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INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS
Manuscript and Authorship
All manuscripts must be electronic files; we accept Microsoft Word documents (PC or Mac). Manuscripts should ideally be between 2,500–3,000 words and should have an abstract of approximately 250 words. Medical articles should report research, introduce new diagnostic or therapeutic modalities, describe innovations in health care delivery, or review complex or controversial clinical issues in patient care.
The Title Page must include the name of the manuscript and the authors’ names with credentials. The order of the authors’ names is the preference of the authors. Please provide complete contact information including: name, email address, office address, telephone, and fax number.
Your photograph will be published with your article. To assure uniform quality, a professional photograph in a standardized format is preferred. Whenever feasible, we will arrange to have one taken before your manuscript’s deadline.
Reports of research involving human subjects must include a statement that the subjects gave Informed Consent to participate in the study, and that the study has been approved by the institutional review board (IRB). Patient confidentiality must be protected according to the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). A copy of the letter granting approval from the IRB or the animal utilization study committee is required.
All authors must sign a Conflict of Interest Statement when submitting a manuscript for consideration; the statement will be published with the article.
Please note: The Journal of Lancaster General Hospital does not allow chatbot tools such as ChatGPT to be listed as authors. JLGH editors warn authors that the use of these tools can be high risk for plagiarism with inappropriate use of citations, and we require that use of such tools be disclosed.
Style
Articles that describe clinical research should include conventional sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions. For articles such as clinical reviews, which are not suited to this specific segmentation, other appropriate headings should be used to break the article into digestible pieces.
For style guidelines, use Scientific Style and Format. The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (6th edition), published by Cambridge University Press.
A more detailed copy of “JLGH Guidelines for Medical Authors” is available from the Editorial Office.
Illustrations
If you use any previously published pictures, graphs, charts, or other images, you must obtain permission to use copyrighted material PRIOR to submitting your final draft, or the images will not be used. Be aware that all published material is inherently copyrighted, and permission to republish must be obtained even if you were the original author. If you are not sure how to obtain permission, call Maria Boyer at (717) 544-8004.
Acceptable formats for images and figures in your article include JPG, TIFF, and PDF and must have a minimum resolution of 300 ppi. Line-art drawings must have a minimum resolution of 1200 ppi. Graphs created in Excel are acceptable. Do not embed images into other software programs. We suggest you submit no more than six images.
In accordance with HIPAA, please remove any information that might identify the patient (e.g., names, initials, patient account numbers).
Legends
A legend must be included for each figure, table, chart, or graph. Explain what the illustration shows and define all arrows or indicators that are included with the illustration.
Bibliography
All references must be cited in the text. These references must be numbered according to the order of the citation in the text, and not alphabetized.
Also please note that it is essential that all references be inserted with the MS Word™ reference function so that after the article is edited the references will still be numbered properly. Articles without properly inserted numbers will not be accepted. Fifteen references should be considered adequate.
The format for citations is that of the American Medical Association (AMA), as follows:
- McKenna KA, Fogleman CD. Dysmenorrhea. Am Fam Physician. 2021;104(2):164-170.
Review of Manuscripts
Manuscripts are reviewed by the Editor in Chief and outside reviewers. The time between receipt of a submitted manuscript and the decision regarding its publication is between three to six weeks.
Letters to the Editor
The Journal of Lancaster General Hospital welcomes comments on published articles. Letters will be published in both the printed and electronic version of the Journal.
How to Contact Us
Please contact the Managing Editor, Maria M. Boyer, at Maria.Boyer@pennmedicine.upenn.edu to discuss submitting an article or for further information.
The Journal of Lancaster General Hospital
540 North Duke Street, 3rd Floor
P.O. Box 3555
Lancaster, PA 17604-3555
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