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Author Guidelines

Instructions for AMJ authors

Publication Ethics and Malpractice statement

The Australasian Medical Journal follows the COPE, Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and the Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers.

The Journal also follows the ICMJE’s Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, it is strictly recommended that authors, reviewers and editors follow the best-practice guidelines on ethical behaviour.

Submission process

Authors wishing to submit papers to the AMJ should use the templates listed below. Please click on the link to the paper type listed below:

Research paper

Case study. (It may help you to consider the guidance offered here)

Letter to the Editor

Brief report

Review

Editorial

Book Review

Please note: Do not deviate from the fonts or the font sizes in the template. You are welcome to use colour in your figures, photos or tables. Your manuscript should be submitted as a .doc i.e. MS Word file.

Manuscripts must be submitted by one of the authors of the manuscript, and should not be submitted by anyone on their behalf. Submitting authors should first register with the journal and log on before making the submission. Submissions can be made on the 'User Home' tab. The submitting author takes responsibility for the article during submission and peer review. To facilitate rapid publication and to minimize administrative costs, AMJ accepts only online submission. The submission process is compatible with version 3.0 or later of Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, and with most other modern web browsers. It can be used from PC, Mac, or Unix platforms. Files can be submitted as a batch, or one by one. The submission process can be interrupted at any time - when users return to the site, they can carry on where they left off. Files up to 9 Mega bites can be submitted. Assistance with the process of manuscript preparation and submission is available from the editor (amj@medicineinsights.com). Instructions on how to submit a paper are here.

You may also submit multimedia presentations. Please follow the instructions below.

Authors who publish in AMJ retain copyright to their work. Unless otherwise agreed in advance, by submitting a manuscript to this Journal, you are granting permission to the Journal to license the material for full text republication and indexing by organizations with which the Journal has a licensing agreement. There are no royalties to be paid to any authors. Our goal is to provide the widest possible dissemination of this material to the world. Correspondence concerning articles published in AMJ is encouraged through the online comment system. Please note the following:

1. Your submission should Include every listed authors' affiliations. If medical writers have been employed, it is important that their role be acknowledged explicitly. We suggest wording such as 'We thank John Smith who provided medical writing services on behalf of the investigators listed in this project.'

2. Include a word count, figure and table count if appropriate.

3. Submission of a manuscript to AMJ implies that all authors have read and agreed to its content, and that any experimental research that is reported in the manuscript has been performed with the approval of an appropriate ethics committee. Research carried out on humans must be in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration, and any experimental research on animals must follow internationally recognized guidelines. A statement to this effect must appear in the Methods section of the manuscript, including the name of the body which gave approval, with a reference number where appropriate. Informed consent must also be documented.

4. We ask authors of AMJ papers to complete a declaration of competing interests, which should be provided as a separate section of the manuscript, to follow the Acknowledgements. Where an author gives no competing interests, the listing will read 'The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests'.

5. Please submit your paper in the appropriate category as listed in the AMJ sections.

6. Do not submit copyrighted or plagiarised material, this includes screen shots of other websites. If in doubt remove any such material from the manuscript.

7. For all articles that include information or clinical photographs relating to individual patients, written and signed consent from each patient to publish must also be mailed or faxed to the editorial staff. The manuscript should also include a statement to this effect in the Acknowledgements section, as follows: 'Written consent for publication was obtained from the patient or their relative'.

8. The AMJ supports initiatives to improve the performance and reporting of clinical trials, part of which includes prospective registering and numbering of trials. While there are initiatives to ensure that all clinical trials are registered (most notably the recent statement from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors - see https://www.icmje.org/clin_trialup.htm), we are focusing on controlled trials of healthcare interventions, for now. Authors of protocols or reports of controlled trials of health care interventions must register their trial prior to submission in a suitable publicly accessible registry. The trial registers that currently meet all of the ICMJE guidelines can be found at https://www.icmje.org/faq.pdf. The trial registration number should be included as the last line of the abstract of the manuscript.

9. The AMJ also supports initiatives aimed at improving the reporting of biomedical research. Checklists have been developed for randomized controlled trials (CONSORT), systematic reviews (QUOROM), meta-analyses of observational studies (MOOSE), diagnostic accuracy studies (STARD) and qualitative studies (RATS). Authors are requested to make use of these when drafting their manuscript and peer reviewers will also be asked to refer to these checklists when evaluating these studies.

10.  The AMJ can only accept manuscripts written in English. Spelling should be in British English. There is no explicit limit on the length of articles submitted, but authors are encouraged to be concise. There is no restriction on the number of figures, tables or additional files that can be included with each article online. Figures and tables should be sequentially referenced. Authors should include all relevant supporting data with each article. AMJ may edit submitted manuscripts for style or language; reviewers may advise rejection of a manuscript if it is compromised by grammatical errors. Authors are advised to write clearly and simply, and to have their article checked by colleagues before submission. In-house copyediting will be minimal. Non-native speakers of English may choose to make use of a copyediting service.

