Journal of International Medical Research
The Journal of International Medical Research(JIMR) is an SCIE-ranked peer-reviewed, open access journal that publishes original clinical and preclinical research, systematic and narrative reviews, meta-analyses, and case reports across all areas of medicine. Please see the aims and scope tab for further information.
Journal Highlights
- Launched in 1972.
- Global visibility due to international audience of multidisciplinary researchers.
- Official Impact Factor is 1.6 (SCIE), CiteScore is 2.6.
- Indexed In: Clarivate Analytics: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), PubMed Central (PMC), PubMed: MEDLINE, Scopus, EMBASE, Index Medicus, and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
- This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
- Gold open access journal: all articles are made freely available online on our website and on PubMedCentral.
- Rigorous peer review and decision making with high standards of publication.
- Global visibility due to international audience of multidisciplinary researchers.
- Publication is subject to payment of an article processing charge (APC) that includes high-quality editing of all accepted papers.
- Reviewers get credit for their work via journal partnership with Clarivate Reviewer Recognition (formerly Publons).
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement
The Journal of International Medical Research promotes inclusive, open science that reflects the disciplinary, human, and geographic diversity of the medical research community.
Diversity as a core value embodies inclusiveness, mutual respect, and multiple perspectives.
We welcome editors, editorial board members, peer reviewers and authors from all backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, nationalities, races, religions, sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities, mental or physical (dis)abilities, ages, career stages, socioeconomic status or any other individual status.
We are committed to continually improving our editorial and review processes whilst playing our part in eradicating bias and inequality in all forms.
Submission Information
Submit your manuscript today at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jimr.
Please see the Submission Guidelines tab for more information on how to submit your article to the journal.
Page Charge Information
Publication in the journal is subject to payment of a page charge, which serves to support the journal and ensures that articles are freely accessible online in perpetuity under a Creative Commons license. The current rate is £325 GBP per printed page. The page charge fee is based on the page count estimate made after submission and is payable upon provisional acceptance for scientific and language editing before publication. The charge includes a high-quality editing step for all accepted papers. The page charge is payable only when a manuscript is accepted after peer review, before it is published. The page charge is subject to taxes where applicable. Please see further details here.
Contact
Please direct any queries to JIMR.admin@sagepub.com.
Criteria for Publication
Our goal is to publish research done well. This means we look for research that adds to the academic record, either as novel or corroborative evidence, and adheres to ethical standards, uses robust methodologies that are transparent and reproducible, and uses appropriate statistical analyses to ensure clear, credible, and trustworthy results. The Journal of International Medical Research evaluates manuscripts based on how the research was conducted and reported.
- All manuscripts:
- must comply with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 and EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines (e.g. CONSORT for randomized, controlled trials, PRISMA for systematic reviews/meta-analyses, STROBE for most observational studies, ARRIVE for animal studies and CARE for case reports).
- are subject to single-blind peer review (comments from at least two external peer reviewers).
- receive high-quality scientific and language editing before publication.
- must follow our publishing policies.
- The journal endorses the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment. However, consistent with the AllTrials campaign, retrospectively registered trials will be considered if the justification for late registration is acceptable.
Scope
The Editors are looking for medical research that adds to the existing literature either as novel or corroborative evidence. We will consider replication studies and negative/null results studies.
We welcome manuscripts across all the main fields, branches, specialties (and subspecialties) and therapeutic areas of medicine. This includes: allergy and immunology, anaesthesia and analgesia, bioinformatics, cardiology, cardiovascular system, clinical epidemiology, clinical pharmacology, critical care, dentistry, dermatology, diabetes and endocrinology, emergency medicine, gastroenterology, geriatrics, haematology, hepatology, immunology, infectious disease, men’s health, musculoskeletal disease, nephrology, neurology, obstetrics and gynaecology, oncology (all solid tumours), ophthalmology, oral and dental health, orthopaedics, otorhinolaryngology, paediatrics and neonatology, pharmacology, psychiatry, regenerative medicine, respiratory disease, rheumatology, sexual health, sports medicine, surgery (all areas), therapeutics, urology, women’s health.
We publish original clinical research (randomised controlled trials, observational studies) and preclinical research (in vitro studies, animal studies, in silico studies), systematic reviews and meta-analyses, narrative reviews, and case reports/series.
