Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine
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The Journal of Engineering in Medicine is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal encompassing all aspects of engineering in medicine. Its aim is to record developments and encourage further work in the field throughout the world.
“The Journal has a very active international Editorial Board. We bring expertise throughout Engineering in Medicine and thus publish well reviewed leading papers in the field” Professor Liz Tanner – Queen Mary University of London, UK
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
For more information about the Journal please contact jengmed@sagepub.co.uk
The Journal of Engineering in Medicine is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal encompassing all aspects of engineering in medicine. Its aim is to record developments and encourage further work in the field throughout the world.
The scope extends to:
| Elizabeth Tanner | Queen Mary University of London, UK |
| Tony Unsworth | University of Durham, UK |
| Ali Al-Timemy | University of Baghdad, Iraq |
| Estevam Barbosa de Las Casas | Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil |
| John Brigham | University of Pittsburgh, USA |
| Duanduan Chen | Beijing Institute of Technology. China |
| Magnús Gílason | Reykjavik University, Iceland |
| Claire Jones | Adelaide University, Australia |
| AW Khir | Brunel University, UK |
| Ashraf Khir | University of Durham, UK |
| Damien Lacroix | University of Sheffield, UK |
| Eijiro Maeda | Nagoya University, Japan |
| Koushik Maharatna | University of Southampton, Southampton, UK |
| John Medley | University of Waterloo, Canada |
| Heidi Ploeg | Queen's University, Canada |
| Peter Pott | University of Stuttgart, Germany |
| Nigel Shrive | University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Carolyn Sparrey | Simon Fraser University, Canada |
| Dalton Tay | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore |
| Hani Haider | University of Nebraska Medical Center, USA |
| Lynne Bilston | University of New South Wales, Australia |
| Alan Cottenden | University College, London, UK |
| Constantin Coussios | University of Oxford, UK |
| Nicholas Dunne | Dublin City University, Ireland |
| Maurizio Ferrarin | IRCCS, Fond Don Carlo Gnocchi, Milan, Italy |
| Hélène Follet | Université de Lyon, France |
| Hanna Isaksson | Lund University, Sweden |
| Elise Kaufmann | University of Ghana, Ghana |
| Ron Kikinis | Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
| George Limbert | University of Southampton, UK |
| Laiose McNamara | NUI Galway, Ireland |
| Teruro Murakami | Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan |
| Tom Oxland | University of British Columbia, Canada |
| Cheryl Quenneville | McMaster University, Canada |
| Klaus Radermacher | Aachen University, Germany |
| Thomas Schauer | Technische Universität Berlin, Germany |
| Jos Vander Sloten | Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium |
| Deepak Vashishth | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA |
| Yiannis Ventikos | Monash University, Australia |
| Yiannis Ventikos | University College London, UK |
| Marco Viceconti | University of Bologna, Italy |
| Peter Walker | New York University, School of Medicine, USA |
| Ruth Wilcox | University of Leeds, UK |
| Jian Yao | JY Medical (Shanghai), China |
Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine
This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics
Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/joeim to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer review process.
Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine will be reviewed.
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.
As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that:
- You are submitting your original work
- You have the rights in the work
- You have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you
- You are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal
- It is not being considered for publication elsewhere and
- Has not already been published elsewhere.
Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy. If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.
- What do we publish?
1.1 Aims & Scope
1.2 Article types
1.3 Writing your paper - Editorial policies
2.1 Peer review policy
2.2 Authorship
2.3 Acknowledgements
2.4 Funding
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
2.7 Clinical trials
2.8 Reporting guidelines
2.9 Research Data - Publishing policies
3.1 Publication ethics
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
3.3 Open access and author archiving - Preparing your manuscript
4.1 Formatting
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
4.3 Graphical Abstract Guidelines
4.4 Supplementary material
4.5 Reference style
4.6 English language editing services - Submitting your manuscript
5.1 ORCID
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
5.3 Permissions - On acceptance and publication
6.1 Sage Production
6.2 Online First publication
6.3 Access to your published article
6.4 Promoting your article - Further information
7.1 Appealing the publication decision
Before submitting your manuscript to Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.
