The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine

Manuscript Submission Guidelines: The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine

This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ijpm to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. 

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine will be reviewed. 

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy.

If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.

1. What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper

2. Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
2.7 Clinical trials
2.8 Reporting guidelines
2.9 Research Data

3. Publishing polices
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving

4. Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting 
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Supplemental material
4.4 Reference style
4.5 English language editing services

5. Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions

6. On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article

7. Further information
    

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

1.2 Article types

Original Research

1. Limit submissions to biopsychosocial aspects of disease and patient care. The goal of The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine is to address the complex relationships among biological, psychological, social, religious and cultural systems in patient care. The aim of the journal is to provide a forum where researchers and clinicians in psychiatry, medicine, family medicine, and surgery from around the world can educate each other and advance knowledge concerning biological, psychological, and social theory, methods, and treatment as they apply to patient care. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: psychobiological, psychological, social, religious and cultural modifiers of illness; mental disorders seen in outpatient medical practice; doctor-patient interactions; ethical issues in medicine; biomedical etiologies of mental symptoms; research from successful collaborative, multidisciplinary models such as geriatrics; and, health services research. The journal will publish original research, review articles, innovative educational programs, editorials, and illustrative case reports.

2. Require all co-authors to read final submitted draft carefully and comprehensively. Preliminary review by senior colleagues and science editors is also strongly encouraged.

3. Double space all text. Number all pages starting with the title page.

4. Arrange manuscript in the following order with each item beginning a new page: Title Page, Abstract, Text, Acknowledgments, References, Tables / Figures.

5. The title page should have a title which is informative, declarative, and concise. Authors' first names, middle initials, and last names should be provided followed with the highest academic degree and institutional affiliation for each author. If the paper has been presented at a meeting, give the name of the meeting, the location, and the inclusive dates. Provide a full address for the author who is to receive correspondence about the manuscript and reprint requests.

6. Abstract should be a single paragraph no longer than 250 words, structured with headings: Objective-, Method-, Results-, Conclusions-. Authors of research articles should include: Objective-question(s) addressed by the study; Method-design of the study, setting (location and level of clinical care), patients or participants (basic manner of selection), interventions (if any), main outcome measures; Results-main findings; and Conclusions-principal conclusion emphasizing new and important aspects of study or observations, including direct clinical applications, if appropriate. Authors of review articles should include the following information, under the headings indicated: Objective-the primary purpose of the review article; Method-data sources, study selection (the number of studies selected for review and how there were selected), data extraction (primary rules for abstracting data and how they were applied); Results- methods of data synthesis, key findings; and Conclusions-including potential applications and research needs.

7. After abstract include 3 to 10 index words* and "(Int'l. J. Psychiatry in Medicine 2012;30:000-000)". *(from MeSH list of Index Medicus)

8. The text should include four major sections with headings: Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion.

• Manuscripts should not exceed 3000 words.
• INTRODUCTION: The headings should be on a separate line next to the left margin. Where appropriate, additional subheadings and sub-subheadings can be used indented and underlined at the beginning of a paragraph, respectively.
• METHOD: Participants. The method section for research studies should provide a comprehensive description of the subjects. This includes the nature of the subject group, (including informed consent), methods of recruitment, and the manner of selection and number who entered and completed the study. Informed Consent and IRB approval. Indicate that the appropriate procedures were followed in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation, and that IRB approval was obtained. In most cases, this should clearly state that after complete description of the study to the subjects, written informed consent was obtained. Procedures, interventions (if any), measurements used (including information about reliability as appropriate), and methods of data analysis (or synthesis for reviews) should be provided. Adequate description of statistical methods should be provided. Analysis Statistical tests that are not well known should be described and referenced. Spell out all abbreviations (other than those for units of measure) the first time they are used. Idiosyncratic abbreviations should not be used. Generic rather than trade names of drugs should be used.
• RESULTS: The Results should include all important results. Results usually begin with a description of the sample, and then proceed to study results. Include the test value, appropriate numeric value, and statistical test of significance. For example, "The analysis of variance indicated that those who received the interventions had significantly lower levels of depression than those assigned to the control condition (F=4.32, df=3, 37, p<0.05)." Present the results in a logical sequence in the text, tables and figures. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables. Emphasize or summarize only important observations.
• DISCUSSION: The Discussion should emphasize new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. Relate the findings to other relevant studies. Do not repeat in detail data or material given in the Introduction or Results. Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by the data or review. Include implications and limitations of the study. Include implications for future research.

9. In Acknowledgments, report grant or any other financial support in a separate paragraph and include the full name of the granting agency and grant number. Drug company support of any kind must be acknowledged.

10. References are to be cited in text in numerical order [1], with brackets [2]. The brackets should come before punctuation marks such as commas and periods, not after.

11. References are to be listed in numerical sequence at the end of the article. All authors, Article title. Journal Title (spelled out) Year; Volume Number: Pages inclusive. e.g. Journal Article - 1. Smith J, Jones RK. This is it. World Research Journal 2012;41:1-10, DOI. Book - 2. Jones RK, Smith J. Primary care. In: Well IM, editor. All we know. Amityville, NY: Baywood, 2012:18-50, DOI. Accuracy of each citation is the authors' responsibility. References should conform exactly to the original spelling, accents, punctuation, etc. Authors should be sure that all references listed have been cited in the text. Personal communications, unpublished manuscripts, manuscripts submitted but not yet accepted should not be included in the reference list. Manuscripts actually in press may be cited with journal or publisher/ location.

