The Annals of Behavioral Science and Medical Education is a peer-reviewed journal that is specifically intended to meet the needs of professionals teaching the integration of behavioral science knowledge and skills in medicine. Manuscripts will be considered only if they have not been published elsewhere and are not currently under consideration for publication by another journal. Most manuscripts fall into one of the following categories:
Conceptual Work: Essays exploring issues of importance in the field.
Original Research: Report involving the collection of data, organized into Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections.
Review Papers: A comprehensive review of published work in a specific area.
Communications: Brief reports, generally less than 1,500 words, on a topic of interest.
Educational Material and Reports: Course descriptions and evaluative material useful to others working in the field.
Reviews of Book, Software, and Audiovisual Material: Critiques of books, computer programs, and tapes relevant to behavioral science and medical education.
Letters to the Editor: Brief comments on articles published in the Annals or other information of interest to readers.
Manuscripts should conform to the 4th Edition of "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" (N Eng J Med 1991; 324:424-8). For questions about style consult the American Medical Association Manual of Style (Iverson CI, Dan BB, Glitman P, et al. American Medical Association Manual of Style. 8th ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkens, 1989). Keep abbreviations and acronyms to a minimum and spell out when first introduced in the manuscript.
Manuscript should be typed on one side of 8½ × 11-inch white paper and be double spaced with 1 inch margins right and left. If prepared on a word processor, use letter-quality printing and do not justify the right margin. Number pages consecutively, in the upper right hand corner, beginning with the title page. Arrange the manuscript in the following sequence, with each section beginning on a new page: title page; abstract; text; acknowledgements; references; individual tables; and figure legends.
Title Page: This page should contain the title, each author's name with highest academic degree, institutional affiliation and address, and the address, and office and home telephone numbers of the author responsible for correspondence about the manuscript.
Abstract: Include an abstract of 50 to 150 words.
Key Words: Up to five key words or short phrases should be added to the bottom of the abstract page. Use terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of Index Medicus when available and appropriate.
References: Number references in the text in the order of citation; arrange them numerically, not alphabetically, in the reference list, which should be double spaced. Follow the style used in the Index Medicus.
Tables: Tables should be self-explanatory, clearly organized, and supplemental to the text of the manuscript. Each table should include a title, be typed on a separate page, and be numbered in order of its appearance as called out in the text.
Figures: Submit in triplicate original figures. Symbols, lettering, and numbering should be clear and large enough to remain legible after the figure has been reduced. On the back of each figure indicate the figure number, author’s last name, and figure orientation ('top'). The figure legends should be typed (double spaced) on a separate sheet of paper.
Permissions: Permissions should be obtained from the author for the use of illustrations, tables, and other materials taken from previously published works such as quotes, poetry, or songs not in the public domain. The letters of permission should accompany the manuscript. The original source should be mentioned in a illustration legend or table footnote.
Numbers: written out through nine (except for age); numerals
10 or greater
Citations: 1 1,2 3-6
Punctuation and citations: .”15 period (or other punctuation) then
quotes---- then (as needed) citation
Journal article: Lastname Initial(s), Lastname Initial(s). Title (cap first word and first word after any punctuation (eg :). J Name in Abbrev Year;Vol:p-p.
Book: Lastname Initial(s). Title with All Appropriate Words Capped. City, ST:Publisher;year.
Chapter: Lastname Init. Title of chapter. In: Lastname initial(s), Lastname initial(s) (eds). Title of Book. City, ST:Publisher;Year,pg-pg .
Page numbers: Include only non repeated numbers
15-27 22-6 185-8 276-81 397-406
Health care: Two words
Care giver: Two words
Child care: Two words
Cost benefit: Two words; but cost-benefit analysis
Key words: don’t cap any except proper names
Counter-transference (hyphenate)
Worldview (one word in cultural/ethnic/etc articles)
Dots after degree letters in title of article, footnotes, acknowledgements
Always use terminal comma before “and” in a series
African American (no hyphen)
Sociocultural: one word
Susbtitles: Cap All Main Words
Lifestyle: one word
Lifelong: one word
Thousands: #,### (use comma)
U.S. (use dots)
Italicize foreign words: vis a vis; a priori; ad hoc
t-tests (note italicize t)
Judgment (no e)
et al. (note dot)
Submit four copies of each element of the manuscript to:
Don Self, Ph.D.., Editor,
Texas A&M College of Medicine
102 Reynolds Medical Bldg,
College Station, TX 77843-1114
Covering Letter: The covering letter should be signed by all authors and should include the name, address, and telephone number of the corresponding author. The letter should indicate that the manuscript is original, has not been published previously and is not under consideration elsewhere, and that the final version has been seen and approved by all authors.
Copyright Transfer: In the cover letter, include one of the two following statements, signed by all authors:
Copyright Transfer: “In consideration of the Association for the Behavioral Sciences and Medical Education (ABSAME) taking action in reviewing and editing this submission, the author(s) undersigned hereby transfer(s) all rights, title and interest in the work, including copyright ownership, to ABSAME in the event that this work is published by ABSAME. In making this transfer of ownership it is understood that all accepted manuscripts become the permanent property of ABSAME and may not be published elsewhere without express written permission from ABSAME.”
Federal Employment: “I was (we were) an employee (employees) of the United States Federal Government when this work was prepared for publication; therefore, it is not protected by the Copyright Act and there is no copyright of which the ownership can be transferred.”
Conflict of Interest: In the cover letter, disclose any commercial association that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted paper.
Peer Review: Manuscripts are initially reviewed by the editors for suitability and adherence to the guidelines outlined above. Acceptable manuscripts are then sent out for review by specialists in various disciplines.
Editorial Decision: A decision about acceptance, revision or rejection is sent to the corresponding author.
Copy Editing: When an article is accepted, it will be edited to conform to ABSAME's style. An edited manuscript will be sent to the corresponding author for review prior to publication. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work, including any changes made by the editors and authorized by the corresponding author.
Manuscripts on disk: Authors of accepted manuscripts are encouraged to supply an electronic version of their manuscript on disk. Because nearly all manuscripts require some revision, disks should not be sent with the initial submission. The disk should be labeled with the date, the manuscript number, the first author's name, and the software and hardware used. The cover letter should include a statement, signed by the corresponding author, that the electronic file matches the hard copy of the revised manuscript. Discrepancies between the disk and the hard copy may result in a delay of publication.
All sections of the manuscript except tables should be included in a single file, in the order specified above. The disk format should preferably be IBM-compatible; Macintosh users should save their manuscript file either as MS-DOS or in ASCII form on an IBM-compatible disk. It is further suggested that all authors, regardless of the work-processing software used, also save an ASCII version of their manuscript.
The electronic file should be prepared accurately, consistently, and simply, avoiding the use of special fonts or elaborate formatting for aesthetics. Paragraphs should be formatted the same way throughout. The lowercase “ell” (l) and the number “one” (1), as well as the capital “oh” (O) and the numeral “zero”(0), should be used correctly, not interchangeably. Greek symbols, diacritical marks, italics, superscripts, and subscripts should be typed in the electronic file using software features as much as possible. When a special character cannot be typed in the file, it should be represented by an available character that is not otherwise used, and authors should provide a translation key to those characters in the cover letter.
Authors should be aware that the electronic file is considered final material
for their manuscript.