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Submission

Manuscripts must be submitted online via email to submission@journalmtm.com.  Please supply a cover letter, the manuscript, and any supporting figures/tables.  Publishing with JMTM is free of cost to the authors.

Please read each section below for a detailed outline of the submission guidelines.

At the Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine we endeavour to notify the primary author of the outcome of peer review publication status within six weeks of submission

If you have any further queries, please contact us via the website link, or email to editor@journalmtm.com

Article Types and Word Counts
Required Documents
Manuscript Preparation
Referencing Style
Disclosures

 

 

 

Article types and word counts

  • Editorials
  • Original articles
  • Perspective Pieces
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Case reports

The word count excludes the title page, abstract, tables, acknowledgements, author contributions statement and the references.

Editorials

Timely succinct commentary on any aspect of clinical or laboratory application of mobile technology in medicine, usually in relation to the subject matter of a paper to be published in the same issue. All editorials are commissioned.

Word Limit: 1500 words.

Original articles

Original articles are original research studies in an accepted scientific form. Some examples include Randomised Control Trials, cohort studies, and survey based methodologies.  Editors may request authors to shorten a submitted manuscript when in the opinion of the Editorial Board, the content does not justify the length.

All types of original article should include the following:

  1. Title
  2. Affiliations for all authors and details of corresponding author including email address
  3. Keywords (5)
  4. Structured abstract: (250 words, headings, “Background”, “Aims”, “Methods”, “Results”, “Conclusion”)
  5. Introduction
  6. Methods (including Ethics Statement)
  7. Results
  8. Discussion
  9. Conclusion
  10. Acknowledgements
  11. References
  12. Legends for display items (Figures and Tables)

Word Limit: 4000 words.

Please note that it is the policy of the Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine that editors are not permitted to submit original research articles for publication in the Journal.

Perspective Piece

An in depth analysis regarding the use of mobile technologies in a particular field or area.  Perspective pieces should be well written summaries containing updates in the area, and any new developments with referencing where appropriate.

Word Limit: 2000 words.

Required sections:

  1. Title
  2. Affiliations for all authors and details of corresponding author including email address
  3. Keywords (5)
  4. Body of Manuscript
  5. Conclusion
  6. Acknowledgements
  7. References
  8. Legends for display items (Figures and Tables)

Letters to the Editor

Letters may be submitted to the Editor on any topic, including case reports, but letters commenting on papers published in recent issues of the Journal are most welcome. Such Letters must include the article reference in the title, e.g., ‘Concerns related to mobile phone-based dermatoscopy resolution in primary practice setting. (RE: JMTM 2011, 1: 6-11)’.
Word limit: 750 words.

References: up to ten references.
Required Sections:

  1. Title
  2. Affiliations for all authors and details of corresponding author including email address
  3. Keywords (5)
  4. Body of Text
  5. Acknowledgements
  6. References
  7. Legends for display items (Figures and Tables)

Case Report

Any interesting examples documenting the use of mobile technology in the health field will be considered.  Examples may include personal experiences with mobile technology in medicine, or patient use of mobile technology in managing their own health.

Unstructured abstract: up to 250 words.
Word count: up to 2000 words

Required Sections:

  1. Title
  2. Affiliations for all authors and details of corresponding author including email address
  3. Keywords (5)
  4. Unstructured abstract
  5. Case Details
  6. Discussion
  7. Conclusion
  8. Acknowledgements
  9. References
  10. Legends for display items (Figures and Tables)

 

 

 

Required Documents

Cover Letter

All submissions require a brief covering letter that:

  • Nature of submission (eg. Original article/ Letter to the Editor/ Case report)
  • justifies the inclusion of each author if there are more than five authors;
  • provides a statement that all authors are in agreement with the content of the manuscript;
  • discloses source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, and/or pharmaceutical items;
  • declares and explain any potential conflict of interest; and
  • indicates that the manuscript has not been published previously and is not under consideration elsewhere.

Copies of permission to reproduce copyright material should be attached to the covering letter if included in the manuscript.

Title Page

All manuscripts must include a title page that provides:

  • the full title containing no more than 80 characters, including spaces;
  • a running head (short title) containing no more than 40 characters, including spaces;
  • the full names of the authors followed by up to two qualifications (e.g. MD, PhD, MBBS) and institutional affiliations;
  • an indication of whether the corresponding author is a recipient of a research scholarship;
  • details if the paper is based on a previous communication to a society or meeting;
  • details of the number of figures and tables included, and separate word counts for the abstract and the text (excluding abstract, acknowledgments, figure legends and references); and
  • the full name, email and postal addresses, facsimile and telephone numbers of the corresponding author.