We do not publish the following research:
- Public health studies, social/nursing care studies, epidemiology studies, health economics and outcomes research
- Alternative and complementary medicine
- Bioinformatics without clinical, in vitro, or in vivo validation
- in vitro cell lines studies without in vivo/clinical validation; in silico studies without supporting evidence of their downstream effects in vivo or in vitro
- Simple database studies, simple bibliographic studies, common cases
- Studies with limited international appeal that are more suited for a local or niche journal
- Life science and engineering studies: these may be suitable for our sister publication, Science Progress.
You can submit a manuscript at any time. Please also consider our lists of Special Topics and Special Collections.
Matthew Thorne, PhD | SAGE Publications Ltd, UK |
Michaela Christodoulaki, PhD | SAGE Publications Ltd, UK |
Gordon Mallarkey, PhD | SAGE Publications Ltd, UK |
Sara Morris, MSc | SAGE Publications Ltd, UK |
Lingling Tian | SAGE Publishing, Shanghai, China |
Albiruni Razak | Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Canada |
Kathryn Abel | University of Manchester, Manchester, UK |
Fateen Ata | Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar |
Suleyman Aydin | Firat University, Turkey |
Deepak Babu, | Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA |
Melissa Badowski | University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA |
Matteo Bassetti | University of Udine and Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Integrata, Udine, Italy |
Nuray Bayar Muluk | Kirikkale University, Turkey |
Angel Becerra-Bolaños | Doctor Negrín University Hospital of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain |
Alexander Berezin | Zaporozhye State Medical University, Ukraine |
Massimo Bonacchi | University of Florence, Florence, Italy |
Yong-Jun Cha | Daejeon University, Republic of Korea |
Andrew Chan | University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland |
Madhuradhar Chedongi | University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA |
H Cheng | Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China |
Sheue-Yann Cheng | National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, USA |
Zeyi Cheng | Sichuan University, Chengdu, China |
Kumaraswamy Chitrala | University of Houston, Texas, USA |
William Cho | !Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong |
Simon Chu | Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Clayton, VIC, Australia |
Andrea Ciorba | University Hospital of Ferrara, Italy |
Indranil Dasgupta | University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham, UK |
Akmal El-Mazny | Cairo University, Giza, Egypt |
Jorge A. Garcia | Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA |
Matteo Ghilli | University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy |
Syed Adeel Hassan | University of Kentucky, Kentucky, USA |
Giovanni Iolascon | University of Campania "L.Vanvitelli", Italy |
Miljana z. Jovandaric | University Clinical Center of Serbia, Serbia |
Ali Fahim Khan | University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma, USA |
Young-Kug Kim | Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Republic of Korea |
Constantine E. Kosmas | National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University General Hospital “ATTIKON”, Athens, Greece |
Ichiro Kurokawa | Meiwa Hospital, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan |
Valentina Lucia La Rosa | University of Catania, Italy |
Anna Lavezzi | University of Milan, Italy |
Nicolas Lecomte | David M. Rubenstein CPCR, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA |
Gun Woo Lee | Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Gyeongsan, Republic of Korea |
Hyun Jung Lee | Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea |
Jimmy K. Limdi | Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust & University of Manchester, Manchester, UK |
Jian Liu | Beijing Tian Tan Hospital, Beijing, China |
Hui Luo | The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China |
Zhaojie Lyu | Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China |
Zhengtao Lyu | Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China |
Sreekanth Kumar Mallineni | Dr Sulaiman Al Habib Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan |
Monia Marchetti, MD, PhD | Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria SS Antonio e Biagio e Cesare Arrigo, Italy |
Patrick Meloy | Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA |
Francesco Menzella | AULSS2 Marca Trevigiana, Italy |
Antimo Moretti | University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, Caserta, Italy |
Francesco Nappi | Centre Cardiologique du Nord, Saint-Denis, France |
Uwe Nixdorff | European Prevention Center, Germany |
Hadi Nobari | University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain |
Gaetano Nucifora | University of Manchester/Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, UK |
Daniele Orsucci | Unit of Neurology, San Luca Hospital of Lucca, Lucca, Italy |
Georgios D Panos | Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK |
Federica Piani | University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy |
Laura Francesca Pisani | Centro Cardiologico Monzino IRCCS, Milan, Italy |
Annamaria Porreca | University G.d'Annunzio, Chieti-Pescara, Italy |
Hui-Qi Qu | Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
Janet Rimmer | St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia |
Jose Juan Pereyra Rodriguez | Virgen del Rocío University Hospital/ University of Sevilla, Spain |
Luca Roncati | University Hospital of Modena, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy |
