Manuscript Submission
Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine (CCJM) is an indexed, peer-reviewed journal published monthly by Cleveland Clinic. CCJM welcomes submissions of content that is consistent with our mission to
- meet the continuing medical education needs of general internists, cardiologists, and other medical subspecialists
- provide practical information on new developments in the diagnosis and treatment of patients encountered in daily practice
- address topics of interest to practicing internists.
CCJM is part of the Cleveland Clinic program of medical education. Continuing medical education (CME) credits and maintenance of certification points are offered for several articles in each issue.
Careful review of and conformity with the information about general requirements, manuscript preparation, and article types are advised for favorable consideration.
General Requirements
Before considering submission
- Please contact CCJM editorial staff to make sure the topic fits the Journal's mission, and to make sure that a similar article is not already under consideration.
- CCJM does not accept original research or standard case reports. See acceptable article types.
Submission and peer-review software
Submission of manuscripts, peer review, and author revisions are done using CCJM's online submission and peer-review system, Editorial Manager. See Authors & Reviewers for more information.
Authorship
All authors listed on the manuscript must have contributed substantially to the paper according to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors authorship criteria.
In general, all authors of the manuscript must contribute to the conception or design, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; drafting or revising for intellectual content; approval for publication; and accountability for all aspects of the paper.
Artificial intelligence technologies including natural language processing tools, generative pretrained transforms, and large-scale language models do not meet CCJM authorship criteria.
Authorship by Residents and Fellows
Medical students, residents, and fellows may submit articles and may be listed as first author. However, CCJM policy requires that a senior physician mentor the junior author and be listed as a co-author.
Pharmaceutical and Medical Education Companies Authors
CCJM does not accept articles written by authors who are employed by pharmaceutical companies, or papers prepared by medical education companies whose work is funded by pharmaceutical companies.
Policy on pharmaceutical and medical education company preparation of manuscripts
Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models
The Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine adheres to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors guidance regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) in publishing.
Authors
Authors must disclose the AI technologies, LLMs, chatbots, or image generation tools used during the development of the submission. Authors must specify the tool(s) used and describe how and for what purpose the tool(s) was used to produce the manuscript. See the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine AI Disclosure Form, which must be submitted with the manuscript.
Use of AI and LLMs must only assist authentic authorship. Authors are responsible for the entirety of the manuscript including originality, proper citation of sources and compliance with copyright or permission requirements.
CCJM may ask authors to provide information that supports authentic authorship.
Reviewers
Submitted manuscripts are privileged communications and reviewers are responsible for maintaining confidentiality. Reviewers must not upload manuscripts to online LLMs (eg, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) because of the risk to confidentiality. Reviewers considering the use of AI tools to evaluate a submission must contact CCJM editors. If used, reviewers must disclose use of AI tools to CCJM and validate the results are correct, complete, and unbiased.
Editors
CCJM may use software to detect AI or LLM-generated content as long as use of the tool maintains confidentiality, otherwise CCJM will obtain permission from the authors.
Patient Authorization to Publish
Authors must follow their institutional polices for obtaining patient authorization to publish patient images or information and retain the authorization for their records.
Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine requires attestation by the author that an appropriate written authorization from the patient has been obtained.
Images or information about a patient that identifies or could be used to identify the patient will not be published even if the author attests that written authorization has been obtained from the patient. Fully anonymized images or information can be published provided authors follow their institutional polices.
Authors are strongly encouraged to inform patients that their images and information may be used in an unidentifiable manner for educational purpose in a medical journal.
Avoiding Perception of Bias
Authors are asked to ensure that articles are not biased, are fair and balanced, and are based on the best available evidence. Adherence to the following guidelines is requested:
- There should not be bias toward any product, procedure, device, or therapy.
- All applicable products, devices, or therapies should be addressed in your article to ensure fairness and balance.
- Classes of drugs and devices should be used rather than individual agents where appropriate.
- When applicable, discussion of cost considerations should be included.
