Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals
Encyclopedia
The Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (abbreviated URM and often shortened to Uniform Requirements) is a set of guidelines produced by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, for standardising the ethics
, preparation and formatting of manuscript
s submitted for publication by biomedical journals. Compliance with the Uniform Requirements is required by most leading biomedical journals and over 629 journals internationally (circa June 2006) follow the Uniform Requirements.
. Current members of the ICMJE are:
, is the ANSI
style used by the U.S. National Library of Medicine
(NLM).
References are numbered consecutively in order of appearance in the text – they are identified by Arabic numerals
enclosed in parentheses
.
Example of a journal citation:
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
, preparation and formatting of manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s submitted for publication by biomedical journals. Compliance with the Uniform Requirements is required by most leading biomedical journals and over 629 journals internationally (circa June 2006) follow the Uniform Requirements.
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) was originally known as the Vancouver Group, after the location of their first meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia in CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Current members of the ICMJE are:
- Annals of Internal MedicineAnnals of Internal MedicineAnnals of Internal Medicine is an academic medical journal published by the American College of Physicians . It publishes research articles and reviews in the area of internal medicine. Its current editor is Christine Laine...
- BMJBMJBMJ is a partially open-access peer-reviewed medical journal. Originally called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988. The journal is published by the BMJ Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association...
- Canadian Medical Association JournalCanadian Medical Association JournalThe Canadian Medical Association Journal is a general medical journal that is published biweekly by the Canadian Medical Association . It covers research and ideas aimed at improving health for people in Canada and globally. CMAJ publishes original clinical research, analyses and reviews, news,...
- Croatian Medical Journal
- Journal of the American Medical AssociationJournal of the American Medical AssociationThe Journal of the American Medical Association is a weekly, peer-reviewed, medical journal, published by the American Medical Association. Beginning in July 2011, the editor in chief will be Howard C. Bauchner, vice chairman of pediatrics at Boston University’s School of Medicine, replacing ...
(JAMA) - Nederlands Tijdschrift voor GeneeskundeNederlands Tijdschrift voor GeneeskundeThe Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde is the main medical journal of the Netherlands. It appears weekly and was established in 1857. The current editor-in-chief is Peter de Leeuw....
- New England Journal of MedicineNew England Journal of MedicineThe New England Journal of Medicine is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It describes itself as the oldest continuously published medical journal in the world.-History:...
- The LancetThe LancetThe Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
- The Medical Journal of AustraliaThe Medical Journal of AustraliaThe Medical Journal of Australia is a peer-reviewed medical journal. It is the official journal of the Australian Medical Association, published by the Australasian Medical Publishing Company. The editor-in-chief is Annette G. Katelaris....
- The New Zealand Medical JournalThe New Zealand Medical JournalThe New Zealand Medical Journal is a peer-reviewed medical journal. It is the official journal of the New Zealand Medical Association. The editor-in-chief is Professor Frank Frizelle...
- Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforeningJournal of the Norwegian Medical AssociationThe Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association was founded in 1881, five years before the Norwegian Medical Association was established, as the Tidsskrift for praktisk Medicin. The journal changed names in 1888 to Organ for Den norske lægeforening before obtaining its current name in 1890...
- Ugeskrift for LægerUgeskrift for LægerUgeskrift for Læger is a Danish medical journal published every Monday. It is written in Danish, and publishes original research, news, debate, job ads, etc. The journal was established in 1839 and has been available online since 1999....
Citation style
The citation style currently recommended by the Uniform Requirements, also known as the Vancouver systemVancouver system
The Vancouver system, also known as the "author-number" system, is a way of writing references in academic papers. It is popular in the physical sciences, and is one of two referencing systems normally used in medicine, the other being the author-date, or "Harvard", system.-History:The Vancouver...
, is the ANSI
American National Standards Institute
The American National Standards Institute is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organization also coordinates U.S. standards with international...
style used by the U.S. National Library of Medicine
United States National Library of Medicine
The United States National Library of Medicine , operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is a division of the National Institutes of Health...
(NLM).
References are numbered consecutively in order of appearance in the text – they are identified by Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals or Hindu numerals or Hindu-Arabic numerals or Indo-Arabic numerals are the ten digits . They are descended from the Hindu-Arabic numeral system developed by Indian mathematicians, in which a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a numeral...
enclosed in parentheses
Bracket
Brackets are tall punctuation marks used in matched pairs within text, to set apart or interject other text. In the United States, "bracket" usually refers specifically to the "square" or "box" type.-List of types:...
.
Example of a journal citation:
- Leurs R, Church MK, Taglialatela M. H1-antihistamines: inverse agonism, anti-inflammatory actions and cardiac effects. Clin Exp Allergy 2002 Apr;32(4):489-98.
Grey literature
The Uniform Requirements were adapted by the Grey Literature International Steering Committee GLISC for the production of scientific and technical reports included in the wider category of grey literature. These GLISC Guidelines for the production of scientific and technical reports are translated to French, German, Italian and Spanish and are available on the GLISC website http://www.glisc.info.See also
- IMRADIMRAD- The basic structure of a scientific paper :The IMRAD structure is currently the most prominent norm for the structure of a scientific paper. IMRAD is an acronym for Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion...
- EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific ArticlesEASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific ArticlesThe EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific Articles to be Published in English were first published by the European Association of Science Editors in 2010. An updated version appeared in June 2011...
- Scientific misconductScientific misconductScientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in professional scientific research. A Lancet review on Handling of Scientific Misconduct in Scandinavian countries provides the following sample definitions: *Danish definition: "Intention or...