Nahum Rosenberg | National Insurance Institute, Jerusalem, Israel |
Alessio Rungatscher | University of Verona, Verona, Italy |
Arushi G. Saini | Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh |
Irfan Shafi | Wayne State University, USA |
Nada Shaker | Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio, USA |
Anwen Shao | The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, China |
Chiranjeev Sharma | Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA |
Suresh Kumar Sharma | Panjab University, Chandigarh, India |
Sayed Ali Sheikh | Jouf University, Aljouf, Sakaka, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia |
Fuqian Shi | Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, USA |
Mohammad Soleimani | University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA |
Eser Yildirim Sözmen | Izmir Tinaztepe University, Turkey |
Victor Strassmann | Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA |
Maher A. Sughayer | King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan |
BinBin Sui | Beijing Tiantan Hospital, China |
Rajesh Tampi | Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA & Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE, USA |
Joho Tokumine | Kyorin University School of Medicine, Japan |
Tiago Torres | University of Porto, Porto, Portugal |
Wen-Jun Tu | Capital Medical University - CUCAS, Beijing, China |
Francesco Vasuri | University Hospital of Bologna IRCCS, Italy |
Chien-Chih Wang | Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan |
Sheng-Fan Wang | Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan |
Ying Wang | Wildtype Foods RD&I Department, San Francisco, USA |
Stanley Wong | Hong Kong University, Hong Kong |
Mehmet Yalniz | Firat University, Turkey |
Jae Jun Yang | Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Korea |
Senbang Yao | The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China |
Mehmet Ali Yesiltas | Cemil Tascioglu City Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey |
Jinzhou Zhu | Soochow University, Suzhou, China |
Journal of International Medical Research
Manuscript Submission Guidelines
- Open Access
- Open Access publication charge
- Optional translation service
- Article Types
- Editorial policies
5.1 Peer Review Policy
5.2 Authorship
5.3 Acknowledgements
5.4 Funding
5.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
5.6 Research ethics and patient consent
5.7 Clinical Trials
5.8 Reporting guidelines
5.9 Data - Publishing policies
6.1 Publication ethics
6.2 Contributor's publishing agreement - Preparing your manuscript
7.1 Word processing formats
7.2 Title, keywords and abstracts
7.3 Artwork, figures and other graphics
7.4 Reference style
7.5 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
8.1 ORCID
8.2 Information required for completing your submission
8.3 Corresponding author contact details
8.4 Permissions - Preparing your manuscript
9.1 Technical Edit and Proofs
9.2 Sage Production
9.3 Continuous publication
9.4 Promoting your article - Further information
Please read before submitting:
- This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics
- This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
- Please read the guidelines below then visit the journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jimr to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer review process.
- Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Journal of International Medical Research will be reviewed.
- As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.
Journal of International Medical Research is a leading international journal for rapid publication of original medical, pre-clinical and clinical research and reviews on a page charge basis.
Every manuscript provisionally accepted by peer review will be assigned a medical copy editor who will work with the author to give the manuscript a full scientific edit to make papers as accessible and readable to the international medical community as possible. This is called the Technical Edit and it combines a scientific content edit, a language edit and a standard journal style copy edit.
Journal of International Medical Research is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. Each article accepted by peer review is made freely available online immediately upon publication, is published under a Creative Commons license and will be hosted online in perpetuity. Publication costs of the journal are covered by the collection of a page charge which is paid by the funder, institution or author of each manuscript upon acceptance. There is no charge for submitting a paper to the journal.
For general information on open access at Sage please visit the Open Access page or view our Open Access FAQs.
2. Open Access publication charge
Publication in the journal is on a page charge basis, the current rate being 325 GBP (+VAT where applicable) per PDF page. This page charge is payable when a manuscript is accepted after peer review, before it is published. The page charge is subject to taxes where applicable. Tax-exempt status can be indicated by providing appropriate registration numbers when payment is requested. Please see further details here.
All figures submitted will be printed online in colour free of charge.
3. Optional translation service
The Journal of International Medical Research now offers an optional translation service for authors to have their manuscripts translated from Chinese to English by expert translators and editors ahead of peer review. Prices are based on the length of your document, and we are pleased to be able to offer a special introductory rate of 1.2 Chinese Yuan (CNY) per character. This charge is separate from the Open Access publication charge.
