特別寄稿
Preparing Manuscripts in Accordance with the ‘Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals’
2014 年 47 巻 3 号 p. 212-213
詳細
2014 年 47 巻 3 号 p. 212-213
The ‘Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals’, known as the ICMJE Recommendations (formerly known as the Uniform Requirements), was created by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and was first published in 19791). Since the group that created the ICMJE Recommendations first met in Vancouver in 1978, it is also referred to as the Vancouver style. The ICMJE Recommendations suggests composing a manuscript consisting of the sections described earlier. Although the format encouraged by the ICMJE Recommendations is uniform and widely accepted by a large number of journals, “it must also be stressed that over the years the ICMJE Recommendations has come to increasingly emphasize the concomitant importance of the Instructions to Authors of individual journals”2). Therefore, what authors must remember is that generally speaking, the IMRAD (Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, and Discussion) format recommended by the ICMJE Recommendations is the format to follow for manuscript preparation; however, the author must also pay close attention to the Instructions to Authors of the target journal and make the necessary adjustments (e.g., reference format) accordingly.
Authors must familiarize themselves with the most recent version of the ICMJE Recommendations, as it is revised every few years and changes are made in both the technical and ethical issues related to manuscript submission. As some of the wording used in the ICMJE Recommendations can be interpreted differently, it is advisable for international authors to make sure that they have access to the most accurate translations, preferably in their own language, of the ICMJE Recommendations.
The whole manuscript must be double spaced, including the title page, references, tables and figure legends, and have sufficient margins (at least 2.4 cm). Even if you are submitting the manuscript electronically, it should still be double-spaced to facilitate printing for reviewing and editing3). Pages should be numbered consecutively starting with the title page, and not just the main text. The importance of following reporting guidelines for different kinds of studies is also stressed (e.g., CONSORT [CONsolidated Standards of Reporting Trials] for a randomized controlled trial). The ICMJE recommends the use of subheadings if a manuscript is very long to reduce its length and facilitate ease of understanding of the results and discussion.
Over the years, the ICMJE has made considerable changes regarding ethical issues of manuscript submission and publication. One of the topics most discussed is conflict of interest (COI), for which a uniform COI disclosure form has been developed for use by ICMJE member journals. However, as different societies have different COI policies, authors must read the Instructions to Authors and disclose all potential COI in a statement or by using the ICMJE disclosure form. If in doubt, authors should contact the Editor-in-Chief of their target journal and explain their situation to avoid complications. Most often, it is viewed as “wrong” or “unethical” to have a COI, especially among Japanese researchers. However, one must understand that serious issues and consequences lie in “undisclosed” COI and not the COI itself because it is understood that many senior authors do have relationships with pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers.
