Author Guidelines
JIM – The Journal of Internal Medicine is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal in continuous publication since 1863. JIM publishes original work in clinical science from bench to bedside covering a broad field of internal medicine and its subspecialties. JIM features original articles, reviews, brief reports and research letters.
Last updated on April 19, 2021.
Editorial policies for authors
Role of the corresponding author
The corresponding author will serve on behalf of all co-authors as the primary correspondent with the Editorial Office during the submission and review process. When submitting a manuscript to JIM, corresponding author will, on behalf of all co-authors, be required to declare that:
(i) the manuscript has not been published, is not under consideration for publication elsewhere and will not be republished in any other journal in the same or similar form without written consent of the editor of JIM and Wiley Ldt;
(ii) authorship is based on four criteria specified by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors ICMJE Authorship (see below: Authorship criteria and contributions);
(iii) written permission has been obtained from all individuals listed in the Acknowledgements;
(iv) they have had full access to the all of the data in the study and take complete responsibility for the integrity and the accuracy of the data analysis;
(v) all authors have completed the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest, and that the manuscript includes a 'Conflict of interest statement' - a lack of conflicts of interest must also be declared.
Please note: the corresponding authors must collect the ICMJE forms from all authors and summarize their declarations within the manuscript. Copies of the forms do not need to be sent to JIM, but the forms must be made available by the corresponding author on request.
If a manuscript is accepted, the corresponding authors for the paper will receive an e-mail providing details on how to log into Wiley Author Services and Wiley Author Licensing Service - WALS - where the license agreement can be completed on behalf of all authors of the paper.
ORCID iD
The corresponding author is required to provide his/her “Open Researcher and Contributor ID“(ORCID), when submitting a manuscript for JIM. In the 4th step of the submission process, the corresponding author will have the option to either Create an ORCID iD or Associate an existing ORCID iD to their account. ORCID is a non-profit organization dedicated to solving the long-standing name ambiguity problem in scholarly communication by creating a central registry of unique identifiers for individual researchers and an open, transparent linking mechanism between ORCID and other current author identifier schemes. To learn more about ORCID, please visit http://orcid.org/content/initiative
Conflicts of interest and financial disclosure
All authors must complete the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and send the completed forms to the corresponding author. A statement of financial or other relationships that might lead to a conflict of interest must be declared. It should also be stated if authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Authorship criteria and contributions
For all articles, the journal mandates the CRediT (Contribution Roles Taxonomy), for more information please see Author Services.
Authorship credit is based on the four criteria specified by the ICMJE as revised in 2013:
(i) substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the data for the work;
(ii) drafting of the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
(iii) final approval of the version to be published;
(iv) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved (ICMJE/recommendations).
Acknowledgements
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgements. Authors must obtain written permission to include the names of all individuals included in the Acknowledgements, and the corresponding author must confirm that such permission has been obtained.
Data access and responsibility
The corresponding author should have had full access to all of the study data and must take complete responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
Data Sharing and Data Accessibility
JIM encourages authors to share the data and other artefacts supporting the results in the paper by archiving it in an appropriate public repository. Authors should include a data accessibility statement, including a link to the repository they have used, in order that this statement can be published alongside their paper.
All accepted manuscripts may elect to publish a data availability statement to confirm the presence or absence of shared data. If you have shared data, this statement will describe how the data can be accessed, and include a persistent identifier (e.g., a DOI for the data, or an accession number) from the repository where you shared the data.
Sample statements are available here. If published, statements will be placed in the heading of your manuscript.
Preprint policy
This journal will consider for review articles previously available as preprints. Authors may also post the submitted version of a manuscript to a preprint server at any time. Authors are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article.
Clinical trials
The ICMJE defines a clinical trial as any research project that prospectively assigns human participants to intervention or comparison groups to study cause-effect relationship between an intervention and a health outcome (ICMJE/recommendations). Interventions include but are not limited to drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments and changes in the process of care. All manuscripts reporting clinical trials must include a copy of the trial protocol with the complete statistical analysis plan, a flow diagram and a completed trial checklist. All clinical trials must be registered at an appropriate online public registry.
Ethical approval of studies and informed consent
Submission is considered on the conditions that: (i) manuscripts are previously unpublished, and are not submitted simultaniously elsewhere; (ii) authors have read and approved the content, and all authors have declared any competing interests; and (iii) the work complies with the Ethical Policies of the Journal and has been conducted according to internationally accepted ethical standards after relevant ethical review.
