Publishing Scientific Articles

Please review this checklist before submitting your manuscript to the Medical Editing Office or to your journal of choice. NOTE: This is a list of general guidelines; be sure to consult the specific guidelines provided by the journal to which you will submit your manuscript.

1. Once a draft of your article has been finalized and approved by all authors, pick the journal to which you plan to submit it. (Go to the NCBI Database to browse a list of journals.) An article can be submitted to only one journal at a time.
2. Register with the journal's online submission system by creating a user ID and password. Keep this information for future reference.
3. Read the "Guide for Authors” or "Submitting a Manuscript" section. (Note: There is also usually a "Tutorial for Authors" section that guides you through the process of submission.)
4. Download and sign the journal's copyright transfer agreement, disclosure form, or any other documentation required by the journal.
5. On the title page of your manuscript, provide manuscript title; full names, titles, and affiliations of authors; and corresponding author information (name, affiliation, address, phone number, fax, email). Please note that most journals prefer that resident physicians do not serve as corresponding author.
6. Consult the journal's instructions to authors to see whether any additional information is needed. This might include financial or ethical disclosures, funding sources, patient consent materials, and Institutional Review Board information.
7. If requested by the journal, provide a running head on the title page of your manuscript and 3-5 key words.
8. Make sure your abstract is within the allowed number of words and foll2009 Published Worksows the journal's format. Generally, this includes headings for Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusion.
9. Save tables, graphs, and figures individually rather than in the manuscript file, either as TIFF files or in another format, as specified by the journal. For assistance in formatting figures, contact Medical Illustrations.
10. Make sure that references are in the order specified by the journal's instructions to authors and that they are formatted according to the journal's style. Visit an unofficial AMA citation style site for assistance with formatting.
11. Write a cover letter to accompany your submission, being sure to include all information required by the journal.