Guidelines for Authors

Perspectives on Medical Education welcomes manuscripts on the following conditions. All manuscripts are the property (copyright) of the submitting author(s), have been submitted only to Perspectives on Medical Education and have not yet been published elsewhere. They are not under consideration for publication, nor in press, elsewhere. The Editoral Board and the publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation. Copyright will be transferred to the journal Perspectives on Medical Education and Springer, if the paper is accepted. Perspectives on Medical Education considers all manuscripts at the Editors' discretion; the Editors' decision is final. All manuscripts should be written in correct English and - for authors who are not native English speakers - it is recommended to have manuscripts checked by a native speaker before submitting.


Manuscript Categories

Perspectives on Medical Education invites the following types of submissions:

Original articles: Articles are the primary presentation mode of communication in the Journal. They have a maximum of 3500 words, 30 references, 5 figures and 3 tables. All articles must include abstract, essentials and notes on contributors (see below for further details).

Review articles: Articles that cover a special theme include a maximum of 4000 words, 50 references, 6 figures and 5 tables. They must include an abstract, essentials and notes on contributors.

Short Communications: Short communications are brief articles on matters of topical interest or work in progress, limited to a maximum of 1500 words, 10 references and 1 figure or table. They include an abstract and notes on contributors.

Letters: Letters should have a maximum of 400 words and 3 references. Tables and figures are not permitted.

Book reviews: a maximum of 400 words.

PhD thesis: Authors who have successfully defended their PhD thesis are invited to submit a brief summary of the content of their thesis. Such summaries have a maximum of 400 words. A brief curriculum vitae of (maximum) 50 words and a photograph of the author can be included.

Show and Tell: This type of manuscript deals with practical experiences in the area of medical education. The description of this practice should have added value for the readers of the Journal. The manuscript has a maximum of 1500 words and 1 figure.

Health Care and the Arts: This type of manuscript refers to issues which are examples of a broad orientation of health care professionals. More specifically, it covers the artes liberales (humanities) in medical education and practice. The manuscript has a maximum of 1500 words and 1 figure or table.

Eye opener: Authors are invited to present a personal view on an educational topic. This can be the authors’s personal view or the view of a well known expert in the area of medical education. For the latter approach the format of an interview can be used. Preferably such experts have an international orientation. This type of manuscript has a maximum of 1500 words. Authors are referred to recent issues of the Journal and asked to copy exactly the format therein. Alternatively, the Editorial Office can send further details of how to write the article.

Debate in Medical Education: Authors are invited to discuss topics either in a pro and contra format (with a pro and a contra author) or as a manuscript reflecting the different opinions about a particular topic. This type of manuscript has a maximum of 1500 words. Tables and figures are not permitted.


Manuscript Submission

All submissions should be made online at www.editorialmanager.com/pmed. New users must first create an account. Once a user is logged onto the site, submissions should be made via the Author Centre. For assistance with any aspect of the site, please refer to the User Guide which is accessed via the ‘Get Help Now’ button at the top right of every screen.

A covering letter or email should be included indicating that the submission is made on behalf of all authors. On receipt, the manuscript will be immediately acknowledged by email.


Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts submitted to Perspectives on Medical Education should be written in proper English and conform to the style guidelines set forth by APA, as per the most recent Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition).

Manuscripts should be typed using double-spacing (except tables which should be single-spaced), with margins of at least 2.5 cm (1 inch). Authors should number all the pages of the manuscript consecutively, beginning with the title page.

Title page: The title page should be submitted as a separate file. It should have the following information:

  1. Article title. Concise titles are easier to read than long, convoluted ones. Titles that are too short may, however, lack important information, such as study design (which is particularly important in identifying randomised, controlled trials). Authors should include all information in the title that will make electronic retrieval of the article both sensitive and specific.
  2. Authors’ names and institutional affiliations.
  3. The name of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed.
  4. Contact information for corresponding author. The full name, mailing address, telephone, fax number, and e-mail address of the author responsible for all correspondence about the manuscript. The corresponding author should be aware of the fact that his or her e-mail address can be published or state that no such permission will be granted.
  5. Source(s) of support in the form of grants.
  6. A short title not exceeding 45 characters for use as a running head.
  7. Up to five keywords.
  8. Word counts of the text only, excluding abstract, acknowledgments, figure legends, and references) and of the abstract.
  9. The number of figures and tables.
  10. A short biographical note on each contributor to a maximum of 50 words per contributor.

