Submissions

Author Guidelines

JOURNAL OF MANUAL THERAPY SCIENCE (JMTS) - PREPARATION OF ALL ARTICLES

DOCUMENT LAYOUT
Document Type :  Manuscripts must be in MicroSoft Word format (.doc version 2 and above or .docx) or Rich Text Format (.rtf).  If you are using any other word processing program,  you must save the file as an .rtf, .doc or .docx.  APA format is required.

Paper and Margins:  Paper size should be Letter, 21.202cm x 27.83cm (8.5 inches x 11 inches).  The top margin on the title page should be 5.08cm (2 inches) deep; all other pages, the top margin should be 2.54cm (1 inch).  The other margins (right, left and bottom) should all be 2.54cm (1 inch).

Text:  All text should use Times New Roman (or similar).  All document text should be in 10 point font, except the title in 18 point font.  Do not hyphenate at the end of a line.  Use double spacing throughout, including the reference lists, tables and figure legends.  All pages should be numbered consecutively, starting with the Title page.

Start on new page:  After the title page, the abstract, article body, references and authors' contributions sections should each begin on a seperate page.  Other sections do not need to begin on a seperate page, but are to follow in the order listed in these guidelines.  Use bold font to show heading and bold italicized subheadings throughout the manuscript.

Figures and Tables:  These must be submitted as seperate supplementary files (appendices).  Details are in the preparation of supplementary files (after this section) on preparing the manuscript.

Units of measure and abbreviations:  Use the International System of Units (SI) for units measured, such as length, weight, or volume throughout the manuscript.  If you indciate units other than SI units, they may be shown in parentheses after the SI unit (e.g., 2.54cm (1 inch)).  Do not explain abbreviations for units of measurement (e.g., 5mL, not 5 millilitres (mL)) or standard scientific symbols (e.g., K, not Potassium (K).  
Important - The full term for which an abbreviation stands should precede its first use in the text unless it is a standard unit of measure.  Do not use abbreviations in the title, or abbreviations that have other standardized use.

URL Addresses:  In text URL addresses should be activated and ready to click.

Place Names:  As an international journal, for the first references to a place, include the country name as well as the city or province/state designations (as relevant).

SPECIFIC MANUSCRIPT COMPONENTS

TITLE (COVER) PAGE:
The title page should include the article title; Authors' names (followed by their highest academic/professional degree(s); then the authors' institutional department and affiliation; contact information for corresponding author(s) (postal, email, and indication of whether the author consents to the publishing of email).
Important:  Due to the double blind nature of the peer review process used for manuscript consideration, the Title page (page one) must not be included with the original submission.  This page should be placed at the beginning of the manuscript only after it has been accepted and the author is instructed to upload a version for copy editing.

Title:  Article titles should be concise while effectively conveying the topic and specifics that will aid immediate understanding of the article, including research design and population when appropriate.
Authorship:  Only those individuals who contributed directly to the intellectual content of the paper should be listed.  As such, with the implication that all of the following criteria have been met by the author(s) listed:  (a) Conceived and planned the work that led to the report; (b) wrote the paper, or reviewed successive versions and took part in the revision process; and (c) approved the final version. 
Holding positions of administrative leadership, contributing clients, and collecting and assembling data, are not, by themselves, criteria for authorship.  Other persons who have made substantial, direct contributions to the work but cannot be considered authors should be acknowledged with their permission.

ABSTRACT PAGE:
The abstract page begins with the abstract, followed by the subsequent sections:  key words; the word counts of abstract and body text; the number of figures and tables; and the conflict of interest statement.

Abstracts:  Abstracts are critical summaries of the work, indexed in many databases, and the primary introduction of the work to readers.  They must concisely and accurately reflect the work in summary.  Structured abstracts are to be no more than 300 words. 

For reports of quantitative original data the following format applies:  Background, Purpose, Setting, Participants, Research Design, Intervention, Main Outcome Measure(s), Results (including specific effect sizes and statistical significance if possible), and Conclusions.

For clinical trials the above format is also to include Trial Registration information such as trial registry name, registration and URL of the registry. 

For reports of systematic reviews and meta-analyses adhere to the following structure:  Background, Purpose, Data Sources, Study Selection, Data Extraction, Results and Conclusions.
For reports of qualitatitve data, the following format applies:  Background, Purpose, Setting, Participants, Research Design, Results, Conclusions.