| | • Instructions for Authors
• Disclosure
Statement & Copyright Form for new Submissions
• Disclosure
Statement & Copyright Form for Resubmissions
• Disclosure
Statement & Copyright Form for Revisions of Evaluations in Progress
• Glossary of Methodologic Terms
• Checklist
• Supplementary Guide on Stylistic Preparation of Manuscript
• Reference format
The Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is the
official
journal of the American Congress of Rehabilitation
Medicine (ACRM). Its purpose is to
publish original, peer-reviewed research and clinical
reports in
physical medicine and rehabilitation, and to inform rehabilitation
professionals of developments that affect them in the
nonclinical
aspect of their practices.
Information for Authors is divided into the following
sections: Manuscript Processing, Publication Categories,
Authorship,
Manuscript Preparation, Manuscript Submission,
Instructions for Preparing Structured Abstracts, Checklist, and
Uploading
Electronic Files.
Manuscript Processing
Review Process
All submissions will be screened by editors to determine
suitability for review. Manuscripts approved for review will be
evaluated
by at least 1 recognized expert in the particular
subject matter. Biostatistical review may be obtained. Peer
reviewers' assessments
are referred to a member of the Editorial
Board, who may also critique the manuscript. A decision is
then made. All reviews are conducted
in a double-blind fashion.
Because of this policy, authors must follow the instructions in
the section Manuscript Preparation.
Letters
to the editors and editorials are usually evaluated by
an editorial committee, but external review may be sought.
Published annually
without peer review are the ACRM presidential address, and the John Stanley Coulter
Lecture. The
Editorial Board does not peer review
the published abstracts of
posters, platform presentations of scientific papers, and audiovisual
materials presented at the ACRM annual
meeting.
Archives publishes the official documents of ACRM. These documents are not peerreviewed by Archives and
include position papers and other materials approved by the
Boards of Governors.
Manuscript Submission & Review
Manuscripts
must be submitted through the journal's online system (http://ees.elsevier.com/archives-pmr/ ). A cover letter identifying
the corresponding author must be included.
The review process will not begin until authors have complied
completely with the submission
requirements. Compliance includes
submission of: (1) the Disclosure Statements and Copyright Assignment form; (2) a proper abstract
as outlined
in this document; and (3) the manuscript itself, and (4) a completed Checklist.
The Editorial Board member assigned responsibility
for a particular
manuscript communicates editorial decisions to the designated
corresponding author. Decisions are usually communicated
within no more than 60 days after the manuscript has been
approved for peer review.
Electronic Files
An electronic version
of the manuscript, including all tables and
figures, must be submitted in masked form with the hard copy. For
details on preferred softwares,
see Submitting Electronic Files.
Revisions
Manuscripts revised at the request of the Editorial Board
must include a
document, separate from the cover letter, indicating what revisions have and/or
have not been made in response to the Editorial Board's
recommendations.
If
revisions are not received within the time specified, the manuscript
file will be closed. A revision received after
a file has
been closed will be handled as a new submission. An extension
beyond the deadline may be granted at the Editorial Board's
discretion, but only in extenuating circumstances, given the
editors' commitment to prompt publication.
Appeal Process
Authors may appeal a decision to the Editor-in-Chief ofArchives. This appeal must: (1) be in writing, (2) rebut the
negative
decision, and (3) be submitted within 30 days after the
decision. The Editor-in-Chief will assign the appeal to an
Editorial Board member
for review. The decision from the
appeal is final.
Accepted Manuscripts
Manuscripts accepted for publication are subject
to editing
that may result in requests for certain additions, deletions, or
clarifications. Journal style is based on the AMA Manual
of
Style. Once all questions have been resolved, the manuscript
will be typeset and the designated corresponding author only
will
receive page proofs for approval. Proofs must be returned
by the corresponding author within 48 hours of
receipt to Elsevier, as outlined
in the e-mail instructions accompanying galley pages.
All accepted manuscripts become the permanent property
of Archives and may
not be published elsewhere without
written permission from the publisher.
Reprints
Reprint order forms are provided
to authors by e-mail in a downloadable PDF format. The reprint form is sent with an e-mail acknowledgment to the author from Elsevier
confirming receipt of the accepted manuscript. Reprint orders should be submitted within 15 days to ensure delivery within 6 weeks after
publication. Archives does not provide complimentary reprints.
Publication categories
Contributions to Archives usually are in 1 of the following
categories: Articles; Clinical Notes; Brief Reports; Commentaries; Review
Articles
(Meta-Analyses); Clinical Management Reviews; Clinical
Implications of Basic Research; Special Communications;
Editorials; and
Letters to the Editor.
Articles: Present new and important basic and clinical information,
extend existing studies, or
provide a new approach
to a traditional subject. Manuscripts should be limited to 3000
words of text. Figures, tables, and references
should be limited
to the number needed to clarify, amplify, or document the text.
Clinical Notes: Report an observation
that is interesting, new, or of sufficient import to warrant attention. Manuscripts should be limited to 3000 words of text; an extensive
review of the literature is not necessary, and references should be limited. One or 2 figures and/or tables usually suffice to supplement
the text.
Brief Reports: Provide preliminary communications of new data, research methods, brief case studies of interest,
new ideas, and techniques. Manuscripts should be limited to 1250 words of text (or 1000 words plus 1 fig or table), and no more than
10 references.
Commentaries: Focus on issues in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Manuscripts should be limited to 2000
words of text. The Editorial Board reserves the right to ensure that the author is qualified, through education and professional experience,
to write knowledgeably and appropriately about a particular subject before accepting a Commentary for publication.
Review Articles
(Meta-Analyses): The Editorial Board invites
proposals for state-of-the-art review articles. Persons interested
in writing a review
article should identify in an email
to the Editorial Board's Review Article Committee the particular
topic they propose to review. The
email should include a
1-2 page detailed outline of the article and a bibliography
that demonstrates that research sufficient to justify
a review
article. Curriculum vitae of all authors who intend to write the
article must also be submitted, and must reflect the authors'
expertise in the proposed topic. Authors
should not submit a completed review article until they are
formally invited to do so by the
Review Article Committee.
Manuscripts should be limited to 5000 words of text, exclusive
of references. Authors must submit financial
disclosures before
a decision is made on any proposal. The Committee prefers
systematic reviews of the literature.
Clinical Management
Reviews: The Editorial Board invites proposals for Clinical Management Reviews that will help rehabilitation practitioners solve
common clinical problems. Manuscripts should focus on clinical elements commonly seen in rehabilitation practice; they should not contain
research data from previously unreported research, speculation, or extensively review the literature. Manuscripts should be limited to
3000 words, not more than 30 references, and a maximum of 2 tables and 4 figures.
