Sample Manuscript Feature Articles cover original research such as prospective clinical trials, laboratory research, retrospective clinical analyses (e.g. case series), meta-analyses, or other original scholarly work relevant to the practice of federal medicine. These articles are limited to 4,000 words of text plus an abstract of not more than 200 words. When counting the word total; do not include the abstract, references, or illustrative materials. References, tables, and figures should be sufficient in number to reasonably support the content of the manuscript. As a general rule 1, together they should increase the number of print pages by fewer than 50%, and references should in general be less than 10 years old. Review Articles include scholarly 2 reviews and practice guidelines that thoughtfully summarize and integrate the current literature with the goal of guiding future 3 policy or practice. Review articles should not exceed 4,000 words plus an abstract of not more than 200 words. The Methods section should clearly describe inclusion and/or exclusion criteria for the articles that are used in the review. The listing of references should not exceed 50 and they should generally be selected from those that have 4 been published within the past 5-10 years. Brief Reports present new research findings, data from pilot studies, worthwhile replication studies, or novel therapeutic interventions. Brief reports are limited 5 to 3,000 words, plus an abstract of not more than 200 words. When counting 6 the word total, do not include the abstract, references and illustrative material.
Case Reports describe noteworthy clinical cases, generally a single case but sometimes 2-3 similar cases. The number of references, tables, and figures should be appropriate for the overall length of the paper. In general, no more than 2 tables or 2 figures are indicated. Case Reports are limited to 3,000 words, plus an abstract 7 of not more than 200 words. When counting the word total, do not include the abstract, references and illustrative material. Note that per recent changes in journal policy and practice (see the Editors Message to the Readers of Military Medicine in the December 2012 issue, Mil Med 2012;177(12):iv), Case reports are now listed in the 8 Table of Contents with the prefix "e," and the abstract is published in full in the print journal. However, the full case report will henceforth be available only online. Case reports will still be searchable using PubMed and other on-line search resources. This is the first step in transitioning to more use of on-line publishing which will have a number of advantages including easier access, color images, and supplemental materials. Guest Editorials/Perspectives describe viewpoints, opinions, or proposals that are presented in a scholarly and well supported manner and discuss current knowledge concerning a subject of interest to the readership. Guest Editorials/Perspectives should not exceed 1,500 words and while some references are appropriate these should be kept to a minimum, generally not more than 10. Tables or figures will generally not be accepted with Editorials/Perspectives Commentary is a special category of article that is used at the discretion of the Editorial Board. In general, Commentaries address important, evolving, highly visible, and often controversial topics. These articles may contain an amalgam 9 of literature review, new original data, and
speculative synthesis, with some opportunity for injecting the authors' experiences and opinions. As such, the article content may be more closely aligned with the Original Articles or Reviews, but with some features of Editorials or Commentaries. Letters to the Editor are means 10 of communication to the readership permitting publication of current commentary or responses to issues raised in the contents of Military Medicine. Letters may explain, amplify, correct, or make other 11 comments and should not exceed 1,000 words. While a few references may be appropriate, these should be kept to a minimum. Should the author wish, the phrase "References available from the author(s)" may be placed at the end of the letter. If deemed appropriate by the Editor, the author 12 of the original paper will be invited to provide 13 a response that will be published with the letter. Letters may be edited and may be held for publication until space is available. Letters are not acknowledged. References 1. Gurusamy KS, Junnarkar S, Farouk M, Davidson BR. Day-case versus overnight stay for laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Cochrane Database Syst n2008(3):cd006798. 2. Kasper MR, Lescano AG, Lucas C, Gilles D, Biese BJ, Stolovitz G, Reaves EJ. Diarrhea outbreak during U.S. military training in El Salvador. PLoS One. 2012;7(7):e40404. 3. Department of Defense. Pandemic Influenza Watchboard. January 2011 http://fhp.osd.mil/aiwatchboard. (DoD internal system). 4. Middaugh JP: Pandemic influenza preparedness and community resiliency. JAMA 2008;299(5):566-68.
5. Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC). Pertussis diagnoses among service members and other beneficiaries of the U.S. Military Health System, January 2005-June 2012. MSMR. 2012 Aug;19(8):14-17. 6. Marshall PA. Ethical challenges in study design and informed consent for health research in resource-poor settings: World Health Organization on behalf of the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, report series; No. 5, 2007. Retrieved from: http://www.searo.who.int/linkfiles/rpc_ethical_challenges.pdf; accessed February 4, 2011 7. Kirkpatrick D. Evaluating Training Programs. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 1994. 8. Wade AL, Dye JL, Mohrle CR, Galarneau MR: Head, face, and neck injuries during Operation Iraqi Freedom II: results from the US Navy- Marine Corps Combat Trauma Registry. J Trauma 2007;63: 836-40. 9. emedicine. Classification and complications of traumatic brain injury. Available at http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/326643-overview; accessed May 21, 2008. 10. Mental Health Advisory Team. Mental Health Advisory Team (MHAT) VI: Operation Iraqi Freedom 07-09, Iraq; Operation Enduring Freedom 2009, Afghanistan. Washington, DC: Office of the Surgeon Multinational Force-Iraq and Office of the Surgeon General, United States Army Medical Command; 2009. Available at http://www.armymedicine.army.mil/reports/mhat/mhat_vi/mhat_vi- OIF_Redacted.pdf; accessed August 12, 2011.
11. Department of Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense. VA/DoD clinical practice guideline for the management of post-traumatic stress, version 1.0. Washington, DC: Veterans Health Administration, Department of Defense; 2004. Available at http://www.healthquality.va.gov/ptsd/ptsd_full.pdf; accessed August 12, 2011. 12. United States Army. Field Manual 21-20, Physical Fitness Training. Available at http://www.enlisted.info/field-manuals/fm-21-20-physical-fitness-training.shtml; accessed August 31, 2011. 13. Friedl KE, Vogel JA, Bovee MW, Jones BH. Assessment of body weight standards in male and female army recruits. Army Research Inst of Environmental Medicine, Natick MA. 1989(Technical Report):T15-90. Available at: http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ada224586; accessed September 1, 2011. 14. Zoroya G: Army sees sharp rise in unfit soldiers, USA Today 2010. Available at The USA Today Website URL: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-03-02-unfitsoldiers_n.htm; accessed 13 November 2012. (It is the author's responsibility to provide a functional direct link to the article being referenced.) 15. Ternus, MP (2009). Mom deploys! Effect on military women s health and adolescent risk factors. Presentation at 12th Annual Force Health Protection Conference, Albuquerque, NM. Available at http://www.pdhealth.mil/education/2009_presentations/mom_deploys_effect_on_mi litary_women.pdf; accessed October 11, 2012.