Journal of Family Medicine · ISSN 2640-690X
Instructions for Authors
How to prepare a manuscript for this journal, in the order you will need it: what the journal accepts, how to build the file, what to declare, and how to send it.
Confirm first that the work is in subject for the journal — that question is settled by the aims and scope, not by anything on this page.
Step one
Choose the format
Word counts below are the journal’s published limits for the main text, excluding the abstract, references, tables and figure legends.
| Format | Main text | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Original research | Up to 5,000 words | Clinical trials, observational studies, health services research, implementation science, quality-improvement studies and epidemiological investigations. |
| Systematic review or meta-analysis | Up to 6,000 words | Evidence syntheses following PRISMA, including scoping and rapid reviews. |
| Practice innovation report | Up to 3,500 words | Innovative practice models, care-coordination strategies, telehealth implementations and medical-home developments. |
| Case report or case series | Up to 2,500 words | Presentations, diagnostic challenges or management approaches that carry a lesson a generalist can use. |
| Brief communication | Up to 2,000 words | Preliminary findings, pilot studies, methodological notes and timely observations. |
Other formats the journal accepts
The journal’s records also list narrative and literature reviews, mini-reviews, letters to the editor, editorials, commentaries, opinions, perspectives, case images, short and rapid communications, book reviews and conference proceedings. A published word limit is not recorded for each of these. Where you are preparing one, agree the length with the editorial office before submitting rather than assuming a limit from the table above.
Step two
Build the manuscript
Submit the text, tables and figures as a single word-processor file, with tables and figures placed at the end, each on its own page. Number the lines.
- Title
- No more than 30 words, with no abbreviations The title should relate plainly to what the manuscript reports.
- Running title
- No more than 60 characters, including spaces
- Authors and contact
- Full name, affiliation, discipline, postal address, telephone and email for every author Identify the corresponding author clearly; that address is used before and after publication. List authors in the agreed order. An affiliation is the author’s home institution at the time the main contribution was made; a current affiliation that differs may be given in the acknowledgments.
- Abstract
- 250 words maximum, including citations A concise summary of the objectives, methods, key results and main conclusions, written in complete sentences and readable by the journal’s whole readership. The journal’s instructions record an unstructured abstract; where your format calls for headed sections, follow the structure given for it at submission.
- Keywords
- Five to twelve
- Introduction
- 500 words maximum, including citations State the objectives and give enough background to show why the study was done and what was tested.
- Methods
- Brief, but complete enough for a qualified reader to repeat the work Cite published procedures rather than restating them, and describe only genuinely new ones in detail. State the sex or gender of participants where relevant, and name the suppliers of materials. A manuscript presenting only a theory may omit this section.
- Results
- Only the findings needed to establish the point of the work Analyze numerical data with statistical tests appropriate to the design, and report them so a reader can judge them.
- Discussion
- 1,500 words maximum, including citations The principal findings, the validity of the observations, the findings against related published work, and what the work may mean. Speculation is permitted where it is identified as such.
- Conclusion
- A precise summarizing statement, beginning with the principal findings Discuss implications within a realistic frame.
- Abbreviations
- Defined in a single footnote immediately after the first abbreviation used
- Tables
- Kept to the minimum needed, each with a title and a legend below it Place each table on its own page at the end of the manuscript. Submit a very large or complex table as a figure.
- Figures
- Each on its own page at the end, with a title and a legend directly beneath Size and crop the artwork yourself. Numbers, letters and symbols must be no smaller than 2 mm after reduction. Create figures in an application capable of publication-quality output; if the manuscript is accepted you will be asked for each figure as a separate high-resolution file.
- References
- Numbered in order of first appearance in the text, not by author and date List the first five authors and then “et al.” Authors are responsible for the accuracy of every reference. Cite related publications and any partial prior disclosure.
- Footnotes
- For manuscripts in preparation, unpublished observations and personal communications Obtain written approval for every personal communication and send a copy of the manuscript to those cited; the editor may ask for proof of that approval.
- Supplementary material
- The manuscript must stand alone without it Supplementary material is reviewed with the manuscript and judged by the same criteria: important, but not essential to the article as it stands. It cannot be added after acceptance.
- Acknowledgments
- Funding sources, and contributions that do not meet authorship Tell anyone named beforehand and give them the chance to decline. Promotional statements are not published.
Step three
Declarations and reporting
Each of these is required, and each is stated in the manuscript itself rather than only in correspondence. The policy behind them is on the editorial policies page.
Ethics and consent
Name the committee that approved the research and give the approval reference, or document the exemption. Report how informed consent was obtained, what participants were told including possible outcomes, and how privacy and confidentiality were maintained. Participants must not be induced by disproportionate reward. Research on animals must follow the applicable rules, and the precautions taken must be described.
Where an individual could be recognized from a case report, an image or a detailed description, written consent to publication is required from that person or a legal representative.
Trial registration
Interventional clinical trials must be registered in an accepted public trial registry at or before the first participant provides consent for enrollment. The registry name, registration number, and registration date must be reported in the manuscript.
Data availability
Every empirical research manuscript must include a data-availability statement, saying where the supporting data can be found and on what terms, or why they cannot be shared.
Competing interests and funding
Disclose any association that could represent a competing interest — a current or pending consultancy with a company supporting the research or making a product tested, a financial or managerial interest in such a company, or intellectual property that publication could affect. State the role of every funder. Where an interest is disclosed, the editor may require a footnote in the article recording it.
Use of AI
Disclose any use of generative AI in preparing the manuscript, naming the tool and what it was used for. AI systems cannot be listed as authors.
Reporting guidelines
Follow the guideline that matches the design and include its checklist: CONSORT for randomized trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews, CARE for case reports, STARD for diagnostic accuracy, SQUIRE for quality-improvement work, COREQ for qualitative research, and ARRIVE for animal studies.
Permissions
Obtain written permission for any figure, table, instrument or long quotation reused from another work, unless its license already allows the reuse, and cite the source either way.
Step four
Send it
Include a cover letter of no more than 500 words with the submission form itself; do not attach it as a separate file.
Submission routes
- Primary route: ManuscriptZone, the publisher’s online editorial manager. Follow its step-by-step instructions.
- Alternative route: the Journal of Family Medicine submission form, which opens with this journal already selected.
- Assisted route: the editorial office at [email protected], for authors who would rather submit by email or need help doing so.
Authors must use only one submission route for the same manuscript.
Before you press send
- The work is in subject for the journal, and you can say in one sentence why.
- Title within 30 words; running title within 60 characters.
- Abstract within 250 words; five to twelve keywords.
- Main text within the limit for your format; lines numbered.
- Tables and figures at the end, each on its own page, each with a legend.
- References numbered by order of appearance, first five authors then et al.
- Ethics approval or exemption, consent, and trial registration where they apply.
- Data-availability statement, competing interests, funding and any AI use declared.
- The reporting checklist for your study design.
- Cover letter of 500 words or fewer, in the submission form.
After submission
What happens next
The corresponding author receives an acknowledgment with a reference number. All submissions undergo initial editorial screening. Manuscripts that meet the journal’s scope and minimum requirements proceed to independent peer review: single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request. Manuscripts that proceed to external peer review are normally evaluated by two to three independent subject-matter experts.
A revision is returned with a point-by-point response to each comment. On acceptance you will review proofs before publication, and the article processing charge is raised at that point and not before.
For double-blind review, remove author names, affiliations, acknowledgments, funding details, institution names, and other identifying information from the reviewer manuscript. Provide identifying information separately in the title-page file or submission form.