Plagiarism and misconduct
JIM is a member of COPE (Committee of Publication Ethics) and strictly adheres to its Code of Conduct for Journal Editors. This means that if the Editors suspect research misconduct, the article in question will be held in abeyance until the matter is resolved. The Editors will contact the authors and any appropriate third party to ascertain whether the grounds for investigation are justified.
If a research paper that has been published in JIM is found to be fraudulent, it will be retracted and appropriate steps will be taken to notify both readers of the Journal and the authors’ institution(s). Retractions will include the word ‘Retraction’ in the title, so that they are identified as such on indexing systems, for example PubMed. In the case of serious research misconduct, all authors may be banned from future publication in JIM. All manuscripts accepted for publication in JIM are screened for plagiarism against previously published work using Crossref.
Copyright transfer agreement
If open access option is not selected, the corresponding author will be presented with the copyright transfer agreement (CTA) to sign. The terms and conditions of the CTA can be previewed in the samples associated with the Copyright FAQs below: CTA terms and conditions.
Note to NIH grantees
In accordance with the NIH mandate, Wiley will post the accepted version of manuscripts authored by NIH grant-holders to PubMed Central upon acceptance. This accepted version will be made publicly available 12 months after publication. For further information, see www.wiley.com/go/nihmandate.
Coalition S Funding
Please ensure you are familiar with any funder or institutional mandates for publishing your paper. You can publish your paper open access under a CC-BY license in Journal of Internal Medicine but if your funder is a member of Coalition S, your article is to be published in a fully open access journal according to Plan S. An exception would be if your institution is part of one of Wiley’s transformative agreements. In these cases, you would still be compliant with Plan S when publishing in Journal of Internal Medicine. Information about licensing options is available here. The submitting author is expected to consult all authors to find out whether any of their funders has a policy that restricts which kinds of license they can sign.
Article Preparation Support
Wiley Editing Services offers expert help with English Language Editing, as well as translation, manuscript formatting, figure illustration, and figure formatting – so you can submit your manuscript with confidence. Also, check out our resources for Preparing Your Article for general guidance about writing and preparing your manuscript.
Article Promotion Support
Wiley Editing Services offers professional video, design, and writing services to create shareable video abstracts, infographics, conference posters, lay summaries, and research news stories for your research – so you can help your research get the attention it deserves.
Editorial review and publication
Editorial and peer review
Manuscripts are examined by the editors of JIM and are usually sent to outside reviewers. For a manuscript to be considered for publication, the author should suggest at least four reviewers.
Free access
Freely available to all readers on Wiley Online Library, including those who do not subscribe to the journal. Please note that all reviews and articles accompanied by an Editorial are Free Access on Wiley Online Library for JIM! The Editor-in-Chief can also decide to select some original articles for Free Access. If your article is selected, you will be notified by our Editorial Office.
Open Access
Freely available to read on Wiley Online Library, including those who do not subscribe to the journal. In addition, authors of open access articles are permitted to post the final, published PDF of their article on a website, institutional repository or other free public server, immediately on publication. Wiley will also immediately deposit your open access article in PubMed Central and PMC mirror sites. Authors keep copyright of the article. Please note that in order to publish your paper as open access, there is a fee of USD 4,200. You can find more information here.
Open access is available to authors of primary research articles who wish to make their article available to non-subscribers on publication, or whose funding agency requires grantees to archive the final version of their article. With open access, the author, the author's funding agency, or the author's institution pays a fee to ensure that the article is made available to non-subscribers upon publication via Wiley Online Library, as well as deposited in the funding agency's preferred archive. Prior to acceptance, there is no requirement to inform the Editorial Office that you intend to publish your paper open access if you do not wish to. All open access articles are treated in the same way as any other article. They go through the journal's standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit. Although all reviews and linked articles are Free Access on Wiley Online Library for the Journal of Internal Medicine, authors of free access articles can choose open acces status for their respective articles as well, provided that they pay the open access fee.
Online production tracking through Wiley Author Services
This service enables authors to track their article once it has been accepted for publication, through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated e-mails at key stages of the production process. Authors will receive an e-mail providing a unique link enabling them to register so that their article can be automatically added to the system. Therefore a correct e-mail address must be provided when submitting a manuscript. Wiley Author Services WALS provides more details on online production tracking, as well as FAQs and tips on article preparation and submission.
