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MJA instructions for authors - types of articles published by the MJA

The following types of articles are published by The Medical Journal of Australia (MJA).

 

Perspectives

1-page article

  • Maximum 750 words (main text only)
  • Maximum 10 references
  • "Introline" of up to 15 words
  • Preferred maximum 3 authors
  • Please supply a 100-word abstract. This is not for publication but may be used in correspondence with reviewers

2-page article

  • Maximum 1500 words (main text only)
  • Maximum 25 references
  • "Introline" of up to 15 words
  • Preferred maximum 3 authors
  • Please supply a 100-word abstract. This is not for publication but may be used in correspondence with reviewers

Perspectives are opinion pieces that discuss challenging and controversial questions in medicine and health, including issues in developing or rapidly changing areas of medicine. Articles should be scholarly in tone, and assertions must be supported by appropriate evidence that is referenced.

Medical education

1. Lessons from practice

  • Maximum 750 words (main text only)
  • Maximum 5 references
  • Please supply a 100-word abstract. This is not for publication but may be used in correspondence with reviewers
  • “Clinical record” and “Discussion” headings
  • A separate box containing up to 4 brief bullet points highlighting the main “lessons”
  • MJA Patient consent form completed by the patient/s (or their next-of-kin or legal guardian) must be signed, submitted and dated within 18 months of time of submission and must be signed by the patient, guardian or next-of-kin. Verbal consent is not sufficient. Please note we do not accept patient consent forms from institutions or other medical journals.
  • The senior clinician responsible for the patient's overall management should be included among the authors

We are interested in conditions that are often missed, or that have serious consequences if missed. The lessons should be important for diagnosis or management and likely to lead to significant practice change. We are not interested in publishing cases that describe highly rare conditions, or cases that have been mismanaged. Please provide high-resolution clinical images

2. Snapshots

  • Maximum 100 words (main text only)
  • Clinical image
  • Maximum 2 references
  • Maximum 2 authors
  • MJA Patient consent form completed by the patient/s (or their next-of-kin or legal guardian) must be signed, submitted and dated within 18 months of time of submission and must be signed by the patient, guardian or next-of-kin. Verbal consent is not sufficient. Please note we do not accept patient consent forms from institutions or other medical journals.

These are interesting or unusual instructive clinical images accompanied by a very brief explanation. Please provide high-resolution images and copyright permission where applicable.

Ethics and law

  • Maximum 1500 words (main text only)
  • Maximum 15 references
  • “Introline” up to 15 words
  • Maximum 3 authors
  • Please supply a 100-word abstract. This is not for publication but may be used in correspondence with reviewers

These articles discuss ethical or legal issues related to patient care. They should have a clinical focus and case scenarios should be considered to help illustrate important points. Note that if a case scenario describes an actual patient, the MJA Patient consent form completed by the patient/s (or their next-of-kin or legal guardian) must be signed, submitted and dated within 18 months of time of submission and must be signed by the patient, guardian or next-of-kin. Verbal consent is not sufficient. Please note we do not accept patient consent forms from institutions or other medical journals.

Reflections

The Reflections section contains articles about personal experience or history related to medicine. High-resolution photographs are encouraged.

1. Reflection article

  • Maximum 1500 words (main text only)
  • Maximum 5 references
  • "Introline" of up to 15 word
  • Maximum 2 authors
  • Please supply a 50-word (maximum) abstract. Note this is not for publication but may be used in correspondence with reviewers

2. Medical history

  • Maximum 1500 words (main text only)
  • Maximum 10 references
  • "Introline" of up to 15 words
  • Please supply a 100-word abstract. This is not for publication but may be used in correspondence with reviewers

History articles are scholarly essays on interesting aspects of the history of medicine. An Australian perspective is preferred but not essential.

Competition entries

Please see the Awards section for information about submitting entries to the MJA’s writing and artwork competitions.

Editorials (commissioned only)

  • Maximum 750 words (main text only)
  • Maximum 10 references
  • "Introline" of up to 15 words
  • 1 figure (optional)
  • Maximum 2 authors
  • Please supply a 100-word abstract. This is not for publication but may be used in correspondence with reviewers

Editorials are peer-reviewed authoritative commentaries generally linked to research articles that are published in the same issue.

Research

1. Original research

  • Maximum 2500 words (main text only)*
  • 25 references*
  • 250-word structured abstract (see below)
  • Summary box using the following headings/content: “The known” [the starting point for your investigation], “The new” [your major novel finding] and “The implications” [the consequences of your finding]  (maximum 100 words)

*Randomised clinical trials may exceed these limits, by negotiation with the editor.

