Editorial
The papers we choose to publish
Medico-Legal Journal 2015, Vol. 83(1) 3 ! The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0025817215573178 mlj.sagepub.com
Daniel Haines Medical Editor
I have written this editorial to encourage authors, especially new authors, to submit their papers and to get them published. If they are accepted they will get a very wide and distinguished audience. They will be disseminated around the world. They should be original, short and interesting. They can be the start of a fulfilling career. The first duty of this Journal is to publish the talks given to the Society. This is for the benefit of those who could not attend the talk and as a record for those who did come. That takes about a third of our available pages. We use the remaining pages for papers offered on research, legal opinions and case reports. Letters are welcome. We are getting increasing numbers of papers submitted, and with limited space we have to decline more submissions. Potential authors may find it useful to know how decisions are made by the Medical Editor together with the Editor.
Interest My forensic medical and dental interests are wide, working as I do as a police surgeon and as an expert witness in the fields of rape, child abuse, interpretation of injuries and forensic dentistry. So my first question about any new paper offered is ‘‘Is it interesting? Does it tell me anything new? Does it expand my thinking in any aspect of my work? Is a reader, legal or medical, likely to read beyond the title?’’ So I will quickly reject ‘‘me too’’ papers that repeat other people’s work in slightly different populations. These include papers on estimating body height from a single bone in a Tamil population, or the sex of a body from a tooth. Such papers would be more useful published locally.
Originality A paper must be original. We continue to be offered papers that have already been accepted or published in another journal. They are sometimes partially rewritten. Plagiarism is an absolute bar. We check each author and each paper with a number of
anti-plagiarism programs. We report authors who plagiarise the work of others to the other forensic medical journals. The editors tend to know and support each other. Parts of previously published books and papers may be quoted verbatim if they are brief, relevant and properly acknowledged.
Brevity Short, concise papers are welcome. Long, rambling papers are boring and should be pre´cised if they are to be considered. As a general rule, 2000 words should be the aim. We simply do not have room for long papers.
Interesting photographs Complex tables and lists should be avoided if possible. A few words expounding an important point are far better than a table that needs to be interpreted by the reader. Pertinent photographs of good quality can be helpful and interesting. Interesting and eye-catching photographs can recommend a paper to both reader and editor. Complex histopathological photographs should be avoided. They convey little to nonhistopathologists.
References There should be a limited number of references. Six or eight may be looked at by the reader, but a whole page is likely to be ignored. That would be a waste of space.
Good English Try to get someone fluent in British English to help with your paper. We try to avoid American English. We like short, concise sentences. Break up any long sentences. If your paper is really interesting, we will try to help, but our time is limited. For further information please visit the manuscript submission guidelines found: http://mlj.sagepub.com/
The papers we choose to publish
Medico-Legal Journal 2015, Vol. 83(1) 3 ! The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0025817215573178 mlj.sagepub.com
Daniel Haines Medical Editor
I have written this editorial to encourage authors, especially new authors, to submit their papers and to get them published. If they are accepted they will get a very wide and distinguished audience. They will be disseminated around the world. They should be original, short and interesting. They can be the start of a fulfilling career. The first duty of this Journal is to publish the talks given to the Society. This is for the benefit of those who could not attend the talk and as a record for those who did come. That takes about a third of our available pages. We use the remaining pages for papers offered on research, legal opinions and case reports. Letters are welcome. We are getting increasing numbers of papers submitted, and with limited space we have to decline more submissions. Potential authors may find it useful to know how decisions are made by the Medical Editor together with the Editor.
Interest My forensic medical and dental interests are wide, working as I do as a police surgeon and as an expert witness in the fields of rape, child abuse, interpretation of injuries and forensic dentistry. So my first question about any new paper offered is ‘‘Is it interesting? Does it tell me anything new? Does it expand my thinking in any aspect of my work? Is a reader, legal or medical, likely to read beyond the title?’’ So I will quickly reject ‘‘me too’’ papers that repeat other people’s work in slightly different populations. These include papers on estimating body height from a single bone in a Tamil population, or the sex of a body from a tooth. Such papers would be more useful published locally.
Originality A paper must be original. We continue to be offered papers that have already been accepted or published in another journal. They are sometimes partially rewritten. Plagiarism is an absolute bar. We check each author and each paper with a number of
anti-plagiarism programs. We report authors who plagiarise the work of others to the other forensic medical journals. The editors tend to know and support each other. Parts of previously published books and papers may be quoted verbatim if they are brief, relevant and properly acknowledged.
Brevity Short, concise papers are welcome. Long, rambling papers are boring and should be pre´cised if they are to be considered. As a general rule, 2000 words should be the aim. We simply do not have room for long papers.
Interesting photographs Complex tables and lists should be avoided if possible. A few words expounding an important point are far better than a table that needs to be interpreted by the reader. Pertinent photographs of good quality can be helpful and interesting. Interesting and eye-catching photographs can recommend a paper to both reader and editor. Complex histopathological photographs should be avoided. They convey little to nonhistopathologists.
References There should be a limited number of references. Six or eight may be looked at by the reader, but a whole page is likely to be ignored. That would be a waste of space.
Good English Try to get someone fluent in British English to help with your paper. We try to avoid American English. We like short, concise sentences. Break up any long sentences. If your paper is really interesting, we will try to help, but our time is limited. For further information please visit the manuscript submission guidelines found: http://mlj.sagepub.com/