Accepted Articles
JIM now offers Accepted Articles for selected articles within a short time of acceptance. Further to acceptance in JIM, these manuscripts of articles are immediately made publicly available online. Accepted Articles have been peer-reviewed and accepted for formal publication, but have not been subject to copyediting, composition or proof correction. The service has been designed to ensure the earliest possible circulation of research papers after acceptance. Accepted Articles appear in PDF format only and are given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which allows them to be cited and tracked.
Proofs
The corresponding author will receive an e-mail alert containing a link to the Wiley Author Services website.
A working e-mail address must therefore be provided for the corresponding author. The proof can be downloaded as a PDF file from this site. Acrobat Reader will be required in order to read this file; the software can be downloaded (free of charge) from Adobe. Once opened, the file can be read on screen and printed out in order to add any corrections. Further instructions will be sent with the proof. Hard copy proofs will be posted if no e-mail address is available. An excessive number of proof changes made by the author, excluding typesetting errors, will be charged separately.
Offprints
Upon online publication, JIM allows free access to the PDF file of the final published article. In order to obtain access, authors must register at Wiley Author Services. Of note, free access to the final PDF offprint or the article will only be available to authors via the Author Services website. Therefore, authors are encouraged to sign up for Wiley Author Services to access their article PDF offprint and take advantage of the many other benefits the service offers.
Author material archive policy
Wiley will dispose of all submitted hardcopy or electronic material, 2 months after publication, unless specifically requested not to do so. Authors who require the return of any submitted material must inform the Editorial Office or production editor as soon as possible.
Article type
Research articles are usually read initially by at least two editors and some of the articles are turned down (immediate reject) based upon the initial in-house assessment. If the initial assessment is positive, the article is sent out to at least two external peer reviewers.
Commissioned materials such as Editorials, Reviews and Perspectives are usually subjected to in-house assessment, but external peer review is sometimes undertaken.
Review Article
JIM welcomes Review Articles at the forefront of medical research. Reviews are usually commissioned, but if unsolicited please send a presubmission inquiry to the Editor-in-Chief to get a view on its suitability as a Review. Reviews should include an informative abstract where relevant key findings are presented. Please remember that a well-written abstract is a teaser for further reading. Furthermore, we recommend that you include 1-2 tables summarizing important results as well as illustrative figures. If the Review contains information related to clinical guidelines or consensus reports, please indicate that in the heading. Format: Not exceeding 7000 words excluding the abstract, tables, figures, references and online-only (supplementary) material. Abstract not exceeding 250 words.
Perspective
Perspectives are usually commissioned. A Perspective is a condensed Review Article focusing on current research issues and visions for the future regarding the development of novel treatment options, etc. If the Perspective contains information related to clinical guidelines or consensus reports, please indicate it in the heading. Format: Not exceeding 2000 words excluding references, 40 references, 3 displays (tables/figures). Abstract not exceeding 200 words.
Original Article
JIM publishes Original Articles on clinical and experimental research within the broad fields of general and internal medicine. Format: Not exceeding 5000 words excluding abstract, tables, figures, references and online-only (supplementary) material, structured abstract.
Brief Report
Brief Reports are concise papers representing novel and completed work of high priority and significance. Format: Not exceeding 2000 words excluding references, 20 references, 3 displays (tables/figures). Structured abstract not exceeding 150 words. Can include online-only (supplementary) material. Does not have Graphical Abstract.
Research Letter
Letter not related to an article published in JIM.
These Letters contain research data and are subjected to external peer-review. Format: Not exceeding 750 words, 10 references, 1 table or figure. Can include online-only (supplementary) material.
Letter to the Editor
Letter related to an article published in JIM.
Deadline for submission: 3 months after online publication of the JIM article. These Letters are selected by the editor and generally sent to the authors of the article for possible comments which may be published with the Letter. Format: Not exceeding 500 words, 7 references, no abstract, no tables or figures.
Editorial
Editorials are usually commissioned, but non-commissioned Editorials may be accepted for publication. Format: Not exceeding 1500 words excluding tables, figures, references, and online-only material, 10 references, no abstract.
JIM Journal of Internal Medicine no longer accepts or publishes Case Reports.