11.  The AMJ aims to publish papers within 04 weeks of submission; we rely on reviewers to make their comments within a two week time frame and authors to respond to comments soon thereafter. Whilst we cannot guarantee these time lines, where we have experienced delays in the past there has usually been a delayed response to reviewers comments. We also operate a policy of 'open' peer review. In other words the identity of the authors and reviewers may be disclosed to each other.

 

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

  1. The submission has not been previously published, nor is it submitted to another journal for consideration. Please note that AMJ has a robust policy on plagiarism – offenders will be blacklisted from the journal and reported to their host institution. If you are in any doubt that your paper contains plagiarised material please conduct a thorough check before submission.
  2. The paper is being submitted on the prescribed template. We understand that papers not submitted on a template will be rejected.
  3. Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  4. Where appropriate we have full ethics committee clearance for the study we are reporting on this occasion. The approval number/reference is added to the manuscript.
  5. The authors have read the AMJ copyright notice and undertake to comply with the terms of that notice. Please note: do not submit any copyrighted material. All figures, images and photographs submitted with your paper should be free of copyright and or appropriate approvals obtained before submission. Authors are responsible for obtaining any such approvals.
  6. We are reporting all conflicts of interest if they exist.
  7. All authors listed in the manuscript are named in this submission.
  8. This journal charges the following author fees; Authors, institutions and funding bodies will be charged with publication fee for each published article and the fee range is 275 (Euro) per page. For each color plate, additional 275 (USD) will be charged. If this paper is accepted for publication, you will be asked to pay an Article Publication Fee to cover publications cost. Authors living in developing countries may, at the discretion of the Publisher, be granted discounts. If you are living in a developing country and need to apply for a discount, please email the editor (editor@amj.net.au) with the following information: 1. Your name and institution with full address details 2. Reason for applying for a discount 3. Title of your paper 4. Country of residence of any co-authors.
  9. The AMJ now requires authors to nominate 2 independent reviewers who we may approach to review your paper. They must not be collaborators, colleagues or family members of any of the authors. Reviewers will be asked to make a statement of conflict of interest. A suitable reviewer is someone: Who is an expert on the topic.
 

Copyright Notice

AMJ copyright and license agreement

In submitting a research article ('article') published by the AMJ I certify that:

1. I am authorized by my co-authors to enter into these arrangements.

2. I warrant, on behalf of myself and my co-authors, that:

a)     the article is original, has not been formally published in any other peer-reviewed journal, is not under consideration by any other journal and does not infringe any existing copyright or any other third party rights;

b)     I am/we are the sole author(s) of the article and have full authority to enter into this agreement and in granting rights to AMJ are not in breach of any other obligation. If the law requires that the article be published in the public domain, I/we will notify AMJ at the time of submission upon which clauses 3 through 6 inclusive do not apply;

c)     the article contains nothing that is unlawful, libellous, or which would, if published, constitute a breach of contract or of confidence or of commitment given to secrecy;

d)     I/we have taken due care to ensure the integrity of the article. To my/our - and currently accepted scientific - knowledge all statements contained in it purporting to be facts are true and any formula or instruction contained in the article will not, if followed accurately, cause any injury, illness or damage to the user.

Copyright © [YEAR(S) OF FIRST PUBLICATION 2008] [AMJ]

Ownership of copyright

The copyright in this website and the material on this website (including without limitation the text, computer code,

artwork, photographs, images, music, audio material, video material and audio-visual material on this website) is owned by AMJ and its licensors.

Copyright license

The AMJ grants to you a worldwide non-exclusive royalty-free revocable license to:

  • view this website and the material on this website on a computer or mobile device via a web browser;
  • copy and store this website and the material on this website in your web browser cache memory; and
  • print pages from this website for your own personal and non-commercial use.

The AMJ does not grant you any other rights in relation to this website or the material on this website.   In other words, all other rights are reserved.

For the avoidance of doubt, you must not adapt, edit, change, transform, publish, republish, distribute, redistribute, broadcast, rebroadcast or show or play in public this website or the material on this website (in any form or media) without AMJ's prior written permission.  

Data mining

The automated and/or systematic collection of data from this website is prohibited.

Permissions

You may request permission to use the copyright materials on this website by writing to amj@medicineinsights.com or 40 Bloomsbury Way Lower Ground Floor London, United Kingdom WC1A 2SE.

Enforcement of copyright

The AMJ takes the protection of its copyright very seriously.

If the AMJ discovers that you have used its copyright materials in contravention of the license above, AMJ may bring legal proceedings against you seeking monetary damages and an injunction to stop you using those materials.  You could also be ordered to pay legal costs.

If you become aware of any use of AMJ's copyright materials that contravenes or may contravene the license above, please report this by email to amj@medicineinsights.com or by post to 40 Bloomsbury Way Lower Ground Floor London, United Kingdom WC1A 2SE.

Infringing material

If you become aware of any material on the website that you believe infringes your or any other person's copyright, please report this by email to amj@medicineinsights.com or by post to 40 Bloomsbury Way Lower Ground Floor London, United Kingdom WC1A 2SE.

