The Physician and Sportsmedicine

Submission Guidelines

ABOUT US

The Physician and Sportsmedicine is a peer-reviewed, clinically oriented publication for primary care physicians. We examine the latest drug discoveries to advance treatment and recovery, and take into account the medical aspects of exercise in a given condition. We cover the latest primary care-focused treatments serving the needs of our active patient population, and assess the limits these treatments govern in stabilization and recovery.

We routinely cover such topics as: managing chronic disease, surgical techniques in preventing and managing injuries, the latest advancements in treatments for helping patients lose weight, and related exercise and nutrition topics that can impact the patient during recovery and modification.

The Physician and Sportsmedicine is a peer-to-peer method of communicating the latest research to aid primary care physicians’ advancement in care and treatment. Our mission is to provide relevant, useful, and authoritative medical information to help physicians solve clinical problems and improve patient care. Thanks to contributions from leading primary care physicians and researchers worldwide, each issue contains original research, evidence-based review articles, health outcomes, and editorials that assist practicing physicians in making decisions by including the latest techniques and treatment options for their patients.

The Physician and Sportsmedicine is published four times annually, and some articles are published ahead of print online. We also offer an expedited Super Fast-Track peer-review process specifically for articles featuring time-sensitive information. Published articles are indexed in MEDLINE/PubMed and most other indexing services. ISSN – 0091-3847.

All manuscripts are to be submitted online via The Physician and Sportsmedicine Web site: www.physsportsmed.com. From our homepage, please use the “Authors” drop-down menu and select “Submit a Manuscript.” Each of the required components should be uploaded and submitted together with the manuscript, including 1) a cover letter listing all authors (and e-mail addresses), and stating that the manuscript is the authors’ own original work and has not been published or is not being considered for publication elsewhere; 2) figure files (jpg, tif, eps); 3) a separate Release and Disclosure form for each coauthor (please note that there is a 5-author maximum for each submitted manuscript—each person listed as an author is expected to have participated in the study to a significant extent.); and 4) all permissions for previously published material.

*Please note that the Release and Disclosure form is not a downloadable document on the Web site. The form appears as a series of questions during the online submission process.

The corresponding author will receive an e-mail confirming receipt of the manuscript. If the submission is incomplete (eg, missing text components, figures, tables), the corresponding author will be informed of what is missing and will be asked to resubmit a complete version. Please be sure to read the section outlining what organizational components are required for each article type.

The Physician and Sportsmedicine conforms to the AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors, 10th Edition, for style and formatting. All articles should be written as clearly as possible. Authors should avoid jargon and colloquialism.

Please direct any manuscript-related queries (eg, permissions, submission process, peer-review process, manuscript status, or formatting) to the managing editor at: l.reilly@physsportsmed.com Please direct any business-related queries (eg, advertising, subscriptions, or publishing a supplement) to the managing director, John Elduff, at: j.elduff@hosppract.com.

ARTICLE TYPES

The Physician and Sportsmedicine accepts the following article types: 1) original research, 2) evidence-based review article; 3) health economics; 4) exercise is medicine; 5) supplements; and 6) letter to the editor-in-chief.

Original research articles are formal investigative studies that focus on timely clinical issues. These reports typically include randomized trials, intervention studies, cohort studies, case-control studies, epidemiologic assessments, other observational studies, surveys with high response rates, cost-effectiveness analyses and decision analyses, and studies of screening and diagnostic tests. Each manuscript should clearly state an objective or hypothesis; the design and methods (including the study setting and dates, patients or participants with inclusion and exclusion criteria and/or participation or response rates, or data sources, and how these were selected for the study); the essential features of any interventions; the main outcome measures; the main results of the study; a discussion section placing the results in context with the published literature and addressing study limitations; and the conclusions. Data included in research reports should be as current as possible. A signed author disclosure form is required before any submission can be published.

1. Title Page
2. Abstract (Please include 4–6 keywords for indexing)
3. Introduction
4. Materials and Methods
5. Results
6. Discussion
7. Acknowledgments
8. Conflict of Interest Statement (please list all author conflicts of interest)
9. References
10. Figure Legends
11. Tables
12. Figures
13. Treatment algorithm(s) (optional)

Length: 3000–6000 words (abstract–conclusion; not counting references, legends, tables, and figures)
Abstract: 100–300 words
Figures: 6, maximum. Authors should contact the editor (l.reilly@physsportsmed.com) if interested in submitting more than 6 figures. Please obtain permission via the original publisher for any adapted/reproduced material.
Tables: 8, maximum. Authors should contact the editor (l.reilly@physsportsmed.com) if interested in submitting more than 8 tables. Please see the Material Components section of this document for information regarding image resolution. Please obtain permission via the original publisher for any adapted/reproduced material.

