Canadian Journal of Medicine (CJM) is an open-access publication, providing authors with continuous publication of original research across a broad spectrum of medical scientific disciplines and sub-specialties. The Canadian Journal of Medicine review process emphasizes the scientific, technical, and ethical validity of submissions. CJM publishes Research articles or original articles, Review articles, Case reports, Short reports or communication, and Letters to the editor. 

Instructions for Authors

  • CJM uses a double peer-review for the manuscripts submitted for potential publication. Authors are highly recommended to read the guideline for authors before submitting their manuscripts.
  • Detailed guidelines for drafting and submitting your manuscripts to this journal are presented below.
  • Please note that only manuscripts which comply with all criteria set for the manuscripts are to be forwarded to the reviewers. In case of any violations, the manuscript is subject to immediate rejection.
  • Use clear language and observe academic writing style.
  • Follow a clear structure in terms of introduction, the rationale for the study, objective/s, research design, methodology, analyses and results, discussions and conclusions, and also suggestions for further studies.
  • Make sure that consistency exists between the references cited in the main body of the manuscript and those credited in the references section; use newly published sources from Scopus and WoS in your manuscript; Provide DOIs for the references, if available.
  • Submit the manuscript only to CJM and nowhere else. Manuscripts that have already been published or are under review somewhere else will not be given any consideration.
  • Co-authors may publish only one article in the current issue.
  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word file format.
  • The submission is plagiarism and self-plagiarism free.

How to Submit

Please submit your manuscript using one of the following ways:

1- The manuscript and  related files can be submitted through the online submission system using the following link:

https://cjm.cikd.ca/contacts?_action=loginForm

2- The manuscript and  related files can be directly sent to the following email address:

EditorialOffice.CJM@cikd.ca

General Guidelines for Preparing Your Paper and Submission

  1. Make sure your manuscript fits the aims and scope of the journal.
  2. Read our copyright policy and publication ethics before submission.
  3. Make sure the entire manuscript is neatly prepared, spell-checked, and adheres to the formatting requirements stipulated in our guide for authors.
  4. Prepare the cover letter containing a conflict of interest statement, authorship, and contribution, and the statement that the manuscript has not already been published or is not under review somewhere else.
  5. Pay careful attention to preparing the manuscript to allow blinded review. When uploading your manuscript, you will need to upload a manuscript file with no identifying author information and a separate individual file of a title page with author details
  6. The title page should contain each author's given name(s) and family name(s) with accurate spelling, order of authors, their short biography, affiliations, e-mail addresses, corresponding author; and where available, ORCID Researcher ID, Scopus ID.
  7. One of the authors should be identified as the corresponding author, with their e-mail address normally displayed in the article PDF and the online article.
  8. Authors’ affiliations are the affiliations where the research was conducted. Please note that no changes to affiliation can be made after your article is accepted.
  9. A short biography is a short biographical note for each author included on the title page, which could be adapted from your departmental website or academic networking profile and should be relatively brief (e.g., no more than 200 words).
  10. Compile all parts and materials of the manuscript, including figures, tables, references, and appendices if available, in the main manuscript file except for the supplementary file (if available).
  11. We do not suggest strict formatting elements, but we recommend that manuscripts contain the necessary components, such as Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Review of Literature Materials and Method, Results, and Conclusion. 

*Before submission, please make sure you have checked the instructions provided in the guide for authors so you know everything required.

*If your manuscript is accepted for publication, it will be further formatted and typeset in the correct style for the journal.

Revised Manuscript and Submission

Reviewers’ comments should be carefully and adequately answered within the related parts of the text, where applicable. All new additions, removals, and revisions should be clearly indicated in RED font. If the comments and revisions only need to be explained to the reviewers, they should be included in a separate file titled “Response to reviewers”. 

Authors should provide a separate Word document (Response to reviewers) where all comments, responses, or correction addresses in the revised manuscript and needed explanations are clearly indicated.