To select this option, please submit your manuscript via the online submission system and select ‘Yes’ to the translation service option at the top of the screen, on the first step of submission. If the translation service is required, the manuscript should be submitted in Chinese but accompanying information, such as author details, must be provided in English.
The translation service is separate from the peer review and publication process and will not affect the editorial decision once the paper is submitted for review, with no guarantee of acceptance.
If you have already had your manuscript translated into English, or have written it in English, then please submit your paper for review as usual through the online submission system. All papers submitted for peer review by Journal of International Medical Research must be in English.
Irrespective of whether or not the optional translation service is used, all manuscripts accepted after peer review will receive the detailed technical edit by expert medical editors for which Journal of International Medical Research is renowned.
Journal of International Medical Research welcomes original manuscripts that demonstrate strong evidence of clinical applicability, are scientifically robust and highly appropriate for an international general medical readership. Please see the list of article types below.
Chinese (and other herbal) medicine studies will be considered but only if you are studying a single active ingredient. It must have been shown to be effective/safe before being given to humans.
All studies must be reported according to the relevant EQUATOR network guideline: https://www.equator-network.org/. Please see our Reporting Guidelines for further information.
Randomised Clinical Trials
- Abstract: Structured (200-400 words)
- Word count: 4,000-6,000 words
- Figure/Table limit: 6
- Reference limit: 70
- Reporting guidelines: CONSORT. In your manuscript, you need to state in the Methods section that you have followed CONSORT. Include your completed CONSORT checklist when you submit your manuscript (upload this as ‘Research Data’).
- Registration: your trial must have been registered in a publicly accessible database. State this in your Methods section (include the registration number/doi) and also add it to your Abstract.
- Declarations: Author contributions, Declaration of conflicting interests, Funding, Acknowledgements, Data availability statement
Notes: Randomised trials will require Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval: add the name of your review board, its location, approval number, and date of approval to your manuscript. Include a copy of the IRB approval document with your submission (upload this as ‘Research Data’). Signed consent is mandatory and needs to be mentioned in the Methods section.
Observational Studies
- Abstract: Structured (200-300 words)
- Word count: 3,000-5,000 words
- Figure/Table limit: 5
- Reference limit: 50
- Reporting guidelines: STROBE or Equator guideline relevant for your study. In your manuscript, you need to state in the Methods section the guideline you have followed. Include your completed checklist when you submit your manuscript (upload this as ‘Research Data’).
- Declarations: Author contributions, Declaration of conflicting interests, Funding, Acknowledgements, Data availability statement
Notes: Prospective studies will require Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval: add the name of your review board, its location, approval number, and date of approval to your manuscript. Include a copy of the IRB approval document with your submission (upload this as ‘Research Data’). Signed consent is required for prospective studies (state this in your Methods section). Signed consent may not be possible/required for retrospective studies, but state this if you did get it. Studies of many-times reported similar research, and/or with low patient numbers, with no hope of showing significance or of being of any interest to readers will not be considered.
Systematic Reviews or Meta-analyses
- Abstract: Structured (200-300 words)
- Word count: 3,000-5,000 words
- Figure/Table limit: 6
- Reference limit: 100
- Reporting guidelines: PRISMA 2020, PRISMA-S, PRISMA-ScR or MOOSE. In your manuscript, you need to state in the Methods section the guideline you have followed. Include your completed checklist when you submit your manuscript (upload this as ‘Research Data’).
- Registration: your study must have been registered with PROSPERO or INPLASY. State this in your Methods section (include the registration number/doi) and also add it to your Abstract.
- Declarations: Author contributions, Declaration of conflicting interests, Funding, Acknowledgements, Data availability statement
Notes: Studies of recently or many-times reported similar research will not be considered.
Case Reports or Case Series
- Abstract: Unstructured (150-250 words)
- Word count: 2,000-4,000 words
- Figure/Table limit: 3
- Reference limit: 30
- Reporting guidelines: CARE. In your manuscript, you need to state in the Methods section the guideline you have followed. Include your completed checklist when you submit your manuscript (upload this as ‘Research Data’).
