Instructions for authorsChinese Medical Journal (CMJ) is an international, peer-reviewed general medical journal published in English semimonthly by the Chinese Medical Association and distributed worldwide. Manuscripts are welcome from any part of the world.MANUSCRIPT INFORMATIONManuscript requirementsManuscripts submitted to CMJ should meet the following criteria: the material is original; the writing is clear; the study methods are appropriate; the data are valid; the conclusions are reasonable and supported by the data.Manuscript submissionAuthors are required to submit their manuscripts online at .Previous publication or duplicate submissionManuscripts are considered with the understanding that they have not been published previously and are not under consideration by another publication. Copies of possibly duplicative materials that have been previously published or are being considered elsewhere must be provided at the time of manuscript submission.Previous presentationA complete report following presentation at a meeting or publication of preliminary findings elsewhere (e.g., an abstract) can be considered.CATEGORIES OF ARTICLESCMJ publishes editorial, original article, review article, medical progress, brief report,viewpoint, case report, letter, and many other categories of articles. Topics of interest include all subjects that relate to the practice of medicine and research.EditorialThese are usually commissioned, however, unsolicited editorials are welcome. We are keen to consider editorials or ideas for editorials from authors outside China. Editorials should be up to 2000 words long with no more than 25 references.Original articleManuscripts on epidemiological studies, studies of social medicine, clinical trials, especially large scale randomized controlled trials are welcome. Each manuscript should clearly state an objective or hypothesis, the methods, the main results of the study and the conclusions. The length is limited to 2000–4000words (not including tables, figures, and references).More than 20 references are encouraged to be cited in this kind of articles.Meta analysisOnly results of meta analysis are reported in this kind of article. The length of the article is within 2000–4000 words (not including tables, figures, and references). Medical progressThis kind of article is mainly solicited, but we also consider unsolicited articles. The length of the article is within 2000–4000 words (not including tables, figures, and references).Review articleReview articles include systematic, critical assessments of literature and data sources pertaining to different medical topics, such as cause, diagnosis, prognosis, therapy, or prevention, etc.The length is limited to 2000–4000words (not including tables, figures, and references).Brief reportThese articles are short reports of original studies. They should not exceed 2500 words with no more than 2 tables and/or two illustrations and 15 references.Clinical experienceAuthors of these articles provide their experiences for diagnosis, treatment or prevention of diseases. The length is up to 2500 words with no more than 2 tables and/or two illustrations and 15 references.ViewpointPersonal views are welcome and the length should be 1000–3000 words (not including tables, figures, and references). Authors of this type of articles should sign their real names; no anonymous pieces are published.Case reportAuthors usually describe one to three patients or a single family. The text is limited to no more than 2500 words, and up to 15 references.Clinical solutionsThe articles are evidence-based reviews of topics relevant to practicing physicians. Articles in this series should include the following sections: case report, clinical overview, strategies, clinical difficulties, and author’s personal opinions. The text is limited to 3000 words and a small number of figures and tables. Images for diagnosisAuthors can provide here with typical images of common or uncommon medical conditions. This feature is intended to capture the sense of visual discovery and variety that physicians experience. It is not intended as a vehicle for case reports.LetterLetters to editors discussing a recent CMJ article should be received within 3 months of the article’s publication and should not exceed 500 words of text and 5 references. Letters should also be submitted online.AUTHOR INFORMATIONDesignate a corresponding author and provide a complete address,telephone and fax numbers, and E-mail address.Authorship requirementsEach author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. One or more authors should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, from inception to published article. Authorship credit should be based on(1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; and (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (3) final approval of the version to be published.Conditions 1, 2, and 3 must all be met.1Group authorshipIf authorship is attributed to a group, all members of the group must meet the full criteria and requirements for authorship as described above. A group must designate at least one individual as corresponding author. Other group members may be listed in an Acknowledgment.Conflicts of interestAuthors should indicate relevant conflicts of interest, including specific financial interests relevant to the subject of their manuscript, in their covering letter. Authors without relevant financial interests in the manuscript should indicate no such interest.EDITORIAL REVIEW AND PUBLICATIONPeer reviewA CMJ editor reviews submitted manuscripts initially. Manuscripts with insufficient priority for publication are rejected promptly. Other manuscripts are sent to expert consultants for peer review. Peer reviewer identities are kept confidential.The manuscript under review is not revealed to anyone other than peer reviewers and editorial staff. We encourage authors to suggest the names of possible reviewers, but we reserve the right of final selection. Rejected manuscriptsRejected manuscripts and reasons for rejection can be found online. EditingAccepted manuscripts are copyedited first by native speakers and then by CMJ editors according to CMJ style and returned to the author for approval. