Editorial Policies
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…
Editorial policies for CMAJ Open reflect best practices, including recommendations and guidance from:
CMAJ Open endorses the ICMJE Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. Additionally, we recommend (and require for some article types), that authors use reporting guidelines in preparing their manuscripts for submission. See the Equator Network for more information or view CMAJ Open's reporting guidelines.
For information on advertising and sponsorship, view CMA's Advertising and Sponsorship Policies.
CMAJ Open policies discussed below:
1. Appeals
Editors are human and sometimes we may make a mistake in decision-making on a submitted paper. If an author believes that their article has been rejected unfairly, CMAJ Open has an appeal process.
In this circumstance, the author should submit an appeal letter using the Author Centre on the journal's online manuscript submission system:
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The appeal letter should address the specific points raised by the editors and reviewers (if applicable) in the decision letter.
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The letter must be submitted within 30 days of the rejection decision letter.
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A revised version of the paper should not be submitted with the appeal request.
When an appeal letter is submitted to the journal, the article, editors' notes and any reviewer comments are reviewed internally by an editor unconnected with the original decision. The editor will determine whether to grant or deny the appeal (i.e., uphold the original decision). The editor's decision is final.
Granting an appeal is not a promise that the journal will eventually accept the paper for publication; rather it is a commitment to consider a new version by fair process, which may include additional peer review and discussion at an editorial meeting.
If an appeal is granted, the author is invited to resubmit a new version of the paper for further consideration:
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This version should address all points raised in the original decision letter and any others outlined in the letter granting the appeal.
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It should be accompanied by a covering letter indicating which changes have been made.
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The author has 30 days to submit the revised paper, but may request an extension at [email protected].
2. Authorship
As per ICMJE guidance, an author is someone who:
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Contributed substantially to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, AND
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Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content, AND
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Gave final approval of the version to be published, AND
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Agreed to act as guarantor of the work (ensuring that questions related to any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved).
Authors are required to provide a contributor's statement showing how each of the people listed as an author fulfills these criteria for authorship.
3. Competiting Interests
Public trust in the scientific process and the credibility of published articles depend in part on how transparently competing interests are handled during the planning, implementation, writing, peer review, editing, and publication of scientific work, as per ICMJE guidance.
The potential for competing interests and bias exists when professional judgment concerning a primary interest (such as patients' welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by one or more secondary interests (e.g., financial gain, personal relationships, academic competition). Perceptions of competing interests are as important as actual competing interests.
CMAJ Open uses the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Specifically, authors are required to provide a declaration of their direct and indirect competing interests on submission to the journal and to supply a completed ICMJE form at revision. These are available to editors for consideration in decision-making. Competing interests for all authors are included in the final published version.
Authors are asked to provide the following information:
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For the work under consideration for publication. The time frame for this reporting is that of the work itself, from the initial conception and planning to the present. The requested information is about resources that the author has received, either directly or indirectly (via their institution), from third parties, such as a government granting agency, charitable foundation or commercial sponsor, to enable them to complete the work.
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Relevant financial activities outside the submitted work. This section asks about the author's financial relationships with entities in the bio-medical arena that could be perceived to influence, or that give the appearance of potentially influencing, what they wrote in the submitted work.
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Intellectual Property. This section asks about patents and copyrights, whether pending, issued, licensed and/or receiving royalties.
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Relationships not covered above. This section is used to report other relationships or activities that readers could perceive to have influenced, or that give the appearance of having influenced, what the authors wrote in the submitted work.
Undisclosed competing interests:CMAJ Open follows ICMJE's guidance on deliberate failure to disclose competing interests. This is considered academic misconduct, requiring initiation of appropriate procedures, which may include notification of the author's institution and funders.
On discovering an undisclosed competing interest, the journal will initiate a cascade of procedures such as those outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Depending on the situation, these may include publication of an expression of concern, notification of and subsequent investigation by the author's institution, or retraction of the article.
4. Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions
As per ICMJE guidance, honest errors are a part of science and publishing and require publication of a correction when they are detected. Corrections are needed for errors of fact.
We ask that authors notify us of any errors by emailing [email protected].
Corrections: Corrections are made for important errors related to scientific content. Factual errors, important errors in the author byline or affiliations, incorrect peer review statements, errors that cause ambiguity or change meaning in the article, missing or incorrect competing interests or funding statements, and missing or wrong references are corrected. Spelling mistakes, incorrect author degrees or contributor statements, missing or misspelled names in the acknowledgements, and errors in references are not corrected.
If an error requires correction, the journal publishes a correction notice as soon as possible. The correction notice details changes from the original version and includes a citation of the original version. Correction notices are indexed and linked to the article.
