Instructions to Authors

About Military Medicine

AMSUS was organized in 1891 and chartered by Congress in 1903.  AMSUS is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization for federal and international health professionals and helps advance the knowledge of healthcare and increase the effectiveness of its members.

With the journal, Military Medicine, and continuing education meetings, AMSUS delivers platforms for federal and global health professionals that support:

• Public and Private Sector Integration
• Professional Development
• Collaboration
• Networking  
• Our nearly 8,000 members represent all healthcare disciplines and serve in the Active and Reserve Components of all of the uniformed services, the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the United States Public Health Services. AMSUS provides a platform for sharing the latest information on:
• Joint and Combined Operations
• Psychological Health
• Wounded Warrior Care
• Global Health

Manuscript Submission Instructions

Articles cannot be concurrently submitted or published by any other publication, print or electronic. Meeting abstracts are excepted. AMSUS is not responsible in the event that any manuscript, or any part thereof, is lost. All materials are submitted and edited electronically using Editorial Manager. To submit an original manuscript, review article, editorial or letter to the editor, members should go to the Editorial Manager submission page. Non-members need to pay the submission fee (see details below) and should go to the AMSUS site to pay.

Complete instructions for the electronic submission process can be found on the Editorial Manager site.

The editorial staff reviews all contributions to the journal with respect to suitability, quality, and formatting. Those submissions that pass this screening will be peer-reviewed. All submissions are received with the understanding that the Editor and editorial staff have the right to require revisions in conformity with Journal standards and style. Notification of all decisions concerning the status of a submission, including acceptance of the submission into the system for screening, will be sent to the corresponding author. Note that the corresponding author will receive an email verification that a manuscript has been successfully submitted. If the submission process is not completed in one sitting, please save all work. The process may be continued later through logging into the correct account, clicking on the task line that states “incomplete submission,” and completing the process.

Submission Fee

To help offset publishing costs, there is a nominal, nonrefundable submission fee of $125 for all non-member submissions. AMSUS members are exempt from this charge. This fee is collected during the manuscript submission process and is charged whether or not the manuscript is eventually accepted.

AMSUS members are exempt from this charge. Learn how to join AMSUS today.

Scope/Categories of Manuscripts

Military Medicine publishes feature articles, review articles, case reports, brief reports, commentaries, and letters to the editor. Manuscripts must not be concurrently submitted to any other publication, print or electronic. All accepted manuscripts and supporting documents are subject to manuscript copyediting for conciseness, clarity, grammar, spelling, and journal style.

The following types of manuscripts are accepted:

Feature Articles

Feature Articles cover original research such as prospective clinical trials, laboratory research, retrospective clinical analyses (e.g. case series), meta-analyses, or other original scholarly work relevant to the practice of federal medicine. These articles are limited to 4 tables/figures, 4,000 words of text plus a structured summary of between 250 and 500 words (see the Structured Summary section).  References should be sufficient in number to reasonably support the content of the manuscript. Limited to 40 references.

Review Articles

Review Articles include scholarly reviews and practice guidelines that thoughtfully summarize and integrate the current literature with the goal of guiding future policy or practice. Review articles should not exceed 4 tables/figures, 4,000 words plus a structured summary of between 250 and 500 words (see the Structured Summary section).

Systematic review articles should adhere to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Reviews should be registered prior to starting the systematic review. This is similar to the registration of Clinical Trials. Examples of registry sites are Prospero: International prospective register of systematic reviews; Research Registry: Registry of Systematic Reviews/Meta-Analyses; and INPLASY: International Platform of Registered Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocols. The Methods section of the review needs to detail the criteria for article selection, including inclusion and exclusion criteria that are used in the review. A PRISMA flow diagram depicting the study selection process is required. The review should be supported by a comprehensive list of references to substantiate the research conducted in searching reference databases (e.g. MEDLINE) and other sources to address the research question presented by the review. Scoping reviews examine the range, extent, and characteristics of a topic. Scoping reviews should follow a systematic approach. We recommend the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) checklist. The following paper by Tricco et al. (https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M18-0850) explains the guidelines.

Narrative reviews may not be as methodologically stringent as other review types; however, they still adhere to certain general guidelines. The structure of narrative reviews can vary, yet there are recommended formats that authors are encouraged to follow. A useful description is offered in the article by J. Sukhera J Grad Med Educ. 2022 Aug; 14(4): 418–419 (doi: 10.4300/JGME-D-22-00481.1).

Case Reports

Case Reports describe noteworthy clinical cases, generally a single case but sometimes 2-3 similar cases. The reports should conform to the CARE Case report Guidelines. The number of references should be appropriate for the overall length of the paper. Limited to 40 references. Case Reports are limited to 4 tables/figures, 2,000 words, plus an unstructured abstract of up to 250 words.

