Recomme側ations forthe con伽Ct, Rep0巾鴫, Editing, andP岫lication of scholarly work m Medica110ur胎IS
Updaledoecember2019
1. Aboutthe Recommendations

A. purpose ofthe Recommendadons
B. W110 should use the Recommendations?

C. Histoty of 小e Recommendations

Π. Roles a11d Responsibilities of AUミhors, contributors,
Rcvicwers, Editors, publiS11Crs, arld owners

A De6nin名血e Role ofAut110rs arld contributors
1. W11y Authorship Matters
2. who ls an Aut110r?
3. Non・Author contributors
B. Disclosure of Fhla11dal and Non・Finandal Rela・
tionsM s and Activities,釘I con icts o lnTerest

1. particiP抑岱
a. Authorsb. peelReviewers

C. Editots atld }ournal Sね仟
2. Rep0此ing Relationshi s and Acdvities
Process

1. Authors

a. predatory or pseudo・}outnals
2.}ournals
a. con6dentialiw
b. TimelinessC. peet Review

d.1nte痕riw'
e. Divcrsi智 arld lnclusion
f. Journal Metrics
3. peer R6,iewets

D.}0山nal ownerS 抑d Editorlal Fteedom
1. j0山nal owners
2. Editorial Freedom

E. protection of ResearC11 Participants

111.1)ublishing arld Editoria1 1Ssues Related to publi仏tion
in Medica110urnals

A. corrections, Retractions, Republications, and ver・
Sion contt01

B. scienti五C Misconduct, Expressions of conccrn,
and Retraction

C. copyri号bt

D. overlapping publicati0那
1. Dupli仏te submission
2. DupliC2te arld prior publication
3. AcceP仏ble secondary publication
4. Matluscripts Based on the sarne Da仏base

E. correspondence
F. F邸S[. clinical Trials

i、 Re号istration
ii. Data sh故in套
IV. Man山Cript prcparation 飢d submission

A. prcparin名 a Mar1山Ctipt 命t submission to a Mcd‑
ical journal
1. General prindP1郡
2. Reportin名 Guidelines
3. Manuscript sections
a. Tide pa8eb、 Abstract
C.1ntroduction
d. Methods

i. sclecdon arld Descdption ofl)ardcipar1郡
ii. TeC11nica11nfbrmationiii. st2tisdcs
e. Resdts

ε号

C. R邸Ponsib正d邸 m t11e sublnission arld P御・Revi則j. Advertisin名
K }oumals atld tke Media【)iscussion

RC丘rencesi. Generalconsiderations

ii. swle arld Format
h. Tables

i.111山trati0那(Fi今tlres)
j. units ofMcasurement
k. Abbreviations and symbols
B. sendin名【hc Manuscript to t11e Joumal
1. ABOUT THE RECOMMENDAτ10NS

A. PU中Ose ofthe Recommendauons

ICMJE developed these recommendations to review
best pradice and et11icalst抑dards in the condud arld te‑Porrin号 ofresearch arld other matetialpublished in medical
joumals, and t011elp aut110rs, editors, atld ot11as involvedin peer review and biomedi口.1 Publishin名 Cr船te arld dis・
tribute acC山ate, d御, reprodudble,山biased medicaljoum址
笹dd郡.丁he rec011血endadotls may abo pr0Ⅵde 11Se6.11irl‑

Si獄)ts into t11e mediml editin名 atld publishir1号 Pミ0C邸島r t11e
media, paden岱 arld 血eit 金mai郡,飢d 名eneralread邸.
B. who should use the Recommendations?