Graphical Abstract
Instructions
An image is more than 1000 words! A Graphical Abstract is a single, concise visual summary of the main topics or findings of the article. The goal of the Graphical Abstract is to draw the reader to the whole paper. Therefore, the Graphical Abstract doesn’t need to explain the whole article but rather give a quick sense of the general research area and if possible the key finding.
Graphical Abstracts can be shared and reproduced via all social media without limitation, for the benefit of spreading important research information.
Graphical Abstracts only accompany Original Articles and Reviews.
When submitting a manuscript, the author has the option to upload a draft of the Graphical Abstract as a single file. Our illustrator will finalize the design to an approved Graphical Abstract upon manuscript acceptance. For accepted articles, graphics support for figures can also be provided.
Guidelines for designing a Graphical Abstract:
1. Start by viewing examples of previous GAs in the gallery section.
>>>JIM Graphical Abstract Gallery<<<
2. Download our template file.
>>>Template<<<
3. Open the template file in your design software.
4. Design your Graphical Abstract.
5. Save as a pdf.
Keep it simple. Avoid tables, raw primary data or distracting cluttering components. Use text sparingly. Avoid sending jpegs, TIFFs or files that are not possible to make changes in unless it’s just ment as a reference.
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to use any images that they include from outside sources, including articles, web pages, stock photo sites or Google image searches. Any needed permissions must be submitted along with your graphical abstract or identified in the Acknowledgements section of your manuscript.
JIM’s general policy is not allow the usage of business logotypes, organisation names and or imagery that can be viewed as advertisement or that detracts from the basic science message of the graphical abstract.
Submission of manuscripts
Pre-submission English language editing
Authors for whom English is a second language may choose to have their manuscript professionally edited before submission, in order to (i) improve grammar, spelling and punctuation, (ii) improve clarity and resolve any ambiguity and (iii) improve word choice and ensure that the tone of the language is appropriate for an academic journal. Of note, all accepted articles are edited for language by our professional language editor at no cost to the author.
Submitting manuscripts
Manuscripts should be submitted online at ScholarOne Manuscripts. Full instructions and support are available on the website, and a user ID and password can be obtained on the first visit. All parts of the manuscript must be available in an electronic format; Microsoft Word or generic RTF are recommended for text, and JPEG, GIF, TIFF, EPS, PNG, Microsoft PowerPoint or Excel for graphics (see section Tables and figures). For a manuscript to be considered for publication, the author should suggest at least four reviewers. It is recommended that, where possible, figures and tables should be placed within a single word file. Apple Macintosh users should ensure compatibility by submitting files with correct PC filename suffixes (e.g. ‘.doc’ for Microsoft Word).
If you cannot submit online please contact the Editorial Office.
All material should conform to Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. The latest version of the rules of the ICMJE (The Vancouver Group) may be found in Medical Education 1999; 33: 66–78. Manuscripts should preferably be written in British English, although American English is also acceptable. Abbreviations should be kept to a minimum and an abbreviation list included, if necessary.
The SI system must be used for all units (for guidance, see physics.nist.gov).
Presubmission Inquiry
Authors who wish to get the Editors’ view on a manuscript’s suitability for JIM are welcome to send a presubmission inquiry to the editorial office at info@jim.se. The inquiry can include the topic, title, abstract and brief description of the project. Providing sufficient detail and specificity will help the Editors determine whether the work fits JIM’s criteria. If submission is encouraged, please mention the correspondence in the cover letter at submission.
Cover letter
A cover letter should be included with all manuscript submissions. This is an opportunity to explain why the work is important and unique, and why it is suitable for JIM.
(i) Provide contact information for the corresponding author.
(ii) Confirm that all authors have participated in the work and and approved the submission.
(iii) Verify that a conflict of interest statement is included.
(iv) State whether the authors have submitted any related papers from the same study.
(v) Mention if the paper is available as a preprint.
(vi) State if original research has ethical board approval.
(vii) Inform if permission has been obtained for previously published figures.
Arrangement of the manuscript
All pages (including references, tables and their captions, figure captions and, where possible, figures) should be saved in a single file.
The manuscript should include the following: (i) Title page, (ii) Abstract where applicable, (iii) Keywords (iv) Main text (Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion), (v) Conflict of interest statement, (vi) Acknowledgments, (vii) References, (viii) Figure legends, (ix) Tables and their captions and (x) Figures.
