Guide for Authors

The Journal of Men’s Health and Gender (jmhg) is an interna-

tional inter-disciplinary journal, which publishes articles in four

issues annually that accelerate the transfer of knowledge from

bench to bedside and bedside to bench, provoke debate and

highlight wider social issues of concern to readers interested in

men’s health and gender medicine all over the world.

It is important that papers are well written in a readable style.

Articles may be written in British English (according to the Con-cise Oxford Dictionary) or American English (according to Mer-riam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary). The editorial office will

provide assistance in polishing articles to achieve high-quality

communication.

Submission of a paper to jmhg is understood to imply that it

is not being considered for publication elsewhere and that the

Author(s) permission to publish his/her article(s) in this journal

implies the exclusive authorisation of the journal to deal with all

issues concerning the copyright therein.

Papers should be submitted online via the JMHG web site on

the Author Gateway at www.authors.elsevier.com/journal/jmhg.

All articles undergo peer review, managed by the jmhg edi-

torial office (jmhg-me@ismh.org). All correspondence following

submission is carried out using the web site.

Articles for the following sections may be submitted or invited:

Original Papers Words ReferencesOriginal reports of basic researchand clinical work including socialhealth

Full-length:Short report:

Short articlesLetters

<3500<1000

<1000<600

<80<10

ReviewsReviews/mini-reviews Full-length: <5000 <100

Mini-reviews: <2500 <50

Debate Articles <2500 <50

EditorialsEditorials <1500 <20

Letters to the EditorComments on recent publicationsin jmhg

<800 <6

Short case report or pertinentobservation

<800 <6

Practicing Medicine All contributions for the series are com-

missioned and no unsolicited material is accepted. The Editor-

in-Chief will, however, consider suggestions of topics and

authors for forthcoming issues.

eHealth Innovation/Web WatchWeb site feature <250

Book ReviewsBook reviews <600

News Round-up

This section covers news of interest to the men’s health and

gender medicine community about medicine, science, policy

issues and people. It is compiled by the journal’s professional

journalists but any local news item that could be of interest to

our readers may be submitted to the editorial office.

Events Calendar

Medical or non-medical local and national events related to gen-

der medicine are invited. Please submit to:

eventcalendar@ismh.org

Look ahead/look backInvited articles only

Forum SectionConsumer Site and Pharma Report articles in consultation with

Editorial office

Innovative PracticeNews and Views fromPatients and Patient GroupsAround the World with Men’s Healthand Women’s Health OrganisationsOut of Practice

Challenge 21

Non-medical invited articles only.

Points of style

� Abbreviations should not be overused, i.e. usually abbreviations

are not necessary unless used more than three times in the

article.

� Jargon should be avoided.

� There is a tendency to overuse the passive voice in scientific

writing. The passive can be useful in the Subjects, materials and

methods section but otherwise over-indulgence in the passive

voice makes for dullness in scientific writing.

� Please use ‘men’ and ‘women’, and ‘boys’ ‘girls’ or ‘youths’

when writing about humans and avoid the use of ‘male’ and

‘female’ except as adjectives.

� Choose shorter words with the more correct meaning whenever

possible, e.g. ‘did’ rather than ‘performed’, ‘show’ rather than

‘demonstrate’, ‘gave’, ‘injected’ or ‘treated’ rather than ‘admi-

nistered’, ‘used’ rather than ‘employed’ or ‘utilised’.

Guide for Authors

124 Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 124–128, May 2004 � International Society for Men’s Health & Gender. Published by Elsevier Inc.

� Name dropping, i.e. mentioning researchers by name rather

than relying solely on a citation, is to be avoided, e.g. The

sentence ‘We confirmed the findings of P.W. Edwards and

colleagues that . . . [3]’ can be changed to ‘We confirmed that . . .

[3]’.

Organisation of articles

Articles should comply with the Uniform Requirements for

Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals at http://

www.icmje.org including and in particular the paragraphs

entitled Conflicts of Interest, Privacy and Confidentiality Patients

and Study Participants, Protection of Human Subjects and Ani-

mals in Research, and Overlapping Publications.

Original Papers

TITLE PAGE should include:

1. The title should inform about the scope of the investigation

and include if appropriate the species of animal. No abbrevia-

tions should be used in the title.

2. The first name, middle initial(s) and last name of each author,

and qualification after the name, e.g. MD, PhD.

3. The affiliation of each author.

4. The email address, telephone and fax numbers of the corre-

sponding author. Proofs will be sent to the corresponding

author.

ABSTRACT PAGE

Abstracts should be structured into the following four

paragraphs: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions. The

information in the abstract must correlate with that in the

main text. Abbreviations should be kept to a minimum and

should be written out in full the first time they are used followed

by the abbreviation in parentheses. No references should be

cited in the abstract. Abstracts should not exceed 250 words in

length.

Key words should preferably be taken from the MESH index of

Index Medicus.

INTRODUCTION

The introduction should explain the state of knowledge before

the investigation and contain a clear statement of the aim and

novelty of the study. It should neither include results nor con-

clusions.

SUBJECTS, MATERIALS AND METHODS

Sufficient information should be given to permit repetition of

experiments.

