Editorial Policy

Updated October 2009

IJCP is a general medical journal. IJCP gives special priority to work that has international appeal. IJCP encourages enquiries from potential contributors prior to formal submission.

IJCP publishes:

• Editorials. IJCP Editorials are commissioned. [Peer reviewed at the editor's discretion]
• Perspectives. Most IJCP Perspectives are commissioned. Example 1. Example 2. [Peer reviewed at the editor's discretion]
• Study design and interpretation. Example 1. Example 2. [Always peer reviewed]
• Original data from clinical investigations. In particular: Primary research papers from RCTs, observational studies, epidemiological studies; pre-specified sub-analyses; pooled analyses. [Always peer reviewed]
• Meta-analyses. [Always peer reviewed]
• Systematic reviews. From October 2009, special priority will be given to systematic reviews. [Always peer reviewed]
• Non-systematic/narrative reviews. From October 2009, reviews that are not systematic will be considered only if they include a discrete Methods section that must explicitly describe the authors' approach. Special priority will, however, be given to systematic reviews. [Always peer reviewed]
• 'How to…' papers. Example. [Always peer reviewed]
• Consensus statements. [Always peer reviewed]
• Short reports. [Always peer reviewed]
• Letters. [Peer reviewed at the editor's discretion]

International scope. IJCP publishes work from investigators globally. Around 30% of IJCP articles list an author from the UK. Around 30% of IJCP articles list an author from the USA or Canada. Around 45% of IJCP articles list an author from a European country that is not the UK. Around 15% of articles published in IJCP list an author from a country in the Asia-Pacific region.

Peer review. Authors are blinded to reviewers but reviewers are not blinded to authors. Peer reviewers work online to these criteria. For review and publication timelines please refer to the 'Author Guidelines' pages of this site.

Standards and ethics. IJCP encourages its contributors and reviewers to adopt the standards of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. IJCP will not consider papers that have been accepted for publication or published elsewhere. More information is in our 'Author Guidelines'.

Ghost writing policy. Guest or honorary authorship is unacceptable. Guest authorship is where individuals are listed as authors despite not qualifying for authorship.

Ghost authorship is unacceptable. Ghost authorship is where individuals who qualify for authorship are not listed as authors.

Absence of acknowledgment of significant contributions is unacceptable. Individuals may make significant contributions but may, at the same time, not qualify for authorship. These individuals and their contributions must be explicitly acknowledged.

Ghost or guest authorship will be investigated following COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidance, including 'What to do if you suspect ghost, guest or gift authorship'.

Further resources are available from the Wiley-Blackwell Best Practice Guidelines on Publication Ethics in the sections 'Who did the work' and 'Best Practice: Authorship and acknowledgement