Depending on the error, the journal may consider replacing the article, issuing an expression of concern or retracting the article.
If the article is replaced, the updated version is clearly marked as updated and includes the date of the update; the previous version(s) remains available.
Expressions of Concern and Retractions: Errors serious enough to invalidate a paper's results and conclusions may require retraction of the paper. (See Scientific Misconduct policy for expressions of concern and retraction related to research misconduct.)
While an article is under investigation, the journal may consider issuing an expression of concern. If a paper is retracted, a retraction notice will be published as soon possible. The retraction notice explains the reason for the retraction and cites the article. Retraction notices are indexed and linked to the article. Retracted articles are clearly labelled as retracted.
5. Data Sharing
As per ICMJE guidance, authors of research studies submitted to CMAJ Open are required to supply a data-sharing statement. This is not a request to share data, but to indicate whether the data are available for use by other researchers. Those using shared data need to acknowledge the source of the data.
Additionally, all reports of clinical trials submitted to the journal that began enrolling participants on or after Jan. 1, 2019, must include a data-sharing statement in the registration of the trial. Changes to the data-sharing plan after registration should be updated in the registry record and clearly described in the statement submitted to CMAJ Open.
The following information should appear in the data-sharing statement:
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Which data will be shared; AND
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Whether individual anonymized participant data will be shared; AND
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Whether associated documents, such as the statistical analysis plan or study protocol, will be available; AND
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When the data will become available and for how long: AND
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The specific requirements for accessing the data (e.g., who is eligible, for what types of analyses, and how the data will be made available).
Examples of data-sharing statements that fulfill ICMJE requirements are available on the ICMJE website.
6. Funding
At submission, authors are required to supply a funding statement that outlines all sources of funding and the role, if any, that the study sponsor(s) had in the study. This includes any aspect of the study from its design, conduct, writing of the manuscript and in the decision to submit the paper for publication. If the funder has had no input, this should be clearly stated.
7. Informed Consent
Patients have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. We follow ICMJE guidance: Identifying information, including names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. Informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt that anonymity can be maintained. Identifiable patients must be shown the manuscript to be published.
CMAJ Open does not publish individual case reports, but patients may be potentially identifiable in some study types (e.g., case series or qualitative research). In this circumstance, authors must confirm on submission that they have obtained fully informed, voluntary and written consent to publish from the patient(s).
The CMAJ consent form may be used but is not mandatory (the form is also available in French, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and Spanish, if required.) We don't require authors to submit a copy of this documentation, but we may ask to see it.
If the patient is deceased or incapable of providing informed consent, the authors should have obtained consent from the patient's next-of-kin, beneficiary or legal guardian.
A declaration that the authors have obtained written informed consent from the patient(s) to publish in CMAJ Open indicates that they have:
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Advised the patient(s) that their name and initials are not included in the manuscript and that you have endeavoured to conceal their identity, but that anonymity cannot be guaranteed and someone may recognize them, AND
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Advised the patient(s) that materials published in CMAJ Open may be reproduced in other works, in print or digital format; this may include electronic communication such as social media, also works that are not derived from CMAJ Open but for which CMA will grant a license to publish or re-use in other formats, including online publications and medical books (and those in languages other than English or French), AND
- Advised the patient(s) that once the manuscript has been accepted for publication, they cannot revoke consent.
8. Peer Review
All papers published in CMAJ Open have undergone peer review with at least 2 peer reviewers. We do not ask reviewers to judge manuscripts on the basis of originality, importance or generalizability of findings; rather, we are looking for their opinion on:
- The strengths and shortcomings of the manuscript and, if possible, how each shortcoming can be addressed;
- Whether the paper is methodologically sound (a brief critical appraisal of the research methods used);
- How well the authors have placed their research in the context of the literature; and
- Adherence to the relevant reporting guideline checklist.
Final Decision: The editor is responsible for the final decision to accept, revise or reject a submission based on the comments made by the reviewers and input by at least 1 other editor along with a statistician, if applicable. A majority of 3 editors is required to accept or reject all manuscripts submitted to the journal.
Open Peer Review:CMAJ Open uses open peer review, in which reviewers are able see the names of the authors and vice versa during the peer review process. Reviewers are asked to include their name, position and institution at the bottom of the review. At publication, reviewer comments, author responses, previous versions and the completed reporting guideline checklist are available along with the final published version.
There may be occasions when reviewers have serious concerns about a manuscript from a research or publication ethics standpoint, such as plagiarism or falsification of data. There is a text box for confidential comments to the editor as part of the review score sheet. This should only be filled in by reviewers when serious breaches in ethics are suspected. This information will be treated as confidential and investigated as required by the journal.