Abstract: All papers should be accompanied by an abstract of up to 200 words. The abstract should reflect the content of the paper including introduction, methods, results, and conclusions.

Text: This should inlclude the article title. Furthermore the text should in general, but not necessarily, be divided into sections with the following headings: ‘Introduction’, ‘Methods’, ‘Results’, ‘Discussion’ and ‘Conclusion’.

‘Essentials’: Up to 5 short bullet points that summarise the key messages of the article should be included (not required for short communications). ‘Essentials’ will be included in a box at the end of the article.

References: References should be in Vancouver style (and not in APA): consecutively numbering in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. The names of all authors should be given, up to a total of six authors. In case of more than 6 authors, provide the first three, followed by et al. Examples of references are:
Cohen-Schotanus J, Muijtjens AMM, Reinders JJ, Agsteribbe J, Van Rossum JM, Van Der Vleuten CPM. The predictive validity of grade point average scores in a partial lottery medical school admission system. Medical Education. 2006;40:1012-19.
The CanMEDS framework. Retrieved June 7, 2011. http://www.collaborativecurriculum.ca/en/modules/CanMEDS/CanMEDS-intro-background-01.jsp
Cruess RL, Cruess SR, Steinert Y. Teaching Medical Professionalism. Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Figures and tables: Figures (photographs, graphs and diagrams) and tables should be submitted as separate files. Tables should be typed using single-spacing. Figures and tables should be numbered consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text (separate numbering for figures and tables). Arabic numbers (e.g. Figure 1, Table 2), and their desired position in the text should be indicated. With respect to tables, authors should place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading, using the following symbols, in sequence: *, †, ‡, §, **, ††, ‡‡, §§, etc. Figures should be produced as near to the finished size as possible. All files of photographs must be 300 dpi or higher. Only black and white photographs are permitted.

Acknowledgments section: This section details special thanks, personal assistance, and dedications. Any acknowledgments authors wish to make should be included in a separate headed section at the end of the manuscript preceding any appendices, and before the references section.

Ethical approval: If subjects are involved (patients, students, other individuals), we expect a statement indicating how ethical approval was sought for the research described, i.e., how an appropriate body, such as an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or an Independent Ethics Committee (IEC), was consulted and whether approval was obtained. The manuscript should also include details concerning ethical approval if an appropriate body decided that no such approval was required. There should also be a statement confirming that the work was carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3), including, but not limited to there being no potential harm to participants, that the anonymity of participants was guaranteed, and that informed consent of participants had been obtained.

Declaration of Interest section: Declarations of interest refer to statements of financial support and/or statements of potential conflict of interest, disclosure of scientific writing assistance (use of an agency or agency/ freelance writer), grant support, and statements of employment, if applicable.
All declarations of interest must be outlined under the subheading “Declaration of interest”. If authors have no declarations of interest to report, this must be explicitly stated. The suggested, but not mandatory, wording in such an instance is: “The authors report no declarations of interest.” When submitting a paper via the Editorial Manager System, the “Declaration of interest” field is compulsory (authors must either state the disclosures or report that there are none). If this section is left empty authors will not be able to progress with the submission.


Additional Information Upon Acceptance

Electronic proofs: When proofs are ready, corresponding authors will receive email notification that proofs need to be checked and accepted. Information on the procedure will be given in that email; the corresponding author will be asked to log on to the editorial manager. To avoid delays in publication, corrections to proofs must be returned within 72 hours, on-line.

Offprints and reprints: As there is free (electronic) access to Perspectives on Medical Education there will be no reprints available of articles published in the Journal. Hard copies of the Journal can be ordered through the publisher’s office.

Contacting the Editorial Office
For further clarification on any of the above, please contact Petra Rijntjes at: p.rijntjes@bsl.nl