Brief Reports

Brief Reports present new research findings, data from pilot studies, worthwhile replication studies, or novel therapeutic interventions. Brief reports are limited to 4 tables/figures, 3,000 words, plus a structured summary of 250-500 words (see the Structured Summary section). References should be sufficient in number to reasonably support the content of the manuscript. Limited to 40 references.

Quality Improvement Papers

Quality Improvement Papers present the authors’ attempt to measure and improve the quality of care for patients. These manuscripts are limited to 3,000 words and 4 tables/figures, plus a structured summary of 250–500 words (see the Structured Summary section). References should be sufficient in number to reasonably support the content of the manuscript. Limited to 40 references.

Authors writing an article that describes a Quality Improvement project should review the criteria list on the Squire 2.0 Guideline web site (Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence).

Note that the goal of a research project, which is the generation of knowledge, and the goal of a Quality Improvement project, which is the improvement of patient care, do not normally overlap, but the decision of whether a project is research or quality improvement may be nuanced. This decision is not one that the authors or their supervisors can make without a conflict of interest. This decision should be referred to the appropriate IRB or designated research/IRB liaison committee or an equivalent institutional ethics committee. This decision should be obtained before the project begins.

Commentaries

A Commentary is a special category of article that is used at the discretion of the Editorial staff. In general, Commentaries address important, evolving, highly visible, and often controversial topics. These articles may contain an amalgam of literature review, new original data, and speculative synthesis, with some opportunity for injecting the authors' experiences and opinions. Commentaries should not exceed 2,500 words. Some references may be appropriate, but these should be kept to a minimum, generally not more than 15. Limit 2 tables/figures. Commentaries require an Abstract; unstructured, 250-500 words.

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor are means of communication providing current commentary or responses to issues raised in the contents of Military Medicine. Letters may explain, amplify, correct, or make other comments and may not exceed 1,000 words. References may NOT be cited in a Letter to the Editor unless specifically requested by the Editorial Staff. Should the author wish, the phrase "References available from the author(s)" may be placed at the end of the letter. If deemed appropriate by the Editor, the author of the original paper will be invited to provide a response that will be published with the letter. Letters may be edited and held for publication until space is available. Letters are not acknowledged.

Columns

Additionally, Military Medicine publishes several regular Columns. All Column submissions will be reviewed by the appropriate Special Section Editors to see if they are suitable for publication in these sections. Articles not selected for a Column will still be reviewed for publication as regular articles. Column submissions are limited to 1,200 words plus an abstract of 50 words and may include one table or figure.

Leadership Lessons from the Field is a section dedicated to leadership development. The column highlights leadership challenges that health care professionals face in clinical and operational settings with a preference given to challenges faced by junior health care professionals. The column highlights the leadership challenge and then has a guest commentator discuss how they would have approached the problem.

Articles follow a similar format with a brief introduction, a leadership challenge in the form of a case, and then a commentary. Authors are welcome to submit articles without a case if they are particularly relevant to the topic but should consider other sections of the journal such as Commentaries.

A View Through the Scope seeks first-person narratives written by federal healthcare students, residents, and fellows that describe experiences from which trainees have gained unique insight and perspective. Authors may describe their experience in a variety of roles (provider, patient, family member, etc.) and location (stateside, overseas, in a deployed setting, etc.) These non-fiction narratives, often describing challenging and commonly encountered situations in healthcare, should be in the form of a reflective essay or poem. A single image may accompany the narrative if it is an essential component of the submission. Manuscripts submitted for consideration must be original works that are neither under consideration for publication in another journal nor have been previously published. Reflective essays should be 1,200 words or less. Poems should be 46 lines or less.

History of Military Medicine is a section that recounts the history and milestones of military medicine through the ages. The column highlights contributions that the military medical establishment has made to clinical practice and medical advances over the years through both peace and wartime. This is an opportunity to explore both medical and scientific advances and the personalities of the individuals who drove these changes. This column follows the same format and restrictions of the other columns.

Perspectives in Global Health is a section to discuss and highlight global health issues of relevance to federal medicine primarily from the operational to tactical perspective. The editorials should stimulate thought and discussion among the readers to pursue  rigorous, methodical research and analysis of military and interagency global health and global health engagement efforts. Evidence of this type is needed to support strategic determination of future paths for military medicine within the global health arena. As global health is multidisciplinary in nature, column topics can reach into non-medical aspects of health that impact or generate health related engagement activities such as readiness, civil engineering, social determinants, joint operations, and geopolitical implications.