Once the revised manuscript is completed, log into your account and enter your Author Center, where you will find your manuscript title listed under "MANUSCRIPTS WITH DECISIONS." Under "Actions," click on "CREATE A REVISION." Your manuscript number has been appended to denote a revision.

Once the revised manuscript is prepared, you can upload it and submit it through your Author Center in your online submission panel.

While submitting your revised manuscript, you will be able to respond to the comments made by the reviewer(s) in the space provided. You can use this space to document any changes you make to the original manuscript. To expedite the processing of the revised manuscript, please be as specific as possible in your response to the reviewer(s).

*Your original files are available to you when you upload your revised manuscript. Please delete any redundant files before completing the submission.

Because we are trying to facilitate the timely publication of manuscripts submitted to the journal, your revised manuscript should be uploaded as soon as possible. If it is not possible for you to submit your revision in a reasonable amount of time, we may have to consider your paper as a new submission.

After Acceptance and Proofs

  • After acceptance, the production team and language department will check the manuscript’s format to ensure it conforms to the journal's standards. Consequently, the galley proof will be sent to the corresponding author for checking (it will be sent via e-mail and available via the authors’ submission panel). They will be in touch to request any necessary changes or to confirm that none are needed.
  • Authors are asked to keep track of changes made to their manuscript marked by "Track Changes" and check and confirm the edited version of the manuscript.
  • Authors should check the highlighted parts and comments carefully, and if something is missing, they should make corrections and mark any changes in RED. We will not proceed with any corrections if they are not in RED in this VERSION.
  • Do not change the file format; if changes other than highlighted parts and comments are required, highlight them in Pink and explain while sending the manuscript.
  • The corrected proofs should be returned within two days of receipt; otherwise, it is being held over to a later issue.
  • NO changes are acceptable after dedicating DOI and publication.
  • The completed proofs should be submitted by logging into the online submission panel. Then, click on the manuscript ID under the galley proof section and submit new changes.

Changes to Authorship

Authors need to provide the list and order of authors at the time of submission and via the title page. Any request to add, delete or rearrange author names in the authorship list should be made only before acceptance of the manuscript. To place this request, the corresponding author should provide the reason and e-mail of confirmation from all authors for the journal Editor’s approval. Please note that NO changes are acceptable after dedicating DOI and publication.

Canadian Journal of Medicine adheres to the Authorship Requirements as defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). For more information, please visit http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html.

Declarations

By default, we place the following declarations at the end of the manuscript. Where applicable, please provide the related declaration under each title. If not applicable, please place the following default titles and declarations at the end of your manuscript.

Acknowledgements

Not applicable.

Disclosure Statement*

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics Approval*

Not applicable.

Funding Acknowledgements*

Not applicable.

Rights and Permissions*

© 2022 Canadian Institute for Knowledge Development. All rights reserved.

Canadian Journal of Medicine is published by the Canadian Institute for Knowledge Development (CIKD). This is an open-access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

 

*Disclosure statement. You need to acknowledge any financial or non-financial interest that has arisen from the direct applications of your research. If there are no relevant competing interests to declare,  please leave the default statement (i.e, No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors).

*Ethics approval. Manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must:

  • include a statement on ethics approval and consent (even where the need for approval was waived)
  • include the name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the committee’s reference number if appropriate

Studies involving animals must include a statement on ethics approval. If your manuscript does not report on or involve the use of any animal or human data or tissue, please state “Not applicable” in this section. For further information, please review the Publication Ethics section. 

*Funding Acknowledgements. You could provide all details required by your funding and grant-awarding bodies as an example below: This work was supported by the “Institute Name” [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy].

*If you would like to choose the other licenses for your work, please review the Copyright Policy section before submission.