MJA policies can be found here.

The MJA considers original research directly relevant to clinical medicine and of interest to a general medical audience. The MJA does not generally consider basic scientific, statistical or social sciences research without a clear application to clinical practice or to health care delivery. Priority is given to work of interest to a general medical audience, or of relevance to more than one specialty. See also, “Is my research article suitable for the MJA?

Research articles must include:

  • An IMRaD format (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion)
  • A structured abstract, which should contain the following headings:
    • Objective(s): a clear statement of the main aim or hypothesis of the study
    • Design: eg, prospective, randomised, placebo-controlled, case-controlled, crossover etc; include study dates
    • Setting: include the level of care (eg primary care, tertiary referral hospital) and number of participating centres
    • Participants: include selection criteria and participation or response rate
    • Intervention (if applicable): what, how, when and for how long
    • Main outcome measures
    • Results: include absolute event rates (not just proportions), 95% confidence intervals, level of statistical significance, number needed to treat/harm, as appropriate
    • Conclusion(s): conclusions and their implications must directly relate to data in the study
    • Trial registration (if applicable): registry and registration number for clinical trials
  • Data that are original and as timely and current as possible
  • Signed patient consent forms if any patients are potentially identifiable in the text or images (download a consent for publication of personal material form). This form must be signed by the patient, guardian or next-of-kin. Verbal consent is not sufficient. We do not accept patient consent forms from institutions or other medical journals.
  • A statement that ethics approval was obtained for the study (or that it was not required), including the formal name of the ethics committee or institutional review board and the reference number of the approval.
  • A statement including details of all sources of funding for the study, outlining any role the funder had in any part of the study, and that the researchers were independent from the funder
  • A statement that the authors had full access to all of the data (including statistical reports and tables) in the study
  • A data sharing statement (for interventional trials). See example statements here.
  • Copies of any non-standard questionnaires used in the research
  • Copies of published articles based on the same research, especially if the methods have been published elsewhere

Randomised trials must:

The use of checklists for other study types is encouraged (see also EQUATOR Network).

2. Systematic reviews

  • Maximum 3000 words (main text only)
  • 50 references
  • 250-word structured abstract suitable for a systematic review (see below)
  • Maximum 3 tables and/or figures

The structured abstract for systematic reviews should contain the following headings:

  • Objectives
  • Study design
  • Data sources
  • Data synthesis
  • Conclusions

The use of the following is strongly encouraged:

PRISMA Statement checklist and flowchart for a systematic review or meta-analysis of randomised trials and other evaluation studies

A systematic review collates evidence from individual clinical studies and uses a methodology to minimise selection bias, including strict criteria for study inclusion and exclusion, to review a specific research topic. It presents a critically appraised review of evidence on that topic.

3. Meta-analysis

A meta-analysis article reports on the methodology and findings of a meta-analysis that reviews and combines the results of multiple studies, integrating the findings into one outcome measure.

4. Study protocols

  • Maximum 2500 words (main text only)
  • Maximum 25 references
  • Maximum 3 tables and/or figures
  • 250-word abstract (see below)
  • Also, 750-word summary; download the template here

A Study Protocol article is a report about a planned study or a study currently underway. The MJA invites protocols for studies that are likely to lead to significant changes in clinical practice. This will generally apply to large, multi-centre randomised controlled trials and cohort studies. If data collection is already complete, the article should instead be submitted to the Journal as a Research article.

The MJA publishes study protocols to facilitate awareness among researchers, clinicians and other interested parties of ongoing research activity elsewhere. The aim is to avert superfluous studies and also to promote broader cooperation. Publication of protocols prior to completion of the study also increases the transparency of research by making full details of investigations available for reference and comment, and to allow checking of any changes to the study protocol made between its commencement and its completion.

We encourage authors to use SPIRIT recommendations for randomised trials and PRISMA-P for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. We also strongly recommend that investigators register their study; prospective registration is mandatory for all clinical trials. Appropriate registries for investigations are listed on the WHO website.