The corresponding author is responsible for the integrity of the study and for communicating with the other authors about editorial decisions and the nature of any revisions.

Preparation of Manuscripts

The Journal complies with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication” updated February 2006 (http://www.ICMJE.org). Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their work, including all statistical calculations and drug doses.

Title

The title is a concise label that allows readers to scan for relevance. The nature of the study must be clearly signposted. Strive for an interesting title that is also an accurate label. Avoid the use of abbreviations.

Key words

Five key words are required to index the content of articles. They should be selected from the US National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) browser list http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html.

Clinical trials

Clinical trials should be clearly identified as such in the title and abstract. A clinical trial is any study that prospectively assigns humans into groups to study the relationship between an intervention and a clinical outcome. Clinical trials should adhere to the guidelines outlined in the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) statement http://www.consort-statement.org and all manuscripts must include a flow chart showing the progress of patients through the trial. Trials that started after 1 January 2008 must be registered in one of several free and publicly accessible electronically searchable databases such as the one administered by the USA National Library of Medicine (NLM), which is located at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. The trial registration number must be listed at the end of the structured abstract.

Systematic reviews

All systematic reviews of clinical trials must adhere to the guidelines outlined in the MOOSE report by the CONSORT Group http://www.consort-statement.org/resources/downloads/other-instruments/.

Authors should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. Authors are also encouraged to use subheadings in the main text of the manuscript.

The structured abstract should have the following sections: Background, Objectives, Data sources, Review methods, Results, and Conclusions.

Statistics

Document the specific objectives of the study and identify the main endpoints. Explain and justify how the sample size was determined in experiments, clinical trials, case-control studies and cohort studies.

Report results to a level of precision commensurate with their scientific or clinical relevance. For example, report mean blood pressure without decimal places. Avoid over-precision by restricting the use of decimal places. Provide the numbers in the numerator and denominator when stating a percentage.

Describe the central tendency and dispersion of continuous measurements. Use the mean (standard deviation) for measurements that approximate the normal distribution; and, only use the mean (standard error of the mean) when estimating the precision of the observed mean. For other continuous measurements use the median value and percentiles – such as the inter-quartile range and the absolute range. Avoid any ambiguity about the numbers of observations.

Describe the analyses in enough detail to enable readers with access to the original data to verify the results. Ensure that the data satisfy the assumptions of the chosen statistical tests. Provide references for techniques not in common usage and include a brief explanation. Document the name and source of any commercial statistical computer packages that were used to calculate the results.

Appreciate that statistical significance tests show whether or not an effect could be due to chance. Comment on the magnitude of the chief differences between the groups. Declare the level of statistical significance (usually P < 0.05) and state whether this refers to a one- or two-sided probability. Report the value of the test statistic and the P value. Make allowances for multiple comparisons by adjusting the P value. Generally, though within reason, report confidence intervals as well as P values.

Correlation coefficients provide a summary of the linear association between two quantitative variables. They measure the association between independent variables and should never be used to measure agreement (concordance): correlation coefficients must never be used when comparing different methods of measuring the same variable.

Qualitative research

Qualitative research may be difficult to fit into the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion) format. It is sometimes best to present the results and discussion together for each theme, and the structured abstract can be adjusted accordingly. Incorporate direct quotes from participants into tables whenever appropriate.

Style

Please write in a clear, concise and direct style. Manuscripts should be intelligible to the professional reader who is not a specialist in the particular field. The Editor reserves the right to modify manuscripts in order to eliminate ambiguity and repetition and to improve communication between author and reader. If extensive alterations are required, the manuscript will either be rejected or returned to the author for revision. The Journal uses UK spelling and authors should therefore follow the latest edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary.