Data Availability, Data Deposition, Supplemental Material

Data sharing can help your article be more discoverable, citable, and reliable. We encourage authors to share the associated data with their articles to have research transparency and credit for their research outputs. However, our data policy does not mandate sharing but, in some cases, it may be helpful for reviewers to view the data. Therefore, a dataset can be shared for two purposes:

1) for review only and will not be made publicly available:

  • You need to deposit your dataset in a recognized data repository for anonymous peer review and then provide the accessible hyperlink to the data set(s) where they can be accessed. For example, you can deposit your dataset to Figshare and generate a ‘private sharing link’ for free to anonymize data for reviewers. The link is sent to you via e-mail, and you can access the data without logging in or having a Figshare account. The link has a one-year expiry date, and you should not cite it in publications. The shared material will not be publically accessible during peer review. 

2)  for making the data open along with the article publication and will be made publicly available:

  • If you wish to make your dataset supporting the findings of your article open, please deposit your data in a free recognized data repository and then provide the accessible hyperlink, DOI, or other identifiers pertinent to the data set(s) where they can be accessed, at the time of submission.  We will link your article’s DOI with your dataset on publication.

Supplemental Material

  • Supplemental material can be dataset, video and audio files, tables, figures, or anything pertinent to your paper that supports and makes your paper more discoverable. Upon publication of the accepted article, we link your article’s DOI with the repository page for supplementary file(s).
  • Please note that supplemental material should be related to your paper and supports it. It has to be submitted alongside your article submission. It will be peer-reviewed.
  • The supplementary file should have a file's referral label followed by a comma and the label  “see Online Supplementary Material” within the manuscript and appears right at the parts of the text where it belongs. For example, (Tables a and b, see Online Supplementary Material).
  • The supplementary materials will be accessible under the related article’s license. 

 

To find a list of certified data repositories, you can visit FAIRsharing and re3data.org or use the repository finder tool.

You may wish to consider some of the generalist repositories below:

Plagiarism

According to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), plagiarism is “When somebody presents the work of others (data, words or theories) as if they were his/her own and without proper acknowledgment.”

For CIKD journals, this applies whether the data, images, ideas, or words are taken from abstracts, research grant applications, Institutional Review Board applications, or unpublished or published manuscripts in any publication format (print or electronic) without sufficient attribution and proper acknowledgement of the source.

Self-plagiarism refers to the practice of an author who redundantly reuses the portions of their previous writings (e.g., text, data, and images) on the same topic in another of their publications, without proper citation; or reuses the segmentation of a large study which should have been reported in a single paper into smaller published studies.

CJM uses Crossref Similarity Check powered by iThenticate to screen for unoriginal material. Plagiarism is scientific misconduct and will be addressed as such. When plagiarism is detected at any point during the peer-review or production process, and after publication, CJM will take appropriate action as directed by the standards set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). For additional information, please visit http://www.publicationethics.org

However, we will take actions based on the nature and severity of the plagiarized case, such as:

  • Suppose a paper's plagiarism was detected under peer review. In that case, the paper may be sent back to the author requested to fix, rewrite, properly cite the source, and clearly mark quoted text from another source with quotation marks.
  • In the case of extensive similarity detection (over 15%), the paper may be rejected.
  • In the case of minor similarities for the already published manuscripts, a correction, expression of concern, or retraction may be published.
  • We may inform the author’s institution.

Review Process

CJM aims to expedite the peer-reviewing process. If judged to be suitable for the journal, the manuscripts will be forwarded to at least three reviewers drawn from among experts in the field. Upon receiving comments given by two of the reviewers, the journal will announce the results of the reviews to the authors. For additional information, please visit the Peer Review Process section.

Free Article Access

There is no Article Processing Charge (APC). All articles published by CJM are made freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication, without subscription charges or registration barriers. So, CJM provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Authors have free access to their articles through the journal website (www.cjm.cikd.ca).  

Copyright

By submitting their manuscripts to this journal, the authors assign the copyright of the publications to the journal. For additional information, please visit the Copyright Policy section.

Editors and Reviewers

The CIKD Publishing encourages scholars, researchers, and experts from different fields of management to join this journal as editors and reviewers. The CIKD Publishing strongly believes that its academic ambitions can only be achieved through the collective efforts that the board of editors and reviewers kindly bring to the journal. Please do not hesitate to contact the editorial office (editorialoffice@cikd.ca) if you happen to need any further inquiries. 