In these studies, individuals are randomly allocated to receive or not receive a preventive, therapeutic, or diagnostic intervention and then followed up with to determine the effect of the intervention. All randomized clinical trials should include a CONSORT flow diagram (http://www.consort-statement.org/), and authors should provide a completed randomized trial CONSORT statement checklist and a trial protocol. All clinical trials must be registered at an appropriate online public registry before submission of a manuscript based on the trial.

As a condition of consideration for publication, The Physician and Sportsmedicine aims to follow the guidelines established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), JAMA, and the FDAAA legislation requiring registration of all trials in a public trials registry meeting the minimum registration data as described by the ICMJE. Examples of acceptable trial registries include the following:

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov
and
http://www.who.int/ictrp/en/

For this purpose, a clinical trial is any study that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or comparison groups to evaluate the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. All clinical trials, regardless of when they were completed, and secondary analyses of original clinical trials must be registered before submission of a manuscript based on the trial. For clinical trials starting patient enrollment after July 2005, trials must be registered before the onset of enrollment. Trial registry name, registration identification number, and the URL for the registry should be included at the end of the abstract. Authors of randomized controlled trials are also encouraged to submit trial protocols along with their manuscripts.

Review articles should be evidence-based, comprehensive analyses and meta-analyses of specific topics that are relevant to our readers. Review articles published in The Physician and Sportsmedicine are both solicited and unsolicited. The submitted article should describe current developments in the field of clinical medicine. All review articles should present content that is accessible to readers who are not intimately familiar with the subject being reviewed. As such, all review articles should increase readers’ interest and describe important developments. We encourage authors to contact the editorial department to discuss any unsolicited article topics in order to avoid replication of previously published or already submitted articles. A signed author release and disclosure form is required before any submission can be published.

1. Title Page
2. Abstract (Please include 4–6 keywords for indexing.)
3. Introduction
4. Materials and Methods
5. Summary
6. Acknowledgments
7. References
8. Figure Legends
9. Tables
10. Figures
11. Treatment algorithm(s) (optional)

Length: 3000–6000 words (abstract–conclusion; not counting references, legends, tables, and figures)
Abstract: 100–300 words
Figures/tables: Please obtain permission via the original publisher for any adapted/reproduced material.

Articles featured in the Health Economics section of The Physician and Sportsmedicine address specific economic issues in clinical medicine, health care policy, or medical research. Article topics include but are not limited to demand and utilization of health services; financing of health services; behavioral models of demanders, suppliers, and other health care agencies; matters directly or indirectly influencing changes in patient care; cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses and budgeting; and efficiency and distributional aspects of health policy. A signed author release and disclosure form is required before any submission can be published.

1. Title Page
2. Abstract (Please include 4–6 keywords for indexing.)
3. Introduction
4. Materials and Methods
5. Discussion
6. Summary
7. References
8. Figure Legends
9. Tables
10. Figures
11. Treatment algorithm(s) (optional)

Length: 3000–6000 words (abstract–conclusion; not counting references, legends, tables, and figures)
Abstract: 100–300 words
Figures/tables: Please obtain permission via the original publisher for any adapted/reproduced material.

Each Exercise Is Medicine article should focus on a condition or illness where exercise has helped reduce the effects of the illness on the patient. An article of this type submitted for consideration should include a scientific explanation of how exercise may be included in the treatment plan for a particular patient with a specific illness, such as diabetes or hypertension. The true benefits of exercise, the consequences of inactivity when diagnosed with the condition you are reporting, treatment guidelines, and other treatment components should be outlined in each article to give the clinician a complete understanding of benefits versus risk.

Length: 1200–2000 words
Abstract: 150 words–300 words
Figures/tables: minimum, 1 figure or table

Publishing a sponsored supplement to The Physician and Sportsmedicine offers an efficient way to distribute a large volume of research in one of the oldest most widely read medical journals in the world.

Supplements are peer reviewed, indexed, and covered by the major database and content services (MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, etc) in the same manner as the journal. The supplement will also be available on the journal’s Web site as “open access” as well as electronically to eReaders, such as Kindle and iPad.

Please call us for a quote: 610-889-3738 or email us at l.reilly@physsportsmed.com.

The Physician and Sportsmedicine welcomes letters to the editor-in-chief. The editor-in-chief may solicit comments from authors if the letter refers to a specific article published in The Physician and Sportsmedicine. The letter and response will be published together either online or in print based on print schedule. We will try to incorporate as many letters as possible and will respond to all submissions in a timely manner. Letters may also focus on general issues that would be of interest to readers. All letters to the editor-in-chief are subject to editing and abridgement. We try to ensure that letters are not censored or suppressed, but occasionally a letter will be returned to the author if the information in the letter is inaccurate or misleading. The editor-in-chief will make the final decision as to whether the author can revise the letter. An author disclosure form is required before any submission can be published.

Length: 300–1200 words

1. Title page: Provide the article title (100-character maximum), running title (50-character maximum), full name of each author, his/her highest degree(s) attained, institutional affiliation, and title of current position. One author must be designated as the corresponding author with contact information (ie, mailing address, office phone number, fax number, and e-mail address).

