Manuscript Submission Guidelines
Manuscripts submitted for consideration and editorial correspondence should be emailed to <info@isom.ca>
All manuscripts will be subjected to a review process. Once provisionally approved, manuscripts discussing innovative treatments, especially those with potential risk, and those involving complex statistics are subject to additional expert review.
Select articles may undergo rapid review, acceptance, publication and distribution. Therefore, submission of articles and letters to the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine will be taken to imply permission to publish if not otherwise stated explicitly.
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- General Guidelines
- Definitions and Scope of the Journal
- Categories of Articles
- Document Submissions
- Citations and Digital Object Identifiers
- Tables and Illustrations
- Competing Interests Statement
- Statement of Human Rights and Animal Rights
- Statement of Informed Consent
- Author’s Corrections
- Copyright and Access
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1. General Guidelines
Articles need to be well written and well organized in a logical manner consistent with publication in a scholarly and academic journal; additional descriptions and guidelines are provided below per type of article. All articles require citations to peer-reviewed research, but not all citations need reference biomedical research if such articles include citations to major newspapers, magazines and other media. Given that Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine is a specialty journal focusing on the orthomolecular model of clinical care, all articles need to be related to this topic, and if the connection is not immediately obvious then the authors need to explain the relevance of their work to the orthomolecular medicine community. For inexperienced authors, the best ways to become familiar with the styles of academic articles are:
1) To read other published articles in a wide range of journals, and
2) Follow the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals.” Authors need to use proper grammar and syntax and write in a concise and clear manner appropriate for our readership of doctorate-level clinicians and healthcare providers; passive voice sentences (eg, “It appears that…” and “There is a suggestion in the research that…”) need to be edited by the authors to a more direct and unambiguous style. Avoid words and phrases such as “modulates” and “influences” that do not clearly communicate the nature of what is occurring.
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2. Definitions and Scope of the Journal
Orthomolecular Medicine: Orthomolecular medicine is defined as the therapeutic use of substances that occur naturally in the body. Originally defined in the context of treating and preventing psychiatric diseases, the intent of orthomolecular therapy is to provide the optimal molecular environment for the brain and other tissues by altering the intake of nutrients such as vitamins (and their metabolites), minerals, trace elements, macronutrients, as well as other naturally occurring metabolically active substances.
Mission Statement: The mission of the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine is to advance knowledge and improve the practice of orthomolecular medicine by educating practitioners of orthomolecular medicine, inspiring scholars, students and future leaders with novel, relevant and high quality metabolic research, clinical studies and reports, informative topic reviews and well-argued commentaries. The Journal aims to engage the orthomolecular medicine community by providing a forum for debate and the promulgation of new ideas.
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3. Categories of Articles
1. Commentaries and Perspectives: Commentary and Perspective articles (please limit to approximately to 2,500 words) are welcomed. An abstract is not required.
2. Clinician’s Letters: Letter from clinicians (limited to 2,000 words) can be requested by the editor or suggested from potential authors with at least ten years of clinical experience as an orthomolecular practitioner. We welcome suggestions from elder orthomolecular practitioners on particular clinical pearls.
3. Short Communications: We encourage Short Communications (limited to 1,000 words) in the form of letters to the editor that stimulate debate and provide relevant commentary, especially on articles published in the Journal.
4. Original Research: Original research manuscripts will be considered. Such articles are papers that report clinically relevant investigations or observations within the journal’s scope of interests. The abstract should be structured (as described in page two of “Instructions to Authors”), the text should not exceed 5,000 words, and there should be approximately 20 to 40 references. Figures and tables are encouraged and should be included where possible; however, data should not be repeated in both a table and a figure and accompanying text need not reiterate the information provided in tables and figures.
5. Brief Reports: Brief reports are condensed articles with a focused message. They should include a brief abstract of no more than 200 words, text of no more than 1,500 words, 5-15 references, and two tables or figures.
6. Case Reports/Series: Case reports provide a summary of a single case or several cases and give a concise review of the literature. Case reports should present unusual aspects of common problems or novel perspectives upon, or solutions to, clinically relevant issues. They should include a brief abstract of no more than 200 words, text of no more than 3,000 words, and there should be approximately 10-30 references. For further advice on writing detailed case reports, please refer to the CARE guidelines https://www.care-statement.org/
7. Synthesis Papers: We welcome articles of an academic nature that are educational to the orthomolecular community. We also welcome articles that may be hypothesis generating and may create dialogue within the readership. They should include a brief abstract of no more than 200 words, text of no more than 3,000 words, and there should be approximately 10-30 references.
8. Review Articles: Review papers provide a synthesis of topics related to clinical aspects of orthomolecular medicine. The text should not exceed 5,000 words and have an abstract that does not exceed 200 words. Review papers can be written as focused systematic reviews or more broadly as narrative reviews.
9. Viewpoints/Opinion Pieces: Viewpoints are somewhat review in nature; however, they are designed to provide an argument to convince the reader. The text should not exceed 2,000 words and have an abstract that does not exceed 200 words. This type of narrative paper presents the opinions of an author or authors rather than providing a balanced literature review or new experimental data.
