Information for authors

Medicine Today's biannual publication Respiratory Medicine Today aims to provide doctors with practical, evidence-based reviews and clinical information that will assist them in reviewing and updating their knowledge in the field of respiratory medicine. Although the content is focused primarily on the needs of GPs, it is also circulated to respiratory physicians. It is subject to the same thorough peer review process and high production standards applied to our flagship journal Medicine Today.

Articles submitted to Respiratory Medicine Today should be succinct, provide practical, easy-to-read information that will assist GPs in their day-to-day practice.

Article types

We commission submissions for several types of articles.

Features – In-depth reviews of practical clinical information on issues in respiratory medicine (1500 to 2000 words in length), covering the diagnosis, investigation and/or management of a particular condition.

Perspectives – Shorter focused articles (1000 to 1500 words in length) on respiratory medicine issues.

Case reviews – An expert review of a respiratory case seen in general practice.

Journal Watch  – Selected summaries of and commentary on original medical and scientific articles from key medical journals, provided by the NEJM group.

Further details on some of these article types are given in the Instructions to authors below.

Please note that we do not publish research articles.

Authorship

The credibility, wisdom and practical clinical insights gained from years of experience at a senior level are essential components of authorship for articles published in Respiratory Medicine Today. Invited authors are selected based on their reputation among peers and hence qualification to express authoritative opinions (following best practice guidelines when appropriate). Our readers expect content authored by highly experienced senior clinicians who are well recognised in their field of medicine. Coauthors are welcome but they must be experienced, qualified medical practitioners at registrar level or higher, or suitably qualified allied health professionals. Senior authors are expected to take responsibility for the clinical content of the manuscript. As a review journal focusing on issues of clinical practice, Respiratory Medicine Today does not accept articles with students or junior doctors as coauthors.

To avoid bias, or the perception of it, we do not accept papers sponsored by pharmaceutical companies (directly or indirectly), public relations firms or other commercial entities. Papers written by an author with a significant financial interest in a company (or its competitor) that makes a product discussed in the manuscript are also unacceptable.

All authors are required to complete a competing interest declaration (see below for further details).

We recommend that authors take the time to download and read our Instructions to authors below.

Ethics and patient consent

Authors should prepare the manuscript in accordance with the guidelines in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals provided by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org), especially in regard to ethical considerations.

We support the requirement that all research on human or animal subjects should comply with the standards of the relevant institutional or NHMRC ethics committee, or the Helsinki Declaration (2008) or International Association of Veterinary Editors’ Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare, respectively.

To maintain patient privacy, no identifying information about living patients will be included in published articles unless essential for scientific purposes. If identifying information is essential then the authors must obtain a signed statement from the patient or their guardian giving informed consent for the publication of the identifying material, including photographs (a consent form is available here). The completed consent document should be securely retained by the authors, and a statement included in the manuscript attesting that specific consent has been obtained and archived.

Competing interests

All authors of articles published in Respiratory Medicine Today are required to complete a competing interests declaration, using the standard disclosure form of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. The interactive form should be downloaded at http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest and submitted to Respiratory Medicine Today with the manuscript. Authors must disclose any direct, indirect or potential commercial or financial associations relevant to the submitted manuscript that might create a conflict of interest. A statement of competing interests is published at the end of each article.

Submitting the manuscript

Manuscripts should be submitted by email as Microsoft Word documents (editorial@respiratorymedicinetoday.com.au). Ideally images should be submitted separately (rather than embedded in Word documents) as jpegs or as line drawings for professional rendering. Please read our Instructions to authors below for more details on image specifications.

Review process

All manuscripts submitted to Respiratory Medicine Today undergo single-blind peer review. Feedback from at least two specialists in the field and one GP (representing our readership) is sent to the authors, who may be required to revise the text or respond to specific comments before their article is accepted for publication.

Articles may be rejected if they are deemed unsuitable for publication, either before peer review or on the advice of the reviewers.

Transfer of copyright

Once an article has been accepted for publication, and before its publication, authors will be required to complete a form assigning copyright to Medicine Today Pty Ltd.

Agreement to submit an article to Medicine Today Pty Ltd is agreement to publication of the article in electronic formats and in print worldwide.

Editing process

When a manuscript has been assigned to a particular issue of Respiratory Medicine Today, it will be edited for length, clarity and conformity with the journal's style. Authors should take note of the recommended word counts for each article type; manuscripts exceeding the word limit may be shortened to that length.

Authors receive page proofs of the edited manuscript and copies of any relevant artwork for approval prior to publication.

Progress enquiry

To enquire about the progress of a manuscript through our peer-review or production processes, authors may contact the editorial department using the Contact Us or by phone (02 9908 8577).

Publication

Authors will be sent a pdf of their article on publication for their own personal use (e.g. for handing out to colleagues or patients or reproducing for teaching purposes). Please contact the editorial department if you wish to use the pdf for any other purposes.

Propose a submission

Although we commission most of our articles, we also consider unsolicited submissions. If you are thinking about submitting an article to Respiratory Medicine Today, please first contact the editorial department using the Contact Us form or by phone (02 9908 8577), to discuss the topic idea. Once you have received general approval from us on the topic, please review our Instructions to authors below before submitting your article. All unsolicited manuscripts undergo the same peer-review process as commissioned articles.

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