Submitting Manuscripts to Biomedical Journals: Common Errors and Helpful Solutions

This article reviews common, but avoidable, errors that authors may make when submitting to a health care–focused, biomedical journal (eg, chiropractic, medicine, nursing, and physical therapy). As editors, we offer suggestions for improving the quality of manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals, provide suggestions for how to avoid making errors, and recommend effective writing and submission strategies. Common errors in the following sections are discussed: title, abstract, key words, introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusion, acknowledgments, references, tables, figures, cover letter, format and writing, submission processes, communication with the editor, revision processes, and proof processes. This article includes a checklist that authors may use before submission and that peer reviewers may use for general critique of a manuscript. The goal of this article is to assist authors with successful manuscript submission and eventual publication.