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Submission Requirements

General Information

Following in the esteemed tradition of the Lahey Clinic Bulletin, published between 1938 and 1983, the Lahey Journal is a new, open access, interdisciplinary, double-blind, peer reviewed journal established in 2022 by the present-day Lahey Clinic Foundation. The Lahey Journal does not require authors to pay any article processing charges or publication fees of any kind. We welcome manuscript submissions based on the categories below.

Please note: We will not accept manuscripts that have been previously published elsewhere nor those that have been submitted and under review at another journal. Authors agree not to submit material to another journal while under editorial review at The Lahey Journal.

Types of Articles Accepted with Requirements

Click on Article Type to view requirements. Click here to download summary view.

CASE REPORT


Brief report of a unique case or case series with an uncommon presentation or features not previously described.

  • Not to exceed 1500 words.
  • Requires a structured abstract not to exceed 250 words with:
    • Introduction
    • Case Presentation
    • Discussion
    • Conclusions
  • No more than 10 references.
  • No more than 3 tables and/or figures.

  • BRIEF INNOVATION and QUALITY IMPROVEMENT REPORTS


    A brief report that describes a novel project, pilot program, or protocol in quality improvement or innovations in clinical care, education, or workforce development. The report should include a description of the challenge or gap that the program addresses, as well as design and implementation plan.

  • Not to exceed 1000 words.
  • No abstract.
  • No more than 10 references.
  • No more than 3 tables and/or figures.

  • ORIGINAL RESEARCH


    Presents original research that advances medical knowledge or improves patient care.

  • Not to exceed 3500 words.
  • Requires a structured abstract not to exceed 250 words with:
    • Introduction
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Conclusions
  • No more than 30 references.
  • No more than 5 tables and/or figures.

  • PATIENT SAFETY AND QUALITY IMPROVEMENT


    Describes a patient safety or quality improvement study showing demonstrated outcomes or impact on practice.

  • Not to exceed 3000 words.
  • Requires a structured abstract not to exceed 250 words with:
    • Introduction
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Conclusions
  • No more than 20 references.
  • No more than 5 tables and/or figures.

  • CLINICAL INNOVATION


    Describes clinical innovations across the spectrum of practice or systems that includes strategy, design, implementation, and measures of success/outcomes.

  • Not to exceed 3000 words.
  • Requires a structured abstract not to exceed 250 words with:
    • Introduction
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Conclusions
  • No more than 20 references.
  • No more than 5 tables and/or figures.

  • INNOVATION IN EDUCATION


    Describes educational innovations across the health professions that include strategy, design, implementation, and measures of success/outcomes.

  • Not to exceed 3000 words.
  • Requires a structured abstract not to exceed 250 words with:
    • Introduction
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Conclusions
  • No more than 20 references.
  • No more than 5 tables and/or figures.

  • DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AND HEALTH DISPARITIES


    Presentation of a DEI case with a discussion of the issues at stake and a review of the literature.

  • Not to exceed 1500 words.
  • Requires a structured abstract not to exceed 250 words with:
    • Introduction
    • Case Presentation
    • Dicussion
    • Conclusions
  • No more than 15 references.
  • No more than 3 tables and/or figures.

  • ETHICS IN CLINICAL PRACTICE


    Presentation and discussion of a case, with commentary and a review of the pertinent literature.

  • Not to exceed 1500 words.
  • Requires a structured abstract not to exceed 250 words with:
    • Introduction
    • Case Presentation
    • Dicussion
    • Conclusions
  • No more than 15 references.
  • No more than 3 tables and/or figures.

  • REVIEW ARTICLES


    Comprehensive, scholarly, non-biased, and well-referenced overview of the literature on a relevant and important topic of interest.

  • Not to exceed 4000 words.
  • Requires a structured abstract not to exceed 250 words with:
    • Importance
    • Case Presentation
    • Objective
    • Review
    • Findings
    • Conclusions
  • No more than 50 references.
  • No more than 5 tables and/or figures.

  • REFLECTIONS


    Essays and personal reflections on medicine, nursing, aspects of the profession, education, or the future of healthcare.