Essential Elements of Manuscript Submission

Clinical Trial Registration

In accordance with the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997, the FDA Amendment Act of 2007, and the policies of the ICMJE, authors are required to register all clinical trials assigning patients to intervention or treatments groups in ClinicalTrials or other ICMJE recognized clinical trial databases. Clinical trials must be registered prior to the enrollment of the first patient. Authors should include the setting and location where the data were collected, the registry, registration number, principal investigator's name, and date of registration of their trial in the manuscript text. Also, authors are strongly encouraged to share access to trial data upon reasonable request by the journal, reviewers, and/or other researchers.

Data Availability Statement

The journal encourages all authors, where ethically possible, to publicly release all data underlying any published paper. Authors must include a Data Availability Statement in their published article.

Please see the Oxford Academic policy and sample statements.

Ethics of Investigation

Authors should specify within the manuscript whether ethical standards were used in their research, whether it is considered human research, and how it was determined that the research is derived from human subjects.

Human Studies

If the results of a project involving data derived from human subjects are reported, the manuscript must include a statement that the research was approved by the responsible ethics committee of the institution, e.g., an Institutional Review Board or equivalent oversight group that has been formally designated to review and monitor biomedical research, and that the research was consistent with the principles outlined in an internationally recognized standard for the ethical conduct of human research. In general, investigators are unable to make this determination on their own. The Editors of Military Medicine take ethics committee review and informed consent very seriously. Authors may be questioned about the details of consent forms or the consent process. On occasion, the Editors may request a copy of the approved IRB outcome letter or equivalent from the author. Lack of appropriate consent or documentation may be grounds for rejection. Ethics committee approval does not guarantee acceptance by the journal; the final decision will be made by the Editors.

Animal Studies

Experimental work on animals must conform to the guidelines laid out in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, which is available from the National Academy of Science; a text-only version is available. Adherence to all relevant regulations and/or approval of the appropriate institutional Animal Care Committee or governmental licensure of the investigator and/or laboratory must be obtained. A statement concerning such approval must be included in the manuscript. The Editors of Military Medicine are concerned about appropriate animal care. On occasion, the Editors may request a copy of the Animal Care Committee outcome letter from the author. Ethics committee approval does not guarantee acceptance by the journal; the final decision will be made by the handling Editor.

Manuscripts that Pose Potential Security Risks

Authors and reviewers are expected to notify editors if a manuscript could present a risk for disclosing classified information or sensitive research of concern (e.g., research that could be misused by others to pose a threat to public health and safety, agriculture, plants, animals, the environment, or material). The editor will evaluate manuscripts that report such research and, if necessary, consult necessary authorities or additional reviewers.

Approvals and Clearances to Publish

Authors are responsible for obtaining all other required approvals and clearances to publish from their own institutions, military services, or any other governing authorities.

Reporting Race/Ethnicity

If race and/or ethnicity is reported, the authors should indicate in the Methods section who classified individuals as to race/ethnicity, the classifications, and whether the options were defined by the investigator or the participant. The authors should explain why race and/or ethnicity was assessed in the study.

Privacy and Informed Consent

Authors must omit from their manuscripts and figures any identifying details regarding patients and study participants, including patients’ names, initials, Social Security numbers, or hospital numbers. If there is a possibility that a patient may be identified in text, figures, photos or video, authors must obtain written informed consent for use for in publication of print, online, and licensed uses of  Military Medicine, from the patient or parent or guardian and provide copies of the consent forms to Military Medicine. In such cases where the patient may be identified, authors must indicate that they have obtained informed consent in their manuscript. In addition, all authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscript and figures comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Publication Ethics

Authors should observe high standards with respect to publication ethics as set out by the Commission on Publication Ethics (COPE) and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Falsification or fabrication of data; plagiarism, including duplicate publication of the authors’ own work without proper citation; and misappropriation of work are all unacceptable practices. Cases of ethical misconduct are treated very seriously and will be dealt with in accordance with COPE guidelines.

The US Office of Research Integrity defines scientific misconduct and includes these behaviors:

• Falsification of data: ranges from fabrication to deceptive reporting of findings and omission of conflicting data, or willful suppression and/or distortion of data.
• Plagiarism: 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.
• Improprieties of authorship: improper assignment of credit, such as excluding others, misrepresentation of the same material as original in more than one publication, inclusion of individuals as authors who have not made a definite contribution to the work published, or submission of multi-authored publications without the concurrence of all authors.
• Misappropriation of the ideas of others: an important aspect of scholarly activity is the exchange of ideas among colleagues. Scholars can acquire novel ideas from others during the process of reviewing grant applications and manuscripts. However, improper use of such information can constitute fraud. Wholesale appropriation of such material constitutes misconduct.
• Violation of generally accepted research practices: serious deviation from accepted practices in proposing or carrying out research, improper manipulation of experiments to obtain biased results, deceptive statistical or analytical manipulations, or improper reporting of results.
• Material failure to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements affecting research: including but not limited to serious or substantial, repeated, willful violations of applicable local regulations and law involving the use of funds, care of animals, human subjects, investigational drugs, recombinant products, new devices, or radioactive, biological or chemical materials.
• Inappropriate behavior in relation to misconduct: this includes unfounded or knowingly false accusations of misconduct, failure to report known or suspected misconduct, withholding of information relevant to a claim or misconduct and retaliation against persons involved in the allegation or investigation.

