Manuscript Preparation and Submission Requirement

Preparing a Manuscript: Requirements and Standards

General Format

• All manuscripts must be submitted electronically via Editorial Manager
• Manuscripts should be double spaced and left-justified, including references. Use12-point type, approximately 2 cm margins, and format for A4 paper
• Number all pages, starting with the title page.
• Spell out all acronyms in full at first use.
• Generally, write using the first person, active voice; for example, "We analyzed data," not "Data were analyzed."

File Formats 
Initial Manuscript Submission
For reviewing purposes, Editorial Manager accepts the types listed below. Please be aware that all files you submit at this stage will be combined and converted into a PDF by Editorial Manager for peer-review purposes.

Text Files: MS Word

Graphics Files: MS Word TIFF JPG PDF

Revised Manuscript Submission
For editing purposes, edit-ready files must be submitted through Editorial Manager.

• Text files must be submitted in MS Word, without any links between in-text reference citations and references.
• Table files must be submitted in MS Word.
• Figures must be provided in files that can be opened and edited. In the event that such figure files cannot be provided or editors cannot manipulate the provided files, authors will be required to revise figures as requested during the editorial process. 

MANUSCRIPT COMPONENTS

Preparation of the manuscript for submission requires blinding for peer review. The names of authors and other identifying information in the text and acknowledgments should be removed from the main manuscript file.

Cover Letter

Authors are required to state a short explanation at submission, disclosing all possible conflicts of interest, e.g., funding sources for consultancies or studies of products, in the cover letter to the editors upon initial submission. It is also essential to disclose previous publications based upon the same material by the authors, whether or not they are peer-reviewed, e.g., preliminary studies, working papers, agency and organizational reports, web postings, etc. Please explicitly note the value added of the JCivilAvia submission above and beyond all related previous publications by the authors in the cover letter. In addition, a brief indication of the importance of the manuscript to the field of aviation is helpful to the editors in selecting papers for peer review. 

Title Page

The title page should include the title of the manuscript only. The names of authors should be deleted to ensure double blinding of the paper during the peer review process.

Abstracts

• The abstract should be written in the past tense, third person, and must not exceed given limits.
• The abstract must fully reflect the scope of the manuscript. It cannot contain information that is not also included in the main text.
• The data and findings reported in the abstract must match those reported in the main text.
• The abstract must appear on its own page, between the title page and the first page of the main text.
• For full length articles only, abstracts must be in the structured form of paragraphs.

The following article types employ unstructured abstracts: Field action reports (120 words), commentaries (120 words), analytic essays (120 words), case reports (120 words). 

Structured abstracts are required for full length articles and should not exceed 200 words (headings not included). Structured abstracts employ 4 headings: Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.

Headings

Headings should conform to a consistent pattern, using no more than 3 outline levels, and should be kept brief. Avoid acronyms, sentences, and question marks. Research and practice articles and briefs must use the following level-1 section headings: Methods, Results, and Discussion.

• For all manuscripts. Use main headings and short subheadings as needed. Do not create a heading at the very top of the manuscript, since layout constraints make such headings unworkable. At least a full paragraph of text must precede the first heading (e.g., Introduction, Background). Distinguish main-level headings (16-point font, bold, Title Style Capitalization) from subheadings (12-point font, bold, Sentence style capitalization). If subheadings are used, two or more such headings must be used, as in outline style.

Data and Analysis

• Percentages: Include raw numbers with percentages; for example, 100 (50%) of the respondents; many respondents (n = 100, 50%); 100 respondents (50%). Round percentages consistently, e.g., to the nearest whole number (50%) or one decimal place (50.0%).
• Confidence intervals: Report appropriate confidence intervals whenever possible.
• Standard deviations: Report standard deviations in parentheses—i.e., “mean (SD)” rather than “mean ± SD.”
• P values: In general, report actual P values to two decimal places (e.g., P = .01), unless P < .01 or rounding to two places would make a particular value insignificant. In such cases, report the P value to three decimal places. Do not round P values to 0 or 1; instead, use P < .001 and P > .99, respectively. Describe P values as “statistically significant” or “not statistically significant.”
• Software used: When describing statistical analyses in the Method, please include the name and version of the software used in the text, followed by the manufacturer’s name and location in parentheses. Please do not cite the manufacturer in the reference list.

References

All references except where noted otherwise should be formatted according to the APA Style, 5th Edition.

Tables, Figures, and Images

Consult the guidelines for the type of manuscript being submitted for limits on the numbers of tables, figures, and images. Exceptions to these limits are made by the editors on substantive grounds. All figures and images should be incorporated into the submission document for proper conversion. Any submitted images must be in the highest resolution possible (over 300 dpi). Each table and figure should be self-contained. The title should be fully comprehensible without reference to the main text, as should any terminology or variable within the main body or footnote of the table or figure. 

• Use tables (1) only when their information cannot easily be stated or summarized in the manuscript, and (2) only when that information concerns a central issue of the manuscript.
• Up to 5 tables and figures, total, are permitted per article/research report in the print journal. Additional exhibits may be published at the discretion of the editor-in-chief as supplemental digital content.
• Tables must be created in Word using the table function. Tables created in Excel or informally created in Word with tabbing or spacing will not be accepted.
• Table titles should make the table sufficiently understandable independent of the manuscript. Typically, include type of data, number and type of respondents, place of study, year of study. Titles should be placed directly above the table, not in a data cell.
• Columns should be clearly labeled and include unit of measure.
• Footnotes: Create one or more table footnotes if information is needed to make the table understandable independent of the text and that information won't easily fit into the table title or data cells. Place footnotes at the bottom of the table, not in a data cell. Define abbreviations in a single table footnote and label it “Abbreviations.” Symbols for all other table footnotes are superscript lowercase letters used in alphabetical order (a, b, c, etc.).
• All tables must be called out in the text.

• Before submitting your digital artwork, make sure it meets the basic format and resolution guidelines below. Note that the staff editors require figure files that can be opened and manipulated during editing. If such files are not provided, the author will be required to make all changes requested by the staff editor.

• Artwork should be saved as TIFF, JPG, or MS Office (DOC, PPT, XLS) files. High resolution PDF files are also acceptable. Do not provide figures as DOC files unless they were created in Word. 
• Crop out any white or black space surrounding the image.
• Each figure must be saved and submitted as a separate file. Figures should not be embedded in the manuscript text file.

Acknowledgments, Funding, Disclaimers, Ethical Approval

• All articles published in Academic Medicine must include a structured disclosures section at the end of the text, before the reference list, using the category headings specified below. Each category should appear as a separate paragraph in the following order:

1.     Acknowledgments: Write author acknowledgments in the third person ("The authors wish to thank..."), or indicate "None."

2.     Funding/Support : List any external funding, including grant names or numbers, or indicate "None." If required by the funder, include a statement on how readers can access the underlying research materials (e.g. data, samples, models).

3.     Other disclosures: List any potential conflicts of interests for author(s) of this manuscript or indicate "None."

4.     Ethical approval : For manuscripts involving studies or evaluations of human participants, either (a) state that ethical approval has been granted (or waived) for studies involving human subjects, provide the name of the reviewing body, and include the date and reference number; or (b) indicate "Not applicable." Please note that program descriptions that include an evaluative component may require ethical approval or exemption from the authors’ IRB(s). 

5.      Disclaimer: Write any disclaimer in the third person, or indicate "None."

6.     Previous presentations: Report previous presentation of materials in a different form, such as at a conference, with date(s) and location(s), or indicate "None."