Please note:

  • All measurements must be given in SI units (excepting blood pressures, which should be given in mmHg)
  • Numbers under 10 are spelt out, except for: measurements with a unit (8mmol/l); age (6 weeks old), or lists with other numbers (11 dogs, 9 cats, 4 gerbils)
  • Abbreviations should only be used where they ease the reader’s task by reducing repetition of long, technical terms. At the first mention of the word in the paper use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviation only.
  • At the first mention of a chemical substance, give the generic name only. When quoting specific materials, software, equipment and proprietary drugs the name and address of the manufacturer must be given in parentheses.
  • Footnotes to the text are not allowed and such material must be incorporated into the text as parenthetical matter
  • Submissions must be doubled-spaced
  • Top, bottom and side margins should be at least 20 mm
  • Number pages consecutively, beginning with the title page
  • Do not use the Enter key at the end of lines within a paragraph
  • Turn the hyphenation option off. Include hyphens only where they are essential to the meaning
  • Specify any special characters used to represent non-keyboard characters. Take care not to use l (ell) for 1 (one), O (capital o) for 0 (zero) or ß (German esszett) for ß (Greek beta)
  • Tables should be self-contained and complement, but not duplicate, information contained in the text
  • Tables should be cited consecutively in the text and should be numbered using Arabic numerals
  • Each table should be presented on a separate page at the end of the main document file, with a comprehensive but concise legend above the table
  • Tables should be double-spaced, and should not contain internal lines
  • Do not use tabs or spaces to separate data points in tables. Each data point must be contained within a unique cell
  • Column headings should be brief, with units of measurement in parentheses. All abbreviations should be defined in footnotes
  • For footnotes in tables, use the following symbols, in sequence: †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, ††, ‡‡ (*, **, *** should be reserved for P values)
  • Identify statistical measures of variation, such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean
  • Illustrations (line drawings and photographs) are classified as figures
  • All figures should be in colour (the journal accepts colour illustrations and photographs free of charge)
  • Figures should be cited in consecutive order in the text using Arabic numerals
  • Insert easily seen arrows or letters to identify entities (they should be bold and in colour)
  • Photographs should be submitted as high resolution files (at least 300 d.p.i.)
  • Photographic images should be provided as .jpg files. Provide the figures in their original format where possible. Any accompanying text (figure legends etc.) should be included separately at the end of the main text file. Do not embed photographic images in Word documents.
  • Wherever possible, line figures (graphs and drawings) should be supplied in their original format. For example, line figures designed in Excel or PowerPoint should be submitted as such, and not embedded in Word (.doc) files
  • Legends must be submitted for all figures, and should be included at the end of the text. They should be self-explanatory and incorporate definitions of symbols. Abbreviations and units of measurement should be explained so that the figure and its legend are understandable without reference to the text. Indicate the stains used in histopathology. Identify statistical measures of variation, such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean
  • Photomicrographs and electron micrographs must have internal scale markers

 

Supporting Information

Supplementary illustrations and video files may be suitable for publication in the electronic version of the Journal. All supporting information should be submitted at the same time as the manuscript.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledge financial assistance, material support, and willing contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship.

Reference Style Guidelines

  • Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references
  • Please use Vancouver style formatting

In text referencing

  • References should be cited using superscript Arabic numerals with no parenthesis. eg, 1 or 3,4 or 10–15.
  • Number references in their order of appearance
  • References first cited in tables or figure legends must be numbered so that they will be in sequence with references in the text

Reference List

The reference list, normally headed ‘References‘, should appear at the end of your work, and should include details of all the sources of information which you have referred to, or cited, in your text.

Format of citations in the reference list

The details which need to be included in each citation in the list depend on the type of item referred to, e.g. book, journal article, or website.

The details, or elements, which are included in most citations, should be presented in this order: author – date- title of work – title of larger work (if any) – publishing details

The Reference List should be in the Vancouver style as follows:

12 Surname AB, Surname CD. Article title. Journal abbreviation Year;Vol:Start page–End page.

Use one space only between words up to the year and then no spaces. The journal title should be in italic and abbreviated according to the style of Medline. If the journal is not listed in Medline then it should be written out in full.

Check journal abbreviations using PubMed.

List the names and initials of all authors if there are 3 or fewer; otherwise list the first 3 and add et al.

Example references:

Journal article

13 Koziol-Mclain J, Brand D, Morgan D, et al. Measuring injury risk factors: question reliability in a statewide sample. Inj Prev 2000;6:148–50.

Chapter in book

14 Nagin D. General deterrence: a review of the empirical evidence. In: Blumstein A, Cohen J, Nagin D, eds. Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences 1978:95–139.

Book

15 Howland J. Preventing Automobile Injury: New Findings From Evaluative Research. Dover, MA: Auburn House Publishing Company 1988:163–96.

Abstract/supplement

16 Roxburgh J, Cooke RA, Deverall P, et al. Haemodynamic function of the carbomedics bileaflet prosthesis [abstract]. Br Heart J 1995;73(Suppl 2):P37.

