A clinical publication of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Published by Quadrant HealthCom, Inc.

The mission of Sexuality, Reproduction & Menopause is to provide readers with immediately applicable, evidence-based clinical information. To that end, we invite physicians who have expertise in a specific area of women’s health and reproductive medicine to submit articles to this publication.

Articles should draw upon both the author’s vast experience and the findings of well-constructed trials. As is common practice when writing research articles, supporting references to other research articles should be cited. A typical feature article contains between 15 and 30 references to published data.

The author also should choose at least one high-quality, evidence-based study from among those references and discuss it in detail. The author should explain his or her rationale for the key recommendations made in the article.

The article should thoroughly address the practical concerns of front-line clinicians as they relate to the chosen topic. Such concerns may include the level of skill needed to perform a particular procedure, CPT coding and reimbursement levels for a given treatment, equipment or instruments needed to perform a procedure, and the potential medicolegal implications behind an unsatisfactory outcome.

We ask authors to keep feature articles submitted to SRM at a word count of 2,000–2,500, excluding references. Shorter articles also are accepted if they are highly focused and lend themselves to succinct discussion.

We request that the author supply between 2 and 5 graphics (tables, figures or clinical images) to illustrate the article. Please include these materials, when feasible, at the end of the article, following the references. The author should obtain permission to reprint any images, illustrations, tables, or graphs before submitting the manuscript to Sexuality, Reproduction & Menopause. Please submit images as high-resolution .jpg files.

We also require the author to provide 4 to 5 bulleted phrases or sentences, called “Key Points,” that reinforce the article’s main message. Key Points are printed throughout the feature article and generally contain the “take home” message intended by the author. Please include these key points at the top of the article.

In addition, please consider the following--

• Fair balance is essential. When discussing an intervention, be sure to compare it with appropriate competing alternatives.
• Emphasize outcomes that are important to patients (e.g., changes in morbidity, mortality, quality of life, and costs rather than biophysical or intermediate outcomes).
• Evaluate appropriate benefits, harms and—when possible—costs and savings, of the interventions.
• Keep in mind that the journal is designed to be a resource for physicians in clinical practice.
• Focus on actionable changes in behavior. Which new behaviors/practices should clinicians adopt once they finish reading your article? Does this material have a direct impact on the patients the clinicians see in their practices?
• Whenever possible and appropriate, distinguish between statistical and clinical significance. If possible, offer suggestions for the translation of “best evidence” into practice, including quality-improvement efforts.
• Plan for feedback from reviewers and editors. Build time into your schedule so that substantive changes can be made to your document, even if it is submitted in “final form”. The journal and its supplements are peer-reviewed. Please understand that this policy produces high quality publications that physicians are more likely to read and perceive as authoritative.

Manuscript Style, Format, and Submission

Manuscripts should conform to the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts (www.icmje.org/index.html) Submitted to Biomedical Journals" (N Engl J Med. 1997; 336:309-15). For questions about style, consult the American Medical Association Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors. 10th ed. Baltimore, Md.: Williams & Wilkins, 2008. Cite references using superscript numerals. Keep abbreviations and acronyms to a minimum and spell out on first reference, e.g., American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). Generic drug names should generally be used. When proprietary brands are used in research, include the brand name in parentheses at first mention, and use the generic throughout.

The title page should include from top to bottom: article title; name, degree, and institutional affiliation of each author; previous presentation of the work, if any; name, address/fax/E-mail of the corresponding author Finally, please include a brief (1- or 2-sentence) disclosure statement addressing affiliations or financial arrangements with any company whose product appears prominently in the manuscript or with any company making a competing product. If no such affiliation or arrangement exists, simply state, “The author reports no affiliation or financial arrangement with any of the companies mentioned in this article or with their competitors.”

When preparing your manuscript, create all text—the body text, tables, figure captions, etc—in Microsoft Word so that it can be edited.

• Do not place borders or section breaks in the manuscript or use other types of formatting that may be difficult to remove or may otherwise make editing difficult.
• Do not use Excel or any other spreadsheet application to create tables; please create tables using the Microsoft Word table program.
• Do not electronically embed citations and references.

PowerPoint may be used if you are providing a graphic illustration, such as a bar graph, that we can recreate; in this instance, supply the numerical data used to create the graphic. Place figures, tables, algorithms, and other accessory material at the end of the file (or in a separate file), and number them consecutively in order of their appearance in the text. Do not embed this material in the body of the text.

Electronic submission is preferred. Please send your manuscript as an email attachment to kathy.christie@qhc.com. After the manuscript is submitted and passes the initial review for topic appropriateness, it will then undergo peer review by a member of the editorial board or designated specialist. The corresponding author of a manuscript that is accepted for publication will be notified and asked to sign copyright and author agreements.