Competing Interests: Reviewers are asked to write a statement outlining any competing interests relevant to the manuscript when completing a review for CMAJ Open. We recognize that many reviewers will have competing interests, but these do not necessarily prevent them from reviewing. Reviewers have an opportunity to decline the invitation to review if they think that their competing interests preclude them from providing fair comment on the manuscript.
Confidentiality: All submitted manuscripts are confidential. If a reviewer wishes to consult with a colleague about a manuscript, we ask that they acknowledge that input on the review and include a statement of their competing interests. It would be preferable to have the colleague register as a reviewer.
9. Preprints
CMAJ Open will consider for publication papers that have previously been deposited in a preprint server and for which the authors retain copyright. We prefer nonprofit, community-based and open access preprint servers that provide preliminary screening for expected standards of research integrity and have policies for handling preprints that violate those standards.
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Authors should inform the journal on submission whether a preprint version exists and provide a link to the preprint version.
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Neither revised versions of the manuscript created during the journal review process nor the published version should replace the draft version on the preprint site.
- Posted preprints should be marked clearly as preliminary, non-peer-reviewed work. To facilitate future publication, the author must retain copyright for the preprint.
10. Protection of Research Participants
On submission, authors will be asked if they have obtained ethics approval for their study from an ethics review committee or institutional review board. Authors will be required to provide the name of the body supplying approval. If the authors did not obtain approval or had received a waiver, they will need to supply a statement explaining the reason (e.g., analysis of publicly available data).
As per ICMJE guidance, investigators should ensure that the planning, conduct and reporting of research involving humans are in accordance with the revised 2013 Helsinki Declaration and should obtain approval to conduct this research from an independent review body. If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the ethics review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.
Approval by a responsible review body does not preclude CMAJ Open editors from forming their own judgment as to whether the conduct of the research was appropriate for publication in the journal.
CMAJ Open does not publish animal studies.
11. Scientific Misconduct
CMAJ Open takes allegations of scientific misconduct seriously. Misconduct does not include honest error.
According to WAME, scientific misconduct in research includes, but is not necessarily limited to:
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Falsification of data: This ranges from fabrication to deceptive selective reporting of findings and omission of conflicting data, or willful suppression and/or distortion of data.
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Plagiarism: The appropriation of the language, ideas, or thoughts of another without crediting their true source, and representation of them as one's own original work. Authors should be aware that CMAJ Open regularly checks for plagiarism in submitted articles, using iThenticate on our manuscript submission system.
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Improprieties of authorship: Improper assignment of credit, such as excluding others, misrepresentation of the same material as original in more than one publication, inclusion of individuals as authors who have not made a definite contribution to the work published; or submission of multi-authored publications without the concurrence of all authors.
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Misappropriation of the ideas of others: an important aspect of scholarly activity is the exchange of ideas among colleagues. Scholars can acquire novel ideas from others during the process of reviewing grant applications and manuscripts. However, improper use of such information can constitute fraud. Wholesale appropriation of such material constitutes misconduct.
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Violation of generally accepted research practices: Serious deviation from accepted practices in proposing or carrying out research, improper manipulation of experiments to obtain biased results, deceptive statistical or analytical manipulations, or improper reporting of results.
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Material failure to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements affecting research: Including but not limited to serious or substantial, repeated, willful violations of applicable local regulations and law involving the use of funds, care of animals, human subjects, investigational drugs, recombinant products, new devices, or radioactive, biologic, or chemical materials.
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Inappropriate behavior in relation to misconduct: This includes unfounded or knowingly false accusations of misconduct, failure to report known or suspected misconduct, withholding or destruction of information relevant to a claim of misconduct and retaliation against persons involved in the allegation or investigation.
CMAJ Open consults guidelines from the Committee on Publication Ethics on managing concerns about potential scientific misconduct before, during and after publication. In general, the process is as follows:
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All allegations of misconduct are referred to the Editor who consults with other CMAJ Group editors and experts, as required, in confidence. As CMAJ Open is a member of COPE (as part of the CMAJ Group), the Editor may also refer the case (anonymized) to COPE for advice.
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The involved parties are contacted by the Editor and given an opportunity to respond to the allegation.
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If a satisfactory response is received from the involved parties, no further action will be undertaken.
- If the response is unsatisfactory, the involved parties will be notified of further action which may include publication of an expression of concern, notification of and subsequent investigation by the author's institution, or retraction of the article.
12. Trial and Study Registration
Randomized controlled trials must be registered in a clinical trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment, if patient recruitment began on or after July 1, 2005, as per ICMJE guidance. Authors will be asked upon submission for the registry and registration number. This information will be included in the published abstract.
If other study types (e.g., systematic reviews) or protocols are registered, this information should be included in the submission. We encourage authors to register their studies.