Electronic citations

Websites are referenced with their URL and access date, and as much other information as is available. Access date is important as websites can be updated and URLs change. The “date accessed” can be later than the acceptance date of the paper, and it can be just the month accessed. See the 9th edition of the AMA Manual of Style for further examples.

Electronic journal articles

Morse SS. Factors in the emergency of infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis 1995 Jan-Mar;1(1). www.cdc.gov/nciod/EID/vol1no1/morse.htm (accessed 5 Jun 1998).

Electronic letters

Bloggs J. Title of letter. Journal name Online [eLetter] Date of publication. url

eg: Krishnamoorthy KM, Dash PK. Novel approach to transseptal puncture. Heart Online [eLetter] 18 September 2001. http://heart.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/86/5/e11#EL1

Check your citation information using PubMed.

Disclosures

The JMTM aims to ensure that all articles published in the JMTM report on work that is morally acceptable, and expects authors to follow the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki. To achieve this, we aim to appraise the ethical aspects of any submitted work that involves human participants, whatever descriptive label is given to that work including research, audit, and sometimes debate. This policy also applies on the very rare occasions that we publish work done with animal participants.

Many people consider that studies referred to as audit do not need any consideration of ethics, whereas all research must be approved by a formally constituted research ethics committee or, in the USA, an institutional review board.

We require every research article submitted to the JMTM to include a statement that the study obtained ethics approval (or a statement that it was not required), including the name of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s), the number/ID of the approval(s), and a statement that participants gave informed consent before taking part.

In addition we welcome detailed explanations of how investigators and authors have considered and justified the ethical and moral basis of their work. If such detail does not easily fit into the manuscript please provide it in the covering letter or upload it as a supplemental file when submitting the article. We will also be pleased to see copies of explanatory information given to participants. Even if we do not include such detailed information in a final published version, we may make it available to peer reviewers and editorial committees. We already ask peer reviewers to consider and comment on the ethics of submitted work.

What happens when the JMTM considers a study to be unethical? We believe that editors have a duty to take on issues of unethical audit or research, not to seek punishment for the authors, but to prevent unethical practice and to protect patients.

If the JMTM, with or without the advice of its ethics committee considers the work in a submitted article to be ethically unsound the editor may seek further advice or recommend investigation or action. The fact that the article would have been rejected anyway for other scientific or editorial reasons would not prevent the editor from taking such further action on serious ethics problems.

Declaration of Competing Interests

A competing interest (often called a conflict of interest) exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as patients’ welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain or personal rivalry). It may arise for the authors of a JMTM article when they have a financial interest that may influence, probably without their knowing, their interpretation of their results or those of others.

 

We believe that, to make the best decision on how to deal with a paper, we should know about any competing interests that authors may have, and that if we publish the article readers should know about them too. We are not aiming to eradicate such interests; they are almost inevitable. We will not reject papers simply because you have a conflict of interest, but we want you to make a declaration on whether or not you have competing interests.

The JMTM, will ask authors to make a statement declaring any competing interests in the body of the manuscript.

 

Authors must disclose three types of information:

  1. Associations with commercial entities that provided support for the work reported in the submitted manuscript (the timeframe for disclosure in this section of the form is the lifespan of the work being reported).
  2. Associations with commercial entities that could be viewed as having an interest in the general area of the submitted manuscript (in the 36 months before submission of the manuscript)
  3. Non-financial associations that may be relevant or seen as relevant to the submitted manuscript.

 

The statement in the manuscript should take the following format. Below are some examples for different sorts of disclosures.

“All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work OR (author initials) had support from (name of organisation) for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years OR (author initials) (had specified relationship) with (name of organisation) in the previous 3 years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work OR (initials of relevant authors)(had specified relationships or activities of this type)”

Examples

No competing interests

“All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form atwww.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.”

Grant funding for research but no other competing interest

“All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form atwww.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare: all authors had financial support from ABC Company for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.”

Mixed

“All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form atwww.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; AB has received research grants and honorariums from XYZ company, BF has been paid for developing and delivering educational presentations for BBB foundation, DF does consultancy for HHH and VVV companies; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.”

“All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form atwww.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare: financial support for the submitted work from ABC Company; AB has received research grants and honorariums from XYZ company, BF has been paid for developing and delivering educational presentations for BBB Company, DF does consultancy of HHH and VVV companies; AB chairs the BAA guideline committee on disease Y, BF is a member of the Royal College of Physicians’ guideline committee on gastroenterology.”