Information For Authors

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The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine is funded by the American Board of Family Medicine.

To submit a manuscript, please click here.

| AIMS AND SCOPE |     | EDITORIAL POLICIES |     | MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION |     
| MANUSCRIPT CONTENT & ORGANIZATION |     | MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION |    | FORMS |​
AIMS AND SCOPE

JABFM publishes original material from authors with new knowledge to contribute to the understanding and advancement of family medicine research and clinical practice. JABFM also serves as an important forum for the specialty of family medicine, and as a source of news from the ABFM.

Print and online publication is simultaneous, with six bimonthly issues per year. Online guest accesses average: 434,065 hits per month in 2023. Impact factor for 2023: 2.4. 

FEATURES

  • Original Research on evidence-based clinical care, primary care research, or health services.
  • Clinical Reviews with in-depth, critical analysis of the literature on clinical problems, disease entities, or treatment modalities. Systematic reviews are preferred.
  • Evidence-based Clinical Medicine papers on the diagnosis and management of common clinical problems in primary care, as well as cost-and-outcome studies.
  • Clinical Guidelines and Primary Care proposals by various specialty, governmental, or healthcare organizations, with critical commentary from a primary care perspective.
  • Ethics Features comprising research, commentary, or case-focused questions.
  • Family Medicine and the Health Care System papers that study or comment on patterns of care.
  • Health Policy issues from a national perspective.
  • Reflections on Family Medicine comprising essays, creative prose, or poetry on humanistic concerns, professional experiences, or personal perspectives.
  • Special Communications on a variety of topics, including the role of the family physician or research methods.
  • Brief Reports with teaching points of significant clinical relevance.
  • Family Medicine World Perspective reports on the practice or education of family physicians around the world.
  • Research Letters provide a synopsis of the research at hand.
  • Commentaries, Editorials on issues in family medicine.
  • Correspondence (Letter To The Editor) on current topics or recent articles, paired with the author's reply whenever possible.
  • Board News from the American Board of Family Medicine.
  • Editorial Office News & Notes updates and changes to editorial policies and news from the editorial office.

​EDITORIAL POLICIES

AUTHORSHIP / CONTRIBUTORSHIP

  1. The JABFM adheres to the authorship criteria outlined in the ICMJE Recommendations, available atwww.icmje.org.
  2. Each author should meet all the of the following four criteria: 1.) Substantial contributions to the conception and design, acquisition, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2.) Drafting the paper or revising it critically for important intellectual content; 3.) Final approval of the version to be published; 4.) All authors should take public responsibility for their manuscripts.
  3. Corresponding authors will be identified as such in the published article; must be willing to submit the actual data for editorial review with the manuscript, if asked by the editor; should be prepared to explain the order of the authors names.
  4. Contributors should be named in the Acknowledgments, noting what they did; for example, leading organizations, acquiring funding, collecting data, contributing patients, preparing the manuscript, etc.
  5. Authors of papers from research groups, practice-based research networks, or multi-site collaborations should see: Flanagin A, Fontanarosa PB, DeAngelis CD. Authorship for research groups. JAMA, 2002; 288 (24): 3166-3168; available here.

  6. JABFM does not allow machine learning tools such as ChatGPT to be listed as authors.  Further, if any such tool is used to generate drafts of the submitted manuscript,  this must be explicitly stated as a disclosure.  These tools use previously written text and do a poor job of adding appropriate citations.  Using someone else’s text without attribution is plagiarism, whether intentional or not.  All human authors of manuscripts that are written with the assistance of a machine learning tool are responsible for ensuring that any ideas or text taken from previously published work are appropriately and accurately cited. 

CONFLICTING & COMPETING INTERESTS

JABFM adheres to policies that increase disclosure and transparency related to competing interests or conflicts of interest, including:

  1. ICMJE Recommendations, available at www.icmje.org.
  2. DeAngelis CD, Fontanarosa PB, Flanagin A. Reporting financial conflicts of interest and relationships between investigators and research sponsors. JAMA, 2001; 286 (1): 89-91; available here.

JABFM expects authors to disclose any commercial associations that pose, or have the appearance of posing, a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article, including but not limited to: employment, consultancies, stock ownership or other equity interests, patent-licensing arrangements, honoraria, paid expert testimony, personal relationships, academic competition, and intellectual passion

Any potential conflicts of interest or competing interests must be disclosed upon submission. This applies to all types of manuscripts, including letters to the editor. Failure to include this information will delay the manuscript at check-in.