Clinical Implications of Basic Research:
The Editorial
Board invites proposals for articles that discuss the clinical
implications of basic research in physical medicine and
rehabilitation.
Manuscripts should develop new concepts that facilitate
the understanding and treatment of disease processes that
may
impact rehabilitation professionals' practice. Persons interested
in writing an article should identify in an email to the
Editorial
Board's Review Article Committee the particular
topic they propose to explore. The email should include a
detailed outline and curriculum
vitae of all authors who intend
to write the article. Authors should not submit a completed
manuscript until they are formally invited
to do so by the
Review Article Committee. Manuscripts should be limited to
4000 words, exclusive of references.
Technical concepts must
be explained succinctly for the technically
uninformed.
Special Communications: Provide information or an objective analysis
of issues in physical medicine and rehabilitation that does not qualify as a research or clinical paper or commentary. Manuscripts are
peer reviewed, and should be limited to 5000 words of text, exclusive of references.
Editorials: Editorials published in Archives
may only be written by the elected officers of ACRM, or by members of the Editorial Board. Prior to publication, all editorials are approved
by the Editorial Board's Executive Committee. Editorials do not represent the opinions or positions of ACRM or the Editorial Board. Editorials
should be limited to 1000 words of text.
Letters to The Editor: Letters are published at the discretion of the Editorial Board.
Letters should be brief and directly related to the published article on which it comments. Letters may not reference unpublished studies
or reference "in press" studies that are not publicly available. The editorial staff reserves the right to condense and edit without
consulting the writer. Letters must be limited to 500 words of text, 1 table, and no more than 5 references.
Authorship
Manuscripts should have no more than 6 authors; a greater number requires written justification. The order of authorship is a joint
decision of the coauthors.
Authorship Responsibility
Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions
to (1) conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (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. Participation solely in the acquisition or data does not justify authorship, nor does general supervision of the research group.
Archives may require authors to justify the assignment of
authorship. Increasingly, multicenter trials are attributed to
a
corporate author. All members of the group who are named as
authors, either in the authorship position below the title or in a
footnote,
must fully meet the criteria for authorship as defined
in the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to
Biomedical Journals."1
Group members not meeting these criteria
should be listed, with their permission, in the acknowledgments.
Acknowledgments to other investigators
for advice
or data must be documented by written authorization specifically
granting permissions to the authors.
Copyright Agreement:
The specified copyright statement
(see Disclosure Statements & Copyright Assignment) must be
completed and submitted with the manuscript
in accordance with submission instructions. As noted above,peer review will not begin until this document is accurately
and fully completed.
Disclosure Statements
Archives has 2 distinct processes for disclosure: (1) a 2-step process at submission of
a new manuscript and (2) a single-step process at resubmission of a manuscript previous considered by the editors but not published.
Disclosure at Original Submission
Disclosure at submission of new study (ie, not a resubmission) is a 2-step process.
Step 1: Archives requires the author submitting the manuscript to complete and upload the electronic version of the
journal's Disclosure Statements & Copyright Assignment form. At initial submission, Archives requires a formal disclosure
only from the submitting author. By this act, the author submitting the manuscript will serve as the guarantor for all coauthors in presenting
accurate disclosures for the author group. The guarantor is expected to consult with all coauthors about the disclosures he/she provides.
Step 2: If an editor seeks revision of a manuscript, at that point Archives will require, prior to submission of
the revised manuscript, original copies from all coauthors of the journal's Disclosure Statements & Copyright Assignment form. Review
of the revision will not commence until the editors have received fully and accurately completed Disclosure Statements & Copyright
Assignment forms from all coauthors. The editors expect the guarantor's group disclosure at submission to be consistent with the individual
disclosures received at the revision stage. A written explanation will be required if this is not the case.
Disclosure at Resubmission
At resubmission of a study that previously was not accepted for publication, all coauthors must submit (upload PDF of original documents
to submission system or fax the forms to editorial office) original copies of the journal's Disclosure Statements & Copyright Assignment
form. Review of the resubmitted manuscript will not commence until the editors have received fully and accurately completed Disclosure
Statements & Copyright Assignment forms from all coauthors.
Financial Disclosure: Archives requires a Financial
Disclosure
Statement from the authors of a submitted manuscript. The guarantor must include in the title page to the manuscript the
applicable financial disclosure, as selected in the Disclosure Statements & Copyright Assignment form.The statement does not affect
the decision to publish a manuscript; that
decision is made solely on the basis of the article's content and its
value to the journal's
readers. The selected statement will be published with the article.
Conflict of Interest: Authors must reveal to the Editorial
Board any conflicts of interest that the Editorial Board or
readers would reasonably consider relevant to the research,
analysis, or
interpretation presented in the manuscript. This
information will be held in confidence by the Board, unless the
study is accepted and,
in the Board's judgment, readers need to
know the general nature of this possible conflict; in that case,
a general description of the
conflict will be published with the
article.
Device Status: A Device Status Statement is required for each published manuscript.
The statement does not affect the decision to publish a manuscript; that decision is made solely on the basis of the article's content
and its value to the journal's readers. The applicable statements are found in the section Disclosure Statements & Copyright Assignment.
The selected statement may be published with the article.
Redundant or Duplicate Publication
Archives, as a primary
source periodical, does not consider for publication material that already has been reported in a published article or is described in
a paper submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere, in any print or electronic media. Abstracts (250-300 words) of preliminary research
findings that are published in conference proceedings are not considered previous publications (except for submissions to the Brief Reports
category). This policy does not usually preclude consideration of a manuscript that has been rejected by another journal or of a complete
report that follows publication of a preliminary report, usually in the form of an abstract (250-300 words). Press reports on papers
presented at a meeting will not usually be considered prior publication, but such reports should not be amplified by additional data
or copies of tables and illustrations.
Authors submitting manuscripts to Archives must include in their cover letter an
explanation and copy of any prior publication (published article, article in press, manuscript under review, published abstract) of
the same or substantially similar work, and should explain any circumstances that might cause the Editorial Board to believe that the
manuscript may have been published elsewhere (eg, similar titles). Authors must state whether the paper includes subjects about whom
a previous report has been published.
Authors must include 2 reprints of any published article or 2 copies of any submitted manuscript
that deals in any respect whatsoever with the same patients, same animals, same laboratory experiment, or same data--in part or in full--as
are being reported in the manuscripts they submit to Archives.