Many journals, including Military Medicine, also consider misconduct to include redundant publication and duplicate publication, lack of declaration of competing interests and of funding/sponsorship, and other failures of transparency.

Managing allegations of misconduct

Authors alone are responsible for the content and opinions expressed in the paper. If issues arise pre-publication regarding the possibility of plagiarism, conflicts of interest, scientific misconduct, disputes over authorship, or any other such concerns, the manuscript will be tabled until the situation is resolved to the satisfaction of the journal. These cases may be referred to appropriate institutional and/or regulatory officials; however, each situation will be handled on a case by case basis by the Editor. If issues arise post publication, Military Medicine will consider each situation on a case by case basis and take any indicated actions to inform readers and correct the published literature, including notifications to the readership, notifications to authors’ institutions, corrections and retractions.

Authorship

Authorship is limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the design and execution of the work described. Any contributors whose participation does not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged but not listed as an author. The Journal will contact all listed authors at the point of submission to confirm their role.

The Journal does not allow ghost authorship, where an unnamed author prepares the article with no credit, or guest/gift authorship, where an author who made little or no contribution is listed as an author. The Journal follows Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidance on investigating and resolving these cases. For more information, please see the OUP Publication Ethics page.

It is the responsibility of the authors to designate a single corresponding author who is responsible for forwarding information to the other authors, maintaining the author account, and who will serve on behalf of all co-authors as the primary correspondent with the editorial office during the submission and review process. This author is the “guarantor” for the article and should be listed on the title page as such. In the cover letter for the article, it should be stated who the guarantor is and that they have advised the co-authors of the intent to submit the manuscript.

Natural language processing tools driven by artificial intelligence (AI) do not qualify as authors, and the Journal will screen for them in author lists. The use of AI (for example, to help generate content or images, write code, process data, or for translation) should be disclosed both in cover letters to editors and in the Methods or Acknowledgements section of manuscripts. Please see the COPE position statement on Authorship and AI for more details.

After manuscript submission, no authorship changes (including the authorship list, author order, and who is designated as the corresponding author) should be made unless there is a substantive reason to do so. The editor and all co-authors must agree on the change(s), and neither the Journal nor the publisher mediates authorship disputes. If individuals cannot agree on the authorship of a submitted manuscript, contact the editorial office at [email protected]. The dispute must be resolved among the individuals and their institution(s) before the manuscript can be accepted for publication. If an authorship dispute or change arises after a paper is accepted, contact OUP’s Author Support team. COPE provides guidance for authors on resolving authorship disputes.

After submission, changing who is designated as the corresponding author will be permitted only where there is a substantive reason to do so. For the avoidance of doubt, changing the corresponding author in order to access Read and Publish funding is not permissible. For more information on Read and Publish funding, see the Open Access section.

Originality

By submitting a manuscript to the journal, the authors affirm that it is an original manuscript, is unpublished work, and is not under consideration elsewhere.

Conflict of Interest and Financial Disclosure

A conflict of interest may exist when an author (or the author’s institution or employer) has financial or personal relationships or affiliations that could influence (or bias) the author’s decisions, work, or manuscript. All authors must disclose any potential conflict of interest they may have as authors, such as having a financial interest in the topic covered by the manuscript.  Not all conflicts of interest will necessarily invalidate a paper or disqualify an author. Full disclosure to the editor of the particular circumstances will allow the journal to make an informed and reasonable decision. If an author has any questions concerning a possible conflict of interest they should contact the journal. 

Authors are also required to report all financial and material support for the research and work, including but not limited to grant support, funding sources, and provision of equipment and supplies, on the Title Page of the manuscript.

Non–Native Speakers of English

Authors who are not native speakers of English who submit manuscripts to international journals often receive negative comments from referees or editors about the English–language usage in their manuscripts, and these problems can contribute to a decision to reject a paper. To help reduce the possibility of such problems, we strongly encourage such authors to take at least one of the following steps:

• Have your manuscript reviewed for clarity by a colleague whose native language is English.

• Use a service such as one of those listed here: Language Services

Self-Archiving Policy

For information about this journal's policy, please visit our Author Self-Archiving Policy page.

Reuse of Oxford University Press Material

More information regarding the reuse of Oxford University Press material.