  • Not to exceed 1000 words.
  • No abstract.
  • No more than 5 references.
  • No tables or figures.
  • Photographs will be considered.

  • COMMENTARY


    Expresses a point of view and discusses a current issue in academic medicine, health policy, nursing etc.

  • Not to exceed 1500 words.
  • No abstract.
  • No more than 10 references.
  • No more than 2 tables and/or figures.

  • Submission Requirements

    When submitting your manuscript you will be asked to provide the following. Expanded information on many of the points below can be found in the Manuscript Preparation section.

  • Authors names, email addresses, and affiliations:
           These will be typed into the submission form individually.
  • Title of paper:
           You will be asked to type your title into a box on the submission form.
  • Keywords:
           These will be entered into a special box on the submission form.
  • Type of submission
           You will choose your manuscript type from a drop-down box on the submission page.
  • Abstract, if required (follow the guidelines for your article type):
           You will be asked to type or copy/paste your abstract into a box on the submission form.
  • Acknowledgements, if appropriate:
           These will be typed into the Cover Page Footnote box.
  • Body of text:
           You will be asked to upload your primary submission file.
  • Cover Letter:
           You may choose to upload, type, or copy/paste your cover letter into the submission form.
  • Tables, if appropriate.
  • Figures, if appropriate.
  • Supplementary Materials, if appropriate:
           These will all be uploaded independently from your main submission on a secondary page.
           Supplementary materials should be in separate file.

  • For authors submitting health research, it is suggested that you consult the reporting guidelines for main study types at the EQUATOR (Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research) Network.

    Formatting your Manuscript

    Format: A Microsoft Word document is preferred

    Font: Ariel

    Font size: 12-point type

    Spacing: Double-spaced throughout

    Margins: 1 inch all around

    Page size: Letter

    Authorship

    The Lahey Journal follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations on authorship. Accordingly, all authors should have sufficiently participated in the work to take responsibility for the content, either all of it or a significant part of it. Substantial contributions must have been made in each of the four areas below:

    • Conception and design of the work or interpretation of the data for the work.
    • Drafting the manuscript or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content.
    • Approval of the version submitted for publication.
    • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part are appropriately investigated and resolved.

    Anyone not meeting the four criteria above should be acknowledged in the manuscript rather than be designated an author.

    AI Policy

    Based on updated (2023) ICMJE recommendations for artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies, authors are required to disclose whether they have used a generative AI tool such as ChatGPT to prepare their submitted work and it should be properly documented in the Acknowledgements and/or Materials and Methods section. This includes, but is not limited to, data, images, figures and citations. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, as they do not fulfill all four criteria for authorship noted above. Because "AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased", authors must take responsibility and accountability for the accuracy and integrity of any content generated by these tools.

    Conflict of Interest and Financial Disclosure Policy

    Authors will be asked to include all financial support of their research and disclose any conflicts of interest on the title page of their manuscript.

    Manuscript Preparation

    The manuscript should be arranged as follows:

    1. Title page, which should include:

      Title: The title should reflect the content of the article and not be more than 100 characters in length.

      Authors: Include first names and middle initial, academic degrees, departmental affiliations and institution.

      Corresponding Author: One author should be designated as the primary contact and this entry should include name, address, and email address.

      Financial Support and Conflict of Interest Disclosures: List any financial support for the research. Each author should additionally disclose any financial and/or personal relationships with other people or organizations that could potentially bias their work. If there are no conflicts of interest a statement to that effect must be provided.

      Abbreviations: An alphabetical list of abbreviations used in the manuscript should be included with their expanded meaning.

      Keywords: Provide not more than 5 words or phrases that capture the most important aspects of the manuscript.

    2. Abstract

      Articles types that require a structured abstract should include the abstract in their manuscript. Headings should reflect the requirements listed in the submission table. You will still be asked to paste your abstract into the appropriate box on the submission form.

    3. Manuscript Text

      The text should mirror the same subheadings noted in the submission table for structured abstracts. All subheadings should be in bold type.