Patients and the criteria for their selection must be described.

The reasons for any dropping out of the study must be fully

explained.

Animals’ age, sex and source and, where appropriate, genetic

background should be given.

Chemical substances must be identified and unless they are stan-

dard laboratory chemicals the name, town and country of the

supplier must be provided.

Drugs must be identified by their generic or official name. Pro-

prietary names may follow in parentheses (include both English

and American names if different). Great care should be taken in

describing the use of drugs and details of the regimen should be

thoroughly checked.

Ethical approval. Studies in humans: A statement that informed

consent has been given by patients where such consent is appro-

priate is mandatory together with a statement that the responsi-

ble ethics committee (institutional review board) has given

approval or the study complies with the principles of the

Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/e/17-c_e.html) or

both. Studies in animals: A statement that the Guidelines for the

Use of Animals in Research (http://www.societies.ncl.ac.uk/

asab/), the legal requirements of the country in which the

research was carried out and any institutional guidelines were

followed is mandatory.

Units. The International System of Units (SI) should be applied.

For abbreviations, capitals without full stops are preferred. If

uncommon abbreviations are used they should be defined at first

mention.

Genes. Gene names should be those approved by the Human

Gene Nomenclature Committee (www.gene.ucl.ac.uk/nomencla-

ture). Italic characters should be used for gene symbols to distin-

guish them from protein symbols. New gene sequences should

be deposited in a public database (GenBank, EMBL or DDBJ),

and the accession number provided.

RESULTS

Only important observations should be reported and reference

made to details documented in tables and figures. Repetition of

data between tables, figures and text must be avoided.

Figures. Instructions on submitting figures online are provided

under http://authors.elsevier.com/artwork

All authors wishing to use illustrations already published must

first obtain the permission of the author and publisher and/or

copyright holder and give the precise reference to the original

work. If colour illustrations are essential, please inform the Edi-

torial Office immediately of your requirements; colour figures

will be published online at no cost but a charge will be levied to

the author to cover print production costs.

Figure legends. Figure legends should be short but contain suffi-

cient detail to explain the figures and enable them to stand as a

separate entity from the text. Details of methods should not be

Guide for Authors

Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 124–128, May 2004 125

included. These should only be given in the Subjects, materials

and methods section.

Tables. Authors are encouraged to use tables to show precise

numerical details, data, and information (e.g. the general charac-

teristics of the subjects), when these cannot be clearly presented

as narrative. A table should have at least three interrelated col-

umns and three rows; a table with less can probably be narrated

in the text. Tables should be numbered consecutively using Ara-

bic numerals in the order in which they are cited in the text.

Each table should be typed in double spacing and given a brief

explanatory caption.

DISCUSSION

The discussion should compare the state of previous knowledge

mentioned in the introduction with the new information pro-

vided by the results, but without repeating them. It should fairly

assess the results and discuss the relevant literature both sup-

porting and contending the findings. The clinical application of

the results is important and should be clearly explained.

The discussion and results may be combined in short reports.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Only those people who qualify as contributors not meeting the

Uniform Requirements for Submission of Manuscripts to Bio-

medical journal’s criteria of authorship (http://www.icmje.org)

should be listed. The source of grant support, equipment and

drugs must also be included.

REFERENCE LIST

Reference Format. These should represent the most recent and

pertinent literature available. It is essential that references are

thoroughly checked to eliminate inaccuracies.

� Indicate reference(s) in the text with a number in square

brackets [1] to [100].

� References should be provided in the Vancouver system in a

reference list at the end of the manuscript and should

correspond to and appear in the same sequence as the numbers

in the text.

Examples:

Reference to a journal publication:

[1] Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of

writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun 2000;163:51-9.

Reference to a book:

[2] Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of style. 3rd ed. New

York:Macmillan;1979.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

[3] Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic

version of your article. In: Jones BS, Smith RZ, editors.

Introduction to the electronic age. New York:E-Publishing Inc;

1999, p. 81–304.

Notes:

� Papers that have been accepted but not yet published should be

included in the reference list followed by ‘(in press)’. Those in

preparation including those already submitted for publication,

personal communications and unpublished observations should

be referred to in the text only.

� Use the shortened form for last page number. e.g. 51-9.

� For more than 6 authors the first 6 should be listed followed by

‘et al.’

� For further details please refer to ‘‘Uniform Requirements for

Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals’’ (J Am Med

Assoc 1997;277:927-34), see also http://www.nejm.org/gener-

al/text/requirements/1.htm

Practicing Medicine

Practicing Medicine Articles should focus on practical problems andissues.

General information. Management should be described in practi-

cal terms, so that it can be translated to the individual patient.

Use appropriate examples to illustrate management problems, so

that the reader actually knows what to do, when to do it, how to

do it and why. Recommendations should be evidence-based. The

quality of the information available and what remains unknown

should be highlighted. Meta-analysis data and systematic reviews

should be used where available. Emphasis should be given to

randomised controlled trials, translating data from such trials to

clinical practice wherever possible. If recommendations are not

evidence-based, this should be clearly stated. Make clear what

we know, what we think we know and what we do not know.

Use Practice Points and Research Agenda to emphasise these.

As the primary function of this type of article is educational,

please ensure that your article is well structured and clearly laid

out, with the level of headings clearly indicated and figures,

diagrams, tables and flow-charts used to explain points and

reduce explanatory text.

The article should be subdivided sequentially into Title,

Abstract, Keywords, the main body of text, Summary, Practice

Points, Research Agenda, and References.

The abstract should include the key issues that will be addressed

in the article, emphasising what is known, what is conjectured,

what is not known.

The main body of the text should be delineated by a clear series

of headings, guiding the reader through the article.

The Summary should give the core message of and conclusions

reached in the article, indicating unanswered and unanswerable

questions.

Guide for Authors

126 Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 124–128, May 2004

Practice Points should present the most important points to note

in current clinical practice. These should be brief and set out as

a bullet point list at the end of the main text.

The Research Agenda should indicate points that warrant further

research, again presented as a bullet point list at the end of the

text.

Full length, mini, and systematic review articles will be

published and can be submitted or invited by the Editor. Sys-

tematic reviews should be written according to the Cochrane

Collaboration guidelines. The format is at the discretion of the

author but a summary, which should give the core message of,

and conclusions reached in the article, indicating unanswered

and unanswerable questions must be included at the end of the

article.

Reviews, Editorials, Debate Articles

Where applicable the guidelines for Original articles apply to

Reviews, Editorials and Debate Articles. Otherwise the format of

these articles is at the discretion of the author. Reviews and

Debate Articles should be submitted with an abstract which

should give the core message of and conclusions reached in the

article, indicating unanswered and unanswerable questions.

Letters to the Editor

Two types of Letters will be considered for publication. The

word limit excludes references, name(s) and address(es) of the

signer(s), and the phrase ‘To the Editors’. Letters should be

address ‘To the Editor’ and should have a title.

A Letter to the Editors commenting on an article that has

appeared in the Journal should be brief and directly related to

the published article. Letters may be published together with a

reply from the original author.

A brief case presentation or a short report of a pertinent obser-

vation in the form of a Letter to the Editors will be considered

for publication.

Forum Section

Consumer Site

This section provides direct communication to consumers. Arti-

cles will be invited, but articles submitted by product manufac-

tures, agencies, organisations or individuals will be considered.

The articles should contain an important message or information

of interest to consumers of medical products or services. The

format and length of the article should be agreed in consultation

with the editorial office.

Pharma Report

The theme of this section is liaison and awareness. On the one

side it provides a venue for pharmaceutical companies to present

their products and on the other for practitioners to avail them-

selves of the very latest information on drug developments.

Pharmaceutical companies may submit articles about their new

studies, drug developments, drug launches and symposia. Only

generic names of drugs may be used in the article text. Details

such as the trade name of the drug and venue of a symposium

should be given as a footnote at the end of the article. The

format and length of the article should be agreed in consultation

with the editorial office.

Innovative Practice

This section provides a venue for exchange of innovative ideas

in methods of treatment, the organisation of medical practice

and provision of services to patients. Letters and short articles

are considered from practitioners.

News and Views from Patients and Patient Groups

This section with the dual themes ‘patients as agents for change’

and ‘on being a patient’ is exclusively for patients and their

groups. It provides an opportunity for patients to share experi-

ences with the readership and for patients and their groups to

feed back suggestions from bed to bedside and even to bench

with a view to improving medical care. It may also be used for

patient groups to offer support and present their organisation.

Letters and short articles are considered.

Around the World with Men’s Health and Women’s Health

Organisations

This section is a venue for Men’s Health and Women’s Health

Organisations to present their organisations and report any

developments in gender-specific medicine in their local area.

Letters and short articles are considered.

Out of Practice

Medical practitioners are humans too. This section is intended

to be cultural and entertaining for relief outside the daily prac-

tice of medicine. Readers may express their creative writing skills

in contributions of fiction, non-fiction or poetry. More or less

anything that would interest fellow readers will be considered,

even anecdotal pieces from practice. Features and reviews on the

visual and performing arts will also be published.

eHealth Innovation /Web Watch

This section features web sites with innovative eHealth initia-

tives contributing to men’s health and gender issues. Leaders of

sites are invited to submit entries. The web site will be reviewed

by the editorial board and an editorial commentary on the web

site may be printed with the article.

Guide for Authors

Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 124–128, May 2004 127

Proofs

Proofs will be sent electronically as a pdf file to the correspond-

ing author, unless otherwise indicated. Only corrections of typo-

graphical errors will be accepted at this stage. Please therefore

ensure that when you submit your manuscript it is accurate and

complete.

Copyright Information

Authors contributing a manuscript do so on the understanding

that once it is accepted for publication, copyright in the article,

including the right to reproduce it in all forms of media shall be

assigned exclusively to the journal. The journal will not refuse

any reasonable request by the author to reproduce any of his or

her contribution elsewhere.

Other information

Book Reviews

Books for review should be sent to the Editorial Office. We

regret that books submitted for review cannot be returned to the

publisher.

Guide for Authors

128 Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 124–128, May 2004