10. Educational Articles: Educational articles are written for a broad audience in order to provide specific instructions on how a specific research methodology can be used or how to best employ a therapy. They should include a brief abstract of no more than 200 words, and text of no more than 3,000 words.
11. Research Abstracts: For original research provide an abstract of 500 words or less, which must include the following subheadings: Background, Objectives, Design, Setting, Intervention, Main Outcome Measures, Results, Conclusions, and Trial Registration. All other types of papers require abstracts of 200 words or less, and should not follow the abstract format described here for original research papers.
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4. Document Submissions
All submissions will be provided electronically and should include the following:
1. Title page with authors and contact information
2. Text with tables, images, references
3. Contact information for at least three individuals who can serve as peer reviewers for your manuscript; provide the names, institutional affiliations, and email addresses for each of these individuals.
4. Label any additional attached files by primary author’s last name and short title of the article.
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5. Citations and Digital Object Identifiers
Prepare references according to the: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition). In-text citations consist of the surname(s) of the author(s) and the year of publication. If there is no author, use the title (or a short form of the title, if it is lengthy) and the year. Titles that are italicized in the reference list are italicized in text; titles that are not italicized in the reference list appear in quotation marks. If there is no date, use “n.d.” (without quotation marks) instead. List references in alphabetical order. Each listed reference should be cited in text, and each text citation should be listed in the References section.
Digital Object Identifiers – The Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine is a member of the Crossref DOI Reference Linking initiative. Reference linking is required for all current journal content. A hyperlink to reference the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number must be included for all references. Please refer to the DOI Display Guidelines. All articles published in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine will be assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI).
Example paragraph with in-text citation: Anxiety disorders in general affect some 18.1% of the population (Kessler, Chiu, Demler, & Walters, 2005), with a fairly significant percentage being comprised of individuals that have social anxiety disorder (SAD). SAD is characterized by persistent and irrational fears related “to the presence of other people,” often accompanied by the persistent belief of being judged or evaluated (Davison, Blankstein, Flett, & Neale, 2014, p. 159). Being formally diagnosed means that the afflicted individual has sufficient diagnostic criteria to meet the standard as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (i.e., DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
Examples of basic reference formats:
· Journal Article: Kessler, R. C., Chiu, W. T., Demler, O., Walters, E. E. (2005). Prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of 12-months DSM-IV disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62(6), 617-627 https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.617
· Book: Rogers, T. T., & McClelland, J. L. (2004). Semantic cognition: A parallel distributed processing approach.Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
· Book (insitutional author): American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
· Chapter in Book: Davison, G. C., Blankstein, K. R., Flett, G. L., & Neale, J. S. (2014). Anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, and post-traumatic stress disorders. In Abnormal psychology. (5th Canadian ed, pp. 153-192). Mississauga, ON: John Wiley and Sons Canada.
· Chapter in an Edited Book: Gill, M. J., & Sypher, B. D. (2009). Workplace incivility and organizational trust. In P. Lutgen-Sandvik & B. D. Sypher (Eds.), Destructive organizational communication: Processes, consequences, and constructive ways of organizing (pp. 53–73). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
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6. Tables and Illustrations
Placement in manuscripts should be indicated with a line break and the entry: Place Table/Illustration 1 here. Include illustrations, tables and photographs on separate sheets, identifying each with number referring to manuscript placement. Create tables using column tabs rather than spaces. Legends must accompany each illustration. The author will assume the cost if illustrations require re-rendering.
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7. Competing Interests Statement
A competing interest exists when your interpretation of data or presentation of information may be influenced by your personal or financial relationship with other people or organizations. Authors should disclose any financial competing interests but also any non-financial competing interests that may cause them embarrassment were they to become public after the publication of the manuscript. Authors are required to complete a declaration of competing interests. All competing interests that are declared will be listed at the end of published articles. Where an author gives no competing interests, the listing will read “The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests.”
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8. Statement of Human Rights and Animal Rights
Submission of a manuscript to the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine implies that all authors have read and agreed to its content, and that any experimental research that is reported in the manuscript has been performed with the approval of an appropriate ethics committee. Research carried out on humans must be in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration, and any experimental research on animals must follow internationally recognized guidelines. A statement to this effect must appear in the Methods section of the manuscript, including the name of the body which gave approval, with a reference number where appropriate. Informed consent must also be documented. Manuscripts may be rejected if the editorial office considers that the research has not been carried out within an ethical framework, e.g., if the severity of the experimental procedure is not justified by the value of the knowledge gained.
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9. Statement of Informed Consent
The authors of the articles will respect the patients’ right to privacy. Any identifying information – such as names, initials etc. – should not be published in written material or photographs unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (parent/guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. However, identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. Informed consent for this purpose requires that a patient who is identifiable be shown the manuscript to be published. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning and editors should so note.
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10. Author’s Corrections
Accepted articles formatted for publication will be submitted to authors for correction; prompt return will facilitate prompt publication.
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11. Copyright and Access
Author(s) of material published in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine grant free, irrevocable, worldwide, right of access to, and a license to use, distribute, transmit and display the material for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine.