These recommendations ate intended primarily 命r use
by aut110rs who mi名htsubmjt 小eir work fbr publi仏tion to
ICMJE memberjournals. Many non・1CMJE journab v01・

Untarily usc rhese recommendaミions (see www.imlje.or名/joon捻b・命UOMn晋由0・kmk・'如mm印d"d0幼. n.1CMJE
encourQ8伽 that 山e but kas no au【hotity to monitor or

G. supplemen岱, Theme lssues, and spedal seri郡
H. sponsorshゆ of partnerships

en仏rce it.1n aⅡ Cases, authorsshould use these recommen‑

1. Electronic publiS11in8

thors. Authors should also consult 名UidelineS 島r t11e rc・

dations alon名 With individualjournals' ir6tructions to au‑

RecolMltndadonS 命r壮lecondud, Reporring,宣didn名,即d puhli嘩don ofsch01盆dyw'olk in Mcdicaljoumab

Porrin名 of sped6C study t沖es (e.号., thc coNSORT
名UidclineS 命r ホe reporthlg of 卿ldomized 口ials); see
WWW.equator‑neNork.or号
Joutnals t11at 拓ⅡOw these recommendations are en‑
Coura名ed to incorpotate them into their inS紅'udons toauthors and to make explicit in tkose instructions that they
拓ⅡOW ICMJE recommcndations. Journals t11at wish to be

identi6ed on rhe lcMjE website as f0ⅡOwin名 these recom、

紅e strongly encoura名ed to develop a11d implcment a con‑
廿ibutorship poli牙,. SUC11 Policies remove much of血e atn、
b1名山ty surroundin名 Contributions, but leave unrcsolved

t11e question of the quantiW 飢d quality of contdbutionthat q山li6, an individualfbt aU血ofship. The lcMjE 11部
thus developed ctiteria 命r aut ors that C抑 be used by
飢Uoutnals, indudin今 those t11at 山Sti11各Uish audlors ftom
Other conuiburors.

mendati0那 Should not妊y the lcM}E secre御iat at www.icmje.or8/journals・島110wing・t11e‑icmje・recommendations

2. who ls an Author?

/journal‑ustin名・tequest・命rm/. Journals t11at in t11C pastkavc rcqucsted such idcnti6Cation but who n010n名er 命1‑

dlC 血ⅡOwin名 4 Criteria:

ThelcMJE recommendsthat authorshゆ be based on

10W ICMjE rec011帥endations should 1峡 thc sa111C mea11S
to rcquest removal ftom this list.
The lcMIE encoutages Mde disseminadon of theserccommcndations and reptoduction ofthis documentin its

1. substa11tial contributi011S to t11e conccpdon or dc‑
Sign of t11e work; or r11e acguisition, ar1司ysis, or interpre‑とntirety for cducational, not‑fbr‑pt0五t P山Poses without
re号ard 拓r cop}オi名ht,トUt a11 Uses of the recommendations
飢d document should direct readers to www.i改lje.or呂仏r
the 0伍dal, most recent version, as the lcMJE updates t11e

Port飢t inte11ectual content; ANDrecommendations periodica11y W11en n四 issucs arise.
C. History ofthe Recommendations
T11e lcMJE has produced multiple edidons of thisdocument, previ011Sly krlown as tke un征Ⅸm Require‑tation ofda稔先r the work; AND

2. Dra丘in套 the work or revising it criticaⅡy 命t hrl、
3. Final approval oft11e version to be publiS11ed; AND
4. Mreement to be accounねble 仏r a11 aspecrs of theWork in ensurin客 that questions related to the accuraq ot
inte名rity of 飢y part of the work are appropriately investi‑
8ated and resolved.

In addition to bein名 accountable 仏r the parrs of the
WOTk he or she 11as done, an auThor S110uld be able tomentS 仏r Mar1山Cripts submitted to Biomedical}oumals

identi6, which co・autkors are 娯Ponsible 命t speci6C other(URM命. T11e uRM waS 6rst published in 1978 as a way
Ofstandardizin号 m2nuscript 命rmat and preparation acrossjoumals. over the years,issues in publishing that went we11
beyond ma11Uscript prepara60n atose, tesultin名 in the de・
Velopment of sepa捻te statements, UP‑dates to t11e docu‑

A11 those deS喰nated as aut110rs should meet a11 拓Ut
Criteria for aut110rship,抑d a11 Who meet the 倫Ur critetia

ment, and its renarnin名部"RccommendationS 命r thc

ConducT, Reportin名, Editln号, and publication ofschola[1yWork in Medical journals" to reecct its broader scope.
Previ0山νersions of the doC山nent may be 血Und in thど" ArC11ives" section ofwww,icmje.or号
11. ROLES AND RESPONSIBル1T作S OF AUTHORS,CONTR旧UTORS, REV1則モRS, EDITORS, PUBUSHERS,AND OWNERS

