Where Can I Find More General Advice?

The following links provide more detailed information on how to perform and report research. The links are not exhaustive and if you know of any good resources we have not listed, please let us know. This advice is supplementary to our instructions for authors. The two most important sites to visit are:

the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to view their Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals; and
the Equator network (Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research) which 'seeks to improve reliability and value of medical research literature by promoting transparent and accurate reporting of research studies'. Its website has advice on conducting research and has an authoritative list of reporting statements to use when submitting to journals. These vary according to study design.

The UK Medical Research Council has various resources including a clinical trials toolkit and an archive of papers on ethics and research governance. The University of Oxford's Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine has some useful resources and help with statistics can be found in the BMJ's Statistics at Square One.

For authors from the pharmaceutical industry, the Medical Publishing Insights and Practices (MPIP) initiative has published an author's submission toolkit. The International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) published its Good publication practice for communicating company sponsored medical research: the GPP2 guidelines' in the BMJ in 2009. If you are conducting a systematic review good advice can be found at the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination's website. BMJ editors frequently make presentations to prospective authors, from academia, clinical practice and the pharmaceutical and devices industries. Some that may prove useful are posted here: