Authors
Authors
Editorial policy
BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine adheres to the highest standards concerning its editorial policies on publication ethics and scientific misconduct. The journal follows guidance produced by bodies that include the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) the Council of Science Editors and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). To view all BMJ Journal policies please refer to the BMJ Author Hub policies page , including information about our Editors’ roles and responsibilities.
Research ethics and consent
Authors are required to submit a statement that their study obtained ethics approval (or a statement that it was not required and why) and that participants gave informed consent. Our Editors will consider whether the work is morally acceptable as determined by the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki. In addition to this an article that contains personal medical information about an identifiable living individual requires patients explicit consent (in the format of a signed BMJ patient consent form) before we will publish it. Please find further details on BMJ research ethics policies (human participants and animals) and consent for publication; including a link to the downloadable consent form.
Competing interests
To make the best decision on how to deal with a manuscript, BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine needs to know about any competing interests authors may have; this includes any commercial, financial or non financial associations that may be relevant to the submitted article. Authors must download and complete a copy of the ICMJE Conflict of Interest disclosure form. In addition to this BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine ensures that all advertising and sponsorship associated with the journal does not influence editorial decisions, is immediately distinguishable from editorial content and meets all other BMJ guidelines. Please find more information about competing interests and a link to the form.
Publication misconduct
We take seriously all possible misconduct. If an Editor, author or reader has concerns that a submitted article describes something that might be considered to constitute misconduct in research, publication or professional behaviour they should forward their concerns to the journal. The publisher will deal with allegations appropriately following ICMJE and COPE guidelines. Corrections and retractions are considered where an article has already been published; corrections, expressions of concern or a retraction notices will be published as soon as possible in line with the BMJ correction and retraction policy.
Transitioning to a greener future
BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine now publishes solely online. This change brings significant climate and environmental benefits. Transitioning to online-only means we can completely eliminate the substantial use of energy, water and chemicals that is involved in the complex production and distribution process of a print journal.
Most of our readers already use our website ebm.bmj.com for most of their needs–the website after all offers readers a far richer experience with more content overall. We hope that this change does not cause too much inconvenience for our readers as we move towards a greener future for BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.
Plan S compliance
BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine is a Plan S compliant Transformative Journal. Transformative Journals are one of the compliance routes offered by cOAlition S funders, such as Wellcome, WHO and UKRI.
Find out more about Transformative Journals and Plan S compliance on our Author Hub.
Copyright and authors rights
Articles are published under an exclusive licence or non-exclusive licence for UK Crown employees or where BMJ has agreed CC BY applies. For US Federal Government officers or employees acting as part of their official duties, the terms are as stated in accordance with our licence terms. Authors or their employers retain copyright. Open access articles can be reused under the terms of the relevant Creative Commons licence to facilitate reuse of the content; please refer to the BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine Author Licence for the applicable Creative Commons licences. More information on copyright and authors’ rights.
When publishing in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, authors choose between three licence types – exclusive licence granted to BMJ, CC-BY-NC and CC-BY (Creative Commons open access licences require payment of an article processing charge). As an author you may wish to post your article in an institutional or subject repository, or on a scientific social sharing network. You may also link your published article to your preprint (if applicable). What you can do with your article, without seeking permission, depends on the licence you have chosen and the version of your article. Please refer to the BMJ author self archiving and permissions policies page for more information.
Preprints
Preprints foster openness, accessibility and collaboration by allowing authors to make their findings immediately available to the research community and receive feedback on an article before it is submitted to a journal for formal publication.
BMJ fully supports and encourages the archiving of preprints in any recognised, not-for-profit server such as medRxiv. BMJ does not consider the posting of an article in a dedicated preprint repository to be prior publication.
Preprints report work that has not been peer-reviewed; Preprints should therefore not be used to guide clinical practice, health-related behaviour or health policy. For more information, please refer to our Preprint policy page.
Conflicts of interest
BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine adheres to the BMJ Journal policies on competing interests. We also ensure that our Editorial Board must meet all three points within the BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine policy:
1. Honoraria for drug-funded activities is not allowed. But, receipt of reasonable expenses and travel cost to attend meetings is OK.
