Author Center Home Instructions for Submitting a NEW Manuscript Presubmission Inquiries Editorial Office Contact Information

Please see Instructions for Submitting A New Manuscript for information on how to prepare a manuscript for submission to the Journal. Exceptions to these instructions are noted below. The peer-review process is applied to all submissions.
 

• Original Articles are scientific reports of the results of original clinical research. The text is limited to 2700 words, with an abstract, a maximum of 5 tables and figures (total), and up to 40 references.
• Special Articles are scientific reports of original research in such areas as economic policy, ethics, law, and health care delivery. The text is limited to 2700 words, with an abstract, a maximum of 5 tables and figures (total), and up to 40 references.

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• Brief Reports usually describe one to three patients or a single family. The text is limited to 2000 words, a maximum of 3 tables and figures (total), and up to 25 references. They begin with a brief summary of no more than 100 words.
• Clinical Problem-Solving manuscripts consider the step-by-step process of clinical decision making. Information about a patient is presented to an expert clinician or clinicians in stages (indicated by boldface type in the manuscript) to simulate the way such information emerges in clinical practice. The clinician responds (in regular type) as new information is presented, sharing his or her reasoning with the reader. The text should not exceed 2500 words, and there should be no more than 15 references. The use of clinical illustrative materials, such as x-ray films, is encouraged. An example of a Clinical Problem-Solving article can be viewed by clicking here.
• Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital are solicited by the Case Records editors.

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Review articles are usually solicited by the editors, but we will consider unsolicited material. Please contact the editorial office before writing a review article for the Journal. All review articles undergo the same peer-review and editorial process as original research reports. They should be written for the general physician, not specialists. Consequently, they may include material that might be considered too introductory for specialists in the field being covered.

Conflicts of Interest: Because the essence of review articles is selection and interpretation of the literature, the Journal expects that the authors of such articles will not have significant financial associations with a company (or its competitor) that makes a product discussed in the article.

• Clinical Practice articles are evidence-based reviews of topics relevant to practicing physicians, both primary care providers and specialists. Articles in this series should include the following sections: the clinical problem, strategies and evidence, areas of uncertainty, guidelines from professional societies, and the authors' conclusions and recommendations. The text is limited to 2500 words and a small number of figures and tables. These articles do not include an abstract.
• Clinical Therapeutics articles are evidence-based reviews of topics relevant to practicing physicians. The series focuses on clinically oriented information about specific forms of therapy, including drugs, devices, and procedures. Each article in the series begins with a clinical vignette describing a patient with a specified condition for whom the treatment under discussion has been recommended. This vignette is followed by a definition of the clinical problem, a description of the pathphysiology and how the therapy works, clinical evidence, clinical use (including costs), adverse effects, areas of uncertainty, guidelines, and recommendations. The text is limited to 2500 words. These articles do not include an abstract.
• Current Concepts articles focus on clinical topics, including those in specialty areas but of wide interest. The text is limited to 2400 words, with a maximum of 4 figures and tables (total), and up to 50 references. These articles do not include an abstract.
• Drug Therapy articles detail the pharmacology and use of specific drugs or classes of drugs, or the various drugs used to treat particular diseases. The text is limited to 3300 words, with a maximum of 5 figures and tables (total), and up to 100 references. These articles do not include an abstract.
• Mechanisms of Disease articles discuss the cellular and molecular mechanisms of diseases or categories of diseases. The text is limited to 3300 words, with a maximum of 6 figures and tables (total), and up to 100 references. These articles do not include an abstract.
• Medical Progress articles provide comprehensive, scholarly overviews of important clinical subjects, with the principal (but not exclusive) focus on developments during the past five years. Each article details how the perception of a disease, disease category, diagnostic approach, or therapeutic intervention has evolved in recent years. The text is limited to 3300 words, with a maximum of 5 tables and figures (total), and up to 100 references. These articles do not include an abstract.

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• Editorials usually provide commentary and analysis concerning an article in the issue of the Journal in which they appear. They may include 1 figure or table. They are nearly always solicited, although unsolicited editorials may occasionally be considered. Editorials are limited to 900 words, with up to 10 references.
• Perspective articles cover a wide variety of topics of current interest in health care, medicine, and the intersection between medicine and society. We welcome submissions and proposals. Perspective articles are limited to 1000 to 1200 words and usually include one figure. There is a maximum of 5 references.
• Sounding Board articles are opinion essays. They are similar to editorials but are not tied to a particular article. They often present opinions on health policy issues and are normally unsolicited. The text is limited to 2000 words.
• Clinical Implications of Basic Research articles discuss single papers from preclinical journals. The purpose is to explain the findings and comment on their possible clinical applications in fewer than 750 words. There may be 1 figure and up to 5 references. We do not consider unsolicited manuscripts in this category.
• Special Reports are miscellaneous articles of special interest to the medical community. They are limited to 2700 words.
• Health Law, Ethics, and Human Rights are nearly always solicited, but we are willing to consider unsolicited manuscripts or proposals for manuscripts. Please contact the Editorial Office before submitting a manuscript.
• Health Policy Reports are nearly always solicited, but we are willing to consider unsolicited manuscripts or proposals for manuscripts. Please contact the Editorial Office before submitting a manuscript.
• Occasional Notes are accounts of personal experiences or descriptions of material from outside the usual areas of medical research and analysis.
• Letters to the Editor provide a forum for readers to comment about articles recently published in the Journal, and they are a place to publish concise articles, such as reports of novel cases. Please see specific instructions for Letters to the Editor.
• Book Reviews are generally solicited. We are willing to consider proposals for book reviews, but please contact the Editorial Office before submitting a review.
• Images in Clinical Medicine are classic images of common medical conditions. Images are an important part of much of what we do and learn in medicine. This feature is intended to capture the sense of visual discovery and variety that physicians experience. Images in Clinical Medicine are not intended as a vehicle for case reports. Please see specific instructions for Images in Clinical Medicine.
• Filler Photographs are unsolicited photographs, unrelated to the content of the Journal, that are published as space allows. There are no restrictions on subject matter, however photographs of recognizable people are not generally published.
  
  Requirements:
• Photo files must be submitted in JPEG format and have a file extension of .jpg or .jpeg.
• Photos must be 1000 x 1000 pixels minimum to be considered for publication. To be eligible to be printed at the largest size, images should be 1730 pixels wide by 2000 pixels high or larger.
• Photo files may be up to 10 MB in size.
• A maximum of five photos may be uploaded per session.


After submitting a photo you will be notified by email once it has been reviewed by our editors. You will also receive email notification if your photo is selected for publication.

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