A. Definin痕 the Role of Authors and contrlbutors
1. why AU所olship Ma虻e1工Aut110rshゆ Con企岱 Credit 抑d has important aca‑
demic, sodal, arld 6rlarldalimplicati0那. Autborship also
implics responsibili智 a11d accoun仏b丑iw fol publiskcdWork. Tbe 倫ⅡOwins rccommcndations are intcnded toensure τ五at contributo【s who have made subsrarltivc intel‑

IecTud contributions to a paper are 名iven credit as authors,
but also tmt contributors cre'ted as aut110rs understatld

τ、eir role in mkin名 responsibiliW 抑d bein名 accoun仏ble fbr
What is pU卜lished.
Beca山e aut110rship does not communk飢e 、vh盆t con‑tribudotls quali6Cd 抑 hldividual to be arl author, somejournals now requcst 抑d publiS11in仏rmation about theContributions ofeach person nalned as havin名 Participatedin a submitted study, ad御t 命r original rcse紅C11. Editots

Parrs ofthework ln addidon, aud】otsS五Ould have cot16dence
血 the int兇tiり,' ofthe con訂'ibud0工Is oftheir coauthors.
Should be idend6ed as authors. Tbose who do not meet a11

先Ur criteria S110uld be ackrlowledged‑see secdon n.A3
below. These authorsMp criteria are in【ended to reserve rhe
StatEts of aut110rshiP 仏r those who deseNe credit arld catl
take responsibiliW 仏r 【he 、vork. The criteria are not in、

tended 血r uSと as a means to disq山li6, C011ea名Ues fromaU小orS輔P who othe則ise mec【 aut110rS輔P criteria by de、nyin名小em the opportunity to meet criterion #S 2 0r 3.
There仏re, a11individuals who meet the 6rst criterion

Should have tbe opportU11ity to partiCゆate in The review,dra丘in名,即d 6nal approval of the marluscript.
Thc individuals who conduct the work are tesponsible
先r identi6,in号 Who meets these criteria and idea11y should
do so when plannin号 the wotk, makin名 modi6Cadons as
appropriare as the wotk pr0名resses. W'e encourage c011abo.
ration and co‑authorship wit11 C011Ca名Uts in thc locadonsWhc[c the researC五 is conductcd.1t is t11e c011ectivc respon、Sibility ofthc audlors, not 仕Ic j0世nalto which the work is
Submitted, to determine that a11 People n抑ed as authors
meet a11 f0山 Criteria; it is not the tole ofjournal editors todeterlmne who qua1所es or does not quali6,命r authorsh中
Or to arbitねte authorS11ip con価Cts.1fa名reement cannot be【eached about W110 quali五郡拓t autborship, the institu、tion(S) whete 血e work was performed, not 血e joumal
editor, should be asked to investi昌ate. T11e criteria used todetetminc the otder in which aU小ors arc listed on thebylinc may vary,飢d arc to bc dcdded c011ecrively by the^.にm」■.01宮RCΦmmcnd盆dotlS 品tthccondud, Repordn客, Edidng,即d publi稔tion ofsC卜oladyw'otkirlM"icalJ0Ⅱrnals

aut110r 名roup and not by editots.1f authors request re・t11ey 血Ould be acknowled名Cd. Examples of activities that

moval or addition of a11 aut1ιor a丘er man1誌Cdpt submis・Sion or publication, joumal editor$ should seek an 欽Pla‑

証one (without ot11er contribudons) do not quali6, a con、

naTion and si名ned statement ofa名reementfbrthe requcsted
C11ange 丘om a111isted aut五orS 狐d 丘'om the aU血or to be
removed or added.