2. Invitations to speak at drug company events should be considered carefully to ensure that the meeting is a “proper” scientific meeting. If not, they should not be accepted, as per point 1 any honoraria should be declined.
3. It is generally not appropriate for editorial board members to have shares in tobacco, alcohol, drug or biotechnology companies, as these may be directly or indirectly affected by editorial decisions.
Provenance and peer review
BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine operates single anonymised peer review whereby the names of the reviewers are hidden from the author for all content; usually two external reviewer reports are obtained before an Original research or Review article is accepted for publication. Manuscripts authored by a member of a journal’s editorial team are independently peer reviewed; an editor will have no input or influence on the peer review process or publication decision for their own article. If you believe that your article has been rejected unfairly please submit an appeal by contacting the Editorial office. For more information on what to expect during the peer review process please refer to BMJ Author Hub – the peer review process.
BMJ requests that all reviewers adhere to a set of basic principles and standards during the peer review process; these are based on the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. Please refer to our peer review terms and conditions policy page.
BMJ is committed to transparency. Every article we publish includes a description of its provenance (commissioned or not commissioned) and whether it was internally or externally peer reviewed.
We welcome reader responses, questions and comments to published content; these should be submitted electronically via the journals website. Please find further details on how to publish a response and the terms and requirements.
Plagiarism checks
Plagiarism is the appropriation of the language, ideas or thoughts of another without crediting their true source and representation of them as one’s own original work. BMJ is a member of CrossCheck by CrossRef and iThenticate. iThenticate is a plagiarism screening service that verifies the originality of content submitted before publication. BMJ runs manuscripts through iThenticate during the peer review process. Authors, researchers and freelancers can also use iThenticate to screen their work before submission by visiting www.ithenticate.com.
Data sharing
BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine adheres to BMJ’s Tier 2 data policy. We strongly encourage that data generated by your research that supports your article be made available as soon as possible, wherever legally and ethically possible. We also require data from clinical trials to be made available upon reasonable request. To adhere to ICMJE guidelines, we require that a data sharing plan must be included with trial registration for clinical trials that begin enrolling participants on or after 1st January 2019.
The Data Availability Statement and the registry record should note any changes to the plan. All research articles must contain a Data Availability Statement. For more information and FAQs, please see BMJ’s full Data Sharing Policy page.
Patient and public partnership
We consider that patient and public involvement in healthcare is a core component of EBM and the BMJ encourages active patient and public involvement in clinical research as part of its patient and public partnership strategy. To support the co-production of research, we request that authors provide a Patient and Public Involvement statement in the methods section of their papers, under the subheading ‘Patient and public involvement’.
We appreciate that patient and public involvement is relatively new and may not be feasible or appropriate for all papers. We, therefore, continue to consider papers where patients were not involved.
The Patient and Public Involvement statement should provide a brief response to the following questions, tailored as appropriate for the study design reported:
- At what stage in the research process were patients/the public first involved in the research and how?
- How were the research question(s) and outcome measures developed and informed by their priorities, experience, and preferences?
- How were patients/the public involved in the design of this study?
- How were they involved in the recruitment to and conduct of the study?
- Were they asked to assess the burden of the intervention and the time required to participate in the research?
- How were (or will) they be involved in your plans to disseminate the study results to participants and relevant wider patient communities (e.g. by choosing what information/results to share, when, and in what format)?
If patients or members of the public were not involved, please add the reason(s) written in your own words (e.g.) funding or training restrictions, access to software, COVID etc.; also, it may be that speaking to patients inspired this review if this was the case it is fine to add that although there was no direct PPI in this paper we did speak to patients about the study and we asked a member of the public to read our manuscript after submission.
For original research or education papers, please place the PPI declaration at the end of the methods. For other articles, we suggest adding a PPI statement before the results and the conclusion. If the Patient and Public Involvement statement is missing in the submitted manuscript, we will request that the authors provide it.
