JIM welcomes submissions of various types of articles, including the following:

• Brief Communications

Brief Communications are short manuscripts that have important and generally preliminary data on a specific issue. They should not exceed 1000 words, 5 illustrations and 20 references.

• Case Reports (with or without accompanying Literature Review)

Case Reports present a notable medical case or series of related cases of particular interest to the field of inherited metabolic disease and newborn screening. Case Reports can be accompanied by a Review of the literature on the specific topic covered in the manuscript.

• Clinical Protocols

Clinical Protocols describe protocols referring to proposed or ongoing trials that have not completed participant recruitment at the time of submission.

• Clinical Trials

All clinical trials submitted for consideration for publication in JIM must be registered according to the ICMJE guidelines.

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) defines a clinical trial as “any research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or comparison groups to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome. Studies designed for other purposes, such as to study pharmacokinetics or major toxicity (e.g., phase 1 trials), are exempt.”.

For definitions and further information, please see the section found in the ICMJE Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. Please note, however, that, unlike ICMJE, JIM does not require trials to be registered before the participant enrollment begins, although our journal strongly encourages this practice. When submitting your manuscript, please include the unique trial identification number and the name of the registry (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov or ISRCTN Registry) in the Cover Letter, at the end of the Abstract and in the Materials and Methods section of the main text.

• Commentaries and Perspective Articles

Commentaries and Perspective Articles are short articles that are similar to Editorials, although they provide a more detailed discussion on a specific topic.

• Conference Proceedings

Conference proceedings consist of a collection of abstracts and/or posters that were presented at an association’s conference. These articles provide opportunities for researchers to present their research and gain insights from other researchers and colleagues in their field.

• Editorials

Editorials are short articles that provide insight into issues of topical importance to the journal’s target audience or researchers. The articles should provide an expert perspective on a topic of recent interest. This contribution is usually solicited by the Editors. If unsolicited, the authors are advised to contact the Editor-in-Chief or the editorial team (submission.jim@verduci.it) with an outline of the proposed review and CV of the authors.

• Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor consist of comments on an article published in JIM. Inclusion of Letters to the Editor in the journal is at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief, and they may undergo external peer review. All Letters to the Editor will be subsequently sent to the author of the original article, who will have 60 days to provide a Reply to be published alongside the Letter.

• Meta-Analyses

Meta-analyses use statistical methods to combine data from multiple and systematically selected studies. These manuscripts should be based on a rigorous methodological and statistical approach described in detail in the methods section, applied to a relevant basic or clinical issue. This contribution may also undergo statistical revision. Meta-analyses should be conducted according to the recommendations of PRISMA.

• Meeting Reports

Meeting Reports are synopses of meetings and symposia, usually shorter than six journal pages (22000 characters including spaces). Reports must be submitted within three weeks of the end of the meeting. Authors should contact the Editor-in-Chief or the editorial team (submission.jim@verduci.it) prior to submitting Meeting Reports.

• Opinion Papers

Opinion Papers should be solicited by the Editor-in-Chief and deal with a controversial topic in either basic or clinical topic on which the author, a recognized expert in the field, is invited to express his/her personal views and interpretation.

• Original Articles

Original Articles should present novel work that makes a significant impact within the aims and scope of the journal, and which provides an important advancement in the reader’s knowledge or understanding. Supporting data or additional experimental details can be submitted as Supplementary Information. Original Articles may be recommended to be resubmitted as a Short Communications at the discretion of the Editors.

• Systematic Reviews

Systematic Reviews should systematically include, appraise and summarize evidence on a specific topic. Systematic Reviews should be conducted according to the recommendations of PRISMA.

• Reviews

Reviews are comprehensive or narrative appraisals of research in a particular field of current interest. Reviews highlight recent advances in research, current challenges and unmet needs. Authors are also encouraged to provide their perspective on current progress and future directions.

• Standard Methods and Operating Procedures

Standard Methods and Operating Procedures articles provide an overview of a novel method, test or Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) related to the field of inherited metabolic diseases. The method described may be either novel or could provide a demonstrable improvement of a pre-existing method.

• Other studies

Other guidelines have been developed and should be followed for different study designs:

– CONSORT for randomized trials;
– STROBE for observational studies;
– STARD for studies of diagnostic accuracy;
– STROBE-MR for Mendelian randomization (MR) studies.

In particular, good sources for reporting guidelines are the EQUATOR Network and the NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.