Information For Authors
University of Illinois Journal of Medicine (UIJM) currently accepts unsolicited original research and review articles. Clinical Translation Articles and Creative Design Submissions are a special feature of the UIJM that aims to promote innovative ideas within healthcare. In addition, UIJM publishes editorials from experts within the field. Editorials are generally solicited, but UIJM may accept unsolicited editorials by a case-by-case basis.
Article Types:
1) Original Research Articles present advances in scientific knowledge or understanding related to medicine and health, basic science, clinical and epidemiological studies, economic analyses in health, medical education, medical arts. For an Original Article, abstracts should be a maximum of 300 words and structured to include: Purpose, Methods, Results, Conclusions, Level of Evidence (human studies) or Clinical Relevance (in vitro or basic science), and keywords. All clinical trials must: have been approved by the governing body at which the trial took place, followed all governing guidelines (state, local, national etc.), follow ARRIVE guidelines if animal work is done, with proper consent for human trials, and done in an ethical manner. The manuscript, excluding references, should be no longer than 5000 words and should be organized into the following sections: abstract and keywords, introduction, methods, results, discussion, acknowledgments, and references. The references section should contain no more than 50 references. You may include up to 4 figures and tables, which should be submitted separately as supplementary files. All original research articles will undergo peer review.
2) Review Articles should provide a comprehensive and poignant review of an essential research direction within medicine. It is expected that review articles will contain the most pertinent studies selected from an initial comprehensive list of studies. Review articles should follow the background, methods, discussion, and conclusions template, where the discussion presents a critical analysis of the field. These articles should be no longer than 8,000 words excluding references, contain no more than 100 references, and no more than a total of 5 Figures and/or Tables. All review articles will undergo external peer review.
3) Clinical Translation Articles (CTAs) focus on defining specific clinical questions and propose solutions that address them. CTAs aim to solve two key challenges within academia and medicine:
- Bridging the Research Gap: While promising ideas and solutions to clinical issues may already exist, the resources to execute these studies are often unavailable. We believe that the identification of a clearly defined clinical problem is valuable and deserves to be shared with the academic and medical communities, even if resources are limited.
- Proposing Well-Considered Solutions: A successful idea requires thoughtful methodology. CTAs are expected to highlight both a pressing clinical problem and propose a potential solution. Much like patents, the logistics and methods necessary to implement the proposed solution will be outlined in detail, allowing others to pursue the work seamlessly.
The manuscript, excluding references, should be no longer than 2000 words and be organized into the following sections: Abstract, Introduction, Proposed Methods, Clinical Impact, Conclusion, Acknowledgements, and References. Within the Introduction, the clinical question to be addressed should be introduced. The Proposed Methods section should clearly state the process for addressing the clinical question, while the Clinical Impact section should address the potential impact of this study. The references section should contain no more than 30 citations. You may include up to 2 figures and tables, which should be submitted separately as supplementary files. All CTAs will undergo peer review.
4) Creative Design Submissions will need prior approval from the editorial board at the UIJM. Authors should contact the UIJM editorial office for any submissions and formatting queries.
Peer Review:
UIJM follows a rigorous peer-review process. All submissions will be first assessed by the Editorial Manager to determine whether they meet the journal submission guidelines. Once the editorial checks have been made, the article will be assessed by an editor as to whether it meets the aims and scope of this journal and is of sufficient quality.
Please note that the editorial manager or editor may desk-reject a submission if it does not meet minimum standards of quality. UIJM strives for rapid return of desk-rejections, where a response can be expected within the first two weeks.
UIJM employs a single-blind peer review process for all submissions to ensure the quality and integrity of published research. Reviewers are selected based on their expertise in relevant fields, and the identities of reviewers are kept confidential throughout the review process. UIJM invites qualified students and clinicians-in-training to participate in the review process. UIJM adheres to the ethical guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). We further encourage transparency and expect the highest levels of integrity in research practices.
Opportunity for Reviewer Co-authorship:
The UIJM wishes to not only publish but also push innovation itself. One method UIJM aims to improve the academic process is by recognizing the necessary work of a reviewer by instigating a new optional initiative that provides potential co-authorship to reviewers who can both meet the eligibility criteria AND provide substantial reviewer contributions for accepted articles. We at UIJM believe recognizing the work of reviewers will promote academic engagement by providing more rigorous, thorough, and professional comments. If co-authorships are warranted, the order will be determined by order of review acceptance and placed before the senior author(s) with explicit verbiage of their reviewer status.
The criteria for reviewers to be eligible for co-authorship:
(1) The submitting author(s) agree to this novel peer-review implementation
(2) Manuscript in question must have undergone at least one Major Revision
(3) Reviewer must review the manuscript in its entirety from submission to potential acceptance
(4) Reviewer must fully disclose any conflict of interests
(5) Reviewer agrees that their comments can be made publicly available at the discretion of the UIJM (i.e. requested by a reader or author)
The authors will have an opportunity to provide their feedback on the comments received, which will be made available to the reviewer. The Editorial Board will decide whether the reviewer merits authorship by consulting the Reviewer comments, COPE, and author feedback. There is no guarantee that authorship will be provided.
Journal Decisions:
Corresponding authors will be notified of the articles decision after peer-review. The decisions will be Acceptance, Minor Revision, Major Revision, Revise and Resubmit, or Rejection. The UIJM will generally not accept re-submission from a Rejected manuscript but will welcome manuscripts that were originally given a Revise and Resubmit and substantially revised.
Once an article is accepted, it is at this stage that the authors will be expected to provide their final corrected manuscript within 2 weeks for proofing, where the manuscript contents will be formatted by our copyeditors. A proof will be sent back for correction in PDF form, when the authors may make any final corrections. During this stage, it is expected that the corrections are focused on grammatical and formatting issues. If changes are deemed to be too large, the article will be sent back for peer-review. Authors must provide their explicit approval for publication and any other final required documents.