The correspondin名 author is the one i11'vidual who
takes primary responsibility 命r communication with thejournal during the marluscript submission, peer review,
帥d publication process. The cones ond aut110r wpi‑
Ca11y ensures that a11 t11e joutnal's administradve require‑ments, such as providitlg detaib ofauthorship, et11ics com・
nlittee approval, clinical trial tC名isttation doC山nentation,

ttibutor 命r authot5hip are acquisition of 6、1nding;名ener址
SupeNision of a tese盆rch 名roup or 号tneral adr11inisuative
SUPP0π; and writing assistarlce, teC11nical edidn8,1飢8Ua昌eedidn号, arld proofieadin号 Those whose contribudons do
not Nsti6, aurholS互ip may be acknowled客ed individua11y
OT t0名et互er as a group undcr a sin名le headin名(e.8.,"CHn・

ica1 1nvesti号ators" or "partidpat血名 lnvesti名ators"), arld
t11eir Φntribud0那 Shodd be speci6ed (e.名.,"seNed as sden‑
d6C ad証Sors,""ctidca11y r6,iewcd t11e study ptoposal,""C01、and disdoS山es of telationshi s atld acrivitics arc properly

1此ted data,""provided and 偽、red 命r study patients","partic‑
ipated in wridn名 ot t此11rlical edititlg oft11e m飢山Cdpt").
Because ackτ10wled名ment may imply endorsement byCompleted arld reported, althoU名h these duties may be del・e号ated to one ot mote coauthors. The correspondin筈 au‑thor should be available throU名hout the submission andSions, editors are advised to require that t11e corresponding
auth010btain written per加Ssion to bc achlowled名ed froln

Peer‑reviN proccss to respond to editorial queties in atimdy way, and should be available a丘er publi仏ti011torespond to critiqucs of 血e work arld cooperate Mt11 any
requests fiom the journal fbr da仏 or additionalinfbrma・

achlowled名ed individuals of a srudy's da松飢d condu、
心l acknowled名ed individuals.
B. Disdosure of Financial and Non.Finandal
10
nd con仙ds of lnterest

Public trust in tl)e scienti6C process and the credibiliw

tion should qucs【ions about tke paper arise a丑er publica‑tion. NthoU名h thc corrcsponding author has primary re‑Sponsib繊W 先r correspondence wiミh rhe joumal,血e
ICMJE rccommends that editots scnd copies of a11 Corre・
Spondence t0 ヨ.111isted aut110ts.
^en a lar菖e multi‑author 名roup has conducted theWork, the group idcaⅡy should dcdde who MⅡ be arlau・

Of scienti6C work.
The otentia1 仏r coneict of interest and bias exists

thor be倫re the wotk is started arld c0116rm who is an

When pr0企Sslonaljud名ment concernm名 a primary interest

author be品re submitdn名 t11e manuscript 仏r publication.

(such as patients' welf盆re or the validity ofresearch) nlay beinnuenced by a secondary interest (such aS 6nanda1 名ain)
Perceptions ofconaict ofintercst are as import釘lt as act山1

Nl members of 血e 名roup n抑ed as auth0郡 S110uld meetaⅡ仏Ur criteria fbr authorS蔚P, indudin名 approval of 小e
6nal manuscript, a11d t11ey should be able to take public
resp011Sib山ty for tl)e 、vork 飢d S110uld have 6111 Con6dence

in thc accuraq and integrity of tke work of other 各roup
aut110ts. T11Cy wi{1 also be cxpectcd as individuals to com・

Plcte disdosure fbr郎.
Some lar名e multi・aut110r 号roups desi号nate authors、中by a 名roup n抑le, with or 、vithout the names of individu・
金S. when submittin名 a marluscript authored by a group,thc correspondin名 authorshould sped6 小e 名roup name if
One 獣露ts, and clearly identi6'the 名roup members who cantake ctedit and responsibility fbr the wotk as authors. T1ιebyline of the article identi6es 、vho is ditectly responsible長)r the manuscript, at】d MEDLINE 註Sts as authors W11iC11・
ever nalnes appear on the byline.1f the byljne indudes aOroup n抑le, MEDLINE wiⅡ list t11e names of individualOf publiS11ed articlcs depend in patt on 110w tratlsparendy
a thor' tel ti n MVIrr icaⅡ

紅C 11atldled during the platlning,implc・
menねtion, writin8, peer review, edidng, arld publicationeto aConaicts of interest、
Individuals ma disa rec on 圦,het11Ct an author's rela、
tionsM s or advities re resent conHicts. Nt110u theresencc ofa relationshi or acdvi does not alwa s indi、Cate 2. roblematic inauence on a a er's content erce ‑tions of conaict ma erode trust 血 Sciencc as much as
actual conHicts ofinterest. ultimatel rcaders m【1St be able
to make their own 'ud ments re din whether arl au.
thot's telad0伽M s atld acdvities are ettinentto a a er'S
Content. These 'ud ents re uire t「即S arent disdosures.
An author's com lete disdosure demonstrates a commit、
ment to trans arenand hel s to maint2in trust in the
Scienti6C rocess.

