Instructions for Authors

Instructions for Authors

What to prepare, what to declare, and what happens after you submit. This is the summary; every link goes to the full policy. The complete category map follows below.

1. Before you write

• Choose the journal and read its Aims & Scope — use the Journal Finder.
• Choose the article type (Overview of Article Types) and work to its limits. Word count, references, figures and tables and the abstract requirement for every type are in one place: Word Count and Limits Policy. A structured abstract of 250–350 words is mandatory for Research Articles, Reviews, Systematic Reviews, Case Reports and Brief Reports.
• Style. Write to the AMA Manual of Style for terminology, units, abbreviations and the presentation of tables and figures (Article Body Guidelines). Format references in Vancouver (NLM) — see Brieflands Reference Style. In-text citations are numbers in parentheses, never author and year. At least 80% of references must come from valid sources and carry a DOI.

2. Use the reporting guideline for your study design

Report the study to the guideline for its design and upload the completed checklist with your submission. Reviewers assess your manuscript against the same checklist.

Every guideline, with downloadable checklists by study design: Checklists for Authors and Reviewers.

3. What to upload

• Title page — authors, affiliations, corresponding author, funding and acknowledgements: Title Page.
• Full manuscript without the title page, anonymised, in one Word file: Full Word File without Title Page. This file goes to reviewers, who must not be able to identify you.
• Figures as separate files, and tables inside the manuscript file.
• Your completed reporting checklist.
• Conflict of interest form for every author: Conflict of Interest.
• Signed patient consent form where the manuscript is a case report or contains identifiable patient material: Case Report.

4. Declarations required in every submission

5. Peer review

Every Brieflands journal runs both models, in sequence. During review the process is double-anonymised: neither reviewer nor author knows the other. After the decision, open peer review applies — the reports of reviewers who consented are published with the article; reviewers who did not consent stay anonymous. Research articles and other full submissions go to at least three reviewers; editorials and letters may be assessed by the editor alone. The Editor-in-Chief takes the final decision. Similarity above 10% is referred to the Editor-in-Chief — a trigger for review, not an automatic rejection. See Peer Review Policy and Process, Open Peer Review and Plagiarism.

6. After acceptance

• Galley proofs must be returned within two weeks: Galley Proofs.
• Each article receives a DOI and carries Crossmark, so readers can see whether they have the current version: DOI and Crossmark.
• Articles are open access under a Creative Commons licence and authors retain copyright: Open Access, Copyright and Licensing. You may deposit the submitted, accepted and published versions anywhere, with no embargo: Preprint Policy.
• Content is preserved in four independent layers: Archiving and Digital Preservation and Permanence of Articles.
• Corrections, Expressions of Concern and retractions after publication: Post-publication Corrections. Withdrawal is possible at any stage before final publication, including Ahead of Print, and Brieflands charges no withdrawal fee: Withdrawal Regulations.
• Article processing charges: Article Processing Charges. Editorials and retractions are published free of charge. There are no colour charges and no extra page charges; the only charge beyond the standard fee is for words above the journal's standard word count.

Ethics policy in full: Publication Ethics. Complaints and appeals: Complaints and Appeals.

The complete Knowledge Base map follows — every guide, policy and instruction Brieflands publishes, by category.