Duplicate Publication: Duplicate publication is
the publication
of the same paper or substantially similar papers in more
than 1 journal. Publication more than once of the same study
results, whether or not the wording is the same, is rarely
justified. Articles previously published in another language will
not be considered
for publication.
The Editorial Board will take appropriate disciplinary action
against authors who engage in duplicate publication
of the
same or substantially same data. The Editorial Board reserves
the right to consult with other journals about the content of the
papers in question. Further, the Editorial Board (1) may return
a manuscripts unreviewed, (2) may not consider any manuscripts
from the
author(s) for a period of time, (3) may announce
publicly in Archives that the authors have submitted a
previously published
article, or (4) may take any combination
of these actions.
If the paper is accepted and published before evidence of
duplication is
discovered, the Editorial Board will announce
the duplication in Archives and/or will request that the authors
write a letter
acknowledging the duplicate publication. The
Editorial Board will notify appropriate institutions, ranging
from national databases to
the authors' departments or university
administrators, at its discretion. The Editorial Board may
decide not to consider any studies
from the author(s) for a period
of time.
Simultaneous Submission: Authors may not submit the
same manuscript simultaneously
to more than 1 journal. If the
Editorial Board learns of possible simultaneous submission, it
reserves the right to consult with the
other journal that received
the manuscript. Further, the Editorial Board may return the
manuscript without review, or may reject it without
regard to
peer reviewer recommendations and may decide not to consider
any studies from the author(s) for a period of time.
Preliminary
Release: Preliminary release, usually to the
media, of scientific information described in a study that has
been accepted by Archives
but not yet published violates the
copyright agreement between the authors and the journal. The
Editorial Board in certain situations
may approve advance
release of data (eg, to warn the public of health hazards).
Authors should contact the editorial office to discuss
embargoes.
Clinical Trial Registration
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Council
of Science Editors support the registration of prospective clinical trials that involve human subjects "to study the cause-and-effect
relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome." Archives's editors have adopted in principle the spirit of
the requirement to register clinical trials, at or prior to subject enrollment. At this time, however, it is not a requirement of submission
that authors whose studies meet the ICMJE criteria (criteria available at: http:/www./archives-pmr.org ) register their
trials or, if they do, comply fully with the Minimal Registration Data Set. In the future and by prior notice, Archives's editors
may make registration and compliance mandatory, that is, a condition prior to peer review. Authors who have registered their trials should
provide the trial registration number in the cover letter to their submissions. Registration numbers will appear in all content published
in the journal.
IRB and Animal Care Committee Approval
Research submitted to Archives must comply with accepted
ethical standards for human and animal research. When submitting work to Archives, authors must certify (1) that their institution
or the appropriate regional institution approved the protocol for any investigation involving humans or animals (or that the research
complied with the Declaration of Helsinki and (2) that the conduct of all investigation conformed to the protocol and the ethical and
and humane principles of research.
Case Reports and Single-Case Studies
With the implementation of the US Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), federal regulations now govern the privacy of patient data in the United States. To comply
with HIPAA without comprising important clinical detail, authors submitting case reports (category Clinical Notes) or single-case studies
(category Articles) are required to assure the anonymity of patients (including names, uniquely identifying personal descriptors, detailed
family trees, and geographic location).
Authors need to deidentify subjects in the manuscript and photographs OR obtain from each patient
a written consent to publish the manuscript and photographs
(Consent
Form ). If patient consent for publication is obtained, a copy of that document must accompany the manuscript submission.
All manuscripts submitted to
Archives, whether from domestic or international authors, must comply with this standard at submission.
Patients' Rights to Privacy
Patients and research subjects have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without
informed consent. Identifying information will not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information
is essential for scientific explanation and the patient (or legal proxy) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent
for this purpose requires that the patient or proxy be shown the manuscript to be published.
Identifying details should be omitted
if they are not essential, but patient data should not be altered or falsified to attain anonymity. Complete anonymity is difficult to
achieve, and informed consent should be obtained when doubt exists. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of patients is
inadequate protection of anonymity.
Manuscript preparation
Authors should prepare manuscripts
according to the "Uniform
Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical
Journals,"1 as developed by the International Committee
of
Medical Journal Editors. A copy of the Requirements is available
at
http://www.icmje.org .
Manuscripts
must be double-spaced throughout, including title page, abstract, text, acknowledgments, references, individual tables, and legends.
Use only standard 12-point type and spacing. Use unjustified, flush-left margins and letter-quality printing. Number pages consecutively,
beginning with the title page. Put the page number in the upper or lower right-hand corner of each page. Number each line on each page
to facilitate peer review.
Title Page
The title page should include:
(1) a short running head of no more than 40 characters
(count letters and spaces)
(2) the article title (informative but concise);
(3) first name, middle initial, and last name of
each author,
with highest academic degree(s);
(4) all authors' institutional affiliations (department, institution,
city, state/province);
(5) disclaimers, if any;
(6) if all or part of the material in the manuscript was
presented at a meeting, report the organization,
city, and
date of presentation
(7) the source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment,
drugs, or all of these;
(8) the
authors' financial disclosure (as selected in the Disclosure Statements & Copyright Assignment form) and description of authors'
conflicts of interest
(9) complete name, address, telephone number, fax number,
and e-mail address of the designated corresponding
author
to whom all communications and reprint requests should be addressed; and
(10) a statement if
reprints will not be available
from the authors.
Abstract
For Articles reporting original data (Article; Brief Reports;
Prosthetics, Orthotics, Devices;
Clinical Management Reviews;
Clinical Implications of Basic Research) and Review
Articles (including Meta-Analyses), see the Instructions
for
Structured Abstracts. For other manuscripts (eg, Clinical
Notes, Commentaries, Special Communications), include a
conventional, unstructured
abstract of no more than 200 words.
Accompanying all abstracts, authors must provide 3 to 5 Key
Words. Key words must be selected
from the US National
Library of Medicine's (NLM) Permuted Medical Subject
Headings, which is available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html
.
Text (see Instructions for Structured Abstracts)
The text of observational
and experimental articles is usually
divided into sections with the headings Introduction, Methods,
Results, Discussion, and Conclusions.
Longer articles may
need subsection headings to clarify their content, especially the
Results and Discussion sections.
Clinical Notes
are usually divided into sections with the headings
Introduction, Case Description, Discussion, and Conclusions.
Clinical Management
Reviews should have the following
sections: Introduction, Summary of Pertinent Research, Therapeutic
Approach, and Conclusions.