Manuscript Types and Reporting

CJM considers the following types of manuscripts:

  1. Original article

  2. Review article

  3. Case reports

  4. Letters to the Editor

  5. Correspondence or communication

  6. Perspective or commentary

  7. Brief reports

 

Original Articles 

Original Articles present primary research and significant and original observations. See the links below for preparing different sections:

Preparing a Manuscript ( Retrieved from ICMJE):

  1. General Principles
  2. Reporting Guidelines
  3. Manuscript Sections
    1. Title Page
    2. Abstract
    3. Introduction
    4. Methods
    5. Results
    6. Discussion
    7. References
    8. Tables
    9. Illustrations (Figures)
    10. Units of Measurement
    11. Abbreviations and Symbols

 

Review Articles

Review articles present reviews or summary state-of-the-art articles covering a current topic by experts in the field. They provide answers to a well-defined aspect or question in a particular area by critically discussing the reported data and concluding with potential impacts on the standard of care. CJM gives priority to Systematic Reviews. They are literature reviews that synthesize all high-quality research evidence related to the topic or question. We strongly encourage authors to comply with the PRISMA guidelines (see the table below).

Review Articles should not exceed 4000 words, excluding up to 6 tables or figures and up to 60 references. Longer or shorter manuscripts might also be considered depending on the quality of content and its contribution to the field. 

Case Reports 

Case Reports present important new insights on a recognized clinical scenario, a new clinical condition, or cases with an unusual and noteworthy course. The Background section of a case report should explain the background to the case report or study, its aims, and a summary of the existing literature. The Case presentation section should include a description of the patient’s relevant demographic details, medical history, symptoms and signs, treatment or intervention, outcomes, and any other significant details. Discussion and Conclusions should discuss the relevant existing literature and should state clearly the main conclusions, including an explanation of their relevance or importance to the field. We strongly encourage authors to comply with the CARE guidelines (see the table below).

Case Reports should not be more than 1500 words, with approximately 10 references, and 2 figures and/or tables. Longer or shorter manuscripts might also be considered depending on the quality of content and its contribution to the field. 

More research reporting guidelines are at the EQUATOR Network Resource Centre:

Randomised trials

CONSORT

Extensions

Observational studies

STROBE 

Extensions

Systematic reviews

PRISMA  

Extensions

Study protocols

SPIRIT  

PRISMA-P

Diagnostic/prognostic studies

STARD    

TRIPOD

Case reports

CARE

Extensions

Clinical practice guidelines

AGREE 

RIGHT

Qualitative research

SRQR   

COREQ

Animal pre-clinical studies

ARRIVE

Quality improvement studies

SQUIRE 

Extensions

Economic evaluations

CHEERS


Letters to the Editor

Letters can be responses to articles or other letters published in the journal or brief comments about issues of importance in general medicine. Letters submitted to the Editor should contain a brief and thoughtful analysis of an original article. Please note that publication is not guaranteed. References, if appropriate, can be provided. Letters to the Editor should be no longer than 500 words.

Correspondence Manuscripts

Correspondence articles provide a forum for discussion or present a debate on issues that are of interest to the readership of CJM. In addition, they may cover a brief report of research findings based on the journal's scope. They should not contain new research data or a controversy that provides the opportunity for technical comments on peer-reviewed research articles. Correspondence may be peer-reviewed at the editors’ discretion. 

The main text for Correspondence articles should not exceed 1000 words in total, with up to 10 references. 

Perspective or Commentary

The authors can present their opinion and insights about current research or other topics of interest through the perspective article. It should be concise and highlight a novel and unique viewpoint, discuss challenges and opportunities, propose and support a new hypothesis, and discuss the implications of a newly implemented innovation. It should present a new interpretation of a topic. Current advances and future directions on a topic can be considered. You may also include original data as well as personal opinions.

