Submitting a KJM Journal Club Article

Goal: To educate authors on how to critically appraise evidence from peer-reviewed articles.

KJM Journal Club articles are designed to help authors:

       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

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 will highlight a clinically relevant study in medicine published within the past year.

Specifications: Articles will include a formal description of the study, a brief commentary on the clinical implications, and an 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: PROBAST (Prediction model Risk Of Bias Assessment Tool),¹ CASP (Critical Appraisal Skills Programme),² critical appraisal tools from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine,³ the RELEVANT Checklist,⁴ the TRIPOD Adherence Assessment Checklist,⁵ GRADEpro,⁶ or other checklists available through the EQUATOR Network.⁷

Manuscript Requirements: Manuscripts should not exceed 1,500 words (excluding title page, references, and figure legend/table). A limit of one figure and one table is recommended, with a maximum of 15 references. Sample article is available here.

All 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.

Note: 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. Submissions should adhere to the approved appraisal instruments and follow the provided guidelines and instructions.

Links to guidelines and instruments:

  1. 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. https://casp-uk.net/casp-tools-checklists/
  3. https://www.cebm.ox.ac.uk/resources/ebm-tools/critical-appraisal-tools
  4. 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. 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. https://gdt.gradepro.org/app/
  7. https://www.equator-network.org/