Author information
Journal of Investigative Medicine (JIM) is a multi-disciplinary journal dedicated to publishing high-quality original research and reviews. The journal aims to provide rapid publication of research through its continuous online publication model. Submissions should be made through the journal’s new online submission system. All submissions are subject to peer review. Articles should not be under review or under consideration by any other journal when submitted to Journal of Investigative Medicine.
Editorial Policy
Journal of Investigative Medicine adheres to the highest standards concerning its editorial policies on publication ethics, scientific misconduct, consent and peer review criteria. To view all BMJ Journal policies, please refer to the BMJ Author Hub policies page.
Plan S compliance
Journal of Investigative Medicine is a Plan S compliant Transformative Journal. Transformative Journals are one of the compliance routes offered by cOAlition S funders, such as Wellcome, WHO and UKRI. Find out more about Transformative Journals and Plan S compliance on our Author Hub.
Copyright and authors’ rights
Articles are published under an exclusive licence (or non-exclusive licence for UK Crown and US Federal Government employees) and authors retain copyright. Articles can also be published under a Creative Commons licence to facilitate reuse of the content; please refer to the Journal of Investigative Medicine Copyright Author Licence Statement.
When publishing in Journal of Investigative Medicine, authors choose between three licence types – exclusive licence granted to BMJ, CC-BY-NC and CC-BY (Creative Commons open access licences require payment of an article processing charge). As an author you may wish to post your article in an institutional or subject repository, or on a scientific social sharing network. You may also link your published article to your preprint (if applicable). What you can do with your article, without seeking permission, depends on the licence you have chosen and the version of your article. Please refer to the BMJ author self archiving and permissions policies page for more information.
Preprints
Preprints foster openness, accessibility and collaboration by allowing authors to make their findings immediately available to the research community and receive feedback on an article before it is submitted to a journal for formal publication.
BMJ fully supports and encourages the archiving of preprints in any recognised, not-for-profit server such as medRxiv. BMJ does not consider the posting of an article in a dedicated preprint repository to be prior publication.
Preprints are reports of work that have not been peer-reviewed; Preprints should therefore not be used to guide clinical practice, health-related behaviour or health policy. For more information, please refer to our Preprint policy page.
Article transfer service
BMJ is committed to ensuring that all good quality research is published. Our article transfer service helps authors find the best journal for their research while providing an easy and smooth publication process. If authors agree to transfer their manuscript, all versions, supplementary files and peer reviewer comments are automatically transferred; there is no need to resubmit or reformat.
Authors who submit to the Journal of Investigative Medicine and are rejected will be offered the option of transferring to another BMJ Journal, such as BMJ Open.
Please note that the article transfer service does not guarantee acceptance but you should receive a quicker initial decision on your manuscript.
Contact the Product Owner of BMJ’s Article Transfer Service for more information or assistance.
Data Sharing
Journal of Investigative Medicine adheres to BMJ’s Tier 3 data policy. We strongly encourage that data generated by your research that supports your article be made available as soon as possible, wherever legally and ethically possible. All research articles must contain a Data Availability Statement. For more information and FAQs, please see BMJ’s full Data Sharing Policy page.
ORCID
Journal of Investigative Medicine mandates ORCID iDs for the submitting author at the time of article submission; co-authors and reviewers are strongly encouraged to also connect their ScholarOne accounts to ORCID. We strongly believe that the increased use and integration of ORCID iDs will be beneficial for the whole research community.
Please find more information about ORCID and BMJ’s policy on our Author Hub.
Article Processing Charges (APC)
During submission, authors can choose to have their article published open access for $3,000. Society Members can choose to have their article published open access for $2,000. Publishing open access has multiple benefits including wider reach, faster impact and increased citation and usage.
Find out if you are eligible for institutional funding
A number of institutions have open access agreements with BMJ which can either cover the whole cost of open access publishing for authors at participating institutions or can allow authors to receive a discount off the APC.
Visit BMJ’s open access agreements page to find out whether your institution is a member and what discounts you may be entitled to.
For more information on publishing open access with BMJ visit our Author Hub.
Which funding agencies allow direct use of grants to cover the APC?
If you received a grant to conduct your research, your first inquiry should be to whoever disburses the research funds. Much research funding is now granted on the condition that any resulting articles are published Open Access and are deposited in PubMed Central – publishing in Journal of Investigative Medicine means that you meet both of these criteria. To help authors complete these requirements, many funders will permit payment of APCs from grants or have separate funds available.
The Open Access Directory contains a list of universities that have funds for researchers to pay APCs. The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) has something similar – both mainly cover US institutions and are not comprehensive. The Compact for Open Access Publishing Equity is a collection of universities that have pledged their support to establish durable mechanisms for underwriting the APC model. Alternatively, contact your librarian to find out what support your institution offers.
General information about BMJ’s Open Access program, including copyright policies and institutional memberships, is available via our author website.
Page Charges
Journal of Investigative Medicine charges $40/printed page unless the author is a verified American Federation for Medical Research (AFMR) member at the time of submission. Prospective members can find more information about membership here.