Perspectives should be approximately between 2000 and 2500 words total (including 200 to 250 words abstract, main text, less than 70 references, and figure legends). Longer or shorter manuscripts might be also taken into consideration depending on the quality of content and the contribution it might have to the field. 

Brief Reports

Brief reports present a forum for essential and timely progress that conveys certain important messages. They do not present incomplete or preliminary results. They may include an identification of novel evidence for disease causation, unexpected and potentially paradigm-changing, reports that solve a long-standing question or debate, and a potential application of technological or methodological advances.

Brief reports should be approximately between 2000 and 2500 words in total. Longer or shorter manuscripts might be also taken into consideration depending on the quality of content and the contribution it might have to the field. 

Length

The manuscript needs to be approximately 8000 words in length with abstract and references included. Longer or shorter manuscripts might also be considered depending on the quality of content and its contribution to the field. The manuscript should be accompanied by an abstract of 200 to 250 words.

Language

  • The language of the journal is English. Manuscripts should meet high academic writing standards.
  • Non-English speakers can send their manuscripts to the Language and Style Edition Department of CIKD Publishing (info@cikd.ca) to refine the manuscript's language. Technical Support Center can improve your manuscript's statistical and mathematical analysis. Depending on the degree of corrections required, the center would charge the author some language and technical polishing fees.
  • Both American and British English are accepted. Just make sure that consistency has been observed throughout the paper in terms of spelling and syntax.
  • Please use double quotation marks, except where “a quotation is ‘within’ a quotation”.
  • Please note that long quotations should be indented without quotation marks.
  • The Editor and members of the editorial board would take a brief look at the manuscripts submitted and make any appropriate suggestions to authors regarding different sections of the manuscript.

Gene names

Authors should apply upper case and italic for Human gene names, lower case and italic for mouse gene names, and plain type for protein names. Follow HUGO gene nomenclature for human genes, at: http://www.genenames.org/

The Mouse Genome Informatics Database is the authoritative source of official names for mouse genes, alleles, and strains. Please follow the guidelines at:
http://www.informatics.jax.org/nomen/

For other species, authors should use standard internationally accepted nomenclature and we suggest that authors consult Entrez Gene [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene] to check the correct nomenclature for their species, as it lists the different symbols for each known gene.

Font

Use Times New Roman font in size 12 (abstract in size 9) with single-line spacing at 1.15 throughout the manuscript. The first line of each paragraph should be indented by 0.5 in. except for the line right after a heading.

Margins

All Margins (top, bottom, left, and right) should be 0.98 in.

Title

The title should summarize the main idea of the paper simply and, if possible, in a way that is engaging for readers. For research papers, it should be a concise statement of the main topic of the research and should identify the variables or theoretical issues under investigation and the relationship between them. Although there is no prescribed limit for title length, authors are encouraged to keep their titles focused and succinct.  

Bold the article title and capitalize the initial capital letter for any proper nouns. Use Garamond font in size 24.

Abstract

Specify the abstract paragraph with a heading. Use Times New Roman font in size 9 with single-line spacing at 1.15. The abstract should consider Purpose, Design/Methodology/Approach, Findings, Practical Implications, and Originality/Value. The manuscript should be accompanied by an abstract of 200 to 250 words. Abstracts are not required for Editorials, Commentaries, correspondence, or Letters to the Editor.

Keywords

Include three to five words, phrases, or acronyms as keywords; write ' the label "Keywords:" (in italic) one line below the abstract; indented 0.2 in. like a regular paragraph, followed by the keywords in lowercase but capitalize proper nouns, separated by commas. The keywords can be listed in any order.

Headings

For section headings in your manuscript, please follow the formats below:

 Level

       Format

 1

Flush Left, Bold, Title Case Heading

Initial letters for any proper nouns should be capitalized. Text begins as a new paragraph.

 2

Flush Left, Bold Italic, Title Case Heading

Initial letters for any proper nouns should be capitalized. Text begins as a new paragraph.

