Formatting your materials | Article Categories | Manuscript Policies

The following types of manuscripts are not accepted for consideration by PDM:

1. Survey, interview, focus group, or quantitative studies based upon convenience, quota, or snowball sampling (non-random sampling).
2. Studies using subjective purposeful sampling (non-random sampling) recruitment of study subjects (participants).
3. Retrospective or prospective human subject research that has not been submitted to formal human research subjects ethics review committee.
4. Manuscripts that fail to follow format and style guidelines as described in this section and “Submitting Your Materials” of the Author Instructions for this journal.
5. Manuscripts that have been published previously or that are substantially similar to previously published papers, blogs, or online sites.
6. Case reports and Letters to the Editor.
7. Manuscripts in which there is excessive self-citation, churning of previously published data, and that originate from an apparent paper mill.

Formatting Your Materials

General Formatting

Apart from the format styles listed for each submission category, manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals” developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. General information on manuscript preparation and format using the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors style is available at: www.icmje.org (Click on “Recommendations” and “Preparing for Submission”) 

File Format — Please submit manuscripts as WORD files. DO NOT SUBMIT AS PDFs.

Language — All manuscripts must be submitted in standard English. Do not use “I,” “We,” or “Our” within the manuscript when referring to the authors. The fact that the research was conducted by the authors is implicit. For example, rather than “We found a significant change,” the preferred language style is “The study showed a significant change.” For general English language advice, we suggest the “Merriam-Webster” dictionary and the “Chicago Manual of Style”.

Type Style — use Times new Roman 12-point font. Double space all text, including references. Left-justify the text; leave right margins unjustified.

Abbreviations — provide a list of abbreviations used more than once and what they stand for at the beginning of the manuscript (example: WHO: World Health Organization). When abbreviations are first used, they must be noted within the abstract and main manuscript with the abbreviated term fully spelled with the abbreviation following in parentheses.  For example, World Health Organization (WHO).

Generic Names — use generic names. Brand names may be indicated in the Methods section and the name and location of the manufacturer must be provided in parentheses followed by a generic description of the medication, drug, product, or equipment.

Software and Equipment Descriptions — specify version number, name, manufacturer or developer of all software and equipment used for the research or to which referred in the manuscript. Include the city, state or province and country in which the manufacturer or developer is headquartered. Example: the data were entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet Version 7.0.25 (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington, USA).

Numerals — Sentences should never start with a digit. Numbers less than ten should be spelled out.

Title Page

The title page must include the following sections:

1. Title: Include the study design in the title where possible;
2. Authors: First name, middle initials, last names, and highest academic degrees of all authors (abbreviated as MD, MPH, etc.), along with institutions each author is affiliated;
3. Corresponding Author: Contact details for the corresponding author;
4. Conflict of Interest Statement: List each author's declaration individually;
5. Ethical Approval: Name of the institution granting ethical permission and the reference number;
6. Author Contributions: Describe each author's contribution individually, as each author must meet all four of the ICMJE’s authorship criteria;⁵
7. Use of AI Technology: A statement detailing which, if any, Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools were used for constructing the manuscript;
8. Keywords: Three to five keywords or phrases in alphabetical order separated by semicolons to facilitate indexing or electronic searches using the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings database;⁶
9. Abbreviations: List of abbreviations and symbols used and the meaning of each;
10. Word Count: Include a separate word count for the abstract and manuscript.

Abstracts

Abstracts must follow the structured abstract as described for the article category and adhere to the specified maximum word count for the category.

Introduction

The introduction should include the definition of the problem, the knowledge gap, and the specific objectives of the paper. Educational studies must describe the specific educational or framework used for evaluation. Where applicable, the research hypotheses or research question should be concisely summarized in the last paragraph of the introduction.

Methods

While not required, the preferred subheadings are: Study Design, Study Setting, Participants, Interventions, Outcome Measures, Data Collection, Data Analysis, and Sample Size. Where applicable, authors should follow the published reporting guidelines for the study design (see the section Reporting Guidelines below).