In addition to considering the points above, we advise authors to look at the guidance for best reporting of patient and public involvement as set out in the GRIPP2 reporting checklist.
The journal is also committed to patient and public involvement in the editorial process, including peer review and the generation of patient-authored contents.
ORCID
BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine mandates ORCID iDs for the submitting author at the time of article submission; we encourage co-authors and reviewers to also connect their ScholarOne accounts to ORCID. We strongly believe that the increased use and integration of ORCID iDs will be beneficial for the whole research community.
Article transfer service
BMJ is committed to ensuring that all good quality research is published. Our article transfer service helps authors find the best journal for their research while providing an easy and smooth publication process. If authors agree to transfer their manuscript, all versions, supplementary files and peer reviewer comments are automatically transferred; there is no need to resubmit or reformat.
Authors who submit to the BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine and are rejected will be offered the option of transferring to another BMJ Journal, such as BMJ Open.
Please note that the article transfer service does not guarantee acceptance but you should receive a quicker initial decision on your manuscript.
Contact the Transfer Editor at transfers@bmj.com.
Article Processing Charges
During submission, authors can choose to have their article published open access for £3,410 APC (exclusive of VAT for UK and EU authors) in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine. Publishing open access has multiple benefits including wider reach, faster impact and increased citation and usage. Please note that there are no submission or page charges.
Waivers and Discounts
If authors choose to publish their article open access, an APC waiver may be available. Before applying for an APC waiver please consider:
(1) Does your institution have an open access agreement with BMJ? If it does, then this may cover all or part of the APC for your article. Check BMJ’s open access agreements page to find out whether your institution is a member and what discounts you may be entitled to.
(2) Have you received funding from a funder with an open access mandate or policy that covers paying APCs? If so, BMJ expects that the APC will be paid in full.
If neither (1) nor (2) above apply then consider
(3) Are all the authors of your article based in low-income countries*? If so, you are eligible to apply for a full or partial waiver from BMJ.
Visit our author hub to learn more about our waivers policy and how to request one.
Please note that regardless of the funding situation, authors can still choose to publish with us at no cost, and articles will be made available to our subscribers.
*This list is reviewed annually and is based upon HINARI Core Offer Groups A and B, and the World Bank Country and Lending Groups.
Rapid responses
A rapid response is a moderated but not peer reviewed online response to a published article in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine; it will not receive a DOI and will not be indexed. Find out more about responses and how to submit a response.
Submission guidelines for authors
Please review the below article type specifications including the required article lengths, illustrations, table limits and reference counts. The word count excludes the title page, abstract, tables, acknowledgements, contributions and references. Manuscripts should be as succinct as possible.
For further support when making your submission please refer to the resources available on the BMJ Author Hub. Here you will find information on writing and formatting your research through to the peer review process and promoting your paper. We encourage authors to ensure that research articles are written in accordance with the relevant research reporting guideline.
You may also wish to use the language editing and translation services provided by BMJ Author Services.
I. Evidence:
Original research (including evidence synthesis content)
Letter
Research and evidence synthesis undergo external review, letters may undergo external and internal peer review.
II. Tools in EBM:
Education
Research methods and reporting
These articles undergo external peer review and may also be subject to internal peer review.
III. Debate and analysis
Editorial
Correspondence
Opinion
Analysis
Patient voices
Analysis articles undergo external and internal peer review. Other articles are internally peer-reviewed and sometimes also externally peer-reviewed.
IV. Supplements:
Supplements
Original research (including evidence synthesis content)
BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine publishes original research and research reviews that systematically synthesis evidence. Articles should be submitted to the journal under the article type ‘Original research’.
1. Original research: reports results of studies about the practice of evidence-based medicine (e.g. of the impact of implementing EBM practices such as providing evidence at the point of care or of using evidence to make health decisions). This section also covers original meta-epidemiological or research-on-research papers focusing on methodological aspects highly relevant to EBM practitioners. Research on methods targeting strictly to researchers is outside the scope of this journal.
