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JOURNAL
MISSION
The Journal of Veterinary Medical Education publishes both individual
submissions and commissioned papers. Individual submissions are encouraged
in any area pertinent to veterinary education. They may include "Educational
Research Reports," "Reports of Innovations in Veterinary Education,"
or Commentaries on aspects of or issues affecting veterinary education.
We welcome reports from other areas of health sciences education that
may be pertinent to veterinary education.
Commissioned
papers can be either individual papers or part of a theme of papers
of key pertinence to veterinary education commissioned by a member of
the Editorial Board or a Guest Theme Editor. We welcome suggestions
for potential themes. As the Editor or Editorial Board member sees fit,
an individual submission may be included within a theme of papers that
is currently in preparation.
PEER
REVIEW
All papers are subject to peer review. The Journal has an identified
panel of over 150 reviewers and will also seek additional reviewers
as the topic of a paper requires.
HUMAN
SUBJECTS
For any paper describing original work in which human subjects have
been used, that proposed work must have been approved by the Human Subjects
Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the institution within whose jurisdiction
the work is to be undertaken. Each paper reporting the results of such
work must provide a specific notation within the Methods Section that
the IRB has approved that research. HUMAN SUBJECT RESEARCH, FOR MOST
INSTITUTIONS, INCLUDES ALL RESEARCH IN WHICH AN INDIVIDUAL'S OPINION
HAS BEEN SOUGHT IN A CIRCUMSTANCE SUCH AS A SURVEY.
(Note
If a study has been undertaken without IRB sanction when such was needed,
some IRBs will give retroactive approval. Under ALL circumstances, IRB
approval (prior or retroactive) is required for publication in the Journal.
PAPER
FORMAT AND STRUCTURE:
Title
Titles must be succinct and informative.
Authors'
Names and Author Information Section
On the title page list the author name(s) after the article
title, in the following order: first name, initial, last name. Do
not list any academic degrees or credentials of the authors on the
title page.
At the
end of the paper, all papers MUST have an Author Information
section, providing a brief description (2-4 lines) for each
of the authors, including their current academic or business mailing
address, terminal academic degrees, diplomate status if desired, current
position and area of research, and the e-mail address of the primary
author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Other than short Commentaries, all papers MUST include a brief abstract
of the article (maximum of 250 words-no exemptions). The abstract
should be a single paragraph and SHOULD NOT contain headed sections.
The abstract should concentrate on the purpose of the paper, the major
results obtained, and the conclusions of primary interest. Details
of methods should be given within the paper itself.
Key
Words
The use of key subject words is optional, but when key words are used
it is preferable to take them from the list of subjects by which papers
in the Journal are classified. This list can be readily found by clicking
on "Browse Educational Topics" on the home page at http://www.jvmeonline.org/cgi/collection/topics
Abbreviations
Words to be abbreviated should be spelled out in full the first time
they appear in the text, with the abbreviation given in brackets.
Thereafter the abbreviation should be used. It is preferable to use
abbreviations only when the word is used multiple times (i.e., more
than 3 or 4 times).
Divisions
within a Paper-Paper Style
The style of a paper and the divisions used can vary to match the
nature of the topic, especially for commissioned articles. Other than
the requirement for a 250 word abstract there is no prescribed set
of divisions for a paper. The exception to this is that reports of
Educational Research must have Methods, Results, and Discussion sections.
It is CRITICAL to avoid duplication between the Abstract, Introduction,
Results, and Discussions sections. Recognizing that each has a separate
purpose will avoid duplication. In most circumstances it is desirable
to have a short Introduction section explaining the rationale for
the study or report; specific methods used should be documented in
a Method section, and it is most often desirable to have separate
sections for Results and Discussion.
Within
the paper three levels of headings are acceptable. Use boldface
to indicate major headings, italics to indicate the first level of
subheadings, and regular type for the lowest level of subheadings.
Sections should not be numbered. Bulleted lists of sentences or phrases
are acceptable and in many cases superior to plain text.