Other
types of articles such as Commentaries and Special
Communications do not require this format.
Introduction: State the purpose
of the article. Summarize the rationale for the study or observation. Give only pertinent references, and do not review the subject extensively.
Do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported.
Methods:Describe the selection of the observational or experimental
subjects (patients or experimental animals, including controls)
clearly. Discuss eligibility of experimental subjects. Give
details about
randomization. Describe the methods for any blinding
of observations. Identify the methods, equipment and materials,
and procedures in
sufficient detail to allow others to reproduce
the results. Reference established methods, including statistical
methods (see below);
provide very 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 their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals
used, including generic name(s),
dose(s), and route(s) of
administration.
Archives will accept only studies that have strictly observed a sufficient length
of time for follow-up. For a surgical procedure, the recommended minimum follow-up period is 2 years. For a nonsurgical modality, a 1-year
follow-up period is recommended. Long-term follow-ups are important and encouraged. All follow-up studies must be evaluated by an unbiased
observer. Follow-up studies based solely on chart material are not acceptable.
When reporting work with human subjects, indicate
whether the procedures followed protocol and accord with the ethical standards of the responsible institutional review board, ethics
committee or with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 1983, as appropriate for the country where the research took place.2
Do not use patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in any illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals,
indicate whether the procedures followed accord with the institution's committee on animal experimentation or with the National Research
Council's guide on the care and use of laboratory animals. Archives may require authors to verify the above procedures.
Describe statistical methods in enough detail to enable knowledgeable readers with access to the original data to verify the reported
results. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (eg, confidence
intervals [CIs]). Avoid sole reliance on statistical hypothesis testing, such as P values, which fails to convey important quantitative
information. Researchers should report and identify the specific statistical test used and the obtained statistical value. Researchers
should supplement the results of any statistical value. Researchers should supplement the results of any statistical significance test
with the use of effect size values or CIs. Measures of effect size or CIs should be routinely included in quantitative clinical trials
reported in rehabilitation research. The statistical power values and the corresponding type II error probability should always be reported
for statistically nonsignificant results. The investigator should ensure that there is sufficient power to detect, as statistically significant,
a clinically meaningful treatment effect of an a priori specified size.3 References for study design and statistical methods
should be to standard works (with pages stated) rather than to papers in which designs or methods were originally reported. Specify any
general use computer programs used. Avoid nontechnical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as "random" (which implies a randomizing
device), "normal," "significant," "correlation," or "sample." Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and symbols. The Editorial Board
has adopted the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards for Reporting Trials) statement, which applies to randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
When submitting manuscripts on RCTs, authors must include the CONSORT flow diagram outlining the progress of subjects through the various
phases of the RCT. The flow diagram and explanation can be accessed at http://www.consort-statement.org/Downloads/flowchart.doc
.
Results: When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Describe
the success of any blinding of observations. Report treatment complications. Give numbers of observations. Report losses to observation
(ie, dropouts from a clinical trial). Present results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. Restrict tables and
figures to those needed to explain arguments and to assess their support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do
not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables, illustrations, or both; emphasize or summarize
only important observations.
Discussion: Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the concl Emphasize the
new and important aspects of the
study and the conclusions that follow from them. Do not repeat in
detail data or other material given
in the Introduction or the
Results section. Include in the Discussion section the implications
of the findings and their limitations,
including implications for
future research. Authors should address the issue of effect magnitude,
in terms of both the statistics reported
and the implications
of the research. Relate the observations to other relevant studies. Authors must include in the Discussion section
a subsection, Study Limitations, to discuss the limitations of the study.
Conclusions: Link the conclusions with the study's
goals but
avoid unqualified statements not completely supported by the data.
Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that is incomplete.
State new hypotheses when warranted, but clearly label them as
such. Recommendations, when appropriate, may be included.
Acknowledgments
One or more statements should specify: (1) contributions
that do not justify authorship (ie, third-party statistical analysis,
writing/editing);
and (2) acknowledgments of technical help.
Acknowledge financial and material support and financial
relationships that may pose a
conflict of interest on the title
page (see Manuscript Preparation and Disclosure Statements &
Copyright Assignment).
Persons
who have contributed intellectually to the manuscript but
whose contributions do not justify authorship must be named
and their function
or contribution described, eg, "scientific
adviser," "critical review of study proposal," "data collection,"
or "participation in clinical
trial." Such persons must give
permission to be named. Authors are responsible for obtaining
written permission from persons acknowledged
by name because
readers may infer their endorsement of the data and
conclusions.
Clerical, administrative, and laboratory staff should
not be
acknowledged, unless they have contributed significantly to the
research, writing, or intellectual quality of the article.
References
References in manuscripts accepted by Archives shall include only material that is retrievable through
standard literature searches. Number references consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the text. Identify references
in text, tables, and legends by superscript Arabic numerals. References cited only in tables or in legends to figures should be numbered
in accordance with a sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.
Use the style
of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the NLM in Index Medicus. The titles of journals should be abbreviated
according to the style used in Index Medicus. Consult List of Serials Indexed in Index Medicus, which is available
from the NLM and at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lsiou.html .
Try to avoid using abstracts as references; "unpublished
observations" and "personal communications" may not be used as references, although references to written, not oral, communications may
be inserted (in parentheses) in the text. Avoid "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from
a public source. In this case, cite the name of the person and date of communication in parentheses in the text. For scientific articles,
authors should obtain written permission and confirmation of accuracy from the source of personal communication.
Include among the
references those papers accepted but not yet published; designate the journal and add "In press." Authors must obtain written permission
to cite such papers as well as verification that they have been accepted for publication. Editors will request from the author(s) a copy
of the letter from the journal accepting the "in press" article if the manuscript in which it is cited is accepted by Archives.
Information from manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted should be cited in the text as "(unpublished observations)" with written
permission from the source.
The references must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents. List all authors and/or
editors for each reference. Do not insert "et al."
Click here
for examples of correct reference formats.
Suppliers
Names and addresses of the manufacturers and/or suppliers
of equipment
and/or materials used in a study must be identified.
Identify equipment and/or materials in text, tables, and
legends by superscript
lower case. List suppliers consecutively
in the order they are mentioned in the text.
Tables
Submit each table as a separate
file. Number tables consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. Give each column
a short or abbreviated heading. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all nonstandard abbreviations
that are used in each table. For footnotes, use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶,
#, **, ††, ‡‡,...
Identify statistical measures of variations such as standard
deviation and standard
error of the mean. Do not use internal
horizontal and vertical rules. Be sure that each table is cited in
the text in order. Using too
many tables in relation to the length
of the text may produce typesetting difficulties.