DUPLICATE PUBLICATION

Manuscripts are considered only if they have not been previously published in print or electronic format, and with the understanding that they are not under consideration elsewhere. If there is any doubt about what might constitute duplicate publication, authors should include with their submission copies of possibly duplicative materials that have been previously published, or that are under consideration elsewhere. Authors should avoid self-plagiarism. This restriction does not apply to abstracts or press reports published in connection with scientific meetings. Authors are responsible to ensure that preprints of the papers are amended to refer readers to the location of, and appropriate reference for, the final peer-reviewed published article. An electronic link to the JABFM on-line version is preferred. Exceptions for unusual circumstances will be considered on a case-by-case basis.  

INFORMED PATIENT CONSENT

Patients and research participants must give full, informed consent to participate in research studies, case studies, and other projects leading to publication. All case reports submitted must have a signed Patient Consent Form for each patient mentioned in order for the JABFM to review the manuscript.

A copy of the patient consent form can be accessed here.

PEER REVIEWER CONFIDENTIALITY

Peer reviewers agree to treat all information in manuscripts as confidential and must disclose any real or perceived competing interests or conflicts of interest before accepting a request.

PERMISSIONS

Materials taken from other sources must be accompanied by a written statement from both author and publisher giving JABFM permission for reproduction. For papers still in press, written permission must be submitted from at least one author. It is the submitting authors' responsibility for any fees associated with copyright permissions.

RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH

Authors must indicate that Institutional Review Board approval was obtained for the research protocol. JABFM adheres to the ICMJE Recommendations on the Protection of Research Participants, available at www.icmje.org.

DIVERSITY STATEMENT

Journal of American Board of Family Medicine Statement Affirming Inclusiveness and Anti-Racism

​MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

CASE SERIES

Case series are preferred over the report of a single patient. For guidance in preparing a case series, refer to: McCarthy et al. How to write a case report. Fam Med, 2000; 32 (3): 190-195; available here. All descriptions of patients require written consent. Please refer to the Informed Patient Consent section.

COPYRIGHT TRANSFER 

Upon acceptance, transfer of copyright to the JABFM is required of all authors of the manuscript. This form is available here. Accepted manuscripts will not enter the production stage until all authors have submitted a signed Copyright Transfer Form.

DOUBLE BLINDING

JABFM prefers to blind peer reviewers to the names of authors, while recognizing that this is not always completely possible. You will be asked to submit your title page(s) as a separate file. Authors should consider, where feasible, removing other obvious references to authors' names in the body of the manuscript.

ICMJE GUIDELINES

Authors should adhere to guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) in the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals, available at www.icmje.org.

FUNDING STATEMENT

The title page should include a funding statement. Funding statements should include all sources of funding or financial support, direct or indirect and regardless of size, for all authors. If there were no sources of funding, please so state. Failure to include this information will delay the manuscript at check-in. Authors will also be required to supply this information when submitting the manuscript. 

LENGTH

  • Full-length articles (e.g., original research, review articles) are generally 3500 words or less, not counting the abstract or data displays.
  • Brief reports, special communications, editorials, should be 1500 words or less.
  • Research letters should run approximately 600 words or less, should have a brief structured abstract, may have one table and/or figure, and should have no more than 10 references.
  • Letters to the Editor should be less than 600 words and have no more than a few references.
  • Abstracts should be less than 250 words.

META-ANALYSES

Meta-analyses should follow the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) Statement: www.prisma-statement.org

NIH-FUNDED RESEARCH

The JABFM recognizes that as of April 7, 2008, all peer-reviewed publications reporting findings from studies funded by the NIH must be submitted to PubMed Central, the NIH's free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature in the United States. Per the NIH Public Access Policy, such NIH-funded publications must be made available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication.

The JABFM grants the author the right to provide a copy of the accepted, peer-reviewed version of the manuscript (ie, the final version that the author submitted through the Rapid Review System) to PubMed Central through the NIH Manuscript Submission system. This does not include the copyedited and formatted version used in the print and online publication, which may be a slightly updated version of the submitted manuscript because of corrections that may occur during the copyediting process. Authors are reminded that all manuscripts published by the JABFM are protected by copyright through the American Board of Family Medicine. The JABFM requests that the manuscript submitted to PubMed Central be hyperlinked to the final online version published on the JABFM's website. The corresponding author may make the manuscript available immediately in PubMed Central after publication in theJABFM.

As a courtesy to our authors, the JABFM will submit a copy of the accepted, peer-reviewed version of the manuscript to PubMed Central. To do so, we will need your full grant number and the name of the Principle Investigator (PI) associated with the grant. Please note that if we do submit the manuscript on your behalf, the PI will still need to log-in to the NIH Manuscript Submission system and approve the submission.

The JABFM cannot place any guarantee on scholarly information submitted to PubMed Central.

RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS

Randomized controlled trials should be organized according to CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) guidelines, available here [Moher D, Schulz KF, Altman, DG. The CONSORT Statement: Revised Recommendations for Improving the Quality of Reports of Parallel-Group Randomized Trials. Ann Int Med, 2001; 134 (8): 657-662.]

