Instructions to Authors

Revised March 2007

Canadian Family Physician is a peer-reviewed scientific journal intended to meet the needs of those practising, teaching, and researching family medicine and primary care. It has more than 35 000 readers worldwide and is indexed in Index Medicus, MEDLINE/PubMed, PubMed Central, Excerpta Medica, and a variety of other databases.

Articles are invited that critically and constructively contribute to family practice literature. We publish original research, clinical review articles, descriptive reports, practice tips, commentaries, letters, case reports, resource articles, and papers commenting on economic, clinical, social, and political factors affecting health.

Manuscript preparation
Canadian Family Physician accepts only original material not under consideration by any other journal.

Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" available at http://www.icmje.org/. Manuscripts that do not adhere to the uniform requirements and our Guidelines for Articles will be returned.

Guidelines for articles
Detailed guidelines are posted on the Canadian Family Physician website at www.cfp.ca, under ìfor authors/guidelines for articlesî for the following types of articles: commentaries, reflections, quantitative and qualitative research, surveys, systematic reviews, clinical reviews, program descriptions, committee reports, case reports, practice tips, and FP Watch articles. Following the guidelines will certainly increase the likelihood of acceptance.

Clinical Trial Registration

CFP will consider clinical trials beginning on or after January 1, 2007, only if the trial is registered before the first patient is enrolled (prospective registration). Authors wishing to submit results of clinical trials to CFP will be required to include the trial registration number and trial registry name at the end of the abstract. If the results of the trial are published in CFP, the registration number and registry name will form part of the published article.

Clinical Trial Registries (ICMJE, Jan 2006):

www.actr.org.au
www.clinicaltrials.gov
www.ISRCTN.org
www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index.htm
www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp

Peer review
Manuscripts to be considered for publication will be sent to two or more reviewers, who may be family physicians or other experts in the field. Whether a manuscript is accepted or not, the author will receive copies of the reviews and the editorís comments.

Editorial decision
Authors of articles thought to be unsuitable for review initially will be notified within 1 month. Manuscripts sent for external and internal review will have a decision of acceptance, a request for revision, or a rejection within 3 months.

Accepted manuscripts will be copy edited and galleys will be sent to the author for approval. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made by the editorial staff and authorized by the corresponding author. Original artwork, photographs, slides, and other illustrations will be returned.

An order form for reprints, along with a list of costs, will be sent to authors of commentaries, reflections, and clinical review articles with the galley proofs. Fifteen unbound copies of the published article will be mailed to the corresponding author at the time of publication. For research articles, one copy of the complete article and 1 set of tear sheets of the abstract as published will be mailed to the corresponding author.

Manuscript submission checklist

All manuscripts are to be submitted using Manuscript Central at http:// mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cfp. Full instructions are available on this site.

◊ Corresponding author:

In preparation for submitting your manuscript via Manuscript Central, designate a corresponding author. You will be required to submit contact information for the authors. If any contact details change, it is your responsibility to make these changes on the Manuscript Central site.

◊ Covering letter:

Prepare a covering letter indicating that the manuscript is an original submission and identifying any possible conflict of interest, every source of financial or material support, and for research articles, describing the contribution of each author. This covering letter can be attached or copied/pasted at the appropriate place during your manuscript submission.

◊ Biographical note:

A biographical note should be prepared for each author, which should include the authorís medical degrees, specialist certificates (if applicable) and three highest academic degrees and affiliations.

◊ Main manuscript:

The main manuscript should not contain any identifying information, as it is used for blinded peer review. Do not use end notes or paragraph styles. Do not use headers or footers except for page numbers. The manuscript should be double-spaced with pages numbered.

◊ Tables and figures

Authors are required to attach tables and figures separately from the main manuscript. Tables and figures should clarify and supplement, but not duplicate, the text. Tables must be self-explanatory and concise.

Prepare each table or figure on a separate page. Give all tables titles and all figures and other illustrations captions. Ensure that all tables, figures, and illustrations are cited at appropriate places in the text. Prepare tables in Word; no spreadsheets, please. Use table structure, not spaces and tabs to format tables.

◊ Images

Authors are required to attach visual material separately from the main manuscript. These may include photographs, digital illustrations or extra photographs for use if space is available.

Images should be sent in a JPG file format. Ideally, they should be an 8-bit RGB or CMYK flattened JPEG file, 1500 x 1200 pixels (5x4 inches) @300 pixels/inch (ppi).

◊ References

Check references for accuracy, completeness, and proper format (according to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals; http://www.icmje.org/). References should be numbered in the order they appear in the text and should be limited to works cited in the article. List all authors when there are 6 or fewer; when there are 7 or more, list the first 6, then et al.

◊ Keywords

Include three or four MeSH key words for your article. These may be chosen from a keyword list on the Manuscript Central site or entered individually.

◊ Permissions and consent forms

Attach written permission from publishers and authors to reproduce or adapt previously published illustrations and tables. Include consent forms from patients if they can be identified from descriptions or photographs.

◊ Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments will be published only when accompanied by written permission of person(s) acknowledged.

◊ Copyright

All authors must sign a copyright agreement with CFP transferring copyright and waiving moral rights to articles before publication. Authors may use their material in presentations and subsequent publications they write or edit themselves, provided that CFP is notified in writing and is acknowledged as the original publication. Readers may make single copies of articles for their own use, but must seek permission from CFP to make multiple copies or republish any part of the original.

Copyright forms and authorship statements are available through the Manuscript Central site.

Submit your manuscript at:

http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cfp/