Data from another published or unpublished
source may
only be used with permission and must be acknowledged fully.
It is the author's responsibility to obtain such permission.
Figures, Images, and Photographs
Figures should be numbered consecutively in the order they are first cited in the text.
If a figure has been published, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce
the material. Permission is required, irrespective of authorship or publisher, except for documents in the public domain.
Letters,
numbers, and symbols should be clear and even throughout, and of sufficient size that when reduced for publication each item will still
be legible. Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for figures, not on the figures themselves.
Consistency in size
within the article is strongly preferred. Any special instructions regarding sizing should be clearly noted.
Photomicrographs must
have internal scale markers. Symbols,
arrows, or letters used in the photomicrographs should
contrast with the background.
If photographs
of persons are used, either the subjects must not be identifiable or their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use
the photographs.
Figures should be numbered consecutively in the order they
are first cited in the text. If a figure has been published,
acknowledge the original source in the reference list and in the
legend and submit written permission from the copyright
holder to reproduce
the material. Permission is required, irrespective
of authorship or publisher, except for documents in the
public domain.
The Editorial
Board reserves the right to determine which
figures are appropriate for publication. Color figures (minimum
300dpi) will be published
without charge when color reproduction
is essential to understanding of the material presented.
There is no charge for publication of
noncolor illustrations.
Units of Measurement
Metric units are required. Blood pressures
in millimeters of mercury (mmHg)
and all hematologic and clinical chemistry measurements
using the International System of Units (SI).
Abbreviations and Symbols
Avoid excessive use of abbreviations in a manuscript. Never
use abbreviations in the article's title. Use only standard abbreviations
in the text; write out the full term for which an
abbreviation stands when it is first used in the text.
Manuscript
submission
Manuscripts must be submitted through the journal's online system (http://ees.elsevier.com/archives-pmr/
). Archives uses a double-blind review process, thus authors must "mask" their manuscripts to prevent reviewers from knowing
the authors' identities.
To mask copies, remove any words or phrases in the abstract, main text, references, tables, and figures
that could reveal the author's identity. Examples include:
- the name (or revealing description) of the institution where
the research was conducted,
- any comments that refer to the author's school, hospital, or other institution,
- the acknowledgments
section, and
- any obvious clues from context that could disclose the author(s) identity these will most likely be in the introduction,
discussion and reference sections.
Authors submitting manuscripts do so with the understanding that if their work is
accepted for publication, article copyright, including reproduction rights in all forms and media, shall be assigned exclusively to ACRM.
No reasonable request by authors for permission to reproduce their contributions will be refused.
Reviewers
Include in
the cover letter accompanying a submission the
names and addresses of 3 potential manuscript reviewers. The
editors may seek reviews
from others. Authors should not
recommend as potential reviewers current members or associate
members of Archives's Editorial
Board, or people who are
affiliated with the authors' institutions. Authors may suggest
people to whom they think their study should
not be sent.
Permission Documentation
Manuscripts must be accompanied by copies of any permissions to reproduce published
material, to use figures or report sensitive personal information of identifiable persons, or to thank persons for their contributions.
Authors are responsible for applying for permission for both print and electronic rights for all borrowed materials and are responsible
for paying any fees related to the applications of these permissions.
Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from
persons acknowledged by name because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions. The corresponding author must include
the following statement in the cover letter: "I have obtained written permission from all persons named in the Acknowledgment."
Uploading
Electronic Files
The Editorial Office requires electronic source files of text in Microsoft Word or WordPerfect software in PC
format. Figures and graphics files may be uploaded in: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF. A complete list of acceptable file formats is
available at: http://authors.elsevier.com/Artwork .
Instructions for structured
abstracts4
All manuscripts that are (1) reports of original data, (Article;
Brief Reports;
Prosthetics, Orthotics, Devices; Clinical Management
Reviews; Clinical Implications of Basic Research), or
(2) reviews, (including meta-analyses),
should be submitted
with structured abstracts as described below.
Reports of Original Data
Manuscripts reporting original
data require an abstract of no more than 275 words under the following headings: Objective, Design, Setting, Participants, Interventions
(if any), Main Outcome Measure(s), Results, Conclusions, and Key Words. The content following each heading should be as
follows.
Objective: Begin with a clear statement of the precise objective or question addressed in the report. If more than
1 objective is addressed, the main objective should be indicated and only key secondary objectives stated. If an a priori hypothesis
was tested, it should be stated.
Design: Describe the basic study design. State the duration of follow-up, if any. As many
of the following terms as apply should be used:
1. Intervention studies: randomized controlled trial (see
Glossary for the definition
of this and other technical
terms); nonrandomized controlled trial; double-blind;
placebo control; crossover trial; and/or before-after
trial.
2. For studies of screening and diagnostic tests: criterion
standard (ie, a widely accepted standard with which a
new or
alternative test is being compared; this term is
preferred to gold standard); and/or blinded or masked
comparison.
3. For
studies of prognosis: inception cohort (subjects assembled at a similar and early time in the course of the disorder and followed thereafter);
cohort (subjects followed forward in time, but not necessarily from a common starting point); and/or validation cohort or validation
sample of the study involves the modeling of clinical predictions.
4. For studies of causation: randomized controlled trial;
cohort;
case control; and/or survey (preferred to "crosssectional
study").
5. For descriptions of the clinical features of medical disorders:
survey; and/or case series.
6. For studies that include a formal economic evaluation: cost-effectiveness analysis; cost-utility analysis;
and/or cost-benefit analysis. For new analyses of existing data sets, the data set should be named and the basic study design disclosed.
Setting: Describe the study setting(s). Of particular import is whether the setting is the general community, a primary care
or referral center, private or institutional practice, or ambulatory or hospitalized care.
Participants (or Animals, Specimens,
Cadavers): Subjects include, but are not limited to, controls, laboratory animals, etc. State clinical disorders, important eligibility
criteria, and key sociodemographic features. Provide the numbers of participants and how they were selected (see below), including the
number of otherwise eligible subjects who were approached but refused. If matching is used for comparison groups, specify characteristics
that are matched. In follow-up studies, indicate the proportion of participants who completed the study. In intervention studies, give
the number of patients who withdrew due to adverse effects.
For selection procedures, use the following terms, if appropriate: random
sample (where "random" refers to a formal, randomized selection in which all eligible subjects have a fixed and usually equal chance
of selection); population-based sample; referred sample; consecutive sample; volunteer sample; or convenience sample. These terms help
readers determine an important element of study generalizability. They also supplement (rather than duplicate) the terms used by indexing
services.