 3

Flush Left, Italic, Title Case Heading

Initial letters for any proper nouns should be capitalized. Text begins as a new paragraph.

 4

Flush Left, Bold Italic, Title Case HeadingInitial letters for any proper nouns should be capitalized. The text follows immediately after a full stop (full point) on the same line and continues as a regular paragraph.

 5

Flush Left, Italic, Title Case Heading. Initial letters for any proper nouns should be capitalized. The text follows immediately after a full stop (full point) on the same line and continues as a regular paragraph.

**Because the first paragraphs of a paper are understood to be introductory, the heading "Introduction" is not needed. Do not begin a paper with an "Introduction" heading

Tables and Figures

All Tables and Figures must be clearly referred to in the related text and have a referral word (e.g., Table 1 presents that …). All tables and figures must be embedded in the text with an appropriate size and resolution after each is first mentioned (or “called out”).

Use standard abbreviations and symbols for all statistics (e.g., M, SD, SE, F, dj, n, p), Greek letters (e.g., a,~, x2 ), and units of measurement used in tables without defining them in a note. Other abbreviation(s) used in the body of the table, including dashes, must be defined in the note to the table. 

Express numerical values to the number of decimal places that the precision of measurement justifies. If possible, carry all comparable values to the same number of decimal places.

 

Number: Bold font and size 10; number consequently followed by a full stop period (e.g., Table 1., Figure 1.). Tables are numbered with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) when there is more than one. Do not use Roman numerals. Cite tables consecutively in the manuscript, and number them in the order in which they are discussed.

Title: A brief but descriptive title followed right after the period stop of the number, single-spaced line; lowercase; size 10 in font.

Headings: All tables should include column headings, including a stub heading (heading for the leftmost, or stub, column); center column headings; capitalize them in sentence case.

Body: single-spaced; size 8 in font; left-align.

legend: A figure legend, or key, if present, should be positioned within the borders of the figure and explains any symbols used in the figure image.

Note: Include notes only as needed; below the tables and figures; write the Italic word “Note.”; descriptions go right after a period stop, size 8 in font.

Table borders: Limit borders or lines in a table to those needed for clarity. In general, use a border at the top and bottom of the table, beneath column headings (including decked heads), and above column spanners. You may also use a border to separate a row containing totals or other summary information from other rows in the table. Do not use vertical borders to separate data, and do not use borders around every cell in a table. Use spacing between columns and rows and strict alignment to clarify relations among the elements in a table.

Reference Style

Follow the guidelines given by The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) offers guidance to authors in its publication Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE Recommendations). The recommended style for references is based on the National Library of Medicine

 

In-text citation: Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text (e.g., [1]). The actual authors can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.

Reference list: Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.

Journal titles:  Title abbreviations can be checked using the PubMed Journals database: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=journals&term=. 

 

Some examples of reference style based on the National Library of Medicin are provided below: 

 

Article within a journal:

Smith JJ. The world of science. Am J Sci. 1999;36:234-5.

Reference to a journal publication:

[1] Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun 2010;163:51–9

Reference to a journal publication with an article number:

[2] Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon. 2018;19:e00205

Reference to a book:

[3] Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of style. 4th ed. New York: Longman; 2000.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

[4] Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In: Jones BS, Smith RZ, editors. Introduction to the electronic age, New York: E-Publishing Inc; 2009, p. 281–304.

Reference to a website:

[5] Cancer Research UK. Cancer statistics reports for the UK, http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/; 2003 [accessed 13 March 2003].

Reference to a dataset: [dataset]

[6] Oguro M, Imahiro S, Saito S, Nakashizuka T. Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions, Mendeley Data, v1; 2015.https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.

 

*Note shortened form for last page number. e.g., 51–9, and that for more than 6 authors the first 6 should be listed followed by 'et al.' For further details, you are referred to 'Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals' (J Am Med Assoc 1997;277:927–34) (see also Samples of Formatted References). 

 

Editorial Office Contact

Email: EditorialOffice.CJM@cikd.ca