Submitting a KJM Journal Club Article

Each KJM Journal Club article will feature a trainee as the first author, working with at least one mentor as a senior author. The article highlights a clinically relevant study in medicine published within the past year. The goal of KJM Journal Club is to educate authors on how to critically appraise evidence from peer-reviewed articles. A sample article is available at the Journal of Perinatology.

ALL KJM JOURNAL CLUB SUBMISSIONS REQUIRE PRE-APPROVAL. To begin the process, please submit the article to be critiqued along with the proposed appraisal instrument to kjm@kumc.edu. After pre-approval, you will receive an invitation to submit the full manuscript through the journal’s online submission system for peer review.

KJM Journal Club Submission Requirements

Submissions that do not include these requirements will be declined.

  • Cover Letter to the Editor
  • Main Document
    • Title Page
    • Abbreviations List
    • Main Text (1,500 words max)
    • References (15 max)
    • Keywords using MeSH terms from PubMed (5 max)
  • Tables/Figures when needed (3 combined max)
  • Reporting Guidelines Checklist (also cite in main text; sourced from the EQUATOR Network)
  • Permission to Use Documentation (if applicable)

Important Details For Each Requirement

Please review each section carefully. We cannot accept submissions that do not meet these requirements.

[+] Cover Letter to the Editor

Cover letter addressed to the Editor that includes the corresponding author’s name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address, and identifies the manuscript category (e.g., Original Research, Review, Case Report). The cover letter also should include a publishing statement confirming that the manuscript has not been previously published and is not under consideration by another journal. If this is not the case, please provide an explanation.

[+] Main Document

The main manuscript file must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document. The main text should be double-spaced and formatted in 12-point Times New Roman font, left-aligned, with 1-inch margins on all sides. Pages should be numbered consecutively in the footer, beginning with the title page as page 1. Use italics rather than underlining, except for URL addresses. Do not include line numbers. Avoid using double spaces between sentences or paragraphs. Paragraphs should be indented one-half inch. See Manuscript Preparation | Kansas Journal of Medicine for more detail. The main manuscript document should include the following:

[+] Title Page

The title page (page 1) should contain:

  • Title:  A concise and informative title.
  • Short Title:  An identified short running head.
  • Author Names & Affiliations:  The first name (spelled out), middle initial, and last name of each author with highest academic degree(s) and institutional affiliation. Medical student authors should be labeled based on their academic year (MS-1, MS-2, MS-3, MS-4).
  • Author Emails:  Email addresses of each author.
  • Institution Name:  The name of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work is attributed.
  • Disclaimers:  Any disclaimer. If you have no official institutional or personal disclaimer to declare, you should explicitly state "None."
  • Corresponding Author:  Contact information for the corresponding author.
  • Support Disclosure:  The source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, and/or drugs. If the work described in the manuscript has been formally presented at a scientific meeting, provide the name of the organization, date, and location of the meeting.
  • AI Use Disclosure:  The Kansas Journal of Medicine encourages authors to appropriately use technology throughout the research process. Software that uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) may be used. However, it does not permit the inclusion of ML tools, such as ChatGPT, as authors. If any such tool is used to generate drafts of the submitted manuscript, it must be explicitly disclosed. Learn more about the Use of Artificial Intelligence for Authors on our Submissions page.
  • Acknowledgements:  One or more statements should specify (1) contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship; (2) acknowledgments of technical help; (3) acknowledgments of financial and material support, specifying the nature of the support; and (4) financial relationships that may pose a conflict of interest (adapted from ICMJE).
  • Author Approval Statement:  A statement confirming that each author has reviewed and approved the content of the manuscript.
[+] Abbreviations List

A list of abbreviations used in the manuscript should be provided on a separate page following the title page. Include abbreviations and spelled out meaning.

[+] Main Text

KJM Journal Club articles are designed to help authors learn to do the following:

  1. Summarize article content
  2. Critically evaluate published literature
  3. Use standardized instruments to appraise the quality of evidence, including statistical components
  4. Develop scientific writing skills
  5. Gain experience in the authorship and peer-review process
  6. Demonstrate competencies in writing, reading, and comprehending medical research, culminating in a first-author publication

Articles will include a formal description of the study, a brief commentary on the clinical implications, and an Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) lesson.

[+] Description

Articles will include a formal description of the study.

[+] Commentary

Articles will include a brief commentary on the clinical implications of the study.

[+] Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) Lesson

The EBM lesson will incorporate the use of an appraisal tool to assess the quality of evidence. Examples of such tools include:

  1. PROBAST Wolff RF, Moons KGM, Riley RD, Whiting PF, Westwood M, Collins GS, Reitsma JB, Kleijnen J, Mallett S; PROBAST Group†. PROBAST: A Tool to Assess the Risk of Bias and Applicability of Prediction Model Studies. Ann Intern Med. 2019 Jan 1;170(1):51-58. doi: 10.7326/M18-1376. PMID: 30596875.
  2. CASP Critical Appraisal Checklists
  3. Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine Critical Appraisal Tools
  4. REal Life EVidence AssessmeNt Tool (RELEVANT) Campbell JD, Perry R, Papadopoulos NG, Krishnan J, Brusselle G, Chisholm A, Bjermer L, Thomas M, van Ganse E, van den Berge M, Quint J, Price D, Roche N. The REal Life EVidence AssessmeNt Tool (RELEVANT): development of a novel quality assurance asset to rate observational comparative effectiveness research studies. Clin Transl Allergy. 2019 Mar 27;9:21. doi: 10.1186/s13601-019-0256-9. PMID: 30962876; PMCID: PMC6436213.
  5. TRIPOD Moons KG, Altman DG, Reitsma JB, Ioannidis JP, Macaskill P, Steyerberg EW, Vickers AJ, Ransohoff DF, Collins GS. Transparent Reporting of a multivariable prediction model for Individual Prognosis or Diagnosis (TRIPOD): explanation and elaboration. Ann Intern Med. 2015 Jan 6;162(1):W1-73. doi: 10.7326/M14-0698. PMID: 25560730.
  6. GRADEpro Guideline Development Tool
  7. EQUATOR Network
[+] References

References must be formatted according to the guidelines found on the KJM References page.

Important highlights: Where available, PubMed ID (PMID) numbers for the references must be provided. If PMID numbers are not available, provide DOIs. In-text citations should be formatted using superscript Arabic numerals and listed in consecutive order, following punctuation in most cases. References should be listed in 11pt. font.

[+] Keywords

After the reference section, include 2-5 keywords or short phrases that will assist indexers in cross-indexing your article and that may be published with the abstract. Use only terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus.

[+] Tables/Figures

For KJM Journal Club submissions, tables and figures are limited to a combined maximum of three (3). The Kansas Journal of Medicine follows the AMA Manual of Style, 11th Edition, for table formatting (section 4.1). All tables must be created in Word format or Excel with editable, selectable text. Submitting a graphic image or photo of a table is not acceptable. Cite each table in the text in consecutive order as Table 1, Table 2, etc. Table text should be single spaced and use Times New Roman, 12-point font. Number each table consecutively in the order of its first citation in the text and supply a brief title. Give each column a short heading. Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations. Identify statistical measures of variation such as standard deviation and standard error of the mean. If data are used from another published or unpublished source, obtain permission and acknowledge fully. Tables spanning more than two pages of the Word document may be reformatted during production to appear as supplemental tables. Supplemental tables are not indexed in PubMed.

Figures and Images: Figures must be submitted in an editable format in Microsoft Word. Cite each figure in the text in consecutive order as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. Please include a figure legend. Ensure that each illustration has a caption and is visually clear (i.e., not blurry, fuzzy, difficult to read, etc.). Provide captions to illustrations separately, not embedded in the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used. Authors should submit figures according to the specifications listed below. Use Times New Roman font in your illustrations. Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.

Image Quality: Generally, Authors submit raw image data files to a publishing house in various formats (ppt, pdf, tiff, jpg, xml, etc.). The files are then normalized to produce print or electronic output. The Kansas Journal of Medicine requires the normalized output, which is high-resolution and of sufficient width and quality to be considered archival. Images generated at low resolution for display purposes are not acceptable. Graphics will be rejected if images are not submitted at or above their intended display size. Intended display size is the physical size of a digital image as it will be displayed in the printed product, website, etc.

Example: Image size is 900 pixels wide by 600 pixels in height, and the resolution is 300 dpi.
Pixel dimension/resolution = physical width
900 pixels/300 dpi = 3 inches physical width
600 pixels/300 dpi = 2 inches physical height
Intended Display Size = 3 x 2 inches

The following image resolutions are accepted: Line Art 800 dpi, Combo (Line Art + Halftone) 600 dpi, Halftone 300 dpi. Image files also must be cropped as close to the actual image as possible.

[+] Reporting Guidelines Checklist

As noted above, KJM Journal Club articles must include the appropriate reporting guideline checklist. The checklist must be referenced in the manuscript text, appropriately cited, and included in full as a separate document. Submissions that do not include the required checklist and proper references will be returned.

[+] Permission to Use Documentation (if applicable)

If appropriate, include a copy of the permission to reproduce previously published materials from the publisher or owner of the material; permission to use photographs of identifiable subjects; and permission for the use of personal communications with your submission.

Review these resources prior to submission:


The purpose of KJM journal club articles is to develop critical appraisal skills by systematically evaluating the validity, relevance, and applicability of research findings. These articles are not intended to harshly criticize published work or disparage authors, editors, or journals.

Last modified: July 14, 2026