Instructions for Authors — JMM Case Reports

JMMCR Information for Authors – Page 1

Last updated 12th January 2015

1. Scope and Editorial Policy

2. Preparing and Submitting a Paper

3. Style, Nomenclature and Units

4. Peer Review and Publication

Queries or comments about should be sent via the email links from the submission site.

All pre-submission enquiries should be directed to jmm{at}sgm.ac.uk

General enquiries should be sent to the Editorial Office:

JMM Case Reports Editorial Office, SGM, Charles Darwin House, 12 Roger Street, London, WC1N 2JU, UK.
Tel: +44 (0)207 685 2673. email: jmmcr{at}sgm.ac.uk

1.1 Scope

1.1.1 General

JMM Case Reports publishes original scientific case reports within the field of medical microbiology and covering all types of micro-organism. Papers can be written from a broad perspective of microbiology (e.g. infectious disease, virology, mycology, bacteriology and parasitology), antimicrobials, or microbial diagnostics, and should provide a focus on current research or serve an educational value.

Case reports should describe interesting and/or novel diagnoses, pathogenesis, investigations, treatment and/or management of infectious diseases in humans or animals. Papers should not merely describe observations made or focus solely on novelty of occurrence, but rather should include new insights, explanations of mechanisms, interpretations or other aspects conveying intellectual or academic originality.

Clinical photographs, scans and other multimedia that support individual case reports are encouraged.

JMMCR also promotes the submission of:

  • Case series, e.g. multiple reports on a similar subject
  • Case reviews, or a round-up, of similar case reports
  • Case quizzes e.g. Summary accompanied by one multiple-choice question
  • Letters to the editor in response to previously published case reports
  • Image of the month accompanied by a short description

1.1.2 Types of paper

JMMCR publishes papers under the following categories:

Type of Paper
Information
Structure
Link to Submission Template
CASE REPORT
                          
Brief papers describing interesting and novel diagnoses, investigations and/or treatment of infectious diseases in humans or animals

Abstract (250 words max.)
Introduction
Case Report
Investigations*
Diagnosis*
Treatment*
Outcome and follow up*
Discussion
References
2 FIGURES & 2 TABLES max
(*Optional)

Case Report template
CASE SERIES
A collection of similar case reports across a pre-identified theme and case series title

Abstract (250 words max.)
Introduction
Case Report
Investigations*
Diagnosis*
Treatment*
Outcome and follow up*
Discussion
References
2 FIGURES & 2 TABLES max. per report

Case Series template
CASE REVIEW
A review or round up of similar case reports

Abstract (250 words max.)
Background
Methods*
Results
Discussion
References
1 FIGURE & 1 TABLE max.

Case Review template
CASE QUIZ
A summarised case report, with a clear question and answer accompanied by an explanation

Summary (300 words max.)
Multiple-Choice Question
Discussion
References
1 FIGURE or 1 TABLE max.

Case Quiz template
LETTERS
Letter in response to a recently published case report, case series or case review

 Letter (300 words max.)

[No Figures or Tables]

Letters template
IMAGE OF THE MONTH
An interesting image; winners will feature in JMMCR’s Cover Image Gallery

Brief description
Image

Image of the Month template

Image submissions via jmmcr{at}sgm.ac.uk?subject=Image%20of%20the%20Month

All papers must be submitted through our Editorial Manager , except images for the Image of the Month competition which should be submitted by jmmcr{at}sgm.ac.uk?subject=Image%20of%20the%20Month.

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1.2 Submission and publication requirements

1.2.1 Article Processing Charges

As of 1st January 2015,  JMM Case Reports has introduced discounted article processing charges (APCs). Authors submitting a paper on or after this date, which is subsequently accepted for publication, will be required to pay an APC charge as detailed in the table below.

Further discounts are applied where the corresponding author of a paper is a student, SGM member, or from an institution that subscribes to the Journal of Medical Microbiology.

Authors with high quality papers who are not able to pay the fee can apply for a waiver through the editorial office (jmmcr{at}sgm.ac.uk). These will be awarded at the discretion of the Editors-in-Chief.

For further information on SGM’s Open Access policy, see the Open Access FAQs.

Paper Type

Submitted in 2014

 SGM members, JMM subscribers and students

Article Processing Charge (APC)

Non-Members

Submitted on or after 1 January 2015

SGM members, JMM subscribers and students*

Submitted on or after 1 January 2015

Non-members

Case Report £500/$779 Free! £590/$920 Free! £500/$779 £125/$221 £590/$920 £250/$442.50

Case Series (per report)

£500/$779 Free! £590/$920 Free! £500/$779 £125/$221 £590/$920 £250/$442.50
Case Review £500/$779 Free! £590/$920 Free! £500/$779 £125/$221 £590/$920 £250/$442.50
Case Quiz No Charge No Charge No Charge No Charge
Image of the Month No Charge No Charge No Charge No Charge

*In order to apply for this discount the corresponding author must either be an SGM member, a student, or be from an institution that subscribes to the Journal of Medical Microbiology.

** All prices exclude VAT where applicable


1.2.2 Publication and Colour Charges

There are no publication charges for publishing articles that are the equivalent of 4 pages or less. Articles considered to be more than 4 pages will be required to pay a charge of £50/$75 per extra page.