Third-Party Copyright

In order to reproduce any third party material, including tables, figures, or images, in an article authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder and be compliant with any requirements the copyright holder may have pertaining to this reuse. When seeking to reproduce any kind of third party material authors should request the following:

• non-exclusive rights to reproduce the material in the specified article and journal;
• print and electronic rights, preferably for use in any form or medium;
• the right to use the material for the life of the work; and
• world-wide English-language rights.

It is particularly important to clear permission for use in both the print and online versions of the journal, and we are not able to accept permissions which carry a time limit because we retain journal articles as part of our online journal archive.

Further guidelines on clearing permissions. 

Open Access

Military Medicine offers the option of publishing under either a standard licence or an open access licence. Please note that some funders require open access publication as a condition of funding. If you are unsure whether you are required to publish open access, please do clarify any such requirements with your funder or institution.

Should you wish to publish your article open access, you should select your choice of open access licence in our online system after your article has been accepted for publication. You will need to pay an open access charge to publish under an open access licence.

Details of the open access licences and open access charges.

OUP has a growing number of Read and Publish agreements with institutions and consortia which provide funding for open access publishing. This means authors from participating institutions can publish open access, and the institution may pay the charge. Find out if your institution is participating.

Please note that you may be eligible for a discount to the open access charge based on society membership. Authors may be asked to prove eligibility for the member discount.

Third-Party Open Access Copyright

If you will be publishing your paper under an Open Access license but it contains material for which you do not have Open Access re-use permissions, please state this clearly by supplying the following credit line alongside the material:

Title of content

Author, Original publication, year of original publication, by permission of [rights holder]

Manuscript Format

Pages should be numbered.

Lines should be double spaced.

Manuscripts should be structured using the following components:

Title Page

All manuscripts require a Title Page to be uploaded.  It is considered the first page of any manuscript submission.

A title page must include the following:

• Number of words in abstract 
• Number of words in body text. When counting the word total, do not include the abstract, references, or illustrative material
• Number of tables
• Number of supplemental tables
• Number of figures
• Number of supplemental figures
• Number of references
• Number of pages
• Corresponding author/guarantor’s name and email address
• Title of the manuscript
• Short title (running head) of 50 characters or fewer
• The name, affiliation and complete institutional mailing address of each author, including street numbers and names, city, state, country and zip/postal code. If an author is an active duty, reserve, or retired uniformed services member, their rank, followed by the author’s name, corps, branch of service, and retirement status (if applicable). Author names will be placed in the order they are provided by the corresponding author on the title page. Please provide the above information in English. 
• At least four (4) keywords which are relevant to the subject
• Acknowledgments 
• Information regarding any previous presentation whether presented orally, as a poster, a report, or any other identifiable presentation; include the event name, organization, location, and date
• All funding sources
• Clinical trial registration number, where appropriate
• For studies involving human subjects, institutional review board/ethics committee approval, where appropriate; please indicate if the study is exempt (and that approval was obtained for the exemption)
• For animal studies, please state whether Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (or other applicable committee) approval was obtained or is not applicable
• Disclosure of competing interests 
• Individual author contribution statement 
• Data availability statement
• Disclaimer, where applicable 
• Institutional clearance (approved or does not apply)

Format Examples for a sample title page.

Abstract

Each original manuscript and review article must be preceded by an abstract or structured summary. Structured Summaries (see below) are required for Feature or Review Articles and for Brief Reports in place of an abstract. Case Reports require an unstructured abstract of up to 250 words. Abstracts are not required for letters to the editor.

Abstracts should be submitted as a separate file from your main manuscript and include as few abbreviations as possible. Only the abstract will appear in the print journal. The full manuscript plus the abstract will appear in the official online version. Ideally, an abstract should be written so as to entice the reader to view the full article.

Structured Summary

A Structured Summary is special version of the abstract and should be submitted in any place where an abstract is requested. Each Feature or Review Article and Brief Report must be preceded by a structured summary. The structured summary is limited to 250-500 words organized with the following headings: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Please start each heading on a new line.

Introduction should provide the study’s purpose and sufficient background information for the reader to understand the reason why the study was conducted.

Materials and Methods should briefly describe the study design, procedures, statistical analysis performed, as well as institutional approval (IRB) for the study.

Results section includes the findings in text or refer to tables in the full manuscript, emphasizing the most important findings or observations.

The Conclusion should include a brief statement of the significant findings supported by the data, strengths and weaknesses of the study, overall impact of the study, and possible proposals for future study. Conclusions should not simply restate results, but should address the significance and implications of the findings.

Text

Write text in the active voice. Headings and subheadings should be inserted at reasonable intervals.

Examples of headings are:

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusions

Manuscripts should include a clear introductory statement of purpose, a historical review, if applicable, and a description of the methods and scope of the experiments or observations.