号roup members who are authoTs or who ate c0Ⅱabotators,

Financial relati0那h中S (such as employment, C0那UI・tar】cics, stock owtletship or options,110notaria, patents,
and paid expcrr tcstimony) are the most eaS11y identi6able,

Sometimes ca11ed non‑authot contributors,iftbeTe iS 2 notethe ones mosr 0丘en 'ud ed to N resent otential conHicts

associated Mth 血e byline cle輩ly statin名 thatthe individualnames are elseW11ere in the paper and whether t110se narnes

Ofinterest 2nd th山 the mostlikely t0 山)dermine the cred‑ibili勺,' of 血e j0獣nal, the aU血ors,飢d science itseH. otherare aut110rs or c011aboratots.

interests ma also re resent or be efceived as conaids

Sucb as personal relationS11ゆS or rivalries, academic com‑
3. Non、AUが10r cont11but01工

Petition, ar】d inteⅡectual belie兪.

Contributors who meet 足Wer than a1140f the above

Authors should avoid entering in to a今reements 、vit11

Criteria 仏r aut110rs、中 S110uld not be listed as authors, but

Study spotlsors, both fbr・pr06t and nonpr06t, t11at inter鳥re^.i弥"、伽宮

Rt'めmmcnd盆tiorlS 倫r dlc condud, RCP0式血&貫didr1客, a11dpubli仏don ofscbolarlywolk inMedicaljoUΠ捻IS

Wit11 autbors' access to a110f tke study's daね or t11at inter‑
足re wir11 t11eir abⅡity to a11alyze 飢d interpret the data arld

10urnals should Take extra precautions and have aStated poliq 命r eV址如tion of mar1山CrゆミS submitted by

to prepare 飢d publish m即11Scripts indepcndendy when
and where they doose. policies that didate W11Cre authors

indi打duals involved in cditorial dedsi011S. Furthcr 名Uid‑ance is available 丑'om copE (htrps:ノ/publicationethics.or号

Ublis、 theit work violare this rinci le of academic/61郡/A̲sh0丘̲G゛ido̲m̲E血i仇1̲Edid"8.N6 飢d wAMErna

丘eedom. Aut、ors may be required to provide the j0山nal(駐trPゾ/W抑e.org/corlaict・ofinter邸t・in・peer・r6d則ed・medical

With t11e a名reemen岱 in con6dence.
PU中Ose則驫,ilure'旦PΩgjhΩεC relationsbi s or actM・・joU血b).

ties s eC16ed on t11e 'ournal's disdosure 仏rm b a 命rm of
misconduct, as is disC山Sed in section 111.B.

2. Repodin" Relaガ0n5hips andAdNiガes

Artides should be published wit11StaTements or sup・Portin痕 doC山nents, such as the lcMjE DisdoS山e Fotm,,. padiCゆan古AⅡ Partkipants in thc peer‑revicw atld publicadon
Process‑not only authors but also peer rcviewers, editots,
and editorial board members of jouma1←・・must consider

and disdose their relati0那hゆS and ユCtivities W11en ful・
611in号 their roles in thc process of article review and
Publication.
a' AU所0IS^Cn aut110rs submit a manuscript of atly wpe or
命rmat they are tesponsiblC 仏r disdosin名心l relationS五ips
and activities rhat mi名ht bi部 or be seen to bi心 their work.
The lcMJE h2S devdoped a DisdoS山e Form to f互dliねte
飢d st飢dar'ze authors' disdosures.1CMJE memberj0山・

nals require t11at authors use this form, arld lcMJE encour‑a3es other joumals ro adopt it.