Please also see Piaggio et al. Reporting of Noninferiority and Equivalence Randomized Trials: An Extension of the CONSORT Statement. JAMA, 2006;295:1152-1160; available here.

RESEARCH REPORTS

Research reports should be organized using the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion) format. Refer to the ICMJE Recommendations at www.icmje.org for details.

The CRISP guidelines for reporting primary care research are also available for use by authors.

REVIEW ARTICLES

Review articles should use SORT (Strength of Recommendation Taxonomy) to grade diagnostic and treatment recommendations, available here.

MANUSCRIPT CONTENT & ORGANIZATION

TITLE PAGE

In order to facilitate double-blinding during the peer review process, we ask that the title page be submitted in a separate file; this is required when submitting through the manuscript submission system, Editorial Manager. Editorial Manager will automatically blind the title page for peer reviewers. The title page is the only file that should have identifying information. 

Title page file(s) must contain:

  • Title
  • Author names and affiliations
  • Conflicting and Competing Interests
  • Funding Statement
  • Acknowledgements (for all contributors, except authors)
  • Word count
  • Keywords (Please use the National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MESH) 2023 to determine keywords: Medical Subject Headings 2023)

ABSTRACT

  1. The word count for the abstract is separate from that of the body of the paper. Abstracts should be 200 - 250(max) words.
  2. Whenever possible, the abstract should have a structured format, using section headers appropriate to the text, such as background or introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusions, etc.
  3. All research articles and commentaries should include abstracts, which allows indexing services to better discoverJABFM articles and gives published articles more potential readership. If a structured abstract does not apply to your paper, the JABFM will also accept an unstructured abstract.

BODY OF MANUSCRIPT, FIRST PAGE

  1. The body of the manuscript, submitted in a separate file from the title page, should begin with only the title of the manuscript on the first page. The second page should then start with the body of the manuscript. 
  2. Authors should also consider removing other obvious references to author names in the body of the manuscript, where feasible.
  3. For revised manuscripts, changes between the two most recent versions should be underlined. A marked-up version of the manuscript may also be uploaded. 

REFERENCES

  1. The JABFM uses the American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style: http://www.amamanualofstyle.com/
  2. The reference list should not include manuscripts in preparation, manuscripts submitted for publication but not yet accepted, observations, or personal communications. References to unpublished material may include material accepted for publication but not yet published (e.g. in press), and presentations made at scientific or professional meetings.
  3. List all authors when there are 6 or fewer; when there are 7 or more, list the first 3, then et al. For examples refer to: 1.) Iverson C, Flanagin A, Fontanarosa PB, et al. American Medical Association Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors (9th Edition). Baltimore, MD: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 1998. 2.) ICMJE Recommendations for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals at www.icmje.org.
  4. References should be double-spaced using in-line numerals, and should start on a separate page.
  5. Use superscripts or in-line parentheses in the body of the manuscript to indicate references.
  6. References first cited in tables or figure legends must be numbered so that they are in sequence with references cited in the text.
  7. Authors are responsible for checking the accuracy of their reference citations.

TABLES

JABFM follows AMA style for tables. The AMA style guide may be consulted for detail beyond these notes:

  1. Please use Microsoft Word's table feature. Excel files may not be submitted, although the cells may be copied and pasted into Word.
  2. Excessive tabular data are discouraged.
  3. Auto-formatting, text boxes, graphics boxes, and drawings may prevent file conversion and should not be used.
  4. Tables should appear at the end of the manuscript, double spaced and placed on separate sheets. Insert in the body of the manuscript a bracketed note as to the approximate placement of each table; e.g., [Insert Table 1].
  5. Table titles, labels, and explanatory notes should have sufficient detail to permit interpretation without referring to the text.
  6. Footnotes should use the following symbols, in this sequence: * (asterisk), ±(dagger), ± (double dagger), ± (section mark), || (parallel mark), ± (paragraph symbol), # (number sign), ** (asterisk, repeated), ±± (dagger, repeated), ±± (double dagger, repeated), etc.
  7. If the table is adapted from another source, it is the authors' responsibility to request permission to adapt the table and pay any royalties/fees. The editorial office will ask for this documentation if the manuscript is accepted. 

