Notice to contributors

The Ulster Medical Journal is an international general medical journal with contributions on all areas of medical and surgical specialties relevant to a general medical readership. It retains a focus on material relevant to the health of the Northern Ireland population. Papers, case reports and letters should be sent direct to the Editor Dr BE Kelly, Level 4, Imaging Centre, The Royal Victoria Hospital, Grosvenor Road, Belfast, BT12 6BA, UK. Dr Kelly will be pleased to advise on the preparation of manuscripts if requested. All manuscripts are independently refereed. Manuscripts should be accompanied by a covering letter signed by all the authors agreeing to publication and stating that the work has not been published elsewhere; and stating that they have been actively involved in the preparation of the paper and outlining their contribution to the paper. Any conflict of interest should be declared. The journal attempts to conform to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and authors should consult the ICMJE website (www.ICMJE.org) for details of policies not specifically outlined below and particularly for research on animals and other ethical considerations. In addition, the journal is a member of the Committee On Publication Ethics (COPE).

  1. Articles submitted for consideration should be typewritten in single spacing, with wide margins, preferably in Times (New) Roman 12pt font. They should be fully corrected and alterations in proof may be disallowed or charged to the authors. Please submit electronic files on CD or memory stick along with ONE hard copy of each article (including tables and figures). Those unable to submit an electronic version should contact the editorial office. Colour images and tables are encouraged and there is currently no charge for colour reproduction. Electronic copies of images and tables should be included as separate high resolution .jpg or .tif files and NOT embedded in the Word manuscript file.
  2. For full or short papers, the text should indicate the purpose of the paper, and should include an introduction, sections on materials and methods, results, and a discussion relevant to the findings. A brief factual summary / abstract should be provided at the beginning of the paper along with up to six key words. For case reports, these should be novel or particularly important cases and not just good teaching points, with a maximum of 10 references and appropriate patient consent for publication of photographs. Letters to the editor should be less than 500 words with up to 5 references and 1 table and / or figure.
  3. Scientific measurements should be in SI units (DN Baron. Units, Symbols and Abbreviations. A Guide for Medical and Scientific Authors. 5th ed. London: Royal Society of Medicine, 1994). Blood pressure may be expressed in mmHg and haemoglobin concentration as g/dl.
  4. References should be restricted to those really necessary and useful. This journal uses the "Vancouver" style. See Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals for full details and advice. Text references are numerical and each article reference should include:
    1. a list of all authors when six or less (when seven or more only the first six should be listed followed by et al).
    2. the title of the article.
    3. the title of the journal in italics (abbreviated to the form published by Index Medicus).
    4. the year.
    5. volume number and issue number (in brackets) in bold.
    6. first and last pages.
    Example: Devlin LA, Price JH, Morrison PJ. Hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer. Ulster Med J 2005;74 (1): 14-21.
    Book references should give the author, title, edition, town of publication, name of publisher, year of publication, and, where appropriate, volume and page numbers.
  5. Ten offprints of each article will be forwarded free of charge to the corresponding author. Further reprints can be obtained from the printers, Messrs Dorman & Sons Ltd, Unit 2, 2A Apollo Road, Boucher Road, Belfast BT12 6HP - telephone (+44) 028 9066 6700, email info@dormans-print.co.uk - who should be approached directly. For reprint information in the United States contact: International Reprint Corporation (IRC), 287 East H Street, Benecia, California, 94590 USA. Telephone (707) 746-8740, fax (707) 746-1643.
  6. Fellows and members of the Ulster Medical Society receive the journal free. Individuals may subscribe directly. Institutional subscriptions are for a calender year. The journal has three issues per year and is published in January, May and September with a circulation of 1,000 hard copies. The journal contents are covered by Current Contents/Clinical Practice, Index Medicus, Excerpta Medica, PubMed, PubMed Central, and Index Copernicus. The journal is available in 16mm and 35mm microfilm and 105mm microfiche from UMI, 300 North Zeeb Road, PO Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346, USA.
Updated 27 April 2009