The name of the research ethics board providing approval and the study approval number should be included under the Study Participants subheading.

Statistical tests, when used, must be identified and the specific data to which each test is applied must be noted.

Sampling Techniques

Describe in detail the exact recruitment and sampling techniques used. If sampling is randomized, the randomization procedure should be fully described. External validity is highly limited by the convenience sampling methods. Please see the following editorial for more information on the Prehospital and Disaster Medicines policy on sampling strategies, available online here: https://doi.org/10.1017/S10490... via open source.

Use of P values

P values, while an indispensable method for hypothesis testing, have become increasingly problematic and increasingly controversial.  Many manuscripts continue to use many P values and rely on the fact that several were positive to form the findings of the study. Unfortunately, this type of analysis is strongly discouraged as it creates a high risk of type 1 error. Many journals have issued updates on the use of P values - a recent editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine describes in detail the needs for these updates. (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1906559) Primarily, these updates are designed to avoid many of the pitfalls associated with P values, including issues of multiplicity, magnitude of effect, and reporting. PDMs updated P value policy included the following instructions for authors:

• Significance tests should always be accompanied by a confidence interval for effect size
• In general, P values should be limited to the primary outcome of the study
• If multiple P values are reported, the methods must describe the statistical controls for type 1 error, such as the Conferring adjustment or a specified hierarchical procedure
• If no adjustment for multiplicity is used, researchers must limit P values to the primary outcome and report secondary or exploratory effects with 95% unadjusted confidence interval; the methods should state explicitly that the confidence intervals were unadjusted and should not be used for hypothesis testing
• Unless mandated by the specific methodology, all hypothesis tests should be two-sided.

P values larger than 0.01 should be reported to two decimal places, and those between 0.01 and 0.001 to three decimal places; P values smaller than 0.001 should be reported as P<0.001. 

Results

Both numbers and percentages should be presented in the text, in the “n (%)” format. All tables must be cited in the results section. Present results with no more precision than is of scientific value and meaningful.

P values should never be used to compare the distribution of baseline variables between randomized groups (conventionally "Table 1" in randomized trial). However, authors should note potential discrepancies between the groups and elaborate on their potential significance in the discussion

Mean and Median

When presenting means and standard deviations for descriptive data in the text, the mean (SD) format should be used, rather than the ± format.  All outcome data presented as means, percentages, and proportions must have accompanying 95% confidence intervals reported, and medians must have 25%/75% interquartile ranges.  Data presented as medians must have accompanying 25%/75% Interquartile Ranges.

Discussion

While not required, preferred subheadings are: Interpretation, Previous Studies, Clinical Implications, and Research Implications.

No new study findings should be revealed in the discussion.

Authors should draw a clear distinction between statistical significance and clinical (or practical) significance. It is recommended to limit the use of the word "significant" to mean "statistically significant." The use of the words "borderline significant" or "nearly significant" is mathematically incorrect and should never be used.

When interpreting exploratory data, authors should avoid language suggesting definitive conclusions. This includes interpretation of confidence intervals that are unadjusted for multiplicity. Exploratory data analysis can be a useful research technique but should be interpreted as hypotheses generating, not hypothesis confirming.

Limitations

A dedicated section describing real and potential limitations is mandatory.

Conclusions

Ensure that the conclusions are a concise response that answers the study objective by presenting the primary study findings.  Statements that are subjective and based upon opinion should not be included in the Conclusions. Statements that further research are required should not be in the conclusions.  

Tables and Figures

Only essential figures and tables should be included. Supplemental tables, figures, photographs, and appendices may be published as supplementary material with the online version of the manuscript. All tables and figures must be referred to in the manuscript text.

Tables—submit tables either at the end of the manuscript or as separate WORD or rich text format files. DO NOT SUBMIT AS PDFs. Tables should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text, using Arabic numerals. Include the table title above each table. Tables should be black and white, with text in Times New Roman 12-point font. Do not use shading, and do not include spaces, tabs, or hard returns. Table footnotes should be indicated with superscript lowercase letters in alphabetical order. Tables should be no more than nine columns wide and should fit on one printed page (portrait orientation). Tables longer or wider than a page should be split into two or more tables.