2. Manuscript text: The manuscript must be double spaced and left aligned. The margins should be set at 1" on 8.5 × 11 paper. The text should be separated into relevant sections and paragraphs with appropriate headings.

3. References: All references must be cited within the text in AMA style. The editorial department checks all references for validity; however, the initial accuracy of all references is the author's responsibility. All references must be published. Please cite full sources, not abstracts and posters. References should be current and numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited in the text.

4. Tables: All tables require a number and heading (eg, Table 1. Gastrointestinal Risk Factors in Patients Taking NSAIDs) and should be numbered consecutively according to their order of appearance in the text. Tables should be parenthetically referenced in order within the text. We require a letter of permission from the original publisher for any previously published/adapted tables.

5. Figures: All figures (eg, photographs, radiographs, etc.) should be high-resolution .jpg or .tif files. For digital photographs, please make sure that the resolution is 300 dpi and that the length does not exceed 5 in. Figures should be parenthetically referenced in order within the text. We require a letter of permission from the original publisher for any previously published figures. A patient-signed release form is required for publishing photographic images that show any identifying features.

6. Figure legends: The figure legends page should provide brief descriptions of what each figure shows. All figure legends must be written in complete sentences. Please indicate the magnification for all photomicrographic material.

7. Complete The Physician and Sportsmedicine's Author Release and Financial Disclosure form upon submission.

Important Note: The author Release and Financial Disclosure form is not available as a downloadable document on the Web site. The form is shown as a series of questions accompanying the electronic submission of the manuscript on our Web site. If authors planning to submit would prefer filling out the form as a hard copy, please contact the editor (l.reilly@physsportsmed.com) for a Word version of the document.

8. Complete The Physician and Sportsmedicine's Consent for Publication of Identifying Material form (if applicable).

All solicited and unsolicited articles go through the same stringent double-blind peer-review process; therefore, revisions may be required as a condition of acceptance. The corresponding author should expect to receive a decision regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection depending on the peer-review track selected upon submission. See Publication Fees section below.

Upon receiving the manuscript, the editor will first review each submission to determine its relevancy. Manuscripts are reviewed for formatting, clarity, clinical relevance, technical accuracy, methodology, and objectivity. If deemed suitable for inclusion in The Physician and Sportsmedicine, the editor will then send the manuscript to independent reviewers.

Each reviewer (≥ 2 reviewers are assigned per paper) is informed of the deadline date for returning their evaluation to the authors (whether Super Fast-Track, Expedited Track, or standard review). If a reviewer does not return his/her manuscript evaluation by the deadline date, then the editor will either send a follow-up e-mail requesting the review or will appoint a new reviewer.

After receiving the reviews, the editorial department decides on acceptance or rejection. If accepted, the editor then e-mails the corresponding author with the reviewers' comments. If a manuscript requires further modification, the author must return it to the editor with an accompanying Word document explaining each change made to the original article per the reviewers' suggestions. When accepted for publication, every author must sign a copyright agreement and financial disclosure form before the manuscript can be published. Accepted manuscripts will not be published without this documentation.

Super Fast-Track submission: Rapid 72-hour peer review ($500 initial review/$1500 upon acceptance) and, if accepted, online publication (DOI assignment) within 25 days of submission. $500 per-page fees.

Expedited-Track submission: Peer review and, if accepted, print publication within 14 weeks of submission. $500 per-page fees.

Standard submission: Peer review within 30 weeks of submission and, if accepted, print publication in the next available issue. No per-page fees.

Articles are assigned a digital object identifier (DOI), which allows the paper to be cited in the literature immediately following publication. The Physician and Sportsmedicine’s DOI prefix is 10.3810. DOI suffix numbers are assigned by The Physician and Sportsmedicine. DOI article suffix numbers are unique to each article. Below are two examples for citing a reference that 1) has been published online (not yet published in print) and 2) has been published in print afterward.

Cannon CP, Braunwald E, McCabe CH, et al; Pravastatin or Atorvastatin Evaluation and Infection Therapy — Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction 22 Investigators. Comparison of intensive and moderate lipid lowering with statins after acute coronary syndromes [published online ahead of print March 8, 2004]. N Engl J Med. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa040583.

Cannon CP, Braunwald E, McCabe CH, et al; Pravastatin or Atorvastatin Evaluation and Infection Therapy — Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction 22 Investigators. Comparison of intensive and moderate lipid lowering with statins after acute coronary syndromes [published online ahead of print March 8, 2004]. N Engl J Med. 2004;350(15):1495-1504. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa040583.

ISSN: 0091-3847

The Physician and Sportsmedicine is published 4 times annually. The journal will publish in February, May, September, and November in 2012. Please contact the editor (l.reilly@physsportsmed.com) for the 2012 Editorial Calendar, which details all submission deadlines and call for papers.