Study protocol manuscripts should include the following elements:

  • Title: Concise but informative, including the specific study type; eg, “The effects of Treatment X on the progress of Disorder Y in younger patients: a randomised controlled trial.”
  • Structured abstract with the following sections: Introduction; Methods and analysis; Ethics; Dissemination of results; Registration details (if appropriate).
  • Planned timetable and site(s) for the study.
  • Introduction: the background to the study, and the exact research or clinical question it seeks to answer.
  • Methods and analysis:
    • the overall study design;
    • the recruitment and selection of the sample population; interventions, including power calculations for determining the required sample size for detecting statistically and clinically significant differences in the primary outcome;
    • the exact definition of primary and secondary outcomes, and the means and timetable for their assessment;
    • the data analysis plan.
  • Ethics statement on all required ethics approvals, including the names of the approving bodies and reference numbers.
  • Dissemination of findings: including storage of data, presentation at meetings, and publications in scientific and public media. Ethical and safety considerations should also be considered. We follow the ICMJE policy regarding data sharing.
  • References: formatted according to the MJA guidelines (https://www.mja.com.au/journal/reference-examples).
  • Statement of the specific contributions of each author to the design of the protocol.
  • Funding statement: including details (organisation name, grant number where applicable) for all organisations that contributed to its funding.
  • Acknowledgements of specific organisations or individuals who contributed significantly to the design of the protocol or who will contribute significantly to its implementation (apart from protocol authors and funders).
  • Competing interests statement.

Guideline summaries/consensus statements/position statements (hereafter referred to as guidelines)

  • Maximum 2500 words (main text only)
  • Minimum 1 figure, table or box
  • Maximum 50 references
  • 250-word abstract using template headings: Introduction, Main recommendations, Changes in management as a result of the guideline.
  • Text to have following headings: Background, Methods, Recommendations
  • Recommendations must include an assessment of quality and strength of evidence using the GRADE system, or an acceptable alternative system, should GRADE be inappropriate (article 1 and article 2, see also guidance by the NHMRC).
  • We recommend use of the AGREE (Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation) instrument for evaluating the process of practise guideline development and the quality of reporting.
  • Maximum 10 authors (if more than 10, the remainder of the group to be acknowledged collectively)
  • MJA will request all authors to sign the MJA copyright form for the summary only. Please note that this does not include the full guidelines, regardless of where these are hosted.

This manuscript type provides a concise description for the general medical reader of updates or changes in clinical management as recommended by qualified experts and/or relevant bodies.

It is optional for authors to publish the full version of the guidelines on the MJA website or on their own organisation’s website.

If the full guideline is to be published on the MJA website it must be provided as a PDF document and will not be edited by MJA staff. If the full guideline is in the organisation’s website, it must be open-access and available from the date of publication in the MJA. The link to the guideline’s website must be given in the summary.

The summary should not contain any unpublished information or information that is not also contained in the full guideline.

Narrative reviews

  • Maximum 3000 words (main text only)
  • 75 references
  • 250-word summary, giving 4-6 dot-points that cover the key issues
  • A brief description of the sources and selection criteria used for your literature review should be included in the main text.

A narrative review presents the author’s synthesis of relevant evidence and experience to formulate an evidence-based discussion on a particular clinical topic.

Research letters

  • Maximum 500 words (main text only)
  • Maximum 5 references
  • 1 table and/or figure (optional)
  • Maximum 5 authors
  • Please supply a 50-word abstract. This is not for publication but may be used in correspondence with reviewers

Research letters should concisely provide novel research observations. Research letters should be appropriately referenced in the same style and format as other MJA articles (see References in MJA style). Please note that the inclusion of a table and/or figure may require a reduction in word count in the main text.

MJA policies can be found here.

Letters to the Editor

Letters on new topics

  • Maximum 350 words (main text only)
  • Maximum 5 references
  • 1 small text box, table or figure (optional)
  • Maximum 3 authors
  • Please supply a 50-word abstract. This is not for publication but may be used in correspondence with reviewers

Comments on published MJA articles

  • Maximum 350 words (main text only)
  • Maximum 5 references
  • Please include the published article you are commenting on as the first reference
  • For indexing purposes, please use the same title as the article on which you are commenting
  • Maximum 3 authors
  • Comments about MJA articles should be submitted within 2 months of that article's publication. Note: a decision may not be made until after this time has elapsed and the authors have been given the option to submit a formal reply
  • Comments on pre-print articles cannot be considered until the pre-print has been formally processed and published in an issue or online.

Letters by authors of published MJA articles in reply to comments

  • Maximum 350 words (main text only)
  • Maximum 5 references
  • Maximum 3 authors

There is a maximum of 3 authors for Letters to the Editor (in reply). This is the case even when there were more than 3 authors of the original article. In the latter case, we suggest that 3 authors write the Letter (in reply) on behalf of all the authors of the original article. Letters should reference the original article and letter or letters commenting on the original published article. Letters should be appropriately referenced in the same style and format as other MJA articles (see References in MJA style).