Data presented as numbers and/or percentages must add up to totals; any discrepancies must be explained in table footnotes. Numbers and corresponding percentages should be presented in the same cell, using the n (%) format. Mean and standard deviation should also be presented in the same cell, using the mean (SD) format rather than the ± format.  95% confidence intervals or 25%/75% interquartile ranges should be placed in a separate cell (column) next to the mean, percentage, or median data.

Figures—number all figures in the order they will appear in the text using Arabic numerals. Do not include place markers for figures in the text. Titles for figures should be included as text at the end of the manuscript and should not be included in the figure itself. Legends should be included in the figure. Commonly used and accepted formats are TIFF, EPS, JPG, and PDF. Figures should be vector-based art (charts or graphs) or else the supplied raster art (pixel images) should be minimum 300 dpi with high quality. Figures can be submitted in color, though will appear in color for online publication only; they will appear in black and white/grayscale for print publication.

Please ensure that your figures are saved at final publication size (see the latest issue of the journal for column widths).

Even when your figure is saved as a 300-dpi file, it may not be of sufficient resolution for print publication. If your original figure was lower resolution, simply saving it as a higher resolution file may not be helpful. Try sizing your figure to 1/4 or 1/3 of a page and printing it. Is all the text clear? Is there enough contrast between bar graphs or lines and the background? White or no background is usually best.

Permissions—illustrations or tables from other publications must be accompanied by written permission from the copyright holder (author or publisher) of the document.  Illustrations previously published without copyright must be accompanied by written permission from the original author.

Reporting Guidelines

Regardless of the category of submission, several article types require that the appropriate reporting guideline checklist is attached as a supplemental material. 

Study Design	Reporting Guideline	Link
Randomized Controlled Trial	CONSORT	https://www.equator-network.or...
Observational Epidemiologic Study	STROBE	https://www.equator-network.or...
Diagnostic Accuracy	STARD	https://www.equator-network.or...
Meta - Analysis / Systematic Review	PRISMA	https://www.prisma-statement.o...
Scoping Review	PRISMA-SCR	https://www.prisma-statement.o...
Quality Improvement	SQUIRE	https://www.squire-statement.o...
Qualitative Study	COREQ or SRQR	https://www.equator-network.or... https://www.equator-network.or...
Conference Report	STROBE	https://www.equator-network.or...

Authors are encouraged to use the reporting checklists in a formative fashion - reworking and amending the manuscript to ensure that all issues in the checklist are explicitly addressed in the manuscript.

References

References must be cited in the References section at the end of the manuscript in the order in which they appear in the text. Do not use automatic numbering and remove any formatting (such as that from EndNote) linking the reference to citations in the text. References should not be formatted as footnotes. All references must be cited by superscript Arabic numbers in the text, tables, and legends for illustrations. Citations in the text should be placed after punctuation such as periods or commas. Titles of journals referenced must be annotated using US National Library of Medicine abbreviations (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog) and must be italicized. If there is no US National Library of Medicine abbreviation, please do not abbreviate the journal title. Include volume and issue numbers when possible, and do not omit digits from inclusive page numbers. The following is the format for references:

Journal Articles—White SJ, Hamilton WA, Veronesi JF. Comparison of field techniques used to pressure infuse intravenous fluids. Prehosp Disaster Med. 1991;6(4):429-434.

Books—Schwartz GR, Safar P, Stone JH, et al, eds. Principles and Practice of Emergency Medicine. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, PA, USA: WB Saunders Co.; 1985:1198-1202.

Chapters—Lindberg R. Pathology of head injuries. In: Cowley RA, Trump BF, eds, Pathophysiology of Shock. Baltimore, MD, USA: Williams and Wilkins; 1982:588-592.

Presentations at meetings (published)—Jones M. Lessons learned during the Haiti earthquake. Paper presented at: 17th Annual Meeting of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Management; May 31-June 3, 2011; Beijing, China.