CME Credit
All reviewers for JITC who meet the journal’s standards for timeliness and quality in peer review can receive Continuing Medical Education (CME) credit in exchange for their work. If you are interested in receiving credit, please mark the appropriate box on the reviewer form so that the handling editor can evaluate your review. There is no limit to the number of reviews for which a reviewer can receive credit, but a reviewer will receive only one credit per paper. For a brief overview of the process, please see here.
Rapid Responses
A rapid response is a moderated but not peer reviewed online response to a published article in Journal of Investigative Medicine; it will not receive a DOI and will not be indexed. Find out more about responses and how to submit a response.
Submission Guidelines
Please review the below article type specifications including the required article lengths, illustrations, table limits and reference counts. The word count excludes the title page, abstract, tables, acknowledgements, contributions and references. Manuscripts should be as succinct as possible.
For further support when making your submission please refer to the resources available on the BMJ Author Hub. Here you will find information on writing and formatting your research through to the peer review process and promoting your paper. You may also wish to use the language editing and translation services provided by BMJ Author Services.
If your article is accepted you can take advantage of BMJ’s partnership with Editage, a free service to help you maximize your article’s reach.
Review
Research tools and issues
Original research
Experimental biology symposia
Brief report
Letter to the Editor (e-only)
Supplements
Review
Review articles are expected to be comprehensive, scholarly and balanced, presenting an expert curation of the literature on the topic of interest.
Generally, reviews are limited to: 250-word abstract; 4,000-word text, excluding references; and five figures. Authors are encouraged to consult the Editor before submitting a review for consideration.
Research tools and issues
Research Tools and Issues are scholarly works and reviews focusing on areas of broad interest to the research community, including topics relevant to the conduct of clinical research, mentoring and career development.
Manuscripts should not exceed 4,000 words.
Original research
Original research should not exceed 5,000 words and six figures or tables (not including supplementary material) — articles must be fully documented reports of original research, but should be as concise as possible without compromising the data. Articles should be organized as follows: Title page, Unstructured Abstract (250 words max), Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, Discussion, Conflict of Interest, Acknowledgments, References, Tables, Figure Legends, Supplementary Material.
The abstract should be followed by three sentences which outline the significance of the study:
What is already known about this subject?
What are the new findings?
How might these results change the focus of research or clinical practice?
Please include a box summarizing in three or four bullet points “what are the new findings?”.
Experimental biology symposia
The AFMR sponsors one or more symposia each year within the context of the Experimental Biology meeting. These symposia are translational in focus and are designed to highlight important recent basic science developments that are being brought to the bedside. It is anticipated that each presenter within each symposium will submit a manuscript to Journal of Investigative Medicine that summarizes the work described in their symposium talk.
Each manuscript should be self-contained, as the publication may not be coordinated with the publication of other manuscripts from the same symposium. The presenters are encouraged to present sufficient background and detail to permit a full appreciation of the importance and implications of their work. It is anticipated that most EB Symposium manuscripts will be 2000-6000 words in length. The liberal use of figures and diagrams is encouraged.
Brief report
These reports should be of scientific excellence in clinical or translational research, but not sufficient to warrant publication as Original Research. Examples of appropriate Brief Reports may include: (1) studies that report limited but provocative observations OR (2) relevant negative studies that can
provide new information on important topics.
The text of a Brief Report is limited to 2,000 words. Brief Reports should include an unstructured abstract of no more than 250 words and no more than two display items.
Letter to the Editor
Letters to the Editor may report original data or discuss published articles in Journal of Investigative Medicine.
Letters are not to exceed 500 words, two figures or tables, and 15 references. Letters should not have an abstract. The Editor may solicit a response from the authors. Letters that report original data will be fully peer-reviewed. All Letters to the Editor are subject to editing and possible abridgment.
Supplements
The BMJ Publishing Group journals are willing to consider publishing supplements to regular issues. Supplement proposals may be made at the request of:
The journal editor, an editorial board member or a learned society may wish to organize a meeting. Sponsorship may be sought and the proceedings published as a supplement.
The journal editor, editorial board member or learned society may wish to commission a supplement on a particular theme or topic. Again, sponsorship may be sought.
The BMJPG itself may have proposals for supplements where sponsorship may be necessary.
A sponsoring organisation, often a pharmaceutical company or a charitable foundation, that wishes to arrange a meeting, the proceedings of which will be published as a supplement.
In all cases, it is vital that the journal’s integrity, independence and academic reputation is not compromised in any way.
For further information on criteria that must be fulfilled, download the supplements guidelines.
When contacting us regarding a potential supplement, please include as much of the information below as possible.
Journal in which you would like the supplement published
Title of supplement and/or meeting on which it is based
Date of meeting on which it is based
Proposed table of contents with provisional article titles and proposed authors
An indication of whether authors have agreed to participate
Sponsor information including any relevant deadlines
An indication of the expected length of each paper Guest Editor proposals if appropriate
