Author Guidelines

Consultant is a peer-reviewed medical journal focused on better equipping clinicians in the diagnosis, treatment, management, and follow-up care of their patients from a multidisciplinary team perspective. Relevant topics include any clinical disease or condition seen in general practice or specialty care with an emphasis on how to diagnosis and manage conditions collaboratively with the appropriate peers and specialists along the care continuum.

As the US health system shifts to become less siloed and more integrated, the Consultant journal scope and readership have evolved as well, not only serving primary care providers and general practitioners, but also serving providers in specialty medicine. Articles submitted to the journal should be framed and tailored to Consultant's multidisciplinary audience. 

GENERAL

Authors are encouraged to review “Preparing a Manuscript for Submission to a Medical Journal” published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) prior to submitting an manuscript. Failure to comply with these instructions may result in a delayed review process.

All manuscripts submitted to Consultant must be original; manuscripts are accepted for publication in Consultant with the understanding that their content, all or in part, have not been published elsewhere and will not be published elsewhere, except in abstract form or by the express consent of the Assistant Editorial Director. It is the responsibility of the author to obtain all copyright permissions for use of any previously published figures or tables in their submission. Permission forms and proper credit to the copyright holder must be provided at the time of initial submission. Any instances of research and publication misconduct will be handled in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and internal HMP policy.

Authors should review the full Author Guidelines prior to submitting or emailing any documents. No fees or charges are required for manuscript processing and/or publishing materials in the journal. Manuscripts should be submitted to submissions@consultant360.com.

REQUIRED FOR SUBMISSION

Title page—Including submission title; authorship information with full name, academic degree(s) or credentials, and affiliations of each author; contact information for the corresponding author; disclosures of support; conflicts of interest; number of tables, figures, and images; and manuscript word count (excluding the abstract, figure or table legends, and references)

Manuscript—Blinded manuscript should be in submitted in a Microsoft Word document with the required body sections, references, and table/figure legends. Tables must be in an editable form. Tables/figures/images should be submitted separately. See Article Types below for formatting details.

Author Disclosure form(s)—Each author listed should complete an Author Disclosure form (eg, 4 authors, 4 disclosure forms)

Copyright form—One (1) Copyright form per submission required, completed by corresponding author on behalf of all authors

Patient or parent/guardian consent form (if applicable) 

Provide copies of or written confirmation that informed patient consent was obtained via signed patient consent forms to use and publish all patient photos provided in submission. Consent forms can remain in the author’s archive, so long as written confirmation of proper consent is provided to the Editors via email. Editors will keep record of email confirmation on file. Authors must also indicate within the manuscript text that the patient /guardian has provided informed consent.

Figures & Tables (if applicable) 
Authors should follow the below instructions for submissions with accompanying figures, tables, patient images, and scans:

  • Images should be at least 300 dpi resolution and uploaded with manuscript as separate files.

  • A descriptive title should accompany each table or figure.

  • All abbreviations must be identified in a legend.

  • If the table/figure has been published previously, permission to reprint the figure must be obtained in written from the copyright owner by the author and submitted with the manuscript. Sources should be acknowledged in the legend of the respective figure or table.

References
References should be listed at the end of the manuscript according to the latest American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style. All in-text reference citations should be numbered in sequential order, superscripted, and have a corresponding reference listed in the reference list.

ARTICLE TYPES & REQUIRED SECTIONS

Consultant accepts the following article types for consideration. Each article type should include the accompanying sections within manuscript with some variation allowed. All submissions must have >5 sources.