Intervention(s): Describe the essential features of all interventions, including their method and duration of administration.
The intervention should be identified by its most common clinical name (eg, the generic term chlorthalidone). Common synonyms
should be given as well to facilitate electronic textword searching. This includes the brand name of a drug if a specific product was
studied. NOTE: If the study does not contain any interventions, then the following form should be used: Interventions: Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measure(s): Indicate the primary study
outcome measurement(s) as planned before data collection
began. If the
study does not emphasize the main planned
outcomes of a study, state this fact and indicate the reason. If
the hypothesis being reported
was formulated during or after
data collection, state this information clearly.
Results: Provide the main study results.
Define measurements
requiring explanation for the expected audience of the
article. Indicate whether observers were
blinded to patient
groupings, particularly for subjective measurements.
Results must be given in narrative rather than
tabular form . If possible, the results
should be accompanied by
CIs (eg, 95%) and the exact level of statistical significance. For
comparative studies, CIs should relate to
the differences between
groups. For nonsignificant differences for the major
study outcome measure(s), state the clinically important
difference
sought and give the CI for the difference between the
groups. When risk changes or effect sizes are given, indicate
absolute
values so that readers can determine the absolute as
well as relative impact of the finding. Approaches such as
number needed to treat
to achieve a unit of benefit are encouraged
when appropriate; reporting of relative differences alone
is usually inappropriate. If appropriate,
studies of screening and
diagnostic tests should use the terms sensitivity, specificity, andlikelihood ratio. If predictive
values or accuracy are given, give
prevalence or pretest likelihood as well. Report no data in the
abstract that do not appear in the
article.
Conclusion(s): Conclusions must be
directly supported by the evidence reported. Avoid speculation and overgeneralization,
and indicate whether additional study is required before
the information should be used in usual clinical settings.
Key words:
Authors must include on the title page of their manuscripts 3 to 5 key words from NLM's Permuted Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html
). .
To permit quick and selective scanning, the headings outlined
above must be included in the abstract. For brevity, parts
of
the abstract may be written in phrases rather than complete
sentences. (For example: "Design: Double-blind randomized
trial."
rather than "Design: The study was conducted as a
double-blind, randomized trial.")
Review Articles (Including Meta-Analyses)
Review articles and meta-analyses require an abstract of no
more than 250 to 300 words under the following headings:Objective,
Data Sources, Study Selection, Data Extraction,
Data Synthesis, Conclusions, and Key Words. The content
following each heading
should be as follows.
Objective: Begin with a precise statement of the primary objective of the review. The focus should
be guided by whether the review emphasizes factors such as cause and diagnosis, prognosis, therapy, or prevention. It should include
information about the specific population, intervention or exposure, and test or outcome being reviewed.
Data Sources: Succinctly
summarize data sources, including any time restrictions. Potential sources include experts or research institutions active in the field,
computerized databases and published indexes, registries, abstract booklets, conference proceedings, references identified from bibliographies
of pertinent articles and books, and companies or manufacturers of tests or agents being reviewed. If a bibliographic database is used,
state the exact indexing terms used for article retrieval, including any constraints (eg, English language or human).
Study Selection:
Describe the criteria used to select studies for detailed review from among studies identified as relevant to the topic. Details of selection
should include particular populations, interventions, outcomes, or methodologic designs. Specify the method used to apply these criteria
(eg, blind review, consensus, or multiple reviewers). State the proportion of initially identified studies that met selection criteria.
Data Extraction: Describe the guidelines used for abstracting data and assessing data quality and validity (eg, criteria for
causal inference). State the method by which the guidelines were applied (eg, independent extraction by multiple observers).
Data
Synthesis: State the main results of the review, whether qualitative or quantitative. Outline the methods used to obtain these results.
Meta-analyses should state the major outcomes that were pooled and include odds ratios or effect sizes, and, if possible, sensitivity
analyses. Numerical results should be accompanied by CIs, if applicable, and exact levels of statistical significance. Evaluations of
screening and diagnostic tests should address issues of sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, receiver operating
characteristic curves, and predictive values. Assessments of prognosis could include summaries of survival characteristics and related
variables. State the major
identified sources of variation between studies, for example,
differences in treatment protocols, cointerventions,
confounders,
outcome measures, length of follow-up, and drop-out rates.
Conclusions: State the conclusions and their applications
clearly, limiting generalization to the domain of the review. Suggest directions for new studies.
Key Words: See above
under Reports of Original Data.
A glossary of methodologic terms is available here.
References
1. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform requirements
for manuscripts submitted to
biomedical journals. 2006.
Available at: http://www.icmje.org . Accessed March 24, 2006.
2. 41st World Medical Assembly.
Declaration of Helsinki: recommendations guiding physicians in biomedical research involving human subjects. Bull Pan Am Health Organ
1990;24:606-9.
3. Ottenbacher KJ. Why rehabilitation research does not work (as well as we think it should). Arch Phys Med Rehabil
1995;76:606-9.
4. Haynes RB, Mulrow CD, Huth EJ, Altman DG, Gardner MJ. More informative abstracts revisited. Ann Intern Med 1990;113:69-76.
Disclaimer
Statements and opinions expressed in all articles and communications
herein are those
of the author(s) and not necessarily
those of ACRM, the Editorial Board of Archives, or
Elsevier (the publisher). The editor(s)
and the publisher disclaim
any responsibility or liability for such material. Neither
ACRM, Archives's Editorial Board, nor
Elsevier
guarantees, warrants, or endorses any product or service advertised
in this publication, nor do they guarantee any claim made
by
the manufacturer of such product or service.
Electronic Files
Software: • Microsoft
Word or WordPerfect are recommended (in PC format). Tables may be submitted in either WordPerfect or Microsoft Word. Figures and graphics
may be uploaded Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF. A complete list of acceptable file formats is available at: http://authors.elsevier.com/Artwork
.
Document Formatting:
The publisher handles typographical formatting. This includes design specifications for the final
printed product (column widths, page depths, type styles).
Authors should format electronic files for specific attributes such as
italics, superscripts/subscripts, and Greek letters. The coding scheme for each such element must be consistent throughout the file.
Text Style:
- Format text flush left in upper/lowercase letters as appropriate.
- Enter only 1 space
between words and sentences.
- For line breaks within a paragraph, use the automatic soft return feature in your word processor;
do not use hard return.
- Use 2 returns at the end of each paragraph (ie, 1 blank line between paragraphs).
- Use 2
returns between headings and text.