dcdaring:‑ Authors' relati0那Nps and activitics; arld

Soutces ofsupp0π先r tbe wotk, indudin号 Sponsor
natnes alon名 M血 explanations of the role of ミhose sources
jfany in study dcsi名n; C011ection, arlalysis, and interpteta‑tion of data; writin名 of 血e tepoft; any restticti0那 te名ard‑
in名 t11e submission oftbe Tepon 拓r publication; or a Sねte‑ment dedaring that 血e supportin名 Source had no suC11
involvement or restricdons re名ardin套 Publication; arld
^et11er thc authors had access to the study data,

With arl expla11adon of the nature and extent of acceS5,
indudin号 Whethet access is ongoin号
TO support the above staTements, editors may request
tbat authors ofa study sponsored by a 6.1nder with a pro‑Prietary or 6nandalintetest in the outcome si名n a st註e‑ment, such as "1 had 6、111 access to a110f tbe da仏 in thjs

Study and l take complete responsibiliw fbr the inミe号rity ofthe da仏 atld t}1e 2Ccuraの, of the data analysis."b. peer Revlewe1工V

to cridque a man山Cript ifthey 11ave rel tion 、i or.ー

Rcviewers should be asked at the ミime they are asked
iti邸 that could complicate theit tevjew. Reviewers must
disdosc to editotS 飾y rclationships or activitics t11at could

bias dlcir opinions of 小e man山Cript,211d should recusc
themsclves ftom reviewin多叩ed6C mat1山CriptS 正 the po・tentia1 鳥t bias exists. Revi則ers m山t not 山e hlowled名e ofthe work t11ey'fe tevi則in号 be拓te its publication t061rt11er
their own intereS岱.

C.'dit01Iand/oumalS捻庁

亘ditors W110 make 6nal dedsions about ma11Uscripts
Should recuse themselveS 60m editorial dedsi0那 if tbey
互aYe telatiotlS卜ips or adlvitics t11at posc potcntial conaicts

C. Responsibi枇ies in the submission and peer・Review
Process
1. AU所0IS

Authors should abide by a11 P【indples of aU血orshipand dcclaration of relationshi s arld activities detailed in
Section 11A and B of this document.

a. predatoly or pseudo.joumals

A 号rowin名 number of entities are adve此isin号 them・
Selves as "scholarly medicalj0山nals" yet do not 兵.1nction as
Such. These journals (" predatory"or "pseudo‑joutnals") ac・
Cept and publish almost a11Submissi0那 arld char名e atticle
Processing (or publication) fees,0丘en in命rming authors
about 血is a丑er a paper's acceP御Ice 拓r publication. They0丑en claim to petfbrm pccr review but do not and may

Vide editors with a current d邸CripTion oftheir relationshi s

PU中Ose6111y 山C names similarto we11 eS仏blished joumals.
Thcy may state dlat 血Cy are mem、ers oflcMJE but arenot (see www.icmje.or8 fbr current members of theand activities (部 they mi名ht relate to editorialjudgments)
and tecuse themselves {tom arly dedsions in which arlin‑

名anizations such as t11e lcMjE, COPE arld wAME. Re・

Otendal cot1丑ict exists. Editoti金 Sta仟

Searchers m山t be aware of t11e cxbtence of suC11 entities

must not 山C in{brmation gained thtoU名h workin名 Witb

即d avoid submittin名 tesear● to them 仏r publication.
AuthorS 11ave a responsib繊ty to evaluate the inte名rity,histoty, ptactices atld reputation of the journals to W11ich
they submit manuscripts. Guidance 丘om various or名arliza‑
dons is available to hdp idcnti6,' tbe characteristics of rcp・

related to artides under c011Sidcration. other cditorialsta仟

membcts who parミicipatc in cditotial dedsions must pro‑terest t11at

Oses amanuscriptS 先r private gain. Editors should re ularl
Publish their own disdosute statcmentS 2nd those of
their journal sta任 Guest editots should f0110W 小ese
Sar11e proccdurcs.

ICMJE) and t11at they fbⅡOw the recommendations of or・^.1Cm伯.■惇