Articles are commissioned by the Editors from specialists in their field and are based on strict guidelines for content and style. Medicine Publishing (an imprint of Elsevier) does not accept unsolicited articles for any of its journals.

The contributors' manuals provide a complete guide for any author who has been commissioned to write for a Medicine Publishing journal. If you have a query regarding the submission of your article which is not addressed in the appropriate manual, please contact the Publications Manager: journals@medicinepublishing.co.uk

Medicine publishing - Statement of competing interests

Medicine requires that all authors sign a declaration of competing interests. This is sent to all authors when they agree to write for us, if you need another copy of this, please contact us at medicine@medicinepublishing.co.uk.

A competing interest exists when professional judgement concerning a primary interest (such as patients' welfare or the validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain or personal rivalry). It may arise for the authors of a Medicine article when they have a financial interest that may influence their interpretation of their results or those of others.

We believe that to make the best decision on how to deal with a paper we should know about any such competing interests that authors may have. We do not aim to eradicate competing interests - they are almost inevitable. We will not reject papers simply because you have a competing interest but we will make a declaration on whether or not you have competing interests.