- Email: [email protected]
Technology Is Great … Except When It Doesn't Work
EDITORIAL
Technology Is Great . . . Except When It Doesn’t Work When Dr Joseph Alpert and I first took over The American Journal of Medicine in the fall of 2004, many of our processes were Internet-based, and many weren’t. The Journal still accepted snail-mail manuscripts on paper (in triplicate) with glossy photographs and a CD or diskette back-up copy; uploading video to our website was unheard of; and the review process—a hybrid paper/e-mail system— was cumbersome at best. In the summer of 2005, our Internet-based manuscript submission system (http://ees.elsevier.com/ajm) launched, and the Journal tossed out its paper processes. Obviously, online journal publishing has continued to evolve since 2005. The American Journal of Medicine—like most other academic journals—now requires far more background information (ie, conflict of interest statements, funding sources, and statements about data access and authorship) in addition to the manuscript and supporting tables and figures. This additional documentation and the level of complexity built into the submission process can cause consternation on the part of authors. As the title of this article states . . . Technology Is Great . . . Except When It Doesn’t Work. To help potential authors navigate the Journal’s online submission system more smoothly, we offer these 10 tips. 1. Read the Journal’s Guide for Authors (http://www. amjmed.com/authorinfo) before submitting your manuscript. This step is guaranteed to save you time and frustration. A quick reference guide, a submission checklist, and detailed instructions for each article type are available at the link above. All journals accept different types of articles in different formats. Reading the guide for authors and formatting your manuscript for the journal to which you are submitting will show the editorial board that you have done your homework and increase your chances of being accepted. 2. The Journal’s editorial office staff reviews all new submissions for compliance with the Guide for Authors before manuscripts are forwarded to editors and the peer review-
Funding: None. Conflict of Interest: None. Authorship: I am the sole author of the manuscript and am responsible for its content.
0002-9343/$ -see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2011.06.007
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ers. “Fatal errors” of noncompliance can cause manuscripts to be returned before peer review takes place. These are: being over the word count, not including a title page as the first page of your manuscript, and not having an abstract when one is required. Lack of a complete title page is the #1 reason for a manuscript to be returned to the author. Choosing the best person on the writing team as corresponding author is extremely important. All communication between the Journal and the writing team goes through the corresponding author. The Journal assumes that the corresponding author is an author—not someone’s assistant—and assumes the corresponding author speaks for the writing team. Choose someone who is responsible but not overly busy for this task. Make sure your institution’s e-mail system will accept e-mail from The American Journal of Medicine. Many educational and governmental e-mail security systems do not accept mail from .org or .com e-mail addresses. There have been times when the Journal’s editorial office could not reach an author at all because of overly stringent institutional e-mail settings and incomplete information in our system or on the manuscript’s title page (ie, no telephone number, FAX, or street address, and no contact information for other authors). Some authors set up noninstitutional e-mail accounts (ie, Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo) for journal submissions. Also, many authors put their e-mail addresses plus their assistant’s in the e-mail contact box on our website. With this system, one of them is sure to see the Journal’s messages. Remember your manuscript number and include it in all correspondence—preferably in the subject line of your email. If there is a problem with your submission or if you want an update, the editorial staff will need the manuscript number to track down the requested information. If you have submitted a paper and haven’t heard from us, check your junk mail. Automated e-mail messages like the ones from our system are often snagged by junk mail filters. (Seriously, this even happens to Dr Alpert and me.) Also, check your Journal account. Sometimes authors think they have completed the submission process but have missed a step and, therefore, have not actually submitted anything. If we ask you to make revisions to your paper, make sure you submit the updated manuscript and any other supporting materials (ie, a step-by-step response to reviewers) as a “revision” of the original manuscript number
992
The American Journal of Medicine, Vol 124, No 11, November 2011
and not as a new manuscript. Duplicate submissions under the same manuscript title cause confusion because one version has to be removed from the system. One author who submitted a revision as a new manuscript ended up with 2 similar but slightly different manuscripts which were reviewed by 2 different teams of peer reviewers. In the end, it was his responsibility to resolve both versions and all 4 sets of reviewer comments in order to have his manuscript published. 8. Our submission system allows authors to check the status of their manuscripts online. If you see that the status has not changed in a while, use the “send e-mail” function to ask for an update from the editorial office. 9. If the Journal accepts your manuscript and you change institutions before it is published, please update your contact information in our system. (This is another big reason for including a non-institutional e-mail address in addition to or instead of your academic address.)
10. The American Journal of Medicine has 24/7 technical support for all users of our online submission system. Highly skilled and professional Elsevier staff are available at [email protected] (worldwide) or 1-888-834-7287 (in the US). They can answer questions about our system and guide you through the submission process. As electronic communication evolves, so does the Journal’s online presence. In addition to the Journal’s website (http:// amjmed.com) and blog (http://amjmed.blogspot.com), which were both redesigned recently, our manuscript submission system is upgraded periodically and is in the process of being retooled. We look forward to more improvements and innovations in the future, and we look forward to working with you. Pamela J. Powers, MPH Managing Editor The American Journal of Medicine Tucson, Arizona
Technology Is Great . . . Except When It Doesn’t Work When Dr Joseph Alpert and I first took over The American Journal of Medicine in the fall of 2004, many of our processes were Internet-based, and many weren’t. The Journal still accepted snail-mail manuscripts on paper (in triplicate) with glossy photographs and a CD or diskette back-up copy; uploading video to our website was unheard of; and the review process—a hybrid paper/e-mail system— was cumbersome at best. In the summer of 2005, our Internet-based manuscript submission system (http://ees.elsevier.com/ajm) launched, and the Journal tossed out its paper processes. Obviously, online journal publishing has continued to evolve since 2005. The American Journal of Medicine—like most other academic journals—now requires far more background information (ie, conflict of interest statements, funding sources, and statements about data access and authorship) in addition to the manuscript and supporting tables and figures. This additional documentation and the level of complexity built into the submission process can cause consternation on the part of authors. As the title of this article states . . . Technology Is Great . . . Except When It Doesn’t Work. To help potential authors navigate the Journal’s online submission system more smoothly, we offer these 10 tips. 1. Read the Journal’s Guide for Authors (http://www. amjmed.com/authorinfo) before submitting your manuscript. This step is guaranteed to save you time and frustration. A quick reference guide, a submission checklist, and detailed instructions for each article type are available at the link above. All journals accept different types of articles in different formats. Reading the guide for authors and formatting your manuscript for the journal to which you are submitting will show the editorial board that you have done your homework and increase your chances of being accepted. 2. The Journal’s editorial office staff reviews all new submissions for compliance with the Guide for Authors before manuscripts are forwarded to editors and the peer review-
Funding: None. Conflict of Interest: None. Authorship: I am the sole author of the manuscript and am responsible for its content.
0002-9343/$ -see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2011.06.007
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
ers. “Fatal errors” of noncompliance can cause manuscripts to be returned before peer review takes place. These are: being over the word count, not including a title page as the first page of your manuscript, and not having an abstract when one is required. Lack of a complete title page is the #1 reason for a manuscript to be returned to the author. Choosing the best person on the writing team as corresponding author is extremely important. All communication between the Journal and the writing team goes through the corresponding author. The Journal assumes that the corresponding author is an author—not someone’s assistant—and assumes the corresponding author speaks for the writing team. Choose someone who is responsible but not overly busy for this task. Make sure your institution’s e-mail system will accept e-mail from The American Journal of Medicine. Many educational and governmental e-mail security systems do not accept mail from .org or .com e-mail addresses. There have been times when the Journal’s editorial office could not reach an author at all because of overly stringent institutional e-mail settings and incomplete information in our system or on the manuscript’s title page (ie, no telephone number, FAX, or street address, and no contact information for other authors). Some authors set up noninstitutional e-mail accounts (ie, Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo) for journal submissions. Also, many authors put their e-mail addresses plus their assistant’s in the e-mail contact box on our website. With this system, one of them is sure to see the Journal’s messages. Remember your manuscript number and include it in all correspondence—preferably in the subject line of your email. If there is a problem with your submission or if you want an update, the editorial staff will need the manuscript number to track down the requested information. If you have submitted a paper and haven’t heard from us, check your junk mail. Automated e-mail messages like the ones from our system are often snagged by junk mail filters. (Seriously, this even happens to Dr Alpert and me.) Also, check your Journal account. Sometimes authors think they have completed the submission process but have missed a step and, therefore, have not actually submitted anything. If we ask you to make revisions to your paper, make sure you submit the updated manuscript and any other supporting materials (ie, a step-by-step response to reviewers) as a “revision” of the original manuscript number
992
The American Journal of Medicine, Vol 124, No 11, November 2011
and not as a new manuscript. Duplicate submissions under the same manuscript title cause confusion because one version has to be removed from the system. One author who submitted a revision as a new manuscript ended up with 2 similar but slightly different manuscripts which were reviewed by 2 different teams of peer reviewers. In the end, it was his responsibility to resolve both versions and all 4 sets of reviewer comments in order to have his manuscript published. 8. Our submission system allows authors to check the status of their manuscripts online. If you see that the status has not changed in a while, use the “send e-mail” function to ask for an update from the editorial office. 9. If the Journal accepts your manuscript and you change institutions before it is published, please update your contact information in our system. (This is another big reason for including a non-institutional e-mail address in addition to or instead of your academic address.)
10. The American Journal of Medicine has 24/7 technical support for all users of our online submission system. Highly skilled and professional Elsevier staff are available at [email protected] (worldwide) or 1-888-834-7287 (in the US). They can answer questions about our system and guide you through the submission process. As electronic communication evolves, so does the Journal’s online presence. In addition to the Journal’s website (http:// amjmed.com) and blog (http://amjmed.blogspot.com), which were both redesigned recently, our manuscript submission system is upgraded periodically and is in the process of being retooled. We look forward to more improvements and innovations in the future, and we look forward to working with you. Pamela J. Powers, MPH Managing Editor The American Journal of Medicine Tucson, Arizona