Submissions

Author Guidelines

Manuscripts should represent a substantial advance in research in interprofessional education and practice in terms of:

• Originality
• Importance to researchers or practitioners in the field
• Interest for researchers or practitioners outside the field
• Rigorous methodology with conclusions justified by the evidence presented
• Adherence to the highest ethical standards

2. Overview of Editorial Process

Manuscripts that are submitted to the JRIPE online site are initially reviewed by our editors for appropriateness to the journal, and authors are notified by email as to whether or not their manuscripts has been accepted. If accepted the manuscript is sent out to peer reviews for a "blind" review. Please note that peer reviewers are notified that all manuscripts are to be treated with confidentiality, that no copies are to be made, and that they are required to notify editor(s) of any conflicts of interest or biases. Once the peer review process is complete, the author(s) is notified of the status of the manuscript and, if accepted, what steps must be taken to proceed to publication. Authors can expect a substantive edit of their manuscript by their assigned editor that pertains to both content and overall presentation. Upon completion of all revisions, with the approval of both the author and editor, the manuscript is then cleared for publication and moved into the production stage (see item 5). Author Submission <--> Editors <--> Peer Reviewers --> Editors <--> Authors

3. Preparation of Research Manuscripts

JRIPE encourages the submission of both substantial full-length bodies of work and shorter manuscripts that report novel findings that might be based on a more limited range of experiments. The writing style should be concise and accessible, avoiding jargon so that the paper is understandable for readers outside a specialty or those whose first language is not English. Editors will make suggestions for how to achieve this, as well as suggestions for cuts or additions that could be made to the article to strengthen the argument.

Cover letter
Please explain how your manuscript will inspire other professionals in the field or in other disciplines, and how it will drive forward the understanding of interprofessional processes and patient care. Please include your cover letter as the first page of your submitted manuscript.

Organization of the Manuscript
Most articles published in JRIPE will be organized into the following sections: title, authors, affiliations, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, references, acknowledgments, and figure legends. Uniformity in format will help readers and users of the journal.

We recognize, however, that this format is not ideal for all types of studies. If you have a manuscript that would benefit from a different format, please contact the editors to discuss this further. Although we have no firm length restrictions for the entire manuscript or individual sections, we urge authors to present and discuss their findings concisely.

Our submission system can support a large range of formats for text and graphics, but if you experience difficulties with the site or are concerned about the suitability of your files, please contact the online editor, Matthew Crider (online_editor@jripe.org).

Title
The title should allow sensitive and specific electronic retrieval of the article. It should be comprehensible to readers outside your field. Titles should be presented in title case, meaning that all words except for prepositions, articles, and conjunctions should be capitalized. If the paper is a randomized controlled trial or a meta-analysis, this description should be in the title.

Please also provide a brief ''running head'' of approximately 40 characters.

Authors and Affiliations
Provide the first names and/or initials (if used), middle names or initials (if used), surnames, and affiliations-department, university or organization, city, state/province (if applicable), and country-for all authors. A maximum of 3 accreditations should also be provided.

Corresponding author
One of the authors should be designated as the corresponding author. It is the corresponding author's responsibility to ensure that the author list, and the summary of the author contributions to the study are accurate and complete. If the article has been submitted on behalf of a consortium, all consortium members and affiliations should be listed after the Acknowledgments.

Abstract: The abstract, no more than 200 words, is divided into the following four sections with these headings: Background, Methods and Findings, Conclusions, and Keywords.

Background: This section should describe clearly the rationale for the study being done. It should end with a statement of the specific study hypothesis and/or study objectives.

Methods and Findings: Describe the participants or what was studied. Describe the study design/intervention/main methods used/What was primarily being assessed e.g., primary outcome measure and, if appropriate, over what period. For the main outcomes provide a numerical result if appropriate and a measure of its precision (e.g., 95% confidence interval). Describe any adverse events or side effects.Describe the main limitations of the study.

Conclusions: Provide a general interpretation of the results with any important recommendations for future research. [For a clinical trial provide any trial identification numbers and names (e.g., trial registration number, protocol number or acronym).]

Keywords: A list of words should be included that describe the topic of your manuscript (5 keywords, maximum). The editors or copyeditor may provide suggestions for you.

Introduction
As you compose the introduction, think of readers who are not experts in this field. Include a brief review of the key literature. If there are relevant controversies or disagreements in the field, they should be mentioned so that a non-expert reader can delve into these issues further. The introduction should conclude with a brief statement of the overall aim of the experiments and a comment about whether that aim was achieved.