Opinions can be offered, but should be clearly defined (and referenced) as to whether they are based on clinical experience or published evidence.
Discussion of Off-Label Use or Investigational Products
Discussion of unlabeled use of a commercial product or an investigational use not yet approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must include a disclosure that the product is not labeled for the use under discussion or that the product is investigational and not yet approved by the FDA.
Avoiding Plagiarism
To ensure the integrity and originality of the content of submitted manuscripts, CCJM uses software to detect plagiarism, including cutting-and-pasting and self-plagiarism. Authors should provide full attribution for any information borrowed from other sources.
Peer Review
All manuscripts undergo peer review, usually by 3 reviewers, including at least 1 content expert and 1 general internist. Manuscripts are reviewed for content, perception of bias, and educational impact on our readership. Authors are usually notified within 8 weeks about the acceptability of a manuscript, but longer intervals are sometimes unavoidable.
Editing and Galley Proofs
All papers accepted for publication will be edited to conform to CCJM's editorial style. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work, including any changes made by CCJM editors.
Copyright and Financial Disclosure
Copyright ownership transfer to CCJM must be complete prior to publication. All authors must complete a financial disclosure. These forms will be requested of authors at the appropriate time.
Manuscript Preparation
General
- Manuscripts must be double spaced in 12-point type, preferably in Microsoft Word
- Include page numbers on your manuscript
- Include all authors, their institutional affiliations, academic titles, and contact information on the title page
- Follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (http://www.icmje.org).
References
- Limit references to 40, unless indicated otherwise for specific article types. Avoid references to textbooks
- Number the references in the reference list in the order cited in the text
- Abbreviate journal titles according to Index Medicus/NLM
- For references with 6 or fewer authors, list all 6 authors; for references with 7 or more authors, list the first 3 authors, then "et al"
- Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references.
Tables
- Tables must be submitted in editable Word file format (DOC), not as an embedded image in the manuscript
- Submit each table as a separate file
- Tables must have a title and indicate if the table is an original creation, reprinted, adapted, or based on information from another source. If reprinted, adapted, or based on another source, include the complete reference citation for the source
- For each table published elsewhere, provide a permission letter (for both print and electronic publication) from the publisher, even if it is from the author's own work. If the manuscript is accepted for publication, the editorial office may be able to assist with required permissions.
Figures
- Types of figures include medical illustrations, photographic images (raster graphics), charts and graphs (vector graphics), and videos
- For all images of patients, see "Patient Authorization to Publish"
- Submit figures, illustrations, and photographic images as separate files (not embedded in the manuscript document)
- File resolution of 300 dpi and CYMK color model
- Figures with arrows or labels: submit in native file format with separate editable layers
- For each figure, illustration, and photographic image, indicate if it is original, reprinted, adapted, or based on another source. If printed, adapted, or based on another source, include the complete reference citation for the source
- For each figure, illustration, and photographic image previously published, provide a permission letter (for both print and electronic publication) from the publisher, even if it is from the author's own work.
Illustrations and photographic images
- Includes photographs, photomicrographs, electron micrographs, radiographic images, MRIs, PET images, and ECG and EEG tracings
- Submit as high-resolution (300 dpi) raster files such as TIFF, JPG (maximum quality compress), GIF, PNG, PSD (Adobe Photoshop)
- Illustrations: If needed, medical illustrations can be created by staff of the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Medical Art and Photography. Sketches or suggestions can be submitted in a variety of formats. Upon acceptance, CCJM editors will work with the authors to develop and refine illustrations if needed.
Charts and graphs (vector graphics)
- Submit file format from the vector application used to create the chart or graph, such as AI (Adobe Illustrator), PPT (Microsoft PowerPoint), or EPS, or an unlocked PDF created from a vector program.
Video
- Video files can be submitted in high-quality MP4, MOV, or M4V formats.
Article Type Requirements
CCJM features several types of article formats. A brief description for each type is provided below with a link to detailed requirements.