Acknowledgments

An acknowledgment of persons or agencies having contributed substantially to the work of the author(s) may be included on the title page. If there are no acknowledgments, please mention this in a statement.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from all persons named in an acknowledgment. The corresponding author must include the following statement in the cover letter: "I have obtained written permission from all persons named in the Acknowledgment."

Pharmaceutical companies are acknowledged only if they provide experimental drugs or drugs that are unavailable in this country.

Funding

Grant support or other funding sources must be acknowledged on the title page. It must include the full name of the granting agency and grant number. If there is no funding, please mention this in a statement. If the funder is listed in the Crossref funder registry, the funder name should appear exactly as presented in that database.

Illustrative Materials

All submitted illustrative materials must be complementary to the text and include a brief legend or explanatory description. Submitted materials that do not meet journal guidelines may result in delays to the publication of a manuscript. AMSUS reserves the right to modify figures in order to meet journal guidelines. Include the number of figures and tables on the title page of the manuscript submission. Text within figures, charts, diagrams, graphs, or tables should not be larger than 8 point.

Illustrative materials must be scaled to fit within either one or two columns of Military Medicine text. Single columns are 3 3/8" wide, double columns are 7". Figures, charts, diagrams, graphs, and tables should all meet one of these widths. Figures that have to be resized during production to fit this requirement may suffer some distortion and loss of quality. Photographs do not have to meet this requirement, but may be cropped in order to fit properly without distortion.

Units of measurement must be specified.

Proof of reprint permission must be included with the submission, if applicable. Authors are responsible for obtaining full permission to publish illustrative material for which they do not hold the copyright. Proof of this permission is required prior to publication. If a figure or table has been previously published, a citation to the original publication and/or necessary attribution should be included in the figure legend or table caption as required by the copyright holder.

Illustrative material may also be submitted as Supplemental Material. If a figure or table is essential for reading and understanding the article (ex. data that support the hypothesis or conclusions), it should be part of the article. If the material includes pertinent supporting information but is not required for understanding the article (ex. Large datasets or surveys), please submit as Supplemental Material.

Figure Guidelines

The following graphics can be submitted as figures: charts, graphs, illustrations, and photographs.

Figures must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited in the manuscript. Figures should be numbered using Arabic numerals (e.g., 1, 2, 3). Include the figure number in the figure’s filename.

Each figure must have a corresponding short title and caption (figure legend) included in the manuscript after the references or embedded in the figure file.

Submit in grayscale or color.

The resolution of all figures must be a minimum of 300 dpi and figures must be submitted in their final size.

Figures must be submitted as separate files in .tif, .eps, .pdf, or .ppt formats. Figures embedded as images in a Word document are not acceptable for publication. Charts and graphs that are built in a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet can be submitted as pdf files.

Each figure must be self-contained and comprehensible without referring to the manuscript. This includes the following requirements:

All symbols used in a figure must be defined for that figure (e.g, *, †). If a symbol is used in multiple figures, the definition of the symbol must also be repeated for every figure in which it appears. Symbols may be defined in a key within the figure or in the figure caption.

All abbreviations used in a figure (including those used in the figure’s title and legend) must be defined in the figure legend. This includes abbreviations defined in the manuscript. If the same abbreviation is repeated in multiple figures, the definition of that abbreviation must be repeated for every figure in which it appears. Only the most widely recognized abbreviations are the exception to this rule.

Photographs of subjects in which the individual is identifiable require a signed release. Release to publish the likeness of a subject in a photo must be included with the submission. If not included, proper means to protect the identity of the subject must be used.

Authors are responsible for obtaining full permission to publish figures for which they do not hold the copyright. Proof of this permission is required prior to publication. If a figure has been previously published, a citation to the original publication and/or necessary attribution should be included in the figure caption as required by the copyright holder of the figure.

The use of clip art and stock photography is not allowed.

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. 

Table Guidelines

Submitted tables that do not meet journal guidelines may result in delays in publication. The journal reserves the right to modify tables in order to meet journal guidelines. Include the number of tables on the title page of the manuscript submission.

Tables must not duplicate data reported in the manuscript text or figures.

All tables must be created using the table function in Microsoft Word. Tables created in PowerPoint are not acceptable. Tables submitted as images are not acceptable. Tables should be submitted separately from the main manuscript file.

Tables must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited in the manuscript.

Each table must have a corresponding short title above the table and caption below.

Each table must be self-contained and comprehensible without referring to the manuscript. This includes the following requirements:

All symbols used in a table must be defined for that table (e.g., *, †). If a symbol is used in multiple tables, the definition of the symbol must also be repeated for every table in which it appears. Symbols should be defined in the table caption.

