Overview for Authors

As per the announcement made by the journal’s owner, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), CMAJ Open will no longer be accepting submissions. Read more…

CMAJ Open is an online open-access journal that welcomes high-quality research from all medical and health disciplines. The journal uses a continuous publishing model in which articles are published when ready, rather than waiting for a specific issue date. Published papers are collected quarterly into an issue.

  • A wide variety of research methodologies are welcome, including randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, case–control studies, cohort studies, qualitative research and surveys. Protocols, methodology papers and pilot studies are also considered.

  • Although large case series of consecutive patients are appropriate for submission, CMAJ Open does not publish single case reports.

  • Studies with local geographic focus or limited generalizability will be considered for publication, as well as those with negative results.

  • Animal studies and pure laboratory studies should be submitted elsewhere.

  • CMAJ Open has a special collection focused on papers that advance the science and practice of patient engagement, a component of patient-oriented research. View more information on the patient-oriented research collection.

Please note that articles submitted to CMAJ Open should not be under consideration by any other journal, including CMAJ.

How to Submit

Detailed instructions for authors and CMAJ Open forms are available on our ScholarOne manuscript submission site and through the links below:

CMAJ Open encourages authors to use reporting guidelines when preparing their manuscripts. See below for required reporting guidelines.

Required Reporting Guidelines

A completed version of the appropriate checklist should be uploaded as a file with your submission and designated as "Reporting Guideline Checklist." See the EQUATOR Network guidelines.

Required reporting guidelines

  • CHEERS: Health economic evaluations

  • CHERRIES: Web-based surveys

  • CONSORT: Randomized controlled trials (please use appropriate extension)

  • COREQ: Qualitative research or SRQR

  • GRIPP2: Reporting patient and public involvement

  • MOOSE: Meta-analyses of observational studies

  • PRISMA: Systematic reviews

  • PRISMA-P: Protocols of systematic reviews and meta-analyses

  • RECORD: Studies using routinely collected observational data

  • SPIRIT: Protocols of randomized controlled trials

  • STARD: Diagnostic accuracy studies

  • SQUIRE: Quality improvement studies

  • SRQR: Qualitative research (or COREQ)

  • STROBE: Observational studies in epidemiology (please use appropriate checklist)

  • TRIPOD: Studies developing, validating or updating a prediction model

For more information on these and other reporting guidelines, see Equator Network.

Review Process

Papers submitted to CMAJ Open will be assessed by medical editors to determine suitability for peer review.

  • CMAJ Open is committed to an open peer review system, in which reviewer comments, author responses and previous versions are available along with the final published version. This provides a manuscript history for readers and serves as a resource for future authors.

  • CMAJ Open does not require reviewers to judge manuscripts on the basis of originality, importance or generalizability of findings.

  • The editor is responsible for the final decision to accept, revise or reject a submission based on the comments made by the reviewers.

View more information about CMAJ Open's editorial process.

Publication Fees

Authors will be asked to pay a publication fee of $2500 CDN plus applicable sales tax upon acceptance of their paper. There are no colour or page charges. That an author can pay will not affect editorial decision-making.

  • Authors who do not have funding to cover publication costs may be eligible for a partial or complete waiver of publication fees.

  • Please note that by submitting a manuscript to CMAJ Open, authors are agreeing to pay the publication fee upon acceptance, unless specific arrangements have been made in writing with CMAJ Open.

View more information on CMAJ Open's publication fees.

Copyright

Authors retain copyright of their published papers for noncommercial use. For more information, see Copyright and permissions.

Editorial Policies

The editorial policies for CMAJ Open reflect best practices, including adherence to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and the Committee on Publication Ethics guidance.

  • Study Registration: Randomized controlled trials must be registered in a clinical trials registry if patient recruitment began on or after July 1, 2005, as per International Committee of Medical Journal Editors guidance. The registry and registration number should be included in the Abstract. If other studies (e.g., systematic reviews) are registered, please include this information in the submission.

  • Data Sharing: Authors of research studies to be published in CMAJ Open are required to supply a data-sharing statement. This is not a request to share data, but to indicate whether or not your data are available for use by other researchers. The statement should indicate the following: (1) whether any, all or portions of the data are available to others; (2) where, through whom, when and on what terms data will be available; (3) how data may be accessed.]

View more information about CMAJ Open's editorial policies.

Publication Process

Once a paper has been accepted, a scientific manuscript editor edits the manuscript for clarity, brevity, style and accuracy. The careful scrutiny at this stage may reveal further areas where information is lacking or clarification is needed. The copyedited manuscript is reviewed by a senior editor before being sent to the corresponding author for approval.

CMAJ Open publishes all accepted articles online at cmajopen.ca without waiting for a specific issue. Publication online determines indexing in PubMed Central and other indexes. The published article will contain information on how it should be cited.

View more information about CMAJ Open's editorial process.

Press Release

CMAJ Open distributes a media release for selected articles on the day of publication. For more information, see our Media page.

Questions

CMAJ Open
1410 Blair Towers Place
Suite 500
Ottawa ON K1J 9B9
Tel 866-971-9171

Email: [email protected]