Title page. The first page should state the title of the paper, a suggested running headline of not more than 30 characters (including both characters and spaces) and the names and affiliations (department, institution, city and country) of all authors.
Title. To improve searchability, the title should be informative, rather than descriptive, and clearly state the key message of the paper. A full sentence is preferred.
Abstract. Not more than 250 words. For Review Articles, the abstract should provide a concise summary of the results presented and reviewed. For Original Articles and Brief Reports, the abstract should be structured with some or all of the following subheadings: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusion.
Keywords. We encourage authors to list at least two, but no more than six, keywords below the abstract. Preferably, the keywords given in the 'Medical Subject Headings' list in the US National Library of Medicine MeSh should be used.
Ethical considerations. For studies involving ethical considerations, approval by the local ethical authority should be indicated in the Materials and methods.
Correspondence. The last page of the reference list should include the name and address, including email address, of the author to whom correspondence, including requests for offprints, should be sent. The corresponding author is advised to select an alternative proof reader from among the co-authors; the name and email address of this 'second' author should be provided.
References
We recommend the use of a tool such as Reference Manager for reference management and formatting. Information about Reference Manager reference styles can be found on the Reference Manager website refman.com.
References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Authors should identify references in the text, tables and captions by Arabic numerals within square brackets: e.g. [1, 2, 4–6]. The reference form adopted by the US National Library of Medicine should be used, with titles of journals abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Only published or accepted articles should be included in the reference list; if necessary, unpublished or submitted work can be referred to within parentheses in the text: e.g. Jones, 2014 (unpublished data).
All authors should be listed when up to six; more than six should be abbreviated to three followed by et al.
Examples of correct forms of references are given below.
1. Standard journal article: De Toma I, Rosetti G, Zambrano S, Bianchi ME, Agresti A. Nucleosome loss facilitates the chemotactic response of macrophages. J Intern Med 2014; 276: 545–69.
2. E-publication: Celona B, Weiner A, Di Felice F et al. Substantial histone reduction modulates genomewide nucleosomal occupancy and global transcriptional output. PLoS Biol 2011; 9: e1001086.
3. E-pub ahead of print: Hasan FM, Alsahli M, Gerich JE. SGLT2 inhibitors in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2014. [Epub ahead of print].
4. Link to report: http://www.fda.gov/ScienceResearch/SpecialTopics/CriticalPathInitiative/CriticalPathOpportunitiesReports/ucm077262.htm.
5. Reference with link: Bristol Myers-Squibb; AstraZeneca. U.S. Food and Drug Administration Endocrinologic and Metabolic Advisory Committee Background Document: Dapagliflozin, BMS-512148, NDA 202293. Princeton, NJ: Bristol-Myers Squibb. Available at www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/Drugs/EndocrinologicandMetabolicDrugsAdvisoryCommittee/ucm262993.htm. 2011.
6. Chapter in book: Jain K. The Handbook of Biomarkers. New York: Springer, 2010. ISBN 978-1-60761-684-9.
7. Book: Berg JM, Tymoczko JL, Stryer L. Biochemistry. New York: W. H. Freeman, 2007.
Tables and Figures
Table and figure legends must be comprehensive so that they are understandable without reference to the text. In the full-text online edition of the Journal, legends may be truncated in abbreviated links to the full screen version. Therefore the first 100 characters of any legend should inform the reader of key aspects of the table or figure.
All tables and figures must be cited in the text.
If a previously published table, figure or illustration is used, written permission from the original publisher should be submitted with the manuscript.
Only horizontal lines should be used in tables.
Authors are encouraged to submit figures in colour, where appropriate. Our illustrator can help authors in designing the figures. Further information on preparing high-resolution digital files can be found at Wiley Author Service.
Read information and instructions about Graphical abstract here
Privacy Policy
By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, and affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require, will be used for the regular operations of the publication, including, when necessary, sharing with the publisher (Wiley) and partners for production and publication. The publication and the publisher recognize the importance of protecting the personal information collected from users in the operation of these services, and have practices in place to ensure that steps are taken to maintain the security, integrity, and privacy of the personal data collected and processed. Learn more about the data protection policy of JIM-Journal of Internal Medicine and Wiley.
Editorial Office
Journal of Internal Medine
Tomtebodavägen 9
171 65 Solna
Sweden
Tel: 46 (8) 335 022
Mobile: 46 (0) 733 389865
e-mail: info@jim.se
