Manuscript preparation and the (re)submission of articles have created a significant workload for researchers in the biomedical sciences. On average, it takes from four hours to several days to (re)format and (re)submit an article, mostly due to variations in structural and formatting requirements posed by academic journals. This impacts ALL academics in biomedical research - if you are an academic, you are familiar with the pain. We estimate ~230 million USD lost in 2021 alone due to differing manuscript submission guidelines. Should the current practice remain unchanged, we estimate that ~2.5 billion USD could be lost between now and 2030 – solely due to reformatting articles after editorial rejections.

➜ Please click here to read about our method of estimation

 

 

We analysed >300 leading biomedical journals and interviewed both researchers and senior editors at biomedical journals to investigate how to change the status quo.

Based on what we learned, we advocate that all biomedical journals adopt free-format first submissions with a minimal set of requirements. This set of requirements is presented below:

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1) Abstract of maximum ~300 words that includes information on the project background, methods, results, and conclusions

2) Main body of maximum ~3,000-5,000 words, with sections that include information on the project background, methods, results, and discussion and contextualisation of the findings

3) If the manuscript differs substantially from these requirements, please explain the reasons for this to the managing editor (e.g., via the cover letter or the comment box during submission)

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We have recently published the results of our analysis and proposed solution in BMC Medicine, a leading biomedical journal. Our paper has been peer-reviewed and also reviewed by a health economist. Please read our work for further details.

 

 

Publishers and/or the editorial-advisory boards of biomedical journals have the mandate to implement this simple system. Failure to do so will continue to place an immense time constraint and financial burden on researchers.

If you agree with the systemic change that we propose, please sign this petition. Your signature will help our message gain more impact. Please also share this petition with your colleagues!

The faster we act, the more time and research funding we can save.