Original Article: Describes a piece of original or substantially original research, or some aspect of design development, manufacture, operation and maintenance, or engineering education
Review Article: A critical review of the state-of-the-art with examples of applications in design and profitable manufacture without extensive analysis
Case Study: Describes the application of a technique, procedure or management concept in a real situation
Technical Note: A short, interim statement on a research project or description of some new development
Length
1. In general, Original Articles, Review Papers and Case Studies should not normally exceed 5000 words (with up to 10 illustrations). Longer articles will be considered if the content justifies the length.
2. Technical Notes should not exceed 1500 words and 5 illustrations.
Discussions on papers already published should not exceed 500 words and 2 illustrations.
The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.
1.3.1 Make your article discoverable
When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.
Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication. Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:
• The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors
• The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper
• The author has recommended the reviewer
• The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).
Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors.
The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:
- Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
- Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
- Approved the version to be published,
- Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content
Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.
Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.
Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.
2.3.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:
- Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
- Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
- Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.
Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.
2.3.2 Writing assistance
Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.
Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
It is the policy of Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.
Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.
2.6 Research ethics and patient consent
Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki
Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journal, and all papers reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (orwaived) approval. Please ensure that you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the approval number.
For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.
Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscripttext. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images tobe published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative. Please do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent but thewritten consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file
Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants
Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.
For experiments involving animals (or material from animals, such as cell cultures, brain slices) submitted for publication, the following must be stated explicitly in the Material and Methods section:
- The full proper name (NOT “local” ethics committee) of the institutional or licensing committee which approved the experimental protocols and any relevant details regarding animal welfare and drug side effects;
- The name of the guidelines/regulations which governed how the experiments were CONDUCTED;
- A statement confirming that the experiments have been REPORTED following/in compliance with the ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting in Vivo Experiments) for how to REPORT animal experiments https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines. This means that you will be required to confirm compliance with the ARRIVE guidelines both in the submission site, where you will be asked to fill out a detailed check sheet, and in the Materials and Methods section of your manuscript.
The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study. For example, all randomized controlled trials submitted for publication should include a completed CONSORT flow chart as a cited figure and the completed CONSORT checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses should include the completed PRISMA flow chart as a cited figure and the completed PRISMA checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. The EQUATOR wizard can help you identify the appropriate guideline. Other resources can be found at NLM's Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.
The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.
Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:
- share your research data in a relevant public data repository
- include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
- cite this data in your research
Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.
3.1.1 Plagiarism
Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.
3.1.2 Prior publication
If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.
3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.
3.3 Open access and author archiving
Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.
4. Preparing your manuscript for submission
Only electronic files conforming to the journal's guidelines will be accepted. Preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templatesare available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.
4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.
Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.
4.3 Graphical Abstract Guidelines
Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine is in the process of implementing graphical abstracts as part of its overall initiative to help its researchers to promote their research. A graphical abstract is meant to be a clear, quick and concise pictorial representation of the published research. Please refer to our guidelines on graphical abstracts.
This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files.
Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine adheres to the Sage Vancouver reference style. View the Sage Vancouver guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.
If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Vancouver EndNote output file.
4.6 English language editing services
Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.
Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts.
Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/joeim to login and submit your article online.
IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before creating a new one. If you previously have reviewed or authored for the journal you will probably have one. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.
As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.
The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.
5.2 Information required for completing your submission
You will be asked to provide contact details, academic affiliations and current e-mail addresses for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).
Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.
6. On acceptance and publication
Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.
Online First published final articles online (completed and approved articles awaiting publication) prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.
6.3 Access to your published article
Sage provides all authors with online access to their final article.
Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.
Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Proc IMechE Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine editorial office as follows:
Publishing Editor
Sage Publications Ltd
1 Oliver's Yard, 55 City Road
London, EC1Y 1SP
UK
Email: jengmed@sagepub.co.uk
7.1 Appealing the publication decision
Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their journal. Manymanuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailedwritten description of the error they believe occurred.
If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at publication_ethics@sagepub.com