- Do not use word processors' indenting or margin-setting features. (These will be handled
during typesetting.)
SUPPLEMENTARY GUIDE ON STYLISTIC PREPARATION
OF MANUSCRIPTS
This supplement guide to Archives's Information for Authors has been prepared
from the journal's official style manual. That manual is based principally on the established stylistic conventions for medical editing
as outlined in the AMA Manual of Style, 9th edition.
The purpose of this supplementary guide is to instruct authors on
the proper stylistic preparation of their manuscripts. This supplement in no way supersedes policies and conventions of the Information
for Authors; rather it is intended to complement it.
Each author is to review this supplementary guide and to adhere to its conventions
when preparing their manuscripts. The guide is not intended to be comprehensive (ie, does not cover all aspects of the office
style manual), but it does reflect, in the editors' opinion, the typical shortcomings of many submissions received by the journal.
Complying with this guide will aid the peer review process and, if your manuscript is accepted, the manuscript production process.
This guide is structured according to the different sections of each manuscript, followed by a section on general editing conventions.
If you seek clarification, please feel welcome to call Archives's editorial office at 312-238-7825.
I. COVER PAGE
Article
Title
Keep the title brief and to the point. If the study has a specific research design, try to incorporate that into the subtitle
(eg, randomized clinical trial, preliminary study).
Authors' Names & Initials
Follow the citation criteria used by
the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) when listing authors' names and initials. Limit authors' names to first name, first initial,
and last name. For example, Ian A.M. Editor should be Ian A. Editor. Thus, if your manuscript is accepted, people searching
PubMed for articles using the parameter Editor IA will retrieve your previous publications. If they search using the parameter Editor IAM, they will receive a message stating Item not found.
Authors' Academic Degrees
Provide only principal
and highest academic degrees.
Do not insert "honors" (Hons) or other such special designations ("Prof," "Dr") or list "honorary"
(Hon) degrees. Do not list degrees yet to be conferred.
Retain fellowship designations for nondomestic authors only (ie, FRCP); do
not provide domestic fellowship designations (ie, FAAPMR, FACRM).
Authors' Affiliations
Insert each author's name in
parentheses after the relevant affiliation. Use only the last name. If authors have the same surname, include their initials. For example:
- From the Department of Physical Medicine, University of XXX, Chicago, IL (Smith); Institute for Disability Research, XXX
Hospital, Philadelphia, PA (Jones); and Rehabilitation Center, University of XXX, Birmingham, AL (Smart).
- From the Departments
of Physical Medicine (Smith) and Neurology (Brown), University of XXX, Chicago, IL (Smith); Institute for Disability Research (Jones)
and Department of Medicine (Gilligan), XXX Hospital, Philadelphia, PA; and Rehabilitation Center, University of XXX, Birmingham, AL (Smart).
- From the Department of Physical Medicine, University of XXX, Utrecht (Smith, Apple); Department of Physical Therapy, XXX University
Medical Center, Amsterdam (Jones, Orange); and Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of XXX, Amsterdam (Smart), The Netherlands.
Grant & Financial Support
Provide all relevant grant numbers. For example: Supported by the National Institutes
of Health (grant no. XXXXX).
II. ABSTRACT PAGE
Structured Abstracts: Research Articles
The structured abstract
must have the following sections: Objective(s), Design, Setting, Participants (Animals OR Cadavers OR Specimens [for orthotics
only]), Intervention(s), Main Outcome Measure(s), Results, Conclusions, and Key Words. This format applies to all submissions
to the category Articles and may apply to submissions to the categories Brief Reports and Orthotics/Prosthetics/Devices.
Do not include a Background or a Context section in the abstract: such sections will be deleted.
Structured
Abstracts: Review Articles
The structured abstract must have the following sections: Objective(s), Data Sources, Study Selection,
Data Extraction, Data Synthesis, Conclusions, and Key Words. This format applies to all submissions to the categories Review
Articles, Meta Analyses, and Clinical Management Reviews.
Do not include a Background or a Context section
in the abstract: such sections will be deleted.
Nonstructured Abstracts
The nonstructured abstract contains a narrative
of no more than 250 words plus Key Words. This format applies to all submissions to the categories Clinical Notes, Special
Communications, and Commentaries.
Key Words
Use only key words found in NLM's Permuted Medical Subjects
Headings (MeSH). The URL is: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html . Key words not found in the MeSH headings will
be replaced or removed.
III. BODY OF MANUSCRIPT
Original Articles are comprised of 5 sections: Introduction,
Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions. The Introduction is not designated formally with a section text head.
The other 4 components must be identified by the appropriate text head. This format may also apply to manuscripts submitted to the categories Brief Reports and Prosthetics/Orthotics/Devices.
Review Articles, Meta Analyses, and Clinical Management
Reviews are comprised of 5 sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions. The Introduction
does not have a text head; the other 4 components must be identified with appropriate text heads.
Acknowledgments
Place
acknowledgments at the end the text (before the References section). The purpose of this section is to list contributions to the
content (eg, data collection, advice, manuscript editing) that do not meet the authorship criteria. One can also list any people or institutions
affiliated with the research project who are not listed as authors.
Do not list financial or commercial support in this section.
Provide this information on the cover page.
Avoid designations like "Dr." or "Prof." Indicate whether the person listed had an MD
or PhD, etc. For example: "We thank Fred Smith, MD, for his...".
IV. APPENDICES
Appendices provide data in a format that
does not contain x and y axes that define the rows and columns. Distinguish such content from tables. For instance,
listing the components of a test or providing the components of an evaluative instrument should be listed as an appendix, not a table.
V. REFERENCES
Reference Numbers
List reference numbers in the body of the manuscript in superscripted Arabic
numerals; they must be listed sequentially. Authors must ensure that all references are listed sequentially in the text and that each
reference listed in the References section in fact appears in the body of the manuscript.
References
Verify the
accuracy of each reference citation you provide. Verify the accuracy of each citation against the original source. Do not assume the
accuracy of references provided in other published sources.
Use "In press" for in-press references. If a citation is listed as "in
press," then the author must provide the editorial office with credible documentation confirming that the source cited is "in press."
If it is not "in press," then the source must run as an in-text citation, as follows: (W.S. Smith, unpublished data, 2003).
Do not
use "et al" in reference citations: editors will determine whether "et al" is applicable.
Guidelines for the citation of references
are provided in the
Instructions for Authors
published in the January, April, July, and
October issues and are online at http://www.archives-pmr.org .
