The McMaster University Medical Journal (MUMJ) is an annual academic journal created to share advances in medicine and to augment our understanding of social issues which impact individual and population health. MUMJ welcomes original articles written by students and faculty of all disciplines and medical residents. The scope of the Journal is wide, encompassing both clinical medicine and non-clinical aspects of health and medicine, such as ethical and legal issues, health policy and history of medicine.

Submissions and inquiries should be emailed to: mumjeditors@gmail.com

Review Process

Submitted articles will be critically reviewed by a member of MUMJ Editorial Board, as well as by a faculty member with expertise in the topic of the article. The results of this review process will then be assessed by the MUMJ Executive Editors, who, on the basis of both the reviewers’ comments and their own, will determine whether the article will be accepted for publication.

Authors will be informed of the disposition of their articles by email. Articles may be accepted without revisions, conditionally accepted pending specified revisions, or rejected. Authors of articles rejected for publication will receive an email outlining reasons for rejection and suggestions for improvement. Rejected articles may be resubmitted after appropriate changes have been made according to the recommendations of the MUMJ editorial staff. Revised resubmitted articles will be considered new submissions and will be subjected to the standard MUMJ review process. Accepted manuscripts will be edited to conform with MUMJ style and for correctness of grammar, syntax and punctuation.

Types of Manuscripts

I.        Case Reports

·        Case reports present real, and often unusual, cases and should contain the following components: case presentation, diagnosis, management, outcome of the case and a brief review of the relevant literature.

·        Clinical images are encouraged. Consent must be obtained from cases for publication of clinical images.

·        Maximum length: 1500 words

II.      Clinical Reviews

·        Clinical reviews must include a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the relevant literature.

·        Clinical reviews may contain the following components: introduction, etiology, pathogenesis, manifestations, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis.

·        Systematic reviews may also be submitted for consideration, and must include a Methods section describing the search strategy, quality assessment and data extraction of retrieved articles.

·        Maximum length: 4000 words

III.    Original Research

·        Original research in clinical medicine, basic sciences, population health and medical education are welcome for consideration in MUMJ.

·        Introduction: This section should include the purpose of and rationale for the article. No data or conclusions of the work should be included.

·        Methods: The experimental design, methods and procedures must be described in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the study. Exclusion and inclusion criteria for study participants should be described clearly. References to established methods, including statistical methods, should be provided. Reasons for the selected methods should be outlined and any modifications to traditional methods should be explained clearly. If drugs have been used, provide the generic and brand names, and describe doses and route of administration clearly.

·        Results: Data should be presented in manner that is useful to the reader, using tables and figures to clearly organize results. Emphasize or summarize only important information. Do not repeat in the text all the information from a table or illustration.

·        Discussion: This section should focus on the interpretation and significance of the findings, in the context of the existing body of literature. State the limitations of the findings and directions for future research.

·        Maximum length: 4000 words

IV.    Commentary

·        Commentary submissions should be interesting and provocative. These manuscripts may touch on topics including, but not limited to, ethical and legal issues, history of medicine, health policy, careers in medicine, global health and literature and the arts.

·        Maximum length: 1500 words

Preparing Your Manuscript

Manuscripts should conform to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication (http://www.icmje.org/).

Articles are to be written in clear and concise English. The manuscript should be typed in 11-point font, double-spaced in an 8.5”x11” format, with 1” margins throughout. Consecutive numbering of all pages is required, with the title page as page 1.

I. Title Page

The title page should include:

·        The title of the article

·        The complete names of all authors, degrees, and appointments

·        A complete address to whom correspondences should be addressed including email, telephone and fax

II. Abstract

For Clinical Reviews and Original Research, an abstract capturing the purpose, main findings and principal conclusions of the manuscript must be included. Abbreviations and reference citations should be avoided. Abstracts should not exceed 250 words.

III. References

Authors will be held responsible for the accuracy of the references.

References should be cited in the text by an Arabic numerical superscript. The list of references should appear at the end of the manuscript, according to the order in which they appear in the text.

References with three or fewer authors should list all authors. References with four or more authors should include only the first three authors followed by “et al.” The titles of journals must be abbreviated according to the style used in the list of Journals Indexed for MEDLINE (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html).

Example reference citations are included below:

·        Journal article:  Stiell IG, Wells GA, Field B, et al. Advanced cardiac life support in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. New Engl J Med 2004; 351: 647-56.

·        Book: Holmes KK, Sparling PF, Mardh PA, et al. (eds). Sexually Transmitted Diseases. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1999; p. 39-76.

·        Books chapter: Aral SO, Holmes KK. Social and behavioural determinants of the epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases: Industrialized and developing countries. In: Holmes KK, Sparling PF, Mardh PA, et al. (eds). Sexually Transmitted Diseases. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1999; p. 39-76.

·        Web document: Bioethics Committee, Canadian Paediatric Society. (2008). Advance care planning for paediatric patients. Reference No. B 2008-02. Retrieved May 29, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://www.cps.ca/English/statements/B/b08-02.htm.

IV. Tables and Illustrations
Figure and tables should have concise titles, and be numbered and referred to in the text. Figures may include a brief caption of up to three sentences highlighting key points of the figure. All symbols and abbreviations used in figures and tables should be defined. Illustrations and photographs must be of sufficiently high resolution for printing and web-publication.

V. Acknowledgements

Statements acknowledging contributions (e.g., editorial or technical assistance) that do not justify authorship and financial and material support may be included at the end of the manuscript.

VI. Authors Biographies

One to two lines should be included for all listed authors. These author biographies will be published with selected manuscripts in MUMJ.

Ethical Considerations

Manuscripts must contain original work not previously published elsewhere. Moreover, plagiarism of any portion of the text, or use of illustrations and tables from other sources without proper accreditation and permission, is unacceptable. Authors will be held accountable for this clause.

Studies using human subjects must be conducted in accordance with the guidelines outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975. Informed consent must be obtained and documents in all studies. No identifiable patient information should be included. All studies involving the use of animals must be conducted in accordance with the highest standards of humane animal care, and in accordance with the institution’s internal regulations.

Submissions and inquiries should be emailed to: mumjeditors@gmail.com

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