Presentations at meetings (unpublished)—Jones M. Lessons learned during the Haiti earthquake. Paper presented at: 17th Annual Meeting of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Management; May 31-June 3, 2011; Beijing, China.

Websites—The importance of behavior in cancer prevention and early detection. American Cancer Society Website. http://www.cancer.org/Research/ResearchProgramsFun... BehaviorinCancerPreventionandEarlyDetection/the-importance-of-behavior-in-cancer-prevention-and-early-detection. Accessed January 1, 2012.

Online government or organization reports—World Health Organization. World Health Statistics 2011. http://www.who.int/gho/publications/world_health_statistics/EN_WHS2011_Full.pdf. Published 2011. Accessed February 6, 2012.

Article Categories

1. Original Research* — manuscripts published as original research are structured research that uses quantitative and/or qualitative data collection methods and analyses to establish a hypothesis, association(s), or prove a cause-and-effect relationship.  Randomized controlled trials should adhere to the CONSORT Statement available at: www.consort-statement.org (Click checklist and flow diagram).  The CONSORT checklist must be submitted as supplemental material when a randomized trial is submitted for consideration.  Diagnostic studies should follow the STARD Guidelines available at: http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/stard/. 

The Abstract must be limited to 375 words.  Abstract format should follow the sequence of  Introduction/Study Objective/Methods/Results/Conclusion. 

The main manuscript text cannot exceed 4,000 words (not including title, abstract, references, acknowledgments, or listed abbreviations). Important is a concise statement of the study hypothesis or objective in the last paragraph of the Introduction section of the main manuscript.  Limitations of the study must be discussed, preferably as a separate section, following the end of the Discussion section.  The Conclusion statement must be a concise summary of the study findings without subjective statements, editorialization or further discussion and should be placed as a final stand-alone section following the limitations discussion at the end of the main text.

Preferred Original Research manuscript format is as follows:

1. Title page (this page is not made available to peer reviewers of a submission)
2. List of abbreviations and symbols used and the meaning of each
3. Abstract
4. Introduction with statement of study objective at end
5. Methods with study design and data source stated in the first paragraph
6. Results
7. Discussion
8. Limitations
9. Conclusion(s) that answers the study objective by presenting the primary study      findings.  Statements that are subjective and based upon opinion should not be included in the Conclusion
10. References (correct formats are provided below)
11. Tables / Charts / Figures in order referenced in main text
12. Units of measure list or statement (when applicable)

2. Structured Review* — a structured, rigorous review of published and “grey” literature to be used to clarify areas in which there seems to be lack of consensus. This may include meta-analysis, systematic review, realist review, or scoping review. The format for submission should be the same as that described above for Original Research.  The main text should not exceed 4,000 words (Abstract 375 words).  

The last paragraph of the introduction should clearly state the review question. In all cases, reviews should provide a clear value-proposition. Reviews that simply summarize what studies are available, or whose major conclusion is that insufficient evidence is available, are strongly discouraged. Narrative and unstructured reviews are not suitable for submission to Prehospital and Disaster Medicine.

Reviews must adhere to the PRISMA method, available at: www.prisma-statement.org . The approriate PRISMA Guidelines Checklist must be attached as supplemental material when the manuscript is submitted for consideration.

Reviews that are designed as scoping reviews should be submitted as Research Reports and not Systematic Reviews or Meta-Analyses.  Narrative and unstructured reviews are discouraged for submission to PDM.

3. Innovation Report* — Prehospital and Disaster Medicine encourages the early publication of innovative concepts. This new format replaces the previous category of Research Report. An innovation report is a brief structured report that describes preliminary research findings, activities, or aspects of science that provide information for the progression of knowledge or understanding in the areas of focus for the journal. Innovation reports must describe a novel concept with a clear value proposition. This includes pilot studies, initial reports of innovations, and proof of concept papers.

The abstract and manuscript should be formatted as detailed above for Original Research. The Innovation Report main text should not exceed 2,000 words (not including the abstract, which is limited to 375 words or the References list). 