This copyright notice is based on an original template created by template-contracts.co.uk and distributed by freenetlaw.com

1. Authors grant the AMJ exclusive copyright.

2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

 

Privacy Statement

Your privacy is important to AMJ. This privacy statement provides information about the personal information that AMJ collects, and the ways in which AMJ uses that personal information. 

Personal information collection

AMJ may collect and use the following kinds of personal information:

  • information about your use of this website
  • information that you provide using for the purpose of registering with the website
  • any other information that you send to AMJ.

Using personal information

AMJ may use your personal information to:

  • administer this website;
  • personalize the website for you;
  • enable your access to and use of the website services;
  • publish information about you on the website;
  • send you marketing communications.

Where AMJ discloses your personal information to its agents or sub-contractors for these purposes, the agent or sub-contractor in question will be obligated to use that personal information in accordance with the terms of this privacy statement.

In addition to the disclosures reasonably necessary for the purposes identified elsewhere above, AMJ may disclose your personal information to the extent that it is required to do so by law, in connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings, and in order to establish, exercise or defend its legal rights.

Securing of your data

AMJ will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information.

AMJ will store all the personal information you provide on its secure servers.

Information relating to electronic transactions entered into via this website will be  protected by encryption technology.

Cross-border data transfers

Information that AMJ collects may be stored and processed in and transferred between any of the countries in which AMJ

operates to enable the use of the information in accordance with this privacy policy.

In addition, personal information that you submit for publication on the website will be published on the internet and may be available around the world.

You agree to such cross-border transfers of personal information.

Updating this statement

AMJ may update this privacy policy by posting a new version on this website. 

You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are familiar with any changes. 

Other websites

This website contains links to other websites. 

AMJ is not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of any third party.

Contact AMJ

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or AMJ's treatment of your personal information, please write to:

by email to amj@medicineinsights.com; 

This privacy statement

This privacy statement is based on an original template created by website-contracts.co.uk and distributed by freenetlaw.com.

Corrections and Retraction policies

Article Corrections:

Corrections or corrigenda for the previously-published articles are uniformly considered by the AMJ as errata. Errata are published when the mistakes are identified or not recognized during the editing or production process. These mistakes are inclusive of significant errors in figures, tables or their legends, incorrect details in the address or email of the author etc.

If readers detect error(s) in any paper, they are requested to submit their comments as “Letter to Editor” following the prescribed article format. The articles submitted as “Letter to Editor” are thoroughly reviewed for their language, spelling and grammar. The same manuscript will be sent to the original author(s) for their comments. On acceptance, both the “Letter to Editor” and the comments from the original author(s) will be published in the same issue.

Article Retraction:

Article may be retracted or withdrawn by the author(s), academic or institutional sponsor, editor or publisher because of the pervasive errors or unsubstantiated or irreproducible data. It is AMJ policy that a retraction note will be made online once an article is retracted. The retraction note must explicitly state that the article has been retracted by the author upon request and after producing valid proof. Head of the department, dean, or the director of the laboratory where the paper was produced, and the journal editor can also notify it, if they want to retract any article(s) due to undue errors.

If any third party or any individual claims for retraction for any specific article, proper investigation will be conducted following the COPE guidelines and decision will be taken depending on the outcome of the investigation under the aegis of the Editor-in-Chief or any Senior Editor whoever is handling the issue.

 

Author Fees

This journal charges the following author fees.

Article Submission: 0.00 (EUR)
AMJ does not charge Article Submission Fee as part of the submission process.

Fast-Track Review: 0.00 (EUR)
With the payment of this fee, the review, editorial decision, and author notification on this manuscript is guaranteed to take place within 4 weeks.

Article Processing Charges: 2200.00 (EUR)
This journal charges the following author fees; Authors, institutions and funding bodies will be charged with publication fee for each published article and the fee range is 2200 USD per article.
If a paper is accepted for publication, you will be asked to pay an Article Publication Fee to cover the range of publishing services including provision of online tools for editors, reviewers and authors, peer review management, article production, journal development, online hosting, indexing and archiving.
When the final formatted manuscript will be accepted from editorial office and before publication, author or institution or funder will be charged with the publication fee. Also, for final formatted manuscript, withdrawal request will not be acceptable without payment of full publication fee.
Publication fee can be paid through online system or bank transfer or through check or invoice. Prompt payment is advised, as the article will not be published until payment is received.
Authors will not be charged with the publication fee if they are membership holders for the AMJ. If Author’s institution or funders are membership holder of our Group, 70% charge will be waived for author.

Authors living in developing countries may, at the discretion of the Publisher, be granted discounts. If you are living in a developing country and need to apply for a discount, please email the editor (amj@medicineinsights.com) with the following information: 1. Your name and institution with full address details 2. Reason for applying for a discount 3. Title of your paper 4. Country of residence of any co-authors. Reprints: We provide reprint order for article or released issue, on request. For reprint order, minimum number of copies is 100. Cost is associated with reprint order which is 450 USD for or less than 100 copies and shipping charge is 100 USD. These charges are for black and white reprint. For color reprint, additional charges will be applied. Reprints are delivered within three weeks to the shipping address after receiving payment of publication fee and reprint cost.