and Consent
Identifying information should not be published in written declarations, photographs or pedigrees. Do not reveal patients' names, initials or hospital numbers, for example in illustrative material. Photographs of human subjects must be accompanied by informed consent of the person(s) concerned and requires that the person should see the manuscript before publication. Facial features must be unrecognisable.
The Editorial Office may request the authors to supply a pdf copy (or paper copy) of an ethical committee approval for articles describing animal experiments or clinical studies/trials (patients, patient material, medical records), including a verified and official translation of such documents. State in the ethics section that the procedures of the study received ethics approval from the relevant and named national, regional or institutional ethics/review committee(s) responsible for human/animal experimentation. Supply the date of issue and registration number. If no ethics approval was received, explain why, including an explanation as to how the study adhered to the Helsinki Declaration. If deemed necessary by the Editors, cases will be submitted to COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).
Editorial Office address:
Informa Healthcare, Attn: Annals of Medicine
P.O. Box 3255, SE-103 65 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel: +46 8 440 80 40; Fax: +46 8 440 80 50
The following abbreviations can be used without definition. All other abbreviations should be defined when first used in the text.
AIDS acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
bp base pair
°C degrees Celcius
kDa kilodalton
DNA deoxyribonucleic acid (also cDNA, etc.)
g gram(s)
h hour(s)
IU international unit(s)
kb kilobase
kcal kilocalories(s)
L litre(s)
µL microlitre(s)
mL millilitre(s)
m metre(s)
µm micrometre(s) (micron[s]; 10-6 meters)
min minute(s)
mmHg millimetres of mercury
mol mole(s)
n number in study, group
pH hydrogen ion concentration
P = P value (probability);
RNA ribonucleic acid (also mRNA, etc)
s second(s)
SD standard deviation
SE standard error
SEM standard error of the mean
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