4. Disaster Report* — Previously called Field Reports, disaster reports provide an analysis of prehospital, emergency health, or disaster events. The main text of a disaster report submitted to Prehospital and Disaster Medicine should be no more than 2,000 words in length, in addition to a 250-word unstructured abstract. Supporting maps, graphs, and tables are encouraged.

Disaster report format must include the following sections:

1. Event Description: Including a list of specific event identifiers:
   • Event type: (example: tropical storm, bombing, train crash, mass-gathering event);           
   • Event Date;
   • Location: Include geographic coordinates in latitude, longitude, elevation where necessary;
   • Response type: (example: medical relief, humanitarian, public health surveillance);
2. Abstract: A 250-word unstructured summary;
3. Introduction: A summary of the event with specific data available, such as population density, detailed event description, general damage that occurred, and the author's role in the response;
4. Source: The source of information and data used for the report, including the name of the health ethics review board providing approval and the reference number;
5. Observations: A detailed description of observations made;
6. Analysis: Details and interpretation of any quantitative or qualitative analysis;
7. References: A numbered list of references in the order in which they appear in the text.

5. Article Commentary — Article commentaries expand on the methods, findings, or interpretation of a manuscript previously published in Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. Commentaries must cite the original manuscript. Political or religious statements and criticisms based upon individual opinion are not acceptable. Studies that include new data should not be submitted to this category. Self-citation and data churning are discouraged. While authors may choose their format, submissions should be well focused with a maximum length of 1,500 words. A maximum of 15 references and two figures are allowed.

Self-citation and data churning are discouraged.

6. Guest Editorial — Guest editorial submissions are considered by invitation only. Please contact the Prehospital and Disaster Medicine Editor-in-Chief to discuss potential guest editorials before submission. Political, religious, biased criticisms, or advertisement material are not accepted.

Educational Studies

While not primarily an educational journal, PDM does occasionally publish educational studies. These studies should be submitted to the appropriate category as original research, structured review, innovation report, disaster report, article commentary, or guest editorial as above. Generally, PDM does not publish educational studies unless they 1) introduce an innovative educational technique not previously published and 2) are widely generalizable to many settings. Educational studies should explicitly state in the introduction how the research was grounded in or framed within educational theory or principles. Educational studies at the higher levels of the Kirkpatrick hierarchy are strongly preferred. Submissions showing groups of learners doing better on tests after training than they did before training or reporting on their satisfaction with a specific training program, are of little generalizable value and are not suitable for publication in PDM.

* These article types may be eligible for APC waivers or discounts under one of the agreements Cambridge University Press has made to support open access.

Manuscript Policies

Human and Animal Subjects

All studies that include human or animal research must be approved by an independent Human or Animal Research Subjects Ethics Committee.  Human subject studies include interviews, surveys, Delphi Studies, medical record reviews, and patient database analyses.  All education studies require Ethics Committee approval.

Authors must provide either A) the name of the research ethics board providing the approval and the identification number in the manuscript text, or B) the name of the research ethics board that provided the exemption and a copy of the exemption letter (uploaded as a supplementary file).

Each author must meet all four criteria for authorship based on the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) including 1) conception and design; 2) drafting or reviewing; 3) final approval of the document; and 4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.(3)

Contributors who meet fewer than all 4 of the above criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors, but should be listed in the acknowledgements. Examples of activities that alone (without other contributions) do not qualify a contributor for authorship are acquisition of funding; general supervision of a research group or general administrative support; writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading.  

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine takes a firm stand against author inflation. When the number of authors appears unusually high given the nature of the research, the article may be returned to the authors for additional clarification of each authors' contribution.

Honorary authorship and including author names for persons who were not part of the research presented or participants in preparation of the manuscript is considered unethical (per COPE Guidelines) and may result in rejection or retraction of a manuscript.

The act of submission to Prehospital and Disaster Medicine indicates confirmation by the submitting author that they have sought and obtained the approval of all co-authors, and that the authorship is in accordance with the journal’s policy.