2. Evidence synthesis: encompasses a broad range of review types that systematically synthesise evidence from various sources to inform healthcare decisions. This article includes high-quality reviews that identify clinical and methodology gaps, inform future research, inform policy and develop robust, practical interventions for practice. Evidence syntheses have clear focussed questions, use systematic methods to search, select, appraise and synthesise the included evidence.
Evidence synthesis may include:
- Scoping reviews
- Systematic reviews (interventions, diagnostic, prognosis, prevalence, clinical study reports, individual participant data, economic evaluations)
- Living systematic reviews and network meta-analysis
- Other types of systematic reviews (case studies/case reports, n-of-one studies, etc.)
- Qualitative evidence synthesis and realist reviews
- Umbrella reviews / Overviews
- Evidence (gap) maps
- Rapid reviews: a need to justify the need for rapid methods (i.e. simplified methods). Systematic reviews done rapidly using automated or accelerated methods are not included in this category.
Article structure
1. Title: this should include the research question and the study design or review type
2. Structured abstract: Abstracts should be 250- 300 words long: you may need up to 400 words, however, for a CONSORT or PRISMA style abstract. Abstracts should include the following headings, but they may be modified for abstracts of clinical trials or systematic reviews and meta-analyses according to the requirements on the the CONSORT extension for abstracts and the PRISMA extension for abstracts, respectively: Objectives, Design, Setting, Participants, Interventions, Main outcome measures, Results, Conclusions; Registration.
3. Main text: We recommend your article does not exceed 4,000 words, with up to five figures and tables. This is flexible, but exceeding this will impact the paper’s readability. Articles should adopt the following format and should also be written in accordance with the relevant research reporting guideline (e.g. CONSORT for clinical trials, PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, abstracts can be modified accordingly)
PRISMA flow diagram: Please consider using the PRISMA Flow Diagram app for PRISMA 2020-compliant figures. (Haddaway, N. R., Page, M. J., Pritchard, C. C., & McGuinness, L. A. (2022). PRISMA2020: An R package and Shiny app for producing PRISMA 2020-compliant flow diagrams, with interactivity for optimised digital transparency and Open Synthesis Campbell Systematic Reviews, 18, e1230. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1230)
Key messages: Please include the key messages of your article after your abstract using the following headings. This section should be no more than 3-5 sentences and should be distinct from the abstract; be succinct, specific and accurate. This will be published as a summary box after the abstract in the final published article.
- What is already known on this topic – summarise the state of scientific knowledge on this subject before you did your study and why this study needed to be done
- What this study adds – summarise what we now know as a result of this study that we did not know before
- How this study might affect research, practice or policy – summarise the implications of this study
Letter
A short report on research that does not warrant a full research article. This can include small-scale studies or surveys, preliminary research findings or implementation efforts of evidence-based practice.
Word count: up to 1,000
Abstract: none
Tables/illustrations: up to 2
References: up to 10
Education
Education articles focus on topic-related concepts and skills fundamental to the teaching and practise of evidence-based medicine and healthcare. These would include plain-language explanations of topics surrounding the key steps of EBM (ask, acquire, appraise, apply, assess), including, but not limited to: information retrieval, statistics and clinical epidemiology, shared decision making, among others. This section also covers EBM teaching strategies and experiences, but research papers about education should be submitted as “original research”.
Word count: up to 1,500
Abstract: none
Tables/illustrations: up to 3
References: up to 20
Research methods and reporting
Research methods and reporting articles describe innovative research and educational methodologies relevant to evidence-based medicine. Research on research papers should be submitted as “original investigation”.
Please include the key messages of your article after your abstract using the following headings. This section should be no more than 3-5 sentences and should be distinct from the abstract; be succinct, specific and accurate.
- What is already known on this topic – summarise the state of scientific knowledge on this subject before you did your study and why this study needed to be done
- What this study adds – summarise what we now know as a result of this study that we did not know before
- How this study might affect research, practice or policy – summarise the implications of this study
Word count: up to 2,500
Abstract: up to 250 words, unstructured
Tables/illustrations: up to 3
References: up to 50
Editorial
All editorials published in BMJ-EBM are commissioned. We do not accept unsolicited articles in this section.