- Declarations: Author contributions, Declaration of conflicting interests, Funding, Acknowledgements, Data availability statement
Notes: Case reports do not need to be approved by a review board, but state if you did get board approval for publication. Signed patient consent to publish is not required if you have de-identified the details such that the identity of the patient may not be ascertained in any way. Use an age range rather than a specific age (e.g. ‘early 60s’, rather than ‘62 years old’). If you have done this, you should add a statement to your case report section that you have de-identified all patient details. (If complete de-identification is not feasible, you must obtain signed consent to publish from the patient and state this in your manuscript.) Case reports should be novel or important cases that add to the literature. Cases that have been reported many times by others or are unremarkable will not be considered.
Preclinical Studies
- Abstract: Structured (200-300 words)
- Word count: 3,000-5,000 words
- Figure/Table limit: 5
- Reference limit: 50
- Reporting guidelines: ARRIVE 2.0 for animal studies. In your manuscript, you need to state in the Methods section the guideline you have followed. Include your completed checklist when you submit your manuscript (upload this as ‘Research Data’).
- Declarations: Author contributions, Declaration of conflicting interests, Funding, Acknowledgements, Data availability statement.
Notes: you must follow agreed principles and guidelines for reporting your preclinical research. Most studies will require Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval: add the name of your review board, its location, approval number, and date of approval to your manuscript. Include a copy of the IRB approval document with your submission (upload this as ‘Research Data’). If your research is not on human tissue/samples, you may not need Ethics/Review board approval, but you should include a statement that you have checked this with your review board and received their exemption. Research on human tissue/samples require consent. State this in your manuscript. In vivo studies should have potential for future clinical research. In vitro cell lines manuscripts should also have in vivo validation studies. Other in vitro studies are acceptable providing they have potential for future clinical research. In silico studies should not be similar to recently or many-times reported similar research and must include some clinical interpretation (ideally, with external validation such as in vivo validation or data from the author’s own patient cohort).
Western blots: you must supply original unedited western blot strips so that the peer reviewers may verify your results. You should upload this as ‘Research Data’ when you submit your manuscript. You also need to state the number of technical/biological replicates in your Methods section.
Narrative Reviews
- Abstract: Unstructured (150-250 words)
- Word count: 3,000-5,000 words
- Figure/Table limit: 3
- Reference limit: 50
- Declarations: Author contributions, Declaration of conflicting interests, Funding, Acknowledgements, Data availability statement
Notes: Narrative reviews should not be similar to recently or many-times reported similar reviews. State the rationale for your review and your aim in the Introduction section. State your search strategy so that readers know the scope of your review. Check that you do not overstate any conclusions bearing in mind this is a narrative review.
Please explain within your cover letter why you think the paper suitable for publication. Following a preliminary triage to select submissions suitable for Journal of International Medical Research, papers are sent out for external peer review by the Managing Editor to at least two relevant specialists. This process will be executed in a robust fashion but in as short a time as possible. After peer review, the paper may be accepted, revisions requested, or rejected; this decision is taken by the Managing Editor only.
Journal of International Medical Research utilizes a single-anonymize peer-review process in which the reviewer’s name and information are withheld from the author. Please note that the Editors are not obliged to invite any recommended/opposed reviewers to assess your manuscript.
If the paper is accepted, the page charge fee is due. After payment is received, the manuscript is assigned to a qualified scientific editor who will perform a combination of standard copy-editing, scientific content editing and English language editing.
The editorial and scientific queries will be raised directly to authors and must be answered to the satisfaction of the journal, before a final typeset proof is produced.
The final manuscript will be published online here: http://imr.sagepub.com/content/early/recent
Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors.
The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:
- Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
- Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
- Approved the version to be published,
- Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.
Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.
Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
5.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
- Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
- Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
- Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
5.3.2 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance.
It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.
Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.
Journal of International Medical Research requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
5.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
It is the policy of Journal of International Medical Research to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.
Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’.
For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations.
5.6 Research ethics and patient consent
Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.
Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and all papers reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure that you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the approval number.
For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.
Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative.
Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants
All research involving animals submitted for publication must be approved by an ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted. The Journal has adopted the ARRIVE guidelines.
Journal of International Medical Research endorses the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment. However, consistent with the AllTrials campaign, retrospectively registered trials will be considered if the justification for late registration is acceptable. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.
The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study. For example, all randomized controlled trials submitted for publication should include a completed CONSORT flow chart as a cited figure and the completed CONSORT checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should include the completed PRISMA flow chart as a cited figure and the completed PRISMA checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. The EQUATOR wizard can help you identify the appropriate guideline.
Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.
Sage acknowledges the importance of research data availability as an integral part of the research and verification process for academic journal articles.
Journal of International Medical Research requests all authors submitting any primary data used in their research articles if the articles are accepted to be published in the online version of the journal, or provide detailed information in their articles on how the data can be obtained. This information should include links to third-party data repositories or detailed contact information for third-party data sources. Data available only on an author-maintained website will need to be loaded onto either the journal’s platform or a third-party platform to ensure continuing accessibility. Examples of data types include but are not limited to statistical data files, replication code, text files, audio files, images, videos, appendices, and additional charts and graphs necessary to understand the original research. [The editor may consider limited embargoes on proprietary data.] The editor can also grant exceptions for data that cannot legally or ethically be released. All data submitted should comply with Institutional or Ethical Review Board requirements and applicable government regulations. For further information, please contact the editorial office at JIMR.editor@sagepub.co.uk.
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.
6.1.1 Plagiarism
Journal of International Medical Research and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
6.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published, it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the editorial team at JIMR.admin@sagepub.com
6.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Journal of International Medical Research publishes manuscripts under Creative Commons licenses. The standard license for the journal is Creative Commons by Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC), which allows others to re-use the work without permission as long as the work is properly referenced and the use is non-commercial. For more information, you are advised to visit Sage's OA licenses page.
Alternative license arrangements are available, for example, to meet particular funder mandates, made at the author’s request.
The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
7.2 Title, keywords and abstracts
Please supply a title, short title, an abstract and keywords to accompany your article. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article online through online search engines such as Google.
The abstract should be a summary of no more than 200 words, and should state its purpose, the basic procedure, main findings and principal conclusions. New and important observations or aspects of the study should be emphasised. Summaries for all papers except narrative review articles and case reports should be structured with the following headings: OBJECTIVE, METHODS (include type of study/experimental design and type of participant), RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS. Summaries of narrative review articles and case reports should be a brief overview of the main points.
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
Figures supplied will appear in colour online without charge.
Graphs and images that are unsuitable may be returned to the author for amendment, causing delay in publication.
Tables must be prepared in Word using proper table formatting with columns and rows. Tables created using tabs or any other type of formatting may be returned to the author for amendment as they cannot be worked on by the journal, causing delay in publication.
As many tables as necessary may be included as long as there is no repetition of data. For example do not include the same data as both a table and a figure. They should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numbers, e.g. TABLE 2, and they must have a brief caption and be referred to in the main body of the text.
Journal of International Medical Research adheres to the Sage Vancouver reference style. Please review the guidelines on Sage Vancouver to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Vancouver output file here.
7.5 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
Journal of International Medical Research is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jimr to login and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already h ave an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
8.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript and submissions that do not provide full contact details and academic affiliations for co-authors will be returned. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
8.3 Corresponding author contact details
Provide full contact details for the corresponding author including email, mailing address and telephone numbers. Academic affiliations are required for all co-authors. These details should be presented separately to the main text of the article to facilitate anonymous peer review.
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.
9. On acceptance and publication
Once the paper has been accepted, the page charge fee is payable. Publication in the journal is on a page charge basis, the current rate being 325 GBP (+VAT where applicable) per PDF page. This charge is based on the page count estimate made upon submission.
Once payment is received, the manuscript is assigned to a qualified scientific editor who will perform a combination of standard copy-editing, scientific content editing and English language editing. The editorial and scientific queries will be raised directly to authors. On average, there are 50-80 queries raised during the technical edit stage. These should be answered clearly and quickly, with the agreement of all co-authors and to the satisfaction of the journal. Following that, a final typeset proof will be produced for final checks before publication. No further charges or refunds will be granted to reconcile any difference between the page charge fee paid for upon acceptance and the final published page count.
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit, or by email to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
We value your feedback to ensure we continue to improve our author service levels. On publication all corresponding authors will receive a brief survey questionnaire on your experiences of publishing in Journal of International Medical Research with Sage.
One of the many benefits of publishing your research in an open access journal is the speed to publication. With no page count constraints, your article will be published online in a fully citable form with a DOI number as soon as it has completed the production process. At this time it will be completely free to view and download for all. It will then be assigned to an issue and receive issue publication.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Journal of International Medical Research editorial office as follows: