Instructions for Authors

The Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine (CJRM) is a quarterly peer-reviewed journal available in print form and on the internet. It is the first rural medical journal in the world indexed in Index Medicus, as well as MEDLINE/PubMed databases.

CJRM seeks to promote research into rural health issues, promote rural and remote communities' health, support and inform rural practitioners, provide a forum for debate and discussion of rural medicine, provide practical clinical information to rural practitioners, and influence rural health policy by publishing articles that inform decision-makers.
For all work, its worth repeating, our content needs to be authentically rural.

Material in the following categories will be considered for publication.  Note that only Origional Aticles require an abstract.

Original articles: research studies in rural medicine (3500 words or less) with a formal abstract.
This is the core of our work and mission.  Research done in one (or better several) rural communities that deals with a hypothesis that is relevant to the readers.

Country Cardiogram: is usually a thin case and one whose only claim to rural may be its origin, and whose writing centers around a cardiogram and its interpretation

Case reports: a report of an interesting rural case (1500 words or less)
A case report will need some additional flavour of rural in its description and specifically case management. We strongly encourage written permission from the subject of the case (we can provide language or you can use your own).

Literature Reviews: A formal systemic literature review of a rural medicine topic (3500 words or less)
Note that we allow significant wordage here to make it formal and authoritative, rather than an essay with selected references (see other options below).  You need a reproducible lit search, with a criteria based selection of say up to about 90 articles.  There is some need for gravitas and it would help if you collaborate with other authors, or at least have a history of publishing on the topic.  Of course the interpretation of the literature will need application of rural values and realities to support your conclusions.

The Occasional Series: are illustrated practical procedural articles relevant to rural practice. (2000 words or less)
Here we just need a rural doctor's approach with only a handful of references, buttressed with a good number of illustrations / photos for those who learn visually or are in a hurry.  All subjects who are photographed should provide a release.  We are not bound to any given form but again we can supply the language.

Podium Series: A rural physicians opinion about a matter of passion to them and of interest to the general rural medical readership (1000 words or less).  A personal passion
in a rural context has to show in the writing.

Book Review: A short review of a book of interest to our rural medical readership (500 words or less).

What Works: Communication of best practices that work in a rural community and might have general application (1000 words or less).  We
are looking for a protocol or program that has been adopted locally that works for your community and might be applicable elsewhere.

History of the CJRM

Canadian Medical Association, the executive and membership of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada, and the Rural and Remote Area Medicine Conferences' directors. Planning began in 1994, and a publishing agreement was concluded with the CMA in November 1995. The Call-For-Papers was published in CMAJ in December 1995, and the first issue appeared on June 1, 1996. Our Associate Editor, Suzanne Kingsmill, is a professional writer and editor, and our editorial board includes individuals with wide-ranging research experience. Although this combined experience is broad, the details of starting up a new journal have been many, and the learning curve steep.

CJRM scores several "firsts." It is the first Canadian journal to focus exclusively on rural medicine. It is the first in Canada to be produced "from the field" by rural physicians themselves, and be distributed nationally. It is innovative in publishing simultaneously in print and on the internet, and it attempts something unusual in medical publishing - to combine a scholarly medical journal with non-medical general interest material.

Images and Illustrations

Illustrations should be in JPG, EPS, TIFF or GIF formats produced by the camera at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (typically a 2 megapixel or better camera for 10x15 cm image). Do not correct colour or contrasts as our printer will do that. Do not include text or captions in the image. If you need to crop the picture, ensure that you save with the highest quality (lowest compression). Do not scan art or reduce the photos' resolution unless you indicate in the cover letter that you have done so and will also be forwarding high-resolution copies on either CD or as camera-ready art.

Written Permissions

Written permission must be provided for the reproduction of previously published material, for illustrations that identify human subjects, and from any person mentioned in the Acknowledgements or cited as the source of a Personal Communication.

GET IN TOUCH / SEND US YOUR MATERIAL

Submit an Article Online