Word count: up to 1,000
Abstract: none
Tables/illustrations: none
References: up to 20
Correspondence
Article in response to or related to a recent article published in the journal or another journal. Original data may be included if it is relevant and gives added weight. Correspondence can also include content relevant to evidence-based medicine practice, teaching or methodology providing a platform for discussion and dialogue between readers and the journal.
Word count: up to 500
Abstract: none
Tables/illustrations: up to 2
References: up to 5
Opinion
Opinion articles express a highly readable and compelling perspective or opinion on current issues related to evidence-based medicine, health care and research. The best opinion pieces make a single robust, novel, and well-argued point. These articles do not include primary data nor evidence synthesis.
Word count: up to 1,000
Abstract: none
Tables/illustrations: up to 2
References: up to 10
Analysis
Analysis articles debate and discuss topical issues which address clinical practice, research and policy. We are looking for pieces taking a critical approach to assessing evidence (not cherry-picked) and use empirical data to analyse its impact on individuals or populations, providing a worthwhile conclusion. It has academic heft yet is a journalistic read. ‘Academic heft’ means the argument is evidence-based and supported by data. ‘Journalistic read’ means the article is engaging (not dry nor dull; written in clear language and avoiding technical jargon; and pitched to our international audience of doctors of all specialities, academics, patients and consumers, and policymakers). These articles do not include primary data nor evidence synthesis.
Word count: up to 2,000
Abstract: none
Tables/illustrations: up to 3
References: up to 20
Patient voices
These articles are written by patients and carers and provide learning for clinicians from a patient’s experience.
Articles focus on one particular topic, including what it is like for patients to live with a condition or navigate the healthcare system. They can focus on aspects of treatment, offer a new angle on a familiar situation or ask controversial questions. Ultimately the article should give healthcare professionals practical things that they can do differently tomorrow due to reading the article.
We will work with patients to develop articles to help prompt reflection and suggest questions whilst ensuring the message remains the same. We ask authors to write in plain English and avoid an over-prescriptive tone (e.g. suggest rather than should) – we will help with editing to ensure the language and terms used fit within our guidelines and conveys the learning points. Articles that may be critical of healthcare professionals will be anonymised to comply with media laws on defamation (we do not publish complaints about named professionals or establishments or reflections on legal cases). As a general rule, we discourage using references in these articles to retain their focus and tone on personal human experience; however, this can be discussed with your editor.
If you have an idea please get in touch with Marleen Kunneman (Kunneman@lumc.nl) including an outline of what you would like to say.
Word count: up to 1,000
Abstract: none
Tables/illustrations: up to 1
References: see above
BMJ EBM Spotlight Blog
We run a dedicated blog site that analyses and discusses developments in evidence-based medicine from our authors. The journal commissions these blog entries once their article is accepted.
Supplements
BMJ journals are willing to consider publishing supplements to regular issues that do not compromise he journal’s integrity, independence and academic reputation, proposals can include:
- Conference scientific committees to publish conference abstracts. Abstract submissions are selected by the host conference scientific committee.
- The journal editor, an editorial board member or a learned society may wish to organise a meeting and publish the proceedings as a sponsored supplement.
- The journal editor, editorial board member or learned society may wish to commission a sponsored supplement on a particular theme or topic.
- BMJ itself may have proposals for supplements where sponsorship may be necessary.
- A sponsoring organisation, often a pharmaceutical company or a charitable foundation, that wishes to arrange a meeting, the proceedings of which will be published as a supplement.
For further information on criteria that must be fulfilled, download the supplement guidelines.
When contacting us regarding a potential supplement, please include as much of the information below as possible.
- Journal in which you would like the supplement published
- Title of supplement and/or meeting on which it is based
- Date of meeting on which it is based
- Proposed table of contents with provisional article titles and proposed authors
- An indication of whether authors have agreed to participate
- Sponsor information including any relevant deadlines
- An indication of the expected length of each paper Guest Editor proposals if appropriate