All abbreviations used in a table (including those used in the table title and caption) must be defined in the table’s caption. This includes abbreviations defined in the manuscript. If the same abbreviation is repeated in multiple tables, the definition of that abbreviation must be repeated for every table in which it appears. Only the most widely recognized abbreviations are the exception to this rule.

Footnotes are acceptable in tables. Footnotes should clearly be marked with superscript lowercase letters or symbols in the table. Do not use numbers (Arabic or Roman numeral) to indicate a footnote. All footnotes should be fully expanded in the table caption.

Tables are limited to one page. Large tables can be submitted as supplemental material.

Supplemental Materials

Supplemental material can provide additional detail on study methods, or on data that are informative, but not critical to the aims of the study. It is the author’s responsibility to make sure that the main manuscript can be read and understood without reference to supplemental materials. While discouraging indiscriminate use of supplemental materials, some forms of data (videos and large datasets, explanations of data sources, details of computational algorithms) may be appropriately presented as supplemental material. Supplemental material must be directly relevant to the conclusions offered in the main text but non-essential for reader understanding. Information that is essential to understanding the article must not be provided as supplemental material.

Reviewers are instructed to review supplemental materials of reasonable length (e.g. typical figures and tables) at the same level as the content of the main manuscript. Reviewers cannot reasonably be expected to review large supplemental data formats (e.g., large databases). Reviewers are also asked to comment on the appropriateness of supplemental materials, including if they contain essential information that belongs in the main article and if they sufficiently enhance the presentation of the main article to justify inclusion. Readers are expected to communicate directly with the corresponding author about supplemental material, not with the Editor. No comments or critiques of supplemental material will be considered for publication in Military Medicine.

Supplemental Material Guidelines

Please note that supplemental materials, including data sets, are not copyedited by Military Medicine, and therefore authors must ensure that all files are checked carefully before submission and that the style of figures and tables conforms to the recommendations in the manuscript submission guidelines. All supplemental material must be succinct, organized carefully, and labeled appropriately. References in the text, captions and file names on uploaded files should match and be numbered sequentially using the prefix “S” to differentiate them from figures and tables presented in the main manuscript, for example:Figure S1, Table S1, Video S1, Video caption S1, Data set S1 etc.

Video Guidelines

Videos should be submitted in a common file-type (eg .mp4, .mov, .wmv), at the highest possible resolution. Please provide a separate Microsoft Word file containing a caption or description of the videos and a still image to represent the video. Please keep the description as short as possible and ensure that the description is necessary for the comprehension of the videos. Releases signed by persons who appear in any video must be provided with the submission of videos. Military Medicine will not publish any video where persons can be identified without suitable permission forms on file.

Dataset Guidelines

Large datasets should only be submitted when necessary to support a manuscript’s conclusions, when solicited by Military Medicine’s Editors/Reviewers, or if the authors feel that the publication of the dataset is critical to advancing research in the field. These should be submitted as an Excel spreadsheet, which will be made available for download. Authors have the option of providing a link to large data sets and hosting them on their own website.

Citations within Text/ Reference List

Military Medicine uses the American Medical Association 11th Edition style guide. The reference section should be included starting on a separate page at the end of the text. A standard bibliography program such as EndNote or Reference Manager may be used. We cannot guarantee that citation/reference software will match all Military Medicine author guidelines. Accuracy of reference data is the responsibility of the author. Failure to initially comply with Military Medicine’s style requirements may result in manuscripts returned to authors for correction and may potentially delay publication.

References are restricted to closely pertinent material and generally no more than 5-10 years old.  Abbreviations of journal names should conform to the style used in the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM); journals not indexed there should not be abbreviated. The listing should not be exhaustive. 

Use exact spelling, accents, punctuation, etc.

Unpublished works or personal communications are not to be cited as numbered references, or to appear in the reference list. They are to be noted in the text in parentheses. It is the author's responsibility to obtain appropriate permission to refer to another individual's unpublished works.

References that are actually "in press" may be cited as published references in the text, but listed with notation of status, name of journal or publication, and anticipated date of publication

Type references double-spaced throughout. 

Provide website names, URLs and last date of access for references unavailable through PubMed or a local library.

References will be checked electronically, be sure they are listed correctly.

Review Process

The Editor-in-Chief will first determine if a submitted manuscript is suitable for further review. Manuscripts selected are then sent for peer-review to reviewers who are selected based on their expertise related to the particular manuscript. After reviews are received, a recommendation of accept, reject or revise (for further consideration) is made by the Editor-in-Chief, who makes the final decision. A decision of reject is final and no resubmission of the same or largely the same paper is permitted.