FIGURES / ILLUSTRATIONS

  1. Acceptable file types for figures include: JPEG, TIFF, EPS, and PDF. Figures and illustrations should be high resolution and professional quality.
  2. Each figure should be uploaded as a seperate file.
  3. Symbols, lettering, and numbering should be clear, and these elements should be large enough to remain legible after the figure has been reduced.
  4. Figures should have legends descriptive enough to permit interpretation without referring to the text. Submit figure legends on a separate page.
  5. Figure titles, labels, and explanatory notes should have sufficient detail to permit interpretation without referring to the text.
  6. Once a manuscript is accepted for publication, authors must provide separate files for all illustrations and figures (including charts and graphs) in high-quality, camera-ready, reproducible form. JABFM strongly encourages authors to submit figures in separate digital files at the outset. However, if necessary, for review purposes figures may be embedded in the manuscript, after the tables.
  7. Original photos or artwork in hard copy are not accepted.
  8. If the figure is adapted from another source, it is the authors' responsibility to request permission to adapt the figure and pay any royalties/fees. The editorial office will ask for this documentation if the manuscript is accepted. 

FORMATTING / STYLE

  1. Manuscripts should be double spaced throughout, including references.
  2. Page numbers should appear on all pages.
  3. Please use line numbers in the body of the manuscript. This will make it easier for reviewers to identify particular areas of your manuscript. This function can be turned on in the Word document.
  4. Word (or similar word-processing) files are best for submission. PDFs will not be accepted.
  5. Auto-formatting, text boxes, graphics boxes, or drawings may prevent file conversion and should not be used in the body of the manuscript.
  6. Abbreviations are discouraged, except for units of measurement. The first time an abbreviation appears, it should be in parentheses after the words for which it stands.
  7. Generic names of drugs should be used, rather than brand names.
  8. Gender bias should be avoided and gender-inclusive language used whenever possible.
  9. Use the most precise definition of who you are talk about as possible, (i.e. use physicians when talking about physicians). When the group is mixed, define who is all included (i.e. physicians, PAs, NPs, nurses, etc.) The JABFM prefers 'clinician' over the term 'provider'.
  10. Footnotes in the body of the manuscript are not accepted. 
  11. Table and figure titles need to include detailed, descriptive information on the sample and time/context of data collection, when possible.
  12. For revised manuscripts, changes between the two most recent versions should be underlined. A marked-up version of the manuscript may also be uploaded. 

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

ACCESS

The Editorial Manager online system may be accessed on the home page at www.jabfm.org by clicking on the author or reviewer portal in the center of the page. For assistance with the submission process, please email the Managing Editor at: plupo@theabfm.org

LOG ON / CREATE ACCOUNT

  1. Access Editorial Manager via our website at www.JABFM.org or by clicking here.
  2. Click on author portal in the center area of our home page.
  3. If you're a first-time user, you will need to create an author account. You will choose a User Name and Password here. If you had an author account with us through Rapid Review, please log-in to Editorial Manager with those credentials. There is no need to create a new account. 
  4. Insert your User Name and Password. These are case-sensitive.
  5. If you have difficulty accessing Editorial Manager, it may be the result your firewall or pop-up blocker settings.

COMPLETE THE ONLINE MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION FORM

You will be asked to submit your files in the following order (MS Word is the only accepted file type for the title page, abstract, and manuscript/references):

  • Title page (Required) 

  • Abstract (Required for most submissions)

  • Manuscript and References (Required - Please use page numbers and line numbers) 

  • Tables (Optional)

  • Figures (Optional - Each figure must be uploaded separately; acceptable files include: JPEG, TIFF, EPS, PDF) 

  • Appendices (Optional) 

​Please DO NOT upload a cover letter (for blinding purposes). There is a section in the online submission form to type (or copy and paste) your correspondence to the editor.  

The following information is required when submitting through the Editorial Manager Author Portal and should be handy:

  • Abstract​

  • Funding statement

  • Conflict of interest statement 

  • Classifications / Keywords

  • Recommendation of 2 peer reviewers:

    • ​​​Peer reviewers do not have to be agreeable at the point of submission. The editorial office will handle the recruiting and invitation process if an additional reviewer is needed for your manuscript.

    • These recommendations can be those who are experts in the field of your manuscript and should be without conflicts of interest to any of the authors. 

    • Most authors find these suggested reviewers in the literature, i.e. the manuscript’s references and/or PubMed, where most corresponding author information can be found, including email addresses. 

  • Response to reviewers (for revised manuscripts; please use page and line numbers for each comment)

PEER REVIEW

The peer review process takes approximately 60-90 days, depending upon peer reviewer availability and the subject matter of the submission. We strive to keep your manuscript the least amount of time possible, while still providing a thorough and thoughtful review. 

FORMS

PATIENT CONSENT FORM (FOR CASE REPORTS)

Available here.

We will also accept a signed, patient consent form from the authors' institution as a substitution. Please upload any patient consent forms as appendices to your manuscript submission. The editorial office will remove them before peer review. 

COPYRIGHT TRANSFER AGREEMENTS (CTAs)

Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA) link access will be made available after acceptance of the manuscript. 

 

Revised April 2024