Tables
Tables should be numbered consecutively in order of citation within
the text, with Arabic numerals, with a simple reference within the
text such as (Table 1). Tables should be created in Microsoft Word
or WordPerfect using the Tables function provided by these programs.
Each table should have a short title and sufficient text with it to
make the table understandable.
Figures
and Figure Captions
Figures should be numbered consecutively in order of citation within
the text, using Arabic numerals, and provided in black and white or
grayscale. Each axis, and each line or bargraph depiction should be
clearly denoted.
Do
not provide screenshots of Web pages, as these are normally of
much too low a resolution. Simply supply a reference to the URL (Web
address) in the appropriate place.
Color
figures: Color figures cannot be used in the printed version but
may be included as a supplement in the eJVME edition. Please contact
the Editorial Office for information.
Figure
captions: Each figure must have a caption that briefly describes
what is presented. This caption must be provided BOTH within the text
of the paper, in a section towards the end of the paper labeled "Figure
Captions," and above the figure, clearly separated from the figure
itself.
References
All quotations and references must be documented with specific citations.
Citations should be numbered in the order of their citation with superscript
numbers. DO NOT use your word processor's Footnotes function to
create superscript numbering, as you may need to use the same reference
number more than once. The software programs Reference Manager, EndNote,
and ProCite may be used. Superscript references should be placed outside
of periods and commas, and inside colons and semicolons. References
are numbered in order of citation. Citations should follow the following
format:
For
journal articles:
1 Smeak DD, Beck ML, Shaffer CA. Evaluation of video tape and a simulator
for instruction of basic surgical skills. Vet Surg 20(1):30-36, 1991.
Please note that the complete article title and the names of all authors
should be cited. Journal titles should be abbreviated following the
abbreviations standards of Index Medicus or Biological Abstracts
(note that abbreviations are never followed by a period, and initials
are not separated by a space).
For
books:
2 Beck A, Katcher A. Between Pets and People: The Importance of
Animal Companionship, 2nd ed. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University
Press, 1998 p127-132.
Note that the book title is capitalized (except for prepositions,
articles, and conjunctions) and italicized. Page numbers or chapter
numbers should be cited to direct the reader to the appropriate section.
For
chapters:
3 Munro H. The battered pet: signs and symptoms. In Ascione FR, Arkow
P, eds. Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Animal Abuse: Linking
the Circles of Compassion for Prevention and Intervention. West
Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1999:240-248.
For
online documents:
4 Brown JP, Silverman, JD. May 1999 Executive Summary: The Current
and Future Market for Veterinarians and Veterinary Medical Services
in the United States. <http://aavmc.org/documents/es199905.htm>.
Accessed 12/22/00. Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges,
Washington, DC, 1999.
Note that the Web address (URL) is enclosed in angle brackets.
Endnotes
(other than references)
Notes may be added at the end of the text to briefly enter explanatory
or supplementary information or the source of materials. They should
not be more than a single sentence. They should be given lower-case
superscript letters (a, b, c…) in the order of their citation
within the text and provided in a section at the end of the paper
labeled NOTES. Use your word processing program's Footnotes
function to create endnotes. In no case should footnotes at the bottom
of each page be used.
Personal
communications
Personal communications are acceptable ONLY IF they are accompanied
by a letter of authorization from those cited. The date of the communication
(day, month, and year) must be supplied. These letters of authorization
must be provided at the time of original submission of the paper.
PREPARING
THE PAPER FOR SUBMISSION
All submitted manuscripts should be in an electronic form. Text must
be in either Microsoft Word or WordPerfect. Papers should be paginated.
Use only a single space between sentences. Double-space all text. Within
the text, hard returns should be used only at the ends of paragraphs
and at the ends of items in lists. Do not insert manual page breaks,
optional hyphens, non-breaking hyphens, or non-breaking spaces within
the text. Use your word processing program's Page Setup functions to
adjust margins when necessary. Do not use the space bar to indent paragraphs.
Use a single, standard font for all text.