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made by the editor and authorized by the corresponding author.PublicationAuthors are required to pay page fee if their manuscripts are accepted for publication. The publisher will provide the author (s) 2 copies of the journal free of charge.CopyrightThe Chinese Medical Association (CMA) is the owner of all copyrights to any articles published in the journal. Published manuscripts become the permanent property of the Chinese Medical Association and may not be published elsewhere without written permission. Chinese Medical Association keeps the right to use these manuscripts in any form, including print, video, audio, and digital.MANUSCRIPT PREPARATIONManuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) ().Submit the original manuscript online; use 1 side of standard-sized page and 1.5 cm margins.For Chinese authors, submission of a Chinese version of the manuscript (or abstract) is recommended.Use only 10- or 12-point font size.On the title page include the full names and affiliations of all authors. If an author’s affiliation has changed since the work was done, list the new affiliation as well. Titles should be concise and descriptive. The name, address, telephone number, fax number, and E-mail address of the correspondence author should be addressed. Any grant support that requires acknowledgment should be mentioned on this page.Measurements of length, height, weight, and volume should be reported in metric units (meter, kilogram, or liter) or their decimal multiples. Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius. Blood pressures should be given in millimeters of mercury. All hematological and clinical chemistry measurements should be reported in the metric system in terms of the International System Units (SI).Use nonproprietary names of drugs, devices, and other products, unless the specific trade name of a drug is directly relevant to the discussion.Do not use abbreviations in the title or abstract and limit their use in the text.A covering letter signed by all authors includes(1) information on prior or duplicate publication or submission elsewhere of any part of the study; (2) the statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors and that the criteria for authorship have been met; (3) the statement on financial or other conflict of interests; and (4) any suggestions such as referring possible unqualified reviewers due to conflict of interests, etc. The corresponding author must sign the acknowledgment statement. Authors should obtain written permission from all individuals named in an acknowledgment.JOURNAL STYLETablesTables should be simple and no duplicate information should appear in the text of the article. Tables should be numbered consecutively, and headed by a concise title. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table. Forfootnotes use the following symbols in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, **, ††, ‡‡.FiguresComplete sets of illustrations must be submitted with legends typed on the same page. Only clear photographs are acceptable. All lettering must be legible after reduction to column size. Magnification and staining should be indicated when pertinent. AbbreviationsUse only standard abbreviations. Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract. The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measurement.Ethical requirementFor experimental investigations of human subjects, state in the Methods section that an appropriate institutional review board approved the project. For those investigators who do not have formal ethics review committees,the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki2 should be followed. For investigations of human subjects, state in the Methods section the manner in which informed consent was obtained from the study participants.Patient descriptions, photographs, and pedigreesInclude a signed statement of informed consent to publish (in print and online) patient descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees from all persons (parents or legal guardians for minors) who can be identified in such written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees. Such persons should be shown the manuscript before its submission.Permissions required to reproduce or adapt material Acknowledge all text, illustrations, and tables adapted or reproduced from other publications and submit permission from the original publishers(or other copyright owner) to republish in print, online, and licensed versions of CMJ.ReferencesNumber references in the order they appear in the text; do not alphabetize. In text, tables, and legends, identify references with superscript Arabic numerals. When listing references,abbreviate titles of journals according to Medline. Note: List authors and/or editors up to 6; if more than 6, list the first 6 authors followed by et al.Examples of reference style:1. Liu XP, Long DY, Dong JZ, Liu XQ, Fang DP, Hao P, et al. Recurrent atrial tachycardia and atrial fibrillation after circumferential pulmonary vein a blation: What’s the difference? Chin Med J 2005; 118: 1773-1778.2. Xie SZ, Gu MJ, Cheng YP. Inhibitory effect of medroxyprogesterone acetate on angiogenesis induced by malignant neoplasm. Chin J Obstet Gynecol (Chin)* 1998; 33: 113-114.3. Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathogenic properties of invading microorganisms. In: Sodeman WA Jr., Sodeman WA, eds. Pathologic physiology: mechanisms of disease. Philadelphia: Saunders; 1974: 457-472.4. Dannenberg AM. Immune mechanisms in the pathogenesis of pulmonary tuberculosis. Rev Infect Dis 1989; 11 Suppl 2: s369-s378.5. Payne DK, Sullivan MD, Massie MJ. Women’s psychological reactions to breast cancer. Semin Oncol 1996; 23(1 Suppl 2): 89-97.6. Ozben T, Nacitarhan S, Tuncer N. Plasma and urine sialic acid in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Ann Clin Biochem 1995;32 (Pt 3): 303-306.7. Turan I, Wredmark T, Fellander-Tsai L. Arthroscopic ankle arthrodesis in rheumatoid arthritis. Clin Orthop 1995; (320): 110-114.8. Cumulative number of reported cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Geneva: World Health Organization, 2003. (Accessed April 9, 2003 at http://www.who.int/csr/sarscountry/ 2003_04_04/en/.)*: It is especially needed to note “(Chin)” for articles published in Chinese.Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and for correct citation of the text.REPORT OF ORIGINAL DATAAbstractInclude a structured abstract of no more than 300words for original articles, meta analysis, brief report, clinical experience (Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions) and review articles (Objective, Data sources, Study selection, Results, Conclusions); an informative abstract for medical progress, viewpoint, case report, clinical solutions and images for diagnosis.KeywordsThree to 6 words or short phrases should be provided at the top of the abstract page as keywords. Terms from the medical subject heading (MeSH) list of Medline should be used; if suitable MeSH terms are not yet available for recently introduced terms, present terms may be used.IntroductionIntroduction should be short and arresting. State the purpose of the article and summarize the rationale for the study or observation. Give only strictly pertinent references and do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported.MethodsDescribe your selection of the observational or experimental subjects (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly. Identify the age, sex, and other important characteristics of the subjects.Iden tify the methods, apparatus (list the manufacturer’s name and original country in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods; provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them, and evaluate theirlimitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name (s), dose (s), and route (s) of administration.Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major study elements including the protocol (study population, interventions or exposures, outcomes, and the rationale for statistical analysis), assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups), and the method of masking (blinding). Authors are recommended to refer to the CONSORT Statement 3 for details.ResultsOverall describe the major findings of the study. Present your results in logical sequence in the text, tables and illustrations. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. DiscussionSummarize the major findings. Discuss possible problems with the methods used. Compare your results with previous work. Discuss the clinical and scientific (if any) implications of your findings and their limitations. Suggest further work. Produce a succinct conclusion.MANUSCRIPT CHECKLISTSubmit complete text of your manuscript online (including tables, figures, etc), in addition, domestic authors should submit Chinese version of the complete text or its abstract.Review the sequence: covering letter, title page, key words and abstract, text, acknowledgments, references, tables, legends for illustrations.Check all references for accuracy and completeness. Put references in proper format in numerical order, making sure each is cited in the text.Include written permission from each individual identified as a source for personal communication.Include informed consent forms for identifiable patient descriptions, photographs and pedigrees.Keep copies of everything submitted.Manuscript inquiriesTel:86-10-85158321.Fax:86-10-85158333.Email:***********. cn.REFERENCES1.International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniformrequirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals.(Accessed September 10, 2009 at: )2.World Medical Association. Declaration of Helsinki: Ethicalprinciples for medical research involving human subjects.(Accessed September 6, 2005 at: /e/policy/ pdf/ 17c.pdf)3.Schulz KF, Altman DG, Moher D, for the CONSORT Group.The CONSORT statement: revised recommendations for improving the quality of reports of parallel-group randomized trials. (Accessed October 28, 2010 at: http://www.consort- )。