Methods
This section should provide enough detail for reproduction of the findings. Protocols for new methods should be included, but well-established protocols may simply be referenced. Detailed methodology or supporting information relevant to the methodology can be published on our Web site. If appropriate, authors can also report their experiment as videos to enable readers to watch the experiment being performed. Include descriptions of any statistical methods employed. These should conform to the criteria outlined by the Uniform Requirements: Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals e.g., ''Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid relying solely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as the use of P values, which fails to convey important quantitative information.''

Results
The results section should include all relevant positive and negative findings. The section may be divided into subsections, each with a concise subheading. Large datasets, including raw data, should be submitted as supporting files; these are published online alongside the accepted article.As outlined in the Uniform requirements, authors that present statistical data should ''...specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Avoid nontechnical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as 'random' (which implies a randomizing device), 'normal,' 'significant,' 'correlations,' and 'sample.' Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols.''

Discussion
The discussion should be concise and tightly argued. It should start with a brief summary of the main findings. It should include discussion of the generalisability, clinical relevance, strengths, and, most importantly, the limitations of your study. You may also wish to discuss how do the conclusions affect the existing knowledge in the field? How can future research build on these observations? What are the key experiments that must be done?

Acknowledgements
People who contributed to the work, but do not fit the criteria for authors should be listed in the Acknowledgements, along with their contributions. You must also ensure that anyone named in the acknowledgements agrees to being so named.

Abbreviations
Please keep abbreviations to a minimum. List all non-standard abbreviations in alphabetical order, along with their expanded form. Define them as well upon first use in the text. Non-standard abbreviations should not be used unless they appear at least three times in the text. If an abbreviation list is created, please place before acknowledgements.

References
Only published or accepted manuscripts should be included in the reference list. Meetings abstracts, conference talks, or papers that have been submitted but not yet accepted should not be cited. Limited citation of unpublished work should be included in the body of the text only. All personal communications should be supported by a letter from the relevant authors.

JRIPE uses the numbered citation (citation-sequence) method. References are listed and numbered in the order that they appear in the text. In the text, citations should be indicated by the reference number in brackets. Multiple citations within a single set of brackets should be separated by commas, no spaces. Where there are more than three sequential citations, they should be given as a range. Example: [1,3-6,11]. All references will be linked electronically as much as possible to the papers they cite, proper formatting of the references is crucial.

For all references, list all the authors with their last name followed by their first initial (followed by initial of middle name if applicable). Please list all authors of the article, please do not use et al. Please see below for examples of correct referencing:

1. Barrows, H.S. (2000). Problem-based learning applied to medical education, 2nd edition. Springfield, IL: Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.
2. D'Eon, M., Proctor, P., Cassidy, J., McKee, N., & Trinder, K. (2010). Evaluating an interprofessional problem-based learning module on the care of persons living with HIV/AIDS. Journal of Research in Interprofessional Practice and Education, 1, 109-126.
3. Albanese, M. (2010). Problem-based learning. In Tim Swanwick (Ed.), Understanding medical education: Evidence, theory and practice, pp. 37-52. London: Wiley-Blackwell.
4. Reynolds, F. (2003). Initial experiences of interprofessional problem-based learning: A comparison of male and female students' views. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 17, 35-44.
5. Goelen, G., De Clercq, G., Huyens, L., & Kerckofs, E. (2006). Measuring the effect of interprofessional problem-based learning on the attitudes of undergraduate health care students. Medical Education, 40, 555-561.
6. McLean, M. (2003). What can we learn from facilitators and student perceptions of facilitation skills and roles in the first year of a problem-based learning curriculum. BMC Medical Education, 3, 9.
7. Quinlan, K M. (2003). Effects of problem-based learning curricula on faculty learning: New lenses, new questions. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 8, 249-259.
8. Hoffman, K., Hosokawa, Matt, & Blake, Rebecca. (2006). Problem-based learning outcomes: Ten years of experience at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine. Academic Medicine, 81(7), 617-625.
9. Schafer, T., Huenges, B., Burger, A., & Rusche, H. (2006, September 14-18). A randomized control study on the progress in knowledge in a traditional versus problem-based curriculum. Proceedings of the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Association for Medical Education in Europe, Abstract 10H2, p. 208. Genoa, Italy: Otone Congressi.
10. Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education. (2002). Defining IPE. URL: http://www.caipe.org.uk/about-us/defining-ipe/ [February 12, 2012].

Tables
All tables should be saved as separate Microsoft Word (DOC), Rich Text (RTF), or Microsoft Excel (XLS) files and uploaded in Step 4 of the online submission process as supplementary files. Please include explicit mention/markers in the manuscript to indicate where each figure and table should be placed.