Tables
should be created in Microsoft Word or WordPerfect using the Tables
function provided by these programs. Tables should be EITHER at the
end of the text file or submitted in a separate file. It is preferable
that simple tables be at the end of the text file and that only the
more complicated tables be submitted as separate files.
Each Figure
should be submitted as an individual high-resolution (>300 dpi) JPEG
or TIFF file. Figures should NEVER be embedded within the text. Wherever
possible, create figures to fit within a single column of the printed
page (excellent examples can be found in papers published within the
last two years). Lines should be in heavy print, and words should be
large enough and bold enough so that they will be clearly visible and
readable when reduced to the typical journal size. The number of divisions
on the axes should be only enough for an author to visualize the data
(not for the reader to be able to read off a multi-digit number from
the graph). The image file itself should NOT contain the caption.
BRIEF
CHECKLIST FOR SUBMISSION.
1. Have you provided a Title Page?
2. Have you provided an Author Information section at the end of the
paper?
3. Have you provided an Abstract of no more than 250 words?
4. Are your Tables denoted by Arabic numerals, and are they in order
as cited in the text?
5. Are your Tables either at the end of the text file or submitted in
as individual files?
6. Are your Figures denoted by Arabic numerals, and are they in order
as cited in the text?
7. Have all your Figures been submitted as individual TIFF or JPEG files?
8. Have you provided a list of Figure Captions as part of the text document
file?
9. Are your References cited in the required style of the Journal?
10. Have you obtained Human Subjects Approval if needed?
11. Have you obtained permission and submitted documentation for all
Personal Communications cited?
PROCESS
FOR SUBMISSION
All papers are preferably submitted via the eJPress JVME site, which
can be accessed directly at http://jvme.msubmit.net/
Submission by e-mail attachment is acceptable, but this does not normally
provide the full scope of information that is needed for paper submission.
COPY-EDITING
AND PROOFS
All accepted manuscripts are subject to copy-editing. The contact author
is responsible for responding promptly and accurately to copy-editing
queries, which will be sent by e-mail. The contact author will receive
a PDF proof of the article by e-mail. Corrections should be returned
within 3 business days to guarantee inclusion; if not returned promptly,
these may or may not be included, at the Editor's discretion. It
is the submitting author's responsibility to provide the editorial
office with an up to date e-mail address to ensure that these processes
can be accomplished.
Proof correction must not be used as an opportunity to revise the paper.
Any essential changes should take up the same amount of space as the
existing text if possible. Alterations, other than corrections of printer's
errors, are expensive and may be charged to authors. It is particularly
important to read reference lists at the proof stage.
PAGE
CHARGES
There are no page charges for papers published in the Journal.
SUPPLEMENTAL
MATERIAL
Color figures and movies (with color and sound as needed) may be provided
as supplemental material. At the Editor's discretion, these may be posted
on the eJVME Web site OR on a Web site controlled by the author; in
the latter case, the Journal must be given assurance that the Web site
will be fully accessible to the readers for at least a five-year period.
If deposited in the eJVME Web site, it will be available to readers
for an indefinite period.
COPYRIGHT
TRANSFER
Manuscripts are considered for publication with the understanding that
they have not been submitted for consideration or published in whole
or in part elsewhere, in either print or electronic format; that the
work is original; and that the authors holds all rights to the contents
of the article. Upon acceptance of the paper for publication, all authors
must sign a copyright transfer form specifying assignment of the copyright
to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAVMC) for the publication
of the paper in both print and online editions of the Journal.
Any subsequent
publication of a paper elsewhere, once it has been published in the
Journal, requires that permission of the AAVMC be obtained; normally,
a substantial reason will be required as to why such subsequent publication
elsewhere is of benefit to other than the author(s).
INQUIRIES
concerning proposed papers for submission, including questions about
topics that may be suitable for publication, should be submitted to
The JVME
Editorial Office
Journal of Veterinary Medical Education
E-mail: jvme{at}aavmc.org
Phone: (202) 371-9195 X 23
Fax: (202) 842-0773
Postal
Address:
Journal of Veterinary Medical Education
Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges
1101 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 301
Washington, DC 20005-3536