Military Medicine adheres to a single-anonymized peer review policy, meaning that the identity of the reviewer is anonymous but the author’s name and affiliation are visible to the reviewer. Manuscripts are reviewed with due respect for the author's confidentiality. At the same time, reviewers also have rights to confidentiality, which are respected by the editors. The editors ensure both the authors and the reviewers that the manuscripts sent for review are privileged communications and are the private property of the author.

When submitting a manuscript for consideration for publication, authors may suggest the names of potential reviewers to invite and/or exclude. Actual selection of reviewers is at the sole discretion of the Journal.

For full details about the peer review process, see Fair editing and peer review.

OUP author FAQs.

Revisions

If a manuscript is returned to the author(s) for revisions, all resubmissions must follow the Instructions for Submitting a Manuscript and include the following:

• Address all reviewer and Editor comments, point-by-point, in the author response section.  If you do not agree with a recommendation and decide not to incorporate the change in your manuscript, please clearly indicate your reasons.
• Update the author questionnaire and title page to reflect any changes that have been made, number of words, graphs, etc.
• Submit the revised manuscript and other files as clean copies. Do not mark the revisions.

Authors have 30 days to complete and upload the revised manuscript. Requests for additional completion time must be received one week prior to the original modification due date and will be granted on a case by case basis.

Your modified manuscript will be handled according to the Editor's instructions. This may mean one or both of the original reviewers will be asked to re-review the manuscript, an additional reviewer may be requested, or the Editor may request the revisions to be sent directly to him/her for a final decision.

There is no guarantee that a revised manuscript will be accepted for publication.

Plagiarism Review

The editorial office carefully monitors papers submitted to Military Medicine for plagiarism. We define plagiarism to include: literal copying - reproducing a work word for word, in whole or in part, without permission and acknowledgment of the original source; paraphrasing - reproducing someone else's ideas while not copying word for word, without permission and acknowledgment of the original source; substantial copying - copying images, or data from other sources; text-recycling - reusing substantial amounts of text from your own previous publications.

Any text contained in a manuscript that is directly copied from another source must be placed within quotation marks and the original source must be properly cited. If a paper captures the essence of a previously published work, that work should be cited. If any paraphrasing is included, the source must be properly referenced and the meaning intended by the source must not be changed. All works that may have inspired a study’s design or manuscript structure must be properly cited.

If plagiarism is detected during any part of the peer review process, the manuscript may be rejected. For published papers where plagiarism is detected, we reserve the right to issue a correction or retract the paper, whichever is deemed appropriate. We reserve the right to inform authors' institutions about plagiarism detected either before or after publication.

Copyediting and Proofreading

All accepted manuscripts are subject to manuscript editing for conciseness, clarity, grammar, spelling and Military Medicine style. After acceptance all manuscripts will be copyedited. The copyedited version will be sent to the corresponding author for review and approval and returned to the Managing Editor. Once the manuscript is scheduled for publication, the corresponding author will be notified as to the assignment of the manuscript to an issue and page proofs will be sent to the corresponding author. These proofs will be emailed as a PDF file and authors will be expected to return their corrections or approval of these proofs within the timeframe given in the email. It is the authors’ responsibility to keep their account in Editorial Manager current and to notify the Journal Office ([email protected]) of any changes in contact information after a paper has been accepted.

Accepted Papers

All papers appearing in Military Medicine are copyrighted by AMSUS. No paper in whole or in part may be used in any form without written permission from AMSUS.

Advance Access

Advance Access allows for papers to be published online soon after they have been accepted for publication, reducing the time between submission and publication. Articles posted for Advance Access have been copyedited and typeset but not yet paginated for inclusion in a specific issue of the journal. Appearance in Advance Access constitutes official publication, with full-text functionality, and the Advance Access version can be cited by a unique doi (digital object identifier). The final manuscript is then paginated into an issue, at which point it is removed from the Advance Access page. Both versions of the paper continue to be accessible and citable.

Disclaimer

Statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communications herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the editors, the publisher, or AMSUS. AMSUS and the editors, and the publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for such materials. The editors, the publisher, and AMSUS do not guarantee, warrant, or endorse any product or service advertised in this publication, nor do they guarantee any claim made by the manufacturer of such product or service.

Availability of Data and Materials

Where ethically feasible, Military 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. For information on general repositories for all data types, and a list of recommended repositories by subject area, please see Choosing where to archive your data.

Data Citation

Military Medicine supports the Force 11 Data Citation Principles and requires that all publicly available datasets be fully referenced in the reference list with an accession number or unique identifier such as a digital object identifier (DOI). Data citations should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite:

• [dataset]* Authors, Year, Title, Publisher (repository or archive name), Identifier

*The inclusion of the [dataset] tag at the beginning of the citation helps us to correctly identify and tag the citation. This tag will be removed from the citation published in the reference list.

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.