    4. References

      • References should be formatted according to AMA style.
      • In-text citations should appear as superscripts in the manuscript, placed after periods or comas.
      • The reference list must be numbered in the same order as the superscripts appear in the manuscript.
      • If tables are embedded in the manuscript and include references, the superscripts for those references must be cited consecutively along with those in the text.
      • Use the National Library of Medicine abbreviations for journal names (MEDLINE).
      • Include DOI numbers for all journal articles, if available. These can be found in PubMed.

      Sample entries (click here to download summary view):

      Journal article with 6 authors or less
      Voetsch B, Sehgal S. Acute dizziness, vertigo, and unsteadiness. Neurol Clin. 2021; 39(2):373-389. doi: 10.1016/j.ncl.2021.01.008.

      Journal article with more than 6 authors
      Ho H, Williamson C, Regis SM et al. Surgery and invasive diagnostic procedures for benign disease are rare in a large low-dose computed tomography lung cancer screening program. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2021;161(3):790-802. doi: 10.1038/s41433-021-01417-0.

      Journal article published online ahead of print
      Mergen B, Ramsey DJ. Underdiagnosis of glaucoma in patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration. [published online ahead of print February 3, 2021] Eye(Lond). doi: 10.1038/s41433-021-01417-0.

      Journal online
      Buelt A, Richards A, Jones AL. Hypertension: new guidelines from the International Society of Hypertension. Am Fam Physician. 2021;103(12):763-765. Accessed July 8, 2021. Available at https://www.aafp.org/afp/2021/0615/p763.html.

      Book
      Small JE, Noujaim DL, Ginat DR, eds. Neuroradiology: spectrum and evolution of disease. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier, 2019.

      Book Chapter
      Safar LT, Gale S, Brady B et al. Psychopharmacology in neuropsychiatric syndromes. In: Silbersweig DA, Safar LT, Daffner KR, eds. Neuropsychiatry and behavioral neurology: principles and practice. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2021:229-253.

      Website
      Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Vaccines & Immunizations. Last reviewed February 16, 2021. Accessed August 10, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/.

      Note that each section below will be a separate file and these should not be included in the body of your main submission.

    5. Cover Letter

      You will be asked to submit a letter to the editor in a special box on the submission site. Your letter should include your manuscript’s title as well as a statement confirming that your paper has not been previously publisher or under consideration by another journal. It should also include a brief description of the research you are reporting, why it is important and why you feel readers would be interested.

    6. Tables

      • Cite all tables in the text and number them consecutively with Arabic numerals in the order they appear. Ex. Table 1, Table 2, etc.
      • Each table should have a brief title.
      • Define all abbreviations used in a footnote at the bottom of the table.
      • Tables should be self-explanatory.
      • Each table should appear on a separate page.
      • Do not submit tables as images.

    7. Figures

      • Cite all figures in the text and number them consecutively with Arabic numerals in the order they appear. Ex. Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.
      • Provide a descriptive legend for each figure. These will not be a part of the image itself, but included at the end of the manuscript.
      • Any symbols or abbreviations in the figure should be defined.
      • Each figure should appear on a separate page, they are not embedded into the manuscript.
      • Manipulating images for improved clarity is acceptable, but for any other purpose could be seen as misconduct. See a discussion at American Journal Experts:
        https://www.aje.com/en/arc/avoiding-image-fraud-7-rules-editing-images/.
    8. Supplementary Materials

      Any supplementary files relevant to your paper, but not to be included in the manuscript text, may be uploaded as additional files, after the manuscript text has been submitted, on the page that follows. These will appear as Additional Files alongside your article on The Lahey Journal site.

    Additional Information

    Should your paper be accepted for publication you will be asked to embed any figures, tables, or graphics you originally supplied into the body of your manuscript text, in the appropriate places, before uploading your final submission. This will be in addition to including your original figure/graphics files.

    Submission Process

    Click on Submit Article to start the process. If you are a first time user you will be asked to create an account. Once in the system, follow the prompts to set up your author account. You will then be prompted to complete an online submission form and upload your manuscript.