Images/FiguresImages/Figures should be saved as separate, high quality, uncompressed graphics files (e.g., PICT, TIFF, BMP, JPEG (uncompressed)). This will enable the journal to compress and/or resize the images as necessary for publication. Images should be uploaded in Step 4 of the online submission process as supplementary files. Please include explicit mention/markers in the manuscript to indicate where each image should be placed.

Multimedia
Multimedia files (audio and/or video) should be saved as separate, high quality, uncompressed multimedia files. This will enable the journal to compress and/or resize the files into a format suitable for publication. Acceptable file formats for audio include WAV, AIFF, MP3, and OGG. Acceptable file formats for video include AVI, MP4, MOV, and OGG. Multimedia files should be uploaded in Step 4 of the online submission process as supplementary files.

Online Metadata
The following information should be included in the online metadata:

Funding
This section should describe sources of funding that have supported the work.

Author Contributions
Please place this information within each author's biography; a detailed list of the contributions of each of the authors.

Competing Interests
This section should list specific competing interests associated with any of the authors. If authors declare that no competing interests exist, then a simple no competing interests is adequate.

Supporting Information
All other supporting information should be saved as separate files and uploaded in Step 4 of the online submission process as supplementary files.

Online Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted for review in either Microsoft Word (DOC) or Rich Text (RTF) formats. The manuscript file should be uploaded in Step 3 of the online submission process.

As your article will be peer reviewed, please check to make sure that you have deleted author information from the properties section of both your article and any tables/figures/images. To do so, before you upload your submission, please open each of your submission files and go to "File," scroll down to properties, click, and then delete author information, the title is okay to leave in as well as keywords.All figures and tables should be saved as separate Microsoft Word (DOC), Rich Text (RTF), or Microsoft Excel (XLS) files and uploaded in Step 4 of the online submission process as supplementary files. Please include explicit mention/markers in the manuscript to indicate where each figure and table should be placed.Images should be saved as separate, high quality, uncompressed graphics files (e.g., PICT, TIFF, BMP, JPEG (uncompressed)). This will enable the journal to compress and/or resize the images as necessary for publication. Images should be uploaded in Step 4 of the online submission process as supplementary files. Please include explicit mention/markers in the manuscript to indicate where each image should be placed.

Multimedia files (audio and/or video) should be saved as separate, high quality, uncompressed multimedia files. This will enable the journal to compress and/or resize the files into a format suitable for publication. Acceptable file formats for audio include WAV, AIFF, MP3, and OGG. Acceptable file formats for video include AVI, MP4, MOV, and OGG. Multimedia files should be uploaded in Step 4 of the online submission process as supplementary files.

Supporting information and Materials Required at Submission
JRIPE is committed to the highest ethical standards in scientific research. Accordingly, we ask authors to provide specific information regarding ethical treatment of research participants, patient consent, patient privacy, protocols, authorship, and competing interests. We also ask that reports of certain specific types of studies adhere to generally accepted standards. Our requirements are based on the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, issued by the International Committee for Medical Journal Editors and are enumerated below.

Human and Animal Research
All research involving humans and animals must have been approved by the authors' institutional review board or equivalent committee. In the case of human participants, informed consent must have been obtained, and all clinical investigation must have been conducted according to the principles expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki. Authors should submit a statement from the ethics committee or institutional review board indicating approval of the research. We also encourage authors to submit a sample of a patient consent form, and may require submission on particular occasions.

Patient Privacy and Informed Consent for Publication
Our human participant policy conforms to the Uniform Requirements of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors: Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication.
Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve, and informed consent for publication should be obtained if there is any doubt. If data are changed to protect anonymity, authors should provide assurance that alterations of the data do not distort scientific meaning. When informed consent has been obtained it should be indicated in the published article. Material required for the submission of

4. Specific Study Types

a. Clinical Trials
We follow the WHO definition of a clinical trial:
''A clinical trial is any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes. Interventions include but are not restricted to drugs, cells and other biological products, surgical procedures, radiologic procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, process-of-care changes, preventive care, etc.''

JRIPE supports the position of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) on trial registration. See the ICMJE FAQ on trial registration for further details. The WHO's list of approved registries is listed here.