12. Figures should be referenced in text and appear in numerical sequence starting with Figure 1 (even if only one figure). Line art must be original drawings in black ink proportionate to our page size, and suitable for photographing. Indicate top and bottom of figure where confusion may exist. Labeling should be 8 point type. Clearly identify all figures. Figures should be drawn on separate pages and their placement noted by inserting:

-Insert Figure 1 here-

13. Tables must be cited in text in numbered sequence starting with Table 1 (even if only one table). Each table must have a descriptive title. Any footnotes to tables are indicated by super lower case letters. When tables include numbers and percent, the absolute number should be given first and the percent in parentheses (%). Tables should be typed on separate pages and their approximate placement indicated within text by inserting: 

-Insert Table 1 here-

References in tables and figures are numbered as though the tables and figures were part of the text.

14. Footnotes are placed at the bottom of the page where referenced. They should be numbered with super Arabic numbers without parentheses or brackets. Footnotes should be brief and usually should not exceed three lines.

15. Authors will be notified of the receipt of their paper and a number that has been assigned to it. This number should be included in all further correspondence. Reviewed manuscripts will not be returned except upon special request made in the original submission letter and if a self-addressed, postage-paid envelope is included.

16. Authors may suggest three potential unbiased reviewers, but their use is not guaranteed.

Review Articles

Review articles are accepted at IJPM and are published at a rate of one per issue. The Journal does consider unsolicited reviews, but authors should be aware that invited reviews are likely to have a higher priority.

1. Review articles should be no more than 3000 words
2. Abstract—include an abstract of less than 300 words, no headings
3. Article outline for a Review
4. Describe the topic/problem, including definitions, and epidemiology.

Summarize any controversy or tension around the topic, if any.

1. Review the recent literature regarding the topic, which is usually an area of psychiatry/psychology/spiritual/social symptoms or condition in relation to either a primary care problem or a primary care patient population.
2. Review shortcomings of the current literature and areas that need to be addressed in future research.
3. Summary—including recommendations for addressing this area for practicing physicians.

1.3 Writing your paper

The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice on how to get published, plus links to further resources.

1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online. 

2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine adheres to a rigorous double-anonymize reviewing policy in which the identity of both the reviewer and author are always concealed from both parties.

The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine is committed to delivering high quality, fast peer-review for your paper, and as such has partnered with Publons. Publons is a third party service that seeks to track, verify and give credit for peer review. Reviewers for The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine can opt in to Publons in order to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for their review will be associated with the relevant journal, but the article name, reviewer’s decision and the content of their review is not published on the site. For more information visit the Publons website.

The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

2.2 Authorship

Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors. We ask that you please fill out the Author Declaration Form as that will be required for submitting.

The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:

(i)    Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
(ii)    Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
(iii)    Approved the version to be published, 
(iv)    Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship. 

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

2.3 Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support. 

2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

• Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
• Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
• Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

2.3.2 Writing assistance

Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

2.4 Funding 

The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. 

2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

It is the policy of The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles. 
Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.

2.6 Research ethics and patient consent

Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.

Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and all papers reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure that you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the approval number.

For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.

Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative. Please do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file.

Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants. 

All research involving animals submitted for publication must be approved by an ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted. The Journal has adopted the ARRIVE guidelines.

2.7 Clinical trials

The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

2.8 Reporting guidelines

The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study. For example, all randomized controlled trials submitted for publication should include a completed CONSORT flow chart as a cited figure and the completed CONSORT checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should include the completed PRISMA flow chart as a cited figure and the completed PRISMA checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. The EQUATOR wizard can help you identify the appropriate guideline. 

Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.

2.9 Research Data 

The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

• share your research data in a relevant public data repository
• include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
• cite this data in your research

3. Publishing Policies

3.1 Publication ethics

Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway. 

3.1.1 Plagiarism

The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

3.1.2 Prior publication

If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

3.1.3 Sage's authorship criteria

For technical or medical journals, in line with ICMJE guidance, to qualify for authorship each individual must:

1) Have made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the article; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the article; AND

2) Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content; AND

3) Approved the version to be published; AND

4) Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the

3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement    

Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

3.3 Open access and author archiving 

The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

4.1 Formatting 

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.  

Figures supplied in color will appear in color online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For specifically requested color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article. 

4.3 Supplemental material

This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc.) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

4.4 Reference style

The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine adheres to the Sage Vancouver reference style. View the Sage Vancouver guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Vancouver EndNote output file. 

4.5 English language editing services

Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

5. Submitting your manuscript

The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ijpm/ to login and submit your article online. 

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

5.1 ORCID

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

5.2 Information required for completing your submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

5.3 Permissions

Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

6. On acceptance and publication            

6.1 Sage Production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. 

6.2 Online First publication 

Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

6.3 Access to your published article 

Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.4 Promoting your article

Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine editorial office as follows: 

ijpmsc@musc.edumail