There are no colour charges for publishing in JMM Case Reports.


1.2.3 Originality, authorship and license

Papers submitted must report work that has not been published previously and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Papers submitted to JMM Case Reports that have been published preliminarily online (e.g. in Faculty of 1000 posters or PLoS Currents) will only be considered if there is a significant amount of additional novel data and analysis to warrant publication. JMM Case Reports considers preliminary online publication as prior publication, and reviewers and Editors must be able to clearly identify how the paper differs from the preliminary report and that substantially more work is incorporated into the manuscript.

All the authors must have agreed to the submission, and to the order of their names on the title page. They must also have agreed that the corresponding author may act on their behalf throughout the editorial review and publication process. The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining such agreement. Requests for changes in authorship after submission must be accompanied by signed agreements from all the parties involved.

If the paper is accepted for publication in JMM Case Reports, all the authors (or other copyright holder) will be required to assign to the SGM a licence to publish the article. All manuscripts will be published under a CC-BY licence. Neither a whole paper nor a substantial part of a paper may subsequently be published elsewhere in the same form, in any language or any medium, without the consent of the Society for General Microbiology.

Copyright for the article will remain with the copyright holder. Full details about the licence and the rights associated with this can be found on the licence to publish form. If you opt to pay for immediate open access, and subject to the requirements (stated on the licence to publish form) being met, the Society for General Microbiology will make the Version of Record freely available immediately upon publication under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence.

Go to the forms page  to download the licence to publish form for standard and SGM Open articles .


1.2.4 Ethics

Papers describing any experimental work with humans should include a statement that the Ethical Committee of the institution in which the work was done has approved it, and that the subjects gave informed consent to the work. Experiments with animals should be done in accordance with the legal requirements of the relevant local or national authority. Procedures should be such that experimental animals do not suffer unnecessarily. Papers should include details of the procedures and of anaesthetics used. The Editors will not accept papers where the ethical aspects are, in their opinion, open to doubt. Authors may wish to consult the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting in vivo experiments [Kilkenny et al. (2010). PLoS Biol 8(6), e1000412 ].


1.2.5 Research integrity

SGM is a member of the (COPE) and its editors operate within the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors. Complaints of unethical behaviour will be investigated by SGM in line with for such investigation. Common reasons for such investigation include:

  • Redundant (duplicate) publication. Publication of an already published article, or a substantial portion of a published article, including unauthorized publication in translation.
  • Plagiarism. Plagiarism is the unauthorized and/or uncredited reuse of content or ideas generated by another person. Plagiarism can occur without a breach of copyright, as it covers more than simple copying-and-pasting.
  • Breach of copyright. The unauthorized reuse of copyright material, that is the copying of significant amounts of text or tables or figures. This can include unauthorized reuse by an author of their own material that is now copyright of another publisher. SGM makes use of the service to detect text duplication.
  • Fabricated data. This can include figures that have been digitally manipulated, for example to mask gel bands or alter contrast to make certain features more or less visible or to give the impression that data from separate experiments were in fact obtained in the same experiment.
  • Problems with authorship. Authorship problems include complaints that individuals have been inappropriately excluded from authorship or included without their knowledge, as well as accusations of guest, ghost or gift authorship.
  • Undisclosed conflict of interest.
  • Appropriation of ideas or data by a reviewer.

SGM promotes the for responsible research publication for authors and Editors.

Further guidance on research integrity can be obtained from the .

Conflict of interest. A conflict of interest may exist when your interpretation of the results or presentation of information may be influenced by your personal or financial relationship with other people or organizations. Examples of potential financial conflicts of interest include receipt of funding or salary from an organization that might gain or lose financially from publication of your paper, if you hold stocks or shares in such an organization or if you hold or are applying for a patent relating to the content of this manuscript. Examples of non-financial conflicts of interest might include political, religious or intellectual conflicts.

Reagent sharing. Authors of papers published in JMMCR are expected to make biological materials, such as strains, plasmids and antibodies, that are described for the first time in the paper available to bona fide researchers in reasonable quantities and at reasonable cost, for non-commercial purposes. Supply of such materials must conform to current local and national laws and regulations.

JMM CR asks that authors certify that any strains described in a manuscript are available for sharing with qualified investigators. If possible, relevant strains should be deposited in a public repository and the accession number (or similar) provided with the manuscript.

Materials and results obtained from outside the authors' laboratory. If a paper includes results that were not obtained by the authors' own experiments (e.g. production of antibodies, properties of strains) this must be explicitly stated, and appropriate acknowledgement be included where appropriate.


1.2.6 Policy on security and censorship

The policy of SGM Council on scientific publication, security and censorship can be found .


1.2.7 Open Access options

JMM Case Reports is a Gold Open Access e-journal, providing authors fast publication times and free, unrestricted access to readers.

The Article Processing Charge (APC) has been waived in the journal's launch years allowing authors to publish their case reports for free.

Open Access FAQs


1.2.8 Archiving your paper

SGM's policies on Preprints and Author Accepted Manuscripts provide full information. Please note that the Author Accepted Manuscript policy does not apply to articles that are published with Gold open access.


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