Authors of randomized controlled trials must adhere to the CONSORT reporting guidelines appropriate to their trial design. Please check the CONSORT statement web site for information on the appropriate guidelines for specific trial types. Before the paper can enter peer review authors must: 1) name in the paper trial registry, trial registration number, and IRB and 2) provide a copy of the trial protocol and a completed CONSORT checklist as supporting files. The CONSORT flow diagram must be included as Figure 1. Any deviation from the trial protocol must be explained in the paper. Authors must explicitly discuss informed consent in their paper, and JRIPE reserves the right to ask for a copy of the patient consent form. Information on statistical methods or participants beyond what is indicated in the CONSORT statement should be reported in the Methods section.

b. Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials
Reports of meta-analyses of randomized controlled studies should use the QUOROM statement as a guide (Moher D, Cook DJ, Eastwood S, Olkin I, Rennie D, Stroup DF [1999] Improving the quality of reports of meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials: The QUOROM statement. Lancet354: 1896-900), and should include a copy of the QUOROM checklist.

c. Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or problem that can be tested by further research. Articles published in this section should be structured as follows:

Background: This section provides the background to the hypothesis and covers any previously published results on which the hypothesis is based. This section ends with a statement of what is being proposed in the article.

Presentation of the hypothesis: This section gives a detailed presentation of the hypothesis.
Testing the hypothesis: This section describes how the hypothesis can be tested.

Implications of the hypothesis: This section states the consequences the authors expect if the hypothesis were true.

Author Status

JRIPE bases its criteria for authorship on those outlined in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, which are summarized below. However, if you believe that a particular individual should be an author, you may include them, provided they are able to take responsibility for a given part of the study. The contributions of all authors must be described. Contributions that fall short of authorship should be mentioned in the acknowledgements.''

Authorship credit should be based on
1) substantial contribution to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
3) final approval of the version to be published.

Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, and 3.

When a large, multi-center group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship defined above and editors will ask these individuals to complete journal-specific author and competing interests disclosure forms. When submitting a group author manuscript, the corresponding author should clearly indicate the preferred citation and should clearly identify all individual authors as well as the group name.

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, alone, does not justify authorship. All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.''

Competing Interests
All authors will be asked to declare whether they have any financial, personal or professional interests that could be construed to have influenced their paper. Reviewers are also asked to declare any interests that might interfere with their objective assessment of a manuscript. Any relevant competing interests of authors must be available to editors and reviewers during the review process and will be stated in published articles.

Prior Publication
If related work has been published elsewhere, then a copy must be included with the article submitted to JRIPE. Reviewers will be asked to comment on the overlap between related submissions.

5. Outline of the Production Process

Once an article has been accepted for publication, the manuscript file is transferred to the managing editor who assigns a copy editor to the manuscript. Copyediting is important for clarification of any areas that may not be clear to a broad readership and also to ensure that the manuscript meets JRIPE's online publication style (e.g., consistency as to spelling, referencing, headings, etc.).

Copyediting changes are cleared with the managing editor who sends queries directly to the corresponding author. An author corresponds with the managing editor until all queries are resolved. The corresponding author of a multi-authored manuscript is responsible for the accuracy of the manuscript, and approving all changes on behalf of a co-authored manuscript. Once this copyedited version is complete, no other rewrites or revisions to content may be made. The final manuscript is cleared with the managing editor who then sends it to the designer.

When the designer has finished laying out the manuscript, a PDF is generated and sent back to the managing editor who sends copies to both the corresponding author and a proofreader who proofs for typos, consistency of paragraphs, page numbering, and correct insertion of tables and figures. The author is responsible for the accuracy of the manuscript. The author and the proofreader send back the proofed manuscript to the managing editor who coordinates the implementation of all changes with the designer. A final proof is sent back to the author.

The manuscript is then published along with other manuscripts designated for a particular issue of JRIPE. A final PDF is provided to the corresponding author to distribute to co-authors.

At all points, the prompt return of the copyedited manuscript or proofs by authors will expedite the production process.

Managing Editor <--> Copyeditors <--> Managing Editor <--> AuthorManaging Editor <--> Designer <--> Managing Editor <--> Author/ProofreaderManaging Editor <--> Designer --> Managing Editor --> Publish/PDF to Author

Once the article has been typeset, PDF proofs are generated so that authors can approve all editing and layout. The prompt return of proofs by authors will expedite the production process.

6. Embargoes and the Media

Authors are at liberty to present and discuss their findings ahead of publication: at medical or scientific conferences, on preprint servers, and in blogs, wikis and other informal communication channels. We recommend, however, that authors not contact the media or respond to such contact unless an article has been accepted for publication and an embargo date has been established. Respect for press embargoes will help to ensure that your work is reported accurately in the popular media, and that the full peer-reviewed paper is freely available to any interested reader when the news item is published. If a journalist has covered a piece of work ahead of publication, this will not affect consideration of the work for publication. All journal content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.