  • Original Research - Abstract (150-250 words), Introduction, Materials and/or Methods, Results, Discussion, Limitations, Conclusion. An original research article is defined as a research report in which new findings are presented (eg, randomized control trial, case-control study, crossover trial, prospective trial, comparative-effectiveness research). This article type advances scientific knowledge and helps inform clinical practice, treatment options, and management strategies to advance patient care and outcomes. (≤5000 words, excluding title page, abstract, and references) 
  • Review - Abstract (150-250 words), Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Limitations, Conclusion. A review article collates and analyzes the results of multiple studies that measure the same outcome into a single pooled result or estimate; reviews can be conducted systematically using PRISMA Reporting Guidelines or based on a specific topic. 
  • Photoclinic Case Report - Introduction, History, Diagnostic/Laboratory testing, Treatment and management, Outcome and follow-up, Differential Diagnosis, Discussion, and Conclusion. A case report is defined as a paper that reports a specific patient case, outcomes, and follow-up care; these are limited to 1-2 cases and should include clinical images. (≤ 2000 words, excluding title page and references) 
  • Case Series -  Introduction, Materials and/or Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion. A case series article is defined as an observational report in which 3 or more cases describe a similar problem or treatment approach used, and it provides a new perspective to or new evidence related to that problem or approach. (≤3000 words, excluding title page, abstract, and references) 
  • What’s Your Diagnosis? - Case Presentation, Clinical Challenge Question, Differential Diagnosis, Treatment, Patient Outcome and Follow-up, Discussion, and Conclusion. This article type is a case report with an integrated diagnostic question and then reports a specific patient case, outcomes, and follow-up care; these are limited to one case. (≤ 2000 words, excluding title page, abstract, and references)  
  • Commentary - This is an evidence-based opinion piece on topics of interest to readers evaluated by at least one expert reviewer prior to acceptance. The Editors reserve the right to decide whether these submissions require full peer reviews.  
  • Letters to the Editor - Letters should be no more than 500 words with no more than 10 references. Letters commenting on a Consultant article will be considered if they are received within 3 months of the time the article was published. All letters are reviewed by the editors and are selected based upon interest, timeliness, and pertinence, as determined by the editors. The author will be notified of publication determination via email.

REVIEW PROCESS

Plagiarism Screening
Plagiarism is defined as the misappropriation of language, ideas, or thoughts of another without attributing proper credit, or obtaining permission, to use the published or unpublished source material and representing the work as one's own.1,2 Consultant uses iThenticate to verify the originality of manuscripts submitted for consideration. By submitting your manuscript to Consultant, you agree to a plagiarism screening via iThenticate before manuscript is sent for peer review.

Authors are responsible for clearly identifying any non-original or pre-published material and providing the full citation of the original source. Credit and/or courtesy lines for borrowed tables, figures, or data contained therein, should be included. These credit lines must clearly state how and where the material was borrowed from (ie, “data from,” “reproduced from,” “reprinted from”) with complete source information. Permission for such items not in public domain must be obtained in writing from the copyright owner by the author and submitted with the manuscript.

1. World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). Recommendations on Publication Ethics Policies for Medical Journals. World Association of Medical Editors. Accessed April 10, 2022. https://wame.org/recommendations-on-publication-ethics-policies-for-medical-journals 
2. Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Accessed April 10, 2022. https://publicationethics.org/ 

Peer Review
All feature articles are peer reviewed using a double-blind peer-review process. Before a reviewer may accept an invitation to review, they are required to disclose and confirm known competing interests regarding their relationship to the assigned manuscript. If an article is accepted for publication, the corresponding author will be notified via email of the revision requirements supplied by the peer reviewers. During the review process, the reviewers or Editors often request authors revise their manuscript. The final decision on acceptance for publication can be made only after the revised version of the manuscript has been reevaluated. 

Accepted articles will undergo full copyedit and subsequent proof edits to ensure clinical accuracy, clarity, flow, and adherence to the latest AMA style handbook and current journal house style.

Review Time Notice
Due to an increased volume of submissions, submitted manuscripts may not receive a decision email for up to 4 months. To avoid significant delays in the peer-review process or editorial processing of your manuscript, please adhere to all submission guidelines.

ETHICS & EDITORIAL POLICIES

Ethics and Equity Positions
Authors must comply with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines and animal welfare regulations of the author’s institution. Patients have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. 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.

As noted above, authors must provide copies of or written confirmation that informed patient consent was obtained via signed patient consent forms to use and publish all patient photos provided in submission. Consent forms can remain in author/institution secure archive as long as the journal has confirmation permission was obtained. Editors will keep record of email confirmation on file. Authors should also indicate in the published article that human subjects have given informed consent. Any instances of research and publication misconduct will be handled in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and internal HMP policy.

Opinions expressed by authors are their own and not necessarily those of HMP Global, the editorial staff, or any member of the Editorial Advisory Board. The publishers of Consultant accept no responsibility for statements made by contributors or claims made by advertisers, nor does the publication of advertisements constitute or imply endorsement.