VI. SUPPLIERS
Provide contact information
for manufacturers of devices and other nondrug products used directly in a study (ie, do not provide such information for products not
directly used in your research but mentioned in studies you cite). The contact details are provided in the Suppliers list that
appears at the end of an article (after the References section). Manufacturer names and locations are not listed in the
text where the product is introduced. Do not list drug manufacturers in the Suppliers list.
VII. TABLES & FIGURES
Enumerate explanatory notes to tables and figures, which relate to specific data therein, in the following sequence: *,†, ‡, §, ||, ¶, #, **, ††, ...
Place all unit measures in the column or the row defining the
data, not in the body of the table.
Define every column head and row in a table.
|
Variables
|
Tilting
Alone
|
Tilting + FES
|
| |
(n=16)
|
(n=16)
|
| SBP (mmHg) |
|
|
| Heart rate (beats/min) |
|
|
Do
not leave any data fields in a table blank. If necessary, insert NA (not applicable) or ND (no data) to explain why the data field is
empty.
VIII. NUMBERS & STATISTICS
Numbers
Use Arabic numerals rather than spelling out numbers. When "one"
is used as a pronoun, retain "one"; when it is used as a number use "1." Spell out numbers that begin a sentence.
Statistics
For the Cronbach alpha, use the Greek ? for beta, use ? for the Spearman rho use ? (not rs).
Provide P
values to no more than 3 decimal places. For example, P<.001 not P<.0001 or P=.0001. Round off values
if necessary.
Provide all data to no more than 3 decimal places, but preferably 2. For example, ?=.02; mean ± SD, 1.04±0.02;
ICC=1.24. Round off values if necessary.
IX. UNITS OF MEASURE
Provide all units in SI units. Ensure that all data provided
has its appropriate unit measure. For example:
• Subjects' body mass index was 32.2kg/m2.
• Oxygen consumption
was 15.2mL-1kg min-1.
Designate time units as t1, t2, etc, to avoid confusion with orthopedic terms (eg,
T1, T2).
X. TERMINOLOGY
Do not use paraplegic or tetraplegic or other pejoratives to refer to either
patients or healthy subjects. Either change the word to the adjectival form, followed by a noun or to a noun followed by the name of
the condition: "person with paraplegia" or "patient with tetraplegia" or "subjects with spinal cord injury" or "patients with brain injury."
Flexibility is to be accorded when making such a change in a particular manuscript becomes onerous.
Follow Dorland's for
spelling. Use "disk," not "disc," and any derivatives (diskography) when discussing anatomic terms (ie, lumbar disk). Use "disc" when
referring to ophthalmology.
Follow Dorland's in use of "-ic" over "-ical" in adjectives such as "physiologic," "psychiatric."
Replace the term "normal" with "referent" or "normative" where possible.
When describing subjects, use men, women, girls, boys.
Avoid using male and female; these terms are usually reserved for animals.
When discussing the biologic characteristics of men and
women, the correct term is "sex." If its use in a specific context is ambiguous (ie, sexuality in spinal cord injury) or if the author
is describing personal or social status, then use "gender."
Use the term "white" not "Caucasian," unless the subjects are from the
Caucasus region. Black is preferred to African American unless the subjects are clearly from the United States.
Use of the term "individuals"
can be confusing. Be specific. Refer to those in the study as patients, subjects, persons, people, men, or women. As defined in the AMA
Manual (p248), a case is a particular instance of a disease; a patient is a particular person under medical care; a research subject is someone undergoing an intervention in a scientific investigation; a control subject is someone
used as a basis for comparison to a research subject. Do not refer to subjects as clients.
XI. STYLISTIC CONSIDERATIONS
Write in the active voice (I, we). Doing so condenses text and makes clear authors' contribution to content (eg, change "Our finding
that functional ability was not significantly correlated with peak..." to "Our finding that functional ability did not correlate significantly
with peak..." OR "The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used..." to "We used the Wilcoxon signed-rank test...").
Write in the past tense
in the abstract and the body of the manuscript; that is, report all data findings in the past tense. Report your recommendations in the
present tense.
Use American English spellings.
Use English plurals, not Latin plurals (eg, with muscles).
Avoid verbatim
repetition of text in the body of the article in figures or table. Remove the duplicative passage in text or the figure or the table.
Duplication of text during peer review may aid in assessing content; but, at the publication stage, it serves no purpose because textual
layout brings narrative, tables, and figures into proximity.
Spell out all abbreviations used on their first occurrence in the abstract
and again in the text.
Minimize use of abbreviations. Journal readership is multidisciplinary and the editors' goal is to ensure
that all readers can understand each article. Follow Davis's Medical Abbreviations and Dorland's for standard abbreviations.
Note that EMG is misused frequently. Dorland's defines EMG, ECG, EEG, and so forth as the actual images (electromyogram,
electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram). However, in most cases, authors use EMG to refer to "electromyographic [muscle] activity."
Be specific.
Trademarks
Do not include a "registered" symbol ®, trademark symbol (™), or a copyright (©)
symbol with a particular drug, device, or a test. Journals are not required to publish symbols or trademarks.
Drugs
Do
not include drug manufacturers in the Suppliers list.
Use generic names for drugs throughout. When listing a trade name, list
the generic name first, followed by the trade name. For example: diazepam (Valium).
XII. LEGAL PERMISSIONS
Authors are
responsible for all legal permissions to reprint or adapt materials under copyright. Authors should obtain permission prior to manuscript
submission. Failure to have permission at acceptance could compel the editors to remove copyrighted materials.
Credit Lines
The purpose of a credit line is to acknowledge publicly the source and ownership of a copyrighted "work." The credit line fulfills pending
legal obligations to display the source material and copyright ownership in clear view when such a request is made by the copyright holder
in the permission approval document.
The language for a credit line takes 1 of 2 forms, depending on the extent to which the borrowed
material is being reprinted:
• From Smith et al.10 Reprinted with permission.
This applies to work that
is reprinted in its entirety and appears exactly as it did in the original source.
• Adapted from Jones et al.28
Reprinted with permission.
This applies to work that has been modified but is still recognizable.
It should be noted that,
in both cases, the original source must be cited in the reference list and the credit line must include the corresponding reference number.
The full reference must be incorporated into the reference list, in the same way that all other references are cited, even if the source
is not mentioned elsewhere in the article.
A credit line for original work created from data that were displayed in a copyrighted
source is handled differently:
The credit line would read: "Data from..." (with the reference source cited)
The line "Reprinted
with permission" would no longer apply (unless